PBF81

I think the point he was making was that as a percentage we didn't use them often, relatively speaking. I mean we had 79 pass completions to our RBs, combined. As a percentage of completions that's about 22%, as a percentage of attempts that's 14%. Using just the AFCE as a comparison ... Miami had 73 receptions by its RBs, about the same, and about the same percentages. 20% and 12.5% NY had 94 receptions by its RBs, 26% and 17.5% The Jets, 87, about 24.5%, and about 14%. And the Jets had about the same number of completions, but about 50 more attempts, "artificially" keeping it lower. I'd guess that we were no better than average, likely slightly below average, in that way in the entire league. Either way, as he said, for a team talking so much about having these receiving options out of the backfield, we didn't use them more than average or so, if even that. Same for running the ball to be frank. Remember, they drafted Cook in round 2 both for more receiving options out of the backfield, but also to bolster our running game. We ranked 20th in rushing attempts, 32nd by a country mile if Allen's rushes are not included. This past season our total team rushing attempts decreased by 31, and our rushing attempts "other than Allen decreased by 33, nearly 10%. Essentially this is more of "say one thing, do another." Maybe that's what "The Process" means, who knows since it's never been defined. LOL

He's moving to QB this year in a move reminiscent of the Gailey era.

Let's face it, if Allen we're to go down, we'd be lucky to win any games with a backup QB. On the season we'd be lucky to finish 3rd in the division. As a team, the other 21 starting positions are weak, and seemingly getting even weaker. Winning with a backup QB would require a good all-around team to play well with a mediocre or average-at-best QB. We don't have that. We have a phenominal QB that masks the fact that we do not.

We'll, he was on Carolina, so the odds are ...

LOL He's like the kid that you play with that's constantly crying for the ball, then you throw it to him and it bounces off his forehead incomplete.

Imagine if you will for a moment ... Howard Ballard, Jim Ritcher, Kent Hull, and Will Wolford ...

Super Bowl Win/Championship or Bust!!

I was partially being facetious since so many opining seem to think that McD has few or no signifcant shortcomings. I mean think about it, someone posts the equivalent of a "but she's got a great personality thread," as if what, 100 posters are all going to talk about what a great guy McD is without touching on any other topics, and without anyone questioning anything whatsoever about him or any of his questionable shortcomings, etc. This is one of those areas where "it's a business," until it isn't. Now all of a sudden we're fortunate to have a great guy leading our team, football isn't life, and we need to keep the human element first and foremost, etc. I don't disagree with part of that, but is that the League's take? The players? The coaches and GMs when they're looking for work? Hardly. But now all of a sudden that's all that matters. LOL Is that going to be the party-line here if all of a sudden Allen leaves in two years and we start going 8-9 regularly? Are people still going to be saying the same things? LOL, we know the answer to that. But why not, if that's the basis for it all. That's all I'm saying. Seems like some virtue-signaling going on here. Levy was a great guy too, a lot of similarities between the two. But he also didn't have that instinct that would lead a team to a Championship. I've said it before, but if we had had Gibbs (also known as a great guy yet with greater coaching skills), Parcells (also according to many a great guy with greater coaching skills), or Johnson, we'd have won 2 or possibly 3 of those Super Bowls. So is this a thread about keeping McD here for 20 more years because he's "got a great personality." Everyone knows that, it's nothing new. But I would also question, if he's such a high-character guy, how come he doesn't come clean on so many things? "Really good people" don't cover things up either and hide behind regimens. Seems to me that a "great guy" wouldn't toss a coach under the bus that did a great job with what he had to work with in order to address "the mob" and deflect criticism on himself. I know that i wouldn't do that because it's not right. Do you think that Jim Salgado thinks that he was treated fairly? Seriously. I mean it's not as if McD is Ghandi or Christ. Either way, is this a business, or isn't it? Seems as if when it comes time to buy tix, it's not a business, for some reason as fans we all owe it to Buffalo and the team to give them our money regardless of the circumstances, even when the multi-billionaire Pegula doesn't want to pitch in any of his because he has a lifestyle to maintain. Also, since when is it wrong or immoral to have a difference of opinion on whether a "great guy" is actually doing his job, ... aka getting the job done. What, everyone that fails at their job is a douche bag or something? Plenty of nice people simply can't cut the Weber's. This notion that someone can post this and expect absolutely no critical comments is ludicrous. Yet, ... Anyway, I generally agree with you, just altering the perspective slightly for purposes of discussion. I agree BTW, McD seems like a great guy, but I do have issues with some of his positions and how he's treated a few people, Salgado being one of 'em, in the interests of covering up reality. There are also plenty of sources claiming that he's a control-freak. That wouldn't seem to be so "great guy-ish" to me. So this notion that he's a great guy isn't limitless, it's also not why he was hired. If this same great guy had the track record of Chan Gailey, another great guy, would people be saying that he should be sticking around? LOL

LOL, no, by interesting I mean the emotional disposition of posters. In the past, the most ardent defenders and apologists of a coach or GM often become the most virulent critics within the course of a season. It's pretty comical. The "but she's got a great personality" line has its limits.

You know how threads are tho, they typically all go off the rails after a page-and-a-half, if not sooner. It's pretty common. Either way, there's not going to be 30 pages praising McD's character. That'd be a little weird, wouldn't it.

All I know is that it will get very interesting here in ten more months if we underachieve again, to see how much character factors in. The defense of coaches and GMs in the past has been staunch going into a season, when afterwards everyone wants to burn down the building. It's pretty funny to watch unfold, those reactions that is.

Isn't most of that dependent upon McD himself? I mean the primary reason why we didn't advance further in the two seasons where we had our best chances, '21 & '22, was coaching, particularly in the defensive side. There's not a lot of dispute there. "13 Seconds" was a pure and outright coaching blunder, and so was playing ridiculously of the ball vs. Cinci. Funny you ask the question like that. It could also have been asked, will Allen still be here when McDermott wins his first Super Bowl. Just sayin'

What could go either way, dumpster-diving? Yeah, I suppose there's always that chance that someone tossed a treasure chest full of gold & diamonds. So from that angle I suppose you're right. I'll book my airfare & hotel ressies right now.

It's going to be incredibly interesting to see the general attitude here regarding McD if we don't win the division this season or get bounce in the WC or Divisional round again. It's funny over the years how opinions have changed on a dime in a matter of months. Having said that, let's win the Super Bowl this year! Go Bills!

LOL, you crack me up. It hasn't been just Oliver, none of Beane's draftees have done anything against those teams in the playoffs nor in the playoffs in general. Since you missed it, the thread is about Oliver. His performance, or lack thereof, in the playoffs is what it is. You can spin it anyway you want it, it doesn't change a thing. Neither of our comments makes a difference either. He's fine if you're looking for a mid-grade DT. He's probably not worth the money he's going to get. We're missing defensive impact players in the playoffs, in a huge way.

Well, OK, perspectives apparently. I don't feel justified comparing a player at 20, 21, and 22 to one that played in his mid-20s. As to the differences, Fletcher also had much much more of an entire defense around him. Kelsay, Schobel, Pat Williams, Kyle Williams, Adams in front of him. In my book that makes an enormous difference. He also played in a 4-3 with A, two LBs beside him, not like Fletcher having to cover the entire backfield, and some of those LBs included Spikes, Crowell, and Posey. Put Edmonds on those teams and Fletcher on these and that's a huge part of the difference. We'll see, and we'll know if for no other reason he plays much better elsewhere. A lot of it is McD as well

Yeah, completely agree. Then again, what we think doesn't matter. LOL As we've seen, Beane says he's not doing much of note in Free Agency. To prevent the perceptions about him from plummeting, he'll need an A+ Draft. There's no precedent for that however. So I guess we'll see, but I'm not sure that there's much reason for hope. Von Miller was a high-risk/high-reward move that covered his drafting inadequacies, but which we realized the risks on. I personally don't think he'll play for us beyond next season and he won't be nearly the player he's been. But the failure of that move has hamstrung us even more than we would have been. I know that's obvious, just sayin'.

Who knows what's going on behind the scenes with the players, but they're all party-line during the season, then during the offseason it's all "business." We don't know what's contrived drama by the media and what isn't. But it's not a good look to have several players now, some of our bigger names, implying unfavorable things. Completely agree on the first part of your statement, but now we're getting into a discussion about McD. LOL I'm starting to think that Frasier left to actually enhance his chances of getting a head-coaching job, that he feels derailed by McD and wants to show that he was the master of the regular season Ds, presumably implying that McD took over in the playoffs. It's all speculation on my part, but the whole thing was strange and unprecedented. Unlike some have said, his contract had not expired.

He's also a fish out of water in our alignment, he knows that. All one has to do is watch VA Tech games with him to see that. Again, I think that after he leaves, once he's in a classic 4-3, we'll be talking about him next season just like talk about Teller and to a lesser extent Hodgins. Beane's dumpster-diving is catching up to him.

In the playoffs against KC in two games and Cinci, he's logged 3 TFL, 2 QB Hits, and a mere 1 sack. The Chiefs scored on the drive that he logged his sack on. Ironically, those are the highlights, and none of Beane's draft picks on our D has outperformed him in the playoffs, sadly. In 8 total playoff games he's logged 4 TFL, 5 QB Hits, and 2 Sacks. Oddly, to add some perspective, Basham, in his only four playoff games, has logged 2 TFL, 3 QB Hits, and 2 Sacks. on a per game basis that's the same number of TFLs, slightly more QB Hits, and double the sacks. As much as McBeane say that they're tried to create a team that can beat KC, and now presumably Cinci, they've done the exact opposite on D. It is what it is.

I'd trade Diggs for a 1st and 2nd. ... then again, what would Beane do with the picks, more Olivers and Cooks. Our problem has been in the playoffs, not the regular season. Diggs hasn't done much of anything in the playoffs, particularly against KC in two games or Cinci. He's averaged 4 catches for 40 yards and 0 TDs in those three games. More is expected of someone getting paid what he's getting paid. We seem to be entering the same phase that we were in after four Super Bowl losses, except on a lower level, and with the same expectation. Simply making the playoffs or going to the AFC CG isn't enough now. The expectation with Allen, in the limited number of unknown years he has left, and assuming he doesn't bolt after two more seasons, is a Championship. In order to do that we have to step up our playoff performances something fierce, especially against the primary challengers to preventing that. Diggs has not done that here. He's good for great numbers in the regular season, but come playoff time, quite the opposite. In our last 5 playoff games going back to our humiliation @KC in 2020, he's averaged about 4-1/2 catches for 59 yards and not a TD in any of 'em. He needs to do better, much better, come playoff time. Those numbers over a 17-game season are 1,000 yards.

I think that if you compare the first five seasons of each you'll see a different picture. Fletcher's best seasons by a wide margin were his seasons 6-10, his prime years. It's not fair to compare those to Edmund's pre-prime seasons. But to say that we've seen his ceiling when he isn't even in his prime yet is a bit premature, don't ya think. I mean Edmunds will only be 25 this season. Fletcher's best seasons were when he was 28-32. If you ask me, after he leaves we'll be talking about him like we do Teller. The team also doesn't use him entirely to his strengths. Watching him at VA Tech he was prolific. If he's in a similar role in the NFL he'll shine like Fletcher. Possibly better. The one area where he's already better than Fletcher is in his pass-coverage skills. His height helps with that.

Agreed, it's hardly an apples-to-apples comparison. Your post actually jars loose some thoughts. They initially tried to stock a 4-3, but Beane's approach to stocking the LBs is similar to his approach for stocking the OL. Dumpster-diving and 1-2 year signees. Having a third non-starting caliber LB in there was also a liability. I'm assuming that's why they stopped trying that and went with what they're now doing. What will get very interesting is if Edmunds leaves, a seeming certainty now, is who they bring on. If it's more dumpster-diving, good luck to us.

Good post, and I'd also l like to see him in a traditional alignment than in the monkey scheme that we have here because we can't get a third starting caliber LB on the roster after five years. This is going to be a very interesting offseason.