blacklabel

Maybe a little bit. As someone else pointed out, it may just be the product of maturity and understanding the business side of it a little bit more. Usually have ball games going all day every Sunday in the fall. I think what has changed most is my respect for the guys that play this game. When I was younger it was easier to be like, "Oh man, Player A is a piece of crap, he gets paid to make that play and he misses? He's garbage, get someone else in there!" And now it's just much easier to understand that they're all human beings trying their best. None of them are perfect and seeing some fans get so insanely upset over certain things just boggles my mind. Obviously I want my team to win, I want the players on my team to succeed and have awesome games every time they take the field, but if that doesn't happen I'm not gonna let it ruin my day or cause me to throw my remote at the wall. That type of behavior gets so old and obnoxious after a while. I'm obviously not as vested in other games as I am for Bills games but I can definitely sit down and watch two other teams face off and enjoy it. Really, this era of football is probably the greatest ever, just because of how the sport has evolved. I mean, how many active players are we watching right now that are surefire Hall of Famers? Probably a record number. And we're seeing records broken or set almost every season. It's a good time to be a fan of the game.

I think what they'll do if they choose Groy to start at center is still dress Bodine for games and if either Miller or Ducasse have to go out, they'd shift Groy over to guard and bring in Bodine at center.

I see where you're coming from and I don't disagree. There have been a couple of other things he's hit on with the Bills, nothing too major, and I can't recall it at the moment but over the years, I've gone from, "LaCanfora? This is clearly crap" to "Eh, I'll take it with a grain of salt but maybe he's onto something" so, yeah, a lot of these dudes are throwing crap at the wall and seeing what sticks but I'm sure he has a source of some kind. Probably an agent.

Well, technically what they're saying is true, some of it, anyway. Yes, he did play under two defensive-minded coaches... but when the time came to go out there and cut it loose, dude could rarely rise to the occasion. Had what, one, maybe two 300 yard games over his three seasons here? I'm not really all about the stats, but with the way the league is geared today to favor the passing game, you'd think he could've had a couple more big games like that. And what's his record when he had to throw it over 30 times in a game? Like, 2 and 12 or something? I think what you see is what you get with Tyrod. He's a hard guy to dislike because he's a true pro, very respectable and respected by teammates, handles adversity well, works his tail off, etc. But I think he's hit his ceiling. He's a "see it, throw it" passer so he can't really throw with anticipation or throw a receiver open, or throw to a spot that the receiver is supposed to get to. He has to see the guy open before pulling the trigger. This is why his time from snap to throw was the longest in the league. On the positive side, he will dazzle you when he somehow escapes what looks like a sure-thing sack and either hits a target for a nice gain or takes off and picks up 20 yards with his legs. And he typically throws a nice deep ball, although he seems to wait just a tick too long to throw it and when he does, a lot of times his man has to slow up to catch it. On the negative side, dude is just too careful with the ball. Yeah, it's great not to turn it over but his hesitance to throw into tight windows or toss up a 50/50 ball and let his receivers try to make a play can drive you nuts. A QB has to be able to take those risks sometimes. And now the guy has Todd Haley as his OC? Haley worked with Big Ben who has the nads to sling it anywhere. I wonder if Haley is gonna try to instill a little bit of that with Tyrod, maybe tell him to take some more chances and whatnot. Either way... Browns fans will be chanting for Mayfield by halftime of their season opener.

I'll take the gift card but I dunno about the look at Brandon's office... lord knows the debauchery that happened in there, haha. What a doofus that dude was, glad he's finally gone. For once, us fans don't really have any higher-ups or executives to B word about.

I sometimes wonder what the heck happened with Dri Archer. Did he truly get sick of football and decide to hang it up? Or was he so PO'ed about Pittsburgh letting him go and Buffalo signing him that he took his ball and went home? Hasn't been a peep about him since it was revealed that he had refused to show up after being claimed off waivers by the Bills. And for those players that get cut/re-signed numerous times, man, I can't imagine the friggin' stress that comes with it. Imagine you're on the bubble but cut day comes and goes and you didn't get a call, so you're like, "Woo hoo, I made the team!" But then, the next day, as teams scan the waiver wire looking to pick up other teams cuts, you get a call that says, "Hey sorry, I know we made it seem like you made the team but uh, we just picked up this D-3 clipboard holder. We wanted to sign him after the draft but he went to Philly but now he's with us so... anywho, good luck!" *Two weeks later* "Hey, Player, it's the Bills. Clipboard guy got a paper-cut, no time-frame for a return so we shelved him. You available? Sweet, c'mon back and sign with us." *One month later* "Hey guy, Captain Clipboard is ready to roll so, see ya." Just back and forth like that, that would be incredibly tough to deal with.

I used to immediately discredit just about anything I read coming from LaCanfora, especially if it was about the Bills. However, he had the Rex firing news weeks before it went down and also had the Whaley firing news around that same time. Since then he's also hit on a few other Bills news-bits before anyone else had. He's clearly got someone in the know with the Bills that tips him off so, while this rumor isn't exactly earth-shattering because it's been floating around for a while now that Mack might end up on the trade block, it's interesting to see an "official" source name the Bills as an interested party. I gotta imagine the asking price is astronomical at this point, plus whichever team lands him is going to have to keep him happy by sending a fleet of loaded Brinks trucks to his house and unloading a few bazillion dollars onto his lawn.

OP - just a heads up, Keenan Robinson retired yesterday so you may want to remove him from the form, just a thought. Maybe add another section for practice squad?

Man, you're quick. Just saw this pop up from the Bills app. Last I'd heard on Robinson was that coaches were impressed with his coverage ability but if he's retiring, he probably sees the writing on the wall that he was likely to be cut.

I think Coleman makes this team. I think they have a plan for him and if it's gonna take some time to get him where they want, that's fine. They needed speed at the WR position and he provides it. Yeah, McCloud and Clay are fast but they're also small. Coleman is just as fast and has a bit more size to him. McCloud could get bumped to the PS.

I can understand if some people find it hard to feel a little empathy for the guy but the "glad this POS is off the team" and "this guy is a worthless !@#$" comments are just ignorant as sh*t. Has the man done some stupid and insensitive things in his life? Yes. But he's still a human being. After the whole Miami scandal he went into treatment and found out a lot about himself. He was diagnosed with several mental health disorders, I won't name them because I don't recall specifically what they were and I don't want to spread misinformation. But, while he was still out of the NFL, nearly a year after the scandal, he did an interview where he talked about these issues, his therapy and the coping mechanisms he had developed to keep his symptoms at a manageable level. With that treatment, he revived his career and put in three straight Pro Bowl seasons with the Bills. Not once did he have any off-the-field issues and I don't recall him getting any major in-game penalties. Within the last six months, the dude has lost the two most important things in his life: football and his father, who was his idol. Combine that with the fact that he already has a difficult time handling stress and he's bound to find himself in situations where he loses control. What I'm saying is not a defense of him but an explanation, which, I think is a fair thing to consider before writing him off as a "worthless POS" or whatever ignorant BS someone wants to refer to him as. I hope he can get his sh*t together and find a direction in life. And I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he was already suffering from early signs of CTE.

Schopp's a arrogant friggin' weenie of the L-7 variety. First, I can understand how a lot of radio hosts would get burned out on taking calls from uninformed or clueless callers. And it certainly seems like they take those types of calls more often than not. So I can see them getting snippy or snotty with someone who calls in with a ridiculous suggestion or just flat-out has no clue what they're talking about. What I can't see, is how often guys like him double down on their opinions when met with a solid counter-argument. Case in point, several years ago when I would tune into the show during my drive home, a fan called up and simply said, "I tried telling this to Jeremy this morning but he didn't like it, so, I wanted to know what you guys think ab-" *click* Schopp hung up on the kid and said, "No. Uh uh, you do not call into MY show and take a shot at one of MY guys on MY station. No way." I was like, WTF? All the kid said was that he had a different opinion than White and Schopp sees that as "taking a shot at one of his guys?" Completely ridiculous. So that there pretty much sealed it for me and I quit listening to them. Many of these sports personalities, whether it's radio, TV, journalists, etc. come off very arrogant and egotistical in a "I have this job so obviously I know more than you, peon" type of attitudes. Time and again I see quality tweets wherein a fan has a great counter-point to an opinion posted by a "well respected" writer or analyst and they'll completely ignore tweets like those and instead engage with the trolls or get all up on their high horse and call out the easy targets (i.e. the uninformed fans that post nonsense). And he can bandwagon with Lamar Jackson all he wants but thusfar, Lamar has been the one that has shown the least amount of promise out of the five first-round QBs that came out this year.

Whaley = pretty good scout, not a real great manager of personnel. Through the three different coaches he worked with here, he did his best to find those coaches their preferred kinds of players. Marrone needed massive OL, so Whaley gives him Kouandjio, Richardson and Henderson in 2014. Of course, Marrone couldn't get out of his own way in finding the best five for the OL but either way, the tools he asked for were given to him. Rex needed players for the 3-4 , bigger DL & LB and strong man-coverage corners. He gives him Darby and Ragland and picked up several 3-4 style DL in free agency or off the waiver wire. McDermott wanted high character guys with strong work ethics and a team-first attitude, he helps him get Tre, Zay, Dawkins, etc. We know McDermott ran the 2017 draft for the most part but Whaley and his staff still did all of the evaluation work and Whaley worked with KC to pull off the trade in the first round that year as well as the trades to get Zay and Dawkins. Whaley also picked up several solid mid-season free agents to fill position groups that were bitten by the injury bug. Where Whaley didn't do so well were contract negotiations (except for Hughes, it ended up being a pretty decent deal for both sides) and his philosophy of, "I'mma pick players from big-time winning programs because they're used to winning and they'll carry that over into our locker room and thus, we shall win." And then he signed off on hiring the clown show that is Rex and Rob Ryan and pretty much sealed his fate at that point.

I haven't really noticed any of the hate from the Jags fan-base. Maybe they think the Bills are losers because they let Marrone walk, but whatever. Personally, I really feel like Marrone is just a puppet coach down there. Marrone idolizes Coughlin, always has. If Coughlin told him to wash his car, he probably would. Coughlin has more control than people are aware of, I think. That's the only way he was going to get back into the game, he wanted control over personnel and all sorts of stuff. I still remember catching a bit of the press conference from when Coughlin and Marrone were introduced as the head guys and Marrone must have deferred questions over to Coughlin a dozen or so times. He kept saying, "Oh, well, I'll let coach handle that one." Marrone is a strange bird, man. He did not have a lot of player support during his time in Buffalo. He walked in from day one and tried to run the team like he was still running a college program. Grown-ass men and especially longtime veterans don't go for that stuff. I heard numerous times during his run here that his style and methods had gotten old with a large part of the roster. Then he has the ego to walk off the job because he believed he was a shoe-in for the Jets job, but apparently he bombed the interview. And I think it was last year or maybe the year before but he did an interview with SI (I think) and he was all over the place with his answers. At first, he said he wasn't going to answer any questions about why he left the Bills. But then, he'd give responses that somewhat alluded to his reasoning for his leaving, but then he'd either backpedal off it or contradict himself in answering a different question. Then, hours after the interview was over, he called the journalist and asked her not to run the article. I believe the journalist said Marrone would have to take that up with the editor. A few hours after that, he called the journalist again and said something like his wife convinced him to let the article be published. And then there was that whole thing with Tim Graham. Anyone remember that? Final game of the 2014 season, it was an away game at New England. Before the plane took off, Marrone evidently asked that a meeting between him and Graham be arranged. They met in this dinky little office inside the hangar from where they board their plane and Marrone sat him down with like two other Bills executives and gave Graham some crap about some of the stuff he'd written. Graham explained it on his Twitter shortly after Marrone quit, said it was a really strange experience and said he's never had any coach or player or sports personality approach him like that. Marrone really disliked Joe B as well. Most of the time when he was rolling his eyes or looking all disheveled in a presser, it was usually his reaction to a question from Joe B. I think Joe called him out one time for deciding to punt from the opponents 37 yard line or something instead of trying a field goal. Eh, whatevs. This post got away from me a bit. Marrone is just a doofus. McDermott can give all the vanilla interviews he wants. It's nice to have a coach who's very detailed, articulate, intelligent and methodical in executing his vision.

You know, I do have a response for this thread, but I'm choosing to withhold that information... simply because I can... or I want to. You'll never know! Jeez Louise, folks will find anything to complain about. I don't care that his press conferences are very superficial. Most good coaches keep everything close to the vest. You want ol' boisterous Rex back? Making idiotic claims and talking himself up like he's the best coach in the history of ever. Maybe we can get Marrone to come back in here and roll his eyes and whine about every question thrown at him. How's about Dicky "It's tough to win games in this league" Jauron? I will say though, I kinda liked Gailey at the podium. "Footbawl is a tough game fer tough people!"

Ivory and Shady are both 30. Shady has almost twice as many carries as Ivory over their careers, so... Honestly, Gillislee did so well when he was here because of Roman's run game. Scheme matters for some players. Gillislee went to NE and couldn't pick up their offense quickly enough and slid right down the depth chart. Daboll doesn't use the exact same scheme as NE, obviously, but he uses the same philosophy in that he's going to change up their style week to week based on opponents, just like NE does. If Gillislee had trouble picking up on that in NE, I'm not so sure he'd fare any better here. I think Murphy can carve out a nice role for himself on this team. The coaches like Cadet a lot because of his pass catching ability but Cadet hasn't done much so far this pre-season to stand out or make anyone say, "I'd take Cadet over Murphy" not right now, anyway. I think at the end of the day the backfield will be McCoy, Ivory, Cadet, Murphy and DiMarco. Maybe Keith Ford to the PS.

Coleman may have had a sense of entitlement about him when entering the league but it's clear the Browns didn't do much to try and develop him and coach him up. I think with the change of scenery for him and the fact that he feels like Cleveland gave up on him, he'll be motivated to work hard and earn a spot on this team. Beyond his speed, there are obviously other reasons Beane feels like he can succeed here. Bills have that streaming show coming up on Facebook (tomorrow, I think, it's called "Buffalo Bills: Embedded") and they showed a clip of it during the Panthers game last week. McDermott was speaking in front of the team and said, "If I have to question your effort, you can go play somewhere else because you're not going to play here." So if Coleman comes in with the same mindset he had as a rookie in Cleveland, he's not gonna last long. But, like I said, there has to be something else they know about the kid for them to bring him in and they clearly envision an important role for him as well. I think Daboll will be able to identify what Coleman already has a knack for and he'll develop plays around those skills while he works on becoming a more well-rounded receiver as the season carries on. The speed element alone is huge, because other than him, Kaelin Clay is really the only other receiver with speed but he's not a guy defenses are gonna worry about when he's on the field. Coleman could definitely be a guy defenses will have to pay attention to and he can take the top off a defense and open things up for KB, Zay, Clay, etc. I would assume that's what they're hoping for at the moment.

Good call. If that's what's keeping the Rams from meeting his demands then they're not too bright.

I think they have KB13 penciled in as their #1. Beane said Coleman is gonna have to earn everything he gets here. His first-round status doesn't mean much, but I do fully expect him to make this team and hopefully be a contributor. I think his skill-set is a bit too limited for him to ever turn into a true #1 wideout, but I think Daboll can find some interesting things for him to do. They'll move him around a lot and they'll probably ask him to run his bread & butter routes while working with him throughout the season to help him become a more refined receiver.

And from what I can gather based on the information that's out there, the Rams don't want to meet Donald's demands because he's not on the field for every defensive snap. According to Pro Football Reference, Donald was on the field for 73% of all Rams defensive plays for 2017. But really, aside from Watt and maybe a couple other guys I can't think of, what DT is out there for every single snap? Every team has a rotation and even though Donald is a monster, he still needs a breather now and then. I dunno, if I'm the Rams I think I'd pay the guy.

Exactly. He could be great, he's just not very self-motivated. He probably doesn't have a real high level of passion for the game, plays because he knows he can get paid doing it. For all intents and purposes, he's not a bad guy, he's just not a real good decision-maker. Kyle Williams always talked him up when he was still here and Kyle is one of those vets that any young player on any team should wanna learn from. I'm sure Kyle tried to reach him and help him straighten out but at the end of the day, most of the off-field trouble Dareus has had comes solely from bonehead decisions he makes. He's had a rough life but unlike most people who have had similar upbringings, he's in a position now where he's no longer a victim of circumstance. He brings the trouble on himself. Rough life or not, it's tough to keep rooting for a guy that keeps burning through every break he gets.

Yikes, that Dareus contract. I'm surprised we haven't heard news outta Jacksonville that they asked him to restructure and take a pay-cut. He's not even seeing like, 60% of the snaps there. He's rotational now whereas he used to be a full-time starter. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Dareus because of all the tragedy that's surrounded him his whole life. But, at a certain point, he's gotta decide whether he really wants to play ball and keep his nose clean or continue to be a knucklehead and get himself in trouble. Hopefully he focuses on the former but who knows anymore. Could be one of the best DTs in the league if he could just keep himself motivated.

I mean, I can understand if there's interest in a player like Mack or Donald, they're both franchise players, but as it is right now, Buffalo's DL isn't too shabby. Unless, maybe, Murphy's injuries are worse than they thought? Maybe they're working on bringing one of those dudes in and then shipping Murphy away? Seems odd to do that but I dunno, just spitballin' here. Trade Hughes? Does a trade leave them with dead cap space? Because if so, Hughes dead cap number this year is $6.8 million, as opposed to $2.9 million next year, according to Spotrac. So that would kinda lead me to believe they'd wanna move him next season since the cap hit would be less. Same with Shaq Lawson. Of course, they don't necessarily have to move a DL for a DL, teams could be interested in other players... but... DL is really the only spot on the Bills where they have some depth and talent right now so I have no idea who else teams may be looking at.

Foster started off pretty well from what I've read but lately he's been dropping the rock, even in routes vs. air. He has plenty of speed and I guess coaches are pleased with his route running skills but that doesn't mean much if you can't catch the ball.

I think he denied any interview requests from the local Buffalo media and then wouldn't answer any questions as to why. Also wouldn't answer any questions about Buffalo. And it was kinda strange behavior because he's played the Bills before and never had any issue speaking the Buffalo media. But I'm sure he still has friends and whatnot here so, hey ya never know, could be a chance.