SageAgainstTheMachine

True, but certain teams are paid attention no matter what. It mostly has to do with recognizable stars, though, and not the size of the market. If the Bills are pedestrian and start the season 2-3, they'll do so with incredible anonymity. If the Browns (formerly in the same boat) start a pedestrian 2-3, Johnny Manziel will be gettting headlines.

I could only see those numbers happening if Bernard gets injured, but I do like Hill a lot. My bold prediction is that the AFC East will be decided by 1 game or tie breakers.

Looking back at those Jauron teams, how did they get to 7 wins?

I don't think he's ranking the teams. It's an article about a large group of "bottom feeders" and he happens to mention the Bills first. Barnwell is most disparaging toward the Raiders in this article, who he mentions last. That said, it's all kinds of dumb analysis. The BEST case scenario is that our starting QB fails?

Jordan Palmer may not have been around for long, but at least we know that he taught Chris Hogan how to wide receive while he was here.

I'm not going to bash you, ex-fan. Because you're not an ex-fan. I believe that you've convinced yourself you're rooting for the Steelers. I even believe you watch them instead of the Bills on Sunday afternoons. I get that. Must be kinda nice. I don't believe for a second that you don't feel more (good or bad) when you check the Bills score. I don't believe that you'd feel good if the Steelers beat the Bills head to head. I don't believe that you'd refrain from cheering on the Bills if they found themselves in playoff contention. Why? We can't rationalize our emotions or simply decide that they don't exist, and sports fanship is usually emotional. Hope to see you back here soon, Bills fan.

There have been important games. It's just that we've lost pretty much all of them. Remember 2008, when we were 5-1?

As I've been saying, the success of this trade depends more on EJ Manuel than Sammy Watkins. If Sammy goes for 1,500 yards and 12 TDs and we go 5-11 and we STILL need our franchise QB (and if this sounds implausible, look at the Browns and Gordon) then we'll probably remember the trade as a failure. If, God forbid, Sammy sucks and/or proves injury prone it'll be disastrous. If Sammy is great and EJ takes the reins of this team for the next several years, it'll be remembered as a good move. Here's hoping we open door number 3!

I picked the full season choice, but I guess it really depends on the size of the struggle. If EJ looks bad for a game and throws a couple picks, it's not time to panic. If he looks like a bottom-tier QB for a few weeks in a row, I wouldn't blame the staff for trying to save their jobs.

Off season is over in 5 days. I, for one, can't wait.

There are plenty of guys with greater ceilings, but Orton has to be top 3 in terms of this season alone. Strangely enough, I would've picked Shaun Hill as the top backup, but now he's forced into the starter role. Dude has a 41/23 touchdown to interception rate for his career and an 86 QB rating. Orton's is 79.9. However, Orton has more experience as a starter.

I understand that, I just think that there are better guidelines when it comes down to a single game. If you were talking about an entire season, I'd put more weight on the number of touchdowns and especially the TD/INT comparison. Things normalize over 16 games, and if EJ can't put up, say, 24 TDs this season it'll be telling.

Number of passing TDs over the course of one game isn't very telling. Overall success of the offense is. I mean, if Manuel leads them down to the 2 yard line a couple times and Fred pushes it in for the actual score is that somehow a debit against EJ? If we're going to talk statistical milestones, I'd love to see 65% completion with at least 7.0 yards per attempt.

I think it depends on if he goes up there before or after Josh Reed.

I have no doubt that Moeaki injured himself stretching to catch one of EJ's errant passes in practice. When will the madness end?

Another good strategy is to focus on getting wide receivers from offenses that put up a lot of yards and points. It's often tempting to take a WR from Cleveland, Buffalo, Jacksonville, etc. because they have #1 status, but it's a safer bet to take the #2 or #3 option from Denver, Dallas, etc. Emmanuel Sanders will score more points than Sammy Watkins. Strong chance he's the next Gronk. Some players are steering clear because the Eagles still use Celek on most downs, but Ertz is a serious red zone threat. I think he scores double digit TDs even if he doesn't break 800 yards.

Prioritize the top 3 quarterbacks and the top 10 running backs. If those become quickly unavailable (ie. you draft toward the end of the first round) get yourself a couple elite WRs. If you're picking first overall, probably go with LeSean McCoy. As somebody said, go for a kicker in the last round. Defense too, unless you want to absolutely make sure you get Seattle. Some of my sleepers: Devonta Freeman, Zach Ertz, Travis Kelce, Kelvin Benjamin, Allen Robinson Oh, and if you can stomach taking Patriots, try to get Shane Vereen in the 4th round. He'll have his share of 20 point games this season.

You gotta be joking. He's a play maker and pretty much the only guy that made the second half of last season watchable.

Bunch of whiners on this board. For a couple years you yearned for Mallett to back up Fitzpatrick, and now that it happens you complain!

I've bemoaned our TE situation in the past, too, but Chandler has made improvements to his game each season in my opinion. He's one of the guys this offense can actually hang their hats on, though it'd sure be nice to have a superstar.

I have to say, the whole thing is seeming rather like the Edwards-Fitz situation in 2010. Somebody in the Bills organization had a major conniption over the QB situation (and rightfully so) during the preseason. Only Lewis and Tuel were sent packing, but EJ isn't immune.

Here's why yesterday's game mattered to me - the last three quarters featured guys on both sides of the ball fighting for their careers, fighting to capture the 53rd spot on their team's roster and realize a dream. That's a strong motivation and the Bills reserves looked absolutely flat. Especially the offensive line. Doesn't that speak to some kind of team-wide culture problem? I was impressed by three Bills: Brandon Spikes, Anthony Dixon, and Landon Cohen . Three veterans who have been part of winning cultures.

Moorman is really puzzling me. I understand how age would affect his ability to boom it 65 yards from the end zone, but it's beyond me why a wily old punter would be getting worse at directional kicking and placing the ball at the 5. He's essentially a mascot at this point.

Dubs, you're definitely onto something, which is that teams should punt less frequently. I can't stand seeing a punt from the opponent's 40 yard line with 3 yards left to go. And coaches, for the most part, know that they're playing against the odds by punting. They also know that the typical football fan will want to crucify their ass if the smart tactic fails, so they play conservatively. One caveat I'd add is that game-situation plays a role. If you're ahead by 10 points with 6 minutes left to go, I think that the correct move is pinning the opponent at their own 10 yard line and letting the clock work against them.

Wouldn't you need a good OL to do that?