........are you confident for the future of the Bills?

[hondo in seattle]

I am not confident.

 

Beane started his GM career with a bang, getting Josh with his very first ever draft pick.  Since then, he's been middling. 

 

The 90s Bills were loaded with stars.  Kelly, Reed, Lofton, Thurman on offense.  Bruce, Biscuit, Talley, Nate Odomes on defense.  Steve Tasker on ST.  Hall of Famers, Pro Bowlers, and playmakers everywhere.  And even all that wasn't enough to bring home a trophy.  

 

Where are Beane's legends?  His Biscuit and Bruce?  His Reed and Lofton?

 

HOF GM Ron Wolf averaged 1.33 Pro Bowlers per draft in his 9-year career.  Beane averages a pedestrian .38 Pro Bowlers/year in his 8-year career.  

 

And if Beane can't establish a process that gets draft picks (or FAs) right, why would I trust him to get a HC pick right?  

 

And the odds on the coach don't seem to be good.  There are no sure-fire SB coaches in this group.  Just some retreads with uninspiring records and young dudes who may or may not have potential.  

 

So, no, I'm not confident though I always hope.  Maybe Beane gets better as a GM.  Maybe his HC pick turns out to be a future HOF-er.  A guy can dream, but I wouldn't bet my money on Brandon Beane right now.  (But I still appreciate Sweats' optimism!).  

 

 

Edited January 26 by hondo in seattle

[jaab1028]

My crystal ball sees Josh Allen demanding a trade to Los Angeles Rams so he can extend his career and give him a better chance at winning the SuperBowl.

[BobbyC81]

Not now!   It’s very telling that already 2 candidates have backed out of consideration.

[Camisado]

Zero confidence. At this point, I don't have confidence that the Bills will win an SB championship any time soon! It hasn't happened in my lifetime yet, hasn't happened with Josh Allen yet, and to be honest my confidence and faith that they can do it within the next 10 years has dwindling to nearly zero. I've been trying to move on and just focus on other things and may be try to get into other sports such as the Sabres with hockey or the Blue Jays with baseball. NFL just isn't fun or worth watching anymore and I honestly feel like I need to take a long hiatus from watching it...

Edited January 26 by Camisado

[Nihilarian]

3 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

I am not confident.

 

Beane started his GM career with a bang, getting Josh with his very first ever draft pick.  Since then, he's been middling. 

 

The 90s Bills were loaded with stars.  Kelly, Reed, Lofton, Thurman on offense.  Bruce, Biscuit, Talley, Nate Odomes on defense.  Steve Tasker on ST.  Hall of Famers, Pro Bowlers, and playmakers everywhere.  And even all that wasn't enough to bring home a trophy.  

 

Where are Beane's legends?  His Biscuit and Bruce?  His Reed and Lofton?

 

HOF GM Ron Wolf averaged 1.33 Pro Bowlers per draft in his 9-year career.  Beane averages a pedestrian .33 Pro Bowlers/year in his 8-year career.  

 

And if Beane can't establish a process that gets draft picks (or FAs) right, why would I trust him to get a HC pick right?  

 

And the odds on the coach don't seem to be good.  There are no sure-fire SB coaches in this group.  Just some retreads with uninspiring records and young dudes who may or may not have potential.  

 

So, no, I'm not confident though I always hope.  Maybe Beane gets better as a GM.  Maybe his HC pick turns out to be a future HOF-er.  A guy can dream, but I wouldn't bet my money on Brandon Beane right now.  (But I still appreciate Sweats' optimism!).  

 

What I found truly amazing about Bill Polian is that even though the Buffalo Bills had one of the best pass-rushing DEs in Bruce Smith. He realized that you need more than one, so he made this crazy Halloween-time trade between the Rams and the Colts for LBer Cornilius Bennett. I do believe that Bennett was a force at Alabama with Derrick Thomas, and he was drafted by Indy, yet didn't want anything to do with them.

 

Polian swooped in and stole him away from the Colts. In October 1987, the Indianapolis Colts traded rookie linebacker Cornelius Bennett to the Buffalo Bills as part of a complex three-team "trade of the decade" involving Eric Dickerson. Bennett, a 1987 holdout, was dealt after failing to reach a contract agreement with the Colts, becoming a cornerstone of the Bills' 1990s defense. Great stuff! 

[Kirby Jackson]

Honest question, how can you have less confidence today than you did before the Denver game? You would have had MORE confidence if they ran it back than you do now?!? I would have cleaned house but any, and every change, to the leadership was going to be progress. Someone help me understand how, after 6 straight failures, where the defense gave up 32.8PPG, you are less confident than you were?

[Sweats]

1 hour ago, Virgil said:

No, I'm not.  And it's not about being pessimistic.  It's about trends and betting odds to some level.

 

What's more likely, that a team who's never figured it out will magically do so after 60 years, or that they will keep missing.  The fact that the Pats and Chiefs have been represented in every AFC championship for the last 20+ years and only the Bengals have made it to the SB in that time says a lot.  At this point, the Pats and the Chiefs are the house, and you don't bet against the house.

 

Also, when you look at the other teams like the Lions, Browns, Jets who also can't get it done but have had close moments, there's almost something cosmic or fated to it.

 

So until it actually happens, I do not believe it will.  

 

 

 

Virgil, i am the first one to read through your weekly insight threads after each Bills game (i know those threads were getting few and far between lately and i understand the frustration and angst)....... I value your opinion and some of the thoughts you throw on the table are note-worthy, insightful and left me thinking in no suggested direction about this franchise in a lot of different aspects, whether i agreed with you or not.

 

To each his own on opinions, i truly believe that.

I will never sway anyone to "my side" of thinking, however, your post here makes sense in some ways, but not in others.......

 

I don't believe in luck, fate or cosmic circumstances, and it might just come down to the simple fact that some franchises are just built differently than others. Some franchises simply know what they are doing and most don't. Some franchises have owners that know what they are doing, most don't. Some franchises have GM's who know what they are doing, most don't. Some franchises of a HC who know what they are doing, most don't.

 

KC and NE have GM's, coaching, owners, etc. who seem to know what they are doing which is why they are in the situation and conversation of the past 20 years.........most other teams are simply just trying to either keep up or catch up and some along the way are just simply lost with no hope at all.

Honestly, i don't know where Buffalo fits into this scenario where we just never seem to be quite "good enough". I don't know who is to blame, but i have to believe that we will finally put all the pieces together at some point.

 

Our owner finally decided that the barometer of just being "good" was just not quite good enough. He wants better for the team, the players, the fans, etc........and that is what is giving me hope and some confidence that we are moving in the right direction.

 

I don't fault anyone for making difficult decisions in trying to better themselves whether it works out or not and to me, if you are at least willing to make changes, then it tells me that you are willing to let go of the past (right or wrong, good or bad) and you are willing to move forward.......and forward is what this team needs.

[LarryMadman]

10 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Honest question, how can you have less confidence today than you did before the Denver game? You would have had MORE confidence if they ran it back than you do now?!? I would have cleaned house but any, and every change, to the leadership was going to be progress. Someone help me understand how, after 6 straight failures, where the defense gave up 32.8PPG, you are less confident than you were?

Majority of these no confidence people dont do well with change and are scared of their own shadow at the same time, lemmings if you will!

[Nihilarian]

We don't know...who will be the next Buffalo Bills HC...who will be the next Buffalo Bills OC...who will be the next Buffalo Bills DC...What players will be drafted...what players will be brought in as free agents...what players will leave...will the Bills get a better pass rush... will the Bills get a #1 WR?

 

Plus, the really very good O-line coach, Aaron Kromer, is retiring. Unsettling. Then Miami hired away the Bills Special Teams coach from last year. Unsettling. 

[gordong]

ask this after we hire a head coach

[Arkansasrifle]

After 60 years and counting. Slightly Optimistic.

[DaVinci]

Extremely confident and excited. 

[BobbyC81]

30 minutes ago, jaab1028 said:

My crystal ball sees Josh Allen demanding a trade to Los Angeles Rams so he can extend his career and give him a better chance at winning the SuperBowl.

 

I would not be surprised and wouldn’t hold it against him if he did.

[frostbitmic]

15 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Honest question, how can you have less confidence today than you did before the Denver game? You would have had MORE confidence if they ran it back than you do now?!? I would have cleaned house but any, and every change, to the leadership was going to be progress. Someone help me understand how, after 6 straight failures, where the defense gave up 32.8PPG, you are less confident than you were?

For me the reason is I believe they should've cleaned house ... I have hope but little faith in who Beane will select to be HC in his first HC search, I just have a terrible feeling in my gut he'll hire Daboll and we'll be looking for a new HC a couple years later ... Maybe I just need some Pepto.

[Mango]

19 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Honest question, how can you have less confidence today than you did before the Denver game? You would have had MORE confidence if they ran it back than you do now?!? I would have cleaned house but any, and every change, to the leadership was going to be progress. Someone help me understand how, after 6 straight failures, where the defense gave up 32.8PPG, you are less confident than you were?

 

Pegula, his press conference, Daboll, McDaniel, and Rivers are cummulatively underwhelming to me. 

I think we are at a tipping point. We will either get much better or we will either get much worse. 

It is really tough to have this conversation because it no longer feels like we are just moving on from McD in a vaccuum. So painting with a broad brush, sure, I feel fine. But once I start peeling back the layers I start to get nervous. 

[Robert Paulson]

Let's see who the HC OC and DC are and I will let you know.

[Kirby Jackson]

Just now, frostbitmic said:

For me the reason is I believe they should've cleaned house ... I have hope but little faith in who Beane will select to be HC in his first HC search, I just have a terrible feeling in my gut he'll hire Daboll and we'll be looking for a new HC a couple years later ... Maybe I just need some Pepto.

I would have dumped Beane too. I think Daboll is an EXTREME longshot personally. Even still, he’s an upgrade. He believes in attacking. Every single person they are talking to is an upgrade in my mind. After watching those defensive collapses for 6 straight years, there is nothing that tells me, “the next guy will do worse than this.” What McDermott believed in was a failed philosophy. So while the situation isn’t “perfect” it is a step in the right direction even if it isn’t the 3 steps we were all looking for.

1 minute ago, Mango said:

 

Pegula, his press conference, Daboll, McDaniel, and Rivers are cummulatively underwhelming to me. 

I think we are at a tipping point. We will either get much better or we will either get much worse. 

It is really tough to have this conversation because it no longer feels like we are just moving on from McD in a vaccuum. So painting with a broad brush, sure, I feel fine. But once I start peeling back the layers I start to get nervous. 

Define “much worse.” If we hire Daboll, for example, which I don’t expect, what’s “much worse” look like? 

[Mod_Squad_Reject]

Moving on from McD was step 1 in moving the ball in the right direction.  Seeing who they hire will tell me how serious they are at becoming a better football team.

 

Hire a retread like Daboll or make an inexperienced Webb head coach tells me it’s just more of the same.  Rolling with Kubiak with a guy like Webb as OC tells me they’re dead serious.

Edited January 26 by Mod_Squad_Reject

[Billy Claude]

50% chance this is going to end up like the Chargers after they fired Marty Schottemhimer

30% chance that results will be similar or slightly worse than before.

20% chance they at least end up in the Super Bowl with a 50/50 chance of winning it.

[SCBills]

Not sure how anyone watches these playoffs, with what’s happened in previous years also in mind, and doesn’t come to the conclusion that we are closer today than we’ve ever been to getting to a Super Bowl.  
 

McDermott and his philosophy was never getting us there. 
 

At least now we have a legitimate window with the best player in football.   
 

Could make the Super Bowl next year or could miss the playoffs but that gets us closer to a chance than we’ve ever had with a HC who’s ceiling was always, very clearly, a playoff win or two but never via the 1 seed and never getting to the Super Bowl.