Coach Tuesday

Because Ike had no skills. He was stiff and slow.

I honestly thought you two were the same poster until just now. Huh.

They are incredibly stubborn about the RB position. Incredibly.

You're right Dave, although it may not be as black and white as your post suggests. They have a number of contingencies they're worrying about as they approach the offseason, and the front seven is certainly high up there on the list. They need to see what they have at the QB position. Whether they needed to get themselves into this situation is another matter...

Stating the obvious: the coach and GM now get to evaluate their rookie QB to see what they have in him in advance of their first full offseason. Stating the less-than-obvious: the owners are now being given a ton more data to evaluate their coach and GM, who have made several "calculated risks" this season and continue to assure the fanbase and players (and, I firmly believe, ownership) that this team has what it takes to be in the playoffs. The timing of this switch, the reasons for it, and most importantly, how it plays out, will tell the Pegulas a TON about the two men they hired to steer their franchise. It will also inform them about the offensive coordinator, who will now have had two quarterbacks (a rookie and a vet) exposed to his "system." Given the fact that this team wasn't going to win the Super Bowl this season no matter what, McBeane just did the Pegulas a huge favor. Lots of important information being given to the folks in charge.

Ok... did he obfuscate to Terry?

John, when McD says “we’re built to be better than 5-4,” is he lying?

McD justified benching Tyrod as follows: "We were made to be better than 5-4." The way I read that: McBeane promised the Pegulas that the team would be competitive this season. The rebuild narrative may or may not be correct - but I don't think it was sold to the Pegulas that way. They were told that the team would make aggressive moves for the future AND would also be competitive this year. Very, very dangerous of McBeane if that's what was said.

So McD justified the move by saying, "We were made for better than 5-4." Gulp. I continue to wonder what the Pegulas think they were promised...

But then you get to the playoffs and you have to go play on the road against a team smart enough to play a five-man front and take away the boundaries, and you're toast. Tyrod can succeed in a place like Baltimore or Denver, perhaps. But he's not going to carry this team to where it needs to go.

I have deep concerns about this past offeason's strategy, the schemes they're using and whether they're a fit for the talent on hand, etc. But I do appreciate the lack of stubbornness from McBeane - this week was a key test for me, I wanted to see whether the coaches would dig in and ignore clear evidence that what they were doing wasn't working. I give them credit for making the switch.

Kirbs, they must have decided they know what they have in Tyrod - they know his floor (last Sunday) and his ceiling. Time to find out for sure what they have in Nate, so that they can soberly design strategy for the QB position in the offseason.

The problem John is that rebuilds shouldn't be done this way. The front office is now scrambling to plug the leaks that it elected to spring. This team badly needs a #2RB, quality WRs, another decent corner, and run-stopping DTs and LBs. That's precisely what they've traded away. BADOL is right that a better approach would've been managing the talent on hand - there was no need to purge all of it in the name of "culture." McBeane went full Pol Pot on this roster and the players have stopped buying in. When you consider that this team could've had DeShaun Watson throwing to Woods and Watkins, it's just too much to take.

So if the Pats now sign Worthy...

They're hitting us over the head with our own shoe.

I wasn't a fan of Whaley as a GM but as a scout, well, this regime did him a huge favor by showcasing his hand-picked talent elsewhere. His scouting resume has been boosted big time this season.

Should be easy enough to put names on this, if someone has the courage to watch the All-22 of that drive. The tape don't lie, we'll be able to see who the quitters are.

SaviorPeterman talking to his "sources"...

It's hard to identify him with a towel over his Gugny and his Boyst.

This is Jauron Ball, folks. We've seen this movie before.

Looked like some light pitch and catch against a prevent defense. Yay? Tyrod laid a real egg yesterday, something is wrong with him. His second and third throws to Benjamin were so bad that I wondered if a finger on his throwing hand was jammed or broken. I've never seen him look like that, he's generally an accurate QB. It couldn't have come at a worse time for his career - another game or two like that and he might not get another chance as a starting QB in this league.

It's not about whether he is "qualified" it is about the margin for error. If you're hiring a first time GM and HC in a billion-dollar industry, why not reduce your risk by having them report to an experienced sage? This is when I know a poster has completely run out of actual argument - when I see the "they wouldn't come/re-sign here" line.

The Bills are a farm team for the rest of the league and, what's worse, many Bills fans seem to have accepted it.

I would like the Pegulas to bring an experienced football executive with a proven track record to oversee the front office and serve as a "sanity check" on short-term and long-term strategic planning and execution. I have been asking for this for YEARS.

This was the most likely outcome of the formula that McBeane sold to the Pegulas, and which the Pegulas may or may not have knowingly endorsed. They brought in a first-time GM and a first-time coach, and proceeded to rid the team of talent. It is not a huge surprise, then, that at the first sign of trouble, the team loses all confidence in itself and its leaders (the coach and front office) and hides under the blanket. The formula was flawed from the very beginning and many of us here saw it coming. If you want to shed the team of talent to rebuild the "culture," you'd better have Superbowl-winning credibility in your coaches and front office to fall back on (i.e., Coughlin in Jax). Conversely, if you're starting from scratch at HC and GM or lack winning credibility there, your best bet is to stockpile talent and make sure your coaches and their schemes know how to maximize it (i.e., L.A. Rams). The Pegulas are very nice people. They're wonderful Buffalo citizens. They're also the most clueless owners in professional sports. And as BADOL points out, they're not going to tolerate this regime for too long - I'm willing to bet that McBeane promised them that a competitive team would be fielded this season despite the aggressive personnel moves. Welp so much for that, so it's Strike One against the McBeane regime. They'll get a Strike Two. Strike Three is "You're fired." Always Be Closing.