dave mcbride

I hear you, but he is a legit good pass blocker. That may seem like a secondary task, but having a matador RB in on pass protect can lead to some very bad outcomes. The RB's primary job is to move the ball forward as far as possible when it's in his hands, but with a shaky o-line that last line of defense can become very important (especially for pass heavy teams like the Bills). I don't know how good of a blocker Breida is. He was on the field a lot for a very good pass protect team in 2018 (SF), for what it's worth, but I don't know anything more than that. At the end of the day, though, the dude has 4.38 speed and needs to be on the field.

There are a lot of blowouts in the NFL. Of the 15 games last week, the margin of victory was 9 or more in 9 of the games (60 percent). Sometimes it's OK to assume that the better team is going to win by two scores over a badly injured unit.

After the Broncos loss to the Bills in 2017: All week, Siemian and the Broncos faced questions about the strength of Buffalo's defensive front, but it wasn't just that group of Bills defenders that came up big. "I always say it doesn't really matter what coverage you play when you have a good front and get pressure, but they did a great job mixing up looks, a lot of different things," Siemian said. "They started running some man coverage. When they played zone, they played it the right way; they knew where all their help was. And that front comes and gets you, so they're tough to deal with." https://www.denverbroncos.com/news/siemian-says-turnovers-made-for-missed-opportunities-vs-bills-19440421

Siemien performed badly against McDermott's scheme in 2017. 58.2 rating and he was fooled more than once.

Possibly stupid question: will this impact next year's salary cap, or is it all wrapped up in the NFL's insurance policy and not connected to team revenue? By my calculation, it's about $25 million per team.

Mark Gaughan wrote the following yesterday, btw. I thought it looked a bit short too, although maybe it could have been caught. Regardless, the ball wasn't where it needed to be if he was going to make a play: "Running backs (2.5): Too bad the Bills couldn’t have stayed within 10 points of the Colts and employed the running game more. Matt Breida had two more runs of 10-plus yards (they went for 28 and 16). He needs to stay in the active lineup. The Bills had a few nice pin-and-pull run plays. Maybe going to that more often, using the mobility of the line in space, can help take some pressure off Allen moving forward. After further review, Zach Moss didn’t drop the pass late in the second quarter. The throw was short." PS - Happy Days posted this. SIS is what the WSJ was using for their piece on the struggles of Mahomes and Allen this season:

My sense is that the distrust of Breida stems from the fact that he’s a poor pass blocker. Moss is actually pretty good at that aspect of the game.

McDermott is making game day decisions on roster. Full stop.

You do realize that Beane isn't making game-day roster decisions, right?

Given the injury situation for the two teams, the Bills have no business losing this game. I did not expect to beat the Colts, and I can be overly pessimistic in the run-up to games, but I think they win this one with ease if they take care of the football.

Enh ... that 2013 team that went 12-4 and established them as a real power had a bunch of first rounders on offense: Greg Olsen, both running backs (Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams) and Jordan Gross. Plus they had a superstar receiver who retrospectively would have been a top 15 pick if there was a do-over draft (similar to Diggs): Steve Smith.

Not really. He took over a 1-15 Pats team and had them in the playoffs by 1994; BB joined in 1996. He took over a 1-15 Jets team and got them 9-7 his first season there. BB followed him there too. And bear in mind that he RESCUED Belichick from the scrap heap after the epic flameout in Cleveland. He also took over a 5-11 (three years running) Cowboys team and got them 10-6 his first year with Quincy Freaking Carter. And he took over a 1-15 Dolphins team, hired Sparano, and get them to 11-5 in his first season there. And he also gave Charlie Weis his first OC job in 1997 with the Jets. It's pretty remarkable. I do think it's pretty great that Belichick is 0-2 in SBs against the "other" Parcells assistant, Coughlin.

Good points, but I'd add that job #1 of a coach is hiring a good staff. It's why I'll always place Parcells as my number one: he promoted BB to DC and brought him nearly everywhere he went, hired Tom Coughlin, and revived Sean Payton's career after being dumped unfairly by Jim Fassel (the reason, I think, why the latter never got a NFL head coaching job again).

Good link - thanks. Diggs is regarded by pretty much everyone as one of the best and most precise route runners in the league. Who knows who did the miscommunicating there. Regardless of who was at fault, they gotta clean stuff up.

They were talented on D, sure, but every team has talented players. Their offense was very low-talent, though, and the QB was a dump-off artist game manager. Their RB was a relatively slow-footed but big Bills cast off. Their most talented skill player was Troy Freaking Brown, a guy who had a great career but who probably wouldn't have started for most teams given his physical talent level.

Do you honestly believe that Bill Belichick's coaching job was better last season than in 2001, a year in which they had a miraculous SB run with a completely inexperienced QB?

If you read the Buffalo News analysis today, Vernon Butler--who played nearly 70 percent of the snaps--was getting moved backwards on virtually every play, and Phillips didn't play well either. Maybe their scheme wasn't great, but this was more of a jimmies and joes problem than an x's and o's problem. Star's absence was really bad for them.

The talent level was higher, but not that much higher. And they had a top 10 defense in 2001 because of ... coaching. Plus they ranked seventh in yardage on defense last season, partly because their secondary was still very good! In the 2001 season, they won the SB against a vastly more talented team. Last year's team started 6-6 and went 1-3 down the stretch, getting blown out a couple of times before beating a terrible Jets team in a run-for-the-bus game. I will never not challenge Pats fans who claim that last season was some sort of miracle job. Gimme a break. They went 7-9. That's hardly his best coaching season. More than talent, they were extremely well coached. It's why it was his best coaching job. Their defense was fine last year too - better than league average.

I actually forgot the McKenzie fumble! I'll add that to the list.

That is true, but I also wouldn't be surprised if this sort of sentiment exists among some Bills players who have better ensured their week-to-week availability by getting vaccinated: https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/11/23/michael-irvin-is-hot-about-amari-coopers-unvaccinated-status/. I often find Irvin highly annoying, but his point about the money is a good one -- players care a LOT about that. I can't put myself in other people's shoes, but if a guy like Star gets paid a very high salary to sit out a full season and gets paid again to sit out a couple of weeks because he wouldn't get vaxxed, some of his teammates might not be so happy with his life choice. But your larger point is right; other teams are dealing with the same issue (as evidenced by the link!), although I do think the Bills are definitely on the high end of unvaxxed status.

He actually hasn't been that good, but Williams for whatever reason has been AWFUL at RT. I don't get it; he was a truly solid player last year. Just getting average play at that position makes a huge difference.

How could you say this after 2002? His QB went down and he went with a completely inexperienced late round pick. And he outschemed everyone on his way to a SB victory. They were not that talented at all. With regard to last year's team, they were probably as or more talented than the 2017 Bills, which went 9-7. My point is, doing a great job with poor talent requires that you at least get to .500.

My sense is that he has been hampered by a lot of small-to-moderate injuries the last couple of seasons. He might not be 100 percent at all right now.

I'm not saying the D played well at all, but the Colts did get two scores on short fields because of turnovers. On the other hand, in the past three games Allen has 5 interceptions and 8 interception-worthy throws along with 2 fumbles and what should have been a third (vs. Jax at the end of the game; that was absolutely a fumble). The backs fumbled it twice vs. the Jets, Sweeney fumbled it once vs. Jax, and McKenzie fumbled it vs. Indy too. That is 17 turnover-worthy plays in 3 games (5.67 per game), which is terrible. No matter how the D plays, you're not going to win when you have that level of carelessness with the football.

?? — that’s not wrong and it is directed at his qb for forcing throws he shouldn’t. Daboll gave Allen shorter options on all of those plays. Basically, Daboll is speaking the truth. Allen had a turnover-worthy play on the second drive on yet another forced pass. They were lucky it wasn’t a turnover. When analyzing performance, you have to factor that in.