TheCockSportif

Nobody is going to throw TT a parade. Please. We all knew that he wasn't the answer at some point, but trashing the guy is completely ridiculous.

I took Wonderlic many years ago as part of an employment pre-screen, and I did ok. I don't know the score, but they told me they had a baseline score, and they would never disclose it to candidates. It was a heady, and very quick decision making process. And it had next to nothing to do with the job that I was offered. The same company also did this psych/color evaluation where it would prognosticate your role and professional slotting in the company. Full disclosure: no, it wasn't the CIA or anything like that. And yeah, I got the job, and left like 5 years later. Takeaway? Cool test, but worthless if you want to determine employee success. I wish that the NFL would stop this garbage.

Without question TT was the best answer going into 2016. No way I was going to talk myself into EJ again or to Cardale freaking Jones. We don't know what the org believed because Rex would say anything at any given time -- in an attempt to pump up a lackluster coaching effort. I will say that in my lifetime I have witnessed the following players under center for the Bills (excluding guys like Flutie and Kelly and Fergy and Bledsoe, obviously in no specific order), and it was underwhelming to say the least: Joe Dufek Vince Ferragamo Matt Kofler Bruce Mathison Alex Van Pelt Billy Joe Hobert Rob Johnson Travis Brown Kelly Holcomb Brian Brohm Trent Edwards Levi Brown Tyler Thigpen Jeff Tuel Thad Lewis EJ Manuel JP Losman And that's really just the tip of the iceberg. I have seen astoundingly lousy quarterback play from this team since I became conscious of watching OJ and crew in my grandparents' apartment in Buffalo, in 1974. Other QBs have adorned us with their presence, and that list above was just off the top of my head. Given what I noted above though, TT was way, way more stable than any of those cats. If you come back and say that TT was JAG then I agree. I can't argue that TT was the organization's only plan though. Because until the coaching regime and FO changed, I'm not entirely sure that they had a plan.

I don't get the dislike of TT. I really don't. Was he going to elevate his play and take the Bills to the playoffs on a regular basis, deep into the playoffs, and/or to the Super Bowl? Probably not, if almost certainly not. But I remain of the opinion that he brought stability (not greatness, but stability) to the QB position while the team tried to figure the roster out. EJ was a flame out. Orton wasn't coming back. Cassel, uh, no. Peterman, definitely no. Etc, etc, etc. Getting rid of the lousy FO situation, bringing in capable coaching, and yes having TT under center in the interim finally seems to have stabilized my favorite moribund NFL team.

Ah, so you went there... NICE!!! ?

Hope he's sheltering in place then. My god, Brandon. That freaking guy.

Hope that Brandon is a frugal guy, and again, hope that he never touches another Buffalo sports team again, or is prominent in the area again... ever.

Speaking of Brandon? Glad that dude is gone once and for all. I grew sick of hearing about him. Good on Fitz though. Had EJ been able to manage his crisis of confidence then he too would probably still be in the league somewhere.

Kind of agree. It was a comedy of errors, and this could be said for the Bills from 2000 until 2016 (give or take). Nix gave a huge extension to Fitz then found himself needing to get the money back to draft other talent and to sign FAs. I don't blame EJ for having been drafted that early; that was on the Bills. Sadly for EJ -- he was just not a good QB.

I totally agree that this was a Whaley/Nix debacle. Nix painted himself into a corner with Fitz's contract extension as memory serves, and when he asked Fitz to renegotiate after 1+ years, Fitz was like, "nope." To your point, organizational ineptitude at the time brought us EJ.

Oh god. EJ is back on the board. In any case, the Bills had to pick somebody for the position in 2013 (as they should have from 2010 on). Whether it was EJ or whether it was Geno Smith, the team would be in the same spot with regard to yet another wasted pick. Of course, we can all draw this conclusion with the benefit of hindsight. Lost decades of competitive football due to horrible scouting and a horrible FO/coaching regime did this team in. EJ was just the exclamation point on top of it all. Just my $0.02 obviously.

Mindset. There's really no reason to hate this word, but it's super overused. By itself it's not really a cliche, but it's said enough that it's become one.

I'm not sure that it's accurate to say that SD moved because of issues with local government alone. Both parties acted in the hopes of funding a new stadium, but in the end government punted and there was a referendum. If memory serves, even Rams' ownership considered helping foot the bill for a new stadium in SD.

No, I'm not here really whining about anything, much less not having drafted Mahomes.

Does it really matter now though, Joe? I was as shocked (and disappointed) as anybody else when the Bills didn't draft Mahomes. But at some point it doesn't matter anymore. For me it was shortly after that draft -- where you realize that as a fan all you can do is to hope that riding with Peterman and Taylor was a bridge to drafting another QB in the first round later. Which they did.

Watkins had his moments, but when you look at the value of the pick, in particular given his injury history, and given what he disclosed about his effort here during an interview when he was with LAR, a change needed to be made.

Watkins, though. Yes, I was gobsmacked when he got drafted with that crazy trade of picks. And yes, I was surprised that they tried to bolster the raw potential of EJ Manuel (that was sarcasm) by drafting Watkins. Still, people have to let this go. Different ownership. Different FO and coaching regime. Beane hasn't been lights out on the O side of the ball, but most certainly he didn't Whaley his FA or draft choices. It's been probably 30 years since this organization did anything rational, and the past couple of years has shown that they are willing to part with dead weight. While I'm glad that Watkins is gone, I think of his non existence here in the same light as Mahomes not having been the pick in 2017. Time to move on. Groin OUT!

I could easily see the Pats doing a montage of Tom Brady with the song "Tears in Heaven" playing in the background. That song was about the death of a child, as you all are probably aware. And yet the Pats I perceive to be that tone deaf.

This, exactly. I initially thought that AB had buyer's remorse after having landed in OAK -- dollars be damned -- and also after the Pats almost certainly interfered with him when he was in OAK and was looking for an out. But the fact that he crapped the bed with the Pats as well is a testament to what happens when an organization ties itself to talent alone -- and doesn't take into consideration the aspects of character and/or of professionalism. AB is deeply flawed, and who knows the reason for this. Maybe he has CTE (I hope not for his sake) or maybe he's just an insufferable human being. Who knows? I suppose that what shakes out in 2020 will be our guide.

Nobody wants to choke the cash flow or anything that you have mentioned. I was riffing.

Don't choke the chicken. Let it breathe.

What a ride. (That was sarcasm.) Looking forward to next year, and I say this in earnest. See you all on draft night and the day after!

Correct on all counts. He totally worked himself out of a job (and it was well deserved, again, with the benefit of hindsight). Still, the Bills had a GM in their employ when the HC was hired. Not only was a GM in their employ when the HC was hired, but they kept the GM through the draft. I quibbled with a certain person because they argued that the Bills had no GM and no HC -- when the Bills had a GM, or at very least in title, before the HC was hired. The Browns have no HC and no person who holds the GM title currently. Plus, it doesn't matter that Whaley might not have had a say in the coaching search. He was still GM when the HC was hired. And again, Whaley was GM, at least in title (and he was still drawing a salary) for the 2017 draft, so it's absurd that someone would argue that the Bills had no HC and GM at the same point in 2017. This argument is demonstrably false, and that is where I took exception.

Semantics? No. Plain English? Yes. Fact: The Bills had a GM on January 11, 2017 when McD was hired. Fact: The Bills offered Doug Whaley an extension on January 10, 2016, and fired him on April 30, 2017. Fact: Beane was hired by the Bills on May 9, 2017. The Browns have neither a HC nor a GM currently. This was demonstrably not the case with the Bills in 2017, and that was the nature of my remark before. Cry semantics all you want, but you were wrong. Doubling down on being wrong just puts you on airlock. See ya!

I don't know why you are arguing this point. Whaley was fired right after the draft, and he was still GM at that time. Sure, he may have been a figurehead, but fact remains that the Bills still had a GM when the HC was hired.