Rochesterfan

Actual this is completely incorrect. The city chose to build the new stadium and spend the money to get an NFL team and they wrote a horrible lease deal that the city was in default on. It sucks for the city, but the team should not be liable for any of the debt - that is bad planning and lease work by the city. If St. Louis did not want the debt - do not court the team - the NFL moved there because they gave the NFL everything it wanted years ago and then wonders why when they can no longer deliver the team moves on. I do not think they have a leg to stand on and I think there are wasting more tax payer money fighting a losing battle that they created.

Agreed - with everything else going on - this just seems like a petty grip by the OP.

I think a lot like the Tyrod articles - the "truth" is somewhat hidden by the bias of the writer and the bias of the reader. I personally did not like the Rex hire from the beginning - I thought he was a joke coach in NY and did not want the clown show in Buffalo. I also recognize that he is a larger than life personality and he really speaks to the mentality of a small town die hard fan. I do not know if this article is 100% true, but it really seems to fit into Rex mentality and Rob feeds that more than anything. I think the thought process of the article is pretty spot on and as people said before last season started - maybe having Rob on board would free Rex up to actually be a HC and not a higher paid DC, but it also feeds into his baser desires to do crazy things like go to a baseball game days before a football weekend.

LOL - this is perfect - absolutely hilarious. Thanks for the laugh. AFL - This is just his funny take on Tyrod - it had nothing to do with Rex at all.

He does look to be in better shape - my thought is in Rex's D - he was asked to be a big block eater to free up the LBs - He was out of shape, but also larger due to his role. He is going back to a gap/penetrating DL player - needs to be thinner and quicker. I think this is a much better fit.

It should have little impact on cable subscribers - the NFL network and CBS are still showing on the TV and will allow them to stream also. I have no issue either way - another spot to stream - I am sure Amazon will be doing deals associated with NFL march or shows.

I think this is right - Transplant does do an incredible amount of work and I do appreciate the effort. I just tend to disagree with his premise which is always about how superb TT is when the empirical data and the specific quotes of his HCs, OCs, and GM seem to fly in the face of the idea. His work is not wrong - his conclusions just tend to go to far toward TT is great. TT does many things well - He is incredibly mobile and that causes teams to pass rush in a more lane based manner making it easier to pass block. He has great speed and quickness to elude defenders and get to the boundaries and pick up yards. He has a nice deep ball down the sideline although it was less accurate this year than last year - he still gets plenty of air under it and gets it out there. He is very careful with the ball. All of these things help the offense in many ways. He also has a lot to work on. Throws over the middle and slants need to be on time and they are generally late. Lots of throws to WRs that have either turned and stopped or are coming back toward the QB or heading right at the sideline (no chance for any YAC). He moves out of clean pockets to quickly and that lead to increased sacks and runs out of bounds either at the line of scrimmage or behind the line of scrimmage (for an unnecessary sack). He seems on many occasions to focus on on receiver to long and misses the windows where other receivers come open. In the NFL a window may only be open for a second or two and the timing on your progressions is very important - that is why it is a three step drop and throw - that should be when the WR hits a window, but TT holds for that extra split second and the WR passes the window and now it is scramble drill time. Watching the All 22 - provides a lot of information and it is also difficult to know what the overall play call and design was, but you do see WRs hit windows as he completes his drop and TT just does not throw into that tight window enough - so once he re-cocks his arm - the next window is a WR on a comeback or out route and that WR tends to present a full jersey to TT and no defenders - so TT makes the throw and we get a short gain. It is a positive, but we missed the big play that would have opened things up for later. I like the fact that he does not turn the ball over, but it comes with a lack of attempts to WR all over the field. Again with his limited throwing he needs to keep the Turn-overs way down. I would be ok with a few more Turn-overs if it meant more throws and more big plays out of the passing game.

Thanks and same to you AFL - missed discussing topics with ya. Enjoy!

I think this is right. Woods was a good player and most people would have preferred him move to the slot and replace him with a legit #2. The fact that he was paid 8 million a season was way to much for what we would use him for. I am happy with the approach so far. I think it is amazing that Gilmore got the 14 million and from the Pats - I think that is a mistake they will regret. I like both players, but not at the contracts they got - I think the Bills are in an alright place. Now let's see what the draft brings.

If big Wrecks was our HC we would have, but now Whaley can pick from anyplace and take BPA rather than specific positions.

Great - believe that if you want - I guess. I would believe you if this was your first TT post about this stuff, but considering that I showed how many posts you started about TT (and it has been brought up in this thread also) and not one of them objective and not one of them did you even consider the fact that your own bias could influence what you see or believe. Even in this post - people talk about the fact that there were still a bunch of issues over the middle and you act like you have the definitive research. This is 2 years of this and you were incorrect last offseason and you were shown to be incorrect this offseason. His agent had feelers out to teams and then he "decides" to take a huge pay cut in bot money, guaranteed money, and years, but that was not because he heard his true value - it was because he is a great guy that loves Buffalo. My mind is made up by what he does on the field and what the coaching staff and GM has stated he needs to improve on both last season and this season. He needs to improve - I am even open to believing that with a new and talented coaching staff - he can improve. I do not think he sucks - as I have stated many time - he was probably the best bet for this team for 2017, but not at the old contract - he just is not ever going to be a long term answer at the position and that is what we need to be successful. With the new contract it is fine and the Bills can move on after this year or next year. You on the other hand start thread after thread after thread trying to justify why he is a starter and this load of diaper material about his improvements. He is a starter because of his athletic ability and the fact that he took a huge page cut. The rest of the stuff is just filler that you posted to try to make yourself feel better.

If I remember correctly you were all over the work Roman was doing at the end of 2015. You must of made 7-8 posts before the start of last season talking exactly about the same stuff you had in this thread and the advancement TT made throughout the year and the way Roman was grooming him. I know you felt Lynn did a ton to help TT, but by the Pittsburgh game you were even ready to move on. It was not Lynn and play calling it was that TT was not good enough. Then you even went so far as to ask (in another TT thread you started) about what it would take in the last 4 games for people to get back on board. Once he lost in Pittsburgh and they were essentially eliminated - there should have been nothing that changes your opinion from ready to move on after Pittsburgh to the gushing you went to after Miami. It makes no sense to me that games against Cleveland and Miami would impact your decision so much after everything we have seen leading up to those 2 games. Look good for you - I am hoping having a real coaching staff and an actual OC that can call plays will make for an improvement, but I am not going so far as to look at anything TT has done in 2015 or 2016 and think it was good enough. He is the starting QB and the we will root for him all day and every day and I actually think with a new coaching staff the entire team has chance to improve and as to the things Taylor did that kept him around - those were not things done on the field - as other posters have pointed out - what kept TT in Buffalo for 2017 was a 10 million dollar pay cut and the ability to cut him after this year with a smaller cap hit and a void for years 3-5.

I believe I remember him repeatedly saying that TT would not be back on the original contract and that if they cut the contract he would be back. Look Crusher and you are on two opposite ends of a line with the truth planted firmly in between. TT does some good things and many things that he needs to improve. Those things that you and Thurm argue over and over about are prime examples - they are things that the GM, both former HCs and both former OC's said he needed to improve on and he did not. Now those things matter very little because we have a new staff and a new game plan. What do I expect - I think there are going to be plays where they roll TT out and he makes some plays, but there are also going to be way to many times that he struggles in the pocket. What I love about the deal is they have created a new lower priced 1 year deal and the ability if TT either improves or his athletic ability is good enough to push the offense they can bring him back for year 2 and work on a new contract. The fact that the contract automatically voids after year 2 means that no matter what this is a 1-2 year plan with the Bills looking to draft or develop for the future. Look I expected TT to be back and I am not surprised, but I am so glad they got the deal reduced significantly. He is an amazing athlete, but he is not a very good QB. What draws me to that conclusion is what happened after they eliminated Roman - Lynn came on the local radio stations and talked about how he was going to work week after week with TT and find and call plays that TT was comfortable with and what we saw was a change back to a huge percentage of sideline out patterns and comeback/stop routes with little Yards after Catch. Throws that a QB can make because he can see the WR is wide open. Roman was trying to grow and develop TT - you saw at at the end of 2015 with the patterns and throws after the Bills were eliminated. He was trying to open the offense up and in 2016 the offense did not function against Baltimore and although it produced against NYJ - it was enough that Rex moved on. The route tree and the throws were simplified and TT had some good games and some bad games, but nothing that screams long term starter. Exactly - this is the only reason he is here.

I think this should be part of your sig here, but you should give credit - LOL. I would be happy with the signing, but either way it is not the end of the world. He is a replacement piece for 2 other bodies that are gone. I think he has more talent than Hunter and can play ST as well as Easley - so it becomes a 2 for deal and I think he can help if/when Sammy misses games, but I do not think he would be the #2. I think they are still looking at the draft for that.

And how would he have done in the post season here. Would he have made a difference considering that he was playing with one of the top QBs of all time and he barely had any more catches - a few more yards and only 2 TDs. So you honestly believe that Hogan would of made the receiving corp not to be an embarrassment. He was and is a very mediocre player and for the Bills to over pay for him would of made no sense. He was only slight better in NE with perhaps the best QB of all time and Hogan is a perfect fit for that offense and was not a great fit in our offense. It makes sense for NE to pay for a receiver they will use and the Bills to be smart when they are going to be a run first offense.

Agreed and there was no reason for the Bills to value him as high. People can complain, but Hogan did not do anything more in NE than here, but they paid him significantly more than he was worth.

Exactly - nice to see some logic. People want to just blast Whaley for these decisions, but once again in this case - much like TT - He played it right. The Bills have a choice of matching the offer at a lower cost than the 2nd round tender and get him locked up for 2 years or if they decide he does not fit their new scheme - they have a chance to move on. Placing a 2nd round tender meant overpaying him for 1 year and then still having to negotiate a longer term deal if you want to keep him. Same thing with Gillislee - there are so many RBs on the market and in the draft that placing a higher tender was probably a waste of money. Give Doug some credit - he seems to have a clue what he is doing here.

Go back and read the quote that I was responding to. The guy asked how the tank was working for the Colts and I responded. I think it was a terrible example, but it was what the poster quoted. It was a good try on your part though.

I don't know, but the Colts have made the playoffs 3 of the 4 years that Luck has been healthy and gone as far as the championship game. Typically it takes a team like NE to beat them in the playoffs- so I would say they have been fairly successful. I would take that in a heart beat and if you eliminate Brady - they probably have at least 1 SB trip. Of course if you eliminated Brady - the Bills probably make the playoffs at least once in the last 17 years. They also fell into the situation and did not try to suck for Luck, but an injury to Manning made it possible. I am not a fan of tanking, but I also think that if you are not going to be good enough to win - a la the NYJs this year - you are better off looking at ways to eliminate your bad contracts and get your team situated for the future rather than just doing the same thing over and over.

Look - you Crusher and JM can all go round and round - it certainly happened enough everywhere else. You both have thoughts that are partially proven, but TT did say specifically when one of the reporters asked and TT had him repeat the question - he started to talk about "informal" discussions and then dropped that line and said I know what you are doing. To me that implied exactly what Crusher said about his agent had some discussions with other teams - be it tampering or not - he got a feeling for his market value. Point two in that was he specifically stated his decision to restructure was made 2 days ago - so although he had been meeting and talking with the coaching staff - something clicked 2 days ago that made him realize a restructure here was better than the open market. I think that had to do with two thing: money and team. I think he realized from his "informal" discussions that his value was less than he thought and he realized his best fit and chance to start was in Buffalo - so they blinked and he restructured to a significant pay decrease that pays him comparable to his passing position in the league. I think TT has a chance in this offense to put up some better numbers than in the previous offense, but I still think he is very limited in what he can do. This played out about as perfectly as it could for the Bills - they eliminated the signing bonus money that was causing the dead cap space - which was what many people disliked about the old contract and have created a year to year deal allowing his play to determine his length of time as the Bills starting QB rather than the money.

Agreed it fooled me at first also. I appreciate the number knowledge you have brought to theses FA threads - nice work!

Isn't that his old contract with the option bonus. Unless I'm missing something that doesn't look like the restructure, but maybe I'm missing it.

There are a couple of 26 page threads, but the one on TT started by a long time poster was not started with a complete rant and then ditch the thread. Are there a few Hot takes in it - Yep, but that was not the complete intent. The other thing - notice there are not 50 TT threads on the front page - they are all contained into the one thread. On the BBMB each poster with an opinion would start their own thread and the entire first page would be TT threads and they would all contradict each other and there would not be more than a few logical posts in each.

I will hold my opinion until we get some hard numbers, but much like the previous deal - I really want to see what dead cap it costs us if and when we move on. I love the lower cap hit in 2017, but it was never the cap hit that bothered me with the old contract - it was the dead cap money if we moved on. If some of that upfront money moved to later in the deal and we can step away without having paid it so it never hits the cap - then KUDOS to Whaley and the team. I anticipated that TT would be a bridge and on the old deal - I thought we had 3 years minimum before the dead cap made sense to part ways. We will see, but I think if they can get it to a year by year thing with less dead money - I would be thrilled. I am really starting to look forward to 2017 - A new HC and a New Offense that I think will fit our team better and a return to the defense that we dominated a few years ago. I know the schedule has a chance to be brutal, but I am loving this.

I hope so - that would make things so much better around here. This is what the problem with the other board was. Hot takes and run - just to get a reaction and stir up the posters.