Mikie2times

Seriously though, Jeff Blake? I mean really? Blake was known for his rainbow deep ball. Wasn't especially mobile. More of a pocket guy with some mobility. The poster who said half Vick and half Wilson has it right. He has qualities from both. His favorite QB growing up was Warren Moon. He got a lot of inspiration from Michael Vick, just being similar in style and both attending VT. Good friends now. Tyrod is incredibly athletic, but Vick was off the charts athletic for a QB. Tyrod seems more mature and polished. Less reliant on his legs than Vick was. That's where I lean Wilson. Tyrod is scrambling to throw most the time, similar to Wilson. Vick just wanted to run. Scramblin Fran

I ran a sports betting service for a few years. A lot of time invested. money was a nice supplement, especially because it was something I enjoyed, but eventually it was just consuming too much time. I played on FanDuel for a little bit. I figured how could this be more challenging than a book. Well, it is. I knew what I was up against my first day when I used all my models and saw half the teams littered with my "sleepers". Only very sharp players play for anything of significance on these sites. In any event the entire concept comparative to sports betting has really pissed me off over the years. One is deemed a skill and one is not. One is allowed to operate legally in the US and one is not. Exact same model. The skill is in the user. Hacks play fantasy, hacks bet on sports. Some people approach both with a lot of sophistication. The biggest difference I have noticed between the two is one is allowed to just plaster the TV while the other was never as bold. It shocks me. One guy in the commercial even says something like "it was such a rush winning real money". Where is the moral outrage? I can't imagine if a sports better said that on a commercial. I don't even want moral outrage. I wish both would be available and policed as much as possible. Probably won't see it in my lifetime. One thing we will absolutely see is more events like this. We will also see more "Fantasy shaving". All it takes is one player. These drafts cover thousands of games. Once we see more of this we will see an end to the commercials, add regulation, and perhaps a similar shun as sports betting.

2Pac

Good post, certainly a big part of it. Teams are going to just keep playing hurry up as we watch a Bills team scramble to figure out what they should be doing. Pressure doesn't arrive, more stress on coverage, blown assignments. Pretty much the story of the defense so far. Any team that doesn't speed things up at this point is making a big mistake. Lot's of communication problems right now. I don;t think the players feel like they can play, too much thinking.

Expectations drive reactions. As Bills fans we have learned to monitor our expectations over the playoff drought. We have been burned so repetitively and had so many moments in which we felt like we could finally let go. In the end we always found ourselves saying here we go again. Asking ourselves why did I let go, proclaiming it will never happen again. Until..... Rex Ryan comes to town, perhaps the worst emotional fit for a fan base in the history of sports. Now I like Rex, he's a great fit for the team, but as far as how he carries himself, he has no problem energizing a fan base regardless of the danger that comes out his mouth. God could not have removed my expectation shield on this team and somehow Rex Ryan did. I think he did for most of us. Beside his promise to end the playoff drought, I saw the emergence of a potential long term fit at QB. Talented players added on offense and who wasn't drooling over Rex getting his hands on this defense? Post Week 1, it was easy to go from a normal on guard Bills fan to one who forgot we have had our intestines removed by this team for he better part of 20 years. I think now is the the healthy time to realign. Healthy, not only as fans, but as we project the positioning of this team. -Rex is regarded as a defensive mastermind and we have a lot of talent. The expectation was we would be the best in the NFL, at the least, top 5. Do we play better than the first 4 the rest of the way? Likely. Do we finish top 5? Unlikely. Nothing indicates that will happen so why is that the expectation anymore? I can only assume history and Rex, but each year is different. Throw history out and as far as Rex goes this team is a better fit for another scheme. Rex has said he runs a lot of 4-3 looks, but I'm still seeing a lot of 3-4 and extravagant blitzes creating isolation match up's that are killing us. Schwartz had an approach more like Seattle and completely different than Rex. Be simple, players play fast, make the team beat you on extended drives. We do have a right to be frustrated here. Top 5 should be the expectation, I'm just letting go on that as we haven't shown any ability to play at that level thus far. -Entering the season we didn't think we had a serviceable QB on the roster. Last couple weeks some have gone as far to say we have our franchise QB on the roster. I love Taylor as much as anybody but we need to remember we didn't expect anything out of this position until Taylor showed us we might be able to expect more. We certainly will get a lot more than serviceable but if it falls short of long term starter or franchise player game to game we should not flip out. We will not get a long term answer on Taylor until much further down the road. If he plays great, it doesn't mean you should feel comfortable anointing him, and if he doesn't, we should't be calling for his head either.On this topic, Bills fans are creating their own expectations completely. Taylor was an open book to start the year and he still is. -Roman will lead to offensive utopia. Roman was not loved by fans in SF, he was looked at as very conservative. This despite a lot of success in going to B2B Super Bowls. His game plan against the two better teams (Patriots/Giants) is likely why. Awful in the first half. When he got less conservative the offense responded. Don't expect any long term adjustments. This is how he coaches. If he has to open it up because that's what the situation calls for he will, otherwise, disproportionate ground attack early. Against the B squad, it will do well, against the A squad, it will not. Against the A squad with multiple injuries to the line, it certainly will not. - Additions like Harvin, Clay, Richie, McCoy, and Miller will provide big strides on offense. I feel this expectation is accurate, but our line is in bad shape right now. Very bad. It stacks up to be much better if everybody is healthy, but that is not the case right now and we just can't afford injuries, especially if we want to play 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Harvin and Clay have made a strong impact. McCoy being out is a lot more painful than I would have liked to admit after today especially knowing he will be out awhile. Karlos is a great find, but McCoy is dynamic, specifically in the receiving game and we really need him in that role. Playoffs as Rex said? No longer my expectation. I prefer my sanity. We have the ability to reach that point, but defensive regression is enough thus far to outweigh any offensive progression. I also don't see a team that is remarkably better coached. I don't know how anybody can see that right now. So I can't give us a +1 in that area based on headlines. The offensive play calling in the first half of the two losses was horrible and Rex has been very bad on the defensive side. I look at this team right now pretty much the same way I looked at last years team. They just have a higher ceiling, which historically this team doesn't reach. Lot's of time left, hopeful, but have my shield back up.

When the dust settles we very well could end up with the two biggest steals of this draft. Karlos doesn't appear like he's good, he looks like he's special. He's like an Erik Dickerson/Terrell Davis hybrid that's pissed off. Then you have Darby who seemed like he could be a stud if he could just find the football. He's doing that consistently now.

Blue Cheese tastes like crap. I don't care for it on anything. No dipping sauce or ranch for me. The better the wing, less likely to use dipping sauce. I also didn't know WNY looked down on Ranch. Blue Cheese has a strong flavor and a unique taste. Not for everybody.

Love his play so far. Didn't like hearing in the Patriots game that a Bills player said he doesn't want to listen. Forget who it was, Williams or Graham? Wasn't Gilmore. The annuncers sort of said it and chuckled, like silly Rookie just won't listen..haha. But it sounded much more like he doesn't want to take direction, no haha. I'm pretty sure if Darby keeps playing this well he will quickly turn into the type that feels like he no longer deficates. Hopefully he's stays out of trouble. He certainly looks like a very talented corner.

True statement, which is why he had both hands hit the ball bouncing it up in the air like a volleyball. Sometimes I wonder if I'm watching the same game as other people. Hard catch, sure. Uncatchable? Players in high school, college, and NFL make that catch.

Correct Boat, I've actually watched Henson in high school. He was one of the higher rated football and baseball recruits. Played at Brighton high school. Brady was sort of your meh of Michigan, Henson was the elite prospect. I don't think anybody saw this coming with Brady. Not many did with Montana either. Both of which seemed to master the cerebral and both had Hall of Fame coaches.

He had two hands on it. Not saying it was a good pass, it wasn't, Taylor would say as much, but Sammy was athletic enough to make a none finger tip two handed catch on that ball, same as the Clay INT. I feel both replays clearly prove that is in inarguable. Amendola had a more difficult reception for New England on the final drive they had. Team sport, I don't blame Taylor for the Sacks or the Picks, I give him half the blame, as in both circumstances his teammates could have made plays just like Amendola did.

Thanks for your response. I don't see any similarities with Rodgers just because Rodgers is in a different world as far as what he does do well. Yes, he can avoid the rush and deliver from any angle. He also can read defenses, get to his 4th progressions, has a rocket arm, and pin point accuracy. What doesn't he do well? I like Taylor and Wilson as a great comparison (even if Wilson currently has a big edge) just because I don't think either will ever be a prototypical QB, but both are also not just scramblers. People have strong feelings that a scrambler isn't viable in the NFL. I share those feelings as so few have made it. I wouldn't consider Wilson or Taylor scramblers. They want to throw first and do everything possible to throw. If they have to run or see that they can hurt you bad, maybe backs turned in man coverage, they will. Taylor is a poor mans Wilson right now, both figuratively and literally. I'm fine with that after two starts and coming into the year with a very low expectation. I also happen to think he can develop even further and if so, watch out. We could finally end the turn cycle, even if it's not with a prototype. Thanks for your response. I don't see any similarities with Rodgers just because Rodgers is in a different world as far as what he does do well. Yes, he can avoid the rush and deliver from any angle. He also can read defenses, get to his 4th progressions, has a rocket arm, and pin point accuracy. What doesn't he do well? I like Taylor and Wilson as a great comparison (even if Wilson currently has a big edge) just because I don't think either will ever be a prototypical QB, but both are also not just scramblers. People have strong feelings that a scrambler isn't viable in the NFL. I share those feelings as so few have made it. I wouldn't consider Wilson or Taylor scramblers. They want to throw first and do everything possible to throw. If they have to run or see that they can hurt you bad, maybe backs turned in man coverage, they will. Taylor is a poor mans Wilson right now, both figuratively and literally. I'm fine with that after two starts and coming into the year with a very low expectation. I also happen to think he can develop even further and if so, watch out. We could finally end the turn cycle, even if it's not with a prototype.

Taylor has his faults, 8 sacks today was a part of it, although that was a shared responsibility. The line was bad but at times Taylor is still showing that he needs to see before he acts which means longer time in the pocket. Taylor does not have pinpoint accuracy. His INT's to both Clay and Watkins are a classic example of the game of inches football is. Similar to the line, I feel both plays had a shared responsibility. Both players would tell you they should have caught those passes, just as sure as Tyrod would tell you he should have thrown a better ball. Accuracy and quick decision making seem to be Taylor's weaknesses right now, weaknesses all of us know far to well as so many of the previous Bills QB's suffered from the same combination of poor attributes. On the positive, Taylor has show us some pretty special qualities. The comparisons to Russell Wilson seem well suited. Taylor has the ability to elude a lot of defenders in the pocket and execute throws in very difficult positions. None of it is drawn up, all of it counts just the same. Wilson is the only other guy in the NFL that has that quality as strong as Taylor does. Like Wilson, Taylor seems to do all this maneuvering while keeping his eyes downfield. He also possesses a very fast release and can throw the ball from any arm slot. You can't just take this away like you can just take away your normal scrambling QB's running ability. Scramblers lose intent on throwing very quickly, Taylor does not lose intent on throwing very often. Detractors will think this quality will eventually get taken away. Many thought it would for Wilson as well. It's very hard to take it away because it will happen multiple times a game extending coverage windows until they break and Taylor, even since his VT days, has been incredible finding and hitting open players when these situations occur. Taylor is currently on pace for 672 yards rushing. What he has done very well is pick his spots which is represented well by an average gain of 6 yards per carry. He can also operate our short passing game well, dink and dunking his way to a 75.5% completion %. The couple of times he has tried to go up top he has thrown a couple of beautiful balls that resulted in big plays downfield. If you separate what Taylor does well and what he doesn't do well into two areas you can see a distinct line. Everything he does well is either very deliberate or completely improvised and he has shown to be way above average in competency in those two areas. His deliberate completion %, deep throws, improve, and running ability are very high end. What he isn't doing well right now is the same thing every NFL QB struggles with outside of 3-5 QB's in the NFL. Getting thru progressions quickly and making throws prior to seeing a player open. The expectation this year from the QB position was not losing us games. The Bills have averaged 29.5 points in two games and you can draw a direct line from that production to the things Taylor does well. If the expectation right now is multiple progressions and throws prior to seeing a player open I think people are really stretching things. Russell Wilson is not at this point. He performs, because like Taylor, he does exceptionally well in all the other areas. I also think Wilson is more advanced in progressions, throwing covered, and accuracy, but he also has several dozen more starts in his career. I expect Taylor to give us some incredible high's this year and I also expect us to feel some frustrations, but the biggest thing I think we all can do at this point is expect that we will get more out of the QB position than "not losing us games".

Let us also not forget that 2 games ago New England prepared for what we hope Taylor could become in Russell Wilson. I just watched a Youtube video a couple days ago which had me concerned about this game. BB had a pretty incredible game plan for Wilson as far as a passive rush and containing his big play ability. He also had 3 more days to prepare for Taylor in this game. Taylor didn't do everything right, but all things considered, he played pretty damn well. He was lights out in the 4th and nearly brought us back on his own.

He played timid in the first half. He still is playing very conservatively, especially early. He has that "must see it first" thing going on many starters have at the beginning. That said this post just seems like spam in it's approach. "Taylor sucks". Ok, thanks for sharing.... He made some incredible plays and very well could have had a chance to complete one of the better comebacks in Bills history if Sammy makes a difficult catch. Speaking of which, not one of the 3 INT's was a direct blame the QB situation. Two high passes, both hit the entire part of both Clay and Watkins hands. Difficult catches sure, but I know a higher level NFL WR/TE expects to make those plays. If they didn't they wouldn't be in football let alone considered higher level. Taylor still threw the ball high, so shared accountability picks. The other INT came on an ill advised pass as time was running out in the first half. It was 3rd down, the Bills needed 20+ yards and 1 or 2 downs to get it in (if they converted the first). That pass never gets thrown in a normal situation. He made some fantastic plays in the 4th quarter when he seemed to just let loose and play. All in all, 2 straight weeks in which the offense has scored enough points in which we should be able to beat anybody in football. 4 total TD's from Taylor, mix of run and pass, near late game heroics. Described as a leader and scholar of the game, making his 2nd NFL start. I will take it.

You have to pressure Brady. He morphs into a Direct TV commercial when he gets pressured. Obviously it's not that simple to do, he is the hardest guy to pressure in football. That said I feel like we have the best set up to beat him. DL pressure allows for potential pressure with max coverage. The Bills sucked it up today based on a crap game plan that conceded 5-8 yard passes at will. We played New England's game and while I'm sure it isn't as easy as just saying "play press" we certainly needed to dictate more and force New England to play a different game in order to beat us.

Agreed

How much do you really expect that 250 million to matter when the ball is gone in under 3 seconds? At some point Rex and his game planning, in conjunction with the secondary, need to force Brady to hold it a little longer. They did so on a few occasions but we didn't capitalize. We did get the strip sack. It just wasn't enough. Multiple pieces failed. It certainly wasn't all on the line, beating New England isn't possible unless you have multiple phases on defense working.

Brady has always been the league leader in how fast he gets the ball out. I would argue if the stat was tracked historically he would be in the top 3 all time. It's why the Patriots can just rotate lineman at will. You get a few chances each game at him. We didn't take advantage of those chances outside of the strip sack. Rex did not have a good game plan. We didn't execute on any level defensively outside of stopping the run the few times the Patriots tried it. The defense was confused and not lined up correctly most the game. Pretty much everything sucked, which is how it usually goes when you allow 40 points.

I think his style infuses confidence in players. We need that. I think it's what will ultimately punch our ticket to the playoffs this year. At the same time we have to take the bad with the good. His style is incredibly irritating when he doesn't back up what he's saying. It's not very difficult to see how a guy like Rex almost has to be a quick exis if things go south. He had the Jets playing hard all of last year, so I don't want to take that away from him, but from a fan perspective, Rex would be pretty unbearable with a losing team. He would lose his edge and I just don't know the whole shtick would go over.

That was a the play Hughes slapped Gronks arm well before the ball arrived, should have been pass interference. I had a problem with many of the calls that went against us today. I just found it funny that in a Patriots cheating thread this play ended up being referenced as it seemed like the only break we got all game.

I agree, I like the politically correct version of the Bills that lost by 30 instead of 8 . Rex did not coach a good game. He didn't put his players in the best position to be successful. But if you have a problem with Rex's approach as far as how it played out in this game you might as well just throw in the towel on him. He was still acting like this when the Jets were awful. This is who he is. If you/we/the Bills didn't know that thru their bones when they hired him they didn't do enough research.

The pass was high, it was a 20 yard Dig, not exactly a gimmie, but borderline uncatchable? That is a phrase better used for many of the catches Watkins already has shown us he can make. It is the type of pass that will get you laid out but it's not as if Taylor had a ton of choices in that stage of the game.

LOL @ Taylor comments. 3 Int's, two right off our WR hands and one on a desperation pass trying to get in FG range before the first half ended. He easily could have had 3 TD's, 0 INT's, another rushing, 70%+ completion %, and 250+ yards. He looked like he wasn't fully seasoned on every play. Go figure. Outside of that is was a solid game. He made some plays no QB's in the NFL can make and kept fighting. Who knows how this would have finished if Sammy makes that catch on the Dig on our final drive. Taylor seems to be a last second magic guy, he was at VT and I thought he had a shot at giving us a shot on that final drive.

1. Taylor has shown exactly what I thought he would and my expectations were high. The two INT's we need receptions on, he was not pin point on either, but Clay and Watkins need to make those catches. He's going to make some mistakes, hes also going to make some incredible plays. He did both today and the line didn't offer him much help. 2. Teams are going to force us out of our heavy sets and Roman needs to adjust faster. The Bills offense can perform very well in space. That space opens lanes for Taylor to run in and spreads our YAC WR's out. We can't stay in two TE sets all game with 7-8 in the box. I want to ground and pound as much as anybody but we can't force the run. 3. I don't think the Bills belong in a 3-4. I know Rex mixes it up, a lot. 4-3, 3-4, 46, tons of nickle packages. I feel that is part of the problem. We made a big jump in 2014 after running a similar scheme as Rex in 2013. This scheme forces players to think as much as play and we saw a lot of confusion in the defense all game. Last year we just played. Seattle is a great example of a team that runs about the most basic defense in the league but it allows players to be players. I'm not sure if I'm willing to say this defense will be better because of a Rex which seemed like a guarantee pre-season. 4. This offense is light years ahead of being an Achilles heal. I would say the offense is appearing to be more of a strength especially when viewed with the assumption that the defense would be dominant. Preseason it was all about how the offense can't lose us games. The defense lost us this game and the offense seems like it will put up north 21+ a game. 5. McCoy is due for a big game. Stats haven't shown much, but McCoy just looks like he's playing at another gear compared to the other players on the field. His ability to stop, start, and cut without losing speed is impressive. Slow start, he's still banged up, but I still expect some big plays from him. 6. Darby is legit and I really hope he is fine after leaving the field slowly. He had a couple holding calls today. Outside of that he was on the hip pocket of everybody he covered. When the Patriots tried to Kelvin Benjamin him (1st preseason game) with Gronk on the outside he fought him the whole way and did a great job finding the ball. I would say he's light years ahead of where he should be based on degree of difficulty and the place he was drafted. Steal. 7. I felt pretty strongly that we would make the playoffs before the game and nothing changed that. In order to accomplish that we said in the preseason we needed a dominant defense and an offense that doesn't hurt us. I expect us to make the playoffs, but not under that formula. The offense won't always look pretty but it will score points and consistently have us in the 20's. I expect a very low Yards Per Point conversion for our offense, which is efficiency in converting yards into points. The best teams tend to make the playoffs and I expect us to be very highly rated in that area. We have been outstanding in two weeks so far. The defense will be good, but I worry our roster isn't the ideal fit for Rex's system and the additional learning required will cause a regression from 2014. It will still be a hell of a defense, I just don't think we will best 2014 or make some insane leap into the annals of history as some hoped with Rex at the helm.