ThE BiScUiT

Shaq has looked quick in camp, his 1st step is not elite, but I think he can still get the QB. He plays well with leverage. I don't think he is elite, but I think he could make a pro bowl or two. Bigger concern at defensive end is the depth...

Reggie was running with the 2's the 1st two practices. I thought he looked faster than what his 40 was. It seemed like he was having a bit of trouble reading and re-acting, but my view was not the best. I'm all about the D-line this year and love the reports on Shaq Lawson, but I would pump the breaks a little bit for 2 reasons, one - they are not in pads and 2 I think (I could be wrong) most of his snaps were going against Jordan Mills - not the best competition to gauge against.

Sammy made a nasty 1 hand grab in warm up drills, 5 yard out pattern, thrown behind him with velocity, he reaches back and plucks it right of the air - I was impressed with Tre' White the last 2 days as well - not sure what Astro thinks, but he has been consistent. Tough to gauge much without pads, but i don't think we are going to get out hussled or beat fundamentally this year. I think each game is going to be a dog fight, depth will do us in though.

Boldin will be signed by tomorrow...

Anything can be skewed when taken out of context. For example are you also going to kill john Elway for having Trevor Siemen and Paxton Lynch as the only QBS on a Denver roster that is clearly a super bowl contender? How do you think they do with Tyrod under center this year? In my opinion they probably finish with 11 to 12 wins. Point being is that Whaley has tried to improve the position but it's not as easy as running to the store and picking up a new qb. Choices are limited...see over half the teams in the nfl. By no means do I think whaley has done an excellent job...but I do believe the roster has been upgraded significantly over his tenure. The only issue I think that is glaring is the lack of depth on both lines and possibly at saftey. I believe coaching and game management were the failures in 2016 and I was a rex guy. Even the play calling on offense has been suspect in my opinion ....particularly in the dolphins game ...it was clear to me that the staff did not understand situational football. Same with the Raiders game to some extent.

I was at camp today...whaley, pegula and mono watched the whole practice together...for whatever that's worth. A

Went to Camp today - Normally I wouldn't post anything about the 1st day of camp, but I thought some people would appreciate this. Aaron Williams, Tyrod Taylor, Robert Woods, Corey Graham, Preston Brown and James Wilder Jr all stayed about a half hour to an hour after camp ended to sign autographs. Corey Graham was having conversations with most of the fans while signing - really great guy. They were all very humble and seem to really appreciate everything that comes with being and NFL player. I don't know that we'll get to the playoffs this year, but definitely am proud to be a Bills fan right now.

Question - who would you rather have? The only person I could see bringing would bowles. All the other coordinators have tremendous talent to work with and all would be 1st year head coaches. Difficult for 1st year guys to be successful with teams that are not already contendors. Also - plenty of coaches who have been successful the second or even third time around - Carrol, Belacheat, Coughlin. Why don't we hold judgement until next year at this time and see what we have.

I see your point. But I think that's how a lot of coaches are. Outside of belichick, I think a lot of head coaches focus on one side of the ball and trust their coordinators to run their respective units. But remember Marrone opted out, we needed a new coach. If you bring and offensive guy in, with the current personnel, there's no garrantee that the offense is going to perform any better than what Greg Roman will produce - you have to wait and see. Personnally, I think Roman will make sure he uses his personnel to play to their strengths, and in turn will get more out of them. But again we have to wait and see. The point I'm making as that a HEAD COACH needs to motivate, needs to be an alpha male (meaning he's respected, feared and liked all at the same time) and needs to be mentally tough. I think that is exactly what Ryan is. On top of that he already has experience being in the exact situation he's in right now, and he WON! To your point, if you bring in a current OC, I think you'll have the exact same issue. And as I said the one good thing is that Schwartz is probably sill here to coach the defense s o you remain consistent. I give you that. But, again, these OC do not have a track record of being able win as a head coach - It's a different job no matter what you focus on in terms of game planning. My point is that there are valid arguements on both sides. No matter who we hired there's going to be pros and cons. I'm just saying lets make sure we look at the whole thing.

Marrone opted out - we needed to hire a new a coach - I don't think anyone blew this up - it's jus thte circumstances. If you wanted an offensive minded head coach that's fine, but that won't change the personnell. We still have the same talent - regardless of the who coach is. People complain that we need someone to develop EJ - I've watched the kid for years, he's been the same player since he started at FSU - great physical talent, but inaccurate. Adam Gase or Darrell Beavell is going to change that. What helps EJ is having a solid running game and using play action to give him easy reads and easy throws. Maybe even a little read option. Point being that an offensive guy is not going to come in here and totally turn around the offense into a downfield passing attack, not with this personnel. So let's say we draft a qb or sign a free agent. I get the point that maybe Rex can't develop a young guy. But honestly, there are 10-15 QB's in the league right now that I would consider above average in the league, maybe fewer if you think Manning and Brees are on their way out. From my perspective, at that position, the guy either has it or he doesn't. See Jon Gruden, Chris Palmer and Mark Trestmen who considered themselves QB guru's. At the position, I believe it's more about the player than coaching. Yes, there is some coaching that is needed to understand schemes and reads (which I think Rex can help with better than anyone else). But aside from that you need to be able to be accurate and throw the football. Dan Marino and Kelly probably didn't have the best foot work in the pocket (from a technical standpoint), yet they were accurate with the football. And were successful in any system they played. If Bill Belichick was available, yea you go hire him. But with what was out there, I'd rather go with a guy whose done it before than take a chance on a coordinator that has had success with talanted teams. Aside from Todd Bowles who I belive is the best available guy out side of Rex, each canidate has either had great talent around them. Obviously, if we hired bowles who did more with less last year, we would still be having the same discussion. Point is if we hit on a QB the offense will be better no matter who is coaching. Defensive guy or offensive guy it won't matter. What will matter is if we have someone who can lead and get his team ready to play. And if we don't hit on a QB, then we have the right guy to get this team to where we want to go (the playoffs) because again he's already done it. Now as for as the team president thing. I believe in, Whaley he has upgraded the talent on this team. That's undeniable. If we brought ina new front office, wouldn't that now be blowing things up even more? I think you give Whaley a chance. Remeber, he has brought in veteren QB's and drafted one. Since he took over, there hasn't been a qb on the market that was above average, nor has there been a qb drafted that I think is better than what Kyle Orton is. Time will tell with Bridgewater and Carr - I agree there is potential there, but I think overall its a crap shoot picking that position (again see Brian Billick who rotated QB's for years in Baltimore and couldn't find one. His claim to fame was his offensive mind, but let's not forget it was the defense that won him a superbowl, not the offense. His offense in the super bowl year was terrible. I believe there was a strech where they didn't score a TD on offense for a few games. It's mind boggling to me how people could be so down on this hire.

Time will tell on how good or bad this hire is. From my standpoint, every "offensive minded" coaching canidate out there usually has a top flight QB at the helm. So from my stand point, is the player making the coach or is the coach making the player. For example - Adam Gase is a hot name right now. After what I saw Sunday, it appears to me that it's more Manning than Gase making that offense go. Maybe Gase or Riech would come in and make the offense better. But would they make the overall team better? I'm not so sure - see Chan Gailey (who I have tremendous respect for) but let's face it he did a good job with the offense, but overall coaching of the squad was not what it needed to be. I also believe that brining in a 1st time head coach is a bigger step backwards. I'd rather have a guy that's been there before, that has won in the league. For those who don't like the hire, the only point i beleive make sense is that the consistancy is now gone. There is something to be said for this as it takes time to build trust with your team. That argument is valid. The other arguements about Rex being a defensive guy an not knowing anything about offense, to me, don't have merit. Out of all the canidates Ryan has the most experience, has proven he can actually get a team to the playoffs with a subpar offense and a super defense (which is exactly what we have at the moment). Rex is ten times the leader that any other canidate is. Players want to play for him, that's a fact and players respond to him. His 1st 2 years he split with the Patriots each season and had a playoff win against them in 2010. Yes he did tail off recently, but He has proven that he can beat the Pats - and can stay competive with washed up talent. He's not afraid of Belichick and Brady. Hes a tough minded head coach. His players will play physical and be mentally tough. There are plenty of reasons to get behind this hire.

We don't need an RB in the second round. Petty may be there - I think this is the pick or interior line help (depending on what gets done in free agency). There are plenty of backs to be had in the later rounds. Get the QB or solidify the O-Line.

Kirby - I really appreciate your insights and your insider information, but one thing remains unclear to me. If the Toronto Group needs to convince the trust that they are staying here long term, what qualifies as proof, to the trust and whomever invovled that they will in fact stay in Buffalo for the long term (and what qualifies as long term for that matter). To me this would have to mean that they have an agreement with the state for a new building or an extension on the current lease for X amount of years, in HAND to prove they will not move to Toronto. Anything short of that means nothing, because if infact they were to win the bid, without a binding contract in place on a new stadium or a new lease in the current stadium, they are well within their rights to try and move the team (once they own it). I imagine the NFL could block them, though I don't know that would be in the best interest of all the other owners in the leauge, in which, Roger represents. To me, the whole thing is a bit shaddy. If they were just staying in the game to go about the process or to drive up the bid, why do so much PR work to sway public opinion? Again, you know more than I do. I respect the posters on here who have more information and I am not trying to be a troll. From the sellers point of view I get why they are keeping them around - this is to drive up the bidding price. That makes sense. But it still is a bit nerveracking!

Where is Kirby Jackson with the inside scoop??

I don't know about individual nick names, but a nickname for our top 3 receivers - WW3 (Watkins, Woods,Williams)