DrDawkinstein

Excuses, excuses. Every team deals with injuries and bad bounces. Good coaches make their own luck. In 2021, we needed a stop in just 13 seconds and our Defensive HC let us down. Last season, KC just needed one stop, and Spags sent a new blitz off the right side we had never seen before because he knew Josh would roll right. THAT is the difference. Maybe not right this minute. But Payton, Harbaugh, and Vrabel were all out there and should have been strongly considered. Oh BS. We have Josh. We win 10-12 games every year with him at QB and ME coaching (and I dont know jack!). Changing coaches, at worst, means we only win 10-12 games each year. To your point, we still have Miami, NE, and the Jets in the Division. Taking the Division and making the playoffs, with a Josh Allen on the team, is a given. This is about what happens once we;re in the playoffs and all the talent is equal and it is coaching that sets teams apart.

So true and unfortunate. I'm on record in a ton of posts singing McD's praises for what he does well. And he does plenty well. Unfortunately, where he lacks is exactly the difference between playoff team and Super Bowl championship. But anytime we talk about that nuance, the insults and strawmen start flying. The best description of McD I've seen is "He's the type of coach that can take a 4-13 team to the wild card round. And also the type of coach who can take a 14-3 team to the wild card round". Making the playoffs isnt the goal anymore. I'm happy with it and I love winning the division, but the goal now is winning the Super Bowl. And that takes a different level that we havent seen from him once in 9 years.

Great post, lot to respond to here IMO, if you are looking to bring in another HC in an advisory role, then that is enough evidence that you just need to fire him and move on. I actually think McD would be better in a President/advisory role where he can help set the culture. My issue with McD is with in-game decisions and "playing it safe (scared)" when he should be looking to stick a dagger in the opponent. And more so, his inability to step it up a notch in the playoffs. I'm looking for a link or video, but there were clips and articles recently discussing how the coaches who win in the playoffs (Reid, Siriani, McVay) know that when they get to the playoffs they need to make changes and take their schemes and teams to the next level. Where as McDermott stays in his base schemes and continues to rely on his players just making plays. That works in the regular season just fine, but we've seen it bite us in the ass numerous times in the playoffs. This team lacks that extra gear and that is due to McD. For Sean, and this team, to take the next step, I think he needs to bring in a real Defensive Coordinator, let them run their own scheme and stay out of their way. And Sean should just be a true HC. Or we can find a HC who will.

Lots of interesting tidbits... Josh is too busy to watch Hard Knocks (for the "get back in the film room" crew) Fitz wasnt happy being a Harvard alum last year, wonder what that was about. Loved Fitz and Whit's reaction to "we'll always be in the honeymoon phase". Oh young love... Fitz and Whit at 18:00 mention they paid Spencer Browns fines for fighting last year. Cybo is the funniest OL out of all those characters even tho he seems so quiet Everyone is afraid of Spencer Brown McD goes by gut feeling on whether Josh plays in preseason and sat him last minute once (wonder if we avoided an disaster there) Hyped on Keon Coleman and how he's learning how to live the NFL lifestyle. Wonder what that means. Commitment to his craft? I didnt catch who Big Cheese could be, but Chrome is Krome, Aaron Kromer.

Yep 👇 But it takes that luck and perfect situation.

Finally caught up on the last episode last night. After decades of hand-wringing about what a distraction being on Hard Knocks would be, the Bills managed to put out the most boring, least intrusive season in Hard Knocks history. Lot of good stuff from a hype stand point. That opening episode still has me juiced. My one major take away is: How about that Josh Allen? What a personality! The dude is "always on". Can sit down for any interview and jump right in with witty answers. Gives everyone the same level of engagement in every interaction whether he's talking to Terry Pegula or some random fan. I still cant believe he is "our guy"... 😍

Totally worth it. We're on year 9 with Josh. A ton of great plays and highlights, and great games, but no Lombardi yet. If we had to bring in another coach to win the SB, but sacrifice the culture after, totally worth it. Oh, Daquan Jones isnt having team dinners? Still won the Super Bowl Conner McGovern isnt making everyone pizzas anymore? Still won the Super Bowl Heck, if we won the Super Bowl, got through the parade, and then Josh announced he was retiring, we'd still be left with the best decade of our lives as Bills fans. We missed out on Vrabel and Harbaugh so we're stuck hoping McD, the king of consistency, is somehow going to make a drastic change. But if I had to put money on it, I'd predict another let down due to weak coaching in the playoffs, and then McD fires Babich as the fall guy and then promotes from within to run the same crappy system in the same crappy way.

We were talking about next year See ngbills post that starts "Names to look out for in 2026 if this year does not go well." All good!

He already took one big pay cut, so at least we know he's willing to do it. IMO, the only way that works for the Bills is if he's willing to keep that same $17M number, but spread it over 3 years. New deal, 3/$17M, $10M guaranteed, or something like that.

Thanks. I dont know about everyone on the list but I know that for Knox, we save $10M by cutting him. $17M cap hit on the team $7M in dead money if we release him Almost seems like a no-brainer, but he was in Josh's wedding so who knows... Maybe he's the next name-turned-practice-squad-player for the Bills next year...

If your wife is really looking for the full experience keep her away from anyone in a Kiko Alonso jersey!

It's both. See my subsequent posts below...

It's like we havent been reigning AFC East champs and werent just 1 or 2 plays away from winning the AFC Championship. "JAGs"... ok...

I was just going to make this point. He can be "WR2" because he's the other guy lining up outside, but not the 2nd option. Slot, TEs, screens, etc

~$23M in dead cap between Von, Tre White, and Rasul Douglas alone. Those are the big hitters in our dead space.

Seems like the answer is yes, but it's nice having it flipped to guaranteed money, so the trade off balances out. Quick math... $8M across 17 games is about $475k/game. Let's say 5 of those are in lower tax states, saving 2-5% each. Missing a 2% savings would mean losing ~$9k, 5% would be about $25k. So probably about $75k in extra taxes but he gets all $8M guaranteed. Dion spends more on drifting tires each month. With $86M in career earnings already, I dont think he's sweating that $75k.

This has been going on from before McDaniel, and will be going on after McDaniel. It's the entire environment. Similar to what Bosa has said about Buffalo reconnecting him to the feeling he had at Ohio State, and how in LA there's too many other things besides football. Small markets, so hot right now.

That punk kid had it coming.

Us long-time Bills fans know that, no matter who you hire as coach, if you cant change the owner then not much will change. And the Dolphins are stuck with Ross for the foreseeable future. I'm not worried about his next round of hires as long as he's the one doing the hiring. Players will continue to get sucked into the South Beach life for the next 20 years.

Also from Elliot in this session: https://www.si.com/nfl/dolphins/news/former-dolphins-safety-takes-shots-at-his-old-team-01jck948rgrf "Miami, it's a distraction," Elliott said. "I would say that we already didn't hang out much as a team because there's so much to do in Miami. So guys are dispersed so much, and everyone thought they were somebody because of the mindset of, 'Oh, I'm In Miami; I can be somebody different,' you know? And then we go into that city, and I felt like we were a really good team. And then the injury bug hit us, and after the injury bug hit us, we played the Titans. We played Tennessee and lost to Tennessee. You can tell the heart and soul for that team disappeared...guys started going out more. Guys are going to strip clubs throughout the week. Guys are showing up to meetings late. "You could just tell like the Miami culture is the reason why Miami will never be good. Like Miami will never be a good football team. I don't care. They will never be good because of the Miami culture. I think they have great players. The culture is not going to be there. I don't care what anyone says. It's true."

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article311942201.html Dolphins coach choked, slammed woman at Lauderdale luxury high-rise, police say Witnesses said they saw a Miami Dolphins coach choking, slapping and slamming a woman in a Fort Lauderdale luxury high-rise apartment building, according to 911 calls released Tuesday by police. Dolphins outside linebackers coach Ryan Crow, 37, was arrested Friday on a misdemeanor domestic violence battery charge. In the 911 call released by Fort Lauderdale Police, a witness said she saw Crow choking a woman and slamming her in a luxury high-rise apartment building in Fort Lauderdale. Shortly after midnight Friday, officers responded to Veneto Las Olas, 201 S. Federal Hwy. Crow and the woman live in an apartment in the building as a family, according to Crow’s arrest report. The couple, police say, had been arguing about past relationships. At one point, Crow shoved the woman “out of anger.” The woman said she wasn’t injured and declined to provide a sworn statement. Crow, according to a witness, wrapped his arms around the woman as if he was going to “perform a takedown.” The witness said the woman’s legs were off the ground — and she looked terrified as Crow whispered in her ear. Another witness said Crow slapped the woman but stopped once people were watching, according to the report. Crow then headed up to his apartment. The report did not indicate where in the building the alleged incident took place. The Dolphins have placed Crow on administrative leave. The Dolphins did not say whether he would be paid during his leave. Crow joined the Dolphins in 2024 after working with the Tennessee Titans for five seasons. "We are aware of the serious matter involving Ryan Crow and currently gathering more information,” the Dolphins said in a statement. “Ryan has been placed on administrative leave effective immediately. We have been in communication with the NFL and will reserve further comment at this time.” Crow was released from jail Saturday after he posted a $1,000 bond. He was ordered to stay away from the victim.

We talkin bout Practice (Squad) Not a game, not an active roster. We talkin bout Practice (Squad)

Dont know the Davis situation for certain, but guys just want to be here. Jordan Phillips publicly declared he wouldnt answer the phone for anyone but the Bills, and was on a plane the minute they called about the Practice Squad.

Yep, it makes sense. But this isnt some tricky, secret formula Beane is using. ALL teams have 6 veteran slots on the PS to use. It's just logical that teams who have been good over the last 5 years bring back good players from those good teams. Bad teams have no reason to re-try the same crappy players. The Chiefs have guys like Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Mike Edwards on their PS. The Eagles have known vets Marcus Epps and Parry Nickerson. Ravens have a bunch of guys they've had around for a while. We're just too focused and tunnel-visioned on the Bills around here.

If there was a player available that was an obvious upgrade to our starting roster WRs then they would be signed to the starting roster.