Buffalo Bills 2024 Thread

[Flashsabre]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nfl/article/john-elway-says-passing-on-josh-allen-was-biggest-mistake-as-broncos-gm/

[MattPie]

10 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nfl/article/john-elway-says-passing-on-josh-allen-was-biggest-mistake-as-broncos-gm/

I mean, easy in hindsight but there *were* some big question marks at the time.

[MISabresFan]

Injuries in Training camp could cost you your job in the NFL.  Claypool better suck it up,  Maybe Kim should talk to him about life and shake him up a bit...

[nfreeman]

I think JA is going to have a huge season.  The Bills don't have a Tyreke Hill, but they low-key have a bunch of weapons in Kincaid, Cook, Shakir, Knox, Curtis Samuel, and Coleman, and I think the RB they drafted, Ray Davis, will contribute as well.  JA is in the rich, meaty part of his prime and is going to spread the ball around like Joe Montana.

[mjd1001]

13 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I think JA is going to have a huge season.  The Bills don't have a Tyreke Hill, but they low-key have a bunch of weapons in Kincaid, Cook, Shakir, Knox, Curtis Samuel, and Coleman, and I think the RB they drafted, Ray Davis, will contribute as well.  JA is in the rich, meaty part of his prime and is going to spread the ball around like Joe Montana.

I never saw a reason he wouldn't have about the same kind of year he has had the last few. What does a QB need to have a good year? 

-he's had some time now with his offensive coordinator, so that transition isn't a huge one. Same head coach.

-About the same quality offensive line as in the past

-About the same quality RB as in the past.

-TE should be the same, hopefully SLIGHTLY better as Kincade isn't a rookie not knowing much coming in.

-So WR?  How different will this current group be from Gabe Davis and an 'seemingly' aging/declining (or at least dis-interested) Diggs?  I could make a case for the current group being the same, I could make a case the current group is slightly better, I can make a case the current group is slightly worse.  What I cannot do is make a case the current group is a LOT worse.  

With all that said, barring injury(ies), I expect a typical Josh Allen year, basically a top 5 QB in the league.

[triumph_communes]

It’s reportedly a whole new offense out there. One that Allen shouldn’t be asked to be a hero in. A lot to be optimistic about up front 

[Night Train]

D is my focus. 2 new players at S and already injury concerns. 

[inkman]

3 hours ago, Night Train said:

D is my focus.

 

[Demoted]

10 hours ago, Night Train said:

D is my focus. 2 new players at S and already injury concerns. 

Nah the Defense will be fine. That is the least of the worries. 

[JujuFish]

4 hours ago, Demoted said:

Nah the Defense will be fine. That is the least of the worries. 

The offense will be fine. That is the least of the worries.

 

So, by our powers combined, special teams is screwed.

[K-9]

On 7/30/2024 at 8:17 AM, MattPie said:

I mean, easy in hindsight but there *were* some big question marks at the time.

There was never a question in the scouting community. He was projected to be a high first round pick after his 2016 college season, with some scouts thinking he might have been the first QB taken in the 2017 draft had he elected to come out then. It was the talking heads who created an artificial narrative about “accuracy” after his last year in school that gave rise to “questions” but, again, GMs, scouts, coaches etc. never had them. Their main concern was his sheer inexperience at the position. 

[Taro T]

4 hours ago, K-9 said:

There was never a question in the scouting community. He was projected to be a high first round pick after his 2016 college season, with some scouts thinking he might have been the first QB taken in the 2017 draft had he elected to come out then. It was the talking heads who created an artificial narrative about “accuracy” after his last year in school that gave rise to “questions” but, again, GMs, scouts, coaches etc. never had them. Their main concern was his sheer inexperience at the position. 

And for some of us that didn't want Allen to be the pick, it was the combination of HIS inexperience along with the Bills coaching staff's inexperience & focus on a running game that was the reason for that.  Had Reid or someone else with the offensive chops of Andy been the HC, would've been all in on choosing Allen.  But the combination of Buffalo having shown no clue how to run an offense (except during the brief Gailey tenure) for 15+ years along with Allen being incredibly raw; saw the makings of a serious cluster developing at One Bills Drive.  

Turned out that the coaches and Palmer were able to get Josh to come crazily close to his ceiling; but going off the Bills track record, that definitely didn't seem to be anywhere close to a given at the time.

[K-9]

46 minutes ago, Taro T said:

And for some of us that didn't want Allen to be the pick, it was the combination of HIS inexperience along with the Bills coaching staff's inexperience & focus on a running game that was the reason for that.  Had Reid or someone else with the offensive chops of Andy been the HC, would've been all in on choosing Allen.  But the combination of Buffalo having shown no clue how to run an offense (except during the brief Gailey tenure) for 15+ years along with Allen being incredibly raw; saw the makings of a serious cluster developing at One Bills Drive.  

Turned out that the coaches and Palmer were able to get Josh to come crazily close to his ceiling; but going off the Bills track record, that definitely didn't seem to be anywhere close to a given at the time.

The plan was to let him carry a clipboard for a year while gaining insight from Daboll and the rest of the new offensive coaches on the staff. But as Beane said, AJ McCarron wasn’t who they thought he was, Peterman was a train wreck, and they had little other choice than to let him learn under fire. May have been the best thing to happen to him. And while he was inexperienced, his football aptitude tested off the charts (Daboll said he never saw a prospect like him when it came to his interviews, ability to diagnose plays, and recall) so I’m not sure he was “incredibly raw” so much as not having as much experience at the position as other first round QB prospects.

Who did you prefer with that 7th overall pick instead?

[shrader]

20 minutes ago, K-9 said:

 

Who did you prefer with that 7th overall pick instead?

Were they at 7 at the start of the day? They loved so many picks around in those 2 years. I completely forget their starting point. 

[K-9]

11 minutes ago, shrader said:

Were they at 7 at the start of the day? They loved so many picks around in those 2 years. I completely forget their starting point. 

We were at 12 to start the day after originally trading up to 12 from 21 with the Bengals. We got to 7 after trading with Tampa. Beane wove some magic in that draft. 

[Taro T]

56 minutes ago, K-9 said:

The plan was to let him carry a clipboard for a year while gaining insight from Daboll and the rest of the new offensive coaches on the staff. But as Beane said, AJ McCarron wasn’t who they thought he was, Peterman was a train wreck, and they had little other choice than to let him learn under fire. May have been the best thing to happen to him. And while he was inexperienced, his football aptitude tested off the charts (Daboll said he never saw a prospect like him when it came to his interviews, ability to diagnose plays, and recall) so I’m not sure he was “incredibly raw” so much as not having as much experience at the position as other first round QB prospects.

Who did you prefer with that 7th overall pick instead?

Hoped the Browns wouldn't grab him and the Bills would find a way up to 2 or 3, but wanted Mayfield that year.  Wasn't meant to be and it worked out very well.

Being bright doesn't mean he wasn't raw.  His mechanics have been significantly reworked since he came into the league.  And, not sure how "raw" and "not having as much experience" aren't getting at the same thing.

[Mr. Allen]

7 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Hoped the Browns wouldn't grab him and the Bills would find a way up to 2 or 3, but wanted Mayfield that year.  Wasn't meant to be and it worked out very well.

Being bright doesn't mean he wasn't raw.  His mechanics have been significantly reworked since he came into the league.  And, not sure how "raw" and "not having as much experience" aren't getting at the same thing.

Good for you for admitting Allen wasn’t #1 on your list.  So many (and I mean so many) didn’t want Allen and now they act like they always loved him.  A lot of them have convinced themselves they were always happy we drafted Allen when in reality they were pissing and morning when we took him. 

[K-9]

12 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Hoped the Browns wouldn't grab him and the Bills would find a way up to 2 or 3, but wanted Mayfield that year.  Wasn't meant to be and it worked out very well.

Being bright doesn't mean he wasn't raw.  His mechanics have been significantly reworked since he came into the league.  And, not sure how "raw" and "not having as much experience" aren't getting at the same thing.

To me, “incredibly raw” means having little understanding/aptitude of/for the position as well as  the relative inexperience in playing it. As I alluded to previously, Allen’s understanding and mental grasp of the job greatly impressed people. His mechanical issues weren’t a great concern, but his dedication to improving them nonetheless is impressive as he continues to work on them in the offseason, especially his work with Biometric to digitally map and improve the efficiency of his throwing motion. 

Since Mayfield was long gone by the time our pick came around, did you prefer drafting another position with the 7th pick?

[Taro T]

20 minutes ago, K-9 said:

To me, “incredibly raw” means having little understanding/aptitude of/for the position as well as  the relative inexperience in playing it. As I alluded to previously, Allen’s understanding and mental grasp of the job greatly impressed people. His mechanical issues weren’t a great concern, but his dedication to improving them nonetheless is impressive as he continues to work on them in the offseason, especially his work with Biometric to digitally map and improve the efficiency of his throwing motion. 

Since Mayfield was long gone by the time our pick came around, did you prefer drafting another position with the 7th pick?

Don't watch much college football.  Watch some.  Can't recall ever watching Wyoming.  The pundits all were pounding how raw he was.  It sure was coming across as he was "incredibly raw".   You seem fixated on the statement that his being raw as a big part of why he wasn't this kid's 1st choice; not fully sure why that is when it was a perception that was very common back then.  And, btw, compared to the rest of that QB class, he was raw.  He was a JC transfer and played on a WAC team (and a middling WAC team to boot).  He came pretty much "out of nowhere."

That combined with the lack of serious offensive credentials on the Bills staff (remember, though Daboll had been on the Cheats staff for a few SB's he was WR / TE coach for them.  His stints in the NFL in other locations were not impressive and a single year as the OC for Bama with all the talent and past success that program had wasn't all that impressive either.  Daboll seemed a step in the right direction compared to Dennison, but he wasn't exactly an A-lister at the time and he was the OC for a HC with a heavily defensive background who had been modestly successful as a HC enacting a very low risk game plan.  What screamed success at developing the raw kid.  Again, had the Bills had a coaching staff that had a more established record at developing O would've been very happy with the pick.

[That Aud Smell]

On 7/30/2024 at 8:25 AM, MISabresFan said:

Claypool better suck it up,  Maybe Kim should talk to him about life and shake him up a bit...

Bro.

[K-9]

2 hours ago, Taro T said:

Don't watch much college football.  Watch some.  Can't recall ever watching Wyoming.  The pundits all were pounding how raw he was.  It sure was coming across as he was "incredibly raw".   You seem fixated on the statement that his being raw as a big part of why he wasn't this kid's 1st choice; not fully sure why that is when it was a perception that was very common back then.  And, btw, compared to the rest of that QB class, he was raw.  He was a JC transfer and played on a WAC team (and a middling WAC team to boot).  He came pretty much "out of nowhere."

That combined with the lack of serious offensive credentials on the Bills staff (remember, though Daboll had been on the Cheats staff for a few SB's he was WR / TE coach for them.  His stints in the NFL in other locations were not impressive and a single year as the OC for Bama with all the talent and past success that program had wasn't all that impressive either.  Daboll seemed a step in the right direction compared to Dennison, but he wasn't exactly an A-lister at the time and he was the OC for a HC with a heavily defensive background who had been modestly successful as a HC enacting a very low risk game plan.  What screamed success at developing the raw kid.  Again, had the Bills had a coaching staff that had a more established record at developing O would've been very happy with the pick.

Not fixated in the least and certainly not on why you are anyone else didn’t have him as your 1st choice. There are a myriad of reasons someone might nit  and that’s totally understandable and just fine by me. I’m merely relaying what I was told not long after that draft by two GMs I’ve known since they were kids running around the building as well as a couple of scouts. That made it easy to ignore the artificial narrative about “<60% completion rate” and “mechanical issues”, both of which were not of much concern. Allen almost came out after his 2016 season and he would have been a high draft pick in the 2017 draft as well. As raw as he may have been, his talent was readily apparent and it just couldn’t be ignored. Talent evaluators understood that very early on.  

Anyway, it’s water long under the bridge and we’re all happy about Josh now.

[Demoted]

On 7/31/2024 at 12:25 PM, JujuFish said:

The offense will be fine. That is the least of the worries.

 

So, by our powers combined, special teams is screwed.

True no one knows what the new kickoff will look like.

 

Also NFL preseason starts tonight if anyone is interested in seeing the new kickoff. Texans vs Bears 8pm

Edited August 1 by Demoted

[K-9]

36 minutes ago, Demoted said:

True no one knows what the new kickoff will look like.

 

Also NFL preseason starts tonight if anyone is interested in seeing the new kickoff. Texans vs Bears 8pm

It will look like this:

 

 

[Demoted]

45 minutes ago, K-9 said:

It will look like this:

 

 

Yea we shall see what these special teams coaches come up with.

[Gatorman0519]

Going to be a tough year I think.  Secondary has little depth and a patch a raft back end, an at best average d-line and pass rush.  No superstar pass rusher or game wrecking DT. The signs are already alarming if you are honest.  JA doesn't have super stars at the skill position. Hopefully the committee approach works. Hard to see us winning more than 9-10 games with that schedule.