Nihilarian

I just can't imagine what a Bills board would have looked like back in the 70's after the team traded away OJ Simpson to the 49ers. Some of you just need to relax and wait to see what happens over the next two years.

Bill Parcells started using that nickname for his hardest working players and used to refer to players like TE mark Bravaro as one of his "lunch pail" guys. Bavaro was a 4th round pick that never caught more than 66 passes or more than 8 TDs in his 9 years in the NFL. Nothing flashy but considered one of the greatest blocking TEs ever. http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2015/01/patriots_bill_belichick_ex-giants_tight_end_mark_b.html This article explains what an NFL lunch pail / blue collar guy is. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1573958-the-anatomy-of-a-blue-collar-nfl-player

Ray Perkins drafted LT in 1981 and he made the pro bowl every year for the next ten years. Having LT at ROLB didn't stop the team from firing Perkins though. Hostetler was a 3rd round scrub that Parcells developed. The guy started for 7 seasons and had two winning seasons out of 7. In his 10-5 season and only playoff appearance with the LA Raiders, he threw 14 TDs and 10 ints that year.

The 82 NY Giants had Ray Perkins as HC and Bill Parcells as DC. Bill B was linebackers / ST coach and Romeo Crennel was ST/defensive assistant coach. Perkins was fired and Parcells took over as HC. Bill B remained as linebackers coach and Crennel moved to special teams coach. In 1985 Belichick took over as the teams DC. Looking back at that history one could easily say that Parcells was instrumental in developing Belichick into the coach we see today.

When I mentioned Cleveland like issues I wasn't comparing this trade to the Osweiler trade. It was more along the lines of the contract the guy was given. The Buffalo Bills have been in a Cleveland like funk the last decade in my view and are finally on their way to building a winning team.

Yea, tell that to Chuck Knox. A man who took a team of nobodies and made them believe in themselves so much so that they made the playoffs. Bill Parcells was another man who wanted "lunch pail" guys and didn't care for superstar type players. He won a Superbowl with the backup QB scrub starting. As Marv used to say...great talent without great character and work ethic means nothing.

When I see a move like this, I see this team moving away from the Clevelandish-like issues and into a real NFL winning team realm. Going back to that recent Whaley thread it boggles the mind to think that there are still Bills fans who think the guy was a good GM. I really like what this new regime is doing.

Exactly. There was a real reason that he and the entire scouting staff were fired and replaced. The EJ pick while overlooking so many other QB's afterward and two first round picks on Watkins while the team still didn't have a solid franchise QB to even throw to the guy! The thing that really gets me is after the 2014 draft the team stated that they were still looking for that big, tall red zone wideout. Mike Evans anyone? In his first three 1000 yard seasons, he played in 46 of 48 games. at 6'5'' 231 the guy bowls over DB's. Evans cracked 1000 yards in his rookie season with scrubs throwing to him. Another thing that really bothers me about this GM is that after he drafted "his" QB. Is that he made the kid start behind the very worse offensive line in the league. Chris Williams at LG, really? Erik Pears at RG, really? Seantrel Henderson at RT. Not to mention that he allowed the team to go into that season with no QB coach or veteran QB on the roster to help his rookie QB learn the ropes. Instead, the team went into the season with only former college OC Nathaniel Hackett as his QB coach and OC. Whaley was as bad a Bills GM as was Marv Levy, Russ Brandon, Buddy Nix. Be happy that bum is gone and trust that he will never be an NFL GM again.

I think most here are pointing at the wrong guy in this year's offense. Juan Castillio is the run game coordinator and O line coach and both those aspects of the offense have fallen this year compared to what we saw the last two years. Passing stats so far show the Bills are 32nd in attempts and 29th in passing yards. The run game is in much worse shape in being 3rd in rushing attempts and 16th in rushing yards with a 3.4 yard per carry average. The big thing is only one rushing TD this year so far. They had 5 rushing TD's at this point last year and finished with a 5.3 yards per carry average. This is supposed to be a run-first offense and has faced stacked boxes the previous two seasons and still managed a good ground game against most teams those years. If anything Taylor is doing pretty good considering the scrubs he is throwing to so far.Losing Clay in the last game really hurt the offensive passing game. from PFF, 22. BUFFALO BILLS Average offensive lineman grade: 57.0While Richie Incognito is among the top 10 guards in the NFL once again, the rest of Buffalo’s line has been unable to come near to playing at his level. The unit has played well in pass protection as they rank seventh in the league with a pass blocking efficiency rating of 82.2, having allowed just 38 pressures on 171 pass blocking snaps. However, the issues come with run-blocking, where basically everyone but Incognito has a poor grade so far. The Bills run more outside zone plays than anyone in the league, leading the NFL with 76 attempts, but they rank just 17th in yards before contact, averaging just 1.06 yards on these plays. https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-ranking-all-32-nfl-offensive-lines-by-average-grade-week-5

This!!! The run game is in the toilet at #12th in the league in rushing after being first the previous two years. 2015-2016. McCoy averaged 4.4 yards per rush in 2015 and 5.4 in 2016 and he is only averaging 3.2 YPC which is less then he has in his entire career. The problem isn't McCoy either as he is doing his Marshawn Lynch in Buffalo impression by getting hit about as soon as he touches the ball.

It's tough to play hurt in the NFL as a decoy.

I'd be talking to Josh Gordon too at this point... Perhaps try to talk Bolden out of retirement or Vincent Jackson.

Two first rounders for the greatest decoy in NFL history...

Actually, Watkins did nothing for the Rams today as he was targeted 4 times and caught nothing. This team needs an AJ Green clone in a guy that can stay healthy and help win games every week. This week the team was screwed once Charles Clay went out. I also agree with this. The current Bills O line coach sucks and the OC isn't far behind him. The run game went from first in the league the last two years to 17th this year!

Might be. The new line coach might also be a problem. This year the Bills are 17th rushing after being #1 the last two years.

It is a team sport! This particular team is noted to be a run first team and needs that run game to work in all situations to help the passing game. Regardless that the passing game was lacking it's two best options in Clay, Matthews. Nick O'Leary was the leading receiver 5 rec for 54 yards. Meanwhile, the Bengals have AJ Green 7 rec 189 yards, one TD. Buffalo with 82 yards total rushing, 24 attempts @ 3.2 yards per rush is not good enough. McCoy is a great RB that is reminiscent of what I used to see in Marshawn Lynch, Fred Jackson in Buffalo in that these guys simply can't get it done mostly all by themselves. The problem is not McCoy. The defensive coaches changed this year along with the scheme and look how good the defense is this year! Currently, Buffalo is #17 in rushing yards, 26th in rushing TDs with one. This after being the #1 rushing team for 2016, 2015. The line, the receiving corps or lack thereof, the line coach and new OC look to be more of a problem over the QB. IMO

That might happen next draft. The team also needs upgrades at receiver, O line.

game over!!!!

Right, he wouldn't have caught it. Glad he did though.

Jeez, not losing another receiver...

Finally caught one!

Levy sure! He wasn't so afraid of losing his job to an assistant that he hired real experienced coaches. This years team reminds me more of the Chuck Knox era when Knox was able to take a bunch of young players and make them believe in themselves so that they could beat anybody.

Don't forget 2008 when they went 5-1 and someone flushed something somewhere after they finished the season 7-9.

In the first game against the NY Jets, the Bills had 190 rushing yards on 42 rushing attempts 4.5 yards per carry average. Against the Panthers, the BIlls ran for 77 yards on 28 attempts a 2.8 YPC average. It got worse against Denver with the best RB in the league held to 1.5 YPC avg. It sure looks broken to me! This team is set up to be a run-first team that needs to run to win games to help set up the passing game and keeps the defense off the field. Like I said, this team can't rely on the opponent turning the ball over three times due to stupidity every game. Those three turnovers were huge for the Bills. 8.5 underdogs against the Falcons in Atlanta seems about right.

You do realize that this win was a gimme by the football gods and some stupidity by the Denver coaches and QB. That fake punt in their own side of the field. The two times the Denver QB chucked the ball up for grabs instead of throwing it away. A tipped pass in the end zone by a Bills player usually results in an INT and not a TD catch by another Bills player. A Buffalo run-first team that only managed 2.3 yards per rush! McCoy 14 carries for 21 yards a 1.5 YPC avg. This was the second week the Bills run game was shut down. The reality is more like 9 wins max and 7 at worst. This team needs to fix their run game and block better on the line.