JohnNord

Again, if you watch the video they explain this. Almost all of the Bills success came from shot plays mostly to Diggs. It never was sustainable and a huge reason why the team EPA was so inflated. Defenses caught on and Diggs struggled in man-to-man coverage. As far as narratives you’re essentially doing the same thing to make your point. The Bills points per game were largely padded by 3 weeks of blowout. The final 6 games they struggled to score much more 20 points and went 2-4. I don’t think we know exactly what Brady’s offense will look like. But in my opinion the offense looked much better

Beane has been making the rounds and while he hasn’t been specific, he simply said it was “the right time” to make a move. You have to read between the lines of what he says but IMO I think this suggests that Diggs wasn’t happy with a reduced role in the offense and wanted out. Plus things happened behind the scenes over the past year or which likely contributed to the deal. He also said it was time for new players to emerge as leaders. Diggs was very vocal and as a team leader as captain, which might not have been a good thing. Also, I think the Bills planned to get out Diggs’ contract next season. They saw a malcontent player with declining skills that was still paid like “him” and would be looking at eating some his contract through release. Then Houston offered above average compensation for a 31 year-old WR. Next year, his value is greatly diminished, and they would barely get anything. So because of this, they decided the bite the bullet contractually and move on. Finally, Beane alluded that you have to grade postseason performances with a curve. IMO this is definitely pointed at Diggs’ performance against KC which was really bad for a player who considers himself elite. All of those factors contributed to the trade. I don’t think the tweet had anything to do with it. They’ve been putting up with Diggs (or his brother) being passive aggressive on Twitter for years.

Injury luck, man. You make it sound like they elected to play these guys. Baylon Spector would’ve been an upgrade over an AJ Klein off the couch who tried his hardest but was just too slow. Ditto for Sherfield who is far from ideal at WR2 (despite this, he played almost well as the Bills WR 1)

Yes he does. If you watch the video they break down the differences between Dorsey and Brady as play callers. These two do a very good explaining the problem with the Ken Dorsey offense. It relied too much on deep shots to receivers who just aren’t great vs. man coverage. It was all or nothing. Rather than continually throwing at a disadvantage Brady played to what the offense did well by mixing in short passes and a run game. The deep shots were still there though Allen wasn’t able to connect for one reason or another. Still, there are some who want to complain that Brady “took the air out of the football.”

It’s minicamp so you can only put so much stock in the drops. But what worried me about Cook is he seems to make boneheaded plays at inopportune times. What boggles my mind is that Cook was regarded as a great pass recovering back out of college but he’s largely been average as a pro with some high profile drops - usually for TD’s Davis is a difference kind of RB but it was interesting that some regarded him as the best receiving RB in the draft.

Doug Row aka The GOAT

I like his work normally. Just felt there were a lot of issues with the McDermott story which have been discussed quite a bit in this thread.

Interesting to see these two speak so highly of Buffalo. They are spot on about the Buffalo offense under Dorsey this season. It was all deep shots or nothing which explains why so many drives stalled. I thought that Brady did a much better job calling plays for the personnel on offense

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Hmmmm… I wonder why one of the 20 some anonymous sources wouldn’t come forward and complained about being misquoted!?!?!? So much for your Perry Mason moment…. The only people who were identified were the ones that had positive things to say like Nyheim Hines, Isaiah McKenzie, Lorenzo Alexander and Pat DiMarco. Maybe they should have complained? The article was called “The Sean McDermott Problem” and seemed to suggest the head coach was toxic. Everything that happened after, would seem to suggest that narrative was embellished. As far as Beane and McDermott meeting with Dunne, we have no idea what transpired in that meeting. You make it sound like McDermott went to Dunne and apologized profusely. It’s entirely possible that he approached him to express some things that were incorrect in the article and the two ended up coming to an understand like most adults do. I don’t see these developments as evidence that verified the article But hey - 25 sources 🤣 Is this why you said in a previous message that Beane reached out to Dunne because he knew people his organization were willing to talk? They weren’t people in his organization… they were former Bills. You didn’t take this into account when you were repeating your mantra.

And THIS is the problem that I had with the article Fans defending Dunne repeated “25 sources” as though it was some kind of religious mantra without taking account who those 25 were. Reading Dunne’s article left one with the impression that McDermott was an aloof, arrogant, micromanager and players were miserable. If that’s the case why would McDermott get such high marks both publicly and privately? It’s the complete opposite to how McDermott was presented.

It isn’t hard to understand. He sought out comments from people who left under bad circumstances, gave them them the security of anonymity, and then used comments and info which made McDermott appear to be a micromanaging tyrant that everyone was miserable working for. And it isn’t uncommon for current players or coaches to express discontent with a coach/front office. It usually happens when a lot are unhappy - which Dunne essentially suggested in his reporting. To your point, we might not know his “25 sources” were disgruntled. We also don’t know if they are reliable. You seem to take issue with me suggesting the former but being anonymous sources, you don’t have any evidence than I do. Like I said, the scenario he presented did not appear to be completely accurate inside the walls of One Bills Drive. I’m not addressing the article as complete fiction. I’m also not taking them as 100% truth like you. I think there was an agenda here and to blindly believe this article as fact without considering the points we’ve brought up is foolhardy.

You’re making a straw man argument. I never said he made up any of the quotes or the events. I said that he selectively used those quotes and events to corroborate his inaccurate premise. You really don’t see the problem with using comments from players/coaches who haven’t been in the building for years? I’m not saying their opinion should be discounted. I am saying you have to explore how reliable of a narrator a fired player or coach is going to be. Dunne has been criticized for this in the past. Also it’s not uncommon for a reporter to be able to speak to current players on the team anonymously - especially when players are unhappy. Why didn’t he try to interview a current member on the Bills? Probably because they wouldn’t corroborate his premise . That’s my problem with the article - Dunne crafted a narrative which simply wasn’t accurate. If you read the articles after the Philly loss, you’d assume the team was on the brink of disaster and that everyone was miserable. Not only was that not the case, but the team seemed to rally around McDermott with main players (Micah, Poyer, Josh, Dion, Oliver) speaking out against Dunne’s work some calling it “a hit piece.” It really sounds like a team that hates their head coach.

I’ll disagree to an extent. I don’t buy into the narrative that the article was some sort of revenge by Dunne getting rejectef for press credentials. I do think Dunne went into writing the article with his mind already made up and selectively used information to confirm his bias. That’s why I found it to be a bit slanted, and the narrative that he was trying to paint never played out. And you are compete wrong about Beane and the sources on the Bills. About the 25 sources - they were all FORMER Bills players and coaches - including some who had negative experiences. He didn’t source anyone currently working for the Bills. This is where the criticism of the Dunne article is very valid and worthy of scrutiny. How many people that have been fired in a transient field like the NFL are going to have glowing things about the person who canned them? No one on the Bills spoke up against McDermott and few have publicly levied any criticism against him, sans this article. As far as Beane granting the interview, Dunne said on WGR that he had a “private conversation” with McDermott at the combine which was positive. This is why Dunne has now access. Controlling the narrative? Perhaps. Or it’s allowing him access to use comments from actual coaches and players who can speak to the situation, rather than relying on former employees with an ax to grind. It seems like all parties had a chance to clear the air and are ready to move on. I’m glad to see it

No one really knows. Beane, McDermott and Allen all spoke of taking less hits in training camp last year. Ken Dorsey defenders want you to believe he wasn’t allowed run plays for Allen and Brady was.

It likely wouldn’t make a difference. He fully supports Sean McDermott.

I respect how Ralph brought football to WNY and his philanthropy to the area, but man, the organization was such a joke under his ownership for the final decade of his tenure. Out of all the factors for “the drought” Ralph was reason #1. The people he enabled to be leaders and decision makers after Donahue were horrendous choices - namely Marv, Russ, and Buddy Nix. None were qualified for that role and the results served as evidence. The football product did get marginally better when Doug Whaley took over but also got worse in other areas as well The loss was a bad one but it was mostly inconsequential to the season - much like the Hail Murray loss

He was unreliable toward the end of last season but not a compete train wreck. It would have been a drastic move to cut him in the middle of the year. Bass is in the as Diggs was. Signed to an extension at an in opportune time. The reason they aren’t bringing in completion is his contract. They are looking at a $4M dead cap hit on a kicker, on top of an already bad cap year. They are going to give him every chance to succeed before making moves. My concern is that once kickers start to get shaky, it doesn’t seem like they are able to regain their old form. They actually have a kicker on the team in Jack Browning who kicked and punted in college

Id say a B+. I think that overall the results aren’t there for “A” but he’s done a better job than a “B.” I’d probably give McDermott the same grade. Overall he’s managed the cap well, though a few bad contracts have hurt the team (Diggs, Star etc). He hit on the most important draft pick in Allen and deserves a ton of credit for that. I’d agree with the sentiment that he’s he needs to hit more “Home Runs” w/ draft as opposed to his usual singles.

It all depends on what your definition of a “bust” is. It wasn’t a complete disaster of a pick but overall I think it’s fair to say he fell well short of expectation on every team that counted on him. He was disappointing on the Bills, Rams and Chiefs - his one saving grace was making a big catch in the SB though that hardly redeems his career. Like you said, he was touted to be a top WR coming out of college and a “generational” player. Instead his ceiling proved to be a high-end WR2, despite having a ton of potential. Injuries are only part of the story - he just never had the drive to be great.

He was good in the XFL too….Spring Football legend

It says 5 years….not weeks months! He’s a vet who decided to skip to OTA’s. He’s be back for mandatory minicamp.

For me, it’s Bobby Babich. If you look at his track record he’s always had success with whatever position group he’s been in charge of. You can tell he’s a smart and thoughtful coach from his interviews and it seems like players really enjoy playing for him. I’m guessing he’ll call plays with McDermott gradually giving him more autonomy. I don’t expect this transition to be perfect as a first time play caller but I think there’s a lot of promising evidence in his background. I also think the fact that Daboll went after him (along with Miami and a few others) speaks to his potential as well. He’s also younger, more charismatic and articulate than McDermott is. So I’m thinking this will make him more relatable to players. Looking forward to what he does at DC

You can only read into OTA’s so much. It’s totally different once the pads come on. Also I believe the media has only been to practice on two days over the past two weeks. So the sample size here is very small. With that being said, the lack of high end talent at WR this season has is one of my biggest concerns

The one player who consistently lets down in games against good competition is Ed Oliver. He was a monster playing against Pittsburgh’s poor OL but just invisible when playing against KC’s strong interior. You can say the same thing in a playoff loss against Cincy. I know Oliver was banged up but so was the entire Bengals OL.

Long story short….growing up in Buffalo it was a fandom handed down to me from my family/community But more specifically what drew me in was the 1988 season when the Bills were good for the first time that I could remember. People in Buffalo were very excited about the team. The playoff win against Houston was one of the first games I can remember really looking forward to. So many superstars on the team and nearly a decade of sustained success.