Two Bills Drive

'"I look at it this way: I'm the GM of the football operation. I was told by my boss that I would no longer be working with a certain person. My role is not to figure out why. My role is to take that information and go forward and put this organization in the best possible way to win football games. So for me, I did not ask."'

'As soon as the words came out of Whaley's mouth, it sounded almost unbelievable: How could the general manager of a team not know why the head coach was being fired?'

'Much of that, of course, has to do with his health and his usage. Watkins has played in 37 games in his three-year career and he's been targeted 7.4 times per game. Last year, Rex Ryan admitted that his offense needed to do a better job featuring Watkins and when they finally began targeting him more frequently, Watkins' numbers skyrocketed.'

'He had no answers and only created many more questions, particularly with his assessment of Rex. Whaley said he hasn't the first clue why Rex was fired, had nothing to do with Rex being fired and hasn't bothered to think about it since.'

'Whaley went on to say that he assumed no responsibility in Ryan’s hiring in February 2015 and added that he hasn’t “even thought about” if he agreed or disagreed with the former head coach’s firing.'

'Taylor’s benching shows a lack of confidence on the part of the coaching staff and front office. He has an option that the team can pick up in the offseason, which would cost the Bills more than $30 million in guaranteed money. Considering how expensive that is, Buffalo is likely to move on from him.'

'Bush was expected to make an impact with the Bills this season, but saw himself become the odd man out of a crowded backfield which included LeSean McCoy and Mike Gillislee. Bush did find more success in the passing game this year, as he finished with 7 grabs for 90 yards on the season.'

'“We are going to do a fair and compete interview process,” Pegula told me. “He is one of our candidates, but we aren’t going to just hand it over. It wouldn’t be fair to other possible candidates or to Anthony to just assume it’s a fake search.”'

'Whaley was also asked about his relationships with the two previous head coaches he's worked with and why the fans should expect anything different this time around. "Anytime there's something [coach leaves or gets fired" target="_blank"> the automatic thing that people will point to is the relationship between the coach and GM. I have a healthy respect and a professional working relationship with both of those guys [Rex Ryan and Doug Marrone" target="_blank"> so I would disagree with those reports."'

'Taylor has been dealing with a groin injury and said he will get a second opinion later this week. “Hopefully it’s not as bad as they think it is,” he said, adding if surgery is necessary he’d like to get it out of the way as soon as possible so he can be ready for the offseason. “It’s not about the guarantee."'

'Goodwin has been the Cards OC since 2013. Prior to that he was an offensive line coach and assistant coach in other capacities for the Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Chicago Bears in the NFL, as well as Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and Central Michigan in the college ranks.'

'Following this afternoon's end-of-season press conference with General Manager Doug Whaley, reports of potential candidates Whaley will interview for the teams head coaching vacancy continue to funnel in.'

'Teams lie. If that is too harsh or mean spirited then I’ll go with teams don’t tell you the truth(same idea, different phrasing). If there was a lie detector in the room, it would have gone off so many times, the noise would have drowned out the press conference. But that is how the game is played and the Bills are FAR from the only team that conducts business this way.'

'Home: New York Jets, New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders, New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.'

'When asked about what power he has as GM of the team, Whaley slipped a bit here and revealed that the head coach of the team does not answer to him, but rather, Terry and Kim Pegula. That structure is one that goes back to the chain of command point.'