Beck Water

No, Beane can not fire McDermott. Only Pegula could at the start, now with Pegula seeming to take a less active role and Kim out of the picture, it's possible that one of the high-up executives at OBD now has that power, unclear on that point.

FWIW, I seem to recall Tom Brady being asked how long it took him to get fully in sync with a new WR and he said something like "a month". That doesn't mean Cooper won't get used to some extent before that, but if one of the greatest to play the game says in effect "these things take time", then they probably take time.

Beane is not McDermott's boss. Both Beane and McDermott report, in parallel, to Pegula I agree with your overall point that it doesn't seem likely that McDermott "forced", or even lobbied hard, for Beane to trade Diggs. Likely Sure, we're already playing our backup outside LB and our MLB is playing with a torn pec, but let's cut a backup LB.

https://nflpa.com/press/joint-nfl-nflpa-statement-on-review-of-tua-tagovailoa-concussion-protocol Wanna explain what was done differently for Allen? The NFL/NFLPA in fact said that Tua WAS properly evaluated for concussion according to the protocol, but that ataxia wasn't, at that time, considered a "no go". So that changed afterwards

Well Hey

Given the compensation, I'm wondering if we were trying for Adams - but Adams and the Jets had a Rodgers reunion in mind

I believe that Allen was properly evaluated for a concussion according to the protocol. Whether the protocol evaluation is worthwhile depends somewhat upon the player. Remember it was determined that the proper protocol was followed with Tua in 2022. Agree to disagree on whether it could be determined independently that Allen was "not unconscious" and that the NFL/NFLPA have "no reason to lie"

Huh? The man has a PhD in Neuroscience from Boston University. He saw what he saw. Several of the rest of us saw the same. Where is the conflict of interest here? Do we seriously want Allen to get Tua'd if the Jets knock him out for a second time in a week?

He's not wrong

3 year, $24M with $15M guaranteed is similar to 3 year, $39M with $24M guaranteed? Okay.

We may have gained better run blocking for the running we want to do, with the change from Morse to McGovern at C. But we also lost something, and all that experience at diagnosing pressure looks and choosing the correct blocking schemes is likely to be one of the things we lost. It's probably worth considering that Diggs knows Allen's tendencies inside and out from years of practice and watching film together. He knows what Allen struggles with. So I'm sure he fed a lot of info to Houston's D about what to dial up that Allen would struggle with decoding.

Exactly. This would be the perfect compromise.

I didn't say "entire reason for Josh Allen", nor did I intend to imply that. That's Man o' Straw here. Obviously Josh Allen started as an off-the-charts physical talent with off-the-charts competitiveness, and Daboll didn't "make" that. But Josh Allen was also a wild man mentally and Daboll takes (and probably deserves some) credit for teaching him to "beat them with your mind" and inspiring him to improve as a passer. Jones started his career as a 62%, 232 ypg passer who threw 24 TD and 12 INT his rookie season, then took a step back under Joe Judge and Jason Garrett. I don't think it's a big stretch to think Daboll looked at Jones and said "I can coach him back to that, then I'm starting out with a more accurate Josh who makes fewer mistakes and throws fewer picks, and I can get him to use his size strategically in the run game" I disagree about thinking "better than anyone he could get at 25th overall in the 2023 draft". Schoen is a Beane disciple. He was there when Beane said "not gonna get the QB who will take us places picking 21st overall, and not gonna find partners on draft day to pick high enough" and systematically traded Cordy Glenn and pick 21 for the #12 pick, as well as trading other guys on the Bills roster who had shown they could play (Ronald Darby for a 3rd rounder etc) to accumulate ammunition for Draft Day. And in fact, in 2022, the Giants picked at #5 overall. So they could have gone for a QB then, too. Bottom line, IMHO (and you're welcome to disagree) Daboll had to have thought Jones was someone he could mold into a guy he could win with, or he would have told Schoen in 2023 to go get him his guy, and Schoen had the blueprint for how to get that done. Very likely

It's not the NFLPA's "buyer". They are supposed to represent the players' best interests, not the league's You shouldn't feel sorry for Daboll with Jones. Daboll thought that he "made" Josh Allen and he could "make" Daniel Jones into a better, less mistake-prone clone.

To this latter point: the Ravens are 6th in the league in YAC this season. They are normally good in YAC. The Bills are 7th. For comparison, in the full season of Dorsey's offense (2022) they were 27th.

Well, I guess you could say that's what happened....

Let's be real: they all make you nervous. In the most recent 3 games they played, McDermott has been very good at containing the Ravens offense. But, the most recent game was 2022; that was under Greg Roman. We have not played the Ravens offense under Todd Monken. IMO (others will disagree), it's a better passing offense now and Lamar Jackson has undergone an evolution in his passing abilities (as Josh did). Derrick Henry, while not the juggernaut he was in Tennessee 2019-2022, is still a formidable player. It's a real question how well our undersized LB will be able to cope. Simms picked against the Bills vs Cardinals and Dolphins, but picked the Bills against the Jags.

Why yes! Yes, they did. Some here were quite forthright about that.

Numerous players have said that they hate TNF. Micah Hyde said "I don't even start feeling good until Thursday". Josh on Green Light said with Toradol, "you don't feel anything during the game, you don't feel anything Monday.... but Tuesday and Wednesday...." Then there's the coaching prep aspect If the NFLPA actually had teeth and balls, they would push to eliminate TNF games

Yeah, about that. In 2022, I seem to recall gnashing of teeth and beating of breasts that the Bills didn't fire McDermott and hire Daboll as HC. This only intensified after the 2022 season when Daboll got the G-men to 9-7-1 and a WC playoff win. We still there, or nah?

The "everybody eats" language has high correlation to all the questions about "whatcha gonna do without a #1 WR?" and "how are you going to fill in for the 152 receptions and 1929 yds contributed by Davis and Diggs last year?" (as best I can tell). I don't think it either increased or decreased in frequency in response to the GQ article from Diggs. I think Josh's trash talk is limited to on the field. Is there probably some private motivation, if Diggs was lighting into Josh after practice and games, in Josh showing he can do or avoid whatever those criticisms were, probably. But I don't think Diggs was criticizing Josh for failing to spread the ball around. He made it clear in so many words (in mic'd up episodes) "I Need My Bag"

I agree.

I think that's what the betting line is thinking. They're looking at the Ravens and going "*****! They ran over Dallas for 275 yards! You see dem itty bitty linebackers on the Bills? Henry gonna go 'Choo! Choo!' and run over 'em!" And he might. But the Bills ran over Dallas to the tune of 266 yds last season, of which only 24 yds were Allen's. So maybe....the Dallas run D has something to do with it?

BUFFALO vs EVERYBODY

You might read what follows and think it's a distinction without a difference, but I disagree that the entire ethos of the "everybody eats" offense is "100% rooted in turning the page from Stef". I think it's entirely the other way around. Stef turned the page on this offense because it became "everybody eats". I think Brady took over after the Denver loss and said "OK - defenses feel they don't have to defend the run, they feel they don't have to interpret pre- and post-snap motion, our personnel groups are often a tell, and they can choke up the middle of the field and put their best guy on Diggs (or double him). Done. So what'r we gonna do? We're gonna make them defend the whole field on us - run the ball until they show they can stop it, use the middle of the field that defending the run opens up, and spread the ball around so they get the flick: they can't just clamp down on Diggs and wait for Josh to force it for an incompletion or maybe a pick". You're right, Diggs said it in GQ, he wants yards, he wants receptions, so if that's Brady's game he "wanted things to shake". But you wrote the above as though the offense was designed by Brady as a reaction to Stefon Diggs and a need to turn the page on Diggs. I think Brady designed the offense as a reaction to how teams were playing the Bills last season (and to some extent in 2022), and a need to re-cast the offensive philosophy in response. And then Diggs wanted out.