A lot of lessons to learn here.
First of all…names you know don’t equal blue chip players. They lose Tre White coming off two major injuries. Micah Hyde effectively retires at 33 (hasn’t officially. Has said he will only play in Buffalo if he were to change his mind anyway). Jordan Poyer leaves at 33 coming off several injury issues. They move on from Mitch Morse at 32…a year or two earlier than expected. Gabe Davis leaves in free agency. They trade Diggs away and eat his entire 31 million dollar cap hit in year one.
The only one of those players who genuinely could have made a difference between the way they were ACTUALLY playing and having a younger, healthier, faster player replace them was Diggs. The loss of others was overrated due to past accomplishments and ignorance of what was replacing them. Christian Benford is an absolute stud. Doesn’t get talked about like one because he was a sixth round pick. Somehow that matters more than two years of great play as a starter I guess. Ask MHJ, Waddle and Hill who he is. They know. Rasul Douglas was brought in to replace Tre White already so any talk of the corners was always a waste of time. They had two excellent outside corners.
So safety, on paper, did seem like an issue. The defense ran through two veteran stars for years. But they weren’t those players anymore. They were missing games for a few years. Their replacements were getting experience. It wasn’t like two street free agents were walking in to learn a system. Taylor Rapp signed as a backup with the understanding he would be taking over sooner than later. And he has. Hamlin, people forget, started most of the year before his injury because Hyde was out all year and the defense was still great. Are the names Rapp and Hamlin as big as Poyer and Hyde based on what they’ve done in the league? No. Not even close. Are they better players in 2024 than 2024 Hyde and Poyer? Of course.
Gabe Davis should have been upgraded on for three years before they let him walk. It’s just true. He’s not good. He never was. He had the greatest playoff game ever…and followed it up with two years of trash. Addition by subtraction.
Diggs is the one. He was their alpha. Their best weapon. And they won every game down the stretch to take the division back by treating him like another guy instead of running the offense through him. No they can’t replace Diggs as the #1 WR. The last 7 games of the season also told them not to. Shakir is underrated but he’s no stud #1 option. Samuel, MVS, Coleman and Hollins…these are not impressive names at all. But they fit what they want to do. Big blocking WRs on the outside, a bunch of guys you can send in motion so Allen can diagnose the defense pre-snap. No one player who needs to get the ball or he throws a fit during a seven game winning streak. Kincaid, Knox, Cook can all catch. It’s a deep unit meant to cause confusion, limit drops, and get YAC. I don’t know if you’ve watched them this year…but those are the things that are happening. And if you manage to diagnose and cover everything…Allen can still take off and do it himself.
2. talent evaluation is the difference
How does a team sustain losses to their all pro LB, their other starting LB (and captain of the D), and one of the best nickel corners in the game? They draft well. The LBers who stepped up were 3rd and 7th round picks. The new nickel was undrafted. The guy who took Cam Lewis’ place in some packages as an extra safety was also undrafted. He had a pick six as part of two picks on Tua last week. Hell…Taron Johnson, Matt Milano were day 3 picks themselves. Bernard was a 3rd rounder. The entire offense has ONE first round pick on it that isn’t Allen. Dalton Kincaid. That’s it. A TE with 20 games in the league.
So how does Buffalo do so well in talent evaluation? Number 3.
3. Coaching.
McDermott has been there for years. Beane knows the exact player profile that fits his defense. The advantage of shopping for the same ingredients every year cannot be underestimated. They don’t have a bunch of guys left over from a philosophy change that don’t fit what the next guy wants to do. They have a new DC…but he’s running McDermott’s D. And the pieces all fit. Until the coach changes…they’ll just keep picking day three guys that fit. And signing cheap free agents that fit.
And the offense is Allen’s. They know what kind of oline they need to work with a guy who plight take off and be on the other side of your block before you know he was leaving. It’s why the line has been getting better…not worse. They find guys that can do it a little better and then keep them. Just resigned their RT. Just resigned their LT for the third time. Just drafted a guard high. Sure haven’t missed a step replacing that Center. The new OC brought about the first real schematic changes since Allen came in the league. So yeah. The WR change was a bigger risk than all the other stuff. That could have gone sideways as people expected. All they had to go on was the last two months of last year where the new OC called plays. The part of the year where they won every week and Allen became way more efficient. A risk…but, in retrospect, it shouldn’t be a surprise that adding players they thought fit the new scheme better than the ones they had would work. They’re only the highest scoring team in football…while taking the second half off the last two weeks…so, I guess so far, so good. Two AFC Offensive player of the week awards in 3 weeks…and the one they didn’t get was because they won Defensive player of the week so somehow Allen throwing 2 and running for 2 lost to Joe Mixon scoring 1 touchdown.
You can boil it down to one simple lesson if the three points are too long for you:
Until Allen, Beane or McDermott are gone…we should put the breaks on victory lapping their demise. They know how to build a team that doesn’t change. Whether you know who Benford, Lewis, Shakir and Torrence are or not.
First of all…names you know don’t equal blue chip players. They lose Tre White coming off two major injuries. Micah Hyde effectively retires at 33 (hasn’t officially. Has said he will only play in Buffalo if he were to change his mind anyway). Jordan Poyer leaves at 33 coming off several injury issues. They move on from Mitch Morse at 32…a year or two earlier than expected. Gabe Davis leaves in free agency. They trade Diggs away and eat his entire 31 million dollar cap hit in year one.
The only one of those players who genuinely could have made a difference between the way they were ACTUALLY playing and having a younger, healthier, faster player replace them was Diggs. The loss of others was overrated due to past accomplishments and ignorance of what was replacing them. Christian Benford is an absolute stud. Doesn’t get talked about like one because he was a sixth round pick. Somehow that matters more than two years of great play as a starter I guess. Ask MHJ, Waddle and Hill who he is. They know. Rasul Douglas was brought in to replace Tre White already so any talk of the corners was always a waste of time. They had two excellent outside corners.
So safety, on paper, did seem like an issue. The defense ran through two veteran stars for years. But they weren’t those players anymore. They were missing games for a few years. Their replacements were getting experience. It wasn’t like two street free agents were walking in to learn a system. Taylor Rapp signed as a backup with the understanding he would be taking over sooner than later. And he has. Hamlin, people forget, started most of the year before his injury because Hyde was out all year and the defense was still great. Are the names Rapp and Hamlin as big as Poyer and Hyde based on what they’ve done in the league? No. Not even close. Are they better players in 2024 than 2024 Hyde and Poyer? Of course.
Gabe Davis should have been upgraded on for three years before they let him walk. It’s just true. He’s not good. He never was. He had the greatest playoff game ever…and followed it up with two years of trash. Addition by subtraction.
Diggs is the one. He was their alpha. Their best weapon. And they won every game down the stretch to take the division back by treating him like another guy instead of running the offense through him. No they can’t replace Diggs as the #1 WR. The last 7 games of the season also told them not to. Shakir is underrated but he’s no stud #1 option. Samuel, MVS, Coleman and Hollins…these are not impressive names at all. But they fit what they want to do. Big blocking WRs on the outside, a bunch of guys you can send in motion so Allen can diagnose the defense pre-snap. No one player who needs to get the ball or he throws a fit during a seven game winning streak. Kincaid, Knox, Cook can all catch. It’s a deep unit meant to cause confusion, limit drops, and get YAC. I don’t know if you’ve watched them this year…but those are the things that are happening. And if you manage to diagnose and cover everything…Allen can still take off and do it himself.
2. talent evaluation is the difference
How does a team sustain losses to their all pro LB, their other starting LB (and captain of the D), and one of the best nickel corners in the game? They draft well. The LBers who stepped up were 3rd and 7th round picks. The new nickel was undrafted. The guy who took Cam Lewis’ place in some packages as an extra safety was also undrafted. He had a pick six as part of two picks on Tua last week. Hell…Taron Johnson, Matt Milano were day 3 picks themselves. Bernard was a 3rd rounder. The entire offense has ONE first round pick on it that isn’t Allen. Dalton Kincaid. That’s it. A TE with 20 games in the league.
So how does Buffalo do so well in talent evaluation? Number 3.
3. Coaching.
McDermott has been there for years. Beane knows the exact player profile that fits his defense. The advantage of shopping for the same ingredients every year cannot be underestimated. They don’t have a bunch of guys left over from a philosophy change that don’t fit what the next guy wants to do. They have a new DC…but he’s running McDermott’s D. And the pieces all fit. Until the coach changes…they’ll just keep picking day three guys that fit. And signing cheap free agents that fit.
And the offense is Allen’s. They know what kind of oline they need to work with a guy who plight take off and be on the other side of your block before you know he was leaving. It’s why the line has been getting better…not worse. They find guys that can do it a little better and then keep them. Just resigned their RT. Just resigned their LT for the third time. Just drafted a guard high. Sure haven’t missed a step replacing that Center. The new OC brought about the first real schematic changes since Allen came in the league. So yeah. The WR change was a bigger risk than all the other stuff. That could have gone sideways as people expected. All they had to go on was the last two months of last year where the new OC called plays. The part of the year where they won every week and Allen became way more efficient. A risk…but, in retrospect, it shouldn’t be a surprise that adding players they thought fit the new scheme better than the ones they had would work. They’re only the highest scoring team in football…while taking the second half off the last two weeks…so, I guess so far, so good. Two AFC Offensive player of the week awards in 3 weeks…and the one they didn’t get was because they won Defensive player of the week so somehow Allen throwing 2 and running for 2 lost to Joe Mixon scoring 1 touchdown.
You can boil it down to one simple lesson if the three points are too long for you:
Until Allen, Beane or McDermott are gone…we should put the breaks on victory lapping their demise. They know how to build a team that doesn’t change. Whether you know who Benford, Lewis, Shakir and Torrence are or not.
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