McDermott still in over his head

[DrMaxPower]

5 hours ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

My word choice may have been poor.  I certainly didn't mean to say we don't have any good players besides Allen.

We have a mix of good, mediocre, and bad players outside Allen.  In other words, our non-QB roster is a lot like other teams and certainly worse than some.  

Beane hit a homerun with Allen and that can't be ignored.  But if I ignore it anyway just as an exercise, he hasn't been an elite GM - the kind that builds SB rosters.  

 

I certainly agree that Beane hasn't done a good job the last couple years. Probably a C on my scorecard. That said, I'm not sure you can paint his whole stint that way.

 

There were a couple of years where all the pundits had us as the favorite, with the most 'complete' roster in the league. The players and coaches came up small more than the roster construction. I think he built Superbowl caliber rosters on a couple of occasions and got let down by the other half of the operation (13 seconds).

 

[muppy]

1 hour ago, Pete said:

Babich and McD have been making awesome halftime adjustments. Many games the Bills D got run over in the first half, and tightened up in second half. Cossel said the Bills D does not have the talent, but are schemed better, so they are greater than the sum of their parts.  He said going down big in the first half, and coming back and winning is unsustainable.  But the Bills do it over and over.  And they are very comfortable coming back from multiple TDs down

hey Pete

 

I doubt there is a single person on this board that wouldn't prefer the defense shut down our opposition for all 4 quarters.  Comebacks are not the optimal position to need be in.

 

Having said that the fact this team is grinding out wins as what we saw the last 2 games for me shows how resilient they CAN be. It is  nerve wracking to watch but I'll take the Dub with much gratitude.

 

It if nothing else shows Mental Toughness.  extreme mental toughness.

[Buffalo Boy]

    Sorry if it’s been covered.

Everyone knows my position.

   I wasn’t as pissed about the early non challenge as so many seem to be. It was early first quarter and he wasn’t sure AND didn’t want chance a TO being lost. Not a terrible decision.

   I do feel this league “eye in the sky” is BS. Just another way they can put their finger on the scale…. Or not, as they see fit. Completely specious!

   The thorn in my side yesterday was about five minutes left, Josh playing possibly his best ball of the season, and we do two runs which, with Cook, I can’t hate but the third down screen.

   Josh is crushing it. Has been the whole half and that is the play call. I know it was Brady’s call but it typical play not to lose which is McD’s MO and it is so tedious.

    Against Maye and co, it worked. It won’t work against better, more seasoned teams. I’m glad I’m bald at times like these because I wanted to tear my non existent hair out with that play. 
    I’m super glad the D bailed us out but that is not something I feel comfortable relying upon.

 

PS: Gave my Pats fan boss a weenie shaped cookie today and told him it was a special “ rocket shaped cookie” my wife baked just for him😜😈

 

[Shaw66]

2 hours ago, Cash said:

 

For this particular call, I was calling real-time for McD to throw the challenge flag.  We didn't yet know if it was a catch or not, but the upside was worth a blind toss IMO.  So I think it's a very fair criticism of McD that he didn't throw the flag - if I can realize it well before the ball is snapped, so can he.  But I'm ALSO mad at the Replay Assist people, who sat on their hands when we would've benefitted, but leapt to overturn the Brandin Cooks bobble lest Vrabel have to use a challenge.  I don't particularly think they had it out for us or anything - it's incompetence not malice.

I agree with your comment about the replay assist.  I was amazed how fast they overturned Cooks, and one look at the replay of the other was enough to at least merit a more careful look. As you said, if replay was willing to bail out Vrabel, they needed to bail out McDermott. 

 

I don't agree about McDermott. Third quarter, yes. Early in the first quarter, no. It's too early in the game.  Maybe you were sure live; I thought it was a catch live.  It was quite close, and in the first quarter, it's a big risk to take, both in terms of a possible lost challenge and a possible lost time out. Plays are more important in the second half.  And as we well know, McDermott isn't afraid to have things go less than perfect in the first half. 

 

Mostly, as I said, and you did, too, the real problem is the replay rules. They have the capability to look at every close call and get them 90% right. That's the system we need. 

[Chaos]

3 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

I agree with your comment about the replay assist.  I was amazed how fast they overturned Cooks, and one look at the replay of the other was enough to at least merit a more careful look. As you said, if replay was willing to bail out Vrabel, they needed to bail out McDermott. 

 

I don't agree about McDermott. Third quarter, yes. Early in the first quarter, no. It's too early in the game.  Maybe you were sure live; I thought it was a catch live.  It was quite close, and in the first quarter, it's a big risk to take, both in terms of a possible lost challenge and a possible lost time out. Plays are more important in the second half.  And as we well know, McDermott isn't afraid to have things go less than perfect in the first half. 

 

Mostly, as I said, and you did, too, the real problem is the replay rules. They have the capability to look at every close call and get them 90% right. That's the system we need. 

7 points is the same in the first quarter as the third. if that had been a first down play, maybe, but as a third down play that would have been a punt, it was as bad as a bad turnover. 

[HappyDays]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

I agree with your comment about the replay assist.  I was amazed how fast they overturned Cooks, and one look at the replay of the other was enough to at least merit a more careful look. As you said, if replay was willing to bail out Vrabel, they needed to bail out McDermott. 

 

I don't agree about McDermott. Third quarter, yes. Early in the first quarter, no. It's too early in the game.  Maybe you were sure live; I thought it was a catch live.  It was quite close, and in the first quarter, it's a big risk to take, both in terms of a possible lost challenge and a possible lost time out. Plays are more important in the second half.  And as we well know, McDermott isn't afraid to have things go less than perfect in the first half. 

 

Mostly, as I said, and you did, too, the real problem is the replay rules. They have the capability to look at every close call and get them 90% right. That's the system we need. 

 

So I agree replay assist is mind numbingly inconsistent with its usage. They seem to use it more in games that they know the nation is watching which is a problem. Either the NFL wants to get the calls right or they don't. At least with penalties there is some kind of written standard even if they aren't always applied the same. With replay review there is no standard, it is just arbitrarily used whenever the officials feel like it.

 

However I will say the clear difference in this case is that Cooks' drop was clear and obvious after one replay. No long protracted discussion needed, it was a simple mistake from the official and an easy correction. Boutte's catch was not clear at all. I said in the game thread and I'll stand by it now that it was a perfectly 50/50 call. If you want to say the ball moved too much along the ground to count as a completed catch, I can see that. If you want to say he clearly had both hands firmly gripping the ball before it hit the ground, I can see that too. So that one was never going to be overturned by replay assist.

 

As far as a potential challenge, I believe the call on the field would have stood because it was not "clear and obvious" that the call was wrong, which is the necessary standard to overturn it. Having watched the replay back a dozen times I think I lean towards it not being a catch by the official rules... but it's a tight one. Even though the ball hits the ground you could make a case that the ground doesn't "complete the catch" for the WR which is the official rule. Too much nebulous interpretation of what happened for the officials to overturn that call IMO.

 

Edited 5 hours ago by HappyDays

[Shaw66]

2 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

So I agree replay assist is mind numbingly inconsistent with its usage. They seem to use it more in games that they know the nation is watching which is a problem. Either the NFL wants to get the calls right or they don't. At least with penalties there is some kind of written standard even if they aren't always applied the same. With replay review there is no standard, it is just arbitrarily used whenever the officials feel like it.

 

However I will say the clear difference in this case is that Cooks' drop was clear and obvious after one replay. No long protracted discussion needed, it was a simple mistake from the official and an easy correction. Boutte's catch was not clear at all. I said in the game thread and I'll stand by it now that it was a perfectly 50/50 call. If you want to say the ball moved too much along the ground to count as a completed catch, I can see that. If you want to say he clearly had both hands firmly gripping the ball before it hit the ground, I can see that too. So that one was never going to be overturned by replay assist.

 

As far as a potential challenge, I believe the call on the field would have stood because it was not "clear and obvious" that it was not a catch. Having watched the replay back a dozen times I think I lean towards it not being a catch by the official rules... but it's a tight one. Even though the ball hits the ground you could make a case that the ground doesn't "complete the catch for the WR" which is the official rule. Too much nebulous interpretation of what happened for the officials to overturn that call IMO.

I saw it the same way. 

 

Good news is they're getting better. More replay reviews, quick ones. They're calling interference pretty fairly. What is a catch is pretty clear now.  It's improving year to year.

[Avisan]

9 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

nobody gets credit for being terrible one half and acceptable for one half except the Buffalo Bills defense 

 

simply amazing

You sure about that?

 

How do you feel Allen and the offense performed in this game?