As we all know, this season didn’t end the way we’d hoped. The number of flaws were exposed by good and not so good teams through out the season. Yes we were a few drops (Davis in Miami and against the Jets and Knox against the Vikings) from being undefeated in the regular season. But also we have to remember barely beating Cleveland, NE and Miami in games that should not have been close. Even the second Jets game was scary until the end. The concerns were there. The fact that a third string QB from Miami could almost beat us (and put up 31 points) at home in a playoff game was a warning. The fact that a good QB in Burrows could pick us apart in the last game has created a hysteria around where this team goes in the future. Here are my suggestions:
1. Keep Dorsey for another year. Yes I am not a big fan of his play calling this year. Yes I feel that the majority of his success was due to the innate abilities of Josh Allen being able to make unbelievable throws as well as being able to make lemonade out of lemons with his scrambling ability. That said, it was Dorsey’s first year as a OC. Hopefully he’s learned from his mistakes. Hopefully he learns how to incorporate running backs like Hines and Cook into his offensive scheme. 26 receptions combined for two guys who are built to be pass-catchers out of the backfield isn’t anywhere near enough. In addition, it seems to me that he got way too cute at times. Remember the 1st Miami game. Second and goal at the three. He tries a strangely designed Josh Allen run off-tackle and then throws the ball two more times incomplete. Similar situation in the first Cincinnati game. 1st and goal from the ten he gets a seven yard gain from a run by Cook. Second and goal from the three and he has Allen throw on both downs leading to a FG instead of a TD. The inadequacies of this offense on 3rd and short early in the season were horrific. At one point they’d failed to convert 19 of 20 3rd and 3 or less plays for 1st downs. It wasn’t until he finally started using Josh’s abilities to QB sneak the ball that we eventually started converting these short yardage situations. The fact that Dorsey learned from these early season failures gives me hope that he can evolve into a good if not great OC. Give him another year.
2. Fire Leslie Frazier now. IMHO this should have been done last year after “13 seconds”. How he could allow the Chiefs to go almost 40 yards in two plays was inexcusable. It cost us a chance at the Super Bowl. It ranks right up there with The Music City Miracle in terms of blown coaching decisions. A simple solution would have been to tackle all five receivers, rush nobody, and let Mahomes run around trying to make a play thus allowing sufficient time to run off the clock and prevent the 1st of the two large gains from happening. The fact that he didn’t do that last year is even more magnified by the fact that he allowed the same thing to happen this year against the same team. People tend to forget that just before half-time of this year’s Chiefs game the Bills had just taken a 10-7 lead. There were 16 seconds left. The Bills squib kicked (which, by the way should have been done in last year’s game v KC) which resulted in four seconds running off the clock. Chiefs get the ball with 12 seconds left at their own 28. 11 seconds later they kick a FG to tie the game. The fact that Frazier didn’t learn for the prior year’s debacle speaks volumes. Stubbornness is a bad character trait in any human. For a veteran coach to make that same mistake against the same team after all of the hullabaloo from last year is inexcusable.
People who like Frazier and defend him point to the fact that the Bills defense has been near the top the past three years in points allowed and yards allowed. The fat that he has six first round draft picks in his starting lineup might be part of the reason for that success. The fact that his playoff defense gave up a 19 point lead to Houston in 2019, gave up 38 points to KC in 2020 and gave up 42 points to KC in 2021 combined with the putrid performance this past week against Cincinnati, to me, shows his inability to scheme a defense against top offenses in this league. His defense was gutted in its final the last three years. The photo of how his defense lined up on the third and 4 call with 2:47 seconds left with the ball at their 14 yard line speaks volumes. Seven defenders at the line of scrimmage with no defenders within seven yards of the wide receivers. A quick toss to Chase results in an 8 yard gain. Just stupidity to believe that that alignment would have any chance of successfully stopping that third down play.
Lastly, how many times have we seen and criticized McDermott for calling defensive time outs this year? What hasn’t been mentioned, however, is why they were called. How many times was the defense just not prepared for the offense’s play-call which necessitated the time out? How many times this year did we have 12 men on the field defensively? It was twice this past weekend. The second of which resulted in a time out to prevent the penalty from being called. Leslie Frazier has a reputation for being a top DC around the league is all we hear from broadcasters. He’s failed in big game after big game to demonstrate his greatness. Get somebody in here who is young and innovative. Fire him now.
3. Draft offensive linemen, don’t sign/extend Poyer, Edmunds and Oliver and spend any extra money on a free agent wide receiver. Our o-Line sucks. Dawkins was beaten like a drum last week by Hendrickson. He had 12 penalties this year which included 6 holding, 3 false start, 1 illegal shift and 1 illegal down-field. The facts, however, show that four more holding penalties were either declined or off-set by opponent’s flag. He had 11.7% of teams penalties ranking 7th in the league. He makes $10,000,000/year. He continually gets beaten by good pass rushers. Against Cinci. he gave up one sack, had two holding penalties (one of which was declined) and gave up numerous pressures. On the other side we have Spencer Brown. To say he had a good year would be a huge stretch. The fact that he misses training camp, had a bad back and is only in his second year in the league makes me believe he will be better next year when healthy. The guards are abysmal. Bates, Saffold, Boettger, etc… are as bad as any group in the league. They don’t pass protect well nor do they run-block well. We need to spend some draft capital on the offensive line. Other than flop Cody Ford and Dawkins, we have not drafted a lineman in the first two rounds in years. The best lineman we drafter and only Pro Bowler (Wyatt Teller) was, for whatever reason, traded. We should spend our first three or four picks on the O-Line.
The facts are that we don’t have enough money cap-wise to keep everyone next year. Edmunds and Poyer will want big money in free agency and they both deserve it. Oliver has had his fifth year option aken by the Bills. I say cut him or trade him. We need a speed wide receiver much more than we need these guys who will make way too much money for what they do for the team. Darius Slayton, Marquise Goodman and DJ Clark may be good low cost options. One of these guys added to the mix with Diggs, Davis (great upside but needs to catch the ball) and Shakir would be tremendous. Maybe draft a WR in round two or three to add to this group.
While we have issues I really believe we can still compete for a championship. We will need our staff to trust these young guys a bit more (Elam and Benford over Jackson for example). It won’t be easy but this offseason should let us know whether Beane is as good a GM as we need to succeed.