BillsVet

The issue isn't so much McD didn't take Mahomes (or Watson). It's that his (and Beane's) track record drafting offensive players is not really good. And in a league that demands offense, this is a major problem. Given that history, what evidence is there (as @Coach Tuesday said in another thread) that McD or Beane have the personnel acumen to identify offensive talent? Because after 3 drafts their decisions on offense are not promising. We're 3 years into this rebuild and still talking about surrounding a QB with more weapons. That's a problem from a team building strategy perspective.

This is the biggest question heading into off-season #4 with McD. Is he going to change his stripes and embrace a high-powered offense featuring the QB they used so many resources to acquire? Or will he remain the HC who tried to sit on a 16 point lead in the wild card round and believes his defense is key to winning in the post-season? I would think year 3 of Allen they'll take the training wheels off the offense and trying to score more than their 20 points per. Organizational strategy needs to change this off-season.

And yet, SF hired their HC and GM the same year Buffalo did theirs. DIfference is, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan are 2-0 in the playoffs with a SB (at a minimum) appearance. It's not "anti-fan" to have expectations beyond what one's favorite team delivers. After 3 off-seasons of rebuilding, plenty of UFA dollars and draft picks, Buffalo can't win a playoff game. That's not good enough when compared to other teams who've proven you can go from losing to reaching the heights of playoff success. The question to ask is why can't Buffalo? What's holding them back from achieving?

Never understood why the purge took so long, but that's history now. My issue is that Buffalo's latest rebuild under the new owners is now entering the 4th off-season and plenty of question marks remain. There's more spinning of wheels under the current management from owner to field level than meets the eye.

How many Bills fans actually know how a 21st century GM builds a roster? After the likes of Donahoe, Marv/DJ, Buddy, and Whaley no one who started following the team during those years as a Bills fan could. That is, unless they just don't follow front office trends around the league. It's why there's typically an angry response whenever a poster reveals that other rebuilds were much faster. There are enough successful rebuilds by the 3rd complete season in the past decade that it should prompt Bills fans to wonder why McD has slow-walked Buffalo's rebuild. I guess at this point people will chime in to say OBD is doing it the right way and that's why it takes so long. If that's the case, how did Philadelphia, Seattle, San Fran, and the LA Rams fast-track theirs and why shouldn't Buffalo be expected to do that either?

McD probably tore a pec there but didn't feel it he was so angry. I feel like he's going to go punch a horse or something now.

Yep. We can debate who the Bills will sign, who they'll draft, coaches, whatever for 2020. This entire off-season comes down to whether McD acknowledges that he has to make changes in his approach to the game.

People typically attribute unstable behavior to the easiest explanation. For football players, labeling everything CTE or just being a jerk is easy. I don't know what's wrong with the dude, but sometimes mental illness manifests in a person's 20s/early 30s. You can't rule mental illness out any more than declaring it CTE or jerk-behavior. EDIT: Check out WR Brandon Marshall's story of how he was finally diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) at age 27.

Feel bad for those kids to witness their father mentally deteriorating before their eyes. It's sad that with the 24/7 news cycle and social media, coverage of celebrities who are not well is more visible than ever. Still, this is not the behavior of someone who is mentally well. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like he's in any hurry to get the help he needs.

McBeane certainly aren't on the hot-seat in 2020, but this year they need to scout and plan like they are in danger of losing their jobs. For McD, that means changing his coaching philosophy of leading with defense and a conservative offense. Good defenses lose to good offenses in the NFL, especially the playoffs. If the goal is to get in as a 5 or 6 seed, McD's scheme might get you there. You'd also think the GM is going to be bold this year finding talent to put around their QB they moved a lot of pieces to acquire. After all, this is a team that pursued Antonio Brown last March. The time is now for this franchise. 2020 is the culmination of what will be 4 full off-seasons of building. Either McD gets with best practices in the NFL or he continues talking and not doing. It's not wrong to have high expectations for the Bills, specifically this time of year when typically only the best NFL teams remain. The Bills should be expected to contend for the SB next year.

He's not going to accept an AAV equal to what he had this year: 4.5M. So bank on at least 7M per. And that's low-balling it. Say Buffalo re-signs him. They'd have big dollars tied up in two DTs, a 3rd round pick and a top 10 pick. I'm sorry, but this team can find a solid contributor without investing big resources at DT. McD likes his waves of DT's, but was Buffalo's interior DLine that much better with Phillips? It wasn't, but plenty of people focus on that 10 sacks number and think he's gotta be retained. Not at the kind of money he'll be looking to make, but working in the Bills favor is that (so far) the DT UFA class looks pretty strong.

He's going to want a 4-5 year deal, and at 8M per we're talking probably 20M+ guaranteed. That's a lot for someone with 1 out his 5 NFL seasons being very good. I know some people are emotionally invested in keeping him, but the value isn't there and emotion doesn't play a part in this. Also, consider that Phillips plays the 3T most and that's where this team just took a kid 9th overall. He's also not a great fit at 1T where Lotulelei and H. Phillips will be next season in all likelihood (although it remains to be seen what Star brings). The PFF analysis makes a compelling argument for allowing him to test UFA. Just because a guy has sacks doesn't mean you keep him.

Bills fans paraphrasing Henny Youngman: "Take my offensive coordinator....please!" A top 30 offense 2 years in Buffalo no less!

This. Times a million. Or, the frequent use of "I mean" or "you know" to begin a statement. It's nation wide and annoying.

SAM's are not on the field as much with the game flexing toward passing and I'd think Buffalo would look to someone from within or a moderate UFA at most to replace him. For example, Lorax's snap count amounted to less than 50% in 11 of 16 games that mattered this season (everything minus the finale). After the Washington game, he largely hovered in the 30-50% range for snap counts. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AlexLo99.htm In terms of leadership, I would expect by now that certain players can fill the void in the locker room after his retirement.

Beane mentioned that Singletary's setback with the hammy was unfortunate. Have to wonder if he ever fully healed and if not, they limited his touches for a reason other than Daboll forgot him. And I could understand that reason given the OC's penchant for the aerial game.

There's a reason McD talked at the Combine about needing to score 21 or more to have a chance to win NFL games. Teams scoring 21 or more points have won 46 of the last 55 playoff games from 2014 and 2018. Gotta score at a higher rate than 19 per game and I trust that McD and Beane will allocate the resources to improve the offense for 2020. Otherwise, their ceiling is probably 9-10 wins.

One weekend's worth of football doesn't change a decade plus trend that has demonstrated you've got to have a strong offense to win in the post-season. Even still, Buffalo is a 25-25 team with the offense they've put on the field under McD. I'll take my chances with a really strong offense and enough defense versus a pedestrian offense and excellent defense.

I can't help to look at what Baltimore did this year with Lamar Jackson, who was successful in large part because they didn't put a massive playbook on him. Instead, they had or surrounded him with plenty of talent, particularly on the OL and at TE. Their TE's caught 125 passes for 1500+ yards and 14 TDs. McD acknowledged yesterday that scoring points is harder that playing outstanding defense. Perhaps it'd be best to not rush this complicated scheme and build on what Josh has learned. If Baltimore can do what they did with Lamar, I'd expect Buffalo could find a way to similarly put Allen in position. In 2020, I expect McD and Daboll to modify that AND put a lot more talent out there to help him. Or else you're going to get a kid who tries to do everything again and his development will be hindered.

His criticizing the food put out for the media at a home game last month tells you the story about Jerry. He's just an angry human being that has an agenda and will color things in a way to support that. He's simply not a trustworthy source anymore. I'm not happy they lost, or over some of the decisions made, but it's over. The axe he's trying to grind has nothing left to sharpen.

When McD talked about there being "one voice" at OBD when he was hired, that wasn't just for PR reasons. He is a control-freak, and I say that in a positive way. He's also the one building the culture and the front office is supporting that effort in personnel evaluation, among other things. The players are guys that he can work with. I'm not saying other people don't get to communicate, only that he's leading this thing.

The bigger question is whether or not the HC begins to embrace a different ideology. Does he remain a HC that tries to keep games close and keep a lid on an offense to minimize risk? Or, does he become more aggressive now that Allen has more experience? You can sign and draft new offensive players, but none of that matters if the overall strategy remains the same.

McBeane had a 1st round grade on Ford, traded up into the top half of the 2nd to draft him, saw him not take the job in camp from a journeyman, and then demonstrate he is not a NFL RT. Allen took some hits because Ford doesn't laterally move that well. I'd say that's an indictment of the scouting process, or at a minimum, the decision makers. 4. Defense only carries a team so far, and as proven in Seattle, keeping and "elite" one together is impossible. Players age, contracts end, and players demand more money. Defense is nice, but having an elite offense is better and they'll need to do that before they can be considered contenders. The Bills have not yet had to deal with players wanting new deals and the philosophy McD employs of being strong against the pass leaves the vulnerable versus the run. That showed up at bad times against better opponents. They 5. Tre getting beat up by Hopkins and being named 1st Team All Pro really make it hard to understand where he fits in among the great CBs. He's excellent, and shut down some names this year. I doubt his price goes down after the Houston game, and his window to be re-signed begins when the new league year opens. He's the first home grown player McD drafted who'll demand big dollars. How they approach this tells the story of how McBeane go about retaining their better players. McDermott is a .500 coach after 3 seasons, yet, when push comes to shove he's another conventional coach. Hope to get a lead, then sit on it type. People should be questioning why his team blew a 16 point lead with 21 minutes remaining in that game. Or why he struggles big time against quality (i.e. playoff) opponents. He's 3-17 against playoff teams or in playoff games. That's gotta improve for his "process" to mean anything more than just a catch-phrase uttered by an average coach. Buffalo's strength of schedule was 30th and their strength of victories was 26th in the NFL this season. That's not going to happen again next year when they have the NFC West and AFC West on the schedule. Miami and NY Jets will improve.

McDermott has final say on personnel decisions. This is extremely early given that players have until 1/15 to declare, but I can see McD going DE. He'll justify it because Murphy is in the final year of his deal (if he's retained), and Hughes turns 32 this year. Lawson is likely gone, and then there's nothing behind them. Would rather see a WR, although there will be options in the 2nd given the depth of this class. Still, it's time to invest in the offense after what we see on display this past weekend.