Bills are Fool's Gold: Intentions Versus Results

[colin]

4 minutes ago, SCBills said:

Funny thing is, a lot of people here predict we’ll lose in the Div Round..

 

If we’re a WC, unless Pittsburgh holds onto the Division, Jax takes the South or we play NE, winning the WC Round likely means beating one of Denver, Indy, Houston (dark horse) or Baltimore on the road.  
 

If we win that game, on the road, I’d think we’re going to the Super Bowl tbh.  Would mean we beat an elite defense or elite run game on the road.  Two things that give us issues and we’ve never won a road playoff game with this group. 
 

The way this year is set up, our WC game could very well be a tougher matchup than the Divisional Round. 

I really hope you are right!!

 

To the oppie: I did a lil effort post.  Our team by the deep numbers is basically in line with what we have been since 2023, with the exception that we play down to bad opponents on the road, turning the ball over multiple times and losing games we were heavy favorites in.

 

If they actually eliminate that (I think Brady pulling his head out and not being so predictable gets us 75% of the way there) we can beat anyone 

[Jeffbigalls]

On 11/21/2025 at 2:50 AM, Buffalo716 said:

Thank you for your service 

 

Now I'm going from getting over it to sad  again lol

 

Happy holidays

Surprisingly Simon the advanced stats show the bills are not leading the league in missed tackles

Probably the bengals

[MJS]

53 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

But the coordinators do what McDermott wants.  You can bet they aren't allowed to vary it at all.

 

So the change needs to be from the top down

Says who?

[Preds]

2 hours ago, MJS said:

We need new coordinators. As bad as the Bills defense has been, you at least see them make some stops here and there and adjust. McDermott has gotten involved to stop the bleeding. The offense, though, is utterly incapable of getting out of a slump or making any adjustments. It seems they have to see a play get stuffed three or four times before they stop calling it. Brady just isn't the guy.

 

I'm not sure it makes sense to love on from them until the end of the season because there are no upgrades to be had right now. I'd be all for bringing back Daboll next year.

We’re already replaced coordinators multiple times.  Without replacing the root cause at the top any new coordinators will be just spinning wheels and more future scapegoats for the inept HC.   IMO he has intentionally built a staff with inexperienced coordinators to protect his own job with no legit interim HC candidate on staff for ownership to replace him. 
 

The fools gold with this team starts with the fool at the top.  Without moving on form McD little will actually change and more years of Josh’s career will be wasted.  

Edited 4 hours ago by Preds

[BADOLBILZ]

On 11/21/2025 at 12:11 AM, Simon said:

This team has been in a funk all year long.

It is the worst coached Bills team we have seen in the Allen era, and it's not even close, imo.

There is no attention to detail, both sides of the ball are frequently confused and on different pages, self-scouting and situational awareness are completely absent on Sundays and there is no good answer at this point of the season.

The player can sense it and as a result we are seeing multiple games with unfocused, unmotivated players. The only time they really get geeked is when the play rivalry games against opponents they personally dislike (Chiefs, Jets, Ravens), the rest of the season they have mostly been going through the motions.

Unless they get younger at multiple positions and retool with an entirely new coaching staff, we are probably going to see more of the same going forward.

 

 

I know that is the popular perception but I think the coaching is the same level as ever.

 

The talent drop on the team from last season to this season has been SIGNIFICANT.

 

Taron Johnson, Milano and Bernard were very good when healthy last year.   This year they are HORRIBLE.   That's basically their 3 man LB corps.....all sh!t.

 

The D-Line rotation is also FAR worse than last year.   I can't believe my eyes seeing Jones and Sanders playing significant DE snaps.   That makes having Dawuane Smoot in the rotation last year look like having an All Star in rotation.   And Jordan Phillips playing big snaps at DT after sitting on the couch all offseason.   That DT rotation has been garbage.   I can't remember a time when they've been more impotent on the DL in my lifetime as a Bills fan.   

 

CB play has been far worse overall because of the vast decline of TJ and the astonishing decline of Benford. 

 

Bishop has rounded into excellent form of late but overall the S position was more reliable with Rapp and Hamlin last year than it had been in Sept-Oct.

 

I haven't even gotten to the WR corps! 

 

I don't know how you coach up having to play 3-5 guys on defense regularly that probably belong on practice squads at this point of their career(Phillips, Tre, Poyer, TJ and Milano).

 

 

[finn]

My read is that Beane will never fire McDermott because McDermott brought him in, an object lesson for other teams: always hire the GM first. We're stuck with McDermott, which means we're stuck with junior-varsity coordinators for the rest of the Allen era. 

[MikePJ76]

So you haven't watched them all year and yet you make a thread calling them Fool's Gold?  Kind of odd.  

[Simon]

2 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

I know that is the popular perception but I think the coaching is the same level as ever.

 

......

 

I don't know how you coach up having to play 3-5 guys on defense regularly that probably belong on practice squads at this point of their career(Phillips, Tre, Poyer, TJ and Milano).

 

To me, it's less about how they're actually playing, than it is about preparation.

On offense, plays are constantly getting in late, even more so than it's been an issue in the past. e.g. Thr night they got the ball back down by 4 and ran their first play with nearly 3 minutes left and only managed to get one more snap off before the 2:00 warning. If they were across midfield, then that's by design, but they were around their own 20. 

It's now Thanksgiving and Carolina is the only team they've outschemed since September.

Procedure penalties are a bigger problem than I ever remember them being.

On defense, we are seeing more examples of presnap confusion than we have in the last couple years combined.

Even STs are a mess outside of Davis' recent flurry, with more penalty problems and coverage/return issues.

This is the first time in the Allen era where I've regularly thought to myself that this is genuinely a poorly coached team.

[Success]

I still think we got hot in December & have as good a shot as anyone once the playoffs start.

 

We've seen in some of the games how good this team CAN be.  They can be as good as anyone.

 

[VW82]

I don't see how we're picking just one thing here. 

 

Yes, coaching has been subpar both at the head coach level and coordinators. 

Yes, we have injuries and guys playing that shouldn't be playing.

Yes, FO whiffed on some picks and generally speaking haven't done a good enough job bringing in high end talent. 

 

That said...Josh has been mediocre at best in a bunch of these games. Some of that is on coaches, some on receivers, some on line, etc., but some of it is definitely on him. There's too much at this point that Josh hasn't had a typically good season by his standards or otherwise. 

 

Also, we've seen normally good players like Dawkins and Brown play under their capabilities for various reasons. We've seen savvy vets like Taron and Milano get old right in front of our eyes. We've gone from a turnover lucky team to turnover prone and losing the turnover battle. 

 

There's so much going wrong with this team that pointing fingers in any one direction is missing the point.

[Slack_in_MA]

38 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

To me, it's less about how they're actually playing, than it is about preparation.

On offense, plays are constantly getting in late, even more so than it's been an issue in the past. e.g. Thr night they got the ball back down by 4 and ran their first play with nearly 3 minutes left and only managed to get one more snap off before the 2:00 warning. If they were across midfield, then that's by design, but they were around their own 20. 

It's now Thanksgiving and Carolina is the only team they've outschemed since September.

Procedure penalties are a bigger problem than I ever remember them being.

On defense, we are seeing more examples of presnap confusion than we have in the last couple years combined.

Even STs are a mess outside of Davis' recent flurry, with more penalty problems and coverage/return issues.

This is the first time in the Allen era where I've regularly thought to myself that this is genuinely a poorly coached team.

Any thoughts on whether the increased confusion, getting plays in late, etc is a function of McD involving himself in *every* play on both offense and defense now? I don’t profess to know what the communication among the staff is like from play to play, but if there are too many voices/opinions, it might stand to reason that decision-making is slower, especially on critical plays.

[Simon]

5 minutes ago, Slack_in_MA said:

Any thoughts on whether the increased confusion, getting plays in late, etc is a function of McD involving himself in *every* play on both offense and defense now? I don’t profess to know what the communication among the staff is like from play to play...

 

I'm in teh same boat and don't really know who is responsible for doing what, when. I'm just judging by how slow everything is on offense (which it shouldn't be because it's not remotely complicated) and how confused everything frequently is on defense. It has gotten somewhat better since McD started being more hands-on with the defense. I just think both coordinators are in way over their heads and have been promoted at least one level beyond where they belong. 🤷‍♂️

[Slack_in_MA]

2 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

I'm in teh same boat and don't really know who is responsible for doing what, when. I'm just judging by how slow everything is on offense (which it shouldn't be because it's not remotely complicated) and how confused everything frequently is on defense. It has gotten somewhat better since McD started being more hands-on with the defense. I just think both coordinators are in way over their heads and have been promoted at least one level beyond where they belong. 🤷‍♂️

To what extent do you think your last point is driven by McD not wanting to be threatened by stronger, more experienced coordinators?

[BillsShredder83]

On 11/21/2025 at 12:03 AM, Wizard said:

This is my first post of this season as the result of not having much access to a phone as the result of a deployment.

 

I apologize for having to catch up. Tonight is the first game I have watched this season. Only caught some highlights, basic storylines, and our record.

 

Forgive my ignorance, but the team looks terrible. Before I watched, I thought our offensive line was supposed to be good. I thought Allen was much better at limiting mistakes. I thought we had become more of a running team.

 

Help me understand. Orher than at the end, what are these little screens being run?

 

I heard we had some injuries, but everyone looks slow on defense. I guess Coleman is worse now too.

 

I know the Texans have a great defense. I thought we had a great offense. The defense looks pretty bad also. Why is Cook running so little?

 

Literally, what happened?

 

Yes..it is one game and the only one I have seen. Based on what I saw, either the Bills are Fool's Gold because they have a lot of wins, or there must be a lot of crappy teams this year.

 

I will try to catch up on all the other posts.

 

Only good thing...Thanksgiving and Holiday wishes all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your experience reminds me of those guys waking up from a coma to find their wife has moved on and your bedsores are infected and filled with flesh eating worms. 

 

But worse because atleast McD would be gone after a coma 😂😂😂

[Simon]

8 minutes ago, Slack_in_MA said:

To what extent do you think your last point is driven by McD not wanting to be threatened by stronger, more experienced coordinators?

 

I don't know if feeling threatened is his primary motivation.

I get the sense he's more an OCD micromanager that has to have things "just so" and makes his hiring decisions based partly on that.

[KOKBILLS]

On 11/21/2025 at 12:11 AM, Simon said:

This team has been in a funk all year long.

It is the worst coached Bills team we have seen in the Allen era, and it's not even close, imo.

There is no attention to detail, both sides of the ball are frequently confused and on different pages, self-scouting and situational awareness are completely absent on Sundays and there is no good answer at this point of the season.

The player can sense it and as a result we are seeing multiple games with unfocused, unmotivated players. The only time they really get geeked is when the play rivalry games against opponents they personally dislike (Chiefs, Jets, Ravens), the rest of the season they have mostly been going through the motions.

Unless they get younger at multiple positions and retool with an entirely new coaching staff, we are probably going to see more of the same going forward.

 

I know the entire NFL influencer community can be a bit much week to week. It's an industry in itself.... But it's also good stuff when I have 4 hours of yard work to do. Anyway... while listening to all these weekly prep podcasts for each game one thing that has been crystal clear to me this year is how often the Bills seem to be completely unprepared for their specific opponent. While they were praised for their gameplan vs KC, that should certainly not be a once in 8-10 weeks kind of thing... And like I've commented here recently, in the games they have lost where they were big favorites, they got killed by the other teams best players. Diggs, Robinson, London, Achane, Waddle, Hunter, and Anderson... Heck anyone who plays Fantasy Football understands your game plans have to be focused around limiting those players because they are capable of ruining your game. I don't know... Just feels like we are WAY behind at OBD... 

[seannc]

Jordan Phillips and Jordan Poyer are on the active roster in 2025. That's all you need to know. 

[Simon]

2 minutes ago, KOKBILLS said:

Anyway... while listening to all these weekly prep podcasts for each game one thing that has been crystal clear to me this year is how often the Bills seem to be completely unprepared for their specific opponent.

 

Honestly, I have zero knowledge or experience with that media landscape. I'm too adhd to listen to a podcast I can't respond to. 

But it's good to hear that other folks who are more knowledgeable and devoting the time are seeing the same stuff we are on gameday.

[transient]

4 hours ago, finn said:

My read is that Beane will never fire McDermott because McDermott brought him in, an object lesson for other teams: always hire the GM first. We're stuck with McDermott, which means we're stuck with junior-varsity coordinators for the rest of the Allen era. 

I don't think Beane has the authority to fire McDermott. I think the organizational structure puts them on equal footing. If changes are to be made, Pegula will have to make them. If you follow the Sabres, you know that's not likely.