Utah John

Perfect. Just perfect.

Absolutely right. I've been saying this since before that season started. We had the great defense carried over from the Marrone/Schwartz regime, and now had Watkins, Shady, TT, a very good O line on the left side at least -- but Wrecks screwed the pooch. No discipline, no organization imposed from above. Ryan had relied on leadership from the players, and Mario and Dareus worked against him instead of supporting him. The wrong coach for this team. With the right coach, this team was going to the playoffs, and Whaley's decisions would have looked a lot better. It was the Pegulas who hired Wrecks, not Whaley, and the team built for that one year didn't hold up during the second year of the coach's tenure.

Too bad about Rambo. I think he's been hurt by the timing of his moves, missing OTAs at both Miami and his return here. When he was here the first time, I thought he was better than Duke Williams, whom we kept last season after letting Rambo go.

Kromer is coaching the O line for the Rams. I'm not sure why the Bills didn't keep him since he clearly did a great job at elevating the performance of the players, and the blocking schemes the Bills used last year were very effective (led the league in rushing).

All the posters complaining about trading good young players (Watkins, Darby) are assuming those guys would be here for years to come. Watkins is going to get huge money from somewhere after this season, and at that point the Bills still won't have their QB to make staying look attractive. Darby saw Gilmore cash in, and he was ready to bail immediately. We wouldn't have had either of those guys next year, face it. And McBeane doesn't expect to win this year. So, do the math. Get what you can. For those listing all the draft picks left from 2013-16 (not many), yes, that's really bad. But at least we traded Alonso, a good player, for Shady, a great player. But even with that, those drafts are the reason we're not going anywhere this year.

Nice. It's almost true, too, except for Peterman. You can cancel NFL Sunday Ticket up to the day the regular season starts. I cancelled yesterday.

Next year's draft will be in 2018, THIRTY FIVE YEARS since we drafted a good QB. You have to have a lot of talent to make that many bad choices.

I was NOT happy when we drafted Ragland. Yes, he was a powerful LB behind Alabama's great D line, but the only way he fits in the NFL is in a 3-4 alongside three fast LBs who can cover, because he can't. Ragland was too slow to play a 4-3 MLB even before he got hurt. Ragland was a flawed pick, a guy who lacks the versatility and athleticism to play wherever he's needed. I think Preston Brown has this year to start, and next year to look over his shoulder. I think the Bills will be trying just as hard to draft the next Luke Kuechly as they are to find the franchise QB (unless Peterman surprises, in which case the LB hunt will be even more intense than QB). The Bills were built to win in 2015, but their coach failed them, and they failed their coach. On paper, the talent was there. When that fell apart, it really fell apart. Now the Bills are trying to win in 2019 or possibly 2018, depending on how things pan out. I feel sorry for Shady, and for Kyle Williams. As to the trade, the term sunk costs applies. It would have been worse if Whaley was still here and he held on to Ragland because he drafted him and his own reputation was at stake.

He doesn't need to catch many balls to affect the game. Just the threat of his speed forced DCs to adjust their game plan. Among many other reasons why Bills WRs will struggle this year is that we have no one with that kind of speed. However, he got hurt once get rolled on by some lineman. Broke a rib, I think. That speed comes with a body that can't withstand the forces in the game. How many people here called him Glass Goodwin, with good reason? Still. He's a great guy and I commend him for his approach to life.

I miss the NFL. What Ray Nitschke would have done to an opponent coming into his territory who wasn't paying attention, would have been worse. The NFL now wants to let offenses move the ball so players get to roam at will. Somehow offenses were able to score back then, but there was never a track team element to the sport, instead there was toughness and violence. Also there was a kind of a code. A guy who took cheap shots got paid back in kind. Also we had 220 pound LBs and 280 pound OLs, so the sheer bulk was different.

The only important question is, can he help the team. Yes, certainly he can. He can play better than any of the other available options. He's a running QB like TT so the offensive sets and game plans would work either way. Yes, sign him.

I cancelled NFL Sunday Ticket today. Too much to pay to suffer like we're going to. I feel sorry for Shady who could be somewhere putting a team over the top. I feel bad for Kyle Williams, another in a long line of Bills to spend their entire career without making the playoffs. I am sorry for Sammy Watkins, who went from the frying pan into the fire, but at least he won't spend his last year here with a Jarius Byrd mystery foot injury before signing a big FA contract somewhere else. I am honestly happy for Chris Hogan, who put forth a great effort here and now has a ring. He left because the coaches didn't play him to his strengths, and it worked out. Good for him. I hate the Pats, but you can't hate a player for hitting it big IF he went all-out while here, which Hogan did.

I don't think it was karma for Flutie vs Johnson, I think it was Ralph's age catching up to him and a lot of disastrous personnel decisions at about the same time. Firing Polian because he told off one of his underlings (who happened to be Ralph's daughter) was the start. Firing Wade Phillips was another ridiculous move. Firing John Butler and AJ Smith was another. Hiring Donohoe was another. The entire franchise was adrift, with lousy personnel moves resulting from lousy FO moves. Hiring Wrecks was a PR success and a system disaster. Ryan took an outstanding defense and turned it into a pathetic joke. He was a hands-off guy who succeeded for awhile in New Jersey because he inherited great personnel and had great team leaders in place. Here, he relied on Mario Williams, Marcel Dareus, and Jerry Hughes, all great talents and all boy-men who don't have the maturity to do what's right themselves let along straighten out anyone else. The strong internal culture of the SB teams is a generation ago -- now we have Dareus not even following rules and not playing in the most important preseason game. I don't know whether the current regime can whip this team into shape, but I am looking at a disaster of a season. An 0-5 start is a distinct possibility.

Another question to ask is whether Stevie would be a good fit with Peterman. Once the Bills are about out of it, probably by Halloween with this killer schedule, Peterman will be starting so he can get some experience and the Bills can find out whether they need to draft another QB next spring.

Not enough depth or talent for the playoffs. We're missing a first rounder and a fourth rounder (Sammie Watkins). We're missing a second rounder (Reggie Ragland, too slow for this scheme) and and other (Koundijo) and on and on. We're missing a first and a second from our starting CBs. And on and on. But we've got one problem child DT making $100M so we can't afford to keep our good players so we should feel good, right? Not. This team loses every season and the seasons to come in April.

I saw ONE mention of Lance Alworth in this. You can't look at records from different eras and compare numbers since the game changed so much, but Alworth in the 60s and early 70s was just as dominant as any of the others. Jerry Rice is the best WR I ever saw. Rice, Megatron, Julio -- all great too. I'd put Alworth second. Probably most of the people on this board have never even heard of him which is a shame. As to the best player of all time, it's Jim Brown forever.

A good, smart, tough, responsible player. Much respect for him, and glad to see him not on the Pats anymore.

For all of Whaley's monumental goofs, he got some things right. Shady, for instance. But I say that now. In a couple of years, maybe Shady loses a step or the Bills O line collapses, and he suddenly needs to do things he can't anymore. Then he's an expensive waste of a roster spot. I know that sounds harsh but this is the NFL. If the Bills lose to the Jets in Week 1, they should recognize this season is going nowhere, and trade Shady to a contender. Let him win a championship or at least contend. And get players or picks that will help in the future.

I never root for any team in the SB unless it's the Bills. I just like football and want to see a good game. The Pats are an excellent, entertaining team and I generally enjoy watching them and hoping the other team pulls it out at the end. In the Rams game I specifically remember the Pats getting the ball back with just a little time on the clock in a tie game, and Madden saying they were going to play for OT and hope for the best there. Screw that. They went for it and won the game. That was exciting, and I thought, well good for them for playing to win. Honestly out of all the SBs, the most exciting ones were the Bills vs Giants, the Pats vs Rams, the Pats vs Giants, the Pats vs Seahawks, and the Pats vs Falcons. I am not happy for their success but since the Bills aren't playing I'm secure enough to sit back and enjoy the competition.

Every year he's played, Fitz has had one really good game. Last year it was against the Bills in Buffalo. And Wrecks was his usual stupid, stubborn self -- Fitz kept lobbing high passes to his tall WRs, and our DBs couldn't outjump them, so did Wrecks adjust? Of course not, Wrecks is Wrecks. Losing to the Jets in the last game of the year was a tactical win. We moved up several places in the draft. Probably they moved down although I haven't checked. Talent aside, the Jets always play the Bills tough. I am not assuming we get a sweep. But if we lose the first game, it's tank mode all the way. They should trade Shady, cut Taylor and start Jones, and sit Dareus. Oh, and find someone to step on Watkins' other foot.

Cookie and Lamonica were both traded. The worst cuts were Rusty Jones (strength and conditioning coach, let go by Mularkey in the worst thing he did to this team) and Bill Polian.

Offensive linemen agree: Waffles + pancakes > waffles or pancakes I wish you had evidence to back this up. You know, multiple pro bowls, All-Pro team selections, that sort of thing. I would love being wrong about this.

I think Dareus is the single biggest problem on the team. Way overpaid for production. Terrible role model for the younger players. His production:talent ratio has to be among the worst in the league. I get that he had personal tragedy, and that can affect your mind and spirit. At some point that has to be in the past. He should be in his prime years right about now. Show up or get canned. There's a term called "sunk costs" in project management. Once you've bought equipment or supplies, you've bought them, the money is gone, and now you have to look ahead. It's natural to want to hold on to things you paid a lot for, even when you clearly don't need them or they're not right for your future needs. Spending a #3 overall on Dareus is a sunk cost. That ridiculous contract is a sunk cost. Trading him or even cutting him would waste a lot of cap dollars but would give a clear message that EVERYONE needs to be accountable and earn their spot.

The Bills weren't going to draft Mahomes, anyway. They had a shopping list and got most of what they needed in the draft. CB, WR, OL -- we all knew where the biggest holes were, and they went in trying to fill those spots. I haven't given up on TT, either. I think he had few receivers he could trust last year. This year with a healthy Watkins and more talent available, TT could start being a lot more effective at passing. He's already an effective runner, and if Shady stays healthy this offense could be very effective.

In project management, there's a term called "sunk costs" which means that once you've paid for something, that's done, and you shouldn't make decisions going forward based on what you paid. You should make decisions based on what's best going forward. The fact that Whaley gave up so much to draft Watkins is irrelevant. He did. We could have drafted Mack after moving up, or we could have drafted an excellent WR in our original spot and still had a first the following year. Doesn't matter now. It matters to Whaley's legacy, which is not all bad or even mostly bad, but certainly isn't good enough. But it doesn't matter to the new regime in town.