sullim4

Classic Fitz...

There were several issues this season (penalties, lack of mental concentration, etc) that didn't crop up last year. With this year's talent, I have to think that a veteran leader would have been worth 1-2 additional wins.

It left a leadership gap on the team that hasn't been filled since. I'd rather have a third down back that's a leader as opposed to a kickoff specialist...

Mularkey was no picnic either. I will never forget Son of Satan discussing the ban on negative signs being brought into the stadium on his radio show... even Ralph thought that policy was nutso and Donahoe's ridiculous behavior towards fans was a big reason why Ralph took the Team President title back after he left.

... and that is why I, along with many others, are so pissed at Rex for squandering defensive talent. LB and DL are now huge needs for us because we need players that fit into Rex's system. Meanwhile, our OL needs a ton of work to prevent Taylor from getting killed, and at the very least, we need a decent backup QB because Taylor is going to take a beating given his style of play. Somewhat OT, but Whaley offering that contract to Shady is going to prevent us from getting some of the above in FA. Shady has been good but just look at what Williams and Gillislee are doing... We are now looking at 2017 as being the earliest we have a chance to make the playoffs... and the defense is the primary reason why.

I am fine with Taylor being the guy... but my concerns are as follows: Durability. His legs are a huge asset but man I was very nervous with some of the shots he was taking in a meaningless game this afternoon. This has been a consistent concern over the course of the season. He's got to learn when it's smarter to slide or throw the ball away rather than putting his body at risk. Third down decision making. I don't know if this is Roman or Taylor, but in most of the games he's played in, there have been some stupid decisions made on third down. It's been a combination of bad play calling, poor decisions on who to throw the ball to, and the like. It's late on a Sunday night but with a few games fresh in my mind I could point to a few situations where I was scratching my head. Locking onto receivers. This is somewhat related to #1 but I'm still seeing him lock onto his first choice of receiver on a play, and just bolt with his legs if that one player isn't open. In the middle of the season, this was often happening where Sammy wasn't the #1 read, and he'd get himself open but Taylor wouldn't notice. He's gotten the ball to Watkins more, which is good, but on the replays today where they were showing his eyes and he would end up running the ball... he wasn't scanning the entire field. This worries me a little bit.

I have been waiting almost ten years for the Bills to visit Seattle... moved out here in 2006 and this is the first time since 2004 that they'll be out here.

The only thing I don't like about the trade is the extension we gave him after it was completed. That represented a big cap hit and wear/tear on RBs in this league is huge. We've been terrible for a long time but I can't honestly remember a time when we were deficient at the RB position. Largely because they are a dime-a-dozen.

Hey, let's feel good about ourselves, not go for the TD being down 21, and kick the easy FG!

I really don't understand why teams insist on taking a timeout with the play clock running down rather than take the penalty. Every time a team takes a timeout in that situation, down in the 2nd half on first down, I just shake my head. Take the damn penalty, it's just five yards! You'd trade the five yards for a timeout later in the game!

The defense mailed it in during the first quarter. The only one putting their body on the line is Taylor. That offsides penalty on fourth down is so representative of this season. I don't think Rex is going to get fired but geez he's not doing himself any favors...

I don't disagree with anything you said, the team is clearly hurting at linebacker, special teams is a mess, and the playcalling on offense makes your head scratch at times. I would like to see the team draft a LB, a safety or two, and some OL help (frankly I've been very disappointed with Eric Wood this year). Use the late round picks on players that have potential to be solid special teams contributors/decent backups, and might as well draft a kicker with the seventh round pick. My main issue with this team right now is the undisciplined play. Some of the penalties these guys are taking are just unacceptable and very poorly timed - they kill drives, or extend the drives of the opponent. That's all on Rex. It says a lot when a coach picks up a guy off the waiver wire that literally knocked his starting quarterback for 8 weeks. Rex tolerates that kind of behavior and that has to stop. Terry needs to send a clear message to Rex that this needs to change. I do think Rex's scheme has been a poor fit for the personnel on this team. Our linebackers are atrocious and that has been exposed big time this year. Pettine benefited from Kiko and Schwartz from Spikes overachieving. Bradham and Brown have underachieved compared to last year and I'm having a difficult time pointing to anything other than scheme being the cause. This team is also devoid of any player leadership. Everyone knew that Fred Jackson was the unquestioned leader of this team. Now, nobody knows who that is, and it doesn't help when Rex trots out random players each game as captains aimed at agitating the other team. Get rid of that system, groom the right set of people to be captains (Tyrod would be a good place to start), and see where that takes us next year. Maybe sign a late-in-career vet that can provide this - at this point, I would spend a roster spot on someone that can primarily provide leadership.

Well we know that Tom Donahoe, son of Satan (the one who drinks babies' blood), censored fan signs during the final year of his tenure as GM. I don't think this is Terry's style. I definitely think it is much more likely that you'll see them start their own TV and radio stations. The 'one buffalo' crew excels at putting positive spins on not-so-great situations, just look at the Sabres Facebook page from last season.

1-time use hand signals are your friend in Foxboro...

Half the fun of this board is having "personalities" like Spags, Roger Goodell, Empty Podium, Crayonz/Sammy/Carl (where are you guys?), etc comment on the latest happenings.

Our defense is absolutely pathetic when you take into consideration the talent that's there. This is Rex's ego taking over - he's forcing the defense to do things that are incompatible with their talent set. This group of players relies on QB pressure, which means rushing the DL, adding a LB'er or two to it, and occasionally throw in a corner or safety blitz. I need to start counting the number of plays they actually blitz because I can't remember four or five situations where they happened today. Remember when Jauron would have Kelsay would drop into coverage? Yeah, it was stupid then, and it's stupid when our DE's do it now. Stop now, Rex, lest you be remembered just like Wanny is around these parts. I didn't like Gailey as a head coach, but I did like one comment he made - he designed his schemes to put his talent in a position to win. He doesn't force square pegs into round holes. That's exactly what Rex is doing right now. Honestly this team is 4-4 because of the offense and in spite of the defense.

This defense is awful. If Rex wasn't the de-facto coordinator, I'd have fired the loser long ago. They are a shell of what they were last year.

What a horrible call by the Phish. You decline that penalty and force the 50 yard field goal.

It's clear the defense does not believe in Rex's scheme. That, combined with the penalties, are really making me agitated at Rex...

Interesting, although at the given point in time, the vast majority of these quarterbacks were unproven and hadn't yet developed their career. Frankly I wouldn't trust any of the Bills' coaching staffs of the last fifteen years to have developed any of these quarterbacks. Greg Roman with Kaepernick might be the only exception to that, although he's crashing and burning as we speak.

This is the most ridiculous thing you've said in a long time. Kickers are not a dime a dozen. The only friggin bright spot on this team for the last fifteen years has been the kicking - lord knows this team's deplorable offense over that span has given the kicker plenty of opportunities at FGs rather than XPs. Nearly every other team in the NFL has struggled with getting a consistent kicker over that timespan, save maybe Belichick who lucked into Gostkowski after dropping Vinateri. If you truly believe that one week of Cundiff nailing field goals in a low pressure game against Tennessee makes him better than Carpenter over his career, then it worries me that someone that has some insider status with this team actually believes that. You have to go with the more consistent guy over his career unless the guy completely tanks over a period of several games. If there's a guy that's consistently good available via FA (like DC was a few years ago), then great. If not, and Cundiff has clearly demonstrated that he can't kick high pressure and long FGs, then you stick with what you have and pick up someone out of college with proven capability next year.

If it was their error, and you missed a quarter and a half, call the ticket office and ask for compensation. If that doesn't get you anywhere, try social media posts to the one buffalo page and see where that gets you. If all of that fails, a registered (snail mail) letter to Russ Brandon or Pegula's office is probably your last resort. You don't have to be mean or anything, just tell them what happened and ask them how they would accommodate fans in that situation.

Well it's an interesting question... who is the leader in the locker room? Kyle Williams? Mario Williams? I honestly don't know who it is, and I think that's a problem - no player leadership = the crap we saw on the field today. Taylor has proven to be a capable quarterback but I don't see him emerging as a leader just yet. I understand that people are tired of the bitching about FJ getting cut... but this lack of discipline is exactly what a lot of us were concerned about. Rex has just made it worse.

Who do you replace him with? Gay can't kick FG's to save his life if the preseason is any indication. The Steelers cut their kicker and signed someone that's never played a down in the NFL. By this standard, we should have cut Hughes long ago given how many 15 yard penalties he's committed that have cost us points.

I'll add one other insight - our defenders were going for the strip rather than the tackle on almost every occasion. While I like the aggressiveness, please don't do this unless you have a clear shot at the ball. There were too many occasions where there was no clear play at the ball and yet you saw them trying to pop the ball loose and miss the tackle. 24 hours later and I'm still pissed at the defensive game plan. Rex, please, put your players in a position to succeed. Don't force them into a system where they are destined to underperform.