PBF81

24 offensive points allowed to a rookie 7th-round QB that absolutely no one had as ever being an NFL starting QB, and one that led the Fins on a 75-yard drive in the 4th Quarter to bring the game, which was a wintry home game for us, within a FG.

Agreed, McD hasn't come clean. Many take issue when I say that, but we do not know and that's because, ... well, McD hasn't come clean. LOL I don't think that the pressers will change, but at the end of the day what I find to be frustrating is the lack of accountability McD gets for the offense on the premise that "he's a defensive-minded coach." So TF what. One way or another, he's entrusted with overseeing the entire team, not simply the D while deflecting any and all criticism for the O off his sleeves.

This season will tell us where he is or not IMO he's overrated in that way.

All we know is that the reasons need to be addressed from the top down. If there's been one common theme to our weaknesses on McD's watch, it's been inconsistency, for which preparation is a huge factor. That's all but exclusively a coaching issue.

The Ravens game is the one game, but we wouldn't have even been there without the O. In that Chiefs game, spin it as you have, the defense was far worse. Skylar Thompson

That's the point, it's also his job to perhaps not give as much autonomy, or step in to correct if the OC isn't cutting it. Either way, him getting a complete pass because "he's a defensive minded coach" had gotten old and is immediately at this point. Maybe time for an offensive-minded head coach then given the absurd wealth of talent we have on offense, and FINALLY, this cannot possibly be overstated, a decent OL. Just sayin'.

Implying that McD is helpless to correct offensive issues is ridiculous, which is the general take here. IF that's truly reality, then sorry, but it's time for a head coach than can do that given the ridiculous underachievement/inconsistency on the offensive side.

No, but people do expect a 1st-round pick that was made with numerous other needs on the team, to actually play and be used effectively and to their strengths, particularly when they demonstrate that they're quite capable.

Not in a regular basis. And which game did it cost us besides the Bengals game last season? And you did realize that the only reason we even played that game was because of the offense, right? The offense has been responsible for the playoff success that we have had.

If it's not in the skillset of a head coach to be able to identify the simple things that we're identifying here, then it's time for a new head coach. Sorry, but that's the truth. The issues of the offense yesterday were obvious to anyone watching.

Fine in what sense? We're talking about significantly underachieving here. Getting less than we should be, with enough regularity that it should raise concerns. So sure, from the perspective of fans that are simply happy that Buffalo has a team and they enjoy the entertainment of it all, and $20 beer, for however long it lasts in a season, sure, they'll be fine. But for anyone hoping for a super Bowl win, these are likely terminal issues. THIS is exactly why we get out coached in the playoffs. Hoping to have circumstances overcome coaching ineptness for four straight playoffs games, against the best teams, QBs, and coaches in the league is not a sound strategy. If we make the most of what we have, great. But what we're seeing here is the opposite. We're not making optimal use, far from it in fact, with what's at our disposal. Hence the criticism and distraction, which frankly, is warranted.

Great points, but Torrence has made a huge impact. Expending a 1st-round pick that's on pace for 400 yards and 0 TDs begs criticism though. Seems the norm however, and for the life of me I have no idea why McD isn't taking more heat for it. He's the HEAD coach FFS.

The offensive play-calling was problematic. But my original point was in response to the issues that you mentioned, which are all categorically correctable simply by making the decisions to either do or not do them. They're also not complicated and not something that requires experts in offense. Any boob that watches football regularly knows the issues. Hell, my wife walks in during the game at one point and says why are they running these plays. If a head coach can't figure these trivial issues out, then he's not a great head coach. Same for Dorsey, but since Dorsey seems to struggle with it, it's on McD to tell him what to change. Which makes it's own statement about Dorsey. A few more games like this on the play-calling end and he won't be around after this season. But why hasn't McD told him to take his head out of his arse on this? The talent is there for this offense to be the best in the league, prolific and record-seeing. If that cannot be achieved this season, then the only thing holding it back will have been coaching, and given what you said, that includes McD. Right now or hopes for a Lombardi are directly tied to optimizing or offense.

Almost all of it should be pinned on Dorsey & McD. But McD is untouchable, so there's that.

It's not irrelevant. It can be bad 40% of the time all season long. Let's say we only win those other 60% of games. 10-7 It's going to come down to how well we play in the playoff games. If those four are good, we'll be fine. Out has been inconsistent, but there are no to excuses for the offense this season, and that's almost exclusively a coaching issue. But we refuse to see that, at least most here do, and we'll, so we're stuck, aren't we. You've heard me say it plenty, 10-7 is fine as long as our offense can string for good games together after that. 15-2, 10-7, doesn't matter. All that matters, and what our hopes hinge on, is whether or not we can string four good offensive games together in Jan/Feb. If we can't were screwed either way.

That's the reality. The talent is there. Or OL is the best it's n been since most of us can remember. Allen wasn't sacked once yesterday. If we can't get this right then it's obviously on Dorsey. But Sorry works for McD the last time I looked. The things you mentioned would be easily correctable if McD simply told Dorsey to "start doing (this)" or "so doing (that).". So once again, McD is avoiding much criticism and blame here. If he's not capable of doing that, well ...

And our defense has lost us all the playoff games that got us booted from the playoffs. 27, 36, & 38 in reg. Your point? All it has to do is cut it for four weeks come playoff time. We haven't been able to count on the D in the playoffs.

The offense is fine. That's what's going to determine our fate this season. Gotta run it right. Play calling was not good often yesterday.

Miller played 20 snaps. About a quarter of the team's D snaps. The trade for him was a risky one, high risk high-reward. Unfortunately the risk part has played out. It's unwise to think that at his age, 34, and coming off that injury, that he'll ever be back to what he was or even close. The only reason why I noticed him yesterday was because I wondered whether he was in and was looking for his number.

I'd like to see more of 'em in general. Cook had 5 carries, 3 in the 1st half. Harris had 3 carries, 2 in the 1st half. Murray had 2 carries, both in the 1st half. Only 3 carries in the second half, two by Cook, one by Harris. It would be nice to see us run more, but also nice to see some non-boneheaded running plays called.

Well, OK, then it was a coin-flip, but we lost, and really not all that closely. Just sayin'. Allen, Diggs, Davis and the OL gave Allen time. But there are definitely reasons to criticize coaching.

How so? ... by what measure? IOW, what's your basis for stating that?

I hear ya. But consider too, last season we lost Hyde for the Season, White for most of it, and Miller for most of it. Now we have Miller and Hyde back but are without Milano and White again, and possibly Johnson, who plays nickel, not starting CB. I don't see why things should be that much different, particularly since we added Floyd. We know that the NFL standings landscape will look somewhat different than it does now.

OK, so given the other issues that we have, where would McD have been now without Allen? I believe the context was Allen covering a multitude of shortcomings.

Yeah, me too. My take is that perhaps we've tried too hard during the regular season to be as perfect as possible. I'd rather lose another couple of games, or three, get in as a Wild Card, and not have the weight/burden of being the #1 or #2 seed. IDK, maybe that would help. Doing what we've been doing hasn't helped.