LA Grant

Ah, football fans never disappoint in social issues. Anytime a player brings up race, it's always one of two reactions. Column A: "Well, he has a point." Column B: "He should shut up and just play football." (because playing football and being observant can't co-exist, apparently)

I don't think the offense is unfixable, and I don't think it's all Tyrod's fault. I think we've seen that Tyrod is a solid starter, with strengths and weaknesses, he's not perfect, but he's middle of the pack and he won't lose you games but he can't win them on his own, either. We need more playmakers than Shady and literally only Shady now. If god forbid McCoy gets hurt, you've just lost your only viable HB and also WR. Oops. It doesn't seem like an impossible situation. You need to bring someone in. So who's it going to be? For RB, I don't see why they don't sign DeAngelo Williams to a one-year deal. They have cap room, he's a proven commodity, he'd come cheap, and he can catch. Why not? WR, either you get Anquan Boldin to come out of retirement, or you trade one of the 3rd round picks for someone. I don't know who. Feel free to make your recommendations. With all of the NYG receivers gone, we're unfortunately not the only one extremely desperate at the position. You tell me. Who can we get that can start at WR?

I like Mike Tolbert as the change of pace back, and he's a great role player. I'm happy with DiMarco as FB. But you can't have only those 3 dressed. Hopefully they add a guy this week because if Shady goes down for any length of time, we can't rely on Tolbert alone. DeAngelo Williams is available...

Bad comparison and bad joke.

DeAngelo Williams is waiting by the phone.

There's simply not that much to miss, unless you bought his jersey. He barely played for us! Best case scenario if he'd stayed, he stays on the field for a full season and puts up top 5 WR numbers. Great. Now you need to pay him top dollar based on one year. And who's to say the injuries don't flare up again the following year?

Yep. Who's to say Shady isn't excited to have Matthews here?

Oh yeah, I'm sure he's just thrilled about Goff

It's not a tank. They weren't going to be better than 7-9 this year before today. Now maybe they'll be 5-11 but with way more draft capital to install a better foundation next year. It's vision and a clear plan, as opposed to the desperate scrambling we'd been accustomed to seeing.

Watkins' production since he was drafted: Boldin's production since Sammy was drafted: Sammy, you were drafted with two first-round picks — you better not let a guy in his late-30s continue to out-perform you!

Quick refresher on Boldin's production over the last five years.

Fantastic news. His leadership alone for a young WR corp is incredibly valuable. I think he'll generate a lot of production this year too. Great weapon for Red Zone and third downs.

Oof, bad quote from Terry. Especially because "car accident" is exactly the comparison CTE researchers always use — football contact is comparable to car accidents as far as impact on the brain, except you're probably not getting into thousands of car accidents per year for your hobby/job. And this is why Terry doesn't like to talk to the press! Pretty much.

Punts when we're on the other side of the 50 yard line.

No, it just says what his market value is. Whaley's team has generally excelled at finding cheap role players. Lorenzo Alexander says hi.

You could probably get him for next to nothing as a solid QB2. If Tyrod went down, I'd certainly feel more comfortable with Kaep starting a few games than Cardale.

A legitimate Red Zone Threat would be a big difference-maker, if they can get it done.

Fair point and well reasoned. I think that's true. And to that point as well, it's tough to stay on a consistent blueprint when you're changing coaches and schemes every 2 years, which obviously isn't entirely (or even mostly) on Whaley.

They need a big guy, a Red Zone Threat, someone who can cross over the middle. I would also like them see resign Justin Hunter as a #4.

EJ was widely seen as a reach at the time and the only ones who considered him a top rated QB were the Bills. The best option of what was considered a weak QB draft (just like this year!) was supposedly Geno that year who also obviously hasn't worked out, although to be fair, he has looked better than EJ, if only marginally so. To your point, I don't think EJ was necessarily a terrible pick given their circumstances at the time and drafting down was great. I think what's frustrating is how they doubled-down on EJ the next year by massively over-paying for Sammy Watkins in an effort to solidify and justify their QB.

This team doesn't seem like it's been operating under a consistent blueprint under Whaley. Are we pushing for playoffs or are we rebuilding? Each year it seems to be a little of both and each year we end up somewhere in the middle. If this comes to pass, then it makes all of Whaley's QB choices highly questionable. The only ones that have somewhat worked out are Kyle Orton and Tyrod Taylor and both were clearly Coach recruitments. Kolb, EJ, Thad, Tuel, Cassel, Cardale — how much can you expect a team to win with a guy like that as your starter?

Carucci and the argument against TO is so stupid. He clearly deserves to be in, and the reasons why to keep him out are flimsy. Most of the dings they're hanging on TO were media creations anyway, and this episode is just another example. Give the man his due and move on.

Please find better things to get upset about.

It's hard to say until we see them in action. I like that McDermott and most of them appear to be detail-oriented and seem competent. Rex was charismatic, empathetic to his players, and perhaps at one time he was a creative schemer — but maybe not so much with the details and the competence. Hopefully it's a good transition. I personally have no feeling on it yet, I'm ambivalent until there's more to go on. I think there are some optimistic indicators — but I'm also reminded of my reactions to the Gregg Williams, Dick Jauron, Chan Gailey, and even Doug Marrone hires. I guess even within those guys, there's a spectrum of success McDermott could land on. But those were different times and different Bills so there's no sense assuming the past will be a predictor any more than it will be prologue. Until FA and the draft, we don't have any decisions yet to judge so there's nothing to say, really. Basically — just hoping for the best.