BillsFan4

I'm still not too happy about seeing Watkins go, but let's be real here. We have zero shot at winning the division this year, and a very small chance at best at a wild card birth. Tom Brady is 40 and has maybe a few good years left (we hope). This trade is about the future. From what I've read/heard, the 2018 draft is supposed to be very strong and deep. We now have 6 picks in the top 90,maybe more when all is said and done. This team has tried the bandaid approach for way too long. They haven't legitimately built through the draft in a long time. Beane hired what looks to be a top end front office and scouting/personnel staff. So let's allow them to build this team from the ground up through the draft and see what happens. It doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to pay Watkins $15-$20M per season when Tyrod could very likely be gone after this year and they would be starting over at QB. How willing would Sammy Watkins be to re-sign here if the Bills start from scratch yet again at QB (or even if TT stays if he's not consistently able to get Watkins the ball)? That would be the 3rd time in his 4 years here. Until the Bills become a legitimate threat as a passing offense, it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to employ a $17+M WR... This trade is basically just correcting a previous mistake. The Watkins trade made no sense with EJ Manuel as your #1 QB. It was trying to prop up a bad 1st round pick by trading away multiple 1sts and a 4th for a WR they were basically incapable of getting the ball to in the first place. I feel like LA might be doing a similar thing to what the Bills did - trying to fix a bad QB pick. Maybe Goff breaks out though, who knows. But If he plays anything like he did last year, Sammy ain't signing an extension there. It sucks giving up on the potential Sammy Watkins has. But I'm willing to let this play out and see what type of team theee new guys build. From what I've read on Matthews, he does seem to fit the new culture better. Super hard worker, outstanding teammate and total team first guy. Fits the scheme well too. That's a somewhat similar approach to what the Patriots have used for years for team building. Let's hope it works...

Ain't that the truth! We have seen that first hand. That's why I want this new GM and coach here for at least their current contracts - 5 years. I want to see what happens when you actually have the same people in place and take the time to build old a team that fits them (and give them the chance to improve that team once it's built). Bad teams stay bad by constantly changing coaches, that's something I really believe as I have witnessed it with my own eyes over these last 15+ years with the Bills. I'm sick of the constant turnover. You can never build a true vision and it's extremely hard to develop your draft picks constantly changing scheme. You end up letting a lot of good players go, like we have. This isn't going to be some quick 2 year fix either. It has been decades of ineptitude. That's not a quick fix. The rebuild could hit another gear next year, too, depending on how this year goes. It's probably about time for a new approach. I'm not saying I'm excited that Sammy got traded away, but when's the last time the Bills have actually built through the draft? It's been a while. Seemed to work for Polian and the '90's Bills. They had multiple early draft picks in '85, '86 and '87 IIRC.

Scary stuff. 2 freaking lunatics in a pissing match...

Didn't McCoy play with Matthews in Philly? Maybe he's excited about having him. It's not like they just traded good players for picks. They also got good player(s) back in return. Matthews is a damn good WR. Gaines we will have to wait and see I guess, but he's definitely not a scrub. I read that Darby had been struggling. McDermott has done a great job in his career with the defensive secondary, so I'll just have to trust him for now on this one. I didn't fully understand that Darby trade, but I'm willing to wait and see.

You were complaining about getting a WR with only 1 year left on his deal so who would they throw to next year. I simply pointed out that Sammy only has 1 year left on his deal too and likely wants like at least 4x more than what Matthews will want. They can potentially replace him with Matthews beyond next year plus whoever they draft in the 2nd, and still have it cost them less than 1/3 of the cap space Sammy will take up. We don't yet have a QB who can consistently get Sammy the ball, either. And Sammy has yet to prove anything in the NFL. He has the potential, but I can see why the Bills wouldn't want to shell out $17M for a WR who had 1 good healthy year (assuming that he does have that type of year this year).

Sammy had 1 year left on his deal too and has said he is looking to change the pay structure of the NFL with his next deal (aka break the bank). Matthews is making like what $1.5M this year? Seems like a much better chance at re-signing Matthews than Sammy, unless you want to give Sammy $15- $17M or whatever the franchise tag is, for potentially 1 good healthy year out of 4 years in the league...

Remember Sammy's comments about not getting paid enough and the 2014 draft class changing the pay structure of the NFL. I'm guessing Buffalo didn't want to pay $17M (or more) for a WR next year, when their QB is somewhat limited in his ability to get the ball to that WR (and I am a Tyrod fan, don't get me wrong). Plus like I said earlier, maybe he didn't fit the new culture. They want team first guys. Guys who put the team in front of themselves. I'm not sure that is who Sammy is. And McDermott did say he wants players who are available to play and that's one thing Sammy has not been... Maybe that ankle tweak scare pushed them to get this deal done sooner rather than later? If they had no intention of signing him, you have to get something for him when you can. I'm bummed, but I'm just trying to find ways to spin this. lol

All I can really think of is Sammy doesn't fit McDermott's new culture or something. He seems to want total team first guys, not guys who go to the media asking for at least 10 targets a game? You can really see what he's looking for in guys like Zay Jones and Tre White. Maybe Sammy doesn't fit that mould... maybe there was something we were not seeing in practice or the locker room. That's about all I got... man what a painful day today is.

Wowww! What a complete waste trading up for Sammy was. I'm scared that they're going to look very foolish for trading Watkins away. If he blows up this year finally being healthy... We finally had an offense he fit in. They were going to use him like they did in college. Bummer. And Darby too? Man. Wonder what this does to team morale?

Found this on NFL twitter account. It's every run from Leonard Fournette from tonight's game. https://mobile.twitter.com/NFL/status/895857605960024064/video/1 Ah, that brings back memories... Run up the middle. Every. Single. Time. lol I started laughing when I watched this. Brought back flashbacks of the Doug Marrone/Nate Hackett run up the middle, run up the middle, pass offense that became so predictable that the TV announcers started calling the next play.

Exactly. Rex's defense got him fired. The Tyrod led offense with the Bills 2013 or 2014 (pre-Rex) defense and Buffalo makes the playoffs. Especially with that 2014 defense. Tyrod is far from the reason Rex got fired. It was his defense, and just his overall incompetence as a head coach - not even getting the proper number of players on the field, or play calls in on time. Not being able to properly teach his defensive scheme. The embarrassing amount of penalties and the list goes on... it was just his overall circus act that got him fired. If Rex had shown to be a competent coach that had things moving in the right direction he'd likely still be here. But it was clear to most everyone that was not the case, hence why he wasn't given more time. I don't think Pegula liked being a constant national media punchline under Rex, either...

Not at that cap hit.

Yeah, it was down right ugly at times. I'm not gonna put a lot of blame on a rookie 5th round pick struggling a bit with accuracy under tons of pressure on almost every play of that last drive.

Mistakes killed the Bills tonight.

Wtf was that. Terrible play by whoever is under center.

Peterman getting no time to throw.

Still alive!

Peterman seems to be struggling a bit with accuracy under pressure here.

Great throw, great catch by Croom.

Well, you got one more shot to get it done offense. Let's hope for a little Peterma-gic here! lol

Not a smart decision by Peterman there. We only needed 4 yards, don't need to go for the home run, and he waayyy over-threw Shorts there.

Ah, so close. Thrown just a little behind him there. Go for it McD!

Nice pass by Peterman. He did a good job recognizing coverage.

Wow. Did they just say there are 52 new players on this team from last season? That's staggering turn over. And man, way too many penalties tonight. Crossman has to get special teams playing better than this.

Nice sack Lewis!