hondo in seattle

Beane's got a lot of draft picks. But he's got a lot of work to do, too. Let's hope he's better at the draft than some of his predecessors.

I'm not convinced that QB is an early round need. TT isn't great but we're winning and he's part of it. Two other things push me away from drafting a QB early (1) it's a crap shoot; (2) opportunity cost - we have too many other needs. With that in mind, I like the way some previous posters are thinking. * We need a WR, obviously. * We need Shady's eventual replacement. * We need a guard. * We need a CB. * Both lines are getting old. We need to start drafting their replacements.

I get your more-with-less point. But the problem with the NFL's passer rating is that it doesn't measure productivity. In most cases, a QB who finishes a game 10 of 15 for 120 yards with 1 TD and 1 pick isn't helping his team as much as a QB who finishes 20 of 30 for 240 yards with 2 TDs and 2 picks. According to the passer rating system, these two games are identical. But I'd chose the QB who got me 240 yards over the one who got me a mere 120 yards. Production matters. Is Taylor a guy who can take a team down the field with his arm when that's required? That's the contentious question and he's clearly not in the same category as Brees, Brady, Rodgers, etc. But has TT played well in our run-first system? Yes, he has. He's made plays with both his legs and his arm. He's protected the ball. He's completed a good percentage of his passes. And he's accomplished all this with a line that sometimes struggles in passpro and a subpar WR group. Like many Bills fans, I fantasize about finding the next Jim Kelly but Taylor is fun to watch and we can win with him under center.

I predicted 9-7 with us falling short of the playoffs. Cross my fingers... I may not have been optimistic enough!

This tells you everything. It was clear to McD and Beane thought Dareus was a waste of cap space. Probably just a negative influence in general. They wanted him gone. And after months shopping him, the best offer they had was for a 6th. Now we know what the NFL thinks of Marcel.

Usually I think every game is equally important - because that's usually the mathematical fact. But if we win this particular game, we're 5-2 and clearly in the playoff hunt. If we lose, we're just one of many teams floundering around .500. I think winning this game would be tremendous for the players - their motivation, their self-confidence, their confidence in the coaching staff, their commitment, etc.

Yeah, I remember this being talked about in the media. As I recall, though, Dennison himself was rather vague and secretive about what kind of offense he would run. Now we know. Though I think this is still a works-in-progress. Dennison made some changes to the running scheme during the bye week and so-far, so-good. As it's his first year as a real OC, and first year with the Bills, I suspect he's going to continue to evolve the scheme and play-calling.

Who said we were "supposed to" run a classic WCO. I don't recall Rico saying that. If the pundits said it, they were wrong.

Like every other GM, Whaley had his share of hits and misses. I think he was below average in the draft, above average is free agency, and maybe average-ish in the other aspects of his job.

USA Today has had the Bills as high as #3 and as low as #28. If you ranked teams randomly, it would be about this consistent.

And yet something like 30 or 32 teams subscribe. Clubs find some value in what they do.

This was an exciting win. It was great to see the offense show some life. It was particularly fun to watch the Bills demonstrate heart by coming back from 27-20. But overall an "A"??? Winston gashed us for 384 yards passing while the Bucs earned both more total yards and first downs than us. While our offense put up 30 points, they also missed some critical opportunities off turnovers. A great win but not an "A" performance against a 2-4 team.

I empathize. I go by the Rule of Eight. I'm never confident of a Bills win unless we're up by more than 8 points with fewer than 8 seconds left on the clock.

I'm not sure I buy the assumption you're making. If Beane brought in a second-teamer who's now superfluous but has trade value, I think he'd pull the trigger.

This is valid. But Joe B's low grade on Miller kind of matches up with PFF's low grade on Miller. Two very different sources presumably using different methodology came up with the same conclusion: Miller's not playing well. It's concerning.

A great attitude, for sure. A great attitude doesn't always produce great play but it helps.

Auras are nice but I need to see more offense before I get too excited.

Which of these doesn't belong?

I appreciate the OP's point but I'm tired about arguing whether or not we can win with Tyrod as our QB. Minds are made up. No amount of logic or statistics is going to change anyone's opinion. That's all up to Tyrod now. I'm content to watch and - as a Bills fan - I hope Tyrod proves his doubters wrong.

I didn't think Gilmore played well last season - though I wasn't sure how much of that was Rex. I viewed his loss as inevitable and nothing much to cry about. Watkins is often hurt but when healthy was one of maybe two legit weapons we had an offense. That trade hurt me and my optimism for our offensive productivity.

And we don't know what the medical staff is telling Beane and McD.

I guess I don't understand. Because from where I sit, a good QB can make WRs look good and good WRs can make a QB look good. It takes two to tango. Tyrod may not be a great QB but he'd be more productive with better protection and better targets.

I agree. Dennison is early in his tenure with the Bills so I hope he can adjust some things and get things going. But "hope" and "expect" are two very different words. When I talked about Rico making adjustments, #1 was top of mind.

No games this weekend. Too many other good ways to spend my time - with family, personal projects, etc.

I hope you're right but unfortunately I think more like Cookie. Tyrod may get better as a passer but he'll never develop Brady/Brees type skills. But Tyrod can run. And when we integrated him into the run game like we did last year, Shady was more effective and - more importantly - we scored points. When Lynn was calling plays and Tyrod was under center, we averaged something like 26 points per game last season. If we averaged 26 points per game with this defense, we'd win enough games to get into the playoffs.