BillsFan4

Edit - this was meant as a reply to dezertbill. I know you were speaking about the players and coaches. Like I said, I just don't think it can be solved overnight. It's a problem that's plagued the Bills for years now. It may have more to do with the type of players (and their personality/IQ) that Whaley acquired than the coaching at this point, I don't know. Or it may just be something that is going to take more than 3 preseason games to fix... (Danny Crossman may have to go, too. And I'm not real sure on Castillo at this point either). I think that's a big reason why this new regime wants to build through the draft, too. Then they can bring in their specific types of players and mould them the way they want. Sometimes veterans are just too set in their ways to change... I'm not sure on this, but it also seemed to me that more of the stupid penalties were against players that have been here as opposed to players the new regime brought in (I know Dawkins had 1 illegal formation flag, but he's a rookie). I'd have to pay closer attention though, to know for sure. I'm with you though. I want to see this problem fixed, and I want to see the offense playing better. I'm still holding out hope that the offense will be better in the regular season though. As others have mentioned here, it looks like they are working on specific things each game and only running a very small handful of plays. I read that they still didn't even game plan for yesterday's game. They appear to be using the preseason to work on specific plays during live game action. It's still worrying though. Like many others, I'm worried that this will be one of those typical years where they're only good on 1 side of the ball. The defense is looking better and now the offense may regress... but I'm not ready to make any real judgements until I see what they look like at least 4 games into the season. By then we should have a better idea of what this team will really be like this year. I like this new regime so far, and I am sooo sick of the constant turnover. I'm just ready to give a new GM+ coaching staff some time. I just want to see some continuity and what can be built when you're not changing visions every other year. Some seem like they've already given up on this new regime though (not you specifically) and that kind of bothers me. We haven't even seen how this new GM and scouting staff will draft. If they do well in this 2018 draft with the abundance of top 100 picks, it could really make a huge difference next year and the years after. I also think that McDermott will get this right if he's given the time. He seems smart and willing to learn. He doesn't seem so stubbornly set in his ways like some coaches are. I just don't think it's realistic to expect it to happen overnight.

It has to be either Petty or McCown starting... I can't see any way that they can actually start Hackenburg... WTF were they thinking taking him early in the 2nd?! Yikes! If they start him, I feel like it sends a pretty clear message that they're trying to lose games. It's be so great if he flashed enough potential for the Jets to pass on drafting a QB in 2018 though. I don't see any chance of that happening, but it'd be great for Buffalo! I think the Jets are going hard after a 2018 QB though.

I'm not really sure how he blew up the offense. Woods left in FA and Sammy was traded. They improved the WR corps overall though from what they had last year (especially without Sammy in the field). Its not like McDermott came in and fired Lynn either, like Rex did with Schwartz. I don't really see any way they could have kept Anthony Lynn as OC. He left to be a head coach. So what do you do, try and find someone to come in that will run Lynn's/Roman's offense? I'm not sure of the quality of OC you are going to get if you are hiring with the provision that they can't run their own offense and must run Roman's. It's likely not going to be a guy that has many other options. I get what you're saying though. The offense was good last year. Hopefully they keep some of the concepts that worked well from the previous 2 seasons. We will know if they did once regular season stats. Supposedly they were keeping the run concepts that worked best last year. I want the Bills to be good on both sides of the ball in the same season too. But I understand why McDermott brought in an OC with a proven scheme, especially when he didn't have the choice to keep the OC who had been running last year's offense. That Kubiak offense has been pretty successful in the NFL over the years. Hopefully in the long run it will be successful here too.

I thought the refs were going overboard with some of those illegal formation calls. Even the announcers said that the refs must have got some memo on those calls. The Ravens were getting called for it too. I don't think 8 game sis nearly enough to judge this new regime. They are clearly planning on building this team through the draft. So how can we fully judge them before they've even had a chance to put together a couple of drafts? I want to see signs that things are moving in the right direction. But when I am really expecting the big gains is year 3. That's what happened in Carolina. In year 3 the defense took a huge step forward, to the #2 defense in the NFL (IIRC). IMO this is a transition year while the coaches impliment new schemes and figure out who fits. Then year 2 they start filling in with more of their guys and ditching more guys who don't fit, while bringing in a bunch of rookies from the draft. Year 3 their 2nd draft will be joining the team and we should really get s good idea of the type of team that they will be. I'm sick to death of the constant turn over of the coaching staffs. It never allows anyone time to actually build their vision. I truly believe that bad teams stay bad by constantly firing coaches/GMs and starting over with a new vision. We've seen it first hand - a bunch of good players leave because they no longer fit. I want to see what a coach can do if given 4 or preferably 5 years. Obviously if McD looks like a total disaster my opinion will probably change. But so far I think he's done a good job. I like his approach and I was a big fan of what he was able to do in Carolina.

But it's a totally new owner and management team. I mean, Pegula was here with Schwartz but I'm not sure how much blame I lay on a brand new owner who was blindsided by his coach opting out of his contract. Those are pretty unusual circumstances. Isn't it a bit too early to say that they're not trying to make things look respectable and they're losing games? It's preseason, where it's very typical for teams not to show much of anything. People are acting like we're half way through the season and we're 0-8 or something...

First off, they didn't trade away all their talent. They traded away 2 talented players, and got at least 1 talented player back, maybe 2 (time will tell with EJ Gaines). And McDermott has only been here through 3 preseason games now. The penalty problem has been ongoing for years. It's not going to change overnight. Same with the culture. It may take getting rid of more players. There's only so much any coach can do. It's why a guy like Belichick, who is a hall of fame coach and one of the best ever, gets rid of talented players if they don't fit his scheme and culture. Some players will simply never change. A coach can't force them to if they're not willing. Also, There were a LOT of tricky tack BS calls by the refs this preseason. It's been happening with every team, bit just the Bills. Let's see how it is in regular season. The refs may not bad with the flags. It's not,like every penalty was a guy not giving a crap either. Some were just simple mistakes. It had nothing to do with not caring IMO. I am blown away by how many seem to have turned on this new regime already, without ever even giving them a real chance. Did you truly think 17 years of losing and crappy culture was going to change by preseason game 3 of an entirely new regime top to bottom? The Bills have by far the longest playoff drought not just in football, in all of sports. That kind of thing doesn't just happen, not without years of ineptitude. It's not something that someone can come in, just snap their fingers say some magic words and fix. You guys may not like it, but it's most likely going to take years before we know. Year 3 is when I expect to really start seeing the gains. It's probably going to take dumping more of these players, bringing in new guys (through the draft and free agency) that fit this new culture and regime better. And IMO they've tried their best to put players on the field that give a crap. Look at every single guy they've brought in - Tre White, Zay Jones, Dion Dawkins, even the later round picks like Vallejo, Milano and Peterman, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Jordan Matthews, EJ Gaines - all of them to a man have said how all they care about is doing what's best for the team and all of them are noted as guys who are great teammates and people who really seem to care. Read some of the stuff about Tre White and Jordan Matthews for ex. About how much their team,ages loved them and how much they were willing to do to help their teams. You can't expect them to replace the entire team in a single offseason...

IMO, I think it's important that your highest paid players are also leaders on the team. They will likely be looked at as leaders anyway, just because of their salary. We kind of seen that with Mario Williams, and it wasn't really a good thing. I think Dareus needs to start to step up as a leader, or at the very least get in line with this new program/regime otherwise this new regime is likely to move on from him as soon as that's a true possibility (manageable dead cap hit). I really hope that he is able to stick around Buffalo. I love watching him play. Dareus has the talent to be a top 5 Defensive lineman in the NFL, and he plays like one at times. I don't know exactly what it is that's holding him back from being that player all the time but If he can ever put it together consistently the sky is the limit for him. He could be a HOF type player. He has hall of fame talent but he's starting to run out of time to ever fully realize that talent.

Still Tyrod for now. Peterman looked pretty good though, and he's actually the QB I wanted the Bills to draft. But it's still Tyrod as the #1 for now. Tyrod has earned the chance to start the season as the Bills #1 QB with his play the last 2 years. Now if he is truly sucking it up out there as the season goes on, then you go to Peterman. But for now it's Tyrod. He has the support of the locker room. He's viewed as a leader on the team. They brought him back to be the starter. Dumping him before a regular season game is even played would be a bit premature.

Yeah he got sacked hard and his head got whiplashed into the ground.

Hey, our kicker made the extra point!

Maybe not yet but he's definitely looked better than Tyrod this preseason. It's not even debatable IMO. Touchdown!!!

lol

Roughing the kicker

Are the Refs practicing calling illegal formation penalties tonight?

Agee with everyone saying these flags are making this game almost unwatchable. Every preseason game I've watched this year there have been TONS of flags. It's not just the Bills games.

This o line is getting flagged like crazy tonight.

Good hold by the D, but what the flag??? Yay, not against us!

Come on Defense! Let hold em. Another good play by Poyer!

It was obviously more than just a coaching issue, but let's not pretend Rex wasn't an undisciplined coach.

Uggg! Every. Time. They can't make a good play without shooting themselves in the foot. Freaking o line.

Friggin MILLS! Damn it

I've felt the same way watching preseason. I just hope it doesn't carry over into regular season. Sometimes I feel like the refs think people came out to watch them or something. The flags are getting worse and worse every year, to the point where I don't even bother getting excited over a big play right away. You have to wait and see if there was a flag and it's coming back. They are starting to make the NFL less and less watchable (alrhougnobviously I'll continue to watch...)

Yup, and if it hasn't happened overnight it never will... Cause we all know problems that have plagued this team for years should be immediately solved by the new coaching staff. Otherwise they suck and should be fired.

Man this offensive line is not playing well. Incognito let that guy just blow right by him. I'm not sure if it was him or Wood that blew their assignment there, but nobody picked up that rusher. Incognito did for a fraction of a second and then just let him go right by...

Great pass by Peterman. Damn it Dawkins!