Utah John

There's still no word on where McCoy will go. I think the Bills have a better QB situation than Denver so that might help him come here. (Unless the Bills release TT and the Broncos scoop him up, which they will in a heartbeat.)

1. Gilmore 2. Felton 3. Lorax 4. Woods 5. Douzable

OBJ had a bad game. Dropped passes for first downs and touchdowns. It happened, acknowledge it, move on. He's a great WR who had a bad game. Watkins flashes talent but hasn't stayed healthy. Possibly he came back this year before really being ready. All we can do is wait and see. I don't think the Bills will have a better QB than TT next year. Possibly it will be TT, but no one better is available. In 2015 TT hit Watkins on several deep passes. This year with no legitimate #2 receiver, Watkins was double covered a lot, and the deep routes weren't there. But he was open a lot for other routes, and TT never looked at him. I don't know why. Also of course the Bills were focused on running, with a good run blocking O line and Shady being amazing. Will Watkins turn out better than OBJ? Impossible to tell at this point. Silly to say it can't happen.

I'd be very happy if Lynn returned as OC, but since he went from having the inside track as Bills HC to not getting hired, he's probably not coming back at all. Too bad if I'm right.

Once upon a time, in ancient history when Jim Schwartz was DC of the Bills, they could roll out two separate high-quality four-man D lines. They had 8 starter-quality DEs and DTs. This year, when Dareus was hurt, they were scraping the bottom of the barrel to find THREE starters on the D line. Thanks Wrecks and Doug for building a bully on the D line. Well, at least we have a lot of good LBs. Wait, the good ones are FAs. Hmm. Agree on retaining TT. He's by far the best option available. That's not saying much, I realize, but it's true. No way Lynn comes back as OC, unfortunately. He's after a HC job, and returning now to the Bills would feel like admitting failure. I think he did a very good job considering the injuries at WR, and I'd be happy if he did come back.

Wrecks did great in Baltimore when he had Ray Lewis as MLB and Ed Reed in the defensive backfield. Not so much afterward. McDermott did great in Carolina when he had Luke Kuechly as MLB and Josh Norman in the defensive backfield. Not so much afterward. Maybe it's not the coaches. Maybe it's the players. Ah, what the heck. Spin the wheel, take a shot, try to get lucky. Maybe Sean's the one.

It would be a godsend for the Broncos if TT was released. With TT, and an above average or better defense, Denver wins the AFCW and the SB. And the Bills join the Browns in extreme disaster. Johnny Football, anyone? RGIII? That's what we have to look forward to. Or the Bills could keep TT with all his flaws and strengths, fix the D, get a couple of better receivers, and build instead of destroy.

If the Bills let TT go, and he gets on a team with a strong defense and a coach who can walk the walk and not just talk the talk, he'll have a SB ring next year. And the comments on this board will be 10 times as acrid as this year's. TT can be a real weapon. Let him put up his 24 or 28 points per game, every game, and if the defense is doing its job and keeping the other team under control, the team wins 10 or 12 games. The thing is, he's shown that without good receivers he's not going to be able to bring a team back from a deficit. Some QBs can do that, but they're all spoken for. I think it would be better to keep him like a point guard, not a shooting guard. Let the team win, and stop expecting miracles from our QB because we aren't going to have a miracle worker. I think it's a major mistake to let TT go. At the same time, it's fine with me he was benched. The Bills players didn't lose on purpose but I'm glad for the organization they're drafting 10th and not 19th.

I'm astounded at the level of scholarship here. Someone worked out that the Aramaic words for "particle sun" and "prodigal son" sound alike, so there's a biblical reference. Amazing. If we could stop talking about this it would be a mute point. But it doesn't really matter so it's moot. I learn so darned much on this board, I'm amazed I can still think at all.

Bruce DeHaven coached the Bills twice. He was the fall guy after the loss to Tennessee. Obviously firing him was a horrible mistake but probably understandable. The entire organization was losing its mind, Ralph leading the way. Flutie vs RJ, an aging core group, salary cap issues, but front office idiocy that has never settled down. Ralph firing Polian for putting one of his employees in her place. OK, so what if she was Ralph's daughter. Then Butler and Smith basically firing the Bills rather than stick around, and who could blame them. But there's more what-ifs here than in the SB loss to the Giants. If the Bills coverage guys had stayed in their frikkin lanes, the play wouldn't have worked, or at least not scored. And once the blood started running through the streets, the carnage was on its way. My question is, why did DeHaven leave the Bills the second time? After his odyssey in SF, Dallas, and Seattle, he came back to the Bills from 2010-12. Why did he leave in 2012? Was he fired? I know Chan Gailey was fired as HC after the 2012 season and Doug Marrone came in. Did Marrone want his own ST coach?

The Bills had 2 LBs make second team all-pro. The D line has Kyle Williams, Marcel Dareus, and Jerry Hughes. Granted the secondary was a medical ward, but geez there's a lot of talent there to be so bad. It's coaching and motivation to blame. In Baltimore and New Jersey, Wrecks had natural, vocal leaders who enforced discipline, so he never had to. Here, you've got Dareus and Hughes, not exactly the most mature or responsible players you'll ever meet. Blame the players if you want but if the coach allows sloppiness and laziness, some players will just take it. And the schemes, my God, some weeks they'd be great and some pathetic, but never would there be any provision for adjustment during the game. This has been the most frustrating two years in my 50+ years of following the Bills. The offense, even with all the injuries to WRs, put up points. They couldn't get first downs when they needed them, but if the D had been able to hold opponents to 20 points per game, the Bills would have made the playoffs for sure. The D was just helpless, particularly against strong O lines.

If they DO blow it up, they should trade Shady. He's still a stellar RB but won't be for more than a couple more years. It would be fairer to him to let him play for a contender for the rest of his career. I'll miss him but if all those changes happen, he'll be the only threat the Bills have, and even he can't run when the D is sold out on stopping him. That said, I don't think all those changes are coming. I think TT stays. I think Gilmore walks. No sense in franchising him if he's going to play pansy ball next year like he did this year, so he doesn't get hurt before his big FA payday somewhere else. Woods will be a minor loss, on a par with the loss of Hogan. I'm more worried about Kyle Williams retiring out of disgust and hopelessness that he'll ever reach the playoffs here. If he sees a reasonable shot for the Bills to make it (meaning TT is retained) I hope he'll stay. I think if we lose TT, we lose KW at the same time.

I don't know if it's accurate to say Wrecks sucked. He failed, that's what the bottom line is. Whether he sucked or there was a combination of factors that prevented success, doesn't really matter. Wrecks coached a talent-laden Ravens defense and succeeded. Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, OMG. Then he went to the Jets and coached a talent-laden team for a couple of years and succeeded, and as the talent level dropped so did his performance. Hmmmm. He went to the Bills and tried to implement a scheme he knew. The Bills were coming off two years of defensive dominance. The players were too proud or too stubborn to buy in, and a lot of them too stupid or lazy to grasp the new plan. Disaster ensued, as we all know. We finally got a functioning offense and then couldn't stop anyone when we really needed to. You can blame the players for not supporting or accomplishing, but it's on the coach to find a way to make things work with the players he's got. This is what Wrecks failed to do. He was just as proud and stubborn, and let's face it, stupid to adjust to the situation he had. So he wasted a year getting guys used to his system. Fat lot of good that did, with performance dropping even further this year. And the game management. Punting on your own 40 with 4 minutes left in OT, when a tie is as bad as a loss. Then only having 10 men on the field. Those two plays, back to back, might have got Tom Landry fired, except they would never happen to a Tom Landry team. Those two plays right there were enough to tip the scales toward Wrecks being booted.

I am not a huge TT fan but I recognize he's got unique skills that we'll miss if he's gone. He still doesn't throw receivers open, but our receivers aren't generally guys you can count on getting open in the first place. At least this year that was the case, when everyone was hurt and we were down to fifth or sixth string players. Cousins couldn't complete passes to covered receivers, either, but he would try more often, and create picks, which would be disastrous with our lousy defense. Personally I would sign Cousins if he could play safety. Otherwise, we're better off with TT at QB and the extra cash that Cousins would demand could be used to patch holes elsewhere.

The Chiefs don't beat themselves. A couple of times over the past few years, the Bills generally outplayed the Chiefs but lost by screwing up. Was it Boobie Dixon who fumbled at the goal line? The Chiefs don't do stupid stuff like that. The Bills used to make those big time D/ST plays, under Wrecks' predecessor. And they would still lose to the Chiefs. Now they don't even get those big time plays. The more I think about TT the more convinced I am that we should accept his shortcomings and figure out how to win with him. He can consistently get this offense to produce 24 points a game. Why should that not be enough to win? In this league, that kind of O production should win 3/4 of the time. The things he doesn't do well, like throwing a receiver open, are real limitations, but how many QBs in the league don't have some limitations? TT is not the problem.

It's January. A serious knee injury now would push recovery times past training camp and maybe into the regular season. It's just not worth it to risk McCoy or Watkins.

TT isn't the problem. Marcel Dareus is the problem. Huge contract eating cap space, too lazy or stupid to learn the defense, too selfish or undisciplined to not smoke weed, a good player but not like you should expect from the #3 overall. The Bills want to keep their options open on TT, and they should do exactly that. I think he'll be back next year because unless we can swing a Dareus plus TT trade for a really good QB, there's no way the Bills can upgrade at QB. Even that trade would be tough for the other team to handle because of the balloon in TT's contract plus Dareus's ridiculous contract. The Bills have a chance to set an NFL record for fewest turnovers. So they're going to play EJ. Just sayin'. I would rather see Cardale Jones to get an idea if he's grasping things. Big arm and not afraid to use it.

Maybe it was a last chance to see some of his former teammates. There will probably be a lot of new faces next year.

2004 all over again. Well, 2004 was worse because the Bills were playing the Steelers third stringers. This year, Miami was playing all out because they would likely have missed the playoffs if the Bills beat them. But, hey, let's not call the icing timeout until too late, for no good reason at all. Let's let Miami return our kickoff after we took the lead. Let's defend Ajayi with 10 men, so he can put them into FG position to win and get over 200 yards again. Let's waste a challenge and a TO on a clearly successful Miami reception -- a timeout that could have given the Bills a shot at points at the end of the first half. Let's not pressure Moore at all -- no sacks from the Bills vaunted pass rush. Let's call an idiot reverse to Reggie friggin Bush when all we needed to do was continue to play power football. Let's punt with 4 minutes left in OT when a tie would have been as bad as a loss. This situation is so frustrating I'd tear my hair out if I wasn't bald already.

Most NFL players were the stars on their college teams. So they never played ST in college. They get to the pros and most of them aren't NFL-level stars, so they're expected to jump in and play ST and do things they haven't learned to do. A certain percentage of them figure it out and some of those guys use ST excellence to stick around, often a lot longer than their peers who are focused on regular positions. But most of the guys stuck on ST squads never devote the time or dedication needed to be good at ST. The Bills have had great STs some years, and lousy STs other years. A lot of it has to be coaching. Dave is exactly right. The measure of success for a KO return compared to a touchback is, did you get to the 25? Returners hardly ever do that, but the last half of this year, the Bills opponents did it regularly. I think a lot of it is coaching, and devising schemes to prevent the other guys from getting a seam in the coverage. Were the Bills even trying to do that?

I don't agree with all the Whaley hate. He's brought in a lot of talent, certainly more than Miami has, and they're going to the playoffs. It's been coaching and culture holding back the team. Whaley had misses. He gave up too much for Watkins when he didn't have a great QB. Cart before the horse. But then it turned out TT could throw a great deep ball and when Watkins wasn't injured TT looked a lot better. He paid too much for Dareus, who's too lazy and selfish to be the guy he ought to be. Clay has been OK but not worth the cost. Whaley also had real wins. Jerry Hughes for whatshisname. McCoy for Kiko, who's never been as good since his rookie year. Lorax out of nowhere. Incognito. Keeping Cordy Glenn and Wood. I also think the Pegulas talk to the other owners, and Whaley's reputation from his time with the Steelers is very good. I think the other owners tell the Pegs that Rex was the problem, and Whaley is on the right track.

Reasons to start EJ vs the Jets: -- The Bills haven't decided what to do about TT. If he gets hurt they're on the hook for his salary. The Pegulas aren't afraid to dump cash, but the salary cap is the issue. Personally I think the Bills should keep TT. He's flawed (throws late a lot) but also has unique strengths (running). There are no alternatives available. -- Cardale is not ready. -- EJ is an experienced QB. Not very good, but actually better than some starters in the league and definitely better than many backups. The Bills won't retain him but if he shows well this week he'll have some trade value. -- Lose and get the #9 pick. Win and it could be #19, To get those 10 spots back in all the rounds of the draft, the Bills would have to trade other pics or some valued player. Not worth it. No one cares except the coaches and players if we're 7-9 or 8-8. Some of those are likely mutually exclusive. If EJ plays well the Bills could win, and still lose those draft slots, but at least we might get value for EJ.

A year too late. Wrecks didn't do anything this year he didn't do last year. Took a top-five D and ruined it. And that's his specialty. Hah. Like Marrone being an O-line coach, and the O-line being so bad.

I'm sure the curse is active, and all the pieces we needed to fall into place would have, if the Bills had only done their jobs. 2004 all over again. Probably the Bills were doomed when Ryan chose to punt with four minutes remaining in OT, but it could have worked out if the unbelievable blunder of putting only 10 men on the field hadn't happened. 11 v 10, not fair. Some coach didn't see to it that Gilmore was replaced. That coach, even if it's the fat brother of Wrecks, needs to be fired. Not today, it's Christmas, but tomorrow. That blunder could end up costing the Bills a playoff spot.

This was the worst tacking performance I've ever seen. To me, this was the defense pleading with the owners to kick Rex out and bring in a professional DC. Lynn can be the HC, and some up and coming talent can take over the defense. Unless Jim Schwartz is available, in which case the Pegulas should bring him back as HC and let him hire a new staff. Or an old staff, the one Schwartz had here when the defense was great, not a liability like Rex's mess.