Nihilarian

How much effort will Rex Ryan and his brother put into coaching the team this year? Will we see an undisciplined mess for most of the season like last year? Will the revenge factor fade now that Rex beat his old team last year 2x and knocked them out of the playoffs? So much depends on keeping Incognito and the players obtained in free agency / draft that remain to be seen. Then the Bills cut their best pass rusher in Mario and with nobody on the other side does Jerry Hughes start looking really bad with the penalties and hardly any sacks? I hope the Bills have a plan B...

Yea, good luck to this scouting dept replacing an all-pro LG like Incognito in the draft after the first round. Anyone else recall what this team tried to replace an above-average OG in Andy Levite with? Five mill for Chris Williams to play 3 games. Colin Brown cut after 6 six games and after the team watched him play in some real games. Doug Legursky as backup center who needed to start at OG was released the next off-season. Sam Young another dud at OG. Lots of fans singing the praises of John Miller in the pre-season and until he actually played. Erik Pears at RG was the worst idea ever!! Not resigning Incognito will have a far more reaching effect for the entire line then just losing one player. It will hinder both the run game and Tyrod's development and also make both players on either side revert back to what they looked like in 2013-2014 or worse if they think Cyril Richardson will fill that role.

It is if you think you can find them in the later rounds. The team has to actually acknowledge they would be willing to spend a first round pick on an OG like the Bills did when they drafted Ruben Brown. Levitre was a second round pick and then not even the first second round pick that year. LT Cordy Glenn was a second rounder and looking back the Bills were exceedingly lucky to find him in the 2nd and that might be because some teams projected him at OG. So, this team drafting so few QB's with first round picks over the last 30 years is a big reason why they haven't found another Jim kelly too. Things look to be changing at OBD with the thinking about the O-line mostly because this team in the past would have never tagged Glenn for 13.706 mill! The real problem is they are quibbling over a few mill for Richie who is on his last contract. Now here is the rub! Should the team fail to sign Incognito (and it sure looks that way as of now) both Wood and Glenn will probably revert back to their 2013-2014 play and should that happen then neither player will be worth anywhere near what they are being paid. The past regimes thinking that OG's are a dime a dozen, you can move any OT to OG and be successful, you can find interior O-linemen in the later rounds. Those regimes didn't realize that a quality OG will make the players on both sides look better. Which is probably why recently no RT has looked to be worth a damn.The old saying that no man is an island is fitting because those young OT's have difficulty playing with "not so good" play from the RG's next to them. The really sad thing is that even now after watching first hand what a quality OG will do for a team and yet they are still balking at paying Incognito what he is worth.

Yep, and it didn't help that when 25+ year vet O-line coach McNally retired that Jauron chose to promote from within instead of hiring another veteran line coach. When a defensive coach left the team it was always a seasoned veteran coach that was hired to replace them. That was Jauron's MO and I think he was afraid to hire any experienced offensive coach for fear they would take his job as HC. My fear is the only way real change will take place on this team will be to finally hire that NFL experienced senior football man at the top of the chart. Then leave the head coaching hires and all football personnel matters to him. Although, it might be a long while before that happens because the fangs are already in pretty deep. On another note, I think Rex Ryan has actually been good to the offense and the O-line in wanting and getting Tyrod Taylor and taking a chance with Incognito when nobody else would. Then last off-season Ryan went after OG La'el Collins but lost out to the Cowboys. Oh my lord the addition of Collins and Incognito that would have improved that line so much more. I would have loved to see that young man running around pancaking people all game for the Bills. Anyway, things are not looking good on the Incognito front and should he leave things may really go south fast because both Glenn and Wood will regress again. Imagine how things will look when the team backs up a truckload of money for the LT only to see the line look like it did in 2014. EDIT: Let's not forget Langston Walker who couldn't make it to the line quickly enough to run the no-huddle offense in preseason so Jauron cut him two weeks before the opener...then they scrapped the no-huddle after two games. The good old days

The Buffalo Bills offensive lines have been bad for the most part since the 90's and a big reason why no Bills QB has had great success. The general thinking at OBD over that period of time been offensive line players simply aren't worth the going rate. The team didn't keep LT Jason peters and there he is with the Eagles at 10.35 per. The team didn't keep LG Andy Levitre and there he is with Atlanta making 7.8 mill per. Now it looks like Peters is underpaid and Levitre is overpaid. The team did have a halfway decent line in 2012 with Glenn at LT, Levitre at LG, Wood at center, Urbik at RG, Pears at RT and the weak links there was clearly on the right side. Sadly, that line didn't stay together for more then one season in an area where continuity is so important. This past years line graded at #9 overall and it showed last season by being the #2 team in rushing attempts and #1 in rushing yards. That grade came mostly because the left side of the line was so good. "9. Buffalo Bills (22nd)Pass-blocking rank: 11th Run-blocking rank: 10th Penalties rank: 14th Stud: You think the Richie Incognito moved paid off? Not only did he show no signs of rust, but he was our top-ranked left guard on the entire year. Dud: It’s never easy for rookies, and John Miller really proved that with a poor year that saw him yield too much pressure and get beat too often in the run game. Summary: Quite the turnaround for this group. Spearheaded by the arrival of Incognito, it’s really a tale of two sides. On the left, their pairing is as good as any in the league, and on the right, it’s as bad as any. In the middle, the ever-present Eric Wood had a very useful year for a line that has a nice blend of youth and experience." http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/2015.htm I can only wonder if 2016 will be a repeat of the 2013 season in that the team will lose Incognito and try and replace him with scurbs like they did with Andy Levitre. The Bills need to not only keep incognito and upgrade the RT, RG positions. Tyrod Talor needs a top line to help him develop and keep that run game going strong.

Exactly! and then dropping him into pass coverage more then he was used to doing didn't help. Most fans just don't understand the difference between the two schemes. Wade Phillips also runs a 3-4 but with a very effective pass rushing one gap scheme.

I agree. But this is the Buffalo Bills who have a history of thinking OG's are a dime a dozen. I kinda knew he would want the going rate for a top OG and he played well enough last year to deserve it. The top is 8.5 and Cogs sure as hell is better then Levitre who is getting 7.8 from the Falcons. The demand is far greater than the supply of quality OG's. Pay him or he is gone and Glenn will look not so great with some bum next to him.

and that's being kind! Ever since that Raider game for a playoff berth in 2014 when I watched Urbik get driven five yards into the backfield on a run play by some scrub DT...all I could think is how does this player even have a job in the NFL. Ok pass blocker at times and a very poor run blocker.

Don't thank Rex because he didn't hire himself. Thank the guy who told the Pegula's to not let Ryan leave the room.

There is a huge difference in getting hit and being able to make a hit. As with the first you never know where you are going to get hit and with the latter, you lead with the shoulder. Also, RB's can lead with their shoulder and apply a hit. Then they also have a stiff arm to ward off the smaller DB's. WR's on the other hand, can take a vicious hit every time they catch the ball. Taylor has already missed games because of injuries and he could have missed more time but he chose to play injured. I think the biggest injury issue we have seen is with what happened to RG3 who is slightly bigger than TT. The QB being the single most important player on the field you simply don't want him constantly taking a beating making plays. Cam Newton is huge in comparision at 6'5'' 245 and can punish smaller tacklers. He was the 2016 MVP and was great at running the ball until the Broncos stopped him cold. What the super bowl showed is you really need a top O-line to protect the QB and build a solid run attack to help take the heat off the QB. The Bills can be very successful with Taylor at QB provided the run him sparingly and continue to pound the rock. They also need better play from the RG, RT.

I'm hoping they keep both Glenn and Mario as losing either one will mean a big loss of talent for the 2016 Buffalo Bills. Tag him if they must.

The point was that game was a "Eureka" moment against a scrub QB making his first NFL start. That was the theme for the 2015 Buffalo Bills in that they could beat teams with bad or rookie QB's. Luck went 2-5 in 2015. Brian Hoyer, Fitz 2x, Tallywhacker 2x, Mariota, Moore. They lost to teams with decent QB's and ended up making some look great! Tom Brady 2x 12-4, Eli Manning 6-10, Andy Dalton 10-3, Blake Bortles 5-11, Alex Smith 11-5, Sam Bradford 7-7, Kirk Cousins 9-7. Like ESPN stated, the reality! "The Buffalo Bills reached an embarrassing low last season on the afternoon of Dec. 20, when Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins shredded Rex Ryan's defense with four touchdown passes and a 153.7 quarterback rating, the third-best mark against the Bills in their history."

The thing is Bill Belichick didn't fail with Cleveland in my view as he inherited a 3-13 bad, bad team and got them to the playoffs by his 4th year. He did go 11-5 in 1994 and then when his QB Vinny Testaverde went down for the season in 1995 (5-11) Plus, the Browns started that 95 season 4-1 when Art Modell told the world he was moving the team to Baltimore and the team fell apart after that. The Browns won only one game after that and Belichick was fired. Sure, Rex Ryan might build a winning team in Buffalo for 2016... I'm just very dubious simply because the man who is a supposed defensive guru literally destroyed a playoff caliber defense and literally castrated the #1 pass rush in the league with a moronic scheme that clearly didn't work from the second game of the season. Then all we fans got were multiple excuses week after week since week two and the excuses are still pouring out of his mouth. I'm just so sick of losing and all we get are more excuses...16 years man, 16 years!

That so-called "Eureka" moment came against the Dallas Cowboys with that elite stud at QB in Kellen Moore...who was making his first NFL start. Then Brilliantly, the Cowboys OC asked Moore to throw 31 times while running it only 25 times. Also, let's not forget that the score was tired 6-6 at the half and went on to 9-6 Buffalo lead by the end of the third quarter. Then finally in the fourth quarter, the Bills got lucky and were able to score a TD after a 50 yard run by RB Mike Gillislee. The Cowboys were 4-10 at that point so it wasn't some great achievement to beat them.' However, beating the 10-5 NY Jets to knock them out of the playoffs was substantial even if it was against Fitz with Gailey calling the plays. Being a Bills fan we all know first hand that Gailey loved to force Fitz to win games with his arm as he did that so many times as the Bills play caller. 37 passes for Fitz vs only 17 attempts to run the ball from the Jets. Now, Jets RB Chris Ivory had 6 rushing attempts for 81 yards in that game. Ya think it might have been wiser for the Jets to run Ivory rather then ask Fitz to sling it for those 3 INT's? Ya think? That last game against the Jets was another revenge game for Rex Ryan and it did look like he had his team prepared to play for this one. Then he actually asked his front four to rush the passer in the game. Will Ryan have the motivation to get his team to play like this next year? I might have an entirely different outlook for the 2016 Buffalo Bills season if they had been able to beat the Eagles, Redskins. Those final two games against Dallas, Jets were basically meaningless as the Bills were already out of the playoffs for 2015. The reality! "The Buffalo Bills reached an embarrassing low last season on the afternoon of Dec. 20, when Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins shredded Rex Ryan's defense with four touchdown passes and a 153.7 quarterback rating, the third-best mark against the Bills in their history."

and for every Belichick, Levy success story there is an even bigger list of bums that never did anything after a year or two of success. Dick Jauron had his one year and Rex had two seasons long ago Let's face facts here, Marv Levy walked into a perfect storm of talent mostly already on the team. He also had director of scouting in Norm Pollom who Chuck Knox brought with him to Buffalo from the Rams. Pollom helped Bill Polian get hired in Buffalo and now we know how the talent got there. Levy was also smart enough to hire some people smarter than himself to run his offense. Ted Marchibroda taught Jim Kelly to call his own plays on the field and hence why the offense stayed good after Ole Ted went back to the Colts as HC. Marv got exceeding lucky and so many coaches never get the opportunity like he had in Buffalo. Belichick is a unique individual in that he can scout talent and build a team as a GM if needed. He watches countless hours of film on his opponents so basically there is nothing they can do to surprise him. He was a brilliant DC for Bill Parcells and we all know first hand how good he was in that respect. I love Marv, but he is not on the same level as Belichick by any means. Perhaps he might be better at special teams than Bill. In my view about the ONLY HC on par with Belichick is Pete Carroll in terms of finding defensive talent in the draft in the later rounds and then developing them into all pro players. I'm hoping that these new owners are only giving Rex Ryan a very short leash to prove himself in 2016 because the talent was there in 2015 for a playoff run. The Bills could be less talented this season without Mario and others. I fear nothing will change for this franchise until these new owners finally realize that they need someone at the top of the org that is an actual football man with experience in running an NFL winning team.

You can't compare the offenses from 2014 to 2015! Simply because 2014 was totally pass happy and dependent on the QB to make plays and win games all season. While the other was a run-centric offense that actually was successful running the ball...unlike 2013. Considering the 2014 Buffalo Bills offensive line was just about the very worst line most of the season (Pears at RG ) and the team threw around 40+ times a game while running around only 20. Kyle Orton went 7-5 and passing for 3000+ yards. Orton did a remarkable job in my opinion when you look at who was his OC and the offense around him. The Bills finished 25th in rushing yards in 2014 and 27th in rushing TD's. Taylor had it so much better this past year with an actual NFL OC calling games and setting up decent offensive game plans. Plus Taylor had a much improved line with Incognito at LG.

Dareus was a #3 overall and not in the same category. A great draft year in which just about every one of the first 15 picks made the pro bowl. Kyle was a 5th rounder and they got exceedingly lucky...in 2006! Wood, Gilmore, McKelvin, Watkins all first rounders, Sanborn? Schmidt? and how many are pro bowlers? Wow! um, overpaying for an edge pass rusher in Mario...100 million and they really tried finding one after Schobel retired in 2009, Aaron Maybin ring any bells, Shawne Merriman? How many playoff games did the team see for that 100 mil? Free agent WR Percy Harvin at around 4 mill, 2.9 fully guaranteed for six games. Overpaying for a RB when they are supposedly easy to find (5yrs, 40 mill= Avg sal 8 mill per, guaran 26.5 mill..now that's a wow! Then giving away a former #1 at RB for a 4th who went on to become a superstar at RB...trading for a 4th for a RB who does nothing and later gets released. Overpaying for a TE in Clay (5 yrs 38 mill=10 mill bonus, AVG sal 7.6 mill, Guran 24.5Mill) Now Doug Whaley spent 3 picks, two first rounders on a WR when he didn't have an already established franchise QB on the roster=wow! THEN, after the draft, he stated that if the deal had fallen thru for Sammy he would have drafted TE Eric Ebron and not Odell Beckham Jr...man o man! A #2 pick at RT who can't even make the field (Cujo) and since Glenn it looks like the team just got lucky again in finding him in the draft because of the failure to find quality talent since. A note here that Whaley tried to sign high priced free agents RT Brian Bulaga away from the Packers, OG Jahri Evans away from the Saints. The Bills currently still have issues at RG & RT, IMHO. What happens to that line / offense this season if the team doesn't resign Cogs or Glenn? Look at the lineup of scrubs the team brought in to replace Andy Levitre, Colin Brown, Doug Legursky...Chris Williams 5.5 mill in Guaranteed money...for three games 28% of the payroll tied up in the pro bowl front four only to hire a HC that makes them look below average to average and not rush the passer. This team has issues finding certain talent at various positions in the draft and really no question about it. Otherwise, they wouldn't need to go nuts overspending on free agents. There is a clear reason why the team is in cap hell and this without paying 10-20 mill per for a franchise QB!! Have at it Cue the excuses...

Great question and the majority of the Bills fans are completely happy with the current front office is what bothers me. So many highly paid free agents because they fail to find that top talent in the draft. While I like TT and would think that an extended contract to keep him as a Bill while he develops is a good thing. Paying the kid anywhere near starting money is the wrong thing to do and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see that happening. Taylor was very effective in 2015 in Roman's complex run centric offense. However, fans need to remember there were many games that Taylor struggled greatly in when he was forced to carry the game. Opposing teams in the AFC will be more prepared this season to face a running QB. Things may not improve much if the team doesn't fix the defense or the problems at RT-RG. Then they may go right into the toilet if either Incognito, Glenn or both aren't retained.

He absolutely can still coach a defense as it showed up in certain games last year! He can also game plan, play call an effective game even with a depleted roster...when he is motivated to do so! I suppose that the 5 mill per isn't enough to motivate the old bumptious man and he needed revenge to be a factor in a big way. I can only wonder if that revenge factor will still even be there in 2016? Then considering how much revenge does factor into what motivates this man. I also wonder if the screwed up defensive game plan we all saw for most of 2015 was revenge for Buffalo beating his sorry arse 2x in 2014? http://www.sbnation.com/2015/11/13/9728318/rex-ryan-bills-jets-win-dumped-him

You have a team with the 26th ranked total offense and the #4 ranked defense and fans want to blame the defense for allowing a very lucky big play in a series that also allowed a score. You simply can't keep giving up the ball series after series and expect a defense that is out on the field all day to keep contain. The Oakland Raiders had the better time of possession 26:13 to 33:47 simply because Buffalo couldn't or wouldn't establish any form of a proper run game. Yes, that was against a very crappy 3-12 team. Take that #4 defense from 2014 and pair them with the number one in the league 2015 rushing offense and that 2014 Buffalo Defense would in all probability be even better. Say #1 overall better, say 2015 Denver Bronco Better!!

I agree. You gotta know Bills fans are grasping at straws when they try to disparage the best defense this franchise has had in years in 2014. That year's team led the NFL in sacks, hits, hurries and actually got their money's worth out of that highly paid front four. To show how bad that 2014 Bills offense was for that Raiders game the Buffalo run game had 13 rushes for 13 yards for the entire day. CJ Spiller was getting tackled 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage most every time he touched the ball. The 2014 Buffalo Bills also led the league in something....worst O-line in the league! Four rushing attempts for -4 yards. As usual, the mental midget Bills OC Nate Hackett had Bills QB Kyle Orton throw the ball 49 times vs 13 rushes. Still, the final score was only 24-26. The play of the day for the Raiders came in the 4th QTR on 3rd down and 22 on the Raiders 19-yard line with a 51-yard pass to Andre Holmes and they went on to score from there. Sometimes teams just get lucky like that, and yes even a bad 3-12 team. The Bills offensive drives in that game went like this, TD, PUNT, PUNT, PUNT, PUNT, PUNT, FG, PUNT, PUNT, TD, PUNT, INT, TD. Blame that loss on the Buffalo Bills 26th ranked offense under Marrone and his choice for OC Hackett. Some Bills fans are so blinded by their loyalty that they would throw themselves under a bus rather then acknowledge criticism about their beloved team.

Just to give some food for thought to those that think that any one or two Bills players would make that dramatic a difference in the way the 2015 defense worked under Ryan. For the opener against the Colts, the Bills defense was excellent in pass coverage and did a decent job of getting pressure on Andrew Luck...without Marcell Dareus. For that second Patriots game in which the Bills defense was able to put so much pressure on Brady that he was literally screaming at his offensive line! The Bills managed more pressure on 20 of his 40 dropbacks (50%)more than any team had been able to do the last seven years. In that game, no Kyle Williams, no Mario Williams, no Aaron Williams. (5 penalties) That last game against the NY Jets, no Aaron Williams, no Kyle Williams, no Stephan Gilmore and the Bills managed 3 sacks and 3 INT's that game. (4 penalties) It's my contention that in those games and in a few other games in 2015 the coaching staff actually did their jobs. Had the team prepared to play hard-nosed, disciplined football, had a decent defensive game plan! Then above all the defense actually rushed the passer instead of that crap gap control scheme! The revenge factor seemed to play a big part of last season for this new HC and when that wasn't there...then either was the coaching effort. Mario Williams was not the problem and in fact, the coaches were very content with his play while stating he did exactly what was asked of him. No one Buffalo Bills player was at fault for the disgrace of a defense in what the fans saw in 2015. It was all on a head coach that only worked hard for about six games and coasted for the remaining 10 games. I dunno about the rest of you guys but we fans deserve better than a part-time head coach. Bills fans deserve a head coach that will actually be a challenge to the Patriots for the division and have a team prepared to compete for the AFC East championship!

I would think that any QB would struggle with a defense like the Bills 2015 defense. To put last year's defense it in context it was a Dave Wannstedt bad defense stats wise and the very worst in sacks in the 50+ year history of the team!! (aside from the strike years). That's unbelievably bad in my view and quite honestly I just don't get the nonchalant attitude about this from the fans defending this HC hire. Sacks themselves are only a number and it's what comes along with the sacks that are what's most important! Those Hits, hurries, and pressures on the QB are essential for every defense to be able to perform at a decent level in all aspects. Another NFL team also went 8-8 last season with an already established veteran franchise QB and he played in all 16 games. They had a really good RB that rushed for 1056 yards, 11 TD's. A great WR that had 1800 yards receiving. *8 TD's. That team was the only team in the NFL worse than the 2015 Buffalo Bills in sacks, QB pressures. What Rex Ryan did last season in Buffalo was criminal in my view because he actually worked up a decent game plan for about six games and coasted for the other ten. Meaning he stole money from these new Buffalo Bills owners. Taking arguably the very best defensive line in the league and making them look average to below average was also criminal considering what the team was paying that front four. How the man is still employed by this team is a testament to his ability to bull **** his way around things. I can only wonder what his excuse will be when he is eventually fired in Buffalo and I wonder what words he will have for Buffalo after that happens.

I agree. What Jim Schwartz did in previous years and on other teams has virtually no bearing on what he did in Buffalo. He utilized the elite Bills players on the roster and allowed them to make plays in doing what they do best. The 2014 Buffalo Bills defensive roster fit the scheme Schwartz ran very well and I can only think it would have gotten better in 2015 under him with some fine tuning and asking for specific players in the offseason. While Mario is long gone and not a concern there still is both Dareus and Kyle Williams who don't fit in a 3-4 and clearly didn't work in Ryan's version of a 4-3. I just don't see a top 10 defense in Buffalo in 2016 and things could go south really fast if Ryan attempts to run the same version of defense he ran in 2015 again this season. As you mentioned in a previous post, Ryan did get burned at times when he did blitz and I think after six years in NY NFL teams have caught up with his complex zone blitz scheme. The only way to make his scheme work is to have some superstars on the defense at Linebacker...and he doesn't. All Bills fans have at this point is hope and it's working against a tougher schedule this year. I can only think all the teams in the AFC will improve for 2016 and I see Belichick upgrading that line like crazy to protect Brady.

The coaches on special teams? More like Danny Crossman is the only ST coach that I'm aware of in 2015. In my view, the ST's regressed because Ryan wasn't helping coach the special teams like Marrone did with his buddy Danny. The extra players on game day weren't there to help the ST's this past year. For whatever reason Ryan simply didn't call many blitzes in all of 2015 and that stat was usually around less the 10% per game. Simply calling more blitzes would have helped the defense immensely last year and when he did call a blitz it was usually very successful. Blitzing more will help in 2016 should Ryan go back to what made his early NY Jets defenses so good by blitzing 35 to 55 %. In comparison last year, the Broncos blitzed around 40% of the defensive snaps. Still, that won't help with the lack of solid communication between coaches and players during a game or late defensive play calls coming in. In one game EJ was forced to run to the sidelines to get every play and it happened to Tyrod too. It also won't help with the late player substitutions and the overall lack of discipline. This past year with Tyrod Taylor the offense was a hand off, run first, pound it out run offense which is exactly why Mark Sanchez and Geno Smith were somewhat successful in their beginning seasons. Then the coaches demanded them to carry the game with their arms rather then handing off like they used to do and the result was near catastrophe for both. This same thing could happen this year in Buffalo. Lots of teams have fired their head coaches after one season and lots more should have. I can only think that if the Bills knew then what they know now would Jauron, Gailey, Marrone or any HC since Wade Phillips have been retained more than one year, if at all. This isn't a rookie or first timer at being an NFL HC the Buffalo Bills hired! In someone, that needs to learn as he goes. After six years as the Jets HC if he doesn't have it down by now, he never will! Think about the games won this past year and the only games the Bills really played a solid game that they were really prepared to play was against his old team for revenge in the NY Jets 2x. Then division games against the Dolphins 2x. The Bills had all offseason to prepare for the Colts and that defense we all saw in the first game is what we all expected for the rest of the year. Bottom Line the 2015 Bills had an easy schedule and still lost to bad teams.The reality is that they only beat the teams with bad QB's. Yes, Andrew Luck went 2-5 in 2015. I don't ever see Rex Ryan beating the Patriots as long as Belichick and Brady are in NE. Like I said, just delaying the inevitable!