Brand J

Even the great Pat Mahomes looked not so great behind an inferior OL. The Chiefs wised up, signed Joe Thuney, then got Creed Humphrey (2) and Trey Smith (6) in the same draft. They hit on all those positions. Overnight their line was revitalized and Mahomes was back to doing Mahomes things. We need to fortify this OL going into next year, no more excuses, no more allocation of resources elsewhere. All 5 positions should be up for competition.

Yes, I know you said it’s on both, but I’m putting it more on the execution. The players. It’s on Dorsey to get people open or call well-timed plays against certain defenses that yield positive results. If Josh has options - open options - but he isn’t taking them, that’s not on the coordinator. He can sit down with Josh and they can all “learn” from the moment, but if the same issues arise game after game then at some point you have to put most of the blame on the players. For those who want to blame the OC equally, or more so, they’ll rebuttal with “if those plays weren’t working then he needed to run some others!” People debated whether Belichick or Brady was behind the Pats success and I rolled my eyes. Belichick is a great defensive coordinator, possibly the greatest of all time. His defenses stepped up in many big SB moments BUT Brady was the one who made clutch plays when they were absolutely needed. He did that all season and in the playoffs, Belichick doesn’t win 7 rings without the GOAT. McD can’t win a ring as a defensive coordinator if his defense is a liability and never steps up in the big moments and his QB doesn’t make the throws - clutch or otherwise - that are there to be made.

If Knox is effectively being schemed open, but the QB isn’t throwing him the ball, how is that on the OC? Too many complain about Dorsey - and I’m not saying he didn’t have his faults - but I do see open players on the field. That’s not a scheme issue. I don’t see our QB always making the best decisions on where to go with the ball.

Someone who was at the game told me they had 12 men on the field. I’d actually rather take that 5 yard penalty (they stop the play, it’s not free) rather than take the timeout. Timeouts are far more valuable, especially in the 2nd half when you’re trailing.

I forgot which poster it was, but he said Frazier was more valuable than the two 3rd round picks we’d get if he got picked to be a HC. I laughed. So much homerism.

For the love of all that’s holy, STOP throwing away early day 3 picks by trading up for non QBs! Aside from Allen, not one of those players Beane has traded up for has been a huge difference maker.

Both Spags and Lou A, the Bengals coordinator, get much more out of their defenses. Neither one of those units have much more talent than the Bills, but their coordinators are simply better X’s and O’s chess players.

To be fair, right after Allen air mailed another pass to him out of bounds, Josh started motioning with his hand, “run the route this way” like it was Diggs’ fault. Didnt matter how he ran the route given the fact the ball sailed 5 yards out of bounds (and he was open). Also, do the players have an escape road away from the stadium that the general public doesn’t have access to? If Diggs leaves early, wouldn’t he be caught up in the rest of that traffic?

Purgatory.

I think the defense has a lot of “good” players, but no “great” ones, aside from Von Miller before his injury and Matt Milano. There’s only 2 blue chip talents on the defensive side, but the collection of talent is enough that we should be getting more out of that group. The pieces weren’t used effectively (obviously). It’s not like we had guys getting beat in one on one, Cinci had players running Scott free through the secondary all game and that was without blitzing. Just an inexcusable game plan and shame on Frazier and McD for sticking with the same failed gameplan from the first Cinci game (when it was clear we’d have problems then). “You don’t want to overthink things” says Frazier. How about thinking at all? How about scheming players to stop what Cinci does well? How about taking away either the run or the pass?? No resistance for either.

How about that defensive timeout McD took later in the 2nd half on a Bengals 3rd down? I laughed to myself and thought “the Bengals will pick this up anyway” and sure enough, they did. I’ve never seen timeouts burned on defense so ineffectively. What are they discussing during the timeout? Who makes the best Buffalo Wings?

The OL would look better in the passing game if Josh routinely got rid of the ball in 2.5 secs, but that’s not the type of QB he is, so we have to accommodate to his strengths. We need some maulers that will help in the ground game. Also not sure what to do with Dawkins since I think he’s a B- to B left tackle. We need upgrades everywhere and lack the resources to get it done. This will be Beane’s toughest offseason yet.

Andy Reid said after the Jags game that blitzing was his favorite thing to do. I agree that I’d rather run a high risk/high reward defense over one that is reactionary and cautious. You’ll get more boom or bust plays, sure, but the cautious one isn’t stopping a good offense, so what are we doing? Give me some boom plays that translates to our offense getting the ball back. Frazier is out of his element with blitz calls, they’re not his forte.

Joey B had a piss poor OL in front of him, but that dude got the ball out quick. He processes very fast and knows where to go with the ball. Someone said a young Tom Brady, I can’t argue against that.

Whaaaat? This is an Alpha post?! I could’ve sworn you’ve long defended Frazier. I think Lou A, the Bengals coordinator, put on a clinic today. He schemed his chess pieces very well, it was like he knew what the Bills wanted to do and when. That’s a real DC. Meanwhile ours can’t stop the run, can’t stop the pass, can’t stop anything really against a Bengals line that was easily the worst unit left in the playoffs. I’ve been over Frazier and his soft scheme for a couple years now and really thought he should’ve been canned at the end of 13 seconds. The definition of insanity is doing the same over and over and expecting different results. I’ll be pissed if we don’t make a move there and will lose faith in Beane on down.

Payton wants $20M/yr. And has only won 1 SB his entire coaching career. No thanks. I do think we need to move on from Frazier, no question, and give serious consideration to moving on from Dorsey.

He’s a better rhythm passer for sure - timing, touch, accuracy, ball placement - you can’t objectively say Allen has Burrow in any of those categories. And I said that long before this game.

They have a guy who knows how to properly coordinate the pieces.

Can’t stop the run. Can’t stop the pass. Can’t stop a nosebleed.

If you told me the Bills and Giants would make it the same distance this year, I would’ve assumed a 5-12 season because Allen got hurt.

That’s how you scheme a defense.

Maybe the worst game of Dawkins career.

CIN hasn’t even punted. They’ve rarely had a 3rd down to convert.

And that’s why I don’t punt on 4th and 2, you’re not stopping CIN anyway. They just drove right down the field again, no resistance.

What gets me, what REALLY gets me, is how unprepared the team looks. Forget about everything else, they just look out coached, out schemed, confused, a step slow everywhere. There may be truth that McD is Doug Collins and we need to find Phil Jackson, but it’d be a huge gamble replacing the staff and after Beane’s talk about McD as a coach of the year candidate, it’s not happening.