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I've followed Andy Benoit for quite a while and usually his film analysis is pretty good. It's no secret that Taylor is a "see it-throw it" QB, meaning he very rarely throws with anticipation or throws guys open. He needs to see for sure that his man is open and this results in him hanging onto the ball too long. But game after game, as pointed out throughout this thread, he's not seeing open guys downfield, or he is and he's just not taking the chance. That's going to frustrate your receivers because he's not even giving them a chance to make a play, and it's especially going to frustrate the coaches and front office who just went out and obtained a big target for him to throw to. But, by the same token, I'm sure Taylor feels frustrated as well because he's consistently being coached to take what the defense gives him. And on top of that, it's been said that McD puts almost an obnoxious amount of emphasis on not turning the ball over while on offense. So on one hand, Taylor's gotta be thinking, I need to give my guys a shot. And on the other, he hears the coaches in his head saying, "Be safe, don't turn it over, if it's not there, dump it off." But at a certain point coaches are just gonna have to let a QB cut it loose and live with the mistakes that come with it.

I've been perplexed with their handling of the RB position this year. We understand that McCoy is the focal point and I think the ideal situation they were shooting for was to have defenses get tired out from chasing McCoy for most of the game and then hitting them with Tolbert who would be able to plow through a bunch of winded defenders. That hasn't been the case, though. Not saying J. Williams was an all-world back by any means but he certainly had much more to offer than Tolbert, who is limited to straight runs between the tackles because he doesn't have the speed to hit the corner. So anytime Tolbert is in there all defenses have to do is crowd the middle of the line and stay in their gaps. At least with Williams they would've had more options on the types of run calls they could've assigned to him. I understand how important culture is to McBeane. It's clear that the prototype for the players they want are selfless, team-first, low-ego guys who just wanna win. Having special teams experience also seems to be a rather important box they wanna check off. And with draft prospects, they're obviously looking for experienced players. I don't believe any of their draft picks this year were early entrants. And those qualities in a player are great. It fits in with the strong team bond they wanna build and the chemistry they wanna develop. But, one of my questions on this regime is, will they limit themselves to players with ONLY those qualities? I would hope not. I would hope when they're scouting players (let's say prospects in this case) that they're not taking a player off the board because he only has two years of college under his belt. I would hope they're not taking a player off the board because he doesn't play special teams. I would hope they wouldn't pass over a supremely talented player because he has a bit of an ego. It's all well and good to have the foundation of your roster be built on those team-first, hardworking and "I just wanna win" types of players but they can't limit themselves to picking and signing players of ONLY that make-up. Gotta take some chances on guys who may have a bit of an attitude, a bit of swagger, a bit of nasty, etc. Because it's not as if those players can't come into a healthy locker room and mature and learn the importance of the culture they want here. So, yeah, I mean, McBeane didn't spend 20+ years climbing the ladder to get to where they are to NOT realize that they can't be so limited in the players they choose for his team. At least I hope not anyway.

Just thoughts I was sharing. Not overthinking anything. McD is meticulous about details and preparation so my thought was just, I wonder if they're doing too much, I wonder if they're trying to find a solution to every situation they may end up in. We saw it with Rex's defense, everyone knows how complicated it is and all the checks and shifts caused miscommunication and poor play. And I get the fact that they feel Peterman will be better at the short drops and short throws to slow down the pass rush. But that stuff doesn't matter if the OL collapses by the time Peterman hits his third step. Taylor was responsible for his fair share of the sacks this season but the OL was responsible for more. No QB is going to succeed when they have defenders in their face almost right away. And Peterman is barely an inch taller than Taylor, so it's not as if that solves the issue of numerous batted passes at the line each game. Up until the last two games Taylor was efficient and playing mistake-free football. He alone is not solely responsible for the nosedive this offense has taken. Yeah, he misses an open receiver here and there, he looks a little hesitant to make a tight window throw, and at times he does hold the ball too long because he believes his talent at extending plays is good enough to get him out of trouble and eventually hit an open receiver. And he definitely has done that over his career here in Buffalo but it's not a style of play that can be relied on regularly. But aside from his issues, the OL has been getting whipped up and down the field. They couldn't pick up those delayed blitzes against the Jets and if I recall correctly, most film analysts said 5 of the 7 sacks in that game were on the OL. And against both the Jets and Saints, the run game never got going, there were missed assignments constantly and this group of receivers they have right now struggle to gain separation which is a bad match for a QB like Taylor who rarely throws guys open. Maybe Peterman has a skill set that will help this offense move in the right direction but to think that these abysmal performances over the last two games are primarily the fault of Taylor is just not true. The entire team from top to bottom just hasn't played well whatsoever. And if the OL continues to struggle against the duo of Bosa and Ingram this week then Peterman is in for a long day. And if he performs just as poorly as Taylor then where's that leave them? It's not just the QB in this situation. All areas of the team have had some major breakdowns over the last two weeks. And the switch to Peterman is surprising because McD preaches patience with the process and certainly seems like a "stay the course" type of coach who isn't prone to making big changes like this.

It's interesting how so many are now saying Dennison's system is wrong for Taylor. When they hired Dennison, people automatically made the connection to their time in Baltimore so there was "familiarity" there which "should help" in getting the scheme going in the right direction. Then, analysis of Dennison's concepts were praised as a positive for Taylor because his scheme involved a lot of bootlegs, designed rollouts and other ways to move Taylor away from the pocket in order to open up his view of the field. Then they limp through the first few weeks while using nothing but plays from Dennison's system. Taylor can't execute the 3-step drops and short/quick passes. The OL hadn't adequately mastered the zone blocking scheme so McCoy was being bottled up rather easily. So then Dennison sits down with the offense and takes their feedback about what they do well and what they would like to install into the offense. They end up reinstalling some of the blocking schemes used over the last two seasons and that's when the run game picked back up. They moved Taylor around a bit more and he was able to be efficient and make a few plays when they needed them. And then we see the disasters vs. the Jets and Saints. I really wanted to call the Jets game a fluke. I just assumed the entire team was way less than 100%, they weren't able to prepare the way they normally would and the results were ugly. So we figure, hey, they got 10 days to prep for the Saints, we should hopefully see them get back to playing the way they did against Oakland, Atlanta, Denver, etc. Instead, the offense stays on the field for barely more than one quarter. The defense was giving different pre-snap looks, moving around, shifting at the line, doing some things we normally haven't seen this season, all probably in an effort to throw off Brees but instead it caused them to be out of their gaps time and again and by the third quarter the team was just ready to get out of there. And now, the switch to Peterman seems to be motivated by the fact that most think he can execute Dennison's offense better than Tyrod. So did they scrap the elements of the 2015-16 offenses and go back to using Dennison's offense 100%? Did the defense get away from their straightforward scheme in an effort to switch it up so they don't look so predictable on film? At the midway point of the season, most teams try to switch things up or use some plays that they haven't used much or at all during the season. Did the coaches get in their own heads? Did they get away from what was working simply to show teams something different? I can appreciate the emphasis McD puts on detail and preparation... but is it possible the team is being over-coached? Are they preaching too many details at the moment? After Sunday's game, McD, Dennison and Frazier all said similar things about getting back to either fundamentals or doing what they do best. Another coach (may have been a player) stated, "That's not us. That hasn't been us in back to back weeks, that's not how we play our game." It's just my theory but maybe they got away from their bread and butter plays in favor of trying to evolve on both sides of the ball or in an effort to simply give teams different looks. I'm not saying they made the schemes more difficult or anything. I'm just wondering if they have these guys thinking a little too much and it's preventing them from playing fast like they normally do.

Given the timing of Peterman's tweet and then Sal C saying he had heard some rumblings from another local reporter, maybe McD called Peterman late Monday after watching film and speaking with coaches. And a good portion of the time, leaks and source info comes from agents. Players obviously hear things that go on but they'd be in deep caca if they started leaking things to the press. But they talk with their agents regularly and agents are generally an "inside source" that reporters can try to get info from. Half the reason so many reporters go to Indy for the combine is because that's where and when agents meet with team officials about their players. Reporters are there to report on the combine but they're all working to link up with new sources as well.

Roman may have been light years ahead of Dennison (and most other OCs) when it came to the running game but his passing game schemes were way below average. While his run game was always very successful, his passing schemes were always near the bottom in terms of stats. And that's because his route concepts are really simple and not difficult for defenses to figure out and defend. On another note... I hope Peterman surprises and performs really well. I think the one thing that may help him is the fact that this is the first and only NFL offense he's had to learn so far. Whereas Tyrod is working with his 3rd different OC in as many years. There may still be habits and things he does that were part of the schemes in '15 and '16 and it's also just not an easy process to transition from scheme to scheme every year. Towards the end of 2016 he started to look more confident as a passer, seemed like maybe he was getting comfortable in the scheme. But they couldn't keep Rex so change had to come and again he and the offense have to spend the entire off-season learning and installing a new scheme as opposed to continuing with the same one, refining and polishing it as it would've entered its third season. We know the change was necessary but the constant turnover in schemes and coaches slows progress for just about any player. Again, I'm assuming that they believe Peterman can run this offense closer to how they want it run and maybe he identifies things on defense better than Taylor. I wish him the best but if the OL can't hold up it's not going to matter. But I think that's part of the reasoning behind the change. I think they believe Peterman will be better at getting rid of the ball quicker which will slow down the pass rush and open up the run game.

Were they? That's pretty miserable, then. After their first two drives in the 3rd quarter I had to turn it off. Went to the mall instead, which is usually pretty slow on a football Sunday afternoon, but it seems many fans had the same idea because it was pretty packed and there were people in Bills gear everywhere haha. I applaud McD for having the nads to make the switch. I've liked Tyrod since he became the starter but I know he's hit his ceiling. He can make some "wow" plays happen a few times a game, his escapability is second to none but they can't rely on him to do that every play. They know they need him to be able to stay in the pocket and make quick decisions and quick throws. Unfortunately his height is a main factor in his issues. He simply can't see the field well and unlike Brees and Wilson, he's hesitant to zip the ball through tight windows, which is how those guys have been so successful. They must have really been seeing some good things in practice from him. In the camp practices I watched and the pre-season games, it's looked to me like Peterman has a bit of a quicker release and it seems like he throws with more anticipation. If you watch them run drills where they're practicing dropbacks simultaneously you'll see Peterman is usually first to get rid of the ball. Not by a ton, but it's noticeable. Maybe they've seen him throw guys open in practice and that's something Tyrod just doesn't do often enough. He has to see his man open before throwing it. And week after week I watch clips of the coaches film and there are always several plays where he does have receivers open in a tight window where he'd have to drop the ball over the CB but in front of the safety. He's done it before, so he's capable, he just doesn't do it consistently enough. Either way, I'm intrigued. They better double team Bosa or it's gonna be a really crappy debut for Peterman.

I don't think the team gave up on Tyrod, they voted him captain, they know what type of player and leader he is... like I said above, I think this is more to do with Peterman's ability to make quicker decisions and excel in the short passing game.

Not fibs. Wow. I'm surprised. Didn't think McD would be the kind of coach to make that type of change while they're still in the playoff race. I can't imagine they'd make this decision based on his garbage time performance last week. That was against a soft defense, mainly backups, most QBs will look good against that. He must be making strides in practice. I also think they feel like he can execute the short passing game better to neutralize the rush.

....fibs?

All these things said are pretty stock answers in situations like this. Of course McD isn't going to make a switch to Peterman. Taylor still gives them the best chance to win, he and everyone else on the teams knows that. And yeah, the vets on this team believe in Taylor, otherwise they wouldn't have voted him captain. The BS with Tolbert yesterday was because they though they'd be fine going into the game with only two backs. McCoy is not close to 100% right now. I mean, at this point in the season no players that play regularly are near 100% but he may be further away from 100% than most think. He's dealt with a wrist injury all year, he tweaked his groin a few weeks ago and yesterday after that one long run he sat out a few plays. It wasn't said why he was out but obviously some kind of ailment came up and he had to sit out for a bit. As of right now my biggest gripe with this coaching staff is their lack of contingency plans. Now, I'm not advocating that Dareus was playing great this season nor am I saying he was worth the contract he had and I'm also well aware of the amount of playing time he had. But, when he was in there it would force the OL to usually put two blockers on him, which frees up other players to make a play. They traded Dareus for a 6th without having a DL that could occupy space and blockers like he can. By today's standards they have a slightly undersized DL and it's shown in the last two weeks as these guys are just getting pushed around like no big deal. And then they go into yesterday's game with just McCoy and Tolbert. That's really short-sighted on their part considering how heavy of a workload they wanna put on McCoy. He can't do it all and they need someone a little more dynamic than Tolbert to fill in for McCoy when he needs a breather. The OL cohesion has eroded due to Glenn's injuries, Dawkins' inexperience, Incognito's not healthy, Miller isn't suited for the scheme, Ducasse apparently IS but just isn't a very good player. And Mills is Mills. Couple that with a new scheme and there's going to be problems. They talked about how they gathered after the first few games and Dennison took feedback from the offense about things from the last couple of seasons that worked well. More power/pull blocking schemes and we saw how that helped the run game. Now, I don't know if Dennison is still mixing things from last season or if he's tried to steer things entirely in his direction with his system. Besides all of that, let's be real. Most people assumed this team would be what we saw yesterday for the entire season. They'd gimp through the season with what they got and then reshape the roster even more in the off-season. So, the early wins were a nice surprise and even though we had the feeling of things being different, the reality was this team still has a lot of weak spots, has to follow a very specific formula and have a few bounces go their way in order to win games. And with the way Frazier and Dennison kept talking about getting back to what they do best, that leads me to believe that they've tried to mix it up and try some different things but it hasn't worked. I understand that as the season goes on you can't keep showing the same things on tape game after game. So maybe they need to be a little more clever in what they wanna do, keeping it the same but making it look different, maybe.

It's a combination of the scheme, the playcalling and lack of execution. Earlier in the season they were trying to fully work with Dennison's scheme and the run game went nowhere. After a few games, they sat down with the offense and went over things that have been effective for them over the past few seasons. They implemented some of those things and that was when the run game picked back up and they were at least efficient. Now they just look completely lost. I don't know if Dennison has started to install/use more of his scheme and has gotten away from the mix of plays/schemes they were using from the last couple seasons or what but it's been rough to watch over these last two games. Not having the OL at 100% has hurt. Glenn has been in and out. Dawkins shows flashes but as a rookie he's going to be inconsistent. Richie isn't anywhere near 100%, I believe his ankle is limiting him and thus limiting his ability to pull and be a lead blocker. Wood seems to have stretches where he's consistent and does his job and then has lapses where he's getting walked back into the pocket or defenders are passing right by him. Miller was much improved in 2016 but this year, he's clearly not a fit for what they wanna do and Ducasse, while he is a better fit in terms of size and playing style, he's just not that good. Mills is Mills... he's actually had some decent games this year but as always he struggles with speed and defenders who have an extensive bag of pass rushing moves. And Taylor... well, he can do some things no other QBs (aside from Cam and Wilson) can do. He's capable of some "wow" plays a few times a game but aside from that, he simply cannot see over the line and has trouble finding the windows and lanes his height forces him to throw through. He is also not a consistent anticipatory thrower. He needs to see his guy open before he fires it. And when looking at the film, there are at least a handful of times per game where he's missed open receivers. They may not be "wide" open but they are open enough where the QB needs to get rid of the ball and give his receivers a chance to make a play. On top of that, this team is definitely missing the deep threat that Watkins provided. I'm not saying they're missing Watkins specifically, but they don't have any receivers that can get behind the defense. So no opponent has to bother dropping a safety deep. They can keep everything close to the line and bottle up the run, force Taylor to stay inside the pocket and dictate the game because they don't have to fear getting beat over the top. And for the love of Pete, I'm sure Mike Tolbert is a great dude, I know he's on this team because he's familiar with McDermott and because his attitude and team-first mentality is what they're looking for in their players. But the guy is just not a good #2 option behind McCoy. He isn't dynamic in any way, he's limited to runs only between the tackles and he should really never be used on swing screens because he just doesn't have the speed to get to the corner. We knew they wanted to rely on McCoy as much as possible but the guy isn't invincible and honestly they just need a better option to spell him than Tolbert. So that's just the players. When it comes to Dennison, yeah I think it's fair to wonder how effective he can be as a playcaller when he's spent most of his career as an OC that didn't always call the plays. A 4th and 1 shovel pass to the fullback? Targeting Benjamin only three times, all on the first drive and then not even bothering to call his number again until garbage time? That's inexcusable. I know the dude hasn't been here long but this is football and he's a professional. At this point, they need to let him rely on his size and athleticism to make plays as opposed to waiting for him and Taylor to develop chemistry and timing. I said this in another thread and I'll repeat it here. There isn't enough creativity on either side of the ball right now. It's not a bad idea to run straightforward schemes that allow your players to line up and play fast. And I'm not saying they need to complicate things, but they need to try throwing caution to the wind a little bit and finding more creative ways to get their guys in position to make plays, simple as that.

Hmm... did you read it? Nowhere did I say he was irreplaceable... and nowhere did I compare him to Sammy Watkins, nor did I call him a decoy. I said, during this season, when he was in there, the OL is forced to adjust and most times put two blockers on him. This allows other players to get free and have a chance to make a play. Occupying space and blockers isn't a flashy job and that's why you didn't see him do anything flashy this year. But, I do believe he played a role in being better against the run when he was in there. And now they don't have a player on this roster that can do that. And after that I just said that it would've been nice if they had a better backup plan for replacing him, because they don't have any real big-bodied DL anymore. 95 is 6' 301, 94 is 6'1" 300, 92 is 6'4" 295, and 91 is also 6'4" 295. By today's standards, those are kind of light for DL. And then on the ends your main guys are Hughes and Lawson, both around 6'2" - 6'3" and 255-260. Compare that to the DL McDermott had in Carolina. Kawann Short, 6'3" 315. Vernon Butler, 6'4" 330. Star Lotulelei, 6'2" 315. His ends were Peppers (6'7" 295) and Charles Johnson (6'2" 278). All marginally bigger than the guys they have right now. So, like I said, they probably need to get a little more creative with the scheme right now because what they've been doing the last few games hasn't been working. The entire DL has been completely handled by the Jets and Saints OLs these last two weeks and so far they either haven't figured out how to adjust, or have adjusted and that isn't working either. The lack of pressure has shown through the last five or six games. And it's not really the scheme, because while McDermott was in Carolina, they finished near the top of the league in sacks almost every year, including leading the league with 60 in 2013. This team currently has 14 sacks through nine games. That puts them on pace to finish with 26-28 on the season, only a few better than the 21 they put up with Rex in 2015. So either, this scheme just isn't productive for this particular group of players or... (and this is what I think the case is) this group just isn't as good as we'd thought. And it's all well and good to have a team full of hard working players who wanna win and put the team first, but sometimes they're gonna have to take a chance on and deal with a player who may not completely have that same mentality but has talent. Can't be all boy scouts. You need a little nasty to win in this league.

Some of these comments suck. I'm gonna come to some of your jobs and just stand there and criticize. "Herman! You suck at filing! You're an overpaid waste of space. I'm gonna suspend you. I can't believe this company actually pays you. And you, Larry, you self-centered sack of monkey dung. You think we don't know that you're a fat piece of crap? You think you're a world class plumber? You ain't worth the crap lodged in those pipes." Ugh. I guess it's just me, I just hate insulting comments towards people you don't even frickin' know. While Dareus wasn't doing anything flashy this season, on plays he was in the game, it forced the OL to pay attention to him and dedicate two blockers to him almost every time. That frees up other players to make plays. And nobody complained back when he was given the contract extension. He had just come off his most productive seasons in '13 and '14 and he was a player just about everyone was positive they needed to lock up. If he had left in free agency, people would've lost they dang minds screaming how the Bills just let another one of their top players walk away for nothing. It's all hindsight now. Rex put the dude in a scheme that didn't fit him (like every other player on that defense), he has two weak seasons and then apparently couldn't buy into what McD wants to do here. And yeah, the contract looked bad after '15 and '16 because he wasn't in a position to be as productive as he once was. And he wasn't playing a whole lot this season but in the couple games where he played the most snaps (where they showcased him) he wasn't bad. He was certainly a help in the run game. And now they really don't have any DL that can hold the point of attack and they certainly aren't getting any pressure on the QB with whatever four guys happen to be in at the time. So this off-season they'll be scrambling to find guys that can do what needs to be done within this system. Either that or the defensive staff (and offensive staff, for that matter) need to take a long, hard look at what they have and start scheming around what these players naturally do well. Right now, IMO, there just isn't enough creativity on either side of the ball. I get that it's good to have a straightforward scheme so your players can line up and play fast but when that stuff stops working, you gotta get creative. Can't just "stay the course" and keep beating your head against the wall. And I'm not advocating they should've kept Dareus, not at that salary and not if his job was going to be mainly run stops on 40% of the defensive snaps in any given game. But it would've been nice had they had a stronger contingency plan in place before shipping him out.

Wow, you're just a beacon of optimism and positivity. Save the "realist" argument because all you're doing here is projecting.

Yeah I'm with ya on changing the channel. I usually stick it out but they just never adjusted and every drive looked so ugly. Each time they got the ball back I was like, ok here we go, time for them to pull their heads outta they a$$es and... 3 yard loss... ok, ok, let's rebound.... sack, loss of 10... son of a.... incomplete pass, punt. That's it, I'm watching Bob's Burgers and passing out. Pain tolerance is a funny thing. Obviously everyone is different. Some people can really get through things others would be keeling over about. With players tho, there are other factors involved. You mentioned Humber so let's talk about him. His entire career he's been a special teams player, been told he's just not quite good enough to play LB regularly. Finally, he gets his chance to start at LB this season. It's likely he's going to try to do everything he possibly can to stay on the field. He doesn't wanna lose his spot after he's been waiting nine years for the opportunity. Lot of other players do the same thing. And in my humble opinion, I really would consider getting Milano on the field some more. He brings some speed and athleticism to the LB position that they don't have with guys like Humber, Brown and Alexander. With Sammy, he had the same injury as Dez and Julio and both those guys got shut down for a season and were given ample time to fully rehab and come back 100%. With Sammy, I think he wanted to prove he could play through it and I also think the medical staff told him and the coaches that they could come up with a treatment plan that would keep him on the field. These days there's so much talk about player health and safety but when it comes right down to it, teams want their guys to play at all costs, especially if they're an important player. And Sammy himself probably felt like he had a lot to prove after calling out the team to give him 10 targets a game. He definitely wanted to be a huge part of turning this team around, things just never worked out in his favor. And then as you mentioned, you get other players who seem to have random injuries pop up all the time and keep them out of games and those guys end up having their dedication questioned. Are they playing to win or do they just play because they know they're gonna make a ton of money? We all remember Torrell Troup, right? Everyone considers him a bust and yeah, that's fair to say given his production vs. his draft slot. But what a lot of people don't know is coming out of the draft, he had a pretty serious back injury. It required surgery. But instead of getting the surgery done and miss his rookie year, the medical team convinced him to play through it and that they'd get him through the season with a specialized treatment plan. He tried to give it a go but he was never at 100% in any game he played. He had surgery the following off-season but by then the damage was done and he was never able to live up to any potential he may have had. That's just one example but it happens all across the league to players all the time and it's a bummer.

As for your question about a hometown affect, it plays a role for some players. Take Lynch for example, he always wanted to play for the Raiders, his hometown team. A lot of teams tend to spend late round draft picks or sign undrafted players from colleges near the team. That's usually just a convenience thing as the team scouts have an easier time keeping tabs on players close by. But for the most part it either comes down to money, like teef said, or opportunity. A player is going to play where he's gonna get paid (if he's an established starter) or where he feels he's going to get a real opportunity to play. Like Taylor, for example. Denver wanted him to sign there in 2015 and backup Manning with the chance to maybe compete for the starting role once Manning retired. They offered more money than Buffalo but Buffalo said, if you sign here you're instantly in the mix to be the starter. He wanted to play and compete so he signed here for less money. And since then he's redone his deal to remain the starter here even though it meant his contract was going to be a little smaller. We can say what we want about Taylor as a player but as far as being a competitor and a team-first guy, he's a Grade A example of those things.

Yeah, Mack is from Florida. The reason he ended up at UB is because he didn't start playing football until he was in 10th grade, I believe. UB and one other school were the only ones to offer scholarships. He chose UB and for all intents and purposes, he loved his time here. For some odd reason, when the Raiders came here a few weeks ago, he was suddenly and strangely refusing to speak a word about Buffalo or to speak with any of the Buffalo media.

The Colts are partially responsible for what's happened to Luck up to this point. It's believed that he tore his labrum during week three back in 2015. Surgery was an option at that point, he would've been shut down for the rest of 2015 but ready to go by 2016. Instead, they chose to have him play through it and receive intensive medical treatment during the week. He only made it until week nine and had one of the worst seasons of his career statistically. He was able to make it through 2016 but the team went 8-8, he was sacked 41 times and inevitably aggravated his shoulder. Irsay talked him up all off-season that he'd have a chance to play but they knew all along that the chances of him seeing the field in 2017 were slim and none. So instead of shutting him down in 2015 and taking care of it then, they've drug it out across three seasons and the kid has been robbed of some prime years for athletes as he was 26, 27 and 28 through those seasons. And now there are rumors going around that there's a lot of tension between Irsay and Luck and that he could even demand a trade at some point. And I wouldn't blame him. The Colts have bumbled his career for the last few years. They've done nothing to build a solid OL in front of him, which he needs as a classic pocket passer. Yeah, he has scrambling ability but he's not the kind of QB you want leaving the pocket on a regular basis. You want him to hang back there and pick teams apart. And I'm not saying every player in the league is a boy scout. Clearly, there are some bad apples in every bunch but for the most part, I look at players as a bunch of regular dudes who make their living in a really interesting and lucrative way. When we watch games, we are watching these guys at work. I wouldn't go to Target and scream at the employees if I felt like they weren't working to their full potential. It's one thing to be emotionally invested in the games, which I am, I'm always on the edge of my seat and I cheer when things go well and give long exasperated sighs when things don't go so well. Or, I just flip the channel like last week when I just couldn't take the futility anymore during the Jets game. I dunno. Maybe it's just me, but overall in general I'm not a big fan of being a turd to other human beings unless it's absolutely warranted.

I thought he was their #1 corner? What happened?

Some of these comments are insane. I hate the way some fans dehumanize these players and act like they should be out there even if their arms are falling off. They're friggin' human beings. They aren't superheroes. Yeah, they get paid a lot of money but getting a fat salary doesn't justify playing while far less than 100%. You're more of a detriment than an asset if you're out there playing hurt because you're not going to be as effective. It's like some people just have no problem speaking so ill of these guys and they always wanna justify by pointing out how much money they make. Or if they aren't performing as well as they can, the name-calling and calls to be cut and kicked out of the league, it's just like, blech. Is that fandom? I don't see it that way. At the end of the day, these guys are all just a bunch of human beings with a really interesting job. They aren't invincible. I dunno, maybe that's just me but I'm not in the habit of degrading any player for any football-related reason.

He certainly sounds like he wants to be here and be a part of this team and culture. He also comes across as exactly the type of player they want on the roster. He's a team guy, he's here to do his part and he's a good teammate. And I don't think he'll have a real high price tag. Plus he's just turned 25 over the summer, KB is 26 and Jones is 22. That's a solid group with two guys in prime years for athletes and another guy who would benefit greatly from having those two guys to work with.

I don't think the effort on Thursday was a result of them quitting on their coach. It was the result of their usual preparation and game-planning being cut short as well as their time spent rehabbing injuries. No player is physically at 100% at this stage in the year. Every player is dealing with some kind of pain/injury and they truly do need those treatment sessions during the week to get their bodies right for games. From the first snap it just looked like the entire team was tired and sluggish. It was also the first Thursday night game for McD as a head coach so there were probably some bumps in the road in regards to the process he wanted to use for the short week. They were out of sync, made mistakes they don't normally make and overall just looked like a very worn down team.

It's not Buffalo's fault the teams they beat have underachieved this season. Atlanta can't adjust to their new offensive scheme. Oakland seems like a bipolar team, one week they beat KC on a last second touchdown, the next week they get stomped by the Bills. Tampa Bay was a trendy pick to be a contender but I never really bought into them. I think Winston has some talent but I think he's been overhyped at this point and people banked on their skill players on offense to be big time contributors but so far they've fallen flat. The Jets are better than expected but I still think they were very much a "this is a team they should beat" kind of team. Panthers were hyped up to be a let-down this season yet they're right in the thick of things. The Bengals were looked at as a contender but they're also underachieving. It's been kind of an odd season so far. It seems like there's more parity than usual. I sincerely hope last Thursday was a fluke and was just the result of a tired team who didn't have the time to prepare like they normally do. They're getting healthier each week. Clay is close to returning and the addition of Benjamin is huge. That type of move isn't made if this team and its staff doesn't believe they can make a real push this season. Hopefully that acquisition has given them a jolt and hopefully they're PO'ed about the loss and come out firing on all cylinders. I do think this team is too well-coached and well-prepared to have a full-on meltdown like we've seen in past seasons. I do think their mentality is different than past teams. However the season turns out, I'm pretty confident that they have this thing on the right track. McD and Beane are 100% on the same page for how they want this team built. McDermott has very clear expectations for his players and overall it just feels like they have a very good plan going forward.

The Thursday night loss was not indicative of who this team has been for most of the season. From the get-go the entire team just looked tired. It throws off their entire schedule, it throws off how they practice, they have question marks on who can/should practice, every player at this point in the season is hurting in some form and they weren't able to rest/rehab as they normally would. This isn't an excuse but an explanation. And then throw in the travel on top of that and the fact that it was on the national stage right as a lot of people started buying in and calling them a playoff team, it makes the loss sting that much more. The minute people are saying, "This Bills team is for real" is the minute they have their worst game of the season. They were just sluggish and got out-played. With 10 days to rest and prepare they'll hopefully get back into form and play a better game against the Saints. The hope is that they can go 5-3 on both halves of the season to finish at 10-6. Unless the injury bug comes through and decimates the roster, I don't think we should expect the "same ol' Bills" implosion and see them go 2-6 over these next eight games. They're under much better leadership than previous seasons and I think the team just has too much heart to let the Jets loss get in their heads and revert them back to a mindset of "Oh man, here we go again, let's just mail it in and hope we escape each game healthy." McDermott has higher expectations than that and I think his players wanna do all they can to live up to his expectations as well as their own.