BillsVet

Russ and Berchtold have to be pleased that Whaley's improved so much after his "it's a violent game that I personally don't think humans are supposed to play" comment. After all, he said nothing which required walking back the following day.

There has never been an escape, er, bad marketing plan at Stalag One Bills Drive.

Does that mean Colonel (Klink) Brandon and Sergeant (Schultz) Whaley are there? Goodness I would hope not.

Planted stories all over the place. Who knows if this is an agent calling a media type who regurgitates it. Separating fact from fiction is impossible this time of year.

One of the issues with this team is how they share the responsibilities of the roster. Whaley has the 53 and Rex the game day 46, which was the way it's been since the latter was hired. That arrangement naturally can cause issues, notably when EJM was the 3rd QB to being 2015. Not long after, Cassel was traded to make room so EJM would dress. I say all this because CJ wasn't a ready prospect, and his selection was driven somewhat by this. He wouldn't threaten EJM's roster spot or game-day slot. The very fact a guy like Prescott wouldn't be considered is why the Bills never move forward. They're always in win-now mode and usually have one option for starting QB. When that guy struggles, they're averse to starting someone new, rookie or otherwise. It's a risk-averse mentality that needs to go away.

The timing of the front office versus coaching staff article from Vic was not coincidental either. There's a fire going on behind closed doors and the sides are squaring off. Discussion of Cardale playing is part of the battle going on over there. Yet, those front office people calling for CJ are the same who hadn't found a QB through 4 seasons. TPegs has some tough decisions to make and the media is trying to influence him.

If Buffalo doesn't trade a 4th round pick to move up for Ragland this year, they have a pick to take Prescott. And they were going to take one this year, so it's very possible that he was their guy. Moreover, why is Buffalo trading 2 4th (the other in 2017) to take an ILB? This is the kind of resource management that hurts the team building process. ILB's not named Kuechly or Wagner aren't worth moving up for. In fact, Whaley acquired Zach Brown who's played fairly well and didn't require losing draft picks for. Watching the Bills in continuous rebuild mode is the result of being loose with resources. Trading high draft picks when they're so far from contending (2014) is a prime example. I hope rather than pick Whaley over Rex or vice-versa, TPegs' begins the clean-out now as opposed to wasting another year. A GM who can't identify and acquire a QB in 4 seasons shouldn't get another chance.

If only some fans held their team as accountable as the writers do. Writers are wrong from time to time, but their criticism of the team places them among those who've been more right than the pom-pom waving element of the fan base.

When you make a statement that needs to be walked back the following day about football not being a game for humans, well, that is little different than Billy B. mumbling through a presser. This in an era when concussions lawsuits are so frequent. Giving up on EJM was necessary after 14 games. But they gave him a 15th game last year and he reinforced quite clearly that he can't play. The only reason he dresses is because Whaley traded people away or drafted complete projects to protect his roster status. The Bills with Doug Whaley as GM from 2013-present are 29-31 despite the most resources any GM in club history has had to work with.

Whaley has more years working in an NFL front office than Rex has as a NFL coach. Why does Whaley get more time to learn and Rex doesn't? For the record, I think both of them have demonstrated their (lack of) prowess in their respective positions. I suspect much of the fault lies in the fact fans see Rex and his decisions on game days. Whaley is more behind the scenes, doesn't do well in front of the media, and his decisions aren't as obvious.

4 years apprenticing with a premier organization. Now 26 starts in the NFL. Still can't read a defense, go through progressions, has accuracy issues and we're talking limits. Yes, this is the guy I'd hand over 27M to next season. A guy with limits that doesn't win you games. A guy who sits alone on the sidelines after a 3 and out. And to compare TT in 2015-16 to Peyton in 1998-99 and Eli in 04-05 is absurd. Rules didn't facilitate the pass-happy offenses then which have been in vogue the past 5-8 years. Either way, both Peyton and Eli were better in their second season starting than TT could ever hope to be.

Talking about finding a QB is pointless if the same people are the ones trying to find one. Sometimes good GM's make mistakes at the position, but rarely do they have the rope to miss twice. Advocating for keeping Whaley is essentially doing that and whether or not he was behind TT (I suspect he wasn't given his push for EJM). Moving on to another option indicates people don't know what they're doing. EJ started 15 games and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt he's a bust. TT is now 26 games in and at best not improving. I highly doubt the entrenched leadership will want to move on from TT because it proves they're flailing around. So, if your T/K Pegs, do you hand over the 27M and hope he gets better? Or would it be easier to find a new management to make that decision.

If Doug Whaley were GM in larger market I doubt very much if he'd survive 4 seasons without a playoff appearance. His biggest issue has been an inability to find a QB. He tried with EJM and it didn't work. Ozzie Newsome whiffed on Kyle Boller years ago, had McNair for 2 seasons, then drafted Flacco. Point is, the team is treading water. They're not getting better and they're not getting worse. Meanwhile, players are aging, contracts are closer to expiring, and they've spent a ton of money on UFA's. To be essentially an average team for 3 years running isn't good enough. I get people are going to blame Rex, but he's been more responsible for which identity this team wants to be. Part of that is Whaley's chameleon approach to team building. He changes every year or so and leaves them right back where they started. I also understand that Whaley hasn't been able to pick a HC and I don't think it's a coincidence he hasn't been close to Marrone or Rex the way John Schneider (who was picked by the HC) is with Pete Carroll in Seattle.

Advocating for the drafting of a WR to presumably replace Woods on this team is Millen-esque.

I wish I could formally like this post. It succinctly speaks to the issues facilitating the playoff drought. The issues plaguing this team go higher than individual players and coaches. T/K Pegs must now be willing to make the hard decisions to address these factors (save for Brady of course).

When the wrong coaches are consistently hired, the wrong players consistently drafted/signed and the results are the same at some point fans need to adjust their ire onto senior management. Who hires the HC? Who is promoting the GM? Who is advising the new(ish) owners on making this team a winner on the field? If the franchise goes this long without winning it's time for changes beyond cursory stuff like going to a 4-3, finding a better safety or improving the WR group. It's time the Pegula's begin the front office overhaul they have avoided like the plague since purchasing the team 2+ years ago. It's time to for the Pegula's or those they hire to review this team and clear out the remnants of the RW years. Anything less and the result remains the same for more years.

Think T/K Pegs feel the same way? Satisfied with 6-8 wins this season, after an 8-8 last year and 9-7 in 2014? Doubtful. RW owned teams won 6-7 games per without spending the money T/K Pegs do to get 8-9 wins. Beating bad to mediocre teams and getting blasted by good ones is the story of this team going back the duration of the playoff drought. And there's no way they win out and win 10 this season. Not happening. 8-8 no more, right?

Jobs hopefully are on the line and there's no way Rex or Whaley play the guy who hasn't dressed since the pre-season in any of these games. They also can't show anything less than loyalty to the QB who A) Rex pushed for in 2015 and B) the guy Whaley gave this contract to. Put yourself in Whaley and Rex's shoes: if they go 8-8 there's a shot they return. Starting Cardale or EJM make it likely they're no better than 7-9. And that's a regression in the W-L column from last season.

It's pure luck the Raiders went from 3 wins in 2014 to being a high playoff seed in 2016. All luck. Reggie McKenzie keeps spinning the roulette wheel and coming up lucky almost every time. How many QB's did this team pass in from 2011-2014 that are now playing pretty well now?

Trying to win with running the ball and tough defense can work. If the time machine goes back to the 1980s or earlier. The model has little to no margin for error.

Isn't it the GM's job is to anticipate roster challenges and address them before they get out of hand? Was it hard for Whaley to look down the roster and see they were thin at WR back in April? I guess he didn't know that Watkins had a bad foot leaving only Robert Woods as a reliable WR on the roster. I guess he just couldn't have known that the others wouldn't fare much beyond their track records as poor options. I guess he expected types like Marquise Goodwin, Jarrett Boykin or raw rookies like Kolby Listenbee to be able to shoulder the load. It doesn't matter that they're a run first team. Every single NFL offense needs more than a banged up Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, and Charles Clay (the new invisible man) to generate some passing yardage. The WR position was a mess during the off-season, remained so in camp, and got worse (predictably with Watkins' injury) and somehow it's not the GM's fault. Doug Whaley is truly the teflon GM. Never responsible for the roster or accountable (to some) for the W-L record, which is 29-30 at the end of his 4th season as GM. And of course, zero playoff appearances. Somehow it's always someone or something else at fault for his team.

Understood and agreed. I'm not betting on it happening though if the same management team remains in place. Their jobs, one would hope, are certainly on the line in 2017. Drafting a QB doesn't get them closer, but that's for another day.

Whaley and more recently Rex have proven quite well they can be league average. So far, they're not losing with TT, but they're not winning enough either. The teams advancing to the post-season are doing it with better QB play and I'm not seeing enough from TT that he can lead this team to a 10+ win season. It seems the Bills are content with a guy until he proves he can't play. Then they begin the search anew, hoping to find someone during which time they struggle. If TT can't get the job done, someone should be there waiting to get a chance. If the front office is unwilling to do that, it's imperative to find someone who'll stop playing office politics. You're not enamored with the non-threatening pick, Cardale Jones? The guy drafted specifically because he was a classic project and wouldn't threaten EJ's place on the roster or TT's place as a starter.

The league has changed considerably since Rypien was a starting NFL QB. Roughing and PI calls have dramatically altered how defenses can play. It's opened the game up and facilitated QB success much earlier. As for Kaepernick, his inaccuracy has relegated him to being far less effective today than he was in 2012-13. The point of this thread is that TT has not improved all that much from 2015. Before All-22, people would blame the play-calling, but it's clear this falls on the QB who doesn't trust himself to make throws in tight windows. People wanted to see something, but he's largely the same guy (in the 2nd year of this system) that he was in 2015. The days where it took 2+ seasons for a QB to develop are over.

It's more like paint by numbers. They tell him which color to use and he does it. I really don't think he trusts what he sees. Others have mentioned the throw to Clay along the sideline. He threw that pass far too late (Clay wasn't in stride) and while it ended up as a DPI, the play could have been bigger. Then again, he's the guy who in last year's KC game fit it between the CB and S deep to Watkins.