billsfan89

I have been told by people much more knowledgeable about football than me (One guy actually works for NFL Films) that this was an really good hire. He comes from the Andy Reid Jim Johnson tree and was a very hot candidate last year but didn't get jobs because of the Panthers run to the Super Bowl made teams not want to wait on him. My gut tells me this was an OK hire, Panthers defense has been very up and down the past 6 years and while they have developed a lot of talent they also invested a lot of high draft choices into the defense. Hopefully this works out well and they keep Tyrod Taylor since I don't see an avenue to replace him.

Take the best player available, tight end we could use depth but Clay is a more than capable tight end so finding a starter isn't a "Need" there but if Howard is the best player at that spot then you always draft talent. Personally I would like to find other positions but more weapons to the offense isn't bad.

Probably a sign that the locker room has soured on him. I understand that the Cards have a crowded receiving core with Fitz, Brown, and now Nelson so him getting bench for poor performance isn't a sign of anything else than he is having a down year which could be due to multiple factors (Injury, QB regression, personal issues, new system, lack of reps, ect) but getting cut in a league where depth is a sought after luxury means Floyd either asked to be cut or that he lost the locker room. If I am the Bills I steer away, I get the temptation but the Bills situation is already very combustible and adding this possibly negative locker room influence at best will only make the situation worse or only have a marginal impact.

I want to see how the team plays the last three weeks of the season. The team knows that they have a slim shot at the playoffs and that Rex's chances to keep his job are greatly improved by winning out. So their play over the next three games is indicative of how the locker room feels about Rex. If they play hard win out and look good I think you can make the case that after a 9-7 season the Bills have a compelling case to keep Rex. 8-8 or worse more than likely means Rex is gone although not a lock 100%.

If Rex wins out and the team plays fairly well I think then you have to consider keeping Rex. Winning out even against 2 awful teams and another decent team missing their QB won't prove much unless the Bills craft out a playoff birth somehow. The only thing it would prove is that the team still plays hard for Rex and that he hasn't lost the locker room. The defensive performances are telling so even if the Bills win out at 9-7 you could still make a case for firing Rex. But at 9-7 winning out you have to at least consider keeping Rex for one more do or die year.

It makes me think that either these Wonderlic tests that people get a hold of online are inaccurate in representing the true nature of the test or are some players just so focused on football that they lack common sense elsewhere or do some of these prospects just not take the test seriously? I find it hard to believe that any person of average intellectual capacity couldn't score a 30 on the test half assing it. But yet a lot of prospects do.

They need to end the Thursday games, it seems cruel to have football players play with only 3 off days in-between. I know football is kind of brutal to begin with but players are barely getting by with the regular days of rest so making them have half the time off in between certain games is just awful. It's also needless since people barely watch these Thursday games compared to the Sunday or Monday games. It is too blatant a money grab .Not only has the NFL been dealing with bad PR with their poor handling of domestic violence incidents but now with these Thursday games it seems like the core NFL fan has been slightly turned away. The NFL needs to desperately get rid of Goodell, it would help them get a soft reset in the eyes of the fans. It might take a bit longer to get the casual NFL fan back and hooked but if you do some simple changes like getting rid of the Thursday games you can hook back in the part of your core audience that is starting to check out.

Some team is going to take a chance to resurrect Jay Cutler but I hope it isn't the Bills. Cutler reminds me of when Carson Palmer got the boot in Oakland. Palmer had two great years with the Bengals then the injury bug got a hold of him and he was fairly mediocre. The Bengals then get a offer too good to refuse for Palmer and dump him in Oakland. He had a decent couple of years in Oakland but they decided to trade him when they wanted to go with a rookie in Carr. Palmer has been below average to great in his stint with the Cardinals. It hasn't been a complete turn around but he has been pretty good overall with them. I think Cutler has a chance in the right place in the right situation to be successful elsewhere but his reputation as a guy who isn't a good teammate might be a sign that he doesn't have the personality needed to play beyond his current level in the NFL. But it is clear that Cutler will get one last chance in the NFL since his position is highly in demand and short in supply. But I would rather have Tyrod for next season than Cutler based off of their current performance levels.

Tyrod to me has been inconclusive which is frustrating as hell. If he was objectively terrible then the team could move on from him or gameplan around his weaknesses. If he was objectively good then the team could rebuild the offensive resources around him. But Taylor has been as much bad as he has been good. It doesn't help that the already thin skill positions have been depleted thanks to injuries to Woods, Watkins, Goodwin, and McCoy and others. It also doesn't help when judging a QB to have an effective running game and a defense that plays very well at times (Which leads to conservative game planning.) I do not think that the Bills have any better options than Tyrod. They won't be in a position to draft a QB high up and QB's worth a dam don't hit free agency (Tyrod is better than any QB that will be a free agent.) So I think giving Tyrod another year in 2017 is the teams best option. This is only Tyrod's second year as a starter under less than optimal conditions and he has preformed OK. Put more talent around him and see what happens.

Right now the way I look at it is just keep winning if you are the Bills. You beat the Bengals away to keep your season alive. You have a home game against the Jags win that and you are 6-5. At 6-5 see where the chips fall. Looking ahead the Raiders away is a suddenly tough game and the Steelers home are a challenge but certainly not a game the Bills won't be able to win. Theoretically let's say you beat the Jags and then split the Raiders and Steelers games. That puts you at 7-6 with a home game against the Browns. Beat a hapless Browns team that takes you to 8-6, you then play a Fins team home that will possibly be tied or ahead of you in the wildcard standings. If the Bills can be 8-6 going into that Fins game I think you have a shot to make the playoffs if you win those last two game esp considering the Fins are a team you are chasing. To me you can prognosticate all you want about which teams fall to what win projection but all you need to do is keep winning yourself and let the rest of the league sort its self out.

Hopefully with a bye week they can adjust and get the secondary playing well. The talent is much better than it has played the past 3 weeks. I think they have played well in stretches but they have gotten horribly exposed too. Here's hoping to the coaching staff figuring things out because right now this is a 7-9 team.

Hunter is going to play a lot, kind of glad to see what he can do. Goodwin and Hunter will be the receivers. However Clay should and will be the main weapon in the passing attack. Bills offense may be hard to watch this week but luckily they can run the ball.

I think Shaq gets his first sack, his likely is looking to make a big impact in his debut. I am not sure if in the first few weeks he has a big impact but Shaq should be able to get one against the Fins.

Roman's run scheme is said to be very complex and effective. Hopefully Lynn having worked under Roman last season and this season can emulate the running schemes/plays effectively enough. Whatever he is doing the team has bought in and is executing it.

Bills win 19-16, its going to be an ugly grind it out game that comes down to turnovers and big plays. I think McCoy being hurt is huge and could result in the offense having a lot of difficulty (Of course Woods being hurt isn't helpful either.) Any defense has difficulty when the offense hangs them out to dry. I think the Bills don't turn the ball over and play conservatively, while the defense dominates and gets a key turnover or two for the team.

Good defenses beat up on bad QB's which the team has done. Also I wouldn't classify Carson Palmer as chop liver. Palmer last year was a top 5 QB and a top 10 QB the year before. He has had a bad start to his season so far but he is still a quality NFL QB the Bills made look awful. I argue in the NFL that if your defense can make bad and mid level QB's obsolete offensively then you are a good unit maybe not great but good.

Rex is a upper mid level coach, a great defensive mind and a players coach who always gets his players to play hard for him. However he isn't that great at in game clock and decision management (Not terrible but not fantastic either), his track record on putting together an offensive coaching staffs isn't the best either. Another negative on him is that his teams commit penalties at a above average rate and the teams discipline can get away from them at times. From 2009-2014 the Jets were 20th, 15th, 15th, 29th, 10th, and 16th in penalties per game the Bills last year led the league in penalties obviously ranked 32nd. So Ryan's teams aren't the best in terms of penalties although he hasn't been as bad historically as most think. Ryan is a coach who probably works best in a 4-5 year period giving a great boost to defenses and a coach players love to play for. But Players coaches always end up losing the locker room quicker. Hopefully Ryan learned from his tenure with the Jets how to balance the players and discipline. If he can bring in good offensive minds, find the right balance between his players and discipline, and keep the penalties down then he might have a longer tenure. The season is still young lets see how Ryan manages the challenges of the team as they push to make the playoffs for the first time in a long time.

Common answer seems to be that Shaq should be used as a super sub on particular situations to keep Hughes and Lorax fresh as the season wears on. Shaq can easily play 20-30 snaps giving both Hughes and Lorax a breather and then slowly Shaq can work his way back up to 30-40 snaps and probably settle in at 40-50 snaps per game spelling both sides. Shaq also gives the team a good option if Lorax starts to break down (Which as other posters have mentioned that even though his age is 33 he was primarily a special teams player not on the field as often so its not a given that he breaks down) then Shaq can over take him as a starter (Hopefully if Shaq is effective enough) and then Lorax can come in as a situational pass rusher. Even if Lorax is still effective throughout the season having a super sub coming in for both sides 20+ snaps per game makes everyone more effective.

Poor effort and poor results is a bad combination. Throw in poor attitude and a huge cap number and you just have a player who needs to go and will likely be addition by subtraction which he turned out to be. I thought Mario might have been frustrated by Rex Ryan's scheme and then the injuries and regression by other defensive players. So I thought Mario would have a solid season for the Fins in a scheme he is more comfortable with and playing for his next contract. But 1 sack so far through 5 games is proving not to be the case. Maybe Mario finishes strong like he did in 2012 when he racked up some cheapish sacks but I think he is just done with the pro game he got his money both as a top draft pick and with the Bills (Not to mention his 6 million from the Fins this year.)

The Bills need to win the games they are "Supposed" to win the 49ers and Fins are so key to the Bills playoff hopes. If they get to 5-2 by winning the next two weeks they then only need to win 1 out of the next 3 difficult games (Pats* @Seattle @Cincy) to get to 6-4. Which sets them up to need a 4-2 finish in their back 6 games which only features 1 or 2 games in which they will likely not be favored in (Steelers and @Oakland possibly). Win the games you are favored in and take a game or two you are an underdog in.

I can't say it was the money to an extreme degree like Haynesworth. When Mario got his huge deal with the Bills he still turned in 3 double digit sack seasons (2 of those in 2013 and 2014 he was a dominant player one of the best pass rushers in the league.) You can't say Mario was a bad signing for the Bills. But it seems like he just never had the passion to play well into his 30's. He had a freak ability and turned it into a pretty good career. He will most likely have 100 sacks over a 10+ year career which is a pretty dam good run. But had he had the work ethic and passion of an all time great then he would be in the hall of fame and one of the best to do it. But that's what separates the really good players from the hall of famers sometimes. He probably gets signed next year and then retires half way through the season.

I think Mario checked out when he had to learn a new system when Rex got here. He seemed to be disinterested in playing in that scheme but now it seems like he has just checked out of football in general. Miami is not getting much from having him out there and they put him in a scheme that he seemed to want.

Kap could be a fire under the 49ers which is a concern. Hopefully Dareus is at full force he could be key to holding down the line and limiting the run game.

I think with the Justin Hunter signing it was obvious that the front office wasn't completely comfortable with who they had on the roster behind Sammy. I liked the Hunter signing he was the best free agent out there in my opinion but he isn't too much of a difference maker other than being a big body in the red zone. I think via trade is the only avenue that would produce a receiver that would be an upgrade over Hunter. I am not sure the Jets or Fins would trade the Bills Marshall or Landry if they were in fire sale mode. Andre Johnson for a 7th rounder might be a interesting desperation move but once again not sure if he is better than Hunter. To me the Bills 2 best and most realistic options are Alshon Jeffery or Golden Tate. Jeffery is the better player but is most likely a rental who comes at a high cost. Tate for a 5th rounder I would do in a heartbeat but not sure that would get it done. The reason I like Tate is not only is he cheaper (Both in terms of what draft pick you would have to give up and in terms of his cap number) but he is signed to a longer term deal which means that if Woods left via free agency Tate could fill his role as the #2 receiver once Sammy gets back. Jeffery would most likely be gone via free agency which means the team would have one less high draft pick and one more big hole to fill. Tate isn't as talented as Jeffery but Tate adds enough play making ability to the fold where adding him helps the offense out against better teams.

The Chargers have wasted Phillip Rivers career since 2009. The Chargers have had 1 playoff appearance since 2009 and have not had a record better than 9-7 since 2009 either. The Chargers results from 2010 to 2015 aren't terrible if they were a team struggling to find a QB but they had a prime true franchise QB (Unarguably a top 7 QB if not higher) during that period. Having a franchise QB is such a devastating advantage in the NFL you should be consistently in the playoffs and over 10 wins a year. The Chargers are just awful they need to clean house now.