Rochesterfan

MGK - The issue I think is middle ground. I have been in all levels of management and each of you make points that are correct. The issue I have is Bruce said ~ there are guys I am praising in meetings that I fire the next week. That is terrible management if you are praising a guy in front of his peers and then firing him the next week - it is a terrible look. What you said is different - not criticizing a person in front of peers is very different than praising a co-worker or a player that you have issues with and want to move on from. I think from McD - praise in the media is a real thing. He does not heap praise out and when he does I think it somewhat means something.

Although I agree in principle with this. I think @GunnerBill called it more correctly. I expect that the majority of Beasley’s catches still go to the slot guys and is broken up along a 40% Crowder, 35% McKenzie, 25% Shakir - getting McKenzie to career numbers (as you said not real hard). I think McKenzie will be used more as a true WR this year. I think some of the trickery catches he had stay with him, but I expect Cook will get a bunch of those. Cook will also get a significant portion of those catches that went to the combined RBs last year with Singletary getting the reduced number. I also expect Davis to get most of Sanders targets - plus a few extra and the targets as a 3rd wr that Davis got last year go to additional Knox targets, OJ Howard, Shakir, and spread amongst RB, 3rd TE, and Gilliam. The numbers are there to be distributed and who gets what will be interesting to see. I expect that McKenzie’s targets and yards per target go up and he is used more like Beasley than he has been in the past. I think Cook starts to fill the McKenzie role with some trickery due to his better vision and RB body.

I think this is 100% correct. I think Cover 1 did a nice job after the regular season win in KC - showing how the Bills were mixing up the coverages, but doing a lot more tight man with White on the outside and Taron in the slot and then playing a more aggressive zone on the other side with much less space and tighter windows. It allowed Taron and White to play outside leverage and keep their eyes on the ball more and force the plays into the zones if needed and gave protection to Wallace. It allowed Hyde and Poyer to move up and be more physical and limited Edmunds zone size allowing him to be more set. The loss of White on Thanksgiving limited the ability to mix coverages as well as before. Dane played well at times, but he was easily tricked by double moves and Wallace was just to slow. That forced the Bills into standard 2 deep coverage to protect them - which they play very well, but allows really good QBs - Brady, Mahomes, etc to pick them apart. I think they are hoping that Elam and White allow that same kind of switching of defenses to better match-up and perhaps better protect the weak spots by switching up where those weak spots are. I think they believe aggression on the outside with talent will make the #1 defense even better this season.

You have got it backwards. Ferguson was colorblind - hence the change to red helmets. It had nothing to do with Kelly - the helmets were already red when he arrived.

Don’t mind them at all. Can’t stand the bBears, but the combination is way better than the Red - especially the Red on Red the Bills have worn.

If it is/was the same offense and terminology - I have no issues siting him, but with a new OC and several new offensive coach’s - I would like to see him get a couple of series to work on communication within game. Getting calls from the OC with real crowd noise, timing of the calls coming in, where the OC is comfortable (booth versus sideline) and how that impacts communication with JA. Work those things out with a couple of drives in pre-season - rather than finding out against LA that something does not work in the set-up and it costs you.

Totally agree - it is just nice when the mods have them set ahead of time - so everyone knows where to post before the game day stuff rolls in.

Totally agree - kind of like game day or the draft - pre-make a thread that opens for each day and have all of the relevant tweets and talk go in there.

Why are all of these players looking into each other’s eyes as they pee in the troughs in the bathrooms at the stadium? 😂😂😂

He was 9-18 for 56 yards and 1 Int in over 3 quarters in that game. The Bills D sucked and the Bills QB was not only terrible, but gave up on the game and the team. Peterman out played him in 2 drives and that was why he got the start versus LA the next week. That performance against NO lead to a crazy decision because the team felt they needed something out of the QB position. Tyrod is not disrespected in my opinion - He is exactly what he was the entire rest of his career - a very, very mediocre replacement level QB. He was an athlete playing QB and had 2 tricks - running with the ball and a deep sideline pass. Luckily Rex had an OC that had found success in SF with Kaep and that same OC has had success with Jackson afterwards in Baltimore with those same traits. My issue with Tyrod is how he played the games - he was such a mediocre passer that once the Bills were down by more than a TD he could not bring the team back. The Bills relied on being ahead or at most being within a FG throughout the game or it was a loss. Tyrod did play into that well with his aversion to throwing to anyone covered and therefore not turning the ball over. His TO rate was phenomenal, but I would have given that up for a guy that would make plays late to try and win a game. Fitzpatrick lost games where he threw that crucial pick trying to find a way to score and win the game. Tyrod lost games because he would not even try to make those plays - it would be fourth and 8 and he would throw a 3 yard pass in the flat or scramble out of bounds after a short gain. Tyrod to me belongs in a huge line of middling QBs that have suited up for the Bills - Guys like Bledsoe, Johnson, Edwards, EJ, Losman, Collins, and the like - He does not need a legacy - he was just a small part of the team. I don’t dislike or like the guy - I am just glad he is not our starter and was thrilled when he was replaced. Before JA - there were only really 3 Bills QBs that mattered - now there are 4. After those 4 - the rest (including Tyrod) were a short series of names and why anyone would care where they are ranked is beyond pointless.

Because 2 bye weeks sucked. It added nothing and the league quickly got rid of it. The only way 2 bye weeks comes back is as part of an 18 game schedule. Why would the NFL want to get rid of a week of revenue (even preseason) for a bye week? It isn’t discussed more because it already failed and will only be used as a bargaining chip to get to the end goal of 18 games. Everyone knows the current end goal is 18 regular season games, 2 preseason games, and 2 bye weeks. That is where we end up after the next CBA. The hope being the NFL can extend the season 2 more weeks and match the Super Bowl with Presidents Day and fulfill most people desires to have the Monday after off.

Hey - Hey - I heard the plan was for 4 new stadiums: 1 in Batavia, 1 in Dunkirk, 1 in Niagara Falls, and 1 in Letchworth to help regionalize the team. Then they secretly rotate where the games are played without telling the fans - so the fans get 4 spots to tailgate and the Bills get 4 times the ticket sales. Brilliant. 😂

Totally disagree - if they cut and resigned him and he had dead cap money on his previous contract - the most likely reason is they know he is making the roster and wanted to adjust something. It just makes no sense as did not need the roster spot and his contract was tiny for an NFL player - not sure what the Bills would save. He might have become one of the new camp cuts to get an injured player on the 53 to go to IR and then resign, but why set that up now? We will see - it was done with a plan and we have 2 roster spots left - maybe they have gotten wind of some July 1st cuts that they want to go after.

I would also add that the Browns are not alone, but have moved up to the worst franchise with Watson. I have a huge issue with KC and their repeated signing and playing of domestic violence/drug abusers and even after getting rid of Hill - that team deserves to just slowly die away. Miami now moves into that category with their pursuit of Watson and then their signing of a scum like Hill - they deserve to crash and burn. Seattle and Pete Carroll are another match that I just can’t stand with their DVers - some of whom are now in KC and Carroll to me has always been a slimy individual based on his USC and previous NFL actions. None of them hold a candle right now to Cleveland- which sucks because for years they were the lovable losers that you could root for and now I hope for a tire fire of epic proportions bad enough to take the team away.

I hate trying to answer a hypothetical thing like this because it is much easier to stand your moral high ground when it is absolutely something that would not happen, but here it goes. I hated Rex Ryan and was very vocal on here (and anyplace else I could be) against his signing. To me Rex was a clown show, it was the lowest I felt during the drought and basically I drifted away from the team. As a family - we did not support the team and my posting and even reading the boards or caring about anything to do with the Bills was at a low since the early 80’s. That was just for a guy coaching the team that I thought made us a joke. My fandom to me is very important, but more important is my Wife and Daughter and if this sleaze bag was in any way associated with the Bills - I believe I would step away hard and basically I would be done with the team during this time. I would probably actively join protest groups to air my displeasure and basically be miserable in my hatred of My Team. The worst part for me is what would happen if this dirt bag played and the team won. I want a victory so bad - would I be able to maintain the moral ground or by year 3 has this passed. I believe I would be done until all vestiges of this lying scum and any FO people were gone and maybe forever if the owner was a scum like Haslam or Kraft, but who know what twists the mind will allow for fandom. The one thing I know for sure if I was a Browns fan - even though we made the trade - I would be hoping and praying the NFL suspends and boots Watson out of the league before he ever plays a down for my team. It is not my money and the integrity of the team is more important- if he never plays - I can chalk it up to a crappy FO and move on shortly and never look at the record books and see this guy as a part of my team in history. Once game 1 goes in the book - even pre season - then all bets are off. 😥

I voted No and he definitely does not deserve to be on the Wall of Fame. He deserves to be on many people’s list of favorite drought players, but not even close to Wall of Fame level. I will say kudos to @Nextmanup for creating such a unifying topic - even if it was against his original post - as it is hard to find anything that 80% of Bills Fans agree with. With over 350 votes, to get that many fans to be against any 1 idea is impressive- that is better than most draft pick questions, season related questions, etc. Josh is about the only thing more unifying and even he gets detractors amongst the Miami and NE trolls we have. It is nice to see the community agree so strongly on a topic and to be on the correct side. Nice!

Goodell does not make the decision. It goes to an independent arbitrator to make the decision and then Goodell enforces it. At this point right now with 2.5 months before the first game - why does it matter. Why does the NFL have to rush the decision when the courts are taking depositions and will not be making a decision until middle of next year. This is exactly how the NFL got in trouble with the Ray Rice situation - the wife did not pursue anything - there were no criminal charges - the NFL tried to interview and came down with a 2 game suspension and then the video gets leaked and they look stupid. I would hope the NFL puts him on the commissioner’s list until this is done, but at the present moment - more women are still coming forward and more details - so I am not sure the NFL will act until the legal side is done - Vegas seems to feel that way by where the odds they are giving Cleveland. We will see, but he has already sat out 1 season and I will suspect he has more time missed coming up - I just do not see a reason to rush to make a judgement let it keep playing out and hopefully kick the predator out for as long as possible - I wish forever, but I don’t expect that because of the Union.

Yes exactly what the Texans did with Watson last year. Show up, but do not participate and we will have you out of the spot light.

They should be fired on the spot. It is worse than the college rule. Play football.

Not that I disagree that he should not play, but exactly how many games has he played since these allegations came out last summer? To my knowledge - he played 0 games last year and the NFL has not decided what to do this year. There is no reason to rush it. The NFL does not want another Ray Rice - where they act and then some bomb shell comes out.

Yes Fox went into with an understanding of what they were getting into and they may become the first spring league in a while to complete a season, but in terms of production cost and team cost - they set certain goals and their EVP said for a successful season they needed to maintain around 1.5 million. They might break even with viewership between 800,000 and 1.5 million, but much below that they were most like losing money. They were also ecstatic with the home crowd to start the season, but admit the crowd is less than expected and way below expectations for the rest of the teams at this point. Yes Fox can and will absorb some loss for this league, but how much is the question. They tried to capitalize on a nostalgic league and team names, and a hub city approach and are right now below break even in the mid point of year 1. They did everything to make it a success and it is sinking right now. With 2 leagues going on essentially simultaneously with little to no break from the Super Bowl - it seems like a good chance the numbers drop even more next year. At some point - even the deep pockets of Fox will step away - especially if the NFL decides to put added pressure on their partners. The big thing will be which league gets a psuedo-star first and can market that player into a league name. It might be a college kid - kicked out, but not eligible for the NFL yet or a vet trying to make a comeback, but they need something to make the league interesting. We are talking about trying to fix the Pro-Bowl with over 8.5 million viewers and calling the USFL with a Sunday at 4 pm game with 680,000 a success. It barely outdrew college Softball 560,000 viewers on ESPN in the same time slot. It was beaten out by many things like Indy car racing, NHL playoffs, and NASCAR open race - in the same time slot.

The players are under contract (even PS players ) until the new league starts and that is also the point the futures contract start and the rosters expand. The team and player could agree to separate and these guys could play in the USFL or XFL, but not if they are under contract and they do not get released. They are still property of the NFL team until mid-March. Most of these players will also sign the futures contract that guarantees them a shot at TC next year and off season work.

I did not fail anything - the viewership has dropped off to below the levels that caused other leagues to fold. I think they are running about 1/2 of what they expected and they have been dropping. Yes football still outdraws most other sports, but the costs associated with football are astronomical compared to the other sports. Even in stadium in Alabama has decreased for the home team. They are not on a sustainable path right now because the hope was that the viewership would allow them to move to home stadiums next year, but they are already struggling and added travel and home costs would put them out of business. We will see, but once again unless they get some star power - they are going to struggle and this is a failing business. Fox EVP for USFL set the success at needing about 1.5 million viewers weekly - about 500,000 less than the XFL was seeing before Covid shut them down. They are currently topping out at 1.2 million and the 2 main games on broadcast TV - Sat at 1pm and Sunday at 4 pm both were under 800,000. The FS1 broadcast at 12 on Sunday - prime football time - was under 300,000. They are pushing below acceptable and are well below what the XFL was doing before Covid. The idea of a hub model was to build viewership, but as viewership has fallen off below expectations- it sounds like moving out of the hub model may not be an option next year. Yes, but many get a futures contract after the season and that futures contract blocks them from going to the alternate leagues. Having a larger PS means more players will get these future contracts and be locked into the NFL.

I totally hear and don’t disagree with any of this, but the reality of it is for as unwatchable as the Pro Bowl is - it still drew over 8 million viewers to watch the game. It beats out the All-Star game for Baseball, nearly doubled the NBA All-Star game, and is watched by 8x as many people as the NHL. So if the Pro-Bowl is unwatchable- what are the others. In its current format - on a weekend between the championship and the Super Bowl going against live NBA and NHL games and the Pro Bowl still outdraws both the competition and other All Star games. MLB All-Star comes close, but it is played against no TV competition and still doesn’t outdraw the Pro Bowl.

Not sure that is correct. USFL salary: Each player makes $600 per week for training camp and $4,500 for being on the active roster during each game, according to USFL News. Practice squad players make $1,500 per game. While the regular-season “salary” for a player is less than $50,000, there are a few opportunities for bonuses.Apr 22, 2022 Plus the players have to pay for housing - including an option to share a hotel room. XFL Salary: It was about 1/2 the USFL salary standard, but with bonuses - we will see the final numbers needed to attract players in 2023. The XFL covered hotel rooms for the players - therefore the overall take home was about the same as the USFL. Practice Squad: How much does the average practice squad player make? Players with tenure earn $14,000 per week, or $252,000 per season, a nice spike from the $8,400 practice squad players used to make. And players with two or fewer accrued NFL seasons make $9,200.Sep 23, 2021 The standard player with no experience will make nearly 2x the money per week on the NFL practice squad - plus with the longer season you get that weekly salary over 17 games - nearly double the number of games that either other league has - so nearly 4x the overall salary on the PS. The NFL also has built in contract escalators year over year to increase the salary and the ability to get a full NFL game check if called up that would be more than the entire yearly salary in the USFL or XFL. In addition the viewership of the USFL has been terrible - with 4 games including prime football times Sat and Sun on NBC and Fox - major over the air networks - the average viewers was under 800,000. Unless that trend changes - it is going to be hard to envision how both the USFL and the XFL can play at the same time and survive.