DING DONG, THE BILLS ARE DEAD!!!

Damn, that team complains about everything. Sorry, Bills, you actually have to EARN a championship. Stop bitching and moaning and accept defeat - deal with it.

I’ve read a couple articles on those same quotes by the Bills GM (like the one linked below). Sounds like a lot of sour grapes to me.

I don't want to suck bad enough to have to get Ja'Marr Chase."

Yea, that's just a classless shot at the team that just beat ya. But what I want to know…

The Bills were outmatched by the Bengals on both sides of the line of scrimmage, and the limitations of their receiving talent beyond All-Pro Stefon Diggs was on full display as they failed to score a touchdown through the air Sunday. They could clearly use upgrades in the trenches and at skill positions, hence the question about Cincinnati's superior receiving corps that features Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd.

https://sports.yahoo.com/bills-gm-brandon-beane-takes-shot-at-bengals-dont-want-to-have-to-suck-bad-enough-to-have-to-get-jamarr-chase-234537689.html

…where was all this talk about Bengals roster being superior to the Bills before the game? I didn’t hear one iota of even a suggestion that the Bills were somehow not the most superior team in the NFL before you they lost. Sounds like a lot of hindsight, retro-fitting the narrative to meet your new unexpected reality.

But you know, all this talking about the Bengals only being good now because they sucked so much before does raise an interesting question. Did the Dolphins have the unfortunate luck of deciding to suck (the supposed tank job Flores claims he was forced to endure) at the same time the Bengals were sucking. And maybe, just maybe, the Bengals were better at sucking than Miami?

Perhaps this is another thread, but maybe someone (cough, cough DF316) could look at the resources the Bengals had beginning with that 2020 draft and what they’ve done with them versus the plethora of resources the Phins had and the results they got. It could just be a matter of the Bengals having a 2 year head start cause they hired (and stuck with) Zac Taylor to groom and design a system around Burrow and Miami essentially trashed Tua’s first couple years with Flores. Would be an interesting analysis…you know, now that the media has decided its actually the Bengals that are the model of superiority (Who? What? The Bills? Nah, we never said that!).

mercury22nathan wrote:

…where was all this talk about Bengals roster being superior to the Bills before the game?  I didn’t hear one iota of even a suggestion that the Bills were somehow not the most superior team in the NFL before you they lost.  Sounds like a lot of hindsight, retro-fitting the narrative to meet your new unexpected reality.

Exactly! Well before the season started, nearly every "analyst" had the Bills in the Super Bowl and couldn't say enough about the team's talent in all phases, and of course Josh Allen was talked about like he was the greatest player in NFL history.

And even before last week's game, the narrative was that the Bills' "dominant" defense was going to destroy a Bengals' OL that featured THREE backups.

Did the Bills complain when they had back-to-back top 10 picks in 2018 and 2019 and drafted Josh Allen and Ed Oliver? How is that any different than the Bengals drafting Burrow and Chase?

Remember the quote: “Be humble in victory and gracious in defeat.” That's the opposite of the Bills. Fuck 'em.

The Bengals defense is a big part of their success.

To hammer the Bills at home and hold them to a meager 10 points is an outstanding performance by a defense that didn't seem to be getting much respect. You can say it's Lou Anarumo, but this is really the first year they've been good, maybe the GM finally got the roster right on defense?

Great point, white. The Bengals D was #6 in points allowed, and no one was talking about them. All I heard was how great the Bills' D was.

Fact is, the Bengals' D gave the Bills' "unstoppable" offense a good ol' fashioned ass kicking, while the Bills' D didn't even bother to show up for the game!

#6 overall wow I didn't know they were that good!

Give McDaniel a defense that good and we win several of the games we ended up losing.

Many due to late, clock killing, fourth quarter scoring drives where we just could not get off the field.

white1 wrote:#6 overall wow I didn't know they were that good!

Give McDaniel a defense that good and we win several of the games we ended up losing.

Many due to late, clock killing, fourth quarter scoring drives where we just could not get off the field.

The best teams consistently play complementary football. I use that term a lot, because it is so damn important - and it is something that has been very rare with the Dolphins for decades.

Just look at this season...we had a top 10 offense and a bottom 5 defense. I haven't seen the special teams rankings, but I bet we're bottom 5 there as well. That's simply not a winning formula. Our 9-9 overall record reflects that.

On offense - eat some clock and score TDs. On defense - get off the field quickly, force turnovers, don't allow TDs. On STs, give your team good field position and make the FGs you're supposed to make. Good teams get good contributions like that from all 3 units in every game - that's literally how you consistently win games.

Give this team even a mid-level defense and mid-level STs, and we are competing not just for a playoff spot but a Super Bowl Championship. I absolutely believe that. And by adding a coach like Fangio to the talent on that side of the ball, I think we'll do much better than mid-level on defense.

white1 wrote:Here you go DF - even better:  Now the Bills GM is grousing about the Bengals having a great QB and WR on a rookie deal. Gives them an UNFAIR advantage that he has no way to fight.

I guess... but didn't he have a similar position when Josh Allen was still on his rookie deal? Oh, but no championship though, so... I guess I'm confused now?

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/01/25/brandon-beane-bengals-have-advantage-of-joe-burrow-and-jamarr-chase-on-rookie-contracts/

HA!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!

Beane doesn't even realize that 1.) he just admitted to having poor drafts recently and 2.) the Bills really DID expect the NFL to just ramrod them to the title without them having to do much of anything!

The comments are gold Jerry, GOLD~! Beane's getting rightfully roasted for deciding to throw lots of money at Diggs when he easily could've drafted Justin Jefferson instead. People are also pointing out how the Pats were able to win with Brady all those years and how the Chiefs just reached their 5th straight AFC title game without Hill and with Mahomes' megadeal.

BTW I was talking to my sister about this today and even SHE realized--without even any prompting from me--how the NFL was bending over backwards to help the Bills any way they could. My sister does follow football but she's more of a college fan whose interest in the NFL is casual at best. That's how obvious the rigging was.

Who/what are the Bills going to blame for their loss next, climate change? Trump? Unvaxxed people? Racism? Elon Musk? It really is hilarious and absurd at the same time.

white1 wrote:The Bengals defense is a big part of their success.  

To hammer the Bills at home and hold them to a meager 10 points is an outstanding performance by a defense that didn't seem to be getting much respect.  You can say it's Lou Anarumo, but this is really the first year they've been good, maybe the GM finally got the roster right on defense?

This season's Bengals allowed 2 fewer points per game than last season's Bengals--and had two more wins (we all know it would've been three except well, you know).

If the Fins' new DC can get this D to allow just 2 fewer points per game next season, how many more wins will they have?

BTW I want to thank you guys for coming through for me with some quality Bills bashing on one of my rare days off

There are some posts I will address a bit later (Merc) when my schedule gets back on track.

mercury22nathan wrote:But you know, all this talking about the Bengals only being good now because they sucked so much before does raise an interesting question.  Did the Dolphins have the unfortunate luck of deciding to suck (the supposed tank job Flores claims he was forced to endure) at the same time the Bengals were sucking.  And maybe, just maybe, the Bengals were better at sucking than Miami?

Perhaps this is another thread, but maybe someone (cough, cough DF316) could look at the resources the Bengals had beginning with that 2020 draft and what they’ve done with them versus the plethora of resources the Phins had and the results they got.  It could just be a matter of the Bengals having a 2 year head start cause they hired (and stuck with) Zac Taylor to groom and design a system around Burrow and Miami essentially trashed Tua’s first couple years with Flores.  Would be an interesting analysis…you know, now that the media has decided its actually the Bengals that are the model of superiority (Who?  What?  The Bills?  Nah, we never said that!).

Funny you should say that. The Bengals played the 2020 draft straight as an arrow. They had seven picks, the first in every round, and didn't make any trades. Literally as vanilla as you get, especially these days.

Grier meanwhile, had already finagled 2 extra firsts from the Texans going in, and had twice as many picks as Cincy through the first 3 rounds (6 to 3) and 11 picks to their 7. He then traded down 4 spots in the first with the Packers so they could take Jordan Love and at 30 whiffed with the Iggy pick. In between the Ravens selected LB Patrick Queen, who'd sure look good in aqua and orange right now (sighs).

Grier had a second 2nd rounder after trading with the Saints the previous draft so they could get C Erik McCoy. McCoy's been a bit banged up the last 2 seasons, so it's hard to say how much of an upgrade he'd be over Connor Williams, but then again having him on roster might've kept Williams at guard, so...BTW this pick was spent on Raekwon Davis, a player nobody ever talks about good or bad.

Grier then traded the 4th he got from Green Bay to move up for Love, and a 4h round comp pick to the Texans to move up in the round for Solomon Kindley, who wasn't on the team this season.

In addition to all that, the first rounder used on Austin Jackson and the 5th rounder used on DE Jason Strowbridge (no longer on the team) were obtained by Grier for Minkah. The Steelers selected starting OL Kevin Dotson with a 4th they got in that trade. Dotson...is apparently not that good, but could've at least been depth in Miami.

Grier then traded a 5th and a 7th to the Eagles to move up in the round so he could get DE Curtis Weaver, yet another 2020 draftee no longer with us. That 5th turned into WR Darnell Mooney, who had a thousand-yard receiving season for the Bears in 2021.

There's more, but it reiterates what I keep saying about Grier. He's that guy who wins 50 grand in the casino but instead of walking away, keeps gambling until he's 50 grand in the hole.

Here are links to a site that has every NFL draft pick transaction ever (I highly recommend it and shout out to Hal for introducing me to it), as well as the Bengals and Fins 2020 draft classes.

https://www.prosportstransactions.com/football/DraftTrades/Years/

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cin/2020_draft.htm

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/mia/2020_draft.htm

EDIT: And yes, the Bengals put on an absolute masterclass in tanking. Zac Taylor was a first year coach just like Flores, yet somehow going 2-14 his first season didn't hurt him one bit. Go figure. We've seen several first year coaches fired for similar efforts. The way they suddenly scored two TDs VS the Fins in the last 30 seconds of the penultimate game before losing in OT was the best job of making a tank look good I've ever seen. Then they won the finale--after they'd already made sure they'd get the first pick ahead of the 3-win Redskins and Lions. Just brilliant, even more so than the Colts' masterful tank job in 2011. And so of course THIS team gets blamed by the league for tanking when every other team that does it (including the Colts AGAIN this season) gets off scot free

I don't see that Bengals 2020 draft as being that much better, if at all, then Miami's draft class that year.

The Bengals got a franchise QB, a very good #2 receiver, a solid starting LB, and some backups and special teamers.

The Phins got a franchise QB, a potential starting RT, a solid starting guard, a solid DT, a rising star at safety, and a top long snapper that will likely be with the team for the next decade.

As for Raekwon Davis specifically, he has gotten better each season and is a big reason for our very good run D this season. He's been a key piece of the DL rotation.

I'd also add that there's no reason to lament missing out on Patrick Queen - arguably the most overrated LB in the NFL, and no better than Jerome Baker.

Ultimately, Grier has hits and misses - just like every other GM that's ever lived. It's the nature of the job.

Another thing about Grier's poor drafting that needs to be pointed out: He keeps trading up for players that turn out to not be all that special!

Eichenberg? Solomon Kindley? DE Weaver?

I agree that proper usage in the draft sometimes requires you to trade up, but at some point, trading up should get you that special player you felt would be special enough to trade up to acquire?? That doesn't seem to be the case with Grier.

I sincerely hope we see Grier employ a better draft strategy in this draft. My fear is he does like last year and trades the entire draft (and some picks next year) away for another player or two!

finfanatic wrote:Another thing about Grier's poor drafting that needs to be pointed out: He keeps trading up for players that turn out to not be all that special!

Eichenberg?  Solomon Kindley? DE Weaver?

I agree that proper usage in the draft sometimes requires you to trade up, but at some point, trading up should get you that special player you felt would be special enough to trade up to acquire??  That doesn't seem to be the case with Grier.

I sincerely hope we see Grier employ a better draft strategy in this draft. My fear is he does like last year and trades the entire draft (and some picks next year) away for another player or two!

I do agree that the trade ups don't always work out. It's generally a better policy to trade down and get more picks rather than trade up for a particular player - unless of course it is a special player like the Chiefs got by trading up for Mahomes.

I don't think we're going to make anymore big trades - we don't have the ammo or cap space.

This thread is getting derailed again...

Here's the (hopefully) complete list of Bills fan excuses this season.

1. The first Dolphins game was too hot, and the team and NFL should be sued for violating OSHA regulations! Also, out secondary was decimated with injuries!

2. The weather for the playoff loss was too cold, and it was unfair for our team who lives and practices daily in those conditions to be expected to win!

3. The players on our D that allowed the second fewest points per game are all too small and soft and need replacing!

4. The O-line sucks!

5. Our GM can't draft even though our team has the league's second best record and best point differential since 2019!

6. Josh Allen sucks and will never win the big one so we need to get a better QB!

7. Sean McDermott sucks in playoff games and is the new Marty Schottenheimer! (Seriously, I have seen their fans actually saying this.)

8. The players just couldn't go on after Hamlin's heart attack even though 2 days later he was fine and visited them multiple times!

9. Did we mention injuries? Because our team had them and every other team was perfectly fine!

10. Other teams have better players than us because they tanked and we didn't! (Okay, so this was a GM excuse.)