Buffalo Bills: Things we know this week in the middle of May

The Buffalo Bills have brought in a lot of new faces this offseason. Now is time for the competitions to begin all throughout the roster.

The Buffalo Bills have brought in approximately 30 new players between the draft, undrafted free agents and through standard free agency signings.

The defense is coming off a season where they were recognized as the second-best squad in the entire NFL. They certainly appear to have drafted a stud in the first round who is expected to make an immediate impact.

Leslie Frazier is very much capable. As proven last year, so is the head coach who took over play-calling early in the season for a very short time which did make a positive impact. After Frazier handled the setback like a complete professional with incredible integrity, the move seemed to get his focus back on target as he was solid the entire rest of the way.

Sean McDermott gave him the game ball soon after returning his play-calling responsibilities.   Much deserved. But also, very classy move by the head coach.

If it sounds like I am extremely a supporter of the McBeane team, it would be because I am. I like the way they handle things across the board. The fact that I can say that even after the Nathan Peterman experiment says something. It began with him getting a start in the 2017 season.

After that extremely short experiment blew up in their face, they not only kept him on the roster heading into camp, they allowed him to compete for the starting position when Tyrod Taylor was traded to the Browns.

Now after he was known throughout the football world of having the actual worst performance ever by an NFL quarterback, they went ahead and named him the starting quarterback.

By trading away the other former fifth-rounder, Raymond Anthony “AJ” McCarron Jr., they basically were saying that the former Pitt transfer quarterback was good enough to start for a season while Josh Allen absorbs the NFL experience from the bench. They also must have had some inside information that Peterman was incapable of injury. Not my first choice for the guy to mentor Josh Allen. That blew up again in their face.

So, considering they both really went totally all in on having no other experienced QB on the team and putting all the chips on the worst quarterback in history on paper, I still find a way to really like McBeane and the process. Now let’s just fancy that this doesn’t backfire in my face.

They emulously addressed the offensive line through free agency and trading up to take stud Cody Ford. They brought in a couple speedy wide receivers anticipating the ability to create separation.  They drafted two tight ends and brought in other competition after moving on for the overpaid, underachieving Charles Clay.

Las Vegas still has them ranked as huge long-shots and winning just over six games. I am not sure what they need to do to move the dial in Vegas. They made the playoffs two seasons ago. They then went ahead and really drafted smart and managed the cap issues created by the previous front office. They brought in an excess of help in many areas they were struggling for either starters or depth.

The big difference currently compared to the previous hopeless seasons is that outside of Vegas many football experts really believe the Bills have quietly assembled a much-improved team.  Former All-Pro lineman Joe Thomas clearly volunteered his prediction that Buffalo is the team that has a real opportunity based on additions, leadership consistency and full-season-level depth to challenge New England.

He is not from Buffalo, nor a Bills fan. He has plenty more excitement surrounding his former career team that has been just loading up for two seasons. It is still very recent that his team had three straight seasons of shame: 0-16, 1-15, 3-13.  Four wins total over three full seasons.

They are now a team spoken highly of and have a franchise quarterback for the first time since becoming the second coming of the Browns after the original Browns packed up like LeBron and left town. The Browns did not leave for South Beach and return and then leave again for Muscle Beach.

The Browns went to Baltimore only to win two world championships and become a really a well-respected team year after year. The previous Browns had no franchise quarterback since Bernard Joseph Kosar Jr.

Many folks would also argue that Bernie and his side arm pick-six machine does not qualify as a franchise quarterback. I guess I view him a bit better than some.  This could be due to my road trip in 1989 to Cleveland witnessing Ronnie Harmon drop the touchdown pass from Jim Kelly losing to Bernie and his Browns in the playoffs.

This was the bickering Bills season, following the 88-division title and trip to the AFC Championship game in the Bengals Queen City, who stopped the Bills from beginning their Super Bowl runs a bit earlier.

I know for a teenager reading this, hearing talk of the Bills and division titles, playoffs and championship games in the same sentence is hard to wrap your head around.  Making it even more sounding like fiction is that the two teams they lost to were Cincinnati and Cleveland. As if?

Well, Vincent Frank “Vinny” Testaverde Sr. does not pull off that task of a franchise quarterback either. Winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1986, he does not translate to a great NFL quarterback as he holds the record for most losses in history.

Bill Belichick impressed no one over five seasons coaching the original Browns and was asked to clean out his office with no need to come back in the next day to prepare to relocate to Baltimore with the late Art Modell.

He was groomed by the “BIG TUNA,” Bill Parcells, being the defensive coordinator of the Giants first two Super Bowl winning teams. He shut down Elway in his first trip to the “show.” He then proceeded to slow down the Bills No-Huddle K-Gun offense at his second trip to the “dance.”

Just a refresher in that the K-gun was not named for Jim Kelly who was calling the plays. The “K-Gun” offense was named for the Bills tight end, Keith McKeller. Maybe someone out there learned something with that fact today.

Personally, when I am reminded of that I still react as if it was new trivia. The training to be a head coach must have been set up on time release capsule technology as he went from looking the part of a head coach not worthy of a second chance along Lake Erie, to the greatest head coach of all time in Boston.

I seriously need to digress, now before I end up giving a detailed review of The Who concert I attended this past week in downtown Buffalo. This being the band I declined attending a show to see in the 80s because I considered them a 60s and 70s band past their prime. Somehow, they climbed on my bucket list in 2019.

A very similar story as I saw my first Stones show in 2015 after turning down tickets in the late 80s, not too far off from that Bickering Bills season discussed earlier. Anything you want to talk about…obviously this is the place.

Things We Know About the Buffalo Bills This Week:

• Derek Anderson has informed the Bills that he has decided to retire from the NFL. That does make the signing of UB’s undrafted former star QB much more plausible.
• Bleacher Report wrote that Buffalo found “tremendous value” with both of their top picks of Ed Oliver and Cody Ford. Agreed.

• Buffalo has advanced to the finals as they seek their fifth league championship. Wait, my apologies. That is the Buffalo Bandits indoor Lacrosse team. This is a football editorial. The Bills would be seeking to avoid losing their fifth Super Bowl, but let us focus on a Wild Card playoff spot.