HappyDays

Good stuff from Brady. Throw some blame at Allen for the hits he took and deny that there was any problem with the process on the failed Cook run on 4th and 1.

That's real nice from McDermott. Pat his side of the ball on the back for "great adjustments" while throwing his personally picked OC under the bus. You can practically see him crafting his offseason pitch to Terry Pegula in real time.

You know, it is emblematic of the Bills in the McBeane era that we can convert a 4th and 27 but not a 3rd/4th and 1. We can pull off the impossible but we can't cross the finish line when the margins get thin.

I'm still happy with Benford's contract. He was rough to start the year but he has rounded into form. If he keeps getting knocked out by injuries then I'll begin to question it more but considering the AAV we got him at it's hard to complain. Shakir I am worried about because his play style earns him a lot of big hits and the injuries have been piling up this year. I supported re-signing him but I'm starting to wonder if he'll be healthy enough through the duration of his contract to be worth it. Ultimately though we spend so little on the WR room he was practically a must sign.

Allen hired Ken Dorsey and Joe Brady. Allen gave a big contract extension to his buddy Dawson Knox. Allen drafted Keon Coleman. Allen coached up our division rival's QB. Can we get rid of this guy already? It's not too late for Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane to clean up the mess he's left us.

Yeah it's not too late. He could go the Matt Stafford route if we can't get him across the finish line here. I remember when Stafford was known as an overrated QB who couldn't get Detroit deep into the playoffs. Naturally he won a Super Bowl as soon as he got with a legit franchise and this year he's an MVP candidate. His legacy was cemented by a change in his circumstances. Of course I hope with Allen that change happens here. I'm not sure Pegula is ruthless enough to do what's necessary.

The thing that really makes me hate McDermott and Beane is they have ruined Allen's legacy. The last couple pages of this thread are depressing. They have fans questioning how good he is. And sadly that will be how he is remembered, not as an all time great but as the guy that could never get it done. The failure of this regime will fall entirely on his shoulders and it just sucks. No one will even talk about Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane in 20 years but they'll still be talking about how Allen couldn't climb the mountain. I probably shouldn't let that bother me so much but it does.

That wasn't a check down. It was a designed slip screen. Gabe was running a clear out. I believe they actually said this all on the broadcast.

I have no idea how you got to this from my post.

This rings very hollow given that the two most popular names last year, Ben Johnson and Mike Vrabel, have both immediately turned their franchises around in year one. Great coaches are fairly easy to spot. I'll agree that the available names this year aren't quite as inspiring as those two but that doesn't mean you hold onto a coach that you know for a fact is never going to get it done.

Another week of this crap. Awesome. Here's the actual play: It's the 2nd one in the clip starting at 28 seconds. Here's what Allen sees as Knox is breaking open: So we are wanting Allen to throw the ball through a charging defender completely blind to what is going on at Knox's area of the field. Okay. Also not that it matters but the throw to Palmer is there if Palmer comes back to the ball. He instead starts running upfield. But I don't blame Palmer or any player for this crap play. This is on Brady for calling mesh for the 10,000th time in this game. Your OL has gotten worked all night and you call a play that asks your QB to stand in the pocket holding the ball while routes develop. Awful awful awful.

The flow of the game was impacted by the 1st half defensive performance. We got into FG range and didn't kick because we were playing catch up.

Yeah that's where I'm at. Even more broadly than just this coming offseason, what I'm interested in is Allen's 30s. That is the stage we enter next year. This coming offseason will either lay the foundation for that stage or it will narrow our window even further. All dependent on the whims of a billionaire. I don't think the team is as far away as some fans think. We still have Allen in his prime, maybe not at his absolute peak but still well near the top of his game. We have some young pieces on defense that have shown promise including an almost completely rebuilt secondary. We just need a coaching staff and a couple legit WRs. That isn't some monumental undertaking to get us to championship level. The Pats were 3-13, they made a couple roster additions and brought in legit coaches and voila they are 9-2 and in firm control of the division. We could have an equally stark turnaround if Pegula does what's necessary.

Sure I still enjoy the games. Watching Allen play is always a treat. I like seeing where young players are at in their development. Occasionally you get a laugh out loud moment like the 4th and 27 conversion. What has happened this year though is the losses have bothered me less and less. The Pats loss is the last one that really ruined my week. The way tonight's game ended would have gutted me as recently as two months ago. Watching it unfold tonight I felt nothing. I've already accepted this isn't a championship season so the rest of the year is just exhibition for me. The next time I feel something will be during a press conference some time in late January. What that feeling is will depend on if that press conference is frontlined by Terry Pegula talking about the difficult decision he's made, or by McDermott and Beane talking their usual crap.

Dude you are straight up embarrassing yourself. Wow.

Houston has lost 5 games this year where they scored 9, 19 (x2), 10, and 15. They barely won scoring 16 against an awful Tennessee team last week. FWIW I obviously agree with you, I want more out of this offense. I just don't know what anyone expects. We intentionally hired a green OC who happened to already be in the building and we've surrounded Allen with JAGs. Why is anyone expecting us to score more than 20 on the road on TNF against an elite defense? That was never going to be the winning game script for this one. If we wanted that to be the game script we needed to approach the offseason spending in the complete opposite direction.

Yeah this is the one game this year I will give the offense a mulligan. Playing a physical fast defense on the road on a short week. Gotta hold Davis Mills below 20 points. That's how you win this kind of game.

Yeah that's what happens when you spam mesh 100 times a game. Defenses are capping the routes with ease. This scheme sucks and the personnel is worse. Did you watch the Super Bowl?

Penix is a great callout. Atlanta was another game where "the defense gave the offense a chance in the 2nd half." Another game of too little too late when you give up almost historic production in the 1st half. And then inevitably you have fans questioning Allen's decision making and wondering if he's gone Hollywood. I'm so over it. Please just get a new staff in here and let's build this team around the most important person in the organization.

Yeah so where I've gotten to is this staff gives us nothing on defense and they give us nothing on offense. It's just utterly generic NFL coaching on both sides of the ball, and the GM made the fatal mistake of investing in his vanilla coach over his generational QB. McDermott got everything he wanted and he needs to own this mess.

I agree but that's how they built the team. They gave the offense scraps and bet it all on defense. So my standards are high. If they can't win this kind of game there's no sense in investing on that side of the ball.

We passed up two FG attempts because the defense had us on our heels from the start. You absolutely cannot spot Davis Mills and that horrendous offensive cast 20 points in the 1st half. Good for them for pulling it together in the 2nd half but that is too little too late. This needed to be a game our defense controlled from the start.

Why? McDermott doesn't know how to evaluate coordinators. He just wants yes men that run his preferred style of offense. Why does anyone want him to have another chance? The next coaching change needs to come from the top. Enough of this.

Hot take - this game is on the defense. Games that Houston lost this year: 9-14 19-20 10-17 19-27 15-18 They barely beat Tennessee last week 16-13. We just spent all of our most valuable resources in the offseason on the defense. We have a defensive head coach. If they can't win an ugly TNF scrapper against a bad offense, what is the point of all that?

Imagine if we had a single freaking WR that could make a legit downfield sideline catch