GunnerBill

That is interesting on Moore, but he isn't a great route runner and never has been. Maybe he was running a ton of go routes I'm not sure, because he does have plenty of speed. It's the nuances he lacks.

Shakir has only really got open under this OC, Samuel likewise - his best success was under Joe Brady in Carolina. Moore has never been great at route running and getting open. That leaves you with Knox who they are just using a lot less in the pass game than 2 or 3 years ago and Diggs who did struggle back end of 2023, that's fair. I don't think he was fully healthy personally.

That is necessity because the downfield plays aren't working. They are trying to find ways to get the ball in the hands of their smaller shifty playmakers - Samuel, Moore, Shakir in space with a chance for YAC because they can't get them open down the field.

But it doesn't. There are deep routes, there are patterns and plays designed to go down the field. Guys are not getting open, Josh is being a bit tentative in attacking tight windows and it is resulting in a lot of check downs on plays designed to go downfield. Brady's offense in Carolina attacked down the field plenty. They were 9th in the NFL in explosive pass rate in 2020 with Teddy Two Gloves at Quarterback. The plays are there in the design. They are not being made primarily because the receivers can't get open.

I don't know that I am there right now, but I do know that when Josh has played his best football it has generally coincided with a settled personal life and the period he played his worst football (back end of 2022 and into early 2023) we know his personal life was in a bit of turmoil. So I am open to the possibility that there is something distracting him. I think the reason is Josh plays best when he is loose, uncluttered, and happy. When he gets tight he isn't the same guy.

I'm afraid I disagree with basically all of this.

He is frustrated but listen to his pressers. A lot of that is frustration with himself. After 3 games where he didn't play well he has an outstanding performance against KC and then right back to this. He isn't playing terrible football overall but he can't find that consistency he had last year and while I am sure he is frustrated at what is around him - especially at receiver - he is frustrated with himself too. I think that is obvious. Yea Josh knows some of this is on him. And he wants to be better. He just can't find his level at the moment with any consistency and that is eating at him.

I'm not open to either of them. Lane Kiffin would be a return to Rex IMO. A thoroughly dislikeable jackass who would not work hard enough to be an NFL Head Coach because he thinks he knows it all anyway. And the last time Gruden was good I was a young man. Hard NO to both.

Actually the Bills scouts are pretty good. That is why they perform so well on day 3 of the draft - which is the scouts day. Day 1 and 2 are on the senior personnel team - Beane, Gaine, Gray primarily.

That combination is intriguing, but make no mistake that is a Head Coach downgrade that you are hoping outperforms what we have by a bit of freshness of voice and potentially an upgrade at OC. While I agree Saleh wasn't responsible for bringing the entire circus to town in NYC he definitely didn't help himself with his press interactions. This is a good point. Fundamentally it's the same defense. Yea McDermott was hired by Terry, not Whaley.

I think it's his worst regular season loss since he decided to start Nathan Peterman in the middle of a playoff chase in 2017.

If I was moving on (I'm not there yet but open to the idea that I might be in January) then for coach Klint Kubiak and I have no idea on GM. I'd honestly hire the coach and let them pick their GM. When I look across the NFL the last 15 years that model has worked a lot: Carroll chose Schneider; Reid chose Dorsey and then Veach; Shanahan chose Lynch; McDermott chose Beane. I think synergy in that relationship really matters and unless you have an elite GM in situ where you make the coach the interchangeable part I'd start with the coach then go from there.

Worth saying on Beane I suspect (though don't know) he leans more on McDermott now than he ever did when Schoen was here. I know there are people convinced McDermott ran every draft like a puppet master but that simply isn't true. He wasn't even the 2nd most important person in the room when the Beane - Schoen axis was together. Now he most likely is. Because from what I am told Beane is just like that, relationships are big for him.

As I understand it Beane made the decisions and the selections (and still does) but he trusted Joe Schoen more than any human being on the planet when it came to talent evaluation. So it is reasonable to think that he had a big influence in all the draft picks while he was here. I have been told by people in the room that he sort of lacks that now. While he has good relationships with Gaine and Gray and I'm sure he "trusts" them. It isn't like the Beane - Schoen relationship. They were almost brother like. On the Brandon point though Whaley wasn't here when he was GM. Nix recruited Whaley.

It really wasn't. I know that was the narrative. It wasn't what the tape showed.