PBF81

For some context, and in fairness of analysis here, Lewis also didn't have Allen as his QB and less was expected. He had Dalton and Palmer. How would McD be doing with Dalton or Palmer instead of Allen? I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have won a playoff game either. Then of course Blazing Saddles, the iconic movie that would send people today into orbit.

LMAO, that is a fantastic movie! Speaking of iceholes, no doubt you've seen this one too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GVCgTFw2Qk ... and ...

Thanks For the Indy game that should have read 5 more 1st-Downs, not TDs. This season will reveal much. At some point we have to quit blaming the talent and circumstances and start pointing to coaching. If people claim that it's not the coaching, then fine, let's have that discussion about the talent, i.e. the GM. And if we win the SB or at least go to the AFC CG and don't embarrass ourselves in a loss, then great, fantastic. But if not, it'll be high time to start asking the tough questions. If we get outclassed in the coaching department, I don't see how anyone can claim that it's not the coaching. Either way, I doubt they'd be fired after this coming season even if we take 2nd in the division and lose the WC game. Both McD and Beane are signed thru '25, three more seasons. I agree that if this season finds us underachieving then, that they won't be fired. But the heat will be on, even from Bills fans. The national media is already talking.

After the Wild-Card Round he's 1-3. Here are our WC results: 2022: Win over 7th seed Skylar Thompson's Fins, barely 2021: Win over the 6th seed Patriots 2020: Win over the 7th seed Colts with 39-year old Rivers at QB 2019: Loss to the 4th seed Texans with the same record and that had the 14th ranked scoring O and 19th ranked scoring D. 2017: Loss to the 3rd seed Jaguars with Bortles at QB and without a notable WR or TE on their roster. Not one of those three wins was impressive. We also nearly lost to the Colts, at home, and allowed 75 more total yards, 5 more TDs, and nearly 9 more minutes in Time-of-Possession than the Colts led by an aged-out QB and also without a notable WR on the team. Hilton was washed up by then.

He's 3-2 in WC games, 1-2 in Divisional Round games, and 0-1 in the CCG. That's 1-3 after the WC rounds, with Allen at QB. The trend is also downward, the past two seasons we've beaten low-end playoff teams; Skylar Thompson's Fins and Mac Jones and NE. We're 0-2 in the D round the past two seasons and with a historically cataclysmic coaching failure as the sole cause for one of the two. Fine, mulligan for last season, but the bar needs to be higher for this season. Let's see how it plays out, but hypothetically, say we barely win the division, beat some team in the WC round that otherwise has no real chance to advance much anyway, like any of our WC-round opponents to date, then lose to again in the divisional round, regardless of opponent and assuming not in a game whereby we play our absolute best (including coaching) but simply lose to a team that was on fire or better, then it should be strongly considered that McD has reached his apex with this team. Past performance is great, but we criticize all of the components of the team screaming that they need to be upgraded, except for coaching. We'll see how the season shakes out, but the Damar thing is over, and if it isn't, it's time to consider other options there if it continues to be the distraction implied by Success above. The time for excuse making on behalf of McD is over with this season. He's got everything he needs, apparently, since the same people defend Beane to the hilt, so no more excuses. If Dorsey falls short, that's on McD too since he's the one that chose the OJT candidate to be his OC. And what, if Dorsey gets the can, what next, another OJT candidate that McD can control and won't be a threat to take his job? At some point conflicts-of-interest need to be considered, both at head coach and GM. The last thing this franchise needs is more high-risk decisions with increasing long-term risks. If we had any number of other coaches we'd have done better in the playoffs by now.

While quite possibly true, if we stall again early in the playoffs, it's high time to take a good hard look at coaching then. Many think that it's the coaching, not the talent, that's holding us back. Enough with the excuses at that point. A lot of fans are tired of living off of the outdated "he got us back to the playoffs" mantra.

That's a thousand word essay right there.

We've heard that about other players in the past too. Time for Ken to put it all together properly and for McD to make sure he does. Well, it's a fact that he's never had more than 140 touches in college or last year when he had 110. Well we're DFL in carries by RBs last season and in no small way, so some of that is on the coaching. We'll see what happens this season.

So this would be illegal then?

McD's history is that the Playoffs in general starting at the Divisional Round is a bad matchup for us. Just sayin' ... They're a completely different team with Lawrence however, kind of like we became an entirely different team with Allen. Many as do I anticipate Lawrence becoming a top-4 QB. (Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Lawrence) Their Defense ranked 12th in scoring. Meyer ruined any development that they may have had in Lawrence's rookie season. It should be fun watching them play this season.

But they won 7 of their last 9 and Lawrence played incredibly well in the second half of the season. One of his two stinker games was vs. the Jets and they held us to an average of 18.5 points/game. If his entire season had matched his second half output he'd have put up 29 passing TDs. He'd have been much further along w/o Meyer. Etienne played exceptionally well also and was 14th in the league in Yards-from-Scrimmage, which was better than anyone we had. They had a ton of draft picks.

Well, and that bolded part opens up an entirely different conversation. One that's all but verboten here. LOL

Whether you're making too much of it really depends upon the perspective. If it's a human rights story so to speak, then sure, it is what it is. I always look at things from the performance perspective. Insofar as that goes, we've had well too many 1-year signees coming in here in key roles, most notably the OL, next up Front-7. IMO the culture thing is overrated. At some point competence and doing the job properly takes precedence. The two are not mutually exclusive which is my angle. To start, most players in the NFL aren't "bad culture" types, there are only a handful of those. And BTW, Diggs pending. We don't know how that's going to unfold, but we cannot say that we weren't warned. But that's another issue although culture related. 1-year signees know that they can be easily released as they typically don't have significant signing bonuses associated with them, they're typically more what I refer to as expense bonuses. At the end of the day culture is good, but getting good players in key positions, which for us should have been the OL since Allen's been here, takes priority over culture, especially since both can easily be done. Back to my original point, our 1-year signees, and there's a long string of them, typically have offered nothing but below-average play. In other words, JAGs. Very few have offered average and I can't think of one that's provided above average. Beane has relied on them as fixes for five years now. That's not good, from a performance angle, no matter the culture.

LOL Indeed

That's a lot, I just don't care that much. I think I'd rather see it for the first time when I go to a game.

Or maybe for $20 or something or would be reasonable too.

Maybe they'll have TVs in the crappers so they can go in there and watch the game where it's warmer.

Ya know, it goes from being a typical fan into a family without a dad, people trying to raise money to help them initially, and Simms essentially implying, 'No, don't'. Maybe simply say, "The guy trolled me incessantly, but I have to support the effort to help his family" or something. ... and if you're really that bitter about it after the fact. He's going to, for good reason, have a tough time talking that down. Sounds like a great time for him to have simply clammed up.

Twitter is the Speak-First-and-Think-About-What-You-Said-Based-Upon-the-Public-Reaction -verse. If brain activity could be measured by people that "Tweet" before they do, it'd have to rank among the lowest of any platform in history.

Cover! I'm not really familiar with all the sites and pubs, is that an online magazine? Do you have a link?

What are all the 1-year deals of players that actually contributed to above-average levels? Stocking our OL has been a clinic on 1-year deals and I can't think of one OL-man we brought in on a 1-year deal that played to above-average levels. Most haven't even done that. Anyway, just curious which ones you considered that prompted you to start the thread?

Money doesn't make him a good run defender. His specialty has been rushing the passer. I can't find anything indicative that he's an above-average run defender. I haven't even found that. If you've got something please let me know.

Well, that is the debate re: him. I will provide what both PFF and NFL said in their draft profiles about him tho. I've not seen any other site disagree. PFF: What’s his role: WLB Williams isn’t the guy you want taking on fullbacks in the hole anytime soon. He’s the one you want cleaning up for that guy. NFL: Williams looks and moves more like a big box safety with his bursts to the football and open-field fluidity. Lacking the size and strength to match up with NFL take-on duties near the line, Williams needs to become more adept at slipping blocks and staying a step ahead of the blocking scheme. We're in agreement there. In fact, two of our three losses last season were in games where we allowed an average of 160 rushing yards. One of those was against the Jets and their two sub-average RBs. Throw in Rodgers now instead of White/Wilson. IMO more teams run well against us this season since their passing games are going to open up against us. True, but we are also division opponents, which adds to their fire. Offensively, IMO it all, or 90% of it, comes down to Dorsey/Allen. If Dorsey figures things out this season, as he should if he's any good at all, then as I've previously said, IMO we have the ability to be the best offense in Bills' history. At the same time I can also see us finishing 5th offensively. I believe the word is Besties. I'm not sure about that however, it may be too soon. LOL

Yes, we're in agreement. I was simply stating that that was my opinion of the talent he had defensively. Which I think is sound. It is my opinion however.

Insofar as the Jets go, they've done better than anyone but the Bengals in keeping us down in points, allowing us an average of only 275 total yards and 18.5 points in both games last season. It's not like Rodgers has to be like he was in his prime, all he has to do is be better than White or Wilson, which like someone having to be better than EJ Manuel from our perspective.