BigDingus

It's even more incredible he's doing all of that during THIS season. Many players would've checked out mentally by now, as putting in that much energy & effort down after down in what you know will be a losing effort would grow tiresome really fast. But Hughes is still committed to the team & the franchise, and it shows a lot of character with what he's doing. He could've pulled a Mario Williams with Rex Ryan, and I wouldn't have blamed him, but he hasn't. Hats off to him!

Were the Browns a playoff team with Tyrod? No, we wouldn't be a playoff team with Tyrod. Our offense would still look awful, just without the turnovers. Imagine it this way - 3 out of every 4 INT's this year would just be incompletions. And 9 out of 10 attempted deep passes would be checkdowns to the RB. We'd still be the 32nd ranked passing offense, we'd have 10+ game streaks of not scoring a TD in the first half, we'd lead the league in 3 & outs again, and we'd still have a crappy O-line & WR's. Opposing defenses would still put up monster sack numbers, possibly even more so, only this time we'd watch Tyrod scramble backwards & lose extra yards in the process (except for the 1 time each game he keeps the play alive and the announcers talk about his great athleticism).

I renounce all my love & support of him from this moment forward. As punishment for his crimes, he should be forced to eat EVERYTHING soaked in ketchup. Cereal? Ketchup on top. Tacos? Ketchup on top. Salmon? Ketchup on top. French Toast? Ketchup on top. A punishment fitting the crime if I've ever seen one.

Remember the thread before the season about him wanting to be a Pro Bowl caliber player & help take the team to the next level? Yeah, he got ridiculed & torn apart by people on here, mocking him for simply stating he wanted to better himself & work hard to do so. Glad I wasn't one of them, and glad his efforts are paying off. Edit: Here's the thread, all 13 pages -

...as far as wife abusers & murders go? I'm curious to watch what I imagine is an awful interview.

What does "total defense," even mean? Because according to ESPN, "Total Defense" is yards allowed, and Baltimore is ranked #1 with Buffalo at #7. http://www.espn.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/total/position/defense And if I go to any other category, Buffalo still isn't number 1. I guess they use another metric.

As odd as it may sound, I can easily see the Bills going after him with all that cap money, and the desire to make some kind of move to get fans excited going into next season. Let's also not forget the Bills have an obsession with coaches who come to Buffalo & immediately say they want a run-first, grind opponents down, tough defense team & prioritize RB's more than most other teams. We even went through a cycle where we'd use 1st round picks replacing Pro Bowl RB's just for the hell of it! Travis Henry into Willis McGahee into Marshawn Lycnh (insert Fred Jackson in here as a FA signing) into CJ Spiller. Then we decided to just trade for one with Shady, but now we may go the FA route. I dunno, all I'm saying is I could easily see it.

Sir. We don't use that word anymore. I believe the correct term now is "dumb as f***k" Thank you, and see that it doesn't happen again.

If you're talking about White, no I didn't. There were just too many corners playing much better than him this year. Still playing well, but competition is rough this season.

I get what you mean, but I can argue significant differences & advantages they had over Peterman. And I agree, coaches should not be putting guys out there over & over again if it's clear they shouldn't be, but our coaches not only failed him in development, they failed the team by failing to sign a veteran mentor/place-holder for Allen, and traded away our other QB for nothing before the season started. 1) Mullens started his first 2 games at home against a 1-6 Raiders team (0-4 on the road), ranked 24th in total defense, and followed that up against a 1-7 Giants team at home (1-3 on the road), ranked 19th in total defense. Peterman started his first 2 games on the road traveling across the country against a Chargers team that began the season 0-4, but had gone 3-2 in their last 5 games, with the 2 losses coming against the Patriots on the road (only losing by 8 ) and the Jaguars on the road in OT (only losing by 3), the two teams that were in the AFC Championship game. The Chargers had the 3rd ranked passing defense, and were 3rd best in takeaways. Prior to that, the Bills hadn't won a game at San Diego/LA since 1981, and since then are 3-10 overall against them. To top it off, he also had to face the Bills former Offensive Coordinator and Head Coach Anthony Lynn, who knew damn near everything about our offensive players. To add even more to the uphill battle, he began the game without our #2 WR in Jordan Matthews, our LT Cordy Glenn was out for the 2nd straight game, our starting Guard John Miller was out, Charles Clay was still dealing with a leg injury that had him out for several weeks, and Kelvin Benjamin got injured on his first reception of the first drive & was carted off the field. Following that, his next start was against a bad Colts team at home. Should be the perfect opportunity to show how capable he is right? Too bad it was in a blizzard... And let's not downplay the significance of that weather, it was awful. Somehow in spite of all that, he still managed to be the best QB in that game, but the odds were not in his favor. 2) Tuel only started one game, and he had a very good surrounding cast in his games, quite the opposite of Peterman. Buffalo had the #2 rushing offense, and quite a few weapons. I'm not even sure why you brought up Tuel though, he didn't do well, played less games, and was out quicker than Peterman. Yes, he fits the "random QB that starts a game here or there," but that's what backups are supposed to do. Peterman was outright named the starter for the season, then made to be the scapegoat for the team's failure half way through week 1. That's a weak ass move, and shows the kind of foresight & decision making McDermott has, and now we're supposed to trust him to properly develop Allen into even a semi-decent NFL player? Anyway, all I'm saying is the deck was stacked against him, and it's remarkable just how poorly his career was managed by those in charge. Yes, he failed to execute too, but to expect a 5th round rookie to come in & save the day under those conditions, then follow up the next year by truly destroying any chance at proper development was really unfair.

I voted for Hughes, Hyde, Poyer, Lorenzo, and Milano. Although Hyde & Poyer aren't doing quite as well statistically as last season, they're still a great tandem. Likely won't get selected, but figured they deserved some consideration anyway Hughes, Alexander & Milano definitely deserve spots though.

I hate the new Pro Bowl setup. No more NFC vs AFC, just an amalgamation of people from everywhere with no rhyme or reason, with many of them declining to go anyway.

Best of luck to him in his future endeavors. Few QB's have been thrown into a crappier position, and few have been as respectful and classy through it all. From being thrown to the wolves in their first game starting, to being made the scapegoat and getting yanked half way through the first game of the season, it's clear the coaching staff did him no favors. And for someone to have their lifelong dream turn into a national joke, it's an unfortunate thing to experience. Being witness to it is one thing, but actually living it must be excruciating. Not saying he never had opportunities, only those opportunities were marred by issues outside of his control. And to see fans celebrate your career's end must be exceptionally difficult after all the effort & work spent to get to this point, and after truly embracing the city when you arrived here. To think last April he was probably elated to even be selected to play in the NFL, and think at worst he'd have to sit a few years & work his way up by default of being a 5th round pick. Now, a year and a half later, here he is likely done forever...partly due to his own performance, and very much to do with the misfortune of being drafted by the Bills. That 5th round pick also happened to be a result of a trade with the Cowboys. I'd imagine if Peterman was selected by the Cowboys, his career would've gone much, much differently. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to Peterman for giving his all and embracing the city, and I'm sorry for the way fans treated you and the way your career ended. Best of wishes.

I don't know, but I will say this: Going to Houston's stadium blew my mind. I was at club level, and it was a fantastic experience through & through. Prices were cheap, everything was clean, the bathrooms all had stalls (lol) , the atmosphere was great, etc. Overall, just a much better experience than I ever imagined (and I've been to the Jerry World a ton of times). And holy s*** it got loud. At one point I leaned over to my wife & yelled "imagine how loud it'd be if the Bills had a dome like this!" to which she said "WHAT!?" Lol then I practically lost my voice trying to repeat it an inch from her ear. I never knew Houston fans as that passionate, especially since it wasn't entirely sold out. Yet the crowd roar on 3rd downs was louder than any Bills home game I've been to, and you could tell it wasn't artificial or anything. The fans got seriously into it. But if we had a stadium like that, it'd be even better. It'd be impossible for opposing offenses to hear anything, and would probably result in quite a few false starts/delay of games each Sunday.

Yeah, I'm sure many teams have better atmospheres for openers & early in the season, but even when the Bills are looking like they'll lay another egg for the season, the fans & stadium are usually awesome. Like many have said before, it's far more like a college atmosphere than a pro one, and I'm saying that as a guy who went to Texas Tech with some of the most rowdy fans in the Big XII (side note: why the actual f*** is it still the Big "12?" Ten teams...c'mon guys). But when the weather is bad or just too cold, combined with the offense being dismal to watch, I've noticed the fans in the stands are much less motivated to invest in the game, and are also quite a bit more agitated & irritable. Not nearly as supportive as some may lead you to believe, but I don't blame them either. I hope your experience is great though! Enjoy, and bring them some good luck

Agreed. Even though I dislike him personality-wise, he's still a human being with his own goals & dreams, and to have a great opportunity ripped away from you like this, potentially dashing all the dreams, really makes me sympathize for the guy. Millionaire or not, I don't like hearing stories like this.

Actually feel pretty bad for the guy. Yes, I know he's made plenty of money, but the man's only 30 years old and is looking to be finished with the profession he's dedicated his entire life to up until this point. Crazy to think he's got another 40+ years ahead of him with the unknown ahead of him. I can't imagine being done working at 30, especially if I had 1 craft that I spent my life becoming proficient in.

But sports is the place where fans typically side with Billionaire owners who look for handouts over their millionaire employees who actually risk physical harm for their money, and who have a much shorter window to make that money. It's an odd situation that doesn't mirror how most people view other professions.

But isn't it amazing how so many analysts still claim QB's like Mahomes aren't pro-ready because colleges are doing them a disservice by running so many spread offenses? They seem to miss how the NFL is leaning more & more into running college-style offenses. Yes, the spread offenses in the NFL aren't quite as pronounced as some of the more flagrant examples in college, but Mahomes comes from my Alma mater which is typically one of those "air-raid spread" offenses that get brought up as incompatible with the NFL. The guy threw for friggin 734 yards in a single game in 2016! SEVEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY FOUR! And it wasn't even against some D-2 or D-3 school, it was against the ranked Oklahoma Sooners. Oh, and he managed to set the FBS record with 819 yards of total offense in that game too. People see numbers like that & end up just disregarding the person & calling them scheme-players. But when smart coaches evolve with the game & work a player's strength into their schemes, you put players in a position to succeed. Even though Andy Reid was working on his system before this year, you can bet your ass he was closely examining the college game and the dominant spread offenses, and evaluating who the best player for the job would be. There's a reason they were willing to give up an extra 1st round pick to take the guy...they knew damn well the strengths he possesed & identified Mahomes SPECIFICALLY for the job. Now they're reaping the rewards.

Movin' on up! Going to the XFL is probably an upgrade over being the Bills GM at this point

Uh, Poyer's contract was for 4 years and only $13 million (so $3.25 million a year), and Hyde's contract was 5 years for $30 million, with his 2017 salary only being $2.3 million. He got a $1.6 million signing bonus, but we were able to sign him for cheap up front by back loading the contract. Those aren't monster contracts. The league average for FS (which includes rookies) is $2.8 million a year, and $2.6 million for SS. The average salary of the top 30 safeties in the league is $7.5 million. The cap was a huge issue going into the 2017 offseason. Remember, they had only 49 players under contract heading into it, with 34 players becoming free agents (23 unrestricted). They only had $2.8 million to roll over towards the next season (compare that to this year, they'll roll over an additional $10 million into 2019), and only were left with about $24 million to spend on 41 players going into the draft & training camp. To think having only $24 million to sign quality free agents, pay rookies, and make deals with wasn't a problem is crazy, especially when the Bills were getting crap production out of all that money. And because of those poor contracts & paying crappy players, we were backed into a situation where we had to just bite the bullet & destroy our cap this year with dead money. The Bills are dead last in spending for ALL TEAMS on active salaries this year with only $125 million. Yet due to poor cap management in the past, the Bills entered the season with only $8.5 million in cap space! Thankfully next year will be a completely different story, with upwards of $90 million in cap space available, but that's because the cap WAS a problem in the past, but management decided to just take the L this year in hopes of fixing it in the long run.

Ok, I'm all for using numbers to backup an argument, but that's the stupidest "correlation equals causation" example I've ever seen. We'd have to be idiots to ignore: Rams: 1. Significant leap in Jared Goff's play his sophomore year + 2. Lost Jeff Fisher + 3. Gained Sean McVay + 4. Got Cooper Kupp (who was far more impactful than Watkins) + Chiefs: 1. Patrick Mahomes instead of Alex Smith (He's on pace to throw for 5,155 yards...compared to Smith's best year EVER 4,042 last season) + . . . . . 2. Andy Reid having someone capable of running the offense he's always wanted to run + 3. Duo of Hunt & Hill being even better their 2nd & 3rd years + 4. Patrick Mahomes....again, this matters the most. Also, let's make it more clear how goofy your example is. What if I say: Sammy Pre-Rams: 53.75 yards per game in 2016 Sammy with Rams: 39.53 yards per game in 2017 Whelp, guess the 2016 Bills > 2017 Rams, and Tyrod Taylor > Jared Goff Sammy in 2015: 80.53 yards per game Sammy in 2018: 57.22 yards per game Again, 2015 Bills > 2018 Chiefs, and Tyrod Taylor > Patrick Mahomes Not trying to be rude, but your numbers don't at all reflect some hidden Watkins-effect. He does not account for an extra TD+FG per game for the Chiefs this year, nor did he account for an extra 2 TD's per game for the Rams in 2017. I'm not even suggesting you mean he literally is responsible for those points, only that his existence on those teams did not open up an additional 10-14 points of offense every single game directly or indirectly.

I also live in Dallas and flew to games there. Let me tell you one thing though, disregard #2. You won't get a good feeling of the atmosphere that far into a Bills season, especially THIS season. The Bills don't have to be good for the fans to support them, but they have to at least be watchable. I went to a game end of November back in 2008, and we weren't half as bad as this team but weren't looking likely to make the playoffs either. We were 6-5 going into that game, and there were plenty of empty seats. Though many of the diehard fans may enjoy the cold, it's clear regular Buffalonians who aren't enamored with it dislike wasting time in the weather to watch a poor team play. My game wasn't even bad, just a tiny bit of mist in the cold, but it was clear fans weren't willing to come out. To top it off, normally nice Buffalonians are usually beaten down by this team by that point & are much more apathetic, cynical & not as cheery. I almost got in a fight in the stands, and it takes a LOT to piss me off. Thankfully I put the fear of god into that dude and he opted to just bail, but man...complete opposite atmosphere of what every other Bills game I've gone to was like. Key thing there is every other game I've gone to has been in September or October, usually the earlier in the season the better. Still, the tailgaiting was fun, and I love the city's architecture & less-modern look (compared to Dallas at least). We of course lost to the lowly 49ers, with our reliable kicker somehow missing several field goals, but it was still a decent time. I'm just saying whatever happens, don't judge the atmosphere based off of a late game this season. Come back pretty much any other time, and you'll see how awesome Bills fan really can be.

Unfortunately, I don't think this is even close to the worst place scenario. Worst case would be McDermott doubling down on a failed QB feeling the pressure to win and pulling a Sammy Watkins-esque deal where they trade 2020's 1st round pick to move back up in the draft & grab a high profile player. Then that doesn't pan out, the next regime takes over without a 1st round pick, and also starts the typical "throw out all the old regime's personnel and replace them with mine" shtick. Then any talent we invested heavily in gets gutted, opening more holes & leads to us spinning our wheels spending picks & money replacing holes we made ourselves. And with all that cap space you mentioned, they could feel compelled to overpay for players just to get them here, leaving us with massive contracts that'll put us in cap hell for years. On top of that, it won't be long for some of that other talent to hit FA, and the Bills will look like the NFL's farm league once again watching guys we drafted & developed leave for greener pastures once their deals are up. With poor management, coaching and lack of talent, we could go in circles for years to come leading to another decade or 2 of futility. Now THAT is the worst case scenario We should just alternate between WR's & O-linemen. The more O-linemen the merrier. Whether it's for depth or competition, let's get as many bodies in there and allow the cream to rise to the top. And hopefully we don't just scout the undrafted FA WR's for camp bodies as usual.

I swear Jihad on you in the name of the all-holy Ralph Wilson!