WideNine

I don't have a lot of beef with his comments. I do think you have to have a mindset that mirrors the winner take all nature of that game. I do think that one can argue, especially with the other team scoring at will, that you have to trust the offense that got you there when they have a chance to take it in for the score. He didn't think they could get that 4th and goal play. Is what it is, and not upset Whaley called it that way. McD said as much in his presser that he did not like what coming away with nothing would do to their morale. It is only fair to ask what conceding your inability to get a few yards does for moral too. Honestly, I don't blame McD or the coaches if they went either way on that call. I can see the pros and cons of both. I do blame them for not having an effective game plan on either side of the ball.

Nice use of gas-lighting - have not quite found a good one for it yet. Yes, her existence was invalidated by my questioning her vegetarian fad. The reason I was tired was not that I had been hearing these "life-changing" fads for over 15 years. It was because I had just packed up my whole house into a semi trailer to have it hauled to our new home and the extended fam wanted a "last supper" out. Had a bunch of frozen meat in the freezer that I had asked her if she wanted and got the snarky vegetarian response. So yeah, I was tired, was staring at her beef chimi, and busted out laughing. It was all downhill from there. My son who was stopping over from college to lend me a hand got to gleefully impart his sage wisdom to me the whole ride home.

That would be a knee-jerk reaction to let go of a guy who had a cement-shoed draft pick foisted on him for RT. And a lot of middling talent outside of Dawkins and Morse (whose play is more finess than physical most of the time). Like other draftees Ford should be given time to improve, but his best fit is at guard sans a lot of pulling. Draft better, need more physical interior players. Ike has done well, but guard to guard we should be looking at improving. It's not like Mongo was not in position for most of the game. He just was not large or strong enough to handle his assignment on Jones. I will say that Williams has to be a player that plays to the whistle especially the way Allen extends plays, but mostly he has been good at RT. Draft better run blockers then keep them (Teller comes to mind).

I thought they had improved a bit. Was the worst with the Daboll interviews because he would wait a bit with a smirk till they were well on their way, then answer. Pretty cringe-worthy when you think about how some of the best interviewers have a ton of patience letting their subject warm up to a topic and spill more than intended.

McD has a wrestling background and my kid was in that sport. From my experience folks in that sport....

True...a very thin line between gutsy/genius call, and WTF was he thinking - fire him. I do think there was some "play not to lose" mentality and timidity that crept into the team that was uncharacteristic.

On the usage part, yeah we lack enough balance to force teams to play our run.

At least they have kind of gotten past that uniquely American greeting of asking how the coaches are doing and the disinterested not waiting for an answer before launching into questions. Our coaches would forge ahead answering how they were doing and early on it was funny and awkward.

Been wondering too, but it drifts into Covid discussion area. The cardiac arrhythmia covid link is a thing, not sure of long term prognosis.

They have aging DEs, linebackers and safeties they have to decide whether or how to extend, Allen's contract. There may be a few holes to fill once Beane decides who to keep and who to let walk, and some may just have a higher market value than what Beane is willing to pay and no hard feelings if they test the market. If someone phenomenal drops that they think is a steal then yeah maybe.

I do think you can get good value without spending a high pick, but I just don't see Beane drafting RB again this year. We will see.

I think the young excuse is wearing a bit thin on Edmunds. The last time I checked on per-defensive-snap rankings for LBs I don't think he or Milano cracked the 1st page of 50 and there were at least 4-5 in that top 50 who were the same age or younger. Dodson was actually ranked higher than both, but I can only assume he did well with the very limited reps he has had against just a few teams where the Bills had him in the lineup. There are times he can play downhill - I have seen it. But the way they have him roam the field to diagnose/breakup plays I feel like he is not the best fit because he is not adept at coverage. He easily falls for fakes and misdirection so he is out of position, he also struggles mightily to get off of blocks, and often plays on his heels waiting for plays to come to him then misses tackles. His athleticism and speed allows him to make up ground once a play has already gained yards, but leaves me wondering what if... He passes the eye test, he is smart, a good locker room and team player, and he makes the defensive calls. I just don't see the instincts and aggressiveness needed in that role and I could be wrong. I am a big advocate of watching a player to see how they are trending and once you feel they have plateaued, then you decide if you are going to invest longer term. He may need more runway to get to where we need him to be, but I am not in the camp that thinks he is not a player that the Bills could not upgrade. I don't think PFF has a lot of bias around linebackers and this is what they said about Edmunds and Milano going into this 2020 season (seems fairly spot on): The Bills have revamped their linebacking corps over the past three years, with Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano slated for much of the work once again in 2020. Edmunds is an outstanding athlete who continues to improve, ranking 14th in run stop percentage last year. While he made a plethora of tackles, Edmunds also missed 17 of his attempts during the regular season, sixth-most in the league, and posted a 52.2 coverage grade. Milano was outstanding in coverage last season, as his 83.3 grade ranked fourth among linebackers and he allowed just 6.6 yards per reception, fifth-best in the league. He had tackling issues, as well, finishing with 16 misses during the regular season while posting just a 39.5 run-defense grade, sixth-worst in the league. A.J. Klein comes over from the Saints to add depth, though he’s graded in the 40.0s in three of his past four NFL seasons. The Bills have a solid linebacker unit capable of matching up with running backs and flying around the field. The group just needs to cut back on its missed tackles to take the next step in 2020.

Disagree. You fix the trenches first. Most GMs are not spending the farm on RBs and there is a reason. You fix the line and most are interchangeable, but it would be nice to have the power and home run threat.

They have tells when they are planning on running. If they have the guys up front, I like the quick hitters like draws, counters, pulls, and duo blocking over stretch plays and sweeps that give defenses too much time to react. Slows down that rush, and if they creep up, it sets them up for play action with no safety over top where Josh can unload like he wants to.

You get the interior O-line fixed first and most RBs will look like all-stars if those guys can get push and open holes. Daboll has to be a bit more committed to that balance when teams decide to rush 4 and play coverage. We have to do enough to get them out of those split deep safety looks or punish them for it. No sense going out spending draft or spend FA capital and have that player run into a wall of bodies each snap. Cart before the horse.

Beas needs time to heal and to drink more milk Honestly one of my favorite players. Wishing him a speedy full recovery.

Civil discourse admonition and kindness lessons from someone who is quick to call you a dick? The irony in this dialogue runs pretty deep.

I think unless there is a run on 1-tech NTs in the draft we can pick up a rookie or two who could hold their ground and play the interior (1 high probability player earlier and a few UFAs). Not sure I bring back Star, Butler, or Jefferson. Would go youth movement here. We threw rotations, stunts, extra bodies, and the kitchen sink to fill this role. Too much money invested for not enough gain. Fix this position with some impact ability and a lot of other coverage and d-line issues find relief.

I do think the OP is a topic with some merit...there is room for some coaching introspection. Why can't we get our backups ready as we have had wr injuries for most of the year. Why didn't a healthy McKinney have a bigger role? I do think that McDermott and pur coaching staff can be conservative to a fault when it comes to who they start, as witnessed by his penchant to target aging ex-panther players mainly for the comfort level. He has said as much in pressers. He is a young coach, and he will learn and grow to be a bit more resourceful when it comes to his toolbox inventory.

Our defensive schemes do not take away TEs very well when we have to account for other receivers. Has been an open issue for two seasons. I think it is both scheme and personnel. We do not have that guy that can cover the more elite TEs in the league, and our soft zone just waves the white flag saying here's your 10 or more yards just don't beat us deep. The slow death by a thousand cuts. They have made adjustments and have done a better job stopping the run - especially on those stretch zone read runs that we were giving up on the edges earlier in the year. Stopping many for no gain or a loss. Romo was right. If we are going to commit enough guys to the box to not get run on, and to try to get some.pass rush, then someone should have been hitting Kelci hard first to disrupt his timing/release/route. It would also allow our coverage guys a bit more time to diagnose pass, and get into position to contest that short throw.

I imagine having an arm like Allen's but being forced into check downs is like feeling the rumble of your 600HP engine as you are forced to limp along through never ending 20mph speed zones. It will be the hardest thing for him to learn to do. The Bills FO can help by getting more speed on the outside to carry safeties deep and open the middle a bit, but that what smoke and Beasley were for, but they were not at full speed. Tough with all the injuries, but when you don't have the horses to go deep Allen has to take what he can shallow.

Gotta admit, I felt like he was sticking to a very vanilla 11 personnel 2x2 package and for the most part motioning Knox and Singletary to help Allen diagnose coverages.... Not sure why, but perhaps he was trying to keep things more simple for Allen as KC was doing a lot of things to complicate and disguise their coverages and blitz packages. We do have some predictable things we do, and a smart team may look at how we line up, motion, Josh calls protections, and then snaps the ball. KC waited till he went through that familiar progression and before the snap, changed their defensive look. The Bills defense is known for that too, particularly our safeties. It forced Allen to scramble to change protections and play calls and it got hurried and sloppy. Hindsight being 20/20 there are times when your offense can be too predictable and reactive to defenses. We had that tendency teams could exploit.. The best strategy if we were not going to go with a lot if different personnel or alignments may have been to go 2 minute drill/no-huddle. Change our progession timing to force their defense into being simpler and more reactive. Food for thought.

Brown struggled all season after the injuries. There is a stubborn coaching philosophy with the Bills to play their vets and starters even when they are not 100% over their depth. That is part of the reason KC's corners looked like all stars jogging along with Brown and Davis. Not sure what Dabs is waiting for in regards to getting McKinney more involved in the offense. The kid is a poor man's Hill and should have a larger role.

I saw that. They said that Mahomes was moving him away from his zone responsibility with his eyes and easily getting him to bite on pump fakes and such. It was a bit of deja vu, but not going to beat that dead horse tonight

Yeah. KC was doing some good things on defense too, waiting for Allen to call protections and plays then switching things up before the snap. Did a good job of disguising looks too. It was a tough game all around.