John Clayton: Bills "Regressed" in the Offseason

[Big Turk]

Meh. His argument is that the Bills had a bad season on defense and then let go or lost Mario, Bradham and McKelvin and only added minimum wage free agents. Those points are valid. But he failed to mention that they were able to get long term contract in place to keep 2 quality players (Incognito and Glenn) and keep their O-line together. They also tagged Gilmore so he can't leave and are working to keep him. They have Taylor going into his second season as starter and they will hopefully have their RBs and WRs healthy this year. They also added some quality prospects in the draft. I don't agree with him that they Bills are one of the teams that regressed the most this offseason. I think it was another lazy shot at the Bills from Clayton.

Did he not mention we drafted 3 day 1 starters on defense that actually fit the defense we want to run??

[26CornerBlitz]

I believe there were only 2 or 3 active NFL players with more sacks then Mario during the 3 year stint of 2012-2014.

 

The guy was good in 2012, very good in 2013, and GREAT in 2014. 2015 not so much, but who on this front 7 was in 2015?

 

Throwing Mario under the bus is a way for Bills fans to make an excuse for Rex and have hope for the 2016 season. Some of it is deserved and some of it isnt.

 

Fair enough. That analogy is actually a good one.

 

Throwing him under the bus? With his pathetic effort last season, he should consider himself lucky that it would only be a bus. As an overpaid malcontent from last season, Mario is addition by subtraction so he doesn't have an opportunity infect the locker room with his bitching and moaning.

 

You choose to be stuck in 2015 as a miserable purveyor of BBFS with just about very single post on TSW. Revel on!

 

The Bills did a lot of good things in the offseason whether you acknowledge it or not and that is the reason for a certain level of optimism for the upcoming season. Go Bills!!

Edited May 13, 2016 by 26CornerBlitz

[Jauronimo]

I expect the defense to improve as we get more pregnant. Last season, it was obvious to most fans that we just weren't pregnant enough. Although we lost Mario, Bradham and McFumbles I expect the defense as a unit to improve with players suited to Rex's scheme, who buy in, and most importantly, are ready and excited for maternity. Ragamuffin and Kazaam will have little problem stepping in for 2015 Mario and Bradham.

 

On the offensive side, I think theres a better argument for regression. We lost Hogan and Harvin, which isn't that significant, but it remains to be seen if we have anyone on the roster ready to step up and be a viable 3rd WR. Hopefully Listenbee can get on the field and take the top off the D like Harvin was doing early in the year and Salas or one of these other mutants can be our new Kwik E Mart. Our O-line remains mostly intact with lingering questions at RT.

 

In conclusion, our offense is looking about the same as last season while our defense is starting to show, however, Ryan & Ryan Attorneys at Law have a history of miscarriage.

[ChevyVanMiller]

I'm pretty sure that John Clayton has regressed the past few off-seasons, too.

[Big Turk]

 

Throwing him under the bus? With his pathetic effort last season, he should consider himself lucky that it would only be a bus. As an overpaid malcontent from last season, Mario is addition by subtraction so he doesn't have an opportunity infect the locker room with his bitching and moaning.

 

You choose to be stuck in 2015 as a miserable purveyor of BBFS with just about very single post on TSW. Revel on!

 

The Bills did a lot of good things in the offseason whether you acknowledge it or not and that is the reason for a certain level of optimism for the upcoming season. Go Bills!!

To be paid 1.25 million per game and give that effort is an astonishing lack of professionalism.

Edited May 13, 2016 by matter2003

[BillsVet]

Roman was not unknown and Taylor is now experienced. I'd rather have a quarterback that produces and has become known because of that than one like EJ who is known because he doesn't produce.

 

TT was in an offense last year that shielded him from doing the things he'll absolutely be forced to do this year. Like make the throws over the middle or be more than a 1 read QB. I remembering hearing in November that by that point 65% of his throws were near the sidelines. No one's giving him that anymore, but if he can start doing these things then they've certainly got a chance to sneak up on teams.

 

Yes, Roman is a known entity and probably the best OC they've had this millennium. But in his final year with SF having a very talented team he wasn't as successful as 2012 or 2013. And much of that occurred because the QB wasn't as good as when he was a lesser known quantity. Keep in mind, those SF teams had excellent defenses as well. I think Kaepernick was 27-15 as starter in 2011-2013. Then went 8-8 in 2014 as teams adjusted to the read-option previously was hard to defend.

[boyst]

 

Weak points? Tell us again how Fitz would start over Jameis Winston and Blake Bortles.

 

Mario is a great football talent who has played at the Pro Bowl level sometimes in his career, but he has always had inconsistency and effort issues. All Pro... Never has been and never will be.

shifting goal posts? No. That's changing subjects entirely.

[Freddie's Dead]

Around the NFL, Mario is still seen as a force who had a down year along with the rest of the Bills D. We know differently, but nobody besides us looks at it that closely. We lost some significant pieces on both offense and defense. Before we drafted Reggie and Shaq, our LB and DE depth chart had Bag O'Footballs and his brother Sack as one of the starters. We had a terrific draft to fill most of those D holes, it remains to be seen if our dumpster-diving was successful at filling the others. On offense, we didn't really address the right side of the OL or WR. Outside Sammy and Bobby, the O'Football family is penciled in again as WR depth. We need Dez and Mushb to step up big. RG and RT are still huge question marks, so again the dumpster-diving had to be successful. Only time will tell.

[26CornerBlitz]

Around the NFL, Mario is still seen as a force who had a down year along with the rest of the Bills D. We know differently, but nobody besides us looks at it that closely. We lost some significant pieces on both offense and defense. Before we drafted Reggie and Shaq, our LB and DE depth chart had Bag O'Footballs and his brother Sack as one of the starters. We had a terrific draft to fill most of those D holes, it remains to be seen if our dumpster-diving was successful at filling the others. On offense, we didn't really address the right side of the OL or WR. Outside Sammy and Bobby, the O'Football family is penciled in again as WR depth. We need Dez and Mushb to step up big. RG and RT are still huge question marks, so again the dumpster-diving had to be successful. Only time will tell.

 

What significant player on offense was lost?

[boyst]

 

 

Show me the posts where someone said Williams was better than Watt. Never remembering anybody saying he should be MVP either. As usual you are full of sh*t.

I am too lazy to search. But it was said but it was awas said by many. And thanks. I could give two ***** for what you think... which is two more than you're opinion would be worth.

 

See , if you refute me I don't care. So save your time and don't bother.

[Tenhigh]

in 10 years + I haven't been pessimistic. This goes back to losman era at the most recent

Thus your absence to the list....

[boyst]

Thus your absence to the list....

i've drank more koolaid in the last however many years it's just been crazy. i supported every quarterback we have had, looked at the silver lining in every situation. its actually frustrating for me that i cannot be optimistic.

[FireChan]

Expert predicts the Bills won't be good. Called an idiot. Bills miss the playoffs. Rinse and repeat.

[John from Riverside]

I am too lazy to search. But it was said but it was awas said by many. And thanks. I could give two ***** for what you think... which is two more than you're opinion would be worth.

 

See , if you refute me I don't care. So save your time and don't bother.

I cannot remember one post ever that said Mario Williams was better the Watt

Expert predicts the Bills won't be good. Called an idiot. Bills miss the playoffs. Rinse and repeat.

Do you really take much stock in what the "experts" say?

 

We are not missing the playoffs because the "experts" say so......

[3rdand12]

We will never know how much better last year's defense would have been if its best player decided not to quit on his team. Not only on the field, but just as importantly, in the film room and practice as well.

 

But hey, I am totally fine with our best player quitting as long as he dislikes the coach as much as I do.

 

GO BILLS!!!

Thats kinda deep K-9.

If i did not know better , i might think were being a smart aleck.

But I do know better !!

[Bill from NYC]

The only numbers that dropped for Dareus and Hughes were sacks. Their tackles and assists were similar to 2014 (Hughes - from 54 to 52; Dareus - from 49 to 51).

 

Mario? From 42 to 19. He deserves every bit of crap he's taking from Bills fans.

 

Bradham, by the way? Went from 104 to 57.

 

Preston Brown's numbers went up, from 109 to 117.

What matters in this conversation really isn't Mario (imo). The Bills went down more than 60% in sacks with mostly the same players because of a sub-par coach who should be fired. 60%!!!!!!!

I wonder how many times this has happened to any team, ya know?

Edited May 13, 2016 by Bill from NYC

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

 

Weak points? Tell us again how Fitz would start over Jameis Winston and Blake Bortles.

 

Mario is a great football talent who has played at the Pro Bowl level sometimes in his career, but he has always had inconsistency and effort issues. All Pro... Never has been and never will be.

First team all pro 2014

 

Second team all-pro 2007, 2013

 

SN all pro 2008

 

So the post asserting otherwise never has been and never will be correct

 

 

Edit- also to stay on point, I get how Clayton got to his conclusion 'on paper'. It's extremely defensible given the uncertainty of rooks. If they both bust and a few stars get injured, it might be a 30th ranked defense

Edited May 13, 2016 by over 20 years of fanhood

[Dopey]

The flipside is that Mario didn't play well, Ragland is an upgrade over Bradham and the QB is growing in the 2nd year in the offense.

I find it hard to say a rookie is an upgrade over Bradhah. Ragland is new to the system on top of being a rookie. As for Mario, it's also too early to say Shaq is an upgrade. He too is a rookie who has to pick up a new scheme. Plus we have a rookie we are kinda counting on at nt to produce quite a bit. On the flip side, we were pretty bad last year on d and things probably can't get much worse. Too early to call for the whole team. I think we are top 10 on offense next season, but still have issues on d. Sure the rooks seem to fit, but they are rookies and new to the defense.jmo

[section122]

Around the NFL, Mario is still seen as a force who had a down year along with the rest of the Bills D.

I think his 8 million dollar contract says otherwise. It has all the markings of a prove it deal. I think a lot of teams were scared off by doing their research on him. Pass rushers always get paid. Olivier Vernon got 15 Mario couldn't even get 10.

[truth on hold]

He's right. Like I said before the season rests on the shoulders of 3 unproven rookies on defense. That's a lot to ask

Edited May 13, 2016 by truth on hold