KingRex

go after? Shady of course. However, I think we will likely see these players become fixtures on other teams Duke Williams (I think he should have won a job here as we are missing a go-to WR redzone battle winner) Eddie Yarbourough (convinced me with his standout performance against MN) Marcus Murphy (WHEN Gore'36 year old body goes down we will really miss Shady)

Speed receivers which force opposing CBs to cover deep rather than surprise blitz or that force opposing Ds to use dt safeties rather than pass rushing LB may help Allen avoid sacks more than a rookie lineman

exactly! If used properly (down and distance situations where we might run or we might pass to do positive things that play) and to complement the other players used (likely a quality route runner or another outside speed threat on the other wing), Brown's biggest contribution may be to the run game. Sure Brown may have enough of the droppsies the Bills O should not depend on him to catch every pass for a TD. However, if when he takes the field if he demands an over and under dt because of his speed threat and the opposing D is forced into a nickel D (or even a dime if Brown is flanked with another WR demanding a dt then McCoy/Gore get to run against safeties in a nickel or dime rather than run through LBs. Even if he is an inconsistent producer opposing Ds are forced to play 2 deep or a zone and Allen faces fewer blindside corner blitzes as opposing CBs play off the line or immediately back-up to account for Brown speed. Ironically he may never carry the rock but his primary contribution maybe to run production we make good playcalls and deploy the right packages.

Ironically, this fan's opinion of Allen (Mayfield, Darnold, and Rosen for that matter) has not changed. For this 5 decade fan of the NFL, it has never been a question of which rookie QB did I believe would make it as the Bills QB, but in reality, all of these prospects had some clear potentially fatal flaws as a QB prospect. None of these QB prospects could be mistaken for a drop-dead clear pick like Andrew Luck was a few years ago. Even tougher, reality has demonstrated that even agreed upon by consensus to be a quality pro talent at QB like Luck can be suddenly reduced to having to throw nerf footballs by injury but fortunately can come back to lead his team to a playoff win. I have few doubts that all 4 of these rooks have significant deficits. What I had no doubts about is that the Bills have shown horrible talent at developing QBs since Jim Kelly retired. I like what Allen has showed. I think the key tom our future is for the Bills overall to show some commitment to better strategy and tactics at developing QB talent.

Its the NFL and the rule (for winners) is that a TEAM is never satisfied at any position. You're always asking yourself how do we get better at every position. The real question is how dissatisfied are we. The answer is some what but not as much as we are at other O positions In order for this O to get better given balancing some other needs a productive O has and the resources we have to improve them I think the answer is: 1. We target getting 2 RBs who fit in our serious O plans for '19. 2. They are: We use our significant cap space to identify a vet RB who is: A: A character guy who has the talent to be a #1 in brief spurts but knows his role and provides a good example fo our young players. His primary on field jobs are to back-up Shady who I an extremely talented RB the opponents must plan for but is quite old for an NFL RB an can be expected to: !. have an injury which costs him a few games at least next year. II. Shady will simply hit the wall of age at some point in '19 or 20 and will need to be replaced with a go-to RB or RB by committee. III. Shady has questions in his personal life where he can probably beat the rap but the Bills must invest in a plan B in case age or legal troubles emerge. Shady shows great signs of being a TEAM player who knows he is at the end of a very good career. However, he is still a prideful guy as seen in McD needing to apply minor discipline by not letting him start last week. Shady seemed to back down and take it well but having a ready replacement is a must get. Ivory is almost actually is just the type player you want as your plan B, however he did show he is also at the end of his career and got nicked a bit too easily late in the season. I MIGHT be able to live with Ivory as my plan B in '19 if necessary, but I am looking hard for a Kenneth Davis like younger plan B to replace Shady with in game blows for rests or to be a short term starter WHEN Shady goes down for a game or more in "19. This strikes me as doable. 3. We also use our draft depth to chose a young RB talent in round 4 or later (round 3 IF the perfect guy is there) but while quality RBs are not easy to find, it is possible to draft a good enough reserve id draft. This young RB competes directly with Murphy and Ford and makes this team only if he shows A. Really good prospects to be a future starter quality OR immediate intelligence and skills to be an ST contributor. While finding such a youngster is actually not likely it is a doable possibility and this player competes directly with Ford and Murphy whom while neither is a likely answer clearly better than Ivory, bot showed enough to get a second look their second years. 4. The actual priorities to improve the Bills running game are: 1. Improve the OL play, 2: Improve the general O production so opponents cannot key on the running game. If we dot do these two things it really does not make the ultimate difference in the success of our run game.

One of the pieces of "conventional" wisdom which SOME posters seem to think applies in all cases, but Sundays game provided a piece of evidence where this old saw was not true is the idea that: ACTUAL PLAYING TIME IS THE ONLY WAY A YOUNG PLAYER CAN LEARN TO PLAY THIS GAME. This idea is simply wrong in a bunch of specific cases. The real fact is that many players from great ones like Eric Moulds *2 years of sitting and learning followed by years of being a perennial Pro Bowl candidate to Tom Brady who consistently has spoken of the importance not only of this 6th round pick sitting, watching, and learning for a year but also the importanbt and actually essential role that noneother than Bledsoe played in helping him understand his SB winning second year (Bledsoe even played the ESSENTIAL to Brady's career role of throwing the winning TD pass in the AFC championship game when Brady went out due to injury). Even beyond these cases of extraordinary players the norm is actually that a ton of legit but average pros simply do not have the mental knowledge of how to operate in an NFL O OR D until seeing the game and broken in slowly on ST or garbage time o have a physical habit which needs to be trained out of them before they are ready for primetime b(ex. Bills failed to train Todd Collins out of happy feet when the Bills threw him min to start when he was not ready or more successful cases like former Bill Ryan Denny who needed to sit for a year while he learned to bend his knees and play lower leading to him being an OK though never great DE player. What yesterdays game pretty clearly showed was that Allen is a very talented but really rough player who produced highlight reel plays (like when he leaped over a tackler for a 1st down earlier this year but clearly was a pretty rough performer until he got hurt). However, while not conclusive (yet) it seems clear that during his injury forced benching these past four weeks Allen learned some stuff watching DA and Barclay run the O. His play reading clearly improved and even his touch on shorter passes (though still needing work) improved. He still needs work (he seems to take some scary risks running rather than simply sitting down and sacrificing a few yards to avoid a hit) but from what I see Allen improved as a QB from a talented but seemingly totally raw player in the first half of the season to the baller who produced a 130+ QB rating yesterday. I was impressed with Allen yesterday. I just hope he survives his PT this year to lead the team as a vet next year. My GUESS is that McD's process likely envisioned McCarron or Peterman winning games to allow Allen to sit and improve for at least 8 games (if not the full season) before leading the TEAM as soon as possible. However, reality has forced Allen to learn while playing. The good news is that (so far) Allen has survived while getting PT and even better though forced to sit he appears to have elevated his game while simply watching these past few weeks. Rookies do learn from PT but rookies also learn from watching and learning. Yesterday's game provided some evidence of this.

Not only are things not perfect in Bills land, but the situation is not even good right now. However, the great irony is that not only are a Bills team that made the playoffs last year in a clear rebuilding mode, but also even stranger, a team which went so deep in the NFL playoffs last year looks even worse. For me it harkens back to a comment a Dallas Cowboy made when he was asked by the press in a pre-Super Bowl media scrum. whether the upcoming SB was the most important day of his life. He replied, "If the game is so important, why do they play it again next year? (Was it Duane Thomas or Hollywood Henderson?). At any rate, the worst to first possibilities do make the NFL interesting (in an adrenaline kind of way) but I must admit I miss the good old days when "the process" demanded a few years to make it work (and conversely a few years of correctable bad moves or unlucky injuries to see it fall apart.

Nope. Answering the doubts of fans is a big part of how a GM proves everyday that he is up to the job. Its a big part of the reason its a tough job and its a big part of the reason why GMs get the big bucks. Yes, Beane (and McDermott who has the often tougher job of being the face of the organization who ends up getting far more blame for bad results than he deserves and likewise far more credit for positive results than he deserves) earned some benefit of the doubt when the team he managed ended the 17 year playoff drought. However, any benefit of the doubt his team earned for him by reaching the playoffs is now pretty much burned up by the real world results of the team he manages record of losing this year. I guess the real world answer to your question is that Beane has ALREADY gotten the benefit of the doubt from not the speculation you lay out of good draft work etc (a true verdict on the quality of his draft actually won't be known for two years). Despite logging horrible results so far this season that normally might get a braintrust fired he gets the befit of the doubt from a 17 year playoff drought ending on his watch. However, the Os incredibly feeble start rendering this team's embarrassing non-entertaining start has used up this benefit. His team needs to show tangible improvements NOW. This does not mean we need to mortgage the future to win now. I can take losing now to build for the future. However, we MUST put a credible product TEAM on the field which may well lose, but at least puts up credible results while fighting to win. We have not reached this minor achievement the two games (part of four straight losses. Beane kept his job. Fortunately, the TEAM produced yesterday. Do this 5 or so more times in a row Beane EARNS the benefit of the doubt again.

My sense is that the key driver for the NFL as a whole and fo individual teams is $. Poor performing teams simply have more trouble attracting new fans and new $ based on their W/L so in general they are more willing to do other new things to attract new $. The increased disposable income available to women in US society has created a marketing opportunity for NFL teams that tams with difficulty competing on W/L are looking for different ways to capture $. Add to this that the forced embrace of the sports economy to divide up the pool of athletic dollars has led to embrace of approaches like Title 9 means there are simply more qualified workers who happen to be women for the pencil/pushing/analytic/teaching jobs os asst coaches in the NFL simply means that NFL teams can increase their pool of qualified workers for an asst. coach job. I think we all should have a problem if the NFL passed a rule that mandated teams play a 180 lb. woman at DE (I think we should all speak out against current NFLL rule interpretation which protect QBs so they are playing flag football against defenders who are penalized now for normal football play). However, our history has been that often duress drives more equality in the workforce. Bad W/L teams are hiring qualified woman for pencil pushing asst coaches jobs as they have failed to win the W/L competition but now look to hire qualified women to both increase their job pool of qualified ass. coaches and also appeal to and provide better service to exploit new access to disposable income controlled by woman. Its the free market! Bring on the woman $ and qualified workers1

There is one thing which counts most in the NFL as a whole and for virtually all teams individually and that is $ Bueller. It is quite clear as women now earn .75 to the dollar in generally accepted comparable worth studies (it used to be .58 to the dollar in 1984 if memory serves me correctly) and though not at alevel of equal pay for equal work, there is a boatload of disposable income under control of women today than back in the day. These women now in control of more $ to spend have also seen unprecedented athletic participation and achievement and interest in athletic entertainment buoyed not only by economic equality in society but specifically in sports driven by approaches like Title 9. There are both more qualified women for asst. coaching jobs in the NFL (yes, there certainly a lot of qualified men in the job market IMHO but being good at this job which involves intellectual rigor and teaching primarily is one that a woman can clearly (again IMHO) do as well or better than the worst man in the job who really got it through non-qualifications in the good ol boy network. Its not fair but I really do not have a big problem with a few non-qualified women getting a job as long as they are competing with a few non-qualified men for these marginal positions. Actually, the way the market tends to treat these marginal hires is that actually overqualified women (or any group discriminated against for non-qualification reasons) get the first hires and the worst non-qualified men get fired first. My sense is that a driving factor in the hiring of more women for assistant coaches jobs in the NFL is 1. A recognition that the qualified worker poolis expanded when you introduce more potential workers into the pool for these pencil pushing/analytic/teaching jobs that a woman can do (weren't many most of your grade school teachers women?). 2. A growth market in the NFL to make more $ is to get it from an increasing # of women who have disposable income to spend. Demonstrating and actually having more women involved in jobs they qualify for up and down the team hiring foodchain only makes economic sense. Look, I too will have problems if individual teams are forced to have a 180 lb woman play defensive end by some misguided equity rule due to marketing (in fact I have a problem right now with the way the rules are required to be enforced to minimize hard QB tackles, but that's another thread). However, folks need to realize that threads and tweets against women not being hired for pencil pushing/analytic/teaching jobs they clearly could do well as long as male athletes and their coaching peers are "man-enough" to deal with competition then we have no problem. The men who rail against women competing for these jobs are generally the worst 5-10% of men who will lose their jobs if they are forced to compete with an increased pool of qualified workers.

Thank gosh for that! Declaring him no Sully is definite praise for his writing.

Thanks for the details, but I thnk the key analysis for this game is less likely to be the analytics of what are the combined stats of the middlin to poor QBs in the #2- #3 roles for the offense but instead an analysis of the D of the opponents. The Indy comes into this game with zero film on Anderson's strengths and weaknesses and zero record on Daboli's play call tendencies with Anderson at the helm. My GUESS is the Bills come in with an O playbook limited to the plays the existing O has run well (next to nothing actually as Allen racks up about 100 yds a game). They add onto his whitebread base a few misdirection plays they have practiced with Anderson and anything Anderson/Benjamin (who have played together some as bak-ups for NC feel that they have a chemistry for. If I am Indy I: 1. Assign a spy to Shady as he is the only Bills O player who scares me 2. Emphasis aggressive and changing blitzes on the newly installed and thus limited knowledge of second and third reads and facing pressure from Anderson. 3. I do not fear a shootout if it comes down to whether Luck or Anderson performs. What does analytics say re Indy?

The sad fact is that even if there is stud transitional pick out there, these Bills are more than 1 significant O starter away from having even an average team. The facts are: we NEED: 1. At least 1 more and probably 2 starter quality players on the OL. Ducasse is simply not starter quality at G, neither Bodine or Groy is or likely to become Wood quality. We can reasonably be hopeful about Dawkins and while reasonably expecting either Miller or Mills to up there game one cannot expect both to catch lightening in a bottle. Even if one likes Teller or McDermott to improve (I hope they do) "merely" becoming quality swingman back-ups ready to step in when the likely ding happens to an OL starter would in fact be a step-up for these players. Get a stud with a #1 and you still are looking for a starter quality OL pick with your #2 AND 2. You still need at least 1 and probably 2 starter quality WRs. I am sorry to say and most reasonable observers do not see statistical evidence beyond his long ago and several dings ago rookie season. Zay Jones had a storied college career but does anyone reasonably claim he is a proven pro at #2. Andre Holmes? The Bills have got to be looking for two WR starter candidates at WR from FA and the draft BUT this needs to fit with us also needing at least 1 if not 2 OL starter quality players AND 3. The fact is that Shady next year is on the wrong side of 30 AND his off-field problems make me interested in adding a starter quality RB next year. Ivory sometimes makes the play but as in Sundays loss he failed to bull his way to a 1st down which may well have won the game on a 3rd and 2. RBs can sometimes be found in a late round pick but if the Bills look to next year's draft to fill this need a high pick until Shady gets injured and taking a flyer on a UDFA SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT. 4. As far as the rest of the O, next year's draft is likely not a target to find a new QB or TE, however, this is not because all problems are solved with the quality demonstrated but we are pretty committed to working with what we got. However, given our large # of needs if we get a top three pick we gotta trade down.

Is there a list out there of OL players on other team's Practice Squads? A few years back the Bills had collegiate TE Jason Peters on their PS as he was a raw athletic talent who could not pierce our TE active roster. However, when some other team moved to sign him to their active roster, the Bills signed him and used him as an ST player where he quickly showed his value and earned his spot. I think it was our OL AC Mouse Davis that convinced Peters his way to score big bucks in the NFL was actually to focus his athletic skills on OL. This unique talent actually quickly earned a slot as a starting G, then RT, and then actually forced the Bills to trade him to Philly where he signed a huge LT deal and became a Pro Bowl level talent. He is a rarity, but looking at other team's PS's might yield an improvement for our sorry OL. If the Bills were to attempt to sign such a player then I believe they MUST by rule sign this player to their active roster. However, this list is likely worth surveying because: 1. Our OL talent on the face of it does not appear impossible (or even difficult) to improve. 2. Other teams have made a tangible decision that these PS OL players though not good enuf to make the active roster on other teams, they are in fact worth developing. 3. Strategic attempts to sign such players at worse may force other teams to mess up their rosters as they would be forced to move their PS player to their own active roster to protect them.

My guess would be vis a vis any collusion case that rather than accept any offer to him he just 1. Shows due diligence in considering the offer by traveling to the town of the team (and takes any additional steps that due diligence demands based on the siz of the offer and any terms demanded- such as he agrees not to kneel) 2. Turns down the offer and publicly declares the Bills offer was below the market rate (the market rate he requires is some # well above the NFL minimum if only cause he Bills are so desperate for an NFL vet QB with some past success and certainly if the Bills require in anyway he sacrifice his right to be an American if the Bills want him to not protest silently and reverently. 3. Use the Bills offer but failure to reach (in his opinion) as clear evidence he can still play and contribute but in addition collusion between the owners has resulted not only in a failure to make him an offer but the one case an offer was made it was an obvious lowball offer. Thinking about it I think there is a fair chance that even if we wanted him (which I don't think we do Kaep would almost certainly not want to play behind our sad OL.