hondo in seattle

I'm already confident in the back end of the D. We have really good corners. To be confident overall, nothing that happens in the preseason will convince me that the D is better. Way too many third stringers and vanilla schemes out on the field this time of year. I need to watch the first game. What's the communication like? Are we getting pressure? The answers to those two questions will tell me a lot.

I believe we have the best coaching staff we've had in a long time. Yeah, I get that Rex can be buffoonish and there's no argument he screwed the pooch last year. But I still believe he's an above average defensive coach with an above average defensive staff. Roman is an above average offensive coach. During the drought, we've had some good defensive coaches and some good offensive coaches but never both at the same time until now. We might also have the best QB since Kelly (Bledsoe was good for only half a season). We've got some really talent at other positions as well. But playoffs? I'm not yet convinced. If nothing else, the past 16 years of fandom have taught me to be cautious with my optimism. Being in the playoff hunt this year wouldn't shock me. Then again, neither would a 7-9 season.

Was the O Line very good or is Roman good at making O Lines look good? Personally, I think it's the latter though you have to give the OL credit for executing the blocks Roman asked them to perform. Outside Incognito and maybe Cordy, we don't have an offensive lineman who will overwhelm his opponent in a one-on-one battle. In short yardage situations, we don't get a lot of push. But Roman's plays don't usually require offensive linemen to be road-graders - just in the right place doing the right thing at the right time.

As I recall, the Marv Levy Bills used to lose a lot of preseason games and still dominate the AFC. So I'm sure how much this matters, though I'd rather be #1 in the PFF rankings than #32.

Exactly right. And while there might have been more problems behind the scenes, in front of the scenes was enough for me. Multiple drug test failures, concussion issues, weight problems, lack of commitment (as suggested by the drug and weight problems) - he had to go.

A good way of saying it, Doc. Our #3 WR is the 5th receiving option on a run-first offense. There are better things to lose sleep over than our WR depth.

I think our receiving corps is fine. Sammy and Woods are a solid tandem. And we have a number of backups who are either young-and-promising, or have already been productive backups. Then - as mentioned - we have receiving options who are not WRs. You can't have Pro Bowlers at every position and when you consider this is a run-first offense, I have no issue with the quality of the receiving corps that DW has given Rex & Roman to work with.

If Cardale ends up taking Tyrod's job away from him and having a Jim Kelly type career, we'll all call you prescient. Personally, I was encouraged by what I saw of Cardale against Indy and mentioned elsewhere that I was impressed with the job Roman and Lee were doing with him. I acknowledged he could be TT's replacement in the future if TT doesn't live up to his potential. But Cardale never reminded me of Kelly despite the things you mentioned. But I love the optimism!

The collective memory of TBD is a thing of beauty! It was a good tweet by Barnett - cool he referenced the Bills mafia. And let's note he's not as old as Fred Jackson.

Yeah. There are those 5 minutes or whatever in London we'd all like to forget. Other than that, I think EJ's played well for a backup.

Holy crap, 26CB, I'm amazed you remember that Mini Max Anderson wore #22! My earliest Bills memory is watching a game on TV when I was maybe 9 years old and the Bills medical staff were attending to Mini Max. One of the announcers said that he had "swallowed his tongue." I had never heard that expression before and it horrified me! I had to ask my mom what it meant. For all the youngsters out there, Mini Max - all 68 inches of him - was our starting RB before we drafted OJ.

Thanks, as always, for your great analysis! Cardale looked better maybe than I expected. Roman and David Lee are doing a nice job with him. And I'll wander a bit off topic here and say that DW is doing well making lemonade from lemons. He inherited a bad QB situation but acquired TT who had a promising first season. Then he got Cardale who looks like he can be TT's backup next year when EJ most likely leaves. And if TT doesn't live up to his promise, maybe Cardale will live up to his.

He wasn't a Pro Bowler because (1) he played for a loser and (2) he played behind a weak offensive line. Virtually all his yards in his prime were YAC - Yards After Contact. I know you disagree, but I think Fred might have been a HOFer if had played behind a good line for a good (playoff caliber) team and stayed healthy. He didn't have OJ level talent but he was still very talented and played with extreme effort. Wall of Famer for sure. That said, I don't care that the number has been reassigned.

Ralph was one of the best owners. He kept the Bills in Buffalo. And when he died, he made it inevitable that the team remained in Buffalo and gave much of his fortune to charity. Yep, the Bills only won something like 46% of their games during his years of ownership. To me that matters little. I'd rather root for a .460 Buffalo Bills than a .600 L.A. Bills. I do hope, though, that the New Era deal ushers in a new era of winning. Yikes, Vegas, are the ad hominem attacks necessary? Do they make you feel better? They certainly aren't persuading anyone. We're all Bills fans here - a band of brothers united by shared hopes and history. Let's show some respect.

Good answer. Larry Felser seemed to have sources within the Bills organization. Sully clearly has nobody.

This is a great move. Tyrod may or may not be an elite QB. But even maybes like Osweiler are commanding big money on the open market because a maybe is worth far more than a no. The escape clause after year 1 to protect the Bills shows TT is clearly willing to gamble on his own performance. It ought to have been an easy roll of the dice for the Bills. Tyrod's performance last year created more hope than we've had from that position in a long, long time. And Roman's been raving about TT this off-season. There aren't a lot of certainties in football and you need to pay premium dollars for possibilities. My only disappointment was Whaley's remarks. Before the contract is signed, he's supposed to hide his enthusiasm as a negotiation ploy. But after the contract is inked, the GM needs to show his belief. The whole not-greedy, play-the-hand-your-dealt schtick was dumb. TT's our man now. Pat him the back. Stroke his ego. Show him some love. To maximize Tyrod's chances of success, we want him to feel supported and the team to know the organization believes in him.

If we fans weren't allowed to criticize people smarter than us, what else would we have to do?

Which is why he's a better coach now than he was for the Brownies. Coaches (and GMs) have learning curves too.

Supposedly Thurman said it's not just a matter of the next guy stepping up, there would be schematic changes with Ragland out for the year. Rex is paraphrased in the article linked above saying that Spikes is a true Mike linebacker which could limit the team schematically. They clearly have different strengths and weaknesses but how much would the D need to change schematically with Hawthorne or Z. Brown?

Why do we beat up on our own??? As Bills fans, we're supposed to love all Bills players and hate all Pats players. It's almost as if we blame the current roster (and coaches and staff) for 16 years of futility. Personally, I'm really hoping Goodwin stays healthy this year and torches a few opposing AFCE DBs.

I agree. He was overrated by some as a quarterback but he's a better man than many other NFL players.

What's the exact quote? It is a scary statement. But it's hard to imagine a NFL team making scheme changes because their second round draft pick got hurt in preseason.

Yeah, that does suck. But, to me, the fate of the 2016 season lies on the shoulders of Rex more than anyone else - certainly more on his shoulders than on the shoulders of draft picks. If Rex makes the appropriate adjustments, this D will be good. The second most important guy is TT. If he steps up the way we all hope he will, this O will be good.

It really sucks whenever you lose your top two draft picks to injury before the season even starts. But I never expected Shaq and Ragland to be the saviors of this defense. I'm not sure how well I expected them to play at all. They're rookies, after all. If anyone is going to turnaround this defense, it's Rex. 2014 demonstrated how much talent we have. 2015 demonstrated how much coaching matters. If Rex learned the right lessons, this season's D will be good with or without Shaq and Ragland. If the Rex did not, this season will be a disappointment with or without our top two draft picks.