BigBuff423

This should be on a bumper sticker

Whoever referred to him as "Skeletor", was spot on!! I did actually LOL at that one when I first read it years ago....McD draws virtually no comparison in my mind to "Skeletor"...not in demeanor, not in coaching style, and not in the way he manages the game (although he does need to get better at the time management aspect - though them trying one more play before the half despite the play-clock debacle, is a perfect of example of what Dickless Jauron would NOT have done...he would have kicked the FG with 20 seconds left).

Honestly, I don't....I enjoy watching the Packers games. I think, not only because they've been fricken good for so long, but because it's a "small" city and have a great following of fans. It's the birthplace of the Super Bowl, football history is rich with the Packers (putting it lightly), and except for McCarthy's intermittent cantankerous approach to the media, they're a likable team overall (at least IMO). Every team has it's douche bags, but every time they're on national tv, I'm watching. And, when you experience 17 years of no freaking QB, you go beyond the point of petty jealousy and you extend empathy. So, I know it sucks, but Packers (as others have said) have a way of getting their QBs ready and you have a decent team. Best of luck and thank you for always keeping it classy when you come here, I've noticed that for quite a while now and just never thought to mention it.

No....no....no....no....not now, not ever.

The only real problem with Cobb, is that you don't know where Aaron Rodgers ends and he begins....which is so much true about all the great QBs, but giving up too much without knowing what he can do outside of a HOF QB, is a little concerning. Bills just acquired serious Draft capital for 2018, so I would hate to see them give it up at this point. However, if it's for a 5th or Glenn and a 6th, etc. then I think it makes sense...

One, I'm glad the Bills are listening to discussions about virtually any player on this roster right now. Two, I'm also glad they recognize his value to the team and more importantly his value on the market if they're simply patient enough, because it seems in years past the Bills would have taken a bag of socks in exchange just to get rid of his contract and make it "look" like they're doing something to get value. So, good for Beane et. al. for not blinking and giving up what is a good talent (if not often injured) for what I'm sure the Seahawks were hoping to be low-ball value.

Could they have kept the Offense intact? Of course...they didn't "have" to trade Sammy, or let Robert Woods walk, etc. BUT, they didn't fit the vision for this team and now with the information Sammy admitted himself, you can see how the character of "team first" wasn't conducive to their philosophy. So, if the fans expected the Offense to be the same, then they weren't paying attention. Everything, and i mean EVERYTHING, McD and then Beane did when they came on board were counter intuitive to what Buffalo was experiencing for YEARS, they did a full reverse and course adjustment. Anyone who thought they were just going to take the broken pieces of the Offense and make it their own, wasn't listening, reading, or watching their actions. Also, they never said they would take the pathetic Offense and make it better, they HAVE said, "It's a process"....meaning, it takes action and time. Edit: It took the Sammy and Darby move for me to understand why they kept Tyrod: they didn't want a new QB this year learning to play with pieces that may not be here next year, i.e. Clay and McCoy, only to need to adjust in year 2....I think they want a QB who can develop and learn with other young / Rookie WR / RB like the old days when you'd get a QB or WR or a RB in 1st year and then add those other pieces in subsequent years, like Kelly / Thomas, Aikman / Smith, Montana / Rice, etc.....

+1....the mic just dropped.

This was just a matter of time before it was public commentary - and its foolish, lazy, and myopic in nature regarding his introspection. As Ive said (ad nauseum) he is a very gifted athlete, has a strong arm, and a great character guy who does the work and loves the game. BUUUUUUUUT, those qualities dont necessarily translate to a good-great NFL QB. He lacks the accuracy, height, pocket awareness, & football acumen to be a long-term high quality NFL QB. His throws are often low, behind or too high and an ability to adjust at the line is not there. Furthermore, he cant rally the troops to raise their game to meet the demand when crunch time comes. He holds the ball too long and cant read a Defense. Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott, even Jamies Winston are not categorized by race at all because theyre playing ability transcend any other category....

I think it was / is unreasonable to believe everything would be fixed or improved in the first year of a TOTAL reboot....HC / OC-DC and most of the coaches / GM, nearly all the scouts and basically the entire front office / administration. They've done more in this short time than I would have thought possible. As for the Offense, let's keep in mind Beane wasn't even here, nor his staff, when the Draft happened and had no part in FA....yet, they still have done good things to improve the team, and yes I'm one who thinks the Sammy trade was good for the team - not necessarily the Offense. So, let's give Beane at least ONE off-season to see how he does in Draft and FA and what they do to bring in the players they need to be successful in their Offense. McD basically Drafted, and he did well with White, but Defense is his forte' so while Zay Jones has all of this year and most of next to show whether he is a legit player - let's give this new regime time, like more than 5 games before we say the Offense is dead-in-the-water for the next 2 years...

The Defense and Special Teams, the lack of depth notwithstanding, are playoff caliber as shown by good wins over Denver and Atlanta but the Offense with Tyrod Taylor is not capable of being playoff worthy. The running game is a mess, the Offensive line has difficulty blocking for a QB who holds the ball too long, and the WRs don't seem to be able to catch consistently. Arguably, there would be more catches if the QB could throw passes that were not often behind, or above the receiver or simply too low or late (see the Redzone bootleg that came out too late to Logan Thomas last week).

The argument was that if those receivers were with the Bills now, those WRs would be contributing in a big way to the Offensive production, thereby changing the fate of the Bills in the current record and / or that their numbers would be similar here. Sorry, but when I say that Tyrod isn't a good QB, that means that no matter who you put over there, it isn't going to change the fate of the Bills in a measurably significant way. I'm not dumb enough to think that the passing game yards wouldn't go up, but what I AM saying is that they would not have the production initially referenced. Moreover, I sincerely don't think it would give us the two wins we lost out on, simply because he still needs to stand in the pocket in the face of pressure, anticipate spots and throw the WR open while actually hitting receivers accurately, instead of frequently behind, over or low....unless it's a deep ball, then he throws the ball well. But, how many times are NFL wide open receivers just flat-out missed?? In terms of NFL frequency: often. Get this team a legit NFL QB....Tyrod is not it. His elusiveness and ability to escape out of the pocket, gaining yards and making dynamic plays are the FRUIT OF HIS OWN DECISIONS. Or, lack of decision(s) as he holds the ball too long.....take a look at the play when I think it was Logan Thomas was NFL wide open in the flat on a bootleg and Tyrod held the ball too long and by the time he was ready / willing to throw, he had to throw the ball over and out of the Defender's position, resulting in the ball being thrown out of bounds. However, had he simply pulled the trigger as soon as he rolled out, Logan Thomas most likely would have had a TD (presuming the throw wasn't Tyrod Terrible and Logan caught the ball). Those four points they left on the field....pretty important as the end result: a loss by 4 points. That's the difference between Terrible Tyrod and a quality NFL QB. I like the guy as a human being, as he seems to love the game, work hard and be a decent overall guy. And respect his gifted athleticism but he is NOT AN NFL QUALITY QB....IMHO of course.

Everyone entitled to their perspective - but Bills are keeping their eye on the future. If report is accurate, Peterson is the perfect example of them giving up just a little to get through this year while not leveraging their greatest commodity: future assets to establish their type of player personnel. Furthermore, its amazing what a good running game will do for the passing game. And the available players maybe more of the running game variety - meaning, cost effective while still helping the Offense.

And if those players were still with the Bills, they wouldn't have those numbers. Simply because Tyrod is not a good NFL QB....sorry, but while WR position group needs help, they can't throw the ball to themselves. Other teams make do with their WRs who made a roster spot out of camp, meaning they were good enough for the spot, they can be made into productive WRs. See the Brandon Tate TD from Sunday. Tyrod made a great throw, after having a horrible series preceding the INT and Tate made a great catch. Tate, et. al., can make the catches, but a good QB has to consistently put them in a position to make those catches.

As for Zay Jones, I'd like to put in some perspective some of the greatest WRs of our generation: Jerry Rice - 16 games, 49 catches, 921 yards, averaged 57.9 yards/game, 3 TDs - with Joe Montana throwing to him and the late, great Bill Walsh Terrell Owens - 16 games, 35 catches, 520 yards, 32.5 yards/game, 4 TDs Randy Moss - 16 games, 69 catches, 1,313 yards, 82.1 yards/game, 17 TDs - with Culpepper throwing the ball to him Isaac Bruce - 12 games, 21 catches, 272 yards, 22.7 yards/game, 3 TDs Steve Smith - 10 games, 10 catches, 154 yards, 10.3 yards/game, 0 TDs Larry Fitzgerald - 16 games, 58 catches, 780 yards, 48.8 yards/game, 8 TDs Marvin Harrison - 16 games, 64 catches, 836 yards, 52.3 yards/game, 8 TDs Reggie Wayne - 13 games, 27 catches, 345 yards, 26.5 yards/game, 0 TDs Sterling Sharpe - 16 games, 55 catches, 791 yards, 49.44 yards/game, 1 TD Looking at some of the greatest WRs of our time, it would seem premature to lump Zay Jones into the "can't start at WR" category....especially when you have Tyrod missing him on open routes and given his rookie status.

Good to great WRs make a difference for all QBs, the good QBs make the players around them better. Additionally, virtually no contemporary NFL team has their top WR / TE / RB combo for the whole season, its a casualty of the current NFL culture and schedule. So, the QB needs to be able to elevate the receivers and players AND make do with what you have....successful ones do that.

But if the team is going to make that change, doesnt it make much more sense to do that during a Bye week?? Gives the QB and the supporting cast time to meld together that the team wont get at any other point in the season.

So, let me see if I understand this. You want to blame a GM who was hired AFTER the Draft, but I believe McD was the one making the calls for the player with in-put and consensus among his chosen staff (not necessarily Whaley), and blame him for making trades when realizing there was a reasonable market for a WR who couldn't be consistently counted on but wanted a top-tier contract after this season and apparently was not a good locker room guy (things we learn in hindsight huh?), trading a Corner who didn't fit what McD believes he needs to make his Defense work, and assembled what most "experts" have presumed to be a stellar front-office staff? So, McD gets all the credit for Poyer, Hyde and no one gets credit for getting Gaines and Matthews (who before injury was starting to pick-up his play - and remember how late into the "process" he came) and accumulating Draft picks for those players in ADDITION to the players listed? Yeah, ok.

The other thing we often forget: this is a re-build year. The Offense is pretty much what we thought it would be. The Defense and Special Teams have made this team competitive, and surprisingly so...therefore, were frustrated because we can see how this team could be 5-0 with a competent to good QB and WRs who can catch. I do blame Tyrod for the Offense. No doubt in my mind.

And you may be right, but honestly it takes 2-3 years for a TE to develop. Which is WHY I keep posting over and over again during Draft season when people say Draft a TE in the 1st round to AVOID Drafting a TE in the 1st Round no matter his perceived talent in college. Who was the last 1st Round TE that really accomplished a great deal???? And even more, who did well in their first year?? Tony Gonzalez. Travis Kelce, Jimmy Graham, Jason Witten, Antonio Gates, and all the others were Drafted in the 3rd to 4th round and they didn't emerge until their second and third years as great TEs. Vernon Davis was taken 8th overall and was paltry in stats until Harbaugh went to San Fran and even then, he wasn't worth the 8th overall pick. As for Gronk, who is a rare talent and even rarer ability to produce in large part because of Brady....he was Drafted in 2nd round. And HE'S the outlier....so again, you may be right and sorry about the tangent, but TEs just almost never produce in year one and the best ones are virtually always taken in the 3rd to 4th rounds.

I for one appreciate you coming on to this forum and being as open-minded as you are at this point and I still remember the day when the straw broke Tim Graham's back and think it was reprehensible given his credibility and the fact he was offering insight he was under no obligation to do. With that said, this is more of me just saying thank you for introducing yourself and allowing your professional forum to intersect with this fan-driven site. As for suggestions, I think many sites including your own that do a very nice job covering the many angles of sports: human side, stats, analysis, and projections. I think something that should try to be accomplished, that can only be done over time, is building a trusting relationship with the HC and GM / staff at OBD so that we can hear some of the their transparent "whys" "how comes", and "what was that about?" so they can help some of us frustrated by the lack of perspective in understanding the decisions made. I know of course they're not going to come out and forecast their decisions, but once some of them are done, it would be nice to have a real, transparent conversation about the reasons without coach-speak or cliche's. And I know that's on them to do, but I do think if a trust relationship can be fostered and they know that a journalist isn't out to burn them or intentionally paint them in a bad light, they may be more apt to openly discuss their reasoning. This, can be a big deal during a drought....just understanding the "whys" and "hows" decisions are made to help us cope with the current state of the team. They may not have been a big help, just expressing my own opinion from going through the glory years of Kelly-Thurman-Reed with Levy to the doldrums of Jauron / Losman / Holcomb / Gailey, etc..... Thanks again, and best of luck.

I remember Thomas playing for Syracuse and was surprised he didn't do better with the Steelers. I think he's at least got some promise and may just be better suited for the Defensive scheme run by McD et. al, we shall see. Here's to hoping they found another gem among the rubbish.

+1....for the most part.

I'm ok with any and all perceived disrespect of the Buffalo Bills, as long as it stays on the outside of the locker room. One, it helps keep the mentality of "us vs. world" for Buffalo leading to better team cohesiveness, two, and this is the biggest: the Bills have yet to prove they can consistently beat the teams their "supposed" to beat and beat others, like they have the last two weeks. In other words, the lack of respect is deserved - to a point - and now, they have to show they can be consistent in winning. So, eh let the world think what they want, as long as the Bills keep playing the way they have on Defense and get better each week on Offense, there's a lot to be positive about.

None of us know what the rest of the season will bring, so that's the caveat to this statement: but McDermott and Beane look more and more competent as the season wears on and while I was in the boat of saying, "well, this is a partial re-build so I shouldn't expect a lot from this team this year" and was more than willing to give them this season to see what they could do and the Off-season to see how they can work together to acquire talent and build a team, they've done a lot with a little. I liked the McDermott hire and I LOVED the Beane hire, especially since he put together one hell of a staff, but this team has exceeded my expectations thus far. After the Draft and once Beane was hired I did say I thought they would get rid of Sammy or let him walk because he doesn't fit their identity profile on the way they want to build their team, and letting Gilmore go was definitive statement of the same, IMHO....so, let's give it 12 more games, but I like the way they've handled their business on and off the field. That's the other thing about Beane and McD, it wasn't just about letting Gilmore go, it was about seeing the market on a wide scoped basis and deciding they could find an alternative replacement (not just Tre) and get value.....which they did in Draft currency Gaines.....