OldTimer1960

+1 You can't evaluate a qb without some talent around him.

And Bridgewater will get picked apart in pre-draft analysis due to is small stature. Manuel is close to 240 lbs, Bridgewater might be 210 and is not supposed to be any better runner than Manuel. Don't get me wrong, I liked what I saw of Bridgewater, but he isn't John Elway, Peyton Manning, or even Cam Newton...

I don't think the Phins will pick another QB. I think Tannehill has shown the possibility of being a very good QB, so I believe they will try to shore up the OL to help him have a chance for success rather than take another QB who will also be saddled with a poor OL - and - both QBs getting fewer reps in training camp since there will be two fighting for the starting job. I am pretty sure that there would be some teams that would be happy to take Ryan Tannehill off their hands if they want to kick him to the curb.

But if you keep giving up on QBs after one year where they didn't earn Hall Of Fame credentials, how will you ever know if you have a QB that will be very good? Further by spending multiple high picks on QBs,, you are not spending those picks on players that can help a QB to succeed - WRs, RBs, OL...

Flutist isn't a very good example. He didn't exactly do much in the NFL. I was thinking just the opposite - that NFL players might grow tired of that very quickly and tell him to STFU. There were players on his own team that seemed annoyed with that "leadership" - of course I don't really know what they thought of that...

What was said that made you think that?

If they go this way, they need to get a play making WR in FA. While I think Woods is going to be pretty good, Stevie is only above average. This WR group doesn't compare well with most in the NFL and there is no true play maker that makes big catches at the big times in games. Compare this group to Chicago'a for instance. Both Marshall and Jeffries are big-time and make a couple of spectacular catches seemingly every game the Bills do not get that from any of their WRs, though Woods does have good hands.

I agree, coaches today don't have the luxury of losing for even 3 years, unless there is obvious progress being made. I am not completely sure that I agree with this approach, but it is what is happening. That said, I don't think you can run through more than a couple of young QBs in 3 years and have much idea what you have. I think 2 years for a young QB isn't always enough, yet if in year 3 the QB hasn't really righted the ship (or there isn't enough talent around him for him to do so), then the coach likely won't survive to see year 4. At any rate, I can see the merit if the Bills want to hedge their bet on Manuel by taking a QB that they think has a chance to be good in the 2nd-4th round area. However, I think they still need to give Manuel another full year to show good progress. Heck, I don't think he was bad this year. He wasn't immediately great, but he wasn't awful except against Pittsburgh and Tampa.

I don't see any of these "immediately successful" QBs on the list of SB winners above. I don't debate that there are young QBs having very good success including Wilson, Kaepernick, Dalton and I'll include Robert Griffin 3. However, that does not mean that there no longer are QBs who aren't immediately very good in the NFL but will get there with some experience.

OK, I'll give you Colin Kaepernick (who by the way needed a year in SF before playing much) and Russell Wilson - neither of whom were slam-dunks to have the success that they have. Who besides them, should the Bills have drafted (that was available at their pick) over the last 7 years? Maybe Nick Foles or Andy Dalton, but I don't recall them passing many great QBs by... This is a sensible approach. I'd also add that you don't run the guy you have out of town instantaneously just because he isn't lighting the world on fire after year 1.

I am not seeing the trend for these new great QBs winning SBs, the last 10 SB winning QBs were: Joe Flacco - good, not great IMHO Eli Manning - good, not great Aaron Rodgers - great Drew Brees - great Ben Roethlisberger - good Peyton Manning - "great" (yet he has won only 1 SB) Ben Roethlisberger - good Tom Brady - great Tom Brady - great Brad Johnson - journeyman If you agree with my classifications, then 5 of the last 10 SBs were won by "great" QBs. The remainder were no doubt good, but not great in my opinion (except for Brad Johnson). BTW, I appreciate your well-written, well-thought out posts. I very much appreciate that the general tone of your posts is polite also.

I won't disagree there, but as you say, you can win multiple Super Bowls with a game manager and great defense, as long as you give the game manager some outstanding weapons.

Pretty strong opinion on someone who is only in his 3rd year in the NFL. What do you base the opinion that he's not good enough to get Cinci over the hump on? Is it his arm strength?

Troy Aikman threw 31 TDs and 46 INTS in his first 3 years in Dallas. They clearly should have given up on him!

Very good analogy! BTW - all Jerry Sullivan articles are poorly written, in my opinion!

ANOTHER WR? What great WRs does this team already have? I believe that Robert Woods will develop into a good starting WR and I think that Marquise Goodwin may become a decent contributing WR. I think that Stevie Johnson is an average-to-above-average WR, but certainly isn't a "go-to playmaker". As the roster stands with the current level of experience (ie, at this time in Woods' and Goodwins' careers), I would speculate that the Bills WR group is in the bottom 25% of the NFL.

But, but, but I don't like that reality. Surely there are 5 or 6 Hall of Fame QBs in every draft - in particular ones that will be immediately great in the NFL, it must just be that the Bills decided not to take one. (That was sarcasm in case it didn't come through well).

Now there you go talking all logical and such. Don't you know that all rookies are already as good as they will ever be? Especially dem dere QBs who play that simple position!

How is it "on the coaches"? Isn't it all up to Dareus to be a professional? Another post suggested that it was Kyle And Mario Williams' responsibility - what are they supposed to do beyond encourage him to be on time? If he doesn't take responsibility himself, his teammates and coaches can't do much about it.

Such genius - all they have to do is find another Peyton Manning - it is all SO clear now! Why didn't they think of that before???

The run defense wash't really any better in the 2nd half with "The Late One" in there.

Well to start with, I gave Crossman a pass early in the year when many special team players were forced to play significant roles on defense due to injuries, but the "teams" didn't get any better once the injuries healed and they cost the Bills significantly several times. Where oh where is Bobby April? Defensively, they had a lot of sacks, but I suspect that many of them were a result of LBs playing too close to the DL and rushing the passer first and foremost. This can lead to BIG runs as we saw every week.

Absolutely awful. Blount hasn't had this many yards in any 3 GAMES yet the Bills pathetic run defense makes yet another backup running back look like an All-Pro. Don't get me wrong, Pettine has been an improvement over recent DCs, but talk of him being spirited away to become a HC is laughable.

Not to defend Graham, but he jumped because the ball was behind him and he couldn't stop on the wet field. Bad pass, poor catch attempt... Anyone who doesn't think this team needs WR help is wrong (IMHO). The Bills' WR group is in the bottom 5 in the NFL. Now, I'll qualify that and say that Woods and Goodwin have some upside, but Stevie is nothing special on any other team and Graham, Easley, Hogan, etc are no help at all.

Marrone should be lauded for sitting Dareus. He can't be bothered to try, so he should sit. I think he is too talented to cut and that off-sides was a mental mistake due to desire to make a play, but still inexcusable.