dave mcbride

Part of the problem is a profoundly unathletic o-line. It's brutal to watch. The o-line is horrible, and Palmer's arm is fine.

Has he? What are you basing this on? I'm not really doubting you; it's an honest question. I haven't seen anything, and the Bills seem unable to run the ball right now (although I'm certainly not blaming him specifically for this).

I doubt it - he requires his TEs to be elite blockers. O'Leary is not a good blocker. Yes, he's terrible at blocking.

I feel like run games across the league are being shut down with regularity so far. Elliott last night had one run of 30 last night because of a missed tackle, but after that run he had 8 for 31 yards. He was being tackled in the backfield all night. Just thinking out loud, but I think what we're seeing is the result of ever-increasing athleticism on d-lines versus less athletic o-linemen who simply can't handle these dudes.

The Bills aren't 6th. They're going to be first this week. Don't pay attention to yardage; pay attention to FO. They were 2nd overall in 2014. They were 27th in 2016 and 24th in 2015.

It's made up. Don't expect a link.

Truth. Thanks for posting.

They probably won't be. These #s are through week 2.

According to the best measure by far (IMO), we were number 3 after week 2 behind Carolina and Baltimore. I expect the Bills D to be #1 after week 3 results get baked in. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef NE is #32.

Hence my focus above on the fact that Taylor has now started two full seasons worth of games (32) now. He has a 94.2 rating and the offense has performed well overall (with the expected ups and downs). I think we have enough evidence now to declare him "pretty good" - a bit above average relative to other qbs, but certainly not great. I will add that his good qualities don't get emphasized enough - remarkable toughness, extremely even-keeled and no- BS demeanor, and a remarkable propensity to not turn the ball over (I'm including the fact that he's only lost a couple of fumbles in his time in Buffalo, which is pretty remarkable).

He has not been awful; his numbers have been awful. Big, big difference. He has no running room and is regularly hit in the backfield. It's the price the Bills are paying for lacking a quality WR threat. It's as plain as day.

Lol!! Back on subject -- Taylor has now started 32 games for Buffalo, which is exactly two seasons. At this point, when looking at top line numbers, what you see is almost what you get because the spiky details and outliers start to come out in the wash. He's a guy playing on a team that has gone 17-15 with mostly bad defenses (2015-16) and has a qb rating of 94.2. To reiterate, that is a far better rating than any other QB in franchise history. Sammy needs new wallpaper for his twitter account: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f7/da/5a/f7da5a1e9a3667c19d656ec77175a887--fantasy-map-flat-earth.jpg

He wasn't poor his second season; he was hurt. He missed the entire season! And he was still hurt in year 3. You of all people should know the difference. C'mon, dog.

99.23 to be exact. He is 94.2 lifetime for the Bills, which is by far and away the best in franchise history -- and the number doesn't factor in the rushing yards or the remarkable lack of fumbling (2 lost fumbles in 2 and a fifth seasons).

Terrible call. Any decent coach is defending against the fake on any punt formation play that's less than 4th and 5.

Who knows how good gaines will be? He was excellent in his rookie season and excellent so far for buffalo. Let's reserve judgment before we declare players "stars" or not.

I gotta confess - Gaines has *really* impressed me. An elite cb is equally valuable as an elite wr. I was down on the trade, but i'm man enoujgh to admit it if i turn out to be wrong. Let's see how it looks after week 17. Scott, he's playing a lot better than solid.

Monstrous today.

+25.

I think SF has some of the best young defensive talent in the NFL. Buckner and Thomas are porential superstars. The Bills were 7th in the nfl in offense after the miami game last year.

Don't look now, but SF is actually loaded with elite young talent on defense. They look to me like a young Seattle. DeForest Buckner and Solomon Thomas are elite talents.

Hasn't it been clearly established that Jones ran a really lousy and confused-looking route? Shouldn't that basic fact be driving the conversation? I'm not trying to defend Taylor's overall game, btw -- he has to put the team in a position to generate more than 3 points before switching over to 4-down ball in the final couple of minutes (when point totals go up given the extra down). But on that play, a better route results in that looking like a perfect pass.

I think that on balance he's a near-elite player, but he does have and always has had basic flaws to his game, especially accuracy and consistency as well as taking far too many sacks. He is one of the greatest runnning qbs of all time, plays well in the clutch, and has a great arm. While Terry Bradshaw had a different game, in terms of the combo of strengths and weaknesses, they are similar players. With regard to this comparison, btw, I don't care how many super bowls Bradshaw won; most of them can be chalked up to the greatest defense in league history.

Interesting comments near the end in a characteristically excellent analytical piece by Andy Benoit: https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/09/18/jared-goff-los-angeles-rams-sean-mcvay

You're doing the lord's work here, AD.