WideNine

Tough question when fans are trying to gauge the ceiling of a HC that has had a lot of success, but seems to hit the same or similar wall each season. The legacy of McDermott is in his own hands. Is he the post millennial version of Marty Schottenheimer... a very good coach who was never able to find post regular season success and reach the level needed to field a championship team? Or does he demonstrate the growth mindset he preaches to his players as a coach where it is evident he is improving as a coach and we can believe we will reach that championship level. I do think there is a danger of pseudo-nepotism and creating an echo chamber that does not explore new ideas when it comes to how many coaches including McD tend to hire folks they already have a connection to. He may have to be open to some fresh ideas for defensive schemes and talent evaluation to match league trends and improve a defense that has not really lived up to the expected ROI. Of course if he leads this team to a championship many of the doubts about "the Process" will be laid to rest.

I have always wanted a Bills Detroit or Bills Vikings SB. Someone would finally break one of their long curses.

Lions 42 Bills 34 A very good chance we get spanked.

He did have a bad game, and Puka did out position and roast him. Having to support against the run and some of the motion they used seemed to confuse him quite a bit too. Hoping it was just a one off.

Then I expect Stafford should be the NFC's. The few times I have watched Stafford he was either injured, on a terrible team, or working with a piss-poor OL and offensive weapons. He was good, but I did not get that wow factor folks had for him being an elite arm talent. I get it now. Tight window throw after tight window, just dropping dimes out there. It was one heck of a performance from one of the older generation future HOF QBs vs one of the young generation future HOF QBs.

Just listened to Marino's all 22 and he said DQ played well and was drawing the doubles so I believe him. That is a relief because I like our big guy and there are seasons he has carried our line. However he did echo what a lot of us saw with Carter and Oliver at the 3-tech just getting moved, and walled out of their gap by the Ram's guard. I saw a few plays like that too where they were just moved out of their gap and walled off. They also went after Expenesa and put him in conflict a lot setting and defending his edge.

Yep. The Rams key receivers were able to out muscle our DBs for balls and position. Stafford was throwing into tight window after tight window too. They also have the size and strength to be highly effective on the bubble screens, picks, and pushing off to create separation. But folks knew that going in. Tough loss, made more so by how close Allen made it. If we had not gotten smoked on that punt and pulled out the W would folks still care about the defensive weakness? Dunno...for many a win is a win, and I can get the business for being too negative. I enjoy the wins too as overall we have a competitive team that can hang with most teams with Allen under center. But some of us just like to look under the hood even if the car gets us to where we are going because we notice it is not running like it should and could break down where it is most inconvenient.

Good question. Where talent is lacking teams have to make up for it with scheme and coaching. I don't think the D has given up on Babich or McD, you can usually see that if you look for it, but the effort up front has been inconsistent. McVay schooled our defensive coaching staff pulling all the right levers.

Always have been a DQ fan, but maybe he is playing hurt or just has finally hit that wall with age. Oliver goes the way of the 1-tech playing next to him. If that guy can anchor, get some push, and force the double-team Oliver's numbers jump. Without a dominant 1-tech next to him Oliver's numbers are usually more pedestrian. Players may not like to hear it and I am sure they have professional pride, but it just "is what it is" till it ain't. They need to be better up front and/or we need a d-line coach that can help them identify and groom talent better. I don't think there is any one player on our defensive line that actually scares teams. We have Rousseau who is solid and a force one on one, but that DT where teams just have to know where he is lining up and account for him... not so much. Looking forward to Marino's all-22 review.

Sure we tightened up once we started to run blitz after they rolled downfield and scored...which pulled more players into the box and weakened coverage behind them. The Rams, once they were up, did not need to scorch us with long runs, just run it enough to keep the pass rush on its heels and force our safety and nickel to fill and honor play action. Our coaches were schooled and our d-line is not dominant enough to take on a good balanced offense. Detroit could be real embarrassing, because they are exactly that kind of offense. I was never really worried about our offense and Josh Allen this season. My concerns lie where they always have, coaching and our D (especially our front 4) pooping the bed against the good balanced offensive teams we run up against in the playoffs.

I have been preaching this for a while that conceeding rush yards may be acceptable if you can tighten and hold teams to FGs in the red zone. Better teams just run through our vanilla zone and light boxes and can score in the red zone too. I am sure the analytics get skewed by teams that are not that good. This defense is not built to play from behind, chase teams that get up on us early, can keep moving the chains, keep running the ball, and control TOP, and score to keep the game out of reach. Just letting teams run the ball down our throats early in games is not going to cut it. The defensive scheme needs to get more early stops and know teams are going to run on them, the book is out on this D. The offense needs to execute better in the first half of games rather than waking up late when we are in a hole.

It has been just pitch and catch all day today for Stafford who looks way comfortable in his pocket. Our zone d getting smoked. Finally get some pressure on him and what do you know ...he misses his throw. And then then makes another he is eating this zone alive.

At least Shakir came to play some ball.

Rams had 9 guys in the box and we ran a shallow drag route with Shakir. Brady not exactly coaching up the A game.

Yep... Stafford saw it all the way and they picked it up.

Had all day too.

On one run where we got gashed the guard just walled off Carter who gave 0 effort to fight off the block and hold his gap. Allen is bad Allen today with accuracy and decisions. One team looks like it needs the win, the other looks like they expected a win to be handed to them.

Bobby better go around and collect all those slobber knocker of the week gear he has been handing out... His D has not showed up today. The front 4 were really getting mauled early on. Rams are extremely weak vs passes to RBs and we have two exceptional pass catching backs. We need to see a bit more of that off play action.

Agree plenty of time and field they were not defending to keep everything in front of them. No need to take a long shot there. Both sides of the ball are playing like crap. It's like they locked up a playoff spot and decided to take a game off.

Keep hearing how this defense is fine, but getting exposed again today. 2 TDs where the guy was not even touched. Babich getting taken to the woodshed.

Wrong Ford - thanks. Poona is a head scratcher too. The book on him was a high effort 1-tech that Seattle played all over their line. Not sure what got him in the dog house, but his snap count was almost non-existent when he was here. I would delete this in shame, but think I will keep it around for the swing and a miss value. Doh!

True, but I never thought Ford was a good fit for our spread, shotgun, pass-heavy offense back when. A bit slow-footed so not the best in pass pro, or pulling which we asked our OL to do quite a bit, but a mauler on runs. ...and frankly until recently with Kromer I don't think we had the right OL coaching staff to recognize and develop offensive lineman. I still remember when we traded Teller to the Browns only to watch him very quickly become a pro bowl guard. Just a poor ability to recognize OL talent and/or develop it. I feel so much better about our OL this year and that the pipeline of talent for the next man up stepping in without too much drop from that unit. They have done a great job coaching up this position group.

When you look at pure yp/g teams that rush the ball well seem most likely to be those that make the post season. So when I consider run defense I am thinking what tweaks could lend to more post-season defensive success that has often alluded us. I also feel we need to get more heat on Mahomes than we have in past playoffs...he gets way to much time to throw. Babich had a great first outing keeping him hemmed in and getting pressure on him. Pacheco will be back and he will be a factor we did not have to deal with last time. That being said, KC and Buffalo don't have great yp/g numbers in either category, but have good red zone defense and good offensive balance and good records... although KC has had just a crap ton of luck in tight games they should have lost. Our defense has been opportunistic and usually good in the red zone area where it needs to be to live in their world of light boxes and defending the deep strike. Buffalo's red-zone defense allows touchdowns on just 50.0% of trips (eighth) and just 1.79 points per drive (also eighth). Top passing offenses and W/L records are: Cin 4-8 Sea 7-5 Det 12-1 Bal 8-5 Atl 6-6 TB 12-1 Buffalo 17th KC 12th Top rushing offenses: Phi 10-2 Bal 8-5 Wa 8-5 Det 12-1 GB 9-4 Az 6-6 Buffalo 11th KC 19th

Tough to use the niners game as a measuring stick. A lot of factors in that win including that generally we were able to tighten up in the red zone and force kicks. Also that forced fumble at the goal line was huge in flipping the script. The niners also looked cold and miserable out there trying to execute in the elements which they did not do very well (I felt like they were ready to head for the bus pretty early on in the contest). They remind me of the Bills when we had too much salary locked up in players who can't play. They need to jettison load up on draft capital and rebuild. In better conditions (dome) against teams that are good at running the ball and better in the red zone, letting them waltz down the field and still score will be an issue. I am not as worried giving up rushing yards either (if we are just looking at numbers) as long as we can shut teams down enough in the red zone. If we can limit teams that can run the ball to field goals, I trust our offense to get traction and score and our defense to force turnovers - they have been great at that all year and I like our chances when we get any team chasing our score. Having all our starters stay healthy is huge too with the amount of play action and motion good teams are using...defenses need that veteran savvy to not get fooled and still be able to quickly click and close after diagnosing plays. Been tough playing with so many backups the past few seasons down the stretch. Appreciate their effort, just an experience thing. I like the pipeline of defensive talent this team is developing. Still need DTs that can anchor and get some push to be stout against the run. DQ is getting long in the tooth and if this team wants to live with 4-man fronts and light boxes (considering the numbers advantage with good teams that use a lot of heavier personnel packages) McD needs to invest in a young slobberknocker or two for that front 4 rotation.

Interesting going back and taking a look at preseason predictions. 4 guys where one (Gruden) was actually a HC and the doom and gloom predictions of 3 of the guys vs his take on the Bills in hindsight is hilarious. A small wager on the side where it looks like Gruden does not need to break out the massage oil.