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Well, not everyone can have a Tim Brody and a Bob Bulisticks.

First off, if you're a fan that thinks or expects this team to contend this season (or next), you're gonna put yourself through some misery. If you think this is the "same old Bills" you're wrong. If you think there's no solid, long term plan in effect right now, you're also wrong. Defense is McDermott's bread and butter so it makes sense to build the defense first and then work on the offense. The defense has some great veteran leadership (Kyle and Lorax) as well as a tier of players with 4-6 years under their belts yet still under 30 years old, combined with a bunch of youngins in their first or second year. That's how you do a rebuild. Hang on to some decent longtime vets, sign some moderately experienced vets, and then fill out your high priority spots with draft picks. Not everything can be addressed in one season which is why the offense is lagging. They have who they think is their QB and left tackle. They have a kid who may blossom into a solid receiver once the team finds its offensive identify. Again, as with the D, there are some longtime vets hanging around providing leadership. I don't think they've dug in much with the offense just yet as they don't have the same type of younger vets like the defense does but I think they'll go after some guys like that this off-season. But as for yesterday's game, there are gonna be total duds like this during this project. Allen has to go through the lowest lows as well as the highs as he gains experience. All of this season is about experience and growth of the young foundation. Win big together and lose big together, they'll find out a lot about one another and what it's gonna take from each one of them to become a team of brothers that plays for each other. There's a plan. It's in action. It just takes time. I'm all in. Can't wait to see where this team is at come 2020.

He's not done. He maybe has lost half a step. I think he can still be productive... somewhere else. I don't doubt for a second that they've already discussed the possibility of trading him. Just because of his contract and age. This entire rebuild is a huge youth movement. Guys like Kyle and Lorax are here to guide these young guns on how to be consummate professionals. They're probably retiring next year. Guys like McCoy, he still wants to play but I doubt he's down for a rebuild that's gonna take at least two seasons, knowing he only has a couple years left. They may deal him to a contender before the deadline, give him a chance to make a run for it. Same with Clay. Maybe Hughes as well but I think McDermott really likes Hughes for his intensity and how he practices. Young players can learn a lot by watching him. And his contract isn't terrible. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate these guys and like them as players but these things happen when a team tears it down and starts over. Some of these guys are here for specific reasons, veteran leadership being the biggest thing. Despite this being a full rebuild, you need solid vets in your locker room to show these kids how to play in the NFL. People wanna call out Trent Murphy and Star Lotulelei as "overpaid unproductive losers" because they aren't racking up 12 sacks and 37 tackles for loss per game. Some of that extra money in their contract is basically an apology from the franchise. I'm certain these guys were told, "Hey look, we're tearing this thing down, of course we're gonna compete and work to win but with projects like this, it's difficult to expect wins. But we know what kinda player and leader you are and if you wanna keep looking over your options, please do, but we think we're offering a fair deal for your services." That's why those guys signed here. Most anywhere else, they're looking at less money to do the same job (without being leaned on for the leadership aspect so much). So they sign here knowing they're coming to a team that's a few seasons away from competing but they're being compensated financially for that with the hope that by the time this team is ready to contend, these guys will still have another season or two at a decent age to try and help get the team over the hump. That's been the issue with Whaley and past GMs here. They all thought they could win now with what they had and just needed a few more players to "get 'em over the hump" but they never built from the ground up. Never thought they had to. And in 2014 they came close with a roster, in hindsight now, that was pretty good. But then you have a coach who quits and you replace him with Clownshoes Rex for two years until finally your owners go, "OK, what the fruck is going on, we gotta hit the restart button here." And the youth movement begins. Youngish, first time HC and GM, guys who came up together, understand each other (unlike Whaley and any of his HCs). There's symmetry there that hasn't been at OBD in a long time. So, it seems most fans are understanding that 2018 (and likely 2019) are gonna be not so fun to watch, but for those who aren't seeing the bigger picture, just keep in mind that they're willing to deal with two painful seasons in order to become contenders that can sustain that success on a consistent basis. I'll take that all day long. Gimme two years of absolute suckage if it results in 10 years of making the playoffs (or at least finishing with a winning record) and being taken seriously. That's much better than a 17-year playoff drought that swung back and forth between "we're gonna rebuild but we don't know how" and "we're almost there, we swear!"

Marino played in 11 games, starting 9 of them in his rookie season. Threw for 2200 yards, 20 TDs to 6 INTs, 7-2 record as a starter. The following season he blew up, throwing for 5084 yards and 48 TDs. He fell to the bottom of the first round because his senior season at Pitt wasn't great and there was a lot of rumors that he was a party hound and wouldn't take the job seriously. The Rooney's, to this day, still lament not taking Marino. They took Gabe Rivera, a nose tackle who drove drunk about six weeks into his rookie season, crashed his car at high speeds and ended up paralyzed as a result. Art Rooney, Jr. is on record saying that his dad, even toward the end of his life, would still often say, "We should've taken Marino." Not only was that draft incredible for QBs, producing three Hall of Famers, it also produced Hall of Famers Eric Dickerson (2nd overall), Bruce Matthews (9th overall) and Darrell Green (28th overall). When Losman and Edwards were on this team, I used to say, "I wish we could take Edwards' brains and field-reading ability and merge it with Losman's athletic ability." Probably would've had a decent QB. But, Trent played scared while Losman played dumb.

Definitely. And I think we'll see the same with Mahomes as defensive coordinators get more film on him and what Reid is dialing up this season. The pace he's on right now isn't sustainable.

It's just the way the league wants things to be. All the rules instated to protect the QBs and give the defense a disadvantage is so the "stars of the game" can go out there and sling it for 400+ yards and 4 TDs every week. But besides that, guys like McVay and Andy Reid are extremely smart schemers. And they're merging a lot of college concepts with pro concepts to make things easier for their young QBs. Goff was on fire last night but I'm not sure I've ever seen so many wide open targets in a game. Play after play guys were 2-3 steps ahead of the coverage and open on pretty much every area of the field. I gotta think at least part of that is because the Vikings defense is a touch overrated. The Bills don't have a fraction of the playmakers the Rams do and put up 27 points in two and a half quarters. I had a thought last night that's gonna sound all kinds of conspiracy theory-ish, which isn't really what I'm aiming for, I'm not one to say, "It's all rigged! It's all fixed!" I don't think that but sometimes I see things that make me wonder if things are, let's say, "directed' in a certain way. What better way to drum up interest in a town that really doesn't give too much of a crap about pro football (Los Angeles) than by loading up their new team with monster playermakers and a young, innovative coach. What better way to maintain interest in football in a post-9/11 world than by having a team named the Patriots be the dynasty of the 2000s and again in the 2010s? Again, not trying to say "conspiracy!" I just wonder if things happen to "fall into place" real conveniently sometimes.

Well, you're right... not recently anyway. But they do have a guy that's supposedly known for that skill. Think his name rhymes with Schmelvin Schmenjamin or something.

First thing I read when I look this guy up: Has trouble getting separation and getting open against defenders but can go up and make the contested catch. That sounds kinda familiar... I think the Bills know a guy who knows a guy that plays like that... Not that I'm against the team continuously bringing in competition and trying to improve the roster but the team already has several players like this guy on the roster. Not a great athlete, slow off the line, difficulty getting open.

That's the thing with Tyrod though, the plays break down because of him holding the ball too long and not throwing receivers open. Hopefully as Allen progresses, throwing receivers open will be a skill he further develops.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I heard, "...and catch the f*ckin ball!"

Hey, I do what I can.

I used to like Colliinsworth but over the last couple of seasons he's just become worse and worse. Every other play is the "greatest thing he's ever seen" and his voice just sounds like... I dunno... like, I'd rather listen to Fran Drescher call a football game.

You're right, he's not #1... he's #13. Man, I thought you were pretty sharp. Surprised I had to point this out.

I'm astounded at how often I find myself repeating this, but... you do understand that free agency is a two-way street, right? Teams don't just snatch up players and say, "HA! You play for us now, ya putz, sign here! SIGN IT OR WE BREAK YOUR HAND!" The player has to *want* to sign to the team offering the deal. I see so much nitpicking and whining about Beane's "misses" in the off-season and it's like, well... yeah, because first, not every FA is meant to come in here and be a big time player. There are such things as depth signings. And no GM is ever perfect on every player they bring on-board. But I mean... if you're finding ways to complain about the most active GM the Bills have had in 20 some odd years then I dunno what to tell ya. Dude inherited a monster cap mess, has worked to reshape the roster to their vision, flipped players for picks, acquired the most draft capital the Bills have had since I don't know when... when's the last time the team had two first rounders, two second rounders and two third rounders? Gets a third for a subpar QB, swaps first round slots and moves nine spots up the board by trading an oft-injured left tackle, wheels and deals enough to draft his franchise QB plus the "QB of the defense" nine slots later. Players who weren't buying in that could've potentially caused drama in the locker room are out. He's looking at having 10 draft picks and the second most cap space in the league heading into 2019 but yeah, let's nitpick a depth player signing that didn't work out that he was able to get something in return for. Players like Newhouse get their pink slips weekly in the NFL, it's extremely rare to collect something in return for a player of Newhouse's caliber. But hey... "strike!" Ugh...barf.

Dude was unstoppable. I bet Reiff's last thought before passing out for the night was, "Damn, that sumbitch whipped my ass." Monday film session was probably not a good time for him. Hughes not only ate his lunch but gave him a wedgie and shoved him in a locker.

McD: Hey, Brandon, what did we get for Newhouse? Beane: I dunno, a few baseball cards, a sack of marbles, *cough* Petey...

I can agree that Peterman probably hits the routine, as designed plays. Swing passes and a couple screens. But, I don't think Thad takes into account that Minnesota would've had a completely different game plan for Peterman because he's not a threat to run. And I don't think Peterman has the improv skills Josh has. Doubt he rolls out and throws across his body to hit Ivory like JA did. And yeah, it's one game, solid game plan and I'm sure we'll see some flops from JA as we roll on. But as long as I'm seeing progress, it's all good. Even in a loss, it's good.

There are already 64,000 "Zay sucks" threads and discussions, don't think we need another one.

What Allen is doing is how the play is designed. Marcus Murphy needs to time it better. He had already ran past Allen by the time Allen had the ball. He needs to be a couple steps back so the snap goes to Allen and then Allen pushes it to Murphy. They've dialed it up three times now and it worked the first time with Foster for a gain of 8 or something. The last two times it hasn't gone well.

What a wonderful situation his head coach put him in for his very first regular season action. "Here kid, drive the ball 80 yards against this Chicago defense with this maniac on the edge named Khalil Mack. Have fun!"

If this kid was as good as half this board believes, then he would've been picked up or added to a practice squad somewhere. I think since he was cut he's received one or two tryouts? Some seem to think he's the next Adam Thielen or something...

I think there are a few reasons the WR position seems to be "unaddressed" right meow. One, I think they expected a lot more from KB. Allen has no problem giving him chances to make a play, he just isn't making them. Two, I believe they expected Zay Jones to step up and get better. They talked about his attitude being more focused and whatnot yet it hasn't translated to the field. It's early still, but so far he hasn't looked like the type of player you grab at 37th overall. Maybe they haven't tapped into his skill set in the right way just yet but if he doesn't turn some type of corner this season, he's gonna have an uphill battle to make the roster next year. Three, I believe Daboll's extensive use of TE's and RB's in the passing game is another reason they haven't done much at WR. Either it's by design or Allen has just been really good at finding the open man but he hit, what, like 11 different receivers vs. LAC and I think like, 9 vs. MIN. Daboll's offense is founded upon the mismatches from week to week and some weeks they might have the upper hand with the WRs, other weeks they may look to exploit defenders that can't cover TEs and RBs very well. If the Bills felt Gentry would really help this team, they could've put in a waiver claim for him but they didn't. It's clear that they don't view him as an upgrade over anyone they currently have.

Did you mean Deonte Thompson? He's in Dallas right now and had the dropsies yesterday. He's streaky, has stretches where he plays well and stretches where he looks completely unreliable.

His adjusted completion percentage is probably somewhere around 75%. KB dropped two, one was a routine slant, the other was a contested catch that he got out-worked for and going up and coming down with those contested catches is supposed to be one of his strong suits. The Clay drop was a good throw but a tough catch to make. The deep ball to Foster was on the money, Foster just short-armed it. That was a consistent criticism I saw in his scouting reports, he's got speed, athleticism, he's improved on his route running but he has trouble tracking the ball and getting himself in a position to catch it. What's really awesome to see is a QB that is not afraid to sit there in the pocket and wait for the play to develop. With EJ, he'd dropback and be tap-dancing right away, eyes would drop to look at the rush and he'd either rush with his throw and launch a wobbler or take off when he had the chance to hang in there and make a play. With Taylor, it's dropback, scan the field, scan it some more, doesn't throw anyone open and doesn't throw into risky areas so after that, he's running around and half the time he'd make a 'wow' play, the other half, he's getting sacked. Allen has been pretty consistent with staying in the pocket and his movement and awareness is much further along than I thought it'd be. I'm sure he'll get better at pre-snap adjustments with more experience. And I'm sure there are gonna be bummer games where he doesn't look so good but he seems to be showing steady, consistent improvement from game to game. Very interested to see what he can do once they provide him some better weapons out there.

Obviously no GM hits it out of the park on every draft pick or free agent signing but at this point I'm pretty confident that McBeane has this team on the right track. It's been mentioned before but yes, Doug Whaley was/is a solid scout but his team-building philosophy wasn't great. He figured if he drafted players from consistently winning college programs then that winning tradition would somehow come with those players and translate into the locker room. It didn't. During Whaley's tenure, he was also saddled with two coaches that, I'm pretty sure, he didn't care for and didn't want to work with from the jump. Still, he did his best to provide them the types of players they wanted for their schemes. IMO, Whaley is probably better off in a Director of Player Personnel position and being a guy who helps in the decision-making process but doesn't have the final say. During the last few years of the drought, one of the things that seemed to stand out to former Bills players and people that were around those players (like wives) during those runs in the 90's was that they always said the team wasn't playing for each other. Whether it was Marrone or Ryan, the sideline never looked hyped up, whenever they were down by a couple of scores it looked like those guys just wanted to finish the game and bail. I know McDermott and Beane take some heat for trying to fill the team with "boy scouts" but I can fully understand what they're trying to do... and it seems to be working. Look at last season, they compile a team that isn't the most talented but made up for that with heart and effort. The Taiwan Jones play vs. the Bucs last season says a lot to me. Whole sidelined erupted after a career backup/special teams guy made a nice play to pick up a first down on 3rd and long. They're building a team that truly plays for each other and trusts the vision and message coming from their leader. They want players who have the team-first mindset and aren't really concerned with personal achievements as much as just winning. And the cleansing of the roster has a lot to do with that. It makes sense to see Beane purge the roster of a lot of Whaley's picks and some other players he brought in because, unfortunately, a lot of those guys simply got used to losing. Or they became OK with being mediocre, middle-of-the-road every year and never really getting over the hump. They needed a completely fresh perspective in the locker room. Any veterans or hold-overs from Whaley's time (or even Nix's time or earlier) that had the right mindset, stuck around and were model leaders, guys like Kyle, Wood, Alexander, etc. Anyone that couldn't get on board with what they had in mind is playing somewhere else, despite their talent. Would I love to have a Sammy Watkins out there for Josh Allen? Definitely. But his attitude and mindset had become toxic here. He's openly admitted that he'd walk off the field after a win and be upset that he only had a handful of catches. It's great that he wanted to make more of an impact but he wanted to make that impact moreso to make himself look good. And I'll throw some blame on Marrone and Rex for never properly utilizing the guys skill set (aside from the second half of the 2015 season). You make your GM look like a colossal ass-hat if you use the 4th overall pick (that the team had to trade up for) as a friggin' decoy to free up other players. You don't do that with a player like him. You make him a focal point of your offense and they never really did that, again, except for the last 8 games in 2015. So, when evaluating which kinds of players they wanna bring in here, character plays a large role. And that's fine. I used to think they might pass up on a highly talented player because of their character concerns but I'm not so sure they would. If they build a strong locker room with solid leaders, then they should have confidence in those leaders to help a young, talented player with a few character concerns get his head on straight and reach his potential.