Nihilarian

Think about something for a min. The Bills defense finished with those stats with a defense that was on the field more then they should have been with little to not much run game from the RBs. If you take away the rush yards from the 2018 Buffalo Bills leading rusher in QB Josh Allen the offense was 31st in rush yards. Last seasons offensive line was so bad that after Allen returned from injury the offense ran a lot of empty backfield sets to allow Allen more freedom to run. The Bills RBs averaged only 3.2 yards per carry and it was Allen who made the rush stats look decent with his 7.1 YPC AVG. It was an odd season for sure last year as in three of the six win for Buffalo they dominated the clock in some games to make things look somewhat even stat wise. And in those three wins in which they got the lead early, they actually managed to find a run game with the RB's. With all the upgrades to the offensive line this year, plus the really good depth. Both the passing offense and run game should be able do a better job of extending drives into TDs. The Bills RB should actually have some holes to run through every game. Although, now retired Kyle Williams was third on the team in sacks with 5.0 and second on the team in QB hits with 14. My take is Ed Oliver could be the DT that Marcel Dareus was supposed to be in Buffalo. This kid graded as a top three pick and because of the Cards, Raiders, Giants, Lions going in a different direction the Bills got lucky and got him at #9. Then the Bills added former Buffalo CB EJ Gains and former Texans #1 pick CB Kevin Johnson who plays so hard he ends up injured a lot. This years secondary and pass rush might be even better than last years. This years Buffalo Bills defense might just surprise...in a good way.

What on earth are you talking about? I don't speak cryptic or troll! You made an analysis based on end of season stats which were slanted due to different games on different days. Talk about good humor...

Lies, damned lies and statistics... You can't just look at the end of the season result stats to make any kind of realistic overall determination on time of possession or rushing yards. For example, to look at just the rushing yards for the 2018 Buffalo Bills leads some to believe that the run game in 2018 was doing okay because they finished the season 6th in rushing attempts, 9th in rushing yards and yet it was the QB who led the team in rushing. Which is something of an anomaly for almost all NFL teams. Josh Allen rushing stats, 12 games, 11 game starts, 89 attempts for 631 yards, 8 TDs. with a YPC AVG of 7.1. Most of those rushing yards came later in the season when the team went to more empty back sets to utilize Allen's running skill. The Baltimore Ravens had a running QB for almost half their season as he had 147 attempts for 695 yards rushing, 5 TDs with a 4.7 YPC AVG. Which was way more attempts and slightly more rushing yards and yet he was the second leading rusher on the Ravens. Lamar Jackson led the NFL with the most runs by a QB. Cam Newton and the Panthers were another team which had a running QB (second leading rusher on the team) who ran more times than Allen with 101 attempts, 488 yards, 4 TDs. Houston was another team with a running QB who was the third leading rusher on the Texans, 99 attempts for 551 yards, 5 TDs, a 5.6 YPC AVG. None of these teams had the QB as their leading rusher. The 2018 Buffalo Bills leading RB runner was LeSean McCoy with 13 GS, 161 attempts, 514 yards and 3 TDs, a 3.2 YPC AVG. Chris Ivory was the next Bills RB with 115 attempts, 385 yards, 1 TD with a 3.3 YPC AVG. Now for the time of possession. There were a lot of lopsided game for the Bills in 2018 as there were nearly six blowouts. Game one Ravens ToP Bills 24:46, Ravens 35:14. Game two, Chargers 33:02, Bills 26:58. Game four, Packers 34:37, Bills 25:23. Game seven, Colts 33:19, Bills 26.41. Game eight, NE 31:50, Bills 28:10. Game nine, Chicago 34;03, Bills 25:57. Now conversely the Bills also had some blowouts of their own in three of their six wins which negated the negative ToP. The Bills got the lead and the Bills defense overwhelmed the opposing offense Minn, 24:15, Bills 35:45. NY Jets 20:38, Bills 39:22 in a 41-10 blowout Dolphins 42-17, Miami 29:42, Bills 30:18. The simple facts are the 2018 Buffalo Bills were one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL by their running backs. Take away Allen's running stats and the Bills had 1357 rush yards with 7 TDs. (Allen had 8 rushing TDs) That puts them at 31st in the NFL only ahead of Arizona who had 1342 rushing yards. Just as the 2018 Buffalo Bills were ranked the #2 overall defense. There are holes in those stats as they were #2 in yards allowed, #18 in points allowed. They were 16th in rushing yards allowed and 25th in rushing TDs allowed. The Bills pass defense was so good in 2018 they literally shut down the super bowl winning QB in Tom Brady in week 15! Brady went 13 of 26 attempts for 126 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs! Alas, the Patriots ran 47 times for 273 yards, 2 TDs and owned the Bills in ToP 35:38 to 24:22. Now, this is what a good run game can do for a team to win a game and control the clock with the QB not doing so well. This is why I said what I said.

Re-posting this from page 6 in this thread. Click the links and watch the vid. When you take everything from last season into consideration with the bad line, the somewhat bad receivers until later in the season. Along with no run game from the RBs to help take pressure off the QB, (not the RBs fault if there getting tackled behind the LoS) the suspect play calling with so many deep passes called with that bad line that at times that wouldn't even give two seconds of protection. I for one am very optimistic about the 2019 Buffalo Bills offense with all the new additions to the O line, receiver corps. Just think, if the 2018 Bills defense can field the #2 overall and #1 pass defense with very little to no run game to control the clock and keep the defense off the field and fresh. Now think about Shady with Frank Gore pounding the rock with some actual holes to run through this season. Josh Allen now has three deep threats in Zay Jones, John Brown and Robert Foster who all can run a 4.5, 40 or faster. Cole Beasley as the first down machine from the slot. The Bills offense should be greatly improved. The only concerns I have about the first five games is the Bills run defense as they will see some very good RB's in Le'Veon Bell, Saquon Barkley, Joe Mixon, Sony Michel, Derrick Henry. Stopping the opponents run should be a big priority. Shut down the run and everything else will follow.

About the inaccuracy issue... Now with Josh Allen and his college completion percentage was a lowly 56.2%. BUT, if you look deeper at his situation at Wyoming you would see several reasons why his completion percentage wasn't higher. Firstly, you need to look at all the schemes and systems all those four QB's were in and what type of passes they threw. Unlike the other three Josh Allen was in a pro style deep passing scheme with no dump offs, bubble screens or a lot short passes like those other three. Allen's surrounding cast at Wyoming was not as refined as those other players at USC, UCLA, Oklahoma. Neither was his coaching staff. speaking of surrounding cast every player on offense that had touched the ball in 2016 was gone for his last season in 2017. So basically he was dealing with a roster filled with rookies learning their jobs. The Wyoming offensive line was very much like the 2018 Buffalo Bills line in that it wasn't very good and Allen was always under pressure to get the ball out quickly. Here is why Brandon Beane knew Allen was the right guy for Buffalo. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/step-step-how-bills-knew-allen-was-right-them How did the Bills brass view those concerns and still decide Allen was Their Man? In this day and age of instant video and in-depth stats right at your fingertips, they went back to the basics. Tracking every throw with their own pencil-to-paper looking at exactly what’s going on with and around him. He had no gimme throws. There’s no, basically like hand-offs, the bubbles and all that stuff. It was all a traditional pro-style, throwing the ball vertically, and you basically have to do your own stats. How many times did he bail out of there and throw it away, which is an incompletion? How many times did he have to do that vs. this guy and vs. that guy? And you also looked at what’s going on when he’s missing, when he should have made the play, what’s going on? And to us, it was pretty clear it’s when his feet were not right. Now, right after the 2017 college season ended Allen went on to work with Jordan Palmer (Carson Palmer's Brother) and he knew that when "he" missed on a throw it was because his footwork was off. They worked on his footwork right up until the combine. From Beane and from that article, "The most positive thing I saw, when he was at the Senior Bowl, his feet were in a much better position that week, he was much more accurate, not only during the week, but even in the game. " Another article on Allen/Palmer, https://billswire.usatoday.com/2018/08/22/buffalo-bills-josh-allen-jordan-palmer/

Sadly, the defensive scheme they both used has become outdated and every team knows how to beat it, and beat it badly. Why that fact hasn't caught up to the Ryan bros is what really makes no sense!

The entire football world knew that Allen wasn't as polished as Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen and he should have sat out the season like Patrick Mahomes did in KC. Unlike the Chiefs though, the Bills didn't have a veteran QB to start, or someone for a young, inexperienced QB to lean on, to mentor, to show both Peterman, Allen the NFL ropes. Shoot, this team didn't even have a valid QB coach as the one they did have was never an NFL QB coach but a receivers assistant coach. Speaking of Peterman, imagine how the season would have looked had this coaching staff been determined to have him remain as the starter! 0-16 maybe? Even veteran Derek Anderson looked like crap behind that horrid offensive line... with a poor receiving corps...with no run game from the RBs...with bad coaching that called for far, far too many deep passes with a bad line that couldn't protect past two seconds. Kinda difficult to throw deep when you call for a 5-7 step drop back which requires 3-5 seconds in the pocket when most of the time that line wouldn't even hold for two seconds. Probably a big reason as to why this OC has never had an NFL offense better than 24th in passing in his five seasons as an OC. Little or no holes for the RBs, save when the team had the lead at times...very few times in some games. Don't think that Bills OC Brian Daboll was calling for deep passes? "28.2 percent of Allen’s pass attempts where on passes 15-yards or further downfield, which was the highest rate in the league:. This, behind one of the very worst offensive lines in the league. Throughout the 2018 season, where they allowed 154 total pressures from 595 passing plays. "Allen scrambled on 11.9 percent of his drop backs last year. That was the second highest rate over the past decade with four or more starts in a season, trailing only Mike Vick in 2010. He also averaged 10.8 yards per scramble attempt, the highest rate for any quarterback over the past 10 years that tallied 20 or more scramble runs. It was a necessity for Allen to scramble as he faced pressure on 43.4 percent of his dropbacks, which trailed only Deshaun Watson." After a midseason elbow injury, Daboll and the Bills shifted their offensive philosophy around showcasing offensive speed and getting Allen into more empty offensive sets to maximize his rushing potential while generating more explosive plays. Allen drop backed from an empty set on 18.5 percent of his drop backs, which was the third-highest rate in the league. Although his passing performance was still under par for the league, this allowed him to finish the season as a fantasy dynamo. After returning in Week 12, Allen was the highest overall scoring fantasy quarterback during those remaining six weeks of the season. https://www.rotoworld.com/article/team-previews/bills-fantasy-preview From my view, QB Josh Allen allowed the 2018 Buffalo Bills NFL season to be watchable (after he returned from his injury, that is) and after he got some veteran QB help. Did Allen still make some mistakes, yes! But he also made some plays with his arm that very few NFL QB's can make... Peyton Manning's first season 3-13, only completed 56.7% of his passes. Set a rookie record for most INT's with 28. QB Troy Aikman went 0-11 his first year as the Cowboys went 1-15. Threw 9 TDs, 18 INTs, completed 52.9% of his passes. He even had Michael Irvin to throw to, (who didn't emerge as a top WR until year four). Gee, I wonder if that Troy Akiman guy can overcome all those critical negatives?

What some of you guys need to realize is that this HC/GM are first timers in their respective jobs and they are learning as they go. Yes, they have made some mistakes and they also corrected them fairly quickly in comparison to past regimes. Do they compare to past regimes since 2000, NO! Why? Because they made the playoffs in 2017 for the first time in two decades! Some of you whine and complain about revisionist theory on the drafts. For the 2018 draft, McD was still dealing with Doug Whaley and his scouting staff and after the draft they were ALL replaced!! Still, four starters, one of the very best CBs in the league, a starting LT, a starting WR, a starting OLBer who was playing at a pro bowl level before injury and a 5th round pick at that. Shall we revisit how many players are on the team from Nix/Whaley? 55 players drafted and only one player remains! For the first time in the 50 plus year history of this Buffalo Bills franchise this FO took a QB with a top ten pick with an upside of an Aaron Rodgers/Big Ben/ Brett Favre. They also found their MLB for the next decade who is only 21 years old. 6'5'' 250lbs and a physical freak. He reminds me of the Raiders Ted Hendricks, aka "the mad stork"! Then when you look at the free agents this GM found a CB gem in Levi Wallace, who some have said is so good were the draft held again today he would be a first round pick. WR Robert Foster is also mentioned as another player who would have been a first rounder. The Bills fielded the #2 overall defense last season with the #1 pass defense and this off season added former Bill, EJ Gains and former #1 Texans CB Kevin Johnson (who BTW killed it in mini camp.) #1 pick in DT Ed Oliver is a beast and should have been a top 3 pick...yay NY Giants, Raiders! Yes, the Bills offensive line was bad last season and they moved to replace the line coach along with most of the starting players on that line. If anyone on that line fails to do a decent job like Dion Dawkins who in his rookie season had only four penalties and last year had 15.There is now enough backup talent on the roster to replace him or move him to OG. The LT and center positions are looking locked down and the rest should be a war to see who starts at LG, RG, RT. #2 draft pick Cody Ford was graded as a #1 pick the Bills got a road grading beast who should start at RT. Yes, the Bills receiving corps was pretty bad last season and they replaced the WR coach. They brought in arguably the best slot guy in the league in Cole Beasley. They brought in a very speedy WR in John Brown who has enough talent to be the #1 WR on the team. (They tried to get him last year and he instead went to Baltimore) WR Duke Williams is a CFL all-star who is a big, strong physical receiver at 6'3 225lbs. TE Charles Clay never lived up to expectations in Buffalo so he is gone along with WR Kelvin Benjamin who lost his heart to play. The Bills added TE Tyler Kroft from the Bengals, resigned Lee Smith and draft picks Dawson Knox, Tommy Sweeney. For the life of me I just don't get how some Bills fans are complaining like Buddy Nix is still with the team. Drafting a "waterbug at RB when the team is desperate for a LT. Or Doug Whaley using two firsts and a fourth to move up in the draft for an oft injured, malcontent WR when they could have drafted anyone of 15 first round picks that draft who made the pro bowl. Then right after drafting Watkins the Bills FO stated that they were still looking for that big, tall WR red zone target... Mike Evans anyone? ODB jr, or even Khalil Mack! OMG what a bunch of fluckups Whaley and his scouting staff were! 55 players drafted from Whaley/Nix era and only one remains with the Bills. From what I've seen this past off season Bills fans should be doing back-flips over what Beane/McD have done with this team. If you can't get excited over this team, this year then see a doc and get some Alprazolam until the season gets here.

Bills fans keep bringing this up and Beane wasn't hired at this time. The draft was in April and Beane was hired May 9th. If I'm McD, I wouldn't trust Doug Whaley to evaluate a QB after he personally evaluated EJ before drafting him. McD knows defense and he got his man in Tre White who is one of the very best CBs in the league. Besides, who know what Mahomes would have developed into in Buffalo under Rick Dennison. Andy Reid had Mahomes sit and learn for a year (behind veteran QB Alex Smith) which is what should have happened with Allen, sitting for a year that is. As for those other three points, I can't explain those and they bothered me immensely as did drafting a QB #7 overall only to throw him to the wolves behind on of the very worst O- line this franchise has ever fielded. Beane did acknowledge to the media he made a mistake in not getting Anderson or a veteran NFL QB in earlier to mentor Allen. As for the Nathan Peterman debacle, I put that more on the offensive coaches as they must had had great input to say he was ready to start. EDIT: I can recall reading that the Bills, Beane/McD went up to Wyoming to watch Allen play and they both came away saying that with the snow and cold it was just like Buffalo. They researched Allen extensively, as did I. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/step-step-how-bills-knew-allen-was-right-them “Because what we did was, first of all, look at every throw multiple times,” Beane said. “What were his options here? OK, go back, what would Baker Mayfield have done here? What would Sam Darnold have done? What would Mason Rudolph, any quarterback that was in this thing, how would they have handled it, because they’re all playing at different skill sets, they’re all playing in different offenses. He had no gimme throws. There’s no, basically like hand-offs, the bubbles and all that stuff. It was all a traditional pro-style, throwing the ball vertically, and you basically have to do your own stats. How many times did he bail out of there and throw it away, which is an incompletion? How many times did he have to do that vs. this guy and vs. that guy? And you also looked at what’s going on when he’s missing, when he should have made the play, what’s going on? And to us, it was pretty clear it’s when his feet were not right. The most positive thing I saw, when he was at the Senior Bowl, his feet were in a much better position that week, he was much more accurate, not only during the week, but even in the game. The great thing about the game – I know his agents were all wanting him to play a series or two and get out because everyone is fearing injury – and he was like, ‘No, I’m coming back in the second half.’ His agent was probably like, ‘why?’ and he came back and led them on two different touchdown drives.”

Wouldn't it strike you as unbelievably stupid of Beane/McD if they didn't heavily investigate this sole issue? I'm thoroughly certain they did, just as I did before the draft. Allen talking with Mike Mayock at the combine. Allen was aware of his accuracy issues and he understood it was mostly his footwork that was off at times. As soon as the college season was over Allen went to work with Jordan Palmer on his mechanics, footwork. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tIb-B4sGd8&t=3s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7l5BD8SaJ0 I couldn't be more encouraged about Allen after watching him play in the season finale against Miami. The Bills were up by 7 near the end of the second quarter and Allen threw a pick 6. Now it's 14-14 going into the third quarter. Instead of getting down about that pass, Allen led four TD drives and threw for two TDs and ran for another TD in the second half. Buffalo won that game 42-17 and Allen just dominated with his arm and legs. Here is another video with Rich Eisen talking with Trent Dilfer and John Brenkus. Watch it and you just might feel better about the upcoming season.

Let's revisit what I said. Both Beane and McD saw that Josh Allen wasn't ready to start in the opener so they gave the job to Peterman who did perform better in preseason. Allen didn't get any first team reps in preparation for the Ravens game as Peterman was announced as the starter. The only other NFL QB Josh Allen had to lean on was AJ McCarron who stated he was there to win the starting QB job and not mentor anyone. Hence a big reason as to why they traded McCarron Sept 3rd to Oakland for a 5th round pick. No loss there. QB Derek Anderson didn't sign with Buffalo until Oct 9th as he was contemplating retirement and later on GM Brandon Beane stated that this was a mistake in waiting so long to bring in a veteran QB to mentor Josh Allen, Nathan Peterman. BTW, Anderson started two weeks later against the Colts in that 37-5 rout. Anderson was never supposed to start and was brought in primarily as a mentor. Josh Allen was injured in that week 6 Texans game and was out for four games. Then once the Bills FO saw how poorly Anderson had played with that crappy surrounding cast they brought in Matt Barkely in case Anderson couldn't start against Chicago. Instead, Peterman started and it was another blowout by Chicago 41-9. Matt Barkley started against the NY Jets week 10 and it was a blowout for Buffalo 41-10. NOW, there is a stark reality as to why Barkley looked so good against the NY Jets and why Peterman, Anderson and Allen looked so poorly previously at times from week one to week 10. It was the result of the Bills OC calling for far, far too many deep passes with an ineffectual pass blocking offensive line along with some lousy receivers. Bills OC Brian Daboll was calling about 30% of the pass plays for deep throws. Matt Barkley started that Jets game and his very first pass was a 47 yard bomb to Robert Foster (this play clearly stunned the Jets defense) the next play was a 28 yard TD run by McCoy! The rout was on! The next series Barkley threw another deep pass incomplete to Zay Jones and out of the next eight passes 3 more went deep. The Jets defense was reeling and the Bills defense was having a field day against Josh McCown, 8 QB hits, 3 sacks, 2 INTs. The Bills offense was very lucky in this game because Barkley hit Foster with that 47 yard deep bomb in the opening play and it had the Jets on their heels the rest of the game. Suddenly that failed Buffalo run game was working as the Bills rushed 46 times for 212 yards and 2 TDs. McCoy went 26 for 113. Why hadn't the Bills offense looked this good in other games? The biggest reason I noticed was that the Bills OC was calling for deep pass plays 30% of the time and most went incomplete. Those deep pass plays require time in the pocket for a 5-7 step drop back which needs 3-5 seconds in the pocket. The Bills O line was lucky to keep it to a two second pocket most of the time. Hence, all the sacks, hits, hurries on Bills QBs. The 2018 Buffalo Bills offensive line was so bad that it really wasn't very smart to call for so many deep passing plays as the QBs rarely had the time in the pocket to complete those deep passes. Not to mention that the run game by the RB's was basically nonexistent most games. Consider that Bills OC Brian Daboll, while having spent time in NE as an assistant coach. His record as an NFL OC was not very good in his previous stints. 2 years with the Browns 2009 (yds 32, pts 29)-2010 (yds 29, pts 31). One year with Miami 2011 (yds 22, pts 20). one year with KC 2012 (yds 24, pts 32) and Buffalo in 2018 yards 30th, points 30th. In 2018 Buffalo allowed 101 QB hits, 41 sacks and I can only imagine those numbers being astronomical had Peterman or Anderson remained as the starters Again, Yes, Allen was a rookie QB who was not as polished a QB as Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen. If you go back and read the draft profiles on Allen many state that he is not a day one starting QB and needs time to sit and learn, "In the NFL: Allen’s pure talent will have him considered as a top 10 pick, but a team that drafts him must be aware of his faults, if they want to develop him to his full potential. For Allen to reach his full potential, he should go to a team in a coaching situation that is offense oriented, with coaches who have developed QB’s in that past, and can do it again. Allen is not a day-1 starter in the NFL. It would be ideal for Allen if he went to a situation where he can learn behind a QB for at least half a season. Allen has the best arm I have ever seen in my time scouting QB’s. If Allen reaches his potential, he could be one of the best QB’s in the NFL." https://www.nfldraftdiamonds.com/2018/01/josh-allen/ Now, go back and look at what happened over the first half of the 2018 Buffalo Bills season.

What so many Bills fans seem to forget is that Josh Allen wasn't supposed to start in 2018. He was supposed to sit and learn while Peterman played behind that craptastic line with the inferior receiver corps and he would take the beating. Allen was graded as a developmental project and the Bills FO acknowledged this and had Peterman taking all the first string reps. Then Allen was thrown into the fire, unprepared to fight that fire, and what a fire! It was a full blown dumpster tire fire with an OC who had never fielded a better then 23rd passing offense in his previous four years in the NFL as an OC. A QB coach who had never been an NFL QB coach. No veteran QB on the roster to help this rookie learn the NFL ropes. We already talked about the bad line and receiver corps. Yes, Josh Allen had a rocky NFL start in his first season. Allen had 11 game starts and went 5-6 with an inferior offense around him and like at Wyoming in his final year he basically needed to carry the entire offense on his shoulders. There was no real run game by the Bills RB's as Allen was the teams leading rusher with 631 yards, 8 TDs. The teams top two passing targets had 80 missed targets between them and thus the reason as to why one WR outright cut while the WR coach was replaced. In 2018 QB Josh Allen WAS the offense while LeSean McCoy was averaging a measly 3.2 YPC avg while Josh Allen was averaging a crazy 7.1 YPC avg. That 5-6 win/loss record would more then likely be 6-6 if Allen didn't get hurt in that Texans game and Peterman throwing two INTs with a pick 6. The NY Jets finished 4-12 with their rookie QB picked at the #3 spot. Cleveland was only one game better with the #1 overall pick on a much better team. The majority of this board wanted Josh Rosen in the draft and he went 3-10 at Arizona with a QBR of 26.6. Get a grip folks, he was a rookie who didn't do so bad with one of the worst offenses the Bills have ever fielded. I for one am very excited to see what the kid can do with a decent line, decent receivers and now given the time to learn the offense. I can see playoffs year after year for Buffalo in the near future.

He was the No. 3 overall pick in 2011, and in his six-plus years, he did not live up to his draft status. Dareus was a good player for Buffalo, and he was selected to two Pro Bowls, but he was never the difference-maker the Bills hoped he would be, and then he became a drain on the budget when former general manager Doug Whaley stupidly gave him a $96 million contract extension that included $60 million in guaranteed money. Trading Dareus enabled the Bills to offload his massive salary, and while they ate some dead cap money, they rid themselves of a player who just didn’t seem totally bought into Sean McDermott’s process, nor his defense. Oh, and there was the off-field nonsense they would no longer have to be worried about. https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/2018/01/05/buffalo-bills-marcell-dareus-trade-jacksonville-jaguars-nfl-playoffs/1005697001/

Just a few short seasons after blasting former Bills general manager Doug Whaley for making him look bad due to poor production relative to his draft position, Watkins is content with being the 97th-most targeted receiver in the NFL (47). Watkins recently opened up about how his outlook on the game has changed drastically since joining Los Angeles, explaining that he is more team-oriented than he was during his tenure in Buffalo. “I was a statistics, an ego guy in Buffalo. I was all about numbers and it wasn’t healthy for me, my teammates, or my coaches,” Watkins said, via the Rams official site. “So now I really focus on my teammates being happy and winning. And so far it’s been going well.” “I felt like I was consumed, and I was angry,” Watkins said. “It was affecting my relationships with the coaches and with the players. I wanted to be great so bad, but I was also selfish, too. Because there were some games that we won and I didn’t get the ball, and I was upset.” https://billswire.usatoday.com/2017/12/01/rams-sammy-watkins-cant-stop-talking-selfish-he-was-bills/ 10 games, 9 game starts with KC, 40 rec for 519 yards, 3 TDs all for the mere price an average annual salary of $16,000,000. per.

Man, all this negativity... all these negative waves... I look at this years receiver corps and see a kid who only had three game starts last season, but put the fear of god into defensive secondaries with his deep speed. One guy like that is nothing and with two it helps ensure one should get open... and now the Bills have three WRs with 4.5 or better speed in Zay Jones, John Brown and Robert Foster. With Allen's arm it means defenses will need to cover the entire field. Deep bombs everywhere! I look at Cole Beasley and see first down after first down whenever needed. The Bills version of Wes Welker, Julian Edleman! Plus, they have Duke Williams and David Sills who are both 6'3'' and 225, 211 lbs respectively, both big tall red zone targets. Williams brings experience to the equation and is a big, powerful WR. Not to mention new TEs in Dawson Knox and Tommy Sweeny to go along with Jason Croom, Tyler Kroft. I look at the Buffalo Bills receiving corps and see a ton of possibilities, opportunities in the passing game for Josh Allen to go to. Now look at the upgrades to the offensive line to realize that this season Allen should have the time to throw whatever pass is needed. Right now I see no weak links anywhere on the line. Not like in the past where that right side was so susceptible to a pass rush at both RG, RT. By the same token the Bills run game by the RBs should be greatly improved with both Shady and Gore taking turns killing the defense now that they will have actual holes to run through. I look at the 2019 Buffalo Bills offense and see a top 10-15 unit or better... along with reversing last seasons record to 10-6.

I bailed awhile ago on this... People must be bored.

This is the pitchforks and torches I was taking about in an earlier post. The majority of this board saw and knew that the 2018 offensive line was in real trouble without Woods, Incognito. We knew the replacements weren't very good. We also already knew that run game coordinator/O line coach Juan Castillo was the wrong guy for the job. Although, some were in a wait and see mode for the line. Most of us also knew starting Peterman against the Ravens in the season opener was going to be a mistake. That not having a seasoned, veteran NFL QB coach was going to be a big problem with such young, inexperienced QBs at the starter and backup positions after the team traded AJ McCarron. What I'm saying is, a lot of us were expecting the results we saw for the 2018 season and trust me a lot of us also were complaining as the season progressed. So no, I don't consider the 2018 season a failure considering that the GM's hands were tied to bringing in top quality free agent replacements for Wood, Incognito due to cap space restrictions. Same thing goes for the receiving corps. So much that was wrong with the 2018 season that this GM/ HC has addressed and corrected, ie, players, coaches. Bottom line is that this team is going to field a second year QB still learning his craft as an NFL pocket passer. And let's face it, Josh Allen doesn't have Andy Reid coaching him, nor does he have a trio of stars at RB, WR, TE like Patrick Mahomes had last season. He doesn't have a Sean McVay or a Matt Nagy either. What he does have is a defensive minded HC with an OC who in his five seasons as an NFL OC has never had a passing offense better than #23rd in passing yards and 3 of 5 of those seasons were worse than 30th. Brian Daboll does have a back ground with some good coaching staffs (Patriots) so there is hope that he can do a better job. We can expect the 2019 Bills defense to be in the top ten or better and hopefully the offense will take a big step up with the upgrades on the O line and at WR. Should the offense fail this season I can see changes made with the OC and not the HC/GM.

All Watkins was in Buffalo was an expensive decoy and all that money for his potential... that the team that owns him might never see as the guy is always injured. I don't expect 2019 to any different. Sammy has been in the NFL for five seasons and he has only played in one full season and in that year he was constantly nursing one injury or another. As for Gilmore and Darby, they didn't fit what the Bills wanted to do and if anything... this coaching staff knows their stuff when it comes to DBs as they had the #1 pass defense in the league last season. Robert Woods didn't want to stay in Buffalo and wanted back in LA. Yes, KB was a mistake as was waiting so long to sign a veteran QB in Anderson, as he wasn't sure if he was ever going to play again and was contemplating retirement. Beane admitted this was a mistake. Nathan Peterman was a mistake, a big mistake and the HC must have had input from the OCs on that mistake. AJ McCarron came to Buffalo and pulled a Flacco by saying he wasn't here to mentor anyone, good riddance! Yes, they almost got Josh Allen killed with a bad offensive line. Bad O line coach/run game coordinator, bad WR coach, bad QB coach, bad ST coach. Although, unlike all the past regimes since the Butler era all the issues have been addressed. Trust me when I say I used to be the pinnacle of complaining when things went wrong and although a lot went wrong last season. However, a lot went right this off season too. Here is a concept, how about we wait until until the team actually falls on it's face before we bring out the torches and pitchforks. I can see this team winning 9 or 10 games or even more if the run defense is as good as the pass defense.

You know when I knew the future Buffalo Bills would be great? It was in 1987 week 12 against Miami on an unusually sunny November day. The Bills won that game 27 to 0 and the Dolphins didn't cross the 50 yard line for the entire first half. The Dolphins with HC Don Shula benched Dan Marino after he went 13 of 28 for 165 yards, 3 INTs. He had a passer rating of 25.7. QB Don Strock came in the game and drove them down to the Bills goal line...where they promptly turned the ball over... Earlier that year on Halloween, Bill Polian had made a trade with the LA Rams, Colts in a 10 player deal. To set this up, I was kind of heartbroken to see the Colts draft LBer Cornelius Bennett as I loved watching him tear it up at Bama. The Colts drafted Bennett with the 1987 #2 pick and like John Elway, he didn't want to play for Indy so he remained unsigned. In that trade the Bills got Biscuit, the Colts got Eric Dickerson, the Rams got a bunch of picks with RB Greg Bell, RB Owen Gill. The Buffalo Bills gave up RB Greg Bell and the Bills 1988 #1 pick, their 1989 #1 pick, 1989 #2 pick. The next year in 1988 that Bills defense was #3 in points allowed, #4 in yards allowed. The 88 Bills ended up 12-4 and went to the AFC championship game in Cincy. Think I still have an orange air horn from that game. Those things weren't supposed to be allowed and yet the stadium as filled with them. My favorite game that year was a low scoring 9-6 slug fest with the NY Jets in a downpour! The Jets at that time were 8-7-1 and the Bills were 10-1. The Bills won that game in overtime with Fred Smerlas blocking a FG. This win gave the Bills the record for the fasted win to the AFC East Championship. Oh, BTW. That was the "FAN-DEMONIUM" game in which the Bills fans ran on the field and tore the goal posts down! Most fun in a downpour I've ever had! The next year the Bills ended up 9-7 and still won the AFC East in 1989. They ended up in Cleveland for a wildcard game. Some jackass Browns fan had brought in a diesel air horn along with a huge battery and the noise from it was deafening! Thurman Thomas had a 1982 Kellen Winslow type performance with 13 receptions for 150 yards, 2 TDs. Browns LBer Clay Matthews stepped in front of a JK pass to end the Bills last drive in that 34-30 loss. Just before that INT, Bills RB Ronnie Harmon missed a catch in the end zone that would have won the game. Man 0 man he never lived that down. There were some great years before the super bowls too.

This is it exactly, at least in this thread. Yea, 2016 Buffalo Bills offense was excellent...if you're living in the 60's...even then, the 1965 AFL Champ Buffalo Bills were 7th in passing yards, 8th in passing TDs. 30th in passing yards and 27th in TD passes in today's age of a passing league...stinks anyway you look at it... or any year you look at it. As for KB, I was ecstatic when I read that the Bills had traded for him. Even when he was covered, he was open. I loved the kid when he was drafted and he had some good years at Carolina before injuries. Nobody knew that his heart for football had withered and died. At least Vontae Davis had the balls to know and say he was done. I go back and look at free agents like Levi Wallace, Robert Foster who were drafted as #1 picks when CBS sport did a 2018 re-draft. Then add those two to the two #1's in Josh Allen, Tremaine Edmunds. Beane did an amazing job. Now think about all the people that wanted the Bills to draft Josh Rosen and even trade up with the NY Giants @ the #2 spot to draft him. They wanted the Bills to give up the 2018 farm and even some wanted to give the Giants a 1st round 2019 draft pick. Beane stood his ground and waited patiently to grab his guy at the #7 spot in beating out Arizona for him! Now fast forward to the 2019 draft and Beane got his man in Ed Oliver @#9 . Then managed to get another projected first round pick in the second round at #38. Cody Ford's tape is among the best and most fun of the 2019 offensive line class. Some of you can nit-pick, or rag on this regime all you want. Yes, they have made some mistakes... and corrected them. The one thing I faulted them for was drafting a QB in the first round and putting him behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league. That was Whaley-esque. Beane corrected that this free agency and draft. I'm still not entirely happy with the LT, LG positions. although it remains to be seen if their play will improve with better players next to them. Should this team take a 2-14 nosedive into the ceramic convenience in 2019 for some inexplicable reason. I can see a change at HC and on the offensive side. I can't see these owners even thinking of replacing Beane. That won't happen though as I can see 9 wins minimum and possibly 10,11 or 12. A lot will depend on how well the Bills can stop the run! Jets, Le'Veon Bell, Giants, Saquon Barkley, Cincy, Joe Mixon, NE, Sony Michel, Tenn, Derrick Henry, Miami, Frank Gore...oh wait

I agree on Tyrod Taylor as some coaches do want to see how a player performs in their circumstances, their coaches, their scheme, their system. While I don't think they looked at Taylor as the long term solution at QB, they wanted to see how he play for them. The reason Taylor was benched after that NO Saints game was he was mostly ineffectual by going 16 of 28 for 135 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. It wasn't just him though as the run game disappeared too. The Saints dominated the clock 41 min to 18. Still, Taylor was sacked 2x in his last drive and he went out with an injury? That blowout game week 10 by the Saints 47-10. Out of 10 Bills offensive drives, FG, punt, punt, punt, punt, INT, punt, punt, Downs, TD. Peterman entered the with 4:53 left in the fourth quarter with the Bills down 40-3 and led the Bills to a 6 play, 75 yard TD. So, I can see why the Bills coaches wanted to give him a shot the next week against San Diego

Aaron "Mr.P90x" Maybin gets my vote. Good thing the Bills traded up in the first round to draft, John McCargo... For third place it's a tossup between AJ McCarron *(I'm not here to mentor anybody) or Kevin "rubber mat" Kolb.

Thanks As for the rebuilding, I seem to recall some media posts from 2017 where they both stated they didn't want to rebuild. "As a first-year coach facing the NFL's fifth-hardest schedule, the odds are stacked against McDermott succeeding in the short term, but he refuses to use the word "rebuild" to describe the philosophy being embraced by him and new general manager Brandon Beane. "That's not it at all. It's about winning football games," http://www.espn.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/83848/buffalo-bills-coach-sean-mcdermott-avoiding-rebuilding-label-in-2017 Bills not ready to talk rebuild https://www.lockportjournal.com/sports/bills-not-ready-to-talk-rebuild/article_5d109a32-d307-5e51-83ba-fe986288aa00.html I think you're right on the tank vs rebuild thing as those two links were all I could find.

You would think that Reid would have a plan in place for a backup and Morse was injured last season and they didn't offer him more to stay. "For one, the Chiefs have a decent backup set to takeover Morse’s spot in Austin Reiter. He played in 11 games last year and did just fine in his role as a starter. The second reason the Chiefs moved on is because of Morse being injury prone. The sole reason Reiter got to prove himself in the starting center role is because Morse was banged up all the time." https://kckingdom.com/2019/03/12/kansas-city-chiefs-moving-on-from-mitch-morse-not-surprising/ His injury history: 2015: concussion Week 12, missed one game 2015: concussion Week 17, missed playoffs 2017: foot sprain Week 2, missed 5 games 2017: re-aggravation foot sprain in Week 13, placed on IR, missed 5 games 2018: concussion Week 6, missed 5 games https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2019/3/14/18265043/2019-free-agency-should-buffalo-bills-be-worried-mitch-morse-concussion-history-kansas-city-chiefs Currently, Bills C Mitch Morse underwent core-muscle surgery. Morse is sitting out OTAs because of the issue, but it is unlikely it lingers into training camp. Morse is expected to start at center after signing a four-year, $44.5 million contract in March. https://www.rotoworld.com/football/nfl/player/8759/mitch-morse

Considering the EJ pick, if I'm McD I don't trust Whaley or his scouts to find a QB in that draft. If put myself in McDs shoes, Tre While was a great pick while adding the Chiefs 1st round pick @ #27, a third round pick and the Chiefs 2018 1st round pick. Mahomes was ranked the second best quarterback by SI.com, the third best by ESPN, and the fourth best by NFLDraftScout.com Let's see if Mahomes can carry that offense this year without his star RB, WR. After all, he still has his star TE and Sammy.