BillsVet

At one time, professional sports franchise commissioners were the intermediary between the players and owners. Over the years their selection by the owners has largely made them, as you note, the owner's representative. The CBA demands that the league, i.e. the commish and owners, drive efforts to increase revenue. And that means stadiums get built as quickly as possible. Doing that now requires public financing, which is a rip-off of taxpayers.

I love how Goodell talks about how the State and Local Governments have to spend taxpayer dollars to prop up a franchise in his corporation. Especially when cost benefit analyses have demonstrated time and again that building new stadiums does little if anything for the local and state economy. The sad thing about Goodell is that, like his predecessors he'll be in the HOF. He's a weak man who masquerades around as the leader of a sports league that could have grown without him.

Off-seasons 1 and 2 of McBeane were largely spent re-tooling the defense to fit the HC's needs. Year's 3 and hopefully 4 will both be offensive driven. Beane said they had cap limitations in year 2. But it didn't preclude them from adding Star, Murphy, and moving up to take Edmunds. That's a hefty investment on D and it led to an offensive unit that was scoring about 10 points per past mid-season. I think McD figured he could "win now" in 2017 by being strong defensively. And to a certain degree it worked. They went 9-7 to advance as a wild card. I contend the effort in years 1 and 2 going defense first cost them down the road when it was time to invest in a QB. Now, we're still talking about offensive weapons for that QB (cue the fans who said it couldn't be done in 2 years). Yet, SF and other teams were able to build up both sides of the ball in a similar time.

Everyone who tries to be Belichick inevitably fails. O'Brien went all in on those trades at the beginning of the season and it had better pay off. Then again, if he can convince the owner all is well, he's got it made.

I think there's a huge misconception on this board when some fans talk about major personnel misfires. Professional organizations that make mistakes handle it different than fans who just want to move and can't criticize the team. The idea is to learn from mistakes. It's resolving to make sure that it doesn't happen again. I hope Buffalo doesn't have to draft a QB anytime soon, but it should be abundantly clear that when HC's pass on taking a QB it comes back to haunt them. McD is a detailed planner, but I would hope by now he recognizes that his planning needs to be flexible. Heck, we talked in the Army about how the operation order went out the window when the first bullets started flying. I see a guy who sticks to his plan come hell or high water and will not adapt. That showed on draft night 2017. I remember McD talking about winning both now (2017) and later. Well, winning in 2017 was nice, but how much did that affect their ability to win later. Sure, drafting a Mahomes or Watson may not have provided the impact that taking a good CB did for the 2017 season. But there isn't one intelligent football fan out there who would take Tre, a late 1st, and a 3rd over a franchise QB. Any Bills fan who says they would are lying or can't separate their fan-hood from reality.

Which planet are you dude? Many drafts ultimately don't feature 1 franchise QB. 2017 had at least 2 and McD passed on both of them. Ironic, because he's known as an extremely hard worker, yet in the four months he was on the job leading up to draft day evidently they didn't do enough homework on either. This, despite having TT on a 1 year deal. At some point, even hardcore Bills fans gotta admit that not taking 1 of those 2 combined with using a starting OT and two 2nd round picks and the pick to move up for their franchise QB wasn't good resource allocation. All because the HC wimped out when he needed to be bold...and that's something McD is doing far too much in personnel and on game day. McD told the team after the Cleveland game that they needed to play fearless. Perhaps McD needs to look in the mirror and do the same.

Yes, this class is very deep at WR. Still, this franchise is entering year 4 of the McBeane rebuild. There is an expectation whether fans have it or not that they will progress beyond making the playoffs. To that point, I would expect them to look for players who can help now. It wouldn't surprise me to see them continue their habit of trading up and doing so for someone who can produce immediately. They don't have time to let a player develop. The time is now.

Only if he floats. Then again, what also floats? Small rocks? Churches? I think a duck also does...and Beane is no duck. Couldn't resist the Holy Grail reference. Beane clearly isn't a witch. RIP Terry Jones of Sir Bedevere fame.

I could go along with Kiper's prognostication...if Russ Brandon was still heading the show circa 2008. The decision to take Hardy (RIP) was total need. It speaks to the penchant for (credit to @BADOLBILZ) using their 2nd round picks across multiple regimes on needs. I know it's popular to project Buffalo taking a WR in RD1, but I still can see them focusing on a DE and then moving around the board for a WR. It's waaaay too early, but I could see that scenario playing out.

I would not convict the Saints or the Archdiocese of New Orleans in the court of public opinion yet. I understand in the perpetual 24/7 news cycle that news demands instant analysis. Then again, it should be patently obvious that an allegation may not always be substantiated.

There really are no words to say at times like this. Healing after tragedy is never complete. Just gotta pray for him and his mother.

I feel like Andy Reid has always been a big guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J43shDi3XU

I'm mystified by NFL coaches who force complex schemes onto their young players, especially knowing they'd be going with Allen who was more raw coming out of college. They started 2019 with that young QB, rookie RB, a brand new (minus Dawkins) OL, and still Daboll wanted to do only his thing. Offensive game planning requires significant precision and thinking that unit would somehow come together with that scheme was absurd. In fact, I read on this board and McD said himself that they had a whole new offense. (EDIT: Go figure. ) It stands to reason you modify what you're doing on that side until they get it. It'd be better to have fewer plays that players know really well than this complex system that only a few (veteran) types can. One would think that the OC in his second year could recognize this, but I don't know how observant Daboll is. He seems removed from on-field stuff, as evidenced by his play-calling in the Houston game.

Picking up the pick and EJ Gaines for Watkins, then receiving another pick and Jordan Matthews for Ron Darby was maybe McD's wildest swing at getting rid of players he didn't want. One more reason JA needs to work out. And here we are 2.5 years later talking about drafting a WR1. Need to see evidence McBeane know what they're doing on that side of the ball. I'm really to interested in whether they're willing to take a swing on non-choir boys who can perform on the field.

Are they thinking of interviewing Brian Daboll for the job? If so, I'm all for it.

Teams are not hiring defensive coaches to be HC's because it takes more to grasp the intricacies of offensive football. There's a big problem when Buffalo couldn't score more than 19 points in their final 5 games. I know there are some here who place the blame on the players, but it's largely a HC unwilling to see that his style of football does not work when playing the big boys. It's why McD is 3-17 against teams that eventually made the playoffs or in the playoffs. His averages in those 20 games? ~12 points for against ~26 points allowed. I've noticed that most teams who identify that their QB is franchise material surround that guy with weapons. KC is one of many to do this. They don't spend 3 of their first 4 first round picks on defense. Or eschew skill players in the draft for plodding OL who can't play the position they were drafted for. The 2020 off-season is about Josh Allen And that means McD has to change from riding his defense to being an explosive offense.

The past does not predict the future, particularly when it involves players in the NFL Draft. Whatever happened to "Trust the Process" anyway? The fear and anxiety around these parts remains palpable. Just let it ride man. It'll all work out in the end.

After these last 2 posts, I don't know who you're blaming anymore. First it was the players not executing McD's scheme properly. Now it's Beane for not acquiring (even though McD runs the show) enough offensive talent?

Here's Brandon Beane at the final presser: "And a lot of times, if you make the playoffs your last game is kind of emblematic of—if you don’t win it all, whether you go to the championship game or lose like we did—a lot of times it kind of shows you where your season went, where you’re good and where you need to get better. And I thought we saw that [on Saturday], we just didn’t score enough points." In the final game, Buffalo scored 13 points in the first half. Yet, in the second half they scored only 6. I'm sorry that you blame the players for not executing the McD designed game-plan. This argument ignores that McD is at center of organizational decision making. Because, if it's the players who aren't good enough for you, who is picking the players or having the major voice in that process?

McD is in charge and he's been there for 3 drafts, so therefore 2017 is not exempt from the discussion. After all, they used 2 2nds on offense that year. That's six "shots on goal" in 3 drafts from rounds 1-3. And even then, it wasn't until the third off-season when they became aggressive and signed skill types (Brown, Beasley, Kroft, drafted Singletary). It shouldn't take that long. Something is amiss on offense when you produce less than 20 points per in season 3 of a rebuild. Part of it, IMO, is personnel, part is coaching, but the bigger issue is organizational strategy. There's no offensive identity after 3 seasons.

It is widely understood they need more play-makers and better OL play for Allen. How is that still possible after 3 off-seasons of rebuilding? Sure, there's promise, but it's fair to expect more than hoping these players have potential. The question still stands: what evidence is there that McD knows what he's doing to align an offensive strategy to personnel to in-game planning? It doesn't take 4 off-seasons to have a solid offense.

The issue isn't so much McD didn't take Mahomes (or Watson). It's that his (and Beane's) track record drafting offensive players is not really good. And in a league that demands offense, this is a major problem. Given that history, what evidence is there (as @Coach Tuesday said in another thread) that McD or Beane have the personnel acumen to identify offensive talent? Because after 3 drafts their decisions on offense are not promising. We're 3 years into this rebuild and still talking about surrounding a QB with more weapons. That's a problem from a team building strategy perspective.

This is the biggest question heading into off-season #4 with McD. Is he going to change his stripes and embrace a high-powered offense featuring the QB they used so many resources to acquire? Or will he remain the HC who tried to sit on a 16 point lead in the wild card round and believes his defense is key to winning in the post-season? I would think year 3 of Allen they'll take the training wheels off the offense and trying to score more than their 20 points per. Organizational strategy needs to change this off-season.

And yet, SF hired their HC and GM the same year Buffalo did theirs. DIfference is, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan are 2-0 in the playoffs with a SB (at a minimum) appearance. It's not "anti-fan" to have expectations beyond what one's favorite team delivers. After 3 off-seasons of rebuilding, plenty of UFA dollars and draft picks, Buffalo can't win a playoff game. That's not good enough when compared to other teams who've proven you can go from losing to reaching the heights of playoff success. The question to ask is why can't Buffalo? What's holding them back from achieving?