Sierra Foothills

The fear has always been that 13 seconds was our best chance and that we've not progressed since then. Like I said, I really hope I'm wrong and that the Bills circle the wagons and show us that they can rise up another level or two. Go Bills!

I agree with you guys. I actually like McDaniel... he doesn't fit the prototype of the Dan Campbells but I'm glad that a guy like he can find a niche in the NFL. One of the interesting thing about McDaniel is that he seems like a really intelligent guy but he speaks really poorly... just proof that those two things don't always go hand in hand. Also, the capris are ridiculous.

As I posted after the Miami loss (and I know it seems like I'm being dramatic): I believe this is the first week in the McBeane Era where a majority of Bills fans are now skeptical and doubtful that they can deliver a Super Bowl victory. I hope McBeane can prove the doubters wrong but in the court of public opinion, for the first time, I believe the majority of Bills fans are no longer unequivocally in support of this administration.

Beane definitely blew the interview. And not mitigating the damage afterwards was also a mistake. I don't think he has a choice. To me WR and LB are our biggest needs. Something might have happened in the transition from Chris Grier to Champ Kelly. But like I said before, Beane should have been extremely skeptical about a possible deal with Miami. The two possibilities are either that he mishandled the situation or he was really double crossed/done dirty. They are unlistenable. I believe that if you spend too much time listening to WGR, you'll actually get stoopider. Really great post. Agree with every word. I like Beane too but recency bias is a fact of life for an NFL GM. The story was that he sweetened the deal with a 3rd rounder. Another excellent post. What happened at the deadline makes me wonder if Beane has become a dislikable person within his community. While people here often complain about the Bills secrecy (for instance with regard to injuries) and while Belichick was often mocked for his paranoic refusal to divulge any information (going so far as to list 20 players as questionable on an injury report)... I believe that GMs should not be media friendly. I think they should keep a low profile and let their actions speak for themselves. I wonder if Beane's relatively high profile has caused his peers to not like him. Just a thought...

@corta765 alluded to this earlier and like I said before, I really wonder if there's anyone on the Bills (coaches or players) who can really set Josh straight and say all the right things to get him into a better headspace... who know what to say when he really needs to hear it.

These theories don't have to be competing... they can absolutely co-exist. Everyone knows that different individuals are motivated in different ways. It's possible that the Bills haven't been pressing the right buttons with Keon. When a team is down like this they can fall apart, and start finger pointing or they can... wait for it... Circle the Wagons and turn the adversity into an opportunity to succeed. Like I said earlier I hope Coleman takes all of this to heart and has a career day against the Bucs. Really? I don't follow athletes on IG... are there any posts you can share? I agree with you that the Bills could better use Shakir but as for your theory, Shakir can't possibly have a smaller catch radius than Cole Beasley and it's hard to believe that Josh has lost patience with him.

But again Dave, Jim Kubiak was a star quarterback in high school and in college where he was a 3 year starter. He set 22 school records at the Naval Academy. He played in the NFL for the Panthers, Colts and the Jets. He played in NFL Europe. He's coached college and in the Arena League. He runs a QB academy. He has a lot of credibility even when he's critiquing Josh.

You wrote: I suspect the lack of any move to upgrade Allen's weapons at the trade deadline hit him hard. And then: I bet Burrow is having a blast out there and he probably thinks that if the Bengal's got a great RB to go along with their awesome WR's they would become the greatest show on turf and start winning those shootouts. You're a good poster but sometimes you imagine things in your head without any proof and then present your opinions with certainty. It doesn't get any more speculative than that.

It's speculation on both of our parts but I think your theories (the previous one about Josh being a company man and now your Darnold and Burrow theories are ridiculous. You create these theories out of thin air. Probably... but as you know, everyone has a "right" to their opinions on a message board... for better or worse. @HappyDays, you're an excellent poster and certainly have excellent credibility but look, Jim Kubiak was a star quarterback in high school and in college where he was a 3 year starter. He set 22 school records at the Naval Academy. He played in the NFL for the Panthers, Colts and the Jets. He played in NFL Europe. He's coached college and in the Arena League. He runs a QB academy. He has a lot of credibility. This is a super interesting theory and is diametrically opposed to the marriage/endorsement distraction theory of him not working hard enough. There might be something to your theory. There might be something to this. To avoid any confusion, I disagree with those who say Josh is soft... he's played through numerous longterm injuries and is physically tough as nails. But you can see in his facial expressions the times that he has the eye of the tiger and the times that he doesn't. I really like this point too. I really wonder if there's anyone on the Bills (coaches or players) who can really set Josh straight and say all the right things to get him into a better headspace. I don't know if Brady and Curry can coach him hard... or cajole him when it's needed.

So far we have these theories for Josh not playing up to his standards (in no particular order and possibly in combination): 1) Hailee 2)Commercials 3) Poor wide receiver corps 4) Poor offensive coaching 5) Josh not being focused/having poor mechanics/losing confidence/being discouraged Josh is my favorite Buffalo Bill of all time and I consider him one of the NFL all-time greats even after only 7+ seasons. But he is not playing well. The KC game was an outlier. He's played poorly in several recent games. As I've said several times this week, Josh is not near the top of the list for why the offense sucks but he is on the list. And his poor play as the reigning MVP is an invitation for speculation. The Josh defenders here have to accept that. I disagree with these takes. Saying that the answer is extending plays... he's already doing that and unsuccessfully. That lends itself to hero ball and that's not the answer. The starting point for Josh playing better is to take the layups and stop shooting for 3s. Make your reads, trust your reads and deliver the ball on schedule. That's what he needs to start doing. IMO, the problems that Josh is having can easily be fixed, provided the coaching is good. What Josh did in the Chiefs game and all of last season is easily returned to... he just has to play within himself. No. Kubiak is not an Allen hater. He has been over-the-top in his praise of Josh and has almost always been profusely complimentary of his play. And a reason for the bolded is that the Bills/Brady don't do a good enough job or mixing up the run and the pass on 1st and 2nd downs, IMO. This is a great post, especially your last sentence (bolded). I couldn't agree more. BTW, Dorsey was fired after week 10... on November 14th. I don't assume Brady is safe by any means. I agree that his mechanics aren't consistent. It was interesting that after the Chiefs game he was saying that he felt "slotted" and then the next week it's all gone. Among other observations, I always associate good QB mechanics with a higher release point... 3/4 to 7/8th release and he's throwing more sidearm for sure. I said early on that Josh's Manning/Brady/Kelly/Marino gene is recessive and it might be helpful if he developed that gene. Those that raise the expectations for those around them inevitably have to ask for more from themselves. It's a part of leadership... I can yell at you because I'm doing everything in my power...

He was by fare the last person to move... how do even explain that? He didn't know the snap count?

Fair enough. What then do you make of Spencer Brown's comments that "he" wasn't expecting a base defense?

I think you posted the same replay twice. Regardless, I disagree quite a bit that this would have been a "miraculous throw." It was underthrown and yet the DB just barely got his hand on it. Another foot longer and the ball's not tipped by the DB. That said, Coleman should have caught the tip.

Spencer Brown said “They loaded the box well... they came out in base right on the first drive and I personally wasn’t expecting that.” If you read between the lines it's not too hard to figure out what he might really be saying. And considering the Bills didn't score until the 4th quarter, I'd say Brady was slow to adjust to the Dolphins strategy.

I watch the All-22 from time to time and this is what I notice regularly: 1) There's lots of wide receivers who are not running full out on every passing play. 2) There's lots of pass rushers who throttle down when they calculate that they have no hope of catching up with the play. Most of the time this sort of common behavior only becomes a talking point when fans decide they want to criticize a player. You have a serious problem with reading comprehension. I said exactly: "As I pointed out to you before, people don't know exactly what happened between Allen and Beane regarding Coleman except for the quotes, posts, etc. indicating that Josh was factually in favor of drafting Coleman. Without actual evidence to the contrary, the reasonable position is that Josh had some sort of input, perhaps a tie-breaking vote." And please answer this question: What does anything I posted have to do with rabble rousing?

There's a saying I embrace which is that "If you're the smartest guy in the room, you're in the wrong room." So, no, I don't feel particularly smart but there's lots of people who are obviously stupid. 🤣 This is possibly true but another poster trying to correct me on a different topic suggests that politics plays a big role in pro sports which is actually true... just not in every conspiracy theory case. With regards to a franchise QB having some influence over personnel matters, it definitely exists and sometimes the outcomes are good and sometimes they're bad. Tom Brady is a part owner of the Raiders and has never been a scout... but on one doubts that he'll have heavy input into the remodeling of the Raiders franchise. To the point, we can only guess at Josh's personnel input and how good he is at it. The numbers aren't bad. The testimony of many credible evaluators is that he's not playing to his own standards and that's my belief too. He played well against KC and then reverted to bad habits against Miami. He's been very inconsistent this year. As I pointed out to you before, people don't know exactly what happened between Allen and Beane regarding Coleman except for the quotes, posts, etc. indicating that Josh was factually in favor of drafting Coleman. Without actual evidence to the contrary, the reasonable position is that Josh had some sort of input, perhaps a tie-breaking vote. In your previous 6 paragraph screed on the subject your opinion was that Josh is a company man and was just being supportive of the pick, though posters both before and after you provided evidence of Josh's genuine support of the pick. Of course those that believe that Josh had meaningful input into the Coleman pick will have the right to take a victory lap if it all works out. Hmmm... "If EVERY Wide receiver is the problem, then it's probably the offensive coordinator." All of our receivers suck and our QB is regressing and inconsistent. Why wouldn't that be a coaching issue? I think people are putting way too much into that and now that we're in the pitchfork phase, doubly so. Just keep in mind James Cook's demeanor and the criticism he received regularly for the belief that he didn't care about this team. The rabble rousing here is textbook mob mentality. Everyone's pissed off and wants their pound of flesh.

I'm saying that the simpler more logical explanation is probably closer to the truth than the conspiracy theory involving a team operative feeding questions to the media. 🤣

How about this... Josh said what he said. I'm not gonna speculate on the sincerity of Josh's statement or the degree to which he follows wide receiver prospects. And I'm not gonna write a 6 paragraph reason why I think he wasn't sincere. Fair enough?

I agree. Lots was made of Coleman's basketball background and how that could be an advantage as a receiver but he plays like a guy that doesn't understand football very well. Also fundamentals seem to be lacking in a lot of the Division I basketball that I watch. Things like overplaying to one side and boxing out seem to be lacking with some of these elite athletes so you can't assume that as a WR he would understand leverages. But mainly he's really struggling right now. If you've ever played competitive sports and gone into a slump, you know what it feels like.

Believe what exactly? I believe there's a screenshot of the text. Are you saying that you don't think Josh meant it?

To your topic title, there's nothing "implying" in McDermott's comments and it isn't "coaches," it's the Head Coach. That's funny. My wish is very different than yours. I wish that Coleman would take the criticism to heart and have a great game against Tampa Bay next week. In the context of perhaps dozens of posts here at TSW and on X calling into question Coleman's effort, your thought that the question was "fed" to the reporter is really weird. Who would feed him the question? Why? The 3 different documented instances of Josh's support for Coleman provided by other posters in this topic looks multiple times more convincing than your 6 paragraph hypothetical scenario of what you'd like to believe actually happened. Yeah, I kept waiting for a good replay of that play but never saw one. This play is a bigger indictment of Josh's play than it is Coleman's. Though he's far from the biggest problem with the Bills, let's not pretend that Josh is playing well this year. Yes. Why is it not the point? Because you say so? There's plenty of contempt for Beane here but having read through all 12 pages on this topic, I'd have to disagree with you. Yes the tipped ball that was underthrown by Josh should have been caught by Coleman. At least 2 occasions. There was the deep left sideline throw that Coleman quickly won inside position and Josh threw it outside to where the CB had the only reach chance at the ball. Even without the All-22 you can also see guys open underneath that Josh wasn't looking to throw to. He passed up several layups for missed 3 pointers.

Hopefully it starts on Thursday night. Also, it's a fine balance but no QB should play fearful and be hesitant to pull the trigger.

Criticism of Josh is generally not well-received here for good reason. He's a fine person, a great football player, and has been a huge Buffalo booster from day one. Generally people who dare to criticize him do so reluctantly and with mixed feelings. Josh is not playing up to his usual standards... However regarding #2 above, he's far from the top of the list of problems which ails the Bills. Regarding his leadership skills, Josh has been characterized as "our big golden retriever of a quarterback" which is partly to say that he doesn't have the a-hole gene in him like Brady, Manning, and Rogers (and Jim Kelly and Dan Marino for that matter) do. This is both why he is beloved and also arguably an area where he could become a better leader. The next time Josh publicly calls out someone in the organization will be the first. I highly doubt he even criticizes his teammates in-house. It would be great if the organization doesn't confuse Josh "not rocking the boat" with him being happy about the current state of affairs. This organization has done a good job of building a perennial contender around Josh... but they have to do better.

I agree with you however this is the kind of player that McBeane have typically extended, the kind of player that McBeane fall in love with and reward prematurely. Milano was injury-prone before his extension as was Terrel Bernard. Ed Oliver missed 4 games in the season before he signed his extension. In 3 seasons Dawson Knox never played a full season before signing his extension in 2022. Greg Rousseau missed 6 games in 3 seasons before his extension.

The numbers say that Kincaid is injury-prone. In his first 2 seasons he played in 29 of 34 games. This year he missed one game before not being able to finish out yesterday... plus he'll be out an indefinite number of games going forward. It's just my opinion but I think he's gonna struggle to stay healthy and to have a long career.