Sammy Watkins' Rib

Bortles benefited from the leagues #2 overall defense. Taylor played with the leagues 21st overall defense. How are they basically the same thing?

Really? I wouldn't say Fitz and EJ were cowardly quarterbacks. They just weren't very good. How does Peterman compare to those two? Does he look better, the same or worse?

And don't forget the Jets under first year head coach Todd Bolwes in 2015. They didn't make the playoffs but they finished 10-6 and you could make a legitimate argument that Jets team was better than both the 2016 Dolphins and 2017 Bills. Definitely a strong history of teams taking a step back after taking a step forward.

This was a very week 9-7 team though. Other than turnover differential and clutch 50+ yard kicks from Haushcka, this basically a 5-11 or 6-10 team. Carpenter was great his first season with us too and then fizzled out his final two years with us. Turnover differential will more likely than not go down next season. I'm not against bringing in a veteran QB but there are plenty of signs that this team could go 8-8 or even 7-9 next season even with an upgrade at the QB position.

With the exception of possibly starting Peterman next year it is hard to imagine worse production from the QB position next year no matter who we go with as a rookie or free agent pick up. That alone could be a huge boost. But there are some red flags. Our success this year was all about Hauschka and timely turnovers from the secondary. Both could very easily reverse back to the mean in 2018. And if that happens we will need to greatly improve out 26th ranked offense and 21st ranked defense.

Your statement is pretty misleading without adding a couple details. TT played the leagues #2 defense. Bortles played the leagues 21st ranked defense. Who would you expect to have a better day? McDermott has a lot of coaching up to do still. Literally everyone here wanted Rex's head for the exact same results on defense. But Rex's teams came with a much better offense. Rex Ryan Bills Defense: 2015- 15th ppg, 20th ypg 2016- 16thppg, 19th ypg Sean McDermott Bills Defense: 2017-16th ppg, 21st ypg

After reading your post OP are we supposed to be optimistic for next season? You're basically saying we have a ton of holes and it's a miracle McDermott got us to the playoffs. That doesn't sound like a recipe for success for next year.

Hapless Bills Fan is spot on. No you are missing what myself and others have said. Taylor earned a starting job in 2015. Even if it was against weak competition he earned it nonetheless. He played very well in 2015. Even a hater should acknowledge that. Maybe he still didn't make every throw in 2015 but he overall played very well. Now these last two years his play has declined and he'll be on a new team next year. Rightly so. But Peterman? What has he earned? What has he proven? Nothing yet.

And your point? We are talking about Peterman here. Not a QB that will be on another team come next season. Right now Peterman can't make that throw and that's a problem.

So 30% of the black players are not proud of their African hertiage?

I'd take Alex Smith in a heartbeat. I'd take him over Cousins and any of the three QBs in Minnesota.

Because he won a three way QB competition between EJ Manuel and Matt Cassel. Not the most difficult thing to do obviously but still more than Peterman has done up to this point. And that's not Peterman's fault really, he hasn't really had the chance yet. I'm sure he will get a shot this preseason to compete with a veteran QB and another rookie.. Taylor also had a really nice season after winning that QB competition. So that is how a former 6th round pick became our starting QB. It wasn't just handed to him.

For me, the problem with Peterman is that it seems to similar to the Trent Edwards situation. I don't want to become attached too closely to a project QB. Edwards was given a prominent role and a long leash despite being drafted in the third round. He never lit up or earned the job. He just benefited from being not as terrible as JP. With that said, I wouldn't be surprised to see us pass on drafting a QB in the first couple of rounds this year. We have a ton of holes that need to be filled. Is anyone in the entire front seven safe? Interior of the o-line is aging. And I think our management likes Peterman a lot more than most of us do. Starting NFL QBs get paid to make that throw. QBs in the NFL that cannot make that throw are back ups.

I won't say he can't do it because he did do it against Miami last year only to be let down by the defense. Maybe he doesn't do it as often as we like. As for games when the other team scores over 20 points, if you look at the box scores from the last three years you will see a trend. The defense either shows up or doesn't show up at all. Meaning their were only a handful of games where we held the opponent to between 21-29 points. Take this year for example. 27 Tampa Bay W 34 NYJets L 47 New Orleans L 54 Los Angeles L 23 New England L 37 New England L Even top 5 franchise QBs would likely do no better than 2-4 in those six games. In the games where the other team scored between 21-29 Taylor was 1-1. I'm guessing most QBs do not fair well in games when the opponent scores 30+.

Bills are Back to Back to Back to Back Super Bowl champs in the poor parts of Africa so maybe they have built a following among some of the refugees.

It would have been the pass to Zay in Carolina. But Zay. Or the pass before the half to Zay in Atlanta. But Zay again. His best overall game this year was the Denver game. But as for "wow" moments from Taylor he didn't have a whole lot this year if any. Somewhat surprising because he had a lot over the previous two seasons. While there is truth to some of what you say lets also not forget that this years defense was actually statistically worse than prior year defenses under Rex. As you say, it came down to Hauschka and turnovers. More importantly getting them in the games that mattered. Haushcka knocking in a couple 50 yarders against the Saints or Chargers or the defense coming up with a couple of turnovers in both of those games would have been meaningless towards the outcome. This isn't a case of Bortles being carried by a top 5 defense. Both the offense and defense were below average this year but we made the playoffs. Go figure, especially after having a much better offense the prior two seasons with basically the same poor defense.

I would only trade the farm from 20 to 3 to land Darnold or Rosen. Also, I think we upset the Jags so it will be more like 24 to 3. K.C. will probably beat Tennessee and lost to Pittsburgh. So we will have something like the 24th and 25th picks. Something tells me these guys like Peterman a lot more than we do. I think they are comfortable keeping the picks and taking a DT, LB and OL with their first three picks. By traditional QB standards perhaps but he'll still do it more than our current guy. He's basically Taylor but he makes quicker reads. That makes Smith a little better IMO.

Which ones? Rosen and Darnold both declared yesterday. Mayfield is a senior so he is coming out. I believe Allen declared. Only one still up in the air is Jackson. If we make a move I'd kind of like to go with Alex Smith. I don't think we will have enough fire power to get one of the top three QBs. Of all the veteran QBs I think I like Smith the most. Similar to Taylor but still more of a QB.

Dilfer was a liability on that team that had an all time great defense. Taylor has played with a defense that has been a liability his entire three year tenure in Buffalo. Situations are not that similar other than possibly both being game manager type QBs.

In most off-seasons TT might have decent trade value. Like a third round pick. But way too many QBs coming out this year combined with Cousins, Keenum/Bradford/Bridgewater and Alex Smith are going to dilute the market.

Only Bills QBs need three years. Three years to show that they can't cut it that is.

The bar is set awfully low. They could add McCown or even Taylor and upgrade.

That's a nice way of saying we have sucked for a long time. Everyone roots for the Browns too.

Bradford is the best of the three but cannot stay healthy. So don't want him. Bridgewater is garbage. Never proved anything. Way over-hyped. Keenum is intriguing. I'd take a flyer on him.

Everyone killed Rex for a terrible defense two straight years yet this defense was worse in every category except turnovers. The turnovers dried up and we lost three straight games in the middle of the season. I wouldn't be so high on the defense. This team was lucky to make the playoffs but they should have made it in 2015 or 2016 with a better defense. Both those teams were actually better then this one. But some clutch kicks and some clutch turnovers in the right games during a down year in the conference along with some help got us in this year.