SoTier

Well, OP, speak for yourself when you say "everyone on this board would take McD over Lynn at the helm" because it sure doesn't apply to me. I've been skeptical of McDermott from the beginning, primarily because his philosophy and attitudes seem to bear too strong a resemblance to those of Dick Jauron. Additionally, the Bills FO, along with Beane and McDermott, stripped the team of much of its talent, especially on offense. Except for McCoy, the Bills no longer have a single game breaker. Aside from Taylor, Glenn, Charles Clay, Incognito, and Wood, the rest of their offensive players are, at best, JAGs, and most aren't even that good. I do not want a team full of choirboys lacking in NFL caliber talent who are JAGs and STers at best. I want a team full of smart, talented players who regularly win football games, and if they have opinions about stuff or they want to join in a protest or they complain about targets, I don't really care unless it affects their performance. Dennison has insisted on a blocking system that doesn't fit the OLers he's got, which has resulted in emasculating the Bills running game. That the Bills have only Tobert and Banyard behind McCoy means the Bills are finished if Shady gets hurt. Of course, I suppose it doesn't matter to the Bills OC who envisions the passing game opening up the running game ... despite the fact that except for the injured Matthews, the Bills don't have a single NFL caliber WR. I want an OC and DC who adapt their "systems" to fit the talent they have, not throw away talent to bring in "their guys". I especially don't want to play not to lose, and I get a sense that that's how McDermott plays the game. He does gamble on the rare occasion but the offense that Dennison's put together is designed to nibble defenses to death rather than just stick a fork in them (as NE does). It's a prescription for losing.

Why does the offense "have to" improve? The offense lacks NFL caliber talent at WR, at TE now that Clay is hurt, and behind Shady at RB. The OL continues to struggle, and aside from Wood and Incognito, the starters are barely NFL caliber. Vlad Ducasse as a potential right guard consitutes a black hole on the OL. Nothing so far suggests that the HC and/or OC have any idea how to create a late twentieth century, much less twenty-first century offense, even if they had all the talent in the world. They certainly haven't demonstrated any ability to create an offense to maximize what little talent they have to work with. ^^^ It's not experience. It's better protection, it's better receivers, and it's surely better coaching. My guess is that if Tyrod and Carson switched places, Carson's game would go down the toilet and Tyrod would look at least as good as the 2016 version of Ryan Tannehill.

I guess you really don't like Newton, huh? I've never been a great fan of Newton, and after watching last night's game, I have to agree more with you than with the "Newton is elite" crowd. He's not. He's a decent QB but if he couldn't run, he'd be dog meat because his passing skills and his leadership wouldn't be good enough. I think we saw that last night. He couldn't make the clutch plays except with his feet. The QB in that game who sparkled was Wentz. If he continues to develop, he'll be a keeper.

Whyever not? If the WRs on the Bills practice squad were any good, they'd be starting already.

In the alternative universe inhabited by many BB fans, the very best QBs in the NFL are more than willing to play for vet minimum to be Buffalo Bills so they can play behind a suspect OL and throw to one of the worst, if not the worst, WRs corps seen in the NFL since the merger. In reality, Cousins isn't coming to Buffalo because he's not stupid enough to put his future in the hands of this incompetent organization when he can do much better. Then again, Cousins isn't coming to Buffalo because the Bills are either in incapable of or disinterested in giving any player the kind of contract a bonafide franchise QB commands. They'll either go with Taylor and Peterman next year or they'll jettison Taylor, keep Peterman, and draft a QB in the first round. My guess is that they'll do the latter because a first round QB with no veteran starter ahead of him is going excite fans and convince them to renew or buy season tix.

Whoopy-dee! Whoopy-doo! The Bills have the same record as the NE Patriots and the NY Jests 5 games into the season. In case you've forgotten, this ain't the first time they've been leading/sharing the division lead at this point in the season over the last 18 years. I have "Billieve", however, that they'll keep their amazing streak going and figure out how to end up missing the playoffs again. Absolutely. 17 years and counting ... no end in sight.

Keep telling yourself that ... Is Mason Rudolph going to block for himself and catch his own passes, too? My guess is that the Bills are highly unlikely to finish with a better record than the Patriots, may very well finish with a worse record than the Rams, and will likely struggle to end the season with a better record than the Niners but dream on ... I didn't realize that Brian Hoyer and Jared Goff were considered good/great QBs ....

Well, sir, you may claim it's not the same management but the new management is doing the same stuff that the old management did 8 years ago or 12 years ago or 15 years ago, and I'm a "if it looks like a duck and waddles like a duck and swims like a duck, it's likely a duck" kind of person. So, how is letting Pro Bowl CB Stephon Gilmore walk in FA in 2017 any different than letting 1999 first round pick CB Antoine Winfield walk in FA in 2004 or; 2001 first round pick CB Nate Clement walk in FA in 2007 or; 2006 first round pick S Donte Whitner walk in FA in 2011? The Bills traded away All Pro LT Jason Peters for a low first rounder in 2009 ... when they didn't have an NFL caliber LT on the team. They traded away young WR Sammy Watkins in 2017 for a second rounder and a backup DB when they didn't have another NFL caliber WR on the roster. Tell me what the hell's changed with the supposed "new management" ...

What the Bills ALWAYS get when they send talented players to other teams because they don't want to pay them: next to nothing compared to their worth. My guess is that they get some pissy draft picks along with a JAG WR. I called the Bills sending Dareus somewhere else back in the first or second game of the season when that story came out about him only being in the game for a limited number of defensive snaps.

Well, why not add "shuffle the draft pick" game to the "shuffle the DB" and "shuffle the WR" and "shuffle the RB" games that the Bills have been playing for the past 17 or 18 years? The Bills may have new faces along the sidelines, in the FO, and even in the owners' box, but damn, they're still operating under the same philosophy that's been guiding the team since at least the Music City Miracle: profit is more important than wins. They do this by letting the good DBs, WRs, and RBs that they've developed leave either through FA or trade rather than pay them the going rate for players of their caliber. They replace them with either players on their rookie contracts drafted in the first or second rounds or with JAGs, ST refugees, and other assorted scrubs who come a whole lot cheaper. That pattern has been a constant throughout the Drought, and it looks like it's continuing. While every NFL team may lack depth, they do not lack depth at virtually every position like the Bills do, especially this year, at least not if they have realistic hopes of making the playoffs. Moreover, the Bills have guys who aren't NFL caliber starters starting, so how good can their backups be? The Bills QB and TE depth, before Clay's injury, are about par for the NFL, and you are correct that Matthews is the only NFL caliber starting WR on the Bills roster, but have you considered who the Bills have backing up Shady? Mike Tolbert ... and Joe Banyard? In his 6 years in the NFL, including 2017, Banyard has rushed 23 times for 95 yards. On the OL, they have no good young players to develop to replace 34-year-old Richie Incognito and 30-year-old Eric Wood if either gets hurt or decides to retire. At least they have some young OTs in development behind Cordy Glenn (Dawkins, Mills, and Henderson) unless they decide to jettison Glenn rather than continue to pay him because they think that Dawkins is "good enough".. It's the same story on the defensive side of the ball. Kyle Williams is 34. Dareus looks to be on his way out ... perhaps even this season. The starting LBs include 2 guys who were backups on other teams. The secondary players are unimpressive individually although they have played decently as a unit, except perhaps against Cincinatti when AJ Green burned them for 189 yards all by himself. The guys backing them up, though, are as lacking in quality as the guys backing up most of the offensive starters. But, hey, we all know that depth doesn't matter because it's all Tyrod Taylor's fault.

Exactly this. Last season, Watkins, Woods, and Goodwin constituted the best talent that the Bills have had a WR (you can add Clay in there as a good pass catching TE) since 2002 when Drew Bledsoe set team passing records for the season as well as for individual stats. Oh, and in the 2003 off season, the Bills dismantled that receiving corps via FA and trades just like they dismantled the 2016 receiving corps. Deja vue all over again. I said wasn't sure. What everybody who remembers 1973 remembers is the runnng game.

The ONLY reason that I wouldn't call it the worse WR corps ever is because I'm not sure that the 1973 Buffalo Bills even had a real WR corps. That was the year that OJ Simpson ran for 2003 yards in a 14 game season. The Bills played OT Paul Costa at TE, so they obviously valued run blocking. I suppose those WRs were kind of afterthoughts, much like the WRs on the 2005 Chicago Bears when they were bulldozing their way to 11-5 and the NFCN title.

Who among the Bills WRs is at least half as good as Odell Beckham? Oh, in case you don't follow the NFL except as it pertains to FFB, the Giants are 0-5 despite having a good defense, and they're further in the toilet because they've lost Beckham for the season. Their other two WRs are out, too.

Evaluate what? How they can put more lipstick on the pig they've given McDermott so that there's not a mass revolt by season ticket holders next year? They don't have an NFL caliber receiving corps except for Clay and Matthews. They have no depth on the OL, so when an OLer gets hurt -- which happens regularly -- they have to depend upon the likes of Vlad Ducasse. They have Shady and ? as RBs, so they have no depth there, either. Do you really think Mike Tolbert can be a feature back for even 1 game? Glenn at LT and Dawkins at RT would help but Glenn needs to get healthy first. That doesn't really do much for the fact that they need a better back to spell Shady than Tolbert or that their current receiving corps probably isn't good enough to play for the UB Bulls. The only two NFL caliber receivers on the team are Clay and Matthews and both are hurt. Excellent post. Dennison wants to pass to set up the run, but with the receivers he's got, he probably should run to set up the pass instead because the WRs are just awful ... and with Clay out, the TEs become almost as bad. Agreed. Too many fans refuse to accept that reality. The Bills sent their entire WR corps from last year -- Watkins, Woods, and Goodwin, which was probably the most talented bunch they've had in about 15 years --packing and replaced them with JAGs, Never-Weres, Has-Beens, and ST refugees. They sold fans on the idea that these scrubs are "just as good" as the NFL caliber WRs they kicked to the curb, and for a few weeks it worked, primarily because Charles Clay and Shady at RB have been masking some of the deficiencies of the WRs. The injury to Clay ripped the mask off totally. My guess is that it's going to get worse as DCs collect film on what the Bills try to do on offense. Even Aaron Rodgers couldn't throw the scrubs the Bills had on the field yesterday open. None of the Bills current starting WRs would make any other NFL team except as STs. Lie to yourself and scapegoat Taylor if it makes you feel happy but it doesn't make it true.

At the end of the day, you're as full of bull manure as you usually are. What QB, exactly, would be a fit for an offense without a receiving corps, which was the Bills by the fourth quarter yesterday?

+1.

Trading up for a QB in the first round hasn't been a successful strategy over the last 15 years except once (Giants 2004), and for the Bills (2004), it was a disaster because it precluded them for even considering taking Rodgers the next year. If Taylor continues to play well (and he would have to in order for the Bills to finish below the middle of the pack), then it's not imperative for the Bills to draft a QB in the first round in 2018. If they like a kid and he's available, then they take him. If not, there will be new prospects the following draft. Rather than using all the extra picks to chase after one player who could very well bust, use them to make the team more talented where there's real need ... I totally agree with your post, especially about drafting "the right guy". If a team isn't sure about a kid, passing on him isn't "drafting scared" but drafting smart. More than just avoiding the Gabberts and Ponders, the Bills do NOT need to do a redux of JP Losman, either, where they give up too much for a flawed prospect, including the opportunity to grab a much better prospect if one comes along a year or two later. As for success rates of QBs, I think that article's "success rate" for QBs is probably far more generous than I'd go with. I don't equate starting, even for half their careers, with being a success because we all know that some QBs have been starters only because they were first round picks or because their teams have nobody better. For example, Mark Sanchez has played in 77 games, starting 72. He's been in the league for 8 full years and has been the designated starter for 4 years with the Jests and half a season with Philly. I understand that the author was trying to be objective, but there's no way anybody can seriously consider Sanchez a successful QB.

Believe me, those ghosts are going to hang around until the Bills make the playoffs ... and then there will be new ghosts. No long-time Bills fan is ever free of them if the team shows even a bit of promise ... especially "Wide Right!".

Actually, it doesn't. Glenn can play for another ten years at a high level (Jason Peters is still playing well 8 seasons after the Bills traded him away for next to nothing compared to his worth), anchoring the line at one of the hardest positions to play ... and to fill. Compared to LTs, fast WRs are much easier to find and develop. The thing is that most fans don't appreciate the "big uglies" who man both the offensive and defensive lines until they're gone. A big part of the Bills' problems over the years of the Drought has also been that the FO and some HCs didn't appreciate them, either. The Bills will be needing to replace two significant cogs on their defensive and offensive lines in the near future because they're on the wrong side of 30: Kyle Williams and Richie Incognito. They really should draft replacements for both in 2018, and not Day Three after-thoughts. They don't need to also scramble for another LT prospect, too.

LOL. Whose "metrics"? Eric Wood is not an "elite" player, either.

NOT.EVEN.CLOSE. First of all, Manuel's "significant playing time" consisted of 17 starts over four years in Buffalo, including 10 as a rookie. Secondly, you obviously never watched Mark Sanchez play after about the middle of his second season. Third, you obviously never watched Kelly Holcomb or Trent Edwards play for the Bills. Fourth, you obviously never watched Brock Osweiler play for the Houston Texans. Agreed. I thought he looked significantly improved over the Buffalo version of EJ. There's something to be said for maturity and/or better coaching.

Well, why not? First class LTs are almost as easy to find as good RBs and DBs. Maybe the Bills could coax Langston Walker out of retirement. //sarcasm

The Bills don't need more future cap space so they can build the mythical winning team they've been building for seventeen years and have never been able to build because they're always trading away their best players to free up more cap space to build the great team in the future that never materializes. Enough is enough!

^^^ Actually, if you compare Taylor's three years as a starter to Winston's three years as a starter, Taylor's completion % and QB rating are all higher than Winston's. Taylor's INT % is significantly lower than Winston's while his QBR for his two complete years is higher than Winston's as well. Winston has throw for more yards but he has 294 more passing attempts than Taylor has had in the last 3 years. Taylor's Y/A is only .1 lower than Winston's. For QBs playing on teams with very different offensive philosophies, their stats are very similar when you look at the percentages and averages for them both as starters rather than just the raw numbers. Many of the same fans who believe Winston is a "franchise QB" regularly hate on Taylor because he doesn't put up the big raw stats that Winston does, apparently forgetting that the Bills are not a passing team and that the goal of playing games is to win them, not pass for 300+ yards and garner FFB points. If the Bills continue to play well and win games with Taylor throwing for around +/-200 yards a game, taking care of the ball, and making key plays as he's done, how is he not a "franchise QB"? A franchise QB does what he needs to do with what he's got in order to win games ... and not only doesn't Taylor have the wide receivers to have success throwing the ball a lot downfield, but that's not the Bills' offensive philosophy.

And Mahomes has done what in NFL games that count, exactly? Nothing. Nada. He hasn't even gotten into a game yet. He was also only the third best QB prospect in the 2017 draft. Most drafts yield only one QB who might be considered a "franchise QB", and some don't yield any. I think trading up for any QB except the consensus #1 pick is foolish. If he's not clearly the very best guy in the draft, why are you willing to risk so much when there's little evidence to suggest it works? Let's be honest here: if a QB prospect is so great, why would the team not take him, even if they have a "franchise QB"? This isn't the "good old days" before the rookie salary scale when teams couldn't afford to draft a QB #1 over all when they already had an adequate starter. Moreover, if their current QB is so great, why are they picking #1? Here are the trades for first round QBs for the last 15 years. Not many success stories here. In 2016, the Rams traded up to get Jared Goff. After a rocky rookie year, Goff looks better as a sophomore but he truly needs to be a great QB to be worth the picks. Goff being only as good as Carson Palmer or Alex Smith (pre-KC) wouldn't make most fans happy. In 2016 the Eagles also traded up to take a QB: Carson Wentz at #2. If Carson Wentz works out to be a franchise QB, the Eagles will be the only team to win the QB lottery by trading up for a non-overall #1 pick . In 2012, the Redskins gambled to take Robert Griffin III at #2. He was the OROY ... and he was never as good again. Many fans blame his injury, but the reality is that his style wasn't sustainable although the QB who made plays with his legs was briefly in vogue. It's a good thing they saved their bacon by drafting Kirk Cousins in the 4th round. Of course, the big winner in the QB lottery was Seattle who got Russell Wilson in the third. He's certainly the highest achiever among the 2012 QBs. In 2009, the Jests traded up to take Mark "Butt Fumble" Sanchez at #5. Sanchez looked decent as a rookie and early in his sophomore season, and then began sliding downhill. In 2004, the Giants traded a bunch of picks, including the #4 pick that they had used on Phillip Rivers, to land the #1 overall pick, Eli Manning. That was a win for the Giants. Eli is streaky, but he seems to bring his A game when it counts (hence 2 Lombardis) whereas Rivers seems to do just the opposite: he seems to fold in important games despite piling up impressive stats (hence only 1 playoff win in his career ... and only 1 playoff appearance since 2009). In 2004, the Bills traded back into the first round to take JP Losman at #22. For those with short memories, not only was Losman a bust, but the trade prevented the Bills from being able to take Aaron Rodgers with the #18 pick in 2005. Of course, the team that probably made out the best in 2004, which was a generational year for QBs, was Pittsburgh who took Ben Roethlisberger at #11, easily the best and most consistent QB from 2004 and a future HOFer.