Magox

Step by step. This year it’s clear that they purposely have put him in the game manager sort of role. The idea is to let the defense hold teams down, have a strong ground game and limit Allen’s mistakes. I get that isn’t where Allen will thrive in this league but that was and is the plan for this year. Next year when Allen shows even more growth in camp and preseason Daboll will loosen the shackles even more. I am very confident of that.

It definitely was on the defense. They seemed to have Vanilla pass rush packages. Very few blitzes or stunts. Of course NE’s effective as on the ground helped that happen but even on some obvious passing downs the Bills weren’t able to bring the heat. Brady was way too comfortable back there. Also the run defense was steam rolled, way too many missed tackles. A disappointing defensive performance. No doubt NE deserves a lot of credit, they finally played a game this year with an identity and their run game kept the defense so off balance that the play action killed them. Hats off to their scheme and that was on the coaches. But all the missed tackles is totally on the players and was very uncharacteristic from this defense. I don’t believe we will see that happen again over the next few games for the Bills.

Josh Allen is getting closer and closer to fully arriving. Aside from giving up a sack or two that he could have thrown the ball away his decision making was superb. He took care of the ball very well against a tough team to do so and his visualization of the field and decisions on where to throw the ball were spot on. He showed toughness on his runs and they were crucial and meaningful runs that contributed to the offense. His deep passes were fantastic, in which that throw to Brown was a thing of beauty. Not only was he being heavily pressured but he stepped back a couple steps just enough to get the ball off so that he wouldn’t get sacked and made that throw while doing so. That was one for the high light reels. He had at least 4 throws to Beasley that were impressive. The one on the final drive throwing across his body, he had another one where he threw it away from the defender sandwiched between two defenders, the side armed throw that led to a big gain up the middle and a beautiful sideline ball for about 14 yards. These were all big boy throws. With that said, he needs to be more consistent, he had 4 missed throws from my count, two to Knox that would have resulted in touchdowns, most importantly on the final drive, the 2nd down throw. He needs to learn that if his receiver has a step or two on his defender and has one on one coverage that it’s ok to slightly under throw it. Obviously try to hit it on the run but to error on the side of being slightly under thrown. When the receiver has a step or two on the defender he has a huge advantage, the defender is running for his life looking at the receiver and is unable to locate where the ball is, he’s essentially going to defend where the receivers hands are and keep his arms up where as the receiver is looking back at the ball and can play the ball. They need to teach him this and practice these scenarios over and over with him. Mechanics and these play situations are what he needs to work on. The mechanics will help clean up the inconsistent overthrows on those dig, post and crossing patterns that we see him too often do. And just mentally having him recognize that it’s ok to slightly under throw some of these other deep balls is ok to. Give your guy a chance to make the play. Overall, considering a hostile playoff environment, a prepared patriot team against one of the best defenses the NFL has seen over the past decade, Josh Allen made big strides. Had a QB rating of 103 and made lots of big plays to help the team. The loss hurts and I’m sure Josh Allen will be thinking about that Knox missed pass but they shouldn’t be ashamed. If anything the defense was out schemed and missed tons of tackles. The Bills are oh so close to being the best team in the division and I’m excited to see what happens in the playoffs.

No offense. But a testimonial doesn’t mean much to me. Specially when I have seen plenty of people’s body of work to form my own opinion. And everything you cited was conduct outside the football field. Which is exactly why I said that “culture” isn’t just about being a Boy Scout. All those guys you mentioned were competitors and they brought it every single day.

There is an old guard on this board where there are a circle of posters who all pat each other on the back and believe themselves to be “experts”, they are no such thing. They have been wrong about their football analysis time and time again.

No he doesn’t. And did you even read what I typed?

Again, you seem to misunderstand “culture”. There are many flavors of culture and a team full of boy scouts is not the only or for that matter most determinant form that indicates an enduring successful organization. Its a mindset more than anything. You simply don’t get it. It’s too abstract for you to wrap your head around.

Josh gets it! Love his responses and ever since the loss to Miami last year, I’ve been convinced that he is our franchise QB and will ultimately will be our QB a decade from now with many playoff appearances and at least a couple championship appearances.

I have nothing against A Lynn and I’m not going to bash him. What I have a problem with and this discussion is going on in multiple threads is that some people are making the argument that the Bills could have made some minor tweaks and have had the success that we have had and implying their outlook would be equally rosy. This completely dismisses the concept of culture building and building the organization with the men they want to build the team with and not with the players from the previous regime. Some people think they just cut the players from the previous regime simply just to cut them. That’s not how it works, they do their evaluations and from there determine whether they are a fit. Its crazy to me that people are even making an argument that this wasn’t the right approach lol

“Wound” is uhhh, not a good description. And the very thought that you characterize my reasons as “irrelevant” is uhhhh, well..... Let’s just say that I disagree and that is putting it mildly. And just because you say “period”, doesn’t make it so. And It wasn’t a wound it was a necessary action from their point of view that was at the very essence and core of their rebuild. They didn’t want those players and some people are having a very hard time getting that very fact. They didn’t want those players. They didn’t see those players as fitting into their plans. It’s not a wound because they Saw the moves as a positive, a positive not just for the long term outlook and of the team but more importantly towards building the locker room culture which was so important for at that time fledgling regime. A critical component to building that culture is buy in from the players and they from my view rightly didn’t think some of those guys fit into their plans.

Reread What I wrote again and get back to me

Of course it wasn’t the ONLY alternative but it was the one they chose because they wanted to build it their way with their players with their culture. They did it THEIR way and their way has shown to be a really really good way. In regards to this cap talk that it was self-induced is shallow. It’s shallow because it lacks complete and total context. Technically it was self-induced in some manners because they did shed players that contributed to dead cap weight, but the players they shed were players they didn’t want. For whatever reason some of you are having a very hard time understanding that basic concept. THEY DID NOT WANT THOSE GUYS. They wanted to save the money and get draft choices in return and bring in players that they wanted to build this team with.

Dare to dream!

Dare to dream!

Oh C'mon! It makes too much sense. McD was a DB coach....Jauron was a DB coach.... McD punted the ball that one time, remember?...... So did Jauron. McD is Jauron....Jauron is McD... And Beane is the one who traded Sammy, we could have had the greatest decoy of all time! And he traded Dareus and Dareus was a stable player! But noooooo! Beane had to trade them, screwed up the salary cap and now we are in this mess!!! pffffff

Yeah, but McDermott is too conservative and Beane actually set us back because he is the one who actually created the salary cap mess. We could have still had Sammy Watkins and Marcel. Just imagine how good we would have been if we still had those guys. Just imagine how good we would be if McDermott wasn’t so conservative always playing Jauronball. We got lucky!

Offer Jordan Phillips a 5 year $55M with $30m guaranteed and he signs Offer Shaq a 5 year $45m with $25m guaranteed and he signs both signings would make this organization better.

Having the “culture” is not a white or black concept. Every team has some level of “culture” and the teams with the more enduring success don’t all have the same flavor of “culture”. The argument isn’t whether or not a team has it, it’s what sort of culture are you instilling and will it lead to enduring success on the football field. The Bills have their vision of what it looks like and truth be told I don’t believe it’s whether or not the player is a Boy Scout, I think it has more to do with whether or not they can buy in to what you are selling, be part of the family they are creating and work hard to achieve the teams goals. As the team and organization begins to establish that culture they can deviate somewhat and add some players that are more talented to be a part of that culture because they believe that the organization can survive it, similar to the Patriots.

That would only make sense if you don't buy into the "culture" talk. This completely dismisses that element. It's an abstract concept which is why it is easily dismissed by some. The Bills didn't want Sammy Watkins for a number of reasons and I think we can now pretty much all reasonably agree that they made the correct decision with him. They did the same with Marcell, which is another decision that has borne out to be the correct decision. They wanted to build the team their way. Their way meaning they wanted their guys that they believed that fit into the mold of the team that they wanted to do. I have no problem and never did and said as much over the past few years. Philosophically I was all on board. The question was, could they actually assemble the team, talent and buy in to pull it off. So far, that is a resounding yes! This organization still knows that there is much more work to do and little by little they are building the team the way they envisioned and thankfully the Pegula's have given them the space to do so. Next year, they will add another play maker on offense and my guess is that in one form or another they will go after another blue chip defender and a few other guys that fit the mold of players they want. Meaning that the team, barring injuries will be better than the one they have right now, specially considering the thought that Allen will be even more improved next year. He'll have another offseason to continue working on his mechanics and of course the game will continue to slow down for him. McD/Beane are proving their doubters wrong and I have no doubt in my mind that they will continue to lead the Bills to multiple future playoff appearances and will lead this franchise to at least a couple Championship games. This team is being built for January football.

The biggest difference between Whaley and Beane (which there are many) is that Whaley saw his role as someone who could build a team through the prism of “collecting talent” a myopic singularly focused means to GM’ing, whereas Beane’s outlook to GM’ing involves many more facets primarily team building, fitting their culture/identity, cap management all while obtaining talent. I have been a huge supporter of both McD/Beane from day one. I listened to their philosophies and observed how they have gone about doing things, specially some of the more unpopular ones and knew that they were the right ones for this organization to turn it all around. My belief in them has never wavered.

That was an insightful article, thanks for sharing. Some of the comments from the players were not your standard cookie cutter obligatory ones that players say when they are about to face an opponent. These were heart felt and they truly seem to get the essence of what This Buffalo team is about. Definitely admiration from their side.

It was lazy narrative that was promoted by a few, “Jauronball”. McD is a defensive coach - Jauron was a defensive coach. McD cut his teeth with his specialty with DB’s, Jauron did the same. McD had a perceived tendency to play it safe, Jauron as well. Put that all together and you get “Jauronball” How easy, yet a lazy analysis. McD’s defense is far more complex than Jauron’s and truth be told considerably better. in relation to their offensive game management style, McD plays to his players abilities, the offense didn’t have much in regard for to capabilities therefore many of the decisions reflected that. As the offense has gotten better with more talent they have played with more aggression. Jauron wouldn’t have gone for the 4th down on the first scoring drive against Pittsburgh, which turned out to be an important decision that helped the Bills with the victory. McD has gone for lots of 4th down plays this year, much more than I can remember than with Jauron. Not to mention that the offense has converted lots more third and Longs than I can remember. or the aggression that the Bills play with when they are playing out of their own 5 yard line. or the play call where Allen hits Kroft for the TD. Under a Jauron inspired team that may have been a play it safe play and go for FG. McD is the real deal, what he brings to this team is A culture discipline, toughness, focus, family, fundamentals, motivation and knowing how to play sound football.

We should have drafted DK Metcalf

No You treat this game exactly the way you treat every game which is to devise a game plan that you believe can defeat the opponent and work on becoming more efficient. If Josh Allen was a little more accurate on about 3-4 of his passes and the receivers hadn’t have dropped 4 passes and Motor hadn’t have fumbled the Steelers game wouldn’t have been close. lots of IF’S there which is exactly the point. Focus on the execution and efficiency, that’s the difference of us being a one and done or one win playoff team to being a championship caliber one.

I just have a really good feeling about this Sunday. The Bills will be playing loose and with confidence knowing they’ve already clinched a playoff spot. They will prepare and practice hard for the week knowing they have a shot to finally knock off the Patriots and possibly win the division. How awesome would it be not just to win but go into the final week of the year playing the Jets at home and hoping that Fitzpatrick defeats the Patriots helping the Bills get to the playoffs.