Brand J

By the NFL’s rules the snap has to be imminent, meaning everyone is set and waiting for the snap. Sean called for TO before that happened. I said before it would’ve been better taking the 5 yard penalty. The timeouts are infinitely more valuable than 5 yards, especially in the 2nd half when trailing.

He’s usually been a bit of a homer and valued players more than their worth, but I thought he hit it all on the head here.

That was probably the most open interview McD has ever given. I grew tired of listening to his pressers because they were always vague and he refused to answer anything with a response we didn’t already know was coming. I found it interesting he wouldn’t commit to the same coordinators being here next year. I do like Beane’s pressers and expect to learn something tomorrow.

Some of you guys are making this more than it is. If the offense was moving and putting up points successfully, then Diggs is not on the sideline screaming at his QB. He feels he can help and was not being given the opportunity - either through overthrown balls or Josh not looking his way. Of course he’s frustrated with the offense as a whole and he’s going to take that out on the player who’s throwing - or in this case not throwing - him the ball. He’s not screaming at Josh in frustration because other receivers around the league are being schemed open and he’s not. C’mon.

I think if it was any other year, McD would definitely feel the heat from his seat, but after this tumultuous season he’s safe. Beane even felt he should’ve been named coach of the year. With that said, his defensive approach absolutely has to change, no more soft zone reactionary defenses. They depend too much on the defensive line winning its battles. Get me someone who has a history of scheming his players and getting the most out of whatever little they have. I like Vic Fangio most. On offense I’m willing to give Dorsey another year. He had his faults at times, but was also a rookie coordinator. The thinking is that he can only get better from here. If we go HC after another McD failure next year, I’m all for an offensive coach. Like Simms says, you’d have three layers - HC, OC, and QB coach, three minds to maximize offensive scheme.

@MasterStrategisthad the following breakdown of that play:

I’m sure if you asked Diggs he’d tell you he’s open almost every play. That’s how these receivers think. I don’t for one second believe he’s ever sitting somewhere thinking “man, [insert coach’s name here] can sure scheme open his receivers!” If the connection between him and his QB isn’t being made, he’s going to vent those frustrations at the guy throwing the ball, rightly or wrongly. I didn’t like to see it, because it’s dressing down another teammate in front of the public eye, but I didn’t like hearing that he left early even more.

Pick up the phone they use to talk to the booth coordinators. His frustration was not aimed at Dorsey as he yelled at JOSH on the sideline.

Don’t think so, otherwise he’d be yelling at Dorsey and not his QB on the sideline. It’s Josh’s job to get the ball to him and Diggs obviously felt like that wasn’t happening yesterday. I saw Diggs open quite a few times but the two couldn’t connect more often than not. Frustration boiled over and there you have it.

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.