Bills no pressure like last year.

[YardRat]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

---Allen plateaued last season, at best. We may have seen his ceiling already. Some guys just don't have 'it', and he may turn out to be one of them. Skipped working out with Palmer this off-season if the reports are true. Not encouraging.
---Cook is a gadget...Harris gets dinged...Murray is old.
---Last year at training camp we thought we had one of the best receiver rooms in the league. And Diggs wasn't pissing and moaning.

---Hyde, Poyer and White are another year older and another year more fragile.
---Dline was stacked last season at this time but severely under-achieved without Miller, who isn't going to be available at first and is another year older and more fragile.
---LBers are status quo, at best.

"Humble and hungry" is just rhetoric, I don't see it in action. I'll be pleasantly surprised if they can hold on to the division this season let alone improve on last year.

[sukie]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

---Allen plateaued last season, at best. We may have seen his ceiling already. Some guys just don't have 'it', and he may turn out to be one of them. Skipped working out with Palmer this off-season if the reports are true. Not encouraging.
---Cook is a gadget...Harris gets dinged...Murray is old.
---Last year at training camp we thought we had one of the best receiver rooms in the league. And Diggs wasn't pissing and moaning.

---Hyde, Poyer and White are another year older and another year more fragile.
---Dline was stacked last season at this time but severely under-achieved without Miller, who isn't going to be available at first and is another year older and more fragile.
---LBers are status quo, at best.

"Humble and hungry" is just rhetoric, I don't see it in action. I'll be pleasantly surprised if they can hold on to the division this season let alone improve on last year.

Allen plateaued with an elbow ligament issue? I just hope Dorsey hasn’t plateaued

[JoeMama]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

If Josh Allen were paired with Andy Reid, we wouldn't be having these discussions about:

"Is Allen the right guy to get us a ring?"
"Has Allen plateaued?"
"Does Allen care enough?"

Etc Etc

Allen is not what's holding us back.

[notacon]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

They're 3rd in Vegas Odds to win the SB though.

Yeah....I have no idea where sukie got "the Bills are anywhere from 4th to 10th in league preseason power rankings” I have not seen the Bills any lower than 4th or 5th.

But his point is well taken in that the pressure is lower than last season. And that may, or may not turn out to be a good thing. I for one, do not believe the outside expectation mean as much as we outsiders think they do.

Not to say expectations have “no” effect. There is little doubt that Cincy thought themselves disrespected and over performed. That came back to bite them in the ass when the whole team got OVERCONFIDENT to the point of annoying cockiness where the "Burrowhead” smack talk and the mayor of Cincy making fools of themselves absolutely motivated the Chiefs.

I also believe that the Bills offensive failures (especially in the Cincy game) and throughout last season where the OFFENSE is why the Bills lost every one of the games they did, will have to team putting pressure on themselves.

The expectations games is less important than the changes that have taken place as sukie mentions.

What he did not mention is the unusual number of highly impactful injuries that severely hampered the defense....Hyde out almost the full season, Von Miller out when it counted most, Tre’ White barely gaining pre-injury performance level, relentless injuries to the backups...and their backups...and their backups....throughout the whole year.

Despite the challenges for the defense they STILL had a fantastic year. Elite defense for sure, but without the injuries they could have been dominating. Maybe that will come this season if they stay relatively healthy.

The more worrisome reality from last season was that the offense hardly had any impactful injuries. Yes, Josh hurt his elbow, but it did not seem to affect him that much. (McKenzie verified that in his Go Long podcast)

What was very disconcerting was despite the lack of injuries on the offense, they were more and more inconsistent and firing blanks more and more as the season progressed. Scoring only 10 points in a playoff game is an almost guaranteed LOSS.

That’s why I am encouraged that the offense has been massively overhauled. Every position group is seeing profound changes (except QB of course).

In the AFC a dynamic offense is critical for success. KC has not enjoyed their success because of a stellar defense.

[notacon]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

The reason for this in pundits eyes is we basically stayed the same while other teams in the AFC got better.

You could argue, if you think Edmunds was some stud, that we actually got worse especially on the defensive side of the ball.

We're obviously a playoff team but last year was where everything fell the way it should have...until Hamlin...and the team derailed from there.

Until Von.

You are both right, to an extent. It was the accumulation of so many events. One on top of the other, until it just became too much to bear.

[notacon]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

---Allen plateaued last season, at best. We may have seen his ceiling already. Some guys just don't have 'it', and he may turn out to be one of them. Skipped working out with Palmer this off-season if the reports are true. Not encouraging.
---Cook is a gadget...Harris gets dinged...Murray is old.
---Last year at training camp we thought we had one of the best receiver rooms in the league. And Diggs wasn't pissing and moaning.

---Hyde, Poyer and White are another year older and another year more fragile.
---Dline was stacked last season at this time but severely under-achieved without Miller, who isn't going to be available at first and is another year older and more fragile.
---LBers are status quo, at best.

"Humble and hungry" is just rhetoric, I don't see it in action. I'll be pleasantly surprised if they can hold on to the division this season let alone improve on last year.

Count on one of our Negative Nancy curmudgeons to present the "reverse-homer" perspective.

“Homers” are defined by fans who judgment is clouded and biased by their love of their team and attribute more quality for their team than reality presents. They ignore glaring deficiencies and overestimate the positives.

“Reverse-Homers” are defined by “fans” whose judgement is clouded by their pessimism and underlying biased skepticism (and I suspect underlying dislike of their team) and attribute less quality for their team than reality presents. They ignore the positives and overestimate the negatives.

[sukie]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

Where I got it from (the power rankings) is the talking heads. Just scour YouTube. It’s all there. Very few have Buffalo better than top 5. And that 5 is for all teams.

some have them 5th in AFC.

the point wasn’t exact rankings… it was Nobody has them in the dance. No one talking about Allen. It’s kinda nice not being the focus.

[Woodman]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

Nobody has them in the dance. No one talking about Allen. It’s kinda nice not being the focus.

And that's the way we like it.

[Mace]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

The team peaked and became timid...reflecting McDermott...who has no "all in" drive whatever. Adequate has become the standard...and they assume it will work out.

This is not a championship team.

[sukie]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

The team peaked and became timid...reflecting McDermott...who has no "all in" drive whatever. Adequate has become the standard...and they assume it will work out.

This is not a championship team.

Take magnesium an wear loose fitting boxers… limit Sucralose intake and stop all corn syrup. This may be a side effect of heavy Statin use but there is hope that it’s reversible. Opivitis isn’t something to brush off as “not so bad”.

[notacon]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

Where I got it from (the power rankings) is the talking heads. Just scour YouTube. It’s all there. Very few have Buffalo better than top 5. And that 5 is for all teams.

some have them 5th in AFC.

the point wasn’t exact rankings… it was Nobody has them in the dance. No one talking about Allen. It’s kinda nice not being the focus.

Youtube is a terrible source for anything. I don’t waste my time there. Any idiot can present themselves as a “talking head”. Low value (at least to me).

I read the credible national media sites like....


CBS Sports - #3

ESPN - #4

NFL.com’s Dan Hanzus - #4

The Athletic - #4

Sporting News - #4

NBC Sports - #4

Fox Sports - #4

USA Today - #4


Even PFF, who constantly like to **** on the Bills- #5. (inexplicably down from #4 pre-draft?!?!?)


You need to get your head out of the gutter of Youtube and READ better sources.


Like I said...."Yeah....I have no idea where sukie got "the Bills are anywhere from 4th to 10th in league preseason power rankings” I have not seen the Bills any lower than 4th or 5th.” (actually, almost ALL of them that are credible have the Bills at #4....which is extremely fair)

[sukie]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

Talking heads. The shows on those networks like Cowherd , Joy Taylor, Eisen etc. the ones that “talk”. God dammit!

[notacon]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

Talking heads. The shows on those networks like Cowherd , Joy Taylor, Eisen etc. the ones that “talk”. God dammit!

Cowherd is an ass hat. He regularly ****s on the Bills. I never heard of Joy Taylor. And I have never seen any power ranking form Eisen.

I read, and value pawer rankings form those that do it as a normal part of their job, or from credible nationally knows sites that offer up the same repeatedly as a regular journalistic feature....like those that I presented.

Funny (not really, I already knew), that none of the major sports media sites I presented have the Bills lower than #5, and that was only one (another site that regularly ****s on the Bills PFF).

All the rest had them at #4 and one at #3.

Sorry, but your premise that I objected to...."the Bills are anywhere from 4th to 10th in league preseason power rankings.”....to has been found to be less than accurate.

[sukie]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

What you pay for and read is not what I’m talking about.

Cowherd has them 5. Joy Taylor, his former cohost, has a show. Emmanuel Acho had the Bills 7 th in the AFC some rando Vegas betting show had them at 5 in NFL.

this is a welcome precipitous plummet from last year.

Josh is either 2 or 3 in QB rank so something is giving everyone pause.

Pause away. I hated the preseason anointing.

[Woodman]

Re: Bills no pressure like last year.

The Crown fits best after the season.

Hate the pre-crown ceremony.