Fadingpain

A trade-down will be a bit of a letdown the moment it happens, but it could prove very fruitful in this year's draft.

This is my thinking. Take a gamble on someone in a late round and hope we get lucky. I'm fine with that. The odds are overwhelming that Tyrod is, or will be better than, any of the top QBs in this draft anyway. Looking at the list provided by Nanker, you know who jumps out at me as being interesting? Tyrod Taylor. 6th round, 180th overall pick. He's a hell of a lot better than many other QBs who went a heck of a lot higher in various years. Also of note: Joe Flacco. 1st rounder, but not until the 18th pick. There's a proven, franchise, Superbowl winning QB who was available as low as the 18th overall pick. And we all know about Brady, Brees, Rodgers, and others. It's not where you pick, it's who you pick, that matters.

You're overlooking the Thurman Thomas good luck mojo that would obviously be working in the Bills favor here. That swings the odds in our favor big time.

Hmmm. A top talent who may slide in the draft due to concerns about a bum knee? TAKE HIM. It worked out fairly well for the Bills when this scenario played out with a guy named Thurman Thomas.

3 Days 5 Hours to go; looking forward to it.

Yes, of course. The NFL isn't going to back down from their position of 4 games suspended, period.

It would be nice if those first 3 games were against tougher opponents. If NE goes 0-4 for the first 4 games it could possibly tip the balance of power in the division in our favor. Also, this gives us the chance to turn an almost automatic loss into a win, which could have playoff implications. One win more than we bargained for, hopefully...but we have to seize the opportunity here! Me too.

This made me laugh out loud. On a more serious note, I find it absolutely interesting that possibly the best QB of all time went so low in the draft. Brady obviously inherently has all the key characteristics to be a great NFL QB, yet they were missed by all the experts in the business multiple times. Why? One can only assume their process/metrics for determining QB quality are poorly constructed. I would like to think the Bills and other organizations are using Brady as a test case to better evaluate QB talent, but I bet they are not.

If they are going to do one, do it right and go supersonic.

Dak Prescott does very well statistically in this comparison. Here he is with Jon Gruden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLBUvg4OMNs

I recall Bruce Smith missing as much time as possible prior to the real season starting pretty much every year. He was good enough to get away with it, and Sammy probably is too.

I predict 8-8, though I think that is the low of the possible range, which maxes out at 10-6.

Interesting schedule. I have it at 8-8. Not wins and losses, but 8 tough games on paper where I wish we could get a weaker opponent, and 8 where I'm thinking "Yeah, I'll take that team; I like our chances in that one." That home opener on Thursday night should be a fun time, particularly if we beat Baltimore on the previous Sunday, which is certainly possible.

And yet there is still no sponsorship on team uniforms. Can't believe the NFL didn't catch on to that 20 years ago.

As a counterpoint, the best player on the team right now is arguably Marcell Dareus. He was also taken 3rd overall with the Bills' highest draft choice in years.

You seem to be having trouble with the numbers. NFL games have two 30 minute halves or four 15 minute quarters. NHL games have three 20 minute periods. Both games add up to 1 hour.

Like I wrote, I don't think Rex can get it done, but it can be done, in theory, and it doesn't involve acquiring a single new player. There were a lot of games where we had like 15 penalties and well over 100 yards of "negative offense" just from penalties! That's huge! Would be interesting to chart how many penalties specifically took points off the board or fairly directly led to points going off the board on offense, or gave the opponent points on defense. That's where the difference between being penalized heavily and not could equate to wins and losses.

Yes, good point.

PS: Here is another great way to improve the team this year "for free". Massively reduce the penalties this team takes on a consistent basis. I have zero faith in Rex's ability to get that done. If we could wave a magic wand and become one of the top 3 least penalized teams in the league, it might statistically be worth, overall, another win or 2 just on that alone.

There is some truth in this. It is the old Bill Parcels quote: "You are what your record says you are." 8-8 is the definition of average. As a general rule, teams which have better than average talent do not end up with average records.

The optimistic theory would be that Rex will have more opportunity to custom tailor defensive talent to his scheme and coaching preferences. In theory, overall D will be better than last year. On offense, we can improve over last year via 2 simple factors, both of which can potentially come free of charge and don't involve talent acquisition. 1) Stay much more healthy this year; that would be a big boost over last season 2) Tyrod improves another big step with a full training camp of 1st team reps being "the guy" at QB; additional experience; additional time to work with coaching staff and absorb the playbook, etc. Tyrod should get better (a little) all the time, even if he has temporary setbacks along the way from time to time. His overall charted trajectory should be UP. IF (and it's a huge "IF") we can stay healthy, Rex can get the D playing top 5 ball, and Tyrod takes another step forward, we should be a better team and perhaps substantially better team.

Running or the threat/fear of his running is always going to be a HUGE part of TT's game. If that brings too much injury, risk of injury, or fear of injury, then the Bills need to keep looking for a QB.

He has that self-destruct gene in him as some do. He honestly looks like a young kid who will be dead sooner than later.