Utah John

Oh God Phillips what are you doing?

Allen didn't drop the second down pass to Diggs. It was right where it needed to be for Diggs to make a first down.

The only reason the Bills didn't keep Singletary (and why they drafted Cook a year ahead of Singletary's departure) is that Singletary's rookie contract was expiring, and the Bills don't want to pay the going rate for top-notch veterans. Like most other teams, the Bills use rookie contracts for RBs to balance the books.

It's an all of the above situation. Both Singletary and Moss were playing in an offense where everything was geared towards the passing game, and the O line was usually somewhere between terrible and mediocre. I have no idea how good the O lines in Indy or Texas are, but since Indy has been leaning on Jonathan Taylor for production, I'll assume that at least Indy's line has been developed to block for the run. I'm glad for both of them as players and as men. They're both in a situation where they have a better chance to thrive.

Essentially Dorsey accomplished what no NFL defensive coordinator was able to do for the past four years: he stopped the Bills offense. But since it was clear that Dorsey wasn't getting the job done, it fell to the guy in charge, Sean McDermott, to step in and get things right. And I think McD's repeated failures either to fix problems, or to own up for mistakes or problems, is what's eating out this team from the inside out. Time and again, something goes wrong with the Bills, and McD NEVER takes the blame publicly. This is exactly wrong. The players won't respect a man as a coach if they don't respect the coach as a man. And when the players see McD continually blaming the coaches on his staff, or the players, each time it happens a little more respect bleeds away. And now the Bills are bled dry. All McD had to do to prevent this or to fix it, was to stand up after another botched play, and say, boy that was bad and it's on me. Thirteen seconds, and 12 men, are now code words for McD's failures, and what happened is he fired the ST coordinator and the offensive coordinator. At this point I think it's too late even if he starts taking the blame for things, especially things we and the players all know were not his fault. If the Bills window closes, it'll be because McD is still the HC. He needs to be gone.

So if Frazier really did just want to take a year off, and step away, exactly what is he doing to prepare to step back in? Does he have contacts with McBeane about how he'll transition back into the team? HAHAHA He quit but didn't quit the Bills. Now McDermott has to decide whether to bring in a new DC, when he's actually the best DC candidate available. But who's going to be the HC? Maybe Frazier! Maybe a complete role reversal is the way to get the team back on track. It's pretty clear that McDermott has lost the team, but the D still loves him.

I just watched it. You should try again.

Dorsey acted like the offense was the Josh Allen show, and the entire plan seemed designed to make Allen the star. That made Allen too easy to stop.

Perhaps, reading between the lines, it comes down to whether it was worth blowing another game to yet another weaker opponent (Pats, Jets, almost Giants and Bucs) in a season that's clearly a lost cause, just to get rid of a bad coordinator. I think it was, as long as this stops the bleeding and lets the team re-find its identity, the feeling it had two or three years ago. If it doesn't, then Beane needs to fire McDermott at the end of the season, and if Beane won't do that, for Pegula to fire Beane in time for someone competent at drafting to grab the reins. The 2022 or even the 2023 Bills would be 8-2 or better against the schedule they've played, looking ahead to the gauntlet of tough teams and figuring out how to get home field through the playoffs. Last year's team roared back to steal a game in Baltimore last year. This year's team, and roaring, don't align. Dorsey spent almost all of last year in 11 personnel. When he DID have a healthy DK1 and DK2 TEs on the field at the same time, he had no idea how to use them, and the Jets stifled Josh and the rest of the offense.

All those plays contributed to the loss. But Dorsey wasn't fired for one loss. He was fired for being really bad at his job. Opposing defenses figured out last year how to slow down or stop Josh, and it's the OC's responsibility to figure out how to counter that. He never has. Let's see what someone else can do, someone with more experience and fresher ideas.

Exactly. The problem is bad drafting, not Josh's contract.

The only play I'll fault him for in this game was on the fumble where Josh dropped the ball instead of putting it in Cook's gut. The fumble spilled out toward the right sideline, where Diggs had the best shot at it. He dove so that he could have grabbed the ball with his right hand. But the Broncos defender went for the ball like he really really wanted it, and Diggs lost out. He also had one target where the pass was pretty bad and still Diggs made a great effort to catch it, but couldn't make up for the poor throw.

I was with you until you mentioned Bieniemy. That guy's a cancer.

That's right. Beane had a long-term plan to turn the Bills into a dynasty, which required very strong drafting and using draft picks as inexpensive roster players. And required NOT going out and blowing money on a FA. The reason they went out and got Miller and spent all that money on him, was the 13 seconds game, when the current pass rushers couldn't get to Mahomes. (And that loss is on McDermott.) So McDermott wanted a closer to rush the passer. So Beane broke his own rule and paid Miller. But even if Miller was still playing well, Beane's plan still fell apart because of his very spotty record drafting players. The reason the Bills' window is closing (already has closed, possibly) isn't Josh's contract. It's dozens of small, bad decisions and a few whoppers.

It's the other way around -- the coach has lost this team -- but I think that's what you meant.

Beane's, obviously. Instead of drafting one of the great young WRs, he picked Boogie Basham and Kaiir Elam. Instead of picking up a great WR as a FA, he signed Von Miller to a huge contract (which sounded great for a while, but geez he's not very good now), and spent a fortune on Dawson Knox before drafting Kincaid. It's like there's no plan, no philosophy about holding together a team and continuing to make it better.

To be fair, Wilson doesn't play like a washed up QB. He plays like a guy who doesn't have much arm left but who knows how to avoid pressure, move the chains and get wins. Wilson was the difference in this game that both teams seemed determined to lose.

What I saw was that when Cook was playing, the offense came to life. Cook took the plays where Murray got a short gain, and gashed the defense.

I'm not going to defend Davis on his receiving, which I acknowledge is his main job, but I will point out that he's really good at downfield blocking. I don't think he's ever going to get better at finding holes in zones or at route running, and his drops and his poor YAC also work against him. But the powers that be seem to like having him out there. Possibly because there's no feasible alternative.

No I'm not. I think Cook has been getting better and better, and was ready to light it up against a poor Denver D. He could have had 150 yards or more if he'd been left in.

Actually closer to 3-7. Probably deserved to lose to the Bucs and Giants.

Murray did a good job. Cook was on fire.

The only way I can explain that screwup is that the Bills were determined to lose, and so were the Broncos, and we won! Winning being losing in this case.

The main reason the Bills are struggling this year is that they've lost half their defense to injuries. Plain and simple. The Bills D was built around the unique talents of Milano, and also relied on half a dozen other excellent players, all of whom are sidelined. The problems with the offense are largely due to coaching. Other teams figured out how to slow or stop Josh, and they all copy-cat those approaches. It's up to Dorsey to figure out how to recognize and attack the opposing defenses when they try that.

Yeah, you would. As would almost all of us. The NFL's betting that the fan disgust level can keep going up forever and they still won't lose a significant number of fans. Tell the truth. If you're watching a game not involving the Bills, and the refs pull one of their magic game-altering penalties, your reaction like mine is, wow that's a bad call now let's watch the next play. It's only when the Bills are involved that we really lose it. A $60 ticket for someone scraping by on $50K is much more impactful penalty. Allen is so far from needing to worry about making the rent or the electric bill that almost any fine is just annoying. So I think you're right, that Allen cares less about the fine than many fans do.