SoTier

Except it's not just McDermott's style of coaching -- playing not to lose -- that I find too much like Jauron ... I listed what I thought were similarities to Jauron in my post including McDermott's intolerance for players who don't fall into line with his ideas; his disregard for the offense, most especially the importance of the OL; and finally, McDermott's apparent belief that modestly talent players who buy into his "process" will triumph over more talented players who think for themselves. I don't think the "character culture" is overblown. I think what McDermott and Beane mean by "character" isn't what most fans consider "character". I think McDermott and Beane define "character" as players being willing to support "the company line" without question. Why did the Bills have to take a QB in 2018 if they only had the choice of a supposedly "concussion prone" QB (your claim) or a QB that most draft pundits considered highly likely to bust? Why should Beane "deserve credit" for doing the same self-serving thing that Doug Whaley did in 2013, putting economic considerations (ticket sales) ahead of winning?

How do we know this? Because the Bills got lucky last year and made the playoffs? They've been 9-7 numerous times before. They failed to be competive against the Patriots, losing the first game 23-3 and the second one 37-16. In case you don't remember, that's 1 TD in 8 quarters. They also got stomped by the offensive powerhouse Saints and the defensive powerhouse Chargers. They caught Atlanta napping early in the season and Indy shocked by a damned blizzard late. They smacked QB-less Miami twice. Then they got an absolute gift from the Bengals in the closing seconds of the final game. I'll be impressed when I see fewer games that remind me of 2006-2009.

Well, then, let's extend McDermott and his side-kick Beane right now despite what they may do in the future just because they got the Bills into the playoffs last season ... just like the Bills extended Dick Jauron after the 2008 season because the Bills started that season 5-2 ... McDermott seems to be Dick Jauron's twin brother from a another mother, and the more I see of him, the more I'm convinced of this. McDermott shares a similar "play not to lose" coaching style which leads to lots of boring games, lots of "shoulda, coulda, woulda" game results, and lots of scapegoating of players whom poor coaching/personnel decisions put into untenable situations during games. McDermott, like Dick Jauron, seems to define "team player" as blind support for whatever he says/does. "My way or the highway" was the Bills "culture" in 2006-2009 under Jauron, and that seems to be what the Bills "culture" has become since McDermott has taken over. Both Jauron and McDermott seemed to believe that that adhering to the HC's version of "political correctness" should triumph over talent every time. Moreover, like Jauron, McDermott seems to view the offense as a necessary evil, and the OL as an unimportant decoration instead of the foundation for offensive success that successful NFL HCs know it is. My guess is that the 2018 Bills are going to be one of the worst offensive scoring teams in the NFL if not the worst. Given that the Bills have Hauschka, they likely won't get shut out frequently but I expect they'll double 2017's 2 no TD games. They are crap on offense except for RB and TE, but feel free to put the blame for the offensive woes on McDermott's OCs. Fans did that Jauron's OCs, too.

I disagree with this completely. You are claiming that even if the current Bills regime fails to produce, they're still "the right guys". Why is that? If you're a manager of a business who made questionable deals to supposedly amass "capital" that you then squandered by spending lavishly on a couple of very risky projects that had limited chances of success, especially after you had stripped your business of so many assets, why should you be given more opportunities to screw up? Shouldn't "the right guy" prove he's "the right guy" with positive results when he spent so much and got so little to show for his "capital"? Claiming that "The Bills' roster is pretty set all around with a few areas that could use upgrades here and there" is an ignorant statement. The Bills offense is a joke. Their QBs have fewer than 10 NFL starts among the three of them, and neither McCarron nor Peterman have demonstrated that they have the potential to be low-quality NFL starters. The Bills have 1 legitimate NFL WR, Benjamin, and he has had a history of bad knees. Zay Jones is a bust unless and until he proves otherwise. The retirements of Wood and Incognito and the trading of Glenn has left the Bills OL made up of journeymen and career backups with only 1 legit NFL starting quality player, sophomore OT Dion Dawkins. With the draft capital that the Bills had, they could have filled some of those offensive holes if they had stayed at #12 and taken whichever QB was left. Allen was not such a good prospect that he merited the Bills moving up from #12. If Rosen was available and they didn't want him, then the Bills could have passed. They didn't have to take a first round QB if they didn't like him unless, of course, like in 2013 when the Bills took Manuel in the first round, taking a QB in the first round was primarily a move to increase ticket sales. If that was the case, then how are "the right guys" any different from "the wrong guys" of previous regimes, OP? In fact, how is the Pegulas' ownership any different from Ralph Wilson's ownership? If Allen fails, which several of Beane's other personnel decisions both before and during the draft may have very well made more likely to happen, then Beane deserves the boot because he's hardly better Whaley or Donahoe. Even the best QBs need protection and targets. As of right now, whoever plays QB for the Bills in 2018 -- and possibly going forward into 2019 and 2020 -- isn't going to have much of either one, and the fault for that lies with the GM, Brandon Beane.

Since McDermott's coaching philosophy is hauntingly reminescent of Dick Jauron, I think #20 is generous, reflecting that McDermott is at least 10 times (maybe 100 times) the game coach that Jauron was. My guess is that McDermott's "play not to lose" philosophy won't fly long term in the NFL, especially with the lack of talent on the offense.

How did Jenkins "mess up"? He has been in Florida for weeks. Lots of people have relatives/friends/house sitters stay at their houses when they're away for extended periods to discourage property crimes.

Since the police could very well not let you into your house if it was a murder scene, it might be pointless until they release the house from the investigation. If his brother is involved, then that would be a reason for Jenkins to return immediately but it wouldn't necessarily make him look involved in the crime. Families tend to come together in times of trouble.

I agree. Gabriel's evals of both Allen and Edmunds are about like the evals that other draft analysts put out around draft time. Both are big risks, even without the fact that the Bills traded up to get both.

Just because the Bills frequently trade away their best players for next to nothing, especially when those players are among the best in the NFL, doesn't mean that other teams are as disinterested in winning football games. For those suffering from memory impairment, Jason Peters and Marshawn Lynch are two ex-Bills who were about the same caliber as Jones when the Bills traded them away for the equivalent of used athletic equipment. Even if Jones were to be available for trade, the Bills wouldn't be interested. The current regime doesn't seem interested in adding top players, especially on offense.

Actually, Blake Bortles played pretty well most of the year, so your statement is dead wrong. Moreover, why do you think that the Bills will be able to run the ball? They weren't nearly as good running the ball last season as they were the season before, and they've lost their 3 top OLers. They've added only 1 veteran lineman, and the prospects of finding decent OLers off the waiver wire are between slim and none. There's also no guarantee that the QBing will be an improvement over last year, either. FTR, the Bills didn't have a "great" defense last season.

Yeah. Only morons or Pats fans would question the ability of a team lacking an NFL caliber OL, WR and QB corps to win more than a few games in the same season.

The last time I looked, the media doesn't determine whether any athlete succeeds or fails. Allen will succeed or fail based on how he does on the field, not on what the media says about his play.

I think that the arguments over "production" for Allen -- or any QB -- will occur if he fails to clearly take command of the team and take it to wins using his arm and leadership so that the team wins regularly and makes the playoffs consistently. Who's the best QB among Andy Dalton, Ryan Tannehill, and Cam Newton? I think most posters would pick Newton even if his stats aren't nearly as good as Dalton's or Tannehill's for most of his career. Controversies over a QB's stats occurs when there's general dissatisfaction with how the team performs, even when that performance may not be the QB's fault (like the Bills likely having a suspect OL and WR corps in 2018 or a crappy defense like they had in 2016). How many Packer fans complained about Favre's propensity to throw INTs?

Y'know, the last time I heard a Bills team described this way was when Jauron had those god-awful boring 7-9 losing groups, and the 2018 Bills resemble those talent-deprived squads far too much for my liking. Sorry, but motivation, youth, and work ethic are not substitutes for talent, and good coaching can only go so far in making up the talent deficit. Perennial playoff/Super Bowl contenders aren't that way because they're filled with hard working players with modest talent; they're filled with lots of very talented players on both sides of the ball. Brandon Beane has proven squat. He's run exactly 1 draft, and none of those players have played in an NFL game that counts yet. His trades yielded mostly draft picks. HIs FA acquisitions have yet to play for the Bills in NFL games that count just like his draft picks.

I hope you are wrong, but certainly giving Wood and McCoy incentives for 2017 would have likely been a very seamless way to get them to buy into McDermott's "process" without appearing to do so. I, too, am suspicious that the return to Jauron Ball in 2017 might become the Bills new "norm". Why do you think that NFL execs/management are exempt from practicing the same kind of ruthless manipulation that we see all the time in other businesses -- and in government, organizations, and even families? Have you never known of somebody high up a corporate food chain who used financial incentives or a strategic promotion or transfer to accomplish some goal without appearing to do so? I'm not saying that this was the case with the Bills deals with Wood and McCoy, but it's not outside the realm of possibility, particularly with Russ Brandon at the head of the organization.

Why is Bodine "likely fine actually"? Because the Bills just have this "knack" for turning trashy OLers who aren't really good enough to be starters on other teams into All Pros? Sorry to burst your daydream but the Bills have no such "knack". Other teams' crappy OLers come to the Bills and play just as poorly here as they did before. Too many Bills fans just ignore that and blame the QB or the RBs or whomever. Teams that have some top notch OLers can often mask the poor play of the other guys, which the Bills did when they had Wood, Incognito, and Glenn in 2016. All three are gone. How much did Dawkins benefit from playing beside Incognito in 2017? Well, we'll find out now, and what's scary is that Dawkins, a sophomore, is probably the Bills best OLer on paper. I'm not saying there's much the Bills could have done between the end of 2017 and now, to have changed the situation, but pretending that "everything will be fine" with the OL is simply ignoring reality. Wood's injury and Incognito's problems weren't things that could be foreseen and remedied. An argument could be made for them keeping Glenn but there are arguments the other way, too. Even addressing the OL in the draft differently may not have been possible. I just hope that what's transpired in FA and the draft in 2018 doesn't portend a return to the kind of lip service to creating a functional offense that we saw during the Jauron years. Just drafting a QB in the top ten isn't enough. All QBs need protection and weapons to be successful, and the Bills are woefully short on talent in those areas.

What, exactly, does Josh Rosen have to do with the fact that Josh Allen is the least accomplished of the top four QB prospects in the 2018 draft? Rosen's success or failure is irrelevant to Allen's success or failure. Each one will stand or fall on his own. The OP implied that Allen is a superior prospect to any other QB prospect that the Bills have had since Jim Kelly, and that's just not true however much "true believers" try to spin it, and that's especially true of Losman. Allen is another project just like Losman and Manuel. Too many pro evaluators fall in love with physical traits while glossing over all the prospect's faults, especially when they involve intangibles like decision making or reading defenses. Allen could be turn out to be great, but declaring him so just because he was drafted in the top ten is simply silly.

Aside from Allen being taken in the top ten, how is he different from JP Losman and EJ Manuel? All three were/are "projects" with lots of raw talent that the Bills gambled on. Almost all QBs taken in the first round who are considered "projects" like Losman and Manuel have failed. Maybe Allen will be different, but don't bet more than you can afford to lose because the odds are stacked against him. That's what's "real", dude.

In an alternative universe your scenario might be true but in the one we inhabit, the defense has stayed about the same, and the offense has taken a major step backwards at QB and OL and done nothing to improve the sad situation at WR. I'm sorry, but McCarron hasn't even made 100 passes in the NFL and no rookie QB can truly compete with a competent NFL starter, and unless Daboll is a miracle worker, the Bills offense will be "offensive" in 2018 will make 2017 look like a juggernaut.

Exactly. I remember when McGahee was here, and the fans were on him because he "danced" at the LOS. Then he went to Baltimore and later Denver where they had good/decent OLs, he stopped "dancing" and the hit the holes ... BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY EXISTED!!!!

Only in an alternative universe.

RIP, Coach Knox. He was probably the Bills best coach ever, given the talent he had on his rosters, compared to what Saban and Levy had on theirs.

Keep telling yourself that when the Bills offense scores even fewer points than last year ... and then blame it all on McCarron or Allen, whoever has the misfortune to be the starting QB. The Bills OL wasn't "fine" in 2017, and the prospects for it being "fine" in 2018 are highly unlikely. Statistical "analyses" of OLs are jokes that seem aimed at "proving" poor OLs aren't nearly as bad as they played.

Sorry, but news is not dependent upon the reporter's political views. News is the simple facts of a story: what happened, who was involved, when it happened, and where it happened. Example: Joe's house in Timbuktu burned down on Tuesday or the President addressed Congress on the economy on Friday. Whether someone subscribes to one particular political creed or another doesn't change the facts. If it does, then that "reporter" isn't reporting news at all but spreading propaganda.

IMO, you're scrambling to find examples so you've used the meaningless phrase, "some success". I would use a stricter standard: only QBs who were considered franchise QBs for the bulk of their careers. That's Favre, Brunell, Bledsoe, Plummer, Garcia, Hasselbeck, and McNabb pre 2000. Maybe Green and Delhomme, too. That's 7 franchise QBs in about a decade. Post 2000, which is almost twice as long as the first time frame, there's only half as many franchise QBs: Vick, Palmer, Ryan, and Stafford. That's a reflection of how much the game has changed over the last twenty years. Given that Allen was a top ten draft pick for whom the Bills expended additional draft capital beyond the #7 pick, I think if he's fails to develop into a franchise QB, he will be a major disappointment at best, and that's even if he performs at about Jay Cutler's level. If he does no better than a McCown or Orton or have a meteoric career like Anderson or Kaepernick, he'll be considered a bust.