Bocephuz

Right.. now I remember. Obviously Wade shouldn't have said that. Marrone may not have been very good at X's and O's but he was a good motivator and I think he really had the team believing they were a playoff team.

This would be a feasible splash for me that they could afford... Using that interactive cap tool and plugging in some guesstimates... if the Bills Make the following moves they would still have $8 mil in cap space to spend on draft picks.. fill in gaps on other departed Free Agents PLAYERS UNDER CONTRACT: - Release - Rivers , Spiller ( assuming he exercises option to stay) FREE AGENTS: DON'T PURSUE - Hughes, Spikes, Pears and anyone else who is FA not listed below - Extend - Hogan ( $1.2 mil/year - 3 years) Searcy ($1.5 mil/year - 3 years) Thigpen ( $660K/ year - 3 years) Easley ($660K/year - 3 years) SIGN Julius Thomas TE ( $8.5 mil/ year - 4 years) Mike Iupati OG ( $5.5 mil/ year - 5 years) Pernell McPhee OLB ( $5.5 mil/ year - 4 years) Ryan Mallett QB ( $3 mil/ year - 3 years)

Just found this seemingly cool interactive salary cap thing.. haven't had a chance to play with it and check it's validity yet.. but thought I'd share the link http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/buffalo-bills/

Sorry .. forgot it was an insider link. In short the writer listed 4 areas where the Bills could make improvements/adjustments (1.) find a good 3/4 OLB .. not necessarily Hughes 2.) Fix the O-Line 3.) Get Average QB play 4.) Improve the slot CB position. If said adjustments were made the Bills should be able to make playoffs in 2015

We were all spoiled by the 90's Bills' incredible run ( Ralph included). Wade was a good coach.. unfortunately he got walked all over by management ( Ralph insisting Rob Johnson start playoff game etc...). I remember when Wade was interviewed after a close loss in a late season Monday night game and he made a statement like " We're not a playoff team" when they were still mathematically in it. I'm pretty sure this sealed his fate. At the time I was pissed at that statement and wanted him fired as well. Looking back I think it was a bad move. Firing a guy for one slip of the tongue in a post game interview was not smart in hindsight I forgot about Manny Lawson... he would be a good early down 3-4 guy with his coverage and edge setting abilities.. not sure he can bring enough heat on the pass rush though

Fair enough. Consider though that the 49ers were one play away from winning it all in 2012 ( pass interference?) and they made the NFC championship game several years in a row with Roman running the Offense. Rex also made the AFC championship two years in a row. Not sure why you think Roman or Rex aren't capable of reaching that level of success again when they both have histories of actually getting to that level. Obviously a lot of things have to go right for that to happen.. however.. I think the odds are better when you have leaders in place who have already demonstrated they are capable of generating that kind of success.

Also just read that Roman's power running game very rarely uses the screen game as his scheme calls for big lumbering O lineman to block downhill and those type of guys don't do well pulling and getting out in front of the screen game. This could be good for a guy like Cyril Richardson.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12153872/how-rex-ryan-get-buffalo-bills-playoffs-2015-nfl Outstanding/ insightful/ well researched article from Neil Hornsby at PFF. Great to see a national writer actually know what he's talking about. To piggy back on his points HUGHES... I agree we shouldn't break the bank on Hughes. He seems to be a better fit for a 4-3 than 3-4 anyway. Plenty of other good free agent 3-4 OLB hybrid types available. O LINE - Marrone really did sabotage the OLine with all of his tinkering.. Roman has to be an upgrade as he has a history of building top notch o lines and creating a physical identity. Having a defined identity ( Ground and Pound) will be beneficial as the Bills O clearly did not have an identity in 2014. If we can sign someone like a Mike Iupati .. who knows the scheme and would be a great leader.. that will help. AVG QB PLAY - An upgrade in FA would be nice.. but if for whatever reason it doesn't happen I think Roman is the perfect guy to coach up EJ and play to his strengths... which are.. mobility and ball security. In 2013 ( when Hackett was allowed to run things his way) EJ did fairly well with the read option stuff.. and did much better when under center with a fullback and heavy formation on the field. As soon as his knee problems surfaced the coaching staff panicked and threw that all away in favor of shotgun/spread one side of the field read kind of offense. The 49ers offense with Kaepernick frequently used heavy sets and a lot of read option and I expect to see similar looks for the Bills O in 2015 SHORE UP THE SLOT - With Rex's defense .. secondary play is priority one so I'm sure the slot cb position will be upgraded one way or another.

Good call. A man who really researches and puts a lot of thought into his work before he puts it into words and print. For example, Sully wrote an article mid season after one of Orton's better games suggesting the Bills give him a multi year extension. 3 or 4 weeks later he writes an article completely contradicting himself saying Orton is not the answer. Really Sully... did Orton all the sudden become a bad quarterback in just 3 or 4 weeks? He writes dumb knee jerk articles like that all the time and then contradicts himself later on a regular basis.

The rot was/ is the old guard. Littman and Overdorf especially. They were Ralph's cronies and based on what I've read they've consistently undermined anyone who they've had differences with and clearly prioritized their ego/ job security over the greater good of the team.For whatever reason Ralph was loyal to these guys and they were never held acccountable while numerous coaches and GMs took the fall. Littman is gone thankfully.. Now Overdorf needs to go. And anyone that they hired that is still there needs to be purged as well. Plenty of bright young finance guys out there that can do their jobs who are young and hungry that don't have the lifer attitude

Ryan Mallett

Some of you may be familiar with my weekly OLine Pass Protection/ Qb Unforced error film review posts I've been putting up since week 4. Coaching..play calling issues aside.. Here is how I grade out each lineman in pass protect for 14. Glenn: B minus -nowhere near his 2013 level but more of an asset than a liability Richardson - D minus - physically strong, poor mobility and very poor awareness( ie stunts etc..) Urbik - C+ - provided some stability .. Few mental errors but physically is on the downside Wood - D - Wood either made a mental mistake or was manhandled at least once in every game I watched. Pears - C minus- tough spot.. Clearly out of position. Awful in first half of year.. Actually started to settle a bit in second half. Still more liability than asset. Henderson - C- commendable job for a rookie. A Handful of horrendous outings cloud his mostly passable work in most games 2 things occur to me Injuries - aside from Chris Williams.. The OL avoided major injuries.. So one can't really blame injury or lack of cohesion for the O Line Failure Rookies - shock that Richardson and Kouandjio were so ill prepared

Completely agree that addressing OLine issues should be priority one. Look no farther for evidence than the example of our pass rush making Rodgers and Manning look bad. Hopefully whoever is in charge next year has a clear vision for the type of linemen/style of play they want. My hope is that we go back to the power running game

A little persoective is needed.. Thank you Terry and Kim for the gift that keeps on giving

they effectively chipped with TE against cameron wake earlier in the year but I really haven't seen it since then. When the ball is snapped I always focus on Henderson on the TV and he has mostly been on an island. When Freddy chips he's usually picking up an inside rusher.. Not helping a tackle

It's the most inevitable time of the year.. no not XMas.. but the annual in season postseason elimination game has mercifully happened for the Bills and it's time to look forward. At least it was in week 16 this year ( past few years it's been like week 10) Below is my dream wish list ( regardless of whether or not they may be realistic opportunities) Also including a list of who the Bills should let go/ not re-sign. What's on your list? http://nfltraderumor...fl-free-agents/ FREE AGENTS OG - Mike Iupati OT - Brian Bulaga DE - Jerry Hughes QB - Ryan Mallett CUT/ DO NOT RESIGN RB - CJ Spiller ( luxury item.. not necessary) MLB - Brandon Spikes ( too expensive ..Kiko will be back.. Brown and Bradham have been outstanding) QB - Kyle Orton ( too expensive..)

yes.. Perhaps he could have figured that out.. But hard for him to objectively realize what's happening regarding 1on1 matchups with his linemen. It's one thing if he sees a blitz or stunt and adjusts.. But if he sees one on one ( which is where most of thr damage was done) what is he supposed to do? Hackett is the one sitting up in the booth watching it all. My gut tells me Hackett focuses too much on the other team's scheme and not enough on what his own guys are doing

yeah.. Chris Simms did a pretty good job except for his praise of Hackett desling with the yoing guys

I'll reserve final judgement until I can watch the All 22 film to confirm.. But to my eye Henderson was beaten at least 10 times today. In past games he was only beaten 2 or 3 times.

Glaring inexcusable error. At very least give him TE help.. At most put in Hairston. Clearly he hit the rookie wall .. And whether it was Mack or Tuck or whoever he was abused all day.. And Hackett did absolutely nothing to adjust. That more than anything cost us the game. I'm no Orton acolyte but he was under pressure all day today.. Hard to fault him too much

Good point.. I guess what I was trying to say is that Orton's attitude drives his performance. At this stage of his career the '"want to" desparate attitude is probably gone.His arm is better than Fitzy... But he doesn't have Fitzy's guts. His brain is better than EJ but he doesn't have EJ's mobility. As a classic pocket QB he has to be willing to throw guys open and take hits doing it and it's pretty clear he doesn't have the stomach for it anymore

Sad thing is is that Orton has it in him to be accurate and decisive. To my eye he came out slinging in his first few games because he was so pumped up to be playing again. Somewhere along the line he either 1.) regressed to the mean naturally 2.) got the aggressiveness coached out of him 3.) got complacent and got comfortable doing the bare minimum. Sadly his onfield persona tells me it's #3 and he's been revealed as a paid mercenary

NFL Rewind .. I believe cost is around $50 per season NFL Rewind .. I believe cost is around $50 per season I wish I could evaluate the run blocking effectively but it is very diificult. I've tried but my ratings tend to vary wildly from Pro Football Focus ratings which shakes my confidence. Much easier to evaluate pass protect. It's fairly easy to tell when OL misses a stunt or someone gets beat one on one in general yes.. Oline trending up.. Orton trending down.. Which is scary

Unforced errors.. bad throws/ How did the O Line do?/ What mistakes are on the O-Line.. what ones are not? I watched the NFL rewind all 22 and here is my unofficial count of how the O-Line did / How Kyle did on every pass play ( I may have missed a snap or two here.. but this should be 95% accurate) DISCLAIMER ( I am not a coach, I don't know the hot reads or route combinations called.. this is just my educated perception of what happened on each pass play) _______ ______________________ TOTAL PASS PLAYS - 36 snaps - a reasonable number (last week was 57 snaps … ) LINE BREAKDOWNS 5 out of 36 snaps – 14% … improvement over last week ( last week was 12 or 21% ) - defined as O-Line clearly messed up and Kyle did not have a moment to throw after hitting the last step of his drop. SUFFICIENT PROTECTION - 31 of 36 snaps – 86% .. improvement over last week (last week was 45 snaps or 79 % of pass plays) - defined as O-Line did sufficient job and Kyle hit the last step of his drop and had a moment to throw. UNFORCED KYLE ERRORS: - 9 snaps out of 31- 29%- worse than last week ( last week was 9 snaps or 20% of snaps where he had time) - unforced error defined as Kyle having time and having unforced accuracy issues/ or taking bad sacks. Bottom Line: Orton’s worst outing by far. Out of the 31 clean pockets he had.. he had far too many unforced overthrows/underthrows/ poor decisions to show for them. The O Line really struggled in the first quarter.. however.. they settled down and played much better the rest of the game. After q1 most of the pressure came from blitzes where they outnumbered our protection.. hard to fault the O Line for that. For the most part, Orton had very good protection and opportunities to throw to open receivers… he just flat out missed guys on too many occasions. There were a few poor decisions.. but mostly it was inaccuracy that got him week 15. __________ __________ PLAYS OF NOTE Q1 – Sammy slips on Hook Route Q1- Pears beaten .. Orton forced to check down Q1- Both sides of O Line beaten by stunts Q1 – SACK – Glenn cleanly beaten.. Q1 – Orton unnecessarily checks down to Freddy when he has time Q1 – Orton steps up to avoid rush.. has time.. but doesn’t see Sammy open at the sticks. Checks down instead Q2 – Orton makes nice jump ball sideline pass to Watkins Q2 – Nice out route completion to Woods Q2 – 3rd and goal- great coverage downfield.. forced to check down Q3 – Orton unforced poor throw to Sammy on out route Q3 – Orton throws too high to Woods on open slant route.. unforced Q3 – INT – underthrown.. forced ball to Sammy in double coverage Q3 – Orton throws behind Woods – unforced Q3 – Orton misses Sammy on out route in Red Zone – unforced Q3 – SACK – Orton panics.. has time to throw and guys open but doesn’t pull trigger Q4- SACK – Blitz .. Orton has no chance Q4 – Overthrows wide open Woods .. unforced Q4 - Overthrown to Watkins on go route… unforced. SUMMARY - Orton’s worst game by far. EJ Manuel had a similar outing against Houston where he was missing wide open receivers and he was benched shortly after that game. Orton’s performance against the Packers was just as bad as EJ’s in Houston to my eye. Upon further review.. the O-Line held up pretty well for most of the game and guys were generally open. Quite frankly this is inexcusable play for a starting QB in the NFL. If the O Line continues to give him sufficient protection in the Oakland game and Orton performs like that again Marrone will have a hard time keeping his credibility with the team if Orton is not benched.

I think we would definitely need to be careful about it and use it in a limited fashion. Just because he lines up in the backfield doesn't necessarily mean we hand it off to him every snap. I think the threat of it would certainly make defenses think twice.