JohnNord

Kraft’s infatuation with Mayo never made sense to me. He was essentially a position coach while Belichick ran the defense. There were reports that he was promised the job before Bill retired. Then when it actually happened, Mayo was given the job without any kind of search. My guess is that Kraft felt he was getting Belichick’s program without Bill. He also could take back the GM duties. Mayo was a train wreck though as is Elliot Wolf. I didn’t think Kraft had the balls to do it but firing Mayo probably helps NE. It can’t be much worse

I’d rather LaFleur over Ryans any day. In terms of being overrated I’d put Ryans ahead

Caleb Williams is having a whale of a game. The kid is not good. The teams that are losing today don’t have playoffs on the line. Demeco Ryans is a worse head coach

That was the consistent them over his last 6 games though. A lot of mistakes, bad turnovers, and a failure to put up points. I don’t have an issue with your take as much as I do with some others who tried to dismiss the work that Brady did as OC or the decision to fire Dorsey. IMO both moves saved the season - as did figuring out how to run the undermanned defense

I wouldn’t say stupid… just not a great OC

But it wasn’t scapegoating. Dorsey’s offense wasn’t good over his final 6 games as OC. Plus it’s not like McDermott was under any pressure to lose his job. When Brady took over you saw a more efficient offense that scored more points and utilized talent better. Instead of deep shots to Diggs and Davis that often failed, Brady spread the ball around getting Shakir and the RB’s involved in the passing game. A few games into the Brady era at OC, I was convinced McDermott made the right choice firing Dorsey and I’m even more certain now.

LOL Their last 5 opponents!🤣🤣🤣🤣 Dallas Tennessee Cleveland Denver Pittsburgh They needed lucky breaks in 3 of these games to win.

Stefanski started out the year calling plays and turned duties to Dorsey after the Browns started 1-6. There’s a theory I read that Stefanski was looking for a scapegoat which is why he let Dorsey call plays. I wasn’t a fan of Dorsey as an OC in Buffalo. I thought he was ok in 2022 but then pretty bad in 2023 and deserved to be fired. But he was in a no-win situation in Cleveland with Watson at QB. . Remember when folks in here tried saying Dorsey was a Sean McDermott scapegoat? And that Joe Brady wasn’t much better than Dorsey, even after the closed the season winning their final 5 games?

The overlap between McDermott and Whaley was always odd to me. My belief is that the Pegulas had been consulting with Bill Polian throughout the 2016 season. IIRC he had a deal in place to take over as Vice President overseeing Coach and GM but pulled out once Marrone quit and Orton retired. He also was up for a HOF nomination and didn’t want to start the process over. The old school belief is that you don’t fire a GM until after the draft. This way if they leave they can’t share intel with competitors. Also you don’t put the new GM in a position to do a year’s worth of work in 3 months. I also think that McDermott’s plan involved rebuilding the roster in year 1 before drafting a QB in year 2. I feel that he knew the gravity and importance of selecting a QB high in R1, and he didn’t trust himself or Whaley’s scouting to make that choice. Had they fired Whaley and hired Beane in January, it makes you wonder whether this plan changes.

It happened in just about every playoff loss

I mean, he had the right idea. They leaned into the rushing offense to set up the pass. That worked well until teams shut down the run and Tannehill wasn’t good enough to win the game for them. It happened on nearly every playoff exit. Rex had an antiquated philosophy a decade ago. He also was infamous for a poor work ethic - as reporters would see his infamous truck leaving the stadium on their home commute. There’s no way he has evolved working as a studio analyst. I’m sure he still talks a good game and would for NYJ to fall in the same trap that Pegula did. “Don’t let him leave the building, Woody”

They also were in “QB Purgatory” or sort with Ryan Tannehill. He had a few good seasons passing the ball built around play action. But there were limitations and once you start removing some of the piece like Brown - things fell apart. I thought Vrabel did a decent job in 2023. That team was really bad talent-wise but still got some big wins against Miami and Jacksonville down the stretch. We saw this season that no team is going to be able to do anything with Will Levis as its franchise QB.

Agreed - I think he’s a pretty good coach. He’s a better “leader of men” that Saleh and just as good - if not better - defensively. I know in Tennessee he known for being conservative and relying on a ground-and-pound offense.

Nope… it was Del Reid and two other Bills fans. The three fans went after Adam Schefter on Twitter after he posted posted an old news story about Stevie Johnson’s famous drop versus Pittsburgh. These three and other Bills fans spammed Schefty in defense of Stevie using the hashtag #BillsMafia. It caught on Twitter with fans and players referring to the fan base by that name. Reid copyrighted the name and monetized through his T-shirt business 26 Shirts. I believe he transferred ownership to the Bills org a few years ago.

Trubisky is a really bad QB. Assuming Maye plays, I think it’s NE 24 Buffalo 9

What put those Chiefs over the top was a defense that allowed just 20 points in 2 playoff games. In 2023 their defense gave up 7 and 10 points in the 2 games other than Buffalo’s 24. Bills are going to need the defense to step up quite a bit.

How is he not a super fan? He’s the dude who coined the term “Bills Mafia” out of fandom.

What is the deal with Tua? I have read that he injured his hip vs. Houston and it worsened against SF. But last week, I kept reading he felt he was good enough to start and was pushing the training staff to play. Yet in Week 18 with playoffs on the line, he is sitting. is it fair to say the injury may be more significant than what was reported? If Zappe started versus Cincinnati or Miami, there’s a chance one of those teams would be knocked out of the playoffs. DTR is a horrible QB

I’m fine with White taking more snaps on Sunday. Between his stint in Pittsburgh and his play on the preseason, I’m not really encouraged by what I’ve seen of Trubisky. If he plays the majority of the game, I think there’s a decent chance that the offense doesn’t find the endzone. Of course it won’t matter, but it would be fun to watch White take some shots downfield. Mitch is just going to scramble and check the ball down every play.

A lot of people are thinking Gore and it makes sense to present the health of the 3 very good RB’s. If they don’t active Mike White, I can see that happening. i don’t think Hardy gets activated because they have no plans to play him in the preseason. I think it makes more sense to active Cine, Clapp, or Gourage

So many are overreacting with this designation. He’s going to back for the playoffs and if you watched the video McDermott stopped himself from saying he’d be available to play Sunday if they needed him. He’s good folx

Brown did a great job on McDonald and that bum Michael Clemons.

Thank you! Yes they are out of elevations as is Jalen Virgil. Sal said that if a player is re-signed to the PS it does not reset their elevations. It will be interesting to see who is elevated, because you’d think they want to rest a few WR‘S but not sure they want to waste an elevation on KJ Hamler

This question is tough because there are only 2 practice squad call ups and one might be Mike White. So that leaves maybe 1 spot and it’s going to go to the player they want to get a look from - I think it might be Lewis Cine or one of Shavers/Hamler/Virgil. I’m almost thinking if they go WR it’s going to be Shavers but we’ll see. So if a WR isn’t called up that leaves the team with just 1 skill position that doesn’t have a TD - Reggie Gilliam. So I do think there’s a chance we see a OL touchdown or maybe some Daboll kind of trick play where Trubisky goes out and catches a TD. I remember Buffalo having a chance for the record in 2020 after the win in Denver. IIRC they tried targeting Lee Smith in the endzone to set the record but came away unsuccessful. I think you’re right. He would be a great candidate to play in this game if he was available for a call up

The defense never had multiple All-Pros the same season and more times than not, they never played together due to injury. It’s been Tre (2019), Poyer (2021), Milano (2022). Also Johnson was a second team All Pro in 2023. If you are counting past All-Pros on defense, there’s 3 on the defense this season, maybe a 4th depending on Benford.