Straight Hucklebuck

You’re right Next Man, since Audacy started pushing Bet QL, it’s steady diet of Joe Ostrowski, Nick Kostos commercials and now Trey Wingo. Mike takes every show off course with reactions to the bumper music or random betting questions that nobody cares about.

I watched the clip, he said that half smiling, it’s not like he’s been clinically diagnosed.

So the game plan from Nick (and all the media) when their favorite doesn't win is to ignore the winning team completely, and do the "what went wrong" on their favorite. So after the Bills beat New England this weekend, nothing will be said about Buffalo, instead it will be what went wrong with New England, what do they have to do be better, is Mac Jones ready for Primetime?

McDermott and the Coach Staff deserve Beasley yelling at them. Its what you get for not cutting that guys snaps down and making an every game role for McKenzie. The Bills are choosing to keep the older, slower, declining player on the field and they limit themselves on potential play calls. Beasley ain’t running end arounds and jet sweeps for you.

The Bills need to bring back some of the 4-wide and 5-wide looks. I think they need to have faith in Bates and Brown, and be the team they wanted to be in Week One against Pittsburgh. Our offense sputters because it is a lot of Josh Allen running around, throwing toe tap routes to the sidelines, depending on miracle catches. So I would do the following: 1. Get Knox back involved in this offense. 2. Bench Cole Beasley and start Isaiah McKenzie. 3. Gabe Davis remains the starter over Sanders. 4. Utilize 4 and 5 wide sets again. 5. Zack Moss continues to only be a breather back for Singletary, no Red Zone carries. The Bills have largely made the right changes on the offensive line and running back as the year went on, but now they have to stop their rigid hierarchy at wide receiver. Admit that Beasley and Sanders have lost steps, and get our most dynamic lineup on the field.

Patriots fans and media thought Mac Jones was Tom Brady, and they would be going right back to the Super Bowl. The best examples of back to back HOF level QBs was Favre to Rodgers, and they've won 2 combined. The Colts going from Manning to Luck, and the franchise won one SB. Sorry, Patriots, Mac Jones is not going to be Tom Brady. So good luck to the Patriots escaping the past and reinventing themselves. The Playoffs are about making plays, you're not going to run-over people. You have to score in 2022. It's not 2001 anymore. Bring on the Patriots. You don't have Superman anymore. And the Bills don't have Ralph, Russ Brandon, Tom Modrak, Buddy Nix, Trent Edwards, anymore. We have a better FO than we did back then, and we've found our homegrown Quarterback, not trying someone else's backup.

I think this staff has gotten it partly right this year: They identified Spencer Brown and got him in at RT. They made the switch to Ryan Bates. Tommy Doyle is now in at 6th OLineman and playing real snap count, he adds size. Benched Zack Moss and made Singletary the primary back. But they are still rigid IMO at WR. Still trotting out Beasley when he’s not effective anymore, at the expense of a younger and more explosive player. And what happens when Sanders gets healthy? Is he right back in there starting? Meaning Gabe Davis is back to 30% snap count? When McKenzie gets one carry for 10 yards, and one catch for 9 yards on 2 touches, I just don’t want to hear how Beasley brings more to the table still. He’s averaging 8 ypc now. It’s over.

It’s hard for me to be satisfied when you see the Bills against the Patriots @ New England, and their first drives were masterful, short crisp throws, power runs, Allen designed runs, or the first Jets game, McKenzie involved, Gabe involved, and then to see the same old pattern this past Sunday, running on first down in the Red Zone, trying to draw people Offside, Allen throwing nothing but toe tap routes to the sidelines, no McKenzie, no Knox.

The Hyde thing reeks of 2017 and 2018 McDermott. No chance of any return, coaching safe and scared of the Jets. I have no idea why they do that on 4th and 1, and you’re right, you then burn a timeout on top of it to save 5-yards of field position. That’s Dick Jauron stuff there, hoping other team makes mistakes.

The Bills are dependent on Allen running around throwing miracle sideline, toe tapping, dive catches on the sidelines. We need more 4 and 5 wide sets with the Offensive Line playing better than earlier in the season.

It's a fair point. I'm also worried about McDermott. He turtled again yesterday and put Hyde in at returner when McKenzie bobbled the ball. The Bills and their wimpy "try and draw them Offside" ploy. Beasley at this point is like playing 10 on 11, yet he's still in there 50% of the time. McKenzie gets 1 carry for 10 yards, never touches the ball again. The throwing out of tight formations doesn't work. Hopefully the Bills remember Dawson Knox is on the team. Not sure when the Bills will mix in 4 and 5 wide receivers again. They've been scared since Week 1 ended. A few things that give me hope: The Bills figured out Zack Moss is horrible, and needed to be taken out of the offense. The Bills putting Tommy Doyle in as a 6th O-Lineman. Allen running again in the Red Zone against the Falcons.

He's 34 years old, coming off a broken leg. McKenzie is 26/27 and ran a 4.43. The speed is obvious. Maybe there is better understanding from Beasley on where to go in route running, but isn't the New England game obvious that McKenzie's speed makes up for any route running he doesn't have? Because he made a bunch of difficult/clutch catches in that game. And he scores TDs on much fewer touches of the ball. What could have McKenzie done on 64 catches this year like Beasley got? Or 55% Snap Count?

At this point I always expect him to be limping around. He always seems to be hobbled. It will be interesting to see if the Bills put Sanders right back in as the starter if he plays against New England. Watch the first drive in the @ New England game. The Bills took 7 minutes off the clock and kept converting short passes. Like the McKenzie stuff, it's in the bag of tricks, but the Bills don't put it together as easy as they did last year.

Yeah and that’s my question. After the @ New England game, how does that not become a bigger part of the game plan. Greg Cosell said it was opponent specific routes for McKenzie. But how can that approach work against New England, but it’s back to the same old 30% snaps against the Falcons and Jets? Beasley creates no separation. He’s lost 1-2 steps.

The Bills have largely abandoned their 4-wide and 5-wide formations after Pittsburgh. I did not like McDermott’s halftime comment where he remarked about how the Bills got into a rhythm somehow on the last drive of the first half? Oh you mean when you decided to throw the ball your offense started moving? What a shock. I agree with you on McDermott, running and punting is his safe space.

The good: Getting Zack Moss off the field. This has given the Bills the foundation they’ve needed in the run game, they correctly identified their best running back. The Bad: The Bills seemed to largely abandon their 4 and 5 wide looks after Pittsburgh because of the line.

And maybe this has to do with pressure and Allen not standing in the pocket as much. The Bills offense feels choppy because Allen has to/feels the need to escape, roll out of the pocket and throw, so naturally the routes are more towards the sidelines. Sanders was good on in-cut routes at the beginning of the season, my fear with him has been he has looked out of gas since Week 6 or so.

My criticisms of the Bills this season have been their stubborn view that it must be Diggs, Sanders, Beasley at all times, and Davis, McKenzie can only fill in. The give up plays in the Red Zone also are not clear. Where we just dive into the middle of the line. I also do not like plays in goal to go situations where the Bills don’t take shots into the End Zone, or when they try and throw out of tight formations because it worked once against the Colts in the Playoffs. The Bills get static sometimes as well, where there is no pre-snap motion, they don’t move Diggs, there are no jet sweeps. Among the changes they made that work: they finally got Zack Moss off the field, and this gave them a foundation in the run game. Also, they have started using McKenzie in the Red Zone. He needs to be on the field more. I think the Bills need to use the middle of the field more, it still feels like they don’t throw any slants or bubble screens, no crosses after New England. Nothing feels easy. Everything still feels like Josh Allen miracle toe tapping routes on the sidelines with receivers having to dive out of bounds to grab footballs. Knox has to become part of this offense again.

Just like his constant first down dive run play call as soon as the Bills get into the Red Zone.

That’s why you go to the line and call a regular play (an Allen sweep run maybe), not rush for a conversion that doesn’t get the lead.

Bills definitely have learned one lesson, use McKenzie in the red zone. Allen is looking at 750 yards rushing, 4400 yards passing, 43 Total TDs.

Hey Daboll, actually want to call something in the end zone?

Allen whining for a call, get back to the huddle.

Gimpy Gabe is hurt

1st down, let’s run! Daboll all season with that crap.