BillsVet

The main reason Doug Whaley isn't working in the NFL right now is the splashy moves. That, and his insistence that EJM was a franchise QB when it was clear he wasn't. Splash moves may sell tickets and generate hype, but they still aren't winning games. I don't doubt for one minute that McBeane know it's time to take a QB in the first round and will have a plan to do so. Whether it's the right plan is another story.

H8ter!

Forgot about those parts. I do remember DJ running a standard defense at the end of the game which allowed someone (Crayton perhaps) to catch a pass or even two passes and quickly get out of bounds to set up the FG attempt. Those were some dark days in franchise history.

After SB 25... Dallas MNF game October 2007. First time Bills were on MNF in years. Bills picked off Romo 5 times (and he fumbled once) with 2 returned for TDs. Terrence McGee returned a KO to begin the second half for a TD. Buffalo was up 24-16 late in the 4th when Romo throws a TD with 24 seconds remaining, but they miss the 2 point conversion. Cowgirls get the onside kick and kicked a 53 yard FG to win it as time expired to win it 25-24. And I got to see it in person.

McCoy is a RB in his 9th season with more than 2,500 touches in his career. When backs go, they go quickly and that could be happening here. He is 29 and the only RBs in the top 20 for rushing older than McCoy are LeGarrette Blount and Frank Gore. The running game isn't less than stellar for just 1 reason. It's McCoy, it's the (aging and ineffective) OL, and perhaps the scheme but certainly not one thing. Players get old and there are injuries (significant and less significant). I always laugh when people see the team not winning and emphatically declare it's one thing wrong and usually that's a coach who needs to be fired. This is usually the first cause cited. Blaming players is a distant second, and of course, front office management is almost never identified. It's also funny to hear people cite the 2015 and 2016 offenses as if we can simply replicate those seasons because we have largely the same type of personnel. Again, guys are older, teams have advanced scouting on players, and you therefore don't get a free pass to do the same things without someone gearing up to stop it. Besides, running the ball is something out of the stone age, i.e. the 1970s-1990s. No one's winning with a run dominated offense and at best those teams are average anyway.

From 2010-2016 I'd say they were barely better than the Browns. There are early returns that suggest starting anew with McBeane hasn't been everything hoped for. But this certainly ain't the Nix/Whaley fun show where OBD was adrift at sea without any wind. Big time resources, terrible draft day decisions, changing defenses, multiple HC's. That said, I need to see another draft and season before classifying Buffalo as in the Browns territory.

Mike Brown isn't leading the draft for the Bills. Nor, is Cincy's then understaffed scouting group doing that work. Just because the Bengals stunk drafting for much of the 90s doesn't mean that actively taking QB's is the wrong thing. Or, that continuing to take QBs high isn't wrong either. There's risk in taking one, but a lot more change your team will be nothing more than mediocre trying to find them on the scrap heap. The 90s are more than a generation ago and not representative of what's going on today. Heck, Carson Palmer was drafted 1st overall in 2003 and didn't see the field until 2004. Playing the position back then was worlds different than it is now with the PI and roughing the passing penalties.

How will Lions fans feel if Cleveland goes 0-16 as well? Their claim to the most pathetic NFL season would be over.

I will bow to your omniscience.

I used to be amazed by this type of rhetoric. Now I'm just sad for those who go to this extent to prove their point. Comparing human relationships to 340 street free agent DT's? Whoa. Mind blown. Never mind that Coleman has already been released twice by the team in less than 3 months. If they thought he was a difference maker, it stands to reason they wouldn't have let him go. And that 31 other teams didn't need his services.

What was your expectation this season with McD? Did you expect an explosive offense? Because, DC's that become HC's typically aren't looking to outscore their opponents. And HC's typically aren't going to combine a wing it down the field offense with a defense which, personnel wise, isn't strong. Perhaps the HC and OC are more intimately familiar with the QB's limitations and try to make them less of a liability. Perhaps play-calling is aligned with the QB and what he's better at, particularly with a 2nd half lead. It isn't all on TT, because he's the best they've got, but perhaps TT is a square peg that won't fit into a round hole.

A DT on his fourth team in 4 seasons playing his second game for his current team is a significant factor in stopping the KC running game? Playing all of 14 snaps?

Dennison, by all accounts, runs a West Coast offense and throwing deep isn't what they're trying to do. It demands accuracy and solid ball placement on the short to intermediate stuff to generate YAC. Naturally, this requires an accurate passer for these routes with the running game there to set up the pass. McD knows this and isn't going to change the scheme to be suited to what they've got at QB. Perhaps they thought TT could be molded, but clearly they were wrong. When I watch TT QB the offense, I don't see a lot of YAC. I see a lot of throws to the sideline and little chance the receiver will take it more than 5 yards down-field. I see poor to average ball placement. You can cite TT's completion percentage but it doesn't reveal all of what's going on. Yeah, I get people shouting for Dennison to adapt his scheme to TT, but this is very much a traditional year. At the same time, TT as a non-pocket passer is probably better than the traditional QB they have in Peterman.

I don't believe that any HC is going to run an offense that doesn't complement the defense. If the coach is conservative, which McD clearly is, then both sides of the ball will be as well. They're not going to air it out and then have a defense which isn't enormously talented that can struggle. McDermott is beginning to look like Mr. Conservative and needs both sides of the ball to fit that vision until he at least has a QB. And that's why we're not going to see more passing despite the league going this way. I think McD saw TT as the guy to execute this style of offense and hoped Dennison would design an offense with this in mind. In the end, a very good QB takes the spotlight off of coaching. And they have an average QB right now who leaves plays on the field, yet doesn't turn it over. Right now that's driving their offense more than the OC. And yeah, the HC has responsibility there as well.

The chances that the HC, who has already went back on his QB decision in year 1, would then also fire the OC after one season is a stretch. Dennison runs the scheme that McDermott wants. Coordinators, even the one on the HC's side of the ball, aren't doing the big picture (i.e scheme) thing on their own. This reminds me a little of when Steve Fairchild was OC for DJ in 06-07. Everyone clamored for Fairchild to dial up more long passes and it didn't really happen. It was a lot of run-run-pass type stuff we see from this coaching staff. And, much of this was DJ's desire to have a ball control offense paired with that Cover 2 defense.

To homers, if a young Bills player is performing well, he's an excellent draft pick. But if not, the player needs more time before an evaluation is appropriate. Got it? You don't draft a base 4-3 end who isn't a pass rush threat with a top 20 pick. Playing the run well is a small consolation to be drafted that high. There is still a vocal defend Whaley minority out there who can't bear another one of Whaley's pick isn't measuring up.

(EDIT: If the) HC fires OC that's just an indictment of the HC for having to shed the OC he hired just 10 months ago. Bad decisions call into question the one making the decision and McDermott isn't doing so hot of late.

Tyrod is a drive killer.

This comment is coming from a guy whose decisions at QB were pretty poor. For the record, Rex is one a handful of NFL HC's who went 6 straight seasons without making the playoffs.

I was surprised there were more trades in a league which traditionally sees almost none. And it wasn't just Buffalo moving players, although they were the most active. The league is changing almost year to year and not just in terms of offensive and defensive philosophy. If McD continues to be young Jauron, they'll continue being mediocre. That is, unless they find the QB which is a huge if. The W-L record in year 1 will likely be around 6-8 wins. The question will be how they fare in year 2 because historically going from mediocre to 10+ wins is a huge leap.

The passing on a QB is a yet to be determined thing. I remember long ago on this board people saying it took 2-3 years before evaluating a draft pick, and that's still applicable. But in the instant gratification culture, we need a decision now. That's not what I'm saying here and we're going to have to wait. There are players who have weaknesses that aren't exposed until after an off-season of film analysis. Deshaun Watson isn't a slam dunk type because he's played a half season of very good ball. I'm merely outlining that if he or Mahomes succeeds long term, McD's tenure will have started on the wrong foot because he didn't go after a QB in year 1 of the rebuild. He went with Tyrod and that means he'll need to find a rookie in McD's second season.

Far too many of Buffalo's HC and GM hires during the generation of fail didn't understand where the game was/is going in terms of offensive strategy. Instead, Buffalo neglected, as Bill notes above, the QB position and IMO sunk significant resources into defense. Except, teams aren't winning anymore with dominant defenses that shut down offenses like this is the 1970s/80s. Buffalo spent a lot of high picks on defense in hopes of building a top unit there going back years. Well, they managed to have a better defense in 2013-14, but the offense wasn't all that good. I would hope McD understands if he wants to win it'll be behind a strong offense and a good enough defense.

If Deshaun Watson or Pat Mahomes become solid QB's in this league, trading down in the 2017 first round is their worst mistake. Especially if it takes their four 1st/2nd round picks to move up and take a QB this year when those would be best served improving the OL and front 7 on defense. Nothing against Tre White, but a good zone CB is far less important. Avoiding taking a QB until your back is against the wall like with Manuel in 2013 is why multiple regimes have failed. They've prioritized other positions or sought to rebuild without the QB or hoping the QB is "good enough."

While we're at it, the Pegula's need to be fired. Can't Goodell do that already?

A plausible theory. McBeane have already spent a great deal on the new secondary, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them go again focus on the front 7. They've already used two high picks last year on offense (Z. Jones and Dawkins) while trading for Benjamin. If Peterman is passable, I could see them justifing those moves as freeing them up to go defense in the 2018 draft. If so, this ideology is why Buffalo doesn't win, hasn't won, nor will win in this era. We've been down the road of stacking the defense with high picks and big contract types and it's never worked. The game isn't suited to being strong defensively and pedestrian on offense. New England right now is among the league's worst defenses and yet they're still 7-2. Certainly they don't need as much on that side of the ball with Brady, but for Buffalo to return to the days of Jauron going defense heavy in 2006, or Nix doing the same in 2010-2012, they're not balanced for how the NFL operates now. Never focusing on obtaining a QB is the common denominator for the generation of failure we're witnessing.