jwhit34

'73 was historic for OJ because of 2,003 yards, '75 may have been a better season, he ran for 1,817 and had over 400 yards receiving (he had 70 in '73) and 23 TDs which I think set the record at the time (14 games remember). Then he was excellent again in '76, had 1,500+ yards in 13 games. He had 6,448 yards in 55 games from '73-76, that's 1,612 yards a season, 117 yards a game, probably the greatest 4 year stretch ever by a RB. Jim Brown's best 4 consecutive years were 5,849 in 52 games, 112.5 per game. OJ was amazing, I remember those years well.

The youth on the defense is pretty amazing: First and 2nd year players: Tre White, Levi Wallace, Taron Johnson, Matt Milano, Tremaine Edmunds, Harrison Phillips Shaq Lawson is in year 3 and is 24. Trent Murphy, Poyer and Hyde are 27, Jordan Phillips (they should re-sign him) is 26. That's 10 players that probably haven't hit their prime. Jerry Hughes is 30 but seems to have a few years left. Kyle Williams and Lorenzo Alexander are at the end of their careers but with the 11 listed above you're hopefully only looking for 1 starter (LB) and a rotational guy for Kyle if Phillips and Phillips can step up.

Logan Thomas was taken higher than AJ McCarron. Amazing how many of the late round QBs have been on the Bills (even for training camp/preseason - ? not 100% sure they were here): 2003: Gibran Hamdan 2004: Losman 2005: Cassel, Fitz, Derek Anderson, Orton 2006: VInce Young, Matt Leinert (?), Travaris Jackson 2007: Kevin Kolb, Trent Edwards, Tyler Thigpen 2008: Brian Brohm, Matt Flynn (?) 2010: Levi Brown, Joe Webb 2011: Tyrod Taylor, TJ Yates 2013: EJ, Barkley 2014: Logan Thomas, McCarron 2016: Cardale Jones 2017: Peterman 2018: Allen

I think they have enough practice squad caliber QBs (or below?) on the active roster now.

I would target 5 players in free agency for the offense (2-3 OL, 1-2 WR and maybe a TE). Even at an average of $10 million/yr that's $50 of the $90 million in cap space so it can be done, and probably for a little less than an average of $10 million. If they end up with a top 3-4 pick, based on their needs this is a perfect draft to trade down. It is top heavy in DL talent at the top and possibly a team (Jacksonville? Tampa Bay?) would trade up for a QB. Pick up a couple extra picks, most likely a lower 1 and a 2 plus a future pick if they're trading down 5-8 spots. In the draft. If they can end up with 4 picks in the top 100 (which if they trade down and have a top four draft slot they would have) then it's possible to fill in some other spots like another for OL, a rotational DL player, a WR and either a RB or LB. They would still have $40+ million in cap space for depth guys and maybe even a starter or 2 on D (LB to replace Alexander, CB2).

Will this year's QBs top the following stat lines: 1985 Ferragamo and Mathison: 50.9% completion %, 3,331 yards, 9 TDs, 31 Int. 1973 Ferguson and Dennis Shaw: 95-211 45% completion %, 1,236 yards, 4 TDs, 14 Ints (14 games), the last 2 games that season as OJ chases 2,000 yards (he ran for 419 in last 2 games) he was a combined 5-12 for 113 yards, 2 TDs and no Ints. OJ ran it 56 times in last 2 games.

1974-75 Buffalo Braves, Sabres and Bills and in college hoops UCLA Bruins. Going with either the '74 or '75 Bills, the '74 team made the playoffs, had the thrilling Monday Night win vs. Raiders, and in '75 were only 8-6 but OJ ran for over 1,800 yards and set the TD record with 23. Braxton had over 800 yards that year. '74-75 Sabres made the Stanley Cup finals and lost to Flyers but that team was fun. They had 9 players score at least 20 goals and that was the peak for the French Connection. '74-75 Braves were really good, McAdoo led the league in scoring but Ernie D got hurt and that may have prevented them from advancing deep into the playoffs. Jack Ramsay was the coach, they were just a lot of fun to watch play. Randy Smith emerged as an excellent player after being a 7th round pick from Buff State. John Wooden is my coaching idol and in his last season as coach they won another national championship in '75 beating Kentucky. Ironically it may have been Wooden's least talented team in years but they went 28-3. Only 1 championship but Sabres made the finals and the Bills and Braves were very entertaining.

The only way they make the playoffs is if the offense performs substantially better which means Allen plays better and maybe a receiver or two (including a TE like Croom) emerges as a reliable target and the defense performs at a similar level as the last few weeks. Those would all be great for the future of the team so by all means yes I want them to make the playoffs. Likely? Probably not.

Every other sport's overtime is shorter than the regular quarter/period. The way it is now is okay (sudden death on a TD or safety, other team gets a chance if team makes a FG) but need to continue playing until someone wins. I don't like the college OT format. Basketball and baseball keep playing the same game, hockey's is no good because it's a totally different game (3-on-3 then shootout). Keeping it the same game is important. This is especially true with football because there are only 16 games.

Peterman's edge in the experience department amounts to: 1. 1 more training camp 2. A historically bad half vs. Chargers 3. 3/4 of the blizzard game in which he was 5-10 and with the game conditions having no resemblance to a regular game 4. 33 minutes vs. Ravens where he again was historically horrible #3 is irrelevant, 2 and 4 are both strikes against him (and the most important "experiences" to evaluate). And 2 and 4 show how much the extra training camp helped him. And by the way, in the 63 minutes he played vs. Chargers and Ravens, the Bills were outscored 77-7. He cannot play in the league start Allen. Also, all the talk about how it's impossible to bring in a veteran QB because they don't know the playbook is a bunch of garbage. Kyle Orton got here about 2 minutes before the season began and by week 5 he was ready to go, started and threw for over 300 yards.

Raven interception return yards now > Buffalo passing yards

Going out on a limb - we will not see Buffalo Bills on any In The Hunt graphic in December

This is what I refer to as the Don Beebe Theory. Don Beebe was an OK WR but because he played for the Bills, he was totally overvalued by the team's fans. Beebe became overvalued solely because of the team's fans having blinders on about the player. This can be said for Cam Phillips, Brandon Reily and Deonte Thompson, just to name 3.

Joe Webb got released, return engagement? They appear okay with Allen and Peterman as their top two QBs, regardless of order, they need an emergency guy just in case not a bonafide #2. The "veteran presence" in the room is overblown that's what they have coaches for.

In a hundred years can anyone imagine Doug Whaley spending that much time in the TV booth on a telecast? Talk about polar opposites. Beane sounds pretty impressive and comfortable talking about stuff.

Kyle Williams FB2 Need a 4th RB for special teams and Cadet would work. Don't need 4 TEs. Practice squad figures into the equation for numbers kept on the 53. Can go with 8 OLs if there is a 9th they can stash on PS. I love the annual hand wringing about the WRs. I think this is at least the 3rd year in a row people lament cutting the 6th, 7th or 8th WR when the hope is none of them ever play. Then the years they do suit up they are not ready and then it's why are the back ups so bad. The best WR scenario is that Coleman and Zay come through and those two with Benjamin and Kerley are a solid group of 4.

It may be fun and some may find it witty to demand that a player be cut after a poor preseason game (and yes it was bad), but that's not how teams work their roster. Also as a fan you don't want them to manage their personnel that way. If they find a player they like, they will cut player the 90th player on their chart - I'm sure they have the bottom 10 or so ranked regardless of position. There is no reason to carry less than 90 at this stage. They can limit reps, and that will happen at WR because of the number of players. The other reality is that no one else is cutting players now either so there aren't players available. Remember, the teams/league made the change to get rid of the cutdown day from 90 to 75 during preseason so they really don't want to cut anyone until they have to. This is pretty much a pointless topic. There were plenty of players that played poorly and have virtually no chance of making the roster but that is part of camp. Keeping the players longer also gives the coaches longer to evaluate which players are the most coachable, improve the most and have the most potential or upside which will help them make the calls on the practice squad. And then there's the need to field a team with half a clue in preseason game #4 so none of the starters or substantial contributors (like rotational D-linemen, nickel corners, #3&4 WRs, etc.) have to play and can avoid the risk of injury.

Ray Ray reminds me of Roscoe Parrish

Foster 5 targets no catches. Short timer.

Which is worse: Tasker on One Bills Live Tasker on the sidelines Tasker in booth doing color commentary

For those watching in Rochester anyone looking forward to more Greg The Roofer or Sleep Cheap commercials? I've got two words for them Bru Tality. After Benjamin, Kerley, Zay and Coleman, WR leaders in the clubhouse Holmes, Streater and Ray Ray.

This year's record could be anywhere from 5-9 wins I think but make no mistake the rebuild is well underway. Not every move is going to work out but consider the addition of talent and potential: D-Line: Star L., Trent Murphy, Phillips Linebacker: Edmunds and hopefully a developing Milano Secondary: Adds were last year, probably strongest position group, added V. Davis and hopefully some depth guys QB: Allen and McCarron RB: Long term needs to be addressed OL: Also needs to be addressed, 1 year stop gaps Bodine and Newhouse WR: Still big question mark but they now have 2 former 1st rounders (Benjamin and Coleman) and a 2nd (Zay) maybe 1 or 2 pan out With the exception of Vontae, all players added are rookies, young or on verge of their prime years, next year a ton of cap space for free agents (1-2 OL and a WR?) and all their draft picks. And Beane is aggressive, guess he has to keep pace with Botterill now.

They are not offering to buy these guys out to hire new columnists, they are eliminating jobs, it's a central element to the cost cutting happening at newspapers. In Rochester, they got rid of Scott Pitoniak and Bob Matthews in the sports department and guys like Jeff Spevak in the Arts/Living dept. a few years ago and they were not replaced. It's different with the Democrat & Chronicle because they are a Gannett newspaper and they have replaced the writers on staff with USA Today content. There used to be opinion pieces 6-7 days a week now Leo Roth does 1 or 2. TBN will do the same. Newspapers have been slow to react to the changing times, they didn't figure out how to migrate to online profitably and not enough people still want to get a newspaper.

The highest priority is to build a great roster. Comp picks could be part of it but isn't a be all, end all. I think that this management team has shown so far that they have a pretty good handle on the different avenues available to build a roster. It appears that they have drafted pretty well (to be seen with this year's class), they have used trades effectively, are working to remedy the salary cap situation and have picked up some nice free agents in the last 2 years, both UFAs and street FA. They have talked about comp picks. One method doesn't take precedence over another. And get ready for no comp picks next year, they have a lot of cap room and their potential UFAs (excluding probable retirees Kyle Williams and Lorenzo Alexander) are Ryan Groy, Jordan Mills and John Miller.

Preference: 1. Crosby 2. Cain 3. St. Brown 4. Their favorite CB