ngbills

It is about honestly assessing your team. You dont have to do that...nothing wrong with saying we are 6-2 and thats all that matters. For me, I prefer to dig deeper and analyze. It would be no different if we were 2-6 but playing well and barely losing to really good teams. I would say we are a better than our record. I would feel better about the next year and going forward. This year at 6-2 there are many things to to like but also many concerns. It does not feel like 6-2 should feel like because our 6 have come against some really bad teams. Put another way if our schedule had flopped and we played: NE, PHI, MIA to start the year and those games when exactly as they did we are 1-2. The same team that was 3-0. If you add on the NE, DAL and BAL games and assume we lose those falling to now 1-5. Are we really that bad? Point is no reason to pretend the schedule does not influence your record. It does in either direction. The games against good teams are generally a better indicator of how good your team is, how good it will do in the playoffs etc. The Bills could go 11-5 this year and have not beat a single playoff team. That is 11-0 vs non playoff teams.

Here is to somewhere between 14-2 and 6-10. Positive - Cowboys and Pats only losses. We finish 12-4. Negative - Also lose to CLE on road, Ravens and Pit. We finish 9-7.

Why is someone an idiot if they thought the Bills should try to get him? Obviously the guy has talent. You can have an opinion about it and so can someone else. Personally I would have liked to see the Bills add someone at WR. They did not make a trade so I would not have minded Gordon. If I have a lot of options I may choose a different route, but as of now I do not see a Gordon level talent sitting on anyones practice squad.

Then you spread the field. Put WR's out there not 3 TE sets. Dont bunch everyone up together. Its really not that challenging. Unless our QB is that bad. Unless we are trying to fool them with this absolute nonsense type of play...

The offense can dictate this. The OC job is create the mismatches, the space, etc. In the example you provided - what if the bills send one of the TE wide? Or they send the FB in motion. You have now either removed a defender from the box or you have a guy uncovered. They are not running the ball by choice not because of what the D is doing.

What do you expect when you are running double TE, RB, FB? As an offense you can influence how many guys the D puts in the box right? Come on now.

SF last night. They had 31 rushes and the QB threw for over 300 yds.

Very true. I dont believe in any notion of teams being doomed. Or this happened ten years ago so of course it will happen again. Reality (at least mine) is that it is great that we are 5-2. Could be worse. But all I know based on this is that we are not one of the bottom 5-10 teams. We have beaten teams that most average teams would beat, and barely done so. If I am forced to put money on it I say we are in that 10-15 range. Strong Defense that can win as long as the O plays average, but will have a tough time beating any good team.

Never wants to stick with what is working and throw in an occasional wrinkle. Instead it is oh we just run the ball 3 times and gained 5+ yards each time. Lets surprise them and throw 15 straight passes.

Including 13-3 NE, 8-8 NYJ (x2), 8-8 DAL, 9-7 TEN, 8-8 SD, and 8-8 DEN. Also 5 of the 9 games were on the road. So no it was not an easy schedule. Here is what I find funny. You say anything negative about this team and the response from many is that your an idiot this team is 5-2 so be quiet. But when we talk about prior 5-2 teams people can say those teams sucked or Trent Edwards sucked, the coaching sucked, etc. But they were 5-2...does that mean you can be 5-2 and still have a coach that may not be that good or a QB that is struggling? Hmm interesting.

How are people denying that point differential means anything? No it is not the 100% rule of how good teams are; nothing is. But generally speaking after 7-8 games it shows a good correlation to how good you are. If NE is crushing teams that we are beating in a dog fight then its likely they are better than us. A one off game may not matter but if you have a decent sample size yes it does.

2008 - Similarity is they were beating bad teams. They played better teams that year as NYJ, MIA and NE were all solid. 2011 - They just fell apart. Balanced schedule and were beating decent teams until the wheels fell of. This year we are beating bad teams and mostly play bad teams. We would have to be really bad.

Current regime is always the best, following a process that takes time, doing it their way etc. People will ignore any data that may show that they are not doing a good job. We are 5-2 and that gets used as evidence McD is doing great. Honestly - pick any of the Bills teams from the past 10 years or so. I would bet money that nearly all of them would also be 5-2 with this schedule. We have not had any teams as bad as this years CIN, MIA, NYY. Most of those teams would have beat these NYG and TEN teams. Some would have beat PHI and some would have lost. All basically would have lost to NE. Essentially any Bills team of the past would be between 6-1 and 4-3.

So you think the coaches are happy or not? I can guarantee you they are not. Yes, they are 5-2 but that does not mean they are executing and performing as expected. I have posts from nearly every week this year voicing my thoughts. If our offense was playing well I would not be as critical towards the offense or the coaching staff in general. If we were playing better teams or destroying the bad ones I would be more sold on the quality of this team. Some want to kick back and be cheerleaders. Root for a win and not think about much else. Others also want to win, but also like to think and analyze the game, the scheme, the players and coaches, etc.. Both are allowed. Dont understand why the cheerleader fan likes to come on threads like this is attack the fans that rather analyze and call it whining.

This was about the offense specifically. There are teams with less talent that are more productive than the Bills thus far.

Maybe just maybe it is frustration a deal didnt get done...

Yep. Dont like this look at all. Just say there was nothing compelling and we like the players we have.

So does Nathan Peterman starting a few too many games...

What move has this team made other than KB? So not sure what McD is talking about unless he is putting down his current GM. Funny that a lot of the positive talk on Beane has been his willingness to take chances and make trades.

This was not a fire thread nor was this part of the game day thread. You came on this thread carrying your baggage with you and assuming this was whatever you are claiming it to be. Again your post was one of the very first posts of the thread. There was no back and forth or I told you so's like you seem to be saying. I started this thread with data around McD's tenure as Bills HC and you chose to reply. Dont backpedal about how your being taken out of context. If that is the case it is because you are bringing discussions on other threads here.

Here is the issue I have. I read and comment on threads based on what is an interesting discussion to me. However, many feel that any negative talk should not be allowed or your dont know what your talking about. If you dont want to discuss if McD is doing a good job because 5-2 is enough and you want to stay positive then dont read the thread. Why come on here to say nothing but insult someone? Ignore if you dont want to hear about it. I am interesting in this topic. We have a 5-2 team that has some debatable attributes. We have beat bad teams by a small margin. Our offense has been inconsistent. It is a good debate in my opinion and not as simple as we are 5-2 what else do you expect. Some of us enjoy more than just the watching of the game. We enjoy discussing more than just the win or loss or the record of the team. Not for everybody. And if you dont like it then why tell others to just shut up and watch the game? Much easier for you to not read the particular thread.

I didnt know we were required to be asked to post on this forum. I am sorry but saying "It must have been really difficult to remain quiet through the 5-1 start. Congrats!" sounds like a put down to anyone being critical and a kool aid drinking comment. There was no mention of firing anyone in this thread when you made your post. Your post was one of the first on page 1 of this thread. It seemed to be in response to the original post, not a reply to anything else. Insinuating that the thread was started by someone that is over reacting and has been quiet until this loss. Why reply to this thread at all if your not interested in the discussion? You add nothing to the discussion with a ""It must have been really difficult to remain quiet through the 5-1 start. Congrats!". That is simply an insult and offers no analysis or opinion of the info presented.

Maybe it was your post below. Sounds like a Kool Aid drinker if you ask me... It must have been really difficult to remain quiet through the 5-1 start. Congrats! This was predicted in the game day thread. If they had won it just would have been.....”well, of course, they were supposed to win!” I’ll wait and see how things play out, but I don’t hide after a bad game. I’m also not getting into a long, dragged out waste of time. I’m not thrilled with everything (by any means!), but I remain positive about the overall direction.

Not an excuse. Been here long enough to have a say in who we have. And other Bills teams or teams around the league have done more with much less talent.

Biggest chatter out there with a few hours to go: RB: Gordon or Bell WR: Evans, Green, Gabriel TE: Eifert, Howard DT; Billings