SoTier

This is what makes me angriest about the Bills this year. It's like they (the FO and at least some of the coaching staff like Dennison) decided that since the players Bills had didn't fit their pre-conceived ideas of what they wanted, they basically gave up on the season despite the fact that the Bills played pretty well the first half of the season. That's an insult to the players and to the fans.

What if there's no QB worth drafting left by the time the Bills pick in the first round? To say, "they better draft a QB in the first round" without even knowing which QBs will actually be availabe for the draft seems foolhardy to me and smacks of just drafting a QB to please the fans. The Bills, of course, will probably do it ... they seem to have drafted Losman and Manuel for just that reason. FYI: between 2000 and 2015, there have been as many as 4 QBs go in the first round but only in 2004 did as many as 3 of the first rounders become top QBs. 2005 (Smith, Rodgers), 2008 (Ryan, Flacco), and 2012 (Luck, Tannehill) had 2 first rounders who were keepers. You might include 2015 (Winston, Mariota) as well but neither one has made enough progress to say they "top QBs" right now. 2002, 2006, 2007, 2010, and 2013 didn't produce any franchise QBs from any round, and 2014 looks to be another dud unless Teddy Bridgewater not only comes back from a devastating injury but also plays significantly better than he did early in his career.

This is something that too many Bills fans just cannot get their brains around. They believe that the Bills are going to somehow manage to draft the next Aaron Rodgers just because they draft a QB in the first round. Where they'll be drafting, they'll be lucky to get somebody as good as an Andy Dalton or Ryan Tannehill or Jay Cutler. More than likely, if they draft a first round QB in 2018 just to put butts in the seats, which is what they did in 2004 and 2013, they'll get the same result they got then: a JP Losman or an EJ Manuel. None of the veteran QBs likely to be available as FAs next season -- Bradford, Brees, Cousins, Keenum, Manning are probably the best of the lot -- will be willing to come to the Bills with their crappy OL and WR corps. Maybe they could trade for Alex Smith -- give KC back their first rounder which would be a Billsy thing to do -- and maintain their sterling reputation for being the NFL's easiest team to dupe.

In the WC game? Unlikely, and even more so this year when the only two truly dominant teams in the AFC are NE and Pitt who won't be playing in the WC game. Besides, if Tim Tebow can lead the 8-8 Denver Broncos to a playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, ANY team that makes the playoffs has a chance to win a WC game. What the hell do you think Peterman playing 2 or 3 games at the end of the season is going to tell you about him? Do you know how many really crappy QBs have looked really good for a few games and then bombed out when asked to start long term? I think Brock Osweiller is the most spectacular recent one but the Bills once thought Trent Edwards was their savior because he looked good as a rookie. It usually takes a couple of years or more as a starter to be sure a QB is a real deal. BTW, Peterman didn't play particularly well at Pitt. He only came to the notice of most pro scouts at the Senior Bowl practices.

Or maybe the thing that separates Belichick from the rest of the NFL coaches is that he actually believes what he says and prepares accordingly? I disagree. Parcells was a pretty good coach, but he was dependent on Belichick for much of his reputation. He never won a playoff game without Belichick as his DC.

It makes me both angry and sad that Simpson was the best Bills player ever ... and that memories of him are forever tarnished by his actions after he retired from the game.

So, that's an excuse to dismantle the offense? The QB's not good enough so we'll get rid of all his WRs, screw up the OL by forcing a new blocking scheme on them that simply doesn't fit the personel, and hurt the running game by replacing a decent second RB with a crappy one, and that will surely give us the opportunity to do what, exactly? Prove that Taylor isn't "good enough"? Lose as many games as possible? Demonstrate once again that the Bills remain committed to avoiding the playoffs at all costs?

I agree with all this. Unfortunately, I doubt that the Bills under the current regime are capable of developing any QB except possibly another Andrew Luck type because Dennison seems uninterested/incapable in adapting his system to maximize his QB's strengths and minimize his weaknesses. Certainly Peterman's performance in SD ought to raise red flags about Dennison and his offensive coaches since Peterman was asked to execute a game plan that was totally inappropriate for a late round rookie QB making his first NFL start, especially when playing behind a sub-par OL with easily the worst WR corps in the NFL.

On White's interception, Alex Smith had Kelce open and waving to him in the EZ ... but you and the numerous others who continually bring up all the plays Taylor "left on the field" always ignore other QBs' mistakes and act as if Taylor is the only QB in the NFL who doesn't make the absolute best decision every single time he throws the ball. The Taylor-haters have even tried to do that with Peterman, making all kinds of excuses and/or pretending those 5 INTs somehow didn't happen. Guess what. Even Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady "miss" plays. Of course, since those two QBs are not only the two best in the NFL but are surrounded by talented players and the recipients of excellent coaching, they usually can make up for those misses. Taylor is not as good as Rodgers and Brady, but he also has the bigger handicap, this year especially, of being surrounded by JAGs, STers, and PS refugees and suffering under crappy offensive coaching.

Among your many inane posts on this MB, this one is so stupid that I have to think that you posted this as a joke. Even you cannot be this ignorant to write this bull manure ... at least hope I would hope so because otherwise it's pretty sad.

Except that Ryan didn't cave. The last game he coached was the 34-31 OT loss to the Carp. Taylor was his QB. Manuel started the last game of the season, another loss, with Anthony Lynn as interim HC. More likely Taylor would get a bonus for starting all sixteen games or some other performance milestone, and the Bills didn't want to pay it. They did that with JP Losman one year. However different some fans think this regime is from previous ones, most of the same manure that went on previously is still going on. My guess is somebody above the level of GM sent down the order to bench Taylor last year ... and likely did the same this year.

Matthews is what he was in Philly: a JAG. Besides, with Benjamin, Jones, and Thompson, they've got at least 1 more NFL caliber WR than they had in September, so be happy.

Yeah, but the Bills love doing it because ... well, it's just worked so well in their strategy to avoid the post-season. Right-o. It's so smart because it's worked so well all over the league: replace all your talent with scrubs and rookies. The only bear the Bills are loading up for is losing for the foreseeable future. Cousins isn't going to sign with a team with no OL and 1NFL caliber starting WR with a bad knee. All those players you mentioned were disposed of by the Bills because they were expensive. So is Shady. Like Glenn, Clay, Incognito, and anybody else on the team making above league minimum, he's likely to get the axe as the Bills continue their quest to out-Cleveland the Browns. Since only about 50% of QBs drafted in the top half of the first round since 2000 turn out to be decent starters at best (Jay Cutler level or better), and even fewer turn out to be "franchise QBs", I guess the Bills' penchant for drafting DBs in the first round is really, really smart, huh?

If the Bills win, it would prove it.

The Giants aren't releasing Manning before the end of the season. They're taking so much heat from the NY and national media over benching him that they simply wouldn't dare even if he was causing problems on the team, which, of course, he's not because that's not how the Mannings roll, especially Eli who probably bleeds Giants blue. This is just another crappy HC looking for a scapegoat.

I suppose if they thought he'd never play again that they wouldn't pick up his option, but I would have thought by March that they might have had a better handle on his recovery.

There are NOT going to be 7 QBs taken in the first round, much less the first 7 picks. There are generally only 10-12 QBs taken in the entire 7 rounds of the draft. Even back in the 1970s when there were 17 or 18 rounds in the draft and sometimes 20+ QBs were taken, most of those came in the later rounds. The best QB draft ever, 1983, had 6 first rounders scattered from #1 to #27 but there is absolutely no indication that 2017 is anything like 1983 in quality or volume ... except in the minds of some TBD posters like the one who made this claim. The last time more than 4 QBs were taken in the first round was in 1999 when 5 were drafted.

Bridgewater is a 2014 first rounder, so Minnesota should have him for 2019 on his rookie contract. I agree with your assessment of Bridgewater pre-injury; he was not spectacular, but as Keenum has shown, the Vikes have the talent and the coaching to win with even a reasonably talented QB with some leadership skills. I think Bradford is definitely the odd man out, and Bridgewater the likely winner if he is truly healed from his injury.

No team is going to trade for Taylor because they know that the Bills will cut him in the off-season. Just like no team would give up a decent pick for Dareus because they figured that the Bills would cut him in the off-season and they could get a top DT in his prime for free with a more team-friendly contract -- until Jax decided they could make the playoffs despite having Bortles as QB if their D was better.

And what, exactly, is that plan? How exactly does a team rebuild by shedding younger, talented players and keeping/acquiring older players who spent their careers as backups or STers?

And I prefer reality to myth. Wade Phillips was here 3 years before he was forced out by Wilson (1998-2000) Gregg Williams was here 3 years and his contract was not renewed (2001-2003) Mike Mularkey was here for 2 years before resigning. (2004-2005) Dick Jauron was fired in his fourth year after having his contract renewed in 2008. (2006-2009) Perry Fewell was the interim HC who took over from Jauron. (2009) Chan Gailey was HC for 3 years. He may have been fired or just didn't have his contract renewed. (2010-2012) Doug Marrone was HC for 2 years. He chose to quit, probably after losing a power struggle with Doug Whaley. (2013-2014) Rex Ryan was the only regular HC who was fired after less than 2 full seasons on the job. Again, see above. The Bills haven't gone around firing their coaching staffs because they didn't make the playoffs. Ryan was fired because he was an incompetent buffoon who made promises he couldn't keep and used the team payroll as a feeding trough for his family and friends. He deserved the boot. In hindsight, perhaps the Bills should have tried harder to keep Marrone and even Mularkey. Both seem to have turned out to be decent NFL HCs. I think you misread/misinterpreted my statement. I meant that no HC had ever tried it before. IMO, it's ludicrous to think an NFL HC woud consider it since it's totally out of character because like players, they're conditioned to always try to win.

My realism says that starting Peterman in a game that the Bills appeared to have a chance to win when the Bills had a winning record and a hold on a playoff spot only makes sense if the purpose was to distract fans from the defensive collapse and the coaching staff's inability to fix it. Sorry, but you own your mistakes, especially when you want the power to make the big decisions, and that applies to first year HCs, too. McDermott made one in starting Peterman. Dennison made more than one in the Peterman fiasco, including not seeing that that kid wasn't ready to start as well as drawing up a game plan that would set up just about any first time NFL starter to fail. If McDermott continues to make serious mistakes down the stretch that call his coaching judgement into question, then yes, maybe he should be replaced. Cry me a river. "It's time to try see if this rookie QB drafted on Day Three is the next Tom Brady," said no NFL HC ever with his team having a winning record and a piece of the playoffs, especially when his rookie QB was as unready for a pro start as Peterman appeared to be. Taylor had 1 bad game ... against the Saints. Maybe if Dennison designed plays that had some prayer of working against good defenses, Taylor wouldn't have to check down so much. Dennison is the one who decides which plays the Bills run, y'know. Minnesota doesn't have a franchise QB either, but they sure don't play Jauron 2.0.

The Bills aren't getting a third or any other pick for Taylor. He's due a big bonus just after the start of the league's new year, and the Bills aren't going to pay that to a player they don't want. Consequently, if they can't trade him, they'll cut him ... and every team in the league knows how the Bills operate. It's why they only got a 6th for Dareus ... teams knew the Bills wanted him gone so badly that they'd take anything.

I'm not sure what your point is. You're the one who claimed that McDermott wouldn't start a rookie unless he was "out of this world in camp" ... and Peterman wasn't. Certainly his play as a starter was so unacceptable that one has to wonder what the coaches saw in him to make them think he could even be a reasonable backup QB. Because he wouldn't be Taylor. I don't think that will happen, however. A first round QB will cost less and sell more seats ... and don't think that the Bills ever ignore their bottom line.

Excuse me, but why in the world would a team give up its first round pick and a player to get "the cream of the 2nd tier" QB???? That's called a backup QB. You only trade up to grab the best QB in the draft IMO. You can draft a backup in the fifth round ... Really? He already did ... even when the Bills were holding down a playoff spot.