Mikie2times

My dad passed a few years ago, but like so many, I have very special memories on that day. I was 11, he was working in Virginia, we lived in Michigan. Old man was a huge Steelers fan so the whole week was trash talk since that's who we would face next. We spoke at halftime. He could hear how disappointed I was, "well meat, you guys had a good run". After the pick 6 I threw the remote in disgust and turned the TV off only to rampage into the living room and turn it back on. As the game progressed he kept calling. Nobody knew what the hell was happening. Then the whole time you have this sinking feeling. Would Houston score a TD on the last drive or kick a quick FG in OT? I mean all that emotion and we very well could have had it taken from us. It's the best memory I have as a Bills fan. Pretty much the complete opposite of MCM. I also remember that vividly. As amazing as the comeback was, MCM was just as incredibly awful. Some people talk wide right as the worst. I get what was on the line, but it was a missed FG. Those happen. MCM does not happen.

I suffer from lowered expectation syndrome. Every once in awhile logic and reason gets in the way of my condition. Now is one of those times.... The off-season is a funny thing, especially looking back to all those years we won the off-season. Not that long ago Rex was one of those years. Prior we had Bledsoe, Tom Donahue, Takeo Spikes/Lawyer Milloy to name a few.... All these exciting off seasons producing absolutely nothing. This off-season wasn't overly inspiring. None of it really matters, fan outlook does not produce wins. Outside of few franchises with exceptional QB play nobody knows how 2017 should go. Is it logical to start where the previous season ended? Sometimes it could be, but I don't see how that works in our situation. We had a defense that was playing a system for 2 years that the defense did not properly fit Ragland and Shaq are virtually unknown, production in 2017 could range from Pro Bowl to bust Sammy was not Sammy, or maybe he was Sammy, but what if Sammy was Sammy? Like last 8 games of 2015 Sammy? What if Tyrod keeps getting a little bit better? Not here to start a debate.... What if we get Pro Bowl production from any of our new additions in FA or the draft? What if McDermott turns out to be legit, or even, what if Rex was so bad McDermott looks legit as a result? What if Darius returns to form? Roll back to 2014 and this team and the defense looked playoff bound. It all just fell apart the last two years. In large part the pieces are still together. At the least they certainly could be together if a few things go our way. Since 1993, Bills offenses have only averaged more points than the 2015 and 2016 season 2 times. What if we get that production and we see a return to the defensive line being dominant? We see the defense return to a top 10 unit? It seems almost as conceivable for things to go that way than for things to be as bad as it was with Rex for a 3rd straight year.

The OP captured Overdorf's role accurately. Overdorf executes the wishes of the GM and ownership and advises on salary cap implications. It's not like he made the decision to give Clay or MD the contracts they got. He was advised to structure a deal with Clay that the Dolphins couldn't match, he did that. He was told to retain MD and he did that at MD's market value at the time. He was also told to create a deal that would allow us some flexibility with Tyrod and he did that as well. I thought the Tyrod deal was unique and creative comparative to what other teams have done in similar situations. Taylor situations can put teams in cap purgatory for years and he/ownership/etc avoided that. I really don't know if Overdorf is or isn't doing a good job. Nobody here does. Given his employer is the only one with any idea I'll have to side with them on this even though that's not very popular these days.

We don't need choir boys, but guys that dedicate themselves to the game, show some intelligence, and stay out of trouble off the field? Yes, we need those types. If I'm drafting a player I only want to have to answer one question, is he good enough? Not is he good enough and if so will he throw it away? For every Randy Moss you will find a dozen of Randy Gregory's.

Thank you for the response to the thread topic. I find it interesting myself. What would the best do against the best. Good point on the situational aspects. In a one game spot I could see him doing something pretty elaborate like he did against us in the Super Bowl. If it was repetitive exposure, I don't disagree with you on his potential strategy. I'm surprised more coaches don't build in 3-4 personal fouls a game against him. I'm not saying intentionally injure the guy. Just hit him, hit him late if you have to a few times, let the chips fall. It's worth the penalties. That's sort of the question being asked. The best player is Tom Brady. How does the best defensive coach of this era defend the best QB of this era, could he? I don't feel BB just rides Tommy's coat tails as many like to think. When Brady hasn't played, NE has still been a playoff caliber team, that is until Brissett? Still, they beat Houston with Brissett before losing to us with an injured Brissett. Then the Matt Cassel year. BB is very good. His coaching tree is solid, Parcells is elite. His attention to detail and ability to get players to buy in and play unselfish football is unrivaled. I wouldn't be shocked if he could slow down his own offense.

I understand a lot of people don't like BB. He certainly has broken some rules in the past, perhaps more....who knows. That said I still have to think he is the best defensive mind in the game. Sooooo..... If BB was hired by Buffalo and had to face New England what would he do, what would be his game plan? I don't think he would bet on pressure. While it's shown it can work when it gets home, it just doesn't get home enough against Brady. I would think he would take a similar approach he took with us back in 1991. Beg you to run the ball. Invite 5-10 yard rushes. Look for the Patriots to get greedy, maybe get some RZ stops with the condensed field, shorten the game. In very isolated spots throw in some mixed packages to keep things off balance. I wouldn't be surprised to see him play a 1-4-6 or 1-3-7 with a massive share of defenders dedicated to the short/intermediate passing game. Consensus seems to be you have to get pressure up the middle on Brady. It seems like only the elite defenses have a shot at executing that. Has any team ever really tried to just give New England the run? I mean to an extreme level? It would be interesting to watch a team like the Patriots run the ball 20 straight times......

Love seeing that big C on his jersey. Wearing that for a franchise like GB means something. We need that leadership. He feels Buffalo to me. This is a very underestimated signing and a guy I think we will fall in love with pretty quickly.

That was a fun Bills team. The bootleg/blown Flutie TD with no time left against an undefeated Jaguar team. Moulds and Flutie made that team electric and the defense was very good as well. I was 16 at the time. I don't remember what happened yesterday let alone almost 20 years ago, but.....November 29th, 1998 my parents were both gone. I remember loving life at the moment. I knew they would be gone all day. Living in metro Detroit suburbs, you got about a 20% chance of a Bills game being on, so each time was a celebration. They were on. I could sneak out on the deck and have a smoke on commercial breaks. Damn, what a rebel. In any event "Just give it to em" is ingrained in my mind. In my opinion it's the most painful regular season loss in franchise history.

With Jimmy the Patriots would still win the East

Other funny thing about this thread. Last year we had the Denver trade rumor. It was Taylor for the Broncos's first rounder. I was a proponent of that at the time. Said Taylor most likely at his max value. I don't know if it was ever a legit offer, but dear god I got killed in that thread.

Lot of the same inaccurate statement concerning lack of leverage. Doesn't matter if 99% of the league thinks we will cut him. We still have the leverage if a team wants to prevent him from hitting the open market. Eagles were going to cut McCoy eventually. Bills didn't want him to hit the market. Trading for Taylor's rights, if you really like him as your starting QB, I would say is worth a 2nd, worth going after more if possible.

Both Davis and Williams will be in the 4.47-4.53 range. Both are very good options with our number one. Ross was likely a first round pick prior to this 40. I still don't think he passes Davis or Williams. Davis is incredibly polished and Williams makes great plays on the ball with his size. I think all 3 guys will do some good things in the league. If we keep Taylor does Ross become more of a possibility as far as his deep ball? Davis and Williams seem much more like #1 material so I hope we don't go that direction...

Does he have the right physical tools? Height/Arm Strength specifically? Watson checks out in both areas at 6'3 and has a good arm. He's also athletic, so give a him a small plus Has he shown he can dominate competition? I'm looking for a guy that showed he can take his program to levels it never reached before or for a very long time. It had been 35 years since Clemson won a National Title. They went to the National title back to back seasons. Clemson was very talented but Watson was the catalyst. How effective can he perform against elite competition and in big games? Alabama is about the closest thing a college QB will see compared to NFL talent and scheme. He faced them back to back years in the National Title. Against Alabama his numbers are staggering. Comp % 64.1, 7 TD, 1 INT, 412 YPG. Clutch? Winning a National Championship after having a large deficit, driving the length of the field and scoring on the final play clutch? Yes... Can he throw in the middle of the field and the can he throw WR's open? He does a very good job in both areas. He throws the intermediate routes over the middle as well as anybody in college football. He also let's his guys make a play on the ball with back shoulder and jump ball throws We can talk about things he has to work on. Guys certainly not perfect. He has to adapt more to the NFL game and get better with footwork and accuracy. I see his career starting out with high production and high turnovers. Many of the great ones do. Then as years progress completion % will rise and the INT's will decline. He has "IT", whatever that is.

LB is the area that concerns me the most. Across the board the Panthers had elite LB coverage. If we can sign Brown he fits the bill as far as a cover guy. I don't know about Ragland in this role prior to his injury let alone now. Again, better fit for the Rex. Lot's of debate on how his cover ability will show but I think we can at least say we didn't draft him for coverage as his foremost skill. Alexander, if we sign him, would seem to be a better fit at DE? Think so, but if nothing else another guy who can't hang his hat on coverage ability being his best skill. We have a very little depth at LB. The defensive line could be very good. Alexander, Lawson, Kyle, MD, Hughes, and Washington. We need some things to go our way for that to happen. I see S, QB, WR, in most the draft threads. How do you think we address LB?

At that point in the game I said to myself a FG wins it, 3 score game and not enough tIme. If I said that, certainly NFL coaches knew as much (on both sides). Which is the key point. BB knew it. So what did you think he was going to run on the defensive side? Hell bent on pass rush praying they could get a hold or a sack. He had no risk at that point. A FG ended his season. If you wanted to throw in that spot a screen, HB or WR, was the call.

I don't know how you can disagree. As far as pedigree and history of performing at a high level AP is his only equal. In peak form AP is the best but he might not ever return to peak form at his age. He is 3 years older. Johnson, Bell, Elliot don't have as much history. In Johnson and Bells case the history they do have is south of Shady's career YPC numbers with much smaller sample sizes. Elliott is hard to pinpoint with him behind that Dallas line. He's up there, but you gotta give Shady the nod based on history. Let's also put that history in perspective with last year being a career best in YPC and his second best season as a pro.

Tyrod is top 20 and certainly the best we have, but he still feels like the QB of a team that's 8-8 with wild card hopes as far as you could dream. Healthy Romo could gives us thoughts beyond that. If it doesn't work out and he crashes after 5 games give me a top 5 pick to start the next year with Cardale or a Rookie getting tons of reps in 2017.

BB understands the odds better than anyone. He doesn't bet against the odds. Regardless of the outcome if the odds say this was too much to risk it was a bad decision. People get too caught up in the individual nature of these decisions as if somebody has a miracle eye for talent. It's betting and in betting the person who has the odds in his favor over the long term will win over the long term.

I would say pass rush tends to matter more when you face the top 5-6 QB's in the league. That said, pass rush can be much more flexible with good coverage.

Sign Tony Jefferson. Only 24 years old and coming off his best season as a pro.

If the narrative has infected a substantial amount of Bills followers, true or not, it has an equal impact. Fan base pressure has an impact regardless if the pressure is rooted in reality or not. The reality is we have the longest playoff drought out of any major north american sports franchise with an owner starting his 3rd season who really shouldn't have the pressures of that put on him but he does. You can debate if Whaley is or isn't on thin ice. I would say 50% would say he is and 50% would say he is not. I would also say that number swings like a tidal wave against him if he makes a decision on TT that plays out poorly in 2017.

That's with the assumption that Pegula agrees with what you're saying. If so, that means Pegula doesn't mind paying a hefty price on a roster built more to compete than rebuild and is also patient enough to withstand 2-3 years of our current fan base in a rebuild. That is a big stretch. I don't see drafting a QB as buying Whaley time, in fact if that rookie has a poor showing in 2017 as most rookies do, it would likely be the nail in the coffin. This isn't a patient environment.

In this climate, having a GM on thin ice, having a new owner being questioned for his competency in running a football operation, having a new head coach tasked with breaking the longest playoff drought in the big 4 N. American sports and fan base that hasn't grown anymore patient as a result..... If you let Tyrod walk without a viable replacement you open yourself up to a beating. The type of beating people lose a job over. Terry isn't losing his job. Sean is 100% safe barring a 2-14 year. We can sit here and talk about what's smart for the long term or what is the most economically sound decision but for Whaley his job is on the line. If we enter 2017 and go 6-10 or worse with a different QB and Tyrod is in the playoffs Whaley would likely lose his job. Self preservation has to factor into this decision. Whaley can land a trade (FA has no solution better than Tyrod) or Whaley/Terry etc can decide they need to blow the position up with a rookie and they likely accept 2017 is somewhat of a rebuilding year. Tricky part to the second scenario is this isn't a full rebuild roster and I don't know if the fan base is patient enough to let go of what appears to be a 2-3 year potential window if you keep Taylor. I think the most likely scenario we see Taylor in a Bills uniform in 2017.

I hear you, but it seems like the Bills are seriously considering dropping Taylor. So if that occurs? This thread was more about what do we do if the Bills decide to do this. But I also think it puts some perspective on where we stand if we do end up cutting Taylor. We stop asking the question can Taylor be a franchise QB and we start asking the question can we find a serviceable QB. An upgrade from Taylor likely isn't happening next season.

I'm surprised by some of the reactions here. We look like we might be moving on from Tyrod. I'm not here debating if that makes sense or not. It seems possible, potentially more likely than not. If we do and we don't do anything but hope the draft or Cardale solves this we likely are looking at 5-11 season or worse. I don't want that and judging by this thread nobody else does either. So let's look at the FA list at QB from a realistic perspective. Cousins isn't going to be available, any and all options are flawed. We aren't going to be signing our franchise QB. Whoever we have a chance at signing will have some issues. So out of all the potentials that are realistic show me an option better than Hoyer. I don't see one. I also love Tony Jefferson at SS from Arizona who is only 24 and coming off his best year. The Cardinals are cap pressed and he likely hits the market. As far as QB, we always see cuts so maybe somebody more suitable than Hoyer becomes available, but as of now he seems like a great hold over option. Maybe this thread helps put in perspective where we end up at if we do in fact cut Taylor?