MRM33064

Tuel time was fantastic for around 30 seconds.

Clappy just loves his rules. Go to mass, say "yes, Sir" a lot, show up early for lifting, pay for the next guy's coffee at Timmy Ho's ... so on and so forth. If only our guys were all just a little bit nicer; we'd be just like the Saints. It's the CULTURE. Of course, doing stuff like trading up in the draft, not knowing when a tie is just as bad as a loss in a critical playoff run game and today's example: punting when you're down 3 scores with 6mins left in the game (assuming we're still trying to win these games), doesn't really help the cause.

The football equivalent of selling one's Pets.com stock at $0.01/shares after watching it go from $100/share to $15/share to $1/share. Eh, right on time.

My issue with the Mahommes talk is that even if he were here, he wouldn't be what he is. He'd be handing off to Chris Ivory. That's actually my biggest fear about McD; that is, that Josh Allen really is super talented but he'll get ruined here by being neutered by a "defense first" and "protect the ball" '70s style staff.

Not really. I'd like some indicia that he has a clue about the modern NFL. Do you think he's well-versed in analytics? (He knows them well, but just ignores them?) He makes horrific tactical decisions - not the least of which was not even understanding that a tie was just as bad as a loss in last year's Colts game. He talks about weather in Buffalo. "Blue Collar" Buffalo. The king of empty cliche. McD seems like a very nice man. A good DC, in a league that increasingly devalues defense. Perhaps he is simply a brilliant strategic who continues to hide his brilliance from the league for long-term gain.

I'd like to think these pressers are McD using his Jedi distraction skills to simply just appear as a completely out of touch relic who doesn't understand analytics, the pace of today's game, the direction of the league and rules committee (in promoting offense and passing) .... but .... I fear it's not a ruse.

Who hires a coach from the "Ron Rivera" coaching tree? Ironically, Rivera is the knucklehead who didn't understand the analytics and lost a game to the Bills because he kicked a FG late in the 4th quarter instead of going for a game-ending first down. Pegula was so upset about Rex's ego that McD looked like a warm fuzzy blanket. McD is exactly the WRONG guy to build a modern NFL team from scratch.

These pressers are gold. He comes off as the most vacuous "tough-guy" empty cliche-spouting hand-clapper possible. McD wants us to RUN AND STOP THE RUN. Broad shoulders! Football tough! Character guys! It's Buffalo you know ... "blue collar" (?!) ... and ... weathery (!?) or such. WTF

This, above. I will say this: yes, I think that it's true that Tyrod WAS probably more valuable to the Bills than to any other team in the league, but that's simply an embarrassing, pitiful consequence of: (1) the 1970s dinosaur relic coach that we have, who somehow architects a QB stat line of 31/49 for 189 and 3 INTs (!?!) and claims he needs to watch the film to figure out his a** from his elbow; and (2) our presumed franchise QB being currently unavailable. Tyrod is conservative, well-mannered, positive, polite, a good "culture guy"... and hopelessly mediocre. Perfect for McD, not for any other legit NFL coach.

"What $21.9million of 2018 salary cap space looks like in Buffalo.*" *It's true.

Over/under on how he "needs to look at the tape" before answering: 35 seconds.

I'd love to agree with this, but I really need to see the film first (!?!) There must be some hella good steganography embedded in that game film. Or maybe there's subliminal messaging: "EAT MORE POPCORN" ... "MORE PUNTS" ... "DRINK COKE" ... "SIGN MORE FULLBACKS" ...

During last year's (fluke) playoff "run", our head coach did not understand - DID NOT UNDERSTAND - that a tie against the Colts was just as bad as a loss. And when we think about the modern NFL, where offense is king (so much so that the rules committee continually designs rules to promote offense and scoring), and analytics are used by some as an edge, where other young coaches are continually experimenting with 4th down creativity, aggressive game-ending decision-making, and so forth - we have this tough guy, cliche-spouting relic from the '70s. McD is that super nice guy from Peoria who sits next to you at the blackjack table and sticks on 14 to the dealer's face card because "he's got a gut feeling", and refuses to believe that there is any real underlying strategy to any of it, while McVay is counting cards looking for maximum decision-making optimization choices. I'm sure McD looked like a fuzzy warm blanket to Pegula when compared to Rex: McD is polite, stable, very well-prepared, he has notebooks with little sayings in them (!), he likes "character guys", and so forth. Nothing at all about McD says "innovation" or "modern" or in any way leads anyone to reasonably believe that he is the right guy to groom Josh Allen for greatness. And let's face it, at this point, Josh Allen is our asset. It's all on that kid. The best we can ever hope for with McD is what we saw Monday night: a team that has a high effort, competitive defense that is able to slow down (not stop, but slow down) great offenses and maybe keep some of our losses close - although his teams have been blown out quite frequently to date. McD is Dick Jauron v2.0. We got a guy who is trying to make horses run faster (McD) while coaches like McVay, Pederson, Shanahan (and OMG I can't believe I'm saying it ... Mike Vrabel) are optimizing the engines on race cars.

When McD didn't realize that a tie with the Colts was just as bad as a loss in the playoff race, he exposed himself. And then to make matters worse, he doubled down on it, repeating the phrase "I'd rather have a tie than a loss" as though it had some sort of deep significance that we mere mortals didn't grasp. He seems like a great guy. Perfect to be a character-building, high-school type coach. But comparing him to McVay is like comparing a rotary dial telephone to a new iPhone.

"I don't feel tardy ..." (David Lee Roth circa 1984)

Chidi Ahanotu once referred to our beloved mouth that roared, Mr. Williams, as "soft" and (wait for it ....................................) "cerebral." Chidi's analytical skills evidently rivaled my pass rushing ability. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d82829cad/article/retired-bills-de-gregg-williams-was-softest-coach

This is probably true, in the most saddest, forest-through-the-trees sort of way. As in: "Gosh ... IDK ... Tuesdays are really full and 5pm is usually the time I spend with Daboll and his adjunct assistant backup fullbacks coordinator, reviewing the video and talking about how DiMarco can better block inside so Ivory can get 2 yards instead of 3 between the tackles so we can better set up the punt." While McVay + Co. are reviewing analytics, drawing up another fake punt, scheming up another downfield crossing route that opens up the field and has a high chance of netting a defensive PI flag even if the pass isn't caught. Annoyed that they aren't scoring more. "Sorry guys, too busy to spend 20mins talking with customers."

They saw that the Cowboys were in trading mode and are sending the message: Benjamin for Taco Charlton.

Who knows what McD's grand strategy really is, but again today we heard him talk about how - because it's Buffalo - we need to be "blue collar" and run the ball and blah blah blah. And then there's that Indy game thing from last year. When he clearly didn't understand that a tie was just as bad of an outcome as a loss, and if that weren't bad enough, he doubled-down on it robotically repeating that "I'd rather have a tie than a loss ..." over and over again, as though that somehow was more important than the reality of it all. I think this guy is someone who grew up in old-school football culture, he thinks he knows better than the punks like McVay and Shanahan (who deep down he probably thinks haven't paid enough dues to be an HC), and certainly better than any of us dummy fans spouting off all of our analytics, and game theory, and all that nerdy brainy stuff. I think he looked like a beacon of moral stability to the Pegulas, and benefitted from that timing. But if you put him up against what most folks would think is the "prototype" innovative, modern, NFL-coach ... he's got to be about as opposite of that as one could be. And I hope that doesn't ultimately ruin Josh Allen.

Despite our continual yip-yapping (including mine), history clearly shows: - we'll tolerate losing - we'll tolerate having QBs regularly throw for less than 100 yards/game, - we'll tolerate having a 30 year old RB as our best offensive player, - we'll tolerate having a backup QB who quite possibly has the worst QB on-field performance in the history of the game, all because he: says "yes, Sir" to the coach, practices hard, goes to church, leads his Boy Scout troop, etc. - we'll tolerate focusing on defense in a league that is purposefully tweaking its own rules to promote offense, - we'll tolerate using 2 roster spots on a 3rd kicker and a fullback, - we'll tolerate some jive about "culture" and "process" as though those things were substitutes for talent (instead of, say, doing it the other way: acquiring talent and teaching them culture ...) - we'll tolerate a coach that thinks "analytics" are only things that guys who get pushed into lockers worry about ... ... But we will NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES tolerate getting snotty with us when we ask questions. Especially critical ones. The quickest (and possibly the only) way out the door for a Buffalo Bills coach is to lose fan support. McD's little dictator routine that he's displayed as of late will not sell in November when we've officially dropped out of "in the hunt" status.

I think that would be a more plausible interpretation if he hadn't been passive-aggressive during the entire segment.

Challenging the Head Coach (capital "H", capital "C") is NOT part of the process. How DARE they ask questions on a Q&A show. Coach McD never talked back to a Head Coach. Just like Nate. Nate gets it; that's why he's headed for the Pro Bowl - shows up on time, says "yes, Sir", doesn't talk back. These radio guys with their fancy "numbers" and "analytics" and questions just don't get it.

Bortles scrambling was annoying, but that's all they had. And that's fine. The problem was scoring only 3 points, which isn't enough to beat anyone.

Absolutely correct. Even if he makes it, we're still down by 4 and giving the ball back to Brady. A brutally bad, gutless, clueless decision in a game with not much to lose. The failure to go for the first down there is everything I hate about what the Bills have become over this last 17 years. It's one thing to have inferior talent; it's another thing entirely to play scared.