GunnerBill

What are the criteria for being a great coach in the NFL: 1. Can you build a programme? Check 2. Can you develop players? Check 3. Can you win football games at a high rate? Check 4. Can you show consistent excellence on "your side of the ball"? Check 5. Can you lead through adversity and roster turnover? Check 6. Can you win Championships? [no check] That is literally the one thing McDermott is missing. And I understand and appreciate why to some people they say "and that is all that matters". I get it. But it is the only area where he comes up short. If it gets to the point where the Bills have to move on he'd be hired by someone else within days. I don't think any fired coach since Reid in Philly would be re-hired so quickly.

Ha. Collinsworth and Romo are both definitely guilty of that. If that is your main irritant it is entirely consistent with your wanting Kirk or Troy. To me Kirk normally comes across as bored and Troy as drunk but if low key is your thing I can see why you like them. Literally my only criteria for being a good color guy is can you tell me something I haven't seen. And Collinsworth still does that better than anyone.

The next time we lost back to back games you'd be back to "he is holding us back, the only thing preventing a Bills dynasty is Sean McDermott". When people convince themselves they've found a bogey man they rarely come off it.

He could win a Superbowl at this point and there are Bills fans who would shrug and say "oh well he was just along for the ride."

I was obviously being slightly facetious. Just as you are referring to Collinsworth as a Creep. I do think there are still more people who like Romo than don't but honestly I really struggle with why. What does he do well? Collinsworth is still the best at seeing in real time what has made a play work or not work without needing a slow mow. Often Romo will start watching a slow mo saying something like "watch here Jim the guard misses his block and that leads to pressure...." and then as the replay develops ends up correcting himself to "oh no it was actually a delayed blitzer... great call by the coordinator." And that irritates the hell out of me. Once we are into the slow mo I can see for myself what has happened. His screeching is adding no value at all. Collinsworth is rarely wrong when he calls the Xs and Os even before the replay. He just has a better eye.

Yea I suppose my frustration is that given the relatively low premium on the safety position the Bills have spent a 2nd round pick, and got better than anticipated play out of a lower end free agent and yet because their skillsets are so similar I kind of feel like they still need to commit more resources to the group there in 2025.

Oh you are the majority. You are just wrong. Romo is awful. He started out great and then got neutered by CBS and now adds zero value to broadcasts. That is exactly how I heard it too and IMO you gotta have a pretty big chip on the shoulder to hear it the other way.

I wasn't in any of those categories. I was in darn fine football coach who hasn't got us over the hump in the playoffs mainly because he hasn't beaten Mahomes and Reid. And he is far from the only one. 13 seconds is a legit stick to beat him with and that is just what it is. But I have never been a "he needs to change to get it done" or "he can't get it done in the playoffs" or any of those things. I'd go as far as saying he is criminally underrated by most Bills fans. It is totally that. EDIT: I have also set out the two scenarios in which my mind would be changed to "we need to move on" and they are: 1. We lose playoff games to clearly less talented teams. Losing to the Chiefs and a really good Bengals team doesn't qualify. If we start getting upset in the wildcard or even this year if we were beaten in the playoffs by a Houston for example I'd think that falls more to coaching. 2. We miss the playoffs in a season where Josh Allen is healthy. One game knockout football is way more susceptible to luck than most admit. Especially between similarly talented teams. But over 17 games with an elite Quarterback it takes more than bad luck to miss the post season. Getting into the tournament is the absolute minimum expectation.

He has played better than I expected but I think there is a bit of over the top analysis going on right now. He has been very good against the run. In coverage has kind of been who he always is... a reactor rather than an anticipator and a step late in most places as a result. He has given us serviceable starting strong safety play though and I was worried in the summer we wouldn't even get that and for his cap hit - $2.8m - he has been extremely good value. Given he remains under contract two more years my focus in the offseason would be upgrading at free safety rather than messing with Rapp. The slight issue is they drafted a guy in round two who is also a strong safety and while we know there is some interchangeability in safety spots in this defense I don't know if either Rapp or Bishop have the coverage skills for that center fielder spot.

I do think there is something in that. He isn't as good as he was. I agree. I can't appreciate Romo though. I find him a brutal listen. He is scared to do any analysis in case CBS tells him to dumd down again and his voice is awful. The talk fast, getting higher pitched "this is going to be the game Jiiiiiiiiiiimmmmm" stuff grates like nails on a blackboard.

Agree re their type at tackle. It's why I still wonder if after Edwards contract is up if they feel like Grable is ready to get on the field do you slide Dion in one? Let Grable play and show if he can be your tackle of the future but with Dion's experience next to him. I have never had any doubt Dion can play guard, he would be 32 by that point and they love his leadership. I know a lot has to happen there first but it is a possibility.

Frazier was way underrated by this fanbase. He was one of the best DCs in football while he was here and the numbers back that up.

Yea. Something is not quite adding up. And while I have no doubt Josh's trust levels with Dawson are extremely high (give he is supposed to be his best friend on the team) it feels like more than just a chemistry thing.

You're missing out.

I don't think you do if the best option you have is Nicholas Morrow who is utterly terrible. You were still taking off better players to bring on a worse one. That is EXACTLY what we did. Monken set the trap and Babich walked right into it.

And their blocking scheme was entirely designed to do that. They regularly let a Bills defensive lineman penetrate for the benefit of having a bigger bodies lineman downhill on pour backup second level guys. And then they got Babich to panic and go "big" with a 4-3 and Morrow in the game. At which point they Justice Hill'd us to death for two drives to go up 21-3. That was the critical passage in the game IMO. The Bills should have stayed patient in their nickel base.

Got herself a toy boy. We've all been there.

Oliver has had his worst season since his 2nd year this year, that is true. But he was not #1 problem vs the Ravens. That was the 2nd level - linebackers and nickel. The Ravens designed their entire gameplan to attack that part of the defense and never came off it.

We are 6th in scoring defense. But point stands.

When was the last time a player intentionally went to injure a Quarterback? It almost never happens. I think 3 was too light. I'd have banned him for the rest of this season.

Better fundamentals, especially up front. Daquan Jones has struggled this year, Ed has been really inconsistent, their backup DTs are not really true run stuffers (by choice) and other than Groot our only defensive end who really specialises in playing the run is Duane Smoot who has been injured. That is the only route for the Bills. They need to play better up front because they don't and won't scheme to take the run away. That isn't how they believe in playing defense. They want you to run where your margin for error is smaller.

What still interests me on Knox vs Kincaid is how differently they are used. When Knox is in they use him down the field. When Kincaid is in they use him around the line. It's stark. Knox's average yards per target before catch is 10.4; whereas Kincaid's is 4.3 There is obviously something they prefer in Knox's ability down the field and it helps our offense IMO to have a tight end they think can threaten deeper. It's a worry to me if they still have no confidence in Kincaid to do that. I thought Brady had figured it out a bit late last year, but nope, back to everything short and RAC chances in 2024. The numbers back you up.

No but them getting hit sliding to a flag being thrown that happens most weeks.

He sucks. Bad person. Bang average football player.

100%. We see QBs take hits sliding every week. This isn't a debate every week because most of those are cases where the defender clearly has no intent to injure or where at worst that is unclear. This is an exception. This is not like every other case we see most weeks.