thurst44

No, I'll never get over Macho Grande.

Good! He's a great depth pick who had 10 sacks over the course of 2014/15 before an off-season with Dallas, and looked solid in pre-season from what I watched. And I suspect we don't have to release 3 players to get the comp pick. That logic is going off of a construct that has Justin Hunter as the last person to not count and EJ Manuel also close but not counting. There's a decent chance both qualify (unless Hunter, as is quite possible, is released today) as even the people at Sportrac and other similar endeavors will tell you it's an inexact science, especially when you get down to the 7th rounders, plus supposedly their play during the season can have an effect.

Chances are we haven't noticed him because he's been doing his job.

Exactly! That's what they got Tolbert for (to drive it through on 3rd and short), and he's done nothing in the pre-season to lose that job. Holmes and Ducasse I'd be fine with being cut, between comp pick possibilities and not showing much in pre-season/camp.

They really aren't. They still have the likely best running game in the league by a wide margin. The D-line could be dominant and the secondary has actually been looking good against the first teams. I'm in NYC, trust me, the Jets are terrible. The Bills could still go either way, no matter what you think.

He also was pushed back on the run before that. That's gotta be a wrap on Vlad Ducasse.

Or he gets his act together, has two seasons at the top of his ability, and we're all happy. So, I guess I don't agree and agree (hopefully he grows up and makes us have to keep him).

We go through this almost every year. The only year they were right was the 0-8 start year. I honestly don't get why people think this team is particularly bad. Mediocre, I get, but there's still one of the best rushing attacks, and the D-line/linebackers look good and deep. We'll see how the defensive backs play -- that's a definite wild card. However, why this team is supposedly much worse than last year's is beyond me (but both local and national press seem to do this every year, save the rare years we are a chic pick).

You mean with an over 60% completion rate with a QB rating of over 100 in four of his last five games? 47 tds vs. 15 turnovers bad? Yup, terrible...the absolute worst.

He looked like a pretty solid fit into the scheme flying around the field as the first team defense was pretty close to shut down, so not really quite sure why he would be cut.

On the Dolphins, don't be fooled. As in sync as the offense seemed, it's still Cutler who has a tendency to be uneven to say the least, and the defense looked abysmal. By the third drive, the Eagles took out their first string and were still barreling over the Fins D. In any case, it's pre-season. I can definitely also see 7-9 or 6-10. This team is not hopeless, nor free of flaw. As it stands now, they may have every starter playing Week One, or an untested QB and rough line. A tough year is neither out of the question, nor guaranteed. It always strikes me how certain people are about what the season will be when every year shows how unpredictable it can be (ok, the Patriots have been fairly predictable, but...).

This chicken little post is hopefully sarcasm . Matthews has more yards in his career than Sammy, Zay Jones set the record for yards in a season in college and looks great in practice and pre-season, Glenn is likely back Week One, hopefully Miller is starting and Ducasse is gone (or a back-up), and O-Line is still mostly looking like the #1 running offense it was last year. And you didn't mention the defense for a reason. Honestly, it looks like the epitome of an 8-8 season to me, something which could break either way.

Or "burning it down" can be an extreme and unnecessary overreaction, when you can effectively build for a stronger future, while still retaining what good you have to make it even better. To escape the metaphor: why trade good players for one draft which may not have all the answers, particularly when many of these players will not bring back in trade anywhere near the value that they would bring for the next season or, in many cases, seasons. Plus, for McCoy and Dareus, you're pointlessly putting yourself in extra cap trouble for next year. We already have 6 or 7 draft picks for next year. Let's try for the best possible season now and build upon that next year.

Well, pretty much every NFL analyst disagreed. There's also multiple scouting reports I saw which suggested he would do fine in the 4-3.

Actually, it's been 14...they sneaked into the playoffs last in 2002, and had one winning season since (in 2007).

How is John Miller now a problem. He actually had quite a solid (if not better-than-solid) year in his second year. PFF might not be always right, but they do engage in in-depth analysis. https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-the-10-most-improved-second-year-players

That's my understanding too, and he will be gone soon. Christie destroyed any remains of the Republican brand here and Democrat Phil Murphy is pretty much a lock to win. He's running against Christie's lieutenant governor and all polls have it generally in about the 55-25 range.

Even though it's not a significantly worse team than what we had on the field last year, minus a coach, who if he hadn't been terrible with gameday calls (like getting a time-out or not doing a trick play when in field goal range in overtime), we would have been .500?

You're probably right (actually, i pretty much totally agree with you), yet... ...this. I'm all for bringing him in and letting him compete the last couple weeks. He was always a lot of fun to have in town (save the untimely drops).

I dunno, maybe it's different people, but my Giants' buddies actually say something to the effect "that Tyrod Taylor's pretty good" when I mention the Bills. I've actually not talked to any fans of other teams who actively disrespect Tyrod.

Exactly. For some perspective, worriers should check out our own 2015 pre-season stats and the three games EJ Manuel had. 20-for-30, 4 tds, 0 ints, 146 qb rating. It's pre-season. Maybe Mahomes will work out and we will regret it. Maybe he'll be great and so will Tre' White and whoever we get with their first pick next year, and one way or another our QB situation is still solved (Tyrod, Peterman, the 2018 pick, or otherwise). However, we should never judge anything based on the first two pre-season games; this is especially true when it's a rookie QB going against second stringers or worse.

We may be overhyping the bad-ness of the offense based on pre-season games -- and only the passing side of it. Even in the meh-to-brutal games, the run game was biting off chunks of yardage. They may very well be bad. Or they might grind out a lot of long drives (as they are designed to do) and keep the defense rested. And, yes, they had more 3-and-outs than they should have last year, but they also were top ten in points scored.

Some writer says some form of this every year. I honestly don't get the logic. Does he think Rex Ryan was a genius?

Or, as it seems, it all goes back to that one Evan Silva tweet and wishful thinking from other fanbases stemming from a misunderstanding of the Watkins/Darby trades (a couple articles i read listed them as solely trades for picks), and an essential disrespect for the Bills. If they could somehow get a first, or a second and a worthwhile player, I'd still hate it, but I'd stomach it. It's putting a lot of stock in one draft class, though. Also, I don't think this is what Beane or McDermott is trying to do. The infamous trades hint at an attempt to compete (whether you think this is futile is up to you) while building for the future.

This is such a key point. There's also the Bears and Rams, and I could see the Bengals falling apart (but that's just a hunch). This is one of the worst possible years to try to tank (imo it's a dumb game plan at any time). We still have a decent amount of talent, and there have even been some good signs even in what seems like a dreadful start to pre-season (defense, run game), so let's hope we do well (and if the Rams are truly as bad as they could be, we'll have three picks in the first 33, and can use them to bolster a promising team.