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Has Doug Whaley built the greatest 5-6 team of all time?


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After every win we are required to have a thread discussing Whaley as GM of the year. And I see a fair chunk of people looking at our third in the division position (5 1/2 games out of first) and discussing playoffs. So I am just wondering if any 5-6 team has ever been better?

and after every loss we want him fired

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Ya think?

 

A combination of Whaley and this roster is MASSIVELY overrated by the casual fanbase and they are taking it out on Rex.

 

I couldn't disagree more. Whaley and this roster are good. Rex is MASSIVELY overrated by anyone who thinks he is more than an out of touch over promoted defensive coordinator.

 

Look around the league... look at what the top teams are doing defensively. The only "top team" in this league who are playing a defense that looks anything like Rex's does when it works is the Cardinals. That era of the confusion and all out blitzing and multiple strange looks is on its way out. The top teams are winning by discipline on defense, stopping the rush up the middle getting home to the QB with 4 and detailed and tight coverage in the secondary that forces the QB to hold the ball that split second longer because nobody is open. New England, Carolina, Seattle, Cincy, Denver.... that is how these teams are winning.

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Whaley "invested" in the O during the off-season, and the D had lost only one starter, Searcy.

On last year's 9-7 team, the O averaged 21 ppg and the D 18. This year, the O is averaging 24, while the D is averaging just over 23, 5 more per game. What did Whaley do to cause that change in the D's ppg?

Edited by TPS
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Our defense played a great game against the Pats last week, and we werent at full strength either.

 

I don't agree that the days of blitzing are over like an earlier poster mentioned, but in the 4th Q yesterday when we had 8 on the line and blitzed, Alex Smith sure was ready for it, and that quick outlet screen cost us big time.

 

We had 2 surprises this year on defense, one good and one bad: our starting corners are both awesome (took gilmore a few years, took darby a few hours), but surprisingly we struggle to get pressure with our front 4. So that makes us average, and more reliant on schemes like we saw against NE.

 

Because this is a Whaley thread I'll say one thing, the dude got lucky when Chip Kelly called out of the blue and dropped Shady on our lap or this offense would be a helluva lot worse than it is.

Edited by Webster Guy
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This couldn't be further from the truth. All you need to do is look at the last two weeks. We were clearly able to move the football and play with two good football teams on the road. The difference is that each of those two teams are more fine tuned than the Bills. We make the crucial turnover, the dumb penalty, the missed xp, failed challenges/non-challenges, lack of adjustments, etc. Call me crazy but aside from the extra points, I attribute this stuff to coaching.

Edited by metzelaars_lives
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Whaley has done a good job. I still believe we have one of the most talented teams in the NFL. It comes down to coaching. Look at the 49ers and what happened to them after harbaugh got canned. They suck now. There really can't be any excuse except this coaching staff is just a mediocre one at best. i think its safe to say too that we really have an easier schedule this year against arguably the two weakest divisions in the NFL. This season has been very disappointing and Im afraid to see if our team is mentally checked out now

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Whaley has done a good job. I still believe we have one of the most talented teams in the NFL. It comes down to coaching. Look at the 49ers and what happened to them after harbaugh got canned. They suck now. There really can't be any excuse except this coaching staff is just a mediocre one at best. i think its safe to say too that we really have an easier schedule this year against arguably the two weakest divisions in the NFL. This season has been very disappointing and Im afraid to see if our team is mentally checked out now

Agreed but the 49ers are a bad example. Their roster has been decimated since Harbaugh left. They've actually overachieved this season.
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Our mediocre GM has landed the team a mediocre coach, a mediocre QB. He has built a mediocre offense and put together a mediocre defense. Even with an unusually large commitment in personnel to special teams, that unit is mediocre too. Oddly enough the assembly of all of these mediocre components has resulted in a mediocre 5-6 team. This is an improvement vs. having historical bad teams, but it is not really an amazing feat.

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This couldn't be further from the truth. All you need to do is look at the last two weeks. We were clearly able to move the football and play with two good football teams on the road. The difference is that each of those two teams are more fine tuned than the Bills. We make the crucial turnover, the dumb penalty, the missed xp, failed challenges/non-challenges, lack of adjustments, etc. Call me crazy but aside from the extra points, I attribute this stuff to coaching.

This is good post. ^^^^

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I don't agree that the days of blitzing are over like an earlier poster mentioned, but in the 4th Q yesterday when we had 8 on the line and blitzed, Alex Smith sure was ready for it, and that quick outlet screen cost us big time.

 

 

To be clear there will always be a place in the NFL for blitzing. It is that reliance on the blitz for pressure and the constant blitz looks that are fakes dropped out of that I think is kind of subsiding. That style of defense was pretty commonplace 5 years ago when Rex was having a lot of success, but the Patriots have showed the league how the short passing game can take that away and increasingly the top teams are not playing D in that way.

 

EDIT: Also - to be clear - I want the Bills to blitz more. If we are going to be a Rex Ryan defense lets be a Rex Ryan defense. I'd prefer a different coordinator who runs a different scheme but I want this coordinator (who happens to have the HC title) to run the scheme he has had success with rather than a scheme that he hasn't. Rex knows how to run his scheme..... any other scheme? Not so much.

Edited by GunnerBill
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Whaley has done a good job. I still believe we have one of the most talented teams in the NFL. It comes down to coaching. Look at the 49ers and what happened to them after harbaugh got canned. They suck now. There really can't be any excuse except this coaching staff is just a mediocre one at best. i think its safe to say too that we really have an easier schedule this year against arguably the two weakest divisions in the NFL. This season has been very disappointing and Im afraid to see if our team is mentally checked out now

 

Whaley's done a great job if you don't count finding a good QB and spending boatloads of cash on defensive players in a league where offense rules.

 

It's that kind of thinking against the grain that produces consistent 6-8 win seasons, which is where the Bills have been for most of the past decade.

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