GunnerBill

I think Schoen is more to blame for the mess but I always suspected Daboll didn't suit the Head Coach job even though I was (and still am) higher on him than others as an OC. The personnel decisions since Schoen got there have been horrid. Yea he will be back. He and Beane are like brothers. I heard it from someone who was in that personnel setup for a while that Brandon Beane trusts Joe Schoen as an evaluator more than he trusts himself (might be slightly worrying given the Giants experience). And when you watch the draft room videos now compared to when Schoen was here you get much more of a sense that Beane is kind of isolated as the sole decision maker. Gray and Gaine are no doubt valued execs, but he doesn't have that same implicit trust he had with Joe.

I don't believe the coordinators are puppets, no. Do I believe McDermott has no input? Also no. But the sudden 1st quarter issues arise with two very inexperienced coordinators in place. I think it comes down to some growing pains.

No it isn't. The first paragraph reads: Yea I don't think it is a McDermott issue - though of course ultimately the buck stops with him - so much as it is a bit of a sign of the inexperienced coordinators. There is then a para about what I think is going wrong early on O and one about what I think is going wrong early on D.

Read what I wrote in the first paragraph. It answers your question.

For sure they have to be better early on in games. I think the pattern has been dreadful 1st quarter, sort of average 2nd quarter, very good 2nd half. But they haven't just sat back to halftime and waited before adjusting. That is my point.

Sucks. This kid was one of my sleeper guys in my draft thread coming out of Washington State. Been a really good player for them, especially as a 7th round selection.

He is petitioning for the job. You better believe it. If I could get someone to offer me a price I'd have ten dollars on Rex as the next Head Coach of the Jets.

Oh yea obviously when it is that awful that is in part execution on the offense as well. But I was just responding to the idea that it took until halftime to adjust. They adjusted on defense early 2nd Quarter. And agree the 4th down call was nuts.

It isn't true to say it took them a whole half to adjust. The adjustment happened right after the Titans TD drive (which started 1st Q and finished early 2nd). Between that and the last play of the half where they had 33 yards to Ridley with the Bills defending a potential HM the Titans ran 13 plays for 22 yards. Basically after their touchdown drive the Bills made the adjustments and shut them down the rest of the way.

Just to correct we got 5 yards on 1st down and 4 on 2nd down. It was 3rd and a long 1. But otherwise agree totally with your sentiment.

We cut / lost almost all our best STs players over the last two years: Jones, Neal, Matakevich, Jaquan Johnson, Kumerow. That is a factor. As is Smiley sucking.

Me too. Much prefer that crew to the Harlan / Green crew or the Eagle / Davis crew. They should be the CBS B team IMO.

Yea I think on offense even yesterday some of it is just execution mistakes. Cooper drops the pass. They get a penalty on the 2nd drive. Its that stuff they have to clean up. Though I do think Brady should self scout his first 15. Not convinced he is getting the balance right there so far.

"Gotta be accountable. I gotta play better. But we did some nice things in the pass game we gotta run it better so we can actually pass" Hahaha. Never change ARod.

This isn't true by the way. If they finish outside the top TEN in first quarter point scored this season (they are currently 14th) it will be the first time since 2019 and they were top FIVE twice in 2021 and 2022. On first quarter points allowed they were bad in 2022 and only average in 2023 but they were BEST in the league in 2021 and 2020 and THIRD in 2019. So no, they haven't had issues for years with slow starts.

See I wouldn't our roster up against any of those except Pittsburgh. I think the other three all have better rosters than us. Can the Bills beat any of them if they are on their game and it all comes together? Sure. But I think they have more talent.

I expected the Dolphins to take a step back and they have. Even when Tua was healthy the loss of the cheat motion was going to affect their offense as was losing two key starters on an already average offensive line. Plus they lost their best defensive player in free agency and changed coordinator and scheme AGAIN. Would they be 2-4 if Tua was healthy? No, maybe not. They might be 4-2 with losses to the Bills and Seahawks. But they have the harder bit of their schedule still to come: Bills, Packers, Texans, 49ers all still to play. Even if they run the table other than that 9-8 is their ceiling. 7-10 or 8-9 more likely IMO. The Jets I felt had a chance to be good but it depended on Aaron Rodgers playing at a level we haven't seen him play at since his 2021 MVP season in Green Bay. I always felt three years (in which he went from 37 to 40) passage of time and a serious achillies in the meantime made that unlikely. I had the Jets second in division before the season but right now I feel like if the Dolphins could get to 9 wins that might be more than the Jets can manage. They are capable of losing any game at any time IMO because their O is (kind interpretation) inconsistent. I always thought the Bills would only need 11 max to win the division. I'm still there. And unless Josh is hurt I think we get there possibly with a game or two to spare.

I only ever watch on black monday. Beyond that I'd rather stick pins in my eyes.

when they hired Kyle Brandt?

The bolded is just not true. Coop is a good WR1. No question he is a massive upgrade for the Bill. I can take the argument he is an upgrade on the Diggs we got down the stretch in 2023, think that is true. But 2020 Stefon Diggs was a top 4 NFL receiver.

They will blow it up after the season. They are almost at the "Hire Rex Ryan" stage of the trade for the Packers old man cycle. Shows how important getting some LEADERSHIP from the Quarterback position is. Rather than a rolly-eyed tosser.

It allows them to use him the way he should be used. Previously they were having to run him vertically a lot to say to teams "look, we are willing to go vertical we keep running this guy down here" but it isn't his strength and honestly it wasn't fooling anyone. Just the presence of Coop (I think he played 18 snaps last night) means teams can't simply ignore the idea that the Bills will go vertical outside and that frees Keon up. I always said if we were drafting him to replace Gabe Davis I am fine with the pick. But he isn't a #1. And the Bills choices at the end of this season are 1) extend Coop; 2) find another legit #1 in FA; 3) draft another WR in the 1st round. Nothing else is an acceptable answer. I find it hard to envisage them doing #3. So #1 is the clubhouse leader. Let's hope he continues to show well.

This game definitely helps Coleman's numbers. And I'll say it again.... having a legitimate outside receiver who means Keon can be used more between the numbers in tight splits on slants and crossers plays MUCH better to his strengths than having him run vertically on the outside. The best facets of his game are his body control and athleticism at the catch point and with ball in hand.

He still isn't going to make guys miss like Cook. But against a team with major beef in the middle like the Titans maybe I'd have flipped the snap counts last night. Worth saying on Davis's big run 3rd Quarter the Bills two guards did a terrific job on the two massive Tennessee DTs. Edwards took Simmons out of the play and Torrence had a terrific block on Sweat. COT has been an encouraging story the last two weeks. He had a garbage first month of the year but he has just played two good games back to back. Rather suggests those of us who speculated he had come into the season out of shape might have been onto something. Took him 4 weeks to get game fit.

That one was a freak injury too. He got stepped on. Hopefully once the swelling subsides there isn't any serious damage and it is a quick turnaround. He was dodgy first game back vs Houston, started to find his rhythm second half of the Jets game and was as you say - spectacular - last night.