eball

Or anyone who sat at the same restaurant while McVay dined?

Let's face it, guys...the Bills don't plan on Derek Anderson playing unless it's an emergency. Barkley will be the backup. Anderson is Allen's de facto QB coach next season.

I know I'll be making the trip any time the Bills play there.

The QB coach is already on the roster -- his name is Derek Anderson.

I don't think they'd admit it publicly, but I believe the selection committee loves stojan like this so I wouldn't be surprised if it happens.

For me, there is nothing more frustrating than watching my team's inability to stop an opposing offense. I'm not telling you you're wrong, but I bet a lot of people feel the way I do. I'm much more confident if I know my team won't lay down on D, because playing good defense almost always gives you a chance.

With Gruden in charge the odds of implosion certainly do rise with each passing day...

That's funny; I hardly view 8-8 as a "homer" sort of prediction.

Predicting the Bills' W-L record in year three of McBeane's tenure based upon 17 years of results they had nothing to do with is about as short-sighted as you can get. A "logical" W-L prediction at this point would be 8-8.

Umm, they inherited an offense lacking anything special in the QB room and one that saw three WRs leave via free agency (Woods, Goodwin, Hogan). They took a gamble on playing a 5th round pick (Peterman) who was an abject failure -- but let's not forget that pre-draft many considered him the most "NFL-ready" QB out there. And they went 9-7 and broke the playoff drought! Anyone with half a brain knew this year would be a step back as they continued to fix the Whaley draft/cap disaster. They whiffed on Benjamin. Jury's still out on Zay (but trending upwards). Allen looks like a stud and they finally put veterans around him. They found and developed Foster. Croom has emerged as a potential impact player at TE. They got Teller a bunch of playing time late last season. "The offense has been a complete disaster..." -- that's largely a product of QB play, and I bet you didn't know that over the final seven games of last season the offense put up an average of 363 yards and 25 pts/game? Of course they need to add talent -- that doesn't mean they "created holes." The roster was pretty bleak when McDermott walked into the building. He and Beane built the defense and have started on the offense -- the offense has just been a slower project. You think they could "fix" the OL last offseason? They had no money! If anything, McD has been extremely proactive in attempting to fix the offense -- he didn't allow the Dennison experiment to continue and got rid of two coaches (OL and ST) all of us knew needed to go. I laughed out loud at your Dareus comment. Did McBeane make mistakes? Of course! It's their first time in these positions, in case you forgot. Of all the players McBeane have let go over the past two years there is only one -- Bobby Woods -- I wish was still in Buffalo. Dareus is a lost cause, Sammy is still Mr. Boo-Boo Foot, and Hogan is a product of Belichick/Brady. I guess Goodwin has done well but by the time he left Buffalo nobody thought he could stay healthy either. Let's talk about Cordy Glenn -- another guy who wasn't able to stay healthy. By trading him the Bills could go get their QB as well as Edmunds. Everyone thought Dawkins was capable of manning the LT spot and while he struggled last year he's still a young player with potential. Those of us who take a long view have seen this as a 3-year project from day one. This "created holes" nonsense is your typical pessimistic b.s. because you don't personally agree with the decisions they made. If you view the McBeane era as a "continuation" of the Bills since 2000 you're not very perceptive. You say you don't take this stuff personally but you are obviously so battered from watching the "bad" Bills you're incapable of stepping back and taking a wider view of what this new regime is trying to accomplish. Look at the situation this organization is in right now -- a QB who looks and smells like a franchise guy, a sturdy defense, a clearly defined culture, loads of cap space and ten draft picks. You can't get behind that without saying you need to "wait and see?" Really? You enjoy making fun of my "predictions" without realizing that I rarely "predict" anything -- I just look at things from an optimistic perspective until the facts dictate otherwise. If you look at my posts over the years they follow a pretty predictable pattern...optimistic and hopeful during the offseason and into the regular season, then critical when things go south. I call that being a fan, and I don't blindly support every decision nor do I "make excuses" for failure. You're predictable as well -- you parrot the most downtrodden viewpoint at any given moment and claim to be "keeping it real." By the way, I still remember your prediction of gloom and doom for the Bills by allowing Mike Gillislie to be "stolen" by the Pats*** -- that was gold.

Oh, Christ, not that pederast Heffernan...

Not a bad drop in the polls at all. They have respect. Just can't afford any more blips.

Please, do tell, what are all of these "unnecessary holes" they created? Did they force Incognito's breakdown and Wood's retirement? Did they not obtain draft capital necessary to go and get their QB by trading Cordy? Did they not bring in both Poyer and Hyde who are one of the league's best safety tandems? Did they not draft Matt Milano and Tre White, among others? There is ONE -- that's right, ONE -- area in which a person could reasonably argue McD and Beane "created" a hole. Wide receiver. That's it. This mantra being repeated by you and others is simply false.

The Rams were a consistently better team than the Pats*** all season. No reason to think they don't have an excellent shot.

Really liked NRC while he was a Bill and hope the Rams knock off the Pats*** Sunday, but is anyone really arguing he would have been a difference maker on the D the Bills have trotted out the past two seasons (whose strength has been their secondary) and calling out McD for making a "mistake?" Come on, people. There's plenty to question McD about (Peterman, Peterman, Peterman) without just looking for stuff.

I'm glad he'll be back. I want to see the torch passed to Allen in real time.

I don't know whether or not my response qualifies as an "effort to suppress" but it's wildly inaccurate (no Allen references, please) statements like this that lead to the eye-rolling. Of course everything isn't perfect and there are some specific areas of improvement needed, but if you truly believe the statement in bold I have no idea what you've been watching for the past two seasons.

Agree with your first point, and based upon what Beane has been saying I don't think they will. I'm ambivalent about your second point -- if they do trade down it's because they're acquiring more draft capital and believe they can get the talent they need elsewhere. We also don't know what holes will be plugged in free agency. By the way, great to see you around here more these days!

Not surprising, but sobering. Here's to brighter days ahead!

I'm sure Jimbo just wants to make sure Allen knows how to throw a great Sunday night after-party.

It’s truly amazing the lengths some will go to keep putting others down. And I’m not talking about the Browns. Haslem is a racist douchebag. It’s embarrassing to mention him in the same breath as Pegula, regardless of your take on fracking.

What Promo isn't telling you is that this display occupies one entire wall.

Well, hopefully Rex will be named DC and can go "coach him up"

Actually, the best kind of hit to take is the one you're not expecting. No time for your body to tense up, which is what often results in injury.

Sure it's ok, if that's an accurate representation of the total picture. I don't think it is. I don't believe for one second McBeane looked at the WRs going into last year and thought "we're set." It simply wasn't a priority given the other issues to address. They brought in a bunch of young guys and let it play out over the course of the season. KB was supposed to be the veteran leader (but not the future) and was a bust. Zay improved. They unearthed Foster -- surely you have to give them credit for that? McKenzie also a very good find during the season. I'm not going to bash them for a 7th round pick that didn't pan out.