hondo in seattle

You might be right but let me make some observations before asking you something. There are two basic offensive systems in the NFL: Erhardt-Perkins and West Coast. I've heard coaches and players say all NFL teams run, more-or-less, the same plays. So there are two basic playbooks: E-P and West Coast. And there's a lot of overlap between the two. Coordinators tweak and combine ideas as they feel appropriate to create their own syncretic scheme. But no coordinator is filling a playbook with plays no one has seen before based on an offensive strategy no one has considered before. When Kurt Warner, for example, diagnoses Bills film, he knows & understands the play he's reviewing because he ran the same play (or one very similar) when he played. He knows what it's designed to do and how it's supposed to be executed. So what is Brady's real offense? What is he going to do schematically different next year that he couldn't do this year? What plays will he use that weren't in this year's playbook?

I have no idea if this is good news or not. His resume is a little thin. But he did an impressive job with the LBs this year. He may be an up-and-coming coaching superstar. Or he might be a bum. I'll trust 'the process' and hope for the best. In any case, we'll still see Sean McDermott's defense on the field next year and that's mostly a good thing. Because he likes McDermott and thinks this is a great opportunity to learn how to be a successful DC?

I have no idea what that means but it sounds musically intelligent.

I disagree. Josh has bad games sometimes when the receivers just aren't getting open. The opposing DC might have something to do with that. And he has bad games sometimes when he's under duress. Again, the DC is part of that. Of course, there are other games when the DC seems to have a competent game plan, but Josh succeeds anyway because of his ability to make unlikely plays.

If I was a coach, I'd want Von, too. But signing players to sensible contracts is the GM's responsibility and I hold Beane accountable for both the good & bad that's come out of Von's signing. I was iffy about Von's signing when it happened. It wasn't that I didn't like Von as a player. I do. But I worried about the opportunity cost. Who else could we have signed with that $120 million? We have so many needs and if we hadn't sent an armored car full of cash to Von, we could have signed some real contributors. Since the signing, the deal has only looked worse with Von's injury. Injuries to players Von's age are hardly unusual and should have been expected.

I didn't see a lot from Brady to overwhelm me with confidence either. But I'm hoping he makes some meaningful additions to the coaching staff. We need a good QB coach. And hopefully somebody who has some genius for scheming up a passing game. I also hope that Brady rewrites/modifies the playbook and finds ways to get the team to execute at a higher level. The one thing I've heard multiple times about Brady that I like is that he's very collaborative. He asks his subordinate coaches and players for input. It seems obvious but from what I've heard and read, not all OCs do this. I'm hoping that the offensive coaches working together can come up with a better offense that maximizes Josh's potential and puts bucketloads of points on the board.

Spending a lot of cap money on two players - White and Miller - that aren't contributing is a serious problem. This isn't McD's fault. You could say it's Beane's fault, especially with Von. Paying that much money for a guy in his 30s was risky. Tre is just bad luck.

I get this. But Bass, the kid, is hurting. He just cost his teammates, and the Bills mafia, a chance to go to the AFCCG. It's gotta suck. By supporting his charity, we're supporting a young man who tried his best but came up short. And we're showing the team that they have our support even when things go bad. We're proving to the NFL that Bills fans are special. Thousands cheered Scott Norwood when he returned from the first SB. Now we're supporting Tyler Bass. Normal fan bases don't behave this way. We're not normal. We're the Bills mafia. We're more rabid than other fans but we're classier, too, and more loyal.

I agree with much of this. I'm thankful for Beane. Our roster had been pretty dang mediocre for nearly two decades. Beane drafted a star QB and acquired some other good players. Our depth is better than it's been in forever. We owe a lot to Beane. But this is not a Super Bowl roster. We don't have the best 22 starters in the league. By and large, I think McD has done an imperfect but commendable job with the roster - and injuries - that he had. There's never been a season when I looked at the SB champs and said, "Damn, we're better than them. If only we had a better coach." Instead, I think things like: If only we had their offensive line... or receivers... or pass rushers... or cornerbacks... or running game... or general health.

This makes sense to me. It's kind of what I expected: Dorsey to be hired by an offensive HC. If I was a defensive HC, I wouldn't trust Dorsey to run my offense. But someone like Stefanski will be good for Dorsey - running the offense through Dorsey while teaching and mentoring him. And Dorsey isn't entirely devoid of talent or knowledge. He'll add value to the Browns.

Just because McD is interviewing a 3-4 guy doesn't mean he has any intention of running a 3-4. I'm guessing he's hiring a DC to take a bit of the load off his shoulders so he can do more HC stuff. I don't think McD is looking for a guy to come in and implement an entirely different defense. I think he's looking for someone who can run meetings & practices and coach guys... in McD's 4-2-5 defense.

I like Campbell. Seems like a good guy and a good leader. Those 4th down decisions, though, were bad. Still, he turned around the franchise and led the team to their best season in 50+ years. Campbell only won something like 4 of his first 23 games and somehow didn't get fired. Sometimes owners - and fans - need to be patient.

I'm not excited by this but for those who are complaining about the hiring process, please educate me. I don't know who McD contacted, who expressed interest in the job, or who McD interviewed. So, I don't have an opinion on the hiring process. I was hoping we'd find someone much better than Brady but apparently Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan have other jobs. I'd like to know what Brady said in the interview. Is he going to change the staff? Bring in a new QB coach? Revamp the playbook? Make changes to preseason preparation? Modify how analytics are utilized? How position meetings are run? I can't imagine Brady told McD that he'd just carry on with the status quo and McD was okay with that. I don't think the offense is as talented as some seem to think but I do believe that with Josh as our QB we ought to be more potent, even with the so-so cast of characters around Allen. I wasn't wowed by Brady's half-season tryout but maybe with a full preseason to prepare himself and the team, he'll do better next year. I'm hoping. I'm also hoping Beane has a really, really good offseason despite our cap limitations.

There are no slam dunks at the head coach or coordinator positions. There are only probabilities, possibilities, and levels of confidence. You do your due diligence and then hope for the best. Just to give one example: The Panthers thought it was a slam dunk when they hired George Seifert as their head coach. After all, he had won multiple Lombardi's both as a DC and HC. Yet he finished with a 16-32 record with the Panthers and won only one game in his final year. You just never know how things will work out. But the gamble is greater when you hire from outside the organization. When you hire from within, you know the person really well. You know both their strengths and weaknesses, their work habits, how they get along with the rest of the staff, how they prepare for games, and all that stuff. It's far easier to gauge the probability of success with an internal promotion than an external hire. Additionally, promoting from within makes your organization more attractive to position coaches and lesser staff who want to join your team so they, too, can learn and grow.

We can nitpick his successes and failures. But Beane's overall body of work is good. He took a franchise mired in mediocrity and turned it into the AFCE champs. Some worry that McD isn't a good enough head coach to take us further. I personally worry if Beane is a good enough GM. He's never given McD a SB-caliber roster. When we lose in the playoffs, it's either to a team better than us or healthier than us. Or both. That's partly Beane's fault. Beane found us a great QB and has built a good - not great - roster with solid depth. That's enough to make us competitive. It hasn't been enough to win us a Lombardi. I'm hoping Beane has learned from his mistakes and fixes them. But given our cap situation, I worry that we're going to flounder along at the good-but-not-quite-good-enough level.

I get some people agree with Dunne even if I don't. But why should Terry Pegula read Dunne's article? Dunne doesn't know 1% as much about the Buffalo Bills as Pegula does. Dunne would love to spend time with Pegula and have all the sources that Pegula does. Pegs didn't become a billionaire entirely by accident. He's a smart businessman who has processes in place to make sure he always has the very best data available. He talks to the personnel guys and coaches, gets insider information, and probably has confidantes outside the organization as well. If I were Pegs, I doubt I would read anything written by an outsider with no experience running an NFL team though I would love to talk to other NFL owners, GMs, and coaches to pick their brains. Dunne is a nobody with no expertise.

Once the Bills are out, I always have trouble watching the NFL. I usually watch the SB, but sometimes not. I usually skip everything from the Bills' elimination to the SB.

I think you need one guy in charge as OC so there's no confusion among the position coaches or players about who to listen to. But I'm absolutely in favor of creating an offensive brain trust. We already have some former OCs on staff. I would love a few more smart guys - coaches who know how to scheme a passing game and can help Brady fine-tune his craft. I'd love it if Brady spent some time in the offseason with people like Gruden, Kurt Warner, etc., and picked their brains.

Having never played/coached in the NFL and not deeply knowing Brady, I'm not sure how much the offseason will benefit Brady. From what I understand, every team in the NFL runs some variation of the Erhardt-Perkins or West Coast offense. We've been running the E-P which seems the best fit for Josh. So Brady probably won't change the base offense though he can add some wrinkles. Does he have the intellect and creativity to add the right wrinkles? Also, I've heard commentary that our receivers don't run precise routes. That has nothing to do with system and everything to do with coaching and execution. Is Brady going to fix execution? (Why didn't he fix it this year?) I don't know the answers. But in his partial-season tryout as an OC, I did see Brady spread the ball around better than Dorsey. I didn't see an enhanced ability to get receivers open and that concerns me. Josh played well against the Chiefs but only threw for 186 yards because his wideouts were blanketed. That's a WR talent issue but it's also an OC issue. If Andy Reid or Kyle Shanahan were our OC, Josh would have thrown for 300 despite KC's good CBs.

This is part of the problem - The NFL's offensive minds fall into three tiers: Tier One. Geniuses and Supposed Geniuses. Owners tend to like offensive coaches so the Tier One guys are already running teams as Head Coaches. Tier Two. Near Geniuses and Up-And-Comers. These guys are already employed as OCs. Tier Three. Everyone else. This is the group McD has to pick through. Either we stick with Brady as our OC or choose another Tier Three guy. Some might say Brady is a Tier Two guy but I'm unconvinced.

Having grown up in Cheektowaga, I'm sure I'm biased. But I've traveled to 46 states and visited nearly every NFL city at least once and have lived in a few of them. And I do believe we do indeed have the best fans. Between jerseys being worn, flags being flown, and all that jazz - there aren't many cities quite like Buffalo. And think about this. I remember watching a Bills game back in the 90s. The announcers said, perhaps exaggerating, that there were 80,000 fans in the stadium and another 20,000 watching the game on TV in the lots who couldn't get tickets. That's 100,000 people. Roughly 1 in 12 people from metro Buffalo were at the game. SoFi is a marvel. But when it sells out its 70,000 seats, that means 1 in 266 people in metro LA are at the game. The rest are doing LA stuff: fighting traffic, hanging out at the beach, playing golf and pickleball, making movies, smoking crack, whatever. The football game/team doesn't have the same level of consciousness. And what about fund-raising? I can't find it now, but I once read an article about how fan bases raise money for charitable causes. No other fan base comes close even though the Bills are a small-market team in a comparatively low-income city. And, yes, some idiot fans have said and done unkind things to Bass. But these are outnumbered by the fans who have donated $280,000+ to his charity. And don't forget the Bills-Backers bars all over America. Even little Monterey CA, near where I currently live, has a Bills Backer Bar. If you get lost and go to Monterrey, Mexico, instead - there's a Bills Backer Bar there too. Buffalo is a small city, but the Bills weirdly have a national/global fan base. And then there's the tail-gaiting which doesn't need an explanation. Some other NFL cities, not all, have good fan bases. But the mafia is unique.

If you want to win a Lombardi and your Head Coach is a defensive guy, you need a great OC. The opposite is true, too. That's why Reid has Spags. They're an excellent combo. Brady is just okay. I suppose it's possible to surround him with enough great coaches that our offense becomes great. Ideally, though, we'd have a creative genius with great leadership skills as our OC.

I'll add a pro: the players say Brady's very collaborative. He seeks input from both the players and position coaches. I think that's great. But I worry about Con #1. Even with that feedback, he couldn't scheme guys open. And receivers ran imprecise routes. When Josh Allen is your QB, your passing attack should be more consistent and potent.

I won't throw myself into the falls if it's Brady. But I hope they bring in a talented, creative passing game coordinator if it's him. And, yes, I know the Bills have a few former offensive coordinators on staff. But I'm frustrated by this suboptimal, predictable offense that can't seem to scheme guys open.

I know some of the analytics sites rated our OL top five. My eyes didn't see the same. We often struggled to run the ball. And Josh often had pressure. The 2023 line was, though, certainly better than the 2022 line. But as you say, we had the same five all season long. Will we get so lucky next year? Probably not. We need more good offensive linemen. As for systems, E-P seems the right choice for Allen. Maybe we need a better OC who can tweak it to optimize the strengths of Allen and the team.