dave mcbride

This should include the penalties too. It also doesn't include the Cincy game, where he was being lit up like an Xmas tree. I know the game didn't count, but his performance was not good. The reason they were below their average was because they got off to such a big lead and realized they could matriculate down the field at a more leisurely pace on almost every possession. That game was the opposite of a shootout. It was a curb-stomping in which the situation dictated ball control/long drives to simply end the game. Plus the Bills' defense had no answers.

The Dolphins put up 15 points (they were gifted 16 by the Bills offense and ST) and averaged less than 4 yards per play! The QB had a rating of 31.

Good post, but Edmunds was great against Miami. He had four pass breakups. He also had 12 tackles vs Cincy.

Honestly, I think Daboll reined him in a bit and had the force of personality to make him play with more discipline. Allen actually said this in his season-ending press conference: “I got to be better for him, and especially when he gives me some shot plays,” Allen said. “I turned the ball over too many times this year. Didn't really bite us all that much, only losing three games in the regular season. But there's opportunities where it could have. And just taking a deep dive into that and understanding defenses as well as I can and just trying to make the right play moving forward and allow this offense to continue being out in the field.” Think about that. Allen had tons of shot plays this year and did pretty well in that area. Yet that’s what he’s talking about, not the slants and screens that failed too often. It’s the other stuff that’s the problem.

I thought you were suggesting he wasn’t getting interviews because he is old. My bad.

DK Metcalf, Davonte Adams, Terry McLaurin, … lots of good guys have been taken on day 2.

He is old. His scheme is very old hat and not innovative (not necessarily a bad thing but also not a thing that “sells” you). He wasn’t particularly successful in Minnesota (21-32-1). And 11 of the past 12 championship game coaches and 8 of the last 8 SB coaches will have been offensive ones. Owners look at the numbers and want offensive guys. Why? He is not that old. He has also overseen only one legit defense in his years as a DC: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/AnarLo0.htm

He didn’t! Lamb was drafted at 17.

The numbers show that Josh was pretty substandard vs the blitz this year, which shouldn’t be happening to an elite talent getting more experienced every year.

I can’t see Johnston falling out of the top 12 (at worst).

There are no rules against it, but bear in mind that any team which does something like that is going to have to give him an even BETTER deal to get to a new deal. The thing is, the $11 million is fully guaranteed, and his agent isn’t going to take anything that isn’t as good as that on a per year basis. If the deal offered is worse on a per annum basis, the agent will rightfully tell the player to play the season out and bet on himself. He has been truly elite in some games over the past two years, and I believe that the pectoral injury he suffered really hampered his game down the stretch this year. When he was healthy, he was blowing up a lot of plays. The Bills don’t beat Detroit without him. Given that the money is guaranteed, you’re willing to have the Tim Settles and Mike Loves of the world over Oliver? Because that’s what it boils down too. You’re paying Oliver regardless.

No team, and I mean no team, is trading for a fully guaranteed $11 million contract. People should banish this idea from their minds.

So was their drive to open up the second half.

I think you're basically right, but there's also situational football and having an overall plan each game. Versus Cincy, having a more controlled offense would have probably resulted in more production. My biggest issues with the offense outside of talent (admittedly the number one issue) are the lack of a fully integrated run-pass identity in which the two approaches mesh together (like in a Shanahan system) and week-to-week situational variation. Daboll, coming out of NE, fully had his head around that even if not every week was a success. His approach to the passing game too had a recognizable identity -- featuring receivers with great separation / big window ability. It's why they prioritized Emmanuel Sanders, who was almost always among the league leaders in establishing the biggest throw windows for whichever QB he was playing for. Diggs is that guy too. Davis isn't. Beasley was a window god, and the Bills really missed him. Don't get me wrong, though - the Bills offense was quite productive overall and did a lot of good things. But it needs a lot of work both philosophically and with regard to personnel.

Maybe this is recency bias, but Allen seemed to have a couple of problems with slants in the second half of the season -- inaccuracy and batted balls. He missed Gabe Davis on a slant (behind him) a couple of games ago and it wasn't the first time. In the playoff game vs Miami, he threw behind Beasley on what I think was a slant and then forced the ball to him the next play (it was picked off). He also had a seemingly large number of passes batted down, and at least a couple were on slants to Diggs. In the Detroit game, he had Diggs open on a slant in the EZ but it was batted and picked off.

The Indy offense was very well coordinated with Rivers in 2020. The problem there was Wentz and later the fumbling machine named Matt Ryan.

Well, he had a good year with Wentz too -- they were 11-1 when he went down in 2017 and the offense was cooking.

… and Dorsey was consistently outschemed. Allen was bad too, but the circumstances created by the o-line debacle account for some of that. https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/jim-kubiak-josh-allen-runs-out-of-the-magic-that-helped-cover-bills-deficienies/article_246b2c2c-9c37-11ed-a844-dba9b7f6ece2.html

No team, and I mean no team, is trading for Ed Oliver given the $11 million guaranteed.

The Kubler-Ross cycle of grief, NFL version: 1. Denial: "Those were some crap calls and this game would have a whole lot different if Daquon Jones played." 2. Anger: "Fire the coordinators. All of them." 3. Bargaining: "Come on, Brandon Beane -- give us some hope that you're going to do something big to fix everything in your end-of-season press conference!" 4. Depression: "The window is closing fast. 2020-2022 was our window and now the cap combined with years of mediocre drafting is going to hem us in. We'll struggle to win the AFC East next year." 5. Acceptance: "It's X days until the home opener!"

I think I am in this case. Terry's net worth is currently listed at $6.7 billion by Forbes and $8.19 billion by Bloomberg. I don't think many people really fathom how much money that it is. It's an obscene amount and so great that if he lost 80 percent of it tomorrow from either amount, he'd still have enough to live in the lap of luxury for another 30 lifetimes.

The Pegulas aren't in this to make money. They have enough of that to last several lifetimes. They do actually want to win it all.

I mean, what's he supposed to say? People are reading too much into this. He's not going to throw anyone under the bus. It's so not his way.

Again, wrong TD. It was the second one where he wrestled it from Minkah Fitzpatrick.

He's talking about the second vs. Minkah Fitzpatrick in the end zone.