Hapless Bills Fan

My hope is that we will improve our OL personnel and/or Kromer will coach them up and Dorsey/Brady/Kromer wil be able to make better use of them. I know we do need to maintain a credible threat of a run game, so the question of called QB runs is really, can we maintain that credible threat without so many designed runs for Josh? In his post-season presser, Beane specifically said that "part of protecting Josh is the run game"

Yeah, I really don't have a good feel for how accurate overall Allbright has proven to be. He's a Denver guy IIRC so he would potentially have sources who could confirm/deny the statement I'm sure there's some truth to the notion that these guys were clashing at times, just as I'm sure there's some truth to the notion that Daboll and McDermott were clashing at times, but that doesn't mean it's some sort of ego-trip grudge match. Bienemy "laid into his star QB for no reason". I'd bet there was a reason, and it may have been a good reason, too. And do play calls really specify which receiver is to get the ball? I know plays specify routes for each receiver, and which route is the "answer" or "hot read" or the progression of reads, depending upon the defensive look, but to say "throw the ball to CEH over McKinnon" or "throw the ball to Robinson over Hardman" doesn't ring true to me. (obviously the OC can specify which personnel are on the field for different plays) And yeah, the end of the 2nd half did NOT do this: The Chiefs were leading 21-10 at that point, and as a professional NFL QB, Mahomes had damned well better be able to keep track of timeouts. One has to at a minimum, give the 3-and 6 aborted snap on the Chiefs 1st drive of the 3Q, the 2nd-and-3 interception by Mahomes that gave the Bengals the ball on the KC 27, and the KC defense's failure to stop a 6:23, 46-yd drive ending in a FG some credit for the wipeout. Oh, and Mahomes INT in overtime should get honorable mention. To pin the Chiefs AFCCG loss on the end of the 2nd half (when the Chiefs were leading) is just a "sorry, your Sanity Check just Bounced" take. The whole thing, frankly, reads as though it were written to exculpate Mahomes.

Genius. The point being, if Josh Allen is the Bills Best RB and we need 4-6 designed runs or RPOs where he's an option to win, the problem is not what you previously stated: "I think that he will run less naturally as he continues to get better as a passer." Thus implying that the reason for all Josh's running is some gaps he still has as a passing QB If the Bills are using Josh as a RB on designed runs, Josh "continuing to get better as a passer" won't change this. The problem is the personnel (OL and RB) and/or blocking scheme and play calling that don't enable a successful run game with the OL and RB we have.

OK, another piece that doesn't make sense: The author is writing as though this is a headset-mic exchange. However, the headset does not have a mic capability for the QB; the communication goes one way. It would also speak very poorly of the organizational and managerial abilities of Reid if he allows such an exchange whether on the mic or sidelines. There isn't a lot of time. There has to be a clear "chain of command" pre-established (who overrules whom) and there absolutely can not be irrelevant second guessing like "we're blowing this game" allowed in time critical situations. So if an exchange like that took place, that's a poor look for Kafka and for Reid as much or more than Bienemy. Me, a lot of the early-season problems with the Chiefs appeared to be Mahomes refusing to be patient and take the short underneath passes the D was allowing when they were doing the two-high-safety, rush-3 or 4, blanket the intermediate throws stuff, while Mahomes receivers were not doing him any favors as far as catching stuff they really should have been able to haul in (maybe the ball had too much "zip" on it, I don't know); also, Orlando Brown was taking a blocking angle suitable to a shorter drop than Mahomes was taking and mismatched to how Mahomes actually plays. Then the question becomes "is the QB coachable on these points?" and "will the OL make adjustments?" It appeared to me that at least some of the Chiefs 2nd half meltdown was Mahomes returning to his earlier season "let me run around like a headless chicken instead of taking the quick checkdown" form, though I will confess that I have not watched all-22 Question: if the article were correct, why would the Chiefs not offer the OC gig to Mike Kafka?

The story has apparently been "deleted by author". However it has been copied here, if folks insist. Click on the "spoiler" button https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showpost.php?s=60f98814f0882458c4b46e4e5dcd0abb&p=16149947&postcount=278 To me it reads on a par with some of the Good People on this board who insist on bizarro world "grudge" ideas for McDermott refusing to let various offensive players play (or play more): Bates, McKenzie and other fine conspiracy-based theories One of my favorite quotes: I read that, and I see it as highly complimentary. I imagine Bills players and coaches saying very similar things about Josh. He may be "Big Goofy" or "Big Kid" (Dawkins, Feliciano) off the field, but they all say he is super-competitive about anything there is to be competitive about, be it basketball or table tennis or of course, Football. They don't use the word "prick" in public, but probably would in private where those kind of insults can be "love talk" between friends along with "#######" "*****" "*****" or whatever the vocabulary of choice in that circle may be. THE AUTHOR OF THIS ARTICLE SEES THE ABOVE QUOTE AS NEGATIVE!!!!! There's nothing playful or joking about that quote, but you have to have a bizarro conspiracy mindset to view it as an expression of dislike.

He has been pointed at as an example, "why isn't this guy getting more looks, why ISN'T he the hot coordinator?" It turns out there are several reasons, starting with a "rap sheet" as a college and NFL player and then young coach. "That was Then, This is Now", but some of that stuff would honestly make a conservative owner give his candidacy a "side eye" unless he were being widely hailed as an offensive genius..... ....about that, there's a general perception that Reid is the main driving force behind the KC offense. It may be true, it may not be true... and if it is, it begs the question why anyone who has ever had a cup of coffee with McVay or Kyle Shanahan gets the jobs Then there's the failure of Matt Nagy in Chicago Or there could be some other factor at play (which has entire other threads devoted to it)

I agree that Brown has not yet shown he's The Man at RT, and that he had some critical breakdowns in protection and of course missed 4 games between Covid and his back injury, giving us a limited sample set. But at other times, his play looked great. That said, I do think there are significant differences between 2019 Ford and Brown. Ford never earned the starting RT spot with his play in 2019. He platooned with older journeyman Ty Nsecke and his snap count was actually falling until Week 10 when Nsecke went out with injury and Ford took over full time. And IIRC after Ford took over, the general verdict was "Not Good Enough, Unless he takes a Step". The Bills voted on that probability when they went out in FA and signed Williams. Whereas with Brown, his main issue is consistency - at times he looks like he's all we could hope for, then he'll make a mistake and whiff. I don't remember that viewpoint on Cody Ford, his most lenient evaluators were "might take a step, many guys do in their second year". So I see more cause to believe that Brown can take that step and become more consistent. The back injury is, of course, a big concern for a young OT since back injuries ultimately derail many a promising or even HOF OL career. What I feel this year on OL proved, is that the Bills have yet to establish any consistency from anyone on OL Y2Y. Dawkins put his early performance issues onto Covid (McDermott said no) but back at OTAs, the general fan reaction was "Wow, did the Bills ask D Dawk to come into camp like that? If not 👀👀" due to his apparent large weight gain o' flab. And one POV would be, it wasn't until he actually saw someone else starting in his spot that it seemed to flip a switch and he came out on 🔥 and stayed lit. Williams had a great season in 2020 and as you pointed out elsewhere, got paid and did not maintain that level of performance. Feliciano was expected to get paid and improve from a 2020 that was hampered by surgical recovery in the offseason then a torn pec at the start of training camp, but instead he sucked. Maybe the problem was in part, coaching and a change there will help. I had not realized how minimal Bobby Johnson's experience was as an actual OL coach (no previous OL coach gigs and 5 years of OL assistant coaching with 3 teams, spread out over a 27 year coaching career). I dunno. Josh will run less if we stop dialing up designed run plays for him because he's by far our best RB and we need to sell RB misdirection to make runs work. What TF were we doing at the end of the season, 4-6 designed runs a game for Josh?

I think the reason the woman needed help was that the stage was too high for a safe jump-down - and if it were surrounded by a crowd, jumping into them would likely cause more injuries from your jump. That said, I think Stafford's wife had the more normal human empathetic reaction and it's not a good look for Matt not to show concern, but there's a broad spectrum of human reactions to accident and when you aren't in a position to personally help someone, golly-goshing vs. turning away make no practical difference.

I mean, we lack context - what time is this video taken, and what time is the parade?

That made this thread worthwhile Harsh. But funny.

When we weren't allowing defenses to pin their ears back and have at us in pass pro because we had no run threat and when we settled on an OL - I thought we were OK in pass pro (end of the season) But disallowing defenses to pin their ears back, came at the price of 1)more designed runs for Josh Allen 2) taking offensive skill players off the field in favor of (2,1) or (1,2) sets with Gilliam or Doyle. Josh went from 2, 2, 8, 6 rushes per game to 12, 12, 15. 12 attempts and 109 rush yards against Tampa? Not healthy for Our Guy. And only 3 targets in the passing game makes that easier to defend. Why? Because without the threat of Josh running and the extra blockers, our OL simply wasn't good enough to get a run game going on (pretty sure I'm preaching to the choir here, but for others in the thread). And we need at least the threat or uncertainty of the run game going on, to keep the pass game opened up. So I 100% agree that we need more than "depth". Beane referred to our OL as "something to build on" and I hope he means "build" in the sense of bring guys in, through FA and draft, that we have reason to believe will be an immediate step up on what we had at the end of last season. Remember Ford was platooning with Ty Nseckhe in 2019 AND they brought Williams in as a FA in 2020. Fans may have assumed Ford was the RT of the future, but those two factors say to me that Beane and Co. had their doubts. Anyway, agree that on OL, we really can't "run it back", we have to make a serious push to upgrade. Hopefully Beane sees that too, from what he's said. And replace Williams with who? A 5th round draft pick? C'mon Man

I don't see any calls there for McDaniel to validate his "blackness" But they're perfectly correct that this hire doesn't prove "no racism in the NFL" And given that a big part of racism is the idea that people may be treated differently based strictly on their appearance (skin color), that's not a form of racism McDaniel has had to overcome But that's very different than some of the calls saying he should have to "go get a 23 and Me and prove he is black to us" as though his account of his parental and family background isn't good enough and requires independent verification. That's just weird.

Anyone who clicks on this thread and posts in it?

That's Harsh. 🏆

13 seconds away from the end of the Division Round game. Peak Off Season

Now we're into "Agree to Disagree" territory. Williams cap hit is $9.9M, with $3.6M dead cap and $7.1M new cash ($6.3M savings) In AAV he's currently paid as the #10 highest paid RT, but as something like the #16th highest paid Guard (Spotrac doesn't break out LG and RG) I think that means the top Gs get paid more than the top RTs, and Williams is actually more overpaid as a T than as a G. The #10 paid guard is currently pulling in $11M AAV; this year's cap hit would slot him in at #13 paid guard. I'm not sure I see anyone out there in FA who is likely to improve on him at RG for the $6.3M we save by cutting him, and he has that positional flexibility that Beane loves. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/guard/all/ What I think is that Williams wants to be a RT, and it's possible the Beanemeister might try to trade him if there's a good backstory about why he wasn't gettin' it done at RT this season. This

The thing about Greg Cosell is, if he says that he will actually has some basis for it, he's watched the film; he would be able to defend that opinion play by play breaking it down. Schrager and the GMFB crew, OTOH, are just entertainers. I'm not a fan of Cowherd but now I'll have to go find it and see what he says. This it?

The timing doesn't prove anything; this all happened right before the start of the new league year, when the Bills had to open cap to re-sign and sign FA. (You left out Addison, he took a cut also). I looked into it a bit. Butler apparently took a $2M paycut in exchange for guaranteeing more 2021 salary. I can't say that worked out for the Bills since he wasn't "all that" when he played last season. But prior to that, I think he had more guaranteed salary than Jefferson had. Jefferson saved the Bills $6.5M with minimal dead cap, and Brown saved $7.9M If Jefferson was offered a paycut and refused, he was a big dummy because the Raiders only offered him $3.2M. But I don't think he was, nor Brown; the Bills had to make some outright cuts to free cap and those were the two guys with the least guaranteed/best savings I mean, you can say "agree to disagree" but if you're building a big theory about Beane just cutting anyone who won't take a paycut then it behooves you to be real about the actual evidence that guys were actually asked to do so and declined; it's not a typical "agree to disagree" thing like whether Star Lotulelei is just overpaid, or actually the worst DT in the league (kidding, not putting that choice on ya), or whether Jon Feliciano was awful as a starter this season or only not as good as folks think (again parody) Anyway I'm going to bow out because I appreciate all the position by position stuff you put together even when I disagree with some details, and I don't want to smack heads too much.

I dunno about the "paycut", but one question Beane faced about Murphy from all the Armchair GMs was why the Bills didn't cut him, when he wound up being inactive for 6 games late in the season. Beane musta had his Crystal Ball covered up on opening day. 🙄 I highly doubt that Butler was on the Bills instead of Jefferson because Butler took a paycut. Butler was platooning at 1TDT whilst Lotulelei was sitting it out which made him a more valuable player to the Bills given that they didn't know whether/in what shape Lotulelei would return. I also recall it being clear at the time that Jefferson had less dead money and was the bigger cap savings to cut. The Bills couldn't gain the cap room they needed by just restructuring, they had to actually release some guys. I'm not saying that you can't be right about Beane not keeping a player who is asked to take a paycut and refuses - you may be, for all I know. I just think you may be off on some details Brown, Butler, Jefferson etc.

He is still in the league

Except, when the Bills needed an emergency LT, their solution was to move Spencer Brown to LT, and move Williams out to RT then backfill at guard. If they thought Williams was their emergency LT, why wouldn't they just put him there and only move 2 positions instead of 3?

I'd be obliged if you could find anything.

I'm just curious where you got this information. At the time, Brown said the Bills "never even gave him a heads up", he was just released, which from what he said, was a complete surprise to him. https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/john-brown-on-bills-release-we-were-never-even-given-a-heads-up/article_ab122e46-827c-11eb-83f6-2753d449feb8.html If a player and his agent are approached about a paycut and say "no", I would think that would count as a "heads up"

?? I thought it was pretty conclusively demonstrated last pre-season that he had better not try to play LT

It's Peter Freakin' Schrager. He won't be saying that 10 minutes from now if he thinks a new "take" will draw clicks