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Terry Pegula just made a big mistake. The Bills are going to go backward from here.
Two teams in the AFC went from zero to hero and play this weekend to go to the Super Bowl. Denver and New England have young quarterbacks on rookie contracts.
The Bills have Josh Allen, the best quarterback in the world with a weak roster. Consider: At this point in the Jim Kelly Era you could look at the roster and see not only Kelly but Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, Andre Reed and James Lofton.
Allen is better than Kelly. And yet this roster has Josh and . . . perhaps Dion Dawkins. Tell me how that is Sean McDermott’s fault.
McDermott made some boneheaded decisions as coach – putting the ball in play with 13 seconds to go against the Chiefs. Putting Josh on the field at the end of the first half against the Broncos and giving up 3 points.
He had the capacity to learn, and evolve and won in spite of a flawed roster. Beane brought us draft choices like Boogie Basham, Kaiir Elam and Zack Moss. You can’t miss on high choices, which the guy in charge makes, and then hang your hat on Christian Benford, Matt Milano, Terel Bernard and other low choices who did better than expected.
That brings us back to repeated free agent misses like Curtis Samuel, Von Miller, Poona Ford and more.
None of those were on McDermott. It is hard to imagine a new coach coming in, building a unified team and moving forward without first taking a big step back. It’s not impossible, but this is a top-heavy roster.
Competing requires success at the top end of the draft and down low. Beane has sucked at it. That was not McDermott’s fault.
Those things said, on offense, the Bills have been consistently good. On defense, they have consistently allowed way too many points. Something had to change. I would have preferred revamping the pro scouting department or replacing Beane.
The way forward is backward and Josh is going to be 30. He’s taken a ton of beating and the end is closer than you think.
The only thing saving us is a crate of cantaloupes outside Pellicano’s Market on a weekday in August and the fact Josh is so emotionally connected to us he sobbed in the locker room.
