finn

McClappy would have kicked the field goal, again. But only because he couldn't punt.

Ideally, McDermott would be DC, not head coach, especially of this team. He'd clearly be more comfortable with a ball-control offense and a smothering defense. The Pats, in short. I agree that Daboll might not be a very good coach. But the big unknown is the line. It could be he's doing magic with what he has upfront. I mean, Allen was pressured an incredible 33 times last week! What do you do with a line that simply cannot block? Maybe with the run-first OC that McDermott wants, we would be have lost even more games. I like the double entendre of "incite." Deliberate? I'd say it's pretty likely that this forum has very few commentators with the credentials you're looking for. Which begs the question: What are you here for? No need to answer. Cheers.

C'mon, it's a fan forum. You're saying we can't say what we think because we're not, what, trained NFL evaluators? He disagrees with you. Deal with it.

M Might be a topic for another thread, but is there any chance Trubinsky will stay with the Bills? We need him. Creed Humphrey, of course, the Pro Bowler Beane stole in the second round in an impressive move that looked to the future. Oh, wait...

And I didn't think Beane would pass on drafting a guard last year after what we saw happen. His actions suggest he thinks Ford will be a star anytime, and Feliciano is good, which is nonsense, or that guard just isn't a very important position, which is also nonsense. He's going to want a one-technique defensive tackle in round one, and a wide receiver in round two. Not sure he'll pass on guard (and corner) yet again, but that's been his pattern.

My fear is that Beane will think, "Hey, Dawkins is fully recovered, Feliciano is back, Morse and Williams are solid, and Brown will be better. Ford and Boettger are rock solid as backups... No need to draft anything but a backup in the sixth round!"

What's the alternative? Rousseau, Basham, and Epenesa have disappeared since the Miami game.

Throw out the anomalous Colts game, and the question is Why have they lost five one-score games? A plausible answer is McDermott's conservative calls on fourth down, most recently his decision to kick on the Bucs three-yard line. You can't do much worse than 0-5, so it stands to reason that he's the problem.

No joke. This season may need an asterisk by the time it's over.

I want to disagree, but the evidence is against me. They keep losing games they should win, or at least I think they should win. That's every game except the Bucs game, which I had rated as a toss up. So maybe I need to adjust my expectations. They're out of whack because I see a terrific team in all respects except head coach (and only his coward fourth down calls) and O-line. Otherwise, they're a Super Bowl team.

Want to fix the ref problem? Insert an undercover operative and wait for him to be approached. How many people will turn down $50k to throw a flag or two (or not throw one)? And how many would squeal if they were shown a photo of their kids? It's not paranoia, and it's not a conspiracy. It's money, and human nature.

Yeah, like last year. It's not like there was a Pro Bowl-caliber center/guard available in the second round. Oh, wait.

McDermott has a stud for a quarterback, but he really doesn't want one. He's frustrated by all this passing. It takes away his opportunities to punt and kick field goals so the defense can get back on the field. He wants excellence on defense and, ideally, mediocrity on offense.

The Bills are 0-5 in one-score games, so McDermott's decisions on fourth down are worth looking at, especially after his highly questionable calls in the championship game last year. Sunday, once again facing a high-powered offense, the Bills had a fourth and two on the three-yard line, down 10-0, and he kicks a field goal. You can challenge his other calls--like punting at midfield just before halftime down 24-10--but I find that earlier decision galling. He demands "toughness" and praises "guts" but he shows neither himself. When it's crunch time for him, he flinches. I give him credit for building a winning culture. But he hasn't shown the courage he demands of his players. In the final analysis, he's just not good enough.

I missed the whole comeback. Anyone want to give me a one sentence summary?

I'm almost ready for a rebuild. D-line, O-line, RBs... The list goes on. Meanwhile, we're squandering our excellent safeties, QB and receivers.

Daboll: Breida will be our savior. Put the game in the hands of Breida.

How would you know unless Brady plays behind our high school line and Allen plays behind their All Pro line?

Right. It goes back to the coaches. We blame Beane, rightfully, for overestimating Ford, Mongo, Boettger, and Williams, but he didn't make his decisions in a vacuum. I'm sure Bobby Johnson, Daboll and McDermott assured him that all was well with the O-line. And, as you say, the coaches should have no illusions that they have a junior varsity squad on their hands.

You may not have seen the All-22 from the Athletic. It shows what Moss was seeing, which was a wide open lane-really a highway--in front and to his right. Then Morse got tossed aside like a doll and the DT was in Moss' face. So it wasn't the play call, and it wasn't Moss. Once again, it was the Oline. It really isn't much of an exaggeration to claim that this would be the best team in the league except for the line, which rises to mediocrity only on its very best days.

McDermott will love that.

Help me out here. What's up with the pessimism? We finally have everyone back on the offensive line, and pretty much everyone is healthy. White being out is big, but he isn't the only reason the defense has been one of the best in the league. Yet people are full of doom and gloom. Why? The Pats game was a complete anomaly because of the weather; against the Colts, we were down Star, Edwards, Mongo and Brown. We lost to the Jags, but the Bucs lost to Washington; stuff happens. The Bills are pissed and hungry. I'm totally looking forward to this game. It's going to be a real shootout that will show a changing of the guard from Brady to Allen.

I agree, if you mean that McDermott wants a power-running, ball-control offense and a run-stuffing defense. A Belichick team, in other words. Instead, he has a thoroughbred for a QB, a mongrel mix of power- and finesse blockers up front, two backup-quality running backs, and a bend-don't break defense. So he has a choice: Play to the strengths of his team, or force a square peg into a round hole? Sounds like he's planning on the latter, no matter what the consequences. I give him high marks for building a winning culture here, but he lacks imagination and flexibility of mind. We saw that in the championship game last year when he elected to kick field goals against a high-scoring offense that was dominating his team. And he might have been behind the decision to take Monday's game out of the hands of his MVP quarterback and put it into the hands of Breida, Moss and Singletary. I'm not calling for him to be replaced, but he doesn't have the team he wants, and this team doesn't have the head coach it needs.

I agree. They should just enjoy themselves for a change. McDermott must be the most grim head coach in the league, after Darth Vader in Foxboro. Imagine him at a party, clapping by himself in the corner.

Such negativity! You don't have to be a homer to see the Bills will win, even handily. They easily could have won the Pats game--and every other game they lost, including the Colts game. And they dominated the ones they won. The wheels are not coming off, and they're not a mediocre team. They're an excellent team, from top to bottom, with the glaring exception of the O-line. And even that is looking up with the return of Mongo and Brown and Dawkins' play improving with his health. As for the Bucs, the Bills were built for this kind of team, as everyone keeps saying. The Bills win convincingly, and they go on to run the table. The nabobs of negativism here are going to feel pretty foolish in January.