BADOLBILZ

I do remember Kruger. He was awesome in that stretch. As was the non-elite Flacco. And they beat Luck, Manning and Brady to do it. So that is an example that proves it CAN happen.

I do think we tend to see our situation of not winning as particularly disappointing..........but it's not really different than what Andy Reid went thru in Philly. In hindsight McNabb wasn't an all-time great but he was a superstar in his time and the competition in conference wasn't all of Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson every year either. And Reid squandered a bunch of #1 seedings with McNabb and the SB they did make was uncompetitive. McD has blown none of those #1 seeds, he has a dynasty in his conference to contend with and has had a better winning % than Reid did during his Eagles tenure. It's frustrating but whenever I see anyone say they "should have won one by now" I really don't think it's a shoulda' situation. It was a coulda' situation. None of the teams that the Bills lost to in the playoffs were clearly lesser than the Bills.

Yeah this is why the Bills are the Vegas favorite to land Myle Garrett in trade this offseason. They need a difference maker. Rousseau may eventually get there but if he continues to track like a better, latter day version of Calais Campbell he might not hit that point where he can be considered great until he reaches his athletic peak at 26-27. Which is a way off.

They do have very good depth at RB, TE and WR. But where you are stretching it is thinking that is what allows them to play roles that suit them. The reason they can is because they added Cooper and Coleman stepped up. Before that, Bills opponents didn't have to defense the entire field and it was becoming "nobody eats". The reason is that there was a lot of redundancy in what the majority of the Bills receiving threats could do. Cooper and Coleman are the exceptions. They had some early season blowouts but they weren't really offense-driven. But since the Cooper trade they've scored 30+ in 8 of 9 games. Aside from the lethargic Pats effort the only one where the offense wasn't sharp was the game in Indy where they scored 23 offensively........with Cooper out. And you lost me at Gabe Davis. In hindsight we should shudder at the thought that behind Diggs in 2022 the Bills next 3 best passing game weapons were ball droppers Davis, Knox and Lil' Dummy. The suspense of whether they'd even catch it or not was palpable.

Will McD be more likely to quit or be fired if he leaves in the near future? I hope they win that SB this year and that doesn't happen......but if not I certainly don't think Terry Pegula would fire McD for another playoff loss. But the fans sorta' ran Mularkey out of town when he quit. If McD perceives he's grossly under appreciated and doesn't like his treatment in the area maybe he decides to move on. That would be a tough call with Josh Allen at QB and control of the purse strings. Maybe Tepper gets humbled and offers he and Beane the same deal to return home to Carolina after 2025.

Yeah there was a point early last game where I wondered if he was just getting the majority of the day off. His body language on the sideline was very relaxed like he knew he wasn't playing........but he was right there on the edge with his helmet on. And then he'd come on for a play and come off again. My guess has been that they have been protecting the wrist by not asking him to block as much but I don't have data to prove that.

Yeah I respect the process that you use to come to your opinions I am just using your own logic against you. The piece you seem to give no merit to yet is the concept that there are things that you don't know that you don't know. Like regarding my allegiance to Miami. I don't play favorite to a player because they played for Miami. I may just know more about them than you learn from looking at cut-up game tape. Like last year you had a good pretty ranking on CB Tyrique Stevenson coming out. If you look at his tape you see physical potential. But if you knew what happened between those plays you would know that the guy is a knucklehead and a culture problem. He was a UDFA to me. Off-the-board. DT Leonard Taylor, on the other hand, he played 2022 on cruise control so his tape looked like sh!t. But it wasn't an attitude problem, he was simply trying to survive on a bad team and get to the draft. He grossly miscalculated that his 5 star status would get him picked on day 2 at least. But he's not a bad guy. The Jets got an absolute steal with him. This is stuff you don't know if you are just watching tape or relying on opinions of a scout you might now who is spread way too thin. Another example is you thinking that Ken Dorsey's tantrum after lil' Dummy totally blew that game in Miami a couple years ago was outrageous. I sit about 15 feet directly in front of Brady and Babich. They get angry and frustrated too. After the Dorsey incident they know to turn their back to the camera which makes the footage unusable. They aren't on the sideline it's not the same as if McD shows emotion.

I think they just know that with Josh Allen playing against a defense that feels forced to defend the entire field.........low risk plays equal long drives and TD's. Complementary football has been what McD has wanted ever since his defense sort of came apart in that London game last year. It hasn't really been fixed since. And when Cooper is on the field the opponents continue to roll a safety to his side. It's kind of surprising that the Bills can still run 3 x 1 and the Jets would have a safety almost lined up right behind the CB across from Cooper on the other side. DC's really do not want those big plays on their coaching reel.

Which........gets back to my point. It's Josh Allen's offense. https://www.buffalobills.com/video/joe-brady-this-is-josh-allen-s-offense-buffalo-bills I'm not bashing Brady. I think he's done a good job with what he has. Which is a different and better cast......and a better version of Josh Allen.......than what his predecessor had. I take issue with some really terrible decisions in key moments and perhaps forcing the run game in response to his critics at his last gig. But he and Dorsey are young OC's and if you expect a lot better.......well, perhaps aside from Ben Johnson, those kind of guys are calling plays from the HC position elsewhere. I'm merely pushing back against the hyperbolic nonsense that this thread was built upon.

Yeah, I am fine with that even if it is really more recency bias than reality. I loved the Brady hiring as QB coach. I presumed if that dumbass Daboll could get a HC job riding on Allen's back that Dorsey might get one as well and then Brady would be there to take over as OC. So I had no problem changing them out. I couldn't care less about what's fair if the alternative isn't worse. I had zero concerns about how much some observers HATED Brady's offense in Carolina. Josh Allen is going to make you look smart. But Brady was absolutely trashed by the end in Carolina......mainly because he couldn't run the football despite an OL that was built to run the football. And the funny thing is that in his full season before he got fired the offense basically ran exclusively thru 3 WR. Two put up over 1,000 yards and Samuel put up 800. So the people like @Big Turk who think that Brady is the father of "total football" or "everybody eats" are totally clueless about Brady's background. If they had AJ Brown and Devonta Smith on the outside they'd be feeding them.

After Brady took over last year, Allen ran the ball 9.2 times per game thereafter. That is ridiculous and I think that's the argument you are talking about. But that's just over-use. That's "well that might shorten the back end of his career" stuff. What happened to Allen this year has been real abuse. That is "those kind of hits could break a career". There has been some hyperbole in the past about the wear and tear being like Cam Newton's time in Carolina........but up until this year Allen hadn't taken the kind of massive hits that wrecked Cam's shoulder and derailed his career. Those happened this year. And keep in context what I was responding to. If you are going to claim that something is the "direct responsibility" of a coach then it works both ways. THE signature play in the Bills offense in 2024 is Josh Allen not finding an open receiver on the called play.........rolling right(often from a clean pocket).........and then taking a huge hit as he throws a deep ball at the last second, nearly AT the sideline, across his body or down the sideline. That's definitely IT. That's the signature play of the Joe Brady 2024 offense. The trick play was like a weird attempt to manufacture that intentionally. And if Brady is getting credit for this offense then he needs to be responsible for those kind of huge hits happening.

That's right, it IS Josh Allen's offense. That's why it worked well enough in 2021 to get into the playoffs despite often terrible regular season coaching by Daboll. That's why it was even better in 2022 with a rookie OC and less WR talent. And that's why it's working so well now with a QB who has finally reached the intersection of know-how and can-do. But yeah keep avoiding the part where you were dead wrong about Daboll and dead-a$$ wrong about Josh Allen. There is no way your opinion could be wrong. So your opinion is that Dorsey might get fired and that means something? I forget........how many NFL OC jobs was Daboll fired from before he got exiled to a decade of coaching TE's and coaching in the college ranks before he joined the Bills? How many years did Daboll last at each of those OC jobs he was canned from? How many times did you make excuses to me about all of those firings which would totally apply to Ken Dorsey in Cleveland now if someone wanted to make them? And oh yeah.....how did Joe Brady become available to become the Bills QB coach again? Wasn't it a mid-season sh!t-canning as Carolina OC? Yeah it was, wasn't it? You'd think you'd have learned by now not to be so stubborn. I've literally said Dorsey was replacement level. I never hailed him like you did Daboll. He also guided the offense thru the most trying season in Bills history and his "chuck-and-duck" offense produced 5.2 ypc that season compared to Brady's 4.6 this season despite being hailed as a run game innovator.

Nah you are full of sh!t. It's all in writing here on TSW. What I said in that thread is that the WR group they had entering the season was the first such Bills WR corps since the 1980's that didn't have a single player who had even produced a 900 yard season in their career. The point being that they lacked WR1-WR2 type receiving talent. But they had multiple WR3 type options and an abundance of good receiving TE's and RB's. And yes, a 600 yard season from a 3rd option slot guy who lead the league in catch % and had a very high ypc was proven, IMO. I literally predicted Shakir would lead the team in receiving with around 900 yards so I was always sure he'd be good. The other prediction I made was that Beane would be desperately trying to trade for a WR1 in October. Not at the trade deadline in November. Earlier. At the risk of sounding like alphalamp......I nailed it. And FWIW.......Shakir was a slot receiver not a boundary. Him not being there didn't make it a requirement that they throw Hollins deep shots. But yeah, that was the game where it became abundantly clear that they had to fix the boundary or opponents were just going to cheat up the safeties and flood the middle of the field and take away the Bills deep cast of inside and short-to-intermediate options.

Turkish soccer fan says I have an agenda. The truth is not an agenda.

In his first month with Brady, Gabe Davis had two 100+ yard games. As many as he had in two years of regular season games with Daboll and 1.5 with Dorsey. He didn't "basically" cut Gabe out. I wish he had. Wrong-way Gabe cost them the Eagles game despite some gaudy yardage. Gabe got banged up and missed time. You misremember.

Look, you thought Brian Daboll was a great offensive mind. And you had the same attitude towards my opinion then when I told you that you were wrong about that. Dismissive. You knew better. Wrong. Even @dave mcbride finally had to admit I was right and he was a Dabolliever like you. And as I told you years ago.......I was not a Ken Dorsey fan at Miami....he was a limiting factor on a great team. The only things I liked about his hiring was the continuity for Allen and the fact that he wasn't the wicky-wacky, 3-points-against-Jacksonville Daboll. And I was not one of the many people worried about Dorsey leaving for a HC job when the offense was putting up gaudy numbers in 2022. And I'm fine with Brady when he isn't botching a big moment........but AGAIN........not one of the people worried about Joe Brady leaving to be a HC either. You don't like both interchangeable? Ok then, both replaceable. This is motherf*cking Josh Allen's offense. Has it been mentioned before that Allen is the guy you didn't think was going to make it as an NFL QB? If I took your position of presuming bias I guess I'd say you give too much credit to the OC because you can't accept just how bad your take on Allen was.

Where did I blame Brady for choosing the players? I said "the Bills" thought Hollins could be a starting boundary WR. Beane left him short on the boundary. But Brady still dialed up those hopeless deep shots. That's not the definition of "optimizing". You are trying to get into your nonsense I passed on addressing where you claim that the Bills had no receiving options beside Keon Coleman entering the season. OK then. They had a proven slot in Shakir, they had a proven producer in Samuel, we knew Cook and Johnson were productive in the passing game at that point and Kincaid and Knox were both legit NFL TE's. It wasn't that long ago that Lil' Dummy was their 4th best option in the passing game for Dorsey behind Diggs/Davis/Knox. That's 3 guys with BAD hands and Diggs. They had WAY more depth than that entering this season. They just lacked the all important difference makers on the boundary.

So Ty Johnson and Cook I agree with. Shakir optimized? VERY debatable. Kincaid, Knox, Samuel, Coleman, Cooper were clearly NOT optimized. So not buying the optimization claim. On Mack Hollins.........he is basically the same player he's always been IMO. The Bills clearly initially thought they were going to be able to skate by with him outside......but he and Allen couldn't connect on the deep ball (did you forget that frustration early in the season?). So I wouldn't say he optimized Hollins he just had to minimize his route tree after the Baltimore/Houston debacles forced the Cooper trade. That said, Hollins brings something that Davis did not. Most of the people on here don't go to camp so they didn't see the Bills always trying to develop Gabe into a big slot WR every camp. Then they would try it in preseason and it wouldn't work and they'd give up. In fact, the first time Allen and Davis took the field in a preseason game in 2023 he tried a quick slant to Gabe to start the first series, it hit him square in stride on the hands and bounced off for an INT. And that was it for 2023. Hollins is pretty useless deep but fits better in the tight formations because he's actually playable in the middle of the field. Gabe was NOT. Like I said, Gabe was a banana peel just waiting to be slipped on by any OC. SO overrated. The numbers don't lie.......when he was targeted Allen struggled. His departure has been at least as much of a positive than the oft-talked up Diggs departure. As for the constraints on Dorsey........it was real. @GunnerBill claims that Dorsey was trying to fit square pegs into a round hole. But he didn't choose the pegs. McBeane were invested in Diggs and Davis and they didn't fit the "complementary football" approach that was suddenly necessary with McDermott's struggling defense(beginning in London). The 3 prior games they averaged 38 points. Diggs was trending toward a career year. But there were broad changes in how most teams were defensing explosive teams by mid-season last year. It caused an offensive production drop around the league. Brady didn't create the wheel he expanded on an adaptation that had already started in the Tampa game. IMO they didn't do the same the next week against Denver because they thought it was going to be an easy W and perhaps wanted to save it for the Jets game. But then McD cost them that Denver game. It comes off to some like I am saying Dorsey was unfairly fired. That's not the case. My opinion of he and Brady was that they would be pretty interchangeable and the team needed a shakeup. But it's not like Dorsey was terrible for half of a season. It's an untrue narrative.

Yeah, it started out apparently breaking his left hand in the opener falling after running for a TD(I think that was the leap over Baker). He got BLASTED on that terrible trick play in Baltimore. Clearly concussed and we were fortunate he didn't suffer an arm injury as well. He got BLASTED and appeared completely unconscious after another one of his worst all time hits in Houston the next week. Hit extremely hard and high while prone after the throw on the sideline numerous times in the Rams/Lions weeks...........had to go for X-Rays on his shoulder after the Lions game. Those are the big one's that come immediately to mind. We are used to the 100+ carries now......and take it for granted even though we shouldn't. But it had been a while since he had anything that looked like an obvious concussion and he had 2 this year. Since the 2019 home game against NE, to be exact.

I hadn't really noticed that specifically. The last couple games have reminded me more of the late season games in 2021 where they were trying to keep Allen healthy and he subsequently wasn't as good. What I do notice is them giving away too many first downs by running into a stacked box. Early in the season when people like Dan Orlovsky were trying to quantify what the Bills were doing right offensively they were talking about how the Bills avoid negative plays. After Baltimore and Houston it turned to "they don't have the players on offense". And that's because the easiest part to take away is the middle of the field. They just lacked 1 of what so many good teams have 2 or even 3 of on the boundary. Cooper arrived and Coleman really began to matter at the same time and it was like they were playing on a bigger field.

You are on the right track but still trying too hard. Who has Brady optimized again? Ty Johnson? James Cook? It's not rhetorical......let me know if you actually believe that. After the Cooper acquisition defense's have had to defend the entire field. And now the Bills have like 10 better receiving options than Lil' Dummy.......who was a starting slot receiver for the team not long ago. This version of Josh Allen playing "complementary football" is tough to get off the field with that and an improved OL. Subsequently 30+ points in 8 of 9 games. Is this sustainable? Not likely. In most seasons you will have players with contract leverage or in walk years and they are going to want more opportunities. 400 yard seasons don't pay. And we can't expect Allen to take this beating every year and stay healthy. And defense's will likely adjust again to the teams that are taking advantage of their less aggressive pass coverage. But it's been a nice season in time. Much of the last 9 games offensively has been a lot like watching that "perfect game" wildcard win versus the Patriots in January 2022.

Well then I could say that Brady is directly responsible for by far the most physical abuse Josh Allen has taken in a season as well. For the first time since 2020 the reigns were totally taken off Josh Allen. From the moment Brady was given the job. That version of Josh Allen is hard for any defense to get off the field. The one that Dorsey had and the one that Daboll had at times was told not to risk injury extending plays and running the ball. That guy is a lot less fun and harder to OC for. Fortunately, Allen survived a full season of it.

That take would make complete sense if Dorsey had a good selection of pegs entering 2023. He did not. Gabe Davis was a banana peel waiting to be slipped on regardless of how you used him. Dawson Knox was injured and dropped critical passes in the Patriots loss and the near loss to the Giants. Kincaid was a rookie. He damn sure got the most out of Diggs, didn't he? The hate for Dorsey simply doesn't track when you look at what he had to work with situationally and talent-wise. But ultimately, yeah, Brady is getting more hype than he's earned, IMO. He had a GREAT day in Detroit. He clearly had been composing that gameplan to try to out-gun Ben Johnson for quite some time before hand. Otherwise I haven't seen great OC work so much as great stewardship of a complementary football offense by Allen. I've seen a QB that realized he threw away the season on Brady's idiotic 2nd and 9 call(1st read being a 30 air yard throw to a slot receiver that would have been a huge failure strategically even in the unlikely event that it was even completed) at the end of the divisional game last year. Allen has been a totally different decision maker since.

That's the result, not the reason. Reason #1(by a lot) is a much improved Josh Allen.........which I attribute to experience, not the scheme or even the better talent on the OL and a deeper selection of playmakers. Subsequently they've had a whopping 19 less turnovers than 2022. The 2022 season was the most trying in Bills history. Dorsey didn't get enough credit for what he did. In part because we all want to forget how the season ended because the QB was having domestic issues. In 2023, despite a terrible performance by Allen in the opener, they were off to a great start offensively but McDermott's struggles calling the defense caused pot holes in the road and necessitated "complementary football". Like I said, that was coming whether Dorsey got fired or not. Whether Dorsey would have done as well with it is anyone's guess. What I can tell you is that 4.6 yards per rush is a far cry from the 5.2 they were putting up in 2022. Other than the horrible decisions in big moments by Brady, the only other complaint I have with him are the myriad of predictable, wasted run plays.

IMO, Dorsey's biggest issue were being new to calling plays and inheriting diminished talent on offense. He's probably JAG as an OC but he gets WAY too much criticism. His 2022 offense put up the same yards per play as this 2024 one and rushed for more than a half yard more per attempt. WITH Rodger Saffold at LG. Dorsey realized the changes they needed to make prior to his firing and they began implementing them in the Tampa game. Then McDermott tried to run his defense off the field on the FG attempt against Denver.....lost the game as a result.......and a change absolutely had to be made somewhere. Brady was the logical choice and I think he's done a fine job. But the idea that the approach Brady implemented only happened because he got the job is false, IMO. It was obvious even to casual fans that they didn't have the horses outside to be a vertical passing attack. The improvement of the OL, the maturation of Shakir, Cook and Ty Johnson, the drafting of Kincaid and Coleman in back to back years, Knox being healthy and the trade for Cooper have given Brady more to work with. But the big thing is Josh Allen has finally embraced taking what the defense gives him. There were some mind-numbing losses in 2022-2023 just because Allen did something stupid you wouldn't see him do now. And I am reluctant to give Brady much credit for that because of the utter cluelessness Brady displayed at the end of that Chiefs divisional loss last year. That and the trick play in Baltimore are among the dumbest GD play calls in key moments I've ever seen by a Bills OC. I worry that Brady gets stupid and tries to be the hero in big moments that call for more of what's been working. And perhaps that's due to his HC ambitions.