Ford on Kromer (Paywall)

[Coach Tuesday]

From yesterday’s Athletic (honestly, if you don’t have an Athletic subscription by now, your phone should be confiscated):

 

https://theathletic.com/3524555/2022/08/20/bills-cody-ford-training-camp/?source=user_shared_article
 

Ford admitted the attitude adjustment was necessary and overdue.

 

He and Dawkins cited new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer has been a significant factor. Asked about the difference between Kromer and previous assistant Bobby Johnson, Ford responded with eight seconds of silence. The corners of his lips curled upward as he mulled his reply.

 

“He’s doing a phenomenal job,” Ford said of Kromer. “I don’t know what that means, coming from me. But the way we’ve been coached and the techniques that we’ve learned is why I say there’s been so much improvement.”

Edited August 21, 2022 by Coach Tuesday

[Chandler#81]

6 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

From yesterday’s Athletic (honestly, if you don’t have an Athletic subscription by now, your phone should be confiscated):

 

https://theathletic.com/3524555/2022/08/20/bills-cody-ford-training-camp/?source=user_shared_article
 

Ford admitted the attitude adjustment was necessary and overdue.

 

He and Dawkins cited new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer has been a significant factor. Asked about the difference between Kromer and previous assistant Bobby Johnson, Ford responded with eight seconds of silence. The corners of his lips curled upward as he mulled his reply.

 

“He’s doing a phenomenal job,” Ford said of Kromer. “I don’t know what that means, coming from me. But the way we’ve been coached and the techniques that we’ve learned is why I say there’s been so much improvement.”

Thanks for your opine, but there’s just too many free quality sports articles, programs and podcasts to bother spending a freakin dime on. I do appreciate you posting the highlights of their writer’s opinions though.

[billybrew1]

Wow! I’m having a chicken and egg kind of moment here. While I know coaches can mean everything to a team. I also know talent usually wins. I knew Kromer would have an impact but averaging over eight yards a carry vs. a supposedly good defense for four quarters in a preseason game? From the Bills? Without Josh running? Eight yards!

I loved hearing Ford’s humility there in that short quote. When you’re humble, you can really learn a lot.

Another thing is in this day and age of extreme competition you wouldn’t think offensive line coaches could have a large gap between them, but here we are reading about Aaron Kromer again after his first tour in Buffalo….when he did the same exact thing! He had a lot of talent though….in…. Glenn, Cognito, Wood and Miller…Three really good OL and Miller or was it Mills? wasn’t bad….

Im very glad the Bills have both extreme talent and excellent coaching. With a phenomenal number of current or ex-coordinators on the coaching staff right now. Billieve or don’t but we have 8 of them now…..

PS - thanks for posting this….

[Dr. Who]

44 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

From yesterday’s Athletic (honestly, if you don’t have an Athletic subscription by now, your phone should be confiscated):

 

https://theathletic.com/3524555/2022/08/20/bills-cody-ford-training-camp/?source=user_shared_article
 

Ford admitted the attitude adjustment was necessary and overdue.

 

He and Dawkins cited new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer has been a significant factor. Asked about the difference between Kromer and previous assistant Bobby Johnson, Ford responded with eight seconds of silence. The corners of his lips curled upward as he mulled his reply.

 

“He’s doing a phenomenal job,” Ford said of Kromer. “I don’t know what that means, coming from me. But the way we’ve been coached and the techniques that we’ve learned is why I say there’s been so much improvement.”

I have a flip phone. Nobody wants it.

[BillnutinHouston]

Thanks for providing a summary rather than confiscating my phone.

[davefan66]

During and after the game they asked a bunch of the players about the impact of Kromer.  They all had nothing but good to great things to say about his impact in the run game and coordination.  Not sure if our last o-line coach did so much coordination in the run game.

Singletary looked like a beast.  Moss looks like he used to.  Cook is going to be very good.  A run game is very important to keep the ball from the opponent, spell the defense, not get Josh killed with him running.  Hopefully this is what’s needed to put us over the top.

 

 

 

[Niagara Dude]

Just now, davefan66 said:

During and after the game they asked a bunch of the players about the impact of Kromer.  They all had nothing but good to great things to say about his impact in the run game and coordination.  Not sure if our last o-line coach did so much coordination in the run game.

Singletary looked like a beast.  Moss looks like he used to.  Cook is going to be very good.  A run game is very important to keep the ball from the opponent, spell the defense, not get Josh killed with him running.  Hopefully this is what’s needed to put us over the top.

 

 

 

I prefer to see less Allen runs this coming season,  at least not until the playoffs begin.  

[davefan66]

Just now, Niagara Dude said:

I prefer to see less Allen runs this coming season,  at least not until the playoffs begin.  

At the right time only. Don’t want it to be a necessity.  If Singletary is as good as he looks, that bodes well.

[BillsFan4]

Just wait until you have to deal with the athletic’s (completely non-existent) customer service… you might change your tune then. There is no way to even talk to a live person. If their email bot can’t figure out what you’re asking you are SOL. I had a payment issue once and it was a total nightmare.

 

I ended up eventually re-subscribing but only because I got a deal for $10 for the year. I’d never even think about spending anything near full price on the athletic. IMO their Buffalo coverage isn’t as good as it used to be. It was a lot better when the athletic first came out.

[BillsFan4]

Sounds like ford had a bit of an attitude/entitlement issue last season.

 

Quote

“Cody is a fighter,” Dawkins said. “Last year, he was upset he wasn’t playing. This year, he’s taking it as a reality check and is handling it the right way.

“What we want to see is him respecting the challenge and not complaining about it. As long as he’s not pouting and keeping high spirits, as long as he puts his best work on film, he understands what needs to be done.”
 

Dawkins added it’s no knock on Johnson that Kromer has been able to light a fire. Their criticisms might have been the same, but a second voice seems to have impacted Ford’s perspective.

 

“(Kromer) doesn’t sugarcoat anything,” Dawkins said. “He’ll tell him exactly what he doesn’t want to hear. He’ll say, ‘This is f-ing horrible,’ or, ‘You think that you’re doing it right, but you’re not.’

 

“Cody’s heard that before, but now it’s from a different face. So now it’s not, ‘Oh, that’s Bobby being Bobby.’ Now you have two people saying it, so now you’re the one that’s wrong and not them.”

sounds like he’s taking the coaching much better this year and starting to figure things out. It would be great if he could develop into a starter for us!

[Sierra Foothills]

1 hour ago, Coach Tuesday said:

From yesterday’s Athletic (honestly, if you don’t have an Athletic subscription by now, your phone should be confiscated):

 

https://theathletic.com/3524555/2022/08/20/bills-cody-ford-training-camp/?source=user_shared_article
 

Ford admitted the attitude adjustment was necessary and overdue.

 

He and Dawkins cited new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer has been a significant factor. Asked about the difference between Kromer and previous assistant Bobby Johnson, Ford responded with eight seconds of silence. The corners of his lips curled upward as he mulled his reply.

 

“He’s doing a phenomenal job,” Ford said of Kromer. “I don’t know what that means, coming from me. But the way we’ve been coached and the techniques that we’ve learned is why I say there’s been so much improvement.”

 

I agree about the Athletic.

 

I love Ford's response... restraint is an undervalued commodity in our world.

 

 

1 hour ago, Chandler#81 said:

Thanks for your opine, but there’s just too many free quality sports articles, programs and podcasts to bother spending a freakin dime on. I do appreciate you posting the highlights of their writer’s opinions though.

 

The Athletic is  definitely more for people who like to read than to watch talking heads. 

 

[ddaryl]

We all had high hopes when Kromer was brought back.  From what we all saw, Kromer is definitely a difference maker,  and we are lucky he became available this offseason

Edited August 21, 2022 by ddaryl

[TheyCallMeAndy]

OP took my phone  

That said, Ford has actually looked decent this summer.

[Sierra Foothills]

14 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

Just wait until you have to deal with the athletic’s (completely non-existent) customer service… you might change your tune then. There is no way to even talk to a live person. If their email bot can’t figure out what you’re asking you are SOL. I had a payment issue once and it was a total nightmare.

 

I ended up eventually re-subscribing but only because I got a deal for $10 for the year. I’d never even think about spending anything near full price on the athletic. IMO their Buffalo coverage isn’t as good as it used to be. It was a lot better when the athletic first came out.

 

I can't vouch for their customer service but I appreciate all the great writing and coverage they offer.

 

I follow several sports teams so The Athletic is worth it for me though.

 

It was sad when they took Matthew Fairburn off the Bills beat though they still have Joe Buscaglia and Tim Graham contributing.

 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

30 minutes ago, Dr. Who said:

I have a flip phone. Nobody wants it.

'Star Trek' nerds waited 40 years for those, dontcha know! 🤨

*
(And yes, I am one.)

 

[Dr. Who]

Just now, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

'Star Trek' nerds waited 40 years for those, dontcha know! 🤨

*
(And yes, I am one.)

 

Live long and prosper.

[ddaryl]

2 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

'Star Trek' nerds waited 40 years for those, dontcha know! 🤨

*
(And yes, I am one.)

 

 

1 minute ago, Dr. Who said:

Live long and prosper.

[JaCrispy]

1 hour ago, Coach Tuesday said:

From yesterday’s Athletic (honestly, if you don’t have an Athletic subscription by now, your phone should be confiscated):

 

https://theathletic.com/3524555/2022/08/20/bills-cody-ford-training-camp/?source=user_shared_article
 

Ford admitted the attitude adjustment was necessary and overdue.

 

He and Dawkins cited new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer has been a significant factor. Asked about the difference between Kromer and previous assistant Bobby Johnson, Ford responded with eight seconds of silence. The corners of his lips curled upward as he mulled his reply.

 

“He’s doing a phenomenal job,” Ford said of Kromer. “I don’t know what that means, coming from me. But the way we’ve been coached and the techniques that we’ve learned is why I say there’s been so much improvement.”

Sounds a little fascist to me…😉

[Dan Darragh]

1 hour ago, Coach Tuesday said:

(honestly, if you don’t have an Athletic subscription by now, your phone should be confiscated)

agree

 

It's the best sports writing since SI was in its heyday.  I hate paying subscriptions as much as anybody but this one is worth it.

[NoSaint]

25 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

I can't vouch for their customer service but I appreciate all the great writing and coverage they offer.

 

I follow several sports teams so The Athletic is worth it for me though.

 

It was sad when they took Matthew Fairburn off the Bills beat though they still have Joe Buscaglia and Tim Graham contributing.

 

oh Timmy…. 

[hemma]

I don’t think Johnson got the most out of his group and it was noticed by the Coach.

Could be he just doesn’t have a good handle on how to present criticism.  Don’t really care as that’s no longer our problem.

 

Saffold isn’t going to last forever.  Wouldn’t it be great to have Ford step in down the road and not miss a beat?

 

Best move of the off season = Kromer.

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by hemma
Duplicate post

[DCbillsfan]

I hope Ford can put it altogether with Kromer.  He's had a lot of chances.  It's been frustrating to watch.  Sometimes being told the cold hard truth is what a guy needs to hear even though he hates hearing it.

[Beast]

I get my NFL news from Sirius. If you don’t have it, you should have your vehicle confiscated.

[Don Otreply]

Our O line under Bobby Johnson was shall we say, not very good a lot of the time, I was very happy when I read that Kromer was back,  we really need the O line to perform well throughout the season to have success,  🤞 Sounds like Ford pulled his head out of his backside and has seen the light…, good on him to understand that learning is a lifetime requirement. 
 

Go Bills!!!

[DCbillsfan]

9 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

Our O line under Bobby Johnson was shall we say, not very good a lot of the time, I was very happy when I read that Kromer was back,  we really need the O line to perform well throughout the season to have success,  🤞 Sounds like Ford pulled his head out of his backside and has seen the light…, good on him to understand that learning is a lifetime requirement. 
 

Go Bills!!!

I was so glad when Bobby Johnson left.

[BillsBytheBay]

Cant convince me to pay for peoples personal opinions... Of entertainment.  

[Rico]

I had the Athletic a year or so ago on a crazy good deal, but I didn’t go there too often so I never renewed. Easier to read the Cliff Notes version of the articles on here, thanks CT.

[BuffaloBill]

17 minutes ago, DCbillsfan said:

I was so glad when Bobby Johnson left.

 

 

Amen ^^^^^

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

I think part of the problem with the oline in the past had to do with scheme— specifically, the RPOs we would run. Guys like Ford should not be running RPO’s. They need to just go out and blast some people. With those RPOs, the linemen almost have to block in a very tentative manner.

[Mr. WEO]

2 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

 

 

“He’s doing a phenomenal job,” Ford said of Kromer. “I don’t know what that means, coming from me. 

 

 

lol....

[Doc]

Good riddance to Bobby Johnson.

[hemma]

In the “Hey, it could happen” column —> sometime later in the year, Beane extends Ford.

[Doc]

Just now, hemma said:

In the “Hey, it could happen” column —> sometime later in the year, Beane extends Ford.

 

For minimum salary?  Sure.

[stevewin]

2 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

Sounds like ford had a bit of an attitude/entitlement issue last season.

That was my biggest take-away from the article.  Dion was brutally direct in his assessment of Ford - "reality check", "respecting the challenge and not complaining about it", "not pouting" .  Those are pretty strong words from a peer who also happens to be the leader of the OL - was kind of striking to me he aired that out.

 

The Kromer angle was more about getting Ford to open his eyes and take some responsibility for himself.  More from the article:

Quote

“(Kromer) doesn’t sugarcoat anything,” Dawkins said. “He’ll tell him exactly what he doesn’t want to hear. He’ll say, ‘This is f'ing horrible,’ or, ‘You think that you’re doing it right, but you’re not.’

 

“Cody’s heard that before, but now it’s from a different face. So now it’s not, ‘Oh, that’s Bobby being Bobby.’ Now you have two people saying it, so now you’re the one that’s wrong and not them.”

 

Excellent article - if Ford does turn it around it seems it will be largely based on accepting responsibility for his play and actually doing the work to become better. 

 

 

3 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

From yesterday’s Athletic (honestly, if you don’t have an Athletic subscription by now, your phone should be confiscated):

 

https://theathletic.com/3524555/2022/08/20/bills-cody-ford-training-camp/?source=user_shared_article
 

Ford admitted the attitude adjustment was necessary and overdue.

 

He and Dawkins cited new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer has been a significant factor. Asked about the difference between Kromer and previous assistant Bobby Johnson, Ford responded with eight seconds of silence. The corners of his lips curled upward as he mulled his reply.

 

“He’s doing a phenomenal job,” Ford said of Kromer. “I don’t know what that means, coming from me. But the way we’ve been coached and the techniques that we’ve learned is why I say there’s been so much improvement.”

I'm glad you posted this - I had just read the article and was about to post something here.  To me though, the headline is "Dion on Ford" - not "Ford on Kromer" - very direct comments from Dion on Ford

Edited August 21, 2022 by stevewin

[clayboy54]

1 hour ago, Dan Darragh said:

agree

 

It's the best sports writing since SI was in its heyday.  I hate paying subscriptions as much as anybody but this one is worth it.

Back in that heyday, my favorite subscription was The Football News. It was a great little paper that was delivered by mail every week. It was costly by online standards, but it was worth every penny. The Athletic - for just Bills news - is not worth it IMO.

[Punching Bag]

3 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

From yesterday’s Athletic (honestly, if you don’t have an Athletic subscription by now, your phone should be confiscated):

 

That is silly. Some people do not read websites on phones.

2 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

Just wait until you have to deal with the athletic’s (completely non-existent) customer service… you might change your tune then. There is no way to even talk to a live person. If their email bot can’t figure out what you’re asking you are SOL. I had a payment issue once and it was a total nightmare.

 

I ended up eventually re-subscribing but only because I got a deal for $10 for the year. I’d never even think about spending anything near full price on the athletic. IMO their Buffalo coverage isn’t as good as it used to be. It was a lot better when the athletic first came out.

 

I was constantly being sent baseball articles and I selected no interest in baseball.    There is no use selecting interests (mine was Bills, minor in Sabres, a few Olympics sports) but I think their algoritm uses "top 10 matches: type so if nothing matches they send you other stuff just to show you "what else you could read".

[wjag]

It will be quite the story and reclamation of a career that matched expectations if Ford stays on team, wins his position back and plays well. 

[BillsShredder83]

1 hour ago, Rico said:

I had the Athletic a year or so ago on a crazy good deal, but I didn’t go there too often so I never renewed. Easier to read the Cliff Notes version of the articles on here, thanks CT.

Check your email every now and then. I usually cancel it after promo expires, month or two later I get 3 mos at $1.... rinse repeat lol I spend about $9/yr for 9mos

[AmishRifle]

14 minutes ago, wjag said:

It will be quite the story and reclamation of a career that matched expectations if Ford stays on team, wins his position back and plays well. 

That would be quite the story.  The question is would you pay him if that happens?  I don’t really know the answer myself.

[Punching Bag]

3 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

From yesterday’s Athletic (honestly, if you don’t have an Athletic subscription by now, your phone should be confiscated):

 

https://theathletic.com/3524555/2022/08/20/bills-cody-ford-training-camp/?source=user_shared_article
 

Ford admitted the attitude adjustment was necessary and overdue.

 

He and Dawkins cited new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer has been a significant factor. Asked about the difference between Kromer and previous assistant Bobby Johnson, Ford responded with eight seconds of silence. The corners of his lips curled upward as he mulled his reply.

 

“He’s doing a phenomenal job,” Ford said of Kromer. “I don’t know what that means, coming from me. But the way we’ve been coached and the techniques that we’ve learned is why I say there’s been so much improvement.”

 

2 hours ago, davefan66 said:

During and after the game they asked a bunch of the players about the impact of Kromer.  They all had nothing but good to great things to say about his impact in the run game and coordination.  Not sure if our last o-line coach did so much coordination in the run game.

Singletary looked like a beast.  Moss looks like he used to.  Cook is going to be very good.  A run game is very important to keep the ball from the opponent, spell the defense, not get Josh killed with him running.  Hopefully this is what’s needed to put us over the top.

 

https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2021/02/19/rams-aaron-kromer-offensive-line-impact-leave/

Quote

Before he arrived in 2017, the Rams had one of the worst offensive lines in football. Since then, it’s improved significantly, even despite a down year in 2019. Andrew Whitworth has prolonged his career with stellar play, Austin Corbett has turned into a gem of a trade acquisition, Rob Havenstein is a stud at right tackle and several other young players have stepped up.

 

Kromer is a big proponent of developing players at multiple positions along the offensive line.

 

This is all just speculation right now, but few coaches move their offensive linemen around as much as Kromer does.

 

 

You wonder why Superbowl champ let him go by "mutual agreement" and whether established linemen for the Rams will be saying same thing about the new Rams OL coach.  Rams coaching staff was cleaned out.