hondo in seattle

This is why I was ambivalent. I really believe you build a culture of winning by winning. I don't thinking winning is a some-of-the-time thing, it's an all-the-time thing. You try hard in practice, you try hard in games, you are relentless and uncompromising. So if I owned the Bills, I would have let the coach play the game to win with whichever QB gave us the best chances of winning. But I have to concede there were a lot of practical benefits to letting other QBs play that game.

That a baseless assumption. Have you talked to McD and this is what he told you? What's your source? You defend Liburd but you malign McD without any information. Maybe Liburd did something wrong that you don't know about. Maybe as good as Liburd may be, McD is bringing someone onboard even better. Before you attack someone, you have to gather your facts. Personally, until I know more, I reserve judgment.

Would Vince Lombardi have played to lose? I get the pragmatist's approach but... I saw Rex laughing with someone on the sideline in a lopsided loss last year and it bugged me. Winners never think losing is funny. Winners never think losing is okay.

Yep. Why only draft a QB in the first and fifth rounds? With the odds as long as they are, why not draft a QB with every pick until we find the right guy? We all know the other players don't really matter. Winning and losing is decided entirely by the QB position.

It's good to see the old-timers getting some love!

Yeah, that doesn't look like Gilmore.

Is my memory bad? I think I recall Antoine struggled with coverage his first couple years with the Bills but hit people like a sledgehammer.

Gil Brandt knows a thousand times more about scouting college players than anyone on this board. That doesn't make him right. Bill Walsh famously liked Trent Edwards. Nobody bats 1.000 - no matter how knowledgeable they are. Scouting is a notoriously inexact science. My only point was that some very smart people don't like Mahomes at #10. Disagreeing with the OP doesn't make someone an idiot despite the OP's claim. And I agree with the philosophy of drafting the BPA, almost regardless of position. Otherwise you reach and don't get good value for your picks. There are a few future Pro Bowlers in this draft class. I want our scouts to find them - whatever position they may line up at. I'd much rather draft a future Pro Bowl linebacker, let's say, then miss out on the Pro Bowler and draft another EJ or TE just because we were determined to prioritize the QB position.

My point exactly. Gil he is a smart personnel guy - not an idiot at talent evaluation by any stretch of the imagination. And yet he doesn't think drafting a QB this year is a huge priority. But who knows? The OP may be turn out to be right about drafting Mahomes at #10. Drafted QBs surprise us all the time - some do better in the NFL than expected, many do worse. The point is, though, that a lot of smart people - from Bills fans to professional scouts - think the Bills would be better served with a different choice at #10 than QB. I personally think the Bills should draft a QB every other year until they get the right guy. But maybe not this year because... * McD and Dennison should spend the year evaluating TT and Cardale and seeing what they can get out of them; * It's not a great QB class; * We've lost a lot of players and have a lot of holes to fill.

Gil Brandt - who had 20 consecutive winning seasons and two Super Bowl victories as a chief scout and VP/Personnel - is "a idiot" also. He says, "Whether the team agrees with me is another matter, of course, but I happen to think the Bills already have their quarterback." http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000776013/article/ideas-for-the-qbneedy-trubisky-to-browns-romo-to-texans

I'm "a idiot" too. I think the Bills ought to draft a QB every other year until they find a franchise QB to build around. But some years don't have any franchise QBs. I'm afraid this may be one of them. Why waste the #10 QB because of a need when the talent isn't there? Exactly right. Very good point.

Sure he would. If he was playing with the 2016 Pats. Modern NFL offenses would demolish 1930s defenses that were designed to stop something different. But the rules and schemes were different back then. Could Brady have operated a 1930s style option offense better than the QBs back then? I don't think so. He's a near perfect QB for today's game but I don't think his skill set fits the 1930s game.

This is very cool. Thanks for sharing. As I think I suggested on the Brady thread, most QBs from long-ago wouldn't be successful in today's game. Then again, many of today's QBs would not have been successful back then. So how do you make a fair comparison? I don't think Brady would have been successful running the offenses we see in the video. But I think TT would have have been.

Actually I agree. A lot of great coaches are not great athletes. Yet, I do think McD's physical fitness and discipline will may help him earn the respect of his players. In fact, I personally find it easier to respect a guy who takes care of himself and has self-discpline than one who doesn't.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. And La Canfora's success rate isn't nearly that high.

Either both Pegula and McD are lying. Or La Canfora has his facts wrong. And La Canfora never has his facts wrong.

My dad is 97 and goes to the gym 5 times each week. But I don't think he'd be a good coach. I'm just not sure how exercise correlates to coaching success. But I wish McD the best in both his pursuits.

La Canfora invents a story of discord. And that becomes a story picked up by Sully and talking heads. Then McD says there is no story. So the no-story becomes a story only because of the story that there was a story. It's all much ado about nothing.

Taylor might be a "bridge QB" but the Bills will only take a QB at #10 if they think there's someone worth a #10 pick. There's no point in drafting another EJ just to take a QB. I'm not convinced but this does make some sense. Or the Bills might just be waiting to see what vet QBs become available later on.

I'm not a Madden guy but this conversation is kind of intriguing. As Madden gets more and more sophisticated, I wonder if you really could use it to gauge the impact of a FA or draft pick on a team. With annual Madden sales of something like 5.5 million, EA could afford to hire a scouting department as good as any NFL team.

I haven't read the whole thread but it seems silly to me to speculate that McDermott is bringing in new personnel guys. DW hires and manages the personnel guys. McD hires and manages the coaches. McD bringing in his personnel guy makes as much sense as Dough hiring assistant coaches.

And I continue to hear that new Bills coach Sean McDermott has growing cache with ownership and that team could be bringing in vice presidents and/or personnel figures with ties to the coach in the near future. Panthers director of player personnel is someone particularly well thought of who could end up in Buffalo after the draft in one capacity or another. There are already rumblings that the marriage of McDermott and Bills Gm Doug Whaley likely isn’t built to last. Real journalists use credible people with intimate knowledge of a situation as sources. Others - like La Canfora - use "rumblings" as sources.

We needed WRs and Whaley signed a bunch. We have no reason to think Whaley's declaring, Mission Accomplished" when it comes to WR. And, boy, I hope he's not. It seems to me we have a bunch of credible backups but only one true starter: Sammy. And he's often injured. We need to find more help at WR in the early rounds of the draft.

Kind of what I thought. We're already spending a lot of money to have a good rushing attack. I don't think it's wise to spend more when we have areas of weakness still waiting to be addressed. Plus, I'm not sure what AP adds at this point. Do you pull McCoy out sometimes to put AP in - which is probably a downgrade at this point in AP's career. And if you aren't pulling McCoy, you're simply paying AP to ride the pine. The only way it would make sense is if McCoy got injured. But I'd hate to predict - and count on - that. I guess that's the choice. Do you kick the can down the road or do you kick the tires?

I think when personnel guys start looking for tall receivers, QBs with big hands, etc. they start to make mistakes. I just want guys who can make plays.