finn

The image that comes to mind is a drowning man desperately grabbing hold of a inflatable Barney that happened to be floating nearby.

Are you referring to Coleman and Shavers? Or are you going back to Justin Shorter, Isiah Hodgins, and Marquez Stevenson? Yeah, Beane is committed to the position, no doubt. I would go so far as "obsessed." Will the man ever stop wasting high draft picks and cap money on wide receivers? I mean, enough is enough! Thanks to Beane, the Bills WR corps is the envy of the league. Joe Burrows was overheard muttering how envious he was of Allen. "Give me that group and I'd go to the Super Bowl every year," he reportedly said. "And here I'm stuck with Chase, Higgins, and Burton. God!" I just wish Beane would pay more attention to the defensive line. Such an inexplicable oversight. Damn him!

You joke, Brady does not. If Brady can make nothing at all out of Moore, Samuel, and Palmer, all of whom did better with their previous OC, he is not going to do much with Cooks--or even a Waddle or Jefferson. The man's mediocrity isn't even entirely hidden by the best QB of his generation executing his patty-cake plays.

As clear an indictment on Beane's GM acumen as any post I've seen.

A good reminder. The 2021 season is an especially apt comparison. For the sake of perspective, Allen was throwing to Diggs, Davis, Beasley, McKittrick, and Kumerow, with Dawkins, Feliciano, Morse, Ford, and a struggling Brown up front, Singletary at running back, and Knox at tight end. In 2025, he clearly has a better line, a much better back, better tight ends, and worse receivers, maybe much worse, since he has a Beasley in Shakir but no Diggs and arguably no Davis. I would say it's a wash overall, except for one factor: offensive coordinator. Sorry to the dwindling band of Brady apologists, but if the Bills sink this year, it won't be because of injuries, the lack of receivers, the porous run defense, or even the head coach. It will be because of a remarkably inept offensive coordinator who I predict will be a position coach on another team next year. Commentators will shake their heads at the wasted year. The truly incredible Allen can work with a below-average WR corps and compensate for a defense that doesn't always do its part, but even he can't do always do magic with the garbage coming into his ear on every down.

I agree, since what else can Beane do at this point but pick through the scrap heap? Still, the list of aging retreads (White, Poyer, Phillips, Lawson) alongside the fading veterans (Taron, Dequan, Milano), chronically injured (Kincaid, Bernard, Samuel, Oliver), disappointing (Moore, Palmer, Knox, Rousseau, Ogonjobi), and just plain gormless (Coleman) is a bit depressing. On the bright side, Bishop, Hairston, Hancock, Hawes, Walker, and maybe Strong give me hope for next year. And I still think they could go all the way this year, if only because the universe has a sense of humor. They don't get to the Super Bowl when they have the best team in the NFL (2022) or the conference (2024, 2025), so it only makes sense they'll make and, weirdly, win when they're deeply flawed, erratic, routinely outcoached, and past mark of mouth. Making reservations now...

Eagles trade for Jaelen Phillips, Steelers pick up George Pickens, Dallas acquires Quinnen Williams. All of them instantly contribute. The Bills? Tre White, Jordan Poyer, Dane Jackson, Jordan Phillips, and now maybe Shaq Lawson. It's just so discouraging.

It's a fine line between whining in the sense of indulging oneself in thoughtless complaints and pointing out legitimate problems and even predicting unpleasant outcomes. I hope you don't belong to that contingent of posters who simply do not tolerate anything but sunny posts. I'd rather read any number of complaints bordering on "whining" than the kind of Pollyanna, "Bills right or wrong" smarmy shlock you see here, especially in the offseason, that equates criticism with disloyalty and typically challenges the posters' credentials, as in "Are you a GM? Have you studies hours of film?" No, I never mind even harsh criticism. It usually reflects caring too much and having too much faith, not too little of either.

Sometimes this league is unpredictable, and sometimes it's utterly predictable.

Definitely keep the ball out of Taylor's hands and give it to the lame quarterback.

Cincy shouldn't have punted from midfield on fourth and short. The whole world knew that.

Am I the only one who despises Mahomes? I'm not even sure why, since the incessant glazing isn't his fault. I don't despise Lamar or Burrow.

What happened to Higgins?

I don't understand. The refs threw that flag on KC. KC! Are they drunk?

I wonder if McDermott is reluctant to fire Brady because he is (or has been) a top candidate for a head-coach position. He might think it would be be doubly disloyal to a) fire him; and b) deprive of him a chance to be head coach elsewhere. If so, he needs to get over it. Any team that would hire such an incompetent deserves him.

I'm so so sad. Bereft! In ashes. 😁

So he's not good without two future HOF receivers. Shouldn't that be enough to stop the "best of all time" garbage? He's not even the best of his time.

Watch Mahomes glazers praise him for making the tackle. What a clutch player!

Kromer was OC of the Bears and did very well before Cutler melted down.

Diggs, yes, Von, no. Sorry, signing a 35-year old to a six-year contract made no sense at the time, and it makes less sense in hindsight. A two-year with more as an option, great, even in retrospect, when you're more aware of the injury factor for his age than you might at the moment. So I give him credit for a bold signing and take away the credit for an albatross contract. The Floyd signing was much smarter: low risk, high reward--and it paid off.

It's not Daboll or bust, of course. For example, I'd look at Thomas Brown, passing-game coordinator of the Patriots, who (google tells me) is drawing a lot of interest. Would be great to stick it to the Pats, too. Your choice, Sean: change OC's now or after the season. One brings a chance to go all the way this year, the other gives us a higher draft pick.

A team that loses to the below-average teams and beats the above-average teams, what is up with that? The pattern when they win is the team getting fired up; when they lose, I see a defense that allows big runs but plays well enough for the offense to pull it out (maybe because McDermott shoves Babich aside), and an offense that gets points and yards but fails in the clutch because of the killer combination of injuries, mediocre receivers, and a poor offensive coordinator. If this take is correct, I have hope! If the defensive pattern continues, the injuries abate (both reasonable hopes), and--the big one--McDermott realizes this team simply will not make it without a course adjustment. He did it once before. Can he do it again?

I'd love to see a definitive analysis, but the ones I've seen indicate that both these things are true, but that most of the problems stemming from Brady's schemes and play calling. As many here have observed, he's predictable, limited, slow to adapt, late getting plays in, has not adapted his offense to the receivers he has, and lacks innovation, creativity, and vision. In short, he's just not a good coordinator. I'm encouraged that McDermott fired Dorsey, so maybe he will pull the trigger on this guy. Who would replace him, though? I really doubt he would bring back Daboll. Kromer might be the answer. He was terrific his first year with the Bears, setting franchise records for yards and touchdowns. I don't see how he could be worse than Brady.

My read is that Beane will never fire McDermott because McDermott brought him in, an object lesson for other teams: always hire the GM first. We're stuck with McDermott, which means we're stuck with junior-varsity coordinators for the rest of the Allen era.

Every route in the book except wide receiver screen, half back dive, halfback screen, jet sweep, and mesh routes. With Brady and McDermott, you fit into their scheme or you get cut.