Sisyphean Bills

Of course. Anything to sell clicks.

Sounds good if one wishes to lose sight of the fact that Taylor has played part of 1 season and is, objectively speaking, not exactly a proven commodity. Add that if the Broncos were prone to knee-jerking it with their cap structure, they just might have locked up Brock Osweiler to a mega-deal and foregone imaginary future knee-jerk scenarios. Not to mention that Bills fans without memory-loss issues can easily recall how well jettisoning cap space at the position, albeit with crossed fingers and fevered hopes, really works by way of Ryan Fitzpicks.

Not sure you are implying this thought, so apologies in advance if you mean otherwise ... but, RB is the most easily replaced position on the roster. It's a well-oiled revolving door actually. In fact, the Bills showed last year they could pull people out of their living rooms to run the ball. Still as part of a bigger picture, it's not exactly confidence building stuff to keep reading who is not going to step up and help this team be more than mediocre. Sigh. Life as a Bills Fan

It does happen elsewhere. Did anyone actually say "this only happens to the Bills"? If so, I missed it. On the other hand, it is indisputable that the Bills have been taking a number of dings with players this off-season. It's difficult to frame that as a positive thing.

It might help if we remember to preface Ryan-speak with the words, "I really hope that ..." In this case, we could translate the Ryan-speak to English this way: "I really hope that Preston Brown is going to be a star."

It worked for the Browns.

Seems like a moot point. Mike Tomlin was one such exception when he came in as the Steelers head coach and left the Steelers operation of defense, one that didn't match his own background, in place. And recall where the Steelers were as an organization at the time. So the question is how often does an experienced head coach—one coming into a sub-par team—actually agree to "just go with the flow" and leave things the same? Even if Schwartz had offered to pay the Bills to remain as the defensive coordinator, the better bet is he'd have been sacked anyway.

The rainy season is nice at first. Good to see the plants come back and feel the rain again. But after a while ... And the dry season is nice at first. No more rain. A chance to go outside and see the sun. Then everything dries up and turns brown and wildfires start burning things down. So after a while ...

Glad Ed Reed is here. Not surprised he can see what was obvious. Maybe he'll have enough clout that players will follow his lead.

Yep. Better to have a guy with accuracy problems.

Thanks, but that wasn't my point. I fully aware of the argument but wasn't really interested in keeping that particular parrot chirping. The Bills haven't had a defensive-heavy draft in a while. (I'd say 2011.) Perhaps they were just due for one.

How much of the defense was rebuilt before last season? By most accounts the defense didn't change personnel wise very much at all. Stepping back though, this is the landscape of the current NFL. Every team's roster has a portion that is a revolving door. During the Patriots era of sustained success, there has been one player who has remained constant. The offense, defense, and kicking game has been built and rebuilt repeatedly. If you look at what Elway did with the Broncos team, he spent cap on both offense and defense simultaneously. Both the offense and the defense improved. They wouldn't have won the Super Bowl without attention to both. So this begs the question: Can one truly put one side of the ball out to pasture, into status quo, for some indefinite period and then focus entirely on the other side of the ball? If one boils it all down to a number for offense and a number for defense—the offensive and defensive ranking—then they can say 12 > 25 so we need to pour everything we have into the 25th side of our team. But that may be missing the forest for the grooves in the bark. Who's can say what is behind the numbers 12 and 25? I mean 25 might be 19 and 12 might have been 15 with just a few hundred total yards more or less—and it is obvious the difference between 15 > 19 and 12 > 25 is simply not the same. And 100, 200, 300 yards is really what? Five or six long passes dropped versus caught? A couple of missed tackles and big runs?

Spiller was overdrafted by Buddy and Whaley. He's never been more than a change-of-pace back. At this point, thinking he'll morph into something else seems like wishful thinking.

Cardale is another starter off the bus.

Rex's response was, in his own words, to junk the hybrid system and install more of his own system. Again in his own words, he felt that this was a turning point and that the defense started to play better and more consistently. If we take the off-season moves made, we see the Bills have invested significantly in the defense this year. So, while Rex did say the defense improved over the course of the season, we might read between the lines and understand that it wasn't anywhere near good enough for him. I think it's ironic that you mention Pettine, who ran the same defense that Ryan runs. Why was it that some players were able to run the defense under Pettine and not under Ryan? Odd that they couldn't remember the defense they ran only two seasons earlier, no? Bottom line: bring back the same old Schwartz isn't going to happen.

They've only had 2 winning seasons in that time. Both 9-7. Both by coaches that only lasted 2 years and quit.

I'm not sure the problem was a question of flexibility on Rex's part. Players said after last season that they just didn't put in the work that was needed. Rex claimed he tried to change his system and hybridize what he wanted to do with what the players were comfortable with already. When Rex came in to Buffalo and bombastically declared he wanted the #1 overall defense, who thought that he meant he was going to do nothing? Did that sound like he was going to make zero changes on defense? Why then did some players take it to mean there would be only very simple changes? Who has seen that success in the NFL is obtained by doing the same old same old year after year?

What about the cap?

Nah. Feet.

Well said, Dave. Shooting the messengers (deep history: they used to slit the throat before guns) has never fixed any organization.

No idea what will happen, but the Bills track record under Ralph of signing CBs to mega-deals was, well, imaginary. They drafted to replace veteran CBs with 1st and 2nd year guys. It was a revolving door position. A concept that thrilled my friend Big Apple Bill to no end. (Sorry Bill.)

Some struggle with drooling. True story.

Just cast as big a net as possible. They are all morons.

This is a legit point. Ryan was able to realize what Modrak never understood. Maybin's only use was to shoot straight up the field and try to turn the corner to get to the QB. That was it. Having him "bulk up" or spend hours working on technique so he could set an edge were a total waste of everyone's time.

Pixie dust. Don't forget the pixie dust.