BillsFan4

I'm a Bills fan to the core. They are my hometown team. They are and always will be the team I root for. I'm not a bandwagon fan.

Sorry for trying to look for the positive in situations instead of choosing to focus on the negative... That is my nature. I don't agree with every move and am skeptical about some of them, but I am actually willing to be patient and see what these guys do. I haven't decided that they are already a failure before they've played their first game or had their first draft like some have. I am not going to go around constantly posting negative crap and getting upset about every move. I have no control over any of this stuff. So I'm going to sit back, watch, wait and find reasons to be hopeful and support my favorite team. And you're right, not every head coach or GM would have had the courage to do a rebuild like this. We've seen that bandaid approach by coaches/GMs for years here.

Yeah, they have ZERO regular season wins! Can't get much worse than that. Total failure... Get rid of these jokers! We've been plenty patient with them.

Don't like either of these moves, not for the players they were replaced with off waivers, and Especially with someone like Vlad Ducasse still on the roster. All I can say to everyone is Don't get attached to any players currently on the roster. This is going to be a full rebuild (which was most likely needed IMO)

This was a great article Yolo. Thanks for sharing! Tim Graham has been on a role recently. This is his 3rd very good article in the last few days. I really enjoy reading pieces like that. It's the type of stuff the Buffalo News used to put out much more frequently. That really is impressive to read about what Beane & McDermott accomplished. They really seem like kindred spirits to me. So much in common. You can see why they both have the respect for each other that they do. Having a coach and GM who are so similar and truly on the same page working together is exciting. We haven't had a front office and coaching staff like that in a long time. IMO all the best organizations are in lock step from top to bottom, working together. The Bills had been infighting for ever. The old Ralph Wilson cronies had perfected the art of scapegoating the coaching staff when things inevitably went wrong with their most recent bandaid approach... Lol, it's funny I was going to share the same quote. Except I've been saying what's in the previous paragraph. No more bandaid approach. No more making all these moves that hurt the future to help now, just to try and sneak the Bills into the playoffs and get creamed. Pegula wants to be a true Super Bowl contender and consistent threat year in and year out, and if that takes a rebuild so be it. I loved this quote - "Teams that have turned it around and sustained it are doing exactly what the Bills are doing right now," Banner continued. "They're taking a step back. They're doing a very honest evaluation of where their team is at and know their long-term goal is big success, not just incremental improvement"

I wouldn't mind him on the practice squad. He offers more upside than most practice squad caliber/eligible QBs imo.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MdXlR5dT3oA Not sure if this has been posted but this is a great punt return that gives a good idea of Clay's on field speed.

Well, maybe that's why I'm not upset over the moves & trades as some are. I never really had high expectations for this season and I knew the Bills were nowhere near a championship roster. If people really thought we were close I can see why they'd be upset. But I think that 2016 team was nowhere near championship caliber. Too many "me" type players that didn't care about hurting the team. Too many holes, no depth. The defensive talent went downhill and the offense was good at running the ball but couldn't really pass the ball or score when they needed to. IMO the only thing they were close to was maybe sneaking into the playoffs on a wild card and getting crushed in the first round. Also IMO, this team was set to take a step back in 2017 no matter who the coach/GM was. They had 26 free agents and only $-9M in cap space. The we're losing good players and depth at positions because of that. Plus, with a new coaching staff top to bottom, it was likely a transition year anyway. From the day McDermott was hired though, I noticed a difference in the organizational philosophy and it gave me hope. Before he was hired, Whaley was always about now. We were close, never talk of building for the future etc. I think Whaley basically just wanted to sneak into the playoffs and break that streak. But I remember right after McD was hired, Whaley changed his tune. He started to mimic McD's message and talk a lot more about a long term approach, building a consistent winner & a true contender and stuff like that. I r,emerged some local reporters even being surprised by Whaley's change in message. That told me right there that it was no longer about almost maxing out the salary cap, kicking the can down the road on salaries like we were a legit SB contender and making moves just to win now. It was about building this thing right and for the long term, not just sneaking into the playoffs and being immediately eliminated. Also, IMO this is what happens when you hire a brand new staff from top to bottom that's looking at the roster with fresh eyes and no personal attachments to anyone. We have totally new GM, personnel, scouting and coaching staffs. That's a ton of change. They don't care where a player was drafted. IMO They are looking at everyone and judging by performance and fit, draft position be damned. All they care about is that players performance on the field and their buy in to the new way of doing things, and I would say every player they traded away (besides Sammy) for the most part was underperforming - Darby, Cardale, Ragland, Seymour. So instead of just cutting them, they got value back in return to have more chances to get players that do fit and perform in this system. I am very excited about this new regime. I feel like they are finally building things the right way. Everyone shares the same vision and everyone is finally on the same page. All the players they acquire fit a specific mold. It weird though. I remember most everyone was so excited when we hired Rex. They bought in to all his hot air playoff/super bowl talk and broke records buying season tickets. But I was never excited about Rex. He had been so mediocre for so many years and his teams were an absolute disaster his last couple years in NY. I wasn't excited about Marrone or Gailey either. This is the first time I've been legitimately excited about a coach and front office in forever, and I feel like I am totally in the minority now. It sucks. Everyone got to share their excitement with other fans over Rex, and now I want to share my excitement with fans over this new regime and it seems like many don't have that same excitement. lol

I'm not sure what quote people are referring to, so I can't link it specifically. But I can't remember them ever saying that we would be playoff contenders this season. They may want to compete for the playoffs. That should be every team's goal every season. But I have never heard them say that they actually expect to make the playoffs this season. I know McDermott has that motto "playoff caliber" but like I said earlier n this thread, that doesn't mean that they expect to make the playoffs this season. That's him wanting things done a certain way to be a playoff caliber team eventually. This is what McDermott said at his opening press conference when he was asked directly about any type of playoff promise - http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/01/13/sean-mcdermott-wisely-avoids-making-promises/ “I am not in to making promises and I think you will find that out about me soon enough as well,” McDermott told reporters in his introductory press conference. “The promises I will make are we are going to be competitive, we are going to compete every day. What I intend to do, it starts today. . . . We are going to compete on a daily basis. I am going to build this culture along with the people in this building to develop a daily standard of winning in the way we do things. We have to earn the right to win in this league and I have learned that. So I just believe in the process. We are going to win going through the process, and when that time comes we will take the field, but we have a lot of work to do between now and then.”

Unless I missed it, I don't remember them ever saying that we will be a playoff contender this year. McDermott went out of his way to say he's not about making claims or predictions like that. They just said that they are not throwing this season away and that they plan to be competitive week in and week out. I know McDermott has that "playoff caliber" slogan, but that's about how he wants things done on a daily basis. That's not him saying that this is a playoff caliber team as constructed.

I cant believe that some people seem so upset over this trade. I feel like some are looking for any reason to complain about this new regime... What has Seymour ever done in his time here? He's never impressed me on the field, anyway. He showed maybe a couple small glimpses of talent but that's about it, and he hasn't been able to stay healthy. The guy was a 6th round pick for a reason, and he got beat out for a spot on the roster IMO. This seems like a pretty inconsequential trade overall. Definitely nothing to get upset over. We swapped 2 players that were drafted in the 6th round, and we got a 7th back (one round later than where Seymour was drafted). That's very good asset management IMO. Better than the way things were handled in the past. Clay had a pretty strong camp and preseason from what I read. He's got the speed to be a deep threat for us, which is something that was needed. So we swapped a guy that got beat out and was likely,going to be cut, for a WR that has a decent chance to stick on our roster plus a pick.

Eh. A 6th round drafted player swapped for a 6th round drafted player. Nothing to get upset over. It's not like Seymour did anything in his time here and the Bills could definitely use the speed at WR.

I still expect Vlad Ducasse to be cut before week 10, if he's not cut sooner. But ultimately I don't care that much if they keep him as a backup, as long as he's not starting.

I posted a similar article on Sean McDermott recently and felt this one was worth sharing as well. There's a lot of interesting information about Brandon Beane in this article. Give it a read - http://buffalonews.com/2017/09/01/brandon-beane-team-building-buffalo-not-carolina-couldnt-happier/

There is plenty of proof that voter fraud is rare (with most that do it getting caught) - https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/debunking-voter-fraud-myth http://www.snopes.com/tag/voter-fraud/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/26/fact-check-trumps-bogus-voter-fraud-claims-revisited/97080242/ http://www.factcheck.org/2016/10/trumps-bogus-voter-fraud-claims/ https://www.electioninnovation.org/news/2017/5/1/just-the-facts-on-fraud http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attorneys-said-no-evidence-voter-fraud-2017-1 http://thehill.com/homenews/house/315844-ryan-no-evidence-of-mass-voter-fraud-as-trump-claimed http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/322522-states-find-little-evidence-of-voter-fraud-in-months-after-election http://www.factcheck.org/2013/01/voting-conspiracies/ I could link plenty more sources. This is just what I came up with doing a quick search. I tried to use sources that were considered credible and/or had links to verify their information. I could not find any credible sources to back up your claim of the Chicago voter fraud, however. There were very few sources claiming this and none were from what I would call a credible source - Americanthinker, freerepublic, ussa, tigerdroppings were the only sources I could find claiming this and none seemed to provide any hard evidence to back it up. I didn't try to do any real in depth research into it but It all seemed to be based off what that Chris Cleveland guy said. But they provided no actual proof to back up his claims.

It sucks thinking about, huh? It would have been great if that scenario had somehow worked out - Tyrod/Roman offense & Schwartz defense. But both Rex and Schwartz have pretty massive egos when it comes to running their defenses. I really don't see much chance of that relationship lasting very long, even if somehow both of them had agreed to work together. And if they had kept Schwartz as coordinator and hired Hue Jackson, I think the chances of Whaley signing Tyrod would have been much, much slimmer IMO, because TT would have represented actual competition to EJ. Hue Jackson was so desperate to get a head coaching job that I don't think he would have fought much with Whaley about trying to work with EJ (for at least a season anyway). Plus, without Rex we wouldn't have had Greg Roman, his run scheme and Richie Incognito to help make it work so well. So, who knows how things would have actually worked out.

Really not a bad trade for either team IMO, especially if NYJ got a 2nd. Richardson is a free agent at the end of the year and will be looking to get paid. The Jets were very very weak at WR, stronger on the D line and they had been trying to trade a Richardson for at least a year now so they obviously felt that he didn't fit into what they're trying to do. Seattle obviously gets the more talented player. But Good job by the Jets to be patient, get some value back and not just cut him.

The way I understand it is that the "law" you're referring to is a more of a guideline and nothing that can actually be enforced by law. Here's a quote from a sumpreme court justice from that Supreme Court case I linked earlier - “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein,” said Justice Robert Jackson. Here's another article addressing it if you're interested - https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/does-the-united-states-or-other-countries-compel-national-anthem-etiquette 'In the United States legal code, there are statutes that apply to flag etiquette, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the National Anthem. Currently, these statutes don’t include language that would make it a criminal offense to disobey the guidelines, but the rules are widely followed.' And another article - http://www.ajc.com/news/national/colin-kaepernick-breaking-the-law-not-standing-for-the-national-anthem/cRjlkGqATbYZT3S3AkzJGK/ 'So does it, and what’s the penalty if I don’t stand? No, it doesn't. Section 171 does not specify nor impose penalties for violating the section of the code. According to a Congressional Research Service report to Congress in 2008, “The Flag Code is a codification of customs and rules established for the use of certain civilians and civilian groups. No penalty or punishment is specified in the Flag Code for display of the flag of the United States in a manner other than as suggested. Cases ... have concluded that the Flag Code does not proscribe conduct, but is merely declaratory and advisory." In other words, the Flag Code serves as a guide, and it is followed on a voluntary basis. You won't be forced to stand for the National Anthem, nor hauled off to jail if you don't. Cases brought because of something in the code -- mainly ones that involve defacing the flag -- have made their way to the U.S. Supreme Court where the justices have upheld that such conduct is protected by the First Amendment. There are no provisions in the code for either enforcement nor penalties. '

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_State_Board_of_Education_v._Barnette

But the supreme, court ruled that it was illegal to enforce it, so no, it really doesn't. 'So does it, and whats the penalty if I dont stand? No, it doesn't. Section 171 does not specify nor impose penalties for violating the section of the code. According to a Congressional Research Service report to Congress in 2008, The Flag Code is a codification of customs and rules established for the use of certain civilians and civilian groups. No penalty or punishment is specified in the Flag Code for display of the flag of the United States in a manner other than as suggested. Cases ... have concluded that the Flag Code does not proscribe conduct, but is merely declaratory and advisory." In other words, the Flag Code serves as a guide, and it is followed on a voluntary basis. You won't be forced to stand for the National Anthem, nor hauled off to jail if you don't. Cases brought because of something in the code -- mainly ones that involve defacing the flag -- have made their way to the U.S. Supreme Court where the justices have upheld that such conduct is protected by the First Amendment. There are no provisions in the code for either enforcement nor penalties. '

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_State_Board_of_Education_v._Barnette I thought it was ruled by the Supreme Court that forcing people to stand and salute the flag was a violation of the 1st amendment to the constitution. And another supreme court ruling - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Eichman Here's another piece on it saying there's a guideline but they can not enforce it by law - http://www.ajc.com/news/national/colin-kaepernick-breaking-the-law-not-standing-for-the-national-anthem/cRjlkGqATbYZT3S3AkzJGK/

Here's another article on McDermott. Tim Graham said not everything made it into the original article (that I posted yesterday), so this is some of his favorite surplus items - http://buffalonews.com/2017/09/01/sean-mcdermott-files-dont-know-now-know/

I've been impressed with Peterman this preseason, especially for a rookie. You see him going through his progressions, making some nice reads to find his open receiver and is using the whole field. He looks very comfortable playing in the pocket. He knows how to step up/climb & keep his eyes down field and doesn't panic as soon as the pocket starts collapsing. I thought he's picked up the offense quickly and looks very comfortable on the field running things. Doesn't seem to get too flustered out there. Seems to fit this offense well. He's been able to get the ball out quickly and his ball placement has been pretty good for the most part. Peterman obviously still has plenty to work on and I don't think we should throw him to the wolves yet (unless TT isn't ready to go) but I definitely have hope for him. He's looking like a very good backup at the very least and I think he has potential to be the Bills starting QB, even if just as a bridge to a more permanent guy. I'm hopeful he can be more than that, though. But It's really hard to make any real, definitive judgements on him during preseason. I want to see him against legit #1's when these a game plan against him.

If Ducasse starts at this point, I really don't know what to say... I always like to give new coaches the benefit of the doubt but It would be a huge hit to any good will afforded to Juan Castillo. Not that it would make me lose all faith, but it sure wouldn't help build it... If they are, for whatever reason, totally opposed to starting Miller (which I don't think is the case) then they Have To find someone else besides Ducasse to play RG. I really don't know how Castillo could try and sell it that Ducasse won the competition though. I just don't see any argument for that, unless there's just something that I'm completely missing or that we are not privy to. Like I've said a few times now, I am not going to panic about this until I see Ducasse starting a regular season game over (a healthy) Miller. As of now I just can't see that happening. I sure hope I'm right...

Wow. That was freaking pathetic. How many guys totally whiffed on tackles? God think mos god these guys won't be on the team...