Hapless Bills Fan Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 58 minutes ago, stevewin said: Yeah - in the KB case I was mostly thinking of just friendly connections they might still have in the building not necessarily affiliated with the coaching staff or management - equipment guys, secretaries, ball boys etc etc - just people they might have known (friends essentially) who might have been observers on what was going on in the building in an unofficial sense. I think that "friendly connections" always have to be taken with a large shaker of salt when horse-trading or any other form of bargaining commence. Which is why I wondered if the Bills had actually had a scout, not from CAR to avoid confirmation bias, sit down and watch Benjamin's film from that season before the trade? Because maybe the sloppy route running and the "phoning in" effort could have been seen? Or I dunno, maybe Benjamin went into "career decision" mode once it was seen the Bills' QB situation was AFU. 11 minutes ago, Gugny said: Bingo. My hope (and current belief) is that Beane isn't so arrogant as to think he can build this team without some proven subject matter experts on his staff. I will say that, since he's been GM, I've never been so excited about the draft/FA period, as well as potential trades. I think he's very good at his job. The best I can do is a verdict of "not yet proven". He's made some moves that look excellent. He's made some head-scratching moves. He's made some dud moves. Every GM makes mistakes, it's how frequently and whether they learn from them that matter over the long haul. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gugny Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 4 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said: I think that "friendly connections" always have to be taken with a large shaker of salt when horse-trading or any other form of bargaining commence. Which is why I wondered if the Bills had actually had a scout, not from CAR to avoid confirmation bias, sit down and watch Benjamin's film from that season before the trade? Because maybe the sloppy route running and the "phoning in" effort could have been seen? Or I dunno, maybe Benjamin went into "career decision" mode once it was seen the Bills' QB situation was AFU. The best I can do is a verdict of "not yet proven". He's made some moves that look excellent. He's made some head-scratching moves. He's made some dud moves. Every GM makes mistakes, it's how frequently and whether they learn from them that matter over the long haul. Fair. Another measure is how long a GM stays "married," to a bad player. It's what ultimately killed Whaley's career. I don't know why Benjamin stayed on the team so long, but I think it was a solid 5 weeks too long. Same with Peterman. But we're talking weeks; not years, so it's not overly concerning to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 24 minutes ago, ScottLaw said: Again, highly exaggerated. He had a significant injury in 2017. Prior to that he missed a grand total of 5 games once he became a starter. Don't know where you're getting your numbers, but he missed 8 games prior to 2017. Glenn has dressed for 30 of 48 games since 2016, and 24 of 32 if you take out 2017, plus he's also had a series of nagging injuries that have affected his play over the last couple of years. Durability and availability have been clearly important to McBeane in their decisions to shape the roster. I'm guessing they're not too thrilled with Murphy's playing status this year. But if you collectively look at Glenn, Dareus and Watkins, the lingering injuries were probably a huge factor why they were sent packing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooklynBills Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 3 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said: The Bills had a decent offensive line in 2015-2016, especially the latter, with Kromer as coach. You don't have the #2 rushing attack in attempts but #1 in yards without having a good line, especially with McCoy as your feature back - he's a guy that needs an OL and he was ripping off 5.4 ypc, a career high for him. The OL could have provided better pass protection, but a lot of the time the problem there was Taylor either taking too long, or flushing out of the pocket instead of stepping up into the passing lanes that were there. I spent way too much time watching the Bills run plays on all-22 this year, and a lot of the time the problem was confusion. And frankly, while it's not definitive, with Castillo as the OL coach, the Ravens OL had the same problem, and appeared better before and after. If Castillo had lost Glenn all season, Wood, and Cog his first year, I would have been yeah, it's the personnel. I'm personally much more interested in focusing on what the current regime does than in trying to rehash or debate OL for the Bills entire history, but Ballard-Hull-Richter-Wolford was a pretty good OL and mid-70s was pretty good, too. With due respect, I think you're still salty over the last 20 years, and it's coloring your view. My concerns about the current regime are that I felt more could have been done to improve the line in FA last year. They knew Wood had to retire about a year ago today. They knew they were drafting a rookie QB. The list of guys available had some better guys on it than Bodine, some of whom signed for contracts we could have managed (Pouncey, for example, signed for 2 yr $15M with the Chargers and had a cap hit of $6.2M last year. He played 16 games for the Chargers.). Heck, we could have signed him and Bodine also. Paradis signed with the Broncos for $2.9M. The point is, folks here (and Beane, for that matter) act as though we couldn't possibly have done more due to salary cap. No, you didn't do more because for some misbegotten reason you thought with Groy and Bodine you had done enough; it wasn't a priority. That's the point that concerns me, he says it's a priority now, but what's his talent evaluation on OL really like? What offensive lineman contract that was signed last off-season would have liked us to do? Paradis would have required a 2nd round pick going to DEN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 4 minutes ago, BrooklynBills said: What offensive lineman contract that was signed last off-season would have liked us to do? Paradis would have required a 2nd round pick going to DEN. Err, I mentioned two in the post to which you are responding? I don't think a 2nd round pick for a quality center is too much, myself. You? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 3 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said: Err, I mentioned two in the post to which you are responding? I don't think a 2nd round pick for a quality center is too much, myself. You? In a normal year, it's not too much. In a year when you're stockpiling picks to try to move up into top 5, it is too expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 3 minutes ago, GG said: In a normal year, it's not too much. In a year when you're stockpiling picks to try to move up into top 5, it is too expensive. C'mon man. There is always more than one way to skin a muskrat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 (edited) The Bills had terrible talent as a whole along the offensive line (at least with Glenn injured), and Kromer got the very best out of what he had to work with. Castillo came in and immediately changed the scheme and it was a total disaster, which lasted two years. He never should have been hired, and if he was, he should not have tried to shove an ill-conceived scheme on inferior players. Edited January 2, 2019 by Kelly the Dog 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 1 hour ago, thebandit27 said: And even if you like him (or Boettger for that matter), this team has too long operated under the assumption that unproven guys will be solid starters. They need to approach things as though they don't know what they have. I'd rather have too many players at guard than too few. I concur... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrEpsYtown Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 (edited) 32 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said: Err, I mentioned two in the post to which you are responding? I don't think a 2nd round pick for a quality center is too much, myself. You? I guess the way I look at it we wouldn't have Josh Allen becuase we used those two seconds to move up. Or I guess you could argue we wouldn't have Tremaine becuase we would have had to use that other first rounder. I'm not sure I would have given up a second for Paradis in a step back year. I certainly think we should spend the money on him now though. I agree that that upgrading the offensive line was not a priority last year. I think it is #1 this year. Edited January 2, 2019 by MrEpsYtown 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
folz Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 18 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said: This. Look at what Dante Scarnecchia does every year with NE. I had wondered when Daboll was brought in, if he'd agreed to keep everyone for a year. I thought the writing was on the wall when Ducasse became a healthy scratch. Castillo brought him in and valued him highly, but he seemed very slow to adjust or react to defensive shifts. I somewhat suspect that there may have been a bit of head-butting behind the scenes between Daboll and Castillo and finally Daboll said to McDermott, "look, release me if you want, but if you keep me, I need to bring in assistants I'm in sync with" Exactly, one of my off season wishes was for McDermott to let Dabol change any offensive assistants he wanted to (Castillo being the major one of course), since Dabol inherited most of the staff. I was a little unsure of Dabol himself early in the year when the offense was so bad. But he won me over down the stretch, by adapting to Josh's skill set, being more creative, and obviously doing a good job developing players (Zay, Foster, Allen). So, McD needs to let him bring in any of his "own guys" that he wants to teach his offense exactly as he wants it to be done. Player development is an often overlooked aspect of coaching...but McD and his staff seem to be doing a really good job at it. Look at all of the young players that have come along this year. Guys actually moving up off the practice squad and making significant contributions, etc. Yes, you have to pick the right guys first and foremost, but if you don't teach and develop them, some or most of those guys will never live up to their potential. Culture (the expectation to work hard) and teaching are as important as Xs and Os at making players be the best they can be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlCowlingsTaxiService Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Had to happen .... though he was forced to frame a house with balsa wood this season, but still 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thriftygamer83 Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Running game was dominant last season even with the infamous Rick Dennison calling the plays. Which means Castillo dealing with injured running backs and offensive linemen retiring became a fan service fire. Completely out of sync given how much Allen suffered from receivers and tight-ends dropping balls. McDermott does feel pressured by fans (benching Tyrod for Peterman) this was unexpected as Juan Castillo deserves more credit; for what unit cohesion he got out of his rag tag line. As for the running game he didn’t really have much to work with. My question is this; what happens for the future if McDermott has to change his staff completely from fan or ownership engaging into heated pressuring? Will the teams dynamic fizzle out as a result; in a completed collapse of the process? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thriftygamer83 Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 So when do they fire the receivers and tight-ends Coaches for players dropping balls along with Zay Jones failing to live up to expectations? Players did not even have full concentration on making catches. It feels like to me someday it might be Sean McDermott running out of scapegoats and firing Castillo is that point for me which has me more then a little worried; who will come here knowing that they can be fired for being out of sync with rubbish offensive linemen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennyDavisEyes Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Thriftygamer83 said: Running game was dominant last season even with the infamous Rick Dennison calling the plays. Run game wasn’t even close to dominant in 2017. Edited January 2, 2019 by KennyDavisEyes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JESSEFEFFER Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 22 hours ago, Meazy26 said: Sean Kugler, OL coach from Denver is a guy I got my eye on for a replacement. Coached our OL for a few years back in the day. Maybe he could bring Matt Paradise with him. Lockport native and former HC at UTEP. Denver had a great running game with rookie Lindsay this year. I like your idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott7975 Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 2 hours ago, GG said: Don't know where you're getting your numbers, but he missed 8 games prior to 2017. Glenn has dressed for 30 of 48 games since 2016, and 24 of 32 if you take out 2017, plus he's also had a series of nagging injuries that have affected his play over the last couple of years. Durability and availability have been clearly important to McBeane in their decisions to shape the roster. I'm guessing they're not too thrilled with Murphy's playing status this year. But if you collectively look at Glenn, Dareus and Watkins, the lingering injuries were probably a huge factor why they were sent packing. He also missed 3 games this season with back injury as well as the start of the third quarter this past week against Pittsburg with an ankle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fixxxer Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 I hate people losing their jobs, but this had to be done. Players rarely developed in his tenure as OL coach. I hope we bring someone that can adapt to what Daboll's vision on offense is. Maybe he has a someone in mind for the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papazoid Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 TRADE slightly overpaid TOP 15 LT - Cordy Glenn LOW BALL $$ TOP 5 RG - Richie Incognito UNEXPECTED RETIREMENT TOP 10 C - Eric Wood INJURED RESERVE STARTING RT - Seantrel Henderson GM replaces them all with crumbs BLAME COACH.....priceless 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ittakestime Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 6 minutes ago, papazoid said: TRADE slightly overpaid TOP 15 LT - Cordy Glenn LOW BALL $$ TOP 5 RG - Richie Incognito UNEXPECTED RETIREMENT TOP 10 C - Eric Wood INJURED RESERVE STARTING RT - Seantrel Henderson GM replaces them all with crumbs BLAME COACH.....priceless So what was the excuse last year for the decline from 2016? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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