Shaw66

Ii agree that all teams are looking for depth. I disagree that it's about player selection. Bench players are by definition marginal NFL players. Only occasionally does a team have a starter caliber guy on the bench. Teams that have good depth have good coaches who know how to get good play out of marginal players.

I'm not worried about depth. Depth is about coaching, not players, and McDermott's system is a good system for developing depth. Here's why: Talented players, guys talented enough to play in the NFL or be among the last cut, are all out on the far right end of the bell curve. There are a couple of things that are true about players at the end of the bell curve: 1. The farther out the curve you go, the fewer players there are. 2. The farther out the curve you go, the talent differences get larger. Now, that's not true in every case, but on average, in most cases, it's true. What does that mean? It means when MIchael Jordan is the best basketball player, he's farthest out on the bell curve, there aren't many guys in his vicinity, and the differences between Jordan and the guys near him are relatively big. What's important about that is not who's out there with Jordan. What's important is the 300th best player in the NBA. He's not way out there with Jordan, not close. There are a lot of guys at the same place on the curve with him, and there's very little difference between them. That is, the 300th player isn't that much better than the 310th player or that much worse than the 290th player. They're all about the same - 20 guys, all about the same. Are there differences? Sure, but they aren't very big differences. When you're talking about depth, your talking about relatively small differences among players. Take offensive tackles. There are 64 starting offensive tackles in the league, and those 64 guys are probably in the top 75 or 80 of all offensive tackles in the league. A few teams have a backup tackle who is better than some starters around the league, but not very many. Most of the best tackles are playing somewhere. That means the backups generally fall between, say, the top 60 and the top 100 tackles in pro football, and the guys who got cut and are waiting to get a phone call are in the top 100 to 120. Because the bell curve works the same way wherever you are on it, the differences between a guy who's the 75th best tackle and the guy who is the 100th best tackle aren't that great - about the same, probably as the difference between the best tackle and the 5th best tackle. If you have the 5th best tackle, you don't care too much that you don't have the best. If you have the 100th best tackle, you don't care too much that you don't have the 75th. It's sounds odd, but it's statistically true. So fretting about the talent the Bills have on the bench doesn't make that much sense to me. The best you can expect to have is a guy who has started in the league but isn't starting now, like Ivory. Most of your backups are going to be guys who haven't started, which means they're in among the 60th to 100th best player at the position, and any guy the Bills can get to replace him isn't going to be much different. What matters is coaching. McDermott's "process" is designed to do what Belichick does - teach players with decent talent (backups) how to execute the position. And that's why there's so much emphasis on character. The difference between 75th best player and the 100th best player that matters the most is how hard the guy is going to work, how committed he is to getting every little detail right all the time, because it's THOSE characteristics that are going to make an average backup get the job done when the time comes. Austin Proehl is an example. The guy presumably doesn't have stellar talent. What he has is work ethic. He's the kind of guy who will get the job done because he will practice everything until he can do it as well as he possibly can do it. Belichick wanted Hogan for the same reason. I don't worry about backups. If McDermott is doing his job, the backups will be okay. I worry about the weakest starters, and I worry about the coaches who run the offense and the defense. Those are the guys who matter.

I have no evidence but I think the Pegulas got them fired.

He wasn't an objective voice. He looked constantly for opportunities to bash management and the coaches, and when he couldn't find any, he worked to create them. Listening to the press conferences, it was clear that he worked at catching speakers in what appeared to be contradiction when he knew perfectly well what they meant. Then, when they said something that he could construe as contrary to something someone else said, he ripped them for lying. It was cheap, disningenuous and nasty. He called the Bills a dumpster fire, and less than a year later the Bills were in the playoffs with pretty much all the same players that he'd called out the year before. He absolutely trashed Terrell Owens from the day he arrived in Buffalo until the day he left, calling Owens a locker room cancer when there was absolutely NO evidence to support it. His teammates said he was great, but Sully ripped him mercilessly. One day on WGR he went off on Owens and even the WGR personalities were astounded at how irrational he was. The only thing wrong with Terrell Owens was that Trent Edwards didn't understand that he should throw the ball to Owens on every play. Once Fitzpatrick became the starter, Owens was, once again, one of the best receivers in the league. But that didn't stop Sullivan. Objective he was not. I tired of Larry Felser, but he was the rockstar you're talking about. He was loved. Sullivan is talented, but he was way past needing to be refreshed.

Jerry, you don't get it, even on your way out the door. "They felt my voice was becoming bad for business." Yes, Jerry, "they" felt it because it was true, and you refused and refuse to recognize it. From your point of view, it's always been that your voice was the voice of truth and therefore worthy of publication - just because it came from you. Well, guess what? Gifted writer that you are, your voice nevertheless often was rude, insensitive, nasty, biased and downright uncivil. Your voice offended many, and because nothing is more important to you than your voice, you just didn't care. People don't like being around nasty people, but you never understood that, so you don't seem to understand why your voice was bad for business. It's too bad for you, too, because after all the years you invested in covering horrible Bills teams, you're now not going to have a platform from which you could enjoy what looks to be a team on the rise. Of course, your voice might not have appreciated that, either. I hope you come at your new gig with a different perspective. You're insightful and you can write, but if you're lacking basic human decency, you're going to be bad for business.

You're not going to get aggressive game management out of McDermott. That isn't his style or his philosophy. McDermott PREPARES. His plan is to get everyone - including himself - ready for every situation and then perform in accordance with the preparation. Prepare, prepare, prepare. When McDermott goes for it on fourth down, it will be because his preparation tells him that in certain circumstances it's the smart move. He's not going to go for it because he wants to give his players a boost, or because he wants to insert the dagger. I think that's the right approach. Take what the game is giving you. If it's the second quarter and the game is giving you a field goal, take it. Don't go for it because you think a TD will change momentum. In the second quarter, all you're trying to do is pile up points, and if the game is giving you 3, take them. It's not sexy, it's not what the fans want, but it wins. So, for example, I don't think you should expect to see the conservative game planning change, at least not until he has a powerful, dominating offense. (Maybe if he has a dominating offense, he'll open up, but I doubt.) It was quite clear last season that McDermott wasn't going to open his offense until it was the fourth quarter and he was behind by more than a TD. He's going to punt instead of asking his team to do something they aren't good at. We saw it, and we saw that conservative approach work. I don't think it will change.

Passer rating in the top 15 in the league and improving play as the season progresses. No worse than 7-9.

I want to believe Allen will succeed. I have several reasons why I think he will. This stat is NOT one of those reasons. I spent two years arguing with people that you couldn't conclude much of anything about Taylor by studying his stats for throwing over the middle. The data is subjective and scarce, and the differences aren't meaningful. Same here. There are too many variables to conclude that the differences among the rookie QBS in this one, narrow, subjective stat mean much of anything. I mean, what am I supposed to do- conclude that Allen is going to Hall of Fame he MAY have been better in the red zone in college?

Atlanta. I was there, and the place was electric with Bills fans. I don't remember the game, but I remember all the Bills fans cheering for about 15 minutes after the game.

Pretty unusual for the second string guy to take over the starting spot. Usually happens only when there's an injury, the games are meaningless or the strarter is in a bad slump AND the playoffs are on the line. It ordinarily doesn't happen just because someone decides it's a good time to start the rookie.

I think people asking about Groy not starting are missing the point. I've heard McD talk about how valuable he is because he can play multiple positions. But that doesn't mean he shouldn't start. You're going to have a center and a backup center. If Groy starts, then Bodine can be the backup. If a guard goes down, Groy can move over and Bodine comes in. That's pretty simple, and I'm sure McDermott understands it. No, it makes much sense to conclude that Groy isn't starting because the coaches think the guys they have starting are better. Plain and simple.

Strictly reading between the lines, but I'd guess that Miller came to camp complacent last year. Two year starter and all that. Why do I say that? Because when he talks about how focused he is and how hard he's worked in the off-season, etc., it sounds like that's new to him, like he didn't get the memo last year when McD showed up. You don't work hard, all day, every day, you aren't playing for McDermott. It sounds like he's now gotten and read the memo. I expect we'll see the results on the field this fall.

Nuthin's happenin

If you remember Terence McGee, or if you don't, take a minute and watch the greatest kickoff return that didn't go for a touchdown in the history of the league. The guy could play corner, too.

It took me a tenth of an hour to read your post. I'll send the bill right away.

I tend to agree. Even going up for Edmunds may have been a mistake.

Even Green Bay is morr than WNY can support. They get fans year round at their museum. That wouldn't happen in Buffalo. Your post gives me hope that they can find a way to do something reasonable, particularly because serious renovations to New Era would cost nearly as much as a modest new stadium.

It should all be one line. Get your beer and chug it while you're waiting for the bathroom.

Corta - That's fantastic! Thanks. I generally don't read the articles about a new stadium, because I don't know what to believe. This is a superb summary. One thing I'll add: I don't think WNY can support a stadium with a lot of club seats and other entertainment areas, like Dallas and Atlanta did. Beyond not supporting it, I think making the facility the centerpiece detracts from interest in the team. I went to the Bills game in Atlanta last season, and so many Atlanta fans were in the clubs instead of their seats that for a lot of the time you couldn't tell which team was the home team, because the noise seemed more or less equal. That's a bad thing. At New Era, there are no distractions - it's all about football.

Wasn't it the knee that was injured on that play in the Jets game, where he'd beaten his man going deep and the defender tripped him to prevent a big gain? He was never right after that game.

I think he meant it was an on-going thing. Too bad they didn't identify it until OTAs. He could have had the surgery two months ago. It would be great if he gets back for training camp. He needs. I'm higher on Jones than a lot of folks here. Lots of rookie receivers struggle, so I don't think that what we saw in 2017 is necessarily what we're going to see in 2018 and going forward. He showed several good things last year, and I get the sense that he's really committed to getting the job done, that he's the kind of guy McD likes. The drops were horrible, but both in college and some his later games last season, he's shown he can catch the ball.

I think a lot of us are out of town. If you live in WNY, you can have as many face-to-face conversations about the Bills as you'd like. If you're out of town, there's no one to talk to except, in my case, Patriots fans.

That sounds right. Frankly, not a lot different from a lot of employers, except that it's a little more top-heavy in a pro football team. Most companies with 200-300 on the payroll only have a few in the mid-six figures.

Yeah, I think all of us peons have trouble really understanding how much money is involved here. I knew a guy whose brother was an NFL assistant coach. He had been in the league for about 18 years, and he was hopeful he'd last to 20 (and I think he did), because at 20 his full assistant coach's pension would kick in, which I believe was in the mid-six figures. I don't know, but I'd guess the CEO, GM and Head Coach are the only ones in seven figures (maybe the coordinators, too), and the assistants and at least a handful of other front office people are in six figures. On the other hand, a lot of the staff gets paid peanuts. They take the job, even though the pay is low, because they want to be involved with the team. After a while, the glamour wears off and they realize they're working hard for not a lot of dough, so they move on. One problem with a lot of the lower-paying jobs with the Bills is that you have to work during the games, so you don't get paid much and you can't watch your favorite team. I look at all the security staff at the games, standing with their backs to the playing field, and I wonder if I would have the discipline to turn my back to the game.

I, too, seem to recall that Brandon got a small piece from Mr. Wilson. I don't know the league rule, but I'm pretty sure it isn't necessary that the "owners" (the Pegulas, the Maras, the Jerry Joneses) own 100%. I'm pretty sure a few celebrities had (and maybe still have) small pieces of the Dolphins. I'd guess that the rules require that the majority owner have total control - the league wants to deal with one or two owners and not worry about whether the owners can get the votes of their minority partners. All a guess on my part, but that's likely how it works. As for Brandon, either the Pegulas insisted he sell out to them at the time they bought the team, or they insisted that he sign an agreement saying he WOULD sell out when his employment ended. Either way, I'd guess that if Brandon had a piece, he doesn't any longer.