GunnerBill

Him going to Tenn feels like a win for us. I don't think we were ever gonna make the cap room to bring him here once he had been released and Tenn are not potential contender for any more than sneaking into the playoffs in 2023 even with him. And I think we get a year off from the Titans this year too, right?

Yep and it is even more prevalent now in many sports. I coached soccer at a pretty good semi-professional level in the UK for 7 years with a reasonable level of success. It is a different sport and obviously the NFL in particular is a different stratosphere in terms of attention... but at the same time I know the sacrifice it takes and I know that feeling of watching a human being on a field make a mistake in a game that undermines all the work you put in that week. The clubs I coached only had a few hundred fans but I've stood on a sideline on a wet, dark, Saturday afternoon in November with people shouting abuse at me and being able to hear very clearly every criticism. I know the level of resilience it takes. You are the figurehead and you take more flack than you should in most situations.

If you think that was anything close to the Bills players that were on the field that day at their best you are wrong. And the same thing didn't happen 3 weeks before. Yes, the Benglas moved the ball, but the Bills moved the ball as well, right down the field and just didn't punch it in. And even thought the Bengals moved the ball the Bills were challenging them. They were tackling. In the playoff game the Bills were completely flat. That was nothing like the performance that the bills players on the field that day were capable of. They might well have lost anyway. The Bengals might well just be better. But that game wasn't a test of that. It was a test of who turned up. And the Bills laid an egg. It was their worst performance in a season and a half. It just came at a terrible time. Agree with this and just the energy and the body language of the players was different. I am perfectly willing to accept that the Bengals might have beaten us both times even if we had played close to our best game. Maybe they are just better. I am not closed to that possibility at all. But the Bills players looked defeated from the very first snap in the playoff game.

I agree with a lot of this but don't think McDermott is some traditional football meathead that you seem to think he is. That is your bias showing. But on the broader point it has already happened to an extent with soccer. If you go back 30 years or so pretty much the only route to being a soccer coach was to be a retired professional soccer player. While that remains a majority nowadays you have guys who have been professional coaches since their teens and have worked just at coaching, you have guys who were in other professions first and then came to coaching later.... most of them played soccer at some level as a youth but there are lots of routes now beyond being a big name ex-player and the success of Jose Mourinho - interpreter turned elite manager - really opened a lot of doors for others.

I sort of respect you acknowledging that. It is kind of where I was with Rex. Even if he had of been a successful Bills coach I'd have struggled to ever really warm to him. Personality wise he is not my type of person at all and when I come into contact with "Rex Ryan types" in normal life I make sure to keep them at arms length as much as possible. There are elements of McDermott's personality that irritate me.... starting post-game press conferences thanking God before thanking the players who slogged their guts out for 60 minutes winds me up as an atheist fan and if I was an atheist player would really grate with me. But broadly his professional, process driven approach really accords with how I lead and how I work. We all gravitate towards people who are like us. That is human nature. The best we can do is acknowledge that at times it will influence our decision making and make sure there are some safeguards and challenge functions in place.

I am afraid you are absolutely and 100% wrong. It does.

I didn't. I said linked to the psychological closing issue which was just the OP's term. We had trouble "closing" in the redzone and trouble "closing" at the end of games. It was the closing bit I was really linking too although accept my wording was ambiguous. Well I accepted there might be a mental element I was clear what I put the pattern more down to - pass protection crumbling in pressure situations.

It is both. It is asking coaches and execs to rank tight ends. So that is all encompassing.

Well if they are relying on Mike McGlinchey to save the day they are gonna have a rude awakening. I have a bit more faith in Powers, he is a good pass blocker, but the tackle positions remain suspect.

None of us know how much the Josh throwing arm injury affected him. But I recall my feeling when it happened and my immediate reaction was "that's the season." I kind of forgot about that because he played through it but when I reflect now maybe my first instinct was correct.

I think you had to be willfully seeking to miss the context of the example which was about coming out flat and playing your worst game.

Nobody has ever said don't criticise the team. But when you respond to other posters respond to what they have actually said.

For crying out loud read the words I write and stick to those rather than making up things I didn't say in your head. No, I don't think based on the 2 and a half drives we saw the Bills were going to beat Cincy. I also think it is quite possible that even if the Bills had performed in the divisional round Cincy might still have won. The difference between the two is that in the Hamlin game the Bills were not sleepwalking, when they got the ball on offense they played with energy, they ran the ball well and they marched right down the field on Cincy and just failed to punch it in. Had they lost that night it may well have been proof positive that Cincy are just more talented or better coached. In the playoff game all it proved is they turned up and the Bills didn't.

Read what I said. It wasn't that. They were a no show. I didn't say it was a no show because they wanted it so bad. I am not arguing they froze. But sometimes even though you want something you just have a total off day. That is what I have always thought happened vs Cincy. It happened to me in a Quarter Final when I played soccer. 2 games away from a chance to play at Wembley. We just played the worst we had played all season. It was a horrible feeling. Played our worst at the biggest moment and you know it is happening and you can't find a way to snap out of it. It happened to Ons Jabeur yesterday in the Wimbledon final. She came out flat, low energy, as soon as the game started to go away her body language showed she was defeated. Just as the Bills were in January. You know why it happens? Because sportspeople are human beings.

Agree. And I think I am as big of a Poyer fan as anyone. He didn't get the credit he deserved for the first 3 or 4 years here. But he isn't at his age the same player he was when he was massively underrated. The defense of that deal is it is basically a 1 year contract. If his play doesn't return to pre-injury levels in 2023 he is an easy cut

The Vikings game was on the offense. Blew the lead at the end then blew the chance to win it in OT. But I agree the other 3 were games the O won with the ball at the end.

I agree with that as a sentiment. I haven't been a huge fan of the second stage of the roster build the last 3 years. I have said that repeatedly.

I think you are dead wrong. Not because I have an agenda to protect the team. Nobody who knows me has ever accused me of that. But because I think you are wrong. I think you have never played competitive sport at a serious level and have never experienced that feeling that you want it so bad and yet your body won't meet your own expectations. I have. And that is what I saw on that field. The Bills were flat as hell from the first snap. The Bengals did move the ball on us at will in the first drive and a half of the Hamlin game, but the Bills moved the ball easily on them too. That is not what happened in the playoffs. So I'll be honest. I completely honestly and objectively think you are totally wrong.

I am not in denial. The Bills sucked. From moment 1 of the game. They played with zero energy and zero enthusiasm. If you want to argue that was the Bills highly motivated and playing at their peak and the Bengals were just so much better, go ahead. The Bengals may have been better even if we performed at our best. But that defeat was about the Bills players completely no showing. Anyone who doesn't accept THAT is in denial IMO.

That is fair. Considering the age and recent injury history it is a gamble going into 2023. But the production they have got out of those players previously should be beyond doubt. Highly paid but highly productive. Over the course of this regime it has been their spend on defensive front that has significantly underperformed the dollars allocated.

Okay, 2 drives of over 30. One of over 40. People who blame the defense for that game being close are insane.

They gave the Dolphins 1 drive of more than 30 yards.

Yea fair. I wasn't doing scrutiny I was just doing from memory and maybe the losses are easier remembered. But I accept the O won games in that scenario too. They didn't jump as easy to mind.

Yea both of those ring true. Dolphins defo was and I think you are right on Ravens too.

I can only remember Detroit but feel free to share.