Peter

As I said, there has to be a middle ground. The scarier thing is the state of our offensive line. If I were Shady, AJ, or Josh, I may want to consider getting some additional life insurance.

I think this is DUMB. We have huge holes on the offensive line. I feel sorry for Shady and whoever is going to be the starting QB. Given Shady's reaction the first time, I cannot imagine he is happy at all about this. Why are we biting off our nose to spite our face. McBeane should have done the same thing they did with Boldin. Either Richie players for the Bills or he does not play at all (unless they could get reasonable compensation). This was not managed well. P.S. Richie is not innocent either but there had to be some middle ground after he realized that he was giving up too much. Just my two cents.

No reason to be sorry. I do very well . . . because I actually pay attention and am able to connect the dots.

The funny thing is that I thought of YOU specifically when I wrote the initial post. It comes as no surprise whatsoever that you responded and are so defensive. I like logic and evidence as well. Indeed, my profession revolves around logic and evidence. Under the circumstances, logic and evidence point toward Whaley who was in self preservation mode and attempting to save his job. The fact that he was a spineless you know what (as Fitz described him for all of us) confirms that Whaley is just the kind of person who would throw someone else under the bus while trying to deflect and save his own job. The fact that these types of rumors stopped when he was let go should come as no surprise to anyone who was paying attention. I am sorry that I am not able to give you the recording of Whaley's conversation with Jason La Canfora. God bless.

You always did like Whaley. While the evidence is circumstantial, he certainly had opportunity and motive. To paraphrase Fitz, it should not surprise anyone that a spineless you know what was responsible for the leaks and that they stopped after he stopped working for the team.

The good news is that the Pats seem to be impressed with him such that they have hired him multiple times. The bad news is that it appears that he has not impressed as an OC in the NFL. As I recall, down here in Miami, Daboll was not well received. Let's hope that Daboll going home to Buffalo is the opportunity that will present sustained success for him.

If anyone continues to stubbornly believe that Whaley was not the source of the leaks last year, you may want to re-evaluate your position.

The Bengals had a 49 yard TD in the dying moments of the game on a 4th and 12. https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2018/1/3/16842984/the-improbability-of-the-cincinnati-bengals-fourth-down-touchdown-andy-dalton-tyler-boyd-playoffs I suspect that, if they ran that play under those circumstances 100 times, it would only result in a TD 1 or 2 times. You seem to discount how miraculous that play actually was. Oh well. As for the Colts game, the refs called a horrible penalty very, very late on the two-point conversion that would have won the Colts the game. You may recall that they threw the flag (very late) on a play that Tom Brady and the Pats run incessantly without ever having a flag thrown against them. http://fox59.com/2017/12/10/controversial-penalty-costly-as-colts-fall-to-bills-in-ot/ Regarding the point differential - did the "horrific three-game stretch" (your characterization) not count? It seems to me that those games counted in the standings as did the points that were scored against us. I suppose you want to pick and choose which games actually count or should be considered, but the fact is the point differential was worse last year than the year before. I see that you are trying to do the same thing with the relative offensive and defensive rankings by discounting those rankings as compared to the year before. If only the Bills had that luxury. Maybe, this year, we can ask the NFL to give us some Mulligans on the games that we do not like. In any event, the point I was making (and a valid one) is that it would be advisable to not look at this team with rose colored glasses especially given that some of the significant metrics last year were worse than the year before even though we made the playoffs (thanks in large part to a miracle 49 year TD on 4th and 12 and a very late and questionable call against the Colts on the two point conversion). We have significant holes - particularly on the offensive line and WR. I feel sorry for Shady and whoever our QB ends up being. I would rather have low (read realistic) expectations and be pleasantly surprised if we do well. Just my two cents.

You guys are a lot more optimistic than I am about the coming year. I would rather temper my enthusiasm and be pleasantly surprised than look at the team through rose colored glasses. As it stands now, our personnel is not as good as last year - particularly our offensive line. I feel sorry for Shady as well as whoever ends up starting at QB. In fact, the state of our offensive line is one reason why I would not start Josh Allen. It might ruin his chance of developing the way we need him to develop. We also were VERY fortunate last year. It is great that we made the playoffs, but let's not lose perspective: We made the playoffs because of a miracle play by Dalton and a late and questionable call against the Colts on their conversion. Our point differential was actually worse than the year before. Our defense and offense were ranked worse than the year before relative to the rest of the league. I think that this year is likely to be a rebuilding year unless the offensive line plays really, really well and we continue to have the ball bounce our way.

Firing Bill Polian. Not re-signing Chuck Knox. Firing Wade Philips. Firing a coach in less than two years even though he had the best record in the previous 17 years. Building the stadium in Orchard Park. Trading up and giving up too much to pick Sammy. To name a few . . . .

I remember how excited I was when he became coach of the Bills. He built some pretty good teams. I met him a few times and he was a football coach through and through. RIP Chuck.

Maybe my memory is incorrect, but it always seems as though we have overpaid or undersold over the past few years. It would be nice to not always have to explain why we "overpaid" or "undersold." This would be especially nice given the risk and that we are not talking about Andrew Luck here. Josh Allen is a developmental prospect that could end up being great . . . or could end up setting the franchise back given all we paid to get him (including Cordy Glenn). I really hope that he turns out to be a franchise QB. That would be great. He seems like a decent kid and he has fully embraced Buffalo and the Bills. As it stands now, however, Josh Allen is no Rasmus Dahlin.

This is history repeating itself. Sad but true.

You really have a point there. I feel sorry for both AJ and LeSean. AJ and Shady have a substandard offensive lines with very few other weapons other than Clay and Benjamin.

This pick (and everything that the Bills gave up to make the pick) will make or break McBeane. If it does not work out, they really set the franchise back.

I would hope that he must be the BPA by far on their board because safety does not seem to be a glaring hole.

I met AJ and Katherine Webb the day before she became famous. My firm's holiday party was at the Fontainebleau hotel where, it turns out, Alabama was staying. I met a bunch of people from the team. Two observations: 1) I am not surprised that anyone would compliment Katherine Webb; 2) Although I am not an Alabama fan, the words "roll tide" easily roll off the tongue when everyone is saying it around you.

A couple of days ago, I had a feeling that the Bills were going to take Allen when Sal was on trying to come up with reasons to pick Allen high.

Some point to Fitzpatrick to argue that the Wonderlic does not mean much. Quite the opposite. I think that Fitzpatrick has proved that being smart is important. Without being smart, I doubt that Fitzpatrick would have been able to get to the NFL much less have the decade plus career that he has had. Of course, other tools and abilities also are important as well, but I have to believe that being smart would elevate the game of any QB (even those who have had good careers with relatively lower Wonderlic scores).

This has a good chance of going horribly wrong for the Bills. There is no metric relating to playing QB that supports picking Josh Allen at the top of the draft and giving up everything that we did to get there. This is an interesting article that shows that, by choosing Allen, McBeane is not Billy Beane: https://www.theringer.com/2018/3/26/17162670/nfl-draft-josh-allen-hype-vs-reality Billy Beane: "If the guy is such a great hitter, why doesn't he hit better?" I really hope that I am wrong, but if Josh Allen is such a great QB prospect (and one that is worth everything we paid to acquire him), why has he not been a better QB (especially against competition in his own conference)? McBeane will rise or fall based on this pick. A lot of coaches have had the hubris to think that they are such great coaches that they can transform a guy into something he is not (or has shown he can be). Again, I really hope I am wrong . . . . On the plus side, the kid seems to have embraced being a Buffalo Bill, is hard working and appreciative, and (according to Eddie Yarbrough) a great teammate. Agreed. For those of you with short memories or not old enough, this is really no different from Thurman's reaction after each team passed over him. This is repeated time and time again.

This has a good chance of going horribly wrong for the Bills. There is no metric relating to playing QB that supports picking Josh Allen at the top of the draft and giving up everything that we did to get there. This is an interesting article that shows, by choosing Allen, McBeane is not Billy Beane: https://www.theringer.com/2018/3/26/17162670/nfl-draft-josh-allen-hype-vs-reality Billy Beane: "If the guy is such a great hitter, why doesn't he hit better?" I really hope that I am wrong, but if Josh Allen is such a great QB prospect (and one that is worth everything we did to acquire him), why has he not been a better QB? McBeane will rise or fall based on this pick. A lot of coaches have had the hubris to think that they are such great coaches that they can transform a guy into something he is not (or has shown he can be). Again, I hope I am wrong . . . .

Whatever you want to think. I will let you get the last word if you want. I have posted more about this subject both while it was taking place and since than any other subject that people have discussed on this board. For the sake of efficiency, I will just incorporate all of my myriad posts on the subject. The fact is that neither QB was great. The only thing great about those teams was the defense and winning percentages had more to do with the defense in particular games than any other aspect of the team. In the meantime, I will take Thurman's word on what kind of teammate Flutie was. You guys can continue to re-litigate this.

I watched every minute that they both played. Again, the fact that RJ had a better completion percentage and QB rating than Jim Kelly certainly shows that he was not (in your words) "truly awful" unless one were COMPLETELY biased. [No, I am not saying RJ was better than Jim]. I also readily admit that I am biased about Flutie and feel the same way about Flutie as I do about his BFF in this photo with him. https://goo.gl/images/QChs7p

The facts do not objectively show that RJ was "truly awful." RJ had a better QB rating and completion percentage than Jim Kelly so one can hardly say that RJ was "truly awful" unless one were completely biased. No, I am not saying RJ was better than Jim Kelly.

Read the paragraph where I wrote this.