John Warrow’s High Praise For Beane & McDermott Regime

[Thurman#1]

6 hours ago, ScottLaw said:

The narrative right after Rex was canned by just about everyone was their was plenty of talent on the roster and they needed to invest in a franchise QB and better coaching.

 

Rex was just a fat, walking disaster here as a HC.

 

McDermott and Beane turned what could've been a ONE year reload into a 3 to 4 year rebuild that may or may not work. 

So should you.

 

They cut EJ years ago brother.???

 

 

That may have been your narrative. It was not "just about everyone's." But it was also a lot of people's narrative as each of our coaches have gone for the last couple of decades. We're so so so very close. We don't need no stinking rebuild. Just a reload and a few tweaks. And it's been wrong every time.

 

Sure they could have reloaded. Not likely to have worked very well, though. Acting as if a reload would have been a one-year sure thing is absolutely ridiculous. We weren't all that close. And we were in horrible cap shape, which would have hamstrung any attempt at anything.

[Thurman#1]

16 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

In fairness to John..........he's a journalist and he follows a team that has had a bad PR department and a FO that has had a bad relationship with the media for decades now................Beane is extraordinary at making people feel comfortable dealing with him and it makes it exponentially easier to sell his goods to the media.      In most business environments you are constantly fed the soft touch.   It's sales 101 and is something you learn to filter out..........but it's kinda' new for people who follow the Bills for a living though.   

 

You can see the McBeane sales job in John's framing of points.    He clearly wants to believe McDermott and Beane.   And that's fine.......we all do.........none of us are here to root against the FO.........but the question isn't whether McBeane are sincere it's whether they are actually good enough to separate the franchise from the pack of mediocre-to-bad teams that they always find themselves in over the past couple decades.    

 

Actions speak louder than the sales pitch.........as you point out later in your post, there have been lot's of mistakes and many of them are clear repeats of past failures.   If there is one thing we should know as Bills fans by now it's what DOESN'T work.    And for all the DNA talk the organization has the same record as it had after two years of re-build under Marrone and two years of re-tool under Rex.    

 

 

 

Puh-leeze. 

 

Like the Bills haven't been doing the exact same thing, very well, since probably the '70s when PR started to become a science? Yes, Beane is good at PR. But the Bills PR department has been good for a long time, though they had less to work with sometimes, for example in the Gregg Williams air horn days and with Rex in the prime of his ridiculousness.

 

And you're right that they have made mistakes. It's just that their good moves have greatly outnumbered them. Which is something new.

 

Oh, and that's nonsense that Marrone was a rebuild. Obvious nonsense. The rebuild came under Gailey. Marrone was reloading, as was Rex. And reloads have a massive structural advantage over rebuilds in the first couple of years. Rebuilds look terrible the first couple of years, it's the nature of the beast. Of course Rex and Marrone had better records. If that continues the next couple of years, it will indeed be a horrible sign, but so far it's S.O.P. for rebuilds. If anything they have done a ton better with Ws than rebuilds usually do.

 

Actions do indeed speak louder than words. Which is the real reason this new regime is a breath of fresh air. They're doing things the smart way, consistently. It's so different from Bills as usual. Do they still have to prove themselves? Absolutely. But a regime that understands best practices and uses them is not the usual thing for this franchise. You're dead right, though, that we'll have to see from results. But this is the most hopeful I've been since Wade.

[Phil The Thrill]

14 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

Yes.  I liked EJ.  You like no Bills.  You hate the team.  You hate the organization.  Your narrative is downright ***** tired.  If it's a shtick, then find another one.  Or go to another team's fan site.

 

Gugny is spot on here with his take on Scotty.  

13 hours ago, ScottLaw said:

I was replying to John and you jumped in. If you don't like my posts put me on ignore. 

Seems like you are the one crying. You complain about my posts all the time but don't ignore me? 

 

John schooled you by the way.  You lost the argument big time

[HappyDays]

On 5/1/2019 at 6:58 PM, ScottLaw said:

these guys didn't come in their and blow up there respective teams

 

Uh the Rams definitely blew up the team. I mean did you not pay any attention at all to what they'e done? They've been trading for players and using up cap space with reckless abandon since 2017. They're a bad example anyways because Les Snead has been the GM there since 2012 - doesn't that go completely against the narrative you're trying to prove? But since McVay took over they added Woods, Watkins, Cooks, Fowler, Peters, Talib, and Whitworth.

 

Yeah, almost exactly the same team as Jeff Fisher had. Other than the 3 new starting receivers, the new DE, the 2 new starting CBs, and the new starting LT. And a rookie QB entering his 2nd year. And going from $21 million in dead cap in 2016 to $10 million in dead cap in 2017. Does that remind you of another team Scott?

Edited May 18, 2019 by HappyDays

[JohnC]

16 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

Uh the Rams definitely blew up the team. I mean did you not pay any attention at all to what they'e done? They've been trading for players and using up cap space with reckless abandon since 2017. They're a bad example anyways because Les Snead has been the GM there since 2012 - doesn't that go completely against the narrative you're trying to prove? But since McVay took over they added Woods, Watkins, Cooks, Fowler, Peters, Talib, and Whitworth. Yeah, almost exactly the same team as Jeff Fisher had.

The Rams drafted their franchise qb a year before McVay arrived. The first priority the savant offensive-minded coach attended to is put his young qb in a position to succeed. Talent was added to the receiving corps through free agency and the draft (as you noted). And the offensive line was bolstered with two quality veteran pickups (as you noted). That upgrade in the line not only helped  protect Goff but also helped their highly drafted back, Gurley, in the running game. Or from an overview perspective the organization made it an important mission to put their qb in a position to succeed. 

 

If you look at what has transpired this offseason for the Bills the focus has followed the same Ram formula of emphasizing in putting their young qb in a position to succeed. What this regime did over the past couple of years is shed players and contracts. They were willing to accept a punishing cap hit last year to be in a position to be very active in the free agent market this offseason  And it must also be noted that in the first year under this regime it made the playoffs for the first time in a generation. Some people are bothered by the implementation of their rebuild strategy. I am not. It is not surprising that not everyone is going to agree with a particular approach to rework the roster. But what is refreshing is to see an organization that has had a sordid history acting in an ad hoc manner now acting more coherently and strategically.

[Gugny]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

The Rams drafted their franchise qb a year before McVay arrived. The first priority the savant offensive-minded coach attended to is put his young qb in a position to succeed. Talent was added to the receiving corps through free agency and the draft (as you noted). And the offensive line was bolstered with two quality veteran pickups (as you noted). That upgrade in the line not only helped  protect Goff but also helped their highly drafted back, Gurley, in the running game. Or from an overview perspective the organization made it an important mission to put their qb in a position to succeed. 

 

If you look at what has transpired this offseason for the Bills the focus has followed the same Ram formula of emphasizing in putting their young qb in a position to succeed. What this regime did over the past couple of years is shed players and contracts. They were willing to accept a punishing cap hit last year to be in a position to be very active in the free agent market this offseason  And it must also be noted that in the first year under this regime it made the playoffs for the first time in a generation. Some people are bothered by the implementation of their rebuild strategy. I am not. It is not surprising that not everyone is going to agree with a particular approach to rework the roster. But what is refreshing is to see an organization that has had a sordid history acting in an ad hoc manner now acting more coherently and strategically.

 

This is spot on (to me, anyway).  

[LSHMEAB]

14 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

. Not acquiring Kelvin Benjamin is supposed to save us all the money to get us out of cap trouble? Um, he was on a rookie contract. He cost us a bit over $1 mill while he was here. Keeping Watkins would have cost us a ton

 

It would have basically been a wash. Watkins was on a rookie contract as well. We payed KB 8+mil last season on his fifth year option. Watkins 5th year option was 11+MIL. With the benefit of hindsight, it wasn't a smart move. I liked Watkins and never liked Benjamin. Pretty sure SW would have helped Josh quite a bit more than than KB last season, but it is what it is. Allen doesn't seem to be phased by much and GM'S can certainly recover from mistakes.

Quote

 

So you may not be down with the whole five year plan. But the Pegulas were very down with the understanding that the first two years were going to suck, and that the whole thing would take time.

I agree that the Pegula's are bought in and they'll almost certainly get a 4th year barring a disaster. 5th? No guarantee there. I think they've positioned themselves relatively well to have a breakout season in 2019. Much of it hinges on Allen. If Beane nailed that, he'll deserve all the praise that's heaped upon him. This is the season I would expect a top tier regime PRODUCE. But that's just me; a random fan on a message board. Terry and Kim have the keys to the car.

Edited May 18, 2019 by LSHMEAB

[BADOLBILZ]

14 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

 

Puh-leeze. 

 

Like the Bills haven't been doing the exact same thing, very well, since probably the '70s when PR started to become a science? Yes, Beane is good at PR. But the Bills PR department has been good for a long time, though they had less to work with sometimes, for example in the Gregg Williams air horn days and with Rex in the prime of his ridiculousness.

 

 

 

You have no idea what you are talking about......the Bills PR had been a mess forever until McDermott and Beane arrived.

 

Scott Berchtold in particular was awful and no tears were shed at his dismissal(except maybe by a couple people he was leaking info to).

 

GM's like Polian, Butler and Donahoe were anything but fan and media friendly.   Since then it's been a mixture of road scouts in charge and guys who were just doing Ralph a quick favor in the role like Russ & Marv(with an assist from Modrak in Jacksonville) and Buddy.   

 

It all came to a head when the Pegula's ended up looking utterly ridiculous around the Rex firing.

 

That's where your PR department is supposed to step in and tell the owner that you can't wait a week to even ADDRESS an in-season coaching firing and then put a road-scout GM on the podium to answer all the questions while they peer out from behind a curtain wondering how it's gonna' sound.    That's what your PR folks are paid for.  

 

McDermott and Beane deserve credit for quickly addressing the PR department.    And Beane is very much in tune with PR himself.   He's not going to get in front of a mic and say ANYTHING like the PR challenged Whaley("humans shouldn't play football") or the stand-offish Tom Donahoe or a John Butler literally telling fans to not show up to games if they don't like the product on his TV show.      

Edited May 18, 2019 by BADOLBILZ

[BADOLBILZ]

7 hours ago, Phil The Thrill said:

 

Gugny is spot on here with his take on Scotty.  

 

John schooled you by the way.  You lost the argument big time

 

 

 

Are you that "Philster" guy that used to stalk the Jills?

[K-9]

16 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

Yeah, I got your point. You're right they could have kept Woods. At the cost of being in worse cap shape. You're wrong that the cap stuff was overblown.

Two main factors contributed to not being able to retain Woods: his desire to go home and play and, more importantly, his reluctance to play another year with TT at QB. We would have had to grossly overpay just for him to consider staying. Not saying he wouldn’t have turned down an inflated offer, but it would have put us in a worse cap situation than we were already in.

Edited May 18, 2019 by K-9

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

You have no idea what you are talking about......the Bills PR had been a mess forever until McDermott and Beane arrived.

 

Scott Berchtold in particular was awful and no tears were shed at his dismissal(except maybe by a couple people he was leaking info to).

 

GM's like Polian, Butler and Donahoe were anything but fan and media friendly.   Since then it's been a mixture of road scouts in charge and guys who were just doing Ralph a quick favor in the role like Russ & Marv(with an assist from Modrak in Jacksonville) and Buddy.   

 

It all came to a head when the Pegula's ended up looking utterly ridiculous around the Rex firing.

 

That's where your PR department is supposed to step in and tell the owner that you can't wait a week to even ADDRESS an in-season coaching firing and then put a road-scout GM on the podium to answer all the questions while they peer out from behind a curtain wondering how it's gonna' sound.    That's what your PR folks are paid for.  

 

McDermott and Beane deserve credit for quickly addressing the PR department.    And Beane is very much in tune with PR himself.   He's not going to get in front of a mic and say ANYTHING like the PR challenged Whaley("humans shouldn't play football") or the stand-offish Tom Donahoe or a John Butler literally telling fans to not show up to games if they don't like the product on his TV show.      

Do you want to know what was more ridiculous than the incompetence showed trying to explain the firing of Rex? It was the owner/s hiring of Rex in the first place. It didn't take long for the predictable boondoggle to be on display for the world to see. His grotesque incompetence and tiresome clown behavior on the sidelines were no longer cute. This wasn't so much a PR catastrophe----it was a football/business catastrophe. 

 

Do you want to know when the PR department starting acting more professionally? The answer is when the football side of the operation conducted itself in a more rational and professional manner. No longer were stupid and contrived explanations made to explain the chaos in the football operation and the gross ineptitude on the field. The obvious point of demarcation of change was when this new regime took over. 

 

I agree with you that the PR department markedly improved under McBeane. That shouldn't be surprising when now only a few people were controlling the messaging that comes out of that office. And that message is easy to communicate when every one is on the same page. McDermott and then Beane were brought in to remake the organization. From top to bottom they took control and professionalized the operation. There are always some leaks in a large organization but for the most part there is a tight chain of command. My point is when your football people at the top know what they are doing then everything else follows. 

[LSHMEAB]

16 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Do you want to know what was more ridiculous than the incompetence showed trying to explain the firing of Rex? It was the owner/s hiring of Rex in the first place. It didn't take long for the predictable boondoggle to be on display for the world to see. His grotesque incompetence and tiresome clown behavior on the sidelines were no longer cute. This wasn't so much a PR catastrophe----it was a football/business catastrophe. 

The hiring was actually genius from a PR perspective. Season tix skyrocketed and the Bills were suddenly an "interesting" team. It was an awful football hire and that predictable boondoggle ensued, but it definitely worked from a bottom line perspective.

 

As you said, football disaster. Those were some talented teams.

[Nextmanup]

20 minutes ago, LSHMEAB said:

The hiring was actually genius from a PR perspective. Season tix skyrocketed and the Bills were suddenly an "interesting" team. It was an awful football hire and that predictable boondoggle ensued, but it definitely worked from a bottom line perspective.

 

As you said, football disaster. Those were some talented teams.

Football disaster, eh?  Rex won 15 games in a bit less than 2 seasons with the team.

 

McDermott?  15 wins in 2 seasons as well.

 

 

[LSHMEAB]

1 minute ago, Nextmanup said:

Football disaster, eh?  Rex won 15 games in a bit less than 2 seasons with the team.

 

McDermott?  15 wins in 2 seasons as well.

 

 

A disaster in the sense that those teams were far more talented than the teams McDermott has coached.

 

Rex turned a great defense into a below average unit. I guess you have to give him credit for his offensive hires, but he was supposed to lead the defense and he failed miserably. That 2015 offense was good enough to win 10+ games with an above average defense. The only thing that really changed between 2014 and 2015 was the defense going from Schwartz to Rex. When a DEFENSIVE HC turns a great DEFENSE into a below average one, I consider that a coaching disaster.

 

 

[HappyDays]

46 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

Football disaster, eh?  Rex won 15 games in a bit less than 2 seasons with the team.

 

McDermott?  15 wins in 2 seasons as well.

 

McDermott and Beane came into a bad team on both sides of the ball promising to repair the salary cap and build a long term contender. It was well understood that there would be a couple painful years. Rex came in to the #2 defense and promised to improve to #1. This upcoming year is where the team really needs to show improvement.

[BADOLBILZ]

6 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

McDermott and Beane came into a bad team on both sides of the ball promising to repair the salary cap and build a long term contender. It was well understood that there would be a couple painful years. Rex came in to the #2 defense and promised to improve to #1. This upcoming year is where the team really needs to show improvement.

 

 

At the time of Rex firing in 2016 the Bills were 7th in the NFL in scoring and had accumulated the least turnovers ever thru 15 games since the AFL/NFL merger.

 

In addition to protecting the football and scoring.......they lead the NFL in BIG PLAYS created AND RUSHING for two straight years.

 

So no.........they weren't a bad team on offense.

 

They were also a talented team on defense.

 

Go back to the time of Rex firing and find ONE instance where anyone said the Bills were just a bad team on both sides of the ball.

 

The consensus was that they were underachieving..........mostly due to Rex poor stewardship and forcing his increasingly difficult to execute defense on a group that didn't fit the scheme.

 

     

[Gugny]

18 hours ago, LSHMEAB said:

The hiring was actually genius from a PR perspective. Season tix skyrocketed and the Bills were suddenly an "interesting" team. It was an awful football hire and that predictable boondoggle ensued, but it definitely worked from a bottom line perspective.

 

As you said, football disaster. Those were some talented teams.

 

At the time the Bills set a personal record for season ticket sales.  That's when I started to wonder whether the Pegulas were in this game for the right reason.  They took a winning team with a top 3 defense and dismantled it with one hire.  But, hot damn, they made them some money.

 

I'm less-skeptical now, since the hirings of Beane and McDermott (mostly Beane).  This seems to be the best, most professionally, run organization since I've been a fan.  I'm optimistic that the Pegulas learned that their primary role is to keep the checkbook open and leave the hiring and firing to the GM they put in place.

 

That's a refreshing change from RCW and the first couple years of the Pegulas' tenure.

 

Edited May 19, 2019 by Gugny

[stinky finger]

8 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

At the time the Bills set a personal record for season ticket sales.  That's when I started to wonder whether the Pegulas were in this game for the right reason.  They took a winning team with a top 3 defense and dismantled it with one hire.  But, hot damn, they made them some money.

 

I'm less-skeptical now, since the hirings of Beane and McDermott (mostly Beane).  This seems to be the best, most professionally, run organization since I've been a fan.  I'm optimistic that the Pegulas learned that their primary role is to keep the checkbook open and leave the hiring and firing to the GM they put in place.

 

That's a refreshing change from RWC and the first couple years of the Pegulas' tenure.

 

Good post!

 

Beane and McDermott offer stability that this organization has needed badly. I believe many good seasons ahead for this regime. There's a different feel to it and I like it.

 

  

[Rocket94]

14 hours ago, LSHMEAB said:

A disaster in the sense that those teams were far more talented than the teams McDermott has coached.

 

Rex turned a great defense into a below average unit. I guess you have to give him credit for his offensive hires, but he was supposed to lead the defense and he failed miserably. That 2015 offense was good enough to win 10+ games with an above average defense. The only thing that really changed between 2014 and 2015 was the defense going from Schwartz to Rex. When a DEFENSIVE HC turns a great DEFENSE into a below average one, I consider that a coaching disaster.

 

 

I wanted Schwartz as HC. I just felt a good momentum. 

[Gugny]

15 minutes ago, Rocket94 said:

I wanted Schwartz as HC. I just felt a good momentum. 

 

At the very least, pay him well (like teams do for Wade Phillips) and hire a HC who has the same defensive philosophy.  All water under the bridge, now.  But the Bills were headed in the right direction while Schwartz was DC.