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Bucky and Jerry are both pretty rough. Once in a great while, Jerry writes something decent. I don't think anyone disagrees that the man is a talented writer, it's the non-stop negativity that turns people off to reading his stuff. What's worse is the influence they've had on Jay Skurski. After Tyler Dunne left (their best guy behind Tim Graham) I was like, "Eh, at least Skurski is still there" but more and more his stuff resembles Bucky and Jerry. I thought it was obvious they weren't doing good when an outlet like Bleacher Report is able to offer one of your better writers a whole lot more. Bleacher Report has grown into a reputable source but back in the day, it was pretty rough and barely anyone took them seriously.

I've wondered this myself but whenever I see those post-game prayer circles players like to do, it's never the entire team out there. I'm sure they realize that not every player, coach, assistant, etc. is religious. I think they welcome that aspect about a player (if they have strong faith) but I don't think they dock a player any points if they aren't. Character is obviously a high priority to them but I also think they have a threshold as to how many red flags they'll allow. I don't think it's like, "Uh oh, this dude has a red flag." "What's it for?" "Um, he once borrowed a pencil from a teacher in 4th grade and did not return it." "Take him off the board! He's a lunatic, a menace! Can't win with him!"

Shaq Lawson will make this team. They are investing heavily in the DL and McDermott wants little to no drop-off when he rotates players. Shaq is pretty sound assignment-wise and plays the run well. If he can tap into his potential as a pass rusher, he has a chance to be pretty good. It's his third year, which is usually the make or break year for most players. He'll get a chance to prove himself beyond camp and preseason.

Has anybody watched the Amazon Prime series "All or Nothing?" Great behind the scenes look at what goes with an NFL team over the course of an entire league year. They profiled the Cardinals in 2016, which was a fun watch considering how entertaining Bruce Arians can be. 2017 was the Rams and for this year they profiled the Cowboys. A few things I took from that show in regards to Dez... first, nobody can say the guy isn't a competitor. All he wants to do is win. Win the games, win his one-on-one match-ups both in the games and in practices. At times he shows flashes of what he did when he was still considered a top five WR in the league. Aside from that... he really seems to struggle to stay focused. He's also a player with what appears to be a rather fragile ego. At one point, he's in the film room with his coach and the other receivers and the coach is talking about the secondary of the team they're facing that week, I forget who, but he's singing their praises. "This is a tough group, they're big, they're fast" blah blah blah all that stuff. Dez blurts out something like, "Damn coach, how 'bout a little positive recognition for us, huh? You always hyping these guys up, what about us? We gon' ball, c'mon, how 'bout a little credit?" I'm paraphrasing... poorly, I'm sure. But you get it. The coach responded like, "Well, I'm not taking anything away from you guys, this is just the reality, this is a good group and if we aren't on our A-game-" Dez cuts in, "We always on our game, c'mon!" Coach continues, "If we aren't at our best, these guys can shut us down." He goes on to apologize to Dez if he made him feel a certain way. He even asks Dez, "Well, how would you prefer I phrase this stuff? What would be a better, more positive way for me to get my messages across?" Dez mumbles something we can't hear. Coach says, "What's that? I'm listening, what do you think would work better?" Dez mumbles some more and finally just says, "Man, I don't know." Dez also could not let it go when a rookie CB was talking trash. Dez wanted to line up and run some one-on-one's against him, which they allowed. First pass was off-target. Second pass, Dez straight up shoves the CB away as he hits his break, flag would've been thrown for offensive PI in the game. But Dez caught it and then whipped it at the rookie all like, "Yeah, see, I told you, I told you!" And he was just jawing at him for the rest of the practice. It's like, man, shut the hell up. So yeah, I just don't think Dez is a "process" guy. Nor would he be worth the money given where his talent level is at right now. The other thing I took from that show is that Jason Garrett is very close to claiming the title of "Weasel-Faced Jagoff Coach I Can't Friggin' Stand More Than Any Other Coach," a title that currently belongs to Bellychix. Garrett though... you can tell he's got like, no pull in that organization. The Jones family rules with an iron first and Garrett strikes me as just another "yes man" carrying out their orders. The dude barks and curses like he's some hard-nosed tough guy but it all seems so forced and disingenuous. Whenever Jones finally decides to can the dude, I'd be almost shocked if the guy ever gets another head coaching gig in the league.

It's OK. I'm the limo driver.

There are a few... Refusing to run the ball against what was essentially a two-man front vs. the Giants in Super Bowl XXV. Thurman Thomas had 15 carries for 135 yards and a touchdown. That's 9 yards a carry. If they would've kept feeding Thurm, they win that game without question. The minute NYG would've adjusted to stop the run, they could've went back to letting Kelly sling it and he would've picked them apart. Instead, they were too stubborn to come away from the K-Gun and we know the rest. Handing the keys to JP Losman in 2005 instead of trying to get one more year out of Bledsoe. And then refusing to fully commit to Losman by constantly benching him for Kelly friggin' Holcomb. Allowing the "brain trust" of Dick Jauron, Marv Levy, and Russ Brandon to make the most important football decisions for the team during the late 2000's. Forking over a $50 million dollar contract to Ryan Fitzpatrick after he had a few hot games against some slack teams. Consistently refusing to pony up the dough for players that were worth it who then walked and found success with other teams. Many of the names I have in mind have already been mentioned. Hiring Rex Ryan. I see a lot of people listing this as a bummer of a decision with the addition of not promoting Jimmy Schwartz... something to keep in mind, Schwartz was not a very good head coach. He was 2-14 in his first year, 6-10 in his second, he did make the playoffs in his third year but was handed a swift first-round exit. In 2012 he started 4-4 and then went 0-8 for the second half of the season. Started 6-3 in 2013 but then went 1-6 the rest of the way. He couldn't really sustain any consistency or long-term success. Definitely one of those "better coordinator than coach" type of guys. Keeping him on with Rex never would've flown. Those two have completely conflicting ideologies on how to run a defense. Consistently refusing to pull the trigger on a first-round QB draft after draft for years. Trading picks to get back into the first round of the 2006 draft to pick John motherfricking McCargo. I still remember the talking heads on ESPN saying, "Well, he could be a good one, but was his success a result of having both Manny Lawson and Mario Williams on his left and right all through his college career?" Answer: Yes, yes it was. Lawson and Williams were beasts that year at NC State and both went in the first round. Someone with the Bills thought, "Heck, NC State's whole DL must be first-round worthy, let's get back into the first and grab that McCargo kid!" Their constant inability to identify and hire the types of coaches that would best fit with the rosters they had, as well as drafting/signing players that would fit with the coaching staff. "Nobody wants to play in Buffalo" was the mantra of many a player during the drought. The team DID pay up for free agents when they could... that wasn't always the main issue... it was the dysfunction and disconnect between players and coaches and then between coaches and the front office and then (probably) the front office and ownership. All that discord between the departments that make the franchise was the primary reason for the drought. There was just no cohesion, despite them always saying, "We're in lock-step!" they weren't. Behind the scenes it wasn't really a secret that it was a giant crap-fest. It's nice to see some harmony strung together from the top down with this current regime.

Jez Baclin

I never hated EJ, haha. I was skeptical when they picked him, for sure. And by all accounts he's a great dude, hard worker, solid teammate, etc. etc. His shortcomings are mainly because of his inability to process the game at the speed it needs to be processed at. I remember this big write-up on the Bills official site from 2014, I believe. It was a good read but what stood out to me was the part where they talked about how hard he works and how he even had to put in extra time and work to get through middle and high school. I'm not saying the guy is stupid or anything, but that article indicated to me that the guy might be a C student doing a job that requires a lot of A's. It was obvious how much he studied, did extra work in the film room, worked after practice with receivers, etc. all that stuff was there. What's missing for the dude is the capability to put everything together in a cohesive manner and then apply it to his position to allow him to play fast and loose without overthinking things. Instead, he was constantly thinking about the things he was working to correct. I wonder if his internal thoughts were kind of like this whenever he lined up for a snap: "OK, pre-snap, there's the Mike, is the safety dropping down or back... I got a one-on-one to my right...nope, now they shifted...OK, doh, play clock is almost out, *HIKE!* Alright, where are my feet as I drop back, one, two, three, and fire the ball...dammit he's not open...lemme look over he--crap, pressure! Bail bail bail! *runs for three yards* Phew!" And then line up and try it again haha. To me, it seems like Allen should have an easier time putting everything together. We'll see, though.

I've subscribed to see the BNBlitz content but my login/password never work. I've received a response from the customer service department when I've contacted them and they told me my login/password is correct and I should be able to login, but I'm never able to. So that may be an issue they'd like to look into considering I'm still paying the $3 a month and am rarely able to see the content unless I do some random clicking around and end up getting to read it without logging in. There's nothing wrong with charging for content, I just don't feel like they are producing anything unique or overly interesting that people can't read/hear about elsewhere. Tim Graham may have broke the Russ Brandon story but I learned more about that whole story by listening to a 10 minute segment with Tyler Dunner on Shredd & Ragan. I commend them for trying but it would appear that the majority of fans don't care for the team of writers. And it's not always because people perceive their writing as negative. In my experience, a fair number of writers are active on social media but most of the time they're engaging with trolls, bragging about how they're in a position any average fan wishes they were in, or completely ignoring decent questions or solid rebuttals to their statements.

Shredd and Ragan are co-hosts of a morning radio show on Buffalo's rock station, 103.3 The Edge. Here's the link to the audio interview with Dunne: http://www.wedg.com/2018/05/04/sr-int-5-4-bleacherreports-tyler-dunne/ During that interview they also discussed how Brandon and Whaley were bros and that possibly being the reason as to why Whaley hung around for as long as he did.

As of Thursday, April 26, 2018 at around 9:30 PM, yuss, yuss I am. Kid has flaws (they all do) but if they figure out the right combination to unlock that upside and potential, watch out.

San Francisco was open to move down from #9 and had talks with Arizona so I don't think he would have been there at 12. They did what they set out to do. They compiled their data, reorganized the hell out of the roster, acquired extra picks, identified their guy, then went and got him. We'll see how it pans out but props to this front office for sticking to their guns and executing their plans.

Evidently, it had surfaced that Brandon was engaging in in some extra-marital activity with several female employees. I don't believe he's in trouble for harassment or anything illegal, whatever he engaged in was consensual but it's obviously less than professional behavior and when you're in the type position he's in, you're expected to act appropriately. So the rumors were going around and from what I've heard (and this was stated on Shred & Ragan this morning when they talked with Tyler Dunne) the Pegulas hired some law firm out of Pittsburgh to do some digging. They did their investigation and reported back to Terry and Kim that, yes, Brandon was indeed messing around. They called him in and questioned him about it and he denied it, not knowing they already had proof from the investigation they paid to have conducted. Sounds a bit like entrapment but they weren't setting out to fire him or throw him under the bus. They looked into the things they were hearing, some (or all) of those things were confirmed true, they gave Brandon a chance to fess up and instead he denied and supposedly that was what really bummed out the Pegulas. This was a guy who had been their right hand in navigating the craziness of the NFL from day one. They obviously placed a lot of trust in him for various things and he violated that trust so it was adios. I have no clue if they would've kept him on had he admitted to his behavior. They may have, and may have just told him, "Well, uh, you're gonna have to knock that off or else you're done." Word right now is there'll be details emerging within the next week or two. The NFL soap opera don't stop for no one!

These teams are investing a great deal of time, money and resources into the players they pick. Naturally, they're going to want guys who eat, sleep and breathe football. But more and more, I think you'll see a steady increase in the amount of players who have no problem saying they play football because they understand what a lucrative opportunity it can be. And there are already (and always have been) a percentage of guys who play because they know it can make them rich. Those guys don't really love the game or constantly dream about winning championships, for some, that's the last thing on their mind with the first being, "Doing this stuff is going to get me paid." Obviously teams are careful with those types of guys but there's a few on every team. And if a player says they have interests outside of football and that causes scouts and executives to shout, "But does he love football?! How can we feel good about drafting this kid knowing he has the world's most exquisite marble collection, a hobby he says he plans to continue when he plays?! Oh, the horror!!" then maybe they need to re-evaluate the process they're using to learn about these kids.

I have a family member who works with a firm that rents out heavy construction equipment for a variety of jobs, including well-drilling. He finds himself in PA quite a bit and through the companies and people he's talked to, he's heard that T-Pegs has always been a "behind the scenes" type of person. Evidently, the guy has a real innate ability to crunch numbers and run a business with a slightly different perspective than most. I guess he's very much about letting the results of the hard work put in by the people he employs be the main focus of his enterprises. He also puts trust in the people he hires for top positions. He prefers to find the right people, deliver his expectations of them and then get out of their way and let them do their job. I'd say this is definitely a good thing when it comes to the Bills and Sabres. They've stumbled a little bit out of the gate with people like Whaley, Ryan, Regier, etc. but hopefully now they've "got their guys" in the right positions. The way he prefers to run things is also probably why they haven't spoken publicly on Brandon. I've heard Terry was "highly disappointed" while Kim was pretty PO'ed given that she gave Brandon the chance to be honest with her and he lied. Being a "behind the scenes" guy also explains why he isn't great in interviews and in speaking with the press. But for all intents and purposes, they genuinely seem like good people who have built quite the business empire over the last 25+ years.

Taylor seemed to be most accurate when throwing to receivers he had spent time developing a rapport with and building chemistry. When he and Watkins were injured at the same time in 2015, they started getting to know each other better while rehabbing their injuries. And then, as we saw, Taylor to Watkins was a pretty solid connection during the back half of t he 2015 season. Watkins injuries prevented them from picking up where they left off but also in 2016 and 2017 was when Taylor suddenly seemed to lose one of his best skills, which was top-notch accuracy on the deep ball. But at the same time, he really lacked a downfield target without Watkins. Whether or not you develop a chemistry with a teammate, you still gotta give them chances to make plays. I assume Allen will be able to see the field a bit better than Taylor so hopefully that will provide him the chance to see windows/opportunities that Taylor just flat out couldn't see.

I didn't say Taylor needed to be throwing jump balls or 50/50 prayers. Far too many times he would wind up like he was ready to throw but then he'd pull it down and start running around. While he was exciting to watch on plays where he miraculously avoided pressure and a sack, there were an equal number of plays where he simply held onto the ball too long and wound up taking a sack. Those types of plays are where he needed to trust his receivers and at least give them a chance to make a play. You're never going to know if your guy can make something happen if you never give him the chance.

Accuracy and ball placement, a quick release that doesn't allow defenders any time to read body cues and make a play on the ball, ability to read/react/adjust to what defenses are showing/doing, trusting your teammates and giving them a chance to make a play (something I feel Taylor didn't do enough of), confidence to attempt difficult throws, pocket movement and keeping your eyes up to see if a receiver comes open on a play where you have to improvise. Size, arm talent, big time stats, etc. that type of stuff, to me, is held in too high of a regard. Having the prototypical size is nice but I don't think it directly correlates with success. Arm talent is a bonus. And I read arm talent as more than just strength and the ability to put it on a rope. Arm talent involves the capability of knowing how much air to put under a deep pass, how much touch to use on a fade, knowing when you need to really zip it to a spot on the field, knowing how to throw guys open, etc. Mechanics and footwork, I feel, are also things that have too much emphasis placed on them. Peyton Manning never had the best looking footwork, he'd be tap dancin' in the pocket on most plays but his ungodly work ethic, preparation and knowledge more than made up for shoddy footwork. If I'm a coach or GM and my QB has a weird throwing motion on top of choppy/awkward dropbacks but he's able to pick apart defenses and hit his targets on time, etc. then I couldn't care less in how he looks in getting the job done. I care about the end result and if the end result is success and wins, have a funky throwing motion and dropback all you want.

You are correct in your assessment that he pushed the ball downfield more than any other QB that was coming up this year. The more low-percentage throws you attempt, the worse your completion percentage becomes. But at least his coaches were trusting him enough to even dial up those kinds of throws. Bills are looking to capitalize on the traditional traits he possesses and hope to minimize his chances to make mistakes. Wait and see, it's all we can do. Someone also mentioned simple similarities to Wentz and some snarkasm that since they are physically similar that Allen will end up like Wentz. I get it. Another similarity they share is that they both ran the same offense in college. Numbers only go so far. There are things that can't be measured that can tip the scales one way or the other. People pegged Johnny Manziel to be a franchise guy based off numbers but the things that couldn't be measured (his attitude and approach toward the game) were the determining factor in his lack of NFL success. Perhaps the things that can't be measured in Allen will be what pushes him to success. That's the hope anyway.

Yezzir, John from Riverside.

In the grand scheme of all things, neither of these incidents are really that big of a deal. In the grand scheme of the NFL... these incidents still aren't that big of a deal when compared to other things players have done.

I don't see Clay getting moved. He's been one of the leading receivers on the team since he signed here. 2018 may be his last season with Buffalo, tho. They have an opt-out for 2019 in his contract and he turns 30 next year. Same can be said for Hughes and McCoy. Both player's contracts are up after 2019 and they'll both be over 30. So if we're looking at any of these three to be shuffled off the roster via trade, expect it to happen next year. I feel like McBeane may have the same type of philosophy as Belichick in terms of unloading a veteran player and his contract when they have one year left on the deal that way they're guaranteed something in return as opposed to letting them play out their deal, hit free agency in 2020 and potentially sign elsewhere which gives the team nothing in return. Throw Kyle in that group as well. Except I doubt he'd be traded, more likely just retiring. So yeah, 2018 could be the last season we see Clay, McCoy, Hughes and the Meatball in Bills gear.

Ya, this is a fair point. Mayfield has done a few things that may come off as cocky or immature but nothing that anyone should consider "detrimental to a team." I don't mind Mayfield's attitude, kid has confidence and swagger, those are necessary traits if you wanna succeed at the toughest position in sports. Always felt like way too much was made out of Mayfield's off-field stuff and Rosen's personality. Not only does it suck to wait so long for the draft but with the time between the Combine and the actual Draft, so many things get nitpicked and blown out of proportion. We've heard GMs and teams say it before that they have to be careful with how much analysis they do on players because it's easy to keep circling back to some minor thing and let that thing go from a molehill to a mountain and give teams false reasons not to draft a guy. I assume setting their board and compiling their scouting reports is like painting. At some point you gotta put down the brushes and walk away from the canvas and call it done.

Seemed like he lost that affinity last season, if that's not the case though, why give people such a hard time about answering any Buffalo-related questions? You mention a scholarship for his brother, which I admit I know nothing about but maybe UB didn't offer him the scholarship and that's why he was weird?

"Aw geez, I'm not excelling in my chosen field. I suppose the only thing I'm good for is flippin' burgers."