BillsVet

Belichick is a master of adaptability and around 2006-07 began seeing a need for his teams to be more offensive focused. No one has been more flexible about de-prioritizing defense and getting players on the offensive side of the ball.

The Red Sox claim to be "small market." Buffalo is a small market. McD would do well to avoid using the Red Sox adversity card ever again. Too many Yankees fans in WNY!

I can see McD sitting at home convincing himself that his defense would shut these teams down. And of course how the Bills still need more defensive players.

Vontae Davis' impact is nothing more than the answer to a trivia question. No one will remember him for anything but quitting mid-game. He owns it.

That is one heck of a run on sentence.

If Oliver is on the board when Buffalo picks and is the pick there are bigger issues whether or not the player had issues with a coach. This team can ill-afford to use another top pick on defense.

Teller just started his first game. Edmunds was a guy they traded up for. Milano has played well at times, Dawkins lately is not playing really well, White is good, but another first round pick. Johnson is banged up every game, and Phillips is coming along. The key isn't just getting good players, it's using your draft resources appropriately and building the whole roster. I see 4 trade ups in 2 drafts and it's yet to be determined if they've been worth it. But, like a lot of fans, you're already counting 1st or 2nd year players as hits. And, it's been a long time since Buffalo could find solid starters for the long haul in rounds 4-6 Go back to 2006-07 when people were saying how great those drafts were because guys started. In the long run, they weren't good drafts even though early returns were there. We don't need an opinion on a player immediately because careers can start out and then flame out. Beane and McDermott have proven nothing after '17 and '18 drafts aside from how to trade up.

It's hard to understand his behavior and how much of it was just immaturity and what was mental health related. Something was wrong, but it's hard to pinpoint what. Major mental illness, if this was the case, can affect someone more than most people could ever know. I hope that in the US we can begin tackling mental illness by encouraging people to talk about it. Then get them the right treatment so they can achieve some balance in their lives. The bottom line is this is a tragic loss, both for the family he leaves behind and for a life cut short.

No, they traded with TB from 12 to 7 for Allen. They traded with BAL from 22 to 16 for Edmunds.

Defensive rankings would be better if this were 30+ years ago when the rules suited that side of the ball. Now, it's practically irrelevant. New England was ranked near the bottom last year in defense among many statistical categories and made it to the Super Bowl. KC this year can't stop anyone and they're perhaps the best team in the AFC.

No argument there and that's really the end goal for this lost season. They have to know what they're working with re: Allen.

No disagreement there. My point is somehow he manages to find a way to win games when he needs it most. That's not to say there aren't examples which go the opposite way.

Coach McD has a strange tendency to win games at crucial junctures of his tenure when criticism hits a high point. Three examples immediately come to mind in his 26 games coached: Last season in Week 12, after 3 straight losses (and 2 blow outs), McD beats Kansas City on the road to put Buffalo over .500. This year, after 2 blow outs to start the season, Buffalo goes to Minnesota and convincingly took down a Vikings team that some talked about as a SB favorite. And now, with their 4th starting QB of the season (who was a street FA signing) an anemic offense, and having lost their last 4 games, the Bills beat go to NY and beat the Jets by 31 points. In each game, I cannot imagine most fans expected a win, particularly considering these were road games. Nor do I believe this team is turning a corner all of a sudden. I'm merely stating that he gets wins when criticism mounts and I'll give credit where credit is due.

Great point. I'll take it a step further and look at his philosophy and how it impacts personnel acquisition and strategy. They've used a bunch of resources on the defensive side of the ball these first 2 seasons to switch to his scheme and yes, improve the talent there. My issue is how much power does Beane have to look at McD and tell him we've got to go offense and he needs to make due on defense? Does Beane have that authority and if not, then we're trusting that the HC acquiesces to the demands a modern game feature more offensive talent than he believes is necessary. That's my question: Does the HC appreciate offense as much as the new NFL demands it? Or, will he revert to what he knows best and keep trying to win games the 1985 method of better defense, running the ball, and throwing less? We don't know after 2 off-seasons.

All part of the process.

I've always thought it funny that with all the attempts to institute parity, there are still the have's and have-nots. You give teams like Cleveland and Buffalo perennial top picks, as much salary cap space as the big market teams and they've largely wasted those resources. No matter how much equality the league wants to establish, there will always be the teams which win consistently. And you'll always have the teams which don't. To me, that comes down to bad management.

It is, but conspiracy theories attract the proverbial moths to the flame. The refs being bought out, McBeane tanking in year 2, etc. I can't believe people actually think these ideas are real. The league demands teams who can be flexible and make changes when necessary. Teams that don't are left behind, especially those who hire rigid management that wants to live in the past. Belichick is a prime example of someone who changed and sure, he's got Brady, but his teams aren't ordered to defense like they were. There's a lot of bad coaches and GMs out there teams are hiring. Finding a good combination is incredibly hard, but the teams who can do it AND find a QB are the ones succeeding.

It can't possibly be a team having bad management who make bad decisions and only continue the mediocre type football. Nah, it's the league "fixing" things. Still can't understand why conspiracy theories are so popular.

I bet LaCanfora is still on speed dial if something goes wrong.

Yep. This off-season is setting up as similar of what happened during Buddy's GM tenure. A 4-12 in 2010 and then 6-10 the following year prompted the spending during the 2012 off-season on Mario Williams and Mark Anderson. Anyone who's failed to deliver in the first two years probably considers all assets at their disposal, and that would include cap room. It used to be some fans praised the late Wilson era teams for saving cap space, but that does nothing. Then again, using it poorly gets you saddled with bad contracts. I would hope Beane and his people identify some cost-effective but quality players who'll instantly improve this roster. That is, if they choose to use UFA and not fall back on the draft expecting that their young players. The purge they've made these past 2 off-seasons better lead to something.

I thought I'd seen everything on this board the past 10+ years, but the idea that this was the plan remains the most unbelievable narrative I've ever observed. It is amazing how some people can make the stretch that being a statistically top 5 worst offense in the past 40 years (likely worst when factoring in rules, style of play) is beyond the pale. My theory is many fans seek to justify even the lowest quality of team because they derive their identity from fan hood. To criticize the team is to criticize oneself, and that's out of the question for most. Therefore, the horrible level of play in year 2 of the latest rebuild is understandable. The gymnastic movement it requires to arrive at this conclusion is absolutely incredible. McCoach isn't going to get fired anytime soon, but there's no way he and Beane "planned" to be this bad and headed toward a 2-3 win season in year 2. Why? Because it only makes year 3 more do or die. If they went 7-9 this year perhaps I could understand setting up for year 3. Instead, they'll be even more under pressure to win. I doubt they anticipated that scenario.

Please do better criticizing.

No greater homer exists on all of TBD. None. Miss on potentially 2 franchise QBs in 2017? Nope, not Coach McD's fault.

The cap space they should have isn't a bad thing, but I think you're correct here in that it won't be the solution to most of the team's problems. And I'm not enamored with the offensive draft prospects in 2019, so it could very well be 2 years before they're playoff caliber. McCoach is saying the right things, specifically his comments yesterday on WGR about high scoring teams and their success. Whether he matches personnel decisions and organizational strategy to these comments is another thing. He's a Jim Johnson guy and has grown up in the defensive world, so expecting him over one off-season to embrace offense would be surprising to me. He's going to prioritize defense no matter what and that comes at the expense of developing a modern offense.

If Super Bowls were won based on moral victories, the Bills would be the New England Patriots of this century.