hondo in seattle

This is why we have to keep Tyrod. As we saw today, things could be much worse.

Yep. Both players and coaches have said over the past few weeks that he's not ready yet for game day action. They were right.

I don't know how any fan can have such a strong opinion about Lynn one way or the other. He's never been a HC at any level and has only become a OC in-season. So he's never assembled a coaching staff, never organized an offseason, never put together a playbook, never led an NFL team. What body of work can we fans evaluate him on? Guys inside the NFL - like Charlie Casserly and Gus Bradley - speak highly of Lynn. I personally don't know enough about the guy to have an opinion.

His performance today has made me regret every good word I've ever written about him. I'm selling.

I'll be stunned if your wrong. I'm still not sure if being a Negative Nancy drama queen is Sully's true personality or just his professional schtick. In either case, he's pretty darn consistent. Nicely put. As I once put it, Sully can find an dark cloud on the sunniest day. It's a talent.

Being a Bills fan is all about hope but I hear you, brother. I don't think the Pats will trade us Brady, or the Pack Rogers. And we already have a developmental project in Cardale. I don't think we need/want another development QB. So the question is, I guess, is the next Dak Prescott in this draft? Not a developmental QB but an instant starter and star? If so, out of 32 teams, will the Bills be the one to find him? Let's remember Dallas wanted to trade up for Paxton Lynch or Connor Cook. Prescott was their third choice. In other words, dumb luck brought Prescott to Dallas. Either TT, Cardale, or EJ becoming good franchise QBs might all be unlikely scenarios, but so is finding a franchise QB in the draft. Far more drafted QBs fail than succeed. So do you keep drafting one till you get it right? Maybe. Or maybe you spend another year seeing what you have in TT and Cardale. I think you can make rational arguments both ways.

That's the thing. The NFL teams with franchise guys aren't letting them go. Unless a true franchise QB surprisingly became available, why would we replace a QB that helped the Bills place in the top ten in points scored? Drafting a QB is always a roll of the dice. Given his lack of QB experience, we can call Cardale our 2017 draft pick. He effectively red-shirted his freshman year in the NFL and is only joining the squad as an actual player this upcoming season.

While I don't think Tyrod proved himself to be a franchise QB, I think we stand pat at QB. Taylor. TT looked awfully good as a dual purpose threat in the Miami game. He seemed to throw over the middle more the past few games. His timing/rhythm seems to have improved. There's still a chance he becomes a franchise QB. Cardale. Cardale is our young, developmental QB that we hope has a higher ceiling than Taylor. Why draft a guy in 2017 to develop when we're still working on the guy we drafted in 2016? We haven't seen him in game action but reports from coaches and players indicate that he's coming along nicely. EJ Manuel. I hope we resign him at a cap friendly price. He's a good backup. And while I think it's unlikely, I do think there's still a chance for him to be a good QB. Some QBs (Brees, Plunkett) take longer than others to develop an NFL skill set. Then again, to give Cardale more reps, maybe EJ needs to go.

The first statement seems sensible enough but it doesn't lead to the second statement. Rex isn't just a scapegoat - he deserves to be fired. Our goal is to get to the Super Bowl. Rex inherited a 9-7 team and did nothing with it. The team hasn't suffered an utter collapse but it didn't get any closer to the Super Bowl in two years under Rex. And he turned a #4 ranked defense into a #19 ranked defense. He's not excelling in the one area where we was supposed to excel. Rex is neither an idiot or a genius. His defenses play about as well as you'd expect given the players who line up for him. When he has good players, he gets good results. When he has poor players on the field (due to a bad roster or injuries), he gets poor results. He's neither a good DC nor a bad one. He's an average one with an average set of strengths and weaknesses. The Pegulas are looking for more than average.

I think Hackett's biggest flaw was his unwavering commitment to Doug Marrone. Marrone's O was a lackluster thing with no creativity. Players commented that Hackett wanted to get more imaginative but Marrone wouldn't let him.

Hyperbole much? You've surveyed all 53 regular roster players and 10 practice squad players and each one has asserted to you that not only do they have more respect for Tyrod's leadership, they have "way more"? If you disagree with someone, you might share your opinion or you might share some facts. Just making stuff up doesn't advance your argument or add to the discussion.

Yep

I'll give LaCan some credit. He was the first national guy to say the Bills were going to fire Rex. Then again, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And he's wrong too often for me to take him seriously.

Lynn as HC and de facto OC? Wade as DC and Assistant HC? That might work. The Pegulas could spend enough to make it happen. I doubt if Wade has any grudges against the city and Ralph is gone.

Some old Rex favorites from the Jets - Scott, Revis - have defended Rex since his firing. But very few Bills players have spoken up in support of Rex. There's a rumor out there that Rex didn't work as hard this year as in years past. Maybe a bit burnt out. Maybe the rumor is true and the players sensed it.

Rex's job isn't to be the smartest guy on the field with the best scheme. It's to win. He didn't do his job - not enough of the time. Rex is supposed to be a defensive guru yet his defense under-performed. His fault. Maybe Marcel's criticisms are off target but Rex still failed to deliver. Nonetheless, I think Bart Scott's defense of Rex was pointed and funny. It's gotta warm Rex's heart to have former players like Revis and Scott come to his defense.

His 3-9 season in Denver doesn't give you any pause? I get, it was a long time ago. He's matured as a coach since then. But I also get that all coordinators who work for Belichick tend to look good. Belichick makes sure of that. Everyone thought Charlie Weis was a genius when he worked for Belichick. But Charlie's since gone on to establish himself as a mediocre HC at the college level with a career .500 record. How do you know Josh isn't another Charlie?

Think of the collective intelligence needed to accomplish something that random chance says should only happen once in thousands of attempts! There's a remarkable level of skill involved in this that I think we under appreciate.

None of us know Lynn very well. He's spent his career executing other people's schemes so it's hard to judge his body of work. Yet people have strong opinions that he should - or shouldn't - be the next HC. Knowing so little about the guy it was great to get Casserly's take since Casserly once evaluated him as a HC candidate. It's reassuring to discover Casserly has a positive view of the man. I get what you're saying 26CB, but as a fan I do have doubts. Even veteran coaches sometimes fail to put together effective coaching staffs. Currently 47% of franchises are below .500. Obviously, Lynn will find generally competent guys. But will he find coaches who will get us into the playoffs? We can make wild ass guesses but no one knows. He has no track record in assembling coaches.

I think NFL professionals are intelligent enough to ignore what the media says and trust their own sources of information.

Personally, for me it's all about self loathing. I don't deserve to be a fan of a winning organization. So I picked the most god-forsaken football team I could find. Actually, I grew up in Cheektowaga. I was a fan since I was 10 just because all the kids I grew up with were all Bills fans. My fandom actually increased when I left WNY - maybe because it was a way to stay connected with my hometown. I've lived in/near a lot of cities with better teams but have never considered jumping ship. It's really not possible. It's not in my DNA to be disloyal. As I type this, I'm wearing a blue sweatshirt with red and white lettering saying "Just One Before I Die." My Seattle friends don't get it but any Bills fan would understand & empathize immediately.

I listened to the whole interview. Glad to hear Marv is doing well. Blame him all you want for the lost Super Bowls, he's given me more good Bills memories than any other coach in my lifetime.

Now that's true. I don't know what Reggie is like in the locker room but I do know Fred inspires his fellow players. I could see Fred going into coaching.

Sounds right to me. Still pretty depressing though.

Sully is off target as usual. Lynn is the new HC. Of course, he did a presser. Of course, he wasn't entirely smooth and natural in front of all those cameras. I imagine Brandon or someone asked if he felt up to a presser. Lynn is no coward and probably said he did. In any case, Lynn is a grown man and a professional. This is the kind of stuff that just goes with the territory. You do a presser. Life goes on.