BillsVet

If there are no changes in management, there won't be a change in W-L record next season. Some fans see that. Others see what they want because to them criticism of the team is not what "real" fans do. That is, unless it becomes blatantly obvious said team is bad.

Taylor's got to use the middle of the field or he becomes a one-trick pony similar to Losman. Perhaps it's Rex/Roman not featuring those plays to make up for Taylor's shortcomings as a younger QB, but you become predictable offensively if every pass is short or down the sideline. Gailey tried that with Fitz and it was quickly figured out. You still draft a QB high in 2016 regardless. That goes against Buffalo's previous mantra which preached one guy at a time and hope they develop, but that plan hasn't worked in more than a decade.

Didn't he go rogue?

But this isn't the 1980s anymore. Teams now have free agency and the passing game is easier (with a decent QB) which, among other things, allows teams to rebuild quickly.

I meant Darrell, he of the 40 home run season in 1987 with the Detroit Tigers.

They're using Watkins in a way similar to how Evans was used. I recognize they're two different types of receivers, but what good is it to use Watkins on sideline throws so much? The passing game is predictable and defenses know it. If Taylor can't get Watkins or others the ball over the middle, then the offense struggles. Case in point was KC's stopping Sammy in the second half 2 weeks ago. Or, after the TD catch this past week, Sammy being held to 4 catches and 44 yards.

Cursed? Yes, by bad general managers and head coaches. And before the Pegula's ownership, by financial people who dominated personnel decision making. Put those two things together and you're going to have a NFL franchise that will never be better than mediocre, i.e. 16 non-playoff seasons.

Watkins is fast becoming a 9 route specific WR like Lee Evans was. For Watkins to get the plaudits OBJ does, he needs to be making catches over the middle and getting yards after the catch. Still, I'm not sure he's got the QB who'll be able to do that, which makes me wonder what SW becomes when defenses realize TT's limitations.

This thread reminds me of the following conversation from Dumb and Dumber: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109686/quotes?item=qt0383410

Your crusade to blame fans regardless of the team's W-L record really knows no bounds. Do you still think the team leaves if a few thousand season ticket fans don't renew? Because I'm pretty sure TPegs and KPegs aren't going to let that happen.

The longest playoff drought since 1990 when the league went to 6 team conference playoff format was owned by the Cincinnati Bengals from 1991-2004. Buffalo has them beat now by 2 seasons. And keep in mind, those Cincinnati years featured the owner acting as GM, so there was no firing the front office leader.

It just seems weird posting 80+ times a day and doing all this.

At the press conference in January announcing Rex as HC a question was asked about differences of opinion between the HC and GM. At the time it was sort of laughed off and there was no real answer besides them saying Whaley had the 53 man roster and Rex/staff had the game day one Well, we saw how that arrangement undermines an organization when the GM is trying to overrule the HC in personnel matters. The Pegulas brought this on themselves by trying to manage a GM who was intent on saving his job (and without a contract extension) by getting his guys PT and a HC who didn't agree. Maybe now they'll find someone who can do what apparently they thought they could this year supervising Rex and Whaley.

26CB are you paid to start these threads? And if not, why post them?

I know it's another season, but some homers are attempting to soften the blow of the playoff drought going from 15 to 16 seasons. They'll be back around draft time buying into the hype and telling the other skeptical types that we're only a right tackle or linebacker away. How quickly they forget the season itself when the issues ran much deeper and higher into OBD. If there's one thing with ticket sales it's that they don't matter much to a team's bottom line. Sure, you want to pack a stadium, but sharing of the television contracts is what keeps a lot of teams financially viable. And people will always go to the games because it's a great big party with some football thrown in. They'll probably lose some ST sales because they can't make the big name moves in 2016 like they this did in the past off-season. Then again, what's wrong with this team is in management and it remains to be seen whether they're willing to shake things up there.

It's already been a long 15+ seasons. 1 week is nothing.

The excuse train just pulled into failure station there. They have an intact OL, and aside from Clay, had every skill position player out there today.

If you were building a NFL team, would it begin with finding the QB (if you don't have one) or trying to build all the other pieces first a la Buddy Nix from 2010-12? That's the reason teams draft QB's high and early during a rebuild. Positional value being what it is, getting the QB means more to a team than any other position...by far. And, you're probably going to need time to develop that QB. So, going the route of building the defense first over the QB means if you draft a guy 2 years in, those high defensive picks or other offensive players have expiring contracts when (and if) the QB does develop. The Nix/Whaley rebuild is now into its 6th year. And much of it has to do with not fixing the QB position early in that rebuild. Hopefully TT doesn't go the route of most athlete QBs and becomes their guy. Or else this rebuild will probably go into a 7th or 8th year.

So, Chris Brown sees fit to run this article when Whaley's status is uncertain for 2016? There's no way Taylor's acquisition was driven predominantly by Whaley, who by all accounts, wanted his guy on the field when the coaches didn't. As for Incognito, I'm sure the staff realized upon taking over their run oriented offense depended on better guard play. Whaley didn't do much at guard in 2013-14, so there's a distinct possibility Incognito's signing was Rex and staff as well. Silence on Whaley's job status is deafening.

Words now elude you?

The QB competition this off-season, specifically EJM's week to week status, was very telling. First, Whaley reportedly talked up Manuel during the off-season and in HC interviews. But then camp started and the staff had EJ 3rd on the depth chart. Surprisingly, Rex gave EJ the first scrimmage start, and subsequently remained buried afterward. Yet, for the week 3 pre-season game EJM started despite being the 3rd guy pretty much all of camp. After that game, TT was named starter and Cassel held his spot as the backup until he was traded after week 2. And that trade inexplicably occurred after Manuel was not active in the first and second games. When you connect the dots here I don't think it's hard to see the two sides were using their respective power in an internal tug of war. With this kind of back and forth, the owner has to pick one guy or the other going into 2016. And right now, the guy likely to go is the one not hired by the current owner.

Reporters tend to criticize an organization when they, you know, don't win for years on end. Start getting into the post-season and all that bad press the homer crowd claims pretty much goes away. Why is that hard to understand? And if you think the BN boys show all their cards every time they get a tip, well, you're just plain naive.

This year we've seen a lot of circumstantial evidence of division at OBD, namely the clumsy way Fred was cut (which included Fred publicly saying Whaley wasn't trustworthy). Or, the abrupt Cassel trade which meant Manuel dressed in Week 3 after he sat the previous 2 games. Anyone remember when Rex started Manuel in the first training camp scrimmage? Or in the 3rd game of the pre-season game versus Pittsburgh? This, after Manuel was clearly the 3rd guy. It also wouldn't surprise me if the BN reporters know there are issues, but cannot report the whole truth because doing so hinders their ability to cover the team.

Newsome didn't offer a contract more than what Buffalo offered either. And the Bills' deal wasn't very much, maxing out at 7M if he met all incentives. As for the Broncos, well, he'd be competing against Osweiler when Manning retired. Of course he's not going that route unless that contract was huge, which I doubt. Right. The book on TT hasn't been fully written yet, but he's not played to a level to preclude them from finding another competitor at the position. Depending on him to improve in 2016 is the wrong move. These final 5 games are going to answer some questions, although the right side of the OL probably won't keep him clean tomorrow.

Compare TT's first 3 games to his middle three starts and then his last 3. You'll see that he's regressed considerably over the season in most statistical categories. Games 1-3 (vs IND, vs NE, at MIA) 58-78 74.4% 714 yards 7 TD 3 INT 9.7 yards per attempt Games 4-6 (vs NYG, at TEN, vs MIA) 49-71 69.0% 564 yards 3 TD 1 INT 7.9 yards per attempt Games 7-9 (at NYJ, at NE, at KC) 58-101 57.4% 682 yards 4 TD 0 INT 6.8 yards per attempt Obviously, stats cannot tell the whole story. What is evident is that the more Taylor is asked to throw the ball the worse he gets. There are two questions I have that are becoming answered as the season continues: 1) Why did Ozzie Newsome allow Taylor to leave as UFA for basically NFL QB minimum wage? and 2) Why after 4 NFL seasons apprenticing can Taylor not read defenses and use the middle of the field? He's not a rookie.