Why is this team, and staff, so dumb?

[BullBuchanan]

It's simple: McDermott is in the bottom tier of mediocre coaches. He's a great culture and clubhouse guy, but he's a bad gameday coach and a poor talent evaluator. If he didn't have Josh Allen, he would have been out of a job years ago.

I hope Ted Lasso pays him a residual because I'm fairly certain he's the inspiration for the title character.

[JGMcD2]

2 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

It's simple: McDermott is in the bottom tier of mediocre coaches. He's a great culture and clubhouse guy, but he's a bad gameday coach and a poor talent evaluator. If he didn't have Josh Allen, he would have been out of a job years ago.

I hope Ted Lasso pays him a residual because I'm fairly certain he's the inspiration for the title character.

Let’s see these tiers… 

[jlgarsh]

3 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Back to the opening question. This coaching staff, IMO, is the most bullheaded, egotistical staff I've seen in a while. The dumbass fakes on 4th and short really fooled the Bucs 😳. Josh Norman being in uniform while their 1st round pick is inactive 😳. They try to run a play with time running down to end the 3rd qtr and your QB takes a sack losing field position 😳. 

Eh, at least Norman plays special teams well. 

3 hours ago, Simon said:

 

I swear when we first lined up in gun on that 3rd down, I immediately felt the collective anguish of 1,000,000 Bills fans like Obi Wan feeling a great disturbance in the force.

Twitter lit up in that moment

[MJS]

3 hours ago, Franco_92 said:

I could make an identical list from any good team's one-score win this year. Easily. Trivially. Twice as long. The context isn't that the Bills were perfect, it's that this is NFL football, and there are very few NFL football games that don't look like this. And the Bills are historically overrepresented in the games that are as flawless as we demand - massive blowout victories. No team in history, or very few, have done that with the frequency of the Bills of these last 4 years. 39% of their games in this struggle-session of a season have been exactly that! 

Dude, don't even try. You're just banging your head against the wall and you'll get nowhere. 

 

This place is far gone. I'm seriously thinking of leaving for good. It's such a shame.

[Freak-O]

Why they all are so dumb? I think they’re just trying really, really hard to adapt to the fan base to be honest. 😄

[Crunchem]

5 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Back to the opening question. This coaching staff, IMO, is the most bullheaded, egotistical staff I've seen in a while. The dumbass fakes on 4th and short really fooled the Bucs 😳. Josh Norman being in uniform while their 1st round pick is inactive 😳. They try to run a play with time running down to end the 3rd qtr and your QB takes a sack losing field position 😳. 

Agree with the dumb 4th and short fakes, fools no one. Empty backfield on the goal line is incomprehensible. run no counters at all. Remember Thurman running the counter? 

[Repulsif]

6 hours ago, WotAGuy said:

The game was scripted for the Bills to win; McD was tasked with making it look close. Mission accomplished.  
#NFLisrigged

late in the 4th, tv showed Diggs and Allen disussing on the side line, they were calm, Allen had a questionning face, and I'm sure Diggs told him "don't worry we'll win this game but it must look close for Vegas, that's why they'll do a 2pt conv plus the 4th downs flags"

[Billsfan1972]

If ever there was a game to right the ship and show your dominance it is Thursday night at home, versus an inferior opponent.  Yep they won, but again too many little things where they did not execute. 

[Roundybout]

5 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Jordan's dumba ss face mask when he's already stopped Baker ranks right up there.  So many missed tackles. 2 nice returns by Harty negated by penalties. We should've put this game to bed 31-10.  Penalties are 100% on a lack of coaching discipline. That's on McD.

I think it’s just who Phillips us - a dumbass hype man 

5 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

It's simple: McDermott is in the bottom tier of mediocre coaches. He's a great culture and clubhouse guy, but he's a bad gameday coach and a poor talent evaluator. If he didn't have Josh Allen, he would have been out of a job years ago.

I hope Ted Lasso pays him a residual because I'm fairly certain he's the inspiration for the title character.

Let’s see your tiers then!

[dave mcbride]

6 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

3rd and inches AND 4th and inches. TWO cracks from the half yard line, and we line up shotgun both times. Dont get. Leave 7 points on the board. Disgusting.

They lost a yard on 3rd down, so on 4th they were 1.5 yards from the end zone. Kind of a passing situation there.

[Bigantall]

7 hours ago, Bermuda Triangle said:

Why must the same mistakes be made over and over and over again?  Is there any accountability for the players and coaches?

 

Examples:

1. Gabe Davis fumbles against NYG 2 weeks ago, because he failed to shift the ball from his inside hand to outside hand.  He did the same thing today, in the second quarter.  This is basic, fundamental football.

2. Taron Johnson:  how many weeks in a row has he committed a crucial penalty on 3rd or 4th down?

3.  How many times does McDermott need to see Taron Johnson get beat on the same play in the end zone?

4. Dorsey, and his affinity for the shotgun on 3rd and short plays, deep in enemy territory.  Second time in 3 weeks.  

5. The horrible job on the Hail Mary - again.  Got burned on Hail Murray, and almost inexplicably, the very next week (maybe the Chargers?)

6. Dumb penalties, poor tackling and lack of discipline.

 

Why did McDermott have the offense take its foot off of the gas after the score became 24-10?  With this defense - its lack of playmakers and anemic pass rush - the margin of error will be thin, so it's imperative that the offense score early AND often.  This game shouldn't have been close.  

You couldn't have written this anymore eloquently 

[Matt_In_NH]

They have lucked into winning the second most games the last 3 and a half years and have the highest point differential over that time.  All things revert to the mean, dark days ahead

[Solomon Grundy]

Chris Canty says it ALL on Get Up!! 

[Bookie Man]

7 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

I mean this is semantics at this point…the ball did not get there when Godwin expected it or he completely lost it in the air..  from experience tracking a ball that’s way up there in a night game of baseball/football/whatever is harder than it looks 

 

my general point is it’s a stretch to say that Hail Mary almost worked when the guy getting the ball thrown to him had absolutely no idea where it was 

The reason Godwin didn't catch it, is because he wasn't looking for it. Not because of how high the ball was in the air. We had THREE guys boxing out Mike Evans towards the back of the endzone, leaving a an area open right where Godwin was standing. Had he looked up a 1/2 second earlier he catches it like a punt returner. Maybe the easiest Hail Mary touchdown ever. Watch Aaron Rodgers Hail Mary highlights. Every time he throws it just as high as Baker did. And Rodgers has the highest HM success rate, iirc. 

[sunshynman]

9 hours ago, Simon said:

 

We sound more like entitled asshats at times, that's for sure.

Imagine how bad we'll be if we ever actually win a Super Bowl. 

Some would still find a way to complain! 

 

I don't care if it came down to the last play and we get luck! If we win the SB that is all that matters!

[nedboy7]

7 hours ago, MJS said:

Dude, don't even try. You're just banging your head against the wall and you'll get nowhere. 

 

This place is far gone. I'm seriously thinking of leaving for good. It's such a shame.

 

While there are some great posters here, overall this is now a place where people come to take their frustrations about life, out on the team.  The endless name calling and hate for the team is pathological. 

[Ramza86]

11 hours ago, Franco_92 said:

It is absolutely insane that Bills fans think there is something uniquely horrifying about the way their team wins games. It makes every place you can go to read about the Bills on the internet completely insufferable. 

 

Tonight is a game that looked EXACTLY like the VAST MAJORITY of games (especially Thursday games) between a good team and a decent team. This was an ARCHETYPE of an NFL football game. And your team won! ***** enjoy it! Holy *****! 

I do agree with this.....but man.......this team is playing way below their standard. Its ugly stuff.

[msw2112]

I'm happy the Bills got an important win.  There were many positives, but here are a few:

 

1.  The offense was much better than in recent weeks.  Getting the ball to the open guy is the right thing to do.  Sure, Diggs' stats took a hit (he's on my fantasy team), but it was great to see Davis, Shakir, and Kincaid having great games.  It will make the Bills much more difficult to defend.  Cook ran the ball effectively when his number was  called.

 

2.  The defense played better.  Given all the injuries, I thought they performed better than they did last week.  While they gave up a late TD and a 2 point conversion, and allowed Tampa to get into position for a Hail Mary, they contained Tampa for most of the game and Tampa got a lot of help on inadvertent penalties.  I disagree with those who say that Phillips' penalty was a dumb play that warrants cutting him.  Have any of those folks every played the game?  Things happen very fast in real time.  Phillips was just trying to tackle Mayfield and his hand got inadvertently caught up in the facemask.  He couldn't even see where his hand was at the time.  Unfortunate, yes.  Intentional/stupid?  No.

 

3.  Special teams was better.  Bass did not miss any kicks and Harty had a breakout game as a punt returner.  Harty was MUCH better than he has shown all season and he did so on multiple occasions.

 

Also a few negatives:

 

1.  The offense played a bit too conservatively late in the game.  They didn't score a point after the midpoint of the 3rd quarter.  They should have gone for it on at least one of the late 4th downs to put Tampa away.  The depleted defense can't be relied on and it almost backfired.  Tampa had a legitimate chance on the Hail Mary.

 

2.  McDermott's use of timeouts on defense is baffling.  He consistently gives a harried offense, with time running down on them, a chance to regroup and get settled.  It usually costs the Bills.  It gives me flashbacks of 13 seconds.

 

3.  The goal line offense.  Take a couple of shots at a QB sneak.  "Tush push" or not, Allen is a big strong guy who can get a yard or less a very high percentage of the time.  Even if you get stuffed once, chances are they're not going to stop it twice.

 

So, overall, I'm happy with the win, but see room for improvement in the game management.  I'm not ready to fire anyone or put them on the hot seat, but hope they trust the process if the process means evaluating their own decisions and making improvements in the future.

[BullBuchanan]

12 hours ago, Franco_92 said:

I could make an identical list from any good team's one-score win this year. Easily. Trivially. Twice as long. The context isn't that the Bills were perfect, it's that this is NFL football, and there are very few NFL football games that don't look like this. And the Bills are historically overrepresented in the games that are as flawless as we demand - massive blowout victories. No team in history, or very few, have done that with the frequency of the Bills of these last 4 years. 39% of their games in this struggle-session of a season have been exactly that! 

The difference, and the bit of critical importance, is in the why. Teams miss plays or struggle with situational assignments every week, even future Super Bowl champions. No one is disputing that. When teams and players struggle the same way, for the same reasons year over year that's not at all the same thing as KC barely escaping with a win against the Jets or Vikings or SF dropping two games in a row to big underdogs.

When we get sent home in January (or earlier), you can pretend to be surprised or think we were just one or two plays away, but the story of what will happen this winter was started years ago and this chapter was written in the offseason both by the Bills' action and inaction.

[5ths the charm]

12 hours ago, Franco_92 said:

I am as surprised that a 14 point late 4th quarter lead turned into a 6 point 4th quarter lead against a decent but not great team tonight, as I was when Denver had the ball down one score late in the 4th quarter against KC two weeks ago, yes. Or that Houston took them to OT last year. Because I watch NFL football. This was an NFL football game, that the Bills won. Like all NFL teams in all NFL games, they have a lot they can work on, but unlike some teams, they won the game, and unlike most teams in the entire history of the league, the Bills get an obscene number of blowout wins that fans have decided are the only acceptable way to experience an NFL game. 

Hand it over, I'm having a blast! 

 

Unless that means you're gonna warn me. Please don't I will behave I"m sorry!!

Maybe its because us fans that are older have seen this happen before.  A good indicator of the future is the past.  It doesn't mean we don't care, it means we care too much and don't want to just say "keep trying".  We need innovators, unpredictability and swagger.  Not safety, timidity or same ole same ole.