transplantbillsfan

Yes just probably on a computer. Go to "play index" on PFR and set your parameters I think both of these posts are indicative of my biggest issue with Dennison: If something was successful once, he believed he could go back to it again on the next play (figuratively) and have the same success.

As unpopular as this might be, I thought Taylor played well in the first half of that game. I thought he was playing well enough to make up for some head-scratching faults of our OC. I think Denison liked to just go to the well way too frequently and didn't space it enough. What I mean by that is look at the very first two first downs of the game. They were the exact same friggin play! And it didn't work either time! Actually, first and second down we're almost to the exact same in the first six downs so that we had: 1st down- Play Action Bootleg read well by Jax 2nd down- 3 yard rush by McCoy that probably could have been stuffed for less with a different RB 3rd & 7- 1 conversion to Zay with a nice pass in the pocket followed by a Jacksonville blitz that quickly gets to Taylor without giving him the opportunity to throw it. Think the Jags saw a pattern? Next drive: 1st down- McCoy run for 1 yard 2nd down- McCoy stuffed for -1 yards 3rd & 10- sideline pattern to Thompson who catches the ball 1 yard short of the stick without time to realize he's short and extend the ball. In the 1st half alone the Bills ended up with only 2 3rd and 2s, 1 3rd and 5, 2 3rd and 6s, 5 3rd and 7s, 1 3rd and 10 and 1 3rd and 13 and ended up 6/12 (50%) in converting those for 1st downs with one due to a defensive penalty. That's pretty good against that D.

Well, we need to upgrade on Taylor, but I don't know that we can't be critical of Dennison on 3rd down, too. Yes, The Bills were 6th in the NFL in 3rd down conversions with a 41.9% conversion rate. We converted 101 out of 241 3rd down attempts. The Bills were also tied with Denver for the most 3rd down attempts in the NFL, which could be the result of the most stuffed runs on 1st and 2nd down. And the reality is that the Bills were just 27/79 (34.2%) on 3rd down plays where Taylor was just handing the ball off or the Bills were in Wildcat or Peterman was playing because, on the year, Taylor was 74/162 (45.7%) in converting 3rd downs via run or pass. You beat me to it

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/play_finder.cgi?request=1&match=all&role=rusher&year_min=2017&year_max=2017&game_type=R&game_num_min=0&game_num_max=99&week_num_min=0&week_num_max=99&quarter[]=1&quarter[]=2&quarter[]=3&quarter[]=4&quarter[]=5&tr_gtlt=lt&minutes=15&seconds=0&down[]=1&down[]=2&yg_gtlt=lt&yards=0&field_pos_min_field=team&field_pos_max_field=team&end_field_pos_min_field=team&end_field_pos_max_field=team&type[]=RUSH&no_play=N&turnover_type[]=interception&turnover_type[]=fumble&score_type[]=touchdown&score_type[]=field_goal&score_type[]=safety&rush_direction[]=LE&rush_direction[]=LT&rush_direction[]=LG&rush_direction[]=M&rush_direction[]=RG&rush_direction[]=RT&rush_direction[]=RE&order_by=game_date Guys, I'm really sorry if you feel this didn't deserve it's own thread, but I gotta give a shout out to twoandfourteen who revealed to me the incredible intricacies of pro-football-reference as a resource. Thanks dude It took some tinkering, but I always suspected Buffalo's offensive playcalling was so predictable that it ended up giving us more "stuffed" runs on 1st or 2nd downs than any other team in the NFL. It was just a suspicion of mine, though. I could never track it. Well, here you have it. I narrowed my search parameters to "In 2017, any team vs. any team, in the regular season, play type is rush, on 1st or 2nd down, gain of fewer than 0 yards, sorted by game date descending." The Bills had the most rushes for less than or equal to 0 yards on 1st or 2nd down. Those of you who don't want to click on the link... the Bills had the most "stuffed" runs of any other team in the NFL. The top 5 are: 1) Buffalo - 115 2) Minny - 112 3) NYJ - 106 4) Seattle - 105 5) Chicago - 101

Whoop whoop!!!! Great sign!!!

These are the guys on the list that I really want back. Though I don't care that much about Cadet, Thornton or either Thomas. Gaines was a pretty big difference when on the field. O'Leary has earned it. So has Thompson. And I think Kyle should be resigned if he wants back. So 4 absolutes for me.

18 is about where he belongs give or take a few spots. It's fine. Upgrade is in the works at OBD Next guy needs to be a consistent Top 10er!

Yeah but he needs to get healthy.

Why didn't you just update your OP in the other thread rather than make a new one? Lots of legwork. Nice job.

It really isn't, though I think all options are on the table for Beane and McDermott, which is pretty exciting for the offseason.

Thank you for summing up the primary reason I think Taylor has a really good chance to be back next year

This is generally what I think will most likely unfold, too. And we share the same fantasy of managing a trade for Andrew Luck, but I had more hope for that when I thought the Colts might end up with the #2 pick. With the #3 I think that long shot is even less likely.

Absolutely. If the Bills seriously like a QB, I think we should do exactly this. The problem is the trade partner. The Giants likely will go QB. But we'll see.

I may have said that after the Dolphins game. That I'd believe. But asking the question of "are you back on the Taylor bandwagon" isn't the same thing as "do you think Taylor is a Franchise QB" so if you took me as being back on the Taylor bandwagon as me thinking he's a Franchise QB, then you're mistaken. I mean that seriously. I'm not just trying to "win" in this case, even though I know that's what you're thinking. I've always liked Taylor in terms of character and as a player. But that doesn't mean that I also don't think we can or should try to upgrade on him. I can compartmentalize my fandom of player vs. fandom of team. I'm a Bills fan, first and foremost and far and above being a fan of any player. That's why I was upset when we cut Freddy and I still wear his jersey every week I watch a game, but I didn't follow him in Seattle or anything. Yes, we still disagree. I'm open to it because he's not nearly as bad as some advertise him as. He's not even bad, depending, I guess, on your definition of "bad." That doesn't mean if he's cut or traded or whatever (which is a distinct possibility) that I'm going to follow him to another team or start trashing whoever replaces him... unless it's Peterman because he blows.

Wish BBMB was back up so I could give you direct quotes, but that's not what happened. I don't really need to do this, but since I generally respect you even though we butt heads a lot, I will: I said we needed to move on from Taylor. I said he wasn't the QB of the future for the Buffalo Bills. At that point, I wanted him benched and wanted to see Cardale Jones to start the rest of the season because I wanted to see if he had any potential there. I never at that point said Taylor sucked. I never at that point said Taylor couldn't play QB in the NFL and I never said I thought he wouldn't be starting somewhere in the NFL the following year. I just knew, at that point, he wasn't a Franchise QB. I've really never changed my tune on Taylor. After year 1 I wanted to see progress and thought he had a chance to be a Franchise QB. After year 2 I felt we needed an upgrade but thought Taylor would be a good bridge until we got that guy... the Steelers game was the game that definitively got me to that point. During the offseason I thought we might draft a QB, but we didn't. As soon as we acquired all those draft choices I said the obvious plan was to draft our Franchise QB this year. All the wavering you think I'm doing isn't happening, you just probably think I'm much more positive about him because I defend him. But I mainly do that because I get seriously annoyed by hyperbole, and it's not just with things relating to the Buffalo Bills. Those are my feelings on Taylor and what they've been for awhile now. I'm super excited about the draft because I think we're really going to try to trade up. But personally, I think Taylor is more likely to be around for one more year than us going out and getting one of those other veteran QBs. Fair enough

I don't think anyone, absolutely anyone thinks Taylor is "that guy." Still sounds like Taylor might be the bridge to "that guy," though. Time will tell. McDermott's quote that "We’d like to have a veteran in the room for a lot of reasons" regarding the QB is an interesting statement to me. I think that could be interpreted in a couple different ways, one of which involves Taylor much more likely gone and one of which involves Taylor much more likely back. As usual with his PCs, he's not giving much away.

Good. Paying Cousins $25 million a year would absolutely sicken me. Move up in the draft to get "your guy."

Weird, I remember over the last couple weeks reading posts from you saying you thought Taylor should stick around next year as long as we draft a QB high. Here, less than a week ago, you even say "Why wouldnt we just keep Tyrod instead of trading for Smith?" when someone proposed the idea of trading for Smith https://www.twobillsdrive.com/community/topic/200700-lets-go-titans/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-4811106 So, what happened? Are you being like everyone else and consistently changing your tune based on singular games? I understand this thread, the reactions in it and threads like it. Rochesterfan had a good post earlier in a thread yesterday about Tyrod commenting on the "two sides digging in" and everything, but the funny thing is, most of us over on the "pro-Tyrod" side, as we've been labelled, have said nothing more than that he's a capable NFL starting QB who we should actively seek to upgrade on this coming offseason. It's certain posters in this thread and their ilk who are gathering over in the thread about Cornhole's comments yesterday regarding Tyrod being the "worst passer (he) has ever seen" who are resorting to sheer lunacy based on an overtly trollish statement. Tyrod might be back with the Bills Tyrod might not be back with the Bills. If he's not cut by the 3rd or 4th league day, I absolutely expect the Bills will be open to and even actively try to wheel and deal him, especially as draft time approaches and the Bills try to move up in the draft. What I'm going to disagree with is the relationship between Taylor and the organization. I think, aside from anything anyone says about his playing ability, everyone would agree that Tyrod is the consummate professional and, to top it off, he loves his teammates, if not the city of Buffalo. I don't think Tyrod is going to be the one insisting on a trade.

I wonder where this insane mob mentality that deprives individuals of some semblance of reasoning and sanity comes from. jmc, I've said this to you many times, but the 3 of you guys are a pack of a few others who clearly have your lines in the sand drawn and it seriously clouds your judgement sometimes. Let's go draft a QB in the first and upgrade the position. Isn't that what we all want?

Oh I see, so very catchable passes that are dropped or tipped and then intercepted we can overlook because, despite the fact that everyone on the roster has probably been playing football their whole lives, they aren't talented enough to put any blame on. Instead of the handful of plays that other players on the team screwed the pooch on that were otherwise good plays by the QB, we're only allowed to focus on the handful of bad plays the QB mad. Got it

Great, your feelings on Taylor are reasonable, but.... why is it crazy to see questions about those plays that Clay/Thomas/Thompson/O'Leary didn't make but it's acceptable to put Taylor up on a cross and stick the spear through his side? That's the kind of hypocrisy that just irritates me about this place sometimes.

You bet it is. Alas, it's not all on the QB. Lots of players and coaching (from our OC) who didn't pull their weight. Oh in that list of stuff I mentioned I forgot about Logan Thomas, who could have simply caught a football. Instead, he didn't and it was intercepted. This team could use plenty of upgrades, QB included.

Yesterday, think about how the complexion of that game might have been very very different if Thompson, O'Leary and Jones all didn't drop passes and Clay didn't step out of bounds. I'd also throw in the criticism of Dennison for calling an RPO, Taylor choosing the P, and Benjamin unnecessarily pushing off on Ramsey. Amazing that game was ours for the taking. Blaming Tyrod solely or even primarily is a vast oversimplification. Or it's instant gratification for those who assume that game was somehow proof that Taylor won't be in a Bills uniform next year, which still might happen, despite the overwhelming sentiment he's primarily at fault. Taylor missed a wide-open touchdown to O'Leary. Absolutely. That's one terrible throw or non throw. He missed a wide-open O'Leary I think on the right side learn on that last drive. That two terrible throws, or non throws. I love this thread: Can't wait for the All-22, but I was watching the game with about four other bills fans in a bar, two of who don't like Taylor at all and we all thought it was a little ridiculous of Romo to say that considering it looked like Taylor made the decision to throw and was releasing the ball before Thompson was getting open. In other words, the CB looked like he was reacting to where Taylor was going with the ball, which was the only reason Thompson got open. Let's upgrade. We have an arsenal of draft picks and I'm really excited about the draft. But good grief, can we cut the hyperbole?

You sound awfully bitter. In fact, this sounds like the ole middle school "No I'm not! You are!" Cornhole, is that you?

Defense? It's an idiotic statement. Like really really stupid. Just because you're hanging all over his jock about it doesn't make it correct. We seriously need an upgrade from Taylor. That's because we need a long term Franchise QB and Taylor's not that guy. That doesn't mean Taylor's what Cornhole said or even that he's terrible. I wish the world and the Internet weren't so damn full of trolls.