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notwoz

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    THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - Coach of the Year

    in The Stadium Wall

    Posted

    54 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

    Lately, I’ve been admiring how elegantly good McDermott’s team is. In particular, I’ve been admiring what a special coach McDermott is.

     

    Stop there, just for a moment. I’m not saying McDermott’s perfect, and I’m not here to start a discussion about his strengths and weakness. I’m just looking at the exceptional thing he has done, and comparing it to other coaches and situations around the league.

     

    When McDermott came to Buffalo, he took a team with a 15+-year history of failure, a team that lacked any real leadership at the top. Rex Ryan had left nothing to build on in terms of organization. There was some talent, but the overall talent level was thin.

    McDermott took the team to the playoffs in his first season, suffered through one tough season, and has been in the playoffs every year since. He’s won five straight division titles. That’s a truly amazing coaching job.

     

    “A brutal loss, a volatile locker room, and weird Zoom: Inside the Bears’ firing of Matt Eberflus.” That’s how ESPN introduces a recent lead story. Think about how much different the Bears organization is, right now, compared to the Bills. Think about the dysfunction at the Jets.

     

    McDermott took a team in turmoil, turmoil not unlike what Chicago and the Jets (and several other teams, too) are in these days, and immediately took them to the playoffs. He took one year to get Josh Allen acclimated to playing in the NFL, now he has a team that is a solid favorite to make the playoffs every year. 

     

    McDermott’s excellence is seen not just in his record. It’s apparent in how his players play. They are focused on their jobs and they do them as well as they can, play after play. They block together on offense, they play integrated defense. They may get beaten on a play every now and then – that happens to everyone, but they don’t confuse assignments, they aren’t out of position, and they don’t run from contact.

     

    Look at how they run the quarterback sneak. The Bills are behind only the Eagles in efficiency on that play. Yes, it helps to have a strong, athletic quarterback who, if he weren’t the ball carrier, is big enough to be one of the pushers. Watch instead how the interior linemen always get the push needed for the first down. That’s not easy to do, but the Bills have developed that skill.

     

    Look at the way the linebackers and defensive backs cover the entire field. Yes, they give up completions, but they’re rarely out of position. Being in position means at least they can make the tackle, occasionally they can defend the pass, and occasionally they even can intercept. And their spacing is so good that often it’s not a one-on-one tackle, because a second tackler arrives quickly, then a third. That’s quality defensive play.

     

    The Browns-Broncos game on Monday showed two teams who are executing at a much lower level than the Bills. Those teams have some good athletes who fly around and make plays, but they lack the consistent excellence the Bills play with. Quarterbacks often fail to understand the defense, make inaccurate throws, take unnecessary sacks. Receivers’ routes leave them closely covered, and the receivers fail to fight for receptions. Defenders are out of position, don’t pursue, don’t gang tackle. Those teams aren’t executing because they aren’t coached to execute at that level.

     

    The Bills are executing a plan for a team, not for a collection of players. The players have learned the plan, and newcomers to the team learn the plan within a year or two. Look at Taylor Rapp: A year ago, he wasn’t the stud that I had hoped he would become. He made some plays, but he also missed plays, too. It took him a year to work into the defense. Now, Rapp seems always to be where he needs to be. He understands his role, and he understands that he can trust his teammates to understand and execute theirs. Executing that role allows Rapp’s skills to come out. I’ve been impressed all season by his tackling, and there was none better than his shoe-string play on McCaffrey on Sunday night, except maybe the forced fumble on the goal line later.

     

    The Bills execute at an extremely high level, and that is happening because Sean McDermott teaches everyone – the coaches and the players and all of the supporting cast – to do their jobs at a high level. It began the season he arrived, and he’s been raising the Bills’ level of play ever since.

     

    McDermott’s done an impressive job, and he hasn’t finished.

     

    GO BILLS!!!

     

    The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were every-day people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full day’s hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.

    Amen!!!

    Around the NFL Week 4

    in The Stadium Wall

    Posted

    23 minutes ago, Draconator said:

    Kyler Murray looks like a mouse caught in a mouse trap when running

    Last fall I had an issue with mice in our garage. It took a few weeks to eliminate the rodents, but one result stuck in my mind. The mouse moved the trap about three feet from when I set it before succumbing. Must have been an unpleasant experience.

    Tommorow's games....

    in The Stadium Wall

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

    Nobody interested in Giants v Commanders??? Lol

    I live in the Washington metro market, so I get this game by default. But I did renew my Sunday Ticket subscription, so I will be able to watch something watchable.

    Do you prefer to watch the Bills game live at a stadium or on your TV?

    in The Stadium Wall

    Posted

    I haven't been to a Bills home game since 1981. And frankly as TV and audio technology have improved, I'm quite content watching games from the comfort of my La Z Boy recliner. (I don't recall tailgating being such a big thing back then.)  

     

    When I first started dating my wife, her parents had season tickets. One day, they couldn't go and gave us their tickets.

     

    When we got to our seats, about halfway up Section 134, I could scarcely believe it. The seats were great, high enough that you could see the plays develop, but not so far away that the players looked like ants. I just looked up to the heavens and said, "YES!"

     

    But Murphy's Law kicked in, my wife and I moved to the Washington DC area after the following season, and not long after, my in-laws sold their tickets.

    Russell Wilson Released

    in The Stadium Wall

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, Warcodered said:

    Pretty bad is a bit of an understatement the number of picks and cap hit they've taken from this whole thing probably put it as a contender for worst one of all time.

    The trade led to three Cowboys Super Bowl Titles: 92, 93 and 95. That trade was before the cap. 

    • Like (+1) 1

    Russell Wilson Released

    in The Stadium Wall

    Posted

    2 hours ago, wppete said:

    Possibly the worst trade of all time. The amount of money and  assets traded for him was insane and he did absolutely nothing for denver. 

    This was a pretty bad trade, but I think the Cowboys-Vikings trade involving Herschel Walker was one of the NFL's worst.

    • Like (+1) 1
    • Agree 1
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