Rochesterfan

Just watch the KC game today - multiple bad calls and penalties including a fumble that was going for a TD get called down. Games like this are why even NE fans feel screwed.

What is the alternative? They needed 2 TDs and 1 2pt conversion. If they kick the extra point - they would still need a 2 pt on the next score, but if you miss the 2 the game is over. By going for 2 first - you know if you need 1 drive and a TD or if the 2 pt failed - you need 2 drives a TD and FG. It was 100% the right move. Nope because the only way is to know exactly what you need - sorry you are 100% wrong.

Agreed - I also don’t think if the Bills had been awarded the claim - it would have meant anything. There were not going to cut Hauschka to allow him to go to NE. The claim was as much about preventing a mid level kicker making it to NE as it is about our Kicker. My guess is we would have rolled with 2 kickers until our season was done.

They talked about this on OBL - many kickers have their own kicking coach - like Hauschka. The special teams coach does not teach kicking or punting - they teach the techniques to block or tackle, but the kicking aspect is usually handled by the player or a specific coach they utilize year around. This is very typical for almost all teams/players because each individual kicker is different and having a unique coach for that process on your team can mess up a guys technique. It is like trying to switch swing coaches in golf - it can take years to master a new swing and in the mean time you are vulnerable to a lot of misses. The Bills and Hauschka are set up with this as he has access to his kicking coach to make sure his technique is fine.

Do you think Rivera could bring Norv Turner and family back to Washington - LOL ? That would be fun time.

Figured someone was going to claim him. I wish other teams that claimed had to announce it also.

I said this in a different thread, but I could see him coming in for the rest of this season as a front office assistant doing self scouting. I don’t think McDermott wants to change the dynamic of his staff, but I could see them asking Rivera to use his coaching eye to help out with self scouting from an outsider perspective. He wouldn’t have to move local and can look for trends that a coach might see and how to use those trends to show one thing and spring another. I know that Rivera would rather be a HC, but a chance to step back and rebuild and regenerate would be a huge help long term.

Just crazy. First - Pegula has already seen how difficult it is to find the right HC (especially paired with a GM) and what a failure it can be to miss. So there is no way he would allow it - even for multiple/many 1st rd picks. Second - McDermott has built a team his way and has a GM he trusts and is closer to “home” here than in Carolina. I do not see any way he allows a change that could vault him backwards. Third - McDermott has repeatedly talked about this fan base and the support and what that brings to a team - does he really want to go back into a place with much less support. Finally - Carolina is removing this current regime- why would they go backwards and it sounds like they want a new wave offensive coach - so I do not think he would make Tepper’s short list. Overall I give this a less than 0% chance and it is based on a weird tweet from a nobody in Carolina that has no idea what the plans seem to be.

I would not mind if the Bills brought him in - not as a coach, but more as a film review - self scouting type front office addition for the rest of the year. I think it would be nice to have legitimate coaching eyes on the film looking for tendencies that the Bills have both offensively and defensively. He could provide some valuable feedback on how other teams are seeing the Bills and maybe when to break a tendency to create a big play. I also think he could do some of that down at his home and help provide another trusted voice for this team to grow. My only fear of bringing him in would be if he gets a job offer next year would he poach staff.

I hear you - I agree that I don’t think they would block him for a promotion- I believe the only way he would leave would be if Rivera gets an opening and wants Dorsey as an OC. Other than that - I would expect him back with the Bills learning and growing as a coach.

He is specifically referring to the 2 players he @‘d in the title - Ford and Dawkins. They also talked with Baldy on OBL on Monday and he was complementary of both tackles and the time they gave Allen in the pass game. It is obvious that Ford’s weakness is his quickness and his first step - allowing these speed rushers to get parallel and pressure Josh, but you also see the adjustment the Bills made. JA is setting a bit shallower and Cody is big enough and strong enough that he is able to ride that guy up field and give JA a huge running lane behind the edge rusher. Speed Rushers are his problem, but the teams that have had success against Allen recognize that rushing with edge speed allows JA more room because he is good at avoiding the rush by stepping up and then escaping. The technique Ford is using appears to be to first ensure no inside pressure and he is a bit slow to get outside, but my guess is they have told him - if you are going to get beat, get beat out there and widen as much as possible. Teams with success have used strong DE/EDGE guys to form a pocket- keeping JA from moving around and ensuring that JA can’t escape the pocket. I agree that Ford could be great at OG, but I think he can also play tackle and has a lot of flexibility- allowing the Bills to find and pay guys they want and then shifting him as needed.

I am not overly worried about it. They just got rid of Rivera and want to move on from that staff - why would they go back into his former staff to hire a new HC. I think Daboll gets some looks, but I think he is back. I think he is a bit to much like Kitchens in Cleveland - very expressive and brash and I think that will turn off a few teams. I think Dorsey could get some looks at OC, but I think the Bills will offer a bit of a raise and unless he gets a perfect fit - I think he will be back. I am hoping the failure of Kitchens, Gase (although he will be back), Nagy, Gruden, etc. that teams will realize that it is less about finding the next McVay and more about finding a leader and letting the OC and DC be your McVay. We will see. So I guess my answer to your question would be - I expect our OC next year to be ........... Daboll with Dorsey as Assistant OC and QB coach.

Agreed - when I said let him go - I meant decided not to keep him. Depending on the next coach - he is still a high level LB that is on a good contract. Not sure he will be available depending on the level of rebuild.

I could see some of this, but why would they want to stick with their past. It seems like they should be trying to clean house and getting a total new regime - not bring back former front office and coaching staff that were here with Rivera.

Nope - Kuechly has made a living as a MLB in the exact defense McDermott runs. Up until this year - with the switch to a 3-4 - he has always played the Edmunds role. He is the perfect mentor and trainer to help Edmunds continue to grow. I do not see them getting rid of Luke, but he would be a great add. He has an in depth knowledge of this D and would be like another coach. He also talked about his respect for McDermott during the summer - so I could see this if they let him go. Mentor/future coach role.

You conveniently forgot the one route where we have a tied record and the Bills still win. The Bills beat the Pats and the Jets and the Dolphins find a way week 17 to beat the Pats. Now we have a shot to win based on Divisional Record 5-1 to 4-2 and therefore a tied record would give the Bills the division. It is a long shot all the way around, but it is still a viable option.

Actually - it means that if that if the Bills and the Pats at this point end up with the same record (and the same divisional record) - for example: we both win our week 17 games (or both lose): and the Bills beat the Pats - no matter what other combination of wins and loses - The pats will have the tie breaker. Whether the teams are both 10 - 6 or 13 - 3 or anyplace in between - if the Bills beat the Pats and the two teams have the same result in their final divisional game - the tiebreaker stays in NE based on common opponents. The Bills need 1 of 2 things to happen - they need a better final record or they need to beat the Pats and the Jets and Miami has to beat NE - then the Bills would win divisional 5-1 versus 4-2. It is just the way it works with the balanced NFL schedule.

Yes it is totally backward logic, but it works out - just looking at it from a different perspective. It is also backwards to think that the Philly loss cost us more than if we had lost to AFC opponents like Denver and Tennessee- if we are talking divisional winner/tiebreaker. If you are looking at conference winner then AFC wins are better, but in the divisional tiebreakers - common opponents are the 2nd breaker after divisional wins - so NFC games have added importance.

If the Pats had won (and beat KC - their other non common opponent) - they would be 2-0 versus non-common and the Bills would be 2-0 versus non-common. If we end up with the same record then by default in that case we would have to have the same record against common opponents. It is just a weird logic problem. By having an additional loss in the non-common opponents - to have the same record - they must have an additional win in the common opponents - it is the only way to have an identical record. Opponents. Bills. Pats Non common. 2-0. 1-1 common. 9-5. 10-4 total. 11-5. 11-5 as an example. It did not matter if it was Houston or KC in this case - it is just the fact that it was a non common game and therefore to have the same total record the Pats must (due to the schedule) have an additional common opponent win to have the same total record. At this point the Pats could lose both non-common opponents games and if we end up with the same record - they would have to have 2 additional common opponents wins. The only Kicker is Miami. If the Pats lose to the Bills and Miami - we would have the tiebreaker if we had the same record (assuming we beat the Jets). If we lose to the Jets and they lose to Miami - then we would need to have a better record as Divisional record is tied again.

It came from PFF and WGR was touting it earlier. They were missing the line that NE must beat Miami and then this is true - a Miami loss brings divisional record into play. The logic on this is messed up, but it works out. If NE beats Miami - so they would end up with the same divisional record as the Bills - then the loss to Houston (a non-common opponent) would mean that the the Bills would be 2-0 versus non common opponents and the Pats would be at best 1-1 (could still be 0-2) and therefore if we end up with the same record if the Pats lost one in the non-common opponent’s piece - to have the same record they would have to have a better common opponent record.

Yep - and in reality - I prefer him running some type of crossing or post routes because he seems to pick up and track the ball better when he can be more turned toward the ball. The deep sideline go routes and the deep corner routes where he is trying to track the ball with only a head turn and he has to adjust speed to the depth of the pass seems difficult for him. There is almost no way he makes the TD catch that Brown made against Denver. The wind was swirling and Brown had to adjust his speed multiple times in route to running through the ball to make the diving catch. I like Foster on the post, deep in cuts, and deep crossing routes like his catch against Dallas. He was coming across on JA’s roll and he could see the ball all the way into his hands without tracking. He is really good at those. McKenzie (McKittrick for those having fun) seems able to track a bit better and made a catch against Dallas similar to Duke Williams catch on the touch pass over the LBs heading toward the sidelines and I think that is a route Foster struggles with. Unfortunately McKenzie got tripped up by the turf monster or that could have been a huge gain with his speed and moves.

The NFL did not cave to the Saints. He is head of the competition committee and he forced the rule change through the committee. The NFL then has to figure out how to make it work. Blame the coaches and GMs. It is obvious the NFL did not want the change - see how it has been enforced.

Tannehill looks good right now, but as teams get used to the new Titans with him at QB - that team will fall apart. Tannehill is average and that team is riding the QB change, but we have seen this before with Tannehill - it most likely will not continue in the face of a good defense.

Draft pick wise. The Dolphins have the Steelers #1 pick for Fitzpatrick. Every Steelers win makes that pick later in the 1st round. It looked originally like it might be a top 10 pick - I would love to see Pittsburgh get enough wins to be late teens or even - as long as Buffalo beats them - low twenties as the 6th seed. The same goes for Houston - hate the team, but would love for them to get in and push that pick further back also. Instead of what at one point looked like potentially 3 picks in the top 15 - if Pittsburgh and Houston can be in the 20’s it hurts who the Dolphins can draft.

Nope - I have no problems seeing Gore out there. Yeldon - I want him no where near the field - if everyone is healthy. I am hoping Gore gets a job on this Bills staff - he has stated he wanted to go into coaching and was hoping to get a job on the previous Miami staff. I am not sure I want him as RB coach, but as an assistant with an emphasis on training and taking care of your body and just to have his presence there to help guide would be awesome.