Hapless Bills Fan

Well there we go. Malik Willis is a “much better athlete than Allen” Film Room’s Brett Kollman isn’t entirely buying all the throwing air speed numbers:

Coach rankings from 3 sources put together by Sal Capaccio

That’s a little too personal and TMI don’tcha think?

Certainly scored points in Tenn game and made fewer errors. We actually moved the ball OK in the Jax game. 336 yds. Dumbass penalties and 3 offensive turnovers doomed us. Similar story in Indy, 319 yds, moved the ball at times but 4 turnovers way too much against a decent team. Anyway, yes I would agree that Indy was our worst offensive game of the season, followed by Jax, and both worse than Tenn.

Agree with that last. The question, though, is would Daboll have taken a lateral move to Giants OC? I'm thinking No *****in' Way even if he was having scream-and-bang-table sessions with McDermott regularly all season long. Being the OC for Josh Allen another year (if he didn't get a HC step) has to be a better stepping stone to a HC job than working with Daniel Jones but at the mercy of another HC's priorities and decisions. I think there's something to the notion that it was a way to pick Flores' brains about his views on Daboll and his offense, as a defensive-minded HC who faced him 6x It's pretty clear that there had to have been considerable difference of opinion during the season. Starting with last season and then after the Pittsburgh debacle, McDermott wanted more running game to keep the opponent's D from keying on the passing game and choking it. Daboll likely felt that his "spread offense" plan would have worked if Allen had been willing to take a few more quick checkdowns and the OL played a bit better, and that he wasn't given the Hosses he needed on on OL to create a better run game, so why call run plays to be stuffed? The Bills won 4 and barely lost to the Titans with the loss being arguably more on the D, so the conflict simmered down. Winning fixes everything! Then came the Jaguars debacle and I'm pretty sure McDermott not only made it very clear that there WOULD be more run game OR ELSE but (based on what he said in subsequent pressers) started exercising more oversight on the offensive game plan. He might have pointed out that there are different blocking schemes and run plays than Daboll had been dialing up. Both hypothetical POV have some merit.

Not only this, but it has to be recognized that the improvement wasn’t entirely on the line. In the last ~5 games Daboll started dialing up more called runs for Josh, and also returning to the gap/pin and pull blocking that worked in 2019. We also ran a lot more (2,1) and (1,2) sets in several of those games but put away Tommy Sweeney for good in Week 15 and started using Doyle as a 6th blocker in lieu of a 2nd TE week 16-19 (Gilliam also saw more snaps) I think most would agree, having Josh Allen function as our best RB is an undesireable long term strategy. I live to become more educated here, but I don’t think Daboll and Bobby Johnson are fools, so there must be some functional advantage perceived to the zone run blocking we banged our heads against a wall trying unsuccessfully to execute through much of 2020 and 2021. Either way, we need to decide what kind of blocking we want to be able to execute, and commit to getting the right pieces in place on the OL and TE room. I am hopeful Beane recognizes this. He said something to the effect that the OL was a “ good starting point” in his postseason presser.

That's true, I think as an assistant QB coach he'd get $200k-ish, but his guaranteed money from the G-men is only $140k. He's a smart dude, he knows the math - he has no guarantees of making the roster and earning even a fraction of that $1M. On the other hand, $140K is close to the $165k he'd get from 18 weeks on the PS. So he close to doubles the $ he'd get from another season on a PS, and has a chance to earn 5 years of assistant coach salary, if he sticks on the roster as a backup. I think it's a win-win situation; the Bills really need to cultivate a guy as long-term backup plan at QB, and seem to have told Webb he's Not That Guy.

It was far more prolonged and broader in scope than that. Trade up for TJ Graham in 2012 with Russ Wilson on the board had nothing to do with Ralph passing and Whaley/Russ playing with "house money"

Question about this line of thought. Cody Ford is cheap labor in 2022. He's under contract for $2.4M, with $1.47M salary and $0.87M dead cap. Boettger is a FA who was paid $2M last season. Feliciano has a $4.9M cap hit, with $0.5M due in March and $1.5M dead cap. I agree we need to draft and sign top-quality IOL. But we also need depth. While it may be time to stop trying to force Ford into the role of a starting OLman, several commented that he played decently in the 3 games where he filled in late in the season (Indy, NO, Carolina). It's also possible he may be better used by Kromer Does it really make sense to flip Ford for a late round pick, eat $0.87 in dead cap, and have to pick someone up off the street as depth? Would we really be able to sign better depth for $1.5M? For comparison, we signed FA guard Brian Winters to a 1 year contract in 2020 for $3M

Do you really think that would stop McDermott if he felt it was time to move on? I would say "nope, wouldn't." He wouldn't fire him though - he'd do exactly what he did with Farwell and encourage him to explore "other opportunities" and it would be announced as a lateral move, not a firing and hiring. McDermott might even sell it as something Frazier needs to do if he truly wants another HC gig and it could have some truth to it: just as perhaps Bieniemy possibly doesn't get credit he should because he's standing in Andy Reid's shadow, it may be equally true that Frazier doesn't get the credit he deserves because he's standing in McDermott's shadow. With the time outs, though, I'm quite sure McDermott knew what the playcalls were and bought in, and is not going to punish someone else over shared responsibility.

I wasn't trying to say the offense sucked or finger them for the loss or anything. The OP I was responding to asked "what was wrong with the offense in the Tennessee game" and I answered: poor red zone efficiency and a pick in our own red zone, that's what.

Yes, I honestly did...I'm not trying to say they sucked, but they missed a lot of opportunities that would have put the game away. It was a story of our offense most of the season that we struggled in the Red Zone. The stats you quote are one reason I feel stats don't tell the whole story. Of course, I was more disappointed in the defense, but "other than that Mrs Lincoln, how did you like the play?" other than the long Henry run they did a decent job on Henry, actually.

Nothing here is "that serious", but since your response suggests I was 🎯, I respectfully suggest you re-visit what being a fan means to you

I'm having trouble interpreting this, but it sounds like the OP doesn't like Daboll, and you think the offense under Dorsey is going to be worse and intend to rub it in on another fan. Is that interpretation correct? It's kind of unbelieveable that an alleged Bills fan would come to a Bills board and discuss such an intention. Do I have it mixed?

5 trips to the RZ and 2 TD, plus an INT deep in our own territory leading to a TENN TD

The thing is, we traded up 5 spots from 12th to 7th. As the draft picks get closer to the top, the haul needed to move up gets larger. Don't remind me of those days. I would just finish writing something like "the Bills could trade up for Mack because (reasons)" and "the Bills would never trade all that to move up for a WR" and Nix or Whaley would be "Hold My Beer"

Op, in case you missed the point of the prose upthread, this has been under discussion in other threads. Search function at your service

This is probably not a popular POV here, but I think it went deeper than the Chiefs kickoff. “To whom much is given, much is expected” 1. Blocked punt for 7 points - best assessment I saw pointed to communication failure in blocking. We put a lot into ST. Unacceptable 2. Brought in 4 candidates for KR/PR yet wound up with our starting safety Micah Hyde fielding punts. Meanwhile one of the candidates we cut, Brandon Powell, is about to return kicks and punts for the NFC Super Bowl Team. Oopsie. 3. McKenzie had a number of good PR and KR called back for holds, including if I remember correctly at least one TD 4. Farwell spoke highly of Stevenson and how he was always asking to watch film etc - he must have signed off that he was ready to take over from McKenzie or even pushed for him, but that was an “egg on your face” move with “Speedy” running into people and muffing punts, that kind of wound up with McDermott looking a bit foolish after he cited “ball security” as a reason to prefer him to McK. (See point 2 above) 5. I don’t think they hold Haack against him Essentially, the ST story has been a mixed bag all season - not a disaster like GB, but probably “did not meet expectations”. I think point 4 as well as the kickoff probably were the strong factors in suggesting he pursue other options (assuming that was the suggestion). McDermott got rid of Dennison when he allegedly pushed for Peterman to start and it became clear he was So Not Up To It, thus causing McDermott to look foolish. It’s unclear what input Farwell had into the personnel decisions of course, or what it was I don’t think there is

Good question. Josh was so funny about that: "Davis Webb is faster. I hate to admit it, but I guess I just did" 😄 Correct, the Giants drafted him

Spain is being a bit confusing. I'm pretty sure Ford took his spot at LG, but they moved Ford over from RG and let the guy they brought in from the Jets, Winters, start. He probably thinks it's justified, but it's one of those situations where a guy is arguably better off to keep his yap shut, because when you finger-point others 3 fingers pointing back at you. The Bills OL is sitting on their sofas and he's starting in the Superbowl, 'nuff said.

I'm not sure that's correct- wasn't Spain playing LG, and Ford RG the first two games? And Ford wasn't really getting it done, so they decided to go with Ford and LG and Winters at RG and Spain lost his chair.

I am looking for the answer to that. I'm pretty sure I saw it as applying to offensive or defensive coordinator roles

My guess is the latter, but that he was told to "explore your other options" That's how Andy Reid fired McDermott - he told him he was going to be "relieved of his duties" but they kept it quiet while McD got the job with the Panthers I think McDermott would consider communication part of "execution", it's just a little bit scummy to leave it there as many people interpret "execution" as pointing at the players

I don’t know the rules around timeouts and kickoffs, but if McD thought they had the communication worked out in advance, he would have no reason to believe he needed to call one

Diggs could cut the Saints trefoil off his pro bowl shirt so Saint Doug could stitch it over the Bills logo. Recycling is “in”