OldTimer1960

I don't know what happened, but this whole thing is unravelling quickly. I can feel it all imploding and ending up with a whole new front office and new coaches. This really IS a mess right now.

But the QBs that you mentioned aren't any good. Look at Foles' stats this year - nothing at all like his miracle year in 2013. Now the question is, which year was the aberration? I don't want to trade Watkins away to find out. Heck, by your own argument Philly would overvalue Foles (they already have him) and wouldn't be willing to trade him for Watkins - unless they realize that Foles really is the middling QB he looked like before injury this year. If Philly was willing to trade their starting QB for a WR, then you can be sure that Philly doesn't think Foles is the answer at QB.

So, if you were in charge, who would you trade Watkins to and what QB would you draft?

I also think that NT Jeff Wright and DE Bruce Smith were pass rushers first and run stoppers 2nd. Wright, in particular, had a hard time holding the middle of the defense together against the monsterous NFC OLs.

I disagree. I think the defense was flawed against powerful dominant run games - as were in vogue in the NFC at the time. The Giants won time of possession and the game because the Bills's D couldn't get off the field. The Bills' D was built to play with a lead and they did that well with a tremendous smothering pass rush, but when going against bigger NFC OLs and runners without the lead, they struggled. In retrospect, that D would have been perfect for today's pass oriented NFL.

But now that Cousin's has actually played again and worked his way down to #3 on the depth chart, I'd be concerned about trading anything of much value for him.

I hope not. I think that Doug Whaley has done a good job of bringing in talent. Chris Polian never did a good job in Indy and was reported to be an as*hole on top of that.

Obviously....

How about Curly Lambeau? Seriously, Dick Lebeau is 77 years old. Do you really want to hire him as head coach?

Awesome!

What did Williams tweet?

How? Rivers is not a FA nor is he Reich's property. Do you think the Chargers would say "heck, Frank got a HC job, let's congratulate him by giving him one of the few good QBs in the NFL"?

Why? Cowher and Dungy are now TV fat cats who likely won't want to put in the long hours and endure the stress that being an NFL coach brings after being coddled on TV for years.

Well, bringing Rivers with him can't happen...

Oh stop it. That isn't going to be a deciding factor for any serious HC candidate. This team has more talent than any other team looking for a coach - even SF, IMHO. I am really bummed to see Marrone go - I thought that he did an exceptional job, but if forced to pick between Marrone and Whaley, I'd have chosen Whaley. Still, this is a huge mess now. They *can* hold the assistants hostage (especially Schwartz), but any new HC is going to want his own assistants. So, expect to blow the whole thing up and star YET AGAIN. FWIW, I think Schwartz did a great job as DC and hope that he will stay in that capacity, but I'll be very concerned if he becomes the HC after the disastrous job he did in Detroit with similar or better talent.

Woah there cowboy. Nobody gave a single example to impune analytics. What are you talking about? If you read my posts in this thread, you will see that I agree that analytics can complement solid football knowledge and scouting. I am only arguing that analytics, in the absence of solid football knowledge and scouting is blind - just as it is in any other application. Analytics without any application-specific knowledge is just a bunch of numbers without context. Yes, if you crunch enough numbers (with application-specific knowledge), you may identify something unique. But, I will argue, that you can crunch data for eternity and learn nothing if 1) the data is unfounded because it is not perfectly objective (football scouting nd coaching isn't ) and 2) you don't know the context of what you are analyzing is. As for yorur grudging acceptance that maybe you ought to consider specific situations over general analytics trends, well yeah. If you have a great defense and a sh*tty offense, does it not make sense to rely on your defense over your offense? I AM NOT saying that if you have a competent offense that can gain 2 yards no matter down and distance that it would be a bad idea to risk going for it on 4th and 1, but to make that broad-based assertion as a fact regardless of your team's strengths and weaknesses is silly - regardless of how many economists disagree. Just my $.02 worth, but then I am sure the economists don't think that is relevant.

Polian's track record is outstanding, BUT he did inherit a Hall Of Fame QB in Jim Kelly in Buffalo and "won" the right to have Peyton Manning as his QB for his full term in Indy. I think the most impressive job that he did was in Carolina where he got very new team to the NFC Championship early on with an OK QB in Kerry Collins.

I think that the original point may have been: Given that the media and fan-base will be highly critical if they aren't Super Bowl contenders coming out of training camp - how would Reich or other candidates allow/not allow that to affect them? Lots of coaches have (apparently) been affected by media/fan criticism and New York will lead the way with criticism by all. There are probably 5x as many all-sports talk radio stations in NY as there are in Buffalo and > 10x as many rabid unhappy fans who will complain and criticize endlessly. Whomever the Jets select as coach will need to have thick skin or be successful instantaneously.

No fair asking that question! It is only fashionable to point out that they don't have Manning, Brady, Rodgers or Brees - no solutions required.

Agreed. This was the Bills' thinking when they refused to pay Andy Levitre $8M/year. The logic was sound then and it is now. I'll bet that "analytics" would tell us that pass rushing DEs are more important than OGs! Whether fans like it or not, teams simply cannot afford to pay top dollar for players at every position (assuming there are even players worth that level of $ available at each position). Teams have to select carefully which positions they invest big money into. Teams with good young QBs still on their rookie contracts can afford more at other positions that have very highly paid veteran QBs, but once those top young QBs are eligible for their $15-$20M/year deal, they'll have to shed salary at other positions.

Aww man, now you've taken the fun out of saying "the Bills buffoons just don't get it!" This make perfect sense to me (and probably anyone who thinks about it for a bit). Another poster and I both pointed out that football was significantly different than baseball and were dismissed because we obviously don't get this new-fangled analytics that genius Mike Shoop babbles on endlessly about. Thank you also for including the bit about the Bills using GPS tracking - OMG how could they be on the leading edge of something??? Further, thanks for the point about the Pats and their proprietary measures of player personality. While maybe not as sophisticated as the Patriots analysis, I am certain that teams have been extensively investigating players off-field behaviors and backgrounds all the way back into HS and before - nothing new there. Now, if someone can devise a test that can find the one Tom Brady out of the 1,000 similar athletes playing QB in college, that would be worth a bundle!

A high percentage of making a 4th and 1? What is the league-wide average? What do you think the Bills' success rate would have been with a poor run-blocking OL and 2 backup RBs with no real threat of a big pass play to keep the defense honest? You have to consider the hand that you are playing with when making decisions like this. The Bills team this year had an outstanding defense, very good special teams and an anemic offense. I completely understand why they wouldn't want to go for it on 4th and 1 in many situations - they were playing to their team strengths.

Man, I disagree. Tannehill had a very good year and we'd have made the playoffs with him as our QB. 67% completions, 4000+ yards, 27 TDs to 12 INTS - that's pretty good IMHO.

Does Sanchez have the kind of "professional preparation and attitude" that this staff is going to be looking for (and that would be a good influence on any young QB (Manuel or other)? Reportedly, he lacked some of that in NY where he appeared to want to be more of a celebrity than a NFL QB. Perhaps being cut and playing backup for a while has helped him mature, but that is what I'd be concerned about.

I think that there are a little more objective and easily obtainable statistics available for baseball - a game that is also much more individual match ups than football is. I am not saying that analytics can't help in some way, but I do think that it can't stand alone without talent evaluation. The condescending characterization you've made of "a roomful of dudes with average to to below average IQs evaluating talent on instinct" isn't called for, either. Without the talent evaluators, what is the analytics guy(s) going to base his analysis on?