Another week, another loss and another abysmal performance from the Bills. From terrible play calling to terrible roster depth and preparation, this Bills team is just brutal to watch. The signs started early. Against the Ravens our defense was shredded through out. But for a magnificent second half from Josh Allen we would have lost badly. The next week was a game against a very bad Jets team and we played well enough to make a route. The next week cracks again began to show. Against a bad Dolphins team we consistently made enough errors on offense and defense to keep the game close. But for a brutal Tua interception on 2nd and 6 from the Bills 27 yard line this game could have been tied late in the fourth. Similar situation the following week against the Saints. The Bills were up 14-10 when the Saints had the ball at the Bills 5 yard line with 1:30 left in the half. The Saints would be getting the ball at the start of the second half so this was a huge opportunity for the “double-dip”. Luckily for the Bills the Saint’s offensive coordinator had a Brady Brain Cramp and decided to have his wide receiver throw a pass to a wide open receiver in the end zone which was picked off by Cole Bishop. In the second half we continued to keep the hapless Saints in the game and but for a replay reversal of a TD pass the Bills would have been losing with 9 minutes left in the game.
So we went into week five 4-0. At home against an up and coming Patriots team. We were favored by 8 points and lose by 3. Many claimed it was just a blip and the Bills would be fine. If you read my October 6th rant following that game you most assuredly would know that I had major concerns with both the play calling as well as the roster. Well I hate to say I told you so but I did. This team has major roster flaws and has an offensive coordinator who is way too cute, way too stubborn and way too incompetent. Let’s discuss:
Roster:
1. Wide Receiver: We have one of the best quarterbacks in the game. Before last night’s game Allen had the most time to throw of any QB in the league this year. In spite of that stat, his receivers were 28/32 in the league in separation. For those of you who don’t know what that means it means that Josh has time to throw but his receivers don’t get open. This is a team that drafted a WR with the 1st pick in the second round in 2024, signed Curtis Samuel to a $9M contract, signed Josh Palmer to a $9.5M contract, extended Shakir to a $15M/yr contract, traded up to draft Dalton Kincaid in the first round in 2023, signed Moore for $2.5M, have Dawson Knox earning $10.5M/yr and re-signed Gabe Davis.
In six games this year Moore has 4 catches, Knox has 7, Samuel has 3 and Coleman has 24, seven of which were in the opening game. Last night, Free Agent Tyrell Shavers tied with Shakir with 3 catches. That is just brutal production from wide receivers who have a QB like Josh Allen. Yes Palmer got hurt (again) and yes he stretched the defense on the first TD drive. That said, when was the last time that we completed a deep ball since the Baltimore comeback? Last night Josh was 15-26. Of the 11 incompletions 10 were as a result of an Atlanta player causing the incompletion, the other was an errant interception at the end of the half. EVERY OTHER pass that Josh threw which resulted in an incompletion was defensed by the Atlanta secondary. Again, these WR’s just don’t separate and get open. Why? is it lack of speed, route running or just lack of talent. When we drafted Coleman the book on him was he wasn’t fast and didn’t separate in college. Rather than trading up for Brian Thomas Jr or drafting speedy Xavier Worthy or grabbing Ladd McConkey who always seems to get open for the Chargers (82 catches for 1149 yards last year as a rookie), Beane, in his infinite wisdom drafted a guy who is not fast, doesn’t separate and has had issues dropping the ball and fumbling in his one plus year here.
Before the season started and before this year’s draft Beane was on WGR55 radio where he was challenged by host Jeremy White about the WR room and lack of playmakers. Beane went off on White, defending his wide receiver choices and blasting Jeremy for having the impunity to challenge him on air. Six games in it’s clear the Jeremy was correct. This team lacks talent in the second most important part of their offense. Josh Allen cannot do it all by himself. Beane has shown his incompetence in assessing WR talent. From signing guys like Harty and Sherfield to bringing back re treads like Beasley, Brown, McKenzie and Davis he has failed to give Josh competent talent at WR once Diggs was traded.
2. Defensive Secondary: After a great season last year Christian Benford has regressed this year. On the other side of the defense we drafted Hairston, a CB in the first round who sprained his MCL in preseason and was supposed to be out 2-4 weeks. We are ten weeks later and he still hasn’t practiced. We signed Tre’Davious White in the off season with the intent of playing him until Hairston was ready. The problem is that White wasn’t good when he left here. In addition, in the two years since he left he was a terrible cover CB. In the six games this year he’s been absolutely brutal. At safety, Beane continues to show his ineptitude. Taylor Rapp is not good. In fact he is brutal. Cole Bishop is inexperienced and not playing at the level needed. Last night he took a bad angle and whiffed on Bijon Robinson’s 81 yard TD run. The tackling in the Bills secondary has been brutal. Last year Rapp and Demar Hamlin were a bad duo. Rapp has gotten worse and Beane has done nothing to shore up this group.
3. Re-treads: For some reason Beane (and probably McDermott) have this belief that by bringing in players who’d previously played here that somehow their careers will be rejuvenated and they’ll play at a high level. Over the past three years they’ve brought back Beasley, John Brown, Poyer, Hyde, White, Jordan Phillips, Dane Jackson, Baylon Spector and more. None have produced at even a respectable level. In fact, White ($4.1M), Jackson ($.575M), Phillips $139K), Spector ($95K), Poyer ($69K), and Ciarlo ($69K) still have Dead Money on the cap from their PRIOR stints with the Bills. Absurd. In addition the Free Agent acquisitions since Poyer and Hyde 7 years ago have been nothing but busts. Name one Free Agent that this team has acquired since who has been an impact player? Just look at this year’s group: Bosa, White, Palmer, Davis, Hoecht (suspended), Ogunjobi (suspended) and Moore. None have done squat.
Beane needs to go. You need to be able to draft. You can’t have misses like Elam, Coleman, Bishop, Carter, Ray Davis, Basham, etc… You need to draft guys at the most valuable $$$ positions early so they are locked up. Just think about the WR spot. After QB’s, top WR’s make more money than any other position. Having a first round pick be a WR #1 locks that guy up for five years on his rookie deal. Dalton Kincaid has a cap hit of $3.6M/year. He’s locked for five years. Keon Coleman, due to the Bills trading down, was a second round pick and is only locked up for four years. If Coleman becomes the star the the Bills had hoped for, that extra year of control the Bill would have had if he’d been drafted one spot earlier (which the Bills had) will be worth $30-40M in that fifth year. Good GMs know that. Beane is not good.
Joe Brady: I’ve been very critical of Brady over the past year and a half. From last year’s play calling in the AFC championship game (Josh sneak left on fourth and a foot, without his tush-push lineup in the game and when he’d been stopped 3 of the last 4 times they’d tried that), to not having Cook on the field at the end of that game to the trick play that backfired in last year’s regular season loos to the Ravens, Brady has become predictable, and when not predictable, way too cute. Last night was a perfect example. In spite of not playing well the entire first half both offensively and defensively, the Bills had the ball, down seven with 12 minutes left in the game. They’d just had a huge momentum swing when Greg Rosseau blocked the Falcons chip shot field goal keeping it a one score game. Johnson for five and Cook for four. Third and one from their own 44. Two plays to get the first down. Josh on the sneak and again if it doesn’t work the first time? Easy call right? The last thing in the world that Brady would call would be that handoff to a receiver like he did with Knox last week and which he did with Moore against the Saints both of which didn’t work, right? There’s no way that knowing that the Bills were in four down territory he’d take a chance on a play that would get blown up and lose yardage right? Wrong!!! This idiot called the same play that Knox fumbled last week, this time to Moore who, you guessed it, fumbled and lost three yards leading to a punt. After last weeks game McDermott stated that they’d become “too cute” at times. Brady was specifically asked about this last week in an interview. He defended the call, of course, because he’s stubborn and stupid. Who in their right mind has Dawson Knox, a slow 6’5” 250lb TE run an end around? Who in their right mind, knowing what his boss had said last week about being too cute would run that same play again in this situation? Only an egotistic stubborn person would try to prove he was right last week (it would have worked had he not fumbled) by coming back and trying it again, only to fail again.Stupid arrogance.
In addition to this mind blowing play call a look at the play calling the rest of the game was very suspect. Are our receivers that bad or is the scheme the reason they don’t get open? The Falcons were playing man coverage all game-where was the rub play? Where was the quick slant? The entire game the Falcons blitzed Josh successfully. He would have been sacked 8-9 times had Josh not been a magician. Where was the quick read to the open spot when they blitzed? A perfect example of Brady’s ineptitude and cuteness was on the Bills second drive of the second half. On the first drive which led to a touchdown Cook carried the ball 5 times for 37 yards setting up a Knox TD pass. The Falcons blitz was useless against this run based offense. After forcing a Falcons punt on their next possession the ills took over down seven points with the ball at their own 20. Cook for 9, Cook for one and we again have a first down. Next play Josh throws and incompletion but the Falcons are called for holding. First down Cook up the middle for 6. Second down no gain. On third down the Falcons again are called for holding. First down at the Bills 46. Cook has been awesome on first down carries. Go to him again, right? Wrong. Josh is sacked for an 8 yard loss. In spite of that the Bill battle back to fourth and 1 1/2 yards from the Atlanta 46. Go under center here right and either run Cook, run Josh or fake the handoff and pass right? Wrong: shotgun, Josh is chased and tries to flip a sidearm toss to Johnson as he’s being dragged down. Terrible play calling.
Lastly, the Cook situation has gotten out of hand. They refuse to throw him the ball. After being targeted 1 times in the first four games (all wins) for 12 catches he was targeted once last week and none this week. Why? He is a dynamic receiver. With Palmer out Cook needed to be used in the pass game. The problem is that he’s not a great blocker so on passing downs Johnson comes in. How predictable can you get? Why wasn’t Cook on the field on the lst drive in last year’s AFC championship game against the Chiefs? Why wasn’t he on the field the Bills last drive last night trying to score to tie the game? Where is the wheel route to Cook? Where is lining Cook up in the slot against a linebacker? ONE TARGET in two games, both of which, not coincidentally were losses. 17 rushes for 87 yards last night and he’s not on the field when it matters-stupidity!!! The next time the Bills got the ball they were still only down 7. The running game had been terrific the second half. Cook was on a roll with 57 yards in 10 second half carries. First down at Bills own 33. Sack, unsuccessful screen (Told you so) to Johnson for no gain and incompletion deep to Moore. No Cook. Why? He was hot. Bills were running the ball well against man/blitz. Keep doing it until they stop you.
Brady has shown me that he lacks innovation, is stubborn to a fault, doesn’t design plays to create space for his receivers and is just overall bad. When was the last time a screen pass to a running back worked? How many times do we have to try that WR screen to Shakir which rarely works (see NE game when Bills had 1st and ten at NE 27 with 2:46 left in the game and Shakir, thankfully dropped it or it would have been a four yard loss)? How many times is Josh going to get hit because teams are figuring out Brady has no answers for a blitz in man-to-man coverage? Brady’s success has been as a direct result of having Josh Allen. Allen’s success has been in spite of Joe Brady.
This team is going nowhere with this roster and scheme. Maybe a miracle happens and the two suspended players come back and are studs. Maybe the rookie CB Hairston gets healthy and performs well. Maybe Rapp and Bishop get their shit together. Maybe Beane picks up a WR or CB in a trade like he did last year. Tons of maybe’s. All I know is that this team has one superstar in Allen, a star in Cook, a pretty good offensive line and a decent TE in Kincaid. There are no playmakers on defense. We need to score points. Just don’t see that happening with Brady.
Go Bills