transplantbillsfan

Shotgun and play action when under center. No ****. Why didn't Dennison just already know this? It's been pretty obvious over the span of 2 years.

Good for you!

Poor wording on my part. I meant to imply there might be playoff games, too. And it's a virtual lock we'll take a QB in the first few rounds of the 2018 draft. Where is the question.

Weird. We largely agree. I'm a little surprised you think A is more likely. I just don't know. I think with Taylor everything is more about consistency at this point than drastically improving. I really want to see Week 1 & 3 Taylor most of the rest of the season. If we see that Taylor, I think that's the type of QB McDermott would love to move forward with. I'm just not utterly confident that's what we see and other than my fun little thread leading into the Denver game, I try to avoid predictions... partly because I'm sports superstitious. But our stockpile of draft picks are pretty sweet for 2018, that's for sure. EDIT: I realized after the fact that you might not believe what you just posted here because of the bet, but I do think those are essentially the two scenarios, though I think Taylor needs to be pretty good and consistent to not draft a guy in round 1. Dude, that's a minimum of 29 potential regular season games Taylor might have played in between now and the end of 2018. Yeah, that's a big "might" but a lot can happen between now and then for Taylor, especially if he plays more consistently like he did Sunday. Why are people so obsessed with 30 passes a game and 300 yards??? Notice that our offensive philosophy (yet again) doesn't seem pass-centric. I realize some are immediately going to point to that as proof that the staff doesn't trust Taylor to throw, but if Taylor's playing like he did Sunday and vs the Jets who cares how many times he passes if we're winning? Exactly. The same thing happened vs the Jets. It's baffling.

No But I just disagree. Nothing's ever set in stone in the NFL and the NFL is always proving that. I think we're incredibly likely to draft a QB in the 1st. I just think it's a little naïve to think OBD has a decision made so strongly that they aren't going to factor the next 13 games (or more...? ) into their QB decision.

That Tyrod might still be our starter in 2018? That's absolutely not only within the realm of possibility, but maybe even more likely than not. We're going to draft a QB. That much is inevitable. Where we draft him and how much we use our now vast resources to get him depends largely on Taylor's play this year. Nothing is written in stone, including us drafting a QB in the 1st round next year. Taylor's under contract next year. It's an $18 M one year option, if I remember correctly, so he could very easily still be our starter next year.

Now what we all want is for him to keep it up. The consistency thing is truly what he needs to prove. If Taylor can consistently play like he did yesterday or in week 1, he'll stick around for 2018 at least, regardless of the fact that we're still likely drafting a QB in the 1st. But if the passing game woes we saw against Carolina emerges, let's say, 5 or 6 more times this year, that's a huge problem. Next week will be interesting, that's for sure. Definitely not a week I'll make another one of these bets. I like to quit while I'm ahead

What am I looking at? Is this since his first game in 2015? If that's what you've compiled, good work

Nice post, Shaw. I'm going to say this: I've pretty strongly taken the position that a great coach and good or even average players is much more preferable than a good or average coach and great players. We heard all offseason about how this team lacks talent. Suddenly the narrative is going to change if Buffalo keeps winning that certain players who were otherwise average before are great talents. I just think McDermott's vision and "Do your job" and "trust the process" culture is really impacting this team in such a great way.

Stoked indeed! 3-2 at the bye is a real possibility with this team and I don't know how many would have actually predicted that.

Oh Dear God!!!

Wait... you'd seriously rather have Osweiler over TT? Did I read that right? Dude, did Taylor sleep with your Mom or something?!

Good. I'm glad. I remember watching one of those shows on NFL network about Mike Vick and his coaches actually told him to run if he got certain looks by the defense. I don't like seeing Taylor on designed runs but I love it that he uses his legs to run on passing plays at times. He's been extremely successful in those situations over the last couple years. I've done the math and he gains 8 yards per carry every time he scrambles through all of his 29 games in 2015 and 2016. Nothing wrong with it as long as he's looking to pass like he was today. That Clay TD was fantastic! Exactly!

Did he really? What was his reasoning?

I know what the stats say. But I never would have done it with those stats because it makes no sense to not include scrambles and not passing yards. And it's funny because it also looks like the NFL is including -3 yards for each of Taylor's 3 -1 yard kneel downs to end the game. Regardless, Taylor was over 200 total passing yards and also over 200 yards gained in total on designed passing plays. And most importantly, we won!

206 yards in the game on passing plays. 213 yards passing -16 yards sacks 9 yards in scrambles That would have been the exception for me if you joined in on condition of NET passing yards. Scrambles must also be included since it's yards gained on passing plays in the same way sacks are yards lost in the passing game.

Umm, why? It's the NFL. Every game is winnable. Just look at today's results.

Every time we win is it just going to be "next week is going to give me a better feel" for some of you? That's the sense I get. And of course, we aren't in the playoffs until we're in the playoffs. But can we just pretty definitively say this team is better than the vast majority expected?

I think we could still win more.

I absolutely agree

So... anyone convinced we got a shot?

I don't really like the "once we have the lead we're just going to hold on for dear life" approach we seem to be going with. Amen! That's completely within the rules.

Victory!!!!

Over 200. Do we win?

I think he gets 200. Don't feel super confident in the win, though.