hondo in seattle

I’m also in my 50s and sometimes wear a shirt that says “Just One Before I Die.” Im not confident that’ll happen. But your competition doesn’t look strong either. It’s a good bet. And I think the suggestions to add something to the pot each year are great.

People are wanting McD to win now when he has the lowest paid (least talented) roster in the NFL. It typically doesn’t work that way. People are wishing Beane had given McD a better roster when Beane only has one draft under his belt. It typically doesn’t work that way. Personally, I’m going to give both these guys more time.

And the reason they run the option is partly because they can't attract good QBs because of the 5 year service obligation. And they still have more TD passes. It is a sad bit of trivia.

I should care. In fact, I should be pulling my hair out. But the fact is, I really don't give a damn. At some point this season - maybe when we traded away TT without a viable replacement or maybe when I learned we had the lowest paid roster in the league - I decided that 2018 is simply preseason for 2019. I don't expect Derek Anderson or NP to be on the roster next year, so I don't really care which one gets the reps. We'll probably lose in either case. I just hope the young guys who are sticking around play well.

Unfortunately, talent matters too. And - with the lowest paid roster in the NFL - we don't have much. So I get your point. We sent Sammy away and now we don't have WRs who can get separation. I'm just saying hindsight is 20-20 and at that time the injuries and character issues made Sammy a guy the coaches didn't want to keep around. I can see why. It's not as silly and simplistic as "McD can't handle egos."

McD can handle egos. He just doesn't want to. Plus Sammy had an injury problem as well as a character one. Did you read the story about Sammy whining for targets? So Shady put a punch of paper targets in an envelope and gave them to Sammy to mock & embarrass him? That's not the kind of story that emerges from a winning team's locker room. Sammy's admitted that when he was with the Bills, he was more interested in personal stats than wins. At that time, Sammy was a gimpy, me-first, egomaniac. Why would you want a guy like that on your team? Teamwork, culture, chemistry... these things are all important and Sammy was poison when here. I'm glad to hear he's acknowledged his shortcomings since then and is growing as a man and as a player.

Reid isn't an objective reporter. He has a distinct POV and it's uncertain if his portrayal of Terry is entirely accurate. But it wouldn't be surprising at all if Terry did in fact voice a concern about losing sponsors. He's running a business. He ought to be concerned about revenue. Terry might have also said that they need a black spokesman. Reid's paraphrase of 'hiding behind a black face' is just his own words venting his own personal frustration with the situation. I wouldn't judge Terry without hearing his side of the story. I do think Reid makes some valid points in general, though.

Game wasn't fun to watch. But - ignoring the scoreboard for a moment - there are some some interesting numbers in the box score. For example, the Pats averaged 5.4 yards per play while the Bills averaged 5.3. This would suggest a close game between evenly matched teams. Then again, maybe that's why some folks say stats are for losers.

In 59 years, the Bills are something like 411-473-8. In other words, in a typical season we lose about 1 game more than we win. Below average? Sadly, yeah. Disappointing? For sure. But one of the most pathetic franchises ever? Not really.

Somewhere years ago I read that Hue was a smart with Xs and Os and a good motivator. But his act wore thin after a while because he could be less than sincere with his players and many of them would decide after a while that ultimately Hue was mostly interested in Hue. I don't know the man and hate to judge but the article influenced my thinking, especially when I read today that Baker Mayfield wasn't sad to see him go.

Yes he did. Maybe he’s growing up. Hope so.

ESPN was filming in the home of the Buffalo Wing and decided to feature Applebees? Corporate sponsorship at it's worse! (I'm not sure how important this topic is - but it's diverting to talk about something other than the pathetic-ness of our offense. So, thanks Real Buffalo Joe.)

The QB who the OP wants to build around is unproven and may never evolve into a quality NFL QB - we just don't know. The OL is bad. The WR corps is bad. Our star RB is good but reaching the end of his career. I'm not sure how much I agree with rebuilding specifically around Josh's strengths. I'll be happy with any kind of successful rebuild.

This tells us that rookie QBs rarely produce. It doesn't tell us if we can expect Allen to start producing in Year 2. While this post might get rid of some of the pessimism, it's not really a justification for optimism. I think Beane's in a tough position. He knows the team need a quality QB but he doesn't know yet if he has one.

For me personally, I'd be having more fun if we were actually scoring even if we were still losing. I loved, for example, watching OJ play even when the playoffs were out of reach. For sheer fun, watching a good offense is better than watching a good defense. Besides, if your offense can score, there's always hope that you can catch up.

I think it's because our aerial attack is so pathetic that no one respects it and loads the box to stop the run. I'm just guessing what the OP meant.

Agree. I got caught up in the whole the-drought-is-over-and-a-new-day-is-dawning hype at the end of last season. Then I watched with surprise as we traded away our QB without a proven starter to replace him. Then I discovered that we had the lowest roster spending in the league this season but tons of cap space going forward. And then I came to terms with the fact that the Bills are in full rebuilding mode this year. It's way too early to judge.

Does it make you feel big to make ad hominem attacks on others? I get the people who are losing faith in McD. He's been something like a .500 coach thus far. He's made mistakes. I don't get the mean-spiritedness and childishness. Why do need to make up derogatory nicknames (McDumbass) and call people idiot? Are we in middle school? How does childish rudeness make the dialogue here better - more fun or insightful?

I agree mostly with your comments. Anyone who looked at the substractions and roster spending knew this was going to be a bad year. I rated 40-60% because neither Beane or McD has a lot of experience at their current jobs. There's not much of track record to judge them on. I'm neither optimistic nor pessimistic.

Culture+process+talent=championships. You need all of them. We're missing talent. And I don't know how good the process is actually.

I suppose I have the same fear for Year 3. But I have hope too. That’s a lot of cap money. Maybe it’ll be spent wisely and set this team on the right path. I’m more curious than fearful. This is was always planned to be a rebuilding year. Will the rebuild plan actually work? Hard to know when the rebuilders are under an onerous budget and just starting their work.

I’m not sure how we can tell how McD is treating the players when we’re not with them all week to observe how he treats them. In any case, it doesn’t really matter. We have the lowest paid roster in the NFL. We just don’t have much talent. Being hard on talentless players doesn’t make them play like Pro Bowlers.

Nope. 2018 is the preseason to 2019 - we’re evaluating players, teaching our schemes, and giving young guys game-time reps. Just look at at our roster spending. Last in the league. We’re not actually trying to win.

I gotta say... wow! In my mind those grades do hurt PFF’s credibility. How can they be so wrong?

As I’ve said elsewhere, 2018 is the preseason to 2019. Success this year would be the success of the young players.