All_Pro_Bills

Floyd was a great waiver pick-up by NE. Explaining the claim Belichik said later that he didn't know his blood alcohol level was around .21. But nobody followed up and asked him so now that you know that are you going to release him? LOL. Its was no-lose for the Pats. Floyd getting released now has something to prove and he'll be another good target for Brady entering the playoff. Now with a chance for a SB championship. And any legal action will likely be postponed to the off-season and NE has no legal or financial liability as he'll be a free agent. All they're on the hook for is the pro-rated amount of his 2016 contract. I'm surprised another AFC contender like the Steelers or KC didn't think to make a defensive claim to keep him away from Billy B. But I suppose that's what makes him the evil genius one step ahead playing chess while these other guys play checkers.

Injuries aside, the way Watkins has been used by the Bills offensive minds reminds me of how another Bill was utilized early in his career. For those of us old enough to remember, OJ was more or less a decoy in the backfield before Lou Saban came back and built a running game around Simpson, the only RB in NFL history to rush for 2000+ yards in a 14 game season. Any new OC has to dial up #14 20 or so targets a game. Does anyone recall one WR screen to Sammy? I don't but I do recall it was a frequent call from his college days. Maybe our coaches need to check this out too as another way to get him more touches.

Yup, it was a tank and I thank them for it. As I was watching the game for reasons unclear to me, I said to myself please don't win this game and for once the Bills came through. I not sure what all the hate is for Tyrod. He did exactly what he was expected to do at the start of the season. The team's objective on offense was to run the ball effectively and throw in some passing attack when needed. Protect the football and minimize mistakes. They accomplished this and although they didn't beat a team with a winning record except for Brady-less NE I'm not blaming Tyrod and the offense at the end of the season. The other part of the plan was to let the leagues #1 defense keep the opposition off the scoreboard. Give me 17 points and we'll win every game, right? The defense and Rex by extension just didn't perform. The entire 1st game against the Jets, 2nd half at Miami, the 1st half at Seattle, Pittsburgh and at home against the Dolphins, this defense just plain sucked. How many short-fields did this defense give to our offense? How many 3 and outs when it counted against a good team? Not many. Sure Tyrod has his limitations but what are the options available? Some re-tread free agent QB or a back-up coming off his rookie contract? These are long-shot bets not improvements. Romo? Who knows if he'd even come here and he's one good hit from retirement. Bradford, Glennon, Foles, and others discussed on the board. Anyone expecting these to pan out is just working with hope and prayers. No team is out there throwing franchise QB's into the bargain bin. The only viable option is through the draft by getting a top pick or by pure luck like Dallas or Seattle or New England. This draft looks pretty light on high-end QB talent. The rational thing this off-season would be to keep Tyrod for at least another season, see if Jones can develop, and look to the draft for a potential sleeper in the draft.

When EJ missed Clay wide open at the goal line on a 15 yard throw that was pretty much it. A QB has to make that throw. No excuses. His accuracy and mechanics are terrible. If people want to blame that on coaching or 'mishandling' then they're in denial of observed reality. By now either he has 'it' or he doesn't. The tape doesn't lie. Seriously, what team is going to be interested in picking him up after this performance?

What are the odds of hiring the wrong coach and GM every time during a 17 year stretch? Or not being able to find a QB? These things aren't random chance or statistical probability equations. You have to be very, very good at being this pitifully bad to pull off missing the playoffs for 17 years. I think the solution is simple. Make a decision on something and then do the opposite. Example - Bills decide to 'move on' from Tyrod. Answer - don't do it. Bills ownership decides to retain Whaley and Brandon. Answer - Fire them. Problem solved, playoffs year 18.

I think it depends on your expectations for 2017. Maybe Jones turns out to be the first-time-starter Prescott story of 2017. Or its a short-term hit but long-term we find our guy. But if they decided to go with Jones the most likely thing would be that it signals a re-start and maybe a 4 or 5 win season. It would mean there are no playoff expectations for next year inside OBD. And the decision isn't in a vacuum either because it affects all the players especially on offense. Do you want to waste away another year of McCoy's tread life? What about Watkins? it will be year 4 for him and after a 5th year option if the Cardale experiment fails I get the impression he's gone unless they franchise tag him year 6. And then what? If they did it my way I'd say they keep Tyrod, upgrade at RT, add a veteran WR, get some help via free agent/draft at safety and OLB, Ragland healthy, Lawson with a full off-season, a new kicker, hit on 3-4 draft picks, and the core returning.

Moving on from Taylor sounds like a plan without a solution. We know it's not EJ. So is Cardale the new 'Plan A'? And they're expecting him to be ready and able to lead an NFL offense 2017? There's no evidence right now that he's ready or will be ready and it sounds like a major gamble at the most important position . And if the team is convinced none of their current QB's should be the 2017 starter then its some available free agent, a trade, of a 2017 draft choice. Forgive me but I don't see anyone out there in free agency or a good QB without some baggage that some other team would be wiling to trade. And the draft looks weak. I see no credible option better than TT. So moving on with who?

The 6 million sounds like is might be simple random probability. You might need to consider that each team has a 25% chance of winning a division title but in the case of the Bills their actual chance of winning the division has been close to 0% given the Patriots dominance. Which leave you with a 16.7% chance of getting a wildcard spot. Statistically, I'm not sure how that works out to odds.

Or they just don't have a clue on how to deal openly and honestly with the press and their fans. If Rex was let go with 1 week to go in the season because he wouldn't sit Tyrod to avoid injury in a meaningless game Brandon and Whaley (and perhaps the Pegula's) should have shown the intestinal fortitude to come out before the press and say that's the reason they made this decision rather than waiting until the final game. The excuse this is the regular coaches PC is weak given the changes, rumors, and confusion that have transpired the past few days. Or was Rex let go early because they wanted to avoid a potential circus atmosphere the last week of the season playing the Jets and also give Lynn a one-game experience as the HC? Or sit Taylor to give EJ a final game to show his worth? What harm could a little truth and transparency do? My problem with management at this point is they appear to be both incompetent and dishonest. I sincerely doubt that is the kind of operation Terry Pegula has in mind and I wish to the Football Gods that the light would come on in his mind and he'd come to the realization these guys are clowns, something radical needs to be done, and he'd clean house and bring in some new blood with an fresh perspective.

I'm not hating the choice of Lynn as the next head coach but I'm more concerned about the selection process than I am about who ends up as the next coach of the Bills. It might be because I'm living in Jets-land and I had more exposure to Rex and his antics, but all the problems you highlight with Rex with the Bills were foreseeable based on his body of work with the Jets. We layed 80 points on the defensive genius in 2 games on his Jets defense the prior season so how much more obvious can it be that his self-proclaimed defensive genius status might be false bravado? I'd speculate that after Rex was hired the majority of the board expected we'd be sitting here in coach-search mode either 2 or 3 years later and 2 years later here we are. It's simply amazing the people sitting in on the decision process can't see the obvious. Apparently regardless of all the evidence to question all his bluster, Rex wowed and bamboozled the Pegula's, Brandon, and Whaley. So unless this is a case of learning from mistakes can we really trust the same process and the same people to make a better decision?

For what its worth, this quote about the decision with Taylor was on ESPN.com article on Ryan's firing. "EJ (Manuel) playing is strictly for injury reasons in Tyrod's deal," one Bills source said. "We already know who EJ is, and Cardale (Jones) is not ready." http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/18358134/buffalo-bills-cautious-tyrod-taylor-plan-start-ej-manuel-week-17-new-york-jets

Something happened in the past and the Jets will not allow players or staff to come on his show anymore. But I think he was correct about Rex.

Yes. For some reason it appeared the Bills coaches had no idea that Miami would be attempting a FG with time running out. When they ran the FG unit out the Bills had 10 players on the field which was likely a mix of the defense and special teams groups. I don't really think screwing up the timeout call mattered because it seems like nobody ever misses a long kick against the Bills. The sad thing is everything else they needed to happen yesterday happened. To torture us further I expect the football gods to dial up losses by the Ravens and Broncos today.

Under different circumstances signing Gilmore to a big deal would make sense but given how poor this defense is the money might be wisely spent elsewhere. This defense is just too slow all over but noticeably at OLB. And the safety position needs a significant upgrade.

But nobody here that I am aware of is getting paid $5.5M per season to coach a professional football team. For that chunk of change there are some expectations and qualifications. One of them might be your team is prepared. And on the most important defensive series of the season after a change of possession with several minutes to prepare for the next 1st down play you can't get a full 11 player set out on the field? Wouldn't you agree that in planning and executing a combat mission that type of lack of detail could get somebody killed? Prior to the end of the game I was on the fence but willing to give Rex & Co. one more season. But this was the last straw so to speak. I don't feel sorry for him. He'll pocket a cool $16.5M as he rides out of town.

The Bills tackling on defense is an embarrassment. Since it's Saturday they're playing like a college team. Cant' blame Rex for this. Simply pathetic.

This is a good point. Until they 'fix' the structure of the organization I'm not sure there's any value in replacing the people every 2 or 3 years. I don't care if its Whaley and Ryan or Polian and Lambardi. The GM needs to have total control of the football side of the team. Deciding on the coach, managing the scouts and the draft, deciding what free agents to target, determining the identity of the team and the long-term approach to offensive and defensive scheme. Everything needs to fit and work together. When he looks for a coach its got to be one that fits and embraces his overall approach. We have a basic approach we take to offense and defense. Can you make it work? I don't want to put a plan in place to build a team around a passing offense and a 4-3 defense and then hire a coach who emphasizes the run on offense and a 3-4 defense. This organization is a mess and ownership's job #1 is to fix it before moving more people in and out of jobs where they are set up for failure when they walk in the door.

When it comes to the Bills I go back and forth with my wife on the topic of negativity. It gets pretty intense at times and I suspect its entertainment value would be much better than a lot of reality shows. She's always positive. Every week she says they're going to win. If she was right they'd be 14-0 and would have won every regular season and playoff game and Super Bowl for about the past 10 years. She seems to think negativity expressed in our family room during the game transmits through the TV and onto the field of play adversely impacting the team's play. My counter argument is that there's a difference between being negative and being realistic. And a difference between being optimistic and delusional. If its one thing Bills fans are good at it is recognizing failure when they see it. And Rex's version of the Bills have that look and feel. He over-sold and under-delivered proclaiming the Bills will be the top defense in the league. Right there he left himself no out where no excuses are acceptable. If some fans want to believe this team is ready to turn the corner with one more year of the same maybe they're right. Who really knows the future. Ultimately I don't blame Rex but rather the blame falls to ownership. They signed off on a head coach that was going to 'fix' something that wasn't broken at the time.

Rex promotes himself as some kind of defensive genius. But I'm still waiting to see it and it looks like we're never going to see that in action on the field in Buffalo. Whether its the scheme/player fit excuse, or the players aren't 'smart' enough, or the defense is too complex its up to the coaches to figure it out and put the best possible group of players out on the field with a scheme and game plan that will maximize their abilities vs. the specific opponents offense week-to-week. Not to put a system in place that exposes their flaws and weaknesses. Not being able to do that in almost 2 seasons here just means to me the coaches aren't doing their job.

And they have no comprehensive plan to identify and acquire a QB or deal with NE. Gronkowski has been dragging their secondary up and down the field for how many seasons? What's been the plan to defend him? Put a 5 foot 7 inch 175 lb. slot CB on him and then be surprised when he's walking into the end zone. The Bills problem is they have no overall plan or identity. The absence of competent QB is just part of that.

I think the Bills problem with the draft and free agency is they lack a strategic approach to player acquisition. They're always making short-term, tactical, moves to pick up a player or two to fill a need but don't seem to have a long-term plan to build a team out along with deciding early who to keep and who to let go via free agency. What's the plan with Gilmore? Spend more cap big chunk of cap space on another player so that 5 or 6 guys account for a lot of spending. Does this make sense? The problem is there's always 3 or 4 glaring holes in the line up every off-season highlights this problem. Whaley does a good job on an individual basis, making some good picks, finding a guy on another team's practice squad but all these moves seem like individual moves and not part of some grand scheme. Like the Watkins trade. Great move if you a one receiver away from it all and have a QB in place but the Bills had no QB in place to deliver the ball. How could he have ever thought EJ was that guy from his college performances and work to date in the pro's? The problem the Bills have is they have no big picture approach to building the team year in year out as there's no successful continuity of any kind.

I get this at work a lot. Look at what other competitors and organizations are doing and adopt their business processes. The problem is it rarely works. There's a big difference between becoming an organization that lives and breathes by some set of business processes and principles and one that get along by imitating them. Most businesses imitate them or follow them to demonstrate they are doing things a certain way rather than believing in them. They pretty much fake it. The only way to make it work is get real commitment from the top to bottom of the organization. Develop commitment and trust. I don't see that with what I can understand of the Bills organization. Trust seems like a dirty word there with infighting and diverse agendas. Until TP commits to changing the culture at OBD this futility will continue. Getting rid of Rex and admitting a mistake here would be a good first step but just the first of many needed. Whether or not he does it is up to him. Its his team he can pretty much do whatever he wants. But even lifelong fans like me have a limit. I have other things I can do with my entertainment dollars and Sunday afternoons that watch a substandard product. Would my doing so hurt the team? Not likely but I wouldn't do it in an attempt to make a statement just for my own mental health and well-being.

I understand that Pegula had meet with Coughlin before the season. I suspect and hope TP has seen enough at this point and will make some changes. One scenario would be to hire Coughlin as team president and have the business (Brandon now) and GM (Whaley now) report to him. The only guy that reports to Pegula would be the president. Both business and football operations answer to the team President. Let Rex go now and get it over with at this point. As for Whaley I would let the new president decide his fate. In my view he should be let go for the apparent in-fighting. I don't want any 'non-team' players here regardless of how bad things are going. Its one team and he appears to be part of the problem. Bring in a new GM. Some names have been thrown around on the board already. like the Ravens Asst. GM. I know nothing about him except the team has a stellar record in the draft and always seem to be competitive. That's all I ask. Put a competitive, hard playing team on the field week-after-week not a team that lays down and plays dead when the season is on the line. As for Brandon, I don't care if he stays or goes as long as he's 1,000 miles away from any football decisions. As for yesterday's game this is the 2nd time the Steelers have come into the stadium for a late season game and pushed the Bills up and down the field in a contest that meant something to the Bills who once again came out flat and unprepared. Enough already!

A prime example is Tyrod's interception early in the 4th. He zeros in on Goodwin who looks to be tripled up on the sideline while Hunter is running free down the middle for what could have been a TD. This was a simple read with two-deep safety where both went to the outside receivers leaving the slot receiver down the middle uncovered. Taylor had ample time to read the field, set, and pass without a lot of pressure. An NFL starter has just got to make that read and make that throw.

Asked why in two years his defense has not come anywhere close to playing at an elite level, Ryan said: "I'm not sure. At times we play pretty good, and then there are other times, mistake here or whatever, that's kind of what yesterday (was)". I've come to the conclusions that Rex Ryan is over-hyped and over-rated and he is not the great defensive genius that many believe. Much of his previous success has been the result of work done and groundwork layed down by his predecessors, Marvin Lewis with the Ravens defense and Mike Tannenbaum and Eric Mangini with the Jets setting up the run of consecutive AFC Championship games. At this point Rex is employing the strategy of doing more of what isn't working until it starts to work with the Bills defense. He brought in his brother Rob who I understood was some sort of Red Zone specialist. But the Bills Red Zone defense has gotten worse. He brought in Ed Reed to coach/mentor the DBs and either Ed is not imparting his wisdom to them or the DBs are incapable of understanding and assimilating his advice into their performance on the field. These are just two examples. They can't generate pressure and turnovers against the better teams and what I find most incredible is how wide-open opposition receivers are when watching the games. When they catch the ball I wonder when a Bills defender is going to show up on the TV screen. He took over the NFL's 4th rated defense and ran it down to 19th and 12th over two seasons. I entered the season with an open mind about Ryan but at this point i think its an exercise in futility to believe things are going to turn around. Pegula needs to cut his losses now when the framework of a good group of players is still in place. We need a professional franchise Head Coach not some pretender showman.