transplantbillsfan

Well. Just a thought, but people are probably being mean to each other because of hyperbole like your last statement. I've just been watching and enjoying. Too bad people can't just talk football

Yeah because we were clearly trying to lose today

Dude, you're being such a hypocritical ass here. You realize that, right? After all your condescension and criticism over the way I would respond to others in certain manners that escalate, all your "just ignore him the way I ignore Jm" is a bunch of horse manure.

Thank you. Overreacting is what everyone does Sunday. I used to stay away from the boards on game day. Circumstances lately have been bringing me here. NFL is soooooo week to week it's just ridiculous. I'm not saying the Bills will win next week and Taylor will have a good game, but it could happen. Too many are in the prediction business. Just try enjoying the damn football season while it's here. We're set up with an insane number of draft picks in 2018 so we can inject this team with a ton of young talent next year along with our (hopefully and finally) future franchise QB. But for now Taylor's still our QB. We're 1-1 and just fine at the moment. Let the coaches and players learn from this offensive performance, pun very much intended. Despite the obvious negativity, every week in the NFL is almost like a mini separate season all on its own and it's clear the coaches and players on this team are going to have some growing pains. If the Bills win, how about you're not allowed to post anything remotely negative for one week? To make it fair, if the Bills lose, I won't be positive in any way for one week. Just a fun bet. Deal?

And I've said many times I believe that, too. He's still our QB now, though. And with this D, I think giving up and saying the sky has fallen for this team's playoff hopes is premature. Hell, I wasn't even going to be shocked today if Taylor were benched and Peterman were put in.

Good for you. What team are you going to root for now? He's still the starter for the Buffalo Bills. I see Noogie's here. This must be an enlightening discussion

Our predictably, I think, was mainly due to the offensive formations. I'd love to see a breakdown of % of plays by formation, particularly the I-formation. Sure, players didn't win battles, but when you rush for a net of barely positive yardage (4 or 5 yards) on handoffs to the RB on first downs PLUS negative yardage (-1 yard, I believe) the handful of times you decided to run it a 2nd time immediately after a successful run, there's something to be said about the defense knowing what you're doing. It was a poorly called game by the OC with poor execution by the all parties in the O, as well. We should have been passing. The secondary is the weakest part of their D. Probably why we were successful doing it when we finally committed to it. The Panthers are an incredible D. Hopefully this isn't the norm. Agreed

Totally crap. You're basically saying playcalling plays no role. That's utterly wrong. When I said "run, run, pass" that's just a general euphemism for the predictable offense we had today. That predictably was mainly due to the offensive formations. I'd love to see a breakdown of % of plays by formation, particularly the I-formation. Sure, players didn't win battles, but when you rush for a net of barely positive yardage (4 or 5 yards) on handoffs to the RB on first downs PLUS negative yardage (-1 yard, I believe) the handful of times you decided to run it a 2nd time immediately after a successful run, there's something to be said about the defense knowing what you're doing. It was a poorly called game by the OC with poor execution by the all parties in the O, as well. The Panthers are an incredible D. Hopefully this isn't the norm.

Me too. I still think this team could make some noise with the D alone

Because Shady says Taylor deserves most of the blame it and so it must be? Whatever you say, boss. I guess an OL who couldn't block for $h/+ today shoulders no blame. Or a Head Coach who (this is all too familiar) can't manage the clock. We're still 1st place and remain there for at least another week. I already think this team is better than anyone suspected simply because of the defense. Hopefully the offense picks up some slack starting next week against probably an even better defense.

So you think our playcalling was good today?

No, it's what our OC chooses to do with him. That's the difference. It's funny how quickly people forget what they say in the off-season. Everyone was saying that it was obvious that we would throw the ball a whole bunch more than we did the last few years. Today, we should have.

Only throws when guys are wide open? Did you actually watch the game?

I don't really know what you're saying here. You think offensive playcalling was good? Anytime the bills handed it to a running back out of the backfield on first down they were stuffed. I think they gained a net total of 4 or 5 yards on those types of plays. And then predictably when a run would work we had to go right back to it. I think that happened four times for a net gain of -1 yard. Players need to execute, but the play calling needs to be fairly unpredictable. Or at least it should set up the players in positions to succeed. The Panthers are strong against the run and have an elite front seven. They were weaker on the backend and you could actually see it when we decide to throw the ball a little. Got I feel bad for the defense because they played their butts off. Everyone else better learn from this because if that's the defense we field for the rest of the season, this team could exceed a lot of expectations.

Run run pass... so frustrating. All week, the talk was that we wouldn't really be able to run and we would need to air it out. Why the hell didn't we?

Oh man, good recap! Thanks! So honest question, is he still a Bill next year? His contract is up after this year, right?

It's a good breakdown of a single play the OP discusses for those who'd rather see it than read it. Don't mind Gugny, he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning

Nice 5+ minute breakdown of that play.

If that's what you said, you're even more wrong. He was the 11th best QB passing on 3rd down Egg where now?

You presented it as though he's incompetent on 3rd and long and it's a problem he's always had and struggled with. He was 6th in 2016 overall and I can't find 2015 at the moment but he was at least top 10 and I believe top 5 then. That's over 29 games. Taylor's actually a QB you want on 3rd and long. He's actually had bigger issues on 3rd and short, so seeing him high there is hopefully a sign of things to continue.

Hey how about we get back to talking about Taylor, even though it's now a distant memory in this thread. Based on the 1st week alone, here's how Taylor ranks in some key passing stats: http://stats.washingtonpost.com/fb/leaders.asp?range=NFL&rank=098&type=Passing %First Downs, Pass on 3rd Down- 11th %1st Dwn/Pass Att, 3rd & 8+- 19th %1st Dwn/Pass Att, 3rd & <3- tied for 1st Passing Yards- 18th YAC- 9th YPA- 6th Passing TDs- tied for 5th 25+ yard passes- tied for 10th %First Downs/Attempt- 9th % TDs/Attempts- tied for 6th

Come on, Shaw. A 3 foot high pass is a terrible pass to any NFL player in almost any situation. If there is a midget league out there, though, then it becomes a great pass

You took that as me being defensive? I criticized the timing of his throw and then talked about the pass itself, which is what everyone else here is doing. Why do you assume I'm being any more defensive than you or anyone else discussing this issue?

Geez. That pass got some miles on it, huh? I get the timing argument. Taylor could have thrown it a little earlier. But no one seems to know if Jones or Clay was the 1st read. Looks like Jones to me, but I don't know. Do you? If Jones was the 1st read, we're picking over likely a fraction of a second when Taylor should have thrown the ball earlier. We're fans so we can nitpick like that. But maybe it should just make us appreciate how damn difficult the position is...? And regardless, isn't it still something Taylor seems to be progressing on? Throwing over the middle and going through reads is something absolutely no QB gets 100% right, including Brady. Seems good we're nitpicking this. However, Clay should have and could have caught that ball. Last year in the 2nd NE game I spent a long time and a number of posts critiquing a gorgeous bomb that hit Clay right in the hand that he couldn't pull in largely because I think he lacks good hands combined with ball awareness. And that's what came into play here, again. Is blame supposed to be adjusted based on the WRs or should all NFL WRs/TEs be expected to catch footballs that don't involve acrobatic feats?

We're at least on the same page with QBs more than I thought. I think your "institutional cohesion" thing can just happen much more quickly than you, I guess. I think new coaches and GMs can very quickly bring that in if they're the right guys.