BillsVet

Those firsts would replace what Houston gave up to Miami earlier this season. Depends on the dead cap hit TB stands to take by trading him.

It's hard to coach in the NFL.

McBeane have enjoyed an extended honeymoon from this fan base for several reasons, but doing nothing at the deadline will change that perspective. If they talk about how valuable draft picks are I would cite the trade for Benjamin when they were 5-2 at the end of October 2017.

It's reminiscent of 2011. The Bills were 5-2 after beating Washington in Toronto and then played NYJ at home. That year, Chan had succeeded throwing short to mask Fitz's weak arm and it largely worked...until Rex and the Jets showed up. Rex had the defense interrupt those routes and Fitz had to throw intermediate and long passes which he lacked the arm strength and accuracy to complete. There are plenty of folks saying this is only one game, as if no one saw the successful gameplan Philadelphia employed yesterday. As for 2011, the Bills offense was never the same as the first half of the season and they skidded to a 6-10 finish. McD and his staff had better acclimate quick to counter what we saw yesterday and versus Miami. Because even the lesser teams are going to run hard up the middle until it doesn't work anymore.

The NFL has changed a wee bit since 2001 when BB won his first SB. The passing game, defense, special teams, everything evolves over time. The world doesn't stand still. Now, teams like Philadelphia are winning SB's in their second year under a new HC. Or, LA who made the SB in their coaches 2nd year. Or, KC with a redshirt freshman QB making the AFC Championship. Or, Seattle with a 3rd year QB winning a SB. Winning doesn't take a 4-5 year plan in the modern NFL.

Yes Bill, Levy and Jauron would have drafted another DB. McD seems to like his Dlineman so... I can see McD justifying that his defense needs another pick and going DE. Murphy, Hughes, and Lawson's contracts are either expiring after 2019 or 2020.

Still doesn't remove the fact that those hires are a reflection on the HC. If he had to hire a 3rd OC in 4 seasons and a 2nd DC over that time, something's wrong more than just the coordinators. And if the OC is fired, how many quality candidates will sign up for going to Buffalo? I'm guessing not many.

McD survives this year minus a total collapse because ownership wants no part of another coaching search. At some point, he needs wins against quality opponents. Their record though against playoff teams is woeful. Beating up on the lesser teams and losing to better ones is reminiscent of DJ circa 2006-09. High standards.

It does not follow that the strategy is fine when, as you note in the second post, Buffalo has "holes all over this roster." Three off-seasons of player acquisitions, a total roster turnover, and there are still glaring personnel issues. Never mind that they've had coaching stability meaning the same system being in place during most of that time. Every year the expectation keeps being delayed so as to not be critical of the current rebuild. Happened during Jauron. Happened during Chan. Happened for the Whaley years. The past may not predict future performance, but the result the past 2 weeks out of their bye indicates something is wrong. They're not successful enough on draft day or in UFA to build a team. The man with final say on everything is McD. And right now he's not getting it done. His strategy for winning games and building the roster is mediocre after nearly 2.5 seasons at the helm.

In both of those seasons flaws were exposed and subsequently exploited over (EDIT: a large portion of the schedule). Unless they get cleaned up by next week, future opponents are sure to replicate what happened today and last week. The issue is, Buffalo doesn't have the personnel. Doug Peterson took the Eagles to a SB win in his 2nd season as HC. He did so after taking over from another HC who had made his share of mistakes and was unceremoniously fired. Funny thing is, this answer is a stock response I've seen for years. People identify the positions Buffalo is weak at without acknowledging that the decision makers are equally as weak. Problems aren't solved, the result is average or thereabouts, and the cycle is repeated. It's getting closer to the point where McBeane's strategy for building this team should be scrutinized more.

McD was 1 of 12 in challenges entering this game with 11 straight upheld. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/McDeSe0.htm

I'm elated then. ?

Done something and then done something effective are completely different standards. Anyone can do something, but this is the NFL and expectations surpass that low threshold.

Let's look at those decisions without talking their biggest decision in the QB. Those 2 OT's? Dawkins is average. Ford does not have the physical ability to play OT in this league. The WR? He was traded for a 2021 5th round pick not long ago. McD a defensive coach....sure. I doubt ownership lowered their expectations on offense because of that. And those OC's? Who hired them? The decisions on offense under this regime have been very low quality so far, yet in the offensive driven league they've found the draft capital to use 3 first round picks on defense. Today was another example of how trying to build an outstanding defense before the offense is a recipe for disaster in the 2019 NFL.

Now there are threads with people telling us to not post because the team played poorly. Glad these weren't around 10 or so years ago. No one would have been able to say anything most weeks in those seasons.

Hard to have an identity on offense when the HC makes building the defense a priority in years 1 and 2 of a complete rebuild. Well, aside from drafting a QB they did very little on offense in (EDIT: 2017-18), hurried to catch up this past off-season and expected the offense to make a huge leap to being average from 2018. It has failed miserably through 7 games.

And look at how much it cost in UFA and draft resources to get there.

We can all do better, myself included.

It's not helping either. Remember Doug "Dead Cap" Whaley? Well, Star's deal would fit it most appropriately, except it was signed by the current regime. Yes, your analysis is surface level. He's not the player they signed last year. . Star was signed in March 2018 and most definitely not McD's first choice to bring on. McBeane receive credit for doing a total tear-down of the roster and eliminating all bad contracts but accepted the dead cap that came with it. Yet, this signing is going to result in some dead cap next year because he's not even close to playing to his contract. As to your response in the final line here, I would expect a moderator to show better civility as an example to the rest of the board.

This is some massive conflation going on here. As is the idea that Star's contract isn't bad because all UFAs are overpaid. This is some straight-up TBD surface level analysis right there.

Clearly Dave you are a hater. Why did you have to go rain on this parade?

I would hope Beane understands that 1) he has a young QB who needs help 2) that the AFC is very weak and 3) the offensive skill player options on the roster are OK but limited at this point. That said, if they go the low-cost route it's gonna get interesting around here. A PS type, street FA, or, as you say depth chart WR is gonna make it look like they're content. And the last time they made a deal at the deadline it was Kelvin Benjamin. Hopefully they've learned something since that debacle. And it's not someone from Carolina that the Panthers don't want. LOL

Whether they make a trade before the deadline or not, it tells us plenty about where the HC and GM think this team is.

Bills first 6 opponents have thus far gone 13-27 on the season. Bills final 10 opponents are a combined 26-38.

If you have a loved one with that illness you'd think twice before blindly applying that label. Have a nice day.