dave mcbride

That's not what he's saying at all. He's defending him for not throwing to Beasley because it was cover zero and he had to make a decision instantly.

No offense, but I'm starting to think it should be a house rule to post surrounding context (Who is the QB? Who is the head coach?) when evaluating coordinators. He was an OC in Denver under Shanahan and an OC in Texas under Kubiak. Basically, Curtis Modkins. Also, when he was the TE coach in NE, they had the most productive TE game in the league. Hmm ... I wonder why ... could it have anything to do with the players? I saw what I saw with Dennison, and he couldn't adjust to what he had in Buffalo. At all.

The Pats keep hiring him back, and the best college coach in history hired him. I also think that in the coaching fraternity, there is a TON of respect for McDermott. It could be the case that he thinks he'll make his name by developing a QB. Allen has incredible talent, and maybe he sees that. The thing is, he keeps getting hired. The pay for these coordinators is pretty much the same for most teams across the league. Look, I'll never forget the pile-on that occurred with Dan Henning, a bona fide good NFL mind. He failed in Buffalo because Todd Collins was his QB. He goes to the Jets, and Vinnie Testaverde has the season of his life. Finally, Daboll, for all of his flaws, is basically 1000 times better than Rick Dennison, who I thought was awful.

No, they all suck. Seriously, look it up. They only one you can claim actually regressed was Cassell, but Cassell genuinely stinks and somehow got lucky before then. I refuse to countenance the idea that he's ever been any good. This is the classic Daboll season: start out with a truly terrible QB (Chad Henne), and then bench him for a career backup (Matt Moore) who then goes on to have a decent season. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/mia/2011.htm

Levi Wallace is #39.

That was actually a very good recovery by Wallace but it was a better throw. Perfect, actually.

He didn't get fired; the whole staff did in all of his prior stints. It starts at the top when it comes to firings. In Cleveland, Mangini was fired and replaced by Pat Shurmur (an OC). In Miami, the season started out with Tony Sparano, who was fired and replaced with an interim, Todd Bowles. The next season, Miami hired an OC (Philbin). In KC, the coach, Romeo Crennell, was fired after the season and replaced by Andy Reid, an offensive coach.

If you're going to make an assessment of him, you really have to list who his quarterbacks were. This is a QB league, and the best OC can't do a goddamn thing if the QB is bad. Prior to coming to Buffalo, his best QB was a tossup between Colt McCoy and Matt Moore.

It has been reported that they are practicing deep balls all the time now. It is just not working.

Yes. He seems the same, but the league has figured out the Bills playcalling tendencies as the season has gone on. He's getting hit at the LOS or before more often than not.

No one can figure out Belichick. I just refuse to use that as a standard by which to measure other coaches. He is 13-13 vs. John Harbaugh, another great coach. That's a better measuring stick.

Agreed.

I hear you. I'm actually a big Tomlin fan (not necessarily as a tactician, but as a leader-of-men head coach who is remarkably consistent), and the coaching matters.

He didn't inherit Kelly at all. Kelly had zero intention of ever playing for the Bills, and most thought he'd never end up playing in a Bills uniform. Polian willed that to happen despite all of the recommendations that he trade him. The view at the time was that this was Tom Cousineau all over again. Polian also never inherited a #1 pick for the Bills. The Bills first pick in his tenure was Ronnie Harmon at the 16th slot. People forget how good Bennett was. His 1988 season is one of the best seasons by any player in Bills history, and that was a team that got off to an 11-1 start. He had a phenomenal career and is a classic example of why it's OK to surrender draft capital if the player you're going after is a generational talent. In his first draft for the Bills, he took Ronnie Harmon and Will Wolford in the back half of the first round. Wolford is the best o-lineman in Bills history (in my opinion; I know Joe D was terrific, but he was a guard, not an LT), and it's easy to forget that Harmon had a very good career (582 receptions as a RB). He also signed Kent Hull from the USFL before the 1986 season. Hull is the best center in team history. In 1987, he took Conlan in the first, Nate Odomes in the second, and House Ballard in the 11th. All were great players. He also got Keith McKeller in the 9th round, and McKeller is the most talented TE they've had since they joined the NFL era (he was just injured too much). In 1988, he took Thomas in the second, Jeff Wright in the 8th, and Carlton Bailey in the 9th. One was great, and the other two were fantastic picks for their pick slots. Basically, he built a great team. He has not looked good lately, of course. The times have passed him by , but bear in mind that he's pretty old (76). His Jackson comments were ridiculous, although he did say last week that he was completely wrong about him.

Polian also made his own luck by trading a boatload for the rights to Bennett, who was one of the best players in Bills history. Surprised he wasn't mentioned in the original post.

This is a logical supposition, but I won't be surprised if the Browns win that game. I think they match up decently against Pitt, whose run game isn't that good right now. They have also generated 273 yards in total offense two weeks in a row AT HOME. They are like the Bills in that they are not that good because their offense is mediocre. They could easily have lost yesterday and should have lost to Indy the week before. Basically, when you play in a lot of close games, you are going to lose some of them. Pitt is one of those teams right now.

I mostly agree, but I also think that if Allen hit that wide open deep shot, the narrative about Daboll would be completely different.

A year away from when Brady hopefully stops playing for NE. That could happen next year if reports are to be believed. Also, BB got his 300th victory, so that may be a sign. I'm approaching these possibilities with a healthy amount of skepticism, but one can hope. Until it happens, the Bills won't have chance to win the division.

yes, regular season. Should have noted that.

It's amazing to me how irate people are after a loss. The Bills went into that game as 3-point underdogs and lost on the road by 3 points to a desperate, talented team that's better than its record. The two teams' stats were almost identical too. It was a very hard-fought and close game, and the Bills lost because their kicker was worse than Cleveland's. There's one post above where a poster says that Daboll coached timidly at the end, and says this despite the fact that Allen's final throw was a deep sideline throw against a cover-zero defense. And no one as of yet has mentioned the almighty karma -- i.e., the Bills won a very close road game they shouldn't have because of the opposing kicker (TN), and one way to look at this is to basically say that things simply evened out. The bottom line: the Bills are not an elite team, and they're bound to play in a lot of close games. They are not going to win every one of them. Yet they are a decent team that might get to 10-6 despite a roster that's still a year away. They have three easy games left, plus a couple of possible wins out there for the taking. If there was one lesson from yesterday, it's that this is an any-given-Sunday league. The Steelers are not going to finish the season on an 11-0 streak. They have to play at Cleveland (where they really struggled last year) and at Baltimore, who may blow them out. The Raiders are going to lose at least 2 and quite possibly 3 more games. Indy is playing itself out of a WC slot. KC is 6-4. The Bills have the head to head over TN. Everything is OK.

On paper Pittsburgh looks like the best bet, but ... the Bills haven't won in Pittsburgh since 1975, when the Juice ran for 227 yards. The Bills will beat Miami, Denver, and the Jets. One slip up by either Pitt, Baltimore, or Dallas (turnovers, special teams flukes, etc.) and the Bills get to 10. They will not win at NE.

The bills will probably win a game they shouldn’t.

Atlanta has a lot of talent. They are better than their record and on any given sunday ...