hondo in seattle

I just don't buy this. McD and Daboll have spent their lives in football and have been successful. But they're too stupid to see that Breida might be better than a 3rd rounder? That just doesn't make sense to me. I mean seriously, what coach says, "I don't care if he's outperforming X. We used a 3rd round draft pick on X and X needs to play." 3rd round picks just aren't that special. I think this is more likely: Breida is not a powerful back. He's a speed guy who needs space to work and the Bills offensive line so far hasn't been good at creating space. McD and Daboll probably thought Moss and Singletary were more likely to get yards when dealing with a penetrated backfield and crowded line of scrimmage.

I heard once that the NFL has - by far - the biggest rule book of any professional sport. I respect tradition so I'm not advocating this exactly but... It would be cool if you could line up with as many - or few - men on the LOS as you wanted. And everybody could go downfield and was eligible. And players could be moving at the time of the snap - in any direction - as long as they were on the correct side of the LOS. This would make offensive play-calling so much more interesting with so many more options.

If you think about the offseason, and not just the draft, then I do think CB is a priority. Not as big a priority as OL, but something Beane needs to look at. We're a Nickel team and trot out three starting CBs every game. Having good CB depth is important to the way we play.

I'm surprised. I was certain Buffalo was the NFL's windiest city. But, in fact, you are right: we're currently second to Boston but still windier than the so-called, "Windy City."

Just at a Michael's in Kansas where my wife bought fake polyester snow for her little Christmas village. The product was called "Buffalo Snow." That's the city's reputation and we ought to wear it with pride. I didn't watch the video but if I'm not mistaken, Buffalo is both the snowiest and windiest NFL city.

What do they call multiple personality disorder now? Dissociative Identity Disorder? Something like that? That's the Bills. You never know what team you'll get.

How is this a bad thing?

Agreed. He's speed is a great weapon. Singletary and Moss are both tougher runs. Different strengths for different situations and playcalls. What would transform this offense is an OL that could consistently protect Josh and open holes for Singletary, Moss, or Breida. That would be scary beautiful.

There have been a lot of disappointed Bills fans out there calling for Beane's, McD's, Daboll's, and/or Frazier's head. A lot of it has to do with expectations. We thought the AFC was ours this year and we'd prance through the season all the way to the Super Bowl. Well, expectations are a deceptive b*tch. Here's how I see it: We're going into December, tied for the AFCE lead, with a critical game coming up against the Pats. Compared to the sorry reality of a few years ago, this is a fantastical dream come true. Meaningful games in December... a real opportunity to take down the Pats - again... I mean, this is really good stuff and I'm excited.

Yeah, his brick hands really bothered me. He's better now: not perfect - but an asset rather than a deficit overall. Good for tough after-the-catch yards.

I suppose he's got a decent IQ but I would NOT call him 'intelligent' or 'insightful.' The guy calls himself a 'critical thinker.' To me, a critical thinker is someone who uses logic and facts to arrive at an opinion/conclusion. That's not what he does. His data points are biased and often not factual, and the logic is faulty. He's a "villain" in my mind because he champions idiotic ideas that are bad for people. He's too selfish to do his due diligence and take his position as a role model seriously.

If linemen went downfield, who'd be protecting the QB. There's pros and cons involved. The game would change if the rule was revoked but only a bit. I wonder when this rule was first implemented and what problem it was supposed to solve.

The DL has already shown what they can do: pressure the QB a good amount of the time. They're not going to suddenly get better and "take over games" because Tre's out. Statistically, we've had the 2nd best D in the league. Without Tre, it'll get somewhat worse but it won't become bad. Let's hope it's good enough we still win ball games. The O has to get more consistent.

Wow, this is full of assumptions and speculation. Just because some business leaders are good at turnarounds but not good at sustained success, doesn't mean that McD has the same problem. Just because some fans believed the Bills hype doesn't mean McD, his staff, and the players did. I have yet to see any compelling evidence that goofy handshakes are detrimental to team success. In fact, you'll find a lot of odd rituals in the Special Forces. They still win on their field of competition. You say that the tactics McD used in the past may not work now. Can you be more specific? What leadership tactics did he use before? And how do you know this - are you on the practice field? In the locker room? What tactics should he be using instead? What traits that don't "come naturally" to McDermott does he need to develop? I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying this is highly speculative stuff that we - as fans - are in no position to know.

I get this. From Day One, Beane and McD have been building a team around two simple ideas: pass the ball and stop the pass. You can see this by the choice of defense (Nickel), the choice of linebackers (good coverage guys), our free agent signings (e.g. Beas), our trades (e.g. Diggs), our drafts (e.g. Josh), etc. And it makes sense to prioritize the pass. But eventually, we have to graduate from a pass/stop-the-pass only team to a multifaceted team. If we don't, the Jonathon Tayors and Derrick Henrys of the world are going to keep eating us alive.

I remember when poor Wade Phillips was the HC of the Cowboys. Insiders said he was a dead man walking because Jerry Jones considered Garrett a young, up-and-coming coaching superstar. It was only a matter of time before Phillips would be replaced. In his four years, Phillips won 60.7% of his games with the Cowboys. In his ten years, Garrett won 55.9% of his. Phillips won over 60% of his games with both the Bills and Boys and yet got fired from both gigs in less than 4 seasons. Garrett got 10 years of patience in Dallas despite perpetual mediocrity. Now the Giants don't even consider him worthy of a coordinator position. The NFL is a funny place.

I find this very interesting. We do run the 4-3 at times. But 90% of the time, we're a 4-2/Nickel D. The thing is, assignments do change. Sometimes one of the safeties moves up into the box, sometimes back. Sometimes we're zone, sometimes man-to-man. And so on. It's not like we're lining up in exactly the same formation with exactly the same play-call every play. McD and Frazier have been particularly good at confusing rookie/inexperienced QBs by giving them misleading reads. While it seems "unimaginative," we did lead the NFL in defense until this past weekend. And, to me personally, the Colts game seemed more like a personnel problem than a scheme/play-calling problem. Their OL was just too big and strong for our front four.

Weird how important Spencer Brown has been to the offense. So much better when he's in the game even though he doesn't actually look like a game-changer when you watch him play.

I started the season thinking the Bills were a playoff team but not a Super Bowl team. But after watching - live, in person, at Arrowhead - the Bills dismantle the Chiefs, I started to dream of bigger things. Then reality crashed in on us and I'm back to playoffs-but-not-Super-Bowl. The OL just isn't good enough... The run D has problems... But there's always next season.

Thanks for the kind words, jkeerie. It's good to have members of the better gender participating in our discussions. I know my post won't garner a lot of comments. The most 'productive' posts are the ones where the OP takes a controversial position and we all argue about it. But if you're the only one who appreciates my point of view, it's still a good day. I love you, too, JoPoy. Us Bills fans - we're all brothers and sisters in arms who have suffered and celebrated together. Personally, I'd rather think about why the Bills aren't going to the SB this year after all, then think about another pointless season with the playoffs yet again an unattainable goal. Our disappointments are evolving to something better. I have a sweatshirt that reads, "Just One Before I Die." I've worn it in a variety of places in the West and Midwest where people don't know what it means. Every Bills fan does, though. When I used to wear it, I'd think, "Well, this is never going to happen." Now I think, "It's probably not happening this year, but it might happen yet with this GM and HC." That's progress and, personally, I'm grateful.

Maybe Josh does miss Barkley. But I've gotten the impression from some of the interviews I've seen and read that last season Josh counted on Davis Webb for advice and insight more than Barkley.

Forget turning swords into ploughshares, we need to transform pitchforks into picket signs – picket signs that read, “We love our Bills!” And, look, I get the frustration. Before the season began, I wondered why Beane did so little to upgrade our weakest units. I wanted runners with more burst. And a stout, run stuffing DT. And a TE who didn’t soak his hands in ice water for hours before the game. And since we employ the Nickel all the time, I wanted another DB. The thing is, I’m a simple guy. My understanding of football isn’t very sophisticated. So if Josh sees a Cover 2 Shell on 3rd and 4 and thinks the bandit might be blitzing, I can’t say if it’s a good idea for him to audible to Green Right X Shift to Viper Right 382 X Stick Lookie or not. But I do know blockers should be able to block. Ours can’t. So, more than anything, I wanted blockers. Yet Beane seemed content to re-sign our own free agents and keep the roster mostly unchanged from the previous season. I get there is only so much cap money and a limited number of draft picks, but I wanted so much more. When I complained on this board that our opponents got better while we stood pat, my intelligence, my sanity, my manhood – even my right to call myself a member-in-good-standing of the Bills Mafia – were all attacked! And I’ll admit, when I stood cheering in Arrowhead as I watched the Bills disassemble the Chiefs, I thought my attackers might have been right. Oh, our blemishes remained. But a little Daboll airbrushing here, and a little Frazier Photoshopping there, and our girl looked like a finalist for Playboy Bunny of the Year!* Switching metaphors, I told my wife. “The king is dead. Long live the new king!” The Bills now owned the AFC. But in the following weeks, the paint cannister for the airbrush ran dry, the Photoshop subscription expired, and all our warts and acme have reemerged. And now the pitchforks have come out. I once visited the Louvre in Paris. And if you get real close to some of the paintings there, you can see flaws in the brushstrokes of the artists. But when you stand back and take the whole effect in, you’re left in awe at the beauty of the artist’s creation. We need to take a step back from the Indy game and take a broader perspective. What Beane and McD have given us is truly a beautiful thing: a Bills team that’s a real contender year after year. And they’ll both tell you that they’re not done yet with their Mona Lisa, their Venus de Milo. So even though I fantasize about gargantuan Bills linemen bowling over terrified defenders while I face a somewhat different reality, I still say: I love Beane, McDermott, and all our Bills! * LEGAL DISCLAIMER. Author does not subscribe to normative attitudes of feminine pulchritude or the objectification of the female gender, nor does he encourage others to do so.

This is a really strong argument. Bruce was, indeed, a rare talent.

I'm not sure why Florio would say this. Teams looking for a Super Bowl run are always looking for a player to put them over the top. But WR is not a position of weakness for us. And OBJ doesn't seem to be a McD kind of player. But, no, I didn't gag. Florio is a bright enough guy but the national commentators are rarely - if ever - experts on the Bills and I don't expect great analyses from them.

I've made the same argument myself but... Did Bruce line up any closer to the ball than Reggie? Was Bruce double-teamed any more than Reggie? How often did the Bills blitz back then - rushing four or more? I don't know the answers. I'm just asking. Generally speaking, of course, it is harder for a 3-4 DE to get sacks than a 4-3 DE because their roles are somewhat different. But in Bruce's specific case, he clearly didn't struggle getting to the QB at an exceptional rate. The way Walt Corey used Bruce might have helped negate the 3-4 disadvantage. True enough. But if Bruce played today, he would still kill Boomer but avoid the helmet to helmet contact.