This roster is a disaster however…..

[SoTier]

1 hour ago, Xwnyer said:

Even though Beane has done a terrible job assembling this roster we are still in the hunt for a playoff spot and have a remote chance of finishing first in the East.  Meanwhile teams like Bengals, Ravens and Chiefs are almost eliminated from the playoffs yet people thought those rosters are in much better shape than ours.  Could you imagine if Josh had the weapons Burrow has or we had a defense that can actually generate pressure on the QB?  We are lucky we have Superman on our side but it would be nice if he had a supporting cast like the Superman has with the Justice League 😀

 

If we don’t win the east being the fifth seed won’t be a bad thing Pitt and Balt are terrible and as long as Cincy doesn’t end up winning that division I can see us winning a playoff game on the road.

 

Dude, you have no idea what a terrible roster really looks like.  

[SoCal Deek]

2 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

Dude, you have no idea what a terrible roster really looks like.  

I think the point is that the Bills won 39-34 with their outside WRs catching a grand total of FIVE passes, while their heavily invested in D Line recorded a grand total of ZERO sacks. Is the roster a disaster? Probably not. But it’s definitely not well constructed. 

[Steptide]

7 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

that last bengals drive was nuts though. Two ridiculous 1-handed catches?

Agree but it's just way too easy for opposing teams. We've seen it way too many times. Even against Baltimore in the playoffs last year. Bills up 8 and Lamar just chucks it right down field for a td. Thankfully Andrew's dropped the 2 point attempt 

[balln]

2 minutes ago, Steptide said:

Agree but it's just way too easy for opposing teams. We've seen it way too many times. Even against Baltimore in the playoffs last year. Bills up 8 and Lamar just chucks it right down field for a td. Thankfully Andrew's dropped the 2 point attempt 

I’ve started watching the second half on tape delays instead of live
 

Aside from them stopping the run better. The warts on this team are the same as they ever were. Can’t rush the qb. Can’t cover. Can’t stop good qbs. 
 

Go rewatch the games. If the bills get off the field it’s usually because the other team drops a pass or qb misses open receiver.
 

kc game was the only complete game of the season.  

[finn]

I focus on the negatives, too, but give Beane credit for giving us, in no particular order, Oliver, Bishop, Walker, Hoecht, Bosa, Thompson, Hairston, Kincaid, Hawes, Shakir, Cook, Benford, the entire offensive line, and of course number 17. Most teams would snap these players up in a heartbeat. He's also provided quality role players, filled holes deftly (Prater, Wishnowsky), and, as GunnerBill pointed out, over time built a deep roster, with players like Trubinsky, Knox, Ty Johnson, VDM, Hancock, and the many recycled oldsters on the team. Picking very late in the draft every year (late on the waiver wire doesn't help, either) it's not surprising he's found it hard to find impact players, but he has done an admirable job filling out the roster, overall.

 

The glaring, neon-blinking, jaw-dropping, almost unforgiveable exception of course is wide receiver. That's the big hole on his resume. If he turned out right on either Coleman or Palmer, we would be the Super Bowl favorite, hands down. But he wasn't right. He could not have been more wrong. It's not much of an exaggeration to say he is asking Allen to play with a nice line, quality RBs and TEs--and NO wide receivers at all, aside from Shakir, who is like a little 12-year old asked to support his five younger siblings.

 

Put it this way: The Bills might have the worst set of wide receivers in the league--and still be the best team. That's both a testament to Beane's work as GM and an indictment. 

 

 

 

 

[SCBills]

It’s not a terrible roster, but without Allen and say a Bo Nix or Justin Herbert, we’re probably a 7 - 8 win team. 
 

Elite OL with an elite RB, nice RB2 and (when healthy) a very good TE room. 
 

WR’s might be a bottom 5 group in the league. 
 

Injuries happen, so I’m not going act like Hoecht in the lynchpin to our Defense.   If they can get Oliver back at 80% for the playoffs and get Bosa relatively healthy… Oliver, Walker, Bosa, Rousseau is a solid DL with two decent rotational guys in Jones and Epenesa.  Linebackers are decent with Shaq, Milano and Williams.. healthy Bernard if used correctly could help.  
 

Benford and Bishop are studs and big time pillars for the Defense. 
 

Hairston, White & Poyer are solid. 
 

Taron is a weak link.. sad to see.  Have to hope he finds something, anything to at least not be a liability out there. 
 

Terrible roster?  With this OL, Cook and Benford turning into a shutdown/playmaking CB1 on the Defense… I’d say it’s an average roster if they can keep this group healthy to the playoffs… potentially above average if Kincaid and Bosa are healthy and Oliver gets back. 
 

WR room currently being an anchor weighing down the team that we’re reminded of week in/week out.  
 

Edited 1 hour ago by SCBills

[Flipnmi]

49 minutes ago, GaryPinC said:

Good point, but did Beane purposefully design it this way or is it because he fails to draft game changing talent and this is what we're left with?

When was the last time the Bills were in a position to draft a real game changer? There aren't too many available when you are consistently picking at the end of round 1. In most years, the players available are really round 2 talent. You might get lucky and get a James Cook, but probably not. Anyone that says that Beane needs to trade up to get a top pick is not dealing in reality.  This is the way the NFL designed it.

[GaryPinC]

20 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

That is something I have pondered before. Is the roster built this way because he wants it this way or is his inability to find game changers almost forcing him to spend money on depth instead? I don't know but he needs to ween himself the mid range vet depth at some point.

To be fair, it's a bit of both, but his hand was tilted by repeated failures with DL for one.  McDermott doesn't help with players needing to fit the system instead of the opposite and his conservative defensive approach. 

 

I think next year will really be a golden chance.  Bring Bosa and Hoecht back, heal the DL.  Walker and Sanders year 2, safety and DB solidified and developing, OL solid, TE's great, prime Cook.  Beane really just needs to focus on getting that receiver and shoring up LB.

 

Also, Mahomes' run may be slowly winding down and if Kelce comes back he is more a solid option instead of a game changer.  For me this year, Mahomes has lost a bit of elite with his ball placement and arm strength but we will see.

[Avisan]

11 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

I think the point is that the Bills won 39-34 with their outside WRs catching a grand total of FIVE passes, while their heavily invested in D Line recorded a grand total of ZERO sacks. Is the roster a disaster? Probably not. But it’s definitely not well constructed. 

Why do you ignore that we're missing 3 out of our 4 top pass-rushers to injury when evaluating the DL's pass-rushing output?

 

When other teams lose as many defensive players to injury as we have, their defenses look like absolute trainwrecks.  Ours is still pretty reasonable despite major personnel losses.

[GaryPinC]

2 minutes ago, Flipnmi said:

When was the last time the Bills were in a position to draft a real game changer? There aren't too many available when you are consistently picking at the end of round 1. In most years, the players available are really round 2 talent. You might get lucky and get a James Cook, but probably not. Anyone that says that Beane needs to trade up to get a top pick is not dealing in reality.  This is the way the NFL designed it.

It's a difficulty, but good GMs find a way to ID those players and get it done.  He's had 8 drafts + McDermott in 2017.  

[SunDSolar]

1 hour ago, Blackbeard said:

Thank your head coach. 

 

Or thank you Josh

[The Jokeman]

3 minutes ago, SunDSolar said:

 

Or thank you Josh

why not thank both?

[oldmanfan]

NFL teams do not make the playoffs several years in a row, and go 8-4 thus far this year, with a terrible roster.

[GaryPinC]

9 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

NFL teams do not make the playoffs several years in a row, and go 8-4 thus far this year, with a terrible roster.

Don't forget the division titles and playoff games won, lol!

[zow2]

The win was great yesterday, but I have no illusions about the playoffs.  This defense is not going on the road and winning 3 straight games against good teams.  Road games are different.  Allen won't be able to be Superman in all of them and you need a few defensive 3 and outs.

[BananaB]

1 hour ago, Steptide said:

My fear is that McDermotts defense is really no better than it's ever been. I'll explain. After we went up 11 yesterday, the Bengals get the ball and Burrow just chucks it right down the field in 2 or 3 plays and throws a td to Higgins. If it's the playoffs and we're up with a min or 2 left, I have zero confidence the defense can do anything. I don't know if it's the prevent or what. 

I agree with ya. The players change (a little bit, lol) injuries happen but the results are a lot of the same. Yeah they made two plays yesterday but you can’t overlook what happened the rest of the game because we got a W. 3rd down D has been terrible for a few years. If you can’t get stops on third down it wipes out what you did on the first 2 downs

Edited 47 minutes ago by BananaB

[Blackbeard]

31 minutes ago, SunDSolar said:

 

Or thank you Josh

Josh didn’t draft the game plan.  Josh didn’t make necessary adjustments at the half, especially on defense. Josh didn’t keep his players calm.  Josh didn’t play any other position than qb. 
 

josh is a big reason we win weekly.  But the coach is the other.  

30 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

why not thank both?

Cause some just cannot fathom the fact we have a fantastic coach.  A top 5 coach.  

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

@thenorthremembers is correct. I'm kind of getting tired of hearing how terrible a job Beane has done on the roster. 

 

Do we not have a top 5 offensive line for how many years running now?

Do we not have the best running game in the NFL? I recall the 20' -23' Bills teams and how a lot of the complaints at the time is that we could never build a consistent running game to help Allen.

Our defense isn't total garbage like the Bengals historically bad defense. Yeah, the Bengals have maybe the best WR tandem in the league, how is that working for them? Missed the playoffs how many straight years now?

 

Between the Chiefs, Ravens, Bengals and Bills it appears the Bills have the best overall roster despite our WR woes. 

[Jrb1979]

1 hour ago, Sweats said:

I don't think our roster is any worse than any other team.........i just don't think the players on our roster are living up to their potential.

 

We saw yesterday in the 4th quarter when they "turn it on" and wake up.

 

We need this enthusiasm and fire burning in their belly's on the first play in the 1st quarter and run with it the entire game, not just for one or two quarters.

I disagree. I don't think they turned it on at all. They got a timely turnover similar to last year.  The Josh put his cape on to carry them to victory.  

That IMO is the problem, Josh can't play like he did   in the 4th quarter for a full game.  

18 minutes ago, BananaB said:

I agree with ya. The players change (a little bit, lol) injuries happen but the results are a lot of the same. Yeah they made two plays yesterday but you can’t overlook what happened the rest of the game because we got a W. 3rd down D has been terrible for a few years. If you can’t get stops on third down it wipes out what you did on the first 2 downs

I will add, if they don't get a turnover the defense also struggles. If Benford doesn't get that INT, they probably lose that game. The Bengals were moving the ball with ease on this defense. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

1 hour ago, Puckman5 said:

They've all drafted at the bottom of the rounds and it's catching up.  Our Superman is the real Superman.  Unfortunately we have a coach that likes to play hide the cape in the name of complimentary football.   

 

One of the most common complaints we heard from 20' -23' is how we could not build a consistent and sustainable running game for the playoffs. Now that we have it and are playing complimentary football people are complaining that we can't air it out more. This is despite the fact we are still #2 offense in ypg and and #5 in ppg.