GunnerBill

The 2021 and 2022 lines were horrendous. While I am not arguing that giving up the fewest sacks made out 2023 line the best, because a lot of it IS still Allen (although his tendency to hold the football is also responsible for some pressures so it does cut both ways), it was a lot better. It was an average to slightly above average offensive line. 2021 and 2022 were comfortably bottom third of the league.

I'm hoping for improved mechanics. For whatever reason (injuries, maybe a lighter off-season training regime that other years last summer, etc) they were off last year. Josh has acknowledged it himself and is believed to be working on it in the offseason, so I'm optimistic.

I think going into the season they will and probably should. But they need a plan to cut the chord quickly if he struggles. They should spend the entire pre-season scouting kickers likely to be cut.

I see where you are going with it but I think it is pretty undeniable that Daquan and Ed Oliver are the starters. The other guys are pure rotational pieces. I don't see DeWayne ever being more than that. If I am wrong I will say so, but I thought he was a reach in the 3rd. I didn't have a view on Bernard in 2022 I hadn't watched any of him at all. And I liked the Dorian Williams pick last year (although I didn't love his play as a rookie the game was still happening too fast for him). So you can throw me in with others gnashing teeth if you like but I'm not sure it adds much to this.

The AFCE isn't the AFCN, true, but dreadful overstates in. In the Bills four division winning seasons three times the AFCE has sent two teams to the postseason. I don't think dreadful is fair.

I like Malik as well but he is ANOTHER slot guy. This team needs outside receivers to move the needle. They were pretty much all gone by early round 4 which is why picking a DT who is at best, IMO, a rotational guy in the 3rd made little sense.

FWIW I have done a similar exercise on these board previously and come up with a very similar summation in terms of %s. I think that is an argument for keeping the Head Coach not firing him. EDIT: but I agree with @FireChans on Manning v Brady. To think otherwise focuses too much on what QBs do positively and not enough on what they don't do negatively. Manning's highs were higher than Brady's. But he always made waaaaaaay more mistakes. Brady was the guy whose performance range im 95% of his games was between 75% and 85%. That consistency was part of what made him special. Manning had more games in the 90s. But a lot more games in the 50s and 60s too.

I don't care about winning luckily.

I totally disagree.

I don't think your can. His performance has been pretty even. You can ask questions about why they haven't got further in the postseason but they have been a pretty consistent football team over the past 5 years. 2nd only to KC in wins in that period.

He did a good job but his overall performance has been uneven.

Nope. He has had 4 years. Two playoff season, two misses.

Err... Stefanski has had 4 years....

A good coordinator is nice, and I agree McDermott is in the "very good coordinator" not "brilliant coordinator" bucket, but the number 1 thing you need in a Head Coach is leadership. That individual has to be able to hold a locker room of 70 odd men with their own personalities, perspectives, off-field pressures and egos together from basically the third week of July to the second week of February (in a best case scenario). That is difficult and it doesn't matter how great you are at designing plays, calling plays, getting on a whiteboard.... if you can't do that you will fail. It is a leadership position. Leadership should always be the #1 consideration. Then you get down to what is their vision for a team, how good are they at the Xs and Os, what sort of in game decision maker are they etc.

I think that is totally fair.

I disagree with you on the drought coaches. That is plain wrong IMO. I think the last bit is sematics. I think what is holding the team back on offense is the talent around Allen. Not the Head Coach.

McDermott did not "cut his teeth" with Rivera. Their schemes have similarity but are not the same. Sure, Beane worked in Carolina with two GMs who had defensive head coaches too in Fox and Rivera, but at the same time you are asking us to ignore the clear pattern and ignore what Beane himself says in order to pin what you don't like on McDermott. I think that is a leap in logic.

Yea I think beating them in the playoffs is really ***** difficult. It is why excluding Tom Brady games they are 15-1. But I don't concede we never can. The margins between us are so tight. One can absolutely go our way. Can we displace them as the dominant force in the AFC? I'd lean towards no there. I don't think I have ever thrown a punch. Not to the best of my memory anyway. A couple of aggressive shoves that have made my point but that is it in my 40 years.

I have not conceded that.

I want their run game to be more effective too. I just don't think you make teams respect the run more by simply running it more if that run game goes nowhere.

It is also a FAR less certain recover for older players.

I don't think that is the fulcrum of the debate. I don't think anyone is arguing that McDermott is as important as Allen. It is blindingly obvious in the modern NFL that an elite QB matters more than anything else by several factors of magnitude. The argument is the extent to which McD is holding Allen back. I don't believe he is. You do. That is the fulcrum of the debate. I do not in any manner dispute that Allen matters more and does most of the heavy lifting. That would be the case whoever our coach was. It always is.

Yea he is a product of his apprenticeship under Hurney and Gettleman. That's normal. I hope he will adapt. His first pick the last two years being a pass catcher is at least encouraging.

I agree with your view of the resource allocation issue. I just think it is who Beane is. And unless you give a Head Coach basically overall personnel power and tell Beane he is a glorified Head Scout and personnel advisor to the Head Coach they are the results you will get with him. He has said him self countless times "I will always prioritise the defensive line and I will never apologise for doing so."

Yea if a guy starts making plays early on and demonstrates they are the focus of the offense then teams will adjust and you might get them doubling a guy. But out of the gate they are going to use that spare defender to create confusion for the offense or to play Josh directly, delayed blitzes, spy, simulated pressures that drop out and force him to hold the ball.