newcam2012

He has won 4 playoff games but he's lost 5. That's a 44% playoff win rate. Not good. You can blame Fraizer but McD must equally or even more so get the blame. He is the head coach who he trusted Fraizer after multiple defensive playoffs performances. He absolutely gave the KC game away in 13 seconds. Then they fired the special teams coach. The team was horrific on every level and facet of the game vs Cinci. What game plan? What adjustments? Etc.. The coach had to take blame for this! Let's not paint McD as this some sort of Godlike figure. Not saying You are but some here feel like he's untouchable or flawless. There is plenty to be critical about with regards to McD. I'm starting to believe he's a great team builder and regular season coach. Come playoff time it's a different story. The record backs this up.

I get that but Hamlin was also present for the Cinci game. He was alive and improving daily. The worst was behind him and the team. I think its safe to say Hamlin gave some motivating and inspirational words to the team. If anything, the team could have been extra motivated and more relaxed to play. It is an excuse. None of this talked existed after the Miami playoff win or prior to the Cinci game. This narrative was created after the Bills got throttled.

Not so sure about that. If Harris stays healthy he could be a threat to Cook. A healthy Harris is a pretty good RB. I'd argue that Hines can do everything Cook can do and perhaps better. For some reason, he was never given an opportunity.

Agree 100% Cook is light in the ass. He isn't a 20 to 25 touch NFL RB. The other RBs are greatly needed in order for the Bills to be successful. Not saying Cook can't or won't be good. He showed promise and still has a lot to prove. I think it's pretty safe to say he's not a "bell cow" RB.

Would you consider an OC change if Dorsey is awful this year? Would you consider a new DC if McD has too much on his plate? Would you consider a head coaching change if McD and the Bills miss the playoffs? Lose early in the playoffs? Would you consider a GM change if Beane's moves don't yield positive results? Would you have liked to see the Bills hire Sean Payton? Perhaps an offensive minded coach? At what point do you think changes might need to be made? It's all conjecture but it would be nice to see people's thought process. No easy answers.

That's more than fair. We are probably splitting hairs here. The Bills certainly were a resilient team last year. They won the close games in the regular season and vs Maimi in the playoffs. So a level of softness can definelty be disputed. Not winning the close games should be squashed. Now, it's on to winning more playoff games and advancing further. Hopefully, this year will be different in a good way.

Kelce!!!!Talks a lot of ***** too. Donald plays with a huge chip on his shoulder. Plays with a dominant attitude. Football is still football. The Bills have long been know as being a finesse team. Their weaknesses for quite awhile has been in the trenches. Sign me up for a guy like Suh or Conrad Cobbler. The Bills are lacking that. I suppose it doesn't fit the culture they have built. It's football not choir service.

What does "culture" even mean as far as football goes? I want nasty, physical, and mean players that have an attitude. Seems like the Bills lack these types of players. Maybe that has something to do with early playoff exits? Maybe it doesn't?

I'm skeptical and will remain skeptical. Glad you asked why? As a Bills coach: How about 4-5 in post season games in the playoffs. That's a 44% win rate. How about 1 AFC championship conference game which resulted in a loss. How about literally blowing the KC game in 13 seconds. Ripping the hearts out of Allen, Diggs, and the Buffalo fans. How about having his team unprepared to play vs Cinci last year. Getting whipped at every facet of the game. How about no SB appearances or wins. He wins regular season games. Fantastic. He losses playoff games more than he wins. Do the math. McD shouldn't go without criticism. Your attack is unwarranted and frankly disgusting. The skepticism is more than warranted. Let's keep things in perspective. It's not Beane nor McD that attract players to Buffalo. It is Josh Allen all day all night. Now, if you wanna give Beane credit for getting Allen that's another story.

You said it better than I. 100% agree. I've always liked listening to him on the radio. I think he's pretty solid. Of course, I don't always agree with his takes. He says some things for shock value but who doesn't these days. I find him more right than wrong. When he's wrong he does admit it. That goes a long way in my book. His take here is not outlandish at all. In fact, I think he's more right than wrong here.

He did make a lot of sense even though it wasn't pleasent to hear as a Bills fan. Now, I didn't completely agree with everything he said but the gest of his take was fairly accurate.

I think you are missing the big point. The Bills oline has been problematic for quite some time. Some level of responsibility falls on the coaches, scouts, and GM. It's really been a major reason why the Bills haven't advanced further in the playoffs. So I don't or can't blame Cowherd for criticizing the Bills. He should have acknowledged the off season moves. That's whereby fault him.

I feel like the first year Dorsey lead offense didn't have an identity. It was her sporadic for game to game and half to half. I get game plans change depending on the opponent. Dorsey seemed to be a bit lost and called plays almost like it was back yard football. I get sone of that because Allen of tennis his best improvising. I kind of feel at times the Bills ran too much and at times passed too much. I can see both sides of the argument.

Nice breakdown Gunner.

I like the moves Beane has made to improve the oline. We will see soon if it pays dividends. However, shouldn't we be critical about why the Oline hasn't been good during the five year Beane/ McD era? Isn't that enough time to build a solid oline? Allen was on his rookie contract and cap room was plentiful. We fans and experts have banged the table for years to upgrade the oline. Only to find ourselves five years later hoping...

Looking forward to seeing it.

Injuries are part of the game. KC won the SB with Mahomes playing on one leg. Cinci whipped the Bills with a shell of an oline. Miami almost beat the Bills with a nobody 3rd string QB. Buffalo's offense was clearly healthy going into the Cinci game. Everyone wants to use the use injury excuse for Buffalo. Sure it has some validity. However, the Bills offense looked good vs Miami. Yet, they only managed 10 measly points vs Cinci. Yet, another excuse. They had nothing left... Come on now! If anything they should have been even more motivated to win. Hamlin was going to be fine. Made a likely inspirational appearence and playing at home with rabid fans cheering them on. Stop with the excuses! The Bills were outplayed and outcoached. Men playing against boys. The Bills game plan was perplexing. To this day, I'm not sure what they tried to do. Funny how fans are so easily ready to dismiss this game as a one off. Yet, previous years Beane is on the record as saying you are as good as your last game. A theme that suddenly doesn't apply out of convenience. At least Beane has move some moves to address the Bills weaknesses. Who knows if it's enough? At least Fraizer is gone and McD should be an upgrade. Dorsey might the scape goat if the Bills fall short once again.

It's coaching. The coaching in the playoffs has been consistently poor along with poor game planning, schemes, and game time adjustments. The exception is when they play poor passing QBs like Lamar.

That's a solid response. One thing that I slightly disagree with is that excuses were made. Perhaps legit or maybe not. Listen to Beane's end of season presser. He talked about Cinci and their cap situation. Burrow being on his rookie contract. I would have asked him what happened when Allen was on his rookie contract? The Buffalo media is soft as Charmin toilet paper. How in the world does it allow Beane to get away with using that as an excuse when years before he was under the same situation. Crazy... Coach McD talked about his team after the Cinci loss. He specifically talked about how they didn't have anything left in the tank. Really? Did anyone ask him isn't it his job to have the team ready? What was the gameplan? Didn't he learn anything from playing Cinci weeks before? Let's not even begin to talk 13 seconds. He never took ownership as far as I'm concerned. A man known as a high character guy skirted responsibility. Fired the special teams coach. Lol It was a home playoff game and Hamlin was present. He was obviously getting better. We were all relieved as fans. Religious or not it was a miracle. Prayers were answered. Prior to the game, we didn't hear any rumblings about how the team was gased, mentality unfit, unfocused unprepared, preoccupied, traumatized, etc... After the Cinci embarrassment all the above surfaced. How convenient. Did anyone see the Miami game the week before? The Bills out coached by an inferior team. Lucky to advance to be honest. Takes me back to the home Indy game with Philip Rivers. Anyone see a pattern here? In The big game the Bilks haven't gotten it done. Are they soft? Lack physicality, toughness, leadership, or just not good enough? Does the coaching staff put the team in the best position to win? Dorsey? Frazier? McD?

I don't disagree but I will say there is no guarantee that the Oline will be above average. I anticipate them being better but how much better? Will the Oline still be a weakness or a strength? Colin's point is the Oline has been a mess while other teams like KC turned their line issue around in one year. That's all very true. It's an organizational failure. Cody Ford and Saffold were huge mistakes. What makes you think they have gotten it right this time? Dorsey going into his 2nd year doesn't means he immediately improves. He could get worse. It cuts both ways. Of course, we Bills fans hope improvements are made. Just seems like many on here automatically think an improvement is imminent. It's not. The D under Fraizer in the playoffs has been porous. Nothing more to say there. Not sure why he was allowed to be the DC for so long. Now it's McD D and we shall see what changes. His reputation will be tested and perhaps so will his Bills tenure.

The best way to punch your ticket to the SB is to get a franchise QB. Your very statement of who has won SBs or gone to SBs proves that. With that said, the Bills franchise QB hasn't accomplished this. That has to say something...Coaching? Execution? Game planning? Schemes? Player fit? Injuries? Preparation? Bad luck? Whatever the reason it's been several years of playoff disappointment. Don't ask me. Just look at Diggs and Allen after their playoff exits.

Great post. Agree with most everything. Of course winning it all is extremely difficult. I don't think anyone would beg to differ. However, that difficulty should never be used as a excuse to not winning it all. Not saying you are doing that but I feel many have that mindset. When you land the best or second best planet on earth a team has or should have a legit chance if going to the SB. That's not even saying winning it. The Bills haven't even sniffed the above. Imho, that's undeachieving and not meeting realistic goals. Perhaps, my standard is too high here?

The bottom line is the Bills haven't done well un the playoffs. They have consistently fallen short. Some are happy with a division title, a playoff birth and a lone playoff win. Of course, it's way better than the past. The team led by a franchise QB should be able to progress further than they have.

All of this can certainly happen and hopefully it does. However, much of it is optimism and looking at the glass half full. Kincaid is a rookie and proclaiming him to be the next Kelce like TE is really not realistic. It's really unknown how much of an impact he will have. Davis is what he is. He's a middling WR2. Not great and not terrible. He certainly deserves criticism after last year's performance. He needs to improve. Dorsey is a pretty big concern. He's young and raw. He's playing calling and schemes were quite elementary. I believe his inexperience was clearly evident last year. There is no guarantee he will improve. Imho, the offense stats were very good due to Allen rather than Dorsey. Beane has made moves this off season. I like his assertive and aggressive mindset. He clearly has tried to address the trenches. It's yet to be seen if these move pay dividends. To be honest, lots of his prior moves have been largely unsuccessful. You would think by now the Oline would be solid? The Bills are no doubt SB contenders. That doesn't suck as compared to the past decades of grief. Credit Beane and McD for building a winner! It's time to take the next step. It's been time for two straight seasons. I'd argue that wasted opportunities are passing. Will this year be another?

Great insight. Thanks