We are near enough the end that we can draw some conclusions. They are not likely to come as a great surprise: it's been pretty clear for a while what this season has been about.
1) The defense is fine and dandy, not the #1 defense in the league overall, I reckon, but good enough to compete at even the highest level.(An ability to knock over tomato cans, as they put it in the boxing game, is not a sure indication of greatness.) There are still too many bonehead miscues relating to too many men on the field, keystone Cops sub patterns, and so on. These might be attributable to the confused and I think perhaps confusing coaching setup. If there is a coaching deficiency behind the slop, we are likely not in a position to know who is at fault. All we can know is that it's one of those guys wandering around with clipboards. Maybe Bill's kid is the culprit, but if so THAT is certainly never going to to come to light, lol. No matter, though, really: the defense is good, better than good enough.
2) I guess we have become accustomed to something remarkably like perfection on special teams over the years. This year: not so perfect, but honestly it's probably still at a level where it's more frustrating than actually damaging to our chances. Given his obsession with ST play, I suppose Bill might shake things up a little in the coaching department, it'll be hard to replace the cultural touchstone that is Matthew Slater, and something has gone goofy with the punter, but overall I'd call the special teams not quite good enough but fixable. Schooler is a hoot to watch.
3) The offense: Oh dear, it'll be hard to please those here who confuse honest criticism with trolling and feel you're not a "true fan" unless you limit yourself to addle-brained happy talk, but I'll try anyway.
The offense is lousy. By a number of significant measures, it is the worst in the league. The quarterback this year (the Mac one, not the Zack one) is...lousy. He's playing lousy. He has his ups and down, but only rarely rises above the "barely good enough" category. Sorry again, but by a number of significant measures, he is the worst starter in the league.
So who's to blame, how fixable is it, and how does the fixing get done?
Mac: This year should have been devoted to developing and evaluating our first-round qb (and all the other newer guys on the team). Neither happened, because the coaching was so abysmally bad on the offensive side of the ball that no development took place - there was instead very significant regression - and the offense was so clueless/inept/ill-designed/incompletely assimilated/sloppy/lazy/etc. that no reliable or fair evaluation of Mac is possible. I think I am stating the obvious: no? Bill's mistake with the offense this year was just a colossal one. Any coach without Bill's record and standing would and should be fired for it. So,
Bill: Bill did a lousy job this year in a number of respects. His work as GM has remained sub-par for years. Sorry, adoring Fans of Bill, it just has. I wish we could fire Bill the GM - there is every reason to do so - but he shares a hoodie with Bill the Coach, so I guess that's that. I hope the Krafts at least continue to pressure him to be less unilateral about that aspect of his work. Again, though, I have to be honest: I'd try to find a way to get Bill the GM out of there except in an advisory capacity from a coach's perspective. Bill the coach, notwithstanding his deeply stupid (yep, stupid) mismanagement of the offensive coaching situation this year is obviously a keeper. He's Bill, so.....
Matt and Joe: Give 'em each a nice title, then ignore them completely. If at any point a knack for rocketry become relevant, Bill can rethink.
Zappe: Zappe outplayed Mac this year. The facts, I think, really permit no other evaluation. That does not mean of course that he will ultimately be the better qb. Again: no honest evaluation of any of the qb's was possible this year. Given that he has outplayed a first-rounder this year, I do think Zappe has earned a shot in fair competition. I suspect he would lose that competition, to be honest, but I think he has earned the right to participate in it.
Next year: Fire Matt and Joe. Draft a couple big fat guys who can play O-line. Don't draft anybody under 315 pounds until the third round or so. It'd be nice to have a more dynamic receiving corps, but I don't see that as a critical need, and maybe with another year and better overall coaching of the offense. one or two of the present receivers will reveal themselves to be better than we think they are. Do we still need one more speedy linebacker? I don't know. But the O-line MUST be better.
Overall, this year has been a disappointment, not because of the record or the fact that we likely won't get to play cringing cannon fodder in the playoffs, but because evaluation and development of the team, certainly of the offense this year, has been largely impossible because of Bill's failure effectively to manage the team. I hope ol' Bob tells him that: straight up.
So, do I mind? Nah. I've been a fan since they were the Boston Patriots. They've been bad before, then they got good. They're kinda bad now; they'll be good again. Sorry if that's not cheery enough for the fanboys and girls out there.
Who's gonna win Sunday? The Bills, probably. It'd be fun to be surprised, but the ending of this year just isn't nearly as important as the beginning of next year.
