If you weren't on board with the Brady promotion, do you feel better today?

[DrDawkinstein]

1 hour ago, eball said:

 

I still can't believe the guy is only 36 (37 next month).

 

 

Old enough to be Tremaine Edmunds' grandfather!

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

17 hours ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

I share somewhat the same view. For me, it was deflating and underwhelming. Look, I get it. To other fanbases, Joe Brady is a young offensive mastermind. He's Udinski, with experience of calling his own plays. But, we are overly critical of our own too much. Had we hired a genius from another team the excitement would have died down and now after two preseason games threads would be "I'm worried about the offense". In other words, all play callers have flaws. We just already know Brady's. 

 

I also think a lot of people have seen the "promote from within" a bit much over the last few coordinator hires. We saw Dorsey, Babich and even Brady promoted and it hasn't work well for the most part. A fresh start would have been welcome. 

 

But, I'm already on record saying I think Joe can finish in the CoY running if he does how I think he will. 

 

That's the issue with everything, coaches, player evaluations, etc. We're too close to things here and the fan in all of us, makes it hard to be totally objective about things.  If a national writer states something good or bad, it's from a more neutral position.

[JAMIEBUF12]

I was on board two years before he got hired

GO BILLS!!

[Sierra Foothills]

17 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

Are you challenging me to a dance off?

 

 

17 hours ago, Cheektowaga Chad said:

If he wasn't hired from within, the hire would have been insanely popular among the fan base in my opinion 

 

Probably a near 100% approval of the hire 

 

Totally agree and in fact several poster after yours admitted this very specific thought.

 

1 hour ago, Einstein said:

To some extent. However, looking at how Beane approached this draft and off-season, it sure looked near identical (with the exception of CG) to the others, which leads me to believe that even though the coaching stuff has input, Beane is the true leader of the roster.

 

Again... I give you "The McDermott 13" (seasons under McDermott)

 

Matt Milano (9 seasons)

Tre’Davious White (8 seasons)

Taron Johnson (8 seasons)

Jordan Poyer (8 seasons)

AJ Epenesa (6 seasons)

Cam Lewis (6 seasons)

Jordan Phillips (6 seasons)

DaQuan Jones (4 seasons)

Baylon Spector (4 seasons)

Dane Jackson (5 seasons)

Shaq Lawson (5 seasons)

Taylor Rapp (3 seasons)

Shaq Thompson (3 seasons: 2 years in Carolina, 1 in Buffalo)

 

[Buffalo716]

14 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

 

 

Totally agree and in fact several poster after yours admitted this very specific thought.

 

 

Again... I give you "The McDermott 13" (seasons under McDermott)

 

Matt Milano (9 seasons)

Tre’Davious White (8 seasons)

Taron Johnson (8 seasons)

Jordan Poyer (8 seasons)

AJ Epenesa (6 seasons)

Cam Lewis (6 seasons)

Jordan Phillips (6 seasons)

DaQuan Jones (4 seasons)

Baylon Spector (4 seasons)

Dane Jackson (5 seasons)

Shaq Lawson (5 seasons)

Taylor Rapp (3 seasons)

Shaq Thompson (3 seasons: 2 years in Carolina, 1 in Buffalo)

 

To be fair most of those players on your list were role players .. and Brandon Bean re signed them all because he said his goal is to draft develop re sign and retain.. wasn't the one-sided action

 

And the first four people on that list could have started for basically any NFL teams when they were healthy we went from a team that built through the draft and kept the team together through their prime past their prime 

 

Most of those guys have aged out of the league

 

Now Brandon Bean does have his back up against the wall and he does not have a long time to win realistically

 

But pointing to a bunch of over the hill players.. at 28 he had no problem bringing them back most of them are over the hill now

 

He has said a bunch over 9 years he doesn't want to be a big free agency guy... He wants to bring in a good rookie class of draft picks and undrafted free agents develop and retain them... Supplementing it with free agency 

 

He wants it to be more in-house and developed which would mean people sticking around

 

 

Edited August 25 by Buffalo716

[Sierra Foothills]

21 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

To be fair most of those players on your list were role players .. and Brandon Bean re signed them all because he said his goal is to draft develop re sign and retain.. wasn't the one-sided action

 

And the first four people on that list could have started for basically any NFL teams when they were healthy we went from a team that built through the draft and kept the team together through their prime past their prime 

 

Most of those guys have aged out of the league

 

Now Brandon Bean does have his back up against the wall and he does not have a long time to win realistically

 

But pointing to a bunch of over the hill players.. at 28 he had no problem bringing them back most of them are over the hill now

 

He has said a bunch over 9 years he doesn't want to be a big free agency guy... He wants to bring in a good rookie class of draft picks and undrafted free agents develop and retain them... Supplementing it with free agency 

 

He wants it to be more in-house and developed which would mean people sticking around.

 

That was to @Einstein, but you're overcomplicating it.

 

The bottom line is that last season McDermott was HC and all 13 of these guys were on the roster.

 

This year Brady is HC and none of the 13 are on the roster.

 

No amount of parsing changes that... it has everything to do with McDermott and nothing to do with Beane.

 

Edited August 25 by Sierra Foothills

[JMM]

Ask me in 2 years

[Buffalo716]

7 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

That was to @Einstein, but you're overcomplicating it.

 

The bottom line is that last season McDermott was HC and all 13 of these guys were on the roster.

 

This year Brady is HC and none of the 13 are on the roster.

 

No amount of parsing changes that.

 

Well that's technically true but there's lots of reasons to that 

 

Cam Lewis is about to be a important player for the bears this year.. especially because how thin they are...  and he's going to get a lot of snaps because of his versatility.. he's an NFL player that we developed from undrafted and slowly worked his way into the game

 

He just didn't fit the new scheme as well.. but everybody in the NFL would say He's got talent

 

We literally are running a brand new system it's not shocking that there's turnover on defense.. especially with the age of the guys phasing out

 

We watched an entire group phase out from rookies to old vets phasing out

Edited August 25 by Buffalo716

[GASabresIUFan]

I can’t answer the OP until I see the team during the regular season for a month or two. 
 

I will say this, this team looks better prepared and more focused so far this preseason.  

[Mikie2times]

For me I was more happy that McD was gone than I was over Brady replacing him. It was just beyond time to move on from my POV and I was becoming miserable in the forums over it. With that behind us I had an open mind to Brady which is now evolving into a very positive outlook.

 

I do think we will see the type of change we wanted to see on offense (keeping in mind this was a great unit prior). I have full confidence in what Leonhard will bring to the defense which is a huge + to this first year and the the Brady regime as a whole. It's hard to overstate how important Leonhard will become. With what I can judge this early, Brady has checked the main boxed I wanted. We look organized, prepared, and different. More importantly, I don't think he's as buddy, buddy, as some, including myself were concerned about. He seems to understand the balance here which is a very fine line. That is not easy for a first year coach. We will have to see decisions under pressure, adversity, and the rest of it, but I think he will do fine here. So I'm very optimistic and think the total quality of the staff could be elite. 

[Mikie2times]

4 hours ago, Einstein said:

What new regime? The guy who picked the players and signed the free agents last year is the same guy who picks the players and signs the free agents now. 

 

 

32 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

Well that's technically true but there's lots of reasons to that 

 

Cam Lewis is about to be a important player for the bears this year.. especially because how thin they are...  and he's going to get a lot of snaps because of his versatility.. he's an NFL player that we developed from undrafted and slowly worked his way into the game

 

He just didn't fit the new scheme as well.. but everybody in the NFL would say He's got talent

 

We literally are running a brand new system it's not shocking that there's turnover on defense.. especially with the age of the guys phasing out

 

We watched an entire group phase out from rookies to old vets phasing out

The truthers will truth. We are running a new system, so your point would be relevant if all those former starters got signed by another team. They didn't. This concept that scheme aware players took precedent over talent isn't a concept. It's what the influence of McD brought to this team. Beane will always value OL, DL, as did the people he learned from. Draft targeting by position is not going to change, but that wasn't the issue. Getting youth and talent acclimated fast enough to outplay experience was the problem. That in large part is based on what the coach requires his players to understand. 

Edited August 25 by Mikie2times

[DapperCam]

I wasn’t a fan of the hire at the time, and I’m still not a fan now.

 

I do like how the rest of the coaching staff has filled in.

 

My primary critiques of Brady as an OC for the Bills:

- Poor route concepts, too conservative (everything around LOS), WR in the same areas.

- Never seemed to have a plan B. Very rigid in game planning, and would just keep spamming the same thing that wasn’t working sometimes.

- The actual plan B seemed to be “Allen run around and do something cool”. Which got us into trouble because the oline wasn’t quite as good last season in pass protection.

- RB not involved enough in the pass game. Still haven’t been able to figure out the RB screen.

 

There were a handful of really bad offensive play call games. A few that stuck out (there were more):

- Miami loss

- Eagles loss

- Texans loss

 

The WR were very weak last season, but there were definitely OCs that would have had a better season with Allen, Cook and co.

[boater]

19 hours ago, eball said:

We have a Wunderkind of our own, without all of the Sean McVay fawning, pomp, and circumstance.

 

Let's not use the term Wunderkind. It didn't workout for the guy in Ted Lasso.

[Búfalo Blanco]

I'm skeptical, as I was the day he was hired. I believe Beane has brought in a lot of great talent, but I no longer have trust in the "process" or the regime putting Josh Allen in the best spot to succeed. Like some here, I hope I'm wrong... but I think there were better candidates outside the organization. 

[Nihilarian]

1 hour ago, JMM said:

Ask me in 2 years

It's not going to take 2 years.

 

We will know as soon as week 5 if we have a good head coach/coaching staff. For the love of god what a murderers' row. At Houston, Detroit, LA Chargers, New England, and then the LA Rams. All five are projected to be playoff teams in 2026. Injuries? 3 of 5 wins would be good? 

 

That new Buffalo defense and DC will be severely tested in those first five games, and if that isn't bad enough, the rest of the schedule. Ravens, Chiefs, Patriots again, Green Bay, Chicago, and Denver. Then the NY Jets look like they finally have a defense, and Miami. 

 

Will the Buffalo Bills' pass protections and the run game be the same after Aaron Kromer retired this offseason? Read the last line! 

 

So, it's all speculation at this point, and as others have mentioned, the status quo has changed drastically with an entirely new staff. That guy who led the Buffalo Bills to be the second-best team in the NFL over the last decade was just fired. This season could be a disaster, or it could be what everyone here wants, and that's a Super Bowl run.

 

AI says, There are no specific, publicly listed sportsbook "exact 5-0 start" prop odds for the Buffalo Bills, but their opening five-game stretch carries an implied parlay probability of roughly 4% to 6% based on individual game lines

 

We...just...don't...know! 

[mbs]

I thought the passing game last year was worse than the low end receivers could explain. I'm not a real tape watcher or anything, but other teams with lousy WRs had passing plays that just looked more natural or just spaced better, I dunno. It was painful to watch the passing game last year. I hope the new passing game coordinator will help here or if not, I hope my assessment was just wrong and Brady is great at drawing up plays.

 

My other suspicion last year was that McDermott was directing him to be more conservative and that he will be less so this year.

 

Mostly, despite the preseason being worthless and all, I'm still going to hope that this offense will be much more fun, because I liked the passing plays in the past two games a lot better.

 

So, yeah, I'm more optimistic now than I was then.

[Einstein]

1 hour ago, Mikie2times said:

It's what the influence of McD brought to this team. 

We don't actually have any proof of this.

 

1 hour ago, Sierra Foothills said:

The bottom line is that last season McDermott was HC and all 13 of these guys were on the roster.

 

This year Brady is HC and none of the 13 are on the roster.

 

Yeah it's almost like Beane knows he is on his last strike...

The idea that McD was forcing Beane to keep these players is just ridiculous. 

[Kirby Jackson]

1 hour ago, DapperCam said:

I wasn’t a fan of the hire at the time, and I’m still not a fan now.

 

I do like how the rest of the coaching staff has filled in.

 

My primary critiques of Brady as an OC for the Bills:

- Poor route concepts, too conservative (everything around LOS), WR in the same areas.

- Never seemed to have a plan B. Very rigid in game planning, and would just keep spamming the same thing that wasn’t working sometimes.

- The actual plan B seemed to be “Allen run around and do something cool”. Which got us into trouble because the oline wasn’t quite as good last season in pass protection.

- RB not involved enough in the pass game. Still haven’t been able to figure out the RB screen.

 

There were a handful of really bad offensive play call games. A few that stuck out (there were more):

- Miami loss

- Eagles loss

- Texans loss

 

The WR were very weak last season, but there were definitely OCs that would have had a better season with Allen, Cook and co.

This is a little chicken and egg to me. I believe that the garbage WRs were the genesis of all this. I expect DJ Moore to open up so much space for everything and everyone. We will see if that holds true. Through 2 preseason games, and camp, there has clearly been more focus on opening up the field. 
 

We also have to ask, how much was his vision vs. McDermott’s? The answer is, we don’t know. The Bills know but we don’t. We will see as we roll into the season. I certainly am not using 2024 or 2025 to tell me much. They scored lots of points with a WR group that was arguably the worst in the league. 
 

I have no idea if Brady will be good or bad. I do know that he had his hands tied for the last 2 years because of the WRs.  Were they also tied by McDermott? I dunno. Did Brady have a strong voice with that “everybody eats” nonsense? I dunno. Without that context, it’s difficult to assign blame to him (or McDermott for that matter). We do not know who was responsible. 

Edited August 25 by Kirby Jackson

[Mikie2times]

 

18 minutes ago, Einstein said:

We don't actually have any proof of this.

 

Yeah it's almost like Beane knows he is on his last strike...

The idea that McD was forcing Beane to keep these players is just ridiculous. 

I'm sure he is cutting players because some fans think he is on his last strike. Literally nothing suggests that outside of the brigade of truthers seeking vengeance. 

[DrDawkinstein]

35 minutes ago, Einstein said:

We don't actually have any proof of this.

 

Crazy you would rather make yourself look this naive over simply giving an inch on McD and admitting he had some influence over the roster and wanted guys that fit his system. When the same can be said for almost every HC in the NFL.