Bills Central

NFL pundit slams Bills, says their Super Bowl window is closed: 'Y'all don't have hope'

FS1 host Emmanuel Acho does not see the Buffalo Bills competing now or in the near future.

Kyle Silagyi

Jan 7, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) walks off the field after the game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 7, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) walks off the field after the game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports / Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
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Sean McDermott may need to swing by Home Depot on his next trip into One Bills Drive to pick up a fresh pack of thumbtacks, as a FOX Sports host has just given the Buffalo Bills a wealth of new bulletin board material.

Prominent NFL pundit Emmanuel Acho recently spoke about the Bills on an episode of FS1’s Speak, giving a… not so glowing review of the team’s offseason moves while suggesting that their Super Bowl window is not only closed, but devoid of light entirely.

“Bills fans, I’m not even going to attempt to lie to you . . . The truth is, this is likely the worst season y’all will have in the last five years,” Acho said. “Not necessarily by win-loss record, but it is the worst season because y’all don’t have hope. You don’t have enough talent to compete. The game of football is about talent. 

“. . . Dog gotta beat the other dog on the opposite side of the field, and the Bills have run out of dogs.”

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope-esque dialogue aside, it’s fair, from an outsider’s perspective, to believe that the Bills don’t have hope. The team did, after all, move on from several stalwart starters in the 2024 NFL offseason, eliminating a combined 284 starts in the secondary by parting ways with Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, and Tre’Davious White before also showing Mitch Morse, Gabriel Davis, and four-time Pro Bowl wideout Stefon Diggs the exit door. 

Buffalo has, in theory, replaced these players with young(er) contributors both new and returning to the roster; the receiving corps has been supplemented with rookie Keon Coleman and free agent signee Curtis Samuel, with third-year pass-catcher Khalil Shakir expected to ascend into a more prominent role. The Bills drafted Utah safety Cole Bishop in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft to fill one of the holes in the defensive backfield. The team as a whole is younger than it was, and with several significant contracts off the books, Buffalo has more salary cap flexibility moving forward.

Related: Where ESPN ranks Bills among rest of the NFL entering 2024 NFL season

These additions did little to move Acho, who does not feel as though the Bills have the necessary firepower to compete in the 2024 season or at any point in the near future.

“Stefon Diggs is gone, hopefully Keon Coleman can step in and step up, but [Diggs is] gone,” Acho said. “Poyer and Micah Hyde, they’re gone. Milano coming off a knee injury. Von Miller, his Hall of Fame career resume, his Hall of Fame talent on the field, we haven’t seen it in two years now. Tre’Davious White, he’s gone. Everybody’s gone. Gone. All of them. 

“Dawson Knox, Dalton Kincaid—that’s who you’re depending on. Two tight ends. Really good tight ends, probably top 10, both of them, I would suggest, in the National Football League, but of course the Super Bowl expectations are too high. The window is shut. It’s shut. They put drywall over it . . . It’s done. It’s over. It’s a wrap.”

Hope is not lost

Implying that a team’s championship window is closed when their world-beater, former All-Pro quarterback is only 28 years of age is bold, to say the least. Allen is objectively one of the most talented signal-callers in the NFL, a game-wrecking quarterback who can defeat teams with both his arms and legs. He’s fresh off his NFL record fourth-consecutive season in which he totaled more than 40 touchdowns—as long as he’s helming Buffalo’s offense, the team’s ‘Super Bowl window’ is open.

And the window, for the first time in several years, appears to be lengthening as opposed to shrinking. The Bills’ 2024 offseason moves signaled a desire to extend the window as opposed to continually going ‘all-in;’ by taking time now to develop young players into more prominent roles, the team’s Super Bowl window is, in theory, sustainable.

Related: Big Mack Energy! Veteran WR Hollins vocal during Buffalo Bills' OTAs

It’s actually quite a hopeful time to be a Buffalo fan. No longer do Western New Yorkers feel as though each year is “make or break,” as though the team will be forced to make major changes if it again falls short of the Super Bowl. It instead looks as though the Bills are rebuilding a foundation for sustainable success while still looking quite stout for the upcoming campaign—Buffalo’s window, despite what some pundits suggest, is still very much open.

Besides, it’s difficult to take much of anything Acho says too too seriously. We’ll end this article with a completely unrelated screenshot for no particular reason.

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Kyle Silagyi

KYLE SILAGYI

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