Never NEVER Give-up

No way Marrone would share any power/credit with Kelly. He can keep Hackett in his place and Saint Doug will get credit for all of it.

Agreed! (rare) Bump up Matty Ice after Sunday's game - if he stays consistent, Carr is on the cusp, would have been nice to see him in a playoff game to confirm his slotting on the list.

Back to the original post - - the answer is anyone who failed to make the playoffs as Taylor is better than anyone they have. It's ironic. We know he's not Brady, but neither is anyone else. If we can keep him we should. And we should also work to find the long term answer (draft a QB annually). Whoever was the mastermind of the contract screwed this up. They were expecting him to be either great or horrible - well he's on an average team with an average record. So what do they do? Frankly, they cannot afford to lose him as he is the best we've had in years. If nothing else he is a good game manager and anyone else will result in us winning even fewer games next year. That said, in order to keep him, there needs to be a salary purge so we can afford to sign/re-sign guys that will allow the salary puzzle to work. I don't envy the task facing Whaley/McD, but only they can figure it out and if TT is gone, they need an excellent plan B in place.

Let the butt-kissing begin!

He wasn't getting enough air time. Yikes! He's boor and was only interesting because of the personality difference with Golic. By himself? It won't last - likes to hear himself talk too much!

Video: http://buffalonews.com/2017/01/12/video-doug-marrone-not-pleased-asked-hed-leave-jaguars-like-bills/ Ouch! Love the question, caught him completely off guard . . . .

Herein lies the problem, they feed off each others stories as if the previous one were true, therefore, before very long EVERYONE says it's a dumpster fire and Whaley is difficult to work with. These guys don't know jack. Re: Coughlin - Terry wanted his consultation last year. The Bills haven't contacted him this year for the coaching job. Obviously Whaley isn't interested in working with him at this point. Maybe because he's 70 and he wants a long term coach? Vic has no idea, he's just projecting and speculating. Re: A-Lynn - Vic says he may no longer be interested, but he's set to interview this weekend. Re: all candidates. Once they are invited in, they will probably accept the invitation. Then they can ask Doug & Jim and the Pegulas all the questions they want about the 'dumpster fire' and Whaley being 'difficult'. When they are all comfy with each other, that is the guy they will hire.

Forget stats and strength of schedule - we had 5 divisional losses and were a Jacoby Brisset (sp) away from 6. That turns 7-9 into 11-5 (if we count sweeping the Fish & Jets as we should have done)!

I agree because Rex's Defense is heavily reliant on DB play. However, it is also supposed to be such a great scheme it can overcome deficient talent. If it can't, then he also failed to adjust and put his players in position to succeed. Bottom line, letting him go was the best move. I just hope the next few moves help us. HC and drafting a QB, Safety and WR and on and on and on . . .

You're right. He's just reporting on something he knows nothing about. . . . from a business perspective for both the Bills and Sabres. Sheeesh!! Nothing like twisting what is said and projecting it into in-coherency. Agreed - an easy target. Everyone's trashing the Bills thinkin/saying, "I need to say something too, so I'll lob another log on the fire even though I have no idea what I am talking about." First line, see my last comment above. Clemson game - he sure did go. If he knew he was going to be fired, why not move it up a week so he can go to his kid's game. (makes sense, but only Rex knows for sure.) You said it. The Pegula's have 2 yrs experience and are 2 games under .500, but the Bills have missed the playoffs for 17 years, so the Pegula's and anyone at OBD shares the blame. How much experience did any NFL owner have before they bought their respective teams? Paul Allen - Seattle, Jerry Jones - Dallas, Jeff Lurie in Philly and Bob Kraft in Boston? The answer is none. They get football people to do it for them, but they are still in charge. In Buffalo it's Whaley - he works with the coaches and gets them the players they want and need. Now it is fair to debate his effectiveness on this count, but on Terry Pegula firing Rex Ryan - it's his team, his decision and whether Whaley likes it or not, he goes along with it. (What the BN hates is they had it in their collective minds that Whaley-Rex didn't get along, so it HAD to be true that Whaley did what he could to get Rex fired. Newsflash, Rex got Rex fired because the defense was top 10, fell to the bottom third last year and failed to improve this year. For a HC that is a defensive guru, this was unforgivable and he had to be let go.)

I just checked all the twitter responses to Whaley's presser. Basically all the twits are saying that Whaley, Pegula and/or Bills are dysfunctional if/when they do not answer questions with the answers the media believed they should have received. Then, other media pick it up, re-tweet it and before long it becomes a foregone conclusion (fact). No wonder journalism is at an all time low in respectability. Sad indeed. If I'm the Bills, I am not sure I would act any differently. You want to, but know you shouldn't cut the media off. You want to end pressers when the questions get nasty/personal, but then you look inaccessible and thin skinned. The Bills and Sabres have always laid out HOW they will conduct pressers and in fact, the HC's and GM's either have radio shows or make regular appearances on them. The Pegula's rarely, but occasionally will do interviews - but not with the BN because they are so unpleasant to deal with. (See Warrow interview w/T.Pegula.) The answer is simple, the editors at the BN need to tell their reporters to be more respectful of their interview subjects. They can ask tough questions, just don't act like a$$ wholes when you ask them.

I don't understand why "the media" doesn't understand what is going on over at OBD - I just read the 3 pages of posts here and 99% seem to see this the way I do. It's pretty simple and because of the hullabaloo, it's quite apparent that the BN has an ax to grind (evidenced by the sarcasm, bitterness and purposeful and childish misinterpretation of what was said (very similar to 'arguments' I have with my children when they don't get their way). I won't rehash what everyone has said, but I am generally in agreement. Are things perfect over there - no. That's why Rex lost his job. When he took over the Offense was our big worry. It got better - kudos to Rex, Doug, et al. However the Defense got worse. After year 1, rumor was, there was an ultimatum. Whether there was or not is debatable, however what's not is the fact the defense didn't improve. So after the weekly 3-way-call Rex asked to speak to Terry alone and basically said if you're going to fire me do it now. (Warrow's interview w/Pegula confirms this.) Pegula did. Because he is still going to pay Rex millions, I don't think there was any rancor on the call, so they also discussed how the last week of the season should be held - Rex said A-Lynn should be IHC for a week. SIMPLE. Then Terry calls Doug an gives him the news. Doug was't "privy" to what was said. In fact he was purposefully excluded and there was nothing wrong with that. Why the BN had to ask what Doug does over there if he wasn't involved in the firing decision was really mean-spirited and insulting. If I were Whaley, I wouldn't take questions from the BN, just the other journalists, and when asked why, I would say that until they act like grown-ups, they will not be included. As for the 'benching' of TT, we all know it was a business decision - no further explanation needed, but Whaley added, it was also to see EJ and maybe CJ. The fact he did not literally say "contract issue" sent the BN over the edge again and said that by not involving A-Lynn in that decision was unfair to him. BS-BS-BS. The boss says you're running the show on Sunday and we're sitting TT for business reasons - then you know what you gotta do. I don't think A-Lynn (or anyone at OBD) thought the media would ask him GM questions or that on Monday, the media would ask Whaley owner questions - but that's the media for you. As said above, I would just cut-off any media member who presented his/her questions in a hostile manner. It's OK to ask a difficult question but there's no need to abandon civility. This is why the media sessions are dumpster fires and if I were Pegula, I would cut them off until they behave - just like we do it with our children.

I have read gobs of stories about Rex's firing, A-Lynn's appointment and EJ starting on Sunday. Are there any facts in any of these stories - aside from the first line of this post? These writers and broadcasters are all citing the reasons behind the decisions and the actions of those directly and indirectly involved - but few coincide with each other. Their summary line - "The Bills are a Dumpster Fire" is the only thing they agree on. Some say Pegula did something, some say Whaley, some say Brandon - did they all do something here? Which version are we to believe? Pegula said the Rex termination was mutual. Mehta said Rex went in and said if you're going to fire me, do it now - - and so it was. True? Who knows (besides Rex & Terry/Kim). Did Bills Management let A-Lynn twist in the wind? Whaley already said he was going to do a presser next Monday. Historically he has said the coach is the mouth-piece in-season, the GM is during the offseason. Having A-Lynn do the media on Wednesday is SOP, is it not? Granted, some extraordinary circumstances here, but the Bills did say that Whaley's presser is next Monday and despite the media wanting info and wanting it their way, doesn't mean the Bills need to comply. With so many stories and versions flying around, I suggest we exhale and just take the news as it's presented by the Bills and go with it. They are a private enterprise and don't need to air their laundry if they don't want to. They are not going to say Rex sucks - they're saying we are mutually parting ways. It's a fact A-Lynn is coaching Sunday, it's a fact EJ is starting - the whys, make us curious - but no explanation has to be given despite the medias cry for it. We have 1 more game this year - let's see what EJ can do. Do they play well, run for the bus or look like they really want to play for A-Lynn? It'll be interesting to see. Then we can see what Whaley has to say next Monday. Then the Coaching search . . . who will be the candidates? What will be their plan for the QB and the Defense? Is TT hurt - hammy or groin? Either way, he's the best QB we have and until we find our Tom Brady / Jim Kelly 2.0, we need to ensure he stays in Buffalo. It's sad we are not in the playoffs and ironically, had we beaten the Fish, we'd still be alive. Many said we never should have hired Rex. Maybe they were right, he certainly made many maddening mistakes and they summed up to be enough for Terry/Kim to say "Enough!". We arm-chair Team Presidents need to sit back and see what they decide to do and stop theorizing why they do things the way they do. It's difficult to clearly understand anything with the media constantly stirring the pot and grinding the axes, but until we see universal reports that align, we need to be realistic and know that it's all bluster to sell papers or get clicks. Time will tell. When is the draft? How do you "LIKE" a post! Well said!

Awesome - I was there. I started working on-field security the next week.

Who let the sane guy post on the Wall?!?!?

Rex told Pegula that if you're going to fire me do it now - so they mutually agreed to do it with a week to go in the season. Organizationally, they decided to start EJ against the Jets so as to not expose Tyrod to injury which would trigger the start of the pending contract signed in the spring. This also gives the team a little more leverage than they had in renegotiating Tyrod's deal - at least until March. I think Tyrod is the Bills QB until they find their "Tom Brady". Hopefully, he continues to grow and improve. Whaley earned Pegula's trust and respect because a lot of his decisions have been proven correct. He wanted Hue Jackson as HC & Schwartz to remain DC - seems like we should have gone in that direction now, doesn't it? Sammy is proving to be nearly unstoppable - when healthy - not Whaley's fault Sammy has struggled with injury. Whaley has added Incognito, Zach Brown and LorAx. Solid pro additions. This is why Pegula put him in charge of the next coaching decision, he realizes he should have listened to him 2 years ago. Whaley said he will do a press conference next week - when the season is over. He once said (I am paraphrasing) the Coach runs the show during the season, and he runs the off season. However, Lynn should have been better prepared and been given a good reason to share as to why they are starting EJ over TT. Other than that, he should have only answered questions about Sunday/Jets. Regarding Rex - he could just have said he likes Rex and enjoyed working with him and he wishes him nothing but the best.

Interesting read. He capsulized St Doug perfectly. Marrone is a Class A jerk. What he failed to get was that Rex is a Defensive Coach, known for his Defensive Coaching and pedigree, yet, the Defense went from a top-5 unit to a mediocre (at best) unit. The Offense was a plus for Rex, but last year was his defensive mulligan. This year, despite all his "all-in" talk and how this will be HIS defense - he got the same average to below average production from the unit that was supposed to be in his wheel house. I am not sure why, but Mehta never talks about Rex's defense - he just rails against Tyrod - who is not the problem and who may not be the ultimate answer - but he IS the best we got and we should ride him until our "Tom Brady" comes along. I think, as other posters noted, he likes Rex - a lot, and doesn't want to kick him when he's down. Further, I thought an interview someone had with Marcel Dareus was more than telling. He was thoughtful and sympathetic toward Rex, but noted how the players on this defense are aggressive and when you ask them to do pre-snap checks and then read/react, they lose a step and we all saw that on the field. I think the Pegula's did the right thing and I applaud them for it. Ralph would never have cut the cord while still on the hook for the balance of that contract! The Pegula's are hungry for a win - just like the rest of us fans who live and die with this team. I think they are moving in the right direction. One last thing - I thought it was interesting that Mehta said Whaley wanted Hue Jackson as HC. That tells me he wanted to keep Schwartz as DC. Who here, with 20/20 hindsight, now believes that Whaley's vision was right? That's probably why he's in charge of the search now and why (as the local media notes) he has the Pegulas' trust and faith..

An excuse - No. A factor - Unfortunately yes.

True & I was thinking the same thing, however, if we didn't have a deal in place for him, the bidding for his services in FA would probably have driven his price to the level of his deal or beyond. Look at Osweiler, QB prices are nuts! My ideas: Keep Tyrod (negotiate him down if you can - good luck!!) Draft a QB EVERY YEAR until you hit on one. No exceptions. The draft round s/b no lower than 4th - preferably in Rounds 1, 2 or 3. And ride Tyrod until you find him. And hopefully, Tyrod will improve on his deficiencies or Cardale will improve in years 2 & 3 so we won't need those draft picks - we can trade them for more picks. (Like what Washington did when drafting RG# and Cousins in the same year.)

Completely agree. In fact, that's how Rex should answer questions about his "future" with the team. Example below: BN Reporter: Rex what about the reports about you being fired? Rex: What Reports? BN: Sources say you're gonna be fired . . . Rex: Who are your sources? BN: Can't divulge. Rex: My sources are in the Bills organization and they haven't told me this. So if you cannot share your resources, I have to go by mine and prepare for our next opponent. Next question. BN: (If they keep pressing - and they will . . .) Rex: Guys, if you cannot tell me who in this organization is telling you this, we cannot have a conversation about rumors. Next Question. I'm not sure if I want him fired or not. The offense is averaging something like 25.5 pts - which is very good, however the Offense is challenged when playing from behind or running a hurry-up pace. The Defense isn't what it should be under a Defensive Guru - it's allowing 22.4 pts per game and has maddening fits of ineptitude - against the run one week, the pass another, 3rd downs, red zone - something different each week. Injuries cannot be an excuse, but losing Dareus and Kyle for 8-9 games and Aaron Williams for another 8 games weakened the Defense up the middle. The Bills Brass has a tough decision to make on Whaley & Rex & Tyrod. Brandon is untouchable - he's not in the Football Dept - he's on the Business side and he's doing a great job of selling the mediocrity every year - he's going nowhere! I would like Terry & Kim to bring in a consultant - someone who can objectively evaluate the football operation. Someone on the cutting edge and not a dinosaur like Polian (he was great in his day but . . .).

Yep, that's about right! Ya can't win . . . 'til ya start winning!

Melton was spot on, so I kept poking around his site . . here are a few more . . . EJ Manuel, QB- Manuel is returning for his second full season as a starter with 17 career starts over his Seminole career. He’s listed at 6’5”, 238 pounds and definitely passes the eye test, and his strong arm is noticeable right away. Not only that, but he is very athletic for his size which helped him rush for 141 yards and 4 touchdowns last year in addition to passing for 2,666 yards (65.3% completion), 18 touchdowns and only 8 interceptions. One would assume he would improve on those numbers this year, particularly with some intriguing talent returning at receiver and running back, but I will be looking to see how his accuracy develops in addition to his pocket poise and ability to read defenses. He’s definitely got potential, but at this point he’s a lot closer to a 3rd round prospect than a 1strounder in my opinion. I don’t think he processes information quickly enough to be a top college quarterback and eventual quality NFL starter, and unless his head catches up with his arm and his body he’s going to be a physically gifted quarterback who never put it together from the mental aspect of the game. Until he proves that his football IQ has improved and that he can read defenses well I’m not going to grade him in the top 64 picks. Nick O’Leary, TE**- O’Leary is just a true sophomore but he flashed some serious potential as a freshman last season en route to a 12 catch, 164 yard, 1 touchdown season as a true freshman. He may not have had eye-popping numbers, but the 6’4”, 240 pound tight end is ready to break out this year. He has good hands, runs good routes and is probably the best tight end FSU has had on its roster in years. I’m not sure how good of a blocker he is, but as a receiver he is likely to be targeted much more frequently than he was last season and should start to garner a lot of national attention soon. He’s a very good tight end prospect, so keep an eye on him. Jonathan Meeks, SS- Meeks is a player that I actually like, but plenty of people don’t seem to. He’s inconsistent and I wasn’t impressed with his tackling, but he has good ball skills and that’s something I value over almost everything else at defensive back. He’s listed at 6’1”, 210 pounds and has a listed 40 time of 4.52 but looks a bit faster than that when I watch him. He’s got the ball skills, but I’m not sure how good his instincts and awareness are, and he doesn’t take very good angles and tackle that well. He’s got upside, and I think he has a shot to be a late round draft pick right now, but if he’s ever going to stick in the NFL he’s going to have to improve those aspects of his game. That said, I like him as a bit of an under the radar prospect. Sammy Watkins, WR**- Watkins burst onto the scene last season as a true freshman and proved to be one of the most dynamic players in the country despite his age. He is listed at 6’1”, 200 pounds and has fantastic speed, burst and elusiveness. He caught 82 passes for 1,219 yards and 12 touchdowns last year as well as rushing for 231 yards on just 32 carries. He was also a dynamic kick returner, returning 33 kickoffs for 826 yards (25.0 avg) and 1 touchdown. Even more impressive was that he did this in just 10 games as a result of injury, so his statistics shouldn’t suffer much even in spite of his early season suspension. He probably was ready to go to the NFL as a slot receiver and return man, but for the next two years we will have the privilege of seeing him polish his route running and if he stays healthy he should be a 1st round draft pick when he comes out after his junior season. He’s so pro-ready that I don’t expect him to stay beyond his junior year, but I hope that he doesn’t get in any more off-field trouble. He’s a special talent and if he keeps working and doesn’t get in any more trouble he will likely be a top 20 NFL Draft pick. Seantral Henderson: Size- has fantastic size for an offensive tackle. He’s listed at 6’8”, 345 and he is very strong in the upper and lower body. He could stand to lose a little weight honestly because I think he had some conditioning issues as a junior, but he’s not lacking for raw size and strength. Athleticism: Henderson is a good athlete for his size but I don’t think he’s a rare athlete as far as movement skills. Occasionally he will look heavy footed when he’s trying to get to a spot or get out in space, but he has good lateral movement and impressive quickness for such a large man. I wouldn’t call him a quick-twitch athlete, but he has enough quickness that he can react quickly and recover in pass protection. There are times where he is overmatched by a defender’s quickness though. Technique: Henderson’s technique is solid, but it definitely has room to improve. One thing that really bothers me is how often he bends at the waist as a run blocker. He regularly does this and it really inhibits his ability to maintain his balance and therefore struggles to sustain his blocks. He ends up on the ground more than I would like as a result of this, but occasionally it will allow him to generate a pancake block so I think it reinforces that bad habit. He also needs to work on his hand placement both as a run blocker and in pass protection. He lets his hands get outside onto the shoulder pads too much and even on the back of the man he is blocking at times in the run game. That’s going to draw flags in the NFL and while it helps him control the guy he is blocking I don’t think he’s going to be able to get away with that as much at the next level. In general he does a good job of replacing his hands when they are slapped away and recovers well if he gets off balance. He has a good anchor, he just needs to make sure he plays with good leverage and pad level without bending at the waist. Additionally, he doesn’t have much of an initial punch despite his obvious raw power. He’d be more effective if he used a punch to shock defenders upon engaging them. He also needs work on his cut blocking technique, but he has demonstrated that he can do it at times. Pass Protection: I was pleasantly surprised with Henderson’s ability in pass protection. He has impressive length, good lateral agility and he usually demonstrates quick, choppy steps in pass protection despite his size. He doesn’t always get the depth that I would like to see in his initial drop from his stance, but he has enough quickness to recover even if he doesn’t get ideal depth initially. He consistently showed the ability to recover even if it looked like he was beaten initially and despite having some questions about his hand placement he uses his length effectively and doesn’t often bend at the waist and overextend as a pass protector. I’m not sure how great his football IQ is, but he regularly did a good job handling twists, stunts and blitzes coming off the edge and rarely made mistakes in his assignments from what I could tell. There are times where he is too upright in pass protection and I want to see him bend at the knees, play with better pad level, and “sit down” and use his anchor to his advantage. There are times where he seems to be daring defenders to try to beat him off the edge as he doesn’t get much depth in his drop and then shows a quick burst to recover if they take the bait and try to speed rush him. It was very strange that he performed very well in pass protection against the likes of Notre Dame, North Carolina, Florida State and Virginia Tech (all of whom have at least one noteworthy pass rusher) but struggled against Virginia, particularly against Ausar Walcott who I had never heard of before this game (as a senior Walcott had 2.5 TFL and 0.5 sacks all year). Walcott gave him issues by challenging him with a speed rush but then bursting inside after Henderson was over committing to try to take away the speed rush and he struggled to recover in these instances. I imagine that is why may be trying to protect against the inside move initially at times before taking away the speed rush as a secondary option, but it was something that really confused me. He didn’t have issues protecting against inside moves against Prince Shembo, Bjoern Werner, Kareem Martin or James Gayle for the most part, but Walcott was giving him some problems. It may simply be Henderson playing up and down to his competition, but I can’t find an explanation for it. Run Blocking: This phase of Henderson’s game was a bit of a let-down for me. He’s not a poor run blocker by any means, but having watched him in high school I was expected a mauler that could dominate in this phase of the game. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, as he regularly bent at the waist and involved himself in what I started to refer to as “the matador and the bull” where the defender would back up and let Henderson, or the bull, run forward with his waist bent and at times his head down and just fall to the ground. Thereafter the defender would pursue the ballcarrier. I didn’t notice it as frequently against Notre Dame but it became a consistent pattern in all the other games I watched and it really concerns me. Without bending at the waist he wasn’t able to generate much push off the ball and almost exclusively generates pancake blocks when he bends at the waist. Without doing this he is essentially a wall-off blocker, just a really big one with good length. Like I said, he’s not a bad run blocker and even though he isn’t a dominant drive blocker with good technique he can still wall-off effectively, he’s a good combo blocker and he has the athleticism to get to the second level, he just isn’t the mauler you would expect for a 6’8”, 345 pound offensive tackle. He does need work on his cut-blocking technique, he has issues with his hand placement in the run game as well, and his short-area quickness isn’t great and it shows when he doesn’t quite get to a spot against quicker defenders at times. Overall he’s a pretty good run blocker, he’s just not dominant or elite and unless he cleans up his waist bending (he doesn’t appear to be a natural knee bender to me) I don’t think he will be in the future. Overall: Henderson is a complicated prospect to evaluate because even though he has all the size, athleticism and ability you could want in a right tackle he hasn’t quite put it all together yet. He’s close to doing so as a pass blocker in my opinion, but he still has room to improve in the run game. Regardless, his conditioning was a problem for him last year and every 3rd series he was substituted out of the game in favor of a talented true freshman named Ereck Flowers. There are also times where he seems to be winded and instead of blocking to the whistle he simply shoves his man and often times his man then involves himself in the play. I stated earlier that I think he could stand to lose a little bit of weight and improve his conditioning and if he was able to do that I think he’d be able to play with better effort snap to snap and not need to get subbed out every 3rd series. One thing that concerns me is that Henderson is a very talented prospect and even if he does put it all together and become a likely 1st round pick I still look at this as essentially a contract year performance. Yes, he finally played up to his potential, but if you draft him will he continue to put in the same effort to stay in shape and continue to improve? Or will he start to rely on his talent again? I would hope that he would continue to improve, but that’s something I’d be concerned about if I was a NFL team. His upside is obvious and I don’t think there is going to be a better pass blocking right tackle prospect in this draft, especially not one with his size and length. I would love to see a dominant run blocking performance from him as a senior, but I mostly expect to see more bending at the waist and balance issues which is unfortunate. Overall I definitely think Henderson will end up in the top 50, perhaps even the 1st round if he continues to improve things like his hand placement and conditioning, and if he continues to give good effort as a NFL player I think he will make a team very happy with his pass blocking, but I don’t think he’s going to be the dominant run blocker some expect him to be as of now. Projection: Top 50. He could easily go higher than this, and he obviously has 1st round upside, it’s just a question of if or when he lives up to it. I’m excited to see if his conditioning is improved as a senior. Mike Gillislee: Size- has solid running back size, but he looks slim despite weighing 208 pounds. I think he could pretty easily put on some weight, and at 5’11” he has the frame to do so. Speed: In my opinion Gillislee has good enough speed to be a NFL running back. It may not have shown in his combine workout when he ran a 4.55 40 yard dash but when I watched him I thought he had about 4.5 speed. I didn’t think he looked like a blazer when I saw him, but he looked like he was adequate in this area. However, I’m not sure he has the speed to consistently get the corner at the next level, though I believe he will be able to gain chunks of yardage despite lacking elite speed. Quickness: This is one of Gillislee’s strengths. He is quick and it is evident almost immediately when you watch him. He has more than enough burst to hit the hole, possesses enough shiftiness to make defenders miss in the open field, and changes directions well. He isn’t elite in this area, but he is certainly impressive. Inside Running: Gillislee is solid in this area, but not spectacular. He is relatively tall and is not a thick runner, but he has good leg drive and can run through arm tackles. He consistently fights hard for extra yardage by running with good pad level and churning his legs upon contact, fighting until he is on the ground. Outside Running: This was one of Gillislee’s strengths at Florida in my opinion, but I’m not sure he has the speed to replicate the same success at the next level. He showed good patience, found cut-back lanes well, and used his blockers well when he found himself in open space. Receiving: I believe Gillislee is a good receiver out of the backfield even though he only has 23 career receptions (16 of which came as a senior). He seemed to catch the ball naturally out of the backfield when he was targeted and adjusted to poorly thrown passes well. Based off of the limited sample size we have, I think Gillislee will be a reliable pass catcher at the next level. Blocking: Gillislee’s lack of bulk is evident as a pass blocker, but he puts forth quality effort and is surprisingly effective despite not having ideal size or bulk for pass protection. Vision: I was not overly impressed with Gillislee’s vision, though I thought he showed better vision and patience on outside runs than he did when running between the tackles. I thought he was slow to see running lanes inside and occasionally would run into his offensive linemen while he was looking for a hole. He runs patiently when running outside and I thought he was effective when doing so, the only question is whether he will be able to get the edge as consistently in the NFL as he could in the SEC. Ball Security: When I watched Gillislee I saw him carry the ball high and tight with appropriate points of pressure and he rarely, if ever, lets the ball get too far away from his body where it would be easier for defenders to knock it free. I don’t think I saw him fumble in any of the games I watched of him as a senior. Overall: Gillislee looks like a solid but not spectacular back to me. I don’t see elite speed from him, but he does have quality quickness and good enough vision to be a contributing back at the next level. I am honestly not certain he’s going to be a front-line feature back because while he does a number of things adequately, I don’t think he does a lot of things exceedingly well. He has adequate speed, good quickness, projects to be a good receiver, and is a better than expected pass blocker despite his lack of bulk. There were just times I questioned his straight line speed when I watched him, and seeing him run a 4.55 didn’t exactly ease those concerns. To me he strikes me as a solid NFL Draft prospect, not a great one. Projection: 4th round. Perhaps he will go on day 2, but I personally think that he’s more of a Day 3 complementary back based on what I’ve seen. Ryan Groy, OT/OG, Senior- Groy is a player I was initially worried about sliding outside to tackle, but I think he will be able to hold up alright there as a senior. It’s tough to project how the 6’5”, 318 pounder will do on the blind side since I’ve never seen him play there, but he has enough lateral agility, good enough length and a strong enough anchor for me to think he can handle it. Originally I viewed him as only a guard, but after watching him and taking notes I think he might have a shot at playing tackle at the next level. That is all obviously projection, and I’m certainly not sold on him as a NFL left tackle, but he is carrying a day 2 grade from me into the season without a doubt. I’m excited to see what he can do, because as a guard he showed pretty good hand placement, a good anchor, and was smooth getting to the second level. He doesn’t strike me as a mauler in the run game, and is at his best when he can double team a defender, seal him off, cut him, or combo block and get to the second level. He’s not a great puller, but he looked solid when asked to do it. I think he’s going to be a good ZBS fit at the next level, and could potentially be a very good right tackle in a scheme that uses a lot of those concepts. I can’t wait to see what he can do outside at tackle this year. I'm still reading but this post is huge already. Melton is so spot on with these guys, the Bills should hire him!!

My father-in-law died from Chron's Disease. I would sue if I could not obtain an exemption from the specific rule. Seantrel should be advising the Bills (and therefore the League) of the medication(s) he's prescribed. Now we have no clue as to why they are suspending him - we never get the real truth, just the spin, but if it's because of medical marijuana he has a case. If it's for other recreational stuff - he should be on his own. Either way it's a shame. My father-in-law died from Chron's Disease. I would sue if I could not obtain an exemption from the specific rule. Seantrel should be advising the Bills (and therefore the League) of the medication(s) he's prescribed. Now we have no clue as to why they are suspending him - we never get the real truth, just the spin, but if it's because of medical marijuana he has a case. If it's for other recreational stuff - he should be on his own. Either way it's a shame.

The slogan should be BILLS CUT DEEP!!!

Yep - see "Kyle Williams" or "Fred Jackson" (when he was here).