sullim4

Isn't Sal the D&C's beat writer? I don't read the D&C with any regularity, but if that's true, why do they have a beat writer writing opinion pieces? Say what you want about Sully, but he at least had a clear title as a columnist... Sal should either be a beat writer or a columnist.

We were in for a treat alright...

This is why you don't switch the punter/holder willy nilly.

I really don't understand this. He had a few bad punts, but he also had a few good ones, and he is a competent holder for Hauschka. The Bills could do better, but they could also do a lot worse, and I don't know that making a change in week 13 makes any sense. Buffalo isn't exactly friendly to punters in November and December. I'd rather they focus their energy on improving the return coverage units as opposed to the specialist.

Agreed. It's sort of unfair to give one team in a division a bye week during week 4 when another team gets it in week 11. You're a lot more likely to be suffering injuries as a team that need additional healing time in week 11 than in week 4.

I wouldn't be upset either way. I think starting Allen represents the highest risk/highest reward of the bunch: If you start Allen, and he sucks, then you run the risk of having the fanbase turn against him and calling for his head, after less than a season at quarterback. If you start Allen, and he's good, then that's great. If you start Barkley, and he sucks, then Allen just goes in for the final few games, and even if he sucks too, the fanbase won't turn on him. If you start Barkley, and he's good... then what's the problem? Let Allen develop on the bench and see if Barkley just needed the right set of coaches to click with.

This felt like one of Fitz's "good" performances. I would not make him the starter, but he is a serviceable backup and can at least teach the young kid the ropes of playing in the NFL. He should be the #2.

I noticed this play as well. Pathetic effort on his part. Given what this season is, I'd like to see an example made out of him and have him cut. I'd honestly rather have Peterman on the team than Benjamin. Peterman tries but is terrible. Benjamin doesn't try and he's still terrible.

Caffe D'Arte is what we drink, they are a local roaster in Seattle but sell on Amazon as well. Meaning of life drip blend.

I think people want to see McD like this at a press conference...

Nope. He bought enough goodwill from last year that if the unit was at least competent and competitive, which it would be if it was ranked #20, I'd be fine with it. The fact that the offense is one of the worst in NFL history, combined with his repeated mistakes in selecting coaching staff on that side of the ball and poor personnel choices (Peterman, DiMarco, Benjamin, etc), should put him on a very hot seat in my view. I was never thrilled with his selection as head coach, but was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt after reaching the playoffs and putting together solid defenses. My worry now, after as many blowout losses as this team has experienced, is that he has reached a point where he's lost credibility with the players, fanbase, and front office (aside from Beane). Talking in platitudes about "the process" gets less effective as horrible results pile up. It is very hard to recover from a position like that.

No - I just want a team that's better than the worst offense in modern NFL history. That's my ask at this point and the team is failing spectacularly at it.

This is his downfall, in my opinion. Something is seriously wrong with the coaching staff's game planning and preparation when blowouts happens so consistently. For all of those who say that this should be "expected" given the amount of dead cap space, my response is that even the 0-16 teams of the last few seasons were not consistently blown out like this.

Points given up: Week 1: 47 Week 2: 31 Week 3: 6 Week 4: 22 Week 5: 13 Week 6: 20 Week 7: 37 Week 8: 25 Week 9: 41 (so far) If this is "playing their minds out" then I really don't know what to say.

Bingo. McDermott has lost the locker room and respect of the fans. Even with tens of millions in cap space, who would want to come here?

The question I want the media to ask McDermott: How does this game and train wreck of a season fit into the process?

Throw my hands up in disgust and SHOUT!

I know this is from last month, but I just don't see the NFL passing up $1.5 billion per year from AT&T. AT&T uses it as a loss leader to keep customers in their ecosystem, any other bidder would likely have to do the same. Amazon's Prime retention rate is super-high, even at $119, so I just don't see them as needing the NFL. Any other tech company (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc) would have to use targeted advertising or data mining to make up the difference between subscriber fees and the rights fees, and that's largely not an option since CBS and FOX still get to air their ads during the games. Hulu might be an interesting option. Comcast/NBC, Disney, and FOX (all NFL broadcast partners) own 33% stakes in the company, and they have the infrastructure to stream. They have been pushing their Live TV product and could use Sunday Ticket as a way to increase prices and make that product profitable. Direct to consumer is an option, as the other three leagues do this with their streaming packages, but again, there's no way the NFL makes $1.5B annually in subscriber fees from end user subscriptions. Although I'd love to see a more competent company take over for AT&T, I just don't see it happening with the current contract.

Worse than Peterman? Peterman's track record in regular season games was abysmal. I think you had to keep McCarron until Peterman proved that he could go a quarter without throwing an interception.

Keep McCarron or get a veteran after training camp. Peterman was way too risky to keep with Allen as the two quarterbacks on the roster.

Say what you want about clearing cap space, trusting "the process", tanking and rebuilding, etc... I'm not sure how this position could be more mismanaged or get any worse than it is right now. This cannot reflect well on McDermott at all.

I'm genuinely curious here, and I know many of you are stat freaks. Any insights into how badly the offense is playing, relative to historically bad teams like the 1976 Bucs?

They may not have a choice if Anderson got a concussion or some such on that last play.

Cleveland is on its way to a championship!

Absolutely. No one is calling for him to be the #1, but he is an excellent teammate who would be an ideal mentor for Allen, and could easily win a few games in situations like this where Allen gets injured. He'd be a great pickup in the offseason if they could make it happen.