A Few Thoughts about the Colts game, in no particular order

[Fadingpain]

11 hours ago, Virgil said:

8 - McDermott - I've seen a lot of good threads today about our overall performance and I figured I'd talk about them here.  Why do we have so much dead cap space and the amount of blow-out losses we have stand out.  Truth is, good or bad, this is his plan.  This is what got him hired.  He wanted his guys and created the dead space.  If in two years, we are winning, competitive team playing for the division crown consistently, then all is good.  The defense seems to have found it's way overall.  But what signs are there to believe that our offense will follow suit?  That's what keeps me up at night.  We have no reason to believe that he can hire a quality offensive coordinator, scout a QB, or manage both of them in a game.  While I hate to see us change up regimes, and I'm not saying we will, but next season will be starting with almost 90 mil spent on FA's and solid draft positioning.  If we aren't solidly competitive, at least 8-8 with close games, I wonder how long this lasts.

 

 

 

The weak link in their "be bad in 2018 so we can be great in 2019" plan is Josh Allen.  He isn't going to progress much beyond where he is now and he will be the weak link next year.  

 

QBs do not get forever in this league in 2018; he will need to show he can do it probably by mid-season, next year.

 

Heck, EJ only got 13 games and then he was done forever.

 

I think when Allen washes out, McBeane will be gone.  Don't think they can survive him or get a chance to draft a 2nd QB.

 

 

[sleeby]

11 hours ago, Virgil said:

While I hate to see us change up regimes, and I'm not saying we will, but next season will be starting with almost 90 mil spent on FA's and solid draft positioning.  If we aren't solidly competitive, at least 8-8 with close games, I wonder how long this lasts

Next year will likely see a very young, very fresh group on offense with many mistakes yet to learn from.   8-8 might be an unfair goal.  2020 is where I'm focused.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

11 hours ago, Binghamton Beast said:

 

Why on earth do you think Whaley was fired? Because he was doing a good job?

 

Yes, I wish some things would have been done different but the roster, the way it was constructed, especially salary-wise, needed a complete overhaul when Beane and McDermott came on board.

 

Why on earth do you think Whaley was fired?  Because he sucked at talent evaluation and failed to put together a roster with talent?  The answer to that is playing on winning or championship-caliber teams all over the league at WR DB and DT.  He had his misses, but he had a lot of hits as well.

 

Whaley was fired because, to use the crude phrase of my former job environment, he “pissed in his bosses Wheaties.”  He committed the unforgivable sin of making his boss look stupid in the press by being “not Privy to that”.   Wawrow came on here and laid it out once: “before that press conference, Whaley had a future with the organization.  After it, he did not”.  Once that decision was made, Whaley became a GoFer in the coaching search and a decision was made to hire McDermott and give him the power to bring in the guy he wanted.

 

I happen to think it’s complete and total BS that the roster needed to be overhauled in terms of salary cap the way it was done, but your mileage may vary.  The observant may notice that salary cap has been spent on bringing in replacement players who have either 1) proven to be has-beens who retired at awkward times 2) are lower in talent than the players they are replacing and/or other players also available at the same time 3) or were promptly cut.  

 

 

[dpberr]

My biggest gripe about McDermott's two teams is the inconsistent motivation/desire/concentration by both his coaches and players.  They come out flat a lot, especially on the road.  The Packers and Colts games looked like a bunch of guys just out there collecting paychecks.  

 

 

[Mr. WEO]

12 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

Before he broke his back, he was well on his way to being a top 10 QB. They tore up the league that year.  

 

He’s absolutely worth it and I don’t see a fall back. 

 

You dont see Carr’s decline?  He’s not injured

[Wayne Arnold]

However, one thing I will say, our WR's looked a little bit more like WR's in this game, including Benjamin.  Is that a compliment to them stepping up or the throws our previous QB's were missing?

 

Wide receivers played well yesterday. I don’t think Benjamin had a single drop! It would be nice if they played like that when Allen is quarterbacking.

[oldmanfan]

Was at the game yesterday.  Oe simple thought:  they stunk.  That's all there was to it.  Forget this one and regroup for next week.

[Big Gun]

12 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

I think this was McDermotts plan, yes. But I don’t think it was that specific.  Whoever didn’t fit the process had to go, salary cap be damned.  Build the defense first, offense second.  

Ok, so the plan is to build the offense in the offseason. 

 

IMO they need at least 6 possibly 9 new starters on offense. Dawkins, Allen, McCoy are the only for sure starters next year.

 

That is too many holes to fill in one offseason where they going to find 3 starting WR? or 4 oline? $80 million in cap space, lots of other teams have lots of cap space also and they have a competence track record that McBean doesn't have. If i'm a FA and Buffalo is a choice vs 2 or 3 other teams for relatively same $$$ i'm going elsewhere because it appears the coaches and GM don't have a clue in Buffalo. 

 

These clowns have dug such a deep hole I have serious doubts they are going to be able to dig out and rightfully so because there was no need to tear the whole thing down.

 

and while it takes them 3 years to tweak and fine tune the offense the defense is 3 years older, injuries, age, contracts all happen so this tear it down BS is just that BS and a smoke screen for ineptness.  

 

 

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

9 hours ago, Dadonkadonk said:

 

Woods

Darby

Gilmore

Watkins

Goodwin

 

I've already stated I would have not kept Woods or Goodwin for the money they got but they are earning their contracts.  Darby would still be here on a rookie deal starting if they did not trade Watkins.  McBeane were predetermined to move Watkins and Dareus even if the play on the filed got worse.

 

I agree with you on Woods and Goodwin, they are earning what they are making.  Watkins don't think he's worth close to what he's being paid.  Gilmore finally is having a pretty good year, maybe earning his keep.  Darby agree on the rookie deal would be worth it, but they may not have drafted T Johnson this year then.

 

I think with Watkins, they felt they couldn't re-sign him for a reasonable deal, so they moved him and got something in return.  IMO Watkins would not be here this season regardless. Dareus was way over paid for his production and had suspect attitude so glad to see they moved him.

 

Would the team be better if both still here, sure, but not likely to have happened with Watkins either way. Beane could have moved the players he wanted to get rid of more slowly spread the cap hit over two years, but they agreed to rip the band-aid off all at once and be done with it.  I'm sure that was done with Pegula's blessing though admittedly he likely wasn't expecting the team to look this weak offensively either.

[billsfan_34]

16 hours ago, billsfan714 said:

No way to giving an early first round  pick for Carr.

I would give up a 2nd for him- and let him and Allen battle it out for the 1. 

[BillsfanAZ]

15 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

Before he broke his back, he was well on his way to being a top 10 QB. They tore up the league that year.  

 

He’s absolutely worth it and I don’t see a fall back. 

So you would trade a high first round pick and pay a QB 20 Mil a year so Allen can go through the learning curve two years from now? Let Allen play and make his mistakes. Get some talent on the roster through the draft and free agency. Let Allen get ready for next season by getting all the starting reps in OTAs and training camp. Cut Peterman and sign a veteran back up that has some ability. 

[Peter]

16 hours ago, Virgil said:

Truth is, good or bad, this is his plan. 

 

The process (or plan) has never been articulated and is intentionally completely amorphous.  As a result, McBeane (and others) are able to say (after the fact) that such and such was part of the process.  

[sleeby]

15 minutes ago, Peter said:

 

The process (or plan) has never been articulated and is intentionally completely amorphous.  As a result, McBeane (and others) are able to say (after the fact) that such and such was part of the process.  

Meh.  What do you want?  McD to get into his tardis and see what happens over the next off season and draft and then what next year reveals and so the 2020 draft as well; complete with unexpected player losses all the way? It's a rebuild and the future is always cloudy.  Jeez.

[Peter]

Just now, sleeby said:

Meh.  What do you want?  McD to get into his tardis and see what happens over the next off season and draft and then what next year reveals and so the 2020 draft as well; complete with unexpected player losses all the way? It's a rebuild and the future is always cloudy.  Jeez.

 

I think that the "process" is nothing but a stolen platitude from Nick Saban and the Philadelphia 76ers.  They cannot even come up with their own catch phrase.

 

McBeane then invoke "the process" without ever bothering to ever define what the plan is . . . in an apparent attempt to prevent people from evaluating the plan or how McBeane are progressing according to their own metrics.

 

In the end, the QB mismanagement demonstrates that they are just making it up as they go along.

 

 

[sleeby]

9 minutes ago, Peter said:

 

I think that the "process" is nothing but a stolen platitude from Nick Saban and the Philadelphia 76ers.  They cannot even come up with their own catch phrase.

 

McBeane then invoke "the process" without ever bothering to ever define what the plan is . . . in an apparent attempt to prevent people from evaluating the plan or how McBeane are progressing according to their own metrics.

 

In the end, the QB mismanagement demonstrates that they are just making it up as they go along.

 

 

So your gripe is that they did not have a sexier new term for rebuild?  I refer to it as a 'rex ryan (and his idiot brother) fumigation'.  You're free to use.  ;o) 

 

The plastic tarps should come off for next year so we can see our new but very young team take its first steps. 

[Avisan]

44 minutes ago, BillsfanAZ said:

So you would trade a high first round pick and pay a QB 20 Mil a year so Allen can go through the learning curve two years from now? Let Allen play and make his mistakes. Get some talent on the roster through the draft and free agency. Let Allen get ready for next season by getting all the starting reps in OTAs and training camp. Cut Peterman and sign a veteran back up that has some ability. 

Absolutely.

 

There's a learning curve regardless, but plenty of learning can be done from the bench, particularly when your weaknesses are reading defenses and poor throwing mechanics.  Those are things that can be thoroughly improved without being directly on the field.  Aaron Rodgers did it.  Sucking for the sake of sucking just to speed up the development of our QB by a year at best (if injuries and pressure don't lead to even worse habits, that is) is an awful plan when you can play to win while bringing the young guy along slowly.

 

Derek Carr would immediately improve our offense and give our defense and running game a chance to carry us into the playoffs.

[sleeby]

20 minutes ago, Avisan said:

Carr would immediately improve our offense and give our defense and running game a chance to carry us into the playoffs

Wait, what?  The playoffs?   

 

Heh.  You know, I've been thinking how angry so many fans are here and wondering how that can be - surely we are hardend by now, we drafted a QB, ended the streak and we know we are rebuilding with tons of draft capital and cap space coming this post season.  I think I get it finally - you all are not angry, you're just plain mad!   

Edited October 22, 2018 by sleeby

[CodeMonkey]

The most surprising and disappointing thing for me was watching the defense phone it in the way they did all game.

[Avisan]

7 minutes ago, sleeby said:

Wait, what?  The playoffs?   

 

Heh.  You know, I've been thinking how angry so many fans are here and wondering how that can be - surely we are hardend by now, we drafted a QB, ended the streak and we know we are rebuilding with tons of draft capital and cap space coming this post season.  I think I get it finally - you all are not angry, you're just plain mad!   

Next season?  Sure.  Carr has experience in the league, our RB stable is fine.  Add 2 WR and we're looking at 9-7, maybe 11-5 if the defense can stop crapping the bed every other game.

 

Josh Allen is going to take a while to get to a level of basic competence, much less franchise-level, assuming he progresses at all.

[Peter]

30 minutes ago, sleeby said:

So your gripe is that they did not have a sexier new term for rebuild?  I refer to it as a 'rex ryan (and his idiot brother) fumigation'.  You're free to use.  ;o) 

 

The plastic tarps should come off for next year so we can see our new but very young team take its first steps. 

 

They come across as uninspired motivational speakers who are in over their head.

 

I have little confidence in these guys.  The fact that they stole their catch phrase is just an example of how empty these guys appear to be.

[Figster]

29 minutes ago, CodeMonkey said:

The most surprising and disappointing thing for me was watching the defense phone it in the way they did all game.

It was only a matter of time before A Luck started doing what he does best.

 

[Jukester]

I made the trip to Indi for this one and they laid a big turd.  After a couple of promising opening drives on both sides of the ball, the team completely fell apart and then just downright quit. ?.  I don't expect the world from this team but come on - at least play hard and be competitive. The blowouts under this regime are crazy.  Even my 9 yr old is starting to get numb to this stuff.  Last year on the drive home from Cinci, he was in tears. This year he didn't even want to waste time on any emotion - just shook his head wondering if we'd ever be any good.

 

As always, very impressed with the number of Bills fans that traveled for this game. 

[JohnC]

19 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

8)You honestly think that his plan to dump talented players(a combined 8 recent 1st and 2nd round picks) and create a mountain of dead money got McDermott hired?   You can't be serious.    I know that Terry Pegula has been wishy-washy but when he fired Rex the message was that the coaching wasn't good enough.    After the fact he may have talked Pegs into it but I doubt the Pegula's hated this roster the way McD feared it. 

We've been through this issue before so I'll keep it brief. If you honestly believe that the owner wasn't aware of McDermott's strategy to rebuild the roster before he hired him then you believe the billionaire owner is a stupendous fool. You think that immediately after hiring him and empowering him over the then current (now former)  GM that the owner was surprised at his full throttle rebuild then you are naive. 

 

The reason why McDermott got hired was because he was presented the owner with his plan as to how he was going to manage the operation if hired. And you can be sure that his plan had nothing to do with incremental change. 

 

If you disagree with McBean'es strategy to rebuild I can understand that position. But your take that what McDermott is doing is not related to what he had originally planned upon assumption of the job makes little sense because it is being implemented right in front of our faces. My point is that what has gone on should not be surprising to you and others as it is not surprising to the owner/s who hired him. 

[Coach Tuesday]

7 minutes ago, JohnC said:

We've been through this issue before so I'll keep it brief. If you honestly believe that the owner wasn't aware of McDermott's strategy to rebuild the roster before he hired him then you believe the billionaire owner is a stupendous fool. You think that immediately after hiring him and empowering him over the then current (now former)  GM that the owner was surprised at his full throttle rebuild then you are naive. 

 

The reason why McDermott got hired was because he was presented the owner with his plan as to how he was going to manage the operation if hired. And you can be sure that his plan had nothing to do with incremental change. 

 

If you disagree with McBean'es strategy to rebuild I can understand that position. But your take that what McDermott is doing is not related to what he had originally planned upon assumption of the job makes little sense because it is being implemented right in front of our faces. My point is that what has gone on should not be surprising to you and others as it is not surprising to the owner/s who hired him. 

 

We'll find out soon enough - this team is days away from being humiliated on national television and if my prediction holds true, that will cause Terry to peek out of his turtle shell and start making noise...

[JohnC]

3 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

 

We'll find out soon enough - this team is days away from being humiliated on national television and if my prediction holds true, that will cause Terry to peek out of his turtle shell and start making noise...

This franchise being humiliated is nothing new. What do you call the fiasco in Indy, Baltimore etc. etc. etc. 

[Coach Tuesday]

10 minutes ago, JohnC said:

This franchise being humiliated is nothing new. What do you call the fiasco in Indy, Baltimore etc. etc. etc. 

 

Terry doesn't like being embarrassed, on national TV, at home, against the division rival.  No, it's not "new," but it's not supposed to be happening under McD and I'm darn sure it wasn't part of the plan.

 

You're positive the owners are in lockstep with McBeane.  I'm positive you're wrong about that.  I predict we'll find out soon that I'm right, but who knows.

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, Coach Tuesday said:

 

Terry doesn't like being embarrassed, on national TV, at home, against the division rival.  No, it's not "new," but it's not supposed to be happening under McD and I'm darn sure it wasn't part of the plan.

 

You're positive the owners are in lockstep with McBeane.  I'm positive you're wrong about that.  I predict we'll find out soon that I'm right, but who knows.

With utmost confidence I know you are wrong. The owner knows what is going on and is on board. That's why he hired McDermott. He knew what he was getting into and agreed to the plan when the contract was offered to the wrestling coach.