Utah John

I think there are two basic options. One is to put all the chips needed to get to draft 1, 2, or 3, and grab one of the top prospects. Half the guys in that category never make it, particularly when they land on a team with a bad o-line, no WRs, a feisty but lightweight defense, and an aging superstar at RB. The other option is to draft two linemen on both sides, a starting LB, and a starting WR. And bring in one of the soon-to-be-available FA QBs either to start or to mentor Peterman, if Peterman gets his legs under him. Which option is more likely to get the Bills to the playoffs? The second one. Which one is more likely to get the Bills to the SB? Neither one, for the time being. They won't get to the SB until they can get a home playoff game, and Brady is going to keep playing a few more years at least.

Peterman. There is no comparison between Taylor and Peterman as a passer. Peterman is an NFL-caliber passer who throws guys open. Taylor sees a guy open deep and then checks down, and misses some of those throws anyway. Taylor is more mobile, when healthy, which he's not, but that would be helpful with the Bill's rotten O-line right side. So this is a wash. Use a FB or two TEs to help block. Decision making is the big question. Peterman's a rookie with 5 or 6 quarters total under his belt, and 1 1/2 of those were while he was in shock in Los Angeles. He'll make rookie mistakes. He will probably also stretch the field and open up running lanes for Shady. When the opposing D doesn't respect Taylor's passing and why would they, Shady's looking at a box full of defenders every time.

In baseball, if a pitcher on Team A hits a player on Team B, it isn't the Team A pitcher who gets tagged by the Team B pitcher, it's some batter who had nothing to do with the first incident. So, don't retaliate against Gronk. Retaliate against Brady. The first guy takes him down, even after the play is over, the second guy jjumps on him when he's down and takes a shot at his head, and the third guy goes after his knees. And all three of them should (a) not get ejected, just like Gronk wasn't, (b) expect a one game suspension, and (c) not get fined, just like Gronk wasn't. Make it clear that attacking a Bills player doesn't lead to equal payback, it leads to escalation. Make Brady pay, make the Patriots pay, make the league pay. Take out the Patriot's best player, maybe the league's best player. Cost the league some serious advertising money. A one game suspension for that? No, sorry, that's an insult. Gronk's suspension should be at least as long as White is out of action.

Two key differences from last year. No, this year's WRs are much worse that last year. Watkins when healthy. Woods all the time (look what he's done this year). Even Goodwin who could take the top off the defense. This year, no speed, no quickness, no separation. Jones could turn out OK if we get a real #1 (Benjamin if healthy is a #1A, not a true #1). And, the O line which had really good play from Incognito and Wood, and from Glenn a lot, has fallen down. Glenn's been hurt a lot. Incognito and Wood -- are they getting old (yes of course) or do they really miss their O line coach? And Mills and Ducasse, geez louise they're bad. Plus Rico. He knows one song and he keeps playing it even though the band's all wrong, so I'm not letting him off the hook at all. It's just a disaster all around. Despite all the changes and losses, we end up with an average defense, which would have been adequate last year, but a way below average offense which prevented the playoffs.

I think the KC pick is going to keep rising in value through the end of the year. Their defense is terrible, and since the Steelers figured out how to stop their offense, any legitimate NFL defense does the same (including the Bills, not including the Jets). Plus the team seems completely without leadership. Did you see Peters, their DB, pick up the referee's flag after a penalty on the Chiefs, and throw the flag into the stands? Who does that? What professional does that? Peterman got his start in the wrong game. The Chargers have a great pass rush and the Bills' O line is below average. Peterman hit a good looking pass to Benjamin, who got hurt and hasn't been back since. Not Peterman's fault -- he didn't throw Benjamin into the coverage. And the first INT was a deflection off the Bills receiver's hands -- a good pass but a pick six. After that the roof caved in. In that first half, and today, Peterman reminded us what it looks like to have an NFL passer in a Bills uniform. Whether he's an NFL QB to go along with the passing, no one knows.

Brady is a very dedicated workout professional. He keeps his body in phenomenal shape, so he doesn't play like a 40 year old. But, tendons age and I don't think you can do much to prevent them from being damaged or getting tighter. I would never suggest intentionally injuring a player. Hurting that player, in the sense of inflicting hits that hurt, well that's another story. The Bills play NE twice the rest of the year and realistically need to win one of those games. If Sunday's game gets away, I'd start blitzing every play. So what if Brady sees the blitz and hits his safety valve who scores, and the Pats run up the score. He needs to be hit a lot, and hard. A loss is a loss, whether it's by 1 point or 50 points. Pound him and see if he shows up for the other game.

A lot depends on whether the Bills can get good FA linemen. Both O and D lines are thin and have big holes. Both need replenishment. I think putting a promising young QB behind our current O line, which will only get worse with both Incognito and Wood getting old, is a recipe for disaster. That poor SOB will waste the first two years of his career (and his rookie contract) either running for his life, or on IR. At least Taylor can get away from the rush, get in position to pass, and then who knows what he'll do but at least he'll have a chance. If the Bills can get three new O linemen as FAs, then maybe draft the QB. Otherwise face facts. This is a thin roster, with no skill at skill positions except Shady, and no LBs at all who strike fear into the hearts of opponents. This is the year to build up the team, with at least 8 rookies starting next year and excelling in 2019, when the new QB arrives (or Peterman breaks through).

There's a reason we get to see Taylor's limitations as a passer -- his excellent ability to escape the pass rush. Put a better passer who can't escape into the same lineup and you'll just get a busted QB. That might have been a big part of the Peterman fiasco. Peterman started out hitting Benjamin on a tough pass, put in exactly the right spot. The our FB tipped a well-thrown ball to a defender and we were behind, and then Bosa and the other guy started having Peterman sandwiches. Taylor goes in for the second half and is back to his old self -- miracle escapes from the pocket, and passes that are just in the wrong place. Anyway the point is, if we don't fix the O line and the blocking schemes, drafting a great rookie QB is just a waste of everyone's time.

Here's another thought. Build an O line like Dallas has, and THEN draft your stud QB later. Taylor is adequate and is not the reason the Bills usually can't play defense. Keep him around while the immense holes in the lines, LB, and WR get patched. Take the QB in 2019 and let him excel behind a strong O line.

Lately that's true, but that's more due to the O line than to Tolbert. Even Shady has been stacked up a lot.

Beane and McDermott had nothing to do with Gilmore leaving. The Bills liked Gilmore but as much as Gilmore likes Gilmore, so Whaley let him walk. The Pats paid an awful lot for a pretty good CB.

You know if Belichick was doing this we'd be screaming about him cheating. So the Vikings figured out they shouldn't reveal their D until after the clock got to 15 seconds. 24-7 Vikes

The Bills did blitz a lot and the Chiefs didn't handle it. Smith was the reason -- he missed wide open safety valves, and he failed to see some wide open receivers in the areas our blitzers vacated. This WILL NOT WORK against Brady. At least not all the time. If all we want to do is punish Brady but lose by 50 points, blitz away. Could be worth it.

I hadn't seen that clip before. Did number 78 for the Jets really get a penalty for having Brady walk into him?

Gilmore's chickensh!t non-tackling is one reason to play Tolbert instead of Cadet. Although I'm impressed with Cadet. Tolbert might have Gilmore stepping out of the way instead of attacking.

We've been waiting since Flutie left. Let's face facts.

The only thing that's going to work is to sign Doug Flutie. That's the only way the curse gets lifted.

A 4 yard reception? Yes. Also a first down. How many times has this year's team gotten 8 or 9 yards on first down, and ended up punting?

A team with a winning culture and a good chance to go to the SB every year is like a bonfire. Throw another log on, and it will burn. The Bills had that in the early 90s and did everything they could think of to ruin things. Firing coaches, firing brilliant GMs, having a game each year in Toronto to make some extra cash. Keeping Littman and the rest of Ralph's inner circle in control of operations. Horrible waste of a great situation. A team with a losing reputation, that's not going anywhere that year or next year, is like a pile of wet logs with some kindling mixed in. You'll get a little heat but mostly smoke. Players want rings. They want endorsements and glamour. The reason Watkins and Darby were traded was they would never have re-signed here, and it was better to get something for the future than watch them leave like Gilmore, Gillislee, and Hogan. Who all went straight to the biggest bonfire they could find when they had the chance. At least we don't have Brady passing to Watkins to worry about. Since the rules are different now than when Polian built the 90s Bills, the only way to get the fire going is to bring in a lot of young, good players at once, before the guys here now reach the end of their rookie contracts and walk away. So stockpile a lot of picks and hope most of them work out. In two or three years, these guys are strong veterans and the team is winning consistently. The approach the Bills are taking is the ONLY way out of this mess. There's no guarantee they're going to succeed and considering how badly they usually draft success is a long shot. But it's the only shot we've got.

That's not called for. Taylor isn't the guy for the future because he has consistently failed to move the offense. He never throws receivers open. Since Watkins left, he can't hit a deep pass. He has this pride thing going where he insists he'll be a pocket passer when that's not what he does best. Taylor has God-given abilities no other QB does, but he insists on trying to be a square peg in a round hole. He needs to use his strengths and overcome his weaknesses as a passer. He's just on the wrong track.

He had two wrong answers to choose from, and picked a wrong answer.

These are interesting ideas that won't go anywhere in the hidebound NFL, unless the league's masters at CBS and Fox tell them to do this. My point is that you can usually tell when Bills fans recognize another year has slipped away, when their focus turns from the Bills to other topics like this one. Not blaming anyone or criticizing, but this seems to happen every year.

We all expected a crap team this year, going in. So much talent traded away or lost to FA, and no reason to think the replacements would be good. We had a pleasant surprise as they showed the "on any given Sunday" theory still applies, but now we're back to the team we expected in the first place. Would you be "done" if they had been playing like this from the start of the season, as we expected, and maybe now at this point started to play better? I really like the posts from K-9 and vorpma. Hang on and let things get better in time. There's no magic pill that leads to overnight success.

As true as that is, you'll go crazy playing that game. Instead of drafting Torrell Troup, they could have taken Rob Gronkowski. Every QB the Bills have had since would have suddently become much better, and the Pats wouldn't have had the same range of weapons. OTOH, this year they traded down in the first round, picked up the Chief's first rounder next year, and still got the CB they wanted. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. We just lost too many. Out of all the first and second rounders the Bills have ever drafted, only six remain on the Bills roster, and three of them are from this year. THAT'S where the problem is. Too many poor picks, too many picks useful only for a coach who isn't here anymore (Ragland for Wrecks), too many good players who left as FAs. THAT'S why the defense is so thin, why the DL is so weak, why the OL is floundering, why we have no WRs that demand special attention. And as far as we know, that great QB we need is still not here.

Want to know where our horses are? Check the barn door. Here are all of the players the Bills took in the first or second round, who are still on the Bills roster: TreDavious White Zay Jones Dion Dawkins Shaq Lawson Cordy Glenn Eric Wood That's it. Three from this year and three from past years. The first two rounds are where your stars are supposed to come from. It's no wonder the Bills can't compete, or that their D line went from lions to pussycats, or that their O line is old or hurt or not very good, etc etc etc. They didn't draft well, they made mostly bad trades, and they didn't keep the right players from leaving as FAs.