HappyDays

Yeah it is worrying to have un-clutch coaches and an un-clutch kicker. Combined it feels like an almost impossible to overcome handicap when you have to win multiple consecutive sudden death games against quality opponents.

It isn't just the run defense. We're giving up way too many explosive plays in general. From Joe Buscaglia's recap of the Jets game: Explosive play differential has a significant correlation with win percentage. The poor efficiency of our run defense is a symptom of this larger problem. Honestly though I expected the defense to disappoint this year. Beane should have anticipated this as well and should have thrown as many resources at the offense as possible to compensate. Hopefully adding Amari Cooper helps us become an offense that can win shootouts, because the current defensive personnel is not going to shut down the Ravens for example if we face them in the playoffs. We will need to match TDs with TDs when we face championship contenders and that's just how it will have to be.

The all-22 view of this play is insane: What the heck am I looking at here?? Those two players to either side of the Jets logo are Rousseau and Epenesa as... intermediate safeties?? This is like something stupid you do for fun on Madden, hey what if I put my edge rushers at safety and see what happens. I have no idea what the plan is here. To anyone trying to defend McDermott and blame the players for failing to execute, this sequence is not a one-off fluke, it is a trend. We have an unbelievable track record of goofy end of half or end of game defensive breakdowns under McDermott. I'm not going to bother to list them all. The players involved have changed over time. There is only one impossible to ignore constant. The scary thing is that you cannot win a championship without executing on moments like this at least a couple times during your playoff run. And executing on these moments is by far McDermott's WORST trait as a head coach. My biggest fear is that no matter what else the Bills do, this one fatal flaw will always end up costing us at some point. That exact scenario already cost us one possible championship and it hasn't gotten any better.

One question answered:

Come on man... There can't be any WR truthers left on here!! The debate is over. The group wasn't remotely good enough and Beane made the ONLY possible move to give this team any kind of chance. BTW 1st read percentage is compiled by PFF as part of the data package that real NFL teams pay thousands of dollars for. It isn't a fake stat just because you don't understand it. They're also very generous with how they assign a 1st read to a play - if 3 WRs are bunched to one side and the QB throws to any one of those WRs, they call that a 1st read throw even though technically it could have been the 2nd WR the QB went to on that side. Watch the all-22 footage from this year, or find one of the accounts on Twitter that compiles clips. The WRs are not separating consistently. Allen regularly has nowhere to go with the ball. It was especially evident against the Jets. It isn't because of his decision making, it's because the talent in the room stinks. Beane has admitted that by trading for Cooper. Why can't you do the same?

I'll criticize McDermott when warranted but his comments yesterday had nothing to do with Cooper. He was telling the guys that are already here you're still an important part of this team and it takes all of us.

No kidding. His last 4 playoff performances equate to a 17 game season of 98 receptions, 1,250 yards, and 9 TDs. Physical outside WRs that can make contested catches are built for playoff football.

They are pretty good players at non-premium positions. And that is likely the ceiling of what we lost in the trade. Don't forget we have two 2nds so if you want to look at as if we traded Diggs for Cooper and a swap of a 3rd for a 2nd, that is a very fair trade considering the context.

I don't think you're just being a contrarian to be a contrarian. Feel free to defend the unpopular opinion, it's part of what makes the board interesting. If you look over the list of 2nd/3rd round players in Beane's tenure, there is nobody there where you say "where would our team be without him?" It is far far more likely that what we lost in this trade is a somewhat decent player who won't be fully useful to the team until 2026 at the earliest (if ever) and is replaceable for like $4M at most in free agency. That is the likely opportunity cost, in exchange for filling the biggest need on our team. We really aren't built to run the ball IMO. We have a decent, not great, IOL. Cook is very good but not elite. And we have seen in recent weeks that when the opposing defense can shut down the run and get us into 2nd/3rd and long scenarios, we have exactly zero sustainable passing plays in those situations. It is all just Allen making magic happen which is too inconsistent of a plan for a team with championship aspirations. The passing game has NOT been able to just "make it work" with current personnel. I mean even worst case scenario is that Cooper just makes defenses worry about the downfield passing game. That alone creates a massive positive snowball effect for the rest of the offense to function. Now the role players can be role players instead of featured pieces. "Everybody eats" is so much easier when you have a single player commanding extra attention. The snowball effect of Cooper's presence is almost as important as what he himself does on the field. Give it a few weeks and I think you will come around once you see the improved product.

You know what man, you're allowed to have the contrarian opinion. I respect it. But in this case the reason we had to give a 3rd is because the Browns are eating all of the money. We are paying for the low cost as much as we are the player. Leading the league in drops is a valid concern. But that also means he is in positions where he is open enough to have the ball hit him in the hands. So that is still an upgrade on what we have at outside WR now. Cooper is clearly an upgrade at the biggest need on our roster. No brainer move.

I can't remember the last time a hypothetical move widely talked out amongst the fanbase actually happened. This is crazy.

It was so quiet we didn't find out about it until right now

At least we know they are trying. They are not sitting back watching Mack Hollins running downfield routes.

Something actually happened!!

The defense did the bare minimum. They held a bad offense to 20 points which realistically should have been 26 points. Even with that if Josh hadn't performed several miracles we would have lost by two scores. So obviously he was not 100% the reason that we won, and you know that's not what we're saying, but he was absolutely the main reason. Even moreso than usual.

Actually I think the problem is that Kincaid does keep running. He needs to take advantage of all that open space and cut off his route to present himself to Josh, instead he just runs into the safety and takes himself out of the play. I really liked Kincaid as a prospect because I thought he showed an innate understanding of how to read leverage and space to make himself available to his QB. That mental game combined with his hip fluidity made me think he could be a real problem in the NFL. But the mental game just hasn't been there at all. Kelce's physical traits are obviously great but his mental traits are what make him the GOAT. I was hoping we could have a relationship similar to that for Josh. Hasn't worked out.

After the first drive it was all Allen. Look at our final two TD drives. The first one the play to Davis downfield is all him making magic happen. Second one he vanishes and then re-appears to throw a TD to Knox. Quite literally we won this game because of Allen. Without those two impossible plays we lose by two scores.

Cooper would not solve all of our problems but he would absolutely open up our vertical passing offense, and that alone would have a snowball effect on all of our other problems. Scare defenses vertically and we'll pull them out of cover 1. Then all the underneath stuff theoretically will open up again.

It is some of both I am sure. Brady obviously is not Andy Reid. But the players just need to be better too. On that first play I posted, Kincaid if he was playing smarter would cut off his route in that giant hole of space and make an easy target for his QB. That's what Kelce would do. Instead he keeps running all the way into the safety and basically gives himself up to the coverage. I'm willing to lay some of the blame on the coaching for not having the players understand these little nuances. So it is a combination of players not executing, uncreative scheme and play calling, and a lack of coaching the fine details. Only one of those issues is fixable in-season so hopefully Beane does what's necessary.

Two consecutive plays from last night that sum up this group of pass catchers: Nobody is even close to open on at least half of our pass plays. Beane failed his QB and owes it to his team to find a solution.

I'm worried about the Bills. I'm not worried about the Jets.

Well there you go, we had no chance of matching this deal. Stupid teams ruin it for everyone else. Go get Cooper or Hopkins.