Can everyone just take a freakin breath?

[BeastMaster]

Completely disagree

 

The Bills only real shot was to secure the 1 seed so that they can be healthier and more rested. This is such an advantage since they went to it that it's damn near impossible to make it otherwise

 

If anyone but KC gets it, then I suppose there's an outside chance. If KC gets it again...forget about it

 

One things for sure, and it's that the Bills won't be getting it unless we see a completely different team. That's not happening without coaching changes and roster upgrades

[transplantbillsfan]

Just now, CincyBillsFan said:

All of this is true and we have come roaring back from similar slumps in previous years to win the division and at least get to the divisional round of the playoffs.  But for me this feels different.  I am doubting whether we have the talent up and down the roster to repeat what previous Bills teams have done.

 

 

 

I'm genuinely curious about this.... 

 

So you're honestly saying this year's team is less talented than last year's team? 

 

I feel like if you take a minute and do a position by position comparison to our players last year you would rescind that statement.

[TheBrownBear]

I'm with you that I'm not really concerned by the Pats this year.  Not to say they can't win the division, but they aren't world beaters or anything (though they'll become very legit soon enough under Vrabel).  The big issue is the Bills themselves and their lack of talent at key positions (whether due to injury or roster mismanagement).  This just isn't a Super Bowl caliber roster right now. 

[Low Positive]

1 minute ago, transplantbillsfan said:

 

I'm genuinely curious about this.... 

 

So you're honestly saying this year's team is less talented than last year's team? 

 

I feel like if you take a minute and do a position by position comparison to our players last year you would rescind that statement.

True. One of the things I keep screaming at my TV is "same dudes!!!,"meaning "how are the same dudes who played last year so much worse this year?" 

[ALLinALLEN]

1 minute ago, transplantbillsfan said:

 

The transitive property doesn't work in the NFL

It's a week to week league, sure, but Carolina held Penix to 170 and 2 ints, Bijan to 72, London to 55, and the entire team to 0 points. The Bills come out and give a literal historical performance for the Falcons Offense. Not to mention the Panthers moved the ball at will vs them, and the very next week the Bills (and their supposed "everybody eats lol") offense cant muster more than 14 points.

 

It's transitive in that regard. They need to be better and superbowl teams/rosters don't give that performance last night. 

[juno999]

1 hour ago, Success said:

I'm mainly dismayed by the fact that at no point this season have we looked like a Super Bowl contender.

 

We were thrilled after the Ravens comeback - but we were dominated most of that game.  It's great to have resiliency like that, but we once again gave up close to 250 yards to Henry.

 

We needed a late break/turnover to win that one - and it was the same w/ Miami.  The Saints game was tough, and we lost to the Pats & Falcons.  We only looked decent against the Jets.

 

Going pure eye test - this actually looks like the worst team of the JA era.  We're all putting quite a bit of hope in the idea that the suspension guys & Hairston will have a very significant impact on our defense, and our WR corps can be completely healthy in the playoffs (and even then, they're bottom 10 in the league).

 

All very true and hope is not a strategy. Both coordinators look mediocre at best and the players are undisciplined and playing bad ball. 

[KOKBILLS]

1 hour ago, transplantbillsfan said:

This freakin place is so awful after a loss. Obviously 2 in a row makes it way worse.

 

We're making the playoffs. That's all i care about. I would love the #1 seed, but I reject any notion we need it. McDermott's playoff road record may be 0-whatever, but that leaves out the fact that other than 2019 (when we weren't this iteration of the Bills and Josh Allen wasn't yet Elite), every road playoff loss came against the Chiefs.

 

That proves somehow we're doomed on the road against other teams in the playoffs??? Totally disagree.

 

I also think this crowning of NE is really premature.

 

Guys, before the season started looking at our schedule to start the season I think we all would have been happy with 5-1 at the bye. We're one game off that pace with a mass of circumstances I think we underestimated.

 

Let's just take a step back for a moment and look at what really happened against Atlanta.

 

Our #1 receiving weapon who's become Josh’s most reliable target and finally seemed ready to break into that "Elite TE" category was out.

 

Josh Palmer got injured on the 2nd series and I really think that killed our offensive passing game. It was clear to me the Bills were about to integrate him more into the offense. Even the commentators brought up the conversations they had with Bills coaches last week about Palmer's deceptive speed.

 

Daquan Jones suffered a calf injury during warmups leaving us with 3 active DTs, one of them being Ed Oliver coming off injury. (Side note: Deonne Walker is going to be awesome!) 3 DT rotation against Bijan and Algier??? Yikes!

 

Bernard gets hurt mid game and exits. 

 

McGovern gets hurt and comes back clearly still hobbled.

 

 

Plus we have 2 important defensive reinforcements coming in right after the bye and hopefully Hairston can play soon after.

 

Say whatever about our remaining schedule but none of these teams are that scary. The Bengals will probably still be starting Flacco and their D sucks. The Eagles (as stated) look like the NFC version of us. 

 

Kansas City is, in reality, an inconsistent up and down team we're going to play at home and is the one team on our schedule this team doesn't look past. Yes they got players back, but they lost last week against the Jags with Worthy and it baffles my mind the way Rashee Rice is talked about as an Elite WR who will inevitably unlock their offense. The guy has played 20 NFL games and surpassed 100 yards a whopping 4 times. I'm not saying he won't be good and won't help, but the whole "uh oh!!! It's the high power Chiefs of 5 years ago!" is pretty ridiculous.

 

The Bucs and Steelers look good, but how much do we really think that lasts?

 

We aren't going undefeated after the bye, but who cares? January into (hopefully) February is all that matters. Just get there.

 

Take the bye, get healthy... take a breath. 

No way...

I've been waiting for this moment since 2019 when they took Cody Ford over DK Metcalf. 

Still...I knew it would come... 

I thought it would come with Boogie...

I was SURE it would come with Elam... But then Benford got them off the hook somehow.

I REALLY figured folks would have enough with Coleman over McConkey...But Coleman gets the MVP endorsement and all is forgiven...

I hated...and I mean HATED the DeWayne Carter pick because I wanted Troy Franklin... And yes I realize Franklin is not exactly Ja'Marr Chase... But he's better than Carter...

I even thought there was a chance when I was dropping Poona Ford and Tim Settle stats I could get a ground swell going... But that was crickets...

But last night did it... And no one can take it from me... Finally we can open the books and have the discussions... Fair and honest discussions.

 

Seriously though...I like McBean as people. I think they have redeemable qualities especially as people managers. They seem organized. But I've always felt that they were in over their heads when compared to the best in their profession in personnel evaluation, scouting, coaching, and game to game schematics. And it has especially begun to show up over the past few years. 

[billsfan89]

Are you saying fans are prisoners of the moment and hyper reactive? That doesn't sound like this place this is a very measured place good sir!

In all seriousness this team has issues but I'm also not writing off the season just yet. The Bills are hurting for a bye and they got one at the right time. Hopefully a lot of the "week to week" injuries are rested and ready to go for week 8. Then you also have the PED Twins coming back for a depleted defense with Mad Max and some of the other week to week guys coming back hopefully soon. I also think the secondary could use a shot in the arm at corner or safety but I think Cole's getting better and they can add a piece via trade. 

 

What concerns me is that this team needs a boundary WR. Keon's not gonna consistently win against good corners and Palmer's solid but doesn't command respect on the outside. This is an exact repeat of last season where the first 6 weeks the team was having trouble against teams playing single high jamming the box and slot and daring the Bills to beat them on the boundary 1 vs 1. It wasn't until they added Cooper that they got good on offense and took off. 

 

Adding a good WR and maybe a piece in the secondary will help a lot, the season isn't lost far from it. But there's real concerns out there. 

[Aesop]

How dare you be optimistic. The sky is falling!!

 

In all seriousness, I agree with you OP. Its so early in the season, no need to panic.

 

I guess I just remember the 17 awful years of sucking that ever since 2017 Ive had rose colored glasses on.

 

The 1 seed would be nice, but KC came to our house last year and we still lost. All that matters is peaking in December, get to the playoffs and pray at the altar of the football gods.

 

 

[JP51]

10 minutes ago, Low Positive said:

And the real kicker is that as soon as Gabe Davis is healthy, every team in the NFL is able to claim him from the Bills practice squad for nothing but a spot on their 53. If you look at practice squads, he sticks out as the best available WR by far.

as long as we dont promote him to the active roster correct? 

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

You never had an easier path to the 1 seed and you got tripped up by the patriots and falcons. The chiefs are 3-3 and the ravens are 1-5. In what way is this good? Let’s just take the baby gloves off and get real 

[dpberr]

I think a lot of this mess is fixable without mass firings and unloading a draft class of picks for talent.  

 

The Bills need some legitimate man defense corners and run a man defense.  I don't think zone coverage fools your football-smart NFL quarterback anymore because they all see a ton of it in their college games, and the OCs at these colleges are not DIII level strategists. They know where the open pockets will be.  It's easy to get the ball out and find the running lanes.

 

Bills have to play man defense and get some personnel that can do it for long stretches of the game.  White and Benford are getting penalized because they are literally hanging on for dear life out there keeping up with their assignments. Need quicker legs out there.  I'd be trying out corners and trading for man corners.

 

  

 

 

 

 

[jlatas]

I keep seeing these posts about trading for 2 or 3 new pieces to the team. Do we all honestly think that Beane will even trade for one player, let alone several?? It wouldn't shock me to see the Bills roll with who they currently have. Do we even have any cap space to make a significant trade(s)???

[CincyBillsFan]

1 minute ago, transplantbillsfan said:

 

I'm genuinely curious about this.... 

 

So you're honestly saying this year's team is less talented than last year's team? 

 

I feel like if you take a minute and do a position by position comparison to our players last year you would rescind that statement.

I can't answer this question until after this season ends but I have this uneasy feeling that we are less talented then last year.  Part of it is that players who I thought were on upward trajectories, like Knox, Rousseau, Bernard, Benford, Bishop, Coleman, Shakir, Williams, & Davis have leveled off or might be regressing.  Only Kincaid seems to be clearly playing better.

 

The other issue is that some players are regressing or hurt a lot:  this would include Milano, Rapp, Epanesa, and BOTH Ty & Taron Johnson.

 

Overall the O line, Allen & Cook are playing about as well as last season and the FG/XP kicking might be a bit more consistent but the punting has been worse.

 

And the draft with 2 exceptions, Walker & Hawes, has not helped the team.  Ditto for the FA signings whose contributions to date have been mediocre at best. Elam & Douglas were better at pass coverage then White has been so far.

 

So yea, the 2025 Bills seem to have regressed from an overall talent perspective.  And unless Allen can replicate last seasons extraordinary performance the rest of the way this Bills team may be in real trouble.  

 

Like you I'm hanging my hat on the fact that the Bills have been here before over the last few seasons and rebounded nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

23 minutes ago, transplantbillsfan said:

 

The transitive property doesn't work in the NFL

Correct and if it did work in the NFL I could make a great argument for why a lot of those lost years sucky Bills teams were Super Bowl caliber starting with that Bledso team that beat the Pats 31 - 0 in a season opener.

 

 

[CodeMonkey]

Honestly, I just think reality is starting to set in a bit.  The Bills four wins have come against teams with a combined record of 3-21. Since then, they lost 2 in prime time and frankly got pushed around by Atlanta. Maybe they will turn it around after the bye and finish out strong, or maybe with the exception of a few like Allen and Cook they collectively as a team, players and coaches, aren't quite good enough yet for Bills fans to be making their superbowl reservations.  We will see, but "taking a breath" is good advice.

[stinky finger]

@transplantbillsfan

 

Not a one of the players you listed in the Falcon game have even remotely been consequential thus far. 
 

This team is lacking in talent everywhere (except QB) and coaching. 
 

It’s high time for a regime change. The reasons are obvious. Beane and McDermott gotta go. They did well to get us to this point, but we’ve been at this point for too long. It’s going in the other direction. That’s a fact. 

[Rousseauisnoschmo]

Gotta love this is how you should feel about the team guy.

[Irish Dave]

I’m so tired of people saying stuff like “take a breath”.  It’s that kind of attitude to that’s taken over the team - that covers up the truth of how mediocre we really are. 
 

I don’t wanna “take a breath”.  Nobody should- we should all of us be pissed off and banging the table 

[Royale with Cheese]

The one thing giving me hope is we do this pretty much every season.  We were 7-6 at one point in 2022....our "Super Bowl" year that we blew.

Then we started out 3-2 last year with embarrassing losses to the Ravens and Texans.  Then squeak by the Jets the following week.

 

We look gross right now but we should be used to this.  We always hit a slump.

[Never NEVER Give-up]

2 hours ago, Gregg said:

Classic GIF!!