Beck Water

My personal take from Beane's presser is that either McDermott will take over game day playcalling, or one of the defensive assistants will move up to DC.

I don't think it was a snap decision made and announced today either. But I don't think it's been something in the works for weeks, comparable to the new coaching hires which were leaked in social media but only announced by the Bills today. I expect if we were roaming around on Chiefs fan boards between 2015-2017 we would learn that a number of fans did, in fact, want Reid fired despite the two 11-5 and the 12-4 season. Losing the conf. championship with an MVP QB and the #1 O in 2018 probably didn't help.

? what else on ST other than giving up that 50 yd punt return? Oh yeah - kickoff OOB, Bass had too many of those this season. I didn't mean to imply that the Bills D was all suckitude or something, but there was a pattern of giving up 4th down and big 3rd down conversions that they struggled with last season - the Dolphins game wasn't an anomoly there, and I think it was a real and repetitive problem.

The thing is, these days, "an awful lot of smoke" can result from one guy with inaccurate sources reporting wrong info, and then everyone else regurgitating what that guy said with no verification. Welcome to information challenge in the Age of Social Media, though back in 1710 Jonathan Swift said "Falsehood flies, and Truth comes limping after it". Not saying your take is wrong, either, just pointing out that in this day and age, one can't judge factuality by the amount of airplay and electrons something receives.

How do you suss this out of what Beane has said? He stated that the coaches got last week out of the office, and Frazier reached out to discuss this.

OK, fair enough. I would say if the points resulted from a turnover giving the opponent favorable field position in Bills territory, it's fair to put that on the O, but fair to disagree. I would still argue that our D did not play well in that game - certainly not "giving up 31 points" badly, but not well - but honestly, I lack the stomach to go blow by blow through it.

I thought it was interesting that in Beane's presser, discussing the defensive minds we have, he named Bobby Babitch, Al Holcomb, John Butler, Eric Washington - in that order. I don't think that's necessarily consistent with Al Holcomb being the internal frontrunner for the DC job.

Given a choice between Wawrow as a source and almost everyone else covering the Bills, I would take @john wawrow. He is required by his AP contract to verify everything with 2 sources with direct knowledge. When he's opining, you can put his opinion in the kettle with everyone else, but when he's stating something definitive, it's typically Bank. I could be wrong, but I believe NFL coaches contracts run the same way that other NFL contracts run - from the start of the league year, until just before the start of the next. So the question Wawrow would be answering is "is Wawrow under contract for the 2023 season?" and the answer would apparently be "yes". And it would be very unlike Wawrow to dance around a technicality, such as saying "his contract has NOT expired" when it's actually due to expire in a month. Interesting bit in Beane's combine presser about 1 minute in: Reporter: "When you say return to coaching, do you mean that will be with the Bills?" Beane: "I don't know that yet. I think what we're going to do is just take this year off, and let this year be, and cross that in 2024" That doesn't sound like the GM of a coach who is not under contract with the Bills at least through 2024, IMO

Oh, Boy. Well, I've wondered some time what type of compromising pictures Snyder had on Goodell.

Where does this thing about Frazier's contract being up keep coming from? I thought multiple press guys covering the Bills had said it is not true.

15 points, is that all? (rummage, rummage): 3 points after interception/49 yd return gave Mia the ball on the Buffalo 48. Gained 18 yds (including 13 yds on 4th and '8) 3 points after 50 yd return of 47 yd punt to Buffalo 27. Gained 8 yds (but special teams play doesn't matter, I read it here) 6 points after interception/29 yd return gave MIA the ball on the Buffalo 18 7 points by MIA Defense after strip sack on 13 yd line/fumble recover TD I make that 19 points as a result of offensive turnovers and bad ST, or maybe I just don't understand how you're looking at it? The thing is, even on those series where points resulted from offensive or ST miscues - the D gave up plays like a conversion on 4th and 8. And another scoring drive, not resulting from Buf offensive turnovers,was sustained by a 19 yd pass to Tyreek Hill on 3rd and 19. So it can't be said our D played well against the Dolphins.

At the time, teams could block coordinators from interviewing while they were still in the playoffs. Since hiring teams wanted to get their staff settled, especially for HC, that meant the number of coordinators from Superbowl teams hired as HC was limited.

OK, yeah, I forgot about Wendell, he did leave for a promotion to OL from assistant OL, you're right!

? who left to take a promotion?

That's quite the spin there. Safeties coach Jim Salgado was fired. Fired generally implies that you only "decline to return" in the "you can't fire me, I quit!" sense o the term. Chad Hall's contract was up and apparently not renewed. He may have wanted a fresh start, the Bills may have wanted a fresh set of eyes, or it may have been mutual - we don't know. Frazier according to what the Bills said, decided to take a year off which could reasonably be seen as "declined to return" Who you got in mind as the three who "declined to return"?

And yet, in terms of top draft picks and FA expenditure, the Bills D should have talent.

https://madison.com/sports/college/football/former-wisconsin-football-coach-jim-leonhard-pulls-out-of-running-for-nfl-job/article_18ac8a10-c3c6-59b6-a3d3-c38a8343bb32.html

That Avatar is from a 2013 Gunshow cartoon by K.C. Green. It's become a meme, meaning fairly widespread use - it's not trademarked by Yolo in Ohio or anything.

For those who want a bit of a thoughtful analysis of the Bills statistically excellent D rather than a knee jerk hot take, this is pretty good: https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/bills-offseason-questions-how-can-the-defense-be-tweaked-to-get-over-playoff-hump/article_aaaa7c84-b398-11ed-b263-2742817ebae6.html

I don't think Darnold and Wentz have accepted that they're no longer starters in the NFL. They'll both be looking for a team where there's a chance they can start. That's not a dynamic I'd want in the locker room. Heinicke and Brisset are the best on that list, with Minshew a close 3rd.

I'd like to see a little backup on this statement. 2022 Head Coaches. Contention: 17 or more of them call offensive plays. Go.

It's not sterling results, but Holcomb has a year as DC calling defense in AZ and part of a year as DC in CAR

Historically, it doesn't necessarily work well when a HC takes on coordinator responsibilities. See Pederson, Doug for one recent example. Probably the smartest thing Daboll did was hire a real OC, because I guarantee Mike Kafka didn't leave QB coach/pass game coordinator for the KC Chiefs to be Daboll's dingleberry. However, my guess is that Senior Defensive Assistant Al Holcomb will take on the role of DC Also, we already have a Sr Offensive Assistant in Mike Shula. I don't think we need 2. It was corrected that the rumors he was not under contract are incorrect. Brandon Beane just stated that Leslie Frazier would have been the 2023 defensive coordinator of the Bills, had he wanted to coach.

The man deserves privacy, but it's possible he has a medical issue either for himself or for a family member, and realizes he can't do justice to medical treatment/support AND coaching.

More vocal about it, certainly, but at the end of the day Poyer will listen to his agents and not his wife. But yeah, Poyer knows he's coming to the end of his career. Buffalo sweetened his contract in 2022 as a "thank you", but he's gotta go for the best guaranteed $$ he can get.