Luxy312

If Ryan is gone, I'm guessing Roman is gone as well. The team isn't going to magically have the best offense in the NFL because of Roman while the team loses football games. They had some decent offensive showings this year, but nothing earth shattering or dominant in any way. If Roman gets a HC job, it won't be with the Bills. It will be because the team has success next year and Tyrod demonstrates that he can continue to improve under Roman's system. If that doesn't happen, both coaches are done.

I don't know if it's the system or if it's Mario that's making the Bills drop him. He did come out earlier and said he didn't have any interest in restructuring his contract. So by virtue of that alone, either the team is moving on without him or without Glenn and Incognito. The system is fair in that all teams must spend 98.5% or more of the cap or pay it as a penalty. If the NFL went to the MLB's way of allowing teams to spend whatever they want, we would be back to the 80's where there's big money teams that just buy their championship. Not sure I want that. I do suppose that you can blame the Bills front office for giving the contract that they did. Did they jump to a conclusion that they would be able to negotiate their way out of NOT counting Mario nearly $20 million against the cap? If so, stupid on their part. I want to see Mario stay in Buffalo as well, but just not sure how that happens without him coming to the negotiating table.

When it generally involves the death of a human being, I'm softer too. When it involves the death of a human being that beat up his girlfriend, assaulted others, and likely killed someone, I'm not the same. I have zero pity for life's scumbags and no additional pity if one of said scumbags happens to be an NFL player. Anyway, just thought I should clarify there. Phillips was no great contributor to society. I don't feel for him any more than I feel for those two guys trying to rob a convenience store that were shot and killed. I say to the store owner BRAVO. Well done!

He wasted his life. Probably should have been on death row anyway for murder, so this just saves taxpayer money. In 15 years, no one will remember his name.

This will mark the end of the Johnny Manziel experiment, thank goodness.

He's 8-6 as a pro. His college statistics are worthless. Jason White is just one of many good examples of players that had success at the college levels but didn't have the skillset to be a professional.

Pass. Don't need some bible toting virgin on a team trying to "be the bully". 47.9% career completion percentage? Hell no!

Pittsburgh @ Denver: If both teams were healthy, I might pick Pittsburgh. They've been as hot as any team in the NFL. That said, you have Roethlisberger with tendon damage and Antonio Brown still on concussion protocols. DeAngelo Williams likely out as well and you're talking about trying to score against a very good Denver defense at home. My pick is Denver all day. Kansas City @ New England: The Chiefs beat the Patriots in September and have actually split with them in their last 6 games. I give them a fighting chance if they stick to the methodology of trying to hit Brady on every play possible. West has proven to be a capable bruising running back that should be able to move the sticks as well. I want the Chiefs to win this game and prove they belong. That said, the Patriots with Tom Brady are 8-1 coming off of a bye week playing in a divisional playoff game. My pick is the Patriots. Seattle @ Carolina: Most of the self-proclaimed experts have this game being the most likely to be won by the visiting team. To that I say, not so fast. Carolina did nothing but lead the NFL in scoring this year and had the 6th best defense in the NFL to boot. To boot, Seattle should have lost to Minnesota. Let's be honest, if A.P. doesn't fumble, that game probably would have remained one sided and Minnesota would be playing/losing to the Panthers. I don't think Carolina will be intimidated either. While Russel Wilson had 35 TD's this season, Cam Newtwon had 45. I like the Panthers at home. Green Bay @ Arizona: This is perhaps the hardest game for me to pick. Green Bay looked phenomenal in their Wild Card game. Aaron Rodgers looked more like he did last year than the inconsistent performances he's put up this year. Arizona punched them in the face just three weeks ago when Green Bay went there to play. I do not believe we'll see another 3 turnover game from Rodgers like we did then, nor the 9 sacks from the Arizona defense. I still like Arizona in a close game, as I think their receivers are just too good. No upsets for me. New England moves on to lose to Denver. Arizona surprises Carolina at home. Denver wins the Superbowl and Peyton Manning retires a winner.

There is no system, I'll repeat NO SYSTEM, where Mario and or Marcel should be dropping back in pass coverage. Yet it happened on at least one time in every game this season. Mind boggling is an understatement.

No to RGIII for $5 million a year. You don't pay a backup quarterback $5 million a year. You certainly don't pay a backup quarterback $5 million a year when your current starting quarterback just made $2.15 million for the current season ($400K signing bonus, $750K salary, $1M playing time incentive). Instead, you keep EJ on as the #2. He makes less than your starter ($1.62m) in 2016 and he already knows the system. His contract is 100% guaranteed. This means no matter what, they're paying him $1.62m next year before the club option year. To boot, RGIII is a circus show.

Many are saying that you can't compare the two because Berfict is dirty, whereas Hughes just makes mistakes. I'll take a different cut at the OP's question though. Relative to penalties they are relatively the same animal. Whether the Bengals get penalized after Burfict tries to spear a quarterback or the Bills get penalized after Hughes is running his mouth after a sack, they're both 15 yard penalties. Neither I would say is more problematic than the other in terms of the penalties themselves. If you reduce it to simply that, Hughes actually drew more penalties than Burfict for the season, so you would have to say he's more problematic. It breaks down like this before the playoffs: Burfict - 1 Hands, 3 Roughness, 2 Holding. 39 Yards of total penalties. Hughes - 1 Hands, 1 Facemask, 4 Roughness, 2 Unsportsmanlike, 2 Offsides, 4 Neutral Zone. 114 Yards of total penalties. Hughes is a bigger problem giving opposing offenses first downs. Burfict is a potential bigger problem in having to sit out games because he's dirty.

I don't even know about that. The Ravens team he was good before his two year stint and good well after. The 49ers were terrible when he was there as both a positional coach and HC and only improved defensively after he left. They were near bottom in the NFL. Minnesota the same for 2011-2013. I would argue that the fact that he hasn't coached for anyone for the last two years is evident that there's at least 32 other linebacker coaches that were deemed better. It's argumentative, but the stats support my conclusions.

The big question in my mind is whether he'll turn out like a Ditka or a Singletary. Ditka was a pretty good player and turned out to be a great coach for Chicago. Singletary, not so much so. Obviously, here we're talking about a positional coach though so perhaps a possible stepping stone for Reed that could benefit the Bills DB's. I remain cautiously optimistic.

I would love to see the Bills draft either Reggie Ragland or A'Shawn Robinson in the first round. It's quite possible that both are gone by the time that they pick, but many many mock drafts have it as a possibility based on other teams needs. Both would be immediate starters for Buffalo. Robinson would be nasty lined up next to Dareus. Clearly the Bills will need to address the eventual replacement to Mario through free agency or the draft. Ragland is a beast at linebacker and would be an immediate upgrade for the team as well. While they may have a need at safety, I don't see a prospect at that position worthy of a first round pick.

You hit the nail on the head IMO. Other teams will have to ask themselves as well if it's worth it. If a judge starts handing down $1 million judgments to NFL owners, can anyone really say with a straight face that it won't get any consideration in the decision making process? The Jills have been gone now for two years. Whether the Pegulas write a check for damages or just pay ridiculous legal fees to defend themselves, I think Buffalo has seen their last cheerleaders. At this point, it just turns into an attempted legal cash grab.

Great article and write-up. I guess the only one I disagree with is Bradham. I don't think he had all that great of a year last year and can't imagine it gets any better next year. As far as simplifying the defense is concerned, we've already heard Rex allude to the fact that he would be listening to the players in the offseason and making adjustments to his schemes as appropriate. I don't think we're going to see a repeat of Marcel Dareus dropping back into pass coverage, like we saw in some occasions in almost every game this season. For me, it is also a foregone conclusion that the Bills are drafting defense in the first round and maybe again in the second. Without a renegotiation (which he said he wouldn't do), Mario Williams will be gone. There's almost zero probability that the team is willing to take a $19.9 million cap hit, in lieu of $7.0 million cap hit, for a guy with 5 sacks who's seemed to have lost his motor. Nice follow up on Clay 26CornerBlitz. I agree as well with that.

At the end of the day, I don't think it matters all that much how this turns out. So what if they get a settlement like the Raiders cheerleaders? $1.25 million. Sounds great until you realize it covers 90 ladies. To boot, there is NOTHING requiring the Bills to have cheerleaders. They add zero enjoyment to watching NFL games IMO and add about the same to the brand. It's only a matter of time before the NFL cheerleader goes the way of the dodo bird. They're misogynistic, sexist, and just plain past their useful life. Kudos to the Bills, Bears, Browns, Giants, Lions, Packers and Steelers for not having them.

I can agree with this as well. Nothing wrong with getting value for a guy while you still can get it, versus waiting and being handcuffed. We do know that the Bills aren't keeping Mario Williams for a $19.9 million cap hit in 2016, when they can release him and have it be only $7.0 million. He's just one guy, but when you take the top 5-6 guys, you can quickly get to cap savings approaching $30 million. Not chump change. To your point though, if Gilmore isn't part of the plan, then deal him now.

This in a nutshell captures it. Every year, there's numerous idiot fans out there that think the Bills should be in the market for every high end free agent out there, and of course re-sign every player to ridiculous contracts. It's just not realistic. Some of those same people are clamoring to use a high round draft pick on a quarterback to serve as a backup. To what purpose? I'm in no more of a hurry for the Bills to give Gilmore a new deal than I am Tyrod Taylor. Earn it and we'll see what happens. Elite players at some positions make average players at other positions just fine.

The football acumen is significantly lacking here. Remember Kyle Boller? After 5 years, he was OBVIOUSLY not the answer at quarterback. We're coming off of one season with Tyrod at the helm. Whether he's the answer or not is an incomplete story at this point. He was drafted after a 5-11 crappy season from Boller to be the future. The Bills are no where close to the same situation. Joe Flacco may say hello, but I say goodbye to stupid reasoning and a piss poor argument.

Given his propensity to get injured, I would let him play for his contract next year. The downside is that you're giving a guy $11+ million that will count against the cap. If he earns it, you pay him. If he doesn't earn it, you don't. So many fans fail to understand that there isn't one team in the NFL that can choose to be cheap now. The CBA REQUIRES teams to spend roughly 98.5% of the cap. Anything less than that and they pay it as a penalty. So what's the incentive for a team to actually pay less? Nothing. At the end of the day, I like Gilmore. I don't think he's as good as Darby, but he's good.

No way do I waste a second round draft pick on a quarterback when the team has more pressing needs. They will need a DE after Mario leaves. Zero question in my mind that this will be a priority. They need help at linebacker. Buffalo is not very good at that position either. So when I look at the first 2-3 draft picks, I'm not looking for a project. I'm looking for someone that I can put in the lineup right away that will play. As one of the other posters said, maybe a late round pick. A REALLY late round pick for a third stringer. That's about it though.

I don't buy the "scheme complication" argument at all. What stands out to me is Rex believing that his schemes would work no matter what players he has on the field. There were times in EVERY game this year where I watched Mario and or Marcel drop into pass coverage on some switch up just before the snap. I'm sorry if anyone disagrees, but this should NEVER EVER happen. If they are on the field, they should be going at the quarterback or collapsing blocking schemes on every single play. The only guy you might drop into coverage is Jerry Hughes and even that is only on very specific down and distance situations where you need a big guy covering a tight end under the middle. So I'm simply not buying the explanation. Mario had the worst year of his entire career and is likely gone. He's gone because Rex believed that he could turn a pass rushing sack specialist into a zone coverage defensive end. Stupid and stubborn thinking.

Why do fans want to constantly reinvent the wheel when it comes to the quarterback position? Tyrod earned the starting job. The intent going forward is for him to be the starting quarterback. Does New England care that Jimmy Garropolo is the their backup? Are they running out to the draft or free agency because they don't think he's good enough? Of course not. I would sit tight with EJ at this point. He knows his role with the team and wants to be here. The Bills will have a lot of holes to fill going into this offseason. The QB holding the clip board is not one of them.

This in a nutshell. Statistically speaking, turnovers are the #1 most important factor to wins and losses. I've thrown this out there before, but will give it again for the masses. Historically, if a team is +1 in turnovers, they win about 90% of the time. Got to +2 and it's near 95%. +3 or more and it's almost 99%. So a quick look at the Bills wins this season. They were +3, +3, E, +1, +4, +1, E, +2. That's a total of +13 in the turnover battle for their wins. Their losses are a completely different story. They were -1, -1, -1, -3, E, -2, -1, +1. That's -8 in the turnover battle for their losses. This is obviously just looking at one team and one season. However, if you go back and look at the NFL for the last 50 years, my percentages play out.