Ayjent

Norv Turner - great track record with QBs Mike McCoy - proven OC with success Todd Haley - another proven commodity, but a jerk All with HC experience as well, and way more success as OCs. You think DaBoll is a better option? If so, why?

Okay best QBs in the league right now? Brady - started playing on a playoff calibre team taking over for injured Drew Bledsoe Big Ben - team around him was very good and could really protect him and overcome his mistakes (although he didn't make that many) Aaron Rodgers - took over for Brett Favre on a pretty good team, not great, but didn't walk into a mess. Drew Brees - a worse situation than all of the above and didn't really show much in his first year - by the time the Chargers drafted Rivers, Brees was playing pretty well - not to mention they also drafted Ladanian Tomlinson the same year as Brees and had a decent line. *Philip Rivers - I'm a lot lower on Rivers than many people, mainly because he's done nothing when it matters to get any accolades and he puts up good numbers but doesn't really play as good as his numbers. But he had LT in his prime, a good line and a lot of weapons in place when he became starter. Russel Wilson - great defense, good running game, and solid line Matt Ryan - Had a good team around him, good WRs, good RBs, solid line (Went 11-5) Cam Newton - Had Steve Smith, good RBs, and a serviceable line. I could keep going, but the fact is that these goods are all bona fide good QBs in the league and they all had a much better situation than this. There are guys that are just so good they do excel (Peyton Manning - and even he had Marshall Faulk and a GM that understood they needed OL and WRs to help their QB), but that is the exception and hardly any walk into this type of mess and succeed. The recent young guys having success are coming out looking polished and playing well, with the exception of Goff who had to suffer one year with the worst HC you could have as a QB (Jeff Fisher). I'm not necessary sold on Goff, but he is playing pretty decent and has a great offensive head coach that knows what he is doing on that side of the ball. The Bills are basically the closest thing to the Rams situation with Goff, a conservative HC with a pretty barren team on Offense, other than a good RB, and a good defense (although I would argue that both sides of the Ball for the Rams were better in Goff's rookie year in terms of talent than the current Bills roster). His situation drastically changed and so did his success. My point is that there is a much higher likelihood for guys to fail in bad situations than good and the best in the league usually start off in decent situations. It definitely happens at times when guys succeed in bad situations and other fail in good situations, but the success stories are more frequent the better the situation. Now Allen's situation has to get much better by next year too. I'm not sure they are going to unearth the next great offensive mind to coach Allen, but the pocket book should be wide open to attract the very best OC they can that has shown he can develop the position. But would that happen under Beane and McDermott? Was Daboll really the guy they thought was the best OC for a new QB or was it a position they needed to fill knowing that they may be in the market again soon? I don't know if I'd buy the latter with a straight face, because they knew they were getting a QB in the draft and they knew the other guy on the roster they were going to keep and liked was only a second year guy. So they had a good idea that they would have a pretty inexperienced QB group - Daboll has to be their guy they think is best for this job. Seriously, think about that for a minute - we are talking about a HC that is not an Offensive mind that is going to call plays, so this is Daboll's show - an unproven OC to coach unproven talent at QB who doesn't look like he had any say in the staff. However, Daboll can't really get a fair shake with the talent, but if it is horribly inept as it appears it could be, will they make him a sacrificial lamb to the masses and search out a OC that is fully capable of improving Allen's situation at all costs? Not really fair to Daboll unless they are just putrid - if you are any good, I suppose you can make it work to some degree with smoke and mirrors, but really that's not a pretty lineup out there. Hell I'd rehire Anthony Lynn or Greg Roman in a heartbeat fair or not to a semi-unproven guy like Daboll (I guess you could still say Peterman is unproven too despite a couple of bad stints as a starter). Lynn (who knows how patient they will be with him if they don't win this year) and Roman (OC would be a promotion for him) can get a lot out of marginally skilled players at QB and I'd love to see what they could do with a guy like Allen. Norv Turner would be a great option (could possibly leave if the new ownership wants to start with a different staff and replace Rivera). Someone innovative, someone who help define the development of a player, not be part of a greatest organization as an unremarkable replaceable part in a well oiled machine. Daboll's success came with Alabama as co-OC and the Patriots as a positional coach, not much outside of the evil empires. They need to make some big moves outside of personnel, as well as with it. But they've got to get it right ASAP. I'm glad there are some people optomistic about the chances that they get it right. My point is that they have to get a lot of things right and not miss on much to get this turned around - they better be really as good as they think they are by getting into themselves into this position. The question is whether they knew this was the position they were getting into?

So how easy is it going to be to lure FAs to Buffalo if the Bills can’t right this ship? I’m asking that question because it is a negative factor along with the perception of Buffalo as a place to live. If the team looks totally devoid of talent or very lean on talent it’s going to be a hard sell and utilizing that cap space isn’t going to be easy to do efficiently and to avoid toxic contracts. The cap room argument for this team getting better is a red herring. Drafting is going to be key to this team getting rebuilt and there better be a massive focus on the OL and then some skill players on offense - they can’t slow roll getting a decent offense around Allen if they actually want to be able to properly evaluate him, but given what they did to help out the inexperience at the position this season that should be concerning people...a lot.

I get the patience and understand it, but the evidence is starting to mount and I'm afraid the results aren't going to be much better next year. I don't understand what all the cap space is going to do for the Bills other than get them into more bad contracts.

You do realize that NFL coaching, scouts, and front offices are full of guys that are meatheads where many played the game and loved being around the game, but aren't exactly geniuses, right? Fans that pay attention aren't at all incapable of making better calls on personnel than the guys in the NFL coaching and FO positions, they are just in no position to ever be hired because they have never been involved in the game anywhere near the pro level and the avenues for people to get into any part of an NFL organization are very limited unless you have some exposure to an organization as a player or part of a coaching staff at some level. I've always hated that rationalization for people in the NFL know more than the fans (on average maybe, but not all fans) - they are not infinitely more knowledgeable and they have far more resources to evaluate players - but yet they still make horrible decisions that are predictably bad. The amount of egotistical behavior from these GMs and FO people is amusing to some degree, but they certainly buy into believing they have a golden touch and know better than everyone else. For example, people who are fans of FSU and the Bills see a guy like EJ Manuel get drafted in the first round and they know what a dumb decision that is off the bat, absolutely laughable to someone watching him play thoughout his career, but you understand how someone who didn't do their homework enough could be fooled. This happens all the time - scouting isn't nearly as thorough as people believe and draft boards aren't even close to as polished and vetted as people believe them to be - teams regularly go off the rails of the board during the draft based on hunches and hasty decisions.

We'll see if he is legit, but he's got a long way to go and there is no guarantee he is going to make those strides to get there, and I'm not sure they have the offensive staff that will do the best job in helping him get there. His pocket presence is skittish - he's a good athlete and he sometimes moves well and other times looks very nervous and uncomfortable moving into pressure rather than away from it. He holds the ball too long and he's not a master of moving around in the pocket or elusive AF, and that results in getting sacked a lot (hello Rob Johnson). Those are my biggest issues with his game so far, but his footwork looks much, much better and his accuracy does as well from what I saw in college. Still a lot of things to get corrected and pocket presence isn't the most coachable thing - guys usually have it or they don't and many don't ever get better at it. However, there are guys like Aaron Rodgers who was sacked a ton early on in his career and got better and more comfortable in the pocket year after year, but also played behind Favre and had time to develop and learn. It's disheartening to see guys in their first action light it up that the Bills could have had in the past two drafts, and see this QB situation with a guy that looks like he needs a lot more work to be a capable starter - it'll take a few years to tell for sure, but when you see guys as rookies take things by the horns and show command you know they are going to be good most likely, when you see guys like Allen you know its a long road ahead to be good. It's not as bad as the Bears situation where they've got to be absolutely kicking themselves for taking Trubisky, but if Allen doesn't show a lot of progress by this time next year it's going to be a huge indictment on the FO and McD who already has trotting Peterman out on a few occasions on the negative side of the ledger.

Stick to being nice. You’re not good at being a dick.

And I’m saying they both sucked really bad. No need to point the finger at one side more than the other. Neither did anything to help the team do enough to win. A total team loss from top to bottom, from players to the front office - every one has their hands on this one.

The Ravens scored on their first three drives and had somewhere around 10 yds/play in the first quarter. The Bills had the ball for 2 minutes to the Ravens 11 late in the first quarter - you can blame the two minutes on both the offense and defense - the offense couldn’t stay on it and the defense couldnt get off of it. But they both came out of the gate looking like crap.

How was defense a priority when you don’t have anyone to protect your biggest investment in the draft and where you lost 3/5 starting level players? Oh because you decided to let your Starting CB and MLB go, and said we need to get someone from Carolina who was a poor performer and widely regarded as a horrible pickup for 10 mill/yr. Self-inflicted wounds that were avoidable and demonstrate that the process is flawed.

To a real estate agent to start looking for property elsewhere...wait...probably not because that would mean he was good at contingency planning in some way.

It wasn’t even close to hot it was in the 60s, and if the D could actually defend they could have gotten themselves off the field more often, especially in the first quarter. Gaines’ technique should have had his ass on the bench the first time he spun almost all the way around on an outside route leaving about a 7 yd cushion, but it happened at least two more times that I saw and who knows how many other times we didn’t. He was a huge liability. The D line put very little pressure on Flacco. It wasn’t like they were playing well and the the wheels fell off, they started with no wheels. They couldn’t even force a third down after the Ravens got into a 2 and 26 - they gave up a 28 yd completion thanks to the exceptional coverage of Gaines and a coverage scheme that looked like a prevent where you have a 10 point lead with 30 seconds left in the game.

Last year gave them too much confidence in their ability to make the right calls on players and trades. Last year was remarkable, and I get why fans were trusting. I saw a team that significantly overachieved with a lot of problems on the long term horizon where they would need to use every pick they had to try to restock the team. It’s finally caught up with them and I dont think they believe they have a bad team, but they are in for a hard lesson because it’s a team that simply is not good enough. Gutting a team isn’t hard, winning with a gutted team is.

That is the most concerning part. They were obviously convinced enough that they were okay with a raw rookie and a 2nd year guy that had shown nothing in live regular season action to trade away McCarron. Not that McCarron was a good pickup or would’ve been the best option, but my god Im getting the impression that they can’t assess the position at all.

You know he’s going to likely get to add to those stats and that’s the scary thing. It’s impressive - that the coaches and FO could be so clueless as to the talent they have at QB and on the OL.

Or provide necessary criticism and suggest how it could be better, do things to make it better and try to convince others to do the same.

When has Tyrod ever been that bad? If you referring to the circumstances that lead to Peterman starting last year, that was a case in point about how bad the offensive coaching and protection was, and quickly quieted any controversy. Tyrod was maybe a 1/3 of the issue with the Offense during that stretch and that’s being unkind to be honest - the defense was a sieve, the line was as strong a wet paper bag, the offensive play calling was putrid, and the WRs couldn’t get open. Expect more of the same this year and more often. The controversy by the end of the season is going to be - who’s responsible for this team being so crappy and what the hell should they do. People are projecting patience now, but they won’t be so patient near the end of the season when they’ve had to endure the rotten fruit of the Process. Seriously, gutting a team and creating a ton of dead cap space isn’t a hard job. Creating a talented winning team is - Beane has only done one of those. I keep asking the same question - what are the Bills going to do with all of that cap space? This isn’t the NBA where you get great players in Free Agency and can put together a dream team with a bunch of cap space - that never, ever works out in the NFL. This team doesnt have a a core group of proven young talent that they need the cap space to keep on the team. The cap space is not a big deal because this team has limited options to use it wisely. That dead cap space is how they were able to get decent hauls in some of the trades, but even then a 6th for Dareus wasn’t exactly a haul. What they’ve allowed to happen to the WR position and O line is embarrassing, and there is no QB, much less the two inexperienced guys they have on the roster who could succeed with the guys around them. Throw in an unproven OC who has had absolutely no success as an OC in the NFL, and has shown his coaching can’t overcome talent deficiencies, and you have a recipe for a sh!t sandwich.

I went to the Bills Eagles game a few years ago. Both teams were still in the hunt for the playoffs and the stadium and teams were really flat in terms of emotion. That’s when I thought Rex Ryan is a really, really bad coach, having watched a team that should have been sharp and focused look flat and disinterested. I knew he wasn’t a good coach but had some belief that the players liked him and would play hard, even if undisciplined. That was clearly not the case. I knew he needed to be axed ASAP - unfortunately we endured another year until it happened. The Ralph is an amazing place to watch a game with a ton of energy. My friend is a Seahawks fan and still talks about how he loved going to a game at the Ralph and that it was just the most fun pro game he’s ever been to - we were at the home opener with the fake FG TD pass. Love going to Bills games, and don’t really enjoy the experience that much in other places. The new stadiums feel so corporate, they lack character and the cost involved in the experience just prices out too many fun fans. The worst experience I’ve had is FedEx - that place suuuuuuucks.

Tyrod is a decent QB and we’d be thrilled with Josh Allen if he could be as effective this year or whenever he starts. Tyrod isn’t going to win an air duel or throw it all over the field, but he could keep drives alive, limit turnovers and make some great plays with his ability to extend plays. Sure he’s not top tier or the prototype QB, but he is a good player that you can win with. The only reason for controversy is a coach that lets there be one, but when you’ve got a known commodity that is a good player and you get rid of him to put your hopes in a raw prospect you’re making a very risky decision. If I’m a coach I want Tyrod and I want to see the rookie pushing and performing so well that he can’t be denied. I don’t want a clown show of inexperience and two guys that haven’t proven anything good in an NFL game.

Well journalist see their jobs and the organizations they work for as an important function in providing information to society. So bad mouthing an employer is a little different in the circumstance where a journalist thinks the organization isn’t fulfilling its duty as well as it should and letting the public know is part of that function. But..let’s be real sports writing and reporting is stretching all of the above a bit much. We’re not talking about Watergate Journalism and it’s a lot closer to entertainment weekly.

Whatever man. Just because you work for someone doesn’t mean You're not entitled to an opinion or have to work under those conditions. He takes his work as a profession it appears and sees his responsibility in a lot bigger view than employee and employer. I don’t particularly like his columns because they are a tad thin in my opinion. But I respect his view on what he did and why. Don’t do things in life if you have options, even if it makes you uncomfortable - do what you believe in and want and you’ll be more satisfied in life, even if the money isn’t great.

Capable, but flawed starter jettisoned and replaced with a 1st round pick and questionable group of QBs. That’s the parallel - it’s pretty simple and it’s a dicey way to go. The dead cap money and contract situation for Tyrod wasn’t a bad deal and a 3rd rounder is hardly worth throwing your team into possibly the ugliest QB depth chart in the NFL. Look Beane hasn’t proven anything yet, but the total gutting of the team sure shows he has a ton of confidence in himself to remake this team. It’s really risky and it may hurt these team for a long time if he botches it.

I don't have an issue with the move for the QB other than how they put themselves in that position - it might not have been the pick I wanted, but it was what you have to do to get a QB in the draft, especially when you don't have a good one. They put themselves in that pickle of being desperate when they shipped out their starter - deja vu 2013. I just don't understand why they did that and didn't try to do a better job up front to protect that investment.

Still not sure how they are going to address the holes without getting into the same issues they just purged themselves of. They already sunk a good amount of money into Star and I'm not sure that is an upgrade at the position. The draft picks take time to develop and the FAs are overpriced cap eaters - so they need to better than average with the draft picks for this to work. Lots of hubris in the way they gutted the team - lets see if they can follow through. I'm skeptical about it that's all. I also think that people thought that they would address a lot of holes this year with all of the picks - let's see what they do next year. It's not like this team was in a terrible place when Beane and McDermott took over - it had cap issues with big contracts, but it wasn't barren of talent and there was a decent core of players. Last year was a testament to that - because the remaining players that weren't shipped off were the main contributors of the team. Now there are even less of those guys and you'd be hard pressed to say they've improved the talent or even back filled a lot of it with stellar picks or marquee FAs. Having all of that cap room - how do you see them spending it?

I'm saying that they shouldn't have done both. The move for the QB I understand. The move for Edmunds I don't - first he is really young and there were glaring defects in his game at VT - it's not like he was wrecking opposing teams offense on the regular. Second, he is a combine workout warrior at this point - looks the physical part, with a ton of upside (not realized yet) - but as you can see his athleticism is his crutch and he needs to be much better at diagnosing the action after the snap. Third, the investment in the QB makes a lot less sense when you don't address glaring needs on the line that you could have and how is he supposed to develop with poor protection. We are not talking about low tier draft picks that they gave up, we are talking about picks that commonly result in good quality starting players, especially for interior linemen. My point is that everyone wants to say rebuilding, but the deficiencies on the OL could have been addressed, but they thought having a 20 yr old MLB thrust into a starting role with basically no competition was a better choice. Hey maybe Edmunds ends up being a perennial all pro, and I hope he does. But this is an offense driven league and they only thing that's happened to the Offense since McDermott has been hired is that it has progressive gotten worse - they have hope that Allen will be better than Tyrod, but as of right now that is not the case. The WR position outside of Benjamin is a joke. McCoy is getting older. The OL is a mess. TE is probably the only position that they are marginally improved at with better depth. Are you saying that Beane couldn't have done a better job on the Offensive side of the ball this offseason? Pegula run teams have a good track record with setting themselves up with young unproven talent, good draft picks and money, right? This isn't the NBA where you make a run on good players in FA. You have to keep a solid core of talent as much as possible, because it takes a lot of luck and effort to rebuild an NFL team from the ground up. If the Bills had a lot of really good young guys coming out of their rookie contracts the cap room would be great, but they really don't have that issue unless they want to keep Benjamin. So what will they do go crazy in FA where teams always overpay for players and put themselves back in to the same predicament they just got out of? How have the FA signings gone so far under Beane - who is a steal? Poyer and Hyde were good pickups but those happened before Beane and the rest are highly questionable outside of finding Murphy.