SoTier

I think that something similar happened to Aaron Rodgers as well. He was supposed to be the #1 pick, but I believe that there were vague rumors floating about him, too, and that sank his draft stock.

The "logical expectation" for a fifth round QB is a possible backup. Plain and simple. Peterman fell to the fifth round because he doesn't have a good enough arm to be a quality NFL starter. He doesn't appear to have the "football intelligence", especially good judgement, that was supposed to make him an adequate NFL backup, either. Now, maybe part of his poor showing in 2017 can be laid at the feet of the Bills coaching staff who didn't prepare him well, but Peterman failed when given the opportunity, however brief. If the Bills draft a QB in 2018, my guess is that Peterman is history. Dalton is better than 3 of the 4 QBs taken ahead of him (Griffin, Gabbert, and Ponder). With the right support around him, he can do pretty well ... and for a second round pick, Cinci didn't pay too much for him. If the Bills took Rudolph at 21 or 22 and got as good a QB as Dalton, that wouldn't be terrible ... unless they passed on the next Drew Brees or Russell Wilson.

Now??? My complaint about all of you "we have to draft a QB in the first round" advocates is exactly because NONE of you talk in specifics! You just want a QB in the first round, and who that is doesn't matter to you. IMO, none of the QBs mentioned as top prospects are good enough to warrant even thinking of trading up more than a few spots ... say, from 21 to 16, and even then, if I was going to consider doing it, it would only be for Mayfield. IMO, both Winston and Mariota seem likely to become "coach killers" -- just good enough to keep coaches hopeful but not quite good enough to consistently win with ... much like Cutler and Tannehill. Drafting QBs has become even more random because so many college teams don't run pro style offenses and therefore scouts don't see collegiate signal callers practicing the skills that pro QBs need to have. I think this is the reason that we've seen a few more QBs succeed from lower rounds ... scouts were skeptical of their skill sets because they didn't see them demonstrate those skills all that much.

Was Beane scouting Rudolph or somebody else? There are probably other players on the two teams that have NFL potential.

The general assumption of the "DRAFT A QB IN THE FIRST ROUND" crowd is that doing so will result in a franchise QB on a par with Kelly despite the reality that in both 2004 and 2013 that didn't happen. I agree. What's most troubling is that all of the tops QBs have serious flaws to the point that there's no consensus #1. In both 1983 and 2004, Elway and E Manning were considered the consensus #1 picks in long before February. It's the consensus #1 picks who are the most likely to be successful by a huge margin: hitting about 80% success since 2000 whereas pick through 2-16 are about 50% and 17-32 only around 20%. That's usually what happens in most drafts: 1 good/great QB (usually the guy who goes #1) and any other first rounders being busts. Occasionally a couple of QBs come out of the first round. When that happens, it's usually like 2005 (Smith & Rodgers), 2008 (Ryan & Flacco) or 2012 (Luck & Tannehill) -- one great one and one okay one. What's interesting about 2011 and 2012 is that good/great QBs came out of rounds after the first, which rarely happens: Dalton in 2011 and Wilson and Cousins in 2012. 2014 might be another year with both Carr and Garoppolo from the 2nd, but Carr struggled in 2017 and Garoppolo has made all of 7 starts, it's early yet to judge their careers.

Dennison seemed determined to force square pegs into round holes with the entire offense. He forced the OL into a blocking scheme that didn't seem to fit their talents from the get-go; the OL could never consistently do a decent job of either run or pass blocking all year. Compare the offense he pushed on Taylor to what the Houston OC did when DeShon Watson got the call (created and implemented plays that fit Watson's skill set). Even in TC, it was obvious that the OL and the QB were struggling with Dennison's system. Letting Goodwin and Woods go and trading Watkins while replacing them with the WRs they did probably doomed Jones' rookie campaign, too. I will give Dennison a pass on not using Jones correctly (ie, slot receiver) because I don't think he had that much input into the total dismantling of the WR corps. IMO, on any team with a NFL caliber WR corps, Jones wouldn't have been a starter except for injury or late in the season. It was too much pressure to put on a rookie from a smaller program, especially when he was forced to play a position that he really didn't "fit". Hopefully, the Bills put Jones in a better position to succeed this season, and that he takes advantage of his second chance.

I suppose Taylor caused global warming, too.

It was likely the Arcade & Attica Railroad, a steam locomotive ride out to Curriers, which at one time was probably a little town, but now isn't much but a few houses at an intersection. I think it's still in business, probably running from May through October. The train depot is in downtown Attica just before the split in Routes 39 and 98 split.

Yeah, that's what we thought in 2004, too.

Actually that NOT what the Bills have done for 20+ years. They NEVER "reloaded" but rather shuffled deck chairs on the Titanic by continuously drafting RBs, DBs, and WRs to replace the good ones they let walk away. They were more interested in eeking out the last $ of profit on the bottom line than in winning football games. That's why they had a 17 year playoff drought, not because they didn't draft QBs in the first round, because, of course, they traded a first round pick for a franchise QB in 2002 and then drafted 2 first rounders. They did EXACTLY what you want (trade up) in 2004 to take JP Losman. They also selected EJ Manuel in the first round in 2013. Both busted. Trading up for Losman cost them a shot at Aaron Rodgers the next year. Taking Manuel precluded them taking Bridgewater in 2014 because when a team drafts a first round QB, they're generally committed to him for 4 years unless he's an outright bust like Manziel. No player in the draft comes with a guarantee, and that's especially true of QBs. It's not odd at all. My guess is that they didn't think they were going to make NFL QBs. Taking a QB in the first round just to placate fans gets you JP Losman and EJ Manuel. Losman might have been around in the 2nd, and if he wasn't no great loss. The Bills would have been much better off using the 2nd rounder they traded to Dallas on Matt Schaub, who was a decent starter for several years in Houston. Since none of the QBs in 2013 were worth crap, passing on Manuel would have been a positive thing. Too many Bills fans forget that the draft is a gamble. They've convinced themselves that all the Bills problems stem from not drafting first round QBs when in reality not drafting the right first round QB was simply a symptom of the numerous problems that beset this franchise over the last two decades of Ralph Wilson's ownership and into the first years of the Pegulas' ownership. I'm much more hopeful that the new regime is committed to winning than I was even at this time last year. I don't think that McDermott will take a QB that he doesn't like just to take one. He wants to win too much, and I think he's the one who has control of the personnel. If the Bills sign Cousins, there will be no rookie first round QB in 2018 because he's the guy who will be their franchise guy going forward for 4 or 5 years or whatever.

Don't confuse a QB class having a bunch of first round prospects with it being a "good class". A good QB class produces good NFL QBs, which in the case of 2004, is likely to be 2 or 3 HOFers from the four first round QBs. People were claiming that 2011 and 2012 were great QB classes, too, but only 3 of the 8 QBs taken in the first rounds of those drafts succeeded. If both Goff and Wentz are successful, then 2016 will be a very successful QB class even though only 3 QBs were taken in the first round. And they traded up for him ... so in 2005, they had no first rounder when Aaron Rodgers was sitting there at #18 when Dallas drafted in the Bills' place.

I think this is true because players with modest talent have to learn the game -- from positional techniques to strategy -- in much more depth than do very talented players just to have any kind of shot. Really talented players rely on their talent without thinking about how or why they're doing something; it's often instinctual for them. I don't think it's particularly surprising that few if any really great NFL QBs have become good NFL coaches whereas some really good coaches have been career backups.

Exactly this. This seems to me to be a case of both being in the wrong but only one doing something actually illegal (and very dangerous). I will add that this is exactly why you don't bring a gun to a confrontation. This was not a gang of menacing -looking toughs on the woman's front lawn that she tried to scare away with a shot over their heads (my late stepmother did exactly that once). This was an angry woman losing her temper and firing at people who she could have killed. Guns and arguments do not mix well.

Well, some angry neighbors only get the "right to retaliate" part ... like the lady in the original story.

Take your complaints to the NRA and the jackass politicians who will undoubtedly do EXACTLY what I predicted as soon as somebody sticks a microphone in their faces. Just watch them.

The truth hurts. Deal with it, sunshine.

I'm just stating what we all know will happen in the next 48 hours.

The NRA and its political puppets in Congress and state governments will undoubtedly show up in the media to remind us that this wouldn't have happened "If only all the teachers and students were armed with automatics ..."

Philly is NEVER going to find a backup for Wentz as competent as Foles for as little as they're paying him in 2018. Hell, they aren't going to find any backup for Wentz as competent as Foles. If they trade Foles at all (and I'm not sure that they will), it will be late, maybe just before the trading deadline. However, Foles seems to be a more complicated individual than most NFL players, so he might not even chase big $$ as a FA. He was willing to walk away when he wasn't happy, so who knows?

I don't know if it's their counterclaim, but lots of people who move out to the country or have camps in rural areas think just that ... it's their land so they believe that they can do whatever they want, especially in areas where there are few zoning laws or noise ordinances. Asshats aren't found only in cities or suburbs. Neighbors having large, loud parties with loud music blasting well into the early am; people riding dirt bikes and atvs close to neighbors' houses for hours on end; and hunters "sighting in" shotguns and rifles early on Sunday mornings or target shooting for hours are among the most frequent complaints fielded by LEOs in rural areas.

Moving out to the boondocks doesn't give people the right to annoy their neighbors, either, although a lot of that type think it does.

No active NHL players are in the Olympics this time around, and that's probably going to hurt both the US and Canadian hockey teams much more than the European teams because a lot of their homegrown talent plays in various European professional leagues. The 2018 US team is made up of some college kids, some ex-NHLers, and some players not good enough to make the NHL (not sure if NHL farm team players are among them). Winning a medal will be a major accomplishment for this team. One US team that did win yesterday was the US men's curling team. They beat Korea handily in their first round robin game. Oh, yeah, and Canada beat the Swiss pair to take the first ever gold medal in mixed doubles curling while the OAR (Olympic Athletes from Russia) won the bronze over Norway. Since I watched both the medal mixed double curling matches and then stayed up until 2:30AM watching the US/Korea match, I'm "curled out" this morning!

I'm skeptical of using stats to "prove" anything, and that goes double for those stats trumpeting "efficiency" as noteworthy. Was not Tyrod Taylor one of the more "efficient" QBs in the NFL in 2017? So, why are so many fans so upset with him? Because he wasn't an "effective" QB. The Bills OL stunk in 2017 because it wasn't effective, no matter what stats say about it being "efficient". I'll take "effective" over "efficient" any day of the week. What's the most effective pass blocking OL in the league? It's gotta be the Pats' OL because they not only keep an immobile QB upright all game long almost every game but they also give him virtually forever to find open receivers. Does anybody in NE really care if the Pats' OL is "efficient" as long as Brady has time to pick defenses apart? I don't think so.

That was Taylor's fault, too. The OL wasn't used to a QB who couldn't escape the initial pass rush.

I'm a big fan of John and Mary's Italian sub with lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo. Yummmm!