hondo in seattle

Looking at the list of past Bills QBs, it's easy to understand why some people are skeptical of TT. We've been down this road too many times before - promising young QB flashes signs of talent only to disappoint us in the end. I think if we were fans with a different history, we'd be more enthusiastic overall about TT's prospects.

I really liked Fergy but in my opinion he was not a franchise QB though I can see both sides of the argument... Fergy's job his first few years in the league was to hand the ball off to OJ. From 1973-1976, Fergy only threw for a mere 123 yards per game. In his rookie year, Fergy didn't crack 1,000 yards for the season despite starting all 14 contests. But Fergy seemed to mature as he got older. We may forget that Fergy led the NFL in passing yards in 1977, beating out the likes of Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Ron Jaworski, Ken Stabler, and Joe Theisman among others. Fergy was #8 in passing yards in '79, #6 in '81 and #11 in '83. Fergy had a lively arm, and had a few good seasons, but he had a number of unproductive years as well. Here's how I remember Flutie... He would be terrible for 3 quarters but our good defense kept us in the game. Then Flutie would do something magical in the 4th quarter to pull out the win. If Flutie hadn't sucked the first 3 quarters, we would have gone into the 4th with a the lead and wouldn't need him to lead a comeback. He only threw for about 194 yards per game in an era when good QBs were throwing for a lot more.

Sadly true. But as a true fan, I keep hoping this year will be different.

Sometimes casual fans forget he did it in a 3-4. Amazing player! The Bills have had a lot of good players in their history but only Bruce and OJ are in GOAT conversations.

If you count Listenbee, the Bills have 3 guys who clock in under 4.30. Amazing.

If you did a similar list for RBs, it would be so much stronger. Our history with QBs is sad.

Good find.

I missed this important piece of news. I guess I have to give up eating bison meat.

If Listenbee pans out, we'll give you all the credit. Great job with the announcement!

It's partly the "Rex Effect," as McFly says. Rex made such a mess of the D last year that many have lost some faith in his abilities as a defensive coach. Let's call the other part, the "Lake Erie Effect." The Bills have a history of disappointing their fans, just as the Browns do. I get the optimism - Rex will run his D this year and has the personnel to do it; Shady will hopefully be healthy this year; TT in is second year will only be better; Sammy is due to breakout; Listenbee will stretch defenses; Ragland is gonna thump people; etc. But after 16 years of disappointed optimism, I can't help but think the cold winds of Lake Erie will blow over this roster as it has over every other roster and give us yet another cold, bleak January at home. 8-8 sounds about right.

I'm not super optimistic about this season but this commentary is just plain uniformed. Unless TT is injured, he's going to play and he's going to perform fine. It's a contract year and as a second-year starter, he still has a lot to prove. Besides, TT seems like a high-character guy who's not going to let his teammates down. And why bring Cardale into the picture when he's our third string project? He's irrelevant in 2016. And why would the offense get "way worse" in Roman's second year with slightly more talent (and a more experienced QB) than he had to work with last season? What a bunch of nonsense.

I don't like Vietnamese fish sauce wings because I don't like fish. When I make wings at home, I use my own version of a Korean Gochujang sauce. I made these two Sundays in a row and the Bills won both games. But then we lost the following week despite making the wings again. Still trying to discover the exact correlation between my Sunday eating habits and the Bills W-L record.

In my mind, Lynch belongs in the "Hall of the Very Good."

With a few exceptions, I tend to blame offensive or defensive linemen only when they lose 1-on-1 battles. And LBs only when they miss tackles. Otherwise, it's hard to tell what went wrong without knowing the scheme/call.

Apparently that was what he was promoting at the event in Seattle yesterday.

A good article in the Bleacher Report about Moneyball in football says that analytics is already effecting the draft more than we might know and that Striker is one of the victims of the newer approach: "If you hate hearing about a quarterback's hand size, you'll loathe hearing about a linebacker's respiratory capacity. But scan the list of the well-regarded 2016 draft prospects who were selected late (Kenny Lawler) or not at all (Eric Striker, Jeremy Cash) and you will find that the stopwatch overruled the on-field performance." Curiously, the article points out that scouts have learned that the standing broad jump positively correlates with DE sacks (something about explosive fast twist muscles). http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2637858-moneyball-is-changing-the-way-nfl-teams-assemble-their-rosters

Marshawn walked past me at an event at the Century Link Event Center in Seattle today, minutes before I got the text saying he was officially retired. I considered saying, "Go Bills!" but he looked both unhappy and in a hurry. He had an entourage of maybe 5 or 6 guys dressed in business casual with a couple cops trailing.

Great find. Makes me feel guilty about those times I criticized offensive linemen. They all seemed to have chips on their shoulders about being unfairly judged by people who didn't know their assignments. Interesting that there's a perception that line play may not be getting worse but it's not getting better due to lack of technique and opportunities to practice.

"Meaningless" is definitely the word that comes to mind when talking about power rankings at this point in the off season. About as meaningful as 2017 mock drafts are right now.

Fair enough: The D regressed last year and part of the problem was late calls. But who is the real Rex Ryan? We've seen him do some really good work as a DC in Baltimore and as a de facto DC in New York. We've seen him produce some disappointing results too - both in NY and here. Yet his ex-players - who know him far better than any fan - seem to have confidence in him and his scheme. There are enough contradictory data points that I'm wait-and-see on Rex.

Cool stuff but where did you hear this?

I'm just curious.... What weaknesses in Rex's scheme have other teams exploited? How is Rex's 3-4 scheme inferior to other 3-4 schemes that are more successful? In what ways are Rex's ideas "antiquated"? I'm not saying you're wrong. But if you are going to make X-and-O assertions, you have to back them up with actual X-and-O facts and knowledge. Alternative theory: could it be that Rex was most effective in NY when he had good players and less effective when he had bad players? There's no doubt he screwed the pooch last year. But I'm interested to see what Rex will do this year with a modified roster and a "fully pregnant" approach. Getting some true believers like Ed Reed and - potentially - Bart Scott to help can't be bad.

I don't watch college football and can't comment on the NFL potential of any individual player. But it's hard to believe that not one of this year's dozens/hundreds of graduating offensive linemen will turn into a solid pro. Like many, I worry about our offensive line.

I think an elite running back like Shady on a Greg Roman offense is clearly worth 5% of the cap.

Interesting. But meaningful? Not so sure. If personnel guys thought these drills were useful predictors of NFL success, I'm guessing they'd ask to have them included at the combine.