ctk232

I agree with you to the degree that defense can't play both sides of the ball. This being said, I feel that in a couple games so far this season. Stronger defensive performances would have yielded different results. Simply put, the scheme currently implemented does not fit our personnel. Against the Bengals, one play, Dalton had 10+ seconds to throw the ball and completed to Green after Darby tracked him over 30 yards. We are not getting pressure on the QB. Plain and simple. Especially for this line and defense which barely blitzed last year and managed the amount of sacks it did. Further, Darby and Gilmore are solid corners, too bad almost every offense in the NFL uses more than 2 receiving targets on passing plays. Our secondary is solid, no doubt, but gives up huge yardage on crucial downs and is certainly not without it's holes. Even when healthy. Before I rant too much and this becomes more emotional than perceptive - there's a tremendous difference in our defensive performance this year and it's not all on the players or injuries. We look fragmented, uncomfortable, and simply out of position on assignments. We haven't adapted the scheme to our players and it shows, every game. And it's sad that 6 weeks into the season, everyone sees it and nothing has been done about it. It really is just unfortunate to watch such a talented group limited by schematics and play calling. We paid them the money, let them play.

Amen. Rather have Kujo check in as a TE for extra blocking than this guy. He's pretty poor at the one thing we expect him to do

Amen. Honestly wonder how TT not being "100%" is affecting his passing ability - not to mention other key offensive injuries (Sammy, Miller, Karlos, Harvin) can't help the cause either. The fact TT can do what he has done with a new system and not being 100% is remarkable. One of the highest passer ratings in the league. Things will be easier when the Defense finally pulls together more and starts to figure out the scheme, or the scheme amends to the players. Whichever comes first

One word: composure. This kid has it in bounds and it is one of the most crucial traits of a QB. I couldn't agree more too - whether he's Franchise still has yet to be determined, but I have tremendous respect for him. With his two most threatening offensive weapons out, losing Percy Harvin today, and a mediocre OL performance with John Miller nursing an injury, these are the situations where the QB needs to step up and keep his team in the game. TT did this in strides. He did it with the 3rd down conversion with his legs, but even before then using what weapons he could to maximize offensive potential. There were times he wasn't perfect, of course, but when it counted and the team needed a player, TT stepped up. He did it against NE too, when the game could've been a runaway blowout, he kept his head and the team in the game by remaining composed. There were plenty of other issues in the game, but TT has the absolute potential physically coupled with the intangibles of many top QBs in the league. It's difficult to teach composure to any player, especially to a QB and to degree that can change the course of the game. The only remaining question is can he sustain this and keep us winning games solidly. He still has a hump to get over, but out of all the QBs in the past 10 years, honestly, I've never been more confident or hopeful. FWIW.

John Miller

Ditto - Weeden's not the best guy in the league, but if I were the cowboys, I'd take him over Cassel

Definitely. Or at least mirror this strategy to some effect. But if this is the playoff caliber team we all hope it to be and the brass keeps saying it is, then they will respond and won't show up the way they did yesterday. Look for this team to study what the Pats did and devise gameplans to pick it apart (audible deep throws, quick outs, slants, etc.), and for TT to grow in his position of seeing these packages and knowing when to audible out. In all honesty though, how we carry ourselves this week and respond going into Miami will be infinitely more telling about how this team will do this season than yesterday's performance will. Yea, honestly with the stacked box yesterday TT showed tremendous growth by remaining a passer first. Anytime your QB rushes for 43 yards (more than the entire Eagles team yesterday, mind you) I wouldn't be concerned with his inclination to scramble. He knew when to keep drives alive with his feet and when to use his receivers after protection broke down. The Pats took his gameplan-changing-running out of the game when they went up by 20+ points.

Week 2 guys, some good with plenty of bad all around today - key game? sure . . . plenty of season left? Definitely. Onto Week 3 #notworried For those trying to pin this on one person and specifically TT - kind of hard to put this defeat on his shoulders and say he "sucked." Given his 2nd NFL start on this team while having NFL years under his belt, he hasn't had the experience to qualify his years in the league. He's still learning and TBH showed a lot of positives and at least made plays to close the gap at the end of the game. Need to revisit the tape here, but with the amount of sacks allowed today we can't ignore the OL and how the Pats D dialed up defensive schemes to first, beat our OL and second, keep us pass heavy essentially removing shady from the game. Kind of hard to expect production from our QB when he gets sacked that many times. Argument can surely be made that we should have run more, but when you're down by 20+ points, there's only so much time you can run off the clock by running before it's too late to comeback. The only reason we were in it so late were because of passes and plays made by TT and the wideouts and Clay. Let's put a moratorium on the headless chickens until we get further into the season. Could be worse: could have looked like the Eagles today or had our QB take a broken clavicle. Perspective people - it goes a long way. Let's take this loss like we're the team we expect to be and focus to go and beat a phish team that just lost to Jacksonville

QB2 - no higher b/c of his style of QB play. It's the Vick and RG3 question of durability and how long he'll last in a mobile qb situation

Hogan hands down - reminiscent of Welker in his prime. Hogan has potential to be a stout slot option who can create his own space and has great hands. Regular season producer > Thompson. Also, with how the injury bug has been travelling around, wouldn't be surprised if we kept 7. More likely 6 though.

I know it says roster but gotta go Off/Def here: Under - Hogan and Robey Over - Henderson and McKelvin

I was thinking the same thing - of course, pending little to no injuries and quick adaptation of scheme and formations by players. And the always important players playing to their expectations, I say we make it 11-5 this year. Let's make it happen

Ditto. Apparently Kujo's offseason work is showing in OTAs and this can only be good for us. From what it sounds like, Miller is picking things up quickly and may be expected to contribute next year. This being said, I don't believe Miller makes the first team (at least to start the season) just for experience reasons. I could see some combo of Henderson/Glenn/Kujo/Incognito/Woods as the set base with a couple added players who can contribute during offset schemes and with subs/injuries. All in all, a good place to be from the sound of things.

Regardless, it'll be an exciting fall in Buffalo for watching both franchises - can't wait

Wouldn't be opposed to adding an alternative red jersey/uni for us. Be interesting to see what we could do with that.

Who knows? Most likely not. It's just in reference to Whaley's reasoning as to why. I believe we have our starting 5 whether we like it or not regardless of our picks. But I believe a guy like jake Fisher or AJ Cann would have made a greater contribution given the changing nature of our division. I don't hate going CB but I still question the reasoning and specific player. Circumstances could be worse though.

OL. What I just don't understand is Whaley cited two reasons for Darby: 1. He was their BPA and 2. They needed to keep up with the division arms race. BPA is debatable here given who else was on the board at the time. Back and forth forever until the cows come home but I'm in personal disagreement with the Bills rankings of BPA at that point. But again what do I know. In terms of the arms race, the biggest additions to our divisional rivals have all been on the DLine. Suh to the Phins with wake and crew. Leo Williams to the Jets with Wilkerson and Richardson. Hell, even the pats took a DT in the 1st. I fail to see how a DB combats any of these major additions. To use this reasoning would be cause to pick Offensively and more specifically OL. I just don't understand...

Well said. And just to echo, this draft is incredibly thin. Most teams only have about 16 guys graded as first round value picks, with others having fewer. To be honest, if Winston and Mariota go 1 and 2, I'm not even sure that is appropriate for their grades or value. In any other draft, both would be 2nd rd value at best. This being said about the draft, I feel it's also necessary to say that to everyone hating on the Watkins trade last year and having him for what we traded, there's no ground for this. The fact of the matter is the kid was nearly ROY with a callback QB who could barely get him the ball, in a bumbling offense, often in multiple coverage. The kid will pan out. In addition, relinquishing our 1st rd this year for him is fine by me. If there is any draft to not be in the first round for it's this one; we aren't missing out on much at all. There will still be value at our 50 pick worth keeping an eye on and fingers crossed we address our OL need, and if not, I'd be fine with another DB or OLB. Still skeptical of our defensive transition to the 3-4.

Fantastic points here to keep things in perspective - my only added commentary to this would be considering the current QB roster, a potential drafted QB might not be coming into the best learning environment. 5 QBs on the roster going into camp means very limited snaps for everyone, not just some. It will already be difficult if we retain all four QBs currently to discern who is our best suited starter for week 1. We all have suspicions and hunches here, but add more competition to the mix and they may just sink to the bottom. I'd rather see them go for value OL in the 2nd round (and potentially 3rd as well) as there will certainly be depth when our pick comes up and focus on finding a QB next year that we can develop. That being said, if we address OL with our second, I'm not opposed to a QB in the 3rd if a solid option is still available.

Ditto - if Cassel/EJ can play at a level equivalent or higher than Orton last year, we might be okay with our passing game. With Rodgers at QB, no different than the top 5 teams. But even their offenses get stopped (See Packers vs. Bills, and Broncos vs. Bills - yes we lost against the Broncos but Peyton had his worst game against us) The players on your offense are half the battle - we need an offensive strategy that uses those players to create mismatches and impossible coverage options for the D.

^This. Nobody wants EJ, just stop it. Offseason boredom and painful hoping only go so far.

He has a handful of budding all stars sure, but he's still missing an OLine, QB, and TE . . . sooooo yeah, pressure's reeeally on him

My sentiments exactly - what a horrible use of the FA pool and draft. I don't care what the understood methodology is about having a veteran QB on the roster, a horrible QB is a horrible QB no matter how many years they've been in the league and McCown has no business tutoring younger QBs or being on this roster given his play in the NFL thus far. I would rather have Sanchez, Foles, Hoyer, or Locker than McCown. We don't sign QBs to take up roster space just so they can coach up young players, forgive me, but isn't that why we hired Greg Roman and brought back our QB coach? What a horrible way to start off the league year . . . say your prayers we don't make this move.

“Since 2011 when rookie wage constraints came in, meaning you don’t have to spend as much on first round draft picks, there shouldn’t be this rush to get them out on the football field. Let’s have a transition. It took Aaron Rodgers three years. Carson Palmer sat out a full year. That’s the way it used to be—let them sit, let them learn, get them some playing time. But the problem is fans get impatient, because ‘he’s a first round pick or a second round pick.’ Media questions it, and there’s more media than ever. And the owners’ expectations sometimes gets out of whack. A guy may not have been ready.” This to me sums up a lot of the QB issue in the NFL and why, every year, reports say there is only one, maybe two franchise QB's in the class. The simple fact is the franchise QB's we are watching today didn't come out of the draft producing that way from day one. Andrew Luck has had to pay his dues despite that he's been the committed starter, but Rodgers, Brady, and others have had to take their time to learn under others and the systems they're in before being able to produce at that level. Fans and the media need to keep this in mind when saying QB's are busts before they have yet to even play 16 straight games. Obviously there are other cases where a QB just doesn't show up and is an immediate bust, but you don't know until they've had time to adjust.