All_Pro_Bills

The Jets deal was just the best scenario for the Colts. They don't need a QB assuming Luck returns and plays as he did previously. Taking the Jets offer gives them options that taking the Bills offer did not. If all 4 QB's go in the top 5 picks (Browns, Giants, Jet, Broncos) then the Colts potentially have their choice of Chub or Barkley or a top position player of their choosing and 3 2nd round picks (4,5, and 17 in rd 2). If 1 or more of the QB's falls to 6 they can still trade out of that pick with the Bills or some other team and acquire even more picks in 2018 or 2019. Taking the Bills offer of 3 for 12, 22, and some other picks would mean they were likely done gathering picks unless a specific player dropped and some team wanted to move up a couple slots on draft night. It didn't matter what Beane had to offer for #3 in rd 1 since it could not match any multiple trade back situation scenarios the Colts find themselves in going into the draft.

I feel pretty optimistic going into the free agency and draft period for the first time in a long time. I have faith in this management and coaching group to identify and address specific roster needs while managing the cap better than previous regimes. This time it just looks and feels different. Making the playoffs was the result of a series of fortunate events topped off by the Bengals stunning 4th down play. I'm glad the drought is over and its one piece of baggage we no longer have to carry around.

Maybe nobody else see's it this way but I'll offer a slightly different perspective on the hit that knocked Gronkowski out of the game. I think taking him out of the game actually aided their comeback. It required Brady to change his reads and progression and look elsewhere for a receiver. Jacksonville had the big TE more or less under control to that point. They practiced all week to focus on taking away Gronk. Now with him gone the defense needed to adjust their coverage to other receivers, alter their secondary calls, they didn't seem prepared, and they didn't do a good job. It's obvious the Patriots lead a charmed life. Hope I'm wrong and I hate to say it but I see no way the Eagles are going to win the SB. Throwing 38-21 out there.

I hope the moral of the story is nobody will be talking about the 'music city miracle illegal forward pass' any longer. Thank you Saints.

That was the longest 1 second ever. it was almost like time travel. Maybe the NFL needs to do what the NHL does with using off ice officials from other cities? As for the on-field officials there is certainly a bias at play and for some reason the officials seems to be intimidated or afraid to call the game straight with Brady/Belichik. After seeing this I decided the Saints are the only team that might beat them. I expect the Vikings would crap the bed as the 'home' SB teams and the Eagles w/o Wentz are not the same team. NE has had the Steelers number for quite some time, they don't match up well on defense against Brady, and why expect anything to change next Sunday? Jags have no offense. Brees might be the only QB left that can put up enough points and the Saints defense has been good lately too.

Absolutely spot on. I'd wager if the Bills 'hit' on the draft and free agency on the offensive side of the ball Dennison's play calling is going to look a lot better. But that won't necessarily mean he's a good OC. Not being in the room with management and the coaches I don't have a real good idea on that. All I see is what happens on Sunday. What I see is an offense that was mostly ineffective with a few bright spots throughout the season. Checking scoring I found it amazing the Bills offense did not score a 3rd quarter TD in the last 9 games and only 3 in the 4th (plus 1 in OT against the Colts) which came during garbage time in routs by the Saints and Chargers. To some extent systems and processes are overrated because you also need talent to make them work. There's a balance to be found and its not there right now. An infusion of talent is needed and then likely better use of them by the OC..

Absolutely to me the most critical mistake the Bills made all game given the time left, field position, and score. It took the Bills 27 seconds to snap the ball rather than having the situational awareness to hurry up, line up, and run a play. I thought it was over after that.

I guess it depends on how you define success. To me, making the playoffs and taking many steps in the right direction to put a competitive team on the field is success. Sure there's only ultimately one winner so I suppose by your definition the super bowl loser should be viewed the same as the Browns at 0 and 16. The Bills need an infusion of talent to go deep in the playoffs and still had opportunities in this game to move on. That says a lot for the effort and what could be a solid foundation. Upgrades on D in the front-7, O line, maybe another WR and RB, and of course QB. A lot of complaints about Dennision's play calls so we'll see on that.

Who is Colin Cowherd?

We get at least one playoff game, something only the most optimistic among us could have expected. They're playing with house money here. Let's just enjoy it and save the over-analyzing for later.

I actually feel pretty good at how the year went for the Bills on and off the field. The way I'm looking at it, win or lose today along with the outcome of the 3 other games impacting the AFC wild cards, the ending of this season is far and away better than last year. A playoff spot would be great and not getting it would be disappointing but for the first time in a long time entering the off season this team looks like its headed in the right direction. Now if the Sabres can turn it around the rest of winter/early spring might get more interesting.

I don't think its fixed but I do believe the officials are influenced in the way they call the game by certain teams and certain players. Star power. From what I see all sport leagues 'protect' their star players and headline franchises. Jordan never got called for traveling, Crosby gets away with anything, in baseball the size and location of the strike zone shifts depending on who is pitching, and in the NFL hit Brady a millisecond after the balls gone and its an automatic 15 along or you see Tom glaring at the ref from the ground or in his face if no call is made. PI, holding, possession calls, judged by shifting and different standards. Be honest, with the Benjamin play do you think if it was the Patriots that scored the very same way the replay process would have reversed that call? Absolutely no way! I can understand the argument that all's fair and equal and all this fixed and influenced discussion is just sour grapes and maybe a case of a sore loser. Maybe that's all there is to it. But the fair argument to me is like a parent who insists they treat all their kids fair and equal but the kids know better. Mom and dad refuse to believe it and say you are wrong that your sister gets away with everything and you don't.

There were two problems with this call. The replay office in NY overruled the officials on the field which called it a catch and TD. I thought replay showed it was a catch, control of the football and 2 feet down on the field of play and that evidence to reverse the call was inconclusive at best or non-existent. But they reversed the call. The second point is the real issue I have with the officiating. If the roles were reversed. the teams changed uniforms, all other things being equal, and the Patriots came down and scored a TD with 2 seconds in the half is there anyone alive watching NFL football right now that doesn't believe they would have confirmed the ruling and awarding NE the TD? I don't think the refs are paid off or told to officiate the games in favor of NE but there is definitely some serious level of intimidation and coercion going on here. Getting fortuitous calls, and non-calls like never, ever getting holding on the o-line, from the ref's time after time cannot just be a coincidence.

I really think PI needs to be changed from a spot foul to a 10 yard penalty. The current rule gives the officials too much power to decide the outcome of the game on what is obviously a judgment call that is applied in a totally inconsistent manner. With some teams mysteriously being on the right side of the calls all the time, getting the calls and not getting called. It seems lIke part of the playbook of some teams to 'draw' these fouls by chucking the ball downfield instead of something that happens as a result of the play, gaming the rules. Brady certainly does this and to their credit it works. As for plays that decided the game 15 yard sack, Clay's drop, bogus replay, and missed FG from 50 were it for me.

I'd say the Bengals game but you can balance that out by the win over Atlanta when that team was in a funk. I expect Baltimore to win this week, Tennessee to lose to the Rams, and the Jet to beat the Chargers at home. I hope the Bills put up a good fight against the Patriots but unless something unexpected happens, like Brady get carted off in the 1st quarter, they will likely come up short. That should set up a win and in against Miami.

The thing is its no secret what NE does on offense. They've been doing pretty much the same thing for 15 years with a few exceptions like the Ravens and the Giants in the SB games few teams have had any success. Certainly the Bills have not. You'd think after 15 years of watching your defense get run over twice a year one of the many regimes they've had would devise an effective defensive strategy and identify and acquire the necessary defensive personnel to run it. But nothing. From his first encounter with NE I get the feeling that McDermott has a pretty good handle on what it will take but at this point the Bills personnel doesn't match up well with that. Sure you need to get pressure up the middle on Brady. To me that means lining up big athletic DT's inside the guards over the center and having the DE's take an inside rush rather than get pushed around the pocket as you see all the time. And when bringing the blitz right up the middle. Force Brady off his spot, Of course since he reads 'D' well this leaves you exposed outside to run or pass action and in the middle of the field so you need fast and instinctive linebackers that can read and cover a lot of ground which the Bills don't have yet. My concern next week is the offense. The defense for its lack of match-up did a decent job against NE in the 1st game holding Brady to 3 1st half FG's and the 2 TD's in the 2nd half. It was the offense that did close to nothing.

Watching the play and the replay the blow to White's head was an obvious intent to injure. If that criteria doesn't warrant some kind of fine or suspension then what does? But through some warped logic from the officials the Bills were the team penalized for 15 yards on that play and he wasn't ejected. I'm pretty sure the league will take no action. Just amazing. Now when one of the Bills DB's blows out Gronk's knee with a low hit in the rematch you can bet it will be a different story from the league office.

A simple definition of a 'process' is a series of steps or actions that do something. In this case the process should be to build a championship caliber professional football team. So every action taken to this point by the organization should be part of the plan and not some one-off move. Ex., moving Darius should have been something on the checklist that was decided during the 'getting to know you' time before the season and when the opportunity came to make the trade with the Jags they executed that step. I expect that acquiring a QB to run the offensive should also be a step although its tough for me to see what it is at this point. As there are so few great QB's available I suspect they are in lock down mode when it comes to showing their hand. Professionally, I've worked on many large process changes and cultural transformations. Most of them make sense but very few are entirely successful. I think for a several reasons. The first is expectations and over-promising. These things take time but everyone gets impatient and wants instant results. Executives and stakeholders want to see those big cost savings and quality improvements. So they start measuring everything and driving behavior contrary to the plan. In the case of pro-ball it would be owner meddling to soon. And from a capability perspective either you know what your doing or you don't know what you are doing. A process doesn't make people smarter or more talented. Also most culture changes require a large turnover of personnel in an organization. In this case the 45 man roster. People know this and how motivated can they be expected to be knowing they are going to be replaced regardless of them 'buying in'? From my observations most cultural transformations fail because rather than adopting the new culture you get imitation of the culture and not the real thing. Based on what I've seen to this point I feel Beane and McDermott are going in the right direction while acknowledging a few gaffs along the way. Clearly we're in the turmoil phase of the transition. How they handle it is going to be important to adoption of the process. Admitting to the mistakes and doing some minor course corrections would be the best way to handle it now after 3 blowouts.

Team management and the coaching staff are at a key decision point. If you look at the next 3 games, Chargers, Chiefs, and Patriots, in the context of what we witnessed the last 2 weeks, it's hard not to conclude the Bills are going to be looking at 5-7 after that 3 game stretch. All 3 have pretty decent defenses and you can expect more of the same as the Jets and Saints defenses did to the Bills offense. 8, 9 in the box with McCoy hit 3 yard behind the line on almost every run and lots of short passes. And compounding the problem of a feeble offense, all of a sudden the Bills defense looks slow and tired. You go to Peterman now for a few reasons. 1) Let's be honest, this season is circling the drain now, 2) Tyrod is a real stand-up guy but he just doesn't have the 'it' a franchise QB needs, 3) you need to see if Peterman has 'it' or get enough good starts out of he to determine if he can develop into a franchise QB, 4) and if not you need to seriously start doing your homework on the QB draft class and understand what you have and what it will take to be/get into a position on the board to pick one.

I'm just not getting the logic of why a 5-2 team in a great position to land a playoff spot and possibly in the hunt for a division title would trade their starting left tackle and weaken the offensive line. Unless you get a player(s) back that can improve some other deficiency how will that help for 2017? Draft picks next year? No thanks. Glenn looks to be healthy now, playing well, the team has good depth for once at the position, and the offensive line is starting to gel with the new blocking schemes and line combinations. We have a good LT and they're not that easy to find and develop. When you strike gold, stop digging. Glenn at LT, Dawkins at RT.

Sounds like he might be a candidate to pick up the torch from Chris Berman. Would have really capped off the win to hear a 'nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills' on the ESPN recap last night. Unfortunately with the new crew the current ESPN coverage is a shadow of its former self.

I'll admit it. Watching the game and after many seasons of futility on the road against a good opponent I expected this to be one of those 'moral victory' moments. We've seen it many times for many seasons. When the Bills play a favored opponent tough only to lose the game at the end. Followed by gratuitous praise from the home team about how the Bills gave them all they could handle. Instead, a real victory with a 'W' in the standings with a great effort and smart play all around. At this point they are definitely raising expectations.

My view is the only way to come together around these social issues is is to have a very uncomfortable and honest conversation between all sides about the concerns, behaviors, and grievances of all parties to reach a common understanding of where to go from here. That's going to take some leadership and from where I sit we have no leaders on any side of the issues capable or willing to do that.

Whether by design or not you did the right thing by letting some time pass for the alcohol to leave your system. A beer is about .02 for blood alcohol so 4 beers in an hour would put you at .08 which is the legal limit in most states. To be safe you'd need to let 4 hours pass, 1 hour per drink, to be pretty certain the alcohol has left your system. As a matter of practice the smartest thing to do is don't drink and drive. And if you do have a drink or two at a friends house, a bar after work, or at an outdoor barbeque is might make sense to invest about $75 in a pocket sized breathalyzer test that you can get online or at pharmacies like CVS. While its not totally accurate it will give you a heads up not to drive. A few dollars spent now can avoid the potential of shelling out thousands later and will make sure you do the right thing and not endanger yourself or others. As tailgating season approaches its a good reminder to make sure if your attending a game that the designated driver is sober. As for me, I don't want to climb into a car with somebody that's intoxicated and over the legal limit and I'm not going to drive if I've been drinking. In your case the officer must have decided you were sober or wouldn't have blown a reading anywhere near the legal limit once he got you to the station and went through all the protocols for performing the breathalyzer test. Or he wasn't comfortable in how he'd argue probable cause for a traffic stop. The other factor at play here is these cases are big-time money makers for cities and towns. Big revenue generators. If you get busted and convicted you'll end up spending about $2K for a decent lawyer, 1K in fines and court costs, about $3K of insurance surcharges payable to the state, and maybe have to take 'classes' which might run you another $1K. Viewed from the municipalities perspective your a living ATM machine. Don't put yourself in that position to really screw up your finances. The other thing is breathalyzer machines do not directly measure your blood alcohol level. The machine derives an estimate of your level from a sample of your breath run through a series of mathematical algorithms hardcoded for a person of 'average' physiology. I'd say it with 100% certainty a professional athlete is not physiologically average. Things like the volume of red blood cells in your bloodstream can impact the real reading. That's why the blood test is much more accurate. The laws very from state to state and as I said at the top the best thing to do is avoid the situation altogether. But it wouldn't hurt to understand the details of the specific laws in your state before you get caught up in one of these situations guilty or innocent. Even if you didn't do anything it can be a major hassle. For example, you're at a bar happy hour after work and had a few drinks. You have one of those pocket testers and find out your over the legal limit at .10. So you decide to wait it out in your car for a couple hours to do the right thing or call a car service or somebody for a ride home. If a cop approaches you and checks you for signs of intoxication (probable cause some 'suspicious person' seen sitting in the parking lot for a long time) even though you didn't drive you can still be busted for DUI if your keys are in the ignition or in the vehicle. To avoid this you need to take the keys and throw them under the car. 99 times out of 100 you won't learn that until its too late.

With several very good QB prospects expected to be available for the draft this would be the time to be measurably worse. The schedule is tough and predicting records at this point is a crapshoot. All I ask is I see a well prepared, disciplined, and big-effort team on the field week after week. There's no shame in losing to a superior foe as long as you give it you best shot and don't beat yourself like this team did during the short Rex era. Getting focused, setting a plan for getting competitive longer-term, and perhaps getting the answer at QB then going into the 2018 season with a real shot at competing for the division or minimally a wild card would be the best of all worlds for me.