DrMaxPower

They were washed, as evident in the season Poyer had in Miami and Hyde doing nothing this year. They had to move off them. The lack of continuity I'm sure hurt though but that's what coaches are for. I felt that the turnovers and splash plays were what drug them to average. When they weren't getting them they were below average IMO.

This offseason, the Bills were forced into a choice - Butler or Babich. At the time, most seemed in favor of going with Babich. The results have obviously not been good. The defense was awful and the secondary play in particular fell of a cliff. Likely the worst of the McD era. For the 1st time, we never had a new guy flash. Every other year, there was a late round pick or UDFA that played above their draft status and contributed. They did not work well as a unit at all and there was little visible player growth over the year. Do we regret this decision? How much did we end up missing Butler? Secondary play is probably the area I know least about so curious to hear opinions but I personally feel like we need to clear out the DB coaches.

So far the poll is pretty much 50-50... I've been a defender. I think people underestimate how difficult it will be to get an upgrade. That said, there has to be a limit. We can't continue to have the defense be a total no-show in every big playoff game. They've been comically bad. Coming into the year, I had it as a reload. Thought we'd be competitive, but too much roster attrition and dead cap to be a true contender. In the end, I think that's what played out. Baltimore, KC, Eagles, Lions are all a step ahead. We needed to play A games and catch some breaks to beat them. They need a major talent infusion on defense. The DL is average at best and the secondary is flat out bad outside Benford. They also need a philosophical change because it's patently obvious this isn't working in the games that matter. I hope McD has that in him. McD gets next year and then we'll see. If the defense is our playoff albatross again, it's time. Blink and Josh will be 30.

Jimmies and Joes over X's and O's.

Allen is GD lucky he didn't bury us with 2 early picks. Spagnola had him confused. He misread pressure and coverage repeatedly. Lots of bad checks. He still made some big plays and ultimately gave Kincaid a chance but he did not have a good day from the shoulders up. I think B- is fair.

I think it was 3, which is still bad. But I blame talent, not coaching. With Benford and Rapp out, the secondary is awful. The only guy on the field who might even be average is Douglas and I'm not even sure he is anymore. I blame Beane for that, not the coaches.

I'm not going to blame the refs for the loss. There were more player eff ups than officiating eff ups. That said, to deny we got screwed on a few super critical plays is crazy. There was a narrative about Chiefs favoritism among the NFL world prior to this game. This isn't exactly putting those concerns to bed.

This isn't the game to bring out the pitchforks. His game management was fine. The only thing you might be able to question is the early FG. I thought it was the right choice. They had done nothing to give any confidence in a conversion and the game could have quickly run away on them. They didn't have the horses and the ones they had, let them down. That said, as someone who's a McD defender, the seat is starting to warm. This is the 1st time I'm questioning if he's here when they open the new stadium.

Maybe I'm hanging onto the 1st couple drives too much. He's EXTREMELY lucky he didn't throw multiple picks and put them in a huge hole. I have no faith that they would have recovered today. I had him as a B-. Not a flop but if you are an MVP, if you want to beat Mahomes, not good enough to overcome all the other issues.

It's definitely a short list. This would have been ugly without Cook.

What an awful disappointment of a game. I see the board is already flooded with 'coaching failure' takes. I don't recall a decision from McD that I really had a problem with. While I have beef with Kromer, Brady and Babich, this loss is on the players. The list of guys who did not bring their best is a long one. Biggest one is obviously Kincaid for the drop and an overall lack of physicality. He better tackle the offseason like his career depends on it because he had a brutal year. Right behind him on the disappointment list are the OL and Josh. The people who carried us all season played C+/B- games when it mattered most. Bad decisions all over the place and OL getting physically dominated. The short yardage game was horrendous. Josh got it together enough to keep them in it but he was far from his MVP best. Groot, where are you? Spent half the game on the ground. At this point, I'm no longer in favor of extending him. Try and trade for Crosby or Garrett or another difference maker. Taron Johnson's play hasn't matched his reputation for the last half of the year. No positive impact. Bernard took a huge step back this year. He had games last year with more impact than he had all season. He was invisible all night, with the exception of being 3 steps behind on the clinching pass. We had a giant black hole at safety. Bye Demar. Bishop I thought flashed a bit but has a long way to go. I'm not sure how he and Rapp really work as a duo. You could add about a dozen more guys who were MIA but less obvious. While the coaching wasn't great, the players on the field came up small in the big game.

If you were creating a tackle in a lab, you'd get something that looks a lot like Brown. He's the prototype. People have no patience. Back injuries are brutal for lineman and it took some time to get over. He was also as raw as a prospect gets. He switched from TE, played very little college ball at a tiny school and had sat out the covid year before being drafted. He was always going to need some time to develop but he was the ideal block of clay to mold. Side bonus is that IMO he's brought out the best in Dawkins, who is having a career season.

He was having a decent year until the injury. There's certainly been a dip since but I'm not going to get too lathered up about a super raw rookie who is used to being done playing 5 games ago. That said, I think Josh's style of play is a contributing factor to his lack of separation. Josh very rarely pulls the trigger on schedule. Keon is a guy that needs to be hit coming out of his break, not 10 yards later after the DB has a chance to react and close the distance. They need to spend some time together ironing out their timing.

I think a side-benefit of how good Spencer has been is his impact on Dawkins. I believe Dion likes to see himself as 'the man' in the OL room. I think Brown's assent has fueled some competitive fire in Dion and he's responded with likely the best season of his career.

I'd generally agree but this seems to be the weakest WR class in a few years. There might not be a good match of talent/value. I might be OK with waiting a bit longer and picking up our next Shakir in a mid-round VS reaching early. I fully expect 2 of our 1st 3 picks to be DL.

Except he doesn't. People remember the half a dozen things that went wrong, not the 100s of correct decisions made over 8 years of end game situations. We've won the 2nd most games in the league. It's impossible for him to almost always be making the wrong call late in the game.

I can empathize. I was an undersized Center that used his head to compensate way too much. I played a full season with a pinched nerve in my neck that lead to multiple stingers every week. The mixture of numbness/immobility, combined with the feeling that your arm is literally on fire is not fun. My finger tips were still numb a couple months after the season. I remember snapping left handed a couple times because I couldn't grip the ball. In retrospect, it was dumb to keep playing but 'Glory Days' and all that...

He's become a capable player. I'm comfortable with him out there if Brown needs a rest. We've really got a solid tackle stable right now. Dawkins/Brown/Van Demark/Grable/Gourage is a really impressive group. Must be 1 of the strongest league wide.

I've had a million stingers. They way he was stretching his neck and holding his arm, I figured stinger all the way. What a stud he's become. Hopefully he's OK but this is a good week to get some rest if needed.

Agreed totally. It also ties into a lack of fundamental football knowledge. Most people have no idea what is actually happening on any given play. They're just following the ball. The endless 'prevent defence' complaints, the vague cries for 'creativity', 'adjustments' and 'being aggressive', the unwillingness to consider the limitations of the players on the field at that time. So maddening. Most of the biggest whiners barely have a surface level understanding of the game and no clue what they are talking about.

Alright, that's fair. I mistook you as part of the group saying he doesn't get credit.

And how did that work out, without the steady hand of McD? Not well.

This just isn't true. No player or team is at their best all the time. They aren't robots. Why can't record holding athletes consistently have results at that limit? Because 100 different things need to come together just right for optimal performance. If it was, you wouldn't see Cleveland beat Pittsburgh or Josh have a game like VS the Texans. Every single team and player has ups and downs in their performance. You'd be lucky to see any individual player play at their absolute peak more than a few times per year.

These are the kind of games that spook me a bit. 49ers are in desperation mode. They need to win to salvage their season. There's too much veteran talent on the team for them to close out a season with Super Bowl aspirations with a whimper. I expect to get their best effort and a difficult game.

I'd be surprised to see them hit safety high. Maybe corner, though I'm personally comfortable with drafting later and developing. We have options for 2025 on the roster already. It sounds like the strength of this draft is front 7. Supposedly a weaker WR class than the last few years. I fully expect to see DT and DE in the 1st 2 rounds. I would have said WR with the other 2nd but will depend who's available. I could see corner if they don't like their options. Overall, they're in really good shape. They could roll out a solid team in 2025 with no draft or FA at all.