PBF81

A half-keg of Bacardi 151 in the kegerator?

Yeah, but I'm not sure a complete newbie like Brady is it. Shula (offense) and Washington & Holcomb (defense) were. They're all Carolina products. There's a reason why they're here in secondary and support roles. The way things appear to be shaping up if this is all true, then it sounds as if the every man for himself warning is about to go off. As bad as things are, relatively speaking, I don't think that firing Dorsey at this point will help. And honestly, if that's going to happen and things get worse, Pegula has no choice but to clean house on the coaching staff side. I know a bunch of us have seen enough of Carolina's former coaching staff. Most of them shouldn't even be here to begin with. It's ridiculous to consider that they, of all possibilities, were the best people for their roles. Perhaps that's the problem, which it is. But then McD's the one that put that ragtag collection of the unaccomplished together. This thing gets worse with each passing day. SMH LOL, sure, but that's hardly an endorsement either. At the rate things are going the word disarray comes to mind.

They'll end up in a ditch flipping off a police helicopter. I wouldn't mind seeing some more pics of the monstrosity that they're actually building. Been sparse so far.

That's a little alarming. Brady would take over. His track record in the two years that he was the OC in Carolina is low-end.

It's going to be a very interesting game. For some idiotic reason, part of me is still expecting the same decisive win that I figured was coming over the past two weeks. I'm so conflicted.

Agreed, not a good look for the team. Looks reactionary.

I'm tellin' ya. Arms out to the sides. She runs like a girl. ... oh, wait ... Not to mention, the 70s version of Boob Watch, I was wondering if those things were gonna come poppin' out of their holsters. Just make sure that the homefries are still cold. A latenight specialty when it was crowded. That'd be in keeping with the situation.

To start, paragraphs are your friends. 🙂 I question the wisdom of bringing in the top half of a coaching staff that never did anything of significance elsewhere other than in a single season under the most favorable circumstances that they'll likely never see again. .... Actually that have in a limited manner, the early party of this season, and the results aren't encouraging. The one that brought them in needs to be held accountable. But who really expected him to bring in that young innovative talent you mentioned? That would threaten his power base and be a candidate to replace him. But alas, maybe he's in a catch-22 now as a result. He is the head coach after all.

Yeah, sorry, I meant for an entire season and as best as it possibly could.

Size & types of players rushing? i.e., DBs rather than LBs maybe. I haven't spent any time looking whatsoever other than superficially.

I'm curious what his metrics are in this way. Cook's not the prototypical blocking back to be polite. It was a weakness of his coming into the NFL and it seems as if Dorsey needs to find another solution. Goes with not being a 3-down RB I suppose.

Yeah, and finished below average defensively in four of six seasons. We've been through this. The year that the Panthers went to the Super Bowl, they had the easiest schedule of any NFL team from 2011 thru 2022, 12 seasons. The easiest. That's relevant context. That was also easily the best season that Newton ever put up. He was no better than average at any other time. We can find exceptions for everything.

Gotcha! Still, that would be fine if the offense were running on all cylinders, which it never has under McD. I mean we trade-up to draft Kincaid, crow about 2-TE sets, rarely use those, rarely use Kincaid, a pass-catching prodigy, and since McD's been here, no matter who we have as WRs, for some unknownn reason we never have a bone fide #2. That at least makes people say "let's get an offensive person in here to see if they can get something more from an offense led by one of the top QBs in the leauge." Defense shouldn't be carrying this team. And to the extent that we've expended draft resources on it, it should. But in the playoffs, our D typically goes on vacation. So why does it matter. That's where we need to shine, and the D's done anything but shine with even the slightest of consistency therein.

We can find at least one exception for any situation that we want. But absolutely no one would say, let's keep drafting QBs only in rounds 6 & 7, that's where Purdy and Brady were found. "You telling me that great QBs can't be had in rounds 6 & 7?" ... for example. Sure, anything's po;ssible, but whether it's likely is altogether another. Levy sucked hind teet in KC. He was awful. Moreover, he too got by on the talent of the team that Polian put together. Polian called that group of talent "special." It was special. Why do you think that Levy degenerated to a .500 coach the moment that Polian was fired and stopped bringing talent in through his pipeline. Had we had Parcells, Johnson, or Gibbs coaching the Bills from '90 to '93, we'd have two Super Bowl wins by now. It's similar here, today. Either way, and again, we can go back-n-forth, but it doesn't matter, but at this point the pressure's on McD at the national level now to produce. I don't think that there are too many people out there however, even among Bills Mafia, that are going to be very patient for the same records that our prior coaching staffs and crap QBs were getting, when McD has Allen, which alone should produce double-digit wins every season. At that point it's quite reasonable for people to seriously start asking questions as to whether it's more Allen or more McD. Many of us already know the answer to it. I suspect taht by week 12 or so most of the rest will too. But we'll see. And I'll say it again, to date we've had the second easiest schedule in the NFL. If McD can even go .500 from here on out with teams at the top-half, not the bottom-half, of the league, then it'll be semi-remarkable. Let's see how we play against Tampa on Sunday. The crowd's going to let us know how they feel if we treat the first half like a scrimmage again.

Uhhhh, maybe because an offense led by Josh Allen and one that averaged 41 PPG in weeks 2-4 after that Jets debacle of a game, can't even average 20 PPG in the last three games against teams currently ranked 19th, 24th, and 25th in scoring D? Because one of the best QBs in the league has played to incredibly average standards over the past three weeks? Do I win? Bueller? Bueller? ... anyone?

Well, that's what we're about to find out. And hey, if he can turn this ship around and finish 12-5, and make a decent showing in the playoffs, good on him. He'll have my support. Until then, if he doesn't do that, and manages only 9 or 10 wins, as implied, he's moving this rig in the opposite direction. We can go back-n-forth on this, there are obviously two camps here. But the existing trend is in the opposite direction from your statements above. That's pretty undeniable, which is why the entire nation is catching on. What those in the pro-McD camp completely fail to realize, is that maybe he really has capped out. As another poster put it, some people are good and coming in and resurrecting companies, but that doesn't make them good candidates to be CEOs going forward. It's quite possible and even incredibly likely, that this is the case here. Ignoring that possibility does not alter the circumstances. Why would it.

Miracles? No, but is it beyond the realm of reasonable to expect an Allen-led offense to put up more than 2 passing TDs and 267 passing yards in 5 of 7 games and when it counts otherwise? Are there significant injuries on offense?

That's fair to an extent, but 7 seasons in with little to no evidence that he's actually learned anything? That's where we are. It's hardly as if we're "inching closer every season much less every game," it's quite the opposite now, with McD toying with drought-era futility, while having Allen at QB. Here's the thing, there's no proof, but it's equally and even statistically far more likely that he's not cutting it, and we don't have forever with Allen. And if his shoulder is bothering him, who knows what's really wrong, I'm sure they won't tell us, and he'll continue to take beatings more often without developments on offense, but Allen's one hit away from us not having him.

Again, some context helps, also helping would be before-after data. Over our first four games of the season when we "were playing lights out defense" we allowed 5.7 Yards-per-Play. Not sure that contrasting the differences with defensive play against QBs like Howell in his first starts, Wilson, and Garropolo don't skew that at least somewhat. If the QBs we've faced were even average much less above-average it would tell us more. But that first line is actually an improvement.

And sometimes it's just obvious but people are hesitant to acknowledge it. Citing one exception, even two or three, is a sea of support is hardly inspiring.

We've started 4-3 times in the drought era. The last of those times mimics this season nearly to a T. Ryan's 2016 season where we finished 7-9 with Taylor at QB. The other times we started 4-3 were ... 2015: 8-8 with Taylor 2014: 9-7 with Orton 2011: 6-10 with Fitzy after starting 5-2 2008: 7-9 with Edwards after starting 5-1 2003: 6-10 with Bledsoe 2002: 8-8 with Bledsoe There were several other seasons where we started 3-4. If McD cannot at least do a couple of games better with Josh Allen at QB, ... SMH ... Arguably, Allen alone as the sole difference would have put most if not all of those teams in the playoffs in those seasons.

And BTW and FWIW, we presently have the second easiest schedule in the league for games played. Three of our four wins have been against 3 teams with Point-Differentials in the bottom-7 of the league, one of which is DFL. Our losses include teams having the second worst Point Differential, and the Jets who are also negative. That speaks even less in support of McD in our predicament. He'd better figure something out real quickly with the opposite of that ahead of us.

This season will take care of itself. We won 8 or 9 games in our drought era with QBs Rob Johnson, Bledsoe, Orton, and Taylor. If McD can't do at least two games better with Allen, then he's not going to have much support going forward whether Pegula fires him or not. One would reasonably conclude that at some point lockerroom issues will spring up as well. "Culture" absent achieving to talent levels can only carry a team so far. We've see how far that is. There already appear to be cracks in the organizational armor if we read between the lines, with people in the organization (Dorsey) already seemingly furtively sideling over to the life-preserver closet hoping to go unnoticed. Could be overreaction by whomever posed that, but it's hardly beyond the realm of reason barring a pretty monumental turnaround. McD has always been an average DC. That's what he's doing here now, producing an average, if that, D. With the injuries he'll be fortunate if he can keep it ranked better than 20th. His selection of Dorsey is just that, his selection. While Dorsey may not be terrible, he's also hardly top-end in terms of creativity and imagination for an offense. Did anyone expect that Dorsey would hire someone that if successful, would be a candidate to replace him should his D not respond. (rhetorical) Meanwhile, what could also be contributing to the problem is that McD has now successfully transplanted his former Carolina coaching staff, along with Dorsey, into our organization. After all, if we can only achieve what Carolina did, ... In short, this isn't the type of coaching staff that wins championship. That's finally going to become clear. What Pegula does about it remains to be seen. And if there's a depth issue, then point the finger at Beane, where it belongs.

That all sounds marvy (NPI), but there's also a good chance that the centralization of control by McD has led this team further away from improving than it has moved them towards it. We came out of the gates swinging and beat the hell out of three poor offensive teams and began beating our chests about how great our D was. Miami made it a game in our house with that energy, despite the final score. The game was pretty even otherwise and Miami also gave us 10 points on TOs. We've sucked mole teets since then. We've only won one game without a 2+ TO margin, that was the Giants, who beat themselves if we're going to be honest, and had an opportunity to win a two-possession game there. We need to quit making excuses and start optimizing the talent that we have. We're not going anywhere until that happens. The problem appears to be shaping up that everyone on board appears to be searching for their own lifevests now instead of being united in the task at hand. Sure, I may be way off, but reading between the lines of some of what's coming out it would also be foolish to ignore that possibility. Here's my take, that McD has finally overstepped his bounds and his hubris is now on full display. I mean honestly, he's got the entire Carolina coaching staff here from when he was there, all but. Who on earth truly believes that that is the bunch to win us a Lombardi?!? That they are really the best candidates out there of all that were/are available? It's far from a reach that McD wouldn't hire an OC that would be a threat to take his job. The other thing not talked about, unless I bring it up, is that McD was a patently average DC in Carolina. 13th average Yardage D and 17th average Scoring D there. So why are we expecting more here, now? We all applauded how our D allowed 3, ... three, fewer points in four games than the year prior, last year. But in that analysis few if any caught on that we'd also allowed over 100 yards per game more which some dismissed with excuses or being insignificant otherwise when the fact is over 100 yards/game more is hardly insignificant, particularly when it's against bottom half offenses contrasted with top-half And we need to get over ourselves regarding injuries, as if we've been the only team over the years that's needed to overcome major injuries. And perhaps this will eventually spawn a true conversation about Beane's efforts at bringing in depth. Everyone applauds and cheers our offseason acquisitions, ignores 7 seasons of play and extrapolates one or two maybe good seasons of a brought on JAG as if they're going to best their singular decent season while here. This team is no different now with White out than it was for all of last season. We talk about Jones, a very average reliable starting DT, but little else over a decade with zero recognition to back it up, as if he's Aaron Donald. He's not. Not even close. OK, great, he had a few great games but it's not as if his pace to nearly match his career totals for sacks was going to materialize in a single season. He didn't perform like that all of last season, not even close. In fact, he's already exceeded last season's sack totals, thanks largely to Howell, the most sacked and on record-shattering pace for most sacks allowed in a season, QB, and he's matched his last season TFL total and is halfway to his QB Hits total. He had a few great games, it's unlikely, ridiculously unlikely, that it would have continued all season. Let's not overrate a few games here. Groot came out of the gates similarly last season before fading too. It's what we do, we play our September as if going 4-0 therein locks us into playing in the AFC CG. Milano, OUCH! But hey, I know I've been preaching "what happens if Milano goes down?" for at least two years. One would think that the same question had crossed our illustrious experts' minds also at some point. If not, then shame on those "experts." If so, well then, why didn't they do anything about it besides leaving no other well-rounded LBs on our roster? That's a Beane issue, not ours. At the end of the day, what we're witnessing is coaching malaise. McD's bitten off more than he can chew, predictably. Dorsey, say whatever anyone wants about him, but he's not particularly creative or imaginative contrasted with the OCs that win regularly in the playoffs, which is a terminal problem. Unless Allen plays lights out, with an accompanyment by a WR, like Davis in the 13-Seconds game, we don't do crap in the playoffs and our defense all but goes on vacation. That's a coaching issue. For anyone not getting it, it'll clear up more as the season goes on. This "culture" soft undefined nonsense is fine, but how about a coach that can motivate the team to hit the field as if there's a game in a few minutes rather than one that allows them to go out as if the first 30 minutes are warm-ups, while then often being out-adjusted by his or his selected coordinator's counterparts in the final 30 minutes. Or a coach than can take the unconventional defensive pieces and reconfigure them like he's reconfigured his D's to begin with to account for the lack of a 3-down well-rounded LB beside Milano in the past? Maybe this is what happens when you build a defense almost exclusively to disrupt the passing game. You suffer injuries and it's impossible to adjust much for lack of competent depth, that everyone was cheering about upon their signings, but have nothing but diminutive LBs that specialize in pass-pro. Seems to me that the expectation is that you'll get run on, down your throat. That's common sense. As to Oliver, he's been hit-n-miss four four seasons and one of our most inconsistent players. He was on pace for 17 sacks and about 40 TFLs and 40 QB Hits. Who in their right mind thinks he would have even come close to that? His season highs to date have been 5, 10, and 14. Sounds as if he was in for another "inconsistent" last dozen games. And maybe our pace over the first four games has fed into all of our injuries. Had we sustained that, we'd have shattered both franchise, player, and team records. Things like that don't happen, ever. If they did it wouldn't be with this roster. Sometimes you just run a hot streak, like we've done at the beginning of the season now for three straight years running. It's a coaching trademark for McD. Someone posted in another thread that without White, Milano, and Jones having taken any snaps, our defense has allowed 5.6 Yards-per-Play. That stuff is meaningless without context. I just ran the numbers for our first four games, and unless a mistake was made, we allowed 5.7 YPP with them in. This season is a mirage. Our start against the Jets and last three games is closer to reality than our having lit up the Raiders and Skins, and played the Fins equally but winning that game on the merits of two TOs with it otherwise having gone either way. We're not as bad as we were against the Giants, but we're also not as good as we were against the Raiders and Skins. We'll see how it shakes out, but it's seasons like this where coaches earn their keep. There were five seasons in the drought years where we won 8 or 9 games. Our QBs in those seasons were Rob Johnson, Bledsoe, Orton, and Taylor. If McD can't win 10 or 11 games with Allen, .... SMH.

The Pats have their issues, but they're also not as bad as everyone makes out. Three of their losses have been to Miami, Philly, and Dallas, and one-possession losses to Miami & Philly. Our three losses have been to them, the Jets, and Jags. The only decent team we've beaten is Miami, which we got up for as if it was the Super Bowl. Even then, without two (2) TOs handing us 10 points, that game's in play. Our team's been overrated from week 1. So has the defense. More on that in another post. We need to get over this notion that losing Milano and Jones knocked us from contenders to also-rans. Damaging, sure, but not completely incapable of being overcome, particularly given our most recent 20, 14, and 25 point offensive performances.