Coach Tuesday

Football Outsiders looks at Harris's strengths and weaknesses.

I’m not sure you could do any worse.

Why not Lizard People? UFOs? The Russians? Just a theory.

Why has humanity become like this.

Even the “privy fest” was only notable because it embarrassed the Pegulas nationally, which led them to fire Whaley. The ONLY thing that gets Terry and Kim (“Tim”?) to do anything different is being embarrassed. It’s the only motivator for change. Their “plan” hasn’t changed from Day 1 - hire people based on “gut feel,” with an extreme bias toward inexperience (they are addicted to rookie GMs) so they won’t feel threatened. Stay the course unless/until something embarrassing happens. Then react, usually by replacing one inept inexperienced manager with another inexperienced manager.

This dude Watson is a WEIRDO.

Honestly - take a look at the running backs picked in round 1 over the past two decades and you might be surprised how ordinary the list is. Beanie Wells was a first round pick.

They are/were each cheaper than Yeldon, no? And Yeldon never hit that YPA on more than 50 attempts.

That actually seems like a decent use of a 3rd round pick.

That’s easy - I’d be much happier if they had taken DeAngelo Williams or Joseph Addai over John McCargo in 2006 😁 Not that it was a binary choice. Basically they could’ve taken anyone else. Like Nick Mangold…

He plays soft, yes?

Someone who will test the edge of the defense - I’ve been waiting for this. Also a threat to take it to the house quickly after one missed tackle. This was a need.

Stop shouting at me.

The Sabres have what, 4 recent top 5 picks on their roster in Eichel, Reinhart, Dahlin, Hall. How many other teams have that? Lottery ain’t the issue.

Having worked with many family offices - most of them are dysfunctional. They exist to manage accrued wealth and employ undeserving kin. That’s it. The Pegulas aren’t saints. They run the Bills and Sabres to make money, have fun, and employ their friends and family in the entertainment world. They basically admitted as much with the whole “maintain our lifestyle” PowerPoint fiasco which was rumored to have caused McDermott to raise an eyebrow (he got a plum extension soon after). Family offices are notoriously untrusting of, and harsh with respect to, outsiders. They don’t want someone coming in and shining a spotlight on the day to day dysfunction and outright nepotism. LaFontaine came in as a well-connected outsider who couldn’t be bullied and was known to voice his opinions. He had leverage, his own brand, and other opportunities. He didn’t need that job. That he didn’t last long was unsurprising. And that was the last time they brought in someone from the league establishment to help manage the Sabres. The results speak for themselves.

That’s kind of a funny way to put it - the Pegulas ARE “the people running the Sabres.” And they refuse to hire anyone with an actual track record, because of course, they know better.

In May of last year after another disastrous season, Kim gave a condescending press conference where she assured Sabres fans that Jason Botterill would be returning, saying, “ We have a little bit more information than maybe a fan does…” The next month the Pegulas fired Botterill. So what was the point on pissing on the fans? But that “we know better” attitude seems to pervade the thinking at PSE. What’s going to happen is likely this: the Bills’ success is only going to confirm to Kim and Terry that everything they touch turns to gold, leading them to try to take leverage back from Beane and McDermott in a couple of years and/or when the team inevitably has an off year. They have proven with the Sabres that, given the chance, they’ll run a horizontal organization which employs their friends and other unqualified individuals. They have an addiction to rookie GMs - easier to push around. They think they know better than the fans. Their track record with the Sabres shows they have no clue what the hell they are doing.

Sounds like the guy they were hoping they were getting with Q Jefferson - pass rusher from all positions on the line.

Honestly that’s one of the better places to kick a guy.

Guessing it’s for Nelson. Easy sell for White, it’s his position group.

Sanders is on a one year deal.

Looks a lot like Justin Jefferson to me.

If you’re right they’re going to be paying over $20M per year to two linebackers who need linemen to keep them clean. But they’re also going to be paying the QB soon and I expect Diggs will start angling for a new deal as soon as now (he’s very underpaid relative to his peers). So where are they going to cut corners? They will end up having to cut some of their expensive defensive linemen but doing so will leave their overpaid linebackers exposed.

The Edmunds Decision is Beane’s second toughest test as GM. The coach - who hired him - seems to love the player. Can Beane make an objective evaluation of Edmunds and if so, will it lead to an expensive option for a player who has underperformed, setting the floor for an expensive second contract? Alternatively will Beane go against the wishes of the coach who brought him here? If they pay Edmunds they need to see a real jump in productivity. They’ve been talking about potential for four years now. It’s fine to pay for potential on a rookie deal but not a monster extension.

They do? Don’t be so sure. And what are they paying for all of that?