PlayoffsPlease

A football team is a combination of talents, coaching and preparation. Every game the better team wins. Every game. I would like this thread to serve as the summary of excuses, injuries, refereeing, coaching, players slipping, dropped passes yada yada yada. Since its the same story for every loss, we can just keep this stickied, and asked the mods to simply update the name of the team we played.

The "Blue Print" hasn't so much neutralized the pass rush, as much as it has exposed a mediocre LB corp and secondary. As other posters have pointed out, forcing the QB to pass in less than 2 seconds is actually pressure of a type. If the linebackers and secondary were better, the QBs would not be able to find an open receivers as easily.

The general concept behind the blitz is for a rusher to get through the line unblocked. The quick release neutralizes the blitz. With the blitz neutralized, the offense has a lot more flexibility.

+1

1/2 a second is 4 yards for a fast pass rusher. Do you not really see a difference between hitting the QB and being 4 yards away from the QB?

Giants didn't have Fells or Cruz. Their running backs are nobodies. Why were they able to be effective on the road vs. the GOAT defense.

We really don't know that. They haven't shown the ability to be effective against a good team yet this season.

We could manage penalties on the fair catch play.

I am not sure why Whaley is a sacred cow. People have kneejerk reactions like "Rex Ryan is the greatest defensive mind of his generation" or "Sammy Watkins is a once in a generation talent" or "Greg Roman is the top OC in the game". And then they credit Whaley for landing such unbelievable talents. When it turns out they really are a head coach that got spanked by the Bills twice last year, and OC that fans couldn't wait to see leave his last team, and a WR who can't stay on the field, somehow that is not Whaley's responsibility. If they miss the playoffs this year, it really is hard to imagine Whaley is ever going to build a super bowl winner. But so many fans are so afraid of "it could be worse" that they fear making steps to move forward.

If you were expecting the 2002 Ravens on defense, you have to be disappointed. This is the 2015 Bills defense. Mediocre linebackers, mediocre secondary, and a front four that was very talented last year.

I am a Whaley Doubter. Six years in senior role with the organization and zero winning seasons. Used two first round picks on a WR who has not shown durability, and is way to heavily invest in DT's and RB's for the salary cap.

x

Tyrod has shown good skill at throwing underneath passes against prevent defenses. He is good at throwing a catchable ball to receivers that have good separation. He can't hit the small windows when it counts. Has any ever noticed that Tom Brady always seems to hit the guy 6 yards down field when its 3 rd and 5, and "average QBs" hit the guy 3 yards up field on third and five. This isn't because the Patriots receivers are better, this is because if you give Brady a window the size of a football to throw too, he gets it there.

I think Fitzy has proved he is a quality NFL starter that can win 75% of his games. Will the give Fitz a $65 MM extension now?

Since joining the Bills in 2010, the Bills have aspired to be a .500 team, and fell short in 2010 2011 2012 2013 The hit the goal in 2014 and have managed to be 2-2 so far this season. And yet most board members think we should be polishing his hall of fame bust. Coaching and QB play actually matter. Its really hard to imagine Whaley assembling a super bowl winner. Russ Brandon has taught him how to play the rubes well.

Thats kind of the question. The players are laughing late in this game. No urgency, no holding each accountable.

No.

Are we missing Fred Jackson's leadership? And his RB skills with McCoy out?

Our tight end is the highest paid in the game.

Bills defense not looking GOAT

This is completely wrong. Kelly led the team to too straight 10-6 records. He realized that the talent he had wasn't going to do better than that and convinced ownership to let him roll the dice to build a super bowl team. Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells are examples of guys that gutted teams to rebuild championships. The Eagles didn't hand the reins to kelly because they didn't trust him. They will give him time to see it through.

When your QB is putting up 116 passer rating, the "playmakers" are secondary. At this point in their careers, Harvin seems to be a better WR than Watkins, so we still have a legit #1 WR. And as a change of pace back Karlos Williams has been outstanding. If Tyrod, williams and harvin keep up their level of play, then Watkins and Shady are expendable. If DCs start making adjustments after having 4 games of Tryrod et al, on film, that slow him down, then we will need them back.

You are one of the few posters to grasp the obvious. From 1999 (the year after Peyton Manning was drafted) through the 2014 draft exactly 200 QBs were drafted. 45 in the first round. About half of those first rounders started at least one game their rookie year. The reason they were first round draft picks is generally because GMs thought/hoped they would be ready to start early in their career. Almost no team drafts a QB in the first round thinking they will need to sit behind Fitzpatrick/Kolb/Hoyer type starters for 3 years before they are ready to go. Virtually none of the other 155 drafted QBs started games their first year, unless injury made it necessary (Dalton, Carr come to mind as exceptions). The common outcome for all drafted QB's is that the vast majority never become long term starters. If Taylor turns out to be a top QB, it will be a rarity, just like Brady or Romo. It won't because of some superior previously not understood "development" concept of a guy hanging on roster as a backup on a team that already had a good starter.

two years at $20 million isn't really fitzpatrick money. On the other hand, Rex has already told us we have the QB of the present and the QB of the future on the roster, so there might not be any reason to keep Tyrod.

I think people over think this issue. Teams start the QB they think has the best chance to win during the current season. There really is no way to show that any great QBs had their development hindered by starting early in their career. There certainly are ton's of success stories from Dan Marino through Marcus Mariotta of guys that seemed to be ready from day 1. The majority of NFL teams has a QB they are "developing" over extended lengths of time. They are well aware that this is a strategy. But the fruits of that strategy are usually guys's like Ryan Mallet, Matt Flynn, Luke McCown, Case Keenum, TJ Yates, or Chase Daniel (or 50 other names you could add going back over the last 5 to 10 years) have been the league "developing" for years and years without ever breaking out into a major starting role. The Patriots are currently "developing" JImmy Garrapolo (like Mallet and Hoyer before him). Tyrod, so far, is the exception to the rule that the vast majority of QBs that are not starting by year 3, are really just not good enough to be starters. None of know where Tyrod would be today, if he had started for the Raven's the last four years. There is no way to say that sitting was a "positive benefit". We just know he is pretty solid today, so sitting didn't hurt him. All we know for sure is that the Raven's coaches thought Joe Flacco gave them a better chance to win. (Flacco is an example of a guy that led his team to the playoffs his rookie year)