dave mcbride

The Bills' turnover differential in recent history (Going back to when they became a run-heavy team post-Gailey): 2013: +3 2014: +7 2015: +6 2016: +6 2017: +9 They were -13 in 2012.

Not at all. i am as happy as can be. Turnovers are huge, and the Bills prioritized it. It was smart. Targeting safeties who can force turnovers was a great move. Poyer and Hyde were phenomenal in pass defense all season.

The Bills were statistically bad or at best mediocre in virtually every category except one: turnovers. They were 6th in raw rushing yardage, but only because they ran it so much. They were actually just 14th in rushing ypa after finishing first last year. Their pythagorean (statistically expected) record was 6.4-9.6. However, their offense surrendered the 6th fewest turnovers in the league and their defense finished 9th in takeaways. Importantly, Tyrod Taylor had the lowest interception percentage (1.0) of any quarterback in the *entire league*. Obviously, that had a material impact on the team's fortunes; teams so weak in so many major categories shouldn't have winning records. They were seventh in turnover differential, and if you take away the statistical blip that was the first half of the Chargers game, they are in the top two or three. **A tip of the cap to Hauschka too; his excellence was probably good for one additional win above expectations too. Signing him was like the Indians getting Andrew Miller in 2016.

8-6.

Coming in late here - i watched up until he fumbled in osu territory down 17-0. My quick take, at least on the early part of the game: his receivers killed him, fumbling away one on the first possession and then dropping a perfect throw on the second possession that would have put them at the osu 25. Things seemed to snowball after that.

Dennison is neither adaptable nor able to adjust at halftime. He's the offensive version of the opposite of Wade Phillips (a guy who adapts to his players and consistently adjusts well at halftime when things aren't going right). The Bills are a consistently worse team in the second half, and when it happens so often, that's pretty much all attributable to system/design.

28th in passing offense, not 32nd, although of course that isn't good enough. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamoff Btw, raw yardage is not a good proxy for measuring overall production/efficiency. Finally, Taylor is 24th among qbs by DVOA this season: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/qb . Again, not good enough, but the wr situation hasn't helped matters.

That is true. They had a chance to win the game in OT and decided to kick a really long FG (53 yards) when the money play was either to go for it or punt. They knew that they were already in, though, and probably wanted to get out of there and not risk injury.

Granted, they don't cover any of the Pats' bad plays, but on all of these sacks, Taylor has absolutely no one to throw to.

Not that I put much stock in qb win-loss records, but Luck had a winning record last year as the Colts' starting qb (8-7). I'm admittedly a fan of his and think that his ability to lead THAT garbage organization to 3 consecutive 11-5 seasons is one more impressive accomplishments in recent years.

Jake Delhomme fever - catch it!

Not a great comparison given the differences in play style. The best, in my opinion given the team he played for and the path taken by the player? Jake Delhomme. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Delhomme

The Browns regularly end up with 1-4 wins and have managed to stay there for quite a while. Losing breeds losing.

The past is the past, though. The Steelers outplayed NE in the most recent game and should have won.

So much of coordination success centers around talent. The Bills had terrible defensive talent when he was here.

as bad as that call on the sideline was, the phantom PI call on Henry Jones took the cake. They never call PIs on hail marys, and they shouldn't. And it wasn't even PI.

Davis Webb is a guy who really impressed me in college.

This is wrong. Look at the replay in this thread again. Regardless of the poor view from that side re: the knee being down or not, it's clear as day that his body was being pulled back by defenders after he lunged forward. That is, he didn't retreat on his own. Just as importantly, there is no point in that long portion of the play where he is free of a defender's grasp. The play you described had a player escaping the grasp - hence its lack of relevance to this debate.

That's a fair point; they were both rated very highly (apparently, the Bills wanted Davis, btw). I'm a little biased because I thought Davis was a more elite talent, but time will tell.

Because with Davis the talent is obvious. He is stuck in a situation where a coach is wedded to smashmouth and the qb isn't hitting his deeper throws.

No I didn't. This is apples and oranges. The whistle wasn't the issue in the play we saw, and it would have been in the one you describe. Moreover, the play you're describing has a player exiting the grasp. That never happened on the actual play we're talking about. Your example doesn't apply. The ball crossed the white line, and he wasn't down. The view from the other side indicated that the knee didn't touch. The other call was a terrible overturn, however.

I agree, and look forward to seeing him play next year. The accumulation of leg issues does worry me a bit, however.

But while in the grasp the ball had extended beyond the first down marker. It wasn't as if he extended while free of Patriot contact. The fact that he did it willingly is what I think is confusing people - if a Bills player had pushed visibly the arm back, we wouldn't be having this debate because it'd self-evident that progress had been "pushed" back. But it doesn't matter because it's irrelevant where his body is being tackled. The only that is relevant is that he's being tackled while extending the ball.

How so? The issue wasn't the whistle; it was the ball placement. They're separate issues.

I can't see how anyone who follows the NFL thinks that Charles Clay is better than Walker or thinks that there is anyone half as talented as Corey Davis on the Bills roster. I like Benjamin too, but I like him healthy. Presently, he's running a 4.9 40 with no cut ability.