[Ryan O'Halloran - Bills should go Defense Heavy in draft]

Didn’t we already do that for 6 years? 

[Was the Bills/Chiefs Game decided in Week 18?]

1 hour ago, FilthyBeast said:

The Chiefs won because they have the better coach, QB and defense which was validated yet again in this latest matchup. They are also the defending world champions playing in their 6 straight AFCCG. Why people choose to over analyze the situation is a frivolous waste of time

 

Also I think the injury excuse is tiresome at this point as well especially when it's already been pointed out that when a healthy Milano, White, etc has played in these games the result has been exactly the same. The issue that does need to be addressed though is this regimes persistent drafting of undersized, injury prone players (mostly on defense which is no coincidence). I think you also have to clean house with the training/strength and conditioning staff at this point as well.

Every time we play KC I realize just how much larger and taller they are on defense. They have definitely changed the makeup of their team over the last 5-7 years. They used to be the defense that got abused. Not anymore.

[How do you explain Diggs invisibility act]

Something happened to him when he was picked up and slam tackled on the ground those couple of times.

[At the end, how Josh Allen's carrer will look like ?]

Tough to say. He won’t be here much longer. I give him 1 more season until his people/circle starts dropping stealth bombs on this regime’s head. A man can only take so much. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of it leaks out next season. He will do whatever he has to do to get out. He isn’t a kid anymore and wants to build a legacy. He can’t do that with McD. I just hope we get a major haul for him.

 

As a 49er I see him easily winning 2 rings. They will likely want to try a different model (franchise QB) after they blow it this season and next.

[Mr. Pegula please read Tyler Dunne’s newest article]

4 hours ago, HomeskillitMoorman said:

I knew the injuries would be the rally cry. What about in 20 and 21 when the D was relatively healthy and McD’s unit still gave up 38 and 42? Or when we couldn’t stop the Bengals last year? 
 

Healthy or not, McD’s side of the ball ALWAYS lets us down in big games. Literally every single time. 

2 years in a row McD and his fans have used injuries as an excuse. They have no problem blaming Josh either. Whatever it takes.

[Harbaugh close to deal to become Chargers Head Coach]

Cool. Another team McD will get owned by starting next season.

[Giants Request interview with Babich for DC job(EDIT: Packers and Dolphins as well)]

3 hours ago, thenorthremembers said:

Could just hire him back next offseason when Daboll is let go. 

Seriously.

[McDermott - Excuses, Valid but concerning]

4 hours ago, phypon said:

I've listened to some call in shows and other content not affiliated with the Buffalo area, people that are fans of other teams sharing their opinion about the game and the Bills.  Consensus is that he needs to go.  Not only that, with the past playoff performance over the last few years, they see the Bills as mediocre and wasting Allen's talent and attribute it to coaching.  It basically feels like a couple of years ago the Bills had respect and now they are looked at with a "lol" mentality and perennial division or wild card bouncers.

 

The fake punt wasn't "aggressive", it was stupid.  Callers have laughed at that play and stated that if you're going to go for it, put the ball in Allen's hands.  I wouldn't call it aggressive, it was dumb, just dumb.

 

With regard to the clock, if the plan was to run out the clock, why go for the TD?  Are you running out the clock or are you going for the score regardless of the clock?  Instead of picking one he tried to do both.  That makes no sense to me.  So he tried to run the clock yet was fine giving KC 2:00 for the go ahead score when they were moving the ball at will?  Maybe it's me, but I just can't wrap my head around what the point or intent of that plan was.  

 

I'm just making a rant, nothing against your post.  I can see how it can look aggressive, but in reality, it really looks more like confusion and stupidity.

 

I def want this guy gone, especially with the quality of available coaches which does not happen very often to have such high end options.

Exactly. I’ve been noticing this for a while now. McD can’t make up his mind on those ending drives. The plan seems to change play to play and he wastes crucial plays in the process. Numerous games this year.

[So we're firing McD, right?]

I think the floor with Josh is probably 8 wins so it wouldn’t even be a painful rebuild.

 

Vrabel is another option but we’ve never seen him with a quality QB. Would he coach Josh up or wreck him? A bit of an unknown there.

[So we're firing McD, right?]

2 minutes ago, Success said:

 

I thought about that. But he may be more flexible on that kind of thing, since he likely won't coach for enough time to cover a rebuild of any kind.

 

It's probably a longshot.  But the guy went to the SB every other year, and was a regular in the AFCCG.

 

Yeah, probably right. He would work with some and change scheme a bit.

[So we're firing McD, right?]

9 minutes ago, Success said:

Been thinking about this all day:

 

If we hire Belichick - who would likely come here - do we stand a better chance of advancing farther in the playoffs, or a worse chance?

 

That is the ONLY question right now. And it's a no-brainer of an answer. 

 

There aren’t many players on this roster that he would keep so it would require a tear-down year, then some better, more physical players would come in. He probably wouldn’t keep these OL either.

 

I would be fine with it, but most would probably freak out. We’d be playing real defense, that’s for sure.

[McDermott - Excuses, Valid but concerning]

5 hours ago, BigDingus said:

Let's not forget Andy Reid's playoff history before Mahomes.

 

How many NFC playoff games did he lose with those Eagles teams? Then a few more with the Chiefs. It took him a long, long time to get where he is now. 

 

McDermott doesn't have the wins now, but Reid made the playoffs a dozen times before getting over the hump (yes, he did make a SB appearance with the Eagles once too).

Reid finally got himself a great DC. That’s all he did. We can’t be great on defense because our HC is the DC and it’s his fatally flawed scheme. There is no way to follow what Reid did.

 

Reid lost in Philly because of Jim Johnson and McD. Those defenses were shredded when the playoffs began. He also had bad end of game management like McD. Jim Johnson was known for having good regular season defense that folded in the playoffs. Sound familiar?

 

In KC, it was the same thing. Bad defenses. Then it became bad QB, until he drafted Mahomes.

 

If you gave Reid McD and his defense, he would still be blowing games just like he always was.

 

Point is, our problem is on McD’s side of the ball. The only way to fix it would be by demoting himself and hiring a DC with a new scheme. That wasn’t the case for Andy Reid. If McD wants a future at HC, he will have to turn that side of the ball over to someone else. That will be his Andy Reid moment that could change his trajectory.

[Can We End This Nonsense About Homefield Advantage Now?]

3 hours ago, EasternOHBillsFan said:

 

Normally I am a it's McD's fault person, but NOT THIS TIME... our defense was at 50% and we almost beat Mahomes. They were a MASH unit out there, NO Tre, NO Milano, NO Bernard, Douglas clearly not at 100%, Taron Johnson just coming back right before the game... you are looking for some perfect defensive performance when it's not going to happen!

It was the worst defensive performance in Bills playoff history. We would’ve welcomed serviceable or mediocre. It wasn't that at all. All-time bad.

[McDermott will scapegoat himself using injuries as an excuse]

18 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

Defense doesn’t win championships anymore, just helps survive when a QB has an off game. 
 

 

The top 3 defenses all advanced this week. It has to be top 10 and trending up in the playoffs to win.

[So we're firing McD, right?]

8 minutes ago, Heavy Kevi said:

 

And Harbaugh would take this job in an instant

 

The coaches available this offseason (Belichick, Harbaugh, Ben Johnson, Slowik) are too good to keep McD around, and we have what would be the most attractive HC opening in years.

I would take Vrabel at this point.

[So we're firing McD, right?]

17 minutes ago, BananaB said:

Nothing to cry about, same results every year by this D. Anyone who  expected more is foolish, anyone who wants to complain about injuries is even more foolish.  

Yeah, injuries excuses won’t fly. We spend all of the team’s resources on that side of the ball. The drop off from starter to backup should be very small.

 

A defensive guru should still have a serviceable defense with multiple injuries. That’s why you hire a defensive guru. Otherwise, he serves no purpose.

 

This was not a serviceable defense. The performance was worse than the worst defense in the league by quite a lot.

[So we're firing McD, right?]

52 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

Very nice post. I agree with the vast majority of your statements. You are especially spot on when it comes to McD. Zero growth when it comes playoff time. No confidence he can lead the Bills to a SB. 

 

For me it wasn't SB or bust. Maybe it should have been. Probably should be when your in year 6 or 7 of Allen. Talk about missed opportunities. Understatement of the year. Personally, I would have been ok with them going to Baltimore and losing a tough game. Going to the AFC championship game vs what been the best team in the AFC would have been not the worst loss to swallow. Ultimately it's not the goal but I likely would have seen it as progress. Maybe I'm lying to myself. A SB appearance would have been fantastic and a clear successful season. 

 

I agree with giving Allen a chance to win the game. However, I'm in disagreement with going for it on 4th and 8. It's kind of pick your poison. I think the chances of converting the 4th down was very slim. Interesting if there's a math equation or analytics that could give a clear picture. Taking into account the probability of making a 4th and 8th while taking into consideration make the FG while computing the chances of Mahomes leading the Chiefs to a game winning FG or TD. Pretty fascinating information here. 

 

I digress, while watching it live I asked myself are the Bills in 4 down territory? Truthfully, I didn't know the answer until I saw the play calling. I think the Bills could have been more prudent and tried to make a more manageable 4th and 2 or 3. It's all arm chair QBing  here. I think your thoughts process absolutely applies here in a shorter more manageable 4th down. 

 

I was fine with trying to convert the FG. In my mind, I felt like the game was already lost make or missed. There's no way any Bills' fan was confident that the D could stop Mahomes and company. However, lots of things can happen. A fumble, tipped ball for an int, strip sack, etc...in essence, praying for a miracle similar to the one the Bills received minutes before. 

 

I don't know how this team moves forward with McD as the coach. His message has to be getting stale. The players belief in him has to be diminishing. Heck, the coach himself is probably lacking confidence. When is enough enough? 

 

Running it back with a poor playoff coach who has shown an uncanny ability to lose divisional games with the top 3 QB in the league hardly inspires hope and optimism. 

 

Fans should be knocking on the Pegula's door begging for a coaching change. 

This is what I’ve been yelling about for weeks. Game ending drives when he wants to kill clock BUT we still need to score.

 

1st play: run up the middle into a brick wall.

 

Ok, I guess we’re killing clock and playing for a tie?

 

2nd and 3rd plays: passes, one to the end zone.

 

Ok, so I guess we’re trying to score? Ok, then why did we waste a play running up the middle then?

 

I don’t think McD actually knows what he wants to do in those situations at all.

 

He’s done it continuously over the last month. I think he is totally lost in those moments. His first priority is to kill the clock, but then he can’t seem to decide how and when he wants to score and this game is hard enough by itself. You score any chance you get.

 

Scoring has to Trump clock killing. He’s so arrogant that he thinks Josh can score exactly when he wants him to.

[Allen was legendary (even better than 13 seconds Allen)]

I’m not surprised Allen went to the end zone because Diggs had just dropped the last pass (maybe 2?)thrown to him. He couldn’t catch anything all night.

[So we're firing McD, right?]

1 minute ago, newcam2012 said:

I haven't looked at the stats but it seems like you know them well.

 

Wondering conversely what are the offensive stat ratings of the recent SB winners? 

 

I suspect most have a top flight offense like top 5 no less than top 10. 

 

Also, how many of the super bowl winner and runners up have what most consider an elite QB. I'd bet almost none in this modern era would be mediocre. Foles comes to mind. 

I think the Bucs are the only team that was ranked poorly. They didn’t get going until late so they probably weren’t top 10.

 

All of the rest had Top 10 offenses except for the 49ers I’m guessing? 

[So we're firing McD, right?]

25 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

Philly D got shredded in the SB. 

 

Name a dominate defense this year. 

 

You think KCs defense won them the game? 

 

Sure defense is important. You really can't win it all on offense alone. That's just not sustainable. So defense has to be emphasized too. However, this is a QB driven league with show casing offensive talent. 

 

Defenses can no longer bump and run WRs, can't hit the QB, QBs can avoid sacks by throwing the ball away, and you can't hit a WR going up to make a catch. There is no way a defense can be elite under these conditions. 

 

Today's modern day defenses are no longer elite. They are mostly bend but don't break. Have very good red zone efficiency and produce turnovers. 

 

The days of the Bears elite D, Ravens, Pitt, etc... are long gone. You will never see defenses totally taking over a game and winning it all. 

 

Football has changed. 

Yes, the difference is that the top defenses now aren’t the 2000 Ravens. The Chiefs are the only team in recent memory that has won a SB with a defense ranked lower than 5. (without checking)

 

Rams #1

Bucs #1

 

Remaining teams this year:

KC #3 or 4

Ravens #1

49ers #2

 

Your probably can’t be worse than #8 and win a SB. If #8 is what you’d call serviceable, then I agree with you. You’re not winning with the #15 ranked defense unless they drastically improve in the playoffs like the Chiefs did last year.

[So we're firing McD, right?]

14 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

In today's modern day football it's offenses that win football games. Defenses can lose you a game but it's virtually impossible for a defense to win games. The rules are just against defenses. There are no more elite defenses like in the past for a reason. 

 

All you need is a serviceable defense that is capable of making a big stop or two along with a possible turnover. 

 

The fastest way to get into the playoffs and win super bowls is with a franchise QB. 

The top 3 defenses advanced. That shifted this season. Even last years SB was two top 5 defenses. Philly was #1 I believe.

[The Three Plays that Cost us the Game]

Just this weekend alone:

 

Detroit marches down the field late and scores. They weren’t purposely killing any clock. Bucs get the ball back with 1:30 and the Detroit defense stuffs them and gets an int. Game over.

 

49ers march down the field and score late. They also weren’t killing all of the clock. Packers get the ball back and SF defense stuffs them and gets an int. Game over.

 

Both teams playing at home in the playoffs.

 

Why can’t McD(defensive guru) do what every other playoff team can do?

[So we're firing McD, right?]

1 hour ago, Avisan said:

That's the whole point of getting the TD with < 1 min on the clock and no KC timeouts.  That is MUCH harder to pull off than 13 seconds.

They had totally stuffed our run by that point. We had no options to run out that much clock. That’s extremely naive and unrealistic to expect that from an offense. 
 

You see an opening to score, you take it. Good teams have defenses that can hold. We do not, not even when healthy.

 

We basically practiced those clock killing drives all season long and were incapable of doing it, even in the Steelers game. Your offense should not also have to be your defense.

 

Why was McD fixated on practicing long drives to end games? 
 

Because HIS defense sucks.

[Anyone else more low-key about this loss than you thought you'd be?]

This feeling is mentioned in another thread. 
 

We are the Chargers now. Everyone including our own fans will expect us to lose and we will keep losing. Laughter comes next. 
 

We just had another WIdE RIgHT for gods sake. I can’t believe he sent Bass out there.

 

I knew this would happen but I did not expect that! McD is busting out the oldies.

[So we're firing McD, right?]

Just now, DapperCam said:

Asking Allen to dink and dunk down the field for 8 minute drives, just so your sieve defense doesn’t get exposed is lunacy.

 

Is that what “complementary football” is?

It’s absolutely ridiculous what he’s being asked to do to mask an incompetent defensive coach.