hondo in seattle

I tend to agree. It's hard as a fan to know how good position coaches are. But our OL was poor last year and more-or-less the same guys are even worse this year. FWIW, Johnson has coached for 26 years. Being an OL coach is the most prestigious job he's ever had.

Edmunds and Milano aren't brutal Neanderthal linebackers in the mold of old LB legends like Dick Butkus, Ray Nitschke, Jack Lambert, Sam Huff, Chuck Bednarick, and so on. Given the limitations of our draft and cap resources, Beane and McD have - presumably by design - built a team that's good in just two areas: passing and stopping the pass. We only use two linebackers most of the time and both those linebackers were chosen more for their coverage skills than their physicality and tackling abilities. It's a passing league so a lot of times Edmunds and Milano are the perfect guys to have out there. But against bigger blockers and bigger runners, they often underwhelm.

By and large, I think Daboll has done a nice job as an OC. He was given a raw QB with a low completion rate, a couple of slow 3rd round backs, and a bunch of poor offensive linemen. Yet, the Bills have been averaging roughly 30 points per game, last season till now. There are games where the Bills seem to be able to score at ease and on those days I think Daboll is a genius for covering up all our deficiencies. And then there are games like the one against New England where I just don't know what he was trying to do. But I don't think changing the playcaller is the answer. As it is now, Daboll calls the play and gives Allen the authority to audible if he sees something in the D. That's probably the best way to run an offense in the modern NFL.

If the Bills keep sleepwalking, they won't reach the playoffs.

After all those years of irrelevance and misery, I certainly don't want to fire Beane or McD. And I assume they both went into this season wide eyes open, knowing the deficiencies of the squad. They're smart football guys who, jointly, transformed the Bills into a playoff contender - if not yet a Super Bowl contender. So I give them both a lot of credit. Yet I do find it perplexing that Beane made so little attempt to improve the OL. I get that draft and cap resources are limited. I get that the offense scored a lot of points last year with the same line. But I personally worried about the OL all offseason. Beane should have worried more. I still have hope for this season - we'll see if McD can right the ship. And I'm really curious to see what Beane will do in the offseason.

I was a bit of an Archie Manning fan back in the day. One of the best QBs of his era but never had a team around him. Constantly got knocked on his ass. Never experienced a winning season in his decade as the Saints QB.

I get what your saying - that the team on paper looks like it should be at least as good as the 13-3 squad we fielded last year. Statistically, our D is better than last year. But I think last year - credit the coaches - we beat some teams we weren't actually better than. This year - blame the coaches - we lost some game to teams we weren't worse than. Also, even though the offensive line roster didn't change much, our OL is performing even worse this year than last year. Is that a Bobby Johnson thing or something else?

I don't get the "light a fire" remarks. Edmunds isn't strolling around playing tag. His playing his heart out. We can argue about his skill and effectiveness but, sorry, I think the idea that signing a backup LB will light a fire under him is ludicrous. I don't think Edmunds would play better at all. I think he's already playing the best he can play.

I agree the better option is to fix the line. But is that going to happen this year? I want to fix this year. Rocks-for-Hands Knox hasn't entirely gotten over the dropsies that plagued his rookie year. He probably never will. And that doesn't help Allen either.

Sure. Fair point. But that's one game. But quick hitting passes tend to be high percentage completions that sustain drives. They also tend not to lead to drive-killing sacks. And I'm not saying to dink-and-dunk every game. I'm suggesting that when the OL is struggling to keep Josh upright, we need to adjust what we're doing. Mad scrambles aren't the solution.

Agreed. Given the current state of affairs - the Bills OL sucks and defenses know we have to pass to win - I think Allen needs to get better at quick hitting passes. But it's easy and fun to imagine a different reality in the future. We have a better OL and a good RB. Defenses need to defend both the pass and the run, both the inside and outside of the field, both deep and short. That automatically makes Josh more effective.

He complains too much. But it's not a big deal.

Tenn and NE - we lost close games to good teams. It happens. Jax - Inexplicable. Inexcusable.

Brady has not always had a strong OL. I remember games when our guys were beating their blocks consistently but freaking Brady was getting the ball in 2.1, 2.2 seconds. When he wants to, Brady can almost make the OL/DL battle almost irrelevant. Allen can't. Or maybe he can, but he chooses differently. I get the impression he just doesn't like dink-and-dunk. And, yes, I do believe Allen can lead us to a Lombardi. I really hope Beane builds him a better OL next year. But we'd be better this year if Allen was better with his presnap reads and faster with his throws.

I believe Josh Allen is the best Bills quarterback since Jim Kelly. By the end of his career we just might all agree he's the greatest QB to ever don a Bills uni. But we’re fooling ourselves if we deny the current flaws in his game. So let’s talk. Pretty much anyone who has heard of the Lombardy Trophy knows that QBs under duress are less productive than QBs with clean pockets. Certainly every QB knows this. So every QB has a plan on how to deal with those days when your OL bodyguard is overmatched. These plans tend to fall into one of three categories: Stand-And-Deliver. The idea of Stand-and-Deliver is to stay in the pocket, keep your eyes downfield, take your lumps, and make plays when you can. While you’ll get hit and sacked sometimes, you hope to make enough positive plays to put points on the board. The stand-and-deliver approach works best when the QB is tough enough to withstand the beating and the D is good enough to keep you in the game. Quick Strike. I’ve had the displeasure of watching Brady for his entire NFL career. When he finds himself poorly protected, he switches into quick-strike, dink-and-dunk mode. Brady will make his presnap read and then get the ball out so quickly that even the fastest DEs in the league can’t do much about it. In quick-release mode, Brady isn’t scanning for open receivers, he’s throwing to his predetermined guy no matter what, counting on superior precision and execution. Scramble. Scrambling is how Mahomes, for example, deals with those games when his OL is getting overwhelmed. He’s more athletic than the linemen bearing down on him and can frequently elude them to extend the play. Last year, Josh played Quick Strike a few games and it worked well. But when dealing with pressure, his default mode is Scan-and-Scramble. When one defender breaks into the pocket, I’m still somewhat confident that Josh will make something good happen. But when two or more defenders beat their blocks – as often happens – Josh will start zig-zagging around. This is when bad things often occur: an incompletion, a pick, a sack. The obvious solution is to build an impenetrable OL fortress for Josh that can hold back the opponent’s wildest cavalry charges. Maybe next year. Right now, I believe Josh would perform better doing more Quick-Strike then Scramble. Admittedly, I don’t know what Daboll tells him. Maybe Daboll specifically says, “Set up in the pocket, scan downfield, and scramble if you have to.” What I know for sure is that Josh needs to get the ball out quicker given the porous nature of our OL. That flaw prevents Josh from reaching his true potential as a QB. I really hate to phrase it like this... but I will: Sometimes Josh needs to be more Brady-like.

I remember hearing a lot about the importance of "continuity" on the offensive line. And, no doubt, continuity is important. If you have a good OL, keep the band together and let them improve their teamwork and get better yet. We didn't have good players for our OL. Keeping bad guys together for a sustained period of time isn't going to magically make them good.

Okay... maybe I should knock Beane. Many of us were concerned about the trenches during the offseason. He should have been concerned, too. Or maybe it's more precise to say he should have been more concerned - concerned enough to address it. I get that cap and draft resources are limited. But it's very easy to see this as a Super Bowl team if we were more stout on the lines. So why aren't we?

The Jags game aside, I disagree. Our offensive line is bad. They rarely open holes for our backs. They create no push on short yardage situations. And too often Allen is trying to make plays while scrambling for his life. And as good as Allen is, he doesn't excel at pre-snap reads which would be a great talent for a QB behind a porous line. Sometimes he hangs onto the ball scanning for an open receiver. And our defense is built to defend the pass. We struggle against physical offensive lines and powerful RBs.

Back in March, I started a topic: "I'm Not Sure We Will Repeat as AFCE Champs" I was concerned about a few things including our poor OL and lack of a running attack. And while a few brave souls agreed with me, I was assaulted by the mob. My football wisdom was doubted. My intellect insulted. My manhood questioned. Worst of all, I even had my Bills Mafia membership card revoked! https://www.twobillsdrive.com/community/topic/231992-not-sure-we-will-repeat-as-afce-champs/ Yet today I read that the suicide hotline in Buffalo is experiencing a spike in calls while fans want McDermott, Daboll, and every other Bills coach drawn and quartered - and then fired. I hated watching the Pats beat us last night but I'm not pulling my hair out. I never shared the Super Bowl expectations of my Mafia brothers and sisters (if I can still claim a familial relationship after being expelled from the club). I just never believed this roster was good enough. And, look, I'm not knocking Beane. Today's roster is better than the one he inherited. But he - clearly - has more work to do before the Bills can make a Super Bowl run.

McDermott lost 14-10 against a HOF coach with a strong squad in a game where the weather strongly favored the opponent. Yep. Seems like grounds for instant termination. And I'm sure if the Bills had scored a TD on that last drive to win the game, Kraft would have fired Belichick.

I'm confused by the thread title. Who was crying?

Many years ago, I married a beautiful Filipina who grew up in the sunny equatorial city of Davao where NFL football is barely known. I explained to her that while I might be old, I am not old-fashioned. I believe women are equal to men. When we married, we'd be partners and she could do as many - or few - of the household chores as she so chose. If she didn't want to cook, clean, or do the laundry... well, that was her choice as a fully realized human being capable of independent thought and with her own life priorities. But I did have one non-negotiable requirement: she had to become a Bills fan. Last night, she ordered Buffalo Wings to be delivered at game time today. Today she went to work in Bills gear. The rituals have been respected. The omens are right. The Bills will win.

I doubt if the defensive players are insulted. It doesn't matter what the talking heads on tv say. These guys only play 17 games each year. They should give 100% effort each game. And this game is particularly important, not because of reputation, but because 1st place in the AFCE is at stake. I don't think they need extra motivation from media gurus who don't give them all the credit they deserve. I never played football on national television. But I did go to war once. I gotta say, I didn't know a lot - or care much - about what the media dudes were saying. As invasion day approached, I heard second-hand that some so-called experts didn't give us credit for being as proficient and deadly as I knew we were. Others predicted that we'd suffered high casualties. I never gnashed my teeth over this stuff because I knew the reality better than any "expert" in the media. Besides, I was too involved in the preparations to spend time on what they had to say. I think football players mostly feel the same way.

The cap is the problem. The salary cap being what it is, it's hard to have talent at all positions. You have to prioritize and Beane/McD prioritized the passing game. I gotta believe, though, that they'd loooooove to add a great RB to the mix if they could afford it. Imagine Cookie at FB and OJ at HB. How would you defend this team? Inside, outside, short, deep... it could attack every part of the field. The more the D has to defend, the less capable it is of defending anything.

Feliciano is one of our better run blockers. Could be important if the weather is as bad as some predict and fear.