simpleman

We had Schwartz. Released him. Now it is very doubtful he would come back as anything less than a HC, his stated goal. As much as I think Schwartz is the best available option to be the "D" coach with the talent we have on this roster, I also don't think he would be a good HC for this team.

I don't get the Pegula worship. Other than he was a good choice simply because he didn't threaten to move the team, how are the results he produced in his decisions better than last year. Take a look at the results as an owner of the Sabers. Check the results of the seasons pre and post Pegula. Ready for the same results and waiting for the rebuild plan to take as long for the Bills? He hired Ryan, the major reason this team is worse this year than last. He released a "D" coordinator that had the defensive talent on the team clicking at a high level." If it ain't broke don't fix it" is a valid piece of advice, yet he hired Rex and broke the defense. And why did we keep a horrible special team coach and release a very good "D" coordinator? Rex and his hires should be gone. We have the player talent, but our coaching stinks except for a few exceptions. Who does not think the Jets are now a better team without Rex?

Maybe it's time to realize what century we are in and use modern technology to track the play. The NFL could afford to use a system of strategically located and computer controlled cameras above and to all sides of the field, rather than throwing more non athletes onto the field to get in the way of the play. There are only how many stadiums that would need to be fitted for a such a system? A system could be set up to relay the feed of the whole field from enough angles which would be superior to human bodies on the field. Let the new refs learn to use technology to officiate the game from the sidelines, or even a central remote location. Plus imagine the improvement in TV viewing (and scoreboard video feeds) with all the improved camera views and angles for our viewing pleasure. Or imagine the interactive possibilities if a fan could pay for access to any feed from any camera they desired during the game.The current ref situation is a dinosaur tradition

I did not see the game, but Arizona possibly won a key game on a penalty called on Cinci because a defensive player yelled out things to confuse the Arizona offense. A player can get a penalty for yelling and being too loud. Not obscene or derogatory. He just made too much noise. If it was the fans, we would be celebrating the 12th man. Noise is a part of the game. Ridiculous ! The refs are determining the outcome of more and more games every week, not letting the coaches and players win or loose the game on the field. Has anyone ever seen this type of penalty called in the final seconds of a game in the NFL before? Is it common now?

Unfortunately, it is a waste of effort. The NFL owners have studied the WWF playbook carefully and are cautiously and gradually turning the NFL into a football version of the WWF. They just are not being as honest about it as the WWF was about wrestling. The refs are one of the major tools they can use to achieve their goals. They are maximizing their profits by manipulating the "product". Good for business, but sad news for the lovers of the "sport" of football who are not the lovers of the "theater" of football. They are counting on the stupidity and the willingness of the football fans to consciously and not so consciously turn a blind eye to reality and their ability to live in a fantasy world created by the NFL to entertain them. It's ALL about the money!

According to DK's prospectus in it's offering to investors, 90% of it's players lost money in the years of 2013 & 2014.

The question is not are they legal or not. They are gambling. Which is illegal unless specifically authorized by state law. If you want gambling to be legal, work within the system to legalize gambling. Until then, they are gambling, which is illegal. I do believe that all NFL owners, employees (including refs, players, coaches) should be banned from having an interest in Football gambling. The temptation and the risk is too great. I read where the two companies in question make more than the NFL does per week during the season.

I know that generally this board did not like Spikes for his attitude and off field issues. But I think his positive effect on the field last year is often sadly overlooked when comparing the defenses of last year and this. He may not have been an all down back, but he really helped the team to be a great defense last year.

Talk about revisionist history. Your personal knowledge of the inside decisions of multiple NFL teams is impressive. Yet they all selected before Buffalo and passed on EJ. Guess they really thought he was really worth a first round pick, as long as it wasn't theirs. Luke, DJ & Lane say hello. Or they meant really, REALLY late first round!

It is not a disconnect, it is Ryan. He is responsible for discipline, and this team keeps self destructing due to lack of discipline. Schwartz had this D working like a champ. Pettine could not get the results that Schwartz did running a Ryan like defense. Ryan adds to that weakness with an overgrown ego that does not have the facts to back it up. This team has the talent to make the playoffs, but not the coaching. We should try to bring back Schwartz ASAP as ""D" coordinator if at all possible. We are already paying him for the job, lol. Get rid of Crossman, like I have been saying for two years. Last year we stacked the roster with players for special teams to try and make him look good, he is horrible. And stacking the roster helped disguise that fact last year at the expense of other positions. Get an offensive minded HC , or maybe even promote Roman for the rest of the year if we can get back Schwartz at "D". With better coaches at "D", special teams, and HC we still might be able to salvage this season. This team has slid backward in on the field performance, while vastly improving in the talent level of the players on the team. It is not the lack of player talent that is holding back this team, it is sorry coaching.

I'm willing to give Miller a chance to pick up his game. Henderson has had almost a season and a half and he is just not improving enough. I think he is strictly depth, not a starting back, ever! The Bill's need to draft or bring in a center next year. Oline is again a top priority in the off-season.

Question. Is there no protection of existing teams when new teams are added? I would think that adding a team within 50 miles of Buffalo (TO) would be suicidal to the owners of the Bills considering the size of the market geographically. How about the owners add something that is sorely needed, a developmental league like baseball has. It would improve the quality of players (and quantity of competent players). Give QBs time to develop naturally. And even give time to the refs to develop their skills, considering the horrid quality of the refs in general. Oh, I know, greed. It is not about making the game better or building for the future. It is like business in general in the US today. Make as much as you can now, forget building for the future.

I agree about Ryan. He has built a team in his image. If you want to be a "bully" you need to be a smart "bully". This team acts more like a gang of undisciplined "thugs" not smart bullies. Ryan has not shown to be a smart coach. He is a lot of bluster but not much action to back up the words. He is undisciplined in his words and actions, and his players are following his example. Many players on defense are taking a step back in development from the Schwartz era. Not that I would want Marrone back, but I think this D was much better under Schwartz. We have the raw talent on this team, but I am beginning to think Ryan is hurting the overall talent development of this team. And he has been completely out-coached two weeks. I look back at the talented Jets teams that failed under Ryan and worry he will do to the Bills what he did to the Jets. We have the talent now, but we need a talented coach who can instill motivation and discipline in that talent. The Bills are beating themselves, not getting beat.

Why not draft a smart CB who can also handle being a good backup safety. It seems average CBs often can develop into very good safeties for the Bills. Quality depth at CB and safety with one draft position.

Perfect example of special "New England Rules". NE player hits Bills kicker, raises both arms and uses both his hands to shove the kicker in upper body backward to the ground. The refs call running into kicker, 5 yards. Running into the kicker is unintentional contact , see penalty called against Bills in the Colts game. Raising both arms and shoving the kicker backwards on his backside is not just running into the kicker. Obvious intentional act. Roughing the kicker . 15 yards, automatic first down. The Bills don't kick it away and have the Pat's start in Bills territory, resulting in quick a NE score. This did not affect the outcome of the game and affect momentum of the game? Yes, the Bills got a lot of deserved penalties. But the timing of the calls against NE is just as important as the number. Timing is everything, and the Refs definitely play with special "NE rules" which favor NE.

So true. The great ones watch film on you and take notes before they face you. And regardless of what we think of him, as a QB, Brady is still one of the best ever. Even if we doubt his integrity and believe he will do ANYTHING to win, honest or not.

Exactly. As a metaphor, Winning the war is going the Super Bowl and winning it. Winning a single game is just winning a battle. We were winning the battle convincingly, which was great. The goal yesterday was a W in a single game. We succeeded . TT has little film on him, as does the whole team in their current configuration. There are a lot of great opposing "generals" to face the rest of the season. Film allows them to find your weaknesses and tendencies as a team, and as individual players. The more film, the easier it is for the great opposing "generals" to create a successful plan how to beat you. Why show more than you need to when you are comfortably ahead? Is it really about just going for the jugular, or a desire and especially an a personal impatience to see all that the Bill's really have in their arsenal? I would rather win the war than to be wowed by shock and thunder too soon before it is actually required. The less film they have on the Bill's bag of tricks and strategy, the better. Patience is a virtue. Victory in the war is the sweetest, not just some quick one game/battle gratification.

Maybe my memory is fuzzy, but didn't a #3 Tuel start a game EJ's first year?

The question is, who would be a greater liability to the team? Rambo at Safety, or Darby at CB? I agree 100% with Aaron, Darby may be fine long term, but he is a definite liability right now. It is too much too soon for him, and it hurts the team right now if he is thrown in too soon. He is a rookie who needs more time to take it to the level a NFL CB needs to be. The team will suffer this season with him in there too soon while waiting for McK to return. How has Rambo looked at safety in his play this preseason?

I have been thinking that a lot recently. Cassel seems like a barely passable game manager without any sizzle. I want to win now. If the Bills think he can get us the most wins, so be it. But bringing in TT in certain plays seems the best of both worlds. Make the defense change the look when he is in, adding to the confusion and uncertainty on the opposing defense. I just read where one reason Kelly brought Tebow in was the rule changes for the point after making the 2 point conversion much more frequent now. A dynamic running QB like TT sounds perfect for a regular point after specialist at the very least. If we end up with Cassel as the safe boring game manager, TT as the number two QB specialist makes sense and could provide a little excitement and sizzle as a change of pace QB in certain specialized situations. As far as those wondering about long term durability in a running QB like TT, I don't worry about it. I don't see any of the three in the competition this year as a long term solution at #1, just a stop gap short term solution till the Bills can get a top quality QB via the draft , FA or trade.

Some interesting predictions here. But there is a big difference between “Bold” and some of the wild Kool-Aid fueled hallucinations here,lol.

The reasonable assumption here is that if the Bills did not take Watkins earlier that Tampa would have taken him rather than Evans, and Evans would have been there for Buffalo .

Not to get into the SW debate, it is not about how good he is vs those drafted after him, it is about it never being good to give up your best chance to gamble on drafting a pro bowl quality player. I keep reading statements about 2nd round talent. How if we had a 1st round pick this year it would have really been 2nd round talent anyway. There is no such thing as 1st, 2nd or 3rd round talent. The draft is a gamble. It is just that statistically that there is a greater chance of drafting a pro bowl talent in the 1st round. Look at the list below. Does this look like a list of 2nd, 3rd round talent? The positive is we still could get a pro bowler in the 2nd or 3rd. But there is NEVER a good time to have less chance of drafting pro bowl talent by losing a 1st round. Period! Ask Washington.<br> No one can really predict exactly which players will be busts and what players will be pro bowlers in the 2015 draft. But you can predict that the odds will be much greater that there will be pro bowlers among the 1st round selections this year than there will be in the 2nd round. Yes, we could get our pro bowler in the 2nd or 3rd this year, but our odds of drafting a pro bowler are significantly less without a 1st round opportunity. No amount of rationalizing or attempted justification will change that fact.<br> 2013 Draft Round 2 2 pro bowlers Eddy Lacy, Le'Veon Bell . Even in this yuck draft you have Kyle Long, Cordarrelle Patterson, Travis Frederick, late 1st round picks. How would those teams miss those yuck players 2012 Draft Round 2, 3 5 pro bowlers Alshon Jeffery , Bobby Wagner, Nick Foles, T. Y. Hilton, Russell Wilson. Doug Martin, Round 1, pick 31. 2011 Draft Round 2, 3 5 pro bowlers Andy Dalton, Kyle Rudolph, Randall Cobb, Justin Houston, DeMarco Murray . Cameron Jordan round 1, pick 24; Mark Ingram, round 1, pick 28.

What? There were 8 pro bowlers from that class after two years. Many are starters. Even an undrafted free agent from this draft made the pro bowl. It may have been a poor QB draft, but look at the safeties from that draft. Not a banner year, but not that bad.