Brandon Beane end of season press conference 1/27 11am

[KOKBILLS]

12 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

If you listen to both McDermott and to Beane's end of year pressers and take them at face value, they believe the DL started slow but "laid a good foundation" by the end of the year.  They don't sound like they're reaching for the scissors there.

 

Beane said he didn't see Hyde's play as falling off at all.  I don't think the scissors come out for Mr Hyde, either.

 

Of them all, I think Smoke is likeliest to be cut unless he restructures, and Jefferson has 0 dead cap which makes it a possibility he can go.

I'm pretty sure Oliver and Butler turned into our most productive DL, but whether that was considered a Star-less stop-gap I can't tell you.

 

I do know we need change, and McBeane can't change things by keeping them the same.

 

Looking a little closer at it I wonder if Hughes is in jeopardy? 

 

In 11 of the Bills 18 games Hughes had 15 total tackles, 0 sacks, and 4 QB hits...That's some seriously low production in over half the total games played. 

 

Looks like they save a little more than $7 million if he's cut. I realize we're talking about the one guy that can get some pressure off the edge, and they do feel he is a team leader...But they have to cut somewhere. Beane said there would be some tough decisions. I don't know? 😎

[transplantbillsfan]

2 hours ago, SCBills said:

 

This.

 

KC is built on Mahomes throwing the ball, but he can throw to WR's, a TE (Kelce), a RB and they can run the ball.

 

Green Bay is built on Rodgers throwing the ball, but he can throw to WR's, a TE (Tonyan), a RB and they can run the ball.

 

Tampa Bay is built on Brady throwing the ball, but he can throw to WR's, TE's (Gronk/Brate), a RB and they can run the ball.

 

Buffalo is built on Allen throwing the ball, and he can throw to WR's.  

 

And EVERY SINGLE one of those WRs was dealing with an injury against KC

[spartacus]

1 hour ago, Wayne Cubed said:

 

Agree with a lot of this.

 

To the bold, I almost think that' one task. If they Bills improve the interior OL the running game will be more efficient/effective. I don't want the Bills running more because I'd prefer the ball stayed in Joshs hand but if they ran more effectively when they did, it would help. 

 

Only thing I would add beyond the pass rush is I think they need another weapon in the pass game for Josh. And I'm thinking it needs to be TE.

how would a better  TE (even super star level) help when the Bills refuse to throw any TE the ball 

 

Knox was open all game long and could have had a huge game just falling down at point of catch.

but he can run and make big plays - we just don't try to get him the ball

 

[spartacus]

1 hour ago, WideNine said:

 

Josh dropping back and slinging it a zillion times works when he is facing teams that cannot get to him and stop the run with their front d-linemen and are not able to drop everyone else into coverage effectively.

 

Sure Allen had an MVP caliber season, but teams that could generate pressure with their front 4 and still leave 2 safeties back deep and field DBs across the shallow zones were able to give him his worst games. No open receivers, holding the ball too long, pressure in his face, and costly sacks and incompletions.

 

Having the ability to run the ball, does not mean that you run the ball all the time and that Allen cannot sling it. There is this illogical fear that being able to run means that our offense is going to use 12 personnel and pound it 50% of the time and that is not the case. It means that you have the legit threat that you can run the ball when you need to. When teams have great coverage and can generate pressure, or when some of your key receiving threats are dinged up, you can dictate their defense and slow their pass rush.

 

KC uses 12 personnel and has the option to run or hit their TE's usually 30%-35% of the time, but no one thinks of them as a running team. They can when they need to. When we did to them what they did to us and took away all their receivers what did they do? They ran all over us.

 

When teams go into a split-deep safety look and flood the field with defensive backs leaving the box virtually empty we should be able to run against that and force them to change their defensive posture or personnel. It means that when their d-line is pinning its ears back to rush Allen they now have to tap the brakes to ensure a runner does not slip past them.

 

When they have to change how they play us, it opens up the intermediate passes and play-action passes deep with no help over the top. It also keeps Allen from taking a lot of unnecessary hits from defensive linemen who have no reason to slow down.

 

Allen having an MVP season is great, but it is not the goal. The team winning it all is the goal.

 

In the championship games against more complete teams you have to be able to make good on the threat of being able to run on them if they are cheating their personnel towards coverage and pass rush. It was the legit threat of KC running the ball along with their deep passing threat that kept the Bills in an ineffective defensive purgatory of having to keep enough guys in the box and leave enough deep which left a lot of open green in between.

 

 

 

 

Bills could have radically improved the running game thru scheme, formation and play calling

- run at some draw plays to the backs 

-reverses

- stop telegraphing run plays by formations

-run out of spread sets & 4 Wide

 

all would have helped with no big change in personnel

 

 

[transplantbillsfan]

2 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

So is this basically confirmation that they wanted him to play the Lorax role?

[TheyCallMeAndy]

3 hours ago, Bangarang said:

We were 24th in rush attempts per game. TB was 28th, KC was 23rd and Green Bay was 15th. 
 

KC and GB were 11th and 6th in yards per rush respectively. We were 19th and TB was 26th.

 

TB is worse than us running the ball. All the teams in the conference championship game live and die by the arm of their QB. 
 

 

How many of those attempts were Josh though? 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

7 minutes ago, spartacus said:

how would a better  TE (even super star level) help when the Bills refuse to throw any TE the ball 

 

Knox was open all game long and could have had a huge game just falling down at point of catch.

but he can run and make big plays - we just don't try to get him the ball

 

Knox did have 6 receptions on 8 targets for 42 yards vs KC, which is by far his best game of the season.

 

Still, I take your overall point that the Bills under-utilize the short passing game or the checkdown, to the point where other teams give those guys buttloads of space because they figure they don't have to worry about it.    Allen has agreed: in his presser he said he was "pressing" in the first half and pointed out some plays where the underneath guy was open.

 

On the other hand...Singletary's dropped pass...Knox has dropped gimmee passes or at times appeared to run a different route than Allen expects...Yeldon made a nice catch then ran into his blocker...it is possible there's a reason Allen is not filled with confidence in going to those guys.

 

A caveat to be careful when you think Knox or Beasley are open underneath.  They could be playing robber.

[NewEra]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Can you explain what "little dead cap" means to you?

 

 

And that may be a fair take.  But it may not be.  The Cover1 guys seem to feel our defense is a different beast with Milano in there.

 

 

 

I agree that seems to be the language Beane uses in an end-of-season presser when his assessment is that the FA market will likely offer a player more than he is willing to pay.

 

Addison 10.2 mill salary 4 mill dead cap Jefferson  8 mill salary 1.5 dead cap

Butler 8 mill salary 1 mill dead cap

Matakavich 3.8 mill salary 350k dead cap

 

i thought addisons dead cap hit was 2 mill, I stand corrected.  I had already mentioned that Klein’s dead cap hit was high (6.4 mill salary, 4 mill dead cap).

 

While this DL may not be good enough to beat one of the greatest offenses in league history, this DL was good enough. To make the AFCCG and, imo, best every other team in the league.  This DL that everyone loves to hate on wasn’t terrible.  maybe we should’ve paid Shaq and Jordan and been stuck with them?  Signing good players to contracts that allow a team to get out after one year is easier said than done.....and Beane did a helluva job imo.  

20 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

look what a true #1 WR did for the WR group and the offense.  DL needs its Diggs this year.  Paying 5-6 JAGs $8-10m per year is not smart allocation of cap dollars.  Go get a stud who demands double teams and he’ll make everybody better.  

Like who?

[ColoradoBills]

6 minutes ago, Buffalo Bills Fan said:

Agree. Don't think going to be lots of trades as well unless there reasonable contracts for players.

 

I've been considering the trade thing.  While in a lot of cases I agree with you but I can see where teams might want to swap players

that help both teams versus cutting a guy and trying to go to FA to find a position player to fill a need.

There are a lot of players currently under reasonable contracts that teams are willing to part ways with because of the cap situation.

 

As an example lets say the Bills are willing to trade John Brown to a WR needy team that has an abundance of TEs.  This might be

advantageous over just cutting Brown hoping to get a TE in draft/FA and taking a risk that Brown ends up on one of the teams 

with some money like Jets/Pats/Dolphins.  GMs might need to get a little more creative than in the past.  FWIW.

[HappyDays]

3 hours ago, Bangarang said:

I don’t want to run it a lot more, just be better when we do. This offense is about throwing the ball.

 

RBs can catch too, at least in theory. Singletary doesn't do anything well other than pass block. With a speed back catching flat routes we could have taken advantage of KC's scheme.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

6 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

How many of those attempts were Josh though? 

 

102 rush attempts for JA.  That's roughly 1/4 our our team's 411 rushing attempts and 421, or 25% of our 1723 rushing yards.

Basically, Allen had almost the same number of yards and attempts as Zach Moss. and 2/3 of Singletary's.

[colin]

of all of the top teams in the nfl, we are the most FA heavy one.  i think we will be drafting guys to come up and impact the team, so a first year starter is the target in rounds 1 and 2 (maybe not week one, but by the end).  the easiest positions for a rookie to start are RB, CB, MLB, and OG.  we kinda need CB, but maybe not, we totally need RB, but maybe not in the first two rounds, and they love edmunds but i hope and pray they move him to a more edge focused roll and bring in a real fast and agile MLB.  

 

im thinking we ditch morse and brown (possible restructure i suppose, but given both were not impactful last season and both got hurt, i doubt it), at least 2 of our DL signed last year, and possibly 3, restructure houghs.  I think we keep mongo (move him to C) and take a real shot at keeping williams, and in the first 3 rounds we get an OG, LB who can play both positions in our D, and an RB.  I think TE, WR, and DL, along w DBs get picked in the rest of the draft hoping to find some starters.

 

In FA, i think we go after a premier pass rusher and top flight tight end.  if the price is right it wouldn't shock me if we also picked up an RB with skills that ours don't have.  obv josh gets inked up w a monster contract.

[TheyCallMeAndy]

1 hour ago, bills6969 said:

 

Are they trying to convert Epenesa to LB or something.  He doesn’t look like a DE when I see him out there. Looks too small.

They probably wanted to see if losing 20 pounds would make him any faster/quicker.

[BuffaloRebound]

13 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Addison 10.2 mill salary 4 mill dead cap Jefferson  8 mill salary 1.5 dead cap

Butler 8 mill salary 1 mill dead cap

Matakavich 3.8 mill salary 350k dead cap

 

i thought addisons dead cap hit was 2 mill, I stand corrected.  I had already mentioned that Klein’s dead cap hit was high (6.4 mill salary, 4 mill dead cap).

 

While this DL may not be good enough to beat one of the greatest offenses in league history, this DL was good enough. To make the AFCCG and, imo, best every other team in the league.  This DL that everyone loves to hate on wasn’t terrible.  maybe we should’ve paid Shaq and Jordan and been stuck with them?  Signing good players to contracts that allow a team to get out after one year is easier said than done.....and Beane did a helluva job imo.  

Like who?

In terms of free agents, Leonard Williams.  
Guys who might be available via trade (also longer in the tooth) include Khalil Mack and Fletcher Cox.  

[ColoradoBills]

As far as the Chiefs go let's all remember they are much farther down their road time wise than the Bills in finding their core players.

Reid has had 8 seasons to get where he is at.

[Royale with Cheese]

3 hours ago, RyanC883 said:

the Bills will "be hunted."  Na.  The hunted teams are those that make the SB.  We need a running game/balanced offense, and a defense that can pressure the QB.  

 

So last years Chiefs weren't hunted because they only got to the AFCC the year prior?

[transplantbillsfan]

2 hours ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

That's a good point! We don't want Josh running as much next year.

 

I disagree.

 

We don't want Josh running nearly as much on those designed QB runs, but I think there needs to be emphasis this offseason that if he breaks the pocket and has his eyes downfield and WRs are generally covered, he should run.

 

He needed to do that more against KC.  Part of the problem against them I think was how well-covered our WRs were and the fact that "scrambling" has been frowned upon to some degree.

 

Slide and/or run out of bounds.  But Josh Allen scrambles should definitely be part of his arsenal.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

9 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Addison 10.2 mill salary 4 mill dead cap Jefferson  8 mill salary 1.5 dead cap

Butler 8 mill salary 1 mill dead cap

Matakavich 3.8 mill salary 350k dead cap

 

i thought addisons dead cap hit was 2 mill, I stand corrected.  I had already mentioned that Klein’s dead cap hit was high (6.4 mill salary, 4 mill dead cap).

 

Jefferson has 0 dead cap OTC.  Addison's salary is $6.625M not $10.2M (that's his cap number), though he's due $8.225 once "likely to achieve" bonuses are added.

 

My question isn't, what is the dead cap associated with each of these cuts. 

 

It's, "what does little dead cap mean to you?"  In a year with a possible cap of $175M, what would be minimal dead cap?  5% or $8.75M?  10% or $17.5M?  What? 

The Bills are currently carrying $2M dead cap from cuts this year.

 

 

[Chandler#81]

48 minutes ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Well kind of.
 

The Bills have been ‘ok’ drafters with Beane, but they’ve had to supplement quite a bit of the roster via FA, and that’s always going to lead to pricey veterans. 
 

The WR group has been his best work, but we’ve struggled to find much impact on the DLine in the draft or FA.

Well kind of.

 

’ok’ drafters? By who’s measure? Every single player drafted last year PLUS an undrafted FA rookie made the team and contributed to a Division Championship. We’ve also drafted Allen, Edmunds, Ford, Milano, T. White, H. Phillips, Oliver, Davis, Neal & others while trading a 1st Round pick for an All Pro WR. Perhaps your standards are a bit high. I’d challenge that OL has been the best FA work. Ask fans of any team what they think of their Oline.

[transplantbillsfan]

2 hours ago, TheProcess said:

This would be a HUGE mistake to not bring Milano back. He’s a difference maker on defense. Yes, he’s been banged up some, but he’s proven a difference maker when he’s on the field. If they don’t get rid of all these non-impact JAGs at over-inflated salaries on the Dline to keep Milano, they are making a mistake and he’ll go star elsewhere. 
 

Unpopular opinion: I’d prefer to keep Milano  over Tremaine. I don’t dislike Tremaine like some others on here, but Milano is far more instinctive, is a difference maker, and is typically around the ball. 

 

Keep both.

 

McDermott's LB corp is generally just 2 guys and Milano and Edmunds make up a really good LB corp.

 

You can't throw away the really good in search of the Elite every year.