2020 Our Year For Sure

Over the cap has us at 11.8m in cap space. Not an issue.

What makes Hogan a perfect fit for them? It seems an awkward marriage to me, considering how important RAC yards are for them and how mediocre he is in that department.

I think we'll beat them in Foxborough. Rex has a strong track record against crappy quarterbacks because he takes away the run, and varies his defenses, causing confusion against the pass. His teams ride the emotional roller coaster rather than staying even-keeled and consistent and I think we'll get hyped that week and win. But yeah they own the division

EJ is really bad. I'm all for upgrading at the game's most important position. Plenty of cap room and it's not my money.

I would be surprised, personally. First Flacco, and now Tyrod, they seem to be all about betting on themselves. He is at most one good season away from the monster deal.

There's a difference between a 'Cassel lover' and someone who thought it didn't make sense to cut him. I thought the Chiefs were stupid for getting Cassel, I thought the Vikings were stupid for getting Cassel, I thought the Bills were stupid for getting Cassel. Yet once they got him I figured what is the sense in cutting him as long as you're not 100% sure what you have in Tyrod/EJ? There were a LOT of debates about whether Cassel should ultimately be cut, or not. I think that may be why some are remembering a Camp Cassel and others are not. I actively said 'I think Cassel stinks but there's no point in cutting him.' But of course we have to group people into 1 of 2 parties, we can't let them just have the opinion that they have.

Not just the bolded but your entire post, well freakin said. Particularly being that you're a Roman supporter, I give you big ups for your objectivity. FireChan keep #scoopin

Whoa you did it!!! Thank you so much man, super cool of you. That was kinda my suspicion, that it was probably done a real long time ago. Much respect

You can make assumptions and generalizations all you like, that's your right. But you'll never find a fan who in reality would support firing coaches quickly as an actual strategy. If you hire a poor coach then you only make things worse by leaving him in place and turning over more and more personnel for him each season. The sooner you move on from a mistake the faster your franchise can right the ship. It comes down to your evaluation of Rex. Yours is different than mine I am sure. It's interesting because the point you bring up about the lack of practice time, which I like to call the death of the padded practice, makes me less accepting of Rex rather than more accepting. He's trying to implement exotic schemes as you say without any time to do it. With seemingly infinite checks and re-alignments before the snap in an era where the snap comes faster than ever. Many times last year they couldn't even get the defensive playcall in on time, the offense would be lining/lined up and the defense would have their hands in the air like "what are we doing coach?" All this in an era where players are freelance mercenaries moreso than ever-- guys are getting the big paycheck and then running for the hills of retirement while they can still physically run. Not only do they have less incentive than ever to buy in but rosters are turning over faster than ever. And this guy coaches his defense like its 1975 and he's going to have the same 11 starters for a decade. Not to mention, its a passing league yet he plays run & stop the run. Its a scoring league, yet when we get the ball at the end of the 1st half we're more committed to using all of the time than we are to scoring a touchdown. Everything Rex does seems like it would've worked better some time in the past. And lo and behold, his results reflect exactly that.

I don't find any of these things arbitrary or irrelevant. How could it be irrelevant that no coach of this era has been bad for 5 straight years and then won a Superbowl? Other side of the coin, how could it be irrelevant that playoff coaches struggled in their first season? Thanks for bringing the latter info to the table, dude.

That's why Karlos went tub tub, he's the new RT.

You sunk my battleship.

No but its real close! Thanks for the info, I'm genuinely curious.

I hope JohnC responds to this topic. I also wonder when is the last time someone was a HC for 5 straight non-winning seasons, then went on to win a Superbowl.

"I know we'll lead the league in defense. That's just the way it is." -Rex Ryan

"It's hard to score touchdowns in this league."

I'm pumped for that Daredevil / Jessica Jones team-up. Both those shows were shockingly good I thought, wasn't expecting much and got blown away.

I'm Ko Simpson and I'm worth millions !

It's important to have good corners, not necessarily Gilmore. Rex didn't specifically have Gilmore when he went to the AFC Championship. The Bills signed two free agent CBs this year and added a draft pick they claim to be excited about, plus still have Mario Butler and Nickell the nickel. And Darby may or may not already be better than Steph. Further, even if the the above doesn't work out and they do need to draft a CB, they'll have the extra draft pick to do it with. Now rather than the 'two CBs for the price of one' that everybody is so excited about, we'll have two CBs for the price of zero. CB is one position I have some faith that both the front office can get the right player, and the coaching staff can develop him. And again if Seymour or one of the two FAs or Butler works out, now you have extra draft picks to use other places, plus dodge the bullet of a big contract with big guarantees for a player you don't need. and therefore can be more aggressive in free agency. Understood that this system is very demanding on corners, but the Bills have one good one in Darby and a plethora of other options which include a rookie they're over the moon about. I'm not pounding the table to trade him but its debatable IMO.

Can't wait to see that kid in this offense. Giddy-up!

I hope it works man. I just want to win! As we all do. It just seems like the offense is more limited with these coaches than is necessary with these players. But the future doesn't exist, we will see what unfolds. Great advice I saw you give to someone the other day, E, about meditation. That Gautama was on to something. Powerful stuff right there.

I do think Tyrod has that but don't expect to see his full potential under this coaching staff. They don't allow him to push, and expand, his boundaries.

Do you not allow even a possibility that Rex and Roman share a run-first philosophy? One is the most accomplished run game coordinator in football, the other is the coach who made 'ground and pound' famous. When talking on the macro level about the overall philosophy of the offense, I think it's disingenuous to completely separate Rex from Roman. By all appearances they are 100% on the same page. Roman's resume by the numbers: 2011: 26th in yards, 11th in points 2012: 11th in yards, 11th in points 2013: 24th in yards, 11th in points 2014: 20th in yards, 25th in points Of course the most important statistic is WINS and SF enjoyed plenty of those, but his resume does nothing to dispel the notion that he's reliant on great defense and that there are better, more balanced offensive coaches out there. He's no Nate Hackett though to be sure. Though it would be a shame to pass on elite QB play if that opportunity were in front of us, no? His shortcomings you speak of, I don't see how Roman can be completely separated from that either. Aaron Rodgers came out of one of the simplest passing games imaginable in college and went into a cocoon in Green Bay's 'quarterback university'. After 4 years a future-Hall-of-Fame butterfly emerged, capable of spreading the field and dominating week in and week out. If Aaron Rodgers were playing for the Bills he wouldn't know how to spread the field and dominate a game, he'd know how to act as an accessory to a great run game.

But only being able to do it that one way, run to pass, limits the offense's upside. They can't become a truly elite offense, capable of carrying a mediocre defense to a championship, because of this limitation. A running team is always reliant on great defense and ball control, and Rex and Roman are together in part because they share that limited vision of an offense. If we gave Mike McCarthy or Josh McDaniel or Bruce Arians Tyrod, Watkins, Clay and Woods would we still be forced to run-to-pass every single week regardless of opponent? It means we're trying to grind out close wins every game when maybe we could simply dominate some teams (we do have a WR that no corner on earth can cover). It also means that if the defense fails, there's no recourse, we can't keep up and we lose. Why are we happy to limit ourselves like that? I'm not 'anti running the ball' in the least, the ability to help a QB and to wear a defense down is incredibly valuable. But this offense could be better with a more versatile playbook and more aggressive mentality. Considering our personnel I don't think it unfair to ask for a balanced, versatile attack. Maybe Roman has just been waiting his entire career to unleash his new take on the run n shoot? I won't hold my breath but there's always hope. Very interesting. I hope you're right but somehow I don't see Rex and Roman as the evolutionary type.

You trade an elite running game for an elite passing game in today's league. I don't think the Bills are in a position to do that because their passing game is too limitd to develop a great quarterback. If all he's ever asked to do is run play action and some high low concepts that's all he'll be able to do. How do you learn to spread the field and dominate the game when the coach doesn't go there Look at Sean Payton. He can win with power run and he can win a completely different way as well. His run game is plus and yet his passing game is every bit as versatile and effective. I can't say the same about our guy.