John Wawrow: McDermott says offense became too quarterback-dependent, jeopardizing team’s success

[Buffalo ill]

1 minute ago, McBean said:

Absolutely hilarious and sad that Sean McDermott is just realizing this.

 

 

 

 

I doubt he just now realized it.

[JoshAllin]

11 hours ago, SlimShady'sSpaceForce said:

In summary 

 

a lack of a run game that doesn’t involve JA 

 

So is he saying dabs should call more run plays for the rb's instead of being pass happy? Seems like a disaster waiting to happen with this OL

[MasterStrategist]

12 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

https://apnews.com/article/nfl-sports-sean-mcdermott-new-york-jets-new-york-6e5ab725e9f6b6b974231d06d3f9842a

 

I didn't quite hear it that way, but Wawrow was there and I was not, and I can't hear the questions

 

 

 

 

Wawrow points out the Bills have now lost 2 of their last 3 games - that ain't good folks!

 

 

Wait, it's Allen's job to call plays?

 

We all know Allen is loyal and isn't going to publicly throw his guys under the bus, but he has to see on the film that they're making mistakes in front of him.

 

Allen's job is to get us into a different play, if the defensive look dictates that.  I think that is what he is pointing out. 

 

Plenty of blame to go around, coaching is primary IMO right now.  Absolutely no reason we are continuing to put no threat of a running game.  Plenty of different blocking/run schemes that they could be trying.  Or formations, etc.

 

No variety=we are counting on our guys just to be more talented and outperform the defense.  It's way too vanilla and I'd be shocked if we didn't see a much different offense this week.  

 

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

26 minutes ago, motorj said:

So is he saying dabs should call more run plays for the rb's instead of being pass happy? Seems like a disaster waiting to happen with this OL

You need a run game wether you employ it or not.  
 

Is it the O line? The RB’s? Or just a piss poor Daboll game play. 

[Nihilarian]

34 minutes ago, McBean said:

Absolutely hilarious and sad that Sean McDermott is just realizing this.

 

Me and other (Few posters) said this all off season. It's why some of us were pounding the table for more weapons added this offseason, upgrade at RB, and shore up the offensive line more.

 

What did Brandon Beane and McDermott do? Defense. Added more and more defense. That's all they've done since arriving in WNY. Boogie Basham our second round pick is in street clothes on Sundays.

 

It's pathetic that we expect 1 player (#17) to do it all AND, continue to not give him more support by adding more weapons.

Last draft lots of Bills fans were disappointed in that #2 pick on Basham when Creed Humphries was sitting there.

 

Funny how Cleveland just gave their best OG a contract extension in the middle of the season...

They also gave an extension to OG Wyatt Teller...two extensions in two days...to their OGs. Hrmmm...

 

 

You don't suppose that the Browns FO realizes that their offense is so dependent on their run game that is currently #5 in rush attempts, #2 in rush yards, #1 rushing TDs, #1 in YPC AVG and all this without a running QB.

 

The Cleveland Browns #1 overall pick at QB sure is dependent on that run game. Browns #30th in pass attempts, 25th in passing yards, 25th in passing TDs.

 

Be nice if someone in the Bills FO realized how important it is have pro bowl OGs on the team.

[hondo in seattle]

47 minutes ago, McBean said:

Absolutely hilarious and sad that Sean McDermott is just realizing this.

 

Me and other (Few posters) said this all off season. It's why some of us were pounding the table for more weapons added this offseason, upgrade at RB, and shore up the offensive line more.

 

What did Brandon Beane and McDermott do? Defense. Added more and more defense. That's all they've done since arriving in WNY. Boogie Basham our second round pick is in street clothes on Sundays.

 

It's pathetic that we expect 1 player (#17) to do it all AND, continue to not give him more support by adding more weapons.

 

 

 

I have no doubt whatsoever that McD is NOT just realizing this.  It's simply a problem he hasn't solved yet and he's just now articulating it.  McD is very cautious about badmouthing coaches or players in public.  The fact that he's speaking out this week suggests that his frustration is mounting.

 

It's not "pathetic" that "all" the expectations are on Allen.  It's just a current realty of the cap and Beane's moves.   When Beane came to the Bills, he knew that the NFL is evolving more and more into a passing league.  So he had two things in mind: get players who can pass the ball and get players who can stop the pass.  Running - doing it or stopping it - was a secondary priority.  There's just enough draft picks or cap money to fix everything. 

So Beane got us a good QB and some good receivers.  He also assembled a defense that's good against the pass.  

 

Unless he's a complete idiot - and he's not - Beane knows this is an imperfect roster.  

 

If Beane had an unlimited number of picks  and unlimited cap money to spend, we'd be in a better place right now.  But all GMs  have to set priorities and make difficult choices.  And because talent evaluation is a predictive art, not a science, all GMs make mistakes along the way.   Beane has  made his share.  Yet here we are atop the AFCE looking for another playoff berth.  

 

 

 

I will add though that in the glory days, the Bills could both run effectively and pass effectively.

 

When Kelly had a bad  day, or the defense  sold out to stop  him, we hit 'em with Thurman.

 

When Thurman had a bad day, or the defense focused on him, Kelly would fill the air with strikes.  

 

I'd love Beane and McD to put together a multidimensional attack like that.  

[hondo in seattle]

10 hours ago, Doc said:

Glad to hear Breida's getting a shot.  Hopefully Williams as well.  Need to change something up.

 

I don't know about Breida.  He seems like the kind of back who needs space to work with.   This OL doesn't create a lot of space.  

[Captain Hindsight]

10 hours ago, AuntieEm said:

  

   You are thinking of Corey Glenn helping us get the draft pick used for Josh.  Wyatt Teller was drafted the same year we drafted Allen.  

Teller was able to help get Diggs and Bass. 

[DCbillsfan]

1 hour ago, motorj said:

So is he saying dabs should call more run plays for the rb's instead of being pass happy? Seems like a disaster waiting to happen with this OL

I believe McD wants more offensive formations that keep the defense off balance and give the Oline a better chance at blocking their guy.

 

Perhaps an increase in plays with Allen under center to use play action more and try to get the LBs to hesitate some. 

 

They only had 9 run plays with the RBs last game.  This number will go up but I agree with you.  The Bills strength is passing the ball and they need to throw it more times than not.

[Big Blitz]

BB explains why our offense has sputtered - not directly us just in general why what we're seeing is a problem. 

 

 

 

Our offense was at its worst against Pittsburgh and Jacksonville  - where Josh was completely under seige.  

 

The fact that he was almost the whole game - Pittsburgh was week 1, Jacksonville week 9 - and Daboll wasn't able to make the proper adjustments is disappointing and quite frankly I'd go as far as to say Daboll just flat out gives up on running the ball.

 

That deflates everybody.  When you know and the opposition know that your oline is getting abused, it rips the heart right out of the team. 

 

Not only in the game but likely all 5 are yelling and screaming on the sideline about what's going wrong - when in reality they're just getting their a**** kicked.  Ripple effect thru whole team.  

 

We should have drafted Creed Humphrey instead of Boogie.  Biggest whiff of the draft - which overall looks like a good one.  But that's a glaring mistake.  

Edited November 11, 2021 by Big Blitz

[Thurman#1]

13 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Maiorana's points about mis-evaluation of OLmen are germaine.    As part of that, I feel Beane recognized the issue but felt that Feliciano and Ford were both highly probable to improve with an injury-free off season and that Forrest Lamp was a good "plan C".  Misevaluation.

 

But I don't think he could have predicted both Dawkins and Williams taking a big step back.

 

I know at the DC/OC/HC level, everyone has an Ego and part of being a successful HC is being able to work with Ego.  I don't know how the dynamics of TBD work behind the scenes, obviously.   My frustration is that McDermott has to have been able to see that there's an issue starting before the Pittsburgh game - his reaction suggests that he knew beforehand that there was an issue, and regretted not having tried to address it. 

 

Well, he has to have known there's an issue at least rolling back to the Titans game where our backs gained 51 yards on 13 carries.  So why not address it then? 

 

It's almost like McDermott feels he can't lay down the law and say "fix this" until something shows up as clearly and beyond all argument broken.  But then, as with the run game after the Patriots and Chargers games last season, does he feel he has to back off again and it slides back to the "same ol"?

 

In my opinion, one of the major problems with the run game is that Daboll is like the CDs my bank offers: they both have a "low interest rate".  And it's not in Daboll's interest (see what I did?) to stay in that mindset, because as @JayBaller10  pointed out above, every QB is better with a functional run game.    Brees, Rodgers, Brady, can't think of one where that isn't true.

 

 

 

 

Every QB is better with a functional run game? Maybe. But there have been plenty of great teams and great QBs who have gotten by without very good run games. 

 

I mean, the Bucs were 27th last year in YPC, and 28th in total run yards.

The 2019 Chiefs were 20th in YPC and 23rd in run yards.

The 2014 Pats were 24th in YPC (3.9 YPC)  and 18th in run yards.

Hell, the 2011 Giants were dead last, 32nd in YPC (3.5 YPC) and dead last in run yards 1427 total.

 

Super Bowl winners, all.

 

I'm not saying that a better run game wouldn't help, as I think it would. But I don't think it's necessary. And this year's Bills are 15th in YPC and 16th in run yards. That doesn't tell the story perfectly, of course, they've been pretty awful in a few games, certainly including last week, but again, last week we had two of our OL starters out and one more playing out of position. 

 

I imagine they're working on it, as they should. Being dangerous in many ways should help, as should getting Beasley healthy and Knox back, which should help the short pass game a lot.

 

4 minutes ago, Gene1973 said:

Breida is not a legitimate answer hear. Beane messed up not drafting an RB1.

 

 

Our RBs are OK, the problem is mostly the line.

[LeGOATski]

10 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Oh, I'd forgotten that - good point

 

Although sometimes from how they have played this season, it does seem like the Bills are NOT, in fact, focused on football.

Yeah, that's every season

[Scott7975]

1 hour ago, DCbillsfan said:

I believe McD wants more offensive formations that keep the defense off balance and give the Oline a better chance at blocking their guy.

 

Perhaps an increase in plays with Allen under center to use play action more and try to get the LBs to hesitate some. 

 

They only had 9 run plays with the RBs last game.  This number will go up but I agree with you.  The Bills strength is passing the ball and they need to throw it more times than not.

 

The Bills run play action 23.5% of the time.  Add in RPO's and it jumps to 39.8%. The problem with play action is two fold.. one those linebackers don't respect our run game because a. we don't run the football and b. when we do run the football our o line can't block for it most of the time.  Even if one sneaks through its only at best 1 first down.  Not a huge deal.  The second problem with play action is the pass protection has to hold longer than normal.  At least 3 seconds but really 4 seconds min.  Our line holds for 2.1 - 2.4 seconds on average.  

[Pokebball]

14 hours ago, Putin said:

$ 250 million who should we depend on ? 

Well, if all the D has to do is defend the $250 million dollar man we've got what we've got

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, Big Blitz said:

We should have drafted Creed Humphrey instead of Boogie.  Biggest whiff of the draft - which overall looks like a good one.  But that's a glaring mistake.  

 

That was my thought going INTO the draft, but it was with the premise that Creed Humphrey could do what Eric Woods did - play G for a year or so and then slide over and take over from Mitch Morse.

 

But when I looked into it further, I could find absolutely no indication that Humphrey had ever played guard in college or had given any indication to scouts about his potential to play guard.  And it's not a given - Morse is not a potential guard, and Feliciano said that playing C is easier physically because "you have help on both sides".

 

So I think drafting Creed Humphrey could well have still left our biggest need this season- improved Guard play - unaddressed.

 

If you want to look at a miss, look at the 5th round, where we "doubled down" at OT by drafting Tommy Doyle, when there were probably some OG who could help us available.  An example being Trey Smith, who is starting for KC and playing so well that they told Laurent Duverney-Tardiff "OK, You May Go Now"

 

[Coach Tuesday]

I don’t think the problem is being too “QB dependent” - I think the issue is they’re too big play-dependent.  Both Allen and Dabs seem to have become addicted to the quick-strike kill shot.  Ever wonder why their drives seem to stall out at the 35-40, right on the cusp of field goal range?  To my eyes it’s because they go for the kill there and end up taking a sack or holding penalty or throwing incomplete into double coverage while waiting for some long route to develop.  Part of the issue is they lack the precision and personnel to convert TDs in the red zone, but they’re well-suited to the 40-yard TD strike - so they rush it. 
 

 

[DCbillsfan]

26 minutes ago, Scott7975 said:

 

The Bills run play action 23.5% of the time.  Add in RPO's and it jumps to 39.8%. The problem with play action is two fold.. one those linebackers don't respect our run game because a. we don't run the football and b. when we do run the football our o line can't block for it most of the time.  Even if one sneaks through its only at best 1 first down.  Not a huge deal.  The second problem with play action is the pass protection has to hold longer than normal.  At least 3 seconds but really 4 seconds min.  Our line holds for 2.1 - 2.4 seconds on average.  

I'm guessing you listened to McD's presser yesterday, what changes/corrections do you believe he is referring to?

[Scott7975]

1 hour ago, DCbillsfan said:

I'm guessing you listened to McD's presser yesterday, what changes/corrections do you believe he is referring to?

 

I have not.  I have read the tweets that Yolo posted though.  I have no idea what changes/corrections they are referring to.  I expect they would like to run the football better, block better, maybe not have such a lopsided downfield passing offense and have some shorter quick passing routes in the plan. Whatever it is isn't going to be too significant.  They aren't going to completely change the offense mid season.  Probably more subtle stuff, more fundamental stuff, maybe some different philosophies, different blocking schemes.  I do know that if they run play action/ RPOS 40% of the time that simply adding more of that isn't answer.

[Mat68]

Simple fixes.  Daboll spamming passes caught some teams off guard last year.  This year teams expect it. 

[MAJBobby]

DO NOT REVERT to a run first and 3 yards in a cloud of dust offense. DO NOT DO IT MCD