BuffaloRush

Funny because I never said anything about "hating" him. I did say he was my least favorite reporter - not only because he had a different opinion - but because of the way he arrogantly responds to fans who have a different opinion and distorts reality to support his shallow thinking. Again, I also didn't like how he brought race into a situation that did not merit. Apparently, anytime you express criticism it's perceived as "hate" by social justice warriors: America 2017. I disagree that it was the "worst." Taylor has cost the Bills multiple games this season. I can't blame McDermott for trying to upgrade. https://twitter.com/AlbertBreer/status/945031725482201088

For myself and many other Bills fans, I can't stand this reporter from ESPN Bill Barnwell. He basically showed up on the Bills radar when he wrote a long article defending Tyrod Taylor and using deceiving stats from mainly garbage time to try to prove that he was an underrated and undervalued QB. Of course, when the Peterman experiment blew up he was the first to say starting Peterman cost the Bills a playoff spot. Now with the Bills and Chargers racing for a spot, he's beating that drum again. If you watched Tyrod play against the Saints the week before, you know that starting Tyrod on the road against a good defense was no guarantee to victory. But of course, the Barnwell's of the world will lead you to believe he would have made all the difference. What irks me most about Barnwell, is that I believe he was some of the national reporter who tried to play the race card in this situation. Of course, when I called him out on Twitter - he blocked me. I don't think this decision had anything to do with race, and implying that it does in an attempt to get article views, is digusting Look it's clear that Tyrod at QB does give the Bills the best chance to win at QB. The decision to start Peterman was a mistake and it very well could raise red flags over McDermott making a huge error in evaluating the readiness of his talent. But to paraphrase what Albert Breer of NFL Network said last week, Tyrod's performance on Sunday was the very reason the McDermott benched him earlier in the year. I can see what McDermott was trying to do. He wanted better than the meager performance the Bills had been getting at QB under Tyrod, so he took a risk and it backfired. The national media's spin on Tyrod is mind boggling. And this Barnwell guy is the ring leader.

Bills revisionist history right here. Woods and Watkins had 2 years with Tyrod and you saw the results. Case closed

The Bills offense is pathetic and by many account, you can say they failed the team in 2017. Many, including myself, feel that it's time for McDermott to cut his losses and find a new Offensive Coordinator to take over for 62 year old Rick Dennison who has been around the league for years and seen only marginal success. According to many reports, the potential move does seem to be on the table in the offseason, but very little has been out on Dennison's security one way or another. Those critical of McDermott have doubted whether he'd cut bait on an assistant after one season citing "loyalty" as one of the reasons why he won't go through with the firing. We've had many example here in Buffalo where that scenario played out. Most recently, Chan Gailey refusing to fire DC George Edwards in 2010 out of loyalty. I don't think this will be an issue. Keep in mind, McDermott has claimed multiple times that Andy Reid was his mentor. Reid hired McDermott to take over the defense after Jim Johnson retired in 2009. After two disappointing seasons, Reid released a statement saying that McDermott would be retained in 2011. However, 3 days later he went back on his work and fired his protege. In my opinion, I think McDermott realizes the NFL is a business and if a coach is not successful, you cut ties and do what you need to do to upgrade. With that being said, I don't think it's a given that Dennison is back.

Yes exactly. That's why I'm blaming partly Dennison for today's loss. Then again, when you have a QB that takes a 15 yard loss rather than holding the ball or one that can't hit an open receiver in the endzone that's a problem too. Foreigner = genius

Well the part about the defensive front 7 being trash and the many needs on the team is pretty much spot on. The good news is that you can find free agents to fill some of those of holes on both defense and offense. If you look at both the free agents and the draft that mcDermott and Beane have brought, I think there's reason for optimism. QB is much harder to find. McDermott and Beane will not keep their jobs if the Bills go 8-8 and 9-7 every year and miss the playoffs with a mediocre FA QB. If there's a QB that they think can be a franchise guy, go for it.

Great post OP.

The concern that I have is that Dennison has a built in excuse with Tyrod. I am really thinking that Dennison stays unfortunately I disagree... How many points did the offense produce? 9. The defense scored the only touchdown of the game. Anyone who thinks the D is to blame is mistaken - either that or a big Tyrod fan. #putdowntheggnog

I was thinking that too - but it usually doesn't work like that

Thread Nazi

Now my family can watch me on TV getting outmuscled by a more physical receiver

I'd hire him in a second but it will never happen. Gase is a good coach

Find an actual offensive coordinator. Not a 63 year old dinosaur that has been that's been fired by every team he's coaches and was the current coach's 3rd choice.

McDermott's decisions to kick a FG. I knew it was the wrong choice which was punctuated by a missed FG Flawed logic. Settling for 3 points when you could have 7 is a sure fire way to lose against the Patriots.

In my opinion, today's loss highlighted the big things that the Bills don't do well including rush defense, game management and the biggest problem...overall offense. In particular QB performance and offensive play calling. We can go through and debate which one is worse, but at the end of the day the failure to score points today (offense scored 0 TD's and just 9 points) is largely derrived from the inability of Tyrod Taylor to deliver the ball downfield and Offensive Coordinator Rick Dennison's bland play calling. This game summed up Tyrod's entire career with the Buffalo Bills. He made some great throws, some very inaccurate throws, used his legs to get away from trouble, missed open receivers, and held onto the ball for too long. At the end of the day, his play was too inconsistent to bring the team back from behind against a quality defense. When you look at his numbers, they look pretty decent. In fact, you can argue that he played a great half of football. While he wasn't able to manufacture a TD, he did have a nice pass dropped by Charles Clay for a TD and got robbed by a stupid call by NFL referees. But his play in the second half absolutely KILLED the Bills. He made some bad throws and took a few crushing sacks that never should have happened. He also missed an open LeSean McCoy in the endzone on 4th down which essentially resulted in a turnover. Rick Dennsion's play calling also hurt the team. Even when Cadet was healthy, he still put Mike Tolbert on the field. Suspect play calling in the redzone and on 4th down put the team in bad positions and draw up passes to Tolbert and Patrick DiMarco were just embarrassing. Basically, you didn't see any innovation from Dennison's offense. If you are Beane and McDermott, the choice is pretty obvious. I think you need to get rid of both Tyrod and Dennison. My only concern is that Tyrod is the scapegoat for a very inefficient offense. But like I said, it's more than likely a result of both. I'm hoping that McDermott makes the right choice.

My point exactly - it's one of those things that only Bills fan (especially those living in Wester, NY can understand)

I agree. No offense to Cadet but there are probably lots of fast running backs who could come in to spell Shady and been a productive change-of-pace back that helps the team. I think Jonathan Williams could have been a great addition to the offense. But for some reason the team (maybe McDermott) was hell bent on having Mike Tolbert as RB2. Not only that but he ran the same off tackle plays designed for a runner like Shady, which was just a head scratcher. Glad he came to his senses

Did you hear the clip - he actually makes reference to that. He says I wonder if the fans in Los Angeles started calling the team "Ramsy"

On my drive home today I turned on The John Murphy Show. Toward the end of the first hour - which you can find lined to below, a called from LA asked if Bills fans were too negative. This prompted John Murphy, Donald Jones, and this caller (who was actually very charismatic) to basically scold the Bills fans that have been critical of the team. It's actually an interesting listen. With that being said, as a Bills fan for nearly 30 year I get the negativity. I don't think Bills fans are any more negative than fans would be in sports towns that have not been successful for 2 decades. I can definitely see how the heavy criticism could be viewed as pessimism, but you also have to take into account the events that have transpired over the past two decades. So I totally understand why fans and the media can be hard on the franchise. The Bills have done little to earn the benefit of the doubt. Anyway you can hear the 10 minute clip below. I have it cued up at the spot where the caller starts the conversation so you can hear for yourself, but if it doesn't work skip the 31:58 mark http://www.wgr550.com/media/audio-channel/12-20-john-murphy-show-hr-1-0?seek=1918.20

I'll say that I didn't like Doug. I thought he was extremely conservative. In 2014 at least, he put his team in positions with conservative play calling and punting. Also I'll always remember how he couldn't get the team to beat a 2-12 Oakland Raiders team, which put the nail in the team's slim playoff chances. Also Buffalo didn't miss out on anything. He was the one that quit - Terry Pegula wanted to keep him

I thought about that, but sometimes the lack of anonymity discourages people from participating

A lot of revisionist history going on in this thread. Give Doug Marrone credit. He has Jacksonville playing at a much higher level than Mike Mularkey or Gus Bradley ever. David Caldwell always drafted good players, but the coaching was never able to make any progress. Also, keep in mind - this wasn't part of some master plan. Doug opted out of the Bills in part because he didn't like the political going on with everyone's favorite GM Doug Whaley and because he thought he'd be given the Jets job. Maybe he said the writing on the wall because Rex didn't have the best relationship with Whaley either. But Doug grew up in Long Island and used to coach on the Jets staff - that basically was his dream job. So yeah, maybe he did end up in a better position but it more good luck than design. So you can't say he "kicked the Bills to the curb." He thought that he had the Jets job lined up and it didn't work out. Players always hated playing for Marrone dating back to his days at Syracuse when 20-25 players quit the team once he took over. He's not a players coach by any means. Many predicted he'd fail big with Jacksonville, so again - you have to give him credit. Interesting question about when the Bills make the playoffs under Marrone in 2014. It's hard to say because we have no idea which direction they'd go at QB. Tyrod was largely attributed to Rex Ryan, so I doubt they'd go down that route. But honestly, the Schwartz defense would still be in tact, so I think they would at least be competitive for a playoff spot.

He's very good - not sure he's better than some of the names of the list

Jerry is a columnist for the Buffalo News. He is not a beat reporter. That's why I left him off the list

I agree that that the starting 4 in the secondary are the strength of the team. EJ Gaines has played very well when he's been healthy. The problem is that he's often injured and hasn't shown the durability to play an entire year the past two seasons. If I'm the Bills, I'd still sign him. Outside of that though, the Bills could use better depth. Leonard Johnson is not really that good. He can tackle but leaves a lot to be desired in coverage. The rest of the crew is nothing special. Also to the dude that said Gilmore looks really good, I'd tend to disagree. He's at the same level with New England as he was in Buffalo. He's a good CB but not elite or a "lockdown" corner, despite the huge contract he was given. He still can't tackle and stays away from contact vs. the run and gave up some catches in Pittsburgh