racketmaster
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Posts posted by racketmaster
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McDermott talked alot about changing the culture after getting hired and we are beginning to see some of that with the initial free agents signings.
I usually don't make to much out of press conferences with players because they typically have the same scripted answers. I got done watching the press conferences with Tolbert, Hyde and Poyer and could not have come away more impressed. Each player brought a real excitement and positive energy to them. All seem like real smart guys and team first players. Looks like McDermott brought some grinders into the locker room.
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McDermott talked alot about changing the culture after getting hired and we are beginning to see some of that with the initial free agents signings.
I usually don't make to much out of press conferences with players because they typically have the same scripted answers. I got done watching the press conferences with Tolbert, Hyde and Poyer and could not have come away more impressed. Each player brought a real excitement and positive energy to them. All seem like real smart guys and team first players. Looks like McDermott brought some grinders into the locker room.
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Good move for Pats and Gilmore. Still happy that Bills let him walk as he was not about to give the Bills any type of discount.
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This is a great move. Carpenter was awful at FGs last year (76%) and below average the year before. Bills just signed a kicker who ranks 3rd all-time in FG percentage at 87.2%. He is behind Justin Tucker (best in business) and Dan Bailey and ranks just ahead of Stephen Gostkowski. I know he had an off year last year but that was still better that Carpenter. Traditionally his kickoffs are good and he has the leg to make 50+ yard FGs.
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Hard to complain about this deal from Bills front office perspective. As a fan, happy to have Tyrod back.
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lb is a position where value free agents can be found. We got a little lucky last year and found 2 of them, but I believe the Bills should be able to find one this year. 1 value FA and draft one to replace Brown (a team will overpay for him).
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Makes sense as he can dual as FB/RB. Big thing is that McDermott and Tolbert know each other well. All first year Head coaches like to bring in a few veterans who are loyal and can get other players on the team to get with the program.
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Simon is more of a baseball guy and has never impressed with his football knowledge. If he says we should have let Tyrod go, I feel even more comfortable that Bills did the opposite.
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Playoffs? Where did we get better? Everyone that is so excited for this move and saying TT is not to blame for missing the playoffs quickly points at the defense. From where I sit it looks like 3 pro bowlers from that side of the ball are heading elsewhere.
So losing 3 of our better players, a first year HC, OC and DC's who will both be installing new systems and we are going to improve on 7-9? Don't forget we don't have a PK, P, and one of those defensive pro bowlers was also our best special teams player.
For the record I think the Pro Bowl is as watered down as it can be, but TT fan club always likes to refer to it so I returned the favor. Sure some signings are to yet to come but where anyone can sit today and say playoffs is where I want to be.
It's early so there will be more help in terms of free agents and draft picks.
1. I am of the opinion that the HC will be a big upgrade. Rex was undisciplined and sloppy in his overall approach. Alot of bluster and not enough results. McDermott has a good deal of respect around the league and has assembled an experienced staff. Our HC is going to be much more of a grinder and I don't see him taking off with his staff to go to World Series games during the middle of the season. We have seen HC changes can make a big impact on a team's record right away.
2. A healthy Sammy Watkins? We shall see what happens but having a healthy Watkins would make a huge impact on the offense. He and Taylor had a great connection in the second half of the 2015 season when Watkins was actually healthy. Let's cross our fingers.
3. Improved defense. Our defense was ranked 4th in 2014 but was below average the past 2 seasons. Too much confusion and miscommunication. It is not hard to envision the defense playing faster and appearing less disorganized. Even if the defense gets back to 10th, this will lead to wins.
4. Adding a reliable FG kicker. Carpenter has been a disappointment the past 2 years. Maybe this falls on Rex as he seemed to get into Carpenter's head right away and he never recovered. If the Bills can locate a reliable kicker with a bigger leg, that could end up giving us another 1-2 wins.
5. Getting contributions from last years top picks, Lawson and Ragland as injuries limited their impact to next to nothing.
Bills will lose Gilmore, Woods, Brown and probably Alexander. But Gilmore was a disappointment until the last 6 games of the year. Woods is a decent wr and he could be easily replaced in free agency. Whaley will need to find free agent help at LB and in secondary. He was able to bring in cheap veterans at LB last year and it is a position that lends itself to the potential of that happening again.
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It's a QB driven league, last one to score wins. Pitt game showed who Tyrod is, Mr consecutive 3 and out. First half he had negative 1 yard per play, teams know how to stop Tyrod, make him be a QB. If we had a better QB we would have made the playoffs. Whaley QB purgatory
If i recall correctly the winning qb tjat day did throw 3 interceptions and was generally not impressive. Giving up almost 300 yards to Bell is what cost us this game.
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Smart move. Now we have a chance to make playoffs next year.
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Literally the only two scenarios in which I would cut Tyrod are:
1) They can get Romo
2) They draft a QB with the idea that he starts right away
I have ZERO interest in watching some Hoyer/Foles type at QB. Tyrod at least brings excitement with his mobility. If Carpenter hits a FG in OT or the defense makes a stop vs Miami the team probably goes to the playoffs with a coach who doesn't like to work and total confusion on defense.
To me, that means keep it intact, build on it, and have a HC who is hungry and wants to work.
On NFL Network, Rapoport said that he surveyed 5 GMs around the league asking them what they think the Bills will do with Taylor. All 5 told Rapoport that the Bills would be crazy to let Taylor go for nothing. I would like to see Taylor stay as he gives us a chance to make the playoffs next year. But if Whaley and the front office are determined to let Taylor go, they must get something decent in return for him. QBs that can play are valuable assets and teams should never let them walk out the door for nothing.
SF got 2 second rounders for Alex Smith. New England got the 34th pick for Matt Cassel. Sam Bradford was traded for a 1st and 4th. There is now way I would let Taylor go for less than a 1st.
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Fitz got 12 mil last year with no leverage as all teams had their starters already. So this does not surprise me. Taylor's $ is reasonable for a quality starter. This all comes down to whether you think he is a quality starter or not.
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What happens if the Darnold regresses like so many other college quarterbacks who have early success? Or what happens if Darnold is good again but decides to return to USC for another year because he sees the Bills are drafting 1st? These are realistic possibilities. Look at the last time the Bills ended up near bottom (3-13). Luck was supposed to come out and he returned to Stanford. We would not have gotten Luck but It would have allowed the Bills to get Newton. Instead we end up with Dareus and he is good but has not really been worth the $ and headaches.
Let's not make the same mistake 22 teams made on Aaron Rogers. Mahomes at 10.
Mahomes definitely intrigues me. I want to keep Taylor but if Bills decide to move on, drafting Mahomes would probably pacify my anger.
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Well said. And I'll add that these points support the idea that the bills may have an interest in Siemian. Perhaps Denison prefers Siemian but, absent that option, wants Tyrod.
My guess would be that Dennison would prefer Taylor over Siemian with $ not being any factor. Personally, I like Taylor a lot more than Siemian who appears to be a low end starter or high end backup. Remember Siemian actually got to play with D. Thomas and E. Sanders all year. That makes a difference in the passing game where the Bills were shuttling wrs in and out each week. But getting back to the point, if Whaley forces McDermott/Dennison's hand and gets rid of Taylor than the coaches need a backup plan. That is where I think the Bills have been inquiring about Siemian's availability. If you can't have Taylor that Siemian at least would give the Bills a reliable QB who knows the system and is very cheap. He would probably be a bridge with the Bills drafting another QB. But I think if the coaching staff gets their way they would end up keeping Taylor. This debate is very interesting because both sides can make a good argument.
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7th post of this thread, astb41 nailed it.
Does anyone really think that QB wasn't the very first issue they talked to McDermott about once his interview focused on the Bills team and players? If Coach had such a differing opinion on Tyrod from the FO, why would they hire him? They wouldn't. They would find a coach who shared their same vision. What could have happened in the 7 weeks since McDermott was hired to make them no longer agree? Just because they haven't announced anything to the public doesn't mean that they haven't already made their decision, nor does it mean that they are fighting over the decision. Pure speculation.
As far as the HC hire it was reported that the owners were very impressed with McDermott. It is possible they nudged Whaley to hire McDermott.After all the owners were responsible for bringing in Rex.
Now if the above were true, maybe Whaley and McDermott just agreed on a few options at QB before the hire. Once hired McDermott would have begun a detailed evaluation of taylor and consulted some of the staff he had hired. Maybe in watching all his games he became more impressed with Tyrod. We know he ends up hiring Dennison who seems to have some affinity for Taylor as QB. The hiring of Dennison gave HC more backing. McDermott could go back to owners and say my OC knows Taylor and has done his e v a l on him and is in agreement to keep him. That way McDermott is not on an island in his opinion of tyrod.
All that said you would think this would have been ironed out before the hire, but this is the Bills we are talking about.
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Curious as to what McD and/or Dennison have said to indicate they'd like to keep Taylor.
Nothing concrete, just a few clues.(1) there were some reports from Baltimore that Tyrod and Dennison had a good relationship and Kubiak praised Taylor for picking up his system (2) when Kubiak goes to Denver he tries signing Tyrod in FA, (3) after Manning retires reports surfaced in Denver again that Denver was interested in trading for Tyrod at the draft last year.
Based on the above, it seems clear to me that Kubiak liked Tyrod a good deal. I look at Kubiak and Dennison as one in the same as they have been together for so long. Denver went after Tyrod twice when Dennison was OC there, he must have been on same page with Kubiak.
Now if you believe all that, McDermott goes ahead and hires an OC that has worked with Tyrod and likes him as a QB. He knows what Dennison thinks about tyrod during their interviews. McDermott must have agreed with Dennison's assessment of tyrod or else he does not hire him. To me it is clear that Whaley wants to move on (seems to be enamored by Cardale) and the HC and OC would like to keep Tyrod. Again, this all seems pretty logical but it is still just guess work.
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This report makes sense. I have felt all along that Whaley would like to move on from Taylor while McDermott/Dennison would like to keep Taylor. We will find out soon who wins this battle. If Whaley does win out, he better be right or he will be the first if things go south.
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I just can't see the Bills just releasing a quality QB like Taylor without getting anything in return. I don't think it is smart to move on from Taylor but if they are not planning on having him as a our starter the Bills need to get a few high picks for him during the 2 day window.
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Much prefer to keep Tyrod. I know Taylor costs more but Siemian just looks to be a journeyman.
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Odd that they would just shut down board with no notice. Would have been nice to save some old charts and stat tables.
Culture change has begun
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted · Edited by racketmaster