simpleman

A constructive answer would be to tell me how to add an image to "My Media" or how to add a table or image to a post which is not on the internet already, so it can be linked to. Or how to add a table using the TBD BB software. Not insult me. I'm sure others less experienced than some on the board might also like to know how. It could make the board more informative and civil. How about some constructive help from the more experienced posters instead of arrogance and insults?

I know we have had this conversation before and you distrust PFF's rating. Football Outsiders overall rating of the OL was 23rd. I had tried to include their ratings in a self made tables as, they broke it down by left and right in run, pass and more. But could not find a way to share the tables. The point to me is that the left side of the line was outstanding trying to make up for the horrible right side. It made the overall Bills OL ratings higher. Imagine if the right side could just be "standard" instead of a lead sinker.

The point is you need to have a better plan than a belief (or a prayer) that someone may improve. Where is the plan B,C,D? A player may improve, or he may get worse or backslide. Henderson is what he is, an acceptable backup. He has had years to prove otherwise and the statistics show exactly what he is. As you say, taking someone even in the 1st round is nothing more than a gamble. Not taking anyone in the draft at all is throwing your money on the table and folding before the cards are even dealt. You are guaranteed to lose.

I agree on all points. The Bills management and many of the fans approached this draft with blinders on limiting their approach to and judgement of it to just trying to fix the self-inflicted destruction of the past year done to a top 5 defensive roster by Rex and management. Meanwhile management's offensive improvement strategy was to make like an ostrich and count on "the power of prayer". Maybe if some of the long time posters here spent more time constructively helping us learn how to use them and less time being sarcastic and personally insulting we wouldn't be so simple.

If the board software supported images or tables you would have seen that the left and right guard performance stats used from Football Outsiders combined them into one stat for the guards, not separating them into left or right side. Which was the whole point of talking about the left side of the OL being very good, but the right side being a glaring weakness and a serious problem for an offense supposedly based the strength of it's run game.

By any metric the right side of the Bill’s Offensive line was almost a tire fire last year. In spite of the excellent running and passing talent last year, there was a big black hole on the right side. An excellent RB tandem. Watkins, McCoy & Clay. TT’s natural ability to take of and run helped pad the stats and masked the weaknesses of the OL. Incognito played way out of his skull last year. Glen was his steady solid self again. The Bill’s pray that Incognito will still play insanely on fire and Glenn will stay solid & steady. Yet this off-season Bills management has done nothing significant via FA or the draft to address the right side of the OL. The RT situation is still a mess. The RG situation was bad last year, and the team’s plan A, B & C is praying that Miller will have a 2nd year where the light finally turns on for him. Unfortunately this plan is backed up by little more than faith and hope. The team has Watkins at WR, with Woods as an average slot. Beyond that are a bunch of warm bodies at WR & ST players being counted in the offense. They lost a passable WR in Hogan & didn’t replace him with comparable talent. Harvin retired without comparable replacement. Talent wise the team has less talent than last year. The Bills plan to improve offensive performance, praying TT will make a major improvement this year. Wow, I’m impressed with all this team has done to improve the offense this year. The “power of prayer”, the plan A,B.C, D and F for the Bills to get better on offense in 2016. * Remember the stats are padded by TT's running ability & the guard stats are padded by Incognito having a stellar year at guard. I apologize, I created some really nice tables from stats from Football Outsiders to back all this up,and inserted them here but TBD does not appear to support uploading images or tables. And preview mode showed them fine before actual posting. And it is not obvious if the my media function is even enabled for the board. Quote from PFF “… it’s really a tale of two sides. On the left, their pairing is as good as any in the league, and on the right, it’s as bad as any.”

.Reminds me of the TJ pick in the 3rd round, WTF.

Don't love this pick, don't hate it. I would rather see a "safe" pick like this from the Bills instead of a reach like they did for EJ. Looks like all the WR and OL talent is already gone from this year's draft in the 1st round.

Don't get me wrong. I still think he was the best choice. As Gunner said, he was the best choice and even he turned out to be a bust.That year I felt no QB was worth that big a gamble in the first two rounds. He was just the best of the worst rookie QB talent pool in decades. Personally, beyond the first two QB choices this year I feel the rest are about as big a gamble as EJ was that year. I would take none of them until late 3rd and would be pleasantly surprised if any of them turned out much better than EJ. But that is what latter rounds are usually good for, taking those big gambles.

I remember that moment well. I was watching the round 3 of the draft thinking wow, Wilson is still there and we really need a QB, maybe he will last. I was so excited when they announced the trade up. I was sure the only reason to do that was they were afraid he would be gone before their slot. I thought what a smart, ballsy move. Then they announced TJ. I checked out his ratings online and said WTF,WTF! I will admit it. I wrongly thought EJ was the best QB choice in that draft. But I certainly didn't think any QB was worth a first, or even 2nd round pick that year.

I agree that they do that, but once they do that, they are forced to abandon their game plan. In that case they are reacting to my defense, letting me dictate the game to them. Instead of the defense reacting to the game-plan of the offense, the defense is now forcing the offense to react to it. The opposite of what the offense is ideally suppose to do. I would be glad to have my defense dictate the game-plan to the offense rather than react to their game-plan any day. The old saying about the best defense is a good offense. Ask Carolina what happens when a defense forces the offense to react to their defense rather than stick to their game-plan. Look at why the Bills won most of the games they did two years ago, the defense disrupted the opponents game-plan enough that they dictated the flow of the game when their opponents were on offense. Throw the offense off their game plan and they can't follow the plan they spent all week practicing and they are just winging it.

For those that say we don’t need to draft a guard. I can’t believe posters here and in the local media call Miller a draft win for the Bills. There is no excuse for starting a rookie at a position who is rated negatively every game he started, and is the worst starter in the whole league. If he isn’t ready to be a starter, he shouldn’t be penciled in as one. We need to find a player who can step in and be a starter. Let Miller win the position based on merit, not thrown into it in desperation based on a hope he may someday grow into it. The record shows he has done little to justify that hope. PFF rates the worst players at each position. https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/11/11/pro-pffs-midseason-all-worst-team/ “Guards: John Miller, Bills, 34.5 Miller has had a really rough time pass blocking all season, and his 29.2 grade in that discipline reflects that (lowest in the NFL among guards). He’s graded negatively in every game he’s played, and his pass blocking efficiency of 91.9 is the fourth-worst in the NFL. Factor in his 40.8 run block grade (15th lowest in the league…”

If I was a D Coordinator on a team playing the Bills I would be routing a majority of my D plays on the right side of the Offense. I would be taking away half the field for Bills to run to and would try to force a TE or RB to concentrate on protecting TT from getting killed from my rushers coming from the right side instead of concentrating on advancing the ball. It is hard to cover a weakness when it is your whole right side. I can't remember if TT is a right hand or left handed passer, but the field could get very long for him to throw to wrong side depending on which is his weak side if he constantly has to roll to one side to stay alive long enough to pass. Miller is questionable, we all hope the light will come on his 2nd year, but who knows if it will. The right tackle situation is simply a train wreck. I agree that we need serious D help from the draft, but I believe the D is so broken that it will be impossible to fix it in only one draft. Not so with the O-line. It is definitely fixable if we hit on an early round tackle and a 3-5 round G. And we won't have to hit on the G if Miller takes the 2nd year leap. It is a matter of fixing what you can this year and realizing you can't fix the D this year.

I realize this board is filled with a lot who view the team through sunny “home team” vision. But the reality is summed up perfectly in this Summary. From PFF “Summary: Quite the turnaround for this group. Spearheaded by the arrival of Incognito, it’s really a tale of two sides. On the left, their pairing is as good as any in the league, and on the right, it’s as bad as any. In the middle, the ever-present Eric Wood had a very useful year for a line that has a nice blend of youth and experience.” There is no solution for RT already on this team roster. Kujo is a marginal backup at best. Henderson has had plenty of chances, he might be a solid swing BACKUP if his health problems can ever be solved. Mills has shown nothing to deserve the starting position. We need to solve the RT position in the draft. The additions in FA were strictly backup quality. Being optimistic I will call the Urbick replacement a possible wash. Miller is a question mark, we are only giving him a pass for last year because he was a rookie, he was not good, this is his prove it year. If he was a vet he would already be history. A later round pick to develop a player for a plan B if Miller fails the test this year is needed. This is a rebuild year for the Bills. It is time to draft & plan for a serious challenge next year. An OT in the first 2 rounds and OG 3-5 rounds. I hope we can luck into a first round playoff game this year, but anything more in the first year of a major rebuild of the defense is totally unrealistic. There are just too many major holes there to expect rookies to be able to come in and fill them all sufficiently their first year. Using all your top picks in the draft would still not fix the defense this year The defense will now take at least 2 drafts to fix, unless an expensive FA solution can be found next year to fit the cap. Fixing the team will take at least two drafts, so work at building both sides of the ball this year in the draft.

In an ideal world I would like to see the Bills trade down in the first and get an extra late 3rd that they could use on Jones if he is still there. They could still get a quality starting Dline or OL player in the late 1st and have that extra 3rd to pick up a developmental player like Jones with a boom or bust potential with a high ceiling. With the depth in the draft at positions of their needs this year the Bills could potentially get starters in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd with their picks, and use the extra 3rd on high ceiling, developmental risks/rewards players like Jones. As long as TT does not sustain a long term injury this year, they could let Lee try to develop him. Due to the cap EJ will still be here as a short term replacement if TT is injured. With a year of work with Lee the Bills would have a good idea by the draft next year what they have in Jones, and decide what to do. I don't see EJ still here next year, and if they think Jones has something they can have him as either a backup or keep developing him as a future starter.

I don't believe we should be drafting a WR in the first unless a fluke gives us a top 10 pick. But when I see people listing how stacked we are at WR, it makes me cringe. We have Watkins and Woods at WR. The rest are just backup/role player warm bodies. Of the rest, we have Goodwin, if he plays, if he lasts more than 5 plays before another injury. He has talent, but not the durable body for it,or the passion for it. His passion is elsewhere. The rest, warm bodies. Where is the talent that at least has a high ceiling? Kujo and Henderson have had their years to show real progress. Use injuries as an excuse, but neither has shown a progression toward being adequate. This is the year for Miller to show real progression, so I give him part of a season more to start showing he gets it. If not, it is time to find someone else. This team is full of warm bodies with low ceilings. And the owner chose Ryan over a quality defense and shot themselves in the foot, causing that huge gap that needs to be fixed by tossing Mario. Now they need to fix the hole by using a precious high draft pick. It was not about money with Mario, remember he is playing for only 1 million more cap than what we are paying him not to play for us this year. It was all about satisfying Ryan's ego and getting rid of Mario. We were just a QB and a couple of players away from a decent roster before Ryan. Now we are a team in yet another 3 year rebuild mode again. One of the few bright spots this year is we MIGHT have a possibility of a bridge QB for the next couple of years and time to develop a QB of the future.

I think this is probably not the best chance or the best place for him to regain his mojo and try to reclaim his career. But if the Browns are smart, they let him take the punishment and don't destroy the QB they draft with that high pick before he has a chance to develop. Then again drafting a player high and letting a QB develop are not things the Browns have been smart about in many, many years. They have squandered a lot of great picks and destroyed a lot of rookies. As others have mentioned, bringing in a top QB draft pick behind an OL like theirs is a career killer. Let RGIII run for his life and then fix the OL before bringing the rookie in.

Location is in the eyes of the beholder. <sarcasm font>The City of Buffalo has such a major concentration of the residences of the richest people in the Bills market area.</sarcasm font> Check out the demograhics by zip code of WNY. There are as many high income individuals in the homes in those "suburban towns" like Orchard Park and Clarence as there are in the City of Buffalo. High rollers/corporate owners who live in the area are the people we are talking about. A location in downtown Buffalo is not any closer or more convenient for a majority of them than the current location. The current location has great access via roads. There is nothing wrong with the location as far as access and convenience.

I agree with this unless a "top 10" pick at need somehow slides to the Bills. I remember the year we took Gilmore in the 1st, Glenn was my alternate 1st round pick. He fell to the 2nd and we still got him. It happens, talent slides. Trade down if we have an opportunity unless such a player slides to 19. A lot of decent players at positions of need are very likely to be there in the late 1st or early to mid 2nd. The Bills have really dug themselves a hole this off-season creating holes that were not there last year. It happens when you choose to rebuild the defense.

Thank you. The actual ink is : http://www2.erie.gov/exec/index.php?q=ralph-wilson-stadium-improvements For those calling it a dud, looking at the list you have to understand the purpose of the upgrade. It was not done to improve the average fan's experience. The media/ screen upgrade was done for extra advertising revenue for the team. The upgrades to the players area was for the players. The broadcast media area was done for the benefit of the national sports media. The concession upgrades were for the vendors. not you (to allow the team to get more income from the vendors). There were upgrades to sections of the stadium that were designed to increase the appeal to the corporate customers and higher rollers that pay a lot more than the average fans for the privilege of being at the game. A big chunk was for the new team store upgrades to make more retail sales income for the team. There were security upgrades in response to the world getting more dangerous. The upgrades were primarily for the benefit of the team, not the fans. It was more of a gift to the team owners to entice them to redo the lease, and in a failed attempt to placate the leagues criticisms about the stadium's shortcomings. So it was not a failure. It was not primarily done to enhance the average fan's game day experience.. Of course the spin may have been that it was for that purpose. But that was just typical political spin and cover for the benefit of the politicians spending taxpayer dollars to do it. As I have mentioned repeatedly in this chain, retrofits can work, but they have to actually be designed with the real goal of increasing the fan experience and not just increasing revenue for the team. We are lucky to have a poster on this board who is able to give us a real peek into the mindset of the Bills management on this issue, Unfortunately it is quite obvious they believe it is easier for them to get the taxpayers to pay for an expensive new stadium so than can increase their profits, than it is to get the taxpayers to spend a lot less to renovate and upgrade The Ralph to enhance the fan experience enough to justify the size of the price increases they feel they need to get the extra income they desire. The whole stadium issue is not about the actual deficiencies of the Ralph, it is about generating an extra $25 million + a year in income for the Pegulas. It is about fulfilling the business desires of the Pegulas and the other NFL owners, not about delivering a better product for its customers or creating a better fan experience. It is all about the dollars. Period. Everything else that is used to justify a new stadium is mostly just used car salesman shtick,camouflage and propaganda.

Unfortunately I already know firsthand what you mean. But the new one will probably turn out just the same way, don't they all sooner or later? I'll just keep the devil I know. How many exes can we afford, LOL.

I'm not arguing with your view. Or saying it is not the mindset of those within the club. But you are the one not following the point. In your example, the bar has not upgraded the customer experience, just raised the price and driven out it's old regulars. The drinks they serve are not a better quality liqueur, served in nicer glasses. They do not have a friendlier, better trained wait staff. They have not fixed that annoying icy, frigid blast of winter air that blows though the place whenever someone comes in the front door. The decoration scheme has still not been updated from the mid fifties and the plastic table cloths are not replaced with linen. The tattered leather benches are not replaced with new, more comfortable seats. The ceilings and walls have not been soundproofed and redecorated to muffle the annoying too loud cackle of those inevitable couple of drunken patrons. You and your lovely lady still can't hear each other talk when sitting at the table because of the noise of those at the bar. You can still see the peeling paint on the ceiling, the mirrored glass still is discolored and cracked from abuse over the years. They have not upgraded their bar food menu from generic mushy frozen french fries and the burgers are obviously still the same hard frozen hard mystery meat patties you can buy at Walmart and make enough burgers for a family for the price of one there. That is a better analogy to the stadium. In other words, they did not first make intelligent renovations that added value to YOUR customer experience. They skipped that critical step and just raised the price. You, and obviously those within the Bills organization you mention, do not seem to understand, or possibly comprehend, the difference between a well thought out, well planned and executed renovation done properly with the goal of enhancing the customer's fan experience; and that of a quick, self serving only renovation, carelessly done to be the easier and cheaper strictly for the business's benefit. Believing it is easier to take shortcut of hoping people are gullible enough to be distracted by a shiny new stadium, rather than taking the time, making the effort, and finding a way to add proper value to the fan experience and justify the added costs they believe they need to inflict on the customers to generate the added income they desire. That is a totally different issue than thinking correctly or wrongly that the majority of the fans truly desire a shiny new stadium in a different location, at a much higher cost to the taxpayers and those same fans. That is an issue not even to be considered here.

I understand what you were saying. Maybe I am just different from most people. I find a good woman who treats me right, who I am comfortable with, and I can trust and I am satisfied with her. I am not tempted to leave her for others just for the excitement of the new and different. I find a good car, I drive it until it becomes so worn out, or so beat up I am forced to replace it. I don’t wait in line for the newest I-phone when my year old one has nothing wrong with it, and I don’t NEED any of the newer bells and whistles. To me I find nothing seriously wrong with The Ralph. I can get there easily, enjoy tailgating if I wish, get in to the stadium reasonably quick and easy. Bathrooms and a few obnoxious fans may irritate me. I don’t like to pay those high prices for “meh” concessions. But other than bathrooms, I’m not sure that those are “structural stadium” issues that can be resolved with either renovation or building a brand new stadium. Of course no one will want to pay an extra $50 a ticket (your mentioned price for a ticket in the new stadium) to a retrofitted “Ralph” if the renovations are done and they don’t add enough extra value to the experience of the person paying the extra $50. The obvious solution to the issue is, if you renovate it, it has to be had to be done with the “customer” in mind. If it does not add real value for the person buying the ticket, then it isn’t a wise renovation to be done. A renovation that causes the least inconvenience or degrading of the fan experience of the fan who does not benefit from it is what you should be aiming for. I think we all realize ticket prices WILL go up regardless of any renovations, just not so drastic as $50, without first adding some serious value to our stadium experience. A comfy couch and that big screen TV, or a bar full of other fun loving fans sounds a lot more appealing at another $50. That’s why I posted an idea of gutting a section of the stadium and adding a large enclosed climate controlled area to “The Ralph”. It could be priced below the cost of enclosed corporate suites with all their extra services and amenities, but still bringing in the much higher prices. Maybe adding a higher density of bathrooms, better concessions, wider seating, bigger aisles etc. included in that area. Making it “the place to be” during a game. That feeling of status and “having better seats than your neighbor has”. If it is done right, you could charge a lot more for those seats, bringing in the desired extra income. Plus lowering the number of available seats, driving up the cost due to the laws of supply and demand. This way you are least limiting the possibility is of alienating fans to only those who had seats in the renovated area. Maybe I am different than a majority of people in WNY and on this board. But I would be much more inconvenienced and alienated by a move to a new stadium in a different location. I am simply not stupid enough to be tricked and enticed by the allure of the shiny and new, if it results in a huge jump in my costs, is more inconvenient, it destroys my traditions, and adds almost nothing of value to MY fan experience. Which sounds like what you are saying those in the Bills organization believe will happen if you move to a new stadium. They believe people will still be inconvenienced, will have their traditions destroyed, have to pay much higher prices; but they are so gullible they will be tricked and enticed enough by the shiny and new stadium to not be alienated by it. Maybe you are right, I don’t have a degree in psychology, but this mind-game would not work on me. How about others on this board, will it work on you?

I respect your background and that you have an insight to what was said in those rooms. But if a retrofit alienates too many fans, by that logic a new stadium in a different location not only alienates a certain percentage of fans, but a full 100% of the fan base. Since it inconveniences and changes the status quo for each and every fan, not just a certain segment. A retrofit designed to negatively impact the minimum number of fans can leave the parking, access to the property, tailgating etc. the same. Leaving as much as possible of the stadium intact and unchanged . It would alienate less fans. A plan that retrofits the stadium to provide the amenities that fans want without removing 100% of the things they like , the history and the tradition of The Ralph causes less alienation and hassles for the fans than a 100% option of moving every fan to an alien stadium. And if the retrofit adds amenities the fans actually want, they will be to be willing to pay more for them. Pegula can then get the extra scratch he thinks he needs for his pocket.

After reading the article in the News quoting Joe Banner, a former NFL executive, I began wondering exactly why the league is making such a noise about forcing Buffalo to build a new stadium. I really don’t think the fans are complaining about the basic design of the Ralph. Yes, better bathroom and concessions maybe. A desire by some for a covered, weather controlled area, protected from the elements environment. But few seem to complain about the tailgating opportunities or the sight-lines. Or the game-day experience in general. So a new stadium is not for the fan’s benefit. He claims “League-wise, there’s not a real cost or a real benefit to the building of the new stadiums.” So according to him the economic benefits to the other owners is basically a wash. He claims the Pegulas will make about $25 million more a year with a new stadium. But they will probably be expected to invest $200 million plus interest. The taxpayers will have to invest about $ 600 million plus interest in the stadium alone. If the stadium is built away from the current location, in addition they could be responsible almost that much for “infrastructure improvements” like roads, utilities and transportation upgrades. So the whole issue is about generating $25 Million dollars a year more for the Pegulas. If the basic bones of the stadium are solid, why build a new stadium? Don’t fix what is not broken. What if just a portion of the current stadium is gutted and rebuilt so that it is glassed in? Obviously it would have to be redesigned to maintain optimal site-lines for everyone within and the current site-lines preserved for the rest of the stadium. The fans that are so desirous of a controlled environment could pay more for that desire. The redesign would require losing a number of existing seats, he described how part of the financial advantage of a new stadium to Pegula would be less seats, so the law of supply and demand could drive up all seat prices. The team would make the extra income. Everyone could be happy. Everything the fans love about the Ralph could remain the same for everyone else. We keep the atmosphere of the open field for the purists. We keep the tailgating experience. And we save everyone hundreds of millions of dollars.