Seems like a bit too much panic right now

[Low Positive]

2 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Too much panic?

There's never "too much panic!"

 

I panic when the Jets or now Steelers sign Aaron Rodgers. I panic when we trade away the rights to Xavier Worthy. I even panic when Von Miller is let go, or when Reid Ferguson jams his right index finger.

[DeepPass]

17 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

I haven't read much of this thread, but it relates to something I've been thinking about. 

 

I agree there's too much panic. Of course, we'd like the Bills to be dominating every game instead of looking so suspect, but that isn't reasonable. Teams rarely do that. 

 

I agree with starry, that it's all about making the playoffs and playing well then. Ideally, you win the home field throughout, but homefield isn't as important as playing well when you get to the playoffs. 

 

I wrote last week about how the preseason is coming to an end.  Many people got on my case, saying that's ridiculous, but this past week has me even more convinced.  Who are the favorites to get to the Super Bowl?  Bills and Eagles, and that was AFTER both teams lost on Sunday.  Nobody thinks the Bills and Eagles are playing like big winners - they both are struggling.  But the question is who's most likely to put it together, and based on the bones of each team, the experience, the QB, most everyone still thinks those are the two leaders. 

 

I was watching the Eagles struggle against the Giants last night and could help but think two things:  Right now, the two teams looked similar, bumbling around the field, too many penalties, certainly not firing on all cylinders, leaky defense. Very similar.

 

The other thing I thought is that the Bills played a tough team on Sunday, a team that looked like it was coming together, got smacked around a bit, and lost by a field goal on the last play. The Eagles completely fell apa, rt against a team that had shown very little except a wish about their rookie QB. Eagles took a much worse beating. 

 

If the Eagles still are the team to beat in the NFC, then the Bills are struggling less. The offense clearly hasn't come together yet, but all the pieces are there. The passing game will be fine, especially when the oline tightens up the pass pro. Cook is doing fine. The defense hasn't found itself, but I think it's by design. I think, for example, that when we get to December we'll see the Bills' zone tighten, and they'll be tough against that underneath stuff that's killing them now. And the d line will get reinforcements and will be battle tested. 

 

Can I prove that we saw last week will fade as the team gets sharp in December?  No, but it looks to me as though the Bills are doing this consciously.  They will be cranking things up beginning after the bye, being 4-1 at this point will have been certainly good enough. 

"the defense hasn't found itself - by design" ???  They don't have enough talent on defense regardless of schemes or design.  At least 4 of our starters on Defense would be hard-pressed to be back-ups on other NFL teams.

[JohninMinn.]

What are we going to do without our feelgood Damar Hamlin story?

[DeepPass]

22 minutes ago, JohninMinn. said:

What are we going to do without our feelgood Damar Hamlin story?

He's definitely a weak link defensively.  But, he's in the "Bills Christmas" movie and they can't cut him!  If they can't replace him next season that tells a story about our talent levels.

[Billsfanatic8989]

The Eagles and Bills are both struggling. I've seen the comparison. Very true. Who knows what will happen.

 

But one team has won 2/3 SB's in seven years. An owner who quickly moves off of coaches not getting the job done. A defense that has elite players. Experience. Great drafting.

 

The other has a talent deficiency on defense. Hasn't sniffed a SB. Defense gets shredded consistently in postseason losses. Not so great drafting. 

 

If you were forced to choose, which team would you have more faith in to turn it around?

1 hour ago, DeepPass said:

He's definitely a weak link defensively.  But, he's in the "Bills Christmas" movie and they can't cut him!  If they can't replace him next season that tells a story about our talent levels.

It's been nearly three years since the incident. Everyone loves the story. But the team needs to start looking at performance on the field. 

Edited yesterday at 10:48 PM by Billsfanatic8989

[JazzyNBlue]

17 hours ago, Richard Noggin said:

Seems like each year under McDermott, with one or two exceptions, the team's weaknesses get exposed over a multiple-game stretch, inviting criticism internally and externally. Luckily, the Bills have also shown a tendency to then rally and redefine themselves down the stretch. 

 

I hate the nagging sense that the Bills aren't at the cutting edge of opponent-specific gameplans or in-game play-calling. Margins are super fine in this league, and getting outcoached or doing less to actively attack and disrupt each specific opponent puts too much pressure on players to win in less-than-advantageous circumstances. My favorite coaches do specific things each week to give specific players advantages. I don't see that from the Bills (with success) as often as I'd like. Coaching staffs don't count against the cap and therefore should be mercilessly critiqued and improved upon as needed. 

 

Every roster has weaknesses. Which coaches do the best job of maximizing their personnel with what they're given? 

I agree 110 percent with this. McDermott is too conservative to have cutting edge game plans. Cutting edge plays, are an unknown result, he wants to stay with the higher probability known results, thus why most of the NFL teams never talk about not being surprised by the scheme of the Bills. Unlike the example of our last offensive play vs the Chiefs last year in the playoffs, where we were completely caught off guard. 
 

We need a mix of high probability, sprinkle in a dose of cutting edge to help keep other teams honest. 
 

Hopefully we are saving this for the playoffs. 

[Mister Defense]

On 10/8/2025 at 8:51 PM, Success said:

We played our worst game of the season, turned the ball over 3x, and faced some....what shall we call it...."overactive officiating?"

 

One less turnover, or a different ref crew - and it's a good bet we're the last undefeated team in the league.

 

I feel like we need an AR "R-E-L-A-X" or something.  We have some needs for sure, but we also have some guys coming back, and 2 guys coming who haven't even seen the field yet.  I'd agree that the secondary is a concern right NOW, but either Hairston or Strong back will help quite a bit.

 

And I expect a move or 2 by the deadline.  But it's not like we're in a dire situation here.  Remember KC's season last year?  They won something like 11 games by a play or 2.  There was a ton of hand-wringing there, and they still made it to the SB.

 

I still think this is the best team in the AFC, by a somewhat comfortable margin.

 

 

 

In my view we are in a 'dire situation'.

 

Tre White will cost us more games going forward, and maybe against the Falcons in their dome.

 

Shocked and bewildered that Beane did nothing, zero, the last few weeks to replace a player who cannot play the cornerback position any more on a consistent basis. He is a sitting duck now.

 

That is dire in my view--White starting or playing any amount of meannigful snaps--and not only is there not a sense of urgency to remedy this obvious, glaring weakness, but NO moves, nothing at all..

 

A Beane supporter here, but this is bewildering to me.

 

Are Atlanta's receivers extremely slow? Then, the Panthers'? The Chiefs'?  Dolphins and Bucs?? Then the Texans', Steelers', Bengals'?

 

If that is the case, that the Bills are about to face a slew of super slow wide outs, then I am relieved.  If not, the shi* will keep hitting the fan.  But since White has been exposed so clearly so often, it will now get worse and worse going forward.

 

The Bills will need to move a safety and or corner up often this week to stop what may be the best running back in the NFL.  What will that mean for White in coverage? Yikes sums it up for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Mister Defense

[Pecker]

With the Cheats* winning, we now need to win or we’d be second place in the AFCE 

 

 

[SoTier]

8 minutes ago, ***** said:

With the Cheats* winning, we now need to win or we’d be second place in the AFCE 

 

 

 

Well, in that case, the season is over and we might as well throw in the towel.  Fire the entire FO and coaching staffs, trade everybody, and start at square one with a bunch of draft picks.

[Low Positive]

12 minutes ago, ***** said:

With the Cheats* winning, we now need to win or we’d be second place in the AFCE 

 

 

Do you remember 2021? When the Bills were in 2nd place when Mac Jones ripped off 7 straight wins while the Bills went 3-5? Or how about 2023, when the Dopphins led the division from week 5 until we beat them in week 18? Here is the mythical 13-second season, which all of TBD remembers as a runaway success until McDumbass pissed it away,  just for reference. We've been in dogfights for the division before during this run, and we're likely in one this year too.

[henry jones]

39 minutes ago, ***** said:

With the Cheats* winning, we now need to win or we’d be second place in the AFCE 

 

 

Yep.  And 5th in the Conference with a loss

[Johnnycage46]

27 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

Well, in that case, the season is over and we might as well throw in the towel.  Fire the entire FO and coaching staffs, trade everybody, and start at square one with a bunch of draft picks.

Yeah, sarcasm and all that...but, the "panic" (it's not really panic, it's people seeing all of their doubts about this team and the way it is built coming to fruition), is justified. If people are not 100% positive about the Bills right now we're all panicking lol.

[Roundybout]

The panic I have is that this is the worst secondary unit we’ve put out there since we drafted Gilmore. 
 

There’s one good starter, Benford, who has looked mid this season. Bishop is okay. The rest is mediocre trash like Rapp or completely washed has-bins like Tre. 
 

Our defensive line is actually pretty good, statistically, but our DBs can’t cover anything so QBs don’t hang in the pocket much. 

[All_Pro_Bills]

21 minutes ago, Roundybout said:

The panic I have is that this is the worst secondary unit we’ve put out there since we drafted Gilmore. 
 

There’s one good starter, Benford, who has looked mid this season. Bishop is okay. The rest is mediocre trash like Rapp or completely washed has-bins like Tre. 
 

Our defensive line is actually pretty good, statistically, but our DBs can’t cover anything so QBs don’t hang in the pocket much. 

What is concerning those same concerns apply to the last 4 or 5 years. Why can't they fix it or at least make some noticeable improvements?

 

Another thing I notice about offenses today flipping from game to game and watching red zone is how often teams are pushing the ball and attacking the secondary downfield. Either Brady is not dialing up any shots down field or Allen isn't taking them because it's been coached out of him or nobody can get an inch of separation. Another constant problem that never seems to get fixed.

Edited 1 hour ago by All_Pro_Bills

[Roundybout]

10 minutes ago, All_Pro_Bills said:

What is concerning those same concerns apply to the last 4 or 5 years. Why can't they fix it or at least make some noticeable improvements?

 

Another thing I notice about offenses today flipping from game to game and watching red zone is how often teams are pushing the ball and attacking the secondary downfield. Either Brady is not dialing up any shots down field or Allen isn't taking them because it's been coached out of him or nobody can get an inch of separation. Another constant problem that never seems to get fixed.

Im increasingly satisfied with my take that Beane constantly treats the team like it’s 2019, we don’t trust Josh, and we need to play safe football. It explains a lot of his decision-making. 
 

Our receivers are bad. Love me some Shakir but he’s a WR2 at best. 

[Success]

32 minutes ago, Roundybout said:

The panic I have is that this is the worst secondary unit we’ve put out there since we drafted Gilmore. 
 

There’s one good starter, Benford, who has looked mid this season. Bishop is okay. The rest is mediocre trash like Rapp or completely washed has-bins like Tre. 
 

Our defensive line is actually pretty good, statistically, but our DBs can’t cover anything so QBs don’t hang in the pocket much. 

 

I thought Strong looked really good when he played, and then there is Hairston, who we haven't seen. 

 

In my dream scenario, both of those guys are playing by mid-November, and playing well.

 

[Roundybout]

3 minutes ago, Success said:

 

I thought Strong looked really good when he played, and then there is Hairston, who we haven't seen. 

 

In my dream scenario, both of those guys are playing by mid-November, and playing well.

 

Im totally with you on that, but it’s a lot of hope. As it sits, this is a terrible DB unit. 

[mjt328]

Tomorrow night should tell us a lot.  
 

This team has been on a downward slide, and has played 3 bad games in a row.  Finally lost to a division opponent.

 

Fail to rebound, and the panic here is legit.

[finn]

4 hours ago, Mister Defense said:

 

In my view we are in a 'dire situation'.

 

Tre White will cost us more games going forward, and maybe against the Falcons in their dome.

 

Are Atlanta's receivers extremely slow? Then, the Panthers'? The Chiefs'?  Dolphins and Bucs?? Then the Texans', Steelers', Bengals'?

Can you imagine if Bishop gets hurt? Then we'd have Poyer playing next to Tre White. Get out the canes and that old-timey music!

[ToGoGo]

Human beings never cease to amaze me. 
 

Look forward to glass half full after we destroy the Falcons Monday. As if McDermott hasn’t been bouncing back after losses for 8 years now. 
 

But no, it’s us that need to prove ourselves. Not the 2nd year QB and head coach on his 2nd team. 
 

The only thing we have left to prove is Chiefs in the playoffs. And how on the up and up those games were is very questionable.