What happened to McKenzie in the playoffs?

[Bigantall]

12 hours ago, H2o said:

French Vanillaaaa, Rocky Road,

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Cookie Dough

Scoop!!! There it is. Scoop!!! There it is. 

 

 

 

 

Not funny

[Buftex]

2 hours ago, 298Woody said:

I think McKenzie is the perfect replacement for Brown if we can keep him. He would be most affective if he was thrown to more downfield to make the jet sweep a surprise and not the only reason he is in the game. He may not be Tyrek Hill but he is dynamic.

I think people are underestimating how good Brown is, and maybe overestimating McKenzie a tad.  I like him, but I don't think he is even close to as good as a healthy John Brown.

[BoccesOnTransit]

1 hour ago, HOUSE said:

I don't remember the KC game, who won ?

Which one?

[Boxcar]

19 minutes ago, Buftex said:

I think people are underestimating how good Brown is, and maybe overestimating McKenzie a tad.  I like him, but I don't think he is even close to as good as a healthy John Brown.

Yeah, this is wild. We can easily keep Brown, and when he's healthy, he's an excellent compliment to Diggs and Beasley. Why would we get rid of him? Because he got hurt?

[wakingfane]

3 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

There was for some reason a fear of showing/admitting that our WRs were banged up, even though all of our opponents knew it, not sure of the logic that SM & BD applied about the WR situation, they weren’t fooling anyone. 
 

  I suspect that the coaches involved knew that they did not have a workable “plan B”, which mostly points to poor planning / use / implementation of available resources.

 

What this says is that “We Don’t Trust You” To the rest of the receivers room, and that certainly is not a good look if you’re the future/current number four and deeper on the depth chart.
 

 One would hope that SM & BD have learned from this misstep, and have a “plan B” available for the upcoming season.  That said, it was a very good season overall for the Bills, and they can certainly hold their heads up high as reigning Division Champions. 
 

Anyways, on to watching the next iteration of the Buffalo Bills form right in front of us, should be fun and frustrating all at the same time 😁👍
 

Go Bills!!!

Well, they tried the alternative approach in 2019 -- elevate guys like Duke Williams who have been working hard all year and give them a big role in the playoffs....    how did that go?

[djp14150]

14 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said:

Has anyone ever found out the story behind why McKenzie has his best game of the year against Miami, the Bills' WR group was beat up, and McKenzie barely sees the field in the playoffs?  Any inside scoops?  

he got injured late in the game

[Da webster guy]

13 hours ago, Lieutenant Aldo Raine said:

Brian Dabol is what happened.

 

Coaches out-thinking themselves is the most frustrating thing in sports. 

I felt bad for our offensive linemen vs KC, getting asked to pass block for an entire game.  

 

The offense is supposed to make it difficult to disguise run or pass whenever possible.  McKenzie was a huge asset in that regard.   He DID score a much needed TD in the 4th quarter there, but it was too little, too late.

 

Coach Daboll is an excellent OC, I'd love to hear his take on why McKenzie only touched the ball three times all game.

[Don Otreply]

39 minutes ago, wakingfane said:

Well, they tried the alternative approach in 2019 -- elevate guys like Duke Williams who have been working hard all year and give them a big role in the playoffs....    how did that go?

Different circumstance, the starting four WRs were not all playing injured..., 

[SirAndrew]

McKenzie is a gadget player who can play a nice role as a contributor for a good offense. Diggs, Beasley, Davis, and Brown all get touches before McKenzie, with the exception of McKenzie’s sweep type plays, those guys come first. McKenzie will never be a reliable receiver who sees a great deal of playing time. He was banged up in the playoffs, and they probably wanted to go to the other playmakers first. I don’t think McKenzie was the missing piece that stopped us from winning a title. 

[Mark Vader]

14 hours ago, H2o said:

French Vanillaaaa, Rocky Road,

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Cookie Dough

Scoop!!! There it is. Scoop!!! There it is. 

 

 

 

 

 

14 hours ago, Special K said:

 

Can you believe that commercial was on my TV as I was reading this!! Weird!!

Are these guys now more famous in being in this commercial, than for anything else they've done in their career?

[BADOLBILZ]

5 hours ago, 298Woody said:

I think McKenzie is the perfect replacement for Brown if we can keep him. He would be most affective if he was thrown to more downfield to make the jet sweep a surprise and not the only reason he is in the game. He may not be Tyrek Hill but he is dynamic.

 

 

He's not a starting outside WR (X or Z) in the NFL.   Brown may have hit the wall but he was an excellent starting outside receiver in 2019.   McKenzie is just a gadget player with some ability as a slot WR.    McKenzie would be a lot more valuable if he didn't have such a tragic history of fumbling as a return man.   And while he took that one to the house against Miami in the finale.....I am sure that play lost a bit of it's luster to the staff when they saw him bobble the catch.   Ideally you have a gadget guy who can also safely and effectively return kicks so you don't have to have 2 roster spots tied up like the Bills do with McKenzie and Roberts.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

14 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

He's not a starting outside WR (X or Z) in the NFL.   Brown may have hit the wall but he was an excellent starting outside receiver in 2019.   McKenzie is just a gadget player with some ability as a slot WR.    McKenzie would be a lot more valuable if he didn't have such a tragic history of fumbling as a return man.   And while he took that one to the house against Miami in the finale.....I am sure that play lost a bit of it's luster to the staff when they saw him bobble the catch.   Ideally you have a gadget guy who can also safely and effectively return kicks so you don't have to have 2 roster spots tied up like the Bills do with McKenzie and Roberts.

 

I would bet it's not the bobble that scared the coaches, it's the short punt after that (less than a minute left in the game) which he couldn't field, but which damned near hit him on the bounce.  This one:

 

 

 

37 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

Different circumstance, the starting four WRs were not all playing injured..., 

 

So what this tells you is that the coaches feel that Diggs, Beasley, Brown, and Davis, at whatever % they were playing, gave us a better chance to win than McKenzie playing at whatever % he was playing at.

 

The Ravens and especially KC DB were playing very physical. McKenzie has struggled to get open against physical DB play (similar to Brown).

[billsfan89]

2 hours ago, Buftex said:

I think people are underestimating how good Brown is, and maybe overestimating McKenzie a tad.  I like him, but I don't think he is even close to as good as a healthy John Brown.

 

Brown is a very good WR. A quality WR2. His issue is just staying healthy. Even being banged up this season if you added up his 8 starts and prorated them he would have produced about 900 yards and 6 TD's on 66 catches. Really solid numbers. 3 out of the past 5 seasons he has either missed significant time or had his play really impacted by injury. 

 

2016- He played or was available to play in all 16 games but he battled hamstring issues all year and his production dipped. 

2017- He missed 6 games outright and was not very effective in his 5 starts and 10 games played

2018- Pretty much stayed healthy with the Ravens

2019- First year with the Bills and he put together his best season as a pro. 

2020- Missed 7 games outright and was banged up most of the seasons. Somewhat effective when he played but certainly less impactful. 

 

That's not a tragic injury history but Brown will be 31 in April and I am not sure if this team can justify a 9 million dollar cap hit on a guy that has a history of being banged up. I would love to see the Bills and Brown work out a restructure. Maybe give Brown 6-6.5 million guaranteed with 500k in incentives. That would free up 2-3 million in space and keep Brown in the fold for one more year.

[Freddie's Dead]

I call bull#### on the McKittrick was injured story line.  All he does is make plays, time after time.  Yet many are still damning him with faint praise, hinting that he is "unreliable", "fumble-prone" (hasn't fumbled in THREE YEARS!), or other pejoratives.  I am of course a huge McKittrick fanboy, and I would be jet-sweeping him until he pukes.

[Don Otreply]

4 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I would bet it's not the bobble that scared the coaches, it's the short punt after that (less than a minute left in the game) which he couldn't field, but which damned near hit him on the bounce.  This one:

 

 

 

 

So what this tells you is that the coaches feel that Diggs, Beasley, Brown, and Davis, at whatever % they were playing, gave us a better chance to win than McKenzie playing at whatever % he was playing at.

 

The Ravens and especially KC DB were playing very physical. McKenzie has struggled to get open against physical DB play (similar to Brown).

Yes coach thought that playing them injured throughout the playoffs was a better option, but there was no back up plan... IMAC and others could have been sprinkled in especially in the the KC game, but as is said about spilt milk...

 

Go Bills!!!

[Solomon Grundy]

18 hours ago, H2o said:

French Vanillaaaa, Rocky Road,

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Cookie Dough

Scoop!!! There it is. Scoop!!! There it is. 

 

 

 

 

Love that commercial!! Mom and Dad did the Kid n Play

[Buftex]

21 hours ago, billsfan89 said:

 

Brown is a very good WR. A quality WR2. His issue is just staying healthy. Even being banged up this season if you added up his 8 starts and prorated them he would have produced about 900 yards and 6 TD's on 66 catches. Really solid numbers. 3 out of the past 5 seasons he has either missed significant time or had his play really impacted by injury. 

 

2016- He played or was available to play in all 16 games but he battled hamstring issues all year and his production dipped. 

2017- He missed 6 games outright and was not very effective in his 5 starts and 10 games played

2018- Pretty much stayed healthy with the Ravens

2019- First year with the Bills and he put together his best season as a pro. 

2020- Missed 7 games outright and was banged up most of the seasons. Somewhat effective when he played but certainly less impactful. 

 

That's not a tragic injury history but Brown will be 31 in April and I am not sure if this team can justify a 9 million dollar cap hit on a guy that has a history of being banged up. I would love to see the Bills and Brown work out a restructure. Maybe give Brown 6-6.5 million guaranteed with 500k in incentives. That would free up 2-3 million in space and keep Brown in the fold for one more year.

i am inclined to think Brown will re-structure.  I think other guys will too.  Also, 31 isn't as old as it used to be in the NFL.  There are plenty of skill position players who are playing into their mid-30's a high level. 

[BillMafia716ix]

Poor coaching. I was shocked we didn’t get him involved at all in the KC game. Especially versus a squad we needed to score points on. Bills were lethal all season in the redzone when they ran their trickery misdirection plays with McKenzie. 

[machine gun kelly]

I didn’t know McKenzie was injured in the Fins game.  I was wondering why they didn’t use him more as well, or Stills.  It’s over.  We lost.  Moving on.

[blacklabel]

On 3/3/2021 at 6:55 AM, Niagara Bill said:

I believe that sometimes coaches over think that 3 game film stuff. Occasionally a play that may be considered "trick" is thought to be easily identified by formation and therefore is dropped from the playbook for weeks.

I did not think this sweep by Mac was a trick play. 

Coaches become full of themselves with preconceived ideas and they become predictable in their effort to be unpredictable.

 

I'd love to ask a coordinator how they make sure they don't get too wrapped up by the chess match type stuff that happens during the week. Part of their game planning involves trying to predict what the opponent is gonna do. I wonder how they make sure they don't get too overly involved or overly cautious. I read the book "Collision Low Crossers" which was an behind the scenes look at the Jets 2011 season and one chapter talked about a uniquely designed play drawn up by ol' Rexy and Mike Pettine and for weeks they practiced it and would work and so it would go in the game plan but they never once called it in a game. Said they never found the "perfect situation" for it. I guess I can get that but really, how often does a perfect situation come along?

 

Sometimes you just gotta try to roll with stuff. With how Daboll aims to morph the offense from week to week based on opponent, I've often wondered if he's gotten too into his own head and ends up game planning things that don't always play to the strength of his players because he's basing it off who they're facing. I also felt like there were times where they refused to adjust to what the defense would allow and wanted to keep doing their bread and butter.