Livinginthepast

This is correct but the fact that Brady did almost nothing to counteract the non stop blitzing with screens or draws was ridiculous. And on all those blitzes, how did the receiving corps not get open ?

Ok since you dont seem to understand the gist of my point despite my repeated explanations: 1. I DID NOT say the refs cannot confer about a flag so why are you bringing that up repeatedly? They dont normally confer about THIS penalty (illegal shift) because it NORMALLY gets called during the play because thats when its SUPPOSED to be called. Its a LIVE BALL foul. They would be more likely to confer to cancel a penalty in this instance not to impose one. And how exactly is it in the rules that NY can insist to the field refs that they call a late penalty? Does that seem legit to you? 2. I DID NOT say that the refs SHOULD NOT have called the penalty. If the Lions broke the rules (illegal motion) then flag them for a penalty. The reason that many people are upset by this flag coming so late is that it should have been called as soon as the ball was hiked. It also should have been called by multiple officials as it should be obvious. Just like a player in motion towards the LOS. Calling a flag so late for that penalty is at best unprofessional and at worse incompetent officiating. 3. You want me to " Just admit that you wanted the Chiefs to get screwed by a missed call." Huh?? That's a bizarre takeaway from my point especially for someone on a Bills forum. I would just like the Chiefs to be officiated at the same standard as every other team in this league. And right now it doesn't look like they are.

Who said anything about the refs not being able to confer about a penalty? The rule for this exact type of infringement must be called during the play. Its a live ball foul. Not after the play and certainly not a couple of minutes after the play. Refs often confer about taking away a flag and sometimes they call intentional grounding and throw the flag late after a conference. But for an illegal shift penalty its called right when it happens during the play. I would love to know the number of times an illegal shift has been called with a flag thrown that late. I'm guessing its extremely rare or never happened. Conspiracy? hardly, but a very strange example of officiating that isnt supposed to happen? definitely!

The essential point is that a flag for this foul CANNOT be thrown after the play, so the refs calling it after or NY buzzing them for a call is completely against the rule. The refs essentially broke the rules to disallow the TD. The question is why? and why so early in the game?

Was Cooper done before he got here? Or was there still something in the tank? Either way we didnt get much out of him? Was that due to Brady's inability to use him or Cooper's somewhat detached attitude?

The lack of talent on the Offense is Beane's fault. But the lack of ability to use the actual talent we have (Allen and Cook) to their max and the lack of ability to maximize the middling other talent we have on Offense is on Brady and his vanilla schemes. I think a better OC gets more out of this offensive group than Brady does.

McD's job is to hold his coaches to account. Still waiting for that to happen. Brady and Babich are convenient scapegoats but the buck stops with McD.

Totally agree, way too much Pollyanna crap on this board of people satisfied with just a competitive team when we could have won championships already with better coaches and management. People seem to think that demanding more from this regime is being impolite.

2021 was the year but the 13 seconds debacle killed it. Had they won that game they win the SB. Cincinnati was tough but not yet as good as when they beat us the next year. The Rams were there for the taking as well. I also believe had they won that SB, the boost would have pushed them forward to winning another. Instead they got failure against the Chiefs in their heads going forward. A different coaching staff of competent game managers, Defense and a great OC (all of which we lack badly) would have won at least 2 SBs. But we are Bills fans and we can never have nice things.

Although McD has shown a solid game plan for a few of the big games in his tenure, the amount of games where it appears that no planning for the opposition and its tendencies was done is now becoming a large list. I am not sure if this is down to incompetence or arrogance. Like they honestly overlook some weak opponents (The Falcons is a great example) and believe they can just win with no study of their opponent's strengths. Why is it that other teams can plan successfully for our offense and neutralize some of our strengths but we cannot do that for the opposition? As for the retread player point. McD has brought back Poyer, White, Hyde, Klein, Davis, Beasley, Brown, Phillips, Trubisky, Barkley (there's probably more). None of whom have made any significant contribution to the teams success on their 2nd stint. Apparently our offensive game plan, and our almost non existent defensive game plan are so complex that only former players who went through it can understand it!! Even though they are too washed up to perform in it!! And the final irony, the one player they could have brought back easily in the offseason who knows the system and weirdly still appears to have some gas in the tank (Diggs) they didnt even consider!!

It makes me laugh how much respect people on here give Brady and Babich. To me they both seem like summer students who somehow lucked into a full time job but surprise surprise they really dont have a clue. Neither went through a strenuous hiring process and both are beholden to McD. I dont think either gets the same job anywhere else in the NFL. Both verge on amateurish in their schemes but Babich hasnt ruined a once great defense, whereas arguably Brady has neutered Allen with his offense.

The problem with the Bills and this fanbase is not that we are too demanding, its that we are not demanding enough. We are smart football fans here so please dont patronize us with the take a breath and relax nonsense. We've seen this movie before and we know how the story ends. As soon as a fanbase stops demanding excellence and accepts mediocrity that is a great sign that we are headed to hell. The fact is that the Bills have not been good enough and are lucky to be at 4-2 right now. The defensive coaching and performance has been poor at best and the offensive performance has been hit and miss. This coaching staff and GM have had years to tweak and get it right, they have made some great personnel moves but all too often come up with some stinkers. Too many times we have been unprepared for games and allowed teams to beat us in their personal SB's. Last night was a perfect example. A mediocre team plays up to us and instead of being prepared and squashing them and killing their hope, we enabled it with embarrassing tackling, ill disciplined penalties and bungled play calls. Yes the fans need to be mad and the players need to get mad and the coaches need to hold themselves accountable (including McD himself). There is no way that even with the injuries that piss poor effort from the team was acceptable last night. They went down to Atlanta and got their asses kicked and should have lost by more and the players and coaches should be justifiably embarrassed.

I never heard Babich but the Brady one is laughable. But go figure, its the NFL where dumb GMs salivate over overhyped candidates. Brady really seems like a kid riding a bike with training wheels still on but being considered for a BMX racing career.

The bottom line with Babich is that as bad as the injuries, tackling and missed opportunities have been (on the players), the scheme and inept coaching have made the defense WORSE. Continuing to play zone with the current dbs we have is stupid. Continuing to rush the way we do without getting home and the QBs having 5 seconds to throw is stupid! Continuing to provide a complete simple look on defense that a young QB can easily read with ease is insane. Something has to be done. I think anybody else could get more out of this defense right now.

All this is true, but the NFL is literally a league of slow moving coaching and management idiots that apparently need to see something happen a dozen times before recognizing it as a pattern. The Bills are no different. Babich should be fired not only because he is incompetent but because it shows accountability. Nobody on the Bills staff should feel comfortable in their jobs including McD. But lets be honest I think McD has significant leverage over Beane because he got Beane the job. McD has to take accountability for the hiring of these coaches and their poor performance. At this point I would get rid of Babich immediately and McD should take over the defense (not that the thought thrills me). Beane needs to get Brady some weapons for Josh and his offense (but he wont, or Brady wont use them properly). Brady should be canned too or just let Josh call the plays. The problem with all of this is that football is the worst sport to make an in season change in. Often a coaching move in the NHL, NBA, MLB or soccer will boost a team but football is a different animal.

Shaq has been fairly good for his time in there but in this weak defense we need more than just good. Great play to force a fumble on the first Atlanta play. Something the Bills had numerous opportunities to do throughout the game when they had ball carriers tied up but the whistle hadnt gone yet. I kept screaming at the Tv, "knock it out of his hands!" but the Bills defense doesnt instinctively do this. Shaq could have brought us back from the dead had he just put his body behind the Penix pass and picked it off but he went for the use the hands only strategy . Milano in his prime would have picked that off and returned it for a TD, but that ship sadly has sailed.

I thought that when Brady take over it was an emergency move to stop the bleeding from the terrible decision to hire Dorsey. Then they promoted him to OC last year. The only reason that he still has a job is Allen. Brady has been given the keys to the Lamborghini but he doesnt know how to drive stick. He would prefer to drive his Hyundai Elantra at the speed limit thank you very much (with a "new driver at the wheel sign in the rear window"). Nobody is open on passing downs (partly due to quality of WR but mostly do to scheme). In crucial situations, including last year's playoff game vs KC they couldnt get the yardage required because the defense seemed to know what was coming from the vanilla offensive game plan. When a slightly exotic play happens it looks like it was practiced once or twice and the players seem confused. Brady isnt the only problem but he is a major issue but as usual in here people have been too damn polite to say so. Its been " we are 4-0, stop complaining". Well it appears that we are as much of a fraud as the Ravens are, just luckier.

There are so many conflicted fans on here like me. Yes McD has brought us back from irrelevance but I think he has taken us as far as he can go. I cannot think of anything he does that is an advantage for us. His defense is atrocious. His in game decisions are often terrible and betray a lack of being able to think in the moment. His teams have been undisciplined with penalties and routinely make errors that high school players wouldnt. He seems along with Beane to make terrible personnel decisions and put players on the field that should never see a Bills (let alone NFL uniform) again (Peterman is the worst example). The final thing that irks me is that in several games during his tenure, the Bills have looked woefully unprepared for games as if they never study the teams they play against. Tonight and last week are great examples but there have been at least 10 games like this over the past 7 years. Id love to see the Bills win a championship for many reasons and it would be great if McD was the man to get us there. But he just doesnt seem to have it.

Well perhaps if Brady understood the concept of luring the rush in and throwing a screen pass they might have thought twice about blitzing. But he failed to do that last week and tonight. He is a really simple in the box thinker when things dont work.

Thats 2 games in a row Shaq could have turned a loss into a possible win and he came up empty.

I always thought that when Brady kept his job at the end of the season that Dorsey was fired, it was a huge mistake. It was like they handed the keys to the mansion to the pool boy. Tonight he called a horrendous game. He doesnt make the proper adjustments when his game plan is going sideways and when he does do something that works, he forgets and goes to something else. Just not good enough. And Babich/McD defense is the worst Ive seen as a Bills fan. Even drought era defenses could mix things up for a young QB but not McD. He just plays prevent defense all game.

Dropped pick 6 that a Pop Warner kid could have caught! WTF that was abysmal. They are literally giving the game back and you drop it.

This is game over but the defense must be gassed from being on the field so long.

Wide open by 15 yards. WTF

Bills are going to lose this game just like they did in that god awful game in Jacksonville a few years ago. Total offensive ineptitude.