Brand J

The defense with or without Frazier was going to take a step back next season regardless. At least on paper. If they perform better than they have thus far in the postseason - which is all most of us are asking/hoping for - it’ll be condemning for Frazier.

Wouldn’t expect him to say otherwise. It’s akin to asking “was this decision entirely Frazier’s?” Of course the Bills (and Beane) are going to say yes, even if it wasn’t.

Ok so all of them. Yeah, I suppose the consistent failure would take a mental toll.

Which year?

After listening to Beane’s presser, I think you all can put to rest the health speculations. It was clear to me this decision was made in the best interest of the Bills - even though they’re painting it as “Frazier wants time off.” The team wants to go in a different direction and Beane didn’t rule out McD calling the plays; which is exactly what I said should happen before all this went down.

“Classy” and “likable” mean nothing in sports if the job isn’t getting done. It’s a cutthroat industry, all that matters is results. If Frazier was a total d*ck, but called a defense that played above the talent he had on the field. No one would care. McD has now parted ways with both of his initial coordinators. Our HC is classy and likable as well, but if the Bills don’t show progress, guess who’s next on the chopping block?

“Great” could describe his regular season accolades, “average to poor” could describe his postseason failures. If the bolded were true in terms of the entirety of his stay, I’d surmise he wouldn’t be taking a year off.

And that’s why 13 seconds was a microcosm of Frazier’s playoff woes. You can argue the defensive talent all you want, but when the talent isn’t put in position to be successful - like 13 seconds - you have a schematic issue.

Funny. Though I think Beane is at fault for some of his defensive draft choices, I think you’re giving Frazier too much credit. It’s his job to coach up and maximize the players’ talents. I see none of that in Buffalo, only the same stale cover 2 plug and play scheme he rolls out each game.

Injuries certainly played a role as to why they weren’t as strong as they were earlier in the year, but something was off mentally as well - and that was before the Damar Hamlin incident. They just didn’t look the same, didn’t have the same fire. They were decently healthy in terms of player availability against the Bengals (I know guys were nicked up and playing), but they didn’t look like they belonged on the same field. A week earlier they flirted with losing to a Dolphins team that started a 3rd string QB. Injuries were a factor, but in my opinion it was something greater.

As for why the entire team seemed to regress after the bye, specifically the Packers game at half, maybe it was the weight of expectations. That’s all I can come up with. Earlier in the year it looked like everyone was having fun, they had a swagger, chests were poked out. I remember after the first two games one of the talking heads was saying “could the Bills go undefeated? This has the same feel of that Patriots season” and then the wheels came off. The worst teams in the league were hanging with the Bills. They no longer looked dominant, confident, or like they were having fun. In hindsight looking back, it reminded me of Aikman going into the tunnel at halftime of SB 28 against the Bills and finding it interesting that the team was hanging their heads despite being up on the scoreboard. The weight of expectations is all I can come up with. This team needs a shrink. EDIT: I would’ve loved to see how the Bills from earlier in the year would’ve fared against that playoff Bengal team. The defense still would’ve had the wrong game plan, but I think the overall mindset of the team was just in a much different place. They were hungrier. I think they would’ve showed why Vegas favored them by 6 at home.

Elam was a healthy scratch at one point this season. It took awhile for Cook to get back on the field after fumbling his first game. Bernard could never get on the field. Shakir struggled to make an impact despite having the most separation among rookie WRs (2.4 yards). Benford started out decent, got injured, and when he was healthy enough to return, he didn’t. Doesn’t mean the ‘22 draft class sucks, but the Bills haven’t been too kind to their rooks.

Are there any decent QBs who worry about Edmunds presence in the middle of the field? If Edmunds is key to the defense, what does it say that the unit consistently comes up short when it matters?

I do, but all 3 players were markedly better there than they were here. I don’t have the PFF numbers but I’m willing to bet they support that observation. Whether that’s due to the run scheme, or something else, Henry wouldn’t have the same success behind this Buffalo OL in this system.

Henry isn’t a quick back and looks painfully slow if there’s no hole. He doesn’t “create from nothing,” so to speak, so if he were running behind the current Bills OL we’d all be complaining how he looks shot. If the OL can open some holes, then yes, he’s a runaway freight train, but we’ve had issues with run blocking for awhile now.

It’s a waste of time going back and forth with the guy. Doesn’t matter if he doesn’t believe the words he types, he’ll just go on and on to no end. Best to let him have the “last word” and just move on. He’ll never shut up otherwise.

That’s the running joke in the league and something I believe Lockett from the Seahawks had issue with. These tests aren’t all that random, they most often follow a great performance. I’m surprised Gabe Davis wasn’t “randomly” drug tested after his 4 TD playoff performance last year.

As a fan, I would have zero concerns going against a team that has Edmunds as their MLB. Let him stay in the AFCE! I wouldn’t worry about him wrecking plays in the run or pass game one bit.

Shannon called it: DK Metcalf hit with “random” drug test

The ones that frustrate me are long sideline passes that land 5 yards out of bounds. 2020 Josh Allen was a revelation, it seemed he could do no wrong. I still remember that game against the 9ers were he threw a ball over the outstretched hands of Fred Warner and dropped the pass right in the bucket. 2022 Allen was good, but didn’t seem nearly as sharp. His field awareness and vision seemed to regress as well. Don’t know what’s going on, but it isn’t all related to a change in OC. Hopefully next year will be his best yet, because it’ll probably be the weakest Bills team he’s had aside from his rookie year.

Not surprised. I wasn’t actively rooting against him re-signing with the Bills, but I suspected he’d be gone. We have other pressing needs and he just doesn’t move the needle in the W column enough.

Sure about this?

The Bills under Daboll were one of the heaviest presnap motion teams. Does anyone know where they ranked with Dorsey?

Hurts was decisive and dropping dimes for most of the game. His OL didn’t even need to hold up for very long, he knew where to go with the ball. Credit to him, he’s on his way.

I don’t disagree with who outplayed who. Josh has shown this past year, even when he’s afforded time, that he’s unsure where to go with the ball. Or he’ll leave a clean pocket which invites the rush and shrinks the field. I was a little surprised he was 18th or 19th in QB rating with a clean pocket, that would seem to enforce the field reading issues. Would Josh be better if he had more faith in his OL? I believe so. I don’t think he’d leave the pocket for instance, but if Frazier was calling the defense for the Bengals and Anarumo was calling the defense for the Bills, I think Bills beat Bengals. I really do. It’s a two fold effect - the offense wouldn’t be as stymied and would have much more cushion to operate and the defense would’ve forced Burrow to earn it a little bit more.