BillsFan4

Man that would stink if he for signed away from the Bills and we got nothing for him. He was surprisingly good filling in for Wood last year. I hope we don't lose him.

Yes, I did list Roesthlisberger. And I listed Rivers, who was taken before him in the draft and has had much less success...I know the Bills missed out on Big Ben. But the point still stands. He went outside the top 3-5 (and even outside the top 10). It appears the most successful QBs in the NFL went outside the top 5 to me. Just goes to show what a crap shoot the draft is. I just don't see where you need to plan a season around having a draft pick in the top 5. There have been just as many franchise QBs found outside the top 5 as there have been in the top 5. Like you said, we need to scout QBs better AND pull the trigger more often. But we don't have to draft in the top 5 to find our franchise QB. Personally, I think it's more important to try and build a winning culture in Buffalo after these almost 2 decades of losing, and it's hard to do that if the goal of the front office is a top 5 pick... This is the best 3 year stretch this team has had since the playoff drought started. I want to keep building on it. There are plenty of successful teams that have found their franchise QB outside the top 5, and without cutting a bunch of talented players to tank a season. Edit - also, I don't really see where it matters at this point about wanting to cut a bunch of players and not sign Tyrod and tank etc. It's obviously not happening. So I choose to look at the actual situation that's in front of me and find the best in it.

A number of the most successful current NFL QB's have been found outside the top 5 of the draft. Tom Brady - 6th round (5 Super Bowl wins, 7 SB appearances) Drew Brees - 2nd round (super bowl win) Aaron Rodgers - late 1st round (Super Bowl win) Tony Romo - undrafted Ben Roethlisberger - mid 1st round (2 Super Bowl wins, 3 SB appearances) Russel Wilson - 3rd round (1 SB win, 2 SB appearances) And pretty soon you might be able to add more guys to that list of successful NFl starting QBs, like - Derek Carr - 2nd Dark Prescott - 4th Kirk Cousins - 4th And then you have other franchise QBs like - Andy Dalton - 2nd Joe Flacco - late 1st (1 Super Bowl win) possibly Teddy Bridgewater, if he's able to come back from injury (who was a very late 1st round pick) Ryan Tannehill, if you consider him to be a franchise QB Then we have the top 5 picks - Eli Manning - #1 (2 Super Bowl wins) Carson Palmer - #1 overall (zero Super Bowl appearances) Matt Ryan - #3 (1 Super Bowl appearance in his 8th year starting) Cam Newton - #1 (1 Super Bowl appearance in his 5th year) Robert Griffin III - #2 (zero SB appearances) Andrew Luck - (zero SB appearances) Matthew Stafford - #1 (zero SB appearances) Blake Bortles - #3 (zero SB appearances) Philip Rivers - #4 (zero SB appearances, and Big Ben has 3, who was taken after him in the same draft) Alex Smith- #1 (zero SB appearances) Sam Bradford - #1 (zero SB appearances) Too soon to tell - Goff, Wentz, Mariota, Winston. So I don't see where drafting a QB in the top 5 is a make or break thing for the Bills. Seems like they have as good or better chance of finding a successful franchise QB outside the top 5 to me. They just need to start drafting more QBs, whatever round that might be.

I don't see it that way. Tyrod is a smart kid. I don't think it boiled down to money alone. I think he probably seen that this was his best chance of having success out of the teams that were interested. He could stay here with a new coach who wants him to stay and an OC who's system he's already been in for a year in Baltimore, that he feels is QB friendly and believes he can have success in. A place where he has the #1 rushing attack in the entire NFL to help take the pressure off him. A place where he's already familiar with most of the team and is a leader in the locker room and on an offense he just led to top 12 in scoring 2 years in a row... Or he could take a little more money to go to the Browns or Jets where they both appear to be in full rebuild mode, with questionable O line's and questionable talent and coaches that may be on their way out the door at season's end. Tough choice... Like I said, Tyrod is a smart guy and he doesn't seem to be driven by money alone. Ome thing you can not question is his work ethic. He busts his ass trying to get better and he wants to have a long career in the NFL as a successful QB. He's already had some success with Buffalo's offense and I think he wants to stay and build on what he's already done instead of having to start over. I think he feels this is his best chance at success in the NFL is here and I tend to agree with him, given the other choices out there for him.

I hardly ever even check the Buffalo News' sports section anymore. It's gone so far downhill it's barely worth reading anymore. Some of the new writers are good, but most of the old crew doesn't write much of anything worth reading IMO. So I refuse to give them the clicks. Obviously some, like Sully, have been garbage writers forever. But ever since that fallout the Buffalo News had with Pegula shortly after he bought the Sabres, things changed for the worse. Most of their cool inside access, behind the scenes pieces disappeared and they started writing more and more slam pieces. They seem to have some vendetta against Pegula and the Bills/Sabres.

I had that same thought. It's Ridiculous. One is non addictive and more/less safe, but completely against the rules. The other is one of the most addictive substances on the planet and is passed out like candy. Makes zero sense.

I found this to be a pretty interesting read. Figured I'd share, but i wasn't sure where to post it. John Stempin‏ @johnstempin WaPo: NFL abuse of painkillers described in court filings. Bills' Carpenter, Marzo name checked. (link: http://wapo.st/2mrjbVL?tid=ss_tw)wapo.st/2mrjbVL?tid=ss @john_wawrow

I wish EJ well. He's a great kid. But he just struggled too much as a QB. I was never really on the EJ train, as much as I wanted to be. I just didn't see a NFL QB when I watched him play. He struggled with too many of the most important traits you need from your QB. I will be interested to see what type of offers he receives from other NFL teams. I know he won't be starting anywhere, but I'll be curious to see if anyone even offers him a backup role. I'd imagine some team will maybe bring him in as a 3rd string QB or at least offer him a tryout. I hope he's able to carve out a career as a successful backup though. I like him as a person and want to see him have success. I'll never forget how excited he got when he came into that game and drew the defense offsides with that hard count. It made me feel like he truly wanted to help the Bills win in any way possible and I respected him for that. I sure won't miss the fighting over whether EJ should be the starter or not though... lol. Speaking of which, did anyone besides me ever notice that the people who were the strongest and most vocal EJ supporters also seem to be the most vocal Tyrod haters? At least that's the way it was on the old Buffalo Bills message board... Maybe it's different here.

I was almost going to post this article the other day, but I didn't know where on the forum to post it. Pretty interesting read. Here is the latest one, after he was fired. Bit different spin on this issue from the team. I'm guessing the truth lies somewhere in between. It'll be interesting to see if this makes it to the Commissioner, or even to court (over getting paid the last 2 years on his deal). https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/redskins-fire-gm-scot-mccloughan-after-two-seasons/2017/03/09/652aa4f0-04fc-11e7-b9fa-ed727b644a0b_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.8439455f5aa2

Man I love listening to Sean McDermott talk. It's like night and day compared to Rex. I really think we got a good one in McDermott. Ive been a fan of his for a while and was thrilled when I heard Buffalo was interviewing him (and even more thrilled when they hired him).

I like this Hyde signing. Very unique, versatile player. http://www.espn.com/blog/green-bay-packers/post/_/id/37751/incomparable-micah-hyde-will-cash-in-with-packers-or-someone-else?ex_cid=espnapi_public Poyer is another guy who can play S and CB and even returned some punts early in his career. Looks like maybe McDermott likes those types of players.

I like the restructured deal. It seems like a win for the Bills... The thing is, whether you like Tyrod or not, he is the best QB the Bills have had in roughly 2 decades (depending on if you think Bledsoe was better then TT in his time here). TT is not as easily replaceable as some would like to think. It's not like the Bills have some great track record of developing QBs. What QB have they ever developed? Even Jim Kelly wasn't really fully developed by the Bills. He played in the USFL before coming here. To move on from him for what amounts to basically nothing more than a dream of finding an upgrade is just silly IMO. You keep Tyrod until you actually have that upgrade. I get that people want an elite QB. I do too. But You can continue to draft and develop QBs, while keeping Tyrod. Now the Bills can actually let a QB develop until he legitimately Earns the starting job. That sounds like a good thing to me... This is the best 3 year stretch the Bills have had since the playoff drought began. Let's keep trying to build on it. Thes no need to try and rank in the NFL. Talent can be found all throughout th out the draft, and that includes QBs.

If these numbers are correct, I don't see how anyone could really be mad about keeping TT.

Thanks for posting this. The restructure is looking pretty good so far IMO.

I am all for Ricky Wagner. Hopefully it's not for crazy money. The Bills desperately need an upgrade at RT though. I can't even count how many times I seen a defender running free in the back field and it was Mills who got blown up... IMO there is no way you can bring Mills back as your starting RT after what he put on tape last year. Every defense we play will have their D line keying in on him. I don't know if I'd break the bank for Wagner, but I can't say I wouldn't be happy if the Bills land him. I think RT's are going to start getting paid a little better in the coming years though, with the way things are trending.

Passing yards are not considered to be a very good way to evaluate QB's by many people because they include the yards after a catch that the receiver runs for. The Bills were dead last in the NFL as a team in YAC. Roman's offense in SF was usually near the bottom of the NFL in YAC too (25th, 24th, 30th & 31st in his 4 years there, with 2 different QBs (smith & kaepernick) and KC was ranked 6th this year in YAC with Alex smith so I don't think it was him...). I just don't think Roman's offense is very well designed to get receivers lots of YAC. https://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-yards-after-catch-statistics/2016/ If you're going to point to passing yards to measure the QB, you should look at QB air yards IMO. They show the actual yards that a QB throws for himself, and not what the receiver ran for after the pass. Tyrod was #16 in air yards in 2015 and #22 in 2016 - https://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/quarterback-air-yards/2015/ But air yards still doesn't take into account the amount of pass attempts the QBs had. Yards per attempt is a good stat to look at, when looking at QB passing - https://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/player-passing-yards-per-attempt-statistics/2015/ Here's a pretty decent article on the different metrics to evaluate QBs if you're interested - http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1691533-which-metric-matters-most-when-evaluating-nfl-quarterbacks (Edit -'I don't know why it won't post that last link so you can just click on it. I tried a few times to fix it. Sorry, You'll have to copy & paste it)

I read a report/rumor that they wouldn't be interested in trading for him, but now they would be interested in signing him as a free agent, on a reasonable deal.

I did mention that I don't like the shape of the blue line in the small paragraph right below the one you quoted. But I agree. It is definitely a HUGE area of need and a big concern. I am really hoping Brendan Guhle can maybe stick with the Sabres next year, but you can't plan on that. Even if he's able to, we still need at least 1 top 4 defenseman, preferably 2, but that's a tough ask. I am hoping that the expansion draft will shake loose a few good defenseman. At the very least, it looks like Anaheim and Minnesota both have to get rid of a d man before expansion or they will most likely lose them for nothing. Hopefully Murray can snag one... Tim Murray did just say on WGR the other day that the blue line is in desperate need of an upgrade and that it will be his number 1 priority this offseason. He emphasized that the blue line is the weak spot of the team, and said it was his fault and on him to fix. So he's definitely aware of the problem. Hopefully he's able to address it in a meaningful way this offseason.

If they do decide to pick up Tyrod's option, I don't think they would be willing to trade him afterwards. Not this season anyway. The dead cap hit would be $18 million - http://overthecap.com/player/tyrod-taylor/1407 If they are going to trade him, I'd imagine they would have to do it before they pick up his option. The trade window opens after 4pm March 9th. So they'd have to get a trade done in that 2 day window before March 11th, when his option is due.

I think the O'Reilly trade, the Kane trade and the Okposo signing all improved the team. I think signing Gionta added some much needed leadership and helped to improve the team. I think trading Miller and getting Carrier plus all the other assets that cam from that trade helped improve the team, and I think the Faching trade will pay off in time, but that's yet to be seen. I also think/hope his drafts will improve the team in time. I loved that Asplund pick, and it looks like Cliff Pu might have been an absolute steal in the 3rd. Gulhe in the 2nd looks like another great pick. Borgen looks legit, especially for a 4th round pick. Fitzgerald also looks great for a 3rd rounder. I could name more draft picks I like, but we are still in wait and see mode with the drafts. We don't know what players will make it to the NHL and what one's won't. I don't like everything Murray has done. He's had his hits and misses, but every GM does. Im not crazy about the value he gets in his trades. I don't like how many picks he traded away, some of the contracts he's given out, the shape the blue line is in, his cap management and I am still very up in the air on his coaching hire, just to name a few things. But overall, I think the Sabres are about where they should be at this point in the rebuild. These types of rebuilds usually take a good 5 years or more before you start seeing any real success. I think you really have to take into consideration the team he took over. They were historically bad. They literally set records for terribleness. They were one of the worst teams the NHL has seen in a long time, and that even includes terrible expansion teams. Murray was only hired in Jan. of 2014 and took over during a burn-it-to-the-ground, scorched earth type rebuild. He was left with barely an AHL caliber team. I think there were even something like 5,6,7 players on the team that, once he got rid of them, didn't even play in the NHL anymore. I am more/less still in wait and see mode with him. I am definitely not sold on him, but I also don't think he's terrible either. I haven't given up on him by any means though. He does seem to have a clear plan, and all the players he acquires seem to fit that vision. He That's a nice change from the total randomness of Darcy's "plan". Murray seems to be building a team to compete in the West though, and with the Eastern conference seeming like it's going more in the skill & speed route, I'm not sure how well it'll work out. I haven't looked in a while, but earlier this season out record showed it - against the West our win-loss record was much better than it was against the East. And although you have to beat a western conference team to win the Cup, you have to get through a bunch of playoff rounds against Eastern conference teams first...

It'll be interesting to see the different camera angles that I'm sure will be posted on the Internet, on Guentzel's game tying goal. From the camera angles they showed on TV, his stick looked to easily be above the cross bar.

No, this is only Baptiste's second year in Rochester. I believe He is protected IIRC. I was talking about Deslauriers meeting the expansion draft parameters. sorry if that post was confusing. Earlier in the season, I heard Bylsma and some of the players say that they practice shootouts every single practice. It's worrying if they still are because they all suck at it.

On to the shootout... I wish I didn't feel like going to the shootout was a guaranteed loss. Fingers crossed that Lehner has improved! OMG. Are you kidding me!?! Kucherov loses the puck and Lehner still can't make the save. Unreal. Honestly, I think Lehner might be the absolute worst goalie in the entire NHL when it comes to the shootout. Ugh.

Each team must expose a minimum of 1 defenseman and 2 forwards that have played in 40 games the previous season or 70 games the prior 2 seasons. Although Deslauriers has only played in 30 games this year, he played 70 last year so he already meets the requirements. They probably just wanted to get him in a game because he's been up on the press box for a while. Also, Rochester has a game tonight at 7pm, so maybe they wanted Baspiste in the lineup?

I wonder if Ralph Wilson passing away before that 2014 season played a big factor? Maybe it made Marrone feel like he no longer had the time to develop EJ? My guess would be that he felt he needed to win as many games as possible to try and secure his job with whoever the new owner would be, or give himself the best chance at getting hired as a HC elsewhere around the league. Looking back, it's pretty clear that Marrone and Whaley were not on the same page. Whaley goes all in on EJ by giving up multiple picks for Sammy Watkins (against Marrone's wishes from the rumors), then Marrone benchs him a few games into the season to try and win more. I think both of them kind of had their own best interests at heart and I can't really say I blame either one of them, with the uncertainty of new ownership coming in.