Kirby Jackson

Did he make Hogan a star? What about Chandler? Hogan was pretty similar and Chandler took a big step back. Guys are who they are!! I love the optimism but just don’t see the offense being very good. You casually throw out “toss the deep ball once in a while.” Who is the target? Who is the defense concerned about getting over the top? Are they keeping safeties away from the LOS because of the threat of Rod Streater? Every defensive coordinator will focus on Shady 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc... Shady is great. He is running behind a worse OL and has no one to take the pressure off of him in the pass game. He is the only “difference maker.” Hopefully Daboll is a big step up from Rico. I expect that to be the case. If Allen develops none of this will matter. There aren’t a ton of guys on that offense that are core pieces moving forward. I’d say that Dawkins and Allen are. It’s possible that Zay and maybe another young OL develop. In general though we are going to see turnover on offense like we have on defense over the last few seasons. This was a long-term plan.

I guess that you are right. I just don’t see any reason to be doom and gloom or sunshine and rainbows. It’s okay to just call it what it is. The Bills potentially have a great secondary and a terrible WR group. It’s okay to believe that some things are bad and some good.

It’s not a leap. Good receivers will be good, decent receivers decent, and bad receivers bad. The Hogan and Woods examples are good ones. Their production wasn’t terribly different once they left the Bills. That was was pretty much my point. We make excuses for the guys that we have. They were not good. There is a reason that Jordan Matthews went from our “#1” to a $1M deal. The league spoke pretty loudly on the player. Zay was horrendous. I’m not ready to give up on him but he was the lowest graded WR in the league. That’s a guy that some are “confident in.” He May improve but there’s no reason to be confident. Benjamin is always hurt and is a #2. Holmes, Kerley and Streater are guys that have kicked around. McCloud, Proehl, Reilly and Dupree are young late round / undrafted guys. I just dont don’t know how anyone can look at that group and be fine with it? The GM wasn’t even fine with it!! Again, this is a multi-year rebuild. At, or near, the top of the list of needs is a #1 WR. The Bills don’t need bodies, they need “a guy.” It’s harder to find that than it is 3 guys to fill out the depth chart. If they get a top guy the group will be fine. That’s a year away though.

Anyone that can’t judge a WR without the QB is clueless. When Josh Gordon led the league with Hoyer and Campbell throwing the ball was it tough to judge him? What about Hopkins with Savage? A good WR is a good WR whether Tom Brady is throwing him the ball or Tom Savage. So many have stuck their heads in the sand or made excuses for the Bills receivers. Beane tried to trade back up for Christian Kirk. He knows that the group isn’t good. That’s fine. This wasn’t an overnight rebuild. We don’t need to pretend though. Let’s say what it is, the Bills receivers are bad. No one will argue with that.

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I’m glad Beane is getting out in front of this. It worked with Allen ?

I don’t know how any reasonable person can be confident in his group. Beane isn’t even confident; he tried to trade back up for Kirk. It’s a terrible group.

60’s Cookie Saimes 70’s OJ Joe D 80’s/90’s Kelly Bruce Andre Thurman 00’s Moorman Takeo 10’s Kyle Shady

He also had a big game this spring. He’s a guy that might be taking a step. He’s WAY better than Etling. He will be an upgrade from Brennan and Narcisse IMO.

I am confused as to the point that you are trying to make? He isn’t a good receiver now and wasn’t when he became one. He’s a good athlete but that’s about it. I’m not even sure if we are in agreement or not. All that I was saying is his LSU stats are meaningless because he switched positions and tried to learn to be a slash guy. It makes no difference if the Bills bring him in or not.

He was recruited as a QB. He was one of the top recruits in the country. It wasn’t really the wildcat as much as he was a bad passer. He was a slash player that wasn’t a talented enough skill player to play ahead of others there. His LSU stats really don’t tell much of the story, good or bad.

He was a QB

That’s the irony of it. I’m not even sure that Carr is that good. I think that he’s a middle of the league type of starter. That’s better than I expected but I’m not sure that he’s a guy that you can win championships with. He’s a good QB.

Derek Carr comes to mind. I didn’t think that he’d be awful but didn’t think that he’d be good. He’s better than I expected.

I’m not even sure if this is sarcasm? Do the Bills literally bring in every single guy from Carolina?

I honestly thought that it was the low point until the OT punt vs. Miami. The Bills set the franchise record for yards, were eliminated with a tie, gave up like 600 yards and he thought punting there was the right decision!! That makes using the chaplain as the replay guy look like the invention of the forward pass.

They fired him?!? I mean, I could see pulling the replay responsibilities from the team chaplain but everything else? That seems like a bit much. I thought that they could have just demoted him to offensive quality control or something.

I think that it is great that the chaplain went from deciding when to throw the challenge flag to playing the 1st round QB in ping pong.

The Rogers deal was a big upfront payment at a time when the gap between the haves and have nots was at its peak. These new stadiums were popping up everywhere with suite revenue and local sponsorship revenue that drove the cap. The Bills has to do that to remain viable. In addition to the chunk of money that they got they attracted new Canadian sponsorship revenue and their Canadian ticket base reached an all-time high. It was similar to camp in Rochester. Syracuse isn’t the size of Southern Ontario (or even 10% the size). There will be fans and sponsors that hate the idea of one less game a year. For sponsors, it is 10% less impressions. For the fans it’s one less game to attend (potentially with the kids). This all goes without even mentioning the owners desire to do that. I can’t imagine that the Pegula’s would even consider this. There really is no positives other than attracting a few more fans in CNY.

“Millions” for Ko Simpson’s net worth

It’s more about the revenue differences. If the Bills lose 1/10 of their ticketing revenue, sponsorship revenue, goodwill with the core fans, etc...is it worth it? The answer is almost certainly no. They can’t possibly make up for that by taking a game to Syracuse. Loss of revenue + loss of goodwill isn’t necessarily something that the Bills will consider.

Different strokes for different folks I guess. I’d take Enunwa, Anderson, Kearse & Pryor over Benjamin, Zay, Kerley and Holmes (or whomever). Mahomes showed flashes of brilliance and has Andy Reid coaching him. Allen may be better long-term but I’d bet that Mahomes is an upgrade this year. The OL is a wild card and the Bills were unlucky with Wood & Incognito. We certainly aren’t in a position though to say that any other line is definitely worse than the Bills. Whether you have the Bills at 30 or 32, the point remains that those groups aren’t good. Allen developing will soften the blow and set them up. As of today though it could be a long year for the offense.

As weird as it sounds, it won’t necessarily be Daboll’s fault. If he can develop Allen everything will be fine. It would be terrifying if Rico were still here. Ross Tucker talked about it this morning, the Bills may have the worst QB, worst OL and worst WR groups in the league. Allen can turn the QB into a strength but he’s an unknown. The OL was unlucky and the WR are bad. Things can change between now and the beginning of the year but this doesn’t look like a good group.

I agree that Allen needs time. I’m not sure that McCarron is going to play though. It feels like the Bills want Allen out there to take his lumps. I’m in on both of those. I think that the Browns win 8 games, the Bills maybe 6. Remind me when we get closer to the season and we can figure out the stakes (assuming everyone is healthy).