Coach Tuesday

Last night’s product was terrible. Anodyne watered-down 90s revival crap, from the commercials to the announcers (Al Michaels sounded like he had died three years ago) - and I actually even liked the halftime show for once. It was so boring that at one point they literally did a history of people named Joe in the Super Bowl. Just a bland, joyless affair and I’m sure tired players played a role in that. Unfortunately the Super Bowl isn’t really for “real football fans”, I’m not the target audience.

Last night was not a good one for the pro-RB crowd - the Rams’ backs did nothing to help win the game, and Mixon wasn’t even on the field during the Bengals’ critical last drive. I don’t see how anyone watching last night’s game would continue to think that the Bills are a Barkley away from a title…

It was a historic QB draft and teams were aggressively trying to trade up and Gettleman sat there with his arms crossed and refused to entertain trade offers because the guy he wanted was a running back. Plus Eli was on his last legs. It was borderline criminal negligence by the worst GM in football in about 40 years. There is zero justification for it - none.

Would a 2nd and a 4th get it done?

There is no way Barkley was a good pick by that franchise at that time, especially given what they passed up to get him (namely, Josh Allen or a boatload of picks). Zero.

I think his legs retired mid-season.

Utter fantasy is right - it’s the fantasy football effect on fandom.

So - you are proposing they trade assets for a one-year $7m rental running back who is coming off a worse year than Singletary, and then let him walk if he performs really well??? Sorry this is Crazy Town.

The issue with Barkley is - say you trade assets for a running back with one year left at $7.2m fully guaranteed (so unlikely a notion I cannot believe it’s still being discussed), your BEST CASE scenario is he has a good enough year to justify that price and THEN you’ve got to pay him serious dollars over multiple years (with Elliott’s deal a potential starting point). There is almost no chance that doesn’t come back to bite you at some point during the second contract. And that’s the best case scenario!

The Bills should be playing on Sunday it's that simple. The Bengals, Chargers, Ravens, Chiefs, Broncos and other AFC teams will all look to improve this offseason and there's no guarantee the Bills will have such a golden opportunity to bring home a Lombardi staring them in the face again soon. You have to take advantage of the changes you're given. With Allen at QB this team can beat any team any week for the next decade (so long as he stays healthy of course), so there's ample reason to stay encouraged and hopeful - but we also shouldn't underestimate what a colossal disgrace of a coaching job we witnessed three weeks ago. "Oh well, we'll do better next time!" is nice to hear and all, but it reflects a lack of appreciation for just how rare this opportunity was. We are at a point right now where we can sit back and say we'll get 'em again next year, and hopefully that's true - but if things don't go that way, years from now we'll be sitting here debating just how big of a debacle "13 Seconds" really was. It might be the biggest coaching disaster in Buffalo sports' history.

😬

The players seem happy about this so I’m willing to be patient.

I’m not super optimistic about their communication issues being fixed with first-time coordinators at OC and ST. Could they work out? Sure.

Somehow an even less inspired hire. McD underappreciates the role STs play in outcomes.

This is still being discussed?

Agree, but worth repeating that he was a second round pick.

I'm sure it wasn't just that. Special teams has not improved under Farwell - they've had to overpay veteran utility players like Taiwan Jones just to maintain mediocrity. Their punting has sucked for 3 years with two different punters. He was an uninspired hire who didn't work out.

Maybe he got traded for an elite poster.

He SUCKED

What type of glue was it?

Toney is interesting. He does have some Tyreek Hill to him which Beane repeatedly made reference to looking for, not quite as fast but incredibly quick. They’d have to be convinced they can absorb the personality. If so, I wonder if they’d send someone like Epenesa in a trade - would not shock me to see him used as trade collateral for someone this offseason. Even though they’d be dealing him at a lowered value, he’s a cost-controlled asset at a premium position and the Bills may not have space for him (or a coherent plan for what to do with him).

What is happening

Fred Taylor. But the issue is his contract.

They cannot restructure it. It’s fully guaranteed - player has ZERO incentive to make any changes to his deal. You trade for him you’re acquiring a FULLY GUARANTEED $7m liability that you’re stuck with even if he’s hurt or sad or just sucks. The Giants would have to throw in a high draft pick just to get someone to take that contract off of their hands - that’s how untradeable he is.

He was basically a QB coach on the sideline on game days.