hondo in seattle

I read The Economist from time to time. You'll find better coverage and analysis of world news there than on most other sites. I'm more than mildly surprised to see they did an article on Tyrod. I'm not surprised they brought up Game Theory. If the Bills retain him - and had always intended to retain him - I don't think any of the perceived drama really matters.

I remember when he was considered a hot up-and-comer. Then the frigid air of Minnesota cooled his reputation.

Agreed! A better statistic would measure how long a QB has in the pocket before he needs to move his feet to avoid the rush. (If this were actually measurable). Obviously, there were times when Tyrod was unforgivably off target. But there were also games when he was under siege and didn't have a prayer. He held onto the ball for a long time when he was under attack because he was scrambling for his life, and trying to turn a line breakdown into a positive gain. Our offensive line was curiously schizophrenic. They did well on run plays because they were usually in the right place at the right time. Roman's designs didn't require them to be road graders. On the other hand, they didn't pass block well. There's nothing tricky in pass protection, no finesse. You just have to out-muscle, out-position, out-footwork your man. Too often, our offensive linemen lost these mano a mano battles when attempting to protect Taylor.

I'm a big believe in empowerment. The best leaders don't scoop up all the power and keep it for themselves. They spread it out; they send it down. I don't think Whaley giving some power to McDermott is a sign of his diminishment. I think it's a good sign. Who knows talent outside the organization better than Whaley and his scouts? No one. They should be -and are - in charge of talent acquisition. Who knows the talent on the existing roster better than the coaches? No one. The head coach should be in charge of the 53 man roster. I'm also a big believe that Sully is negative just to be negative. Fortunately, for him, he writes for the Bills who prove him right too often. But his schtick wears thin.

Some companies hire by committee. They schedule multiple interviews and feel like a consensus is more likely to result in a good hire than a Mussolini make decisions in solitaire. I wonder if that's what Jax is doing? They might have an arrangement where both Marrone and Coughlin have to green light a coaching hire. It could make sense and could even work. But it's got to suck for Marrone if he really can't hire who he wants.

I'd love for Tyrod to be able to throw the ball like Brady. He can't. So is the glass half full or half empty? Tyrod contributed more to the running game than his 500 or whatever yards rushing. By being a dynamic running threat himself, teams had to defend our rushing attack differently. We led the league in both rushing yards and rushing yards per attempt. Tyrod was part of the reason why. Shady would have had a lesser year if an old school statue of a QB had been handing off to him. Did the extra yards we gained on the ground because of Tyrod strengths offset the yards in the air we lost because of Tyrod's weaknesses? I don't know. It's hard to quantify. But when you see a team score as many points as the Bills did with the Lynn/Tyrod duo, something is clearly going right. I would hate to jettison that until we know we have something better.

Every QB has a different learning curve. It took Jim Plunkett something like 9 years to become a good NFL QB. Drew Brees took 3 or 4. Both were actually playing. If you're sitting on the bench, like Taylor did for 4 years, you're not getting the experience you really need to grow. But your general point is right. Usually after 6 years, you know what you've got.

With a limited QB? Often without healthy NFL quality receivers lined up on the outside? And still finished in the top ten in scoring despite this being a 'passing league'? Color me impressed.

"A leading edge genetic engineering firm employed by the Buffalo Bills successfully cloned Jim Kelly several years ago. I'm happy to announce Jim Kelly II is now 23 years old and fully groomed to be our new starting quarterback." "The same firm has also cloned Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, Bruce Smith, and every other player on the Wall of Fame. 2017 is going to be an exciting year!" Anything less than that and I don't really care. Lots of coaches say the right things. And I'll listen with some interest. But I want to see what he actually does.

In four years as an OC, McCoy only once placed his team in the top 10 in scoring. In his only year as an OC, Lynn got his team into the top ten in scoring.

Only 1 season as a coordinator? Clearly a Rooney Rule guy. Oh, except that he was just named HC of the Broncos.

On the one hand, both Rex and Roman failed to rebuild the Bills. They might not be "bad" coaches but they failed here. On the other hand, I get your bigger point. The Pegulas will pay to get the coaches they want. And if that means paying above market price to lure guys to Buffalo, so be it. I don't blame them for the Rex and Roman hires. Rex had the reputation (in some quarters) of being a defensive guru and Roman was viewed as an offensive guru. There were some vaild reasons to think that duo would work out. But it didn't. So now they'll pay what they have to be to bring in their replacements. God bless 'em.

Joseph leaves Miami... I hope this means the Fins nose dive in 2017. Not that I wish ill on anyone. But I do on our brethren in the AFCE.

Yeah, that seems to have become more important over the years. The HC candidates who have verbal commitments from good coordinators are the guys in demand. What credible information do we have that McCoy is either in or out? Everything I've seen - either way - is either pure speculation or really vague.

I wonder if the "2nd interview" is not really a job interview about McDermott's qualifications for the position. Maybe it's more about contract details, chain of command, roster authority, roles and responsibilities, and so on.

Didn't Whaley bring in Jim Monos? A lot of people seem to think highly of Monos.

Disregarding a few inane comments, this is one of the best threads on TBD right now. Good thoughtful stuff.

Who says there are blurred lines and undefined roles within the Bills organization? Just because things aren't clear to the public doesn't mean there's no clarity at OBD. I imagine roles and responsibilities undergo a periodic review as often happens in the business world. They may be somewhat negotiable with a new coach coming on board. McDermott, Whaley, the Pegulas et al might be working these details out today.

The point of football is to score more points than your opponents. The Lynn/TT O scored points. Enough points that it should have led to more wins IF the defense stopped the other team from scoring. This wasn't a perfect offense. It couldn't always move the ball through the air so you're complaint has some justification. But, given that the objective of the offense is to score points, it was a good offense. 7th best in the league at scoring before the final, meaningless game.

Brees is old. But the guy just threw for 5,000 yards for the fifth time. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Matt Stafford and Dan Marino have each done it once. Kelly, Montana, Elway, Favre, etc NEVER threw for 5,000 yards. Brees, as of this year, is still good. What would have been inspiring? All the available candidates out there had warts. Just remember, it could be worse. We could be Jacksonville.

Who knows how the coaching changes work out overall, but I doubt if the run game will be as productive in 2017. That kind of success is hard to duplicate. And, yeah, I know McCoy OC-ed the Broncos to the rushing crown one year. But implementing a new system takes time. And the old system with Tyrod forcing the DEs and OLBs to play contain helped open things up for McCoy and the other RBs. Whatever flaws he had, Roman was a guru at play-design and Lynn did well preparing the team and play-calling.

We all knew Doug would get another HC opportunity eventually. But I feel sorry for Jax fans. I don't think he'll be an abomination as a coach but I do think (like many coaches) he'll eventually be fired for failing to transform the team into a perennial winner. Though maybe he learned a lot from his mixed record of success and failure in Buffalo.

That's the key point. We haven't had a QB who led us to as many points as TT did in a long time. I'd rather have a Jim Kelly clone under center. But given the reality of the situation, right now Tyrod's our best option. People make mistakes. Considering Whaley received the video in an email from a friend and sent it out to a Steeler coworker in an email, I assume it was football related. Probably something humorous? It's not like Whaley is on pedophilia sites and emailing people his favorite pics and vids.

That's an awfully strong endorsement.

This is a good observation. Seattle's D performs at a very high level year after year. But Carroll is the architect and engineer who designed and built that D. Richard must understand it well enough to be the DC (in name, at least). But can he recreate it? Furthermore, defense is only part of the battle. Will Richard hire a good OC and ST Coordinator? Does he know how to lead a staff of coaches? Can he organize an effective off season program? Can he prepare a team for a game? I imagine he's learned a lot working for Pete. But observing and doing are two separate things. I have no idea if he's a better candidate than the others. In truth, without lots and lots of due diligence (interviews, talking to lots of players and coaches who know our candidates, examining their stats versus their rosters, etc), I can't possibly know - I just don't have the resources. I have to hope that Whaley's due diligence is effective in uncovering the information that will lead to an informed/good decision.