PlayoffsPlease

Personally I think the GM that went with Andy Reid and Alex Smith is smarter than the GM who went with Doug Marrone and EJ Manuel.

Since continuity is the key, the Dolphins are disqualified from the playoffs for four years. That is good for the Bills.

I think you have cause and effect backwards. Teams change coaches because of crappy results. It is impossible to prove they have crappy results because they change coaches.

Late to the party, someone else corrected that mistake

I thought the success was primarily due to Roman's trick plays. I felt as though defenses though they could take a couple of plays off now and then and just wait for the trick play call that would backfire to kill the drive.

I can't focus on actual facts and be positive at the same time. Thanks for the correction though. The win over the Titans was epic, I don't know how I forgot that. It avenged the Music City Miracle too.

You must be new here. Bills losses are all related to injuries and bad calls. Missed opportunities in the draft are always due to " A GM can't be right all the time". You may be more interested in my glass half empty post http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/184321-the-glass-half-empty-report/

The Bills finished 8-8 this year. Almost all of the losses were attributable to things beyond the control of any Bills management, coaches or players. Assuming the NFL fixes its officiating bias against the Bills and that no Bills players get injured next year, 19-0 and a Super Bowl championship are very real possibilities. Here are some of the reasons the 8-8 glass is half full: The Bills swept the Jets and Dolphins. The Patriots were not able to sweep either team. Ergo the Bills are clearly better than the Patriots The Bills lost games to the Giants and Jaguars. No one seriously thinks the Jaguars or Titans are better than the Bills. Getting a normal outcome on that would have made the Bills 10-6 and playoff bound in 2015 The Bills beat America's team to finally avenge the Super Bowl losses to the Cowboys. Some Bills players think their Super Bowl was in week 17, but us old timers know the real Bills Super Bowl was in week 16. If we can win the week 16 Super Bowl, we can win the week 20 Super Bowl. The top NFC west teams will likely lose players to free agency, and they have crappy draft positions. They will certainly be worse in 2016 than the 2015 NFC east teams Mario Williams didn't contribute anything in 2015. Not only will we save a huge amount on his salary, any street free agent or rookie draft pick is certain to outperform Mario in 2016 Kyle Williams will be back. He will be well rested and should return to 2014 form for sure With Kyle back, and the Mario dead wood gone, Rex will be able to return Marcell Dareus to 2014 form for sure. Jerry Hughes is incredible. Now that he will be outside of Mario's shadow he will stop making bad penalties (plus the ref's will be fairer in 2016) Now that Mario is gone, the 3 remaining Amigos and Mario's replacement will dominate the NFL they way we expected the 2015 front four too (we just didn't know Mario was going to suck) We will draft a linebacker that will dramatically improve that unit Aaron Williams will be back and rested and will probably make the Pro Bowl Now that Mario will be cut, the teams talent level in 2016 will have to be better than in 2015. He sucked. Tyrod Taylor has show after only 14 starts that he is on the verge of being one of the NFL's great QBs. Once he learns how to read the whole field, and reduces his league worse release time to even average levels, he should easily be one of the leagues true elite QBs. LeSean McCoy doesn't age. He is one of the best RBs in the league and shows no signs of slowing down. He even took a few games off in 2015 to be sure he was well rested heading into next season Charles Clay will certainly restructure his contract to reflect his actual production. This will free up money to improve many other positions Sammy and Woods will be joined by a draft pick who likely be as good as OBJ in 2016. With Taylor now an elite QB, this group will be unstoppable. Plus don't forget Whaley signed Leonard Hankerson. Once Glenn and Incognito get big raises, they will be much better players in 2016 Special teams were very poor in 2015, the odds say they will have to get better in 2016 Rex Ryan made the championship game in his second season as HC with the Jets. This will be his second season with the Bills. He will get it done Doug Whaley will be with the Bills for his 7th off season this year. Does anyone really think a true genius like Whaley would be denied the playoffs in 7 straight years. Its almost impossible to believe he was denied the first 6 years. Playoffs are guaranteed next year, with just a lucky couple of bounces we should go undefeated and win it all!

Since I don't care one bit if you are entertained or bored, you pointless comment will not add to my negativity.

Rex Ryan: "“I know it’s been 15 years since the Bills made the playoffs,” Ryan said. “Well get ready, man, we’re going. We are going. . . . My message to our team is to get ready. Start preparing now. Start preparing that we’re going to be playing games in January.”"

I have made through the last 16 years. I should be fine for one more.

we seem to be holding onto Doug Whaley like grim death, and he has never accomplished anything either.

Bills finished 8-8. In Bills bizzaroworld this means contract extensions an promotions for everyone.

I can only speak for myself. If Rex takes the Bills to the playoffs and they actually win a playoff game next year, then I will admit he exceeded expectations. If he takes 4 or 5 years to make the playoffs, I will say its likely a fluke. Rex isn't the worst coach in the NFL. He has now missed the playoffs as a HC five years in a row, so I think its fair to say he isn't among the elite NFL coaches either.

It means the projection was wrong. When an independent source says to pass on Russell Wilson because he will be there the next round, so you pick TJ Graham then the projection was bad.

How is 20 conjecture. 100% of teams will add players in the off season. And the Bills have no particular advantages. We don't have more cap space than others, and we are picking in the middle of the pack. The last time two times we had elite pick in the draft we got elite players, Watkins and Dareus. We might draft 7 pro bowlers and everyone else might draft 7 busts. That would be conjecture. But too say we have no meaningful advantage going into the off season really isn't conjecture. I find it inconsistent to agree that the Bills have no demonstrated ability to beat top teams, but to be confident Taylor is the type of QB that will allow the Bills to beat top teams. I don't Taylor is bad. I think he is fun to watch play. But guys like Andy Dalton get criticized for only helping their teams get to the playoffs every year. And then disappearing. To me, Taylor disappeared at crucial times in the regular season, which is a large part of the reason we didn't beat any good teams. He is eligible to improve certainly. Just not enough to make the Bills a championship contender. I don't think Matt Ryan or Matt Stafford would make this team a championship contender in its current state either. Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers would. Cam Newton or Russell Wilson or Big Ben might. Its tough to win a championship.

After 16 years of failure, I am a permanent pessimist regarding the Bills. Only winning a playoff game will change my overall outlook. There are some positives with the Bills (Is there any NFL team without any positives). But over all the 8-8 finish to the season is evidence of a glass half full, more than a glass half full. Here are some of the things (generally facts, maybe an opinion here or there that drives my pessimism for 2016: 1) A 1-5 record in 2015 against playoff teams. This a pretty damning statistic. The one playoff win was against the Texans, who only made the playoffs because some team in their division had too. 2) 4 of the 7 wins against non-playoff teams came against teams featuring first year head coaches. (Jets, Dolphins) 3) Of the three remaining wins 1 came against the worst team in the league the Titans. 1 Came against the fourth worst team, the Cowboys. The other win came against the 8-8 Colts. When you review points 1,2, and 3 together its pretty clear we have no evidence that we can beat top teams. 4) Next years schedule is harder. I know things change. But its pretty certain the 2016 Cardinals and Seahawks will be better than the 2015 Eagles and Giants. 5) The teams unquestionable best player in 2014, Mario Williams probably won't be with the team in 2016. A huge part of the optimism heading into 2015 was fan belief that the Bills had a historically great front four. 6)Kyle Williams best days are behind him. Everyone not named Tom Brady in the NFL declines due too age. 7) Jerry Hughes is a bonehead. His penalties offset his talent to such a point his net production is not much above average for his position. 8) Marcell Dareus doesn't fit the scheme. The Bills highest paid player is being asked to do a job that could be adequately filled by someone making 1/3 as much money. 9) A huge part of the optimism heading into 2015 was fan belief that the Bills had a historically great front four. That is over. 10) Linebackers are awful 11) Aaron Williams returning to form is questionable. 12) All in all, the defense will be less talented in 2016 then it was in 2014 13) QB. The theory before 2015 was that the QB only needed to be "good enough". Taylor certainly was "good enough". Turns out that "good enough" was the wrong standard for a team with as many deficiencies as the Bills have. With a 1-5 record against playoff teams, its pretty clear that Taylor was not good enough to lead the team to victories against top teams. He may get there. But he is not there. Guys like Matt Ryan, Matt Stafford, Joe Flacco and Drew Brees and Andrew Luck missed the playoffs this year. The were not good enough to overcome weak teams. Its unlikely Taylore will be next year. 14) Lots of mileage on McCoy. He played great when he played this year. But his best days are behind him. At best he will perform at 2015 levels. More likely he declines. Karlos Williams is a concussion away from not playing for much of the 2016 season. Its a sketchy platform to build a team around for 2016. 15) TE. Clay is fine. Probably the most overpaid player in 2015 in the NFL based on production. His salary will contribute towards holes elsewhere on the team 16) WR. We have one good WR. And Robert Woods who is decent. Its not enough. 17) Oline - It was OK in in 2015. Might lost Glenn, might not. They will be about the same in 2016. 18) Special teams - at least we punted well. Enough said. 19) Coaching - sucked this year (yes I know football outsiders said the Roman was the bestest) 20) Every team already better than us will add players through the draft and free agency. The Bills with the 18th pick overall and needing to use much of the cap to keep this group together are not positioned to improve talent more than the competition. All in all, the Bills are stuck in "average" purgatory. Good enough to beat bad teams, not good enough to beat good teams. Look for 8-8 again in 2016

Even worse, if the Bills are passing on competent QBs in the draft because they are relying on independent scouting services in their drafting decisions.

Taylor established himself as the the starter going into next season. No question about it. But QB descriptions are sort of in the eye of the beholder "elite" "franchise" "long term answer" mean different things to different people. To me the QB position is pretty binary. Your QB either is good enough that you expect the team to compete for the championship with a very good supporting cast around him. Joe Flacco and Eli Manning and Russell Wilson and Cam Newton fit this category. Brady, Manning Rodgers, Brees, Rothlisberger transcend this category. Flacco, Eli and Wilson have all demonstrated an ability to raise their game against playoff opponents. This year the Bills were 1-5 against teams that actually made the playoffs. The talent of the roster around Taylor this season was pretty solid. It could be better, could be worse next year. But with this level of talent their is no evidence at all to support they idea that Taylor can lead this type of team to wins in the playoffs and compete for the championship. It is also quite unlikely that the "Dilfer Dream" of having a "good enough" QB with a perfect team around them is a formula to win a championship. I mentioned 9 QBs above. That is more than 25% of the league. Lets face it, even with parity, no more than 25% of the league is really in play to win the championship in any given year. It doesn't include names like Matt Ryan, Matt Stafford, Derek Carr, Philip Rivers, Alex Smith and Andy Dalton. As talented as that last group of names appears to be, it is not clear to me that their teams shouldn't always be looking to improve the QB position, if they are interested in winning championships. I am not saying it is easy to find QB talent better than those guys (or Tyrod Taylor). But just because it is hard to find better doesn't necessarily mean you have your "long term answer" So if Sully's "not by a long shot" means that he isn't convinced Taylor can lead the team to a championship, I think the 1-5 record vs playoff teams supports Sully's theory. If the definition of "long term answer" is "better than the Bills have had during the last 15 years and maybe good enough to squeek into the playoffs as a wild card", then there is evidence Taylor is the long term answer.

The Bills fans criticizing Sullivan mostly suffer from a sports version of Stockholm syndrome. They block out the dismal failures of the Bills as somehow irrelevant and glom onto minor positives (Extending Colton Schmidt another great move by Whaley!!!!) to make themselves feel good about the situation they are in. They even convince themselves of moral superiority for supporting failure. Its sad.

Bills running play stats (like Seattle ) are distorted because Taylor turns a lot of passing plays into runs.

0-5 record against teams with 10+ wins 1-5 record against playoff teams. Bills are very far from winning a playoff game let alone a championship. After 6 years of Whaley's input at a senior level its pretty clear he can't build an average playofff team.

Well the idiots at OBD aren't very good with their "projections" then.

You really have an asinine holier than thou attitude. I don't see how it helps the team to pretend that their failures are successes.

In summary you see a team that had a 1 game worse record this year and finishing 8-8 as a team on the upswing? After 16 years of this nonsense I have a glass half empty view of this team. Regarding the division, the Jets and Dolphins suck. Buffalo went 1-5 against teams that are in this years playoffs. The 1 win was against the Texans who are only in the playoffs because their division sucks. The Bills went 7-3 against non-playoff teams with 4 of those seven being against the aforementioned crappy Jets and Dolphins. It is a wild fantasy to think the Bills are positioned to start winning playoff games when they can't beat a decent team during the regular season.