One positive from Diggs departure that isn't being discussed

[BeastMaster]

is that I now believe the narrative on Josh and the Bills in general has changed. We are now according to the media a non contender. We lost both our top two receivers and one being a top five guy in Diggs. We had to let go of our safeties, our Center, and our best pass rusher from last season.

 

The window is closed. The Bills won't be a threat, and Josh has a rag tag group to throw to. 

 

This to me opens up the door for Josh to elevate his game this season...to stay within himself and the offense to put up a phenomenal season which will give the media no other option but to recognize his greatness and finally let him win his first MVP award.

 

This team is not what the media is portraying it in my eyes, but that doesn't matter because they have already decided we are worse, that Josh has no real receivers, and that we are yesterday's news.

 

It's a good spot to be in for not just the team, but for Josh and his MVP chances

[sunshynman]

Bunch of blowhards! Who cares what they say. Our Offense will have a few growing pains this year. But in the end will be better than last year.

[cDAVIS]

We have JA17. 30 of 31 other teams would kill for this position. 

[KDIGGZ]

Yea I hate when we have good players on the team. Let's get rid of them all so Josh can "elevate his game"

[Gregg]

In the AFC get ready for all the Texans hype and it is deserved, as well as the Jets hype (AGAIN) which is not deserved along with the other contenders in the AFC not named Buffalo. I like it this way although the Bills will still get 4 or 5 primetime games since watching Allen is must see TV.

[FireChans]

15 minutes ago, BeastMaster said:

is that I now believe the narrative on Josh and the Bills in general has changed. We are now according to the media a non contender. We lost both our top two receivers and one being a top five guy in Diggs. We had to let go of our safeties, our Center, and our best pass rusher from last season.

 

The window is closed. The Bills won't be a threat, and Josh has a rag tag group to throw to. 

 

This to me opens up the door for Josh to elevate his game this season...to stay within himself and the offense to put up a phenomenal season which will give the media no other option but to recognize his greatness and finally let him win his first MVP award.

 

This team is not what the media is portraying it in my eyes, but that doesn't matter because they have already decided we are worse, that Josh has no real receivers, and that we are yesterday's news.

 

It's a good spot to be in for not just the team, but for Josh and his MVP chances

Let me just be the first to stay, i don’t really care about Josh winning an MVP.

 

we are not the Buffalo Fightin’ Josh Allen’s. We are the Buffalo Bills. 
 

Team success over individual success. Always.

[uticaclub]

We have not been true contenders during McDermott's first seven years, so why should anything change now?

[Tortured Soul]

We are the betting favorites to win the division and have the fifth-best odds to win the Super Bowl. It’s not like the media wasn’t running stories last off-season about how the Jets and Dolphins have passed the Bills.

 

ETA: fifth behind last year’s four finalists. 

Edited April 11 by Tortured Soul

[BarleyNY]

2 minutes ago, uticaclub said:

We have not been true contenders during McDermott's first seven years, so why should anything change now?

 

McDermott is 5-0 in the playoffs against 5-7 seeds and 0-6 against 1-4 seeds. I don’t see how losing some of the team’s best players - whether that was to injury, age, trade or free agency - is going to help us over that hump. The Bills should be a good team again, but we need several difference makers besides Allen to compete for a title. This draft is about finding at least one of those. They’ll draft and spend next offseason on players they think can add to that list. Obviously the coaches have to do their jobs too. 

[BeastMaster]

12 minutes ago, uticaclub said:

We have not been true contenders during McDermott's first seven years, so why should anything change now?

I'm not saying McDermott will get us any further than we have been during his time as head coach.

 

What I'm saying is that there's now a narrative that may benefit Josh and the Bills.

 

I expect a season similar to the past few where we are in the playoffs and have a legitimate shot. Only difference is that now if we do that, Josh will receive more credit, which may get him an MVP trophy

[PBF81]

36 minutes ago, BeastMaster said:

This to me opens up the door for Josh to elevate his game this season...to stay within himself and the offense to put up a phenomenal season which will give the media no other option but to recognize his greatness and finally let him win his first MVP award.

 

Not sure it's staying within himself that's needed.  He's never been great at hitting his short receivers open in the flats, outs, or short otherwise to move down the field.  That "high-percentage game" isn't his forte.  He needs to work on that element of his game if he's going to be a consummate passer.  

 

If he can do that he has the ability to become the best ever.  The rest of his game is tops.  

 

 

[BuffaloBillyG]

43 minutes ago, BeastMaster said:

is that I now believe the narrative on Josh and the Bills in general has changed. We are now according to the media a non contender. We lost both our top two receivers and one being a top five guy in Diggs. We had to let go of our safeties, our Center, and our best pass rusher from last season.

 

The window is closed. The Bills won't be a threat, and Josh has a rag tag group to throw to. 

 

This to me opens up the door for Josh to elevate his game this season...to stay within himself and the offense to put up a phenomenal season which will give the media no other option but to recognize his greatness and finally let him win his first MVP award.

 

This team is not what the media is portraying it in my eyes, but that doesn't matter because they have already decided we are worse, that Josh has no real receivers, and that we are yesterday's news.

 

It's a good spot to be in for not just the team, but for Josh and his MVP chances

Honestly, the best part of the move is the near $27M cap space that opens up for next year plus the extra 2nd rounder. With just a few logical moves next off-season, the Bills can easily have near $70M cap space if needed. Not only would that go a long way in FA, but there's a couple you g guys in line for new deals (Brown and Groot) and it wouldn't shock me if they rework Josh's deal to get his salary more in line with his performance. 

[uticaclub]

5 minutes ago, BeastMaster said:

I'm not saying McDermott will get us any further than we have been during his time as head coach.

 

What I'm saying is that there's now a narrative that may benefit Josh and the Bills.

 

I expect a season similar to the past few where we are in the playoffs and have a legitimate shot. Only difference is that now if we do that, Josh will receive more credit, which may get him an MVP trophy

Stop it with the “narrative”. Can this team contend for a Super Bowl the way it's coached and constructed? 

[stinky finger]

36 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Let me just be the first to stay, i don’t really care about Josh winning an MVP.

 

we are not the Buffalo Fightin’ Josh Allen’s. We are the Buffalo Bills. 
 

Team success over individual success. Always.

You missed the point 

39 minutes ago, KDIGGZ said:

Yea I hate when we have good players on the team. Let's get rid of them all so Josh can "elevate his game"

And you’re a dope 

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

We should rid this roster of even more really good players and turn Josh into Superman and Captain America combined! 😂

[djp14150]

No more Diggs threads….oh wait….

[BeastMaster]

1 minute ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

We should rid this roster of even more really good players and turn Josh into Superman and Captain America combined! 😂

It seems as if some aren't really getting the point

 

If you would like to cry about the Bills moves this offseason, then your welcome to find a thread dedicated to such a thing

 

My post is discussing the benefits from the moves they have made

[Gregg]

23 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

 

McDermott is 5-0 in the playoffs against 5-7 seeds and 0-6 against 1-4 seeds. I don’t see how losing some of the team’s best players - whether that was to injury, age, trade or free agency - is going to help us over that hump. The Bills should be a good team again, but we need several difference makers besides Allen to compete for a title. This draft is about finding at least one of those. They’ll draft and spend next offseason on players they think can add to that list. Obviously the coaches have to do their jobs too. 

 

I know this gets said every year but with the Bills releasing vets, getting future salary cap relief, as well as getting younger, Beane really needs to hit a HR in this draft. Like you said he needs to find difference makers in this draft and ones that can contribute in a big way this season.

[nucci]

I'll never understand why so many care what the media says. 

[ToGoGo]

I agree we need a good draft, but I also think getting rid of Diggs will be an addition by subtraction. 
 

We’ll surprise people this year. 

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

1 minute ago, BeastMaster said:

It seems as if some aren't really getting the point

 

If you would like to cry about the Bills moves this offseason, then your welcome to find a thread dedicated to such a thing

 

My post is discussing the benefits from the moves they have made

I understand your point … I just don’t agree that shedding good/great players is your road to success. Sure, it provides cap relief so you can hopefully draft/sign a good/great replacement, so you’re cycling your roster to move to the next generation of cost controlled good/great players. You’re ALWAYS looking for greatness

[H2o]

I think it could be addition by subtraction. Josh will no longer have to deal with someone feeling they should get the ball on every play, and all of the dramatics behind the scenes. Now he can just go play ball again. No one is saying Diggs isn't talented, it's just going to be a better vibe without all of the nonsense imo. Josh will spread the ball around. People will make plays in the receiving corps. Josh will still put up big numbers and be in the MVP convo. 

Edited April 11 by H2o

[BeastMaster]

Just now, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

I understand your point … I just don’t agree that shedding good/great players is your road to success. Sure, it provides cap relief so you can hopefully draft/sign a good/great replacement, so you’re cycling your roster to move to the next generation of cost controlled good/great players. You’re ALWAYS looking for greatness

And i think that's what the Bills are trying to do by doing a small reset of the roster where they have let go of older players that are no longer great or worth the cost.

 

They got a good return on Diggs, and hopefully they get an impact receiver or two from this draft. Next season they hopefully get another impact player or two...along with maybe a key free agent or two, and we are back to being looked at as a top tier roster.

[Gregg]

2 minutes ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

I understand your point … I just don’t agree that shedding good/great players is your road to success. Sure, it provides cap relief so you can hopefully draft/sign a good/great replacement, so you’re cycling your roster to move to the next generation of cost controlled good/great players. You’re ALWAYS looking for greatness

 

I think the Bills needed a retool/reshaping of the roster. They have basically been trying to run it back with the same core group for a few years now. While it has led to regular season success as well as some playoff success, they still haven't been able to get over the hump. Now you have age, injuries catching up with a lot of these players like Morse, Poyer, Hyde as examples. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the Bills have made some significant changes to the roster. They had to if they want to get better.

[Big Turk]

1 hour ago, sunshynman said:

Bunch of blowhards! Who cares what they say. Our Offense will have a few growing pains this year. But in the end will be better than last year.

 

The offense was mostly fine after Brady took over and Diggs was pretty much an afterthought in most of those games.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Joe Brady fed into the narrative that Buffalo was dead last year when he took over. He wore the “Buffalo vs Everybody “ sweatshirt almost everyday.

 

I think we are better as an underdog. We’re an underdog city. It’ll be easy for McDermott and his staff to motivate this team.

[SoTier]

3 minutes ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

I understand your point … I just don’t agree that shedding good/great players is your road to success. Sure, it provides cap relief so you can hopefully draft/sign a good/great replacement, so you’re cycling your roster to move to the next generation of cost controlled good/great players. You’re ALWAYS looking for greatness

 

Obviously, you haven't paid attention to the Chiefs' road to their back-to-back Lombardis.  With the salary cap, the only teams that don't have to regularly replace good/great expensive veterans with younger and/or less expensive players are those that don't have to pay a franchise QB.

 

Looking objectively at the players the Bills released/traded/did not re-sign this season, only Diggs, Floyd, and Morse would qualify as "good/great players" that the Bills will miss.  Hyde and Poyer weren't nearly as good last year as they had been in past seasons.  Tre White has been a non-factor because of injury for more than 2 seasons.  Gabe Davis was too inconsistent a WR for the Bills to pay him the $13 million a year.  Moreover, during the Bills late season winning streak, it was younger players like Kinkaid and Shakir who took up the slack when Diggs and Davis just seemed to disappear.

 

The OP's point was that "the sky isn't really falling" which is what one would think if one relied on the national media for all your Bills news.   That's a reasonable opinion at this time, especially since the roster isn't nearly complete yet.  It's entirely possible that the Bills find a replacement for Diggs, Floyd or Morse in the upcoming draft.  If Beane hits a proverbial "home run" in the draft, the Bills could draft 2 or 3 guys who are significantly better than the players from 2023 roster from the get-go.   Then there are players who will become available after June 1st when the Bills will have some money to sign FAs by then.

 

Of course, you can continue to live under a dark cloud the rest of the spring and summer if that's you're thing.

 

 

[Big Turk]

58 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Joe Brady fed into the narrative that Buffalo was dead last year when he took over. He wore the “Buffalo vs Everybody “ sweatshirt almost everyday.

 

I think we are better as an underdog. We’re an underdog city. It’ll be easy for McDermott and his staff to motivate this team.

 

That's true...the team always seemed to play better when it's backs were against the wall and everyone was doubting them and saying they were done. Anytime they were anointed as front-runners it seemed to get to their heads and they played with too much reckless abandon rather than focus.

[SoTier]

58 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Joe Brady fed into the narrative that Buffalo was dead last year when he took over. He wore the “Buffalo vs Everybody “ sweatshirt almost everyday.

 

I think we are better as an underdog. We’re an underdog city. It’ll be easy for McDermott and his staff to motivate this team.

 

I think that most teams benefit from the "us against the world" mentality, but it can be especially helpful to talented teams that need to get more focus or have had some setbacks.  

[90sBills]

2 hours ago, BeastMaster said:

I'm not saying McDermott will get us any further than we have been during his time as head coach.

 

What I'm saying is that there's now a narrative that may benefit Josh and the Bills.

 

I expect a season similar to the past few where we are in the playoffs and have a legitimate shot. Only difference is that now if we do that, Josh will receive more credit, which may get him an MVP trophy

When KC traded away Hill the media went after them hard that offseason. There were pundits that picked them to not win the division and some even said missing the playoffs entirely. That was a big motivator for their team as evidenced by the players comments after winning Superbowl LVII. 
 

So far I haven’t seen the same level of disrespect towards the Bills after losing BOTH #1 and #2 receivers. But it’s still early in the offseason things can change. 

[Warcodered]

We draft a flashy WR and they'll be right back to talking the Bills up so I'd take it with a grain of salt for now.

[Fan in San Diego]

I don't care what the talking heads say. We will be competitive and I'm looking forward to a good draft and the 2024 season.

[Don Otreply]

One benefit of Diggs being gone is that the ball is very likely to be spread around a good deal more, being we won’t be forcing throws to one guy making the offense more predictable, this alone should be helpful in keeping opposing defenses a bit more uncertain as to where the ball is going, jmo. 

[BBFL]

8 hours ago, cDAVIS said:

We have JA17. 30 of 31 other teams would kill for this position. 

You know what’s wild is the amount of fans out there than don’t even see Josh as a top 5 QB…

 

”Typical team fan thinking your guy is better than they really are”

 

Had a guy at Giant Eagle a few months back say Josh isn’t even top 10… 🤨😂

 

I can’t remember them all but he said Jackson, Herbert, Dak and Goff were all better. Yeah, ok. 

[1st&ten]

We'll be in the hunt--we might end up being better than last year--draft & more free agents yet to come.

[T master]

I have always loved it when the Bills were the under dogs they seem to play better & the so called "Experts" aren't around this team or know about this team and don't know the heart of this team or the city that they play for . They just all need something negative to talk about .

 

Sure they may start out a bit slow but by mid season i think they will be rolling once they get there things working together then watch out here comes the Bills !! 

Edited April 11 by T master

[ganesh]

11 hours ago, BarleyNY said:

 

McDermott is 5-0 in the playoffs against 5-7 seeds and 0-6 against 1-4 seeds. I don’t see how losing some of the team’s best players - whether that was to injury, age, trade or free agency - is going to help us over that hump. The Bills should be a good team again, but we need several difference makers besides Allen to compete for a title. This draft is about finding at least one of those. They’ll draft and spend next offseason on players they think can add to that list. Obviously the coaches have to do their jobs too. 

The Chiefs are winning SB not just because of their offense but due to a brilliantly constructed defense and a great DC in Steve Spagnola.  The Bills have had good offense, but their defense has been poor in the playoffs.  Unless we fix that, the 0-6 will soon become 0-7

[SydneyBillsFan]

11 hours ago, BeastMaster said:

is that I now believe the narrative on Josh and the Bills in general has changed. We are now according to the media a non contender. We lost both our top two receivers and one being a top five guy in Diggs. We had to let go of our safeties, our Center, and our best pass rusher from last season.

 

The window is closed. The Bills won't be a threat, and Josh has a rag tag group to throw to. 

 

This to me opens up the door for Josh to elevate his game this season...to stay within himself and the offense to put up a phenomenal season which will give the media no other option but to recognize his greatness and finally let him win his first MVP award.

 

This team is not what the media is portraying it in my eyes, but that doesn't matter because they have already decided we are worse, that Josh has no real receivers, and that we are yesterday's news.

 

It's a good spot to be in for not just the team, but for Josh and his MVP chances

 

That narrative probably disappears if or when they draft one of the top WR, and doubly so if they get another in FA after Tre Whites money kicks in. The NFL media are not exactly rational and measured in their reporting.

[Jimmy Harris 69]

During the Bills’ 6-1 stretch Diggs caught 37 for 349 for one td; Davis 12 for 256 and two tds. That production is hardly irreplaceable. I firmly believe Curtis Samuel, a un-named veteran and an explosive rookie will have no problem re-creating the 2000 yards of production Diggs and Davis had in 23. Joe Brady will continue the diversification and growth of this offense. It will be to the bills advantage to be underestimated——and their opponents peril. Go Bills!

 

Edited April 12 by Jimmy Harris 69
Duplications

[Ponch]

15 hours ago, FireChans said:

Let me just be the first to stay, i don’t really care about Josh winning an MVP.

 

we are not the Buffalo Fightin’ Josh Allen’s. We are the Buffalo Bills. 
 

Team success over individual success. Always.

Boooo!