Shaw66

This is a very objective take on who they are. I agree. You have less confidence than I that Tannehill will improve, but that's just anyone's guess. I've been sure for a year or more that Allen is going far beyond the current Tannehill. I'm less sure Tannehill will.

I don't think Tannehill has maxed out yet. Not nearly. I see a guy with a lot of talent and brains, a guy who played in a horribly dysfunctional franchise and now has been set free. I wasn't at all surprised that he took the job from Mariota. But yes, I agree, the 2019 version Tannehill isn't enough, and if Allen gets only to that level, he's not the guy you want. You may live with him, because like Flacco, he's good enough to win it all when things fall just right. What you want is a guy who makes you threat to win a lot, and Tannehill isn't that yet.

Actually, I think Tannehill IS the answer. He's getting better every year, which is what happens to good QBs in this league. And, yes, I'm optimistic, as always. But the best measure of a player is his play on the field, and his recent play is more relevant than his historic play. In his second season in the NFL, better competition than the Mountain West, he was significantly better than his first season and he led his team to the playoffs. Led them. So I think I'm on pretty solid ground being optimistic. If Allen stops getting better, he isn't the guy, but his first two seasons in the best competition in the world don't give us any reason to believe he has stopped.

Diggs had over 1100 yards receiving (17th in the league) on a team that was 30th in pass attempts. 1100 yards on a team that didn't pass. Diggs's coaches rave about his attitude. I'm sure the Bills are delight to have this kind of "problem."

Yeah, it's certainly possible that Josh won't become more consistent. I used to look at Jay Cutler and wonder why, year after year, he didn't seem to learn anything. I mean, the guy spectacular, strictly physically speaking, but eight years into his career he was still making some of the same God-awful decisions he made as a rookie. I'm confident, because I think Allen is different. First, despite some of the brilliance he showed as a rookie, there's no denying he looked and played like a rookie in 2018. In 2019, there was clear progress. That is, the brilliance was still there, but his understanding and control of the game went up. And we see it in the stats: Completion percentage went up nicely, TD/INT ratio flipped to the way it should be, yards per attempt went up at least a little, even though he threw deep less effectively and less often. All that while his attempts per game went up. And his team flipped from 6-10 to 10-6. So he had some real improvement in year two, and that's encouraging. Cutler, as an example, never got better. Second, there's real reason to believe he'll continue to improve. He's smart, he studies, he works hard, and he wants to improve. He's on a team that a has a culture that drives everyone to study, work hard, and improve, so he's a good match with the culture. He also is on a team that got noticeably better from year one to year two, and personnel-wise, even before the draft, the team has gotten noticeably better again, with Diggs, the defense, and a maturing stable offensive line. So as others have said, it's all on Josh. Beane's doing his job. McDermott is doing his job. Josh has to keep improving.

It is, to a great extent, up to Josh, that's for sure. But I think you've bought two things that aren't true: Josh isn't accurate enough and Diggs is a diva. Josh may not have been as consistently accurate last season as we'd like, but there is no question he is an accurate thrower. He hit receivers right on the money all over the field last season, just not as often as he should. And when he was inaccurate, it often was because he was late making the decision. And, by the way, one of Diggs' great strengths is adjusting to and going after the ball, particularly contested catches, so Diggs should make Josh more effective even if Josh doesn't improve. All the reported evidence is that Diggs is not a diva. He doesn't demand the ball like Beckham or a Bryant. He's more like a Jordan Phillips, visibly energetic and vocal. Coaches and teammates love him, they just wish sometimes he'd calm down a little and keep it to himself. Things got better, all around when they got Diggs. Not worse. Diggs answers a lot more questions, for Allen and for the offense, than he causes problems.

Yolo - this is great! Thanks. It's interesting to hear Beane say exactly what so many fans here figured out - that Diggs was their pick at #22 because he is better today than anyone they could get at 22 or at 18. Congrats to the people who figured that out without having to hear Beane say it. Also interesting comments about all the other free agents. It's more exciting to hear him give the reasons why the guys fit in. Hughes and Addison lived together! The Bills do their homework, that's for sure. Thanks.

I agree. And people shouldn't jump to conclusions. This is just how Sanders reported it. He doesn't exactly say there was an offer on the table. There may just have been discussions about the possible range of a deal. Beane never has all his eggs in one basket. He's looking everywhere for the help he needs. I'd guess that he had an idea of what it would take to get Sanders, and then he talked to Minny and got an idea of what it would take to get Diggs. Diggs clearly was going to cost more, but as others have said, he's younger, and he's a better choice than Sanders if you're looking for a pure #1 guy. Beane looked at the two and decided that Diggs was the better move. Not all that surprising. Still, as you say, it's fun to read about how these deals go down.

I called a couple hours ago, got the answering machine. I hung up without leaving a message. Fifteen minutes ago I was watching the video of the 1984 Bills upset win over the Cowboys when my phone rang. It was Wallace, calling back. I mean, who does that? The guy is just talking to fans to make them feel good. I said about McDermott. He said he is genuine. It's about commitment, competing, and hard work, and the locker is full of guys who feel the same way. They all buy the message and they all play for each other. He said McDermott believes it, and believes he has a responsibility to do his job as well as possible, because he asks himself to commit just like he asks his players to commit. I asked him to compare McDermott to Saban, and he said Saban is the same. Saban's more animated, but he has to be to get and keep the attention of the players, who are just growing up. He said Saban cares about his players like McDermott does. Demands perfection. Says he knew Daboll, because he played defense against him every day in practice at Alabama. LIkes him a lot personally. I didn't ask what he thought about him technically. Nicest guy. Just listened to me ramble on, ask questions.

Great story.. Thanks for posting it. I didn't understand that that's what Dawkins is about. Hard to imagine the Bills will let him go, because that's the kind of guy McDermott loves. And I was interested in this: "At some point, it really all just clicked. I gained a deeper understanding of the game of football, the role I had to play and the way I had to play it," Dawkins said. That's the McDermott process at work. Dawkins is saying that he can see it now, how it works. It's that understanding that makes the game easier while at the same time increasing his effectiveness. It's really encouraging.

Well, OldTimer, I hear you and I get it. And I couldn't even name one running back in the draft, so I suspect you're correct. However, I've come to understand to things about Beane as he goes after players that work well in McDermott's system: 1. He seems have a very high value on some guys, well out of step with the conventional wisdom. He knows what he's looking for, and it's something different from what most people think he should be looking for. 2. When he sees a guy he values highly at a position of need, he trades up. So I get what you're saying, but I won't be surprised in Beane trades up to take his running back.

I think McDermott and Beane want to a team that can do everything - not run first or pass first. They want to be able to win by running 35 times a game and also win by throwing 35 times a game. To be able to win run dominated games, you need two good backs. Sure, you could have a Barkley or a Peterson and make him your horse, but that's usually short-term and iffy. Gurley looked like one of those guys one year, and then he was gone. You need two. In a perfect world you'd have a second guy as good as Singletary. Two guys with 1000-yard potential. I think we're going to see Beane be aggressive going for a back. Trade a pick to get one, trade up, something. He knows he needs another guy who is a threat, not just a ball carrier.

They're building for the long haul. They intend to win for a long time. The Patriots won for a long time, and they weren't immune from players aging, contracts expiring and injuries. They won anyway. That's the objective. So, no, a sense of urgency is not required. You're right, we don't know yet. And we might not know by the end of 2020, either. But as others have said, if they're growing and improving, that's the objective. Not only perfection, but perfection immediately! We're all exercising our imaginations, seeing the 2020 Bills in advance. When they start playing games for real, our imaginations go out the window, and big, strong, tough men go to war. Just as you say.

I think what 716 said in response to you is correct. Phillips wasn't worth $10 to the Bills, because he didn't commit himself fully to the program. Different teams value different skills and styles differently. If I recall correctly, Stevie Johnson had a receivers coach in Buffalo who insisted on Stevie running precise routes. Stevie didn't like it and wasn't good at it. The Bills changed coaches, the philosophy changed to "Stevie, you line up here and you figure out how to get from here to there at the time the ball is supposed to arrive. We don't care how you get there." Stevie thrived. Well, those are two different approaches, and each approach works for a certain kind of player. If McDermott's approach doesn't mesh well with Phillips' skills and attitude, then he's worth less to Beane than he's worth to another GM who has a coach who wants his tackle free lancing.

I see someone else just piled on this comment, and I will, too. You say it like this has been some great failing of McDermott's - he hasn't been able to beat the good teams. Well, duh, that's the definition of bad teams. Bad teams first have to start winning games, and then they have to start winning big games. It's always been that way. Beane and McDermott have a system for building a championship team. The system involves getting the right players, teaching them the right things, rinse and repeat. In order to implement the system, the first thing he had to do was clean house. Then he had to build the team the way he wanted it. In a process like that, the first thing that happens is that you have a bad team (2018), then you start winning games (2019), then you start winning big games. So you're right, McDermott's record in big games isn't good. It isn't good because he hadn't reached that point in the development process. But the fact that he hasn't won big games yet doesn't mean he can't. It just means it wasn't the objective, at least not until now. As I've said before, the Diggs deal made a statement. The statement was, in effect, "it's now time for us to win big games." So, yes, he has to win big games. Everything I've seen so far tells me that whatever it is that McDermott and Beane decided to do, happens. They work until it happens, and they learn whatever they need to learn to make it happen. We're just looking at the next step in the process.

I'm 73 years old, and I'll tell you that there's a reason cliches are cliches. Watching McDermott for three years has allowed me to see, maybe better than ever in my life, how those cliches actually work. I can see the genius of an approach that makes those cliches more important than anything else. It's a powerful motivating force, for everyone in an organization to believe that stuff. So good, in fact, that it's worth repeating what Victory Formation wrote: I think you stick to what you know and what got you there. You stick to the process, focus on your ways and what you’ve been doing to get you up to this point. Don’t get caught up in what other people are doing or saying. Stay true to your vision and your plan. Don’t believe the hype, good or bad. Stay in the present, don’t put added pressure on yourself, one opponent at a time, week by week, day by day. Stay mindful. McDermott's regime demands that you live the cliches. We've seen the results, and I have no reason to believe that we will continue to see this team getting better at everything.

You're correct. The problem is with the rule. The rule wasn't written with kind of play in mind. It was designed to protect players in a different situation. It's a problem with rule making. Rules are general and situations are specific. That's just the way it goes. In an ideal situation the official recognizes the play as outside what was intended by the rule. Still, it's the player's responsibility to know the rule an stay within it. My problem with the play was that he may have been within it. He really didn't hit the guy, and the rule requires that something like a blow be delivered. It was more like Ford said to the guy "I'm here and I'm going to make contact just to be sure you don't get back into the play. " Unfortunate.

I'm expecting Ford to be the right tackle. I'm expecting he will be much better this season. They drafted him because they believe he can be a special player, and they're going to work really hard to help him become one. But they also believe in competition, which is why they signed Williams. They're willing to let the competition determine who plays. I don't think they signed Williams because they think Ford can't do it.

Absolutely true, but I think McDermott's answer to you would be that he wants a versatile guy and McDermott will train him to handle the edge rusher. I think McDermott doesn't want a guy specially suited to handling edge rushers. I think his logic is that edge rushers will change, evolve, do different things, and McD wants tackles who can evolve, too. I don't know. As I said, I've always thought there prototypical guards and prototypical tackles and very few people were good at both. I just think McDermott thinks differently.

I'll add to that a couple things. First, the running back position is the easiest position to transition into from college, and even the college running backs don't have a lot training. It's largely an instinctive position. So if there's a position where superior talent can rise easily, it's running back. Second, he's now had a full-year to learn. That year probably was sufficient to teach him everything running backs have learned through college. He's learned how to line up, how the play starts, that performance is based on learning the script for the play and doing it. He's learned all that. And it was easy to learn, because although rugby has different rules, he's lived in the same kind of environment. Where do you line up, where does the play start, all that. So it's not like learning to talk, it's more like learning a second language. This season was going to be like a college guy's rookie season. He's now sort of caught up to the rookies, so he has, I think the same kind of likelihood of success that a rookie does. In other words, possible success. Third, the little we saw of him last season suggested that he has refined ball carrying skills - his speed, power, change of direction, quickness all look like they are NFL caliber. Again, this isn't surprising, because he's been playing rugby at a high level for a long time. His position in rugby required him to be a broken field runner. Why wouldn't he look good doing it in football? As I said, I think this season he will be the functional equivalent of a rookie from college. That's why I don't dismiss him.

You know, this is an interesting point, and I've always believed the same thing, but I think you and I aren't thinking about the offense that way that I think McDermott and Beane think about it. One thing they keep talking about is position versatility. They really, really like guys who can play multiple positions, and they don't like them because that means they can serve as the backups to multiple players. It's true, they have that backup capability, and it's useful. But it's more than that. McDermott wants to be able to play any kind of football. Run dominant, pass dominant, balanced, hurry up, call control. He wants to be able to do any and all of it. Because the roster isn't big enough to have specialists in every style, its important to have guys who can do a lot of stuff. Its important to have guys who ran run block, who can pass block, who can handle complexity, etc. etc. In that kind of environment, guys who can do multiple things are sometimes more valuable than guys who have specialized skills. Take a guy like McKenzie. Obviously, they like the guy. I've never been quite sure why. The only thing I see him do really well is the jet sweep. Everything else, he looks like he can do it but he just isn't quite there to be an impact player. Not quite a good receiver, not quite a good punt returner. What makes him valuable is that every time you put him on the field, you can count on him to a solid job, not enough to start, at whatever you ask him to do. Block, catch a pass, run the ball. That is, he makes himself an impact player just by being good enough at a lot of different things that if he gets playing time, he contributes. And I think that's true about the oline. I think that that concept, that the more a football player can do on the field, the more valuable he is to McD, can be seen in their drafting guys who are in between - guys who don't look quite like your stereotypical tackle or guard, as the case may be. I think McD's ideal offensive linemen - two guards and two tackles, all have the same body types, quickness, skill sets. Centers are different, but the other four, I think McD wants them to be able to anything a lineman can be asked to do regardless of whether they're next to the center or not.

This is really well said. That's exactly what I think. He's constantly asking himself and others around him what he needs to do to improve, and his game management is just one of those things. Not only is he asking what needs to be done, but he actually does it. He's an amazing combination of heart, drive and teacher and learner. I have never been too upset with his game management, other than abandoning the run a few times last season. But whatever each of us may think of his game management, it's a craft that he understands is critical to the success of the team. In fact, maybe that's why he's so driven. Just like he wants his right tackle to be motivated by the chance to contribute to the the success of all his teammates, McD understands that the success of 100 other people depends on his doing his job. Among things his job requires is game management, so he is motivated by the fact that 100 people need him to do it.

I get the premium argument, but I think Beane has signaled that short term need is what matters. Otherwise he would have kept his first round pick.

Actually, I think it's all about Allen. McD's game management style will work fine. As he get more leads, and as his offense gets more productive he will evolve They are NOT going to decide on style of play. Their objective is like Belichick's. They want to be good at all styles. The th want attack every way, on offense and on defense. Different styles on different days. That's what we're gonna get.

I dont agree. I agree with OP. If the season started today, the Bills have a d line they're happy to play with. Yea, they still need to add edge talent, but it osnt a true hole for 2020. RB is a true hole. A starting quality RB is needed to complete the roster. Yeldon and Wade cant re counted on to do the job. Yeldon might come through, but you cant count on It. In other words, DE is more for the future, and RB is for now. The Diggs trade already announced that Beane is thinking now. Beane is shopping hard for a running back.