GunnerBill

Mike Vrabel will be a Head Coach within weeks.

Tee Martin who the Bills interviewed before hiring Ken Dorsey two years ago. Was then the Baltimore WR coach, moved this year to QB coach and respected for his work with Lamar. Expect him to get a ton of OC interest. Klint Kubiak son of Gary, called plays a bit in Denver last year, been on the 49ers staff this year. Eric Bieniemy, probably not a HC candidate this year but did a decent job with Sam Howell all the same and the Commanders are clearing house. Jason Vrable, no relation to Mike, done a hell of a job with that young receiver corps in Green Bay this year. Also passing game coordinator, said to really be able to relate to players. They are the other names I'd expect to see. But you are right. Joe Brady won't be anyone's QB coach next year. He will be an OC in Buffalo or elsewhere.

He doesn't. And that team starts behind. But he takes over the Monday after the Superbowl and he starts right away. Not allowing any interviews until after the Superbowl means you are at best 10 days or so behind even that timetable.

Hiring a staff? Reviewing your current roster? The coaches are heavily responsible for that. Once you get into the outside evaluation yes, it is the GM often who leads that but in most places the coaching staff is involved in the process too. I don't think you are punishing the good teams first off, there is no evidence to me that is the case. The Eagles had both coordinators in hiring cycles last year and made the Superbowl. The Patriots won a Superbowl with Patricia and McDaniels being hired away (in the end McDaniels reneged on Indy but still). I don't think the evidence supports your supposition. But even if it does.... the NFL is trying to establish parity. So delaying it to further disadvantage the bad teams doesn't seem to achieve that objective

I am stunned Vrabel is gone. I suspect it is about relationships in the building as much as anything. He fell out with John Robinson and then has allegedly not been getting on with the new GM. He will be hired in New England. Book it.

Yea I have always been in the camp that believes the Philly Special has given him a reputation he doesn't deserve.

The Athletic thinks it is full court press for Harbaugh. Pierce is the fall back.

Which is why if I was a betting man - Raiders!

I don't think he should be safe. But didn't the Bears sniff around Harbaugh two years ago....

So find me the time then. Where does it come? If you move the hiring season back to the second half of Feb what are you losing to made the calendar work? Or are you just truncating the four weeks that these guys get off a year? These guys who work every holiday away from their families? I see two options: 1) you scrap rookie camps altogether and the first time the rookies ever meet their teammates or get taught the playbook is camp. That is the way it used to work years ago when FA wasn't a thing and so you almost never needed your rookies to start. In the modern NFL I see no way that improves the product. 2) you scrap pre-season, thereby you can move camps back to start the first week or so of August and give teams 4 weeks to assess their roster and cut down to 53 and then a week to prep for game 1. I'm not necessarily against this but it hurts the guys who are UDFAs or late round picks (without pre-season the covid year about 20 fewer UDFAs than normal made rosters). And the reality is the NFL isn't going to do this. To the bolded - excellent point. Hadn't considered that. On your final line conclusion - totally agree. It would mean losing something else and I don't see any evidence that it would deliver significant benefit.

Not fired his boy Press Taylor though. He was allegedly one of the staff Lurie wanted him to fire in Philadelphia and he refused (which in part led to his own firing). Now he is sticking his neck out for him again.

Because Superbowl is 4 weeks before free agency opens. That isn't enough time to interview, shortlist and hire a coach. Then hire a staff. Then assess the entire roster. Then try and extend our own FAs. Then try and assess the FA market and work out who you want to target. You would have to put FA back at LEAST two weeks. Then you probably need to move the draft back into mid-May. The one year we went to early May the feeling was it squeezed rookie mini-camps and ate into the one month of true break that coaches and personnel guys get mid-June to mid-July. The schedule doesn't work unless the league is willing to lose something totally. If it agreed to totally lose pre-season you could fit it all in and move camp back to start of August. But they are not going to do that.

There isn't enough room in the schedule. It would put teams who are hiring waaaaay behind the 8 ball in terms of FA and behind in terms of the draft.

Hmm. Maybe. But only Ron and Marty Hurney were folks Beane had prior relationships with particularly. I thought it was a veiled dig a them.

He is coming back this year. No doubt about it.

Yep, very true. Interestingly Brady's history is as a spread guy really. If anyone had more background in under centre / traditional pro-style concepts it was Dorsey. Yet Brady has used a bit more under centre than Dorsey did. I feel like he has also used more empty backfield than Dorsey though and when Josh was humming with Dabes back in 2020 I always felt like he really revelled in that empty backfield, 5 wide type set. The Bills were forced to go away from that in 2021 and 2022 because their oline was sooo bad. Now they are back to a 2020 like, pretty steady, offensive line I would think there is more scope for the empty stuff to come back in.

Huh. Mixed bag. I think my non-Bills ones were pretty good. I was slightly too punchy on Green Bay, but was much higher on them than the consensus and IMO them winning a playoff game isn't out of the realm of possibility. I was too punchy on the Saints but that is mainly because I was wrong on the Buccaneers who I had as a top 5 pick team, credit to them for getting to 9 wins. I didn't foresee that. Nailed the other two, AFC North all winning records and Wilson benched. Davis only trailed Diggs by 1 frustratingly..... and Phillips is not on the Bills ACTIVE roster (but that wasn't really what I meant). The other two were miles off.

We will get them at home the next 3 years subject to us finishing in the same position in our divisions next year. Otherwise it will be home 2 of the next 3 and no game vs them the middle year.

Hasn't always been. Romeo Crennel and Matt Patricia definitely called plays in the New England heyday. Not sure on Dean Pees. Seem to remember he resigned to move sideways to the Ravens because Belichick had taken over play calling. Easier to cycle in and out of calling the D when you have the hardware on the shelf to show for it though. McDermott giving it up at this stage would be a strange move IMO. Even though mid-season I'd have said it needs to happen!

How much bad blood was caused over the pass catching back... forget his name? Brandon Beane was definitely pissed and talked about it having "damaged some long term relationships with people in Washington." And even distinct from that, Sean McDermott isn't giving up play calling. If the Bills have a DC next year it will be an internal promotion and a non-playcalling role.

Davis actively wants a powerful leader who he can just hand the keys too. That was his plan with Gruden. Give him all the power, let him pick his own personnel team and then step away and leave them to it. I can see that appealing to Harbaugh.

No I don't think there is a rule. It is one of those things where I just think officials are pretty live to it. But it has to be the specific circumstance you set out right, it only works is a team commits an intentional foul right after a team has converted a first down. If you are trying to stop a 1st down (i.e. in the play) then you don't want to commit a foul because your preference is stop the conversion from a clock perspective. And after 2nd or 3rd down it gives the offense an extra down. So it really has to be an after the play penalty on a first down conversion and I think the reality is a ref would only throw a flag if it was a potential ejection type offence. And not sure a player is going to risk a suspension and/or being hit in the pocket in these circumstances. If a team really tried to abuse it that might trigger a rule change, that is usually how these things work.

Theoretically, yes. But equally officials are pretty dialled in to teams intentionally trying to manipulate the clock.

Inside the final five minutes the clock stops on a penalty. Even if it is declined.

I think the final 5 or 6 games the offense had collapsed under Dorsey. His "keep it simple and out execute them" approach had left us predictable and easily stoppable. While I accept the offense hasn't been perfect under Brady, and some of the issues that plagued Dorsey at the end remain (execution errors) Brady has done a better job at at creating plays with formation, motion and leverage. So taken from where they ended with Dorsey the offense is better and it has helped the D too by giving them more of a break. You go to some of those mid-season games and we were 3 and outting at an alarming rate. However, you are right the defense is the key. The middle of the season post the 3 big injuries the Bills were really struggling to work stuff out. McDermott looked out of ideas short of send the house every play and our execution was sloppy. They have turned it around. Even pre-bye in Philly I thought the defense was very good. They ultimately got beat by some really talented individuals making some high level plays late on. But schematically and playcalling the Bills won that battle even in defeat. Since the bye the defensive plans have been really good. Even on Sunday when they struggled early to get a beat on the pitch motion they adjusted 2nd half and shut the game down. In terms of future investment they definitely need to keep adding to the offense and I have long argued that the area where they need to make savings is the defensive line. They can't sustain an 8 or 9 man rotation where everyone is either a vet on a nice contract or a day 1 or 2 pick. Justin Zimmer is the only time I can remember them really living with a guy who gave them cheap production (suppose Shaq might qualify but he is very much the 9th guy of 9) and they need to be able to find another of those types.... draft a couple of DL prospects with all those 6th and 7th round picks we have... and divert that extra money to offense. That said they will need to bring in at least one premium DL and one premium safety somewhere this offseason. Whether that is through FA or an early pick. But they must also address wide receiver in that way. My strong view remains that should be their priority in round 1 (as I have thought it should have been the last two years) their issue in a really strong class is going to be how late are they drafting and who gets to them. What I really think they need is a guy who can be a #2 in 2024 but eventually has #1 upside. I slightly worry that the guys who fit that profile might be gone and you might be left with picking a proper #2 receiver type, which still is a need and particularly if we are picking later 20s might still represent some value. My ideal approach to this offseason is that they find a starting safety in free agency (I have my eye on Kamren Curl he would be absolutely perfect for this scheme and like Poyer and Hyde can play both center field and in the box) and that allows them to go WR and DL with their first two picks and then gives them the flexibility to target an offensive tackle in the 3rd / 4th because while Dawkins has had a very good year, and Brown his best year as a pro my long term concerns about Dion's viability as a tackle into his 30s with weight issues and the fact that Brown is a pending FA after 2024 means that is a position they would be well served to have some stock in the cupboard.