Beck Water

If it is true that Davis was playing hindered all season: 1) we often praise the Bills injury handling, but it did Davis no favors if true, because he only missed one game, week 2, and played 96% and 98% of the snaps in the following 2 games where he was on injury report and had a "Questionable" game day designation. 2) I like the kid, but same story last season - "Questionable" week 2, but played - then towards the end of the season we're hearing about how he was visibly hampered through most of the season In order to be a #2 WR the team can count on, Davis can't be hampered all season by injuries that occur in Week 2 and aren't serious enough to stop him from playing two years in a row. Or, to put it another way, if he's going to be injured and play through it, he has to play at a high enough level to contribute anyway. I'm having uncomfortable flashbacks to the 2021 Combine when Beane told us that Cody Ford had played more games injured than he had played healthy, and that he'd have to compete but he thought he'd be one of our best 5 OL for 2021. It took 3 games to see that notion still was not working out. I'm sure every player who has drops would like some of them back. The question is, will he be able to come up with a program that changes what actually happens?

That would be...unfortunate

At least on this forum, there seems to be a sizeable and vocal contingent who do not respect Frazier....examples: I'm not saying these aren't fair points, but people seem to forget that he did run a defense that was consistently good and GOT us to the playoffs.

That's one possibility, yes.

As far as I know, having a coach under contract voluntarily take a year off from coaching is damned near unprecedented. So I have no idea how the NFL would handle it if he came back and the Bills said "oh, he's a member of our staff still, so we get compensated if you hire him" But folks here have to make up their damned minds - either Frazier is not under contract, and therefore if someone else hires him now or next year no compensation to the Bills - or, if compensation is a possible motivation for how the Bills are handling things he is under contract, not only this year but next, and the "smoke" that Frazier was not under contract to the Bills is without fire. What you write here seems a bit contradictory. You seem to be saying that people believe ridiculous theories in order to "not tarnish" McDermott andd Beane - and then point out that those ridiculous theories would, in fact tarnish McDermott and Beane badly by showing a poor level of organization and leadership. Then you seem to imply that believing Frazier needs a year off or doesn't want to be here next year would "tarnish" them, whereas there are multiple reasons why Frazier might need a year away from the game that do not tarnish them (medical, family, reaction to the Hamlin incident, frustration with being passed over for job offers and needing time to process/reset/reflect)

Don’t know. Doubt Frazier knows either, at this point. A lot depends on why he’s doing it. Medical? Family? Gap year to ensure time to study and reflect? Polite way of being forced out? All of those reasons could have for/against arguments why do some fans feel the organization owes them anything but football games and reporter access to ask questions?

If that's the case, why not just fire him? McDermott has fired other coaches - Rico Dennison, Juan Castillo, Jim Salgado this season. The goat has better scapes if you officially lop off his head. I dunno about "FAR more power than Beane", because I think it's been pretty clear at times Beane has made moves McDermott was not on board with. I agree that the way it's set up, both Beane and McDermott report to the Pegulas, and Beane does not have fate control (authority to fire) McDermott. I think it's very clear that at times during games, McDermott weighed in on defensive playcalls. But I think the primary playcalling and the primary game plan responsibilities were both Frazier's and he called plays most of the time.

My personal take from Beane's presser is that either McDermott will take over game day playcalling, or one of the defensive assistants will move up to DC.

I don't think it was a snap decision made and announced today either. But I don't think it's been something in the works for weeks, comparable to the new coaching hires which were leaked in social media but only announced by the Bills today. I expect if we were roaming around on Chiefs fan boards between 2015-2017 we would learn that a number of fans did, in fact, want Reid fired despite the two 11-5 and the 12-4 season. Losing the conf. championship with an MVP QB and the #1 O in 2018 probably didn't help.

? what else on ST other than giving up that 50 yd punt return? Oh yeah - kickoff OOB, Bass had too many of those this season. I didn't mean to imply that the Bills D was all suckitude or something, but there was a pattern of giving up 4th down and big 3rd down conversions that they struggled with last season - the Dolphins game wasn't an anomoly there, and I think it was a real and repetitive problem.

The thing is, these days, "an awful lot of smoke" can result from one guy with inaccurate sources reporting wrong info, and then everyone else regurgitating what that guy said with no verification. Welcome to information challenge in the Age of Social Media, though back in 1710 Jonathan Swift said "Falsehood flies, and Truth comes limping after it". Not saying your take is wrong, either, just pointing out that in this day and age, one can't judge factuality by the amount of airplay and electrons something receives.

How do you suss this out of what Beane has said? He stated that the coaches got last week out of the office, and Frazier reached out to discuss this.

OK, fair enough. I would say if the points resulted from a turnover giving the opponent favorable field position in Bills territory, it's fair to put that on the O, but fair to disagree. I would still argue that our D did not play well in that game - certainly not "giving up 31 points" badly, but not well - but honestly, I lack the stomach to go blow by blow through it.

I thought it was interesting that in Beane's presser, discussing the defensive minds we have, he named Bobby Babitch, Al Holcomb, John Butler, Eric Washington - in that order. I don't think that's necessarily consistent with Al Holcomb being the internal frontrunner for the DC job.

Given a choice between Wawrow as a source and almost everyone else covering the Bills, I would take @john wawrow. He is required by his AP contract to verify everything with 2 sources with direct knowledge. When he's opining, you can put his opinion in the kettle with everyone else, but when he's stating something definitive, it's typically Bank. I could be wrong, but I believe NFL coaches contracts run the same way that other NFL contracts run - from the start of the league year, until just before the start of the next. So the question Wawrow would be answering is "is Wawrow under contract for the 2023 season?" and the answer would apparently be "yes". And it would be very unlike Wawrow to dance around a technicality, such as saying "his contract has NOT expired" when it's actually due to expire in a month. Interesting bit in Beane's combine presser about 1 minute in: Reporter: "When you say return to coaching, do you mean that will be with the Bills?" Beane: "I don't know that yet. I think what we're going to do is just take this year off, and let this year be, and cross that in 2024" That doesn't sound like the GM of a coach who is not under contract with the Bills at least through 2024, IMO

Oh, Boy. Well, I've wondered some time what type of compromising pictures Snyder had on Goodell.

Where does this thing about Frazier's contract being up keep coming from? I thought multiple press guys covering the Bills had said it is not true.

15 points, is that all? (rummage, rummage): 3 points after interception/49 yd return gave Mia the ball on the Buffalo 48. Gained 18 yds (including 13 yds on 4th and '8) 3 points after 50 yd return of 47 yd punt to Buffalo 27. Gained 8 yds (but special teams play doesn't matter, I read it here) 6 points after interception/29 yd return gave MIA the ball on the Buffalo 18 7 points by MIA Defense after strip sack on 13 yd line/fumble recover TD I make that 19 points as a result of offensive turnovers and bad ST, or maybe I just don't understand how you're looking at it? The thing is, even on those series where points resulted from offensive or ST miscues - the D gave up plays like a conversion on 4th and 8. And another scoring drive, not resulting from Buf offensive turnovers,was sustained by a 19 yd pass to Tyreek Hill on 3rd and 19. So it can't be said our D played well against the Dolphins.

At the time, teams could block coordinators from interviewing while they were still in the playoffs. Since hiring teams wanted to get their staff settled, especially for HC, that meant the number of coordinators from Superbowl teams hired as HC was limited.

OK, yeah, I forgot about Wendell, he did leave for a promotion to OL from assistant OL, you're right!

? who left to take a promotion?

That's quite the spin there. Safeties coach Jim Salgado was fired. Fired generally implies that you only "decline to return" in the "you can't fire me, I quit!" sense o the term. Chad Hall's contract was up and apparently not renewed. He may have wanted a fresh start, the Bills may have wanted a fresh set of eyes, or it may have been mutual - we don't know. Frazier according to what the Bills said, decided to take a year off which could reasonably be seen as "declined to return" Who you got in mind as the three who "declined to return"?

And yet, in terms of top draft picks and FA expenditure, the Bills D should have talent.

https://madison.com/sports/college/football/former-wisconsin-football-coach-jim-leonhard-pulls-out-of-running-for-nfl-job/article_18ac8a10-c3c6-59b6-a3d3-c38a8343bb32.html

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