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Right now I would say KB, Zay and Thompson. They just re-signed Streater to a futures contract and he was having a good camp and likely would've made the 53 so we'll see if he comes through. Wouldn't count out them drafting one. Matthews is up in the air, he fits the profile of the kind of persona they want in the locker room but it'll depend on the type of money he's looking for. Who knows after that.

Roman = great run game designer but his passing schemes are very elementary and easy to defend. On top of that, his playbook is probably the largest in the league. And then you combine that with Rex's defensive playbook and the '15/'16 Bills basically had encyclopedias for playbooks. Coaches always talk about not thinking and playing fast. When your playbook is ginormous and includes multiple variations of the same play being run out of different formations, it makes it that much more difficult for players to digest the information and then apply it to the field, commit it to mental and muscle memory and then play fast. Leslie Frazier proved that this year. He runs a much more simplified/straightforward scheme and for the most part the defense was much better than it was under Rex. They need better talent in the front seven and they could be a very good unit. Anthony Lynn on the other hand, I feel like he did a pretty good job in 2016 considering he had to use someone else's playbook. He was smart to sit down with the offense and trim down the playbook to the things they did best and make it a little more streamlined, but of course he was limited in installing his own designs because it's pretty difficult to switch offensive (or defensive) styles with the regular season underway. Teams spend all off-season and camp installing/learning/practicing certain schemes, can't just flip everything over to an entirely different system after all that. That's all I'm asking for in 2018, an OC who will design a system that will maximize what his players are naturally good at. And an OL coach who does the same.

I watched most of the game with the volume turned down because I actually grew tired of Romo pretty quickly this season. And Nantz is a bum, IMO. I also think Collinsworth is off his rocker. Romo gets ahead of himself and ends up saying some things that sound pretty dumb in hindsight. When Buffalo lined up to kick a FG on 4th & 2, Romo said, "Buffalo may as well take the delay of game penalty here and save a timeout, five extra yards at this part of the field is nothing for a kicker." My immediate thought was, "How's about no? Maybe Jacksonville will jump offsides and if they do, that's a first down. If they take a delay of game penalty, it's 4th & 7 and a five yard offsides penalty brings them back to 4th & 2." What happened? Jacksonville jumped offsides and gave Buffalo a first down. I dunno, it's probably just me but commentators get on my nerves after a while. I'm sure they're directed to do these things but they always try and make every little situation sound so dramatic and "game changing" when in reality it's just another play in the game. And yes, it sucked to see Thompson flying downfield and Taylor just not seeing him. He also had Clay right in front of him early in the game on a play where he rolled right and ended up throwing it away. He would've had to thrown it back across his body a little bit but it's a throw most QBs can see and make. He did not play well yesterday, bottom line. The passes he did complete were mostly inaccurate with poor ball placement, forcing his receivers to slow up, twist/turn back, get low to grab it, he zipped a bullet at Zay that was 12 feet over his head. That ball placement stuff sounds like ticky-tack draft talk but in reality it's one of the more important traits for a QB to be good at because poor ball placement eliminates the chance for the receiver to gain YAC. He overthrew Thompson, he overthrew O'Leary, these were plays that could've swung the game their way. I place some blame on him, I also place some on Rick Dennison for being a very non-creative OC. An OC who doesn't maximize the talent of his players, an OC who doesn't evaluate what his players do best and design his scheme around that. I also wanna throw Juan Castillo under the bus because he took a decent OL and made them look terrible for most of the season. This is an OL that really excelled in Greg Roman's system and he combines all types of blocking schemes but mainly uses man on man, power and pulling style stuff. 2015 and 2016 showed us that clearly this OL was good at that. Last year, PFF had Shady near or at the top of their list for yards gained before contact. That's on the OL. They were opening up massive lanes in 2016. This year, it was like they couldn't get out of their own way. Shady went from a system where he usually had a clear lane to get through, to a system that gave him little space to work with and coaches that coached him to take the "3 yards and a cloud of dust" if it was there. I'll put some of the negative runs on Shady but some also need to go on the OL and the scheme because every game there were at least a few plays where defenders were coming in unblocked (untouched in some cases) and dropping Shady for 5 yard losses. Not retaining Aaron Kromer was a misfire on McDermott's part for me. Kromer had that OL playing great, now he's in LA and what happened this season? Todd Gurley was electric, had plenty of space to run and the Rams sent two OL to the Pro Bowl (Whitworth and Saffold, I believe). Wood and Incognito went last year. Not this year, tho. I guess I'll just never understand coaches who favor their system over designing a system around what your players do best. It's that, or Dennison just isn't creative/smart enough to identify what his guys do well and scheme up plays based on that. Get a young, creative mind in there at OC. Someone who can relate to whichever QB they get and knows how to design plays that'll maximize what his players do well. And I'm like 94% sure that this front office is not going to drop $15-$20 million on another bridge QB like Alex Smith or Sam Bradford, or whoever else may be available. They've spoken too much about building through the draft and developing homegrown talent. If they do sign a veteran QB, I expect it to be a guy who's been mostly a backup but has started here and there. I guess it depends on what they decide to do with the OC. But they aren't backing up the Brinks truck for Cousins or anyone else. They especially aren't going to pay out a ton of guaranteed money to a QB who may only play here for a season or two. My best guess is they make a move in the draft to get one of the better QBs, sign a veteran and let them battle it out with Peterman in camp. Or I could be completely wrong. Who knows. But it sure is a poopy Monday knowing your team definitely had a chance to win a playoff game against an extremely overhyped and overrated Jacksonville team. Good defense? Yes. Are they an '85 Bears-level defense? Not even close. (And I only mentioned that because I've read or heard a talking head or three try to compare them to the 85 Bears and 2000 Ravens). Had the easiest schedule in the league and still only won one more game than the Bills. End rant. Go Steelers.

Haha, I swear I'm like the only one that doesn't mind Billy.

I think it helps when guys like Hyde sign here. He left a consistent playoff team to join a franchise that hadn't seen the playoffs in 17 seasons. It helps that he was offered probably the best deal he could've hoped for during FA. And then they pair him with Poyer and the two have become a really solid duo at safety. It also doesn't hurt to see his comments from the other day about how he was apprehensive at first about joining the Bills but after meeting with McDermott and hearing his vision, he was sold. And he considers McDermott to be one of the most prepared and committed coaches he's played for. Players talk to each other all the time and we know they try to recruit for their teams where they can. I think McDermott has gone a long way in just one season in terms of changing the vibe in the locker room. It's a team mostly full of guys who have similar attitudes in that they wanna win, they put the team first, put their egos aside and prepare each week to do their job. It's a shame that sometimes the most talented players come with the biggest egos or the less than stellar attitudes. I hope McDermott and Beane won't shy away from drafting or signing a player that might not check off all the boxes for them in terms of character. Sometimes the talent outweighs the players attitude. And if McDermott has changed the locker room the way we feel he has then he and Beane should have some confidence in signing/drafting a player who needs a tune up in the character department as this locker room should be able to take a player like that under their wing and get them to buy in 100%. That's my one main buggaboo with Team McBeane... I understand they want high character players but I really hope they don't pass up on a super talented player because he isn't a boy scout or doesn't completely meet their character standards. That said, their stance on character makes it a little easier to predict/speculate on players they'll be interested come free agency and draft time. Haha, it's interesting you say that because when Marrone was here, his approach to coaching was to run it like he ran the program at Syracuse. That obviously (obviously!) didn't go over well with most of the players. You can't go in as the new HC and start disrespecting veterans by trying to run things as if its college. Between that, his irritability and mood swings, I can imagine Marrone was not the most fun coach to play for. Dareus clearly did not admire/respect the guy and it's kinda hilarious that when he's traded, he's traded to the team with the coach he really doesn't care for. But I do understand what you mean here, the fans in Buffalo surely provide a very similar environment to what these guys experienced in college. And, I know each team in the league thinks they have the best fans ever but when it comes to Buffalo, I really think there's just something different about this team and town. I mean, how many other franchises out there would continue to sell out games losing season after losing season? How many teams have fans that'd stick with them through a 17-year playoff drought? How many teams would still sell-out games that are gonna be played in 12 degree weather? And that game is meaningless because the team is already out of the playoff race. Not many other teams have the type of dedication Bills fans provide. Said dedication has unfortunately driven some to turn the tailgates into an ECW event but hey, the dedication and commitment we fans show this team, to me, is unmatched anywhere else in the league.

I actually thought his vision was a bit better than Shady's on Sunday. I understand that teams key in on Shady and make him their top priority but there were a few plays against Miami where he had a lane but he would either cut back or try to reverse field and just got dropped for a loss each time. Murphy was more straight-ahead, probably followed the plays closer to the design than Shady does as they trust him to pick his lane and go. Tolbert is gonna get some carries. I hope they resemble his few carries in Miami because that's when he's most effective, downhill. If I see them call a stretch play to him one more time I'mma lose it.

It's been said since before the season even started that Darnold was leaning on returning to USC. The expectations on him this season were high, I can't imagine what they'll be for 2018. For some, anything less than the greatest season in all of sports ever won't be enough. Doesn't seem like Rosen has the type of character and attitude McDermott and Beane want in the locker room. And if he doesn't have a real high passion for the game that's another red flag for the Bills because they've made it clear that they want team-first players with a do your job mentality and a strong desire to win. I think Mason Rudolph fits what they're looking for at QB. Not saying he's my favorite QB coming up this year but he has some talent and some things to work with. He's experienced, from all things I've read he's been viewed as a good leader at OK State and his size fits the description of what Beane said earlier in the year. This is the second or third time I've seen Mike White linked with the Bills. Other than that, I haven't read or heard of any other team that seems to have a real high grade on him. He kinda strikes me as a solid backup kind of player but I guess that depends on the kind of offense this team plans to run if they move on from Taylor.

The ol' Douggernaught! One of the brightest and most genius displays of coaching I've ever witnessed in the history of all sports in all the world came from him during his first season (first game, even) as Bills head coach. That amazing coaching display I speak of? Continuing to run a no-huddle uptempo offense against the Pats with a one point lead and just over three minutes to go in the game. I do believe they went three and out around their own 30, punted to the Pats who then took it down the field for Gostkowski to hit a 35 yarder to win it. If that's not pure coaching genius I don't know what is! That aside, I think Marrone's biggest issue while in Buffalo was his entire approach to coaching. He wanted to run a pro team like he ran his Syracuse teams. Tried treating professionals like college kids and that didn't go far in the locker room. Then he bails on a team he had just spoke to about the future only hours prior to his quitting. What's kinda hilarious to me is the fact that it appeared to be no secret that Dareus was definitely not a fan of Marrone... and that's where the guy ends up after getting traded lol.

That's definitely one of the guys I'd like to see in a Bills uniform but it's likely he's picked in the 10-15 range. He's exceptional and only going to get better.

I think a thread from a few weeks ago said something like, "8-8 or 9-7 with this team is impressive" and I responded that I agreed. After all the changes and all the turnover, just about everyone was saying, "Yeah, they're focused on 2018, it's not about this year." And in that thread there were people saying 8-8 or 9-7 wouldn't be enough and that we should be embarrassed about such a record and McDermott should not only be fired but banned from coaching or even offering advice in any sport ever again. My response to them was, what would meet your expectations for this season? Especially with this roster. They have one legit star and the rest of the team is comprised of a few really good players, a handful of above-average players and then mostly average players after that. For them to make the playoffs with all the trades, that horrendous three-game skid, the questions surrounding the QB position, etc etc, it most certainly is impressive and gives me a lot of excitement heading into next season. I mean, they broke the streak with a team full of "effort" guys. I can't wait to see who they go after and add to this team in the off-season and see what they're capable of when they have better players plugged into positions of need.

I was in my senior year of high school. I remember watching the Music City Miracle. Don't know if I've ever been more angered over a sporting event. Since then I've moved three different times, been through countless jobs, met my wife in 2010, married her in 2014 (even had a little nod to the Bills in the vows, ha!), adopted a cat... no kids here. If the drought taught me anything it's been to temper my expectations and watch the games with a more level-headed approach. I'm psyched when they win but I refuse to let a loss ruin my day or cause me to throw my TV remote across the room. On Sunday my thought was something super Billsy was going to happen, I figured that the Ravens, Titans and Chargers would all lose, thus allowing Buffalo to get into the playoffs so long as they beat Miami, but I was betting that they'd lay an egg against the Phins and lose as well. By the time the 4th quarter started vs. Miami, I was 99% sure the Bills had the game in hand. And shortly after that, the Titans won their game which eliminated the second playoff scenario leaving only a Bills victory and a Ravens loss as their path into the playoffs. I was trying not to get too excited about Cincinnati leading for most of their game, and then I had the "Welp, figures" mindset when Baltimore took the lead with around 9 minutes left to go. Bills game ended and we knew they had a chance. CBS went right to the Ravens/Bengals game. I paced around during Cincinnati's final drive. 4th & 12, I'm thinking, "Man, just give your kicker a shot to at least tie it up." And then that gentle ginger Jesus dropped back and put one on a rope to Boyd (Pitt alum, wonder if Shady texted him after, haha). I honestly thought Boyd was gonna get tackled right there as there were three Ravens surrounding him so I was like, "Yaaaa! That's a chip shot field goal, they can tie it-- whoa, go, GO, GO, GO OH MY GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHDDDDD AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" I had no words. All I could do was yell and throw stuff (nothing crazy). And then yeah, I had a hint of hesitation as Baltimore had three TO's and 44 seconds but I was like, they gotta score a touchdown, I don't think it's gonna happen. It's crazy to finally have the monkey off our backs. Don't have to hear about the drought anymore, no longer are they the team who has the longest active streak of missing the playoffs in any major American sport. Crazy awesome cloud nine kinda feeling. Called family and friends, texts, etc. etc. It was a fun New Years. And then the next day I woke up and somehow failed to recall the previous nights events until I went online and saw all the reaction videos and was like, holy crap, it really happened. That jagoff in NYC didn't overturn the Cincinnati TD overnight did he? The Bills are actually in?! And uh yeah... apologies for the novel here but cripes, 17 seasons and they break the streak this season. With all the changes that took place I felt like they'd probably finish in the same ol' 8-8 or 7-9 range. When they hit 8 wins I was like, hey at least they're guaranteed a non-losing season final record. And then somehow, someway everything fell into place for them and they sneak into the playoffs. This team has had that "ball bounced their way" vibe for most of the season. They've been fortunate enough to catch some breaks and I hope it continues haha. Go Bills.

Banyard seems like a likely option given the time he spent with the team earlier this year. I actually went and looked up where Jonathan Williams was at right meow, thought he was still on Denver's PS but he's on New Orleans active roster at the moment so he's not an option. We should find out later today if they sign anyone as Tuesdays are tryout days for teams. Williams is on their active roster right meow. I had the same thought lol.

My best guess as to why Anderson continues to stick on this roster would be... he's been a core special teams player with each team he's been on and we all know how much they value guys who can play special teams. He also strikes me as the kind of guy with high FBI, so while he's never had a lot of production on the field, he's probably valuable in the secondary room in terms of watching/breaking down film and interpreting the playbook and gameplans.

Not necessarily. Taylor is not an anticipatory passer nor does he attempt very many tight window throws. He's a "see it, throw it" QB which means he usually only pulls the trigger when he can clearly see his guy open. He very rarely throws guys open or throws to a spot where only his receiver has a chance to make a play. WRs do not get separation on every route they run so you can't put it 100% on Zay. It's unrealistic for QBs to expect their receivers to create separation and get open on every single passing down. Taylor has to take those chances once in a while and sling it to a guy who's covered and put it in a spot where his WR has a chance to make a play. But by the same token, when a receiver does get open and the QB puts it in his range or hits him smack-dab in the hands, he has to catch it. Taylor has that "area code accuracy" as they say. His ball placement isn't always where it should be. Too many times he makes a throw that causes the receiver to either slow up, twist or turn, go up high or dig it out of the dirt to catch it and that takes away yards after catch. It's not very often we see him hit one of his guys in stride. I wholeheartedly believe Taylor's height is a major detriment to his game. The dude just does not see the field well, and I don't mean he doesn't run through his progressions or make the right reads, I mean his height causes his view of the field to be obstructed almost every time he's in the pocket due to the monster OL and DLs in front of him. Also why he gets so many passes smacked back in his face.Taylor would be at his best in an offense with a solid running game (which he's had since he became the starter) and a more vertical passing attack as opposed to the short stuff that Dennison seems to favor. That was kind of their MO in 2015 during the second half of the season when he and Watkins were connecting regularly and the deep ball was one of Taylor's best throws. But this offense just doesn't suit him and they don't really have a field-stretcher at receiver. Either way, I think Zay will be fine. He seems like the type of kid who will wanna work twice as hard in preparation for next season so he doesn't have a repeat of his rookie year.

He'll get paid somewhere. I hope this regime is creating an atmosphere in which players wanna be here. That seems to be like *the* main focus of the turnaround, creating a locker room with players that have similar mentalities. Do your job, team first, win games, etc. We've seen that they aren't going to have players concerned about personal stats or big money contracts. If Gaines fits that mold and they value him highly enough, hopefully they'll work something out, because as several peeps have pointed out already, the defense is better when he's on the field. His injury issues will be a talking point once negotiations start. If they don't sign him, I'm sure they have a few other guys targeted that could be just as good, if not better. McDermott had two late-round rookies during his final year in Carolina. Early in the year they were getting torched but as the season went on they got better and now this season both of them have played very well in more or less the same system.

That six game win streak came against some bum teams, it was fun to watch tho, no doubt. And I figured with the Steelers playing their backups the Bills would've won but we all know how that turned out. The teams that needed to lose in order for the Bills to get in (had they won) also lost that week so it was a double whammy.

They might sign a couple of lower-tier DTs and see who can be productive in their rotation. I doubt they spend big money in FA at that position, they're more likely to draft some guys. A trade could happen with the way Beane was dealing this off-season, can't rule that out. If KW wants to play, I'm sure McDermott would want him back. And surely the FO would want a team-friendly deal and I think we'd see KW's role reduced quite a bit.

Mallfield.

To me, the worst loss of the season was the Thursday night game vs. the Jets. They go into the game at 5-2, they come off some exciting wins over Oakland and Tampa Bay, the defense is racking up turnovers, offense doing just enough, etc. At this point, local and national media are buying in, saying the Bills are the better team and even calling them a playoff team. The moment all of that hype starts they go out in front of a national audience and just get embarrassed. I was hoping for a fluke, thinking maybe they were just physically beat, didn't have enough time to prepare like they usually do, etc. But that began one of the worst three-game skids in team history. On paper, this team shouldn't have won more than 4 or 5 games total. The fact that they've overachieved given the massive roster overhaul and the new coaching staff is (hopefully) a positive sign for the future. Now that everything is in place for the organization to have a full off-season together it's exciting to see where they go.

That's the reason he slid down a lot of teams draft boards. Ironically, the Bills drafted a DT with a back injury and instead of opting for him to have surgery and miss his rookie year, they encouraged him to play through it. He tried but he was nowhere near 100% during any point in his time with the Bills. His injury worsened during his rookie year and even after numerous surgeries he never got right and just couldn't play after that.

While Dareus hasn't done anything flashy since his monster 2014 season, he was still one of the most naturally gifted players on defense. It's unfortunate that he's had to deal with so much outside noise in his life which has clearly affected his approach towards football, but at a certain point, there's only so much mentoring teammates can do, only so much extra coaching the coaches can do and only so many conversations to be had before you gotta cut ties and give the guy a fresh start somewhere else. It's a bummer he wound up in Jacksonville too because it's pretty evident that he isn't a fan of Marrone. Remember, they locked him up with the big contract after he came off his best seasons in '13 and '14. Had they not extended him at that point the fan base would have lost their marbles, screaming, "They let another top player just walk for nothin!" The way some fans see things put this team in no-win positions time and again. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. But, regarding this years defense, I do think they may have done a little better if they'd hung onto him. I'm certain his playing time was low because McD wasn't seeing consistent effort from play to play. That aside, even if he wasn't racking up huge numbers, he's the type of player who opens things up for players around him. OLs usually have to put two guys on him, that frees up an LB or a DE somewhere which helps the pass rush and it also makes it difficult to run up the middle. I dunno, maybe he wasn't happy playing that role. Maybe he wanted the big plays and the big numbers and didn't want to put the team first and be a guy that helps the team by allowing other guys to make plays. I'm sure his passion for the game was also questioned by McD as it's clear he and Beane intend on fielding a team full of players who prioritize winning, a team first and a "do your job" mentality. Did Dareus fit that description? Maybe to a point. He certainly had a lot of love for his teammates but I think it's been pretty easy to see that he's not the easiest player to coach. He's probably a tough egg to crack in terms of trust. He's obviously not going to respond well to an "in your face" aggressive coaching style. I actually thought McDermott would be able to get through to him but I think at the end of the day, Dareus just wasn't buying into enough of what they wanted to do here. Maybe he didn't like the idea of a rotating DL and figured he should be in there for the majority of the game. Something definitely went down though because at the start of training camp, John Murphy had Kyle Williams on his show and Williams had high praise for Dareus at that point. He said Dareus was in great physical shape, the best shape he'd seen him show up for a camp, and he also said Dareus came in extremely focused and ready to go. Then the guy can't make the bus for a pre-season game in Baltimore and it goes downhill from there. It's a bummer, seems like the guy just can't get out of his own way.

I doubt this current front office makes a huge push for Cousins. We have to wait to see if the guy even hits free agency first. Washington can franchise him for a third time which would cost them like $34 million and that would equal out to something like $78 million for three seasons. He made $20 mil in 2016 and $24 million this season. Regardless if he's the best QB in the league, it's likely he's going to be the highest paid one just because of how the market works now. Wherever he lands he's likely signing the largest QB contract in NFL history. Everything Team McBeane has said points to them drafting and developing their own guy. And I think that guy is gonna be Mason Rudolph or Josh Allen. I'm not saying these are my personal choices but based on things Beane has said about what he looks for in a QB, these guys fit his description. It's one of those two if they can't move up and get Rosen or Darnold (who may return to USC). Is Neil O'Donnell busy? How about Steve DeBerg? What's Dave Krieg up to? Bills really missed the boat on those dudes. They're off winning numerous Plooper Bowls.

Oh, my bad. I misread. Yeah, I agree, the Berger is going to the Hall.

I agree with part of this (not sure the USC guy is a future HOF QB) but yeah, sometimes the switch from a small school (where he was the focal point of the offense) to the NFL can have a negative impact on a rookie. I think that Carolina game really got into his head and has been something he's had to deal with all season. Fans of the game are starved for instant gratification and when it doesn't happen it doesn't take long for a group to start calling some kid a bust 15 games into his NFL career. And comparing him to guys like JuJu or Kupp isn't really fair considering the QBs those guys have throwing them the ball. Goff has taken a huge step forward and Roethlisberger has been a top 5 QB for years now.

He's an offensive assistant with Baltimore right now. He's not the OC you want if you're going to try and develop a young QB. The guy can run scheme like nobody else but his passing schemes are very simple and easy to defend. It's one of the reasons they let him go. He also apparently was at odds with some of the key offensive players during his time here. Plus, his playbook is enormous. Tons of pre-snap movement and running the same plays out of different formations. You hear it all the time with coaches, they say their young guys will be playing better as soon as they don't have to think and can just play fast. Roman's encyclopedia sized playbook isn't the greatest in helping young players learn quick and play fast.