hondo in seattle

Pass first. Pass often.

Who the heck cares about pressers? Other than being slightly irritable, Belichick sounds like a barely-living zombie at pressers. Yet, in fact, he's fully emotionally and intellectually engaged in his team. Pressers are for the fans. When a coach stands in front of his team, he may very well behave completely different.

Sound great. I like tough talk. And I agree, the Super Bowl is the one-and-only goal. But McD is one of the top 10 professional football coaches in the world today. Where are you looking for someone who can get this squad to the Super Bowl when McD can't? Andy Reid, Sean Payton, and Bill Belichick all have jobs. Tony Dungy and The Jaw are happily retired. Who, specifically, would you hire that would coach this team better than McD? Marv Levy's teams had games like this. So has Bill Belichick's teams. And Andy Reid's. Good coaches have bad days. I think some of the hot-headed over-reactions are coming from people who falsely believed this roster was better than it actually is.

I think the Bills players cared. But they found themselves in a street fight they hadn't expected. When the two teams went into the locker rooms at halftime, I told me wife something like this: The game is tied but the emotions are completely different. The Jags feel like winners for holding the Bills offense in check and finishing the half with a tie. The Bills feel frustrated, downcast, almost like losers. While the score was the same at that point, the energy was entirely different.

If not for the workplace misconduct stuff, I'd say he's well-qualified to run the XFL.

I personally never felt they were at top 10 unit last year, despite PFF's rankings. Not even close. In the offseason, I said more than once that this was the unit that most worried me. But, yeah, the regression is worrisome. It does make you wonder about the coaching.

You're a weak leader if you have to get rid of someone just to "send a message." The 3rd winningest coach in Bills history. And you want to get rid of him? And replace him with who?

This is weird. My impression was that Josh was struggling a little on deep throws this year. Apparently not! Nobody in the league has attempted more throws of 30-plus air yards than Allen, who has lofted 14 of them. On those 14 plays, he has nine completions, which have accounted for 375 yards and two touchdowns. That's a 147.3 passer rating. Only Prescott's is higher (149.3), and he's attempted less than half as many throws as Allen, going 4 of 6 for 163 yards and two touchdowns. Allen completed four of these passes against the Chiefs alone. Only four other players have more than four of these completions on the entire season.

Good post. Clearly we need a better offensive line for this offense to reach its full potential. But I also wonder about getting a run game coordinator. Chan Gailey was really good at generating a run attack with a poor offensive line. Likewise, Greg Roman is a run game genius. Brian Daboll is not. Is there a coach out there who excels at the X's and O's of the run game who can help Daboll craft a better rushing attack? We need better offensive linemen and a better run game scheme more than we need AP.

Agreed! This past offseason, I voiced my concerns about the offensive line. Some shared my worries but others talked about "continuity." They asserted that keeping the same offensive linemen together would result in a better performance this year. At midseason, I say: So much for continuity! Continuity in our situation means simply that players with mediocre skillsets continue to display mediocre skillsets. That's the continuity we're experiencing. Beane really needs to address the OL next year.

I don't think it's baffling at all. When they began working together, Beane and McD looked around the NFL and noted the obvious trend: professional football is more and more about the pass, and less and less about the run. Passing is the present and future of football. So McD hired an OC in Brian Daboll who had a deep understanding of modern passing concepts along with a basic understanding of the running game. Meanwhile Beane starting acquiring an elite QB and WRs as well as offensive linemen who were better in pass pro than run protection. And just for fun, he spent a couple of late second-day draft picks on RBs. Yeah, it would be great if we could build our running attack to be as effective as our passing attack. I know I would love to see that. But a GM has only so many high draft picks and only so much cap money to spend. So Beane focused on the passing attack. The net result is we have one of the most potent offenses in the NFL. It's hard to say Beane was wrong.

I have to assume McD has already done succession planning for both his OC and DC. Coordinators for good teams are always in demand. So I'm guessing that Dorsey is already being groomed to take over.

Bears fans everywhere are groaning.

I don't expect blowouts every week. In fact, I tend to find reasons to worry about ever opponent. Not this week. Bills 38, Jags 10.

Forty years ago, when I liked to drive my bike (and car) a bit too too fast, I would have vehemently disagreed. But with age, comes a bad back, creaky knees, and perhaps just a little bit of wisdom. We don't have autobahns in the U.S. Our roads have speed limits. Why do we need cars that go faster than the law allows?

15 years since we had an AFC special teams player of the month? Well, that was a streak that needed to end!

If Meyer goes Cover 0 and tries to matchup man-to-man on all our receivers, I think Diggs has a big day. If Meyer plays some kind of soft zone to prevent the big play, I think Beas has a big day. Hmm... As I think this through, and consider the quality of the opponent, I think Diggs has a good day no matter what the Jags do. So my final answer is: DIGGS!

My professional specialty is turning around flailing multi-unit restaurant organizations. Mistakes are always, ALWAYS, part of the process of building a better team. I'll tell my folks corny-but-true things like, "The road to greatness is full of potholes." That's why I don't get down on Beane's misfires. He's made a few. But what is the net impact of his dealings? The roster keeps getting better. Better skilled. Better culture fits. Reaching the playoffs is becoming normal and people are talking about us as Super Bowl contenders. I just hope the 2021 Bills are not his plateau. I still wish for a lot of things - most especially a better offensive line.

FIrst, I really don't care what Kubiak thinks. I watch all the same games he does. I'm a grown man and can form my own opinion. And having watched football for 50 years or so, I think our OL is average-at-best at pass pro. I think they're below average at run blocking. But I'm not sure who - if anyone - thinks we have the "worst OL in the league." For our passing game to get better, our OL has to block better, Allen needs to make better decisions, and Daboll needs to make better play-calls. It would be awesome if all those things happened. But let's be real, our passing game right now - despite its deficiencies - is awfully darn good.

Davis Webb?

It was Saleh's idea. Beck's area of expertise is, indeed, biomechanics. From his website: train3dqb.com The current QB coach, Rob Calabrese, is probably focused on the execution of offensive plays and the diagnosing of defenses.

Never saw this before. And I learned that 6-0 final scores have happened 79 times in NFL history. The first time was when All Tonawanda beat Rochester in 1920.

So it never happened from 1920 until 2006? Surprising, for sure, if true.

These are good questions and I know next-to-nothing about the individuals involved. But I do know that some NFL QB coaches are all about the mental part of the game. They examine the previous game to see if the QB was executing each play right and throwing to the right man. And they breakdown the next opponent, pointing out tendencies and opportunities. Personal QB coaches like Jordan Palmer are different. They try to improve a QB's mechanics, power, and accuracy. The two types of QB coaches could conceivably get along.

When I was a teen, I was at my brother's house celebrating my nephew's birthday. My brother's best friend was driving home from that party when he was t-boned by a drunk driver. He was killed as were 3 of his 4 children. Count me as part of your 10%. I resolved that day that I would never drive impaired and I never have. I don't know Ruggs. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he's a generally good kid. But he killed someone through his negligence. Mistakes - and this is a tragic one - have consequences. I agree with your close... It's a sad situation all around.