Utah John

I prefer the white helmets, but considering the reason to switch to red back in the day was to help our QB (Fergie) not throw to the wrong guys, I wonder if we should consider having our offensive players wear red helmets to stand out, and have the defensive players wear white, to blend in.

Utah is Broncos country. People are in mourning here and couldn't care less about the Bills.

There's the business end of things, where SJF has great facilities and the workouts and tryouts are very convenient. Then there's the team-building end of things, where Fredonia with more bars per resident than any city in the country (or used to anyway) provided MUCH better opportunities for the players, and coaches, to bond with each other after practice. I never bought into the regionalization concept. Seriously, will more people from Rochester buy tickets because the Bills have training camp near them? I just don't buy it.

When things go well, the guy in charge usually gets more credit than he deserves, and the people who worked for him get less than they should. Based on team performance, I can't imagine any assistant on the Bills D or ST not grading out high. I understand Ryan wanting his own guys, which is pretty normal when HC changes happen, but it's really sad for me to think of the great D and ST staff members being kicked to the curb. I'm sure they didn't see this coming, and had plans and expectations to carry on next year where they left off this year.

I've always wanted to see the 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1. Total confusion for the O line since there's only one guy in position to block, and all the other guys just run to the ball.

I hope Marrone and his family can stretch that 4 mil a loooooong way. No other big paychecks coming his way. Ask yourself, what other team would want to hire a coach who left like that? OK, so he had a clause that LET him do it, but that didn't mean he NEEDED to do it. The clause was there in case the new ownership was difficult to work with, which clearly wasn't the case with the Pegulas. Ask yourself, what GM would want to hire a coach who blasted the Bills' FO on the way out of town? Ask yourself, what candidates for coordinator positions and other coaching assistants would want to pull up stakes and move somewhere to work for a guy who shafted his Bills coaches so badly?

Kiko would probably make a great TE, now that you mention it. It worked for JJ Watt, and Alonso also has the height and agility to be effective. This of course is an additional duty for him, in addition to his LB job. I think Chuck Wagon's perspective is absolutely correct. The Bills were going to take Ebron with their original pick, after all the griping about Chandler. So would you trade Watkins for Ebron plus Detroit's #1 this year? I would NOT. The only real shame is that the 2013 Bills weren't just a little crappier, so they could have had the draft slot that Cleveland did, and we could have gotten Watkins with our own pick.

It's normal for NFL players to have injuries. What I liked about this past year was that so many guys were able to get back on the field quickly. Major injuries like McKelvin's knee obviously don't apply, but a lot of players were fit enough and strong enough and flexible enough that the dings didn't sideline them for long.

You know, stopthepain, I'm really not sure that EJ ain't gonna be the guy. Or at least the Bills might try again to see if he can be the guy. I think he's had lousy coaching and played behind a lousy O line, and had a couple of knee injuries his rookie year which may have affected his thinking. What can a good coach do to help him? Probably a lot. I am not an EJ lover or convinced he's the guy, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Bills give him another big chance. Of course there will be at least one additional QB brought in. Even if EJ wins the starting job, Tuel is not the answer as the backup.

Well, even against the Raiders, Mario Williams and Kyle Williams each had half a sack. Keep that up all year, and 8 sacks apiece isn't shabby.

I hope someone walked up to Rex at TBT and welcomed him to New York State. About his projected weight gain -- I think he lost all that weight from stomach band surgery or whatever it's called. It's probably nearly impossible to gain a lot of weight afterward. But, considering Buffalo wings, pizza, and hot dogs, I can see Rex giving it a good try.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that what happens to Marrone is what happened to Ted Nolan -- frozen out by all the teams in the league after being HC for a Buffalo team -- although Nolan did not deserve that situation. But Marrone does deserve it. What team wants a guy with such a poor sense of loyalty? What coaching assistants and coordinators will sign up to work for a guy who shafted his staff in Buffalo so badly? Also, Nolan was canned after great success, Coach of the Year if I'm not mistaken. Marrone, not so much. Wasted a great defense by his offensive incompetence.

The biggest reason not to bring Manning here -- our O line. He'd get murdered.

I remember asking my brother if he knew what 1234567890 was. The answer of course was a sideline picture of Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Darryl Talley, Bruce Smith, and Phil Hansen.

What about the Electric Company? Joe D is already on the Wall, but what about Reggie McKenzie, Mike Montler, Donnie Green, Dave Foley, and Paul Seymour? Going farther back, Butch Byrd and Tom Day.

These are valid points, but there is still the issue of personnel. Granted going to a 3-4 would allow Spikes to stay when Kiko returns. But who on the line will play where? Mario Williams is a great DE, and Dareus and Kyle Williams are great DTs. We have no NTs, and might not keep Jerry Hughes. Do we have Kyle play DE? He's not built for that. My biggest fear is a new guy comes in a blows up a great ensemble, and the Bills great D this year collapses in a couple of years.

I hope Schwartz stays and Ryan lets him keep on doing his thing. This definitely ain't broke and don't need fixin'. But just wait till something goes wrong. Rex and Jim in a room = more Ego Per Unit Volume than any situation outside Congress.

The Bills have had problems with taunting penalties in the past. Better get control of this ASAP since Rexism will lead to more behavior of that type.

Article of Faith #1: There are no good wings outside of WNY. Especially in Delray, wherever that is. Welcome to New York State, Mr Ryan, and to real wings.

Great article. Welcome to New York State, Mr Ryan.

I'd have been happy with Gailey as OC also, but it looks like a Roman holiday is on its way. I know nothing about Roman so I have no opinion on whether he's a good hire. But I sure hope they keep Schwartz and stay in the 4-3. The personnel have been assembled for a 4-3, not a 3-4, and starting over to fit Ryan's preference for a 3-4 would be downright criminal.

I'm not a fan of the Cowboys (as far from a fan as can be) nor of the Lions (less hatred there), but I think both Johnson and Bryant did enough to have their catches count. Bryant caught the ball and took at least two, maybe three, steps with the ball firmly in control. That should be that. He was contacted by the defender so when he fell he should have been considered tackled. The fact that the ball came loose after shouldn't matter there, any more than if a RB is moving down the field and is tackled, and as he falls the ball hits the ground and comes loose. For the RB the play is dead -- it's not a fumble since he was contacted by the defender and when the ball hits, the play is over. Should be the same thinking for catches.

If the Browns fire Pettine after one year, during which they played pretty well for long stretches, they will surpass even the Bills for FO foolishness. Unless the ghost of Vince Lombardi is looking for work, they won't find anyone better than Pettine.

I have always figured Ryan is a good coach with a lousy front office. He'll fit right in. My biggest concern with this is that Ryan loves a 3-4 defense, and the Bills personnel is geared to a 4-3. Will Ryan keep Schwartz in place and let Schwartz continue to run a 4-3? Well just supposing they go with a 3-4. Does Kyle Williams play right DE? Does Jerry Hughes play right DE? Or do they let Hughes leave (or heaven forbid, let Kyle Williams leave), and plug in Kiko alongside this year's three LBs? Or do they just toss out everything and start over like usually happens when they switch defensive concepts. Rex Ryan is probably an upgrade over Marrone. Any of the OC options they're talking about is a HUGE upgrade over Hackett. But there's still no solid QB option, and the O line still stinks. If the Bills handle this wrong, they'll blow up that great defense and not fix the offense. Probably trade Carpenter too so they'll suck on STs as well.

It's not cheating, but the officials should have realized that it gave the Pats an unfair advantage. Running a play out of that unusual formation is legal, no question, but having the referee simply announce that the RB lined up outside the main linemen group was ineligible just before the ball is snapped, is not sufficient notice to the defense to allow them to understand whom to cover. The whole point of having eligible and ineligible receivers is so that everyone understands who is eligible and who isn't. So the FIRST time this happened, the Ravens were at an unfair disadvantage. Any times after that, these professional athletes and their professional coaches should have had some kind of plan. Even if they had to draw it up on paper on the sidelines, they should have been able to pull something together to counter the formation. For starters, with one of the ineligible linemen deployed off the main group, that left four actual blockers. Blitz away and see what happens.