BarleyNY

Lotta people here love the roller coaster and the wild ups and downs (even if they say they don't). I still don't like the position the Bills have put themselves in, but it was a very nice win. Even though it was over a team we should have beaten, it was a game that was never in question and we scored 30+ against a defense that has given us fits. Ultimately it is a good data point on a season where reasonable expectations were a deep playoff run and/or SB appearance/win.

Agreed. Adams has a very manageable contract next year - $17.5M in new money - before it balloons with two high dollar, non-guaranteed years. That makes him the right move for the Jets if trade compensation is reasonable. Make that trade and pour whatever other resources they reasonably can into the OL. That will give them one “all in” year and would not hinder them long term.

It’s “strike while the iron’s hot” as in a blacksmith working hot iron.

1. While I agree that the AFC is ripe for the taking this season, virtually every AFC team is saying either “This could be our year!” or “This could have been our year!” 2. I got blasted for saying that Allen hasn’t prepared in the offseasons since he got paid like he did prior. I do not believe that he is preparing like someone who is making $43M a year should be. 3. I always thought that McDermott and Beane were a package deal too, but now I think that there is a chance that Beane would survive a McD firing. 4. Douglas and Joseph will be adequate starters, but not Tre White or Daquon Jones. 5. Agree on Bernard. Dawkins is playing like his normal self. 6. I think the drama is due to the record and current state of the team. 7. A speedy, quality WR is needed. We could have a 50 page thread on the YAC issue.

It would be nice to get back in it. It seems like this season every team is vulnerable. The SB could have one or two surprising teams in it.

I’ll get excited when the Bills beat a bonafide SB contender in the playoffs. The Bills under McDermott are yet to do that - unless you count the PO win over the Ravens, but I think that’s a stretch. There are a lot of hurdles to get to that point this season so I’ll just take it one game at a time.

Exactly this. /thread

Agreed. I’d add that his team seems to be losing focus - and by that I mean that we are seeing issues with the players losing focus. Too many dumb penalties and other mistakes that we would not have seen in years past. The wheels are coming off. When that starts to happen the natural tendency is to double down, exert more control, try harder and more forcefully manage the situation. The much more difficult, but correct path is to adopt new strategies yourself and/or delegate to those that can. The latter does not always work, but the former almost never does. I suspect McDermott promoted Joe Brady in hopes that he does a better job of executing the McDermott plan for the offense than Ken Dorsey did, not to bring in fresh ideas and change course (not that much can be done midseason anyway).

I am not surprised at all. It fits very well with something I noticed. The Bills have gotten new coordinators four times since 13 seconds - McDermott taking over the DC job, OC twice and Specials once. All replacements have come from within. I knew that it was not a good thing. No new ideas or differing viewpoints are brought in that way. What we got was McDermott either doing the job himself or promoting someone that he knew would do the job the way he wanted it done. The Bills are not going to get better under McDermott.

Ultimately he is accountable not only to his bosses (the Pegulas), but a good leader is also accountable to those he or she leads. There has been rumors that is not the case, particularly where the 13 seconds debacle is concerned. I believe the anonymous player quote was that he demands accountability from everyone, but does not reciprocate. He didn’t do anything of the sort publicly, and there’s no reports of it happening privately. Other than generic platitudes, like “it starts with me” (and those are worthless), I have seen nothing that makes me think he feels as though he is accountable to those who leads.

It almost like the solution to an existing problem was already optimized.

I am sure that the PR department or other staffer do. Gotta keep informed of public sentiment and watch out for leaks. Beyond that I doubt the coaches and FO people have a ton of time for it. That all said, if anyone remembers the old Bang! Cartoons I have a story from them. They said that they had heat maps of where the views of their football comedy videos were located. They said that every time they zinged a team they’d get hits from that team’s training facility area. So these are real people in these buildings we are talking about and they sometimes do real people things.

Many contracts contain per game roster bonuses for being on the active roster. Some also have penalties that void guarantees. For example; Watson’s guarantees all void if he violates the NFL’s personal conduct policy again.

We weren't changing QBs so you had to think we’d be changing OCs. It’s something that they had to try.

The first pick was on Davis, but the second pick was 100% on Allen. For the second week in a row he got picked on a late/misplaced throw to the “honey hole” against cover 2.

When Denver missed the FG I said that we got it, but we didn’t deserve to win this one. Then she said there was a flag on the play. Perfect. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory against a lesser team at home in prime time.

I’m not saying that it’s not a difficult situation for the Bills. It is. But it’s rare for a team to win a SB without overcoming adversity. The Bills are going to have to figure out how to do that.

Put me down for a Bills kimono.

thank you. Do you have a last year’s numbers?

I’ve noticed two high coverage on plenty of occasions although I’ve only been to one game and seen one on All-22. Do you have access to any stats because I’m basing it on what I’m noticing and the general league trend? Edited to add: not 5 minutes after posting this I heard Joe Marino mention on today’ podcast that the Bills are seeing a lot of two high this season.

Did I just see Bryce Young walk by Josh McCown, the Panthers QB coach, as the coach was trying to talk to him?

That is correct. Brain fart on my part.

It does not need to be nearly to that degree. It just has to be an effective run game where we can make defenses chose between staying in two high and getting gashed with runs or getting into other defenses. I agree. If we can’t get the run game going with the RBs, then we probably have no choice but to use Allen more.

pretty much

Everything is cyclical. The high flying, explosive offenses predicated on chunk pass plays have led to the re-emergence of defenses like Cover 2 (two high shell) and to a lesser extent Cover 4 (quarters). NFL schemes are complex, but generally those two coverages are poor against the run while Cover 1 and 3 are much better against it. The upshot of the big uptick in Cover 2 is that offenses have been limited on deep shots and have gone even more to an underneath game than previously. Overall offensive efficiency is up, but scoring and yardage are down because offenses are taking smaller wins at the expense of explosive plays. I’ll have to find the stat, but one play over 20 yards on a drive increases the chances of scoring on that play dramatically. The other thing C2 gives the defense is five players in underneath coverage. This is why it’s more popular than C4 right now. Defenses are taking more risks jumping routes, blitzing (2 high shell with 4 under), aggressive pass rushing, etc. Defensive coordinators know they’ll get carved up if they play passively so causing a turnover or other negative play is worth the risk of a big offensive play - especially if there are safeties over top to prevent a score. Once a team does get inside the red zone if a defense can tighten up and only allow a FG attempt, then that’s a win for the defense these days. So what does an offense have to do to get a defense out of C2? Two big things: 1) Effectively run the ball and 2) Run an efficient passing game with a QB (and receivers) who can make the correct reads quickly. That brings us to the Bills. This is why Kincaid is starting to kill it. He is an excellent route runner who uncovers quickly. It’s also why Gabe Davis isn’t getting many looks - he doesn’t uncover quickly. The lack of a dependable run game has been killing the Bills. If teams can stay in 2 high and stop our run game they don’t have much reason to get out of it and it makes life tough on our QB. Allen has not been bad, but seeing so much two high is an issue for him. He’s much better when he can take deep shots more often than he is quickly reading defenses and distributing the ball with pinpoint short and intermediate passes. We just saw a team that is made to handle this. Burrow and his WRs are the kind of players that will thrive against two high - with or without blitzes coming at him. It’s their game. As for the Bills, without a running game I think we are in for more of what we have seen so far this year. They can still be a good offense, but it won’t be great or explosive because teams will stay in 2 high. They absolutely have to find a way to get that run game moving. If they can’t get the run game going then they should probably try to find a WR on the team who is better at uncovering quickly than Davis and sub him in more. That will give Allen another quick option and stress defenses more.