SoTier

The Bills offense, most notably the OL, played almost as badly against Cleveland's first teamers, so it's NOT "one preseason game". How do you think McCarron got hurt? Of course, it's much easier to scapegoat to McCarron who's a career backup than it is to blame the rookie first round QB who cost the Bills so much, but the reality is that it's the Bills QBs who are the primary victims of the FO's incompetence ...

Incognito was 35 in 2017. How could his retirement have come as a surprise? 35 is no longer ancient for an NFL lineman on either side of the ball, but a team has to start planning for the future. Miller's poor play in 2017 should have been a red flag that they couldn't expect much from him if anything happened to Incognito. The Bills hardly ever seem able to address improving their OL or adding depth to it because they're always so damned busy filling holes created by their inability/unwillingness to keep many of the good players they draft beyond their rookie contracts, so they are constantly using the draft to fill the holes they themselves created. If the Bills had kept Stephon Gilmore they wouldn't have had to draft White in the first round in 2017 or trade a 2018 third to get Benjamin. Moreover, if they were so bent on getting a first round QB in 2018, why did they get rid of their entire WR corps in 2018 -- a WR corps that went on to shine on their new teams? The only difference I see between the Bills under Ralph Wilson and his minions and Terry Pegula and his minions is the names and faces ... and better propaganda.

Ever hear the statement, "you can get blood from a stone"? Well, in any sport, coaching can only go so far. It cannot make slow players faster. It can't make awkward players nimble and athletic. It can't make a weak arm into a strong one. The best coaching can do is help a player reach his max potential, but if that potential isn't there, coaching isn't going to create it. The Bills OL lacks talent. Maybe Dion Dawkins is a starting caliber NFL OLer, but the rest aren't at this point. They cannot physically compete against DLs that are starting caliber units, and especially they can't compete against teams that have elite pass rushers. All the coaching in the world cannot change that.

I don't know what you think a prediction is, but when I make a prediction about something, it's what I think/expect to happen based on some kind of evidence. Y'know ... I get up in the morning when I'm planning an outdoor event and see storm clouds, so I think getting today's event in without getting wet may be very dicey. When I check the Weather Channel and see 20% chance of rain, I can raise my expectations that maybe my event will be okay. OTOH, if it's 100% chance of rain, I'm wishing I'd sprung to rent a tent. It has nothing to do with what I want, and everything to do with the likelihood of something happening.

Just because some fans are not optimistic doesn't mean that they don't want the team to win. Wanting the team to win doesn't equate to ignoring the team's shortcomings.

I'm on the side of not getting Allen killed behind a horrendous OL early on. Sacrifice Peterman and McCarron first.

I've never been a Rex fan but I think you are spot on with your evaluation of the difference between Ryan and McDermott. McDermott does some things very well, and I think he gets much more out of the talent he has than many coaches, but he's not in the same zip code with other new HCs who have truly engineered franchise turn arounds in 1 or 2 seasons in recent years. Doug Peterson and John McVay immediately come to mind. Anthony Lynn may be another one.

Keep telling yourself that and someday even you'll believe you.

The problem is that the way the Bills are playing now screams 0-16.

Did I miss something? AFAIK, being born rich doesn't guarantee a person having intelligence, discernment, compassion, honesty or anything other than piles of money. LOL.

I think that that's a good assessment of McDermott's philosophy. I've said a couple of times in posts that I felt that McDermott was basically a "my way or the highway" type of guy.

I feel the same. Coaches think in the short term, usually now, and maybe next week or the week after. GMs are supposed to be the guys who think in the long term, next season, the season after that. A long term mind set is critical for managing personnel within the salary cap, too. I truly feel that not having a GM who is truly "in charge" of the team, including selecting the HC and making final personnel decision, has been the biggest reason that the Bills have wallowed in mediocrity or worse since John Butler departed. If the GM selects the HC, he can pick a guy who fits his philosophy and whose willing to adapt to the players that are already there. Just because a team has a rough year or multiple years doesn't mean that all the players are crappy. Even though Cleveland went 0-16 last season, they still had some talented players, particularly on defense. If your team has a great 3-4 D, changing to a 4-3 that doesn't suit your personnel on the whim of your newly hired HC -- who may be a first time HC at that -- is a prescription for guaranteeing a long rebuild.

Dorsey may be the guy who turns them around, but they'll remain the poster child for "it's not where you draft but who you draft" until they prove that they've actually improved. That said, I thought that they might win more games than the Bills even before that travesty yesterday. Now I'm convinced of it, primarily because I don't think the Bills will win many games.

They're going to be on the phone to the Raiders promising next year's first rounder and Dion Dawkins for Kalil Mack.

Allen wasn't the problem at all yesterday. He's got a ways to go, but he certainly looks better than Manuel did at this point (Losman broke his leg in TC and didn't play until a few plays very late in the season). He has a lot of poise under pressure but he also has a lot more of the fundamentals he needs to learn, too. It certainly wouldn't hurt him to be the backup QB at least for a while, perhaps even the entire season, while he worked on improving his skills. My main worry in starting him is that it's likely any QB who starts in the regular season is going to get steam-rolled pretty regularly. I would hate for Allen to suffer a season ending injury in a meaningless game and be stuck on crutches so he couldn't work on his footwork, mechanics, etc which are things that need to be practiced almost incessantly until they become ingrained -- or worse, develop/redevelop bad habits while trying to escape pass rushers. As others have said, it's easy to go from Peterman or McCarron to Allen. It's not that easy to go from Allen to Peterman or McCarron. It says that "the QB of the future" can't win football games or is the reason the team isn't winning football games.

I've been a Bills fan since I was about 13. I'm 68. I no longer trust anybody in any position of authority in the Bills FO or on the coaching staff to actually have a clueabout how to build a winning team. The late John Butler was the last competent exec at OBD, and he left for California back in 2000 or 2001.

Whaley was good in the draft, too. His draft picks are sprinkled all over the NFL on playoff teams, including SB winning Philly. His problem was that when the Bills hired a new HC, they always hired one who wanted to start from scratch with his own players in his own system rather than change his system to fit the players he had. He's on his rookie contract. Unless they're first rounders, OLers don't get paid a lot.

If you watched the game yesterday, the only question you should be asking is, is Beane updating his database of NFL FA QBs hourly? Methinks he'll need it.

This. I'm not a Castillo fan, but let's get a couple of things straight here. Castillo didn't decide on the zone blocking scheme the Bills changed to in 2017 and have kept in 2018. That was Dennison and Daboll. Castillo didn't decide to bring in Ducasse or Newhouse or Bodine. He didn't let Seantrell Henderson walk in FA or trade away Cordy Glenn. He didn't ignore OL in the draft until very late in the fifth round, either. Those "sins" all sit squarely on McDermott and Beane. IOW, Castillo is dealing with the hand he's been dealt by those higher up the Bills food chain than assistant coach.

How could the Bills coaching staff have "hoped" that the OL would be better for Allen than it was for McCarron against Cleveland? Both Allen and McCarron got mugged by pretty good but hardly great pass rushes. I can understand fans blaming McCarron for his dismal performance against the Browns, but the coaching staff? That seems quite unbelievable unless they thought the offense played flat against Cleveland. Of course, it looked like the entire team came out flat and stayed that way for the entire game against Cinci, which is not a good omen.

What is "the right way"? What I see is McDermott and Beane bringing in their pals from Carolina or gambling on guys with injury issues or guys who've failed on other teams. I see them basically trying to copy the Carolina Panthers, but somewhat on the cheap. I'd rather have them try to copy the Philadelphia Eagles ... a team that went from 7-9 under Chip Kelly to 13-3 and Super Bowl champs two seasons later.

That's worked so well for the Browns recently hasn't it? OTOH, teams like Philly, Pittsburgh, KC, Atlanta, and even Baltimore, Carolina, Denver, Cinci etc, not to mention NE, seem to draft middle or low in the draft every year and still manage to find quality players. To rephrase "it ain't the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog", it's not where you draft, it's who you draft. Unfortunately, in the modern NFL, it's not even who you draft but how you manage your personnel so that you can keep as many of the good players you do draft as possible past their rookie contracts. The Bills have been masters at f'ing that up for the last 20 years ... and McDermott and Beane seem to be even more clueless about that their predecessors.

Not very much ... Groy is the big ticket guy in that group at 2.5 million.

Excellent post. A crappy OL also did in the 2017 Bengals. They remedied that quickly by trading for Glenn and drafting a C in the first round (Billy Price I think). Conversely, signing Andrew Whitworth helped put the LA Rams into the playoffs in 2017 with much more success for Goff and Gurley.

WWWWHHHHAAAAAAHHHHHH! Joeysixpackie doesn't like the truth intruding on his fantasy that his heros McDermott and Beane are going to conjure up a respectable OL out of thin air just before the season opener.