All_Pro_Bills

The writer is just telling his audience what they want to hear. He should be reminded that Belichek was a failed head coach prior to being hired by the Patriots and Brady was a nobody late round after thought draft pick. The success of NE is owed more to once in a lifetime luck than some grand master plan executed to perfection. As for the Bills, why can't Ryan become the next successful head coach after a 'failed' job at a previous team? And why can't Taylor become the next QB none of the experts expected to become a great NFL QB? Will it happen? Who knows. Could it? Sure. But for this guy to think New England's dominance will continue forever is just plain stupid and more or less faulty linear thinking.

Darby's PI penalties are a concern. He needs to learn what he can and when he can get away with playing on the edge of the rules. The positive side of the penalties, if there is one, is that he's stuck like glue most of the time to the receivers so this to me demonstrates pretty good coverage skills. He's not getting faked out of his shorts so he has a good comprehension of route running and coverage technique. He's got great closing speed. The downside is his height when matched up with taller receivers. If he can adjust his game to turn his head and play the ball he can be a solid corner. He might be in for a rough go week one because you know he's going to get picked and I expect they'll roll some coverage help his way.

I take it to a much simpler level on defense which is point allowed per game. The Bills were 4th last year at 18.1 points per game. I'm sure there's a high correlation between a top 10 scoring offense and a top 10 QB and that is certainly a valid stat. The Bills ranked 18th at 21.4 points per game which is a differential of +3.3. I think the point differential tells a pretty interesting story. The other teams with a positive differential were AFC, NE 9.7, Miami .9, Pitt 4.3, Cinn 1.3, Balt 5.6, Ind 5.6, Houston 4.1, Denver 8, KC 4.5. The NFC Dallas 7.2, Phil 4.6, GB 8.6, Detroit 2.4, Seattle 8.8, Ariz .7. The Panthers made it to the playoffs with a -2.2 only because the entire division had losing records. The final 4 in the AFC were NE, Denver, Ind, and Baltimore which happen to be the top 4 in this category. So the question to me about the 2015 Bills is this. Can the defense be marginally better and allow a couple points less and can the offense be a even just slightly more effective in converting one of those FG's from 2014 into a TD in 2015 to get the team into the 5 to 7 point differential level which implies a playoff level complete team?

I too was puzzled by some of the Bills picks (a CB in the 2nd, another RB?) but there's a big difference between what guys like Kiper do and what professional scouts and NFL front offices do when it comes to the draft. Scouts and general managers are talent evaluators and have specific criteria for selecting players and determining how they fit with their team. For the most part, teams don't say a lot about their internal thought processes and player evaluation techniques because its one element of competition. The draft guru's are not professional talent evaluators. I believe it was Bill Parcells who said that Kiper was not a talent evaluator but rather an 'information gatherer'. I think this observation, them being information gatherers, is correct for the media people in general.

I expected the league would hot-wire the lottery to 'select' Toronto for the #1 pick but they sure screwed the pooch with the pick going to Edmonton, 2 time zones away from the big eastern Canadian hockey viewers in Ontario and Quebec along with major US markets. And think how the McDavid vs. Eichel duel would have fueled the Sabres/Leafs rivalry for the next decade? Personally, I don't like the draft lottery in any sport. The draft is a sport's main tools to produce competitive balance. A lottery just adds luck and random probability to the mix. It is anti-competitive. Some suspect the league changed the 'rules' during the off season to punish the Sabres for what many claim is an obvious attempt to 'tank' and get the #1 overall pick. Maybe so, but the Sabres aren't the first and only team to go into total breakdown and rebuild mode. They've just been more honest and forthright about their intentions along with having an astute fan base that understands the reality of the situation. Getting either 'generational talent' might be something like a choice between Payton Manning and Tom Brady at their best under center for the Bills next season..

While we all know that Germany did not bomb Pearl Harbor the only country Germany issued a formal declaration of war against during WW2 was the United States. My favorite screen from Animal House is with Bulushi up on the ladder on the side of the sorority house. Favorite line, "You messed up, you trusted us, I suggest you start drinking heavily", advice to Flounder after his bother's Lincoln got totaled..

For some reason it seems the Bills always get the short end of the stick with the compensatory formula and picks. And I never understood the rationale behind the compensatory pick process. After all, a 'free agent' is no longer under contract to his former team. At that point the team has no 'rights' to the player (he's off their active payroll) so by him signing elsewhere they actually lost nothing. Technically they 'lost' nothing. Use Revis as an example. The Patriots, by not paying a bonus payment to Revis prior to a contractual deadline voiding the deal and made the player a free agent. Then Revis signs a very generous contract with the Jets. What did the Patriots lose? They voluntarily 'opted out' of a contract both parties agreed to (even though both knew year 2 was never going to happen) and released the player from his contractual obligations to the team. Why should they get compensation picks in the draft?

Adding to what you say. For the first time in what seems like forever, I trust that we have a professional and competent head coach along with good assistant coaches in all three phases of the game. We have a GM, HC, and owner that are all on the same page with everybody pulling in the same direction. The offense has added 'skill' players Harvin, Clay, McCoy, along with blocking FB Felton and G Incognito plus 2 QB's in Taylor and Cassel. This complements Woods, Watkins, EJ, and FJ already on the roster. There's still the 2 big questions about the QB and the O-line. My expectation is this offensive staff will do a better job of developing the younger guys already on the roster and one or two of them will emerge to challenge for starting spots on the line. Adding through the draft might also happen. As for the QB, I don't expect pro bowl caliber play but they'll get just enough so the position isn't a glaring weakness or viewed as a liability to the offense.

Yes. I saw somewhere, and I cannot recall where, that one of the terms on the trade was the Bills and McCoy were to 're-work' his current contract. That would relieve some of the cap hit in 2015 and in return give McCoy some guaranteed money in 2016. Something his current deal doesn't provide. This is expected before the 3/10 official date for trades. If this condition is not met then I would think the trade agreement would be voided. Doubt it would come to this. But after letting his emotions cool off I can't imagine why McCoy would reject the trade. Absent any other alternative, why would he want to stay someplace where he is obviously no longer wanted?

What Marrone could have said was "I tried to leverage a 9-7 season with the Bills into an extension for myself and some of the coaching staff along with increased say over personnel but the new ownership refused. So from my perspective I was left with no choice other than to opt out of my contract with the Bills and pocket $4M while pursuing other head coaching openings. I thought the Jets job was going to be mine but a lot of negative reports came out in the press and owner Woody Johnson got cold feet and rejected the advice of his advisors and went in another direction. Things starting to go south at that point with the other openings. I cancelled an interview with Denver because I knew they were going another direction and I didn't want to waste my time. I could have got a 'consulting' gig down in Houston but I took the offensive line position here in Jacksonville because by my estimation Gus has a good chance of being fired during the course of next season because the Jaguars should be bad again and that might leave me an opportunity to promote to the head coaching job here".

If I was calling the plays in that situation with 2nd and goal at the 1 I would have run Lynch 3 straight times if necessary. I didn't see the game clock as inhibiting doing this. And if the Patriots stopped me then I'd be able to say we gave it our best shot and they stopped us and they deserved the victory. I could live with the outcome without any reservations or doubt whatsoever. And I'd feel absolutely no need to gave the second guessers any type of explanation. But there's no way around it, the way they lost leaves you feeling they gave the game away.

I haven't read the entire thread because of the lengthy topic so I appologize if this has been discussed but the Seahawks also wasted 2 timeouts on their final drive. The first on a 2nd and 10 from the Patriots 49 and the second after the Kearse catch down to the 6. In both instances the game clock was stopped but the 40 second play clock was about to expire. The first on an incomplete pass and the second on a tackle out of bounds. Whether or not the playcall was delayed or the offense didn't line up fast enough this is simply unacceptable given the context of the Super Bowl and the situation. You have 40 seconds to get the play called and the offense set in the biggest game of the season and there's no sense of urgency so you need to waste 2 timeouts. If they had all 3 or even 2 of their timeouts rather than 1 it might have impacted the 2nd and goal from the 1 call which resulted in the interception. That said, there was plenty of time on the playclock to run 3 plays from the 1 even if they chose to run Lynch 3 times. They blew it.

No problem, I can take it. It might be your opinion of Mr. Brand's talent and accomplishments are quite a bit higher than mine. I think the guys a second-teir comedic talent. When I see Katy Perry and consider her to be potential 'A' list it appears to me she traded down. And I haven't done too bad with the ladies either having been with a decent number of chicks that were way hotter than her at that age, so on that I wouldn't concede any runaway victory to the guy.

Really dude?

What I don't get is why she was ever married to Russell Brand?

The idea that a locker room attendant acted independently without the consent or knowledge of a control freak coach is total absurdity. If this is actualy something the league and the Patriots are going to suggest happened then we've gone past the point of comedy. When hearing this rolling on the ground uncontrolled laughter is the appropriate response. If I was league spokesman I would be unable to make this statement to any press conference because I would just burst out laughing like Jimmy Fallon used to do on a Saturday Night Live skit. All crimes have one thing in common, motive. I've yet to see any official explanation of why a ball boy/locker room attendent would on his own deflate footballs to a specific pressure without a clear motive. Because he heard Brady liked 'soft balls' in his hands (a source of jokes itself). What was in it for him? There would be no compensation, no public recognition, no reward whatsoever. How did he know what the lower pressure value should be? Where did he get that information? Who told him? This excuse sounds like something a 5 year old would make up. My apologies to all 5 year olds to have in any way compared you to that slimeball Belichek and the doucebag Patriots organization..

What else should we epect to hear from a self-absorbed narcissist who is now playing the victim rather than the perp.

Topic should read 'NJ Super Bowl'.

The problem is absolutely nobody is going to believe the equipment manager acted on his own with a control freak like Belichek running the show. The motive is simply too weak to be plausible. On the morning WFAN radio show today out of NYC I heard a discussion with a TSA 'profiler' who said he and his peers watched and analyzed the press conference interviews with Belichek and Brady and all of them came to the same conclusion. Both were lying and most likely were completely aware of what was going on with the deflated balls..

My gut says given all the bad press about what some are calling DeflateGate the league would probably be happy if NE lost SB49. That would end the story right then and there. And if by some miracle we see the Patriots get called for offensive holding, Brady gets hit and there's no roughing call, or if Gronk actually gets a PI call for pushing off arms fully extended against the defender for the first time ever then I'll be really suspicious.

In New Jersey in Jets/Giants territory. In general nobody knew the details and rationale behind Marrone leaving. They just knew the guy opted out and assumed it was a bad situation. Nothing much out of Giants fans, they've got their own problems this season. Only one Giant fan said anything. 'Great hire (laugh, laugh) to which I said you won't be laughing when the Bills kick the Giants asses up and down the field next season. Jets fans... I know some that have season tickets and actually follow the league and know whats going on with other teams. They haven't said much of anything, non-commital, they seemed stunned. They know the contention between Izick and Ryan was a major contributor to the teams dysfunction. Many blame owner Woody Johnson for putting that in place. And over time I've found that Jets fans carry a sense of impending doom which is much greater than any thoughts of negative expectations Bills fans might carry. Which to some might appear to be impossible. Most are afraid to express a view one way or another out of fear that if they say its a good hire the Bills might be better and if they say Ryan sucked then the Bills might play better. Karma tells them.. keep their mouth shut and pray.

Revis is scheduled to be paid $25M in 2015. So either NE pays the $25M, renegotiates the deal, or voids the contract, thereby sending Revis to free agency. And rumor has it that both Rex and Revis are open to entertain a reunion. So while I don't expect Revis to be on the Bills opening day defense I also wouldn't say there's no chance of it.

Whoever is calling the defense I just never want to see the 3-man rush on 3rd and long against Brady ever again. 9 times out of 10 he gets all day to find an open guy for 10+ yards to get the 1st..

Exactly. In those situations you have to weigh the benefits of playing for field position vs. the cost of losing time on the game clock by surrendering the ball to the opponent by punting. Sure your defense might pull off a 3 and out but the cost might be using all your timeouts or around 3 minutes on the game clock. And when you get the ball back, unless you get a great return or a blocked punt, your offense will be starting at no better field position then you faced on the 4th and 1. Net being you're faced with the exact same problem with less time to solve it. In the Thursday night Miami game when Marrone decided to punt given the score, time remaining, the situation, after the punt I turned off the game and went to bed. I figured if the HC wasn't interested in trying to win the game then why stay up any later than I had to at that point. I wonder how many of the players felt the same way?

Trading Lamonica to the Raiders was the worst. Trading Lynch to the Seahawks is looking worse and worse. The Watkins trade up? Not even close. First Watkins is not a bust, far from it. He'll be a #1 WR in this league for years. The Bills swapped 1st rounders last year and give up a 1 and a 4 this year. The moaning and groaning here about surrendering the 2015 1st rounder is based on the premise that the team somehow gave up a pick that could have been a 'franchise QB'. Fact is there's no slam dunk franchise QB is available in this coming draft at the 19th spot. There's two top prospects and after that the talent level drops to 3rd/4th round territory. Then there's the hypothetical debate about how things would have turned out if they kept the 9th slot and drafted somebody else (i.e. Beckham). Anybody can back-test the draft, second guess any teams picks, and select top performers with the help of hindsight. In total, I think Whaley's done more to add solid players to this roster through the draft, trades, free agency, and waiver pick ups, than any front office guy since things started rolling downhill after the 1999 season. Look at those drafts and the only one I see that had more hits than strikeouts was the 2001 draft. Is he perfect? No, but nobody is in this business. I expect Whaley and the front office will have another productive off season and that along with upgrades in the coaching ranks is going to propell this team forward.