LA Grant

The Bills should be happy with Tyrod. I suspect there isn't anything that would change your mind, though, because you're not really arguing based on reality. He has a winning record, doesn't turn the ball over... the argument has been had a million times, so if you couldn't handle the information then I don't see why giving it to you now would make a difference. He could be holding up the Lombardi after a SB win and I'm sure you'd be here being like "yeah well Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson won SBs too, so what?"

Did we call the pitch run on a 3rd and 2 last week? (I was at the game and genuinely don't remember) I agree on the second point -- thought the playcalling was noticeably better in the first half. Particularly liked seeing the roll-outs and called QB runs. Would like to see more run-pass options.

They might, if the Chiefs had benched Alex Smith for a fifth-round pick while they're in a playoff spot.

That pitch run on 3rd and 2... why? why why why why

I do think they should draft a RB next year. How much better would our team be this year with Kareem Hunt, or Christian McCaffrey, or Leonard Fournette? I hope Shady is still on the team, but in a split backfield.

Nailed it. The ESPN article on the same subject from a few weeks ago had a great line in there -- trying to do better than Tyrod at QB is like hitting on 17 in blackjack. Yes, you CAN do better, but you're more likely to bust. The sensible thing to do would be to build around Taylor as you continue to draft for that jackpot QB. He's never had healthy playmakers on his side, and the handful of games when he DID have a healthy Watkins & Woods last year, his numbers were fantastic (look 'em up).

100% this.

Look at the bright side -- Peterman had a higher passer rating on Sunday if you considered him a Chargers QB. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/11/22/nathan-peterman-had-a-higher-passer-rating-as-a-chargers-quarterback/ What a ridiculous disaster. Destroy the relationship with Tyrod and ruin Peterman's confidence. Killing two birds with one stone? Now that's what I call process.

Guess it took 72 hours of reviewing game footage to see... oh, yeah, huh, I guess Peterman DID throw five picks in one half. On Friday, they're going to announce the sky is blue.

I'm still so angry at the coaching staff for the ridiculous move at QB. This doesn't help, exactly, but it does put it into perspective. We have gone from "the Bills are in great shape to make the playoffs" to "we are in deep, deep s#it" so fast, my head is still spinning. Per Deadspin: No quarterback had thrown five interceptions in the first half since before the NFL-AFL merger. No team had thrown five interceptions in the first half since the Steelers did it in 1973. Peterman’s five picks came on 14 pass attempts, one shy of the record set in 1973 by Archie Manning. No quarterback had thrown five interceptions in his first career start since Keith Null in 2009 for the Rams, and I swear to god I have zero memory of Keith Null existing. No quarterback had thrown three picks in the first quarter since Geno Smith did it in 2014. Full article here: https://deadspin.com/nathan-peterman-was-a-very-avoidable-disaster-1820604593

Yep. Deadspin nailed it. So does this post here.

Can we just steal the Houston or KC playbook and have an intern randomly call plays? I can't see how it would be worse.

Mariota's a bust! Bench him!

Oh just imagining all of the horrible pun headlines that would come from the Bills beat writers makes me NOT want this

Good call on both of these. Eric Moulds is terribly underrated as a WR. The whole thing with the Jills was a debacle. Yeah, I can get behind this take.

First of all, the bolded sentence is such a dumb take. I have no interest in getting into the weeds on your personal definition of "elite" -- especially if being "a franchise guy for a long time" and a "top 7 or 8" QB doesn't cut it for you. To be clear, my "elite claim," as you put it, is that Tyrod could indeed develop that way, given time in the right system. I think that is possible Tyrod would continue to develop and improve, as he has demonstrated, and as we have seen from other QBs afforded time and consistency. Your position is that improving is impossible. Somehow I think you're speaking from experience. Anyway. Here's an interesting comparison: It's surprising the Titans haven't benched Mariota with those numbers.

Alex Smith learning a different system every single year of his career? Why does that sound fami -- oh right, because that also describes Tyrod Taylor. In his third year of starting. Perhaps if he'd been in a situation where he'd get that third, fourth, or fifth year to figure it out --- hmm! Who knows? As you acknowledge yourself, Tyrod had shown improvement each year, even with new systems and new receivers. I wonder how many people were saying "there just isn't any way" Alex Smith could ever be elite.

"History: never relevant!"

He has a winning record. The team he was leading is right now in a playoff spot.

Both Freddy and Travis Henry are good suggestions. This is where we diverge -- we don't know for certain that Tyrod wasn't going to get any better. What happened to Alex Smith? Why did he go from "never going to get any better" to being an MVP candidate? He had all of one game with a #1 receiver this year -- someone he had just met. Yes, the Saints game was terrible. But everyone on the team played terribly. Both of our lines have been destroyed at the LOS the last two weeks. I understand the reasoning that Peterman's quicker release may mask the OL pass blocking issues some. We will see. But I think you can't say Tyrod was not going to get better, now that he finally had a real weapon in the passing game. To replace your QB after two ugly losses -- only one of which do I think he played poorly, because against the Jets I think he did as well as anyone could've, I don't think Peterman makes a difference in that game -- especially when the team is currently holding a playoff spot and a winning record... There is a reason this is an uncommon scenario. Yeah, exactly this. This move shows that they were looking to replace Tyrod the moment they drafted Peterman. Sometimes QBs will have bad games. Big Ben looked like a disaster this year against the Ravens and openly talked about retiring. If he were on the Bills, he'd have been traded the next day.

Who do you think received the most raw deal in their time with the Bills? I know some of you are very much company men who will always side with the team over the player, but otherwise I think you can agree, just like any business, some employees just come into a bad situation and get screwed over. Here are my candidates for who had it worst. Tyrod Taylor I'm sure some of you see it differently, I definitely think Tyrod got kind of screwed over with the Bills. He earned the starting job in a TC competition where he wasn't the organization's preferred guy. He has a winning record as a starter, despite a new OC every season, and zero consistency in receiving targets. Not saying he didn't struggle at times. Saints game was a disaster and it wasn't his first really terrible performance. At the same time, he did show a consistent ability to not turn the ball over, and a less consistent but still present playmaking ability. We'll see what happens but my feeling with Tyrod is if he was in a RPO offense with a good speedy deep-threat (ie, a healthy Watkins), he could be elite. Doug Flutie Similar situation to Tyrod in the sense that he won the starting job but nobody was really rooting for him to do so. It would have been much easier on the organization if Rob Johnson had stayed healthy and played well, but just like with EJ, the backup outplayed him. Benching him versus the Titans was the wrong move, but it's not indefensible -- even at the time people were calling for it. Bills Daily keeps all of their archives up back to that season -- you can literally go read their take of the last regular season game when Johnson had one of his best career games against the Colts, and even they were saying RJ should start in the playoffs, because Flutie had struggled throughout the year and it looked like defenses had figured him out. The "magic" was gone, and the team was winning ugly games with defense and running the ball. The way everything happened with the controversy in 2000, and then Wade's firing was the beginning of the long night we've been in for 17 years. Doug Whaley Never got to pick a head coach, or even have a consistent coach for more than 2 years. Not to mention you were GM for Ralph, then after his passing and through the sale to the Pegulas, so he also didn't have consistency there, either. It's not that his draft moves didn't have vision, I don't agree with that take on Whaley, e could see the type of team he was envisioning, his problem was more that he seemed to draft with desperation every year. He also was way too loose with the checkbook in free agency. Those things are understandable, though, considering what he was dealing with, that he'd try to "win now" as much as possible and end the drought and finally establish stability. Would we have been better off this year if Whaley stayed and picked a different coach? Who can say. But our roster would certainly look very different right now. Wade Phillips I think Wade might be my pick because he was fired despite never posting a losing season. His worst season was 8-8. His firing wasn't unexpected, though; he handled the QB situation in 2000 horribly, plus his really dumb comments about being out of contention in the primetime game against the Colts, when we had the same record as them but they did end up going to the playoffs. And Ronnie Jones, i think was his name, the ST coach -- our special teams were really horrible. But, I think our problems were not so drastic that we needed to fire Wade and clean house. If Ralph and Wade had found a solution to keep him, the Bills would have been much better building and rebuilding their roster. EJ Manuel First round draft pick. Starts week one of his rookie season. Plays well throughout his rookie year, despite being, you know, a rookie. And not a consensus kind of rookie QB, either. EJ was never going to be Deshaun Watson. He was slated as a 4th round guy and the Bills reached and put too much pressure on a dude that even Florida fans knew, and were saying, EJ was inaccurate and slow to read the field. But his development was totally wrecked when Marrone benched him for Orton and we never really had the chance to see what EJ could have done with more time getting to play with Sammy Watkins. He did have a shot at the job in Rex's first TC, so I while I think the Bills definitely mismanaged EJ, he still had his fair amount of chances and they were right to let him go. Other Candidates You could make a case for Bill Polian, John Butler, Ted Cottrell, and the way the team cut Thurman/Andre/Bruce. The Fans This one gets my vote. What a ridiculous thing it is to follow this team and root for their success. Stay Billsy, Buffalo.

Bold take considering how well benching Flutie worked out.

Instead of "Thank You" this should be "Sorry, Tyrod -- you got a pretty raw deal"

It's definitely a football move.

No. I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous. It's not like Pegula picked McDermott and Beane off the street. They are vetted candidates. Maybe you view the employer/employee relationship differently than I do, but I believe the best thing an employer can do is let people do their job. What you're suggesting is an owner that micromanages the football operation. Well, we had that with Ralph Wilson. Other comparable owners - Jerry Jones, Dan Snyder. No thanks. As an owner, Pegula is more similar to Robert Kraft without the results. How much of an "Xs and Os" guy do you think Kraft is? Do you think he's chiming in on Belichick's decisions? Do you think he should have been more hands-on when Belichick decided to keep Drew Bledsoe on the bench (when he returned from injury) in favor of some random sixth-round game manager? I'm not saying Pegula is perfect --- his record as an owner for the Bills and Sabres speaks for itself. But to think the solution is for him to become MORE involved in the day-to-day operation, I couldn't disagree more.