elroy16

So is this the new thing everyone is going to freak out about? They gave McCoy money, there's none left for Hughes!!! They gave Hughes money, there's none left for Dareus!!! They gave Darues money, there's none left for Gilmore!!! etc, etc.

Aweseome job OBD! Rex has the edge rushers to rush 4 and the blitz packages to cause some hell. I can't wait to see this defense in action. https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/03/09/bills-hughes-re-signs-with-buffalo/ I'm sure some have said he's bad against the run, presumably because he's a little undersized. That's just wrong. Hughes has been a damn good football player the past two years. Damn good job keeping him here at a reasonable salary.

It sure as hell does. I assumed he was gone like a lot of other folks. I know OBD had been saying they were confident it would get done, but I thought they said that about Byrd. IMO, this money is much better spent on Hughes than Byrd, but it's unimportant right now. Awesome way to start Monday and free agency hasn't started yet! I'm on cloud 9 guys.

That's a good article, nice find. In terms of re-working his contract, from what I've heard, they can add some guaranteed money and some how lower his cap hit. I believe the reason is he has almost no guaranteed money after this year. I have no idea how it works, maybe they'll have to add a year, but I think they can get it done. Look at the Saints, they just managed to cut Byrd's cap hit in half by changing some of the language. One thing I heard on WGR that I thought was interesting was Ian Rapoport said that Chip Kelly runs pretty hard practices on Saturdays. McCory apparently complained about it to some people because at times he felt sluggish. I imagine it would be tough to run at 100% if your legs are tired.

That made me laugh as well, especially how 10 seconds earlier his dad said he was such a happy kid. He's definitely an emotional guy. I have to hope that once he gets to Buffalo and gets settled in, he's going to be hungry to prove people wrong. It's been reported he was willing to redo his contract in Philly and hypothetically lower his cap hit. Obviously Chip Kelly wasn't interested and sent him packing. IMO, that's a bit of a slap in the face. I hope he's pissed off and it shows on the field.

They've four solid CB's, with a few in line as well. Gilmore McKelvin Graham Robey Brooks Cockrell I'm really liking what they are doing. They have some holes, but they've also got young guys at those positions. Keep adding guys for competition and let's hope Rex and the rest of the coaches can get the most out of these guys. The number of spots they need to fill is dwindling by the week, and it's not even free agency yet.

The Bills were 18th in the league in sacks in 2012, 2nd in 2013, and 1st in 2014. That's a big jump when Hughes came on board. it's not all him, but he is certainly a solid part of it. Assuming the pass rush will stay as effective while losing a two time 10 sack RE is assuming a whole lot. Hughes has done some damn good things against very good LT's. I don't expect Wynn or some rookie to just come in and pick up 8-10 sacks. Pay the man, he deserves it.

To be honest I don't know anything about the majority of these guys, I don't watch a lot of college football. I'm just happy to see the FO do their due diligence and show a sense of urgency towards the QB position. If I recall correctly, the Patriots have drafted more QB's (In the first round? First 3 rounds?) than the Bills have since Brady has been around. That's all I need to hear about how the Bills have handled the position recently.

The two they aren't interviewing... Winston and Mariota. http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2015/02/20/bills-to-meet-with-all-but-2-qbs-at-combine/ I like how they're going after the QB position after 14 years of "Well... if the value is right we'll draft/sign a guy."

Fair enough. I've seen the "I'm sure belichick is scared!!!" comment one too many times. I don't care what he thinks and neither should Rex or anyone in the organization.

Ok. Why the hell do we care if Rex's clothes intimidate Belichick? I don't really think that was his intent.

Ah damn, I already did!

I don't understand why this concept is so hard to grasp. Every team wants to keep all or most of their free agents, yet every year there are a bunch of free agents that cash in on big deals. When a lot of players only receive one or maybe two big pay days in their career, it makes sense becoming a free agent and seeing your options.

I love living in DC and getting to see that train wreck of an organization up close. Their fans are just awful. If they weren't such pricks and always talk about super bowl after a pre-season win, I might feel bad for them. However, they are and do that, so to hell with them.

I agree, I don't think they should run the same offense with EJ as they did Kap. Even without the elusiveness from the QB position, the run game will improve. We probably won't see as many designed QB runs as the niners did with Roman, which I think is a good thing. What Roman seems to do so well is setup the blockers so that they don't have to push back a defender 3 yards to create a good hole. He also does a nice job of countering what the defense is doing and keeping them off balance. Finally, we might see more than the same 3 running plays all year.

How much of Ralph being "cheap" was him making sure he was able to keep the Bills in Buffalo? Since he made his money on the Bills, was it more risky for him to use large sums of money on coaches and other expenses that weren't also helped pay for by the league? I honestly don't know, but it's it that hard to fathom Ralph investing a lot of money into bad coaches, stadium upgrades, and other investments, going broke, and having to sell the team? Yes, the Bills sold for a ton of money and were valued very highly, but do we know what type of liquid assets Ralph had that he could have used if the Bills had started to lose money quickly? I know, I have a lot of questions and did no research to find these answers. Maybe I'll try to look something up later, but these are just some things that may explain his decision making.

What's with all these "Associate head coach" titles people are getting? Is this a new trend or have I just not been paying attention the last 10 years?

Generally with this interviews, the coaches don't go too much into each player. I thought Donnie was pretty candid when talking about the different guys in the secondary. http://www.buffalobills.com/video/audio/Donnie-Henderson-Gilmore-a-shutdown-corner/7f3da53f-25ae-4446-9c9b-736d46a18498 Gilmore - Quietly a shutdown corner. Challanged people to look at the stats and prove him wrong. Gilmore gives up 30-40 yards a game in his mind. IMO, not quite a shutdown corner, but getting better and has the potential to be a top CB. McKelvin - Very fast, quick, and athletic. They run a lot of man so they're still working on turning his head and locating the ball. Robey - Solid player, very competitive. Graham - Good versatility AW - Flips a switch when he gets on the field, but sometimes can't flip it off (Personal fouls). Very good player. Searcy - Hopes he comes back, very smart player He was on vacation when Marrone quit and Rex came on board. He heard he had a spot if he wanted it. Sounds like he's very happy to be back, likes the team and his players.

Exactly. Same reason nothing will come of the deflated footballs. Possibly the worst part will be Kraft being a prick and acting like they've never done anything wrong. That guy is so full of **** it's almost sickening.

I don't think the conspiracy has anything to do with his lack of carries with Pittsburgh. It has to do with the fact that he started acting out and then left the field before a game was over with little worry of consequences. Probably because he knew if he got cut, he'd have a job in NE. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/the-other-patriots-conspiracy-theory--legarrett-blount-s-scheme-to-reunite-with-bill-belichick-233502306-nfl.html I'm sure nothing will come of it, maybe the Pats did absolutely nothing wrong. I don't believe that though.

We might see Lee Smith around again. He's like Kelsay, he must do a few things right, because he just sticks around. Roman likes to run with multiple TE sets. Lee Smith is the best blocking TE on the team. That isn't saying a whole lot, but I think it's true. Unless Gray or Gragg can step up their blocking, I don't think either of them will unseat Smith. I wouldn't be opposed to drafting a TE in the 2nd or 3rd round though.

Good God you are a !@#$ing dumbass. POS, !@#$ comment aside, this team would not be in the super bowl with Wilson. Also, if GB doesn't completely **** the bed the last 5 minutes of that game, they'd be in the SB. Wilson is a very, very good QB, but it's a team game.

You guys totally missed the point of Lee's comment. He talked about Fitz being the smartest, most prepared QB along with Pennington he's ever worked with. He said by Friday, Fitz would know if the coverage would be Cover 3 or man or whatever based on what the defense would show because he prepared so much. That's why QB's watch film all the time. That way when the step up to the center, they have a very good idea of what the defense will do and know what they want to do with the ball. THAT is what is encouraging about EJ acing that test. He retains what he learns. If a QB is dumb, they could watch 1,000 hours of film, but when they step up to the center, if they don't remember any of it, they are screwed. But yeah, why would a QB need to be smart and be able to retain football knowledge, they're just throwing a football, right?

Yes it is. They've already removed his name from the coaching staff page on the official site. As always, exciting times at OBD.

This is a very good listen from someone who obviously knows there stuff and has worked with Rex in the past. Says Rex has a great rapport with players and is a brilliant defensive coach. He has a great understanding of defense and has been exposed to football his entire life. Knows defense front end to back end and knows when to call the right play to take advantage of the defense vs. the offense. 3-4 or 4-3 talk is overrated. Rex will use the personnel and run the system that the players can run best. 60% of the time the defense runs nickel anyway. By now most fans recognize these facts, but it continues to pop-up. Greg Roman has been around and has a great understanding of the game. He's been exposed to a lot of different systems and will adjust his system to what the personnel does best. He talked about EJ and how the jury is still out on him. He talked about Seattle's approach to the QB position when they found R. Wilson. They had signed Flynn and traded for Whitehurst the same year. He said we could see the Bills do something similar. I really hope they do, we need to see at least 2 new guys brought in to compete. Usually takes 22-25 starts to find out what you have in a QB (EJ's at 15). There's no "QB Whisperer" that is going to come in and magically make EJ a franchise QB. He says the game isn't too big for EJ which was the best thing he saw early on. They still need to find out what they have in EJ. The perception is Rex is a defensive coach only, Billick doesn't agree. He gives the Bills credit for hiring a head coach instead of going after an OC because the offense is what struggled and not the defense. Rex will absolutely be involved with the offense, he's not just a defensive coach. The difference between a first time head coach and someone with experience is huge. Invaluable experience having gone through the process before. http://media.wgr550.com/a/101073925/120-brian-billick-talks-rex-ryan.htm Overall it sounds like Billick likes what the Bills have done with the coaching hires. The number one thing they need to do is find a QB, which isn't surprising to anyone. I really, really hope they are aggressive with their search and aren't satisfied with a mid-tier veteran FA pickup.