GunnerBill

Nobody tells their Quarterback to read the defense less so that the coaches can do more of it. Nobody. That is a nonsense narrative.

Not noticeably.

I agree. And if they miss the playoffs with Josh Allen even if you don't think it is necessarily McDermott and Beane's "fault" per se if Josh is regressing you have to try a new regime in the hope it reinvigorates him. I agree with that. But you also have to go into that saying "it has 2 years to work, or else we have to look elsewhere at what the problem is."

Wouldn't have changed mine. He'd still have taken a 6 or 7 win roster to 9 wins in his first year as Head Coach. They'd still have missed the playoffs in 2018 and they'd still have made them in 2019. Everything from there on in would have been the same as far as I can tell.

THIS. That blitz on the drive that Bass missed the FG.... think it was on 2nd down.... You didn't need to be Tom Brady to see that the Pats might blitz on that play. They were showing you blitz. You have to know before it comes where your hot is and as soon as the ball is in your hands it needs to be gone again. I just do not understand what Josh was thinking on that play. It's where I would love to be in the film room with him and Joe Brady talking through that. What did you see? Why did you not throw the hot?

Have they coached him to regress in his reading of defenses pre-snap? Because that is the bit that is most concerning to me dating back to last year. It looks like Josh's processing only begins once he has the ball in his hands. Go back a couple of years and I really thought he was becoming an elite processer. That is where a lot of these issues stem from. He isn't understanding what the defense is doing pre-snap well enough. The reason he isn't always getting to the open man post snap is because at the point the ball is snapped he doesn't already have an idea where the open man might be. The reason we keep running our backs into overloads is because he isn't processing well enough at the line. I'm not so worried about the physical. Okay he threw a bad pick, he missed a couple of throws... that can happen. I'm worried about the mental. And I don't know that Dorsey (or any OC frankly) can simplify the offense any more than it was on Sunday. The plays were there and they weren't plays where you needed superman Josh to make them. So while I take the "they are coaching him not to run" point. The rest in terms of Allen's performance I'm not sure is on coaching. It's on Josh.

I don't agree with everything in your post but I agree with this. If the Bills miss the playoffs I'd clean house. I don't think they will, barring a total collapse (5 or 6 wins), but they should. The New England loss specifically was on a combination or player execution (particularly on offense), McDermott's defensive play calling and Beane's wasted cap $$s on backup DTs who absolutely stink.

There is no doubt Josh deserves blame. Will watch the video to see if I agree with "a lot" but definitely some. The execution mistakes on offense were brutal and Josh was responsible for some of them.

I am constantly amazed how many fans do not get this. Throwing coaches and players under the bus in public is absolute nuclear option and should be avoided. If McDermott gets to that point then you know it is a desperate last throw of the dice.

I don't particularly disagree with the fact that the offense lacks a bit in creativity. It certainly less creative than what Daboll ran. I have been making that point since the middle of last season. But the execution errors on Sunday were not the sort of thing you can attribute to "little room for error" these were just basic football done badly. I can take the point as a more general one, but it does not apply to what happened on Sunday. I absolve Dorsey from almost any blame for that defeat. I don't have any easy answers for you. I wish I did. They have to find something additional to what they have. Agree a genuine speedster might help. I think that was what they hoped for in Harty, but he seems to not have the juice he once did. Unless they can find a top end wide receiver to trade for (I doubt it) then even a 1 trick pony deep threat type would be tempting to me.

I separate this game out from Jacksonville and the Giants a bit. I didn't like the plan or the playcalling particularly in either of those games and while on second review the Giants gameplan wasn't as poor as first imagined I think the offensive coaching was a significant part of the failures in those games. I separate New England out because I think Dorsey had a good plan, and called good plays. Josh throws a back pick that ends a drive; Murray makes a mistake that takes 4 off the board; Bass misses a FG that takes 3 off the board; We fail to check out of a run and run Cook straight into an overload blitz that basically ends a drive; Knox drops a pass on 4th down that takes at least 3 off the board; It was basically all day long the offense made mistake after mistake after mistake in terms of execution.

Just based on likely contract value and what that meant last year. If he ends up signing for $13m AAV or thereabouts he is at the bottom end of the 4th round range based on the projections (which are pretty accurate the past 3 years). If the projection is right the lowest value contract that will attract a 3rd from last year's FA class is Mike McGlinchey who signed for $17.5m My thing with Shakir is most of his plays and certainly most of his best plays are still from the slot. I remain very sceptical he can play outside (only 24% of his total offensive snaps so far this season are split wide). The next man up outside to my mind is Sherfield.

The front 4 not getting home was very little to do with our front 4 and very much to do with New England's plan. McDermott fell into what I call the Rex Ryan trap. When Rex arrived in 2015 he inherited a Bills front 4 that had been a pass rushing terror in 2014 and almost everyone we played in 2015 was trying to play a ball out quick style of offense to negate that strength. Rex, frustrated that we weren't getting home just kept sending more guys. But if the ball is gone in under 2 seconds consistently it doesn't matter how many guys you are sending. Your emphasis should change to force the QB to hold the ball. It was just a bad gameplan, badly called. Yes - he was missing guys. No - that doesn't excuse the plan.

There is no way you are getting a 2nd for Gabe. No chance in hell. And based on what he might get in FA I'm not taking a 4th because I'd get that anyway as a comp pick (although a year later). So basically it comes down to "if someone offered you a 3rd would you do it?" And yes, I would.

There is no world in which I'd fire McDermott and keep Beane and I think there is like less than a 5% chance that happens in reality too. They are joined at the hip in their own minds and based on the fact that he always coordinates their contracts likely in Terry's too.

Again, that is true. I called this team's Superbowl chance slim to none after losing Tre, Milano and Jones for the season within about 20 snaps of each other. Teams can't just lose multiple of their best players and "next man up" carry on regardless. And the backups (some of them relatively well paid) at DT are bad. But you have to differentiate talent and execution from gamplan and playcalling. Us getting run all over early on Sunday I don't put on McDermott. Not sure what options you have when your DTs are on roller skates and guards are consistently getting unfettered access to the 2nd level and clean hits on your linebackers. I know people will moan about Bernard and Williams' size but Mike Singletary and Dick Butkus would have struggled playing behind those clowns on Sunday. That is just on "lost too many guys." But the constant blitzing of a QB getting rid of the ball in under 2 seconds that is gameplan and playcalling. That is coaching. Mac's average air yards per throw was under 4 yards. Surely then what you need is guys to rally and tackle. Instead we were wasting an extra guy in a pass rush that didn't have the time to get home and creating more space for the receivers to exploit after the catch. It was an aggressive plan but a bad one. They actually started the same vs Miami and then made the adjustment and started to focus on confusing Tua with coverage and forcing him to hold the ball. Then the sacks came. Not from blitzing but from the front 4 getting home because the QB had to hold the ball against disguised coverage looks. That is what should have happened on Sunday. It never did. Being blitz dependant on defense in the NFL is for dummies and Madden players. I am generally a McDermott guy. But that plan sucked.

New England was not on him. The first half was an execution disaster. And yes, the defense is down 4 of its best guys. No doubt. This defense isn't going to win us many games the rest of the way it is undermanned. But still if you want to talk coaching, gameplan and playcalling the DEFENSE was much worse than the offense on Sunday. McDermott's worst game as DC by a country mile. He was awful.

I think he looks serviceable. Not more than serviceable. When you have an elite left tackle, the best dual purpose RB and the best move receiver in the league, plus the 2nd best tight end and another legit reciver he looked good. Shorn of some of that talent he looks borderline serviceable. My other takeaway from this game.... man I really wish the Bills had Jordan Addison. I don't dislike Kincaid at all and I think Sunday will be good for his confidence and I expect more of him moving forward. But Addison was everything we needed.

New England wasn't on the offense. It was on the defense. But to the extent it was offense it was execution. I have not been the biggest Dorsey guy. I thought his gameplan in London sucked and I think against the Giants there was a lack of coherence to what he was doing. But I can't throw New England into that pot. It was a very different set of failures.

5 of the 6 Cook runs were converted for 1st downs. The one that wasn't was a play Josh HAS to kill and get out of - the first 2nd and 2 where he goes ahead and runs a play that just runs Cook right into an overload. I understand the predictability point that Nate is trying to make. But James Cook was executing better than anyone else on offense.

How was all that aggressive blitzing on Sunday? Answer - a major factor in our loss. Aggressive does not always = good.

Yep. And very few of them are playcalling. You missed running Cook into a New England overload as well on the 3rd drive of the day. There is no way you can look at the front they showed you there and run that play. On Sunday more than any other game I remember they just did not execute on offense plays that were 100% there to be made.

I am a big Dawson Knox fan and generally think he is underrated by fans. But he hasn't been good in 2023. I don't know how much the wrist was affecting him but it is the right decision to go and have surgery. Hopefully getting it sorted will get him back to himself. Our numbers out of 12 personnel are pretty good actually.

He is not THE problem. But I still don't think his decision making is where it needs to be and where it was a couple of years ago. It is one of the issues with the team right now. It just isn't among the top couple of things on the list.

i am not overall a Dorsey fan, but he was NOT the probelm vs New England. He called a good game.