Shaw66

It affects the team? I've been reading message boards for the past five years, and I can't say that I remember ONE post saying the reason the Bills missed the playoffs in any of those years because of Dareus's attitude. NO ONE said the problem with this team was Dareus. Now he misses a team bus and you guys think HE's the problem with the team. McDermott put it the right way. Everyone starts with a clean slate. Dareus broke a rule and was disciplined. That's all that happened. It isn't a crisis. It isn't a reason to cut the guy. He's one of the best players on the team, and he's played very well since he got to Buffalo. Dareus and McCoy have been teammates for two seasons. When has Shady said "screw it." Dareus hasn't caused some great moral breakdown with Shady or anyone else, causing some kind of domino effect collapse of the entire team. Again, what has been the problem with this team for the past five years? No quarterback, crappy coaching, injuries. No one has been saying the problem with the team is how teams can run up the middle. Why not? Because except for one four-game suspension, Dareus has been in the middle, occupying two blockers and making tackles. He was doing this while his brother was being murdered in Alabama and while he was taking care of his entire family. Dareus hasn't been the problem. And Dareus is not going to be a problem because he missed a bus.

The Bills have one QB, a rookie who's never taken a snap in an NFL regular season game. They have one proven NFL receiver, and he's injured and not practicing. They have an offensive line that has been a sieve for three games and can't get a running game going. They have new safeties, a rookie at one corner and untested guys at the other corner, mediocre linebackers, and you guys are complaining about the single best player on the defense because he missed the team bus. Try getting a little perspective.

Except his suspension, off-field has NOT affected his on-field performance. Do you watch him play? He makes tackles and he pressures the QB. By my count, in 2015, his last full season, he was 8th in tackles among defensive tackles. He gets five or six sacks per season, which is good for a DT. So explain to me again what the problem with his off-field behavior is. He may not be a leader, but he's a damn good player. He shows up, and he plays. He plays well. Dareus if far from the biggest problem on the team.

Have you read any complaints about his play on the field? I don't think I have. So if all the complaints about Dareus are about what happens off the field, why should I care? Now, maybe he can be even better than he's been, and I wish he would be. But if the other 21 guys played as well at their positions as Dareus has played at his, the Bills would have won a couple of Super Bowls. Was anyone complaining about Dareus last week? Anyone saying he stinks and should get traded or cut? Anyone saying anything more than he's overpaid? He gets disciplined for what seems to be a minor violation of team rules, Sullivan writes his typical whiny piece about what a horrible guy he is, and everyone gets excited. Dareus likely will be in the lineup on opening day, stuffing runs and collapsing the pocket. I don't see what the problem is.

I think the Pegulas had some very frank conversations with the News about the crap they've allowed their columnists to print. I think they told the News that if they wanted to continue to have access, they need to print something better than Sullivan's usual whining. No inside info, but I'd guess that this woman got a nice salary bump (justified in part because she's moving from beat writer to columnist). Plus, her paper isn't close to the top rag in NYC. The real sports fans look to the Daily News and the Post before they bother with Newsday. Doesn't mean they don't have good people there or do good work; just means that she isn't exactly leaving a big-time paper (even tho Newsday's circulation is bigger than the News, by a lot).

WOW.

Just a rumor, but interesting. If anyone can beat some sense into Marcell, Richie's the guy to do it. Maybe Sean, Richie and Marcell need a 30-second meeting every morning. Sean tells the big boy what to do and tells Rickie to keep an eye on him. That should do it.

I'll admit it: I enjoy bashing Sullivan. Read the portion of this column about Dareus. Notice anything that's missing? I did. I noticed the total absence of discussion of how Dareus actually plays the game of football. If I recall correctly, the Buffalo Bills are a football team. They play football. Players get paid to play football. So what has Dareus done as a football player since he arrived? He's played very well to great, that's what he's done. He's never accused of taking plays off, let alone games. The guy is a beast, and he can run. He's a serious problem for any offensive scheme. Did he play great for the past two seasons? No. You know why? R-E-X, that's why. Other than two linebackers who had career years last year, NO ONE played great in that defense. So Sully can whine all he wants about the drug suspension (that WAS bad), Marcell taking a few tokes now and then, Marcell breaking a team rule, but really, who the hell cares about that if he shows up for the games and plays his butt off? Is he overpaid? Maybe. He may not be a dominant enough defender to earn what he's getting paid. But again I'll go back to Rex, who for the past two years told Dareus that several plays a game he had to back pedal. Dareus is a guy who needs to be pointed in the direction of the football on EVERY PLAY and told to go get it. That's when he's at his best. Let's see how he does in a defense that plays to his strengths before we run the guy out of town.

interesting. I didn't see it but from you description it a easy to see tt doing exactly what you describe. Three step drip the ball has to get out.

Thanks for this. I didn't see the game, and this seems like a good objective summary of things that were/are going on. A couple of comments. Taylor. He seems to recover quickly from injuries, so I'm guessing he'll be back in a week. Probably misses the final preseason game, which is really too bad, but I'd guess he'll start in the opener. Still, it's a bad thing for him and the team. The guy needs reps under live action, and he isn't going to get them until the games count. I haven't wanted to admit this, but Dareus may just be a problem without a solution. He has failed to respond to three different coaches, or is it four? He can't grow up. I don't think it makes a lot of sense to say that Washington couldn't fill Marcel's shoes - no one can. If the Bills had another guy who could play like Dareus, they would have traded Dareus a second round pick and a bag of Fritos. Holmes. I think people have unreasonable expectations for receivers. Holmes is not a number one receiver, and guys who are not number one receivers do not get themselves open. Sammy Watkins gets him self open because he has exceptional speed, relexes and body control. A few other guys do that, too, and they're all number ones. The rest of the receivers in the league just run their patterns. If they run them hard, make good cuts, etc., once in a while his defender makes a mistake, is slow to read to something or gets confused by the offensive scheme. So I'm not too concerned if you're correct that Holmes wasn't getting open. He wasn't getting open because Matthews, the one guy who is a real number one kin df threat, wasn't on the field. When Holmes is the receiver the defense most has to worry about, Holmes is not going to get open.. The offense is a mess right now. It's most concerning that the running game is going nowhere, and right behind that concern is that the pass protection sucks. The best receiver is in LA, the second best receiver is on the sideline, and the QB can't think straight, at least today. A rookie QB running an offense that can't block and can't get receivers open is going to have major struggles. Thanks for the post.

I thought so a month ago but I'm not feeling so optimistic now. The left tackle situation and the lack of quality receivers have me worried a lot for the start of the season. The optimist in me says best case is that the defense is good and keeps the Bills in games for the first half of the season. Then Taylor and Matthews start to click and Glenn or Henderson solidifies the line and Bills start to win consistently. That's really wishful thinking.

Thanks for this post. These are really helpful to get a quick insight into what's going on. Of course, it's all coach-speak, everything's positive. You know the day you hear something negative about a guy is the day he's gone. That doesn't happen much.

Better than the Bills. A lot better. Turns out Boldin felt older than he looked.

Reading these posts makes it sound like I was fortunate not to see those games. Or smelled them. Man, I hope McD knows what he's doing.

I don't often agree with you but I can't argue with this! Reading these posts makes it sound like I was fortunate not to see those games. Or smelled them. Man, I hope McD knows what he's doing.

This thread doesn't have to be a discussion about me, although I love the idea that both Boldin and I mailed it in. I'm a Taylor fan, too, but from all I've seen and read about the first two games, and training camp, for that matter, he is not looking like the long-term future. Of course, the season hasn't started yet, and he's still learning the offense, and Matthews is out and Boldin hasn't been worked into the offense yet and Glenn is out and all of that. All we have to talk about is what they've done in the first two preseason games, and it isn't pretty.

Fair enough, but You don't have to.watch to know the first team isn't moving the ball and isn't scoring. You don't have to watch to know about the penalties. You don't have to way to know that Taylor isn't lighting it up. I saw the NOT and Boldin looked old. I have opinio s like anyone else. Don't want to talk about my opinions? OK with me.

I'm on the road, didn't see the Eagles game (nor the Vikings game), and I've barely read or seen anything about the Bills. Here's what I think from afar: 1. Seems like the same old preseason we always get out of the Bills, and that's a bad sign, because the regular season always looks a lot like the preseason. The offense needs to be crisp, sharp and effective, and it seems they've been anything but that. No long drives, no touchdowns. Of course, Matthews isn't playing an Boldin is brand new to the team, but still, the Bills need more offense than they showed. 2. Most discouraging is that McDermott is supposed to be all about fundamentals, details and discipline, but his team is piling up penalties as though Rex were still the coach. I said all off season that we won't know what we've got until they start firing live ammo, and it's all up to McDermott. Well, at least so far, McDermott doesn't seem to be delivering on what the Bills needed most. 3. Taylor seems to be doing his best to demonstrate that the Bills overspent when they redid his contract. Both INTs Tursday were on him. 4. Boldin looked like an old man on the INT to Darby. See you all in another week.

exactly right about Sammy.

No. Lee Evans was a one-trick pony. Watkins is the real deal. I doubt their plan is to trade away young talent. They traded a guy they knew they wouldn't re-sign, because he will command more in the market than they were willing pay. Watkins isn't built to take the pounding that possession receivers take. Matthews and Boldin have shown they can take that punishment. It's likely that's the kind of guy they want. It simply isn't obvious this was a bad move.

I'm not sure you're right. I loved having Watkins. Amazing skills, and I still believe he's going to be a monster receiver in the league. No doubt Beane and McDermott think the same thing. But that isn't the point. It's about building a team. If you have a philosophy, a plan, then you have to build to that plan. Part of the plan is how and where you're going to spend money. There is a good argument to be made that wide out is NOT the position you should be spending $15 million a year on. Your offensive plan may mot feature the deep ball. So if what I've just said is your philosophy of building a team, then the question is simple: Do you keep Watkins for the season so that your team can win maybe one more game, knowing that at the end of the season he'll be gone? Or do you unload him in a combination of deals that gets you a quality wideout, a presumptive number one receiver, plus a second round and a third round pick? It all depends on whether there's a place on the team you're building for the next five years for a great receiver who will cost you more than you want to spend.

We'll see, but I think he'll surprise you. Tyrod is a superior athlete, one of the best athletes in the league. And he's coachable. This is an offense, I believe, that limits post-snap decision making, Make a presnap read, take the snap, one look at the defense and throw. That's basically athletics. As I said, we'll see.

I agree. If I had to predict today I'd say 7-9, but I think there's more potential Give that run below. Absent big injuries I don't think the Bills will fall below 6-10.

Not sure what you mean. I did say that some players fit some schemes better than others. My point was that it makes a difference but not a huge difference. In the case of Watkins and Matthews my point was that the difference in talent is ls less critical because some of Taylor's talent is wasted in a possession passing scheme. So Matthews might turn out to be nearly as effective as Watkins in the new scheme.

I think that although some players fit a system better than others, football is football, and good players will play well in any system. Better in one system than another, but they still do fine. Look at Kyle Williams - he's played all kinds of systems, and yes, he's more valuable in some than others, but he was an unquestioned starter in every system. Dareus, too. The offensive line. The QB. The running game is largely unchanged, and that's the offense's bread and butter. 6-10 is about as low as McD can go when I might be willing to say "Okay, first year, changing system, blah blah." 5-11 is lousy coaching. 6-10 I'll be really disappointed. Even 7-9. If McD is the right guy, he should go 8-8. Unless he gets hit with key injuries. If Boldin and Matthews go down, the offense will be in big trouble. If the defense isn't better immediately, I'm going to be disappointed. Everyone says it's a simple, run-to-the-ball defense. There's talent all over the field.