BuffaloRebound

Sounds right to me. Tells you how bad our QB play was and how good our RB's were.

Someone is gonna give up a lot for Rams pick. Would be shocked if Cleveland doesn't take QB with 1st pick. Surprised people are discounting an offensive lineman with our 1st pick. Could see our 1st round pick coming down to Watkins or Robinson from Auburn.

Not sure what you're point is. There's busts at every position. I'm sure people like McShay try to get info from scouts about what prospects they like, rather than the other way around. Doubt he influences anyone who matters. Arm strength, size, and athleticism, Bortles is very similar to Luck. Manuel got drafted in the 1st round based mostly on upside, and I'd guess Bortles will too.

Only saw him once, but was pretty impressed. Reminded me of Luck from a physical tools perspective. When you factor in the importance of the QB position and the cap friendly rookie contracts, it's foolish not to take a chance on a franchise QB if you don't have one. Gabriel's operating in the past. If anything, taking a chance on franchise-type QB in the 1st round buys a coach more time than he would've had otherwise. If you don't have top notch QB play, your coaching days are numbered. Might as well take a chance on a guy who has the physical tools to be elite.

Extremely impressed by Watkins last night. If Austin from WVU went #8 last year, we'd be lucky to get Watkins at #9, who seems like a much bigger and polished version of Austin. I'd be all for Watkins at #9, best TE available in 2nd, then move back up into the 2nd to get best available QB like Boyd.

Special teams was worse than the offense and that's with the benefit of a kicker signed a couple days before the season opener who had a fantastic year.

36 extra drives is irrelevant since our offense had 36 extra drives as well. Simply the tempo Marrone decided to play at. I was actually trying to defend our defense by pointing out how bad our special teams were. Offense was almost as bad as the special teams. Defense was the only thing preventing Bills from being a 2 or 3 win team.

Defense forced 2nd most punts per game at 5.9. Offense punted the most at 6 per game. Punting teams were horrible. Gave up 5 yards more net per punt than we got, resulting in losing 30 yards per game. Kickoff teams not much better. Opponents had 25 more kickoff returns (they had higher touchback %) and netted 3 yards more than we did per return. That's another almost 5 yards lost due to the kicking team. Special teams cost us 35 net yards per game. Add 35 yards per game to our defensive totals and that drops our defense from 10th overall to 20th.

Not sure if Bills take a QB at #9, but am sure that the QB position needs to be upgraded someway, somehow. Poor QB play is the definition of career suicide in the NFL. See what happened on Monday.

I can buy the not durable thing with Vick, but if we had a decent QB along with Manuel instead of a guy who was cut by Detroit and a guy who has no business being on an NFL roster, we probably would've been playing the final week for a playoff spot.

Doubt an elite QB falls to pick 9. In the likely scenario that one doesn't, I'd try to sign Vick. He's better than any of the QB's on our roster. He supposedly just wants a chance to start and I doubt Manuel would scare him away.

Tank the season for Winston and hire FSU's head coach.

Could see that happening, especially with Cutler being a free agent. Would think re-uniting with Shanahan would be his 1st choice. Shanahan and Cutler definitely an upgrade over Chudzinski and Hoyer/1st rd QB not named Bridgewater.

I agree. They almost have to do this. Would probably go a long way in retaining guys like Byrd. Continuing to give up a home game shows no commitment to winning. Brandon is a complete phony with his 'do everything possible to win' talk if he doesn't dis-continue the Toronto series.

Think the Bills did the right thing going after a QB last year. Think they should do the same this year. It'd be one thing if Manuel tore it up when he actually played, but he didn't. Add to that 3 injuries, including one (Cleveland) where he displayed zero football intelligence, means you have to improve the QB position.

Great post. By 2nd year, there are no more excuses for NFL coaches. Think Marrone is smart enough to realize upgrading the QB position is by far the most important thing that needs to be done. Manuel's capable of improving, but if I were Marrone I wouldn't bet my career on it. If there's a franchise type QB available in Round 1, organization would be foolish to pass.

You're probably right, but I don't think Manuel's injuries can be over-looked. Marrone seems like a no-nonsense kind of guy. Don't think he's gonna waste another year on poor QB play and injuries at that position. Don't think we maneuver to get one, but if one of the top QB's is there in Round 1, I don't think we hesitate to pull the trigger.

Nothing's gonna happen until money changes hands, but you can bet the IRS would be sniffing around once they are sold if Ralph publicly made assurances. If he made assurances that team will only be sold to group that keeps them in Buffalo, he's lowering the selling price. My un-informed opinion is team is sold to Buffalo group once Ralph passes and team plays 2 games in December in Toronto going forward. NFL has too much of a corporate image already. Buffalo, with all its small market warts, is an old school authentic NFL franchise. My guess is that the NFL would prefer keeping the franchise in Buffalo while getting a slice of the Toronto/Canadian market without destroying the CFL and all the negative press that would come with it.

Never suggested that Ralph has a handshake agreement in place, just that the IRS does not take kindly to tax avoidance schemes of that nature.

If Ralph came out and said Bills are getting sold to such-and-such group when I die to calm Bills fans, IRS could deem that sale effectively happened before he died and come after his estate for the capital gains tax.

Agree with this. If IRS found out Ralph had a plan or agreement in place to sell team before he died, they could rightfully come after his estate for the capital gains tax.

Actually, avoiding approximately $150m capital gains tax is the reason Ralph won't sell before he dies. Ralph's heirs get the tax basis of the value of the team ($700-800m estimated) the day he dies, instead of Ralph paying a 20% capital gains tax on his $25k investment if he sells before then. No way to avoid estate taxes.

Don't think there's any way around not playing at least 2 end of season games in Toronto. No need for a dome if there's no December games in Buffalo. Gotta imagine no dome significantly drops the projected cost.

I think it would be very difficult to re-locate a team to a city as close as Toronto is to Buffalo. There would be so much bad will and you're basically eliminating the current Bills fanbase from ever supporting a Toronto team. Safe to say, 80-90% of Bills fans would never support the Toronto Bills, Canadian fans included. Could see a scenario where all post-Thanksgiving home games are in Toronto though.

Didn't read the whole thread. Is there someone in the Rogers family who has the individual wealth to buy the Bills? NFL doesn't allow corporate ownership.