Brandon Beane: "As Long as I'm in Charge, We're Never Tanking"

[Coach Tuesday]

"We're not trying to tank, it just looks that way because of the decisions we made."

 

"We didn't bungle the QB position, but oh boy, I sure learned my lesson about how not to run a QB competition in camp."

 

Amazing.

Edited November 9, 2018 by Coach Tuesday

[nucci]

8 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

"We're not trying to tank, it just looks that way because of the decisions we made."

 

"We didn't bungle the QB position, but oh boy, I sure learned my lesson about how not to run a QB competition in camp."

 

Amazing.

"we just took a 9-7 playoff team and turned it in to this"

[Happy]

20 minutes ago, Soda Popinski said:

It is kind of a scary thought.  That they're not trying to suck, yet sucking this bad.    Sooooo this is your idea of winning football?   You might find yourself unemployed if it continues.   

 

2018 is a tire fire.   2019 has to show improvement, and 2020 we have to contend.  There are no other acceptable scenarios where McD and Beane keep their jobs. 

 

With the tear down and rebuild route they've chosen, McD and Beane have to nail the upcoming draft and FA and show significant improvement in the 2019 season.  I'm don't think anything below 8-8 would be good enough based on how poorly they handled 2018.  If we're in a similar position a year from now, I'd be surprised if these two see 2020 as coach/GM.

[Soda Popinski]

Just now, Happy Gilmore said:

 

With the tear down and rebuild route they've chosen, McD and Beane have to nail the upcoming draft and FA and show significant improvement in the 2019 season.  I'm don't think anything below 8-8 would be good enough based on how poorly they handled 2018.  If we're in a similar position a year from now, I'd be surprised if these two see 2020 as coach/GM.

i was thinking it will be a 7-9 year in 2019 with Allen having a very Carson Wentz type rookie season.  I know he's not a rookie next year but his rookie year has been so mismanaged next year is when he can actually go out and learn stuff.   

[US Egg]

Brandon Beane today: "The lesson here to me is you don’t want to (ever) be in a spot where you have a three-quarterback battle.’’

 

Matt Barkley said today he and fellow QBs Nathan Peterman and Josh Allen have taken an even number of reps with #Bills starters this week.

 

Sounds like a three way to me.   

 

Edited November 9, 2018 by I am the egg man

[T master]

I love all the "let's blow it up & start all over again & why didn't rex get this & we suck" crap, man no matter what happens here no one is ever happy ! 

 

Proved that back in the Flutie days even with a guy that won a lot for the team he still & always will suck as far as this group is concerned !!

 

 I think that mind set is so they can all have good reason to continue to sit around & drink beer no matter what !!  ?

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

 

This paints a highly unappealing picture.

 

Either this is Beane and McDermott trying their best to win, and failing miserably due to questionable personnel choices and players making dumb mistakes that often equate to bad coaching

 

OR

 

It's Beane lying through his teeth

 

OR

 

Beane's not in charge and we have a rookie coach and/or an owner making the final personnel calls

[zow2]

Just trying to stay patient here... I told myself I'd give them this offseason and 2019 to get this thing corrected.  We shall see.  But the success of the Bills and McBeane are directly tied to the success of Josh Allen.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

56 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

They didn't know what position they'd be in when they started making trades last offseason.

 

Glenn was traded on March 12.  They knew exactly what their draft position would be.

 

Or did you mean some other position?

[LABILLBACKER]

Just one little problem Brandon,  you're not in charge. 

[HappyDays]

44 minutes ago, SoTier said:

Most of McDermott's and Beane's personnel moves have been serious errors in player evaluations rather than "missteps".

 

Define "most." I would argue their only 2 real missteps so far have been trading up for Zay and trading for Kelvin Benjamin. If you want to include the backup QB as another misstep, sure. For many of their moves the evaluation is still ongoing. On the flip side they've rebuilt the defense to be top 5 in the NFL and drafted the hopeful franchise QB. A lot of this regime's future is tied to Josh Allen. They will go as he goes.

[Chicken Boo]

Well it's not like he would actually admit to "tanking".  

 

Whatever the case, they had better get their ***** in gear for 2019.

[Malazan]

Beane also told me Santa Claus was real.

[Golden*Wheels]

1 hour ago, Reed83HOF said:

So kinda like this:

 

Vs

 

I applaud your Bond knowledge sir. Truly an apt comparison.

[HappyDays]

20 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Glenn was traded on March 12.  They knew exactly what their draft position would be.

 

Or did you mean some other position?

 

I'm talking about the trades of Sammy and Darby which were done to get the best draft picks possible out of players they didn't see as having a long term future in Buffalo. They have been gearing up to get a QB since last offseason. Unlike other regimes they didn't want to sit on their hands and wait to see what happened. They identified a strong QB class and did what they could to put themselves in position to draft one early. And now they have Allen and we're all waiting to find out if they're right about him.

[LSHMEAB]

1 hour ago, dpberr said:

I appreciate his explanation of the business side of football operations with the contracts.  Makes sense to me.  I can buy that 2018 was a season to get out of contract hell.  

 

The question that wasn't asked was why go all in on Nate Peterman in preseason and then double down on the decision with keeping him in the lineup after Baltimore.

 

That's the crux of the fail this year IMO.  

 

 

 

Didn't you read his answers?

 

The problem wasn't Peterman. It was the competition itself.

 

He's essentially saying they were fooled by Peterman's preseason performance, while the rest of the football world saw it for the sham that it was.

[US Egg]

To not be tanking when the team is so stankin' bad is an even worse omen about a teams future.

19 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

This paints a highly unappealing picture.

 

Either this is Beane and McDermott trying their best to win, and failing miserably due to questionable personnel choices and players making dumb mistakes that often equate to bad coaching

 

OR

 

It's Beane lying through his teeth

 

OR

 

Beane's not in charge and we have a rookie coach and/or an owner making the final personnel calls

Minus the owner part, I'd say all the above.

[K-9]

3 minutes ago, LSHMEAB said:

Didn't you read his answers?

 

The problem wasn't Peterman. It was the competition itself.

 

He's essentially saying they were fooled by Peterman's preseason performance, while the rest of the football world saw it for the sham that it was.

Is it possible Beane was referring to the need to have a clearly established QB coming into camp every year thus nullifying the need for any so called "competition" and rendering control of the position a moot point?

 

Ideally, McCarron would have won the "competition" hands down. He didn't rise to the occasion to say the least. Beane said as much when he said, "AJ wasn't who we thought he was." 

 

All that said, Beane and Co. screwed the pooch when McCarron's lack of ability showed itself and he didn't take immediate steps to get Anderson or any other veteran in to mitigate the disaster it became. 

[LSHMEAB]

Just now, K-9 said:

Is it possible Beane was referring to the need to have a clearly established QB coming into camp every year thus nullifying the need for any so called "competition" and rendering control of the position a moot point?

 

Ideally, McCarron would have won the "competition" hands down. He didn't rise to the occasion to say the least. Beane said as much when he said, "AJ wasn't who we thought he was." 

 

All that said, Beane and Co. screwed the pooch when McCarron's lack of ability showed itself and he didn't take immediate steps to get Anderson or any other veteran in to mitigate the disaster it became. 

You can parse the answer that way if you choose, and to be honest, he's in a tough spot.

 

But to come out and say the competition itself was the problem just strikes me as absurd.

 

The reality is that the problem was with their evaluation of the QB's competing.

[NY Nole]

I question just what in the hell some of the posters on here want. Do you want a team that is capable of competing for championships or one that can occasionally go 9-7 but mostly goes 7-9? What did you think was going to happen this year behind a rookie QB, rookie MLB and patchworked OL?

 

I think some people are delusional in their criticisms of the off-season QB decisions. We had 50 million in DEAD cap space to deal with. After the benefit of seeing how things played out -- do you really believe that the Bills would be so much better positioned if only they had signed one of the porcelain dolls like Sam Bradford or Teddy Bridgewater? They couldn't afford Cousins... and Keenum has been a predictable disaster. It has been reported that the Bills tried to sign Anderson prior to Training Camp but he preferred more pool time sipping liquids out of coconuts to the training camp grind. Signing McCarron was generally well received on here at the time -- but his dumpster fire of a preseason showed he was no better than PeterPick. Based on the preseason -- noone could have realistically predicted the magnitude of how bad Peterman would play in the games. His knowledge of the system trumped anything you could get off the scrapheap at the time (Matt Barkley). 

 

In terms of OL -- who was there for the taking that the Bills screwed up on? Norwell signed with the Jags for a boatload of money -- and Jacksonville is all of one game better than the Bills at this point???  Solder got enough gold to warrant a special room in Ft. Knox -- and the Giants are actually worse than the Bills. We couldn't afford either. None of the other top free agents beyond Josh Sitton (old) and Pouncey (never coming here) were affordable either -- so how could they have waived a magic wand to fix the OL -- especially since all of the projected replacements had experience and were thought to be capable replacements for the short-term. Were you in favor of drafting a first-round OL over Allen or Tremaine?

 

I don't find fault with how McBeane handled the off-season. IMO - Star and Harrison have helped shore up the run defense. Murphy was worth the gamble and they took a swing with Vontae. If I fault them for anything -- it could be in the coaching schemes being deployed (offensive line, play calling) but....who's to say the calls/scheme haven't been blown up by the inept execution? I'll admit that, as a season ticket holder, it sucks watching the offensive performance on the field -- but it sucked way worse to go 17 straight years without the confidence that things would improve over the next year.

 

Go Bills. 

 

[K-9]

Just now, ScottLaw said:

So they needed to trade those players to draft a QB? Completely disagree. 

Unless they were willing to mortgage future high picks to do so, yes. Two of the top four QB prospects were taken with the first three picks and all four in the top 10. Needless to say, QBs are at a premium. Would you have been willing to mortgage last year's draft assets PLUS next year's to get into a position to take your guy? Darby, Watkins, and Glenn provided the draft capital to maneuver. Not sure we had anyone else of commensurate value to trade at the time.

 

Assuming you wouldn't have wanted to lose future high picks, how would you have acquired the draft capital to put yourself in position to get into the top 10 in the last draft AND retain those future draft assets?

[Formerly Allan in MD]

When is a tank a tank or simply a very bad team continually losing?  How about some nuance for a change.

[Aussie Joe]

Beane needs to have the best off season from a Bills GM we have seen for a while

 

Lots of holes that need filling in the draft and FA.,,Also Allen needs to be good..

 

If this time next year the team is still struggling he will be gone..He won’t get another chance in 2020

Edited November 9, 2018 by Aussie Joe

[26CornerBlitz]

1 minute ago, K-9 said:

Unless they were willing to mortgage future high picks to do so, yes. Two of the top four QB prospects were taken with the first three picks and all four in the top 10. Needless to say, QBs are at a premium. Would you have been willing to mortgage last year's draft assets PLUS next year's to get into a position to take your guy? Darby, Watkins, and Glenn provided the draft capital to maneuver. Not sure we had anyone else of commensurate value to trade at the time.

 

Assuming you wouldn't have wanted to lose future high picks, how would you have acquired the draft capital to put yourself in position to get into the top 10 in the last draft AND retain those future draft assets?

 

Or back in 2017 with pick number 10 they could have..........  

[Big Gun]

46 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

This paints a highly unappealing picture.

 

Either this is Beane and McDermott trying their best to win, and failing miserably due to questionable personnel choices and players making dumb mistakes that often equate to bad coaching

 

OR

 

It's Beane lying through his teeth

 

OR

 

Beane's not in charge and we have a rookie coach and/or an owner making the final personnel calls

Cant be any lying as we were told there was no lying going on and were crazy to think there was any lying on behalf of McBeane. Some people that think they know everything just cant see the forest through the trees.

[K-9]

7 minutes ago, LSHMEAB said:

You can parse the answer that way if you choose, and to be honest, he's in a tough spot.

 

But to come out and say the competition itself was the problem just strikes me as absurd.

 

The reality is that the problem was with their evaluation of the QB's competing.

I agree, especially with the bold text. 

 

Having to have a competition in the first place was indeed a problem as it was totally indicative of the massive non-settled nature at the most important position in sports. That's no small thing to be sure. 

[Misterbluesky]

2 hours ago, plenzmd1 said:

 

 

they knew they were going to lose this year...but that does not mean they wanted to I guess. 

In late July,McDermott said he thought the team had deep talent at both WR and the OL...I really think he believed that was the case.In some ways he reminds me of Rex "used car" Ryan.

[K-9]

1 minute ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

Or back in 2017 with pick number 10 they could have..........  

That's a COMPLETELY different argument; one that has been hashed and rehashed to death. I have ZERO interest in going back down that rabbit hole. 

[Chugga]

If what I’m witnessing every Sunday isn’t tanking then maybe it’s time for him to no longer be in charge then 

[Aussie Joe]

I don’t get his theory that “we wanted to get rid of all the dead cap in one year... if we are going to have $35 or $40 Million why not make it $50million?”

 

Well maybe that extra $10 mil could have bought them a quality WR or OL piece this year..

 

To me what is the difference in having $90mil in cap space or “only” $80mil next year?

Edited November 9, 2018 by Aussie Joe

[K-9]

4 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Lose future high draft picks rather than trade good, established, young NFL players.

 

Thats exactly what you do, IMO.

 

Or simply take a Mahomes or Watson in the 2017 draft. Understood the new front office wasn't in place yet which again, goes back to the ass backwards way of how the Pegulas and the Bills do things.

OK, so we have Darby, Watkins, Glenn. 

 

The screwed up QB situation is the same. 

 

Conjecture is fun, but HONESTLY, how much better than 2-7 are we with those players in the lineup and, assuming "not much", are you still happy to not have a #1, plus whatever other pick(s) in next year's draft? 

 

And how much do you charge for a ride in the time machine so we can go back and change 2017? That's often a problem around here. Debate about one subject quickly devolves into another. As I said to 26CB, I have ZERO interest in revisiting the tired debate about not drafting Mahommes or Watson, but suffice to say if we had taken them instead, the QB question is a moot point, even allowing for the fact that their respective experiences here, with this staff, and this supporting cast would be entirely different. 

[CodeMonkey]

In the holy name of *****, there has never been, and will never be, a GM that admits to a tank.  

[buffalobillswin]

Well if this isn't tanking then it's proof that the GM is utterly incompetent at his job. I'd rather he admit to tanking. 

[K-9]

Just now, ScottLaw said:

Wait. So the Bills NEEDED to trade those players to trade up? There was no alternative? 

I thought I answered that already. But I'll restate: 

 

Yes. They NEEDED to trade THOSE players for THOSE assets to acquire the draft capital necessary to maneuver in this year's draft WITHOUT having to mortgage high picks in future drafts. 

 

So, NO. I don't see any other alternative as it took good players to acquire high enough picks to interest potential trade partners in the last draft. 

 

I can't state it more plainly. You would have been OK with trading future high picks to move into the top 10 to get our QB. Fine. I disagree. Especially because even with those traded players, I believe our record wouldn't be much better, if any better at all, given the QB situation. And this forum would be in a meltdown over the prospects of having a sucking season with no #1 pick, at a minimum, in the next draft. 

[boater]

I believe he's sincere saying he isn't tanking.

 

Though, I think it's accurate to say he's not pulling out all the stops to win now.

 

(thankfully he's not mortgaging the future to win now)

[WhoTom]

... at least, not on purpose.

 

[NewEra]

Offseason 1 of a rebuild doesn’t constitute a tank. Purging bad salaries results in 55 mill dead cap.  Tough to succeed with that dead cap, losing 2 OLmen to injury, no WRs, not much cap room and a very raw rookie QB.  

[LSHMEAB]

1 minute ago, NewEra said:

Offseason 1 of a rebuild doesn’t constitute a tank. Purging bad salaries results in 55 mill dead cap.  Tough to succeed with that dead cap, losing 2 OLmen to injury, no WRs, not much cap room and a very raw rookie QB.  

Why do people keep saying they purged bad salaries when most of the guys we're talking about are playing for SuperBowl contenders?

 

 

[PittsforDave]

Are we purposely tanking or trying to win and losing? 

[Pete]

does he mean this ***** show of an offense is by design?!?  I was giving him credit for building D and then tanking for a better pick