GunnerBill

I mean sure. That is possible. But if we take every Head Coach in football and throw them in the barrel and pick one the chance you get one better than Andy Reid is remote. Now I accept we are approaching the point where actually you might just have to try someone else. I understand that and agree with it. But I don't think that is anything like a considered plan to get better. I think its a last roll of the dice. To get me there I have to be in last roll territory.

I see that line of thinking but I think we have a darn good Head Coach and trying to find a better one than Reid is the proverbial needle in a haystack. So I think the preferable route is to let the two of them keep swinging and hope one of those KC games that breaks out way in the key play or two happens in January not October.

I think Mahomes is the best QB in football. Reid is the best coach in football. And when the best QB and best Coach get together history says its really hard to beat them.

My position on McDermott has zero emotion attached, I assure you.

There really isn't.

They have those conversations before the season about their developments plans for rookies and Beane is in those meetings with Sean, Coordinators and position coaches and I am led to believe has a voice in them too. But there is an old phrase - even the best laid plans rarely survive first contact with the enemy. And once they are into the swing of the season he would, rightly, step back from that and it would be for the staff. So let's say they agree that Coleman will play 60-70% of the outside snaps (health allowing) through 8 weeks and then they will ramp him up.... but then they lose MVS and Samuel to injuries in the first 4 weeks.... at that point Coleman's snaps go up and McDermott and co abd not checking in with Beane on that. Equally if he was getting his 60-70% but running wrong routes and dropping balls and they decided to dial him back that would be a cosches decision.

The Lions and the Packers are GM success stories more than HC success stories IMO. That isn't to downplay the turnaround Campbell has overseen because turning around losing cultures is the hardest coaching trick in sport. Stefanski is an overpromoted OC. Too early to say on Ryans, but I do like him.

1. Brady was part of the reason. The numbers don't jump off the page, agreed. But the numbers the last 4 or 5 games of Dorsey were even worse AND his offense was so darn predictable I could almost call out the plays from my couch in London. No wonder defenses seemed to know what was coming. But the MAIN reason for 6-1 down the stretch was the defense really rounded into form before the injury bug hit again at the end of the year. 2. The change had to come. Dorsey was lost. The offense was turning it over at a crazy rate (13 in his last 6 games as OC) and he was just coming out and running the same stuff over and over. You might say "the DC in the same period was struggling" and you'd be right. I was actually advocating for McDermott to give up playcalling at the same time. He didn't and he found his groove. Maybe the same would have happened to Dorsey? Possible. But he was part of the problem. As for other options... well in-season you are really restricted to guys on your own staff. The Colts tried the "wildcard from outside" approach to a mid-season coaching change in 2022. It was a disaster. Joe was the best option on the staff. After the season they interviewed Joe and Thad Lewis. People at the time were sure Thad was some sort of token interview but his work with Baker Mayfield last year was impressive and he interviewed for four OC openings in this hiring cycle. His star is definitely rising and while Brady was always likely to get this job Thad was a credible candidate and will be an NFL OC soon enough. 3. As for the bonus... He hired Rick Dennison who was a very experienced, Superbowl winning OC. I hated it as a hire. And it predictably sucked. He hired Daboll a very well respected NFL position coach who hadn't had success at two previous NFL OC stops but with bad talent both times and had just OC'd a National Championship team. I thought that was a good hire and so it turned out. Then he promoted Dorsey, a first time OC, from within (after strong urgings from Josh to do so). I thought that was the right move but his limitations soon showed. It wouldn't surprise me if he ends up having success as an NFL OC at some point but he will need better skill position talent because he was running a very simple, very vanilla, scheme that essentially says "my guy is gonna beat your guy with talent." And the Bills skill position talent wasn't up to that. Then he hired Joe. As for candidates they have interviewed / tried to interview previously: In 2017 they interviewed Mike McCoy (experienced OC, had been a Head Coach) who was their first choice and tried to interview Brad Childress (experienced OC, had been a Head Coach) before landing on Dennison (experienced OC who was a non-playcalling OC on a Superbowl winner). In 2018 as far as I am aware Daboll (experienced NFL and college National Championship winning OC) was the only interview. In 2022 they interviewed Tee Martin (former college OC NFL position coach with Ravens) and Ken Dorsey (former NFL QB, first time OC, experienced NFL position coach). In 2024 they interviewed Thad Lewis (former NFL QB, current position coach, no OC experience) and Joe Brady (limited NFL OC experience but won National Chanpionship as college OC). Pretty wide range. Clear experience mattered more at the start when McDermott was a new Head Coach. Though I actually dislike the three names in the 2017 search more than anyone we have interviewed since. Which is kind of the point on hiring an NFL OC - if they are experienced and still an OC they probably haven't had much success or they'd be a Head Coach. Otherwise you are looking at younger, inexperienced but hopefully innovative. Half the league - 16 NFL teams - changed OC this offseason. The breakdown of replacements was: 6 first time NFL OC: Zac Robinson (Falcons), Brad Idzik (Panthers), Dan Pitcher (Bengals), Klint Kubiak (Saints), Nick Holz (Titans), Ryan Grubb (Seahawks). 8 with NFL OC experience but not been NFL Head Coach: Joe Brady (Bills), Shane Waldron (Bears), Ken Dorsey (Browns), Luke Getsy (Raiders), Greg Roman (Chargers), Alex Van Pelt (Patriots), Kellen Moore (Eagles), Liam Coen (Buccaneers), 2 with NFL OC and HC experience: Arthur Smith (Steelers), Kliff Kingsbury (Commanders). I think of those experienced names, other than Brady, Waldron and Moore were the two most interesting as potential Bills candidates. They both fall in the sweet spot for me as having had some success despite not having had a Head Coach shot. Arthur Smith and Greg Roman are both very good OCs but only if you are playing hide the Quarterback and running the hell out of the football. Moore's scheme has some similarity with what we have traditionally run as well so there would have been a bit of carry over. Waldron probably less so. None of which is to say I think Brady is a slam dunk of a hire. He'd have been in my top 3 of everyone on that list personally. I am more optimistic than you are based on what he was able to do in adding some wrinkles towards the end of last year using motion, leverage and more innovative route combinations. But it is cautious optimism and he still has to prove it. His Carolina spell does give pause. It is an argument that the "you must have an offensive Head Coach" crowd have used. The small window in which to find a good OC... and then lose them and start again. Personally I think as long as you find good ones that isn't an issue. The latest change in OC came because they hired the wrong guy more than anything else. If Brady proves it and at some point lands a Head Coaching job, good. It means in the meantime the Bills have has success.

This is mainly correct. Although Brown wasn't around in 2021. He had gone and we had brought in Sanders but by the playoffs Gabe had supplanted him as the starter. The OL had actually been a weakness for much of 2021 - it hadn't been able to do much of anything and had cost us defeats in the regular season but they did find a bit of something down the stretch and play well, at least in pass pro, in the playoffs. I actually think the current line is the one thing we have on offense better than in 2021. But I agree (leaving the defense aside for a moment and no argument the defense needs to play better than in our playoff exits) the offense hasn't been at its best in the past two playoff campaigns. They have missed Daboll's creativity (and arguably his chemistry with Josh) and the offensive weaponary hasn't been good enough. I am cautiously optimistic on Brady, he certainly added some creative wrinkles when he took over last year, I am less so on the weaponary. Think the WR room is probably another offseason away from being Championship ready.

Yea. And the McDermott haters find it almost impossible.

No they didn't.

Apologies. 15-1.

What was Reid's record in playoff games with KC pre-Mahomes? Reid is a great coach. A HoF coach. But Pat Mahomes is the reason they are 13-1 against non-Brady teams.

Interesting. Unusual for a team that has won its division every year. Especially as three of the four years second AFCE team has made the playoffs (NE in 2021, MIA in 2022 and 2023).

Yep. McDermott coached a good game that day. It would have been a blowout but for pure execution errors. This is my point consistently. Fans overblame coaching and underblame players.

No, I don't. Obviously there are plays that go both ways throughout games some of which are critical to the outcome. But even so the last 4 games have come down to 1 or 2 plays in the last 90 seconds of the football game. Twice it has gone for us, twice it hasn't. The Chiefs being down to their 4th and 5th string OTs didn't hurt either in that Superbowl. But I agree. You have to be able to get there with your pass rush without sending extra guys. Easy to say, harder to do. It is why the Bills swung big on Von.

The plan wasn't about playing tighter it was about confusing Mahomes and making him hold the ball. Was a good adjustment, no question. But the Bills have had success against Mahomes too. Sadly not in the post season. Why that is, hard to say, lots of factors. But we are not that different schematically so I am reluctant to put it down to that. Agree with all this. The margin in Bills - KC games the last 4 times has been razor thin. They have all basically come down to 1 or 2 plays. It has gone our way twice, their way twice. Unfortunately they have won the two big ones. That sucks. But I don't think it proves we can't beat them in a big one.

I mean that is just inaccurate the adjustment the Bengals made in that game was to go 3 man rush drop 8 and flood the shallow zones. Was a great adjustment by Anarumo no doubt, but it was not a result of coming out of zone and playing more man. Indeed it was the opposite.

Yes I didn't think Bernard was very good when he played in 2022. But I think you slightly miss the point. Scouts, coaches everyone underestimate and over estimate what players can turn into but players don't go from being one type of player to a completely different type of player from one year to the next typically. So he wasn't going to go from possession receiver to downfield gamebreaker. Hence he wasn't it. It is not me saying he wouldn't get better than he was in 2017. It is me saying I could see the type of player he was. This is the first time since then I don't immediately see that true outside, downfield receiver that is going to consistently win his matchups. That receiving corps didn't have it. Or does this one, though I think this one overall has more talent than 2018 did.

Said that earlier. They made a couple of really low percentage plays on offense where they just got a bit of luck.

On 2018, no. I think there is a debate on 2017 and relevant to the 2017 conversation is that at this point of that offseason we still had Sammy. So if I'm comparing how I feel a few weeks out from camp to how I have felt at the same point in other years I'd have felt better in 2017. The reason 2017 (eventual roster) and 2024 (if this is the group of WRs by the time the season begins) is closer matched to me is that Jordan Matthews had averaged 890 yards in his three seasons in Philly. There is nobody with that level of consistent production on this roster. I think they probably have more guys with some history of production now than they had week 1 in 2017..... and I do think Samuel > Matthews talent wise even if he hasn't got the proven production. So I'd have this group just ahead of 2017 but I do think that one is more debatable than 2018.

But not so much lower than the league average in one score games.

The two teams were pretty much on par in 2019. Both finished 10-6. Bills were 1-4 in games vs playoff teams in the regular season. Houston were 2-3. They were a more experienced team and won the playoff game in overtime.

Would be nice.

Unfortunately attempting to walk the walk looked like it caused him physical pain last season.