Utah John

We did have some bad timing this year. The Chiefs, for example, were terrible to start the year, then found their game. The Bills played them when they were doing well. The Bills played the Giants when they were doing well, early on, and the Jet played the Giants after the Giants had collapsed. So it goes. That isn't the league screwing the Bills, it's just bad luck. Any team that loses to Jacksonville shouldn't blame anyone else for their failures. Tough scheduling affects all teams. The high number of teams coming off byes or longer weeks to play the Bills is a recurring issue but get a straw - and suck it up. Deal with it, and win, so we get more of the Thursday night games, to get longer weeks for ourselves.

It's farther from Mexico.

It will be good for younger football fans to see just how great a running back Simpson was. I hope they include a couple of clips of him from the shows where they had top athletes in various sports competing against each other. I think they called it the Superstars competition. Simpson was a completely dominant athlete, even among the best from all sports. That was a different era, before the media found out it could sell ads and papers from exposing the dark side of public figures. I heard rumors about Simpson's private life in the early 70s in Buffalo, but that was considered off-limits. So the lack of news stories doesn't prove the lack of issues, even back then. The Bills with Simpson, Ahmad Rashad, the Electric Company, and Joe Ferguson, had a great offense. They couldn't play defense in those years, otherwise they'd have made the playoffs more than they did.

Pettine was seduced by the chance to be an NFL head coach. Only problem, while the Browns are technically an NFL team, their front office is bush league. Pettine never stood a chance. I am not sure Pettine is HC material, but he's a great DC. He worked for Wrecks in New Jersey and seemed to get along OK,. though he did come here to get out from under the shadow. He might be willing to come in and return to DC. The biggest problem will be getting his boss from getting in the way of the repairs Pettine will need to do.

I think this Jets loss will be a sore memory for years to come, like the Bills losing in the last game of the season a few years ago, to the Steelers backups, when Bledsoe was the QB, and when a win would have put them into the playoffs. Think about this from the Jets viewpoint. They lost to a team with nothing to play for, with 10 (more or less) starters on IR, a defense that had collapsed into mediocrity, only one WR and no TEs, a rookie and a street FA at RB, etc etc etc. Except for one RB the Jets were healthy. Their OC was our HC and still knew many of the players, as did the Jets QB. They had Brandon Marshall beating up our secondary. And they still lost. Why? They couldn't get the Bills off the field, largely due to TT. Also because they screwed up and didn't cover Sammie on intermediate routes. Just like the Bills lost to the Steelers in the coming out party for Steelers RB Willie Parker, the Jets lost to the Bills when TT got onto the national stage, even if it was in a supporting role.

This is a guy whose destiny was to be a great backup QB. But he keeps getting into starting QB situations, and he's not good enough for that role. Fitz is a great guy, a great teammate. Did you see the hug Fitz and Eric Wood gave each other? His teammates on the Bills wished him well, completely, except when playing the Bills, which is as good as it gets. So he's a very rich man thanks to the Bills, but will probably never get to the SB. Possibly never get to the playoffs. His kids will take that trade -- the money over the playoffs -- but I'll bet he'd give up a few million (boy that sounds stupid when you see it typed) to be in a better situation as backup, behind someone like Brady or Carson Palmer. Someone who can be relied on to be ready to step in if the starter is injured, and keep the boat afloat. With Fitz as TT's backup, we beat Jacksonville, no question. Possibly even Cincinnati. Being as frank as possible, the Jets won 10 games thanks to that great defense, a very good O line, Chris Ivory (one of my favorite RBs), Brandon Marshall, and Chan Gailey doing a great job in his proper job. Fitz could be Fitz and usually the defense would bail him out. Just wondering -- if the Jets do the math like the Bills did, and figure Fitz is never going to win them a championship. They draft a QB high and figure that rookie can love life with that D, that O line, those receivers, etc. and look to the future. So they cut Fitz loose. I wonder if he still has his house in Hamburg...

He must have been trapped and not able to get away from the questions. So he didn't answer anything. If Wrecks wanted Thurman talking to the media, he would have been talking to the media, so he was doing what his boss wanted. Just a big F U to the newspaper that's giving Wrecks a hard time.

That sounds good, but who's going to catch them? Hands of stone McKelvin? Where'd he go? Graham? My money is on Mario Williams, finally making the full-time conversion to cornerback that Wrecks has wanted him to make all season.

The difference between now and the previous years of failure for both franchises is the availability of cash and the willingness to use it. The Pegulas are crazy rich and have no other goals I know of than to have both sports teams win, and to help rejuvenate the Buffalo area. They also provide donations to Penn State but the Buffalo area is their baby. The Sabres have a clear plan and path ahead. It's going to be exciting to watch the progress over the next couple of years, and I think the Pegulas' cash is going to help keep the talent pipeline stocked. The Sabres were always Terry Pegula's primary interest and that seems to be where their focus is -- think about all the hockey-related development downtown and then ask where the equivalent football-related development is. The Bills are Kim Pegula's domain. She is extremely smart and perceptive, and is nobody's fool. With billions in their pockets and no need to think about pinching pennies (like Ralph Wilson and his toadies did), the Pegulas will spend what it takes. I feel confident that if they think Wrecks Ryan should be canned at the end of the year, they'll do it, $27M or no. If he is retained, it will be because they chose to retain him, not that they were afraid of losing money or looking like they're in over their heads. I really don't think Whaley is the problem -- he put the talent together on offense to address the deficiencies there -- but Ryan screwed the pooch. On one hand there's an argument from a management perspective that retaining Ryan is rewarding colossal failure, which is bad for developing the culture of winning. On the other hand there are some legitimate reasons (not many) why the Bills failed this year, and it's not good to change and change and change, so there's a case to be made for keeping Ryan. But Whaley is a keeper. Both Whaley and GMTM have their franchises moving in the right direction. Russ Brandon seems to be staying out of the way, as he should. Not selling off a home game to Toronto anymore was all the contribution I needed to see from him.

The Bills could offer a $10K signing bonus -- that could work.

Getting back to the discussion early in this thread, the Bills use the running game for 5 yard gains, and the Pats use the passing game for those short gains. The simplistic question is, which is better, but since we don't have Tom Brady that's not a useful question. Brady is a fully experienced, highly talented QB who sees opportunities and grabs them. Taylor may be able to get there consistently as well, but until then the Bills are better off running. A strong running game beats up the defense and tires it out. It also demoralizes them if they're gashed over and over. But the Bills' approach lets the D key on our WRs running longer routes, without as much need to be alert for the mid-range passes the Bills never seem to use. The Patriots' pass-centric offense works because of Brady and McDaniels working to their strengths. Also it makes the pass defense cover the whole field. If the Pats had more WRs than Edelman (Amendola is a toy, and the rest are not very good), the Pats would be almost unstoppable. Gronk is of course an outstanding player, but teams are finding ways to cover him when there's no alternative for Brady to look for. So the bottom line is I think the Bills are playing to their strengths on offense. With another RT and possibly a RG (Miller needs to improve, or be benched) and a better #2 WR, their range of strengths will expand. (Also consider that Whaley DID address those holes, with two RTs in last year's draft including a #2, and Percy Harvin -- sometimes things don't work out as expected.) If they had played to their strengths on defense, they'd be 12-3 right now and contending for a first round bye. But Wrecks' foolishness is another topic.

We might have better overall talent than the Jets, but how do we match up in the leadership department? Who are the leaders on the Bills? Kyle Williams, but he's hurt. Aaron Williams, but he's hurt. Mario Williams, nope, great player but not a leader. Jerry Hughes seems to be the only player on defense who's excited to play, and he's a head case who can't go a whole game without a stupid penalty. On offense, Wood I suppose. Watkins could become that guy but doesn't seem inclined that way. Shady ought to be the leader but he doesn't seem to want the job. As much as I hate what Wrecks did to the defense, I see a team that lost so-so players but good to great leaders, like Fred Jackson, Scott Chandler, and maybe Spikes. Without leadership among the players, supporting the coach, a team can't win.

-- No sacks today but the Cowboys do have an excellent offensive line. -- It's hard to evaluate some of the performances. We were without our two starting CBs and struggled to stop some deep-bench WRs. Against Romo and Dez these guys would have been helpless. -- The Cowboys have a very good team but screwed up by not keeping a capable backup QB. The collapse this year due almost all to Romo's absences makes it clear how important a good QB is. The Bills haven't had a really good QB since Bledsoe's first year. And they still come close every year. That's a tribute to the team. They've had QB play most years from guys at the level of the Dallas QB today, and usually do a lot better than 4-11. If Taylor can develop a mid-depth passing game, and the Bills defense can figure out what Ryan is talking about (or even better, what Ryan's replacement is saying), there's a bright future if they can get those things done before Shady gets old. -- I am fine with Taylor attempting a limited number of passes. He hasn't had his primary targets in place most of the year -- Harvin disappeared, then Clay and Woods, and Hogan is turning out to not be a keeper. Too bad, I thought he might turn out like Edelman. Good job by Watkins getting open with no other real threats for receivers.

Training camp, when Wrecks Ryan put in the defense that destroyed the team.

Too bad he didn't go to an AFC team, chewing up their salary cap and sitting at home.

This is a worse situation than we've had in the past. If Rex stays, the Bills will lose all their FAs. No one particularly on defense will want to play for him, and they'll take good offers to go to teams that can make the playoffs. C-ya, Gilmore. Glenn and Incognito will be gone as well, and the progress made this year on the offensive line will be lost. The Bills are headed to an absolute disaster next year if Ryan stays. When Marrone left, it was sort of the same old thing we've seen before, but we've never had players itching to get out of town because of a coach before. This is a a franchise-saving or franchise-killing decision point. If the Bills let Ryan stick around and try to rebuild the defense his way, the outflow of good players when their rookie contracts expire will never allow them to restock. They will hit rock bottom next year, with no O line, no defense, McCoy getting old without anyone to block for him, Watkins getting hurt, Taylor running for his life. The Bills will draft high in 2017, possibly first overall, and might then get the QB they want, who will be ready in about 2020 to lead them, but there won't be a team around him. The alternative is to can Ryan, preferably now but more likely at the end of the season, and to bring in a coach who doesn't want to fix things that ain't broken. Hire Schwartz as defensive coordinator. Magically the Bills good players will decide to re-sign, and the team can move ahead. We can either sink with Ryan, who will get canned in a couple of years, or can Ryan now, and rescue the situation. Ryan gets paid that $27M if he doesn't get another job, but there's a sucker born every minute, and an NFL owner willing to hire a marquee coach for advertising reasons will swallow the same bait the Pegulas did. So I don't think the full $27M will be lost. And $27M is peanuts compared to the agony of watching their $1B+ investment go down the tubes.

The Bills have bigger problems. Disgust with Rex is going to keep all our FAs from re-signing. We're going to have to replace Gilmore, Glenn, and Incognito, and no one good will want to come to Buffalo. The 2017 draft is where we should be shooting for. Our defense will be even worse next year, and without an offensive line our expensive talent will be wasted. We'll go 2-14 next year and have a shot at the franchise QB you want. OR, the Bills could realize the expensive disastrous mistake they made, and fire Ryan NOW. Hire Schwartz as interim HC for the rest of the year. Next year hire another HC and have Roman and Schwartz as coordinators. Suddenly we'll be able keep our FAs and attract others. The key is, Ryan has to go before he drives away all the talent the Bills have accumulated. It's a lot easier to replace one loudmouth arrogant jerk of a HC than to rebuild a defense like we had in 2014 and 2013.

The Pegulas spend. They'll buy him out if they think that's the right thing to do. This isn't Ralph Wilson's world anymore.

Trading Mario will be impossible. No team will want to pay him the salary that his contract calls for, and if everyone thinks the Bills will release him, they can sit back and make a more affordable offer. Maybe Williams will want to become a Patriot and not only make the playoffs for a change, actually get a ring. I am afraid the Bills won't be able to re-sign any of their good FAs particularly on defense, because they won't want to stick around such a disaster, and watch their careers wasted in futility. In any other job, a guy who drove an excellent organization into the ditch in only one year would get fired. NOW. Not at the end of the season, NOW. Bring back Schwartz as interim HC to let the players know they don't have to leave Buffalo to win.

I've been a Bills fan since the early 60s and this is the most disappointing season. Ever. The team was in place to excel. All Ryan had to do was keep Schwartz, and let his new offensive coordinator -- who actually knew what he was doing, compared to the high school coach they had the past couple years -- use the new talent. Ryan had a choice. He could be a hero and lead his team to the playoffs, or he could be an egotistical jerk who destroyed a powerhouse defense, because the round pegs that worked so well the past two years didn't fit into his square holes. Guess which one he chose. So now the city and Bills fans all across the world have to suffer because of this egotistical, arrogant jerk. No coach in the league could stop the Bills defense. Except Rex Ryan, who's completely neutralized it. Thanks Rex. Back to the drawing board, and hoping the stars align again three coaches and eight QBs into the future. And maybe even a new owner and a new city into the future. The damage this guy has done is incredible. And guess what, he's just getting started. Ryan will want to tear this house down to the studs so he can rebuild it in his image. I'm just disgusted, and what's worse, for the first time in decades I don't think next year will be better.

Yes, bring him in as an unsigned wannabee, so the comparison with TT shows how much better TT is. If Bradford wants to be a minimum pay backup, he'd be a better option than EJ.

I watched the Dean Blandino clip for this week just now. He specifically mentions the Bills-Eagles non-call on offensive pass interference as being correct because the contact between the receiver and Corey Graham happened at the same time as the catch. I was able to stop that playback with a picture showing the receiver hitting Graham while the ball was in the air. By Blandino's explanation, that should have been OPI. If someone can tell me how to do a screen capture of this, I'll post it. Or you can do it yourself. It's at the 3:01 mark of the clip. You need to start and stop repeatedly to get the image showing the foul, but with some patience you can do it.

Just wondering if the NFL has acknowledged the refs blew the call on the Ertz play, where offensive pass interference was not called, giving McKelvin a chance to dance with Ertz for 41 yards down the sideline to set up the winning field goal. Seems like almost every game the NFL has to apologize to the Bills for blowing a key call late in a game with devastating results for the Bills. I will agree that in most cases the Bills could have overcome the ref's bad call with a good showing on the next play, but that's no excuse for the bad call in the first place.

This was exactly my thinking when they announced the trade with Cleveland. Why else pay such a high cost to move up a few spots -- obviously to get the premier talent in the draft. I remember many pundits suggesting Mack should be the top pick, over Clowney (and he's turned out to be a better player than Clowney, too). I did think Watkins was the best receiver in the draft, to be honest, and I still think he's going to be a great player, I did not see Beckham developing like he has. Of course he has Manning throwing to him so that's a big advantage also. Also Kiko has not figured out the pro game, or offensive coordinators have figured out how to beat him. On the Bills TD run on Sunday, Kiko was in position but overran the play. How many times did we see him do that for Buffalo?

Overall Whaley has done a very good job at picking talent, but not so much at picking character or intelligence. Sometimes a questionable character pick, say, Incognito, turns out to be a really good player who just needed to grow up a bit to become a valuable contributor, yesterday notwithstanding. OTOH Jerry Hughes is either stupid or crazy or some body part south of the waist. This past week Ryan was interviewed about the Shady trade, and he said something to the effect of, we needed a running back and we weren't sure what would happen with CJ Spiller being a free agent. Not a word about Fred Jackson. Granted FJ was not the most explosive back but Ryan and Whaley completely disregarded the effect leadership has on a player's worth. Mario is a highly talented player and he wants to be in a scheme where he can use his talents. There are a lot of people like that. The problem is that he's now in a scheme where his talents are wasted. He does not play hard most of the time, and everyone sees it. This is not leadership. It's not really poor character, it's more that his personality doesn't bring that out. He's a great player, don't get me wrong, but that part of the package isn't there. Dareus plays well but not to his full capacity. That's a shame. The Kyle Williams injury and the FJ release cut the two great leaders of the team out from under everyone. Who's going to step up? TT? I wish he would, but I get the feeling the Bills FO isn't sold on him and so the other players aren't all in either. I'm beginning to think Sammie Watkins is looking around for teams to jump to when he becomes a free agent, since like Mario Williams he isn't being given a chance to shine, ether, at least in his eyes. That will be two first round picks walking out the door when that happens. Anyway I don't see Sammie showing the kind of leadership the offense needs. The leader probably should be McCoy but here again he seems an on-again, off-again type, not the guy the others listen to.