Richard Noggin

I hate exposure to opposing fans in a competitive environment, generally. But this is an elite reply. Good on ya.

For the first time in my life (I'm 45, third year with seasons), I had to be guilted into attending tomorrow. Partially because there will be a lot of Jersey fans in attendance, and they're the worst. If the Bills are self-destructing, I struggle to tolerate opposing fan belligerence. But also because McDermott's Bills, especially since halftime against Green Bay last season, have been a blundering, joyless outfit, beset on all sides by real-world tragedies and inequities and from within by inconsistencies and dysfunction. 2022 was the least satisfying 13-4 season ever. Then 2023 asked us to hold its beer. (Crazy how much the timing of the schism actually points a salacious, circumstantial finger at Josh Allen himself. I have begun to focus my ire at McDermott, however. He and his staff have choked away too many winnable games over the past four years. It's blatantly unacceptable.)

Wish this was satire.

I remember it differently. They had a Super Bowl-winning offense in the playoffs (and even so, against the Chiefs, had a signature 3rd quarter stagnation when they suddenly started running the ball unimaginatively, and ineffectively, for two straight drives -- who does that sound like?). Those two games , however, really effed with offensive expectations moving forward, and seemingly revised the real history of that 2021 regular season offense. The Bills offense was NOT "absolutely unbelievable for most of that year." You don't have any non-circumstantial/conjectured evidence for any of what you've typed above. Diggs himself has directly, and I'd argue, convincingly, addressed this narrative on several occasions, including as recently as this week. If anything, Diggs' issues are understandably with coaching. Remember "Don't listen to him!"? (Also, I'm just not super concerned about social media s#!tposting from a noisy and bored guy who has publicly wanted his big brother as a teammate for a while now.) I'm with you here, for sure. McDermott is the consistent fixture through all these insane collapses. And he seems to operate with impunity. (One could convincingly argue that recent blunders wouldn't have been possible if the offense had only "held serve" or played up to a modicum of its potential, but that in no way absolves the head coach of his (and his staff's) situational choke jobs.)

Care to share your main takeaways from this vid? Would love to know the gist.

You can see how all the evidence you're presenting actually suggests Pittsburgh will regress to the mean, right? That they've been incredibly fortunate so far in 2023, and that's unlikely to continue? (I guess Minnesota last season was this way for the entire REGULAR SEASON, winning close games despite being outplayed. But it's not the likely outcome.)

Is anyone talking about the new WR coach? (Who IS the new WR coach lol.) Davis has ALWAYS had issues being consistently on the same page as Allen in this option-heavy concept passing attack. But I'd argue this known layer of complexity and variability (so much evidence of guys declaring this the most complicated and difficult to learn passing playbook...plus the much maligned inability or unwillingness to assimilate new guys more rapidly into the offense) is a major cause of the rest of the receivers in 2023 having issues, too: ending up in each other's space, not adjusting to coverages the way their QB expects them to, etc. And maybe this is a bigger issue in 2023 because the new WR position coach isn't having success teaching these demanding concepts to his guys? Just a thought.

They're not marrying the run and the pass, schematically AND sequentially. Do they ever throw when Gabe Davis reduces down pre-snap inside the TE or OT? I know they did have some success throwing on 1st down play-action earlier in the season (after so many ineffective 1st down runs), but has that disappeared? It's about sequencing, getting the defense off-balance, and leveraging advantages where you find them.

Didn't he only blitz on like 5-8 plays total on MNF? Bernard got some pressure on one for sure. The first zero-blitz at the end was perfect. It was that second consecutive, telegraphed zero-blitz that was inexcusable.

Why would Fitz EVER consider coaching in the NFL? As the maxim goes: "Playing is a job. Coaching is a lifestyle." Rich former players who transition into media careers have no need for the insane grind of coaching. If they wanted to coach, they'd coach. But they can make a lot of money working only part-time, part of the year, having fun and increasing their marketability.

Didn't vote, as the logistics of what's being traded aren't crystal clear. If I vote yes, am I saying Buffalo swaps its entire org out with Houston's, essentially brining that whole operation to WNY to replace ours? If that's the case, which I think you intended, then I'd have to seriously consider it. Mostly due to coaching and cap realities for the next 4 years. DeMeco Ryans is pretty awesome. And seeing this kind of production out of a blue chip rookie QB means the org can go ALL IN everywhere else on its roster for the next two seasons, at least, to win it all before the QB gobbles up 20-25% of the cap. It's an enviable position to be in. I have finally cracked on McDermott. His situational coaching is dreadful, especially at the end of close games. His public messaging is flat and insincere. I don't believe the players respect him. (I DO think he is a pretty solid DC, though, minus that 2nd consecutive zero-blitz last week. That was embarrassingly obvious and easy to adjust to.) And our cap situation seems so much tighter than it should be moving forward.

Can you say more about what Warner's takeaways are? I have to pick and choose which youtube breakdowns I take the time to watch, so like a little heads-up first when possible. Thanks.

Maybe not being so eager to go airborne is a lesson to be learned here. He did it a few times leading up to that.

Tell me you're a boomer without telling me you're a boomer.

It will obviously take some significant restructures (Diggs and Allen go a LONG way there) to get the cap in order next season, beyond the potential cuts.

But isn't the stare down what drags (or at least entices) the intercepting DB off his potential shallower responsibilities deeper, into Davis' shadow?

Why is there an insistent Bengals fan presence in this thread about the Bills salary cap situation? I generally cherish having access to a diversity of perspectives and voices on a given issue, but I find it tedious af to see discussions sidetracked by a specific rival fan's contributions. Which is completely separate from my favorably ambivalent feelings about this particular poster's persona in general.

He also stared it down like a tractor beam. Nothing much to misdirect savvy NFL DBs.

Sincere tip o' the cap to you, sir: for no one extracts quite as much satisfaction from Bills dysfunction as you do. You knew it all along, you clairvoyant rascal. So fun to kick dirt on your alleged favorite team at the halfway hinge of the season when they're half a game out of the division lead. DO you even still allege to be a fan of the Bills above all other NFL teams? (Remember in 2021 when it took you and your ilk all the way until week 13 to really, finally get the majority of Bills fans to recognize your predictive brilliance? Man, the Bills were terrible that season. Definitely no way they were gonna regroup and win the division and explode offensively in the playoffs (minus 3rd quarter vs Chiefs). Definitely no way that year's championship window was open the widest. Of course, ultimately you get to take comfort in the Billsy collapse of 13 seconds. You get to lord that loss over Bills fans here on this forum. Cheers to your most objective predictions.)

Kromer, Shula, Brady, and Boras are all experienced offensive coaches who have called plays. Fact.

Are you anticipating what might be said tomorrow by others like Sal? Or are you saying this now? (That the defense is what failed us tonight; just needed that one more stop.)

They have like 3 or 4 former OCs on this staff.

Primarily, with Jones and Milano playing at ELITE levels, and White finally returning to previous excellence, this defense was looking GOOD. Secondarily, Oliver was flashing, Bernard was flashing, and Benford was flashing. The Bills were collapsing pockets, disrupting QBs/timing, and taking the ball away. Frazier's defenses were never so assertive even when they were solid. Now, with the loss of their most effective/impactful guy at all three levels of the defense, we're seeing a defense that looks more vanilla and more passive. A lot of that perception might just stem from the players being less EFFECTIVE at executing and winning their matchups on a snap-by-snap basis. But I'm sure some of it also stems from the calls being more conservative/predictable. Keep it simple and safe, and let the replacements play fast and all that... (Sorry for the late-night string of posts. 3 in a row is a bad look lol.)

Didn't Poyer take a couple bad angles in preseason (I know, who cares) and in the first game or two prior to the injury? Now, characterizing a defender's "bad angle" can also be the result of hesitance, false steps, and/or a lack of footspeed/range (which you explicitly recognize in your post). I recall seeing Hyde being more active in the box and coming downhill at the beginning of the season, and I wonder if that means Poyer was playing the deeper role more often, which would have then really shined a light on his diminished range? Therefore, this recent adjustment to him explicitly lining up on the 2nd level would be a way to reduce the space he has to cover, allowing him to leverage his instincts while mitigating his diminished speed?