Utah John

Most NFL players were the stars on their college teams. So they never played ST in college. They get to the pros and most of them aren't NFL-level stars, so they're expected to jump in and play ST and do things they haven't learned to do. A certain percentage of them figure it out and some of those guys use ST excellence to stick around, often a lot longer than their peers who are focused on regular positions. But most of the guys stuck on ST squads never devote the time or dedication needed to be good at ST. The Bills have had great STs some years, and lousy STs other years. A lot of it has to be coaching. Dave is exactly right. The measure of success for a KO return compared to a touchback is, did you get to the 25? Returners hardly ever do that, but the last half of this year, the Bills opponents did it regularly. I think a lot of it is coaching, and devising schemes to prevent the other guys from getting a seam in the coverage. Were the Bills even trying to do that?

I don't agree with all the Whaley hate. He's brought in a lot of talent, certainly more than Miami has, and they're going to the playoffs. It's been coaching and culture holding back the team. Whaley had misses. He gave up too much for Watkins when he didn't have a great QB. Cart before the horse. But then it turned out TT could throw a great deep ball and when Watkins wasn't injured TT looked a lot better. He paid too much for Dareus, who's too lazy and selfish to be the guy he ought to be. Clay has been OK but not worth the cost. Whaley also had real wins. Jerry Hughes for whatshisname. McCoy for Kiko, who's never been as good since his rookie year. Lorax out of nowhere. Incognito. Keeping Cordy Glenn and Wood. I also think the Pegulas talk to the other owners, and Whaley's reputation from his time with the Steelers is very good. I think the other owners tell the Pegs that Rex was the problem, and Whaley is on the right track.

Reasons to start EJ vs the Jets: -- The Bills haven't decided what to do about TT. If he gets hurt they're on the hook for his salary. The Pegulas aren't afraid to dump cash, but the salary cap is the issue. Personally I think the Bills should keep TT. He's flawed (throws late a lot) but also has unique strengths (running). There are no alternatives available. -- Cardale is not ready. -- EJ is an experienced QB. Not very good, but actually better than some starters in the league and definitely better than many backups. The Bills won't retain him but if he shows well this week he'll have some trade value. -- Lose and get the #9 pick. Win and it could be #19, To get those 10 spots back in all the rounds of the draft, the Bills would have to trade other pics or some valued player. Not worth it. No one cares except the coaches and players if we're 7-9 or 8-8. Some of those are likely mutually exclusive. If EJ plays well the Bills could win, and still lose those draft slots, but at least we might get value for EJ.

A year too late. Wrecks didn't do anything this year he didn't do last year. Took a top-five D and ruined it. And that's his specialty. Hah. Like Marrone being an O-line coach, and the O-line being so bad.

I'm sure the curse is active, and all the pieces we needed to fall into place would have, if the Bills had only done their jobs. 2004 all over again. Probably the Bills were doomed when Ryan chose to punt with four minutes remaining in OT, but it could have worked out if the unbelievable blunder of putting only 10 men on the field hadn't happened. 11 v 10, not fair. Some coach didn't see to it that Gilmore was replaced. That coach, even if it's the fat brother of Wrecks, needs to be fired. Not today, it's Christmas, but tomorrow. That blunder could end up costing the Bills a playoff spot.

This was the worst tacking performance I've ever seen. To me, this was the defense pleading with the owners to kick Rex out and bring in a professional DC. Lynn can be the HC, and some up and coming talent can take over the defense. Unless Jim Schwartz is available, in which case the Pegulas should bring him back as HC and let him hire a new staff. Or an old staff, the one Schwartz had here when the defense was great, not a liability like Rex's mess.

Actually I did not say that TT needs a top 5 defense. Just a good one that isn't bamboozled with no coaching adjustments to help them out. And if you can find the QB of your dreams, I'll be delighted too, but most likely TT is as good as we're going to be able to get.

There's room for improvement on the right side, but this is not a bad O line. I've been watching the Bills for 55 years, and this is one of the best O lines they've had, even if they're somewhat inconsistent. Do they need to plan ahead for Incognito's eventual departure? Sure. But you can say that about anyone. RI is one of the top players on the team, and Wood isn't far behind. Glenn is better than just pretty good -- I can't remember sacks this year where the LT was the person originally at fault. As far as TT goes, he's good enough to get the Bills into the playoffs, if we could just get defensive coaches who knew what they were doing. We have talent on the D side but they get blown up by O coordinators who are smarter than our D coaches. Which is just about all of them

There's no denying it's better to be in the playoffs than out, but keep in mind the division the Texans play in. The Bills are better at QB than the Texans, and there really isn't any question about that. The Bills are worse at HC than almost any other team, and the evidence for that is clear too.

He was a mediocre HC. Not a disaster. I think what will likely be a problem for him in getting hired as a HC in Jax or elsewhere is that he walked out on a HC job. Look how long it took Mularkey to overcome that. And Mularkey was walking away from a garbage fire so he might get a pass. Marrone was just cashing in. Marrone had a great DC and a horrible OC. Hackett is what kept Marrone's Bills from the playoffs, not Marrone. And Schwartz is what got them close, not Marrone. I think there are likely going to be 6 or 7 HC openings this offseason, including Buffalo. Marrone could look OK vs the competition, but my guess is his mediocre track record plus the stigma of walking out will keep him from a HC job.

Luck is one of a dozen actually competent NFL QBs now playing. In the right system, with a solid O line and quality skill players, he could be very effective. Indy is just one Luck injury from being totally useless and helpless. Their management has run that team into the ground. It's Luck who's kept it from collapse. Luck is in his prime years, and will be an old QB by the time Indy rebuilds, if they ever do. It would be the decent thing for Indy to do to trade him to a team that has more parts in place. He has a huge contract so that's a problem, but the Bills should have cap space available if they were planning they might keep TT. Dareus is a huge disappointment, and I'd trade him in a heartbeat for Luck. It was his selfishness that got him suspended, and then not in football shape so he got hurt. If we have to throw in a first OR a second as well, so be it. More than that, and I'd have to hesitate. If we could trade TT to a really desperate team and pick up a 3rd or 4th, and throw that in for Luck, I'd make the deal. TT might do OK in Indy actually, since scrambling when the pocket breaks down is his strength.

I think the Bills have Kelly Girls on speed dial, with the option to "NFL Safeties" included in the code. Sorry. Old school. They have the link bookmarked, and their credit card number is already on file.

Then the Bills would have kept Hogan and continued not to use him effectively, and paid him a lot more for the privilege. I suppose that would have hurt the Pats who would have had to go to another option. But it also would have cost the Bills who would have had to pay big money to someone they thought was a #3 WR.

The Pats were right to sign him because his skills fit what Brady does and how BB coaches. The Bills were right not to match the offer because they can't use him. Guys like him make a great cut and are wide open for a brief moment, when Brady's pass hits them in the hands. TT watches that guy get open and then get covered, and then runs out of the pocket. Also Hogan was frustrated by not starting ahead of Woods, who he (Hogan) thought he was better than. So he wanted out. Him moving to NE was a win for him, and win for the Pats, and not much of a loss for the Bills (with TT at QB).

Hogan didn't leave because the Bills wouldn't match his contract. He wanted out because Ryan and Roman had him locked down behind Woods on the depth chart. Hogan believed he was better than Woods and deserved to start. BB gave him a contract the Bills couldn't or wouldn't match, doing Hogan a favor. That said, I think Hogan is a much better fit for the Pats than he was with the Bills. He's worth what he's getting there, producing results in their system. He wouldn't have been worth as much here because we don't have a QB to take advantage of a guy who makes great cuts and is wide open but for only half a second. Brady loves guys like that. TT watches guys like that get open and then get covered.

I think the players showed what they want. They voted with their play on Sunday, when a win could have made the playoffs a reasonable possibility. They mailed it in whenever there was physical contact to be made. Right on the first drive, Steelers 3rd down, Big Ben throws a short pass to Bell, who's bottled up. NONE of the defenders ran up and made a tackle. Instead, after a while, Bell just ran around the pile and gained 32 yards. Play after play, the D just wouldn't hit. If they could make an athletic play, well OK let's catch that interception. But physical, tough football? No, thanks. All I can say is that this is like the players on a team running up a huge flag that says "please fire this HC yesterday" and everyone on the team knows it.

The problem on both D and O is it depends on players we don't have. On D, Wrecks requires shutdown corners, which actually means CBs who can deny underneath or out passes and who rely on safety help on top. Our CBs are pretty good (yeah I know Gilmore has had bad games, and Darby has a bit of a sophomore slump) but our safeties are putrid. We're calling Kelly Girls every week to replace the guy who got hurt during Sunday's game. No wonder the defensive backfield is rotten. The D also relies on a strong pass rush, and on this count the Bills are fair weather players Against really strong O lines they're helpless. Against average to weak O lines, they feast. Great stats at the end of the year, but not a good team record. On O, the two biggest problems are no receivers left, and the scheme. We're down to Glass Goodwin who won't fight for a ball, a 3/4 speed Watkins, and our approximate 8th stringer. Who the heck is TT supposed to throw to? Ever since Anthony Lynn took over after the 0-2 start and the Bills ran off 4 straight wins, I've been concerned the league's D coordinators would figure Lynn out. I think that's happened. I think the reason the Bills O died against Oakland wasn't all TT, it was whoever the Raiders' D coordinator is, figured out how to stop them. All season long, when TT got in trouble, he'd move a certain way to escape pressure, and then run for a first down or throw an incomplete pass. The Raiders saw where TT likes to go, and had guys waiting there. On one occasion TT actually ran into the guy's arms. This is a very smart league where you have to be changing and adapting all the time. The Bills don't make adjustments at halftime, to my eye. Now it's bad luck that we got wiped out in two positions -- safety and WR -- and that made Wrecks and Lynn's schemes not work. But it's their damn jobs to figure out a new approach based on the guys actually on the field, not to keep failing with 8th stringers because that's our scheme and we're sticking to it.

Well, if you were thinking about Romo as the new Head Coach, we could have a discussion about that.

The Bills played well in the first half, possibly at about their peak, and had a one point lead at halftime. And for that we can largely thank the Raiders receivers who kept dropping excellent passes. The Bills were not dropping passes. The Bills were doing as well as their current roster enabled. (Granted, we're getting our WRs from the Sears catalogue these days, which hampers them.) The point is, our best performance was only a point better than the Raiders bumbling around. In the second half the Raiders' offense kicked into gear. Our defense could not get a pass rush, and that's doom against the Raiders particularly with safeties we're getting from Montgomery Wards' catalogue. So it's no surprise the Raiders started scoring. The collapse of the offense is the really frustrating part. The Raiders D is below average, and the Bills really did own most of the first half. What the heck happened? Maybe those sneaky Raiders made some of those halftime adjustments we hear about other teams making, but the Bills are far too proud and cocky to make any of their own. Whatever the cause, once the avalanche started, the O checked out. Did the O line wear out? I don't think the RBs were running any less hard, but the holes weren't there anymore. There were WRs open in the first half who somehow were covered in the second half. Why? Did the Raiders figure out the Bills O? I was watching the Bills sidelines shots and I never saw ANYONE walking around slapping people on their helmets, getting in their face, waking them up, challenging their manhood, anything like that. The Bills have three elite players (Shady, Sammy, Marcel) and a dozen really good ones. Why didn't Jerry Hughes or Kyle Williams or Richie Incognito take the initiative to try to light a fire?

I've been saying this all season. Not just Meeks, but Duke Williams also was kept while Rambo left. Rambo was clearly better than either of them. For that matter, why did we let Marqueis Gray go? We paid a fortune for Clay who isn't any better than Gray. About the scheme -- The Bills have been saying since Wannstedt's disastrous season that the way to go is dominant D line play, or D front 7. But when our guys run up against a stout O line, like Miami or Oakland (or I'm afraid Pittsburg) they're dead meat. And then the secondary is exposed. I still like the Ragland pick. No one knew Lorax or Z Brown would be as good as they turned out to be. And Lorax is getting on in years so bringing in new blood is smart. Shaq Lawson looks like a very good player although so far not a dominant one. I think the LBs are good. The D line is a problem with Kyle Williams getting older and Dareus still being a stupid selfish jerk. The Bills would be in Miami's spot now if Dareus played in that game. We've lost a lot of quality depth over the past couple of years on the D line. Used to be we could roll out two full high quality 4 man D lines. Now, not so much. Corbin Bryant's injury exposed the lack of quality depth.

Tanking like the Sabres. Huh. Look how well the Sabres are doing. The Edmonton Oilers tanked (or at least loss massively, for several years) and they got nowhere although are finally getting better. The Cleveland Browns keep on losing. They get high draft picks (and some gifts from the Bills) and they're still a joke. RGIII? Really?? Tanking is not the answer. Better coaching and better drafting and better FAs and better play is the answer. All things within the team's control, if not their ability.

TT might be better overall than Fitz, but Fitz will be far cheaper. TT plus the current roster plus whatever draft works out (plus Ragland coming back) keeps us on the Train to Mediocrity. We've been on the same track for 16 years. Fitz plus the current roster plus draft plus Ragland PLUS FAs gives us a shot until Cardale or someone else is ready.

More like 100%. If Ryan gets it right to start with, he sticks with it even if the other team makes adjustments and his plan no longer works. And if his plan doesn't work to start with, oh well, adjustments are so hard they just don't bother.

I did an analysis a few weeks ago where I figured we would lose to Oakland but win out otherwise. We could still make the playoffs if one of the AFC West teams loses a few games. KC beating Atlanta today was a bad shot to our chances but it's not over. The best thing is if Oakland wins out and beats both the Chiefs and the Broncos when they have a chance to do so. About today. It must have been one hell of a halftime speech. They actually picked up where they were most of the first half, and then, what, they got tired? There is a common factor that the Bills D doesn't do well against strong offensive lines. The Bills depend on a strong pass rush, and they couldn't get it today. Eventually the D line wore out, and that was that. That doesn't explain the O going into the tank after they got to 24-9. I have to figure the Oakland DC is a smart guy who figured out what we were doing and made adjustments. Rex seems to think making halftime adjustments is against league rules, but I'm pretty sure it's OK. He might try it one of these days. Finally, the Raiders' O is just great. It was a miracle that we held them to 9 points until the early 3Q, but they were simply better. Our DBs in particular are simply no match. I was watching part of the Miami game today and Baccari Rambo is still going strong. Good thing we let him go so we could hold on to Duke and Meeks.

This. He's the best backup in the game, so Dallas should want him around, and playing behind a great O line is the best place for a guy who isn't very durable anymore. He will probably have to take a pay cut, but he'll still make more in a season that I will in my lifetime.