transplantbillsfan

From a purely money perspective, yeah, not great from Taylor's side. It's a spectacular contract on the Bills side for 2017 for sure. But it's going to be interesting to see what happens in 2017 regarding how Taylor plays. Because the Cap hit for 2018 for Taylor is already more than it was with the other contract and then another long term decision would need to be made on whether to keep Taylor after that. And as we've already seen this offseason, the question of whether we'll keep him or cut him is truly up in the air and based only on how he plays in the next season or 2. https://medium.com/@YardsPerPass/before-tyrod-taylor-restructured-his-contract-the-bills-had-2-options-8a19bd34709e#.53bi0qsoc An interesting perspective on the restructured contract.

So, this place isn't exactly "home," yet. Still weird being displaced. I figured I'd introduce myself in the manner in which everybody over at BBMB knew me... as a bit of a Taylor homer. But really, at this point, that's stretching the truth. I'll just start ONE Taylor thread. I know how much the people on this board don't like repeated threads, so here's one, long explosion of Taylor fun. I'm prepared to be pounced on. I intended to post some images throughout... stills of certain plays, but I have no idea how to do that here. So... I like Tyrod Taylor. I still do. But I'll say this, I fell off the wagon of thinking he's the long term answer and more than anything, I think he's a bridge QB for a few years with the opportunity to change my mind, which is exactly why I absolutely LOVE the restructured contract. His 4 game stretch beginning with Cincy and ending with Pittsburgh was incredibly discouraging. His game against Miami helped rebuild at least a little hope, though. Regardless, I will say this, there are some areas of Taylor's game where I actually saw noticeable improvement over 2015. And some of those are what give me hope. For example, I don't know how it's been over here, but over at BBMB, some folks were hypercritical about Taylor throwing over the middle; whether there's an argument of frequency or effectiveness, he just doesn't cut it. First of all, if you're one of those concerned about the intermediate middle in particular *According to PFF* 2015- 10/18 for 187 yards. 1 TD and 1 INT. Passer Rating of 87. 4.7% of total passes to intermediate middle 2016- 16/25 for 261 yards. 2 TDs and 0 INTs. Passer Rating of 125.6. 5.7% of total passes to intermediate middle. Did he improve? A 1% increase in terms of the amount he passed to the intermediate middle might be negligible, but it's clear he was monumentally more efficient as a passer to the intermediate middle. And the types of throws were more of the typical NFL intermediate middle throws with more crossing routes than 2015 (thank you Lynn... ?), although there were still plenty of those comeback routes or stop and turn routes Roman focused on. 3 specific plays I can recall (and I'd post the still images, but don't know how), include a nice little crossing pattern to Tate vs. Oakland where Taylor actually clears out the middle of the field by looking to the left before going back to the right to make the pass, a 2nd and 4 crossing pattern to Powell vs. Arizona, and a super impressive 22 yard pass directly over the middle to Goodwin to convert a 3rd and 21 vs. Cleveland. ​(Tangential to that last play, in his 2 years of playing, one thing Taylor is proving he's very good at is converting 3rd and long plays... he's been a top 5-10 QB at that 2 years in a row.) So, back to that middle of the field in general thing. Luckily, ESPN does their own "splits" to certain sections of the field, and one of those is the "middle," which I would assume is between the hashmarks. I decided to take 11 of the most promising young QBs in the NFL who are likely the future at the QB position. I'm not doing every QB... it's just a pain. But I think anyone would agree there are plenty of promising young guys on this list, and these are the guys who comprise the future of the NFL. I included Luck, Newton, Rodgers, Mariota, Winston, Wilson, Tannehill, Cousins, Stafford, Ryan, Carr... and Taylor. I used ESPN's splits and included: -total % of throws to the "middle" when it comes to total throws -% completions on those throws -YPA on those throws -TD passes over the middle -INTs over the middle -Passer Rating over the middle Can you guess who's who? QB 1: 9.3% of total attempts, 57.9 % completions, 7.5 YPA, 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 67.1 Passer Rating QB 2: 10.6% of total attempts, 59.3 % completions, 8.6 YPA, 3 TDs, 1 INTs, 98 Passer Rating QB 3: 10.6% of total attempts, 66.7 % completions, 8.1 YPA, 3 TDs, 1 INTs, 103.6 Passer Rating QB 4: 12% of total attempts, 67.2 % completions, 8.6 YPA, 5 TDs, 3 INTs, 100.3 Passer Rating QB 5: 7.3% of total attempts, 78.1 % completions, 8.7 YPA, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 103 Passer Rating QB 6: 10.3% of total attempts, 70 % completions, 6.3 YPA, 0 TDs, 1 INTs, 76.3 Passer Rating QB 7: 8.4% of total attempts, 65.2 % completions, 7.5 YPA, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 83.9 Passer Rating QB 8: 11.7% of total attempts, 74.6 % completions, 10.4 YPA, 4 TDs, 4 INTs, 102.8 Passer Rating QB 9: 10.8% of total attempts, 70.3 % completions, 7.9 YPA, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 93.8 Passer Rating QB10: 15.8% of total attempts, 61.6 % completions, 7.4 YPA, 6 TDs, 0 INTs, 107.5 Passer Rating QB11: 9.7% of total attempts, 72.7 % completions, 8.2 YPA, 2 TDs, 1 INTs, 101.5 Passer Rating QB12: 12.5% of total attempts, 71.6 % completions, 10.3 YPA, 7 TDs, 1 INTs, 133.3 Passer Rating Which one is Taylor? Who can find Rodgers? Wilson? There's one guy who throws significantly more over the middle than any of those guys, but anyone notice that passes to the middle for NFL QBs are relatively insignificant (in terms of % of passes) to all the other throws on the NFL field? If you want to cheat and not guess, scroll down to the bottom. There are some who argue that YAC is a problem with Taylor as a QB in general and it's a big reason he can't operate effectively out of the pocket as a passer, particularly throwing over the middle.. The general criticism is that it's on Taylor that the Bills are so poor in YAC because Taylor doesn't put the ball in places where WRs can gain any extra yardage. I figured, why not put it to the test? I started with the plan to do the whole season, but after doing the first 3 games and realizing time was an issue (wish I had more of it), I decided to jump to what I thought was his worst 4 game stretch. What I did was just rewatch the completions for ball placement to see how many of his completions were poorly placed and left yardage on the field. This is more about ball placement than accuracy... and yes, I think the 2 should be examined separately because accuracy would include all those incompletions. But there seems to be this general belief by some that Taylor's WRs were somehow always bailing him out and that Taylor is responsible for leaving yards on the field. Well, in those 7 games (BALT, NYJ, ARI, CIN, JAX, OAK, PITT), Taylor completed 111 passes. Only 7 of those passes were so poorly placed that they left potential yardage on the field. 1- A high pass to Clay on 3rd down in the Ravens game 2- A 3rd down pass to Woods in the Ravens game 3- A 2nd down pass to Goodwin in the Cardinals game 4- A 1st down pass that was low to a wide open Woods on the sideline in the Cardinals game 5- A 3rd down and 1 to Harvin in the Bengals game that was a little behind him... he was gonna get clobbered, anyway. 6- A 1st down pass to Clay that was a little behind him in the middle and really didn't have much chance for YAC... in fact, the chance for that YAC may have been to the middle, where the ball was thrown. 7- A 3rd down pass to Goodwin around the sideline that was a 1st down conversion, anyway That's really it. You can be unhappy about ball placement on other passes, but if you rewatch, you'll see that really only 6.3% of all of Taylor's completed passes in 7 games (which included a number of really bad games from him) actually left yardage on the field. I'd love to show you images of some of these plays, but don't know how and can't... sorry. Actual problems were the offense, which relied mainly on sideline throws and WRs who ran comeback or hook routes and weren't set up in positions due to the offense itself to get much YAC. Taylor didn't control the routes that were run, and the routes weren't designed for YAC. If Taylor's still around in 2017, ball placement really shouldn't be an issue assuming Dennison's offense is designed to produce it, although if you look at the "middle of the field" throwing, it doesn't seem like the offense Taylor has operated in has been throwing insanely fewer times to the middle. So, then we get to how well Taylor operates in tight spaces and anticipates throws. I'm grouping these 2 together because I think there's a single stat that demonstrates whether he does or does not do this very well: Red Zone passing, which you'll find easily in the situational stats on NFL.com. Why? Because as you get inside the opponents 20, you have 30 yards or less vertically to work with and you'll have a more crowded area to work with. You'll be forced to throw the ball more into tight windows and you'll be forced to anticipate your passes more as you'll have less time to get it to WRs who will naturally be given less of a cushion to work with by DBs and LBs. According to NFL.com 2015- 17/31, 90 yards, 6 TDs, 1 INT. Passer Rating of 86.4 2016- 30/50, 240 yards, 11 TDs, 0 INTs. Passer Rating of 111.7 Adding this on, according to http://stats.washingtonpost.com/fb/leaders.asp?range=NFL&rank=098&type=Passing, Taylor actually has the 6th highest Passer Rating and 10th highest completion % inside the 20. Did he improve? I think this is an obvious yes. And 2016 wasn't a small sample size, either, as he attempted 19 more passes inside the opponents 20 than 2015. And I went back and watched every TD pass and the vast majority involve a pass from Taylor where a guy is not open yet and/or not looking at the ball yet and/or going through a tight window. Something else that I think may have seriously contributed to Taylor's regression was the revolving door at WR. In terms of the number of games missed by only #1 and #2 WRs during the NFL season for each team going by depth charts: 0 games missed *Playoff Teams* Seattle Oakland Miami *Non-Playoff Teams* Carolina Tennessee 1-4 games missed *Playoff Teams* Detroit (1) NYG (2) Houston (2) New England (4) 5 if you take Edleman, Amendola, and Hogan as a group Atlanta (4) Green Bay (4) Dallas (4) Kansas City (4) *Non-Playoff Teams* Denver (1) Washington (1) Baltimore (2) New Orleans (2) Arizona (3) Floyd cut Philadelphia 5-8 games missed *Playoff Teams* NONE *Non-Playoff Teams* Cincy (5) Jax (5) Minny (6) Cleveland (6) San Fran (7) Indy (8) 9+ games missed *Playoff Teams* Pittsburgh (10) Heyward-Bey is listed as the #2 even though some might argue it was Coates, in which case it'd be 9 *Non-Playoff Teams* Chicago (11) Tampa Bay (11) Buffalo (11) NYJ (14 San Diego (15) Mainly due to Allen's injury. If you consider Inman the #2 as opposed to Benjamin, it's 13. Yet, despite a depleted WR corps, Taylor seemed to improve in his "clutchness" to some degree, at least. Yeah, to this day he's still only credited with 2 4th quarter comebacks (Ten, Jax), but actually watching the Seattle and 2nd Miami games, we saw a QB who in those moments belonged and actually seemed to elevate his team. Taylor (and the team) were robbed in different ways (refs, coaching, bad defense, bad breaks) of those 2 game winning drives. Regardless, Taylor's passer rating with less than 2 minutes remaining in the half still noticeably improved from 2015 (61.0) to 2016 (85.2). That's a significant improvement. And with 66 passes in 2016 and 53 in 2015, you can't call it a small sample size. Even within the game, those plays that are most "clutch" are the 3rd down plays many were critical of with Taylor from 2015, when he was at the bottom of the league with a 37.2% conversion % on those 3rd down passes. In 2016, he improved to 14th in the NFL and improved by more than 3% to 41.5%. If you factor in his scrambles on 3rd down, which are passing plays, but Taylor decides to tuck and run instead for whatever reason, Taylor was 7/14 and bumps up to 42.4% in terms of 3rd down conversions in the passing game. And maybe you have a problem with that last statement I made. Why didn't I include all his 3rd down runs rather than just scrables? Well, because there's a difference betwen a design run and a scramble. A scramble indicates your OC is asking you to drop back for a pass. He's putting some amount of faith in your decision making there. The designed runs are usually option runs or QB draws Roman calls and they're pretty simple, but sometimes involve a read or two. Roman & called 43 designed runs this year. 47 of Taylors other 90 runs, therefore, were scrambles in plays designed as passes. (If you're wondering where those other 5 rushes are that Taylor is credited for, those were 5 kneeldowns for -6 yards, which means Taylor's actual rushing stats on the year were 90 rushes for 586 yards for 6.5 YPC) Taylor scored 4 of his 6 rushing TDs on those designed runs, but he actually "only" gained about 4.9 yards a carry on them. Now, if we consider that Taylor, who has a skillset unique to the majority of QBs in the NFL (Newton, Wilson, Rodgers are all exceptions with a couple others like Alex Smith), many of these other QBs (Brady, Rivers, Peyton, Eli, etc.) aren't going to be scrambling and/or scrambling for nearly as many yards on these plays where he breaks pressure... and in fact, these QBs would often go down for a sack. Yes, they'll also find the open man down the field sometimes that Taylor doesn't, but that's really already accounted for in all of their numbers, anyway. So, the way I think of the passing game and vs. the running aspect of Taylor's game in 2016, this is how I see them: 3620 yards passing & 223 yards rushing 7YPA 20 passing TDs & 4 rushing TDs Four 300 yard passing games (Jets, @ Seattle, Pitt, Miami) Yeah yeah yeah, I'm pretending that all of those designed passes are plays where he passes instead and gets the same results and adding those stats to the Jets game he was benched for in Week 17. On the 47 plays in 2016 that are designed passes where, whether by force or choice (and a ton of them were by force), Taylor scrambles, he gains 371 yards. That means on all of those designed passes where he's forced to survey the field for an open WR and make a choice on who to throw it to (or scramble), Taylor is gaining more yardage than his YPA (7.9 on scrambles vs. 6.9 YPA). Actually, he's gaining more yards on those passing plays as a scrambler than all but 4 other NFL QBs did in 2016 as passers: Prescott, Cousins, Brady, & Ryan. What that means is that everyone saying that Taylor running on those passing plays is a bad thing overall is just really not true. It might be on a few plays here and there, but overall, Taylor as a scrambler gains more yards on those plays he chooses to scramble than every other NFL QB did (except the 4 guys listed above) when they passed. Those are the objective things. Subjectively, I can say that watching all of his scrambles, he really was running for his life a whole lot and made some absolutely crazy plays that would have been sacks if not for his own athleticism. Mills really was a turnstile... I can't believe he's going to be back. Anyway, I still have hope Taylor can be our long term answer, even though I no longer have any confidence he will. At the very least, he sure is exciting to watch. *For those who had the patience to read all of that... bravo!* :-) KEY TO QB PASSING OVER THE MIDDLE Rodgers: 9.3% of total attempts, 57.9 % completions, 7.5 YPA, 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 67.1 Passer Rating Newton: 10.6% of total attempts, 59.3 % completions, 8.6 YPA, 3 TDs, 1 INTs, 98 Passer Rating Mariota: 10.6% of total attempts, 66.7 % completions, 8.1 YPA, 3 TDs, 1 INTs, 103.6 Passer Rating Carr: 12% of total attempts, 67.2 % completions, 8.6 YPA, 5 TDs, 3 INTs, 100.3 Passer Rating Taylor: 7.3% of total attempts, 78.1 % completions, 8.7 YPA, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 103 Passer Rating Tannehill: 10.3% of total attempts, 70 % completions, 6.3 YPA, 0 TDs, 1 INTs, 76.3 Passer Rating Wilson: 8.4% of total attempts, 65.2 % completions, 7.5 YPA, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 83.9 Passer Rating Cousins: 11.7% of total attempts, 74.6 % completions, 10.4 YPA, 4 TDs, 4 INTs, 102.8 Passer Rating Stafford: 10.8% of total attempts, 70.3 % completions, 7.9 YPA, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 93.8 Passer Rating Luck: 15.8% of total attempts, 61.6 % completions, 7.4 YPA, 6 TDs, 0 INTs, 107.5 Passer Rating Winston: 9.7% of total attempts, 72.7 % completions, 8.2 YPA, 2 TDs, 1 INTs, 101.5 Passer Rating Ryan: 12.5% of total attempts, 71.6 % completions, 10.3 YPA, 7 TDs, 1 INTs, 133.3 Passer Rating

All of this is funny that we still have to argue about it... If folks want to call this a "bridge contract" using QBs like Bradford and Glennon as points of comparison, that's fine, but Taylor's much more of a deal based on the on-field performance we've already seen. Yeah, Bradford was very good this year, but it's not like that was expected... and please don't pretend you did. Bradford got more money despite being worse than Taylor on the field... living off "hype" and "draft status" largely really. That's why this is just such a fantastic deal. Because if the team gets some weapons (hellooo Whaley...?) and stays healthy (unlike the Vikings), the Bills could be looking to make more noise than just being the "fringe playoff team" so many are expecting. Don't get me started on Glennon. That might be Brock Osweiler contract territory...

BBMB refugees are gonna hate where this conversation is going, but I guess I'll chime in. But you can easily distinguish between designed runs and scrambles. They're 2 very different plays just based on what the offense does. I had done this for 2015 and 2016 by looking at the NFL play-by-plays to see whether they classified it as a "run" or "scramble" and then I watched the plays myself to make a judgment call. It boils down to this in 2016, Taylor is credited for 95 rushes for 580 yards for 6.1 YPC. But 5 of those "rushes" were actually kneeldowns for a total of -6 yards. Those aren't sacks, they're credited as runs. So the reality of Taylor's plays where he actually ran was 90 rushes for 586 yards for 6.5 YPC. Regarding plays where Taylor scrambles (plays where he actually took the snap with a play design to get the ball out of his hand), Taylor scrambled 47 times for 371 yards for 7.9 YPC. 14 of those scrambles were on 3rd down and he converted 7 of them for 1st down. 2 were TDs. By contrast, he "only" gained 209 yards on 43 rushes for 4.9 YPC. What I'd like to see Dennison do is cut out the designed runs altogether, but encourage him to use his legs to scramble on passing plays as he sees fit. I know some will disagree with me there and say that you don't want to encourage that because then the belief is he's less likely to stay in the pocket and pass. But Taylor scrambles more efficiently than most NFL QBs pass the football, so I say walk the fine line of trying to develop him as a passer while still supporting the use of his greatest asset.

Very constructive and on-topic posting... Guess you can never run away from this type of posting, apparently. Too bad.

Thanks for the article. Interesting read. It kinda ties in with something I remember talking about after his 2015 campaign where I'm pretty sure Taylor was much more successful under center than in shotgun. Seems being under center really helps with footwork and timing routes. I haven't gone back and watched the Dennison offense very much. Does Dennison seem to use shotgun less or more than Roman/Lynn? The deep 7 step drop thing makes sense, too. I wonder if there's a way to emphasize taking a "3 step drop" or something even out of the shotgun whenever he's there, too.

I'm sorry but could you direct me to your breakdown? Finding these things on an iPhone is a pain. I'll be really curious to see the various QBs and contracts you qualify as "Bridge QB/Contract."

Exactly. The Colts had the Perfect Storm. I can't believe people point to that situation like it was really even a decision the Colts really had to mull over. Or as though it's a situation that is often available.

You point to the Colts, but they're an incredibly unique example. They could sell tanking easily to their fan base because they were in a win win scenario with a one year window of your amazing HOF QB being sidelined for a year and the "best NFL prospect since Elway" set up to come out in the draft. The fan base wouldn't have lost any way you looked at it. People who point to the Colts as an argument for tanking ignore the unique reality of that situation.

No, unless you're definition of market value is different than what it actually is, we're getting him cheap.

Who cares? They're all idiots. I don't know how it was over here, but it just got sickening the way some posters over at BBMB were vomiting out these "reports" from "experts" and "insiders" like LaCanfora as though they were actually arguments against anyone who said Taylor would be back. In the end, Media and "insiders" lose. Logic wins.

All of this is reasonable. But again, my issue wasn't with Crusher's interpretation, it's that he believed what he had was a fact, not an interpretation. Just like what you have here, which is an interpretation, not fact. Just like what I have, which is an interpretation. I feel strongly about mine because of what he actually said, which makes no direct reference whatsoever to finding out his market value was less, and the reference you guys believe he makes to that could very well not be a money issue and could simply be a team issue. Maybe he found out he'd get a great deal of money on the open market (and the only concrete evidence I have for this is the fact that Mike Glennon is getting more guaranteed money than Taylor, which I think most reasonable people would find ridiculous), but only if he went to the Browns, Jets, or Bears, but he looked at those teams and didn't want to play for any of them, for whatever reason. And upon thinking of those potential changes, he realized what most people naturally realize: change sucks. That's just my interpretation. It's not fact. But I'm fine with your interpretation, even if I disagree, just like I'm fine with Crusher's. Just don't pretend like something you can't even possibly know is fact. This is an argument grounded in a pretty ridiculous notion, though. It just really doesn't matter. Because the big question heading into the offseason was whether a new HC would want to have "his guy" at QB, and so many thought it was inevitable that Taylor was gone because of that and because of the fact that upon going through the evaluation process, McDermott would inevitably realize that "he just isn't good enough." That's about as close to factually incorrect as we can get without actually calling it a fact. Who cares about the reason we got him "on the cheap?" I'm loving that we did. Did he say that? Exactly... maybe the dumpster fires that are the Browns and Jets were the only teams that were going to give him significant money. Some people are talking as though pro sports players will just automatically go where the most money is. I think that's an incredibly cynical (and incorrect) point of view.

Good point

Let's just agree to disagree. We're talking around each other about something neither of us could possibly know about: Motive In the end, Taylor wouldn't still be the Buffalo Bills starter if the new coaching staff didn't have confidence they can make the playoffs and be a contender in 2017 after thoroughly evaluating upon arrival. That's what matters. Teams think about money, obviously. So either you or I could be right; there's good evidence both ways. But NFL franchises and owners (good ones at least... and I think we're all assuming the Pegulas fall into this category) think about winning first

So Tyrod "told (his) agent to find a way to make things work here," says there were other teams showing interest, but that he "chose" to restructure his contract says "My commitment is to this team, to this community, to get a winning product on the field." Raves about the "very player friendly system" Dennison runs talking specifically about success McCoy and Watkins can have in it says "The main thing throughout the process was that me and Coach McDermott were able to keep an open line of communication," said Taylor. "If I needed to talk to him about something I could call him. Things were difficult sometimes with trying to move money around and trying to find what was best for the team. But ultimately we were able to get it done and I'm happy that we got it done." and even Vic Carucci tweets that Tyrod "chose to restructure" to help the Bills add pieces Yet, we are required to assume that it's more logical that he was focused primarily on money rather than his competitive nature to finish what he started and build a playoff contender with a group of players and a city he really seems to love? Taylor is now guaranteed less money than Mike Glennon, so by the logic of some here, teams were telling his agent they thought less of Taylor than Glennon... Yeah, okay... I think there's something to the actual words coming out of Taylor's mouth. All that speculation posters are doing to console themselves is entertaining, though, so keep going...

Dude, you're just bending reality at this point because you were so utterly wrong. It sucks being wrong. I get it. But own it when you are. Just man up and stop trying to act like you've been right all along because clearly you haven't.

Dude. You're being sad now... do you not see that? This is just kinda pathetic. Move beyond the money thing that is pure speculation at this point. You have absolutely no clue how the process played out and you're talking as though you knew it absolutely. You're speculating about something you don't know and insinuating that you're right and we're all wrong because your speculation (stated as fact) is true. We know only one thing: Posters like you said time and time and time and time again that Buffalo somehow "finally see the light" and would move on from Taylor. No matter how this whole process played out, we can say that assumption was absolutely, 100%, concretely false. Everything else regarding how much he could have gotten elsewhere or why he took less money is you guessing, along with the rest of us. You aren't right just because of a guess.

That's not the bottom line. That's what you think is the bottom line. We'll never know because we never reached the March 11th deadline and the only people we'll have to trust are media guys who were mostly saying the Bills were 100% moving on from him, so if you think they're credible sources and you can trust them, go ahead. And who cares? You're still trying to be right. And why? Buffalo thinks they can "win now" with Tyrod Taylor as QB. I said all along that I wanted the Bills to try to get Taylor for cheaper and that Taylor might be open to it since he publicly said so at the end of the season. They did, and I love it. But one thing you and many others were very, very wrong about was the inevitability of Tyrod being gone once a new coaching staff came in because they would want "their guy." The new coaching staff came in. They evaluated the team. They like Tyrod Taylor as the starting QB. I'm glad it's on a reduced contract now because maybe we can beef up one of the league's worst WR corps, but the very action of keeping Taylor rather than letting him go is very telling.

Wow... whole lotta speculation here stated as fact. But you're really wrong on your first sentence. The Bills, regardless of their committment to Taylor, had no need to pick up the remainder of his contract until March 11th. And with Taylor coming out and publicly stating that he would be willing to rework his deal (which he might regret now, depending on the reason he took less money), it would have been fiscally irresponsible for Buffalo to not try to get him to rework his deal. And if your argument becomes, "well, picking up the option early demonstrates a committment to the QB and helps his psyche," well that's a pretty flimsy argument. Isn't that exactly what you're being here? You have absolutely no clue what was going to happen in Free Agency because it didn't happen. In the end, the argument that it all boiled down to this offseason was whether Tyrod Taylor would be the Bills QB in 2017. He is. Despite a whole lotta loud obnoxious ignorant argumentative know nothings who said otherwise.

I think it's weird the way some folks are trying to comfort themselves here. #1: It's clear that our new Head Coach views our much-maligned QB as a QB he can "win-now" with #2: Tyrod Taylor is familiar with and has only started for one NFL team: the Buffalo Bills #3: While the Bills have a new HC, the new OC runs a system Taylor is very familiar with and is tailored (hah) to his strengths #4: As far as we know so far, most of the personnel on offense outside of the WR corps will be the same #5: Agents negotiating with or talking to other NFL teams is not allowed by NFL rules and is considered tampering #6: We can't read Tyrod Taylor's mind Now, I really don't care what happened. If tampering did occur and Taylor found out there's less out in the open market than in Buffalo and so he decided to stay: wonderful! If Taylor just decided to take a lot less money (still waiting on all those contract details... ?) to stay with Buffalo for whatever reason (familiarity with city and fans, familiarity with offensive personnel, familiarity with OC and offensive system, competitive desire to "finish what he started" and bring a winner to a city that hasn't won in so long, any combination of those, etc.): fantastic! We don't know. Taylor evidently has a PC today, so maybe he sheds some light on some of this. But for me at least, the moment Taylor said at the end of the regular season in locker clean out day (I think) that he would consider reworking his contract (I'm paraphrasing), this was going to be a big game of chicken up until the March 11th deadline. It would have been irresponsible for Whaley and Overdorf and Co. having heard that statement publicly from Taylor, to not try to rework his deal. But I thought it was inevitable that someone would flinch and that Taylor would be back. So, what did we see over the last few months? Lots and lots and lots of the media and "experts" saying pretty much that it was inevitable that he would be gone. Seems to me like a great way to test Taylor to see how steadfast he is on the money and/or how much he wants to be back. For me, Taylor just flinched first and lost the game of chicken. Personally, I think the Bills were prepared to exercise his option by this weekend if he didn't, but obviously that's just speculation... we'll never know. Or, maybe he just truly is a team guy and saw the Cap trouble the team was in and wanted to help. And sure, it's possible that feelers went out and he saw less money on the open market. Who knows? Who cares? Tyrod Taylor is still the Buffalo Bills starting QB, despite so many saying he would inevitably be gone.

Oh come on dude... it's the chicken or the egg argument at this point. The Bills running game over the last 2 years was the best in the NFL. In 2016 the Bills had the opportunity going into week 17 to be one of only 2 teams in NFL history to average 5.5 YPC or better. The running game was an incredible strength and we had a defensive minded head coach who had come out publicly time and time again professing a "ground and pound" mentality and you're talking about it as though the Bills were forced to run the ball because they couldn't pass it. Maybe they ran it because they were really freaking good at running it and a defensive minded head coach LOVES running the football. And I don't expect that to change. Yeah, there were times our passing game was a detriment, like the Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals games. But then there were other times where our passing game was more than good enough, but the D just couldn't hold up at all, like in the first Jets game, the Seahawks, the Raiders, and the 2nd Phins game... even the 1st one, to a lesser extent. Your assumption that we ran because we couldn't pass is just that: an assumption.

Actually, Luck has a losing record just like Taylor when the opponent scores 20 or more points.

Will you 2 behave yourselves and just find a way to either ignore each other or actually get along? Jm, stop clinging to the past. Crusher, just admit you're wrong when you are. Move on... new board. I'm feeling like the guy who was invited to the party by someone I had one cool conversation with and my outspoken drunk friend who I brought along is getting close to knocking over the nice antique vase on the table. Be nice... feel the love... let's hug it out...

Injuries don't just happen... not like they did with our WR corps.

How often do teams have massive success in both? Isn't the reason our pass defense was above average largely because teams like Pittsburgh and Miami didn't need to throw the football? And offensively, our run game was far and away the best in the NFL. I don't think it's wrong to make a "cause and effect" argument, I just don't know if you're making the correct one...