BillsFan4

Were are these quotes from? I read the article once and just skimmed it quickly again, and I didn't see these quotes. Did I just overlook them (twice)? Or are these from another article? If so, do you have the link? I'd like to read it. Thanks. Great read btw Yolo. Thanks for sharing!

Lol Let me know what you think if you do try them. They are one of my favorites.

When your head coach (Rex) is the last guy in the building and first one to leave most days, it sets the tone for the rest of the team. So far I like what i see from McDermott. It sounds like he's the first guy in the building and the last one to leave every single day. That's a good start. You've also already heard guys talking about the much higher tempo practices too. Having to run from drill to drill, on and off the field (etc). I really like what seems to be a very detail oriented, teaching approach too. That's one of the things Belichick is said to excel at, and Rex struggled with (he even said as much) - teaching his scheme. I've always done better learning something when it was broken down in a more detailed way, and I was taught Why you are doing something, along with how. Hopefully the new approach at OBD will pay off in the long run. I don't expect miracles. I think year 3 is where I will expect to see things really taking shape. That's what happened in Carolina anyway. Year 3 under McD that defense took a big step forward (to be one of the top defenses in the NFL).

Making chicken and potatoes tonight. I do diced up chicken (cut into small pieces) and cooked in Italian dressing in a frying pan on top of the stove. Then my favorite part, the potatoes... I slice the ends off the potato and then cut them into thin, roughly 1/8th to 1/4 inch slices (depending on how thick and/or crispy you want them to get), so they kind of look like potato chips. Then takes the sliced potatoes and dip them into olive oil to coat them (or whatever oil you want, I guess). Then lay them on a baking sheets. I put tin foil down on the baking sheet first, more/less to make clean up easier and to keep the potatoes from sticking. Then you take a mixing container, add about 2 cups of SEASONED bread crumbs (have to be the seasoned ones, otherwise you need to add a lot more stuff) and mix them with roughly 1 cup of Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle garlic powder and a little pepper on the potatoes that are spread out on the baking pan (after dipping/coating in olive oil). Then sprinkle/coat in the bread crumbs/Parmesan mix. I lightly cover the potatoes in it, but I don't go too heavy. Then bake at 350-ish until done to your liking (I like mine a bit crispy, but others don't) and just as they're about done, pull them out of oven and sprinkle some shredded cheddar cheese over the potatoes, stick back in the oven for a few minutes to melt and Eat! Mmmmm. Good stuff.

Rex wanted to lead the NFL in rushing. You can't expect to have a potent passing offense when you run the ball as much as the Bills did under Rex. Something else that nobody who constantly criticize Tyrod's passing yards ever brings up - the Bills were dead last in the NFL in yards after a catch, which are added in to a QBs passing yard stats. Which is why passing yards are not just a QB stat. They are an entire offense stat. IMO Greg Roman's offense was not designed well for YAC. San Fran was near the bottom of the NFL in YAC in all 4 of his years there (with 2 different QBs, one of which, Alex smith, now has KC near the top of the NFL in YAC (I think around 10th IIRC)) and that continued with the Bills. (Again, IMO) Passing yards are a terrible way to evaluate/judge a QB anyway. It has no real correlation to winning. There's a reason why passing yards are considered by many professionals to be one of the last stats you look at when evaluating a QB. Now, I'm not saying that our passing game doesn't need to improve. It does. But I don't think that all the blame can be laid at Tyrod's feet. Not by a long shot.

Man, LeSean McCoy is going to take a lot of **** on Instagram/Twitter (etc) if Maclin doesn't sign here. That would be a pretty big disappointment if we don't get Maclin at this point, though.

any day now...

“Witness what he did with the secondary in Carolina last year. They lose their linchpin player and they’ve got to play two rookies who aren’t ready to play,” said Polian. “By the end of the year they were performing at a maximum level and he never uttered a negative or cross word through the whole situation. That tells you a lot about what a guy is going to be as a head coach.” This is one of the reasons why I like McDermott. It wasn't just last year, either. That defense wasn't filled with a ton of big names (at least at the time). Like Josh Norman - he was originally a 5th round draft pick. It wasn't like he was some huge star. McDermott did an excellent job developing him. Back at the start of 2013, Carolina's defense was looked at as filled with a number of lesser known players, not a lot of star power, and they ended up being one of the top defenses in the entire NFL. Being able to develop players and get the most out of what you have is extremely important IMO, and I think it's something McDermott has been very good at.

Any details on what happened?

If they still worked for the Bills I'd believe that they were breaking up a fight. But since they were fired, I'm sure that they were the ones starting it! lol Seriously though, It really is hard to tell either way from that short 10 second clip. Rob grabbing a guy by the throat doesn't exactly look like someone breaking up a fight, but we didn't see anything leading up to that point so he very well could have been. I don't really care one way or the other. I'm just glad that they are not representing my hometown team anymore. Rex seemed like a lot of fun, but I want someone who is truly dedicated to putting in the work necessary to win and from what's been said, it sounds like Rex was the last one in the building and first one to leave. IMO it seemed like he liked the celebrity that came with being a HC more than he liked the actual (endless) work it involved. I didn't like all the BS and trash talk either. I hated seeing my team made into a punchline so often. I wish him the best at ESPN though, even though he was too bitter to wish the same for my Bills.

I just hope he's able to actually be on the field with his teammates practicing come training camp. Put up or shut up time for Sammy in Buffalo.

Just seen the McCoy recruiting Maclin stuff, and seen that BF insider Twitter account said a deal could get done. They're usually pretty reliable. Hopefully this is one of those times!! I'm excited now. Trying not to get my hopes up though (too late... lol). Our WR depth chart would look great with Maclin added to it. I think he could be a huge veteran presence in that room too. That's a guy every receiver in that WR room could learn from (and look up to). The Bills have really needed a guy like him for quite some time IMO. This would be such a great signing. I'm very happy the Bills seem to be showing heavy interest in him. It'd be a smart move (again IMO) We sign Maclin and all the sudden our WR position looks like more of a strength than a weakness. Please get this done OBD! As long as the price is reasonable that is.

I flew out of JFK (terminal 5 JetBlue) yesterday and it was a total nightmare. They are doing runway construction and most Jet Blue flights had MAJOR delays. I spent the entire day in the airport watching my flight get pushed back again and again and again. I was supposed to leave at noon and didn't even get on my flight until after midnight, so I was there over 14 hours (got there @ 10am). From talking to other customers there, I guess this has been going on all month with Jet Blue (since construction started). Thing is, construction is scheduled to go on until sometime in 2018 IIRC. I am wondering if anyone else has had a similar (or better) experience on another airline since this runway construction has been going on? In my experience, JetBlue is not too good at dealing with delays, so I'm wondering if this issue is as bad with other airlines flying out of JFK. Trying to figure out if I should fly in/out of LaGuardia next trip, or if other airlines (out of JFK) are running ok still.

I haven't been able to find it either, and haven't seen it linked in any of the articles that covered the Whaley interview. Hopefully you'll have better luck than me. But I'm wondering if it's not available since SiriusXM is a subscription based service. There's probably some copyright issue with sharing it, is my guess.

glad to see someone else notice this! I started looking right away when I seen a guy named "Granty1983" wrote the article. I said, who TF is that?! and how does he know all this stuff he claims to know? No links to any sources in the article either. Ive never heard of this site before and have no idea if he/they truly have any real sources. Have they ever broke a story in the past? If not, this article/site probably amounts to no more than a fan who is purely speculating. But hey, it's good for conversation in the offseason I guess... lol. I'm sure not going to get all upset or worried over it though, and start cursing the Bills and McDermott/Beane. Not yet anyway.

Not to interrupt all this arguing to post about the original topic of this thread, but... It's nice to see Rodak write a positive Bills article. Unusual, but nice. It's hard to imagine the Bills being actual trend setters for the rest of the NFL though. But you never know I guess. I do think Beane has hired an "all star" cast on paper. Whether or not the results follow is TBD. But I really like that he's not allowing his ego to get in the way of hiring top qualified candidates. It's eased a lot of my concerns about him. Although he does have some experience with scouting and player evaluation, he came up more on the administrative side of the business. But he has hired a very strong scouting and personnel staff around him. If they all do work together in a collaborative effort, I see good things happening.

I actually think it matches the McDermott hire. Both are well educated/smart, driven and detailed. Both work their ass off. Both are well spoken and don't brag. Both had a great reputation around their respective leagues and came highly recommended by the NHL/NFL. Both seem to believe very much in character in their players and coaches. Botterill just said in his most recent interview that he will put a major focus on finding character players in the draft, even if it means sacrificing a little talent, and he said how it's about finding the right players for the Sabres. When I heard that all I could think of was "he sounds just like McDermott, did he steal these lines from him?" and even the Lafontaine hire I see similarities in just fact that both were ex NHL players and both played for the Sabres. Why don't you think it matches those hires? To me, Rex doesn't really match the Lafontaine and mcdermott hires. He's the total opposite of both those guys. The only thing I can see in common between the Ladontaine and Rex hires is that they were both well known names, but that's about it... I definitely see a lot of similarities between the McDermott hire and the Botterill hire though.

Except that Tim Murray still had Craig Patrick, the guy LaFontaine brought in to help him learn how to run a team. Murray could have chose to use him as a resource. But from all accounts he didn't use him at all. I even heard (on the instagators) that Patrick eventually stopped even bothering to come in anymore because he wasn't being used at all. It's sure not Pegula's fault that Tim Murray had those resources and chose not to use them... There was also a lot of stuff written after Lafontaine left about how a big reason why was because PL didn't like that Murray was reporting directly to the Pegula's and was also making moves/trades lafontaine didn't agree with. I've even heard Tim Murray say that he took this job (and was hired) to be a GM and make those types of decisions. So I'm not sure he felt that being a GM was more than he was hired for. Having someone over Tim Murray's head seemed to be a problem (or at least it was with Lafontaine and Patrick (who just wasn't used)). So Pegula could have forced someone else onto him, but what type of working relationship would that have resulted in? Murray had a pretty damn strong personality (and a bit of an ego). Or I guess he could have just fired Murray after being on the job for all of 2 months. Or he could let Tim Murray be the GM, give him some time and evaluate him on it. It appears Pegula chose the latter.

Does anyone have a link to the Sirius XM interview with Whaley, or do you need a subscription to listen to it?

What a useless article that was. They picked out 2 sentences of a 17 minute interview. Not even a link to that SiriusXM show or anything... All that article did was leave me hunting for the whole interview, or at least an article with more of it. Here's one that had a lot more substance. Still looking for a link to the entire interview on SiriusXM if anyone has one. I'm going to keep looking too. http://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/index.ssf/2017/05/everything_doug_whaley_said_in_first_interview_since_buffalo_bills_fired_him.html

Getting blown out in the playoffs means that we actually MADE the playoffs, so I'd take it as a first step for a team that hasnt seen the post season in 17 years. I don't see any scenario where the Bills go from never making the playoffs to playing in the Super Bowl in a single season... So playoffs sound like a good starting point to me. Also, Kansas City spent 4 years with Alex Smith, building up their entire team and having back to back successful seasons before they finally decided to take a shot on a QB high in the draft going into their 5th season. John Dorsey and Andy Reid did not address the QB position in any meaningful way (in the draft) until they were going into their 5th year with the team. They built up the rest of the team first, and got to a point where they knew they had to take a shot at a QB to likely make it any further.

I wonder if the Bills made an offer? Maybe they low balled him? If Buffalo does have an offer on the table, it sure doesn't sound like he's going to take it.

I was almost going to start a new thread for this, but I remembered about using the search function first... Didn't want to get in trouble! lol j/k Vic Carucci just finished his 3rd (of 3) excerpts on Wade Phillips book "Son of Bum". It is well worth a read. Here are the links to all 3 parts, and just a few excerpts I found interesting (especially the one about Wade reporting directly to Ralph Wilson and working hand in hand with John Butler to pick players) - http://buffalonews.com/2017/05/05/defensive-plan-91-afc-title-game-plenty-convince-bills-hire-phillips/ http://buffalonews.com/2017/05/12/phillips-negotiating-ralph-wilson-went-beyond-contracts/ http://buffalonews.com/2017/05/19/phillips-dealing-quarterback-change-wrong-kind-miracle/ 'Bruce was so quick and so athletic. What he did really well was just bend, getting low enough that even as tall as he was at six foot four, he could beat a guy around the corner before the guy could get his feet in front of him. He could just go under their hands. They’d try punching at him and he’d duck and go around them. It was like watching an Olympic runner going around the curve perfectly and then running down the straightaway right to the quarterback.' 'Ralph gave me the additional title of vice president of football operations. He wanted me to answer directly to him rather than the GM. That wasn’t a problem with John. We worked great together on everything – picking the roster, drafting players, signing free agents.' 'They said we had a divided locker room, with some the older guys wanting Doug to start and the younger guys being behind Rob. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but the media obviously did. Ralph picked a side as well after we played Washington in our last preseason game that summer. Flutie played and drove us the length of the field at the end of the game for the winning points. Afterward, Ralph came up to me in the training room, with lots of people around us, and said, “This Flutie, we’ve got to get rid of him. He can’t play!” “Mr. Wilson, he took us on a ninety-nine-yard drive for a touchdown to win the game,” I said. “I don’t care, I don’t care. He ran the ball, he was running with it sometimes". "But that’s what it takes. That’s the great thing about him. He can make plays whether he’s throwing it or running with it or pitching it out to somebody or anything.” “Oh, I don’t like him.” ".... Then, Bruce DeHaven, our special-teams coach who had been with the Bills a long time, came up to me and said, “You want to kick it deep?” “Yeah,” I said. He came up with another suggestion. “Why don’t we bloop kick it?” “Oh, okay 'But what we did was completely the opposite, because we blooped it down the middle. Lorenzo Neal caught Steve’s kick and handed off to Frank Wycheck, who threw the ball across the field to Kevin Dyson who ran down the sidelines 75 yards for a touchdown. The officials said it was a legal lateral, but I was standing right across from where Wycheck threw the ball and I know it was an illegal forward pass. I said, “Well, they’re going to call it back, because we’ve got instant replay.” In fact, I was so sure they would overturn it, I was thinking ahead to the clock needing to be reset to when the penalty occurred. I figured that would still only leave them enough time for one play, so we needed to get our prevent defense ready. When the official came back and said, “The ruling on the field stands,” I just lost it. I took off my headset and threw it on the ground. All the air just went out of me. “Oh, God,” was the only thing I could say.'

I hadn't heard/read anything on Whaley being high on Mahomes. The only thing I read about him was that he was "in love" with Watson and knowing the QBs Whaley drafted (or had interest in) in the past I felt him loving Watson was pretty believable. Ma homes just doesn't seem like the type of QB Whaley would be high on, but who knows. That'd definitely be interesting if true, which is why I was so interested to read it for myself. I did read about Pegula liking Mahomes though, which I could buy. and also that thing about Whaley trading back being the last straw (which I did not believe either, it seemed like total BS to me).

Do you have any links to this stuff? I'd be interested to read em. Thanks.