Bills' mishandling of the CB position

[simpleman]

Do posters on here even bother to read the OP before they comment. He was very clear. The issue was the fact that McBeane failed to have enough depth at CB from the beginning of the season and never had the foresight to correct the problem during the whole season. No other NFL team was foolish enough to willingly put themselves in that vulnerable position by choice. Having to play an offensive player at CB was a very predictable and probable outcome at some point in the season. And it happened. 

 It had nothing to do with who they chose or chose not to play. It has nothing to do with who was inactive or active on the roster. It has everything to do with being prepared. If you have no buffer or margin for error  as a viable option at a critical position on both your roster and on  your PS,  that is fully on McBeane. It is about horrible risk management decisions. Not about who you choose to play in a game from among an available qualified pool of players at that position.

[GunnerBill]

19 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

 

I mean again, the guy injured himself intercepting a pass, with no contact with anything other than the ball.  I've never seen anything like it.  He's made of glass.

 

Meh. It was freak injury. I don't recall any other injuries since he went into the line up as a starter.

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

9 hours ago, Augie said:

I think when you say the FO should have had a better plan, you should be forced to say what your better plan was. Otherwise, it’s just whining. 

 

I mean, it’s not like we had a sucky defense! I think they did a LOT right. It’s all a matter of trade-offs. 

 

. 

I addressed that early in the thread, although not in the OP:

 

I've noted elsewhere in the thread that the Bills stockpiled safeties -- J. Johnson, Marlowe, Coleman -- who barely played, if at all. Going with so many backups there when there are only two starters, both of which have been very reliable and durable throughout their careers, while leaving CB so thin was very puzzling to me. Throw in the fact that T. Johnson and K. Johnson both had significant injury history, this was always an area of concern. They should have kept Gaines and/or Munnerlyn or some other veteran and let go of one or two of the extra safeties.

[GunnerBill]

6 minutes ago, simpleman said:

Do posters on here even bother to read the OP before they comment. He was very clear. The issue was the fact that McBeane failed to have enough depth at CB from the beginning of the season and never had the foresight to correct the problem during the whole season. No other NFL team was foolish enough to willingly put themselves in that vulnerable position by choice. Having to play an offensive player at CB was a very predictable and probable outcome at some point in the season. And it happened. 

 It had nothing to do with who they chose or chose not to play. It has nothing to do with who was inactive or active on the roster. It has everything to do with being prepared. If you have no buffer or margin for error  as a viable option at a critical position on both your roster and on  your PS,  that is fully on McBeane. It is about horrible risk management decisions. Not about who you choose to play in a game from among an available qualified pool of players at that position.

 

And as countless people have responded his original summation that the Bills only kept 4 corners is wrong. They kept 5.

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

8 minutes ago, simpleman said:

Do posters on here even bother to read the OP before they comment. He was very clear. The issue was the fact that McBeane failed to have enough depth at CB from the beginning of the season and never had the foresight to correct the problem during the whole season. No other NFL team was foolish enough to willingly put themselves in that vulnerable position by choice. Having to play an offensive player at CB was a very predictable and probable outcome at some point in the season. And it happened. 

 It had nothing to do with who they chose or chose not to play. It has nothing to do with who was inactive or active on the roster. It has everything to do with being prepared. If you have no buffer or margin for error  as a viable option at a critical position on both your roster and on  your PS,  that is fully on McBeane. It is about horrible risk management decisions. Not about who you choose to play in a game from among an available qualified pool of players at that position.

Thanks! Bingo!

[oldmanfan]

They have guys like Neal that can play both.  And if you keep more CBs then you don’t have as many safeties (or other position) and if an injury happens there you could say the same thing the OP tries to say about CB.  being critical just to be critical isn’t warranted.

[mjt328]

1 hour ago, simpleman said:

Do posters on here even bother to read the OP before they comment. He was very clear. The issue was the fact that McBeane failed to have enough depth at CB from the beginning of the season and never had the foresight to correct the problem during the whole season. No other NFL team was foolish enough to willingly put themselves in that vulnerable position by choice. Having to play an offensive player at CB was a very predictable and probable outcome at some point in the season. And it happened. 

 It had nothing to do with who they chose or chose not to play. It has nothing to do with who was inactive or active on the roster. It has everything to do with being prepared. If you have no buffer or margin for error  as a viable option at a critical position on both your roster and on  your PS,  that is fully on McBeane. It is about horrible risk management decisions. Not about who you choose to play in a game from among an available qualified pool of players at that position.

 

Do you bother to read the countless responses?

To create a "buffer" at the cornerback position, you absolutely MUST take away depth at a different position.

 

The NFL allows for 53 roster spots overall, and 46 active slots on game day.

There are 11 starters on offense, 11 on defense, a kicker, a punter and long-snapper.

If you deactivate 7 starters (which they did), that still leaves us only 28 backups available that can play.

You cannot expect 28 guys to handle 100% of offensive, defensive and special teams snaps.  

 

The Bills were comfortable playing out the season with 4 cornerbacks, because they have a safety (Siran Neal) who plays both positions.  It's the same idea behind carrying only 9 offensive linemen, because Spencer Long and Ryan Bates can handle multiple spots.  If we add an extra CB or OL, then we can only carry five WRs during the season.  Or we can only carry three RBs during the season.  The NFL leaves virtually no room for error with roster spots.  Brandon Beane/Sean McDermott went light at CB/OL because they were counting on versatility helping with depth.  But when we hit Week 17, they didn't have the numbers at that position to sit the starters.  They were left with no choice, and as (bad) luck has it - we suffered injuries during the game at CB and OL.

 

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

My primary issue is that they kept six (okay, five depending on your perspective) safeties for two safety spots and only four (five? see above) corners, several of whom had injury histories, for three corner spots. It's unusual around the league and for the Bills, and it led to this situation.

[Doc]

22 minutes ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

My primary issue is that they kept six (okay, five depending on your perspective) safeties for two safety spots and only four (five? see above) corners, several of whom had injury histories, for three corner spots. It's unusual around the league and for the Bills, and it led to this situation.

 

Again they had 4 full-time CBs and a CB/S in Neal.  And it wasn't an issue until the last meaningless game because of a freak injury on a wet field.  If most other teams had suffered an injury to their #2 CB, they'd be in deep ***** but the Bills have depth and can sign guys like Gaines, Lewis or Munnerlynn if they're worried. 

[fergie's ire]

That's it.  Bring back Dick back Dick "you can never have too many corners" Jauron.

[Coach Tuesday]

3 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Meh. It was freak injury. I don't recall any other injuries since he went into the line up as a starter.

He injured his shoulder making a tackle against the Eagles.  He’s made of glass.

[Jerome007]

On 12/30/2019 at 9:17 AM, tumaro02 said:

Wow! The Patriots based on your argument have been extremely negligent! The have only "3" CBs listed. Please... you are getting hung up on how a team lists their defensive backs. The Patriots list 10 defensive backs (3 CB, 7 DB). The Bills list 10 defensive backs (4 CB, 6 S). We all know that Siran Neal is the backup slot CB and they have Cam Lewis on the PS. Don't get hung up on labels.

Now that is a legit counterargument. He wasn't calling for McD and Beane's heads! Just mentioning how they took a risk with roster selection at CB. Legit point, but you offer a great counter instead of just mocking the post.