2023 Buffalo Bills Positives Thread

[Ann]

My husband pointed out that this year was not all bad, and some of the young players have really stepped up. "Why not start a thread about the positives from this year?" And we talked about it a bit, and believe it or not, there were a lot of positives!  

Please add yours!

[Ann]

Khalil Shakir - wow. Just wow. They finally started using him and he is pretty darned good.

Dalton Kincaid - dare I say it? The Bills have finally found a TE!

James Cook - the Bills had a top 5 rusher!! Holy cow. 

Terrel Bernard - for a guy who won the job because everyone else sucked, he has been a major upgrade to Edmunds. 

Ed Oliver - got a big contract and outplayed it! How often does that happen? 

The Bills Offensive Line - they really came together this year! A healthy Spencer Brown and rookie O'Cyrus Torrence were wow!

 

[Ann]

 

[Taro T]

9 hours ago, Ann said:

Khalil Shakir - wow. Just wow. They finally started using him and he is pretty darned good.

Dalton Kincaid - dare I say it? The Bills have finally found a TE!

James Cook - the Bills had a top 5 rusher!! Holy cow. 

Terrel Bernard - for a guy who won the job because everyone else sucked, he has been a major upgrade to Edmunds. 

Ed Oliver - got a big contract and outplayed it! How often does that happen? 

The Bills Offensive Line - they really came together this year! A healthy Spencer Brown and rookie O'Cyrus Torrence were wow!

 

 

Agree with all of these.  Would add:

 

Joe Brady - though he wasn't perfect, he got the mojo back in the O and let Allen just be Josh.  Really hoping he's back next year.

 

Rasul Douglas - Believe the leg injury was still bugging him in this last game, but he was a fantastic find by Beane.

 

Taron Johnson - 2nd team All-Pro.  'Nough said.

 

Brandon Beane - he got enough talent into the door to keep the D ranked 4th in the entire league even without White and Milano for more than 3/4 of the season and Jones for a bit more than 1/2 of it.  Not even going into all of the other myriad of injuries that they managed to play through this year.  The man is a witch.  And a ton of his draft picks from past seasons and this season really stepped up when needed.  Pretty sure the narrative that Beane misses on most of his picks HAS to be dead now finally.  When his picks are healthy, if they're from the top of the draft (or they're DB's) they excel and the rest demonstrate they're NFLers.  (Elam could either join that group next year or be the exception that proves the rule.  Cutting him a bit of a pass on Basham as that draft was one where nobody had a legit season the year before and it seems he was chosen as insurance should Rousseau not pan out.)

[KD in CA]

As much as I was 'done' with McDermott at 6-6, he deserves a lot of credit not just for keeping the team together, but for revamping the defense on the fly after the big mid-year injuries.  They came into the Miami game in great shape and I really think they would still playing if not for all the guys going down against the Fish and Steelers.

 

Bernard, Benford and a healthy Douglas on that defense makes a pretty big difference.

 

Big +1 to the lists above.  There is a lot of young talent here to form the new core.

[TakeYouToTasker 2.0]

I’m positive on every part of this team except for WR2, who can push Diggs, and perhaps supplant him in 2025.

 

I wish Davis had taken that next step, because he’s the best run blocking WR I’ve seen since Hines Ward, and he might be the hardest working guy in the roster. However even if he had, we wouldn’t have been able to pay him.

 

The only other concern that I have is DT, where we only have Oliver under contract. I’m hoping we can bring Jones back on a favorable deal, and draft depth. I’m afraid Settle, Phillips, and Ford are likely gone.

[MothersMilk]

[devnull]

Beat Miami twice.

Embarrassed Miami on the National stage

 

Nobody associated to the franchise was charged with murder.  

[Rochesterny]

Let’s give shout out to rookie O’Cyrus Torrence. Started all games this year and was a beast in the interior. He was mocked to go in first but happen to drop to second round and into the bills lap. Struck platinum there. Him and dalton gave us a nice draft this year. I can see both making pro bowls down the road

Edited January 23 by Rochesterny

[Fansince88]

3 hours ago, Rochesterny said:

Let’s give shout out to rookie O’Cyrus Torrence. Started all games this year and was a beast in the interior. He was mocked to go in first but happen to drop to second round and into the bills lap. Struck platinum there. Him and dalton gave us a nice draft this year. I can see both making pro bowls down the road

Every snap correct?

[Rochesterny]

1 minute ago, Fansince88 said:

Every snap correct?

I believe that is true. Which is incredible for rookie

[Ninety-4]

I thought the play of the defense with so many injuries for 2/3 of the season was inspiring.  On offense the running game improvement with Cook becoming the starter and the addition of some bigger backs made a difference.

[Uncle Joe]

3 hours ago, Ninety-4 said:

On offense the running game improvement with Cook becoming the starter and the addition of some bigger backs made a difference.

I liked Ty and hope they re-sign him. I almost wanted him in that last series as they really stacked the box against Cook.

Edited January 24 by Uncle Joe

[SquirminThurman]

On 1/22/2024 at 9:56 AM, Ann said:

Khalil Shakir - wow. Just wow. They finally started using him and he is pretty darned good.

Dalton Kincaid - dare I say it? The Bills have finally found a TE!

James Cook - the Bills had a top 5 rusher!! Holy cow. 

Terrel Bernard - for a guy who won the job because everyone else sucked, he has been a major upgrade to Edmunds. 

Ed Oliver - got a big contract and outplayed it! How often does that happen? 

The Bills Offensive Line - they really came together this year! A healthy Spencer Brown and rookie O'Cyrus Torrence were wow!

 

100% correct Ann. All the positives from the year. This team needed to get younger and it did. Cook/  Bernard/ Shakir/ Torrence/ Kincaid were all good adds.

 

LB:

A healthy Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard in the middle is going to be a nightmare. Both guys are rangy play makers. I know Williams didn't get much play this year, but I expect him to get more offseason work next year and be a LB2. He has the talent and physical gifts to be special, just needs more playing time. Started to show it when 'break emergency glass' time came in.

 

RB:

Buffalo went from meh to a Pro Bowl RB. James Cook delivered this year. I guessed 1200 rushing and 500 receiving and he was damned close. Need the OC to keep mixing him in. Get him on the JUGS machine this off season. Also need to get a big bruiser to replace Harris/ Murray/ Fournette. A thunder to the lightning in Cook is needed and effective. Murray exceeded all expectations so I tip my cap.

 

OL:

O'Cyrus Torrence. I owe him a huge apology. He was nothing but terrific as a rookie. I didn't think he had the footwork or speed to be an effective NFL OL. Boy was I wrong. Solid outing rookie. He even helped make Spencer Brown look acceptable.

 

As for OG making OT look good, how about Conner McGovern?!? Almost forgotten. Dawkins always looks better with a solid OG next to him. Even Ryan Bates made the Shnowman look good before. Dawkins is a very good LT, but he can't carry a side by himself. McGovern solidified the left side and the duo looked very good together.

 

Morse had an injury free year and did a solid job calling out protections. I was (and am) still very worried about his long term health.

 

True OL building this offseason. I would look at RT and C to keep building the OL this year. Go from good to elite for JA and Cook.

 

WR:

This is a need. Diggs checked out the second half of the season. He still has some trade value. Deal him now. The relationship is broken and he wants to be a Cowboy.

 

Gabe Davis is a FA, and even though I am as big a fan of GD you will see, it's time to move on.

 

Losing your #1 and #2 WR seems scary but look at Green Bay. They have drafted WR and TE every year since drafting Love and 4 rookies had 30+ catches for them this season. Time to get Josh Allen a few new WR. Chris Watson, the forgotten WR in GB may be exactly what the Bills need.

 

Shakir is our WR3 going forward. He was excellent the second half of the season.

 

DB:

A need. S Hyde is a FA. They held onto Poyer 1 year too long. The last two years were great S drafts, but thte Bills deferred. They need 1 or 2 now. I think we have Rapp 1 more year, but he is what Buffalo wanted in Siran Neal.

 

As for CB, looks less bleak. Even if White hangs em up Douglas is a here next year. Benford/ Jackson are seasoned vets and are as good a boundary CB2 as most other teams. Should have traded Elam last offseson. He is a question mark in this scheme, but could be a boon in a man cover scheme. Happy he got a big play in the playoffs. A CB would be a nice have, but not quite a need.

 

DT:

Will need help here but late signing like Linval Joseph show you can find functional DT late in FA. There have been some beastly DT drafted mid to late like Alim NcNeal and DJ Reader. Would love Jones to come back. Oliver is a solid 3T but needs a true 1 technique next to him to wreak havoc.

 

TE:

Kincaid was excellent. Both inline or split out. I still think Buffalo wanted him to play a slot style more but injuries to Knox prevented that.

 

50-50 on Knox. If a trade offer comes in I'd deal him, but if not I'd stay put.

Edited January 24 by SquirminThurman

[Uncle Joe]

1 hour ago, SquirminThurman said:

O'Cyrus Torrence. I owe him a huge apology. He was nothing but terrific as a rookie. I didn't think he had the footwork or speed to be an effective NFL OL. Boy was I wrong. Solid outing rookie. He even helped make Spencer Brown look acceptable.

 

1 hour ago, SquirminThurman said:

A need. S Hyde is a FA

Hyde will retire. His wife wrote a Buffalo thank you note today.

[Billsandhorns]

20 hours ago, SquirminThurman said:

 

 

WR:

This is a need. Diggs checked out the second half of the season. He still has some trade value. Deal him now. The relationship is broken and he wants to be a Cowboy.

 

How do you account for the dead cap? 

Bills are already 40 mill over before restructures. 

Edited January 24 by Billsandhorns

[Rochesterny]

 

 

[KD in CA]

16 hours ago, Billsandhorns said:

How do you account for the dead cap? 

Bills are already 40 mill over before restructures. 

 

The dead cap in a trade would be the unamortized signing bonus only, right?  That's still a significant figure, but not $31M if they just cut him, which obviously won't happen.

 

Also need to factor in the cost of replacing him.

[Billsandhorns]

4 minutes ago, KD in CA said:

 

The dead cap in a trade would be the unamortized signing bonus only, right?  That's still a significant figure, but not $31M if they just cut him, which obviously won't happen.

 

Also need to factor in the cost of replacing him.

I'm not sure how it works tbh. It is a ton of money though. For a team that is already at least 40 million over the cap, seems like they would want to avoid making it worse. 

[IDBillzFan]

On 1/23/2024 at 6:34 PM, SquirminThurman said:

WR:

This is a need. Diggs checked out the second half of the season. He still has some trade value. Deal him now. The relationship is broken and he wants to be a Cowboy.

 

I feel like this may be a pretty big assumption. Even if the relationship is broken, which I genuinely doubt, Diggs is not an idiot. It's hard to imagine he's trading Josh Allen for Dak Prescott. The argument *could* be made that Diggs would do better with Lamb on the other side, but he's still left with Dak.

 

On the other hand, the Bills can bring in a Lamb-like receiver through FA or draft -- no idea who that would be -- and Diggs' prospects for getting to a SB increase much more than going to Dallas. WIthout question, we MUST have a true #2 or #1B for Diggs. (I think Chase is a free-agent this year, no? Or one of the Bengals receivers.)

 

More to the point, I can certainly understand if Diggs wants to move on. In my mind, however, the only thing going from Josh to Dak does for Diggs is give him more time with his brother.

 

Oh, and thanks for the thread @Ann. The annual chuck to the nuts is still tender, but there is a lot to be optimistic about with this team, in spite of the embarrassing number of Bills fans who find it easier to spew hate after another post-season exit.