finn

Tampa Bay first half all over again. Daboll ignoring McDermott. Going to get himself fired.

I'm a little surprised. With Carolina thin at defensive tackle and strong at end, while the Bills are very weak at tackle, I thought they would try to run it down the middle and limit the passing. Maybe they're thinking screens, slants and passes in the flat. I sure hope Daboll isn't considering another all-pass day. Even Allen can't cope with swinging doors at tackle.

How many games will he have missed this year? Seven? You know the line is bad when you're frustrated such a mediocre guard can't play.

I realize there was a medical issue in Smith's case, but it he would have been a risk worth taking for a sixth-round pick. KC thought so, too, and they were right. Beane was wrong. Also, I didn't just cite the one example, nor did I claim he was a poor drafter necessarily. I think you need to have an understanding of the draft before you comment on it. You might also pick up some reading glasses while you bone up.

Just like the Titans without Henry. Live by the run, die by the run.

I just realized who Mac Jones reminds me of. Been bugging me. The monkey in Wizard of Oz!

Allen would have escaped that.

Yes, that hurts. KC chose Humphrey and Smith, both now excellent starters, and the Bills, picking before them, chose Basham and Doyle, both developmental projects. (They also chose Stevenson, Hamlin and Wildgoose instead of Smith.) Think about that next time someone lauds Beane's drafting prowess.

We lose Dawkins, they lose Brown. Fair enough. How come the Pats* never lose anybody, aside from a backup tight end? Could there be any wiggle room in the reporting requirements for Belichick to take advantage of?

He's been a disappointment, but only because of injuries and COVID. He's played exceptionally well when healthy, a key reason the defense was dominant earlier in the season. We missed him badly in the Colts and Pats game. I'd take another Ted Washington where the Bills will be picking.

In that case, I think they In that case, I think the Bills win easily against Carolina, prevail in a pretty close one in New England, sweep Atlanta and New York, and win at least the first playoff game. The Bills may have the worst O-line in the league, but they have heart, and they're not ok with losing. If they can beat Tampa--and they showed they're perfectly capable of that--they can beat anyone. I think you can chalk up most of their losses to bad breaks.

I think it's hard to fault Daboll, just like it's hard to fault the running backs and McDermott, when the O-line is a jailbreak on virtually every down. For all we know, Daboll is dialing up fantastic plays that we never see because Allen has to improvise, again, or the backs get tackled behind the LOS, again. At some point, someone will write an article pointing out that never in NFL history has there been such a disparity of parts: excellence across the board--QB, RB, WR, TE, coaching, and the entire defense--with a single position that was so weak that it sunk all the other parts. Put another way, the Bills might have been undefeated quality if Beane had done what KC did and given the O-line top priority.

I'm surprised there's not more innovation and novelty in the game, on this team in particular. For instance, why not line up Tommy Doyle as an extra blocker and have him be an eligible receiver at the goal line? He'd be quite a target at 6'9". And how about a direct snap to the running back on occasion, or a naked bootleg, or blitzing the entire secondary? Onside kicks and fake punts at unexpected times (like when ahead), going for it on 4th down in your own zone, a surprise drop kick. Let Allen call his own plays for a stretch, go no huddle for an entire quarter (not hurry up, just no huddle, so the D can't substitute).

Or maybe Bates, Mongo, Morse, Williams, Brown. Bates will need help, but at least the rest of the line won't be disrupted.

It's more fun to make predictions, but really we should be talking percentages. The Bills have a 78% chance of beating Carolina (now 68% with the Dawkins injury), and a 55% chance of winning out, barring new developments. I'm calling it!

I don't know about that. Dawkins has been subpar until recently and played a major role in the Pittsburgh loss especially. Star and Brown were out for the Colts game and more when we desperately needed both players. We lost Klein when we could have used him. That's just off the top of my head. Meanwhile, look at the Pats. Lost one backup tight end to COVID. That's it, as far as I know. We may not have suffered as much as some teams, but I would say we're right up there in terms of real impact, especially on the line, which was going to be mediocre at best.

Maybe. But my point is that he's too conservative. 0-5 in one-score games is the proof.

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.