folz

Let's take a look... I'm giving them 3 drafts each as GM (not counting 2017 for Whaley since its hard to tell how much was him and how much was McDermott. And Whaley may have been very influential in some of the Nix drafts, but again, it is hard to know. So, I am only looking at his drafts where he was the unquestionable man-in-charge.) WHALEY BEANE 2014 2018 Sammy Watkins Josh Allen Cyrus Kouandjio Tremaine Edmunds Preston Brown Harrison Phillips Ross Cockerel Taron Johnson Cyril Richardson Siran Neal Randell Johnson Wyatt Teller Seantrel Henderson Ray-Ray McCloud Austin Proehl 2015 2019 Ronald Darby Ed Oliver John Miller Cody Ford Karlos Williams Devin Singletary Tony Steward Dawson Knox Nick O'Leary Vosean Joseph Dezmin Lewis Jaquan Johnson Darryl Johnson Tommy Sweeney 2016 2020 Shaq Lawson A. J. Epenesa Reggie Ragland Zack Moss Aldolphus Washington Gabriel Davis Cardale Jones Jake Fromm Jonathan Williams Tyler Bass Kolby Listenbee Isaiah Hodgins Kevon Seymour Dane Jackson It's still so early to judge a lot of Beane's picks (good or bad) yet, but it is hard to look at Whaley's picks and think he was better than, well...just about anyone. I count no studs, maybe one solid starter (Shaq), and maybe 4-5 fringe starters (may have started at some point in their career, but always looking to be upgraded). Shaq Lawson is probably his best pick and even he was a disappointment due to where he was picked. I'd love to hear your argument about how Whaley picked better than Beane. I just don't see it (even if you take the QB out of the equation...the fact that Beane found a franchise guy and Whaley didn't, as you said---despite that probably being the most important thing that a GM needs to do in today's NFL). If you did want to add in the Nix/Whaley combo (even though Nix was the GM and Whaley the Asst. GM) then out of 26 picks (across the 2011-2013 drafts), the best picks were: Aaron Williams (though he wasn't very good at the position he was drafted for, but became a very good safety), Stephon Gilmore, Cordy Glenn, Nigel Bradham, Robert Woods, Marquise Goodwin, Kiko Alonso. They also busted hard with Marcel and E.J. Manuel as first round picks. So, even if you include the Nix years on Whaley's resume, you have 2 studs (Gilmore and Woods), maybe 2 other starters (A. Williams and Shaq), and then maybe 8 fringe starters. Out of 46 overall picks. I think your average fan could pick better than he did.

In relation to the Diggs trade, just as you have to weigh in the difference of money (between Diggs' contract and a rookie contract) and the other assets that money and those picks could have garnered---as one poster pointed out---and despite a lot of the rookies looking very good---you also have to weigh in the following factors on Diggs' side of the trade: 1. Veteran knowledge: We all know that it is a tough transition for many players to the NFL, there is a lot you need to learn. Diggs already has that, the rookies have a long way to go to understand all of the nuances of the league, even if their overall numbers are decent. They are still learning. A lot more goes into being an All-Pro WR than just number of yards. 2. Great downfield blocker: How many rookies are willing, let alone good at blocking early in their career? 3. Confidence/Competitiveness: Yes, I'm sure that some of the young guys are ultra-competitive too, but do they have the knowledge/confidence yet to let their competitiveness always be at 100%, like Stefon? 4. Being a true Number One: Despite having other good players around him (Brown and Bease), Defensive Coordinators go into Bills games trying to gameplan against Diggs. He is leading the league, despite being the guy other teams are trying to shut down. And despite the rooks putting up some decent numbers, very few of them are the #1 player on their team that defenses are trying to take away. They are most likely getting softer coverage and #2 or #3 CBs. Stefon is getting the best every week. 5. Veteran Leadership: I doubt any of the rookies are one of the big leaders on their teams yet. Stefon, despite being new to the team, is already a major leader in the locker room and on the field. He raises the play of others around him. Now, some of the rookies will eventually share all of those traits and become beasts in this league. But it may take another 2-3 years before they do. They may put up great stats in their first couple of years, but it will be some time before they can bring everything to the table that Stefon does right now. So, we basically traded that extra money and picks for time and certainty. We got the fully-developed stud now, rather than having to wait 3-5 years for a young guy to develop into that.

Since this topic was already discussed recently, I think a better question/topic might be... How many other team's GMs would trade their QB straight up for Josh Allen right now, if they could? Off the top of my head, I would say Seattle and KC would say no. Probably Not (because they like their young guy too): Arizona, Houston. Iffy (They like their guy, but might do it because of the age factor): GB, Pitt, NO Iffy at this point (because they like their pick and probably want to see them develop): CIN, LAC, MIA I think the rest are yeses. So, I'm guessing that 22-25 GMs league-wide would want to trade for Josh.

Yeah, its a toss-up with Carolina and Cincinnati. I think of Carolina as more relevant recently and more in the spotlight with Cam, plus they also have two Super Bowl appearances (and loses), like Cinci. And like you said, if you discount guys who only played in either city for a brief period, then the only HOFer for either team is Munoz for Cinci. Although maybe Bill Polian still counts for Carolina, because he built that expansion team from the bottom up and had them in the Conference Championship in just their second year, unheard of for an expansion team at that time. But, yeah, close call. And for anyone who even joked that the Bills should be on the list, I would say two AFL Championships, Ralph was very important in keeping the AFL going and with the merger with the NFL, 4 straight Super Bowls (despite them all being loses, still no one has ever done that before), the Kelly v. Marino battles, O.J.'s 2,000-yard season, The Comeback, 11 HOF players (I didn't count TO), maybe the best Defensive lineman of all time. We have been irrelevant lately, so other fans might put us on the list, but despite being a mediocre to bad team for many stretches in our history, I think our resume is pretty good as far as import to the NFL, its history, its fans.

I went with Jacksonville and Cincinnati. I keyed on the OP's phrase "no one would notice." So, my criteria was that they do not have a following outside of their city. Their fans aren't rabid. Probably needs to be a smaller market city.They do not hold a special place in NFL history. They are not often on National TV. They do not have many HOF players. They do not have a recent tradition of winning. Never won a championship. So, nothing that anyone would miss. I thought about Detroit, but they play every Thanksgiving and Barry Sanders. Plus they have a long history in the NFL with old rivalries. I pondered Cleveland, but they were a very important part of the early NFL, won championships, and technically, Baltimore is the original Cleveland team, so there is that tie-in too. And the Dawg pound is well known. Cincinnati did make two Super Bowls (and lost), but when you're 2nd and 3rd best all-time franchise players are Ken Anderson and Boomer Esiason, well... Jacksonville is the only team without any HOF players (granted they've only been playing since 1995). Cincinnati only has two HOF players (franchise started in 1968). The only teams with fewer are Jacksonville with 0 and Houston with 1 (but they have only been playing since 2002). Jacksonville and Cincinnati seem to fit my criteria best. I think you could pretty much write the history of the NFL without those two franchises and only miss maybe a couple of footnotes really.

Some of you guys calling out players and saying the coaching staff should be fired are just ridiculous. If not for a miracle, Hail Mary pass, we walk away with the win. QBs throw INTs, players miss tackles, CBs get out jumped for balls. It happens. It's the NFL and the other guys get paid too. It was a great game to watch...people will be talking about it all week. The ending was like a punch to the gut, but the boys were still good enough to get the win, if not for a great play by two of the best players in the league. It was a good 'ol gunfight. And just to give it some perspective, the Bills have not had their BYE yet, they had to travel cross country and play a late game, they came in pretty banged up, missing key players on COVID/Res---when Dane went down, we were missing 3 of our top 4 corners (and the one we did have was playing hurt), all against the number one offense in the league in their building (with some fans). And then losing Brown again hurt the offense. And despite all of that, we were a miracle play away from winning the game. I'm not making excuses for them or the loss (every team plays with adversity), but before you fire the coaches and start shipping players out, can you at least acknowledge that they weren't playing under perfect circumstances? It was a gut check game and despite not coming away with the win, I feel like they passed the test. They didn't pack it in with the BYE coming next week, after playing two emotional games in a row; they fought to the end, despite not playing their best ball. And some of the takes on coaching decisions, I just don't agree with. You had exactly what you wanted on the Hail Mary with Poyer, Hyde, and Tre defending the ball. It didn't work out, but that is how you would want it designed. This idea of throwing Knox or a receiver in there isn't realistic. How much practice have they had at it? They might cause a PI, or let someone get away from them, or say the ball only gets to the 5 yard line, now they have to defend a guy like Hopkins. No. And getting the touchback on the last kickoff was the right call too. If you kick a squibb kick you take off maybe 3-4 seconds of clock tops (if that) vs. giving up 10-15 yards of field position. Odds favor the touchback there. It was the right decision. The penalties were definitely an issue and that was disappointing. But I feel like the refs helped there too. I thought the one PI call against Worley was pretty ticky-tack and then on the next Bills position, an obvious PI call by AZ (against Gabe) was not made. And Neal was pretty hot on the holding call against him on that AZ punt and they never showed the replay, so I wonder about it. That took us out of AZ territory after a nice Roberts return with 4:38 left in the game. And then the next play was one of Allen's INTs. Overall they weren't that bad (the referees), but I did feel like they gave the Cards a few calls to help them get back in the game. But all of the pre-snap penalties by the Bills definitely need to be cleaned up over the BYE week. It is a hugely disappointing loss because we had it there for a moment...it was in our grasp and we let it slip away, but I just can not get too down on the team for this one. They, by far, didn't have their best game and still almost came away with the win. I'm still excited (going forward) that the Bills made that last (almost game-winning) drive. Allen, Beasley, and Diggs were amazing on that drive, which bodes well. And even though the defense couldn't close it out and were playing with a depleted line-up, I felt that they continued their upward trajectory. Take the positives, work on the negatives, and move on. An NFC loss doesn't hurt too much, as far as the team's goals. And people think this is a bad way to go into the BYE? Maybe it's not. Maybe this team stewing about this loss for two weeks...and hopefully getting healthy at the same time, will fuel them for a great stretch run of the season. And I'm not going to worry about Miami until I have to (week 17). We have a win against them and if we take care of business in that game, the threat will dissipate. Yes, loses suck, but this fire everyone sentiment, is so reactionary and pretty silly. One poster even said that it is time to move on from Poyer and Hyde. Poyer is playing at a Pro Bowl level and Hyde has been hurt. This is the best FO, coaching staff, and roster we have had in 20 years. They are winning games and going to the playoffs. Enjoy it...the ups and the downs. Why would you want to break it up? Come on guys...stand by your men! Go Bills!

No one, not even Mahomes. Josh is the perfect QB for Buffalo! The relationship between this QB and this coach/team/city/fanbase is special. Maybe it would have been with Mahomes too (he also seems like a great guy), but Josh wanted to be drafted by Buffalo. He's humble, small town, blue-collar. His story: the struggle to get to play college ball, let alone getting to the NFL. He's had to work for everything he has. Playing in the cold and weather on a bad Wyoming team. His need for redemption, to prove himself. The list goes on. It is just a match that I would never mess with.

Good point...I didn't take that into account. So, I went through the teams with only 8 games played and added their average points/game to their current totals to get a clearer picture (now, not all of these teams may hit their average in their next game and some may surpass it, so obviously its an approximation). Taking this into account, the Bills do fall down the list a good bit, but they are still in the mix. SEA 308 KC 286 (9 games) GB 284 NO 274 Pitt 264 ARI 263 TEN 261 BAL 255 TB 250 (9 games) MIA 250 LV 245 DEN 244 MIN 244 LAC 243 ATL 243 (9 games) BUF 242 (9 games) So, that does drop us down to 16th place. But I could see us passing 6 or 7 of those teams if we score well next week and they don't hit their average points/game over their next two games. So, after the bye week, we could be right around 7th-10th in points scored. As for Josh's stats, taking into account the extra game for him, only Russell Wilson and maybe DeShaun Watson will pass him on the passing yards (with an extra game). So, he'd still be 4th or 5th in passing yards. For passing TDs, there are maybe 4 other QBs who could pass him given an extra game, but only two QBs that will probably pass him for total TDs. And completion percentage is not affected by the extra game (he's 6th there). So, he's still putting up top 6-10 QB numbers, with the arrow pointing up. I guess we'll have to wait until after our bye week for a better picture...once everyone has played 10 games (except for Carolina and Tampa).

I was looking at the league standings and decided to scan down the "Points For" category to see where we were...and then I just poked around the stats for some other notable numbers: The Bills are currently in 7th place in points scored (across the league) with 242 points. But Atlanta (243), New Orleans (244) Tampa Bay (250), and Green Bay (253) are all within reach. We are only 11 points out of the third place spot. KC (286) and Seattle (274) are in a league of their own right now. The Bills are 2nd place in points scored in the AFC (behind only KC). Josh is 3rd in passing yards in the league right now (behind only Mahomes and Matt Ryan---just ahead of Wilson). Josh is (league-wide) 6th place in completions, 6th place in completion percentage (0.689), and 6th in passing TDs. If you include rushing TDs for QBs, then Josh is tied for third in total TDs by QBs with Rodgers and Murray (each with 24). Only Wilson (29) and Mahomes (27) are better. Stefon Diggs is 1st in the league in both receptions and receiving yards (63 for 813). He's on pace for 112 receptions and 1,445 yards. Andre Roberts is 2nd in kickoff return yards and 3rd in punt return yards on the year. Jordan Poyer is 8th place in total tackles across the league. 11/25 UPDATE: I thought that I would update this post, now that the Bills have had their bye week, so the numbers for all teams (except Car and TB who haven't had their byes) are for the same number of games (and therefore not giving the Bills inflated numbers). Points scored (NFL): The Bills are now in 11th place (but only 7 points out of 9th place) Points scored (AFC): The Bills are in 6th place Josh is in 6th place in passing yards league-wide (just 12 yards behind Watson and 18 yards behind Rodgers) Josh is 8th in completions, 8th in completion %, and 8th in passing TDs Josh is 5th in total TDs (QBs, rush/pass) Stefon is 2nd in receptions (behind only Keenan Allen) and 2nd in receiving yards (only 6 yards behind DeAndre Hopkins). Andre Roberts is still 2nd in KO return yards and is now 4th in punt return yards Poyer is 12th in total tackles, but 6th in solo tackles

What's with the whole "Buffalo Bills fans don't like Warren Moon" thing? Yes, back in the day, we had some very big/contested games with his Oilers, but I, and I feel like most fans, respected the hell out of Warren Moon and his game. Now if they were talking about Dan Marino...that would be a different story. But, even then, as much as we hated Marino, we always gave him props as being one of the best to ever do it.

You're probably right Yolo about Q and Heath being able to give some intel on the Hawks. But, Heath deserved it just on the game that his special teams played today. They were on fire. Andre opens the game with a huge run back to start the offense off in amazing field position on their way to their first score. Set the tempo of the game. Bam and Siran laid the lumber on one of the Hawks' kick returns. Only 23 return yards for Seattle on 10 kicks. Lot of touchbacks. And Bass nailed 3/4 FGs and 5/5 ExPs (the only miss being a 61 yarder). Bojo booted two punts for a net avg. of 53.5. A.J. cleanly covers the bloop kick that Seattle tried and Hyde recovers the onside kick. Flawless game by the special teams! And the end of that video definitely made me tear up. Seeing Josh's red eyes as he steps to the center. Poyer's face. Hyde saying, "We love you baby." And everyone agreeing and putting their arms on him. And then Diggs, "We love you 17...We Got You Boy!" 😢 Man I love this team and the coach that fostered such camaraderie.

That's Dane's calling card. He is an amazing tackler. I remember watching his college highlights after the draft and that was what stood out to me, he just doesn't miss tackles and he can lay the lumber a bit.

I'm not saying that Josh is 100% there yet, he still needs more experience. But... You can throw out the Pats game as part of any type of slump. He didn't have a bad game at all. The game plan was to run the ball down their throats. They didn't need him to pass. (Dabol even said that they only practiced two passing plays all week leading up to the game). So, this can not be considered part of any slump, because Josh and the offense executed the game plan that was prepared and called. The Jets game was a good game for Josh, except for not getting in the end zone (which has nothing to do with the number of corners dropped, because the field is shortened in the red zone). It had more to do with penalties and good defense. But Josh played a lot better in this game than a lot of posters give him credit for. So, I would not include either of those games as a "slump" for either Josh or the offense. People may not have been happy with how close they were or the number of points scored, but these were not bad games by the offense. Yes, Tennessee defended the Bills differently, and it looks like Josh/the offense didn't get a handle on that by the KC game either. But by the Jets game, Josh was executing the short passing game, taking what the defense gave him. So, it took him two games to adjust to a major change in how he was being defended. For a third year QB, I don't think that is bad at all. Not to mention that KC and Tenn are two of the best teams in the league. Besides, not even the greats have 300-yard games every week, because the opponent, weather, injuries factor into how you are going to try to win the game. For instance, the QB most consider the best ever, Tom Brady, has 110 300-yard passing games in 343 career games. Or just under one-third of the games he has played. That averages out to just five 300-yard passing games per regular season (or 10-11 games/year across his career that he did not throw for 300 yards). Even Mahomes, who has been breaking all kinds of records for 300-yard games is at 50% (which is amazing) on the year and for his career ( 8 games a year with and 8 games a year without a 300-yard game). And he is a unicorn. BTW, guess who else is at 50% on the year for 300-yard games? People aren't making excuses for Josh or the offense, they are just saying that in reality, things probably aren't as bad as they look to a lot of people right now. And if the O-line gets settled and Brown and Knox are healthy, that will make a big difference too. But you can't discount weather and opponent when trying to assess Josh or the offense. Those things definitely dictate game plans. So, I do not think the offense or Josh are in any type of slump. They just had a couple of bad games against two of the best teams in the NFL and then game plan influenced the Pats game. Not getting in the end zone against the Jets was definitely a bit concerning. But, overall, they have been so good at that this year, that the Jets game is a blip, not a trend. Keep the faith! Go Bills!

I would love to see Devin score a TD this week and pull out a Gangnam-style dance now.

I think his reputation as a good DC is running on fumes at this point, and that reputation far surpasses his results. (I heartily agree though on points # 1 and #2.) I think he has maintained that reputation on the dirty play. He always has his guys head hunting, so they seem like a tough, hard-hitting defense. But they aren't disciplined, they're just dirty. Yes, he had 3 seasons where he had an elite defense. And he had 6 seasons overall with a top 10 defense, but that is out of 22 years of being a DC or HC. So, only 27% of his career did he have a top 10 defense. The rest of his career, outside of maybe 2019, his defenses have been middle of the pack or worse (or for 70% of his career). And he hasn't had a top 10 defense in almost a decade. As I said in another thread. He is way more trouble than he is worth. I don't know why teams keep hiring him. Year Team Title Yards Allowed Rank Points Allowed Rank 1997 TEN DC 22 12 1998 TEN DC 16 12 1999 TEN DC 17 15 2000 TEN DC 1 2 2001 BUF HC 21 29 2002 BUF HC 15 27 2003 BUF HC 2 5 2004 WAS DC 3 5 2005 WAS DC 9 9 2006 WAS DC 31 27 2007 WAS DC 8 11 2008 JAX DC 17 21 2009 NOR DC 25 20 2010 NOR DC 4 7 2011 NOR DC 24 13 2014 STL DC 17 16 2015 STL DC 23 13 2016 LAR DC 9 23 2017 CLE DC 14 31 2018 CLE HC/DC 30 21 2019 NYJ DC 7 16 2020 NYJ DC 20 29

5. 6.

3. 4.

I can only add a couple of photos per post (due to the size restriction), so I'll have to do three successive posts to show the stills of the handoff I grabbed. 1. 2.

https://www.buffalobills.com/video/isaiah-mckenzie-moves-chains-on-14-yard-fourth-down-fly-sweep-bills-at-raiders You're correct Rochesterfan. #26 (who I said was the safety) was indeed the right CB who is following McKenzie across the formation, but way too deep and way too late that he never would have arrived on time (to stop the first down). But McKenzie was his assignment, so makes sense that he would have seen the play the whole way, with his eyes on McKenzie. He does force McKenzie out of bounds, but after 14 yards and the first down. #27 (the player I noted as the CB late to recognize the play), who ends up chasing McK from behind, was the outside left corner, lined up outside of Tyler Kroft at the start of the play. Looks like Kroft is his assignment by his initial reaction. And Kroft does a great job of freezing the corner by taking a couple of quick steps (to look like he is going out for a route) before he turns back to block the LB on the end of the line. The DE and LB on the left side of the defensive formation watch the play run by them. LB lost contain, was slow to react, and gets blocked by Kroft. And the safety (#38) runs down to crash the line, and sees McKenzie too late, so has lost any angle on the play.

Before the 2019 season, I thought for sure McKenzie would be/should be a cut. I thought, he's just a gadget guy, there are other receivers who can do more or who are bigger. I liked him, but didn't see his value. But, I have to say, he completely won me over last year. And this offseason, if someone suggested McKenzie should be a cut, I knew they were mistaken (as most of you did too, of course). He is so important to Dabol's offense, even if he only gets 2-4 plays a game, the threat of him coming on one of those jet sweeps, keeps defenses honest and more spread out laterally. And the reason they have to honor it is because McKenzie is so fast and so good at it. He is more successful than not when they actually give him the ball. That threat makes so many other plays more open. And the kid just makes plays when his number is called! Great call by Dabol and great execution by everyone. I love that still photo that Dr.Sack posted too. What kills me is how fooled the Raiders were by it. McKenzie has already received the ball and run like five or six yards with it (toward the sideline) and turned the corner for daylight, and yet only 4 of the 11 defensive players even know that McKenzie has the ball---two of which he is already passed (hard to miss seeing it when he runs by right in front of you), the safety in the middle of the field (too far away to make a play), and the corner (who was late to recognize it and is now on an island against McKenzie's speed and shiftiness). The other seven players are all still playing the run fake to the other side. The safety was the only defender to see the play as soon as it happened, but as I said, he was never going to get there on time even though he read the play correctly.

I won't go through all of the reasons why, because I and many other posters have done it before. But AT THE TIME, it was the right decision for McDermott to not pick Mahomes. Anyone who says differently is either looking at it in hindsight, or maybe was hyped on Mahomes for whatever reason, but not considering the other factors involved for the Bills at the time. And the guy who has already crowned Mahomes as the GOAT? C'mon man. Yes, Mahomes has been phenomenal and already has a ring, but you are going to crown him over Brady, Manning, Montana, Unitas, Rodgers, Favre, Marino, Brees, Elway, Kelly, Graham, Staubach, Baugh, Starr, etc. after only two seasons of play (40 games total)? For comparison, Brady has played 316 games, Manning 292 games, Brees 279 games, Montana 269 games, Marino 258 games, Elway 252 games, etc. Yes, if he keeps up this level of play for another 12-15 years and wins some more rings, it will probably be a two-man discussion between Brady and Mahomes. But, that's a long time from now. The way I always look at this debate is that it's a win-win for both KC and Buffalo. Mahomes is great and a blast to watch and I would love to root for him if he was my team's QB. But I am actually very glad that all of the cards fell as they did, because I love the team we have now and Josh is the perfect guy for Buffalo!

I live in NYC...and I truly feel bad for Jets fans. They're good people and they have suffered even worse than we Bills fans have. Since 1970 (just after the Jets Super Bowl team), here is what it has been for the last 51 years for each team: Jets Bills 14 winning seasons 18 winning seasons so, 37 losing seasons so, 33 losing seasons 12 playoff appearances 15 playoff appearances only 7 times past the Wild Card 10 times past the Wild Card game 4 Conference Game appearances 5 Conference Game appearances 0 Super Bowl appearances 4 Super Bowl appearances However, the owners and current management and coaches of the Jets do not allow me to have any sympathy for the team itself. I'm glad to see them crashing and burning. Gase is a joke as a head coach (and an offensive coordinator). It was obvious in Miami. Why the Jets hired him after that, I'll never know (kind of like us hiring Rex after everything fell apart in New York). Since those first two years with Peyton Manning in Denver, here are the rankings of this so-called genius' offenses: Year (team)(Pos) Yards Points Team Record: 2015 (CHI---OC) 16th 23rd 6-10 2016 (MIA---HC) 29th 17th 10-6 2017 (MIA---HC) 25th 28th 6-10 2018 (MIA---HC) 30th 26th 7-9 2019(NYJ---HC) 27th 31st 7-9 2020 (NYJ---HC) 31st 31st 0-4 And the NFL should have never reinstated Gregg Williams. He has not changed his ways. He is still a dirty MotherF#(ker and there is no doubt that he still coaches his players to injure other players. I mentioned it in a post after our week one game against them. The Jets were trying to lay out our wide receivers all game. And the idea that he is a defensive genius seems a bit overblown to me too. He has been a defensive coordinator or Head Coach for 22 years. In that time, his defenses have only finished top 10 in both yards and points allowed 5 times. That's it. Five times in 22 years. And he has had 10 seasons where his defense didn't crack the top 15 in yards or points allowed. In 15 of the 22 seasons, his defenses finished 14th or lower in yards allowed (8 of those were 21st or lower, with two 30th place rankings and a 31st place ranking in there too). The guy is way more trouble than he is worth. He needs to just take his air horns and go home.

I hear you. We definitely have not yet seen the dominating type of performances that this defense had last year. But in my thinking, last week was hard to judge with our top 3 LBs not playing, and this week, there still seemed to be a lot of factors that played into the poor second half performance. Doesn't excuse it, but just doesn't have me worried that all of a sudden they aren't good anymore. Plus due to the abbreviated offseason, I'm kind of in an "I'm not going to make too many rash judgements" mode based on the first few weeks for a lot of things in the league this year. But only time will tell if we have something to worry about or not. I'm just not there yet, but I can also understand why you are.

Yeah, the Rams fell flat in that Super Bowl, but they were still good enough to get there (even if it took a bad call by the refs in the Championship game). Just saying, they are obviously a talented team. And I also did't mention the fact that the horrible INT call by the refs totally changed the momentum of the game...and two of those 3rd quarter TDs by the Rams came on short fields thanks to the BS INT call and the Josh Allen fumble (that maybe could have been called roughing the passer, not due to horse collar, but because of the way that he slung him down. A lot of other QBs would have gotten that call--and then to add some salt in the wounds, they give Josh a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty to really set the Rams up...already in FG range). If those two calls went our way, the Rams would not have had that amazing offensive output. They would probably have still been down 10-14 points late in the 4th, rather than up by 4. But, as we all know as Bills fans, we have to live with and overcome what the refs do too. I'm not saying the defense didn't get gashed, they did. But, I don't think its because all of a sudden this defense sucks and we are going to get gashed by any halfway decent team. I just think there were so many other factors today to be too down on the defense. They'll turn it around...but the elite offenses of this league are going to get theirs too, no defense stops everyone all season long. Hopefully this and maybe the Chiefs game will be the worst of it.

These are not excuses, I'm just trying to look at it objectively (with a little of my Bills bias of course). The team we played today is only 19 months removed from being a Super Bowl team and they haven't lost much talent since then. Their coach is well recognized as a great offensive mind. They were also 2-0 coming in. Edmunds and Milano were both coming back from injury...who is to say that they were playing at 100% today. Injuries may have still been lingering. And the Rams play a stretch/zone run offense that is very difficult to defend and often leaves runs up the gut more open, because the defense gets stretched out. And it also tires them out, because it is a lot of running, chasing the motion men and the sweeps, reverses, and screens. The Rams were on the field so much in the third quarter, that our guys starting getting gassed. (And don't forget that their conditioning is probably not up to the level of a normal week 3, because of the crazy offseason.) Plus, the Rams are just one of the best at running that type of offense, due to the threat that Woods is on those runs and all of their team speed. As to the third quarter issue, and I'd have to go back to last year's games to get a full picture, but we were leading at the half in every game (at least this year). So, it is the other team that needs to make significant adjustments at the half. And it is really hard to decipher what those adjustments might be until you see them. So, I'm wondering if it takes them some time in the third quarter to see how the other team changed things and then to address it. Obviously, it would be great if that process could happen more quickly, but the Bills are the ones having to react to the adjustments coming out of the half (when up). You aren't going to change your plan completely (other than adding a few wrinkles), until the other team shows they can stop it. So, is it partially a product of being up on the scoreboard at the half? Plus, even the great defenses (the ones that end up in the top 5 at the end of the year) get scorched by a great offense a couple of times in a season. I still have total faith in this defense and its coaching staff. The Rams offense is just damn good. For anyone to be questioning McDermott's coaching ability seems somewhat ridiculous to me. I mean go for it, be concerned about it, but this man has brought more to Bills football than any coach since Marv. Even if his staff's third quarter adjustments are a little slow in coming, I will accept that flaw for everything else that he brings to the table. As coach said in his own postgame speech, "There's one quality that I take over any piece of talent out there, and that's heart." The only thing that I would say is that the players need to develop a "don't let them up" attitude when they have the lead. That "go for the jugular" mindset...rather than relaxing a bit. But, to me that is on the players, not the coaches. The coaches stayed aggressive...McDermott didn't all of a sudden become conservative as the OP said. They were still blitzing, they were still throwing the ball downfield. Maybe the team is just still learning to be in that position (up big early...it's not a place they have often been until the very end of last season). And then sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other team for executing their plays.