BillsFan4

Their first win in 635 days and now they’re a lock for the playoffs... lol. Seriously though, they did look much better once Baker came in the game. But it was only one half of one game. Let’s wait and see how things play out. The Jets weren’t exactly playing great. Darnold really struggled. I just don’t think the Browns are ready yet. They hurt themselves far too often and their coaching is suspect (IMO). Looking at their schedule, I think right around 8 wins is their ceiling this season, and I think that’s being pretty generous. But hey, who knows. Maybe tonight was a turning pout for them. I really hope it was. Their fans deserve it. It brought s smile to my face seeing how happy they were to get the win. Happy for them...

This isn’t Sabres news, but I didn’t know where else to put it -

Here’s another excerpt from “football for a buck” - https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/09/07/donald-trump-usfl-owner-an-excerpt-from-football-for-a-buck/ It’s kind of a long read, but quite interesting. I plan on picking up a copy of this book.

So very sad. I can not even imagine what they are going through right now. They will all be in my thoughts and prayers.

I have no ill will toward Vontae Davis. I wish him well in his retirement. As long as he files his retirement papers and hands over that signing bonus money, I’m totally over what he did (and I don’t really see any other option, since he admitted he was just done, not injured).

Absolutely. He 100% did the Bills a favor here, if we are able to reclaim the majority of his money (which looks almost definite).

Last year was the Jags first winning season since 2007. in that time they went: 2008: 5-11 2009: 7-9 2010: 8-8 2011: 5-11 2012: 2-14 2013: 4-12 2014: 3-13 2015: 5-11 2016: 3-13 So, it took them a long time, and a LOT of high draft picks to pull out of that mire and misery. Their turnaround under Coughlin and Marrone was impressive, though. But they had a heck of a lot of talent to work with.

Absolutely. I am REALLY looking forward to hearing what Romo has to say about Allen. I have been blown away by Romo’s in-game analysis. His words carry a lot of weight IMO.

Not shocking if true. Groy has struggled, to say the least.

I still think Todd Haley will be the interim HC... I believe John Dorsey was the one who brought him in, and gave him the play calling duties. Good,points. I didn’t see this when I responded. My my money is still on Haley though, as of now anyway.

I guess it’s a done deal now. $3.65M x 2

A bit cheaper than I thought. I figured about $4M if it was a bridge deal. I just hope the short term deal doesnt bite them in the arse. I feel,like they may have been able to get him signed for $6-$6.5M (ish) on a longer term deal. But I fully get why Botterill went with a bridge deal. He saw 2 completely different Sam Reinhart’s last season. 1st half Sam was garbage. 2nd half Sam was excellent and looked like a core piece of the team. edit -oops, sorry I didn’t see 26’s post

I am not saying he is wrong. Josh struggled mightily. But, reading through that twitter timeline, this tweet stuck out to me - Does it almost seems like he is excited that Josh Allen struggled and he gets to point it out, or is it just me? He was a very strong critic of Allen before the draft iirc.

I have no idea what goes on behind closed doors - what type of talks the Bills brass had with Vontae before and after he signed, whether or not they asked him about the incident with Pagano and if they did, what type of explanation he gave, what he was like in the locker room, whether or not anyone, teammates included, had any inkling he was thinking of quitting, etc etc. So it’s hard for me to say whether or not the Bills should have known. I am sure that you know more than me in regard to the behind the scenes stuff... I’d guess that there were red flags about Davis’ play, though. I would think that was why he was a healthy scratch for week 1, and seemingly only dressed for week 2 because of an injury to Phillip Gaines. But, just because he was struggling I don’t think it necessarily means that the Bills should have known he was going to just up and quit on them. I would imagine the Bills were hoping that it was just taking him longer than they expected to come back from the knee injury. Just judging from what has been said by players and coaches, they all seemed genuinely shocked he retired. I believe one player even said he had no idea Vontae was thinking of retiring.

Here is the article in question - https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2018/9/18/17874836/sean-mcdermott-has-highest-odds-to-become-the-next-coach-fired and the tweet it’s based on - But then when I go to the actual site, it’s different. https://tablet.betonline.ag/sports/contests?ct=NFL Player Futures It has McDermott listed at +750 (I am not super familiar with gambling, but wouldn’t that be 15/2 odds?), with 2 coaches having higher odds of being fired (bill o’brien at +500 and Hue Jackson at +600). Even having McD listed with the 3rd best odds is way off IMO. I can’t see him getting fired any time soon. Petulant went ALL IN with McDermott. I have to imagine he’s here for a while. I mean, it would be dumb to fire him just over 1 year in, when they were allowed to make such drastic changes. Pegula had to know this wasn’t going to be an overnight project... Honestly, I don’t really care what 1 random sports betting site lists the odds at anyway... it doesn’t really mean much.

https://www.tsn.ca/player-poll-surprise-sabres-and-coyotes-will-be-playoff-teams-1.1174598 I know this doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but it’s still pretty cool to see that actual NHL players around the league seem to be noticing what’s going on in Buffalo and see a bright future for the Sabres. I also absolutely love the quotes by Eichel in this article! (click the link to see them). I think he hit hit the nail on the head with his comments about how too many Sabres players were just happy to be in the NHL and felt there was no need to continue improving their game anymore since they already made it. Eichel doesn’t want to be just average. He’s driven to be the best and I love that about him.

I am not usually one to start new threads, but I wanted to make sure people read this, with how many are down on the Bills right now. This was reassuring for me to read. I hope it is for you too... https://theathletic.com/531712/2018/09/18/wood-its-so-hard-for-me-to-fathom-that-anyone-would-quit-on-their-teammates-like-vontae-davis-did/ (Sorry, it’s a link to the Athletic - sub. required - but I copied & pasted the relevant part of the article)

Interesting comment by Eric Wood in his weekly Athletic article - https://theathletic.com/531712/2018/09/18/wood-its-so-hard-for-me-to-fathom-that-anyone-would-quit-on-their-teammates-like-vontae-davis-did/ I’ll take E Wood’s word on this.

Me too! The neck on that guitar makes it soo easy to play fast. I have that one, an Ibanez RG series and an older USA made fender strat. I used to have a much bigger collection, but unfortunately I got rid of a few over the years. I kick myself now for it.

https://www.wkbw.com/sports/sabres/sabres-eichel-dismisses-rumors-of-friction-with-former-teammate-ryan-oreilly

What are you looking to install? TV, surround sound speakers, subwoofer, receiver? It really depends on your budget and your end goal, as far as what to recommend. Sorround sound system can range from a couple/few hundred for a cheapo basic system, to $600-$2000 ish for a mid tier system, to crazy money for the high end stuff. Itll depends on if you want to piece it together yourself or buy the whole surround sound system as a package. Do you want top of the line, middle of the road, cheap? What size and type of TV? LED, OLED, Projector? Do do you want a basic installation, or do you want a more fancy setup (like speakers and TV built into the walls, etc)? I would check out places like Stereo advantage, Speaker Shop (great place for a better quality Speedo equipment), even Best Buy. They (Best Buy) offers full home installation and they will likely have more equipment in the low to mid tier range (they have higher end stuff, too). Personally, I’d recommend doing it yourself. Unless you want to go nuts and have everything built into the walls and automated, etc. TVs - I’d recommend #1) Sony (Z9 series, or OLED is their top end stuff), #2/2a) Samsung/LG (the Q9 from Samsung or the OLED TVs from LG). Receiver - it depends on what your top priority is. But in general- Denon is a good all around brand (I have one myself) with options from the low/mid end all the way up to the very high end. Marantz (amazing sound quality for listening to music), Yamaha, Onkyo are 2 good mid-tier brands. Speakers - very tough to say. Very personal as far as preference, and much depends on budget Subwoofer -again, depends on preference. Do you want or be able to really FEEL the bass? Or do you want tighter, crisper bass? To really feel the bass, I’d recommend a ported sub. For tighter bass that isn’t quite as loud, I’d recommend a sealed subwoofer. I prefer ported subs, but that’s just me. Both have their advantages. As i as I always say to everyone looking for audio visual equipment - most important thing is to go look at the stuff yourself. Go compare TVs, compare speakers and receivers etc.

From what I’ve gathered, my opinion is - Watkins was entitled, selfish and a loner in buffalo (some of that by his own admission) and has caused some issues in the locker room. I believe they also knew he would price himself out of buffalo. So they took a 2nd round pick for him. Darby was struggling with zone coverage concepts and didn’t really fit the scheme. He’s a man cover CB. He was also said to not be buying in and supposedly disliked McDermott. Dareus was lazy, late to meetings and was one more failed test away from a 1yr suspension. He caused issues for the Bills for years and this new regime was having none of it. He was also said not to be buying in. You cant put Gilmore on this new regime. Whaley had 2 years to get him signed and didn’t. He drew a hard line in the sand as to what he would pay (reported to be around $11.5M) and Gilmore was unwilling to accept it. Gilmore also wanted to go to a team where he would get to play on prime time TV. Why would the Bills shell out $14M + (likely would have had to beat NE’s $13.5M per) for a guy who didn’t truly want to be here? Glenn was traded in order for Buffalo to be able to land their QB -something you and everyone else said was a huge priority for years. He was also traded in order to let his younger replacement develop. You can not assume that Glenn or Dawkins can play the right side. Marrone tried Glenn on the right and he struggled badly. McD tried Dawkins at RT (he may have tried Glenn there too iirc) and he struggled big time. He was outplayed at RT by Jordan Mills... Asking a linemen to play the opposite side is tough. I once heard an o linemen say “it’s like wiping with the opposite hand” (lol). You need to be able to do everything backwards. You also have to factor in Glenn’s injury and time missed. Dawkins did very well in his place. Maybe they should have given Glenn or Dawkins more time at RT. But I’m not sure how they go up and get Josh Allen without trading Glenn. We definitely wouldn’t have Edmunds, and maybe we wouldn’t have our 1st this year (which would be a disaster...). Robert Woods didn’t seem to want to re-sign in Buffalo. It was reported long before McDermott was hired thathe Bills were not even negotiating with him. He wanted to go home to California, and did just that. I would have loved for Woods to stay. Brown didnt really fit the scheme. McD needs his MLB to be able to play sideline to sideline with speed and cover the pass. They drafted his replacement and are letting him develop on the field. That’s my opinion on how I see those moves, anyway... And Just to be clear, I am not trying to say that I agree with every move they’ve made. Far from it. I worry that they put too much emphasis on character and not enough on talent. But I can see the plan. Only time will tell if it works out.

Here is my opinion on the discussions in this thread: It’s pretty rare for a coach or GM to come out and straight up say “this is a lost season due to a rebuild” before the season even starts. But... Deciding to take ALL that dead cap money this year instead of spreading it out, and dumping their starting QB from last season should have been a pretty big clue for everyone that this was going to be a rebuild year. A GM doesn’t decide to willingly take all of the dead cap money this year and dump his starting QB for 2 rookies if he expects to be competing for something. The plan seems pretty clear to me: - get rid of guys who were not buying in, and begin the desperately needed culture change at one bills drive. - clean up the cap this year, so we are in good shape next year and beyond. - develop our rookie QB - develop our rookie MLB - develop other young players, like some of the WRs, TEs, S (Neal), CB (Johnson, White), our punter, our LT etc. As to why why there are not young players starting at every position - You can only draft so many guys per season, so they weren’t able to plug every hole they wanted. But they have some young players at key areas, and I’m sure there will be more next season. McDermott has also said that the player who earns the starting job will play. He is not going to just give starting jobs to every young player. He wants them to push themselves, work hard and earn it. I believe that is a key part of their development. What would it teach a young player if he were just handed a starting job he didn’t earn? What type of precedent would that set? Plus, how would it go over in the locker room if McD said “hey, I know you all saw that (player x) earned it but I’m going to start this rookie because he’s a few years younger”? And as to why they didn’t just dump every veteran (like Kyle, Shady, Lorenzo etc) - They want good veterans showing these young guys the right way to do things. They want them around to help get the young guys accustomed to the NFL. They want them around to continue establishing the culture change. And theyre not not going to force Kyle out just to get younger. He is a franchise cornerstone and has earned the right to retire from the Bills on his own terms. Fans would have absolutely lost their minds if they had forced Kyle out to start some young guy in his place. Plus, just because they are rebuilding doesn’t mean they HAVE TO get rid of every single veteran. Why should they get rid of McCoy when they haven’t drafted his replacement yet?