PlayoffsPlease

Football will likely go the way of boxing. Its hard to believe now but from the Jack Dempsey era up until the Ali-Frazier battles, championship boxing bouts were as big as the super bowl is now. Muhammed Ali was considered the most recognizable man on earth. Now most posters don't even know who the heavy weight champion is. It is painful to watch high school football now when you personally know the individual students, knowing the risks their brains are at. It is not as fun as it used to be.

The salary cap is designed to make it hard for one team to be a dynasty. Once 20 million per year is tied up in the QB position, it is nearly impossible to have elite players at most other positions. When you look at the Patriots, they seem to make winning in general look easy. Jauron's comment was not "winning championships" is hard. It was simply winning. Only a few teams struggle to ever win for decades on end.

John Elway made two highl critisized yet critical decisions that led the Broncos to the Super Bowl this year. One flying the face of the continuity crowd he fired John Fox and brought in Gary Kubiak. As much as people want to piss and moan about the Broncos offense, in a result oriented business this led to victory on the field (Although Doug Whaley continues to just crush Elway on paper) The second decision was to use a second round draft pick on Brock Oswellier even though the Broncos had plenty of other "holes". Brock held the fort down while Manning was hurt. Anyone who thinks the Bills have #1 QB solved need to realize that a significant investment in #2 QB is not a waste. In the most talent rich draft of the generation, the Panthers passed on easy BPA choices like Von Miller, Marcell Dareus, AJ Green and Patrick Peterson to take the unconventional and much derided Cam Newton at #1 overall. Other teams thrash around (think Eagles) with lots of similar aggressive moves that don't pan out. But as Ricky Bobby's dad said "if you aren't first your last", so they really are going for the gusto, even it failed. The Bills seemed committed to building an 8-8 forever team adding one brick at a time (and starting to see bricks like Kyle Williams, Mario Willams, and Aaron Williams falling off the wall). Ryan did a horrible job coaching this year. Every casual fan knows it. The entire defense has been riding on the backs of the picks Whaley inherited. And we have this odd pride about staying the course in the face of failure.

How important is it to keep an 8-8 roster intact. Its pretty much the same group that was up and coming in 2014, and 2015. They are either not as good as people thought, or they are underachievers or the coaching simply sucks. I don't see why keeping everyone together changes any of those things.

Its very hard to speculate at this point. The only positions not up in the air for the Bills in free agency are QB, RB and TE. QB won't addressed in free agency because no meaningful players are available. The Bills are already over invested in RB and TE, and the players at those positions are adequate. Oline signings or lack thereof will revolve around whether or not Glenn is resigned. If Mario departs, then dline may be addressed in free agency. If he stays, nothing will happen there. If Gilmore is not resigned a CB may be targeted, if he is probably not. At this stage the Bills really aren't an "up and comer", they are more in "wheel spinning" mode. The "young" team of two years ago is now middle aged in NFL terms. At the beginning of last season people anticipated three Nix hold overs, Mario Williams, Kyle Williams and Aaron Williams to all be part of a all-pro dominant defense. That is nearly 30% of the starting defense. None may be playing or effective for the Bills next year. That will leave two Nix hold overs Gilmore (if resigned) and Dareus as the only defensive players that could be called stars. None of the Whaley draft picks or free agency signings on defense really project to have a big impact in 2016. The Bills will likely have a middling defense next year. On offense, Taylor is the key, if he can keep the same passer rating while increasing the number of passing plays by about 10 per game, he will be a reasonable force to reckon with. The line could be improved in free agency and the draft. And another receiver should be able to be added. In truth, the Bills will be relying on the offense not the defense for success in 2016. That is not a bad thing. Like a lot of other NFL teams, the Bills are squarely on the shoulder of the QB in 2016. There isn't enough talent around him for the team to be successful with Taylor as a game manager.

Your sarcasm detector is broke

That is pretty decent. BTW, I think Kelly is a good coach. Certainly on the x's and o's side.

You really need to evaluate this according to yards per possession. Kelly's offenses are so up tempo, they ave an unusually large number of possessions. So do their opponents

And Flacco set records during the Ravens playoff run. But I digress. The model teams want to follow is the Dilfer model. Concentrate of filling holes at safety and using high draft picks on running back, and just assume any QB you plug in will win the Super Bowl.

And that Kaepernick didn't help take the team to a Super Bowl.

In my mind you really aren't truly competitive without a franchise QB. Every other position can be addressed in free agency . I think you always draft a QB every year that you don't have a top 12 paid QB on your roster (or a guy you are certain will be a top 12 paid guy). As long as your QB is cheap, you should have no problem "filling holes" in free agency. The only way to seriously upgrade QB is through the draft. It really is impossible to end up with too many good QBs on your roster.

Much rather have Kaepernick. He has been to the superbowl and stilll has about the best combination of speed size and arm strength in the league. Far less shocking for him to turn it around than RGIII. No health issues either.

Its amazing, but you have to wonder why all those baffoons are more successful than you. There are probably a lot of buffoons that are smarter than you too.

I am sure Ryan looked under every rock to find the best coaching addition. Its just a coincidence that he is his brother. It reminds of the time that Russ Brandon looked under every rock, and in a matter of days found that the best NFL coaching option was right down the highway in Syracuse.

They were just wrong. Player only needs to violate one rule to have a penalty called on them. A horrible piece of announcing.

Personally I am not sure the best strategy for the Bills overall is to focus on recreating the 2014 Jets.

Brilliant

the board is on fire with great humor tonight

I would be happier if he brought his dad on staff.

Funny, because its true.

It seems as though the players are happy to have the season over early and start their vacation. They don't want to get involved in games like last nights game where both teams kick the snot out of each other. Much better to be dry at the beach.

Fans of 12 teams had to be content with playoff contests this year. Bills fans get to get an early start on being excited about the coaches hiring family members. Go Bills!

Free agent Kurt Warner did ok too. And 36 picks is pretty deep, that means every team passed on the player at least once. Anyone who watched the game last night might want to consider how important the backup QB position is. Taylor had a decent year, but the Bills really need to approach QB as unsettled.

It appears as though Whaley just goes along to get along and isn't actually involved in the important decisions. Same idiotic theories about Ryan as Marrone. If people "defending" Whaley with this nonesense, think about it, they are just pointing out that two different ownerships didn't respect his opinion on coaching. Lets face it he has been with the team for 6 years. He isn't the only problem, he obviously isn't the solution either.