Beck Water

Tyreek Hill has blazing speed. So what's your argument now, that defenses only fear 1 or 2 WR in the league who can "burn them" on one mistake? That's a silly argument. When a receiver is turning in 8-10 reception, >100 yd games you can safely bet that opposing DCs are scared of him and are striving to shut him down. If they don't, you'll see debacles like our first game with Miami where defensive Savant Vic Fangio left Kader Kohou on an island to cover Diggs, and Diggs toasted the Dolphins for 120 yds and 3 TD. Again, I'm not trying to argue that Diggs has scared defenses every game (no receiver does, including Hill), and Diggs has had long silent stretches the last 2 seasons. But to say he has "never" scared defenses or taken over a game flies in the face of actual documented facts. The Bills didn't offer him a big contract extension because he "never" scared defenses. I actually like Sauce better for how he behaved towards the kid. He was 100% cool. Well played Gardner! Pity, I'd prefer to dislike him.

I am personally rooting "one game farther" for them.

LOL at "never". In 2020 when Diggs first came to Buffalo and was leading the league in targets, receptions, and yards while rocking a catch % of 76.5%, teams were plenty scared of him. Not viewing a guy who is leading the league in receptions as a threat, Sure guy.

I can't disagree with what he said, but I also think if he and Josh were tight from his POV, he would have said "that's my brother, and you're never gonna hear me say a bad thing about him". 🤷‍♂️

? Daniel Jones worst career completion % was 62% his rookie year, with 24 TD to 12 INT. He got enough ypg to win, as well, with 233 y/g That was under Pat Shurmur as OC and Mike Shula (yep, our guy now) as OC. He looked pretty good IMO. Compare and contrast Josh Allen's rookie year, 53% completion and 10 TD to 12 INT, 173 YPG which is typically not enough to win consistently. Allen's 2nd year some better, with 59% completion, 20 TD to 9 INT and close to 200 YPG Part of the difference is that Allen got to stay with a consistent crew of coaches that added pieces on OL and at WR. In contrast, the Giants moved on to Joe Judge as HC and Jason Garrett as OC and Jones supporting cast either stayed the same or got worse.

Would you say that seems to be the model in San Francisco?

I don't believe we get one

I agree that Beane needs to invest whatever he can to fix the WR room. As far as two high draft picks though - What am I missing here? https://www.nfl.com/news/2024-pro-bowl-games-complete-afc-roster-revealed Wide receiver (4) Tyreek Hill, Miami Dolphins* Amari Cooper, Cleveland Browns* Keenan Allen, Los Angeles Chargers Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals He's an alternate maybe?

I mean, isn't that part of the "beef" with Diggs currently - that he hasn't said anything after dropping that dime that went right through his hands? He hasn't tweeted, he deleted his Instagram account, he refused to talk to the press in the locker room after the loss or on clean out day?

I mean, what did he break down? He doesn't believe Diggs has cause to be unhappy because he's 'paid' and playing for a contending team, so he's asking "why?" cause all the controversy? It's the same question we're all asking, but what insight or information did he add? Really? You see the shots of that fiery player on the sideline and some of the blocks he's thrown, and that says "checked out emotionally" to you?

If asked "do I think the Buffalo Bills can win a Championship with McDermott?" my answer would be "I don't know". But stuff like this...c'mon, @Logic. Logic should tell you that in the playoffs, you usually play a very good team, a team among the best teams in the league, and that is highly motivated because it's "win or go home". Averaged over the season, we have games against good teams and not-so-good teams. So it seems probable that any team with a playoff loss is going to give up more points than they average during the season. Just a quick example: In their 3 playoff losses, the KC Chiefs gave up an average of 32 points per game. So in their playoff losses, KC was 2 points WORSE than the worst defense in the league! OH NOES! In their 5 seasons since 2018, they gave up an average of 22 points per game. That's two full scores more per playoff loss than they gave up in the regular season - a huge and unacceptable swing! Again, I'm not taking a stand to defend McD, I'm just pointing out that this appears to me a relatively meaningless line of reasoning. It seems normal to me that in a small number of playoff losses to very good teams (or they wouldn't be in the playoffs), a defense is likely to give up more points and more scores than it does averaged over entire seasons to both good and bad teams. Oh, and I think if you look at our playoff loss last season and the year before, you will find far more missing playoffs than Von or Tre. For example, in 2022 we were missing DaQuan Jones; Oliver and Phillips were playing in linebacker braces; our starting safeties were Poyer (playing hurt then replaced by Cam Lewis) and Jaquan Johnson platooning with Dean Marlowe. At CB we had Tre' platooning with Kaiir Elam and Dane Jackson, because Christian Benford was out. 13 seconds aside from Tre we were pretty healthy on D I believe.

I think his Rams tenure scared people off Spagnuolo as HC, yes. Anarumo - Lou Anarumo is what, 8 years younger than Spags? 6? And has never been a HC. He got serious looks last season, I'm not sure teams were scared off because he's defense minded. I think it's more the Bengals record and their defensive rank Teams always look harder to poach OCs and DCs from teams that are winning.

You are generous and amazing. And your wife truly was a special person, who chose a special spouse.

Valid point. Spagnuolo has had 2 shots as HC: 3 years with the St Louis Rams (spoiler: it was awful. For the first year, he had a QB in Marc Bulger who was probably like the Fitzy of his time? able to succeed in some systems, but at this point older and struggling. Then they drafted Sam Bradford, who looked OK his first season under Pat Shurmer, then totally AFU under Mike McDaniels. Anyway, the team went 1-15, 7-9, 2-14 under Spagnuolo. He got a 2nd shot as interim HC of the Giants, and went 1-3 (and didn't get the job). It may be the feeling on Spagnuolo is that he's a brilliant DC but HC means "promoting him beyond his level of competence".

Oh, my gosh, I hadn't looked at this. Dan Quinn's staff his first year and when they went to the SB: OC Kyle Shanahan (49ers coach, SB this year), QB Coach Matt LaFleur (GB coach, playoffs this year, beat Dallas convincingly); Mike LaFleur (Rams OC this year, playoffs); Mike McDaniel as offensive assistant. By 2017 they were all gone and it was a downhill slide. Also he had Richard Smith as his DC, and fired him I think? after 2016 SB collapse, but I think Quinn had taken over playcalling part way through the 2016 season? Yeah, Sus choice to give Quinn a shot as DC.

Meaning no offense, but "couldn't have been any worse" is the lamer cry of people who don't know what they're talking about. It absolutely could have been worse. "You don't know what other options he had". Look at the freakin' roster then and learn then. His options were a hampered Dodson, who seemed to be cracking under the pressure of trying to play MLB during pre-season; AJ Klein, who knows exactly what he's seeing and where he ought to be but doesn't necessarily have the physical skills to get there; Dorian Williams, who wasn't considered for MLB pre-season and who is struggling to be in the right place at the right time as OLB; or Tyler Matakevich, a career STer. That's it. There were no other options. Milano was on IR, and Spector and Bernard were "out" for the game.

Wait, Wat? Just like Terrell Bernard wasn't ready to play last season, Dorian Williams was demonstrably no way ready to play MLB this season. Even at OLB he wasn't in the right place all the time. So what there is to disagree with, is the premise that Dorian should have been playing instead of Klein. And if that's what Joe Buscaglia thought before the game, Joe Buscaglia is mistaken.

So didn't Dan Quinn get 6 years to show what he could do with Atlanta, starting with a very good QB who had some success (all pro), a top receiver in Julio Jones, and a very good RB? Meanwhile his defense didn't pull its weight, and he couldn't sustain success?

No, not at all. I thought "13 seconds" was our year....I thought we had the hosses, Josh was playing at a high level, and more to the point....we had the game won. This year I was thrilled and surprised that the Bills got as far as they did, after the Week 5 Defensive Decimation that was the London Jax game, falling to 6-6, and needing to win their last 6 games to capture the #2 seed and the division. But when we lost everyone that we lost on D during the Pittsburgh game and then played KC on a short week, I was spinning a prayer wheel. Bass was struggling the last month or so, so when it came down to him and a makeable kick I said "Ruh-roh" and shut my eyes. Anyway, TL;DR I enjoyed the ride and had moderate expectations which were exceeded.

Why wait, sling him in there now and avoid the rush. His father Bob Babich coached for the Bills before he handed off to his kid

Packers, Dolphins and Giants all interviewed him, so as far as automatic promotion - it was either promote him, or lose him I think.

Where did you get the idea "Frazier with almost perfectly healthy teams" came up short? Last season of course we were missing Von Miller after T'Giving. Our starting DT's vs the Bengals were Tim Settle and Eli Ankou. Ed Oliver and Jordan Phillips were playing in a brace - Phillips needed post- season surgery. Da'Quan Jones was out. In the backfield, Marlow and Jaquan Johnson was playing for Hamlin who was playing for Hyde, so 3rd string. Elam was playing for Benford across from Dane Jackson. I'm not saying this to make excuse -the team sucked that day - but it's simply not true that we were "almost perfectly healthy" on D in playoffs for Frazier.

@Shaw66 as always, interesting write-up with a lot of good points. As far as the officials "let everyone play", Hmmmm. At the risk of derailing your thread, I must point something out: they don't. Houston at Baltimore Houston 11 penalties for 70 yards, Baltimore 3 penalties for 15 yards. Clearly the refs were not keeping flags in the pockets, and their choice of which penalties to call had the potential to heavily influence the game. Houston was called for 5 False Starts, 1 delay of game, 1 offensive holding, an encroachment, and a NZ infraction on D. These were for the most part, drive-stalling penalties. KC at Baltimore KC 3 penalties for 30 yards, Baltimore 8 penalties for 95 yards. 4 of the Baltimore penalties were unnecessary roughness/roughing the passser. These were drive extending penalties for the offense. KC was called 3 times for offensive holding. Since Jawaan Taylor has been lined up illegally, false starting, and holding throughout the season, I find it a bit of a challenge to believe he didn't commit one illegal formation or false start in that game. The Bills game was cleaner, KC 2 for 15 and Bills 5 for 28. 10 of these yards were Dalton Kincaid's potentially turnover saving illegal bat, but the Bills also had a key DH and DPI called. And again - Jawaan Taylor, seriously not one penalty? Anyway, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I don't think the game is fixed, but I will point out that referees are absolutely flinging laundry in a way that 1) influences the game 2) interrupts the flow of the game. And it's not consistent - for example, yes, the refs were letting the DB hang all over our receivers during our AFCCG loss to the Chiefs. The Superbowl against Tampa, DH and DPI were being called against the Chiefs for similar play. It's a problem IMHO.

Well....under McDaniel, we are the immediate roadblock to their playoff dreams. What makes you think Frazier knows Allen that well? The defensive coaches are not generally studying our own offense. They're watching film of our next opponent's defense, and leading practice against a scout team simulating that defense. I don't think they have a lot of time or spend a lot of time studying our own offensive tendencies. As far as McDermott, I don't follow this myself, but people who do have said there are only a few times in their 6 years when McDermott took over playcalling from Frazier. Frazier knows the defense well, but do those few times actually give him more insight than watching 2023 game film?

Others have honed in on your suggestion of Frank Reich. I'd like to hone in on your suggestion that someone who "isn't looking to baby Allen" is what is needed. That implies that past QB coaches perhaps *have* tried to "baby Allen". I'd like to understand why you think that.