Comment by Josh after practice yesterday (9/1) about the playbook…

[Augie]

Having a legit outside WR changes what an offense can do. Beane finally got around to that since he will be shown the door next. 

[Shaw66]

2 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

I don't think it was the direct shot at McD some will make it out to be.  The reality is when you are an OC you are deploying your offense, but in conjunction with the overall vision of the team with the HC.  When you are the HC, you can tinker and adjust and do things however you want.  Then you have the added layer of personnel changes, continuity, etc.  

Brady is now the HC of an offense he was in control of for 2 1/2 years, and has a ton of continuity on it along with infusions of talent.  Every year the OC adjusts, changes, and adds new wrinkles into the offense based on many factors including personnel adjustments, time in the system, etc.  

So I do expect Brady to bring a new look and energy as HC to the offense especailly with the slate of weapons and talent around Josh right now.  I think its more about its entirely his vision now and the personnel upgrades than it was McD "holding" the offense back like people often try and make a case for.  I mean the Bills are the highest scoring offense in the NFL during the McD and Allen era since 2020, its not like we were conservative.  

I think the area of the team that McD held us back the most on was the soft playoff defense that was historically bad in our playoff exits.  

eball certainly left the comment open to interpretation, and I think your interpretation is correct. Things change throughout the organization when the head  when the head coach changes because by definition, the head coach is in charge of the entire operation.

 

I think Brady built an offense on top of the foundation laid by Daboll and what's his name and at the direction of McDermott. Nothing at all unusual about that. Then a new head coach came in, and now the offense will follow his direction. It would be unusual if Brady continued to run the offense exactly as it had existed under McDermott. If there was any doubt, it went away when Carmichael was hired. That was a statement that Brady wanted to run an offense along the lines he had learned under Carmichael in New Orleans, however that may have been different from the offense that the Bills ran the last few years. 

 

I was really happy when Carmichael was hired, because it meant to me that Brady knew where he wanted to go. He didn't hire a young guy to work under Brady's tutelage; he hired a veteran whose philosophy he wanted in Buffalo, even though Brady would put his imprint on that offense, just as McDermott and any other head coach would do. 

 

Thanks to eball for noticing that comment. It says, as we've all suspected and hoped, that we going to see something new on the offensive side of the ball. Not just new, but something on top of what we've been used to. 

 

I think both on offense and on defense, we're going to see more variety, more looks. It should be a team that is more difficult to game plan against. 

[Chandler#81]

Great observation, E!

[Shaw66]

7 minutes ago, Augie said:

Having a legit outside WR changes what an offense can do. Beane finally got around to that since he will be shown the door next. 

I wish people would stop saying this. I think it's an incorrect take. I think the wideout room looked the way it did in 24 and 25 at the direction of McDermott. I don't think there is any possibility that McDermott was saying to Beane going into 24 and then again going into 25, "get me a wideout" and Beane chose not to because he didn't think it was necessary. It's almost certain that McDermott had a vision for an "everybody eats" passing game and said he'd prefer Beane spent resources in other areas. We know, for example, that it was the coaching staff that preferred Coleman. I don't believe it's a coincidence that as soon as McDermott was gone, Beane went out and got a legitimate #1.  

[SoMAn]

3 hours ago, eball said:

I don’t know if anyone else caught this, but Josh was asked what he wanted to accomplish at training camp this year. He talked about building the connection with DJ Moore, working on his mechanics, normal stuff…but then he made what I took to be a very telling statement. He said he’s learning more “as Joe opens his playbook up.”

 

This is the first time I’ve heard something that directly suggests Brady’s playbook was “limited” under McDermott. Now, was that because of the personnel they did or didn’t have, or because McD had more control than we were led to believe? I guess that’s up to your individual interpretation.

 

Anyway, I found it interesting.

 

Josh seems dialed in.

 

I took it to mean putting the vanilla preseason script in the dumpster and now we can dive into the big book. I don't doubt that Brady has developed more wrinkles for 2026. Why wouldn't he?

Certainly, personnel plays a role in assembling the offensive playbook. With a healthy Palmer, addition of WR1 DJ Moore, improved focus from Coleman, and 4 tight ends they like, it's almost a given that Brady has installed plays that will make the most of their skills. 

As I stated previously, I'm looking for more screens to Cook and Shakir than we've seen in recent years, using 3 tight ends and/or extra O-lineman.

 

Side note to this prediction: having an offense using power running, jumbo packages, and screens could make the team more viable if a backup QB was necessary for some reason. The idea that "if Josh missed significant time, we're through" might be overstated. 

 

I don't think there's necessarily too much to read into Josh's statement other than there will be new pages added to the playbook to give them more options. I'd be shocked if there wasn't. 

Edited September 2 by SoMAn

[transient]

4 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

eball certainly left the comment open to interpretation, and I think your interpretation is correct. Things change throughout the organization when the head  when the head coach changes because by definition, the head coach is in charge of the entire operation.

 

I think Brady built an offense on top of the foundation laid by Daboll and what's his name and at the direction of McDermott. Nothing at all unusual about that. Then a new head coach came in, and now the offense will follow his direction. It would be unusual if Brady continued to run the offense exactly as it had existed under McDermott. If there was any doubt, it went away when Carmichael was hired. That was a statement that Brady wanted to run an offense along the lines he had learned under Carmichael in New Orleans, however that may have been different from the offense that the Bills ran the last few years. 

 

I was really happy when Carmichael was hired, because it meant to me that Brady knew where he wanted to go. He didn't hire a young guy to work under Brady's tutelage; he hired a veteran whose philosophy he wanted in Buffalo, even though Brady would put his imprint on that offense, just as McDermott and any other head coach would do. 

 

Thanks to eball for noticing that comment. It says, as we've all suspected and hoped, that we going to see something new on the offensive side of the ball. Not just new, but something on top of what we've been used to. 

 

I think both on offense and on defense, we're going to see more variety, more looks. It should be a team that is more difficult to game plan against. 

I looked at that with slightly different nuance. I looked at it as, now philosophically unencumbered, Brady's offensive identity was already more aligned with what was run when he was on staff in NOLA. As such, Carmichael was the perfect person to help him run it as he assumed the role of HC. 

[BearNorth]

2 hours ago, atlbillsfan1975 said:

No fullback can also be taken as a sign this offense is going to be different. It sounds like the entire vibe of the team is more loose and aggressive. 

Yeah, and 4 tight ends, two of whom are basically very large WR's who can post up smaller DB's and LB's

[Augie]

11 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

I wish people would stop saying this. I think it's an incorrect take. I think the wideout room looked the way it did in 24 and 25 at the direction of McDermott. I don't think there is any possibility that McDermott was saying to Beane going into 24 and then again going into 25, "get me a wideout" and Beane chose not to because he didn't think it was necessary. It's almost certain that McDermott had a vision for an "everybody eats" passing game and said he'd prefer Beane spent resources in other areas. We know, for example, that it was the coaching staff that preferred Coleman. I don't believe it's a coincidence that as soon as McDermott was gone, Beane went out and got a legitimate #1.  

 

McD was the one who felt we didn’t have a SB roster, and that didn’t sit well with the powers that be. EVERYBODY knew our offense has lacked a real  outside threat, and they have only made half ass attempts in recent years to fill the role with players like Amari Cooper and Cooks. You can think what you’d like. 

 

 

.

Edited September 2 by Augie

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

3 hours ago, eball said:

I don’t know if anyone else caught this, but Josh was asked what he wanted to accomplish at training camp this year. He talked about building the connection with DJ Moore, working on his mechanics, normal stuff…but then he made what I took to be a very telling statement. He said he’s learning more “as Joe opens his playbook up.”

 

This is the first time I’ve heard something that directly suggests Brady’s playbook was “limited” under McDermott. Now, was that because of the personnel they did or didn’t have, or because McD had more control than we were led to believe? I guess that’s up to your individual interpretation.

 

Anyway, I found it interesting.

 

Josh seems dialed in.

 

 

I hope we still do that thing where when we play a bad team we run outside zone 20x a game.

[ganesh]

3 hours ago, eball said:

I don’t know if anyone else caught this, but Josh was asked what he wanted to accomplish at training camp this year. He talked about building the connection with DJ Moore, working on his mechanics, normal stuff…but then he made what I took to be a very telling statement. He said he’s learning more “as Joe opens his playbook up.”

 

This is the first time I’ve heard something that directly suggests Brady’s playbook was “limited” under McDermott. Now, was that because of the personnel they did or didn’t have, or because McD had more control than we were led to believe? I guess that’s up to your individual interpretation.

 

Anyway, I found it interesting.

 

Josh seems dialed in.

 

we had piss poor WRs last year. No separation, no outside speed, injuries.  When you are throwing 1-yard screens or swing passes to RBs, anything beyond that will be opening the playbook.  We should stop blaming McDermott for everything in the past seasons

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

Both Brady and Carmichael learned under Payton who was certainly more offensively innovative so not shocked to hear this. Seemed last couple of years once Brady became OC, offense was geared towards run first.

[Einstein]

55 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

I think the wideout room looked the way it did in 24 and 25 at the direction of McDermott. 

 

Based on what evidence do you think this?

 

As Augie said, McDermott was the one who was complaining about the roster. It was Beane and Pegula who were defending the roster.

 

There is absolutely zero evidence that McDermott told Beane not to get a quality wide receiver. Such a preposterous idea.

[Royale with Cheese]

I'm excited that Shakir will be able to run routes more than a yard.  

[corta765]

3 hours ago, H2o said:

I think this is the biggest part of what led to Josh's comments. Do I think things were limited by McDermott on offense? Yes, but I don't think it was the same type of friction that we saw between McDermott and Daboll.

I'll actually give McD a bit of credit as the NFL went from passing like crazy 2020 back towards a heavy rushing style attack because that is what defenses allowed. Buffalo took advantage and the offense was still lethal regardless. Brady may have preferred a bit more aggression then Sean and that was a product of the type of D McD preferred and how the talent drain on D since 2022 forced a different approach. So in that regard I can see Brady being able to open the throttle more, but when your head coach has a certain style D you do have to match the offense to some degree with it. And with that said 2025 was the first year I would say the defense under McD was truly bad as many of the basics like tackling became an issue that prior was not a problem. 

It has been said a lot that unfortunately for Sean the only way to really change the defense was his removal even if the offense was pretty much on par for where the league is going minus ie upgrading at WR which they did.

[strive_for_five_guy]

4 hours ago, eball said:

I don’t know if anyone else caught this, but Josh was asked what he wanted to accomplish at training camp this year. He talked about building the connection with DJ Moore, working on his mechanics, normal stuff…but then he made what I took to be a very telling statement. He said he’s learning more “as Joe opens his playbook up.”

 

This is the first time I’ve heard something that directly suggests Brady’s playbook was “limited” under McDermott. Now, was that because of the personnel they did or didn’t have, or because McD had more control than we were led to believe? I guess that’s up to your individual interpretation.

 

Anyway, I found it interesting.

 

Josh seems dialed in.

 

Could be both.  I agree that Josh has extra motivation this season, not only because his clock his ticking but he probably wants to make Joe look good in his first season as head coach too.

[Shaw66]

45 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

McD was the one who felt we didn’t have a SB roster, and that didn’t sit well with the powers that be. EVERYBODY knew our offense has lacked a real  outside threat, and they have only made half ass attempts in recent years to fill the role with players like Amari Cooper and Cooks. You can think what you’d like. 

 

 

.

As I said, I just can't imagine that McDermott believed he needed a real outside threat and didn't go to war with Beane after Beane gave him no one to replace Diggs for two consecutive years. There was no real evidence of any rift between the two, so it seems to me the only conclusion is that McDermott told Beane he would prefer is resources were spent in other areas. 2024 draft was Keon Coleman, defense, defense, Ray Davis. 2025 was defense, defense, defense, defense, defense. During those two years, the only wideout free agents Beane signed were failed first-round picks and guys without deep speed.  I don't see how a guy with well-defined ideas like McDermott would allow that to happen if he thought a real outside threat was essential.

[Einstein]

Just now, Shaw66 said:

As I said, I just can't imagine that McDermott believed he needed a real outside threat and didn't go to war with Beane after Beane gave him no one to replace Diggs for two consecutive years.

So you can't imagine that McDermott wanted a real outside threat but Beane wouldn't do it.

But you CAN somehow imagine that Beane knew we desperately needed a real outside threat, but refused to do it because McDermott wanted Amari Cooper and Brandon Cooks instead?

Some of you are truly burying your head in the sand. And that's not even including the reports from long-standing and respected Buffalo/NFL writers that state McDermott DID go to war with Beane/Pegula about the roster. 
 

Edited September 2 by Einstein

[Kirby Jackson]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

I wish people would stop saying this. I think it's an incorrect take. I think the wideout room looked the way it did in 24 and 25 at the direction of McDermott. I don't think there is any possibility that McDermott was saying to Beane going into 24 and then again going into 25, "get me a wideout" and Beane chose not to because he didn't think it was necessary. It's almost certain that McDermott had a vision for an "everybody eats" passing game and said he'd prefer Beane spent resources in other areas. We know, for example, that it was the coaching staff that preferred Coleman. I don't believe it's a coincidence that as soon as McDermott was gone, Beane went out and got a legitimate #1.  

 

19 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

Based on what evidence do you think this?

 

As Augie said, McDermott was the one who was complaining about the roster. It was Beane and Pegula who were defending the roster.

 

There is absolutely zero evidence that McDermott told Beane not to get a quality wide receiver. Such a preposterous idea.

I think that there is an important distinction between “at the direction of McDermott” and “on McDermott’s watch.” I certainly don’t think McDermott was like, “hey Brandon, give me the worst WRs you can find.” It becomes more of did he allow that to happen? Did Brady allow that to happen? Did Beane? Basically, who is to blame for that “everybody eats” nonsense? The answer is almost certainly a little bit of all of them. 
 

Improving the WR room (or any room), comes at the expense of somewhere else. That’s true on every team and at every position. The GM, HC, and coordinators all play a role here. I leave out the position coaches b/c they are all lobbying for better guys in their room. So while the Bills didn’t try to have a bad WR group, they were okay with it being bad to be better other places. They made a decision in 2025 to not take a WR before pick 240 and to sign Josh Palmer while letting Samuel go. They didn’t draft an offensive player until their 6th pick number 173 overall. That was a choice that they made.
 

If you gave them all truth serum, they’d tell you, “this is going to be a terrible WR group but we can manage around it.” If they’re being honest, they knew that. The “managing around it” piece though is where we get back to an organizational philosophy. This is some Beane, some McDermott, but even some Brady and Babich. They decided that they were better off adding Hairston, Sanders, Jackson, Walker and Hancock. Maybe if they could “do it over” they would. Maybe they wouldn’t. I don’t think that they “decided” to have bad WRs as much as they “decided” that injecting some youth into the defense was more important. They were willing to accept garbage WRs in exchange for an improved, young, inexpensive defense. How much influence each person had on that is debatable. The part that isn’t up for debate is that they all played a role in that decision.

Edited September 2 by Kirby Jackson

[Simon]

Just now, Einstein said:

We have reports from long-standing and respected Buffalo/NFL writers that state McDermott DID go to war with Beane/Pegula about the roster. 

 

I don't doubt he complained about the roster.

But I don't believe for a second that the WR position was what he would have been complaining about.

Unless he was upset and thought they needed more blocking out there instead of Brandin Cooks.

[yall]

2 hours ago, Wizard said:

As long as there are less predictable 3-5 yard behind the Line-of-Scrimmage passes to our wide receivers, this is a good opportunity.

I don't have any evidence beyond the eye test to back this up (and I'm also careful not to read too much into the preseason) but it seems like with the small sample set of three games, they are doing a lot more down field than we've seen in a while. 

 

I hope this translates to the regular season, and we see a lot less throws at or behind the sticks.