2020 Our Year For Sure

This is the first post in the thread that was anything less than 100% about football:

When you respond to pure football posts with inflammatory personal attacks, it takes the discussion in a most unfruitful direction. Everything is connected.

You are the TBD version of a filibuster. I am loathe to write a post like this, I'm here to talk about football and nothing else. But you've carried on now and for 3 pages you've said nothing. Either talk shop or let the adults do so, I beg of you. There are other threads to post in if you just like seeing your writing. People were sharing purely football opinions before you attempted in vain to discredit those legitimate takes. Can we just discuss the issues football without personal nonsense like the quote above, Mr. Filibuster?

Well said, Cray. Nobody is on a so-called death march just for the heck of it. Nobody is on a so-called death march due to any personal reasons. Rex is a fun character and seemingly a decent human being who we are ALL rooting like hell for. However, opinions have been formed on his head coaching acumen based on watching Rex Ryan coach a division rival for 7 years plus the loaded roster that made up the 2015 Bills. Many Bills fans simply demand an adaptable coach who can build and sustain a winning program. Many fans produce well-reasoned arguments in favor of Rex, which is quite valuable to the discussion. OTOH sometimes an optimistic fan will look to circumvent the discussion by crying subjectivity.

Ground and pound is the philosophy both Roman and Ryan have separately used for their entire careers. Roman is a virtual genius of a run game coordinator with less creativity and variation in his passing game than on the ground. The above is not even debatable. This is why these two coaches see eye to eye and were so enthused to team up. They share and have always shared the same philosophy to win a football game. The Bills burned enormous resources acquiring Sammy Watkins and Charles Clay, both moves I applaud. Antonio Brown's targets this year doubled that of Watkins. Brown's teammate Martavis Bryant also saw more targets per game than did Watkins. Clay signed for just under 40 million total and produced 40 yards per game. Both players were criminally under used in this offense. The Bills were 31st in passing attempts and 28th in yards, despite tying for 6th in yards per pass play and doing well to limit turnovers. Again, 6th in yards per pass. 28th in yards, 31st in attempts. If you think these coaches are itching to divert from their career long trend, I truly regret to inform you you're flat out deluding yourself.

I'm also adverse to the idea of playing in the elements on the road and being at a disadvantage because we're a soft dome team like the Colts, falcons and saints. We're the Buffalo Bills for cryin out loud, when it's too tough for them its just right for us.

This time next year the Bills fanbase will be far more excited and optimistic, for one reason or another.

As long as it's not a dome, I'm good.

You keep saying this but there is an obvious reason...lower cap hits for the rest of his contract.

Great post. Lots of truth.

I hear you. Clearly Roman is adept at helping quarterbacks play pretty well...kap, Alex Smith, now our Tyrod. A question that's been floating around in my head is can he get a qb to elite. If Aaron Rodgers spends all those years under Roman instead of in Green bay does he ever become league MVP. I've heard Keith Hernandez say that for a guy to become a star he sometimes needs his coach to treat him like a star. I don't know the specifics of developing a qb so, like you, I really wish dilfer had elaborated.

I love the idea of a full-time international team, seems like a lot of fun. It'd be cool to have a division rivalry with a team in Prague or something. I don't see the problem.

Sweeeeeet

Interesting. It was easy to spot this kind of thing happening at times.

Thanks for the exchange of ideas boys, you both raise good points. God bless the Buffalo Bills. I meant to quote you too 3rd & 12

Man that video sure is fun to watch. Almost intoxicating.......

That is truly a good point. It'd be nice to have another threat in case Samuel is out. Can I ask what the meaning is of all the "weapons?" I'm confused there.

Good to hear from you E-Dog. This year the injuries were to the skill positions and we got fairly lucky up front. Who knows where the bug will strike next year? I don't think we desperately missed Harvin. Sixth in yards per pass play and tied for 5th in limiting interceptions, our pass game was pretty darn efficient. This was with Tyrod in the chaos of starting his first games, with EJ Manuel starting two games, and again with a rash of injuries at skill positions. In the Chiefs game in which Sammy caught 6-158yds-2TDs in the 1st half, there was absolutely nothing the Chiefs could do to stop him. He caught passes with two and three defenders around him. Inexplicably, his only target in the 2nd half was an incomplete deep ball on 2nd & 14. We were winning at halftime by throwing into double coverage to Sammy Watkins, and when we refused to keep doing so, the offense sputtered and we lost. Watkins had 96 targets this year. I randomly looked up Antonio Brown...he had 193, more than double! Brown's teammate, Martavis Bryant was brought up earlier in the thread. He too saw more targets per game than Sammy Watkins. Charles Clay- tough to cover for those LBs and safeties, and arguably the BEST run after catch TE in the NFL. The $50M Man this year had 40.6 yards per game. This, along with both his receptions and targets, was the lowest mark in his three seasons since becoming a full-time starter. If our passing game is already one of the most efficient in the NFL, but the volume simply isn't there to feed the weapons we have to their full potential, what is the sense in adding more weaponry to under-use? Say what you want about Woods (not an outstanding WR overall), he's a quality run blocker. When they motioned a WR in toward the line to block he was often the guy. Do you remember this spectacular play? It shouldn't be overlooked when you're 2nd in the league in rushing attempts and 31st in passing attempts. A team like the Bills loses something when they remove a player like Woods from the field (though he could still be 3rd receiver). I'm never against seeing the Bills get better, I just see little reason to consider WR a real need. OL on the other hand is vital to a coordinator like Roman having success. I look there and I see Cordy Glenn. The rest are short-term answers, a question mark in Miller and a hole at tackle. I'm very much in favor of building a team specifically designed for its coaches (and never would have allowed Roman to enter the season with only Henderson and Kouandjio at RT). This is the way to maximize the coaching staff's potency. To me, with Roman in charge, its more important to build depth on the O-line, to maintain the line and get ready for guys leaving, and try to improve up front, than it is to add a speedy perimeter player the coach will under-utilize.

True, it was better at the end.

We're already good at throwing the ball and don't do it much anyway. Again, skill positions are already the best part of the offense.

I gotta tell ya Kirby, the idea of drafting a WR before any offensive lineman literally made my stomach churn. Skill positions as a group are already the strongest part of the offense, even while the line is the most critical part. A run-first offense can always afford to put a slightly lower priority on WR/TE. We were 31st in pass attempts this year, 28th in passing yards, yet tied for 6th in yards per pass play. The effectiveness is there, we just don't throw the football. Meanwhile, two things: 1. Roman might be the best 'run game coordinator' in the NFL, and 2. the only major ingredient missing from Roman's NFC Championship offenses is a dominant power run line. The only run blocker we have who one could make the case approaches "elite" is currently a free agent. Nineteenth on 3rd downs...remember all the 3rd and 1 or 2's we threw incomplete deep balls and punted? That's not a Greg Roman offense at full power. I'm interested to hear the logic behind the assertion that WR is a must-add and a higher priority than OL. Much respect, thanks.

I hope you're right, brother in blue.

It's worth noting that Pettine came in and ran a one-gap 4-3, after coming from Ryan's staff. He even played a rookie Mike linebacker who is really an OLB in order to do this, because he recognized the Bills defense would perform at its best if the DL was free to wreak havoc. This is why our pass rush was drastically better and turnovers way up as compared to Rex. Other side of the coin Rex' D was a lot better against the run.