dave mcbride

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.

More on why Jones screwed up, more or less -- https://www.buffalosportspage.com/final-play-throw-catch/ . Read to the end.

In the cold light of dawn, it's increasingly clear to me from watching the overhead view posted by 26cb that that was basically a perfect throw. Jones really screwed the pooch on that one--no field or time awareness plus a late stagger that occurred after taylor released it. Jones just blew it. There's really nothing more to it.

Yup, and bump.

Looking at this, yes, it's hard to figure out what jones was up to there. He needs better clock awareness and a sense that if he's got a clear and open shot to the end zone, the qb is probably looking that way.

Just watching it now for the first time. Why would he ever cut to the sideline at the 3 with almost no time left? It doesn't make sense. That should have been a cut to the pylon.

Yeah, hard to say. The route looked sloppy and it may have been that taylor saw the td and threw for it. Jones actually slowed down for a moment near the end of it too. The throw certainly wasn't accurate enough (that was an extremely difficult catch to make) if that out pattern at the end was the route, though.

Eff Jerry Jones. Jones makes Kraft look like Mother Theresa.

I don't understand your response. Can you please clarify?