SoTier

I think you might have your Bills coaches confused. I thought it was Gregg Williams who complained that his family was harassed and even threatened. I thought Mularkey said he quit because he couldn't fill assistant coaching positions because assistants didn't want to sign on when the HC had only 1 year left on his contract. That made a lot of sense since Mularkey was Donahoe's guy, and not only was Donahoe out in Buffalo after 2005, he seemed to become a persona non grata throughout the NFL.

Pretty much this. Dalton can be a decent QB ... if he has the right supporting cast (ie, good OL and AJ Green) around him. The Bills don't have that for him and even less so without Glenn, so he'd be doomed to failure from Day 1. Pass. Contrary to some claims, the Bills are NOT a great team in search of a QB as is Minnesota. They are the NFL's Over-Achievers of 2017, a team that played far above its talent level. They need to keep the talent that they do have plus add more, including a QB taken higher in the draft than Day 3 rather than chasing after a "name" QB who hasn't shown that he can produce with limited talent around him.

I seriously doubt that Ducasse has finally "gotten it" late in his career. Sometimes OLers who actually played poorly look better on film if the context of the play calls and blocking assignments are ignored ... and the guys playing next to them get blamed for letting a rusher hit the QB or for failing to open a hole for a RB. Ducasse's play at RG hasn't made Eric Wood and/or Justin Mills, the guys playing next to him, look better; in fact, their play could very well be adversely affected by poor play by Ducasse. The fact is that the play of the OL needs to be evaluated as a unit, and compared to the previous two years, the Bills OL just isn't very good. With the same QB and feature RB, the Bills OL has played worse pass pro and worse run blocking. 3rdand12 pretty much sums it up below. The Bills desperately need to take an OG high in the draft, no later than Day 2 and maybe even in Round 1, preferably to replace Ducasse, but Incognito might be need to be replaced soon, too, since he's 34 this season. Taking a center if there's a good one available wouldn't be a bad idea, either. Well said! Dawkins is very promising, which is a good thing because Zay Jones has been a major disappointment. That's what teams get with rookies, though. Some individuals are just more precocious than others, which is why I'm reluctant to label first year players "stars" or "busts" based on their rookie seasons. Again, well said! Excellent analysis.

The Bills OL sucks in pass pro, and it hasn't been all that great in run blocking either despite the spin that the statboys at PFF try to put on it. The Bills "good" stats stem from several factors including having a mobile QB as well as not playing that many teams with fierce pass rushes. How'd that "good" OL do with a pocket passer under center against a team with a good pass rush? Peterman didn't throw 5 INTs because he had all day to find receivers and just missed them. Dawkins is NOT "great". For a rookie LT, he's been decent but then so was Mike Williams, the OT the Bills drafted at #4 in 2002, who eventually turned out to be a bust. He's got lots of room for improvement before he comes close to being even "nearly as good" as Cordy Glenn. Many rookies who look good in their first year never improve much and sink to JAGs or worse as their careers progress.

Well said! The Bills had a chance to grab a first round prospect in 2017 with either Watson or Mahomes, and they chose to trade away that pick. Maybe history will be prove them right to do so, but as of right now, it doesn't look too good for getting a good first round QB prospect in 2018 simply because of the Bills and KC draft positions and the number of teams that will be looking for QBs. The fact is that it's NOT that the Bills have not "swung for the fences" for a top QB because they've done that twice since 2000 but that they chose the wrong QBs. Taking a first round QB does not guarantee getting a franchise QB, especially if said QB prospect is being overdrafted. JP Losman and EJ Manuel proved that.

Have you watched him play much? He's not any better than Taylor and might be worse ... and that's over the entire course of his career, not just this season, because the Titans have much more offensive talent and a much less conservative offensive system than the Bills have. The Titans win because their defense not because Mariota plays like a "franchise" QB.

Geez, don't confuse good propaganda with facts FCOL!

Awwwww ... the truth hurts and ol' joesixpack doesn't want to be reminded of it.

Yes, but he was a first round pick so he must be better than Taylor. Too many of these Taylor bashers don't actually look at how the QBs actually play but only at their draft order and reputations. Many others only look at their numbers which are often inflated by playing in pass heavy offensive systems.

I think it might be a case of Kraft sabotaging the Pats future rather than Belichick doing the deed. As the rumors went after the Garoppolo trade, Brady complained to Kraft that he felt that Belichick was going to trade him and go with Garoppolo, which prompted Kraft to insist on getting rid of Garoppolo. That would explain both why a new deal with Garoppolo fell through and why the Pats were willing to part with him for less than teams had offered earlier. It's not the only scenario that would explain both results but it also explains the anomaly for a football team would keep a forty-year-old QB and send the bright young prospect packing -- unless the team felt the bright young prospect wasn't going to mature into a starter (although if they were trying to negotiate a deal with Garoppolo, that kind of negates that idea). Keep in mind that the last time Belichick faced this choice, in 2002, he sent Bledsoe, who was in his early thirties at the time, to the Bills and kept Brady when it was still debatable how good Brady would be ... so Brady might have some reason to be concerned. Right. Because the Pats have been finding and developing great QBs regularly since they drafted Brady.

Point 1: Garoppolo has made 5 starts in his career. Point 2: Wilson wasn't worth 2 first rounders until he took the Seahawks to the SB ... and won it. Maybe Garoppolo is the next Aaron Rodgers but he hasn't proven anything yet. The history of the NFL is littered with crappy QBs who managed to look good for 5 or 6 games. Both Colin Kaepernick and Brock Osweiler come to mind. Trent Edwards looked like "the real deal" for several games at the beginning of the 2008 season, too.

Three good games = HOF ... apparently.

Teams don't give up franchise QBs unless they believe that franchise QB is hurt or otherwise compromised. Occasionally, they might get lucky enough to have an older franchise QB and a younger prospect, and might let the older one go. San Diego did that with Brees vs Rivers, and I think they made a mistake; Rivers never plays clutch in big games. Green Bay did that with Favre vs Rodgers, and they hit the proverbial jackpot. SF did that with Smith vs Kaepernick and crashed and burned. NE has made a fortune in draft picks trading their backup QBs because teams seem to continue to believe that NE finds "diamonds in the rough" because they found Brady in the 6th round. The truth is that they got lucky and won the lottery. None of the QBs the Pats have drafted since Brady have been close to being franchise QBs although Matt Cassel had a decent career. If Garoppolo was so good, why didn't NE keep him and let Brady leave? For that reason alone, I wouldn't have traded for Garoppolo in the first place, and if San Fran now wanted to trade Garoppolo after trading for him and re-signing him, I wouldn't go near him because I would think that they know that he's a dud.

I think Jax is exactly the kind of team that can beat the Pats in the playoffs because they've got the D to stifle Brady by constantly hurrying and hitting him even if they don't actually sack him plus they have an excellent running game, and they've significantly improved their passing game because of improved QB play. They can stop a lot of NE's offense but I'm not sure that the Pats are up to stopping them, especially their running game. The stench of sour grapes is strong in this one.

Have you watched them play this season, especially recently? Bortles has improved immensely while Winston seems to play "streaky" good or bad much like Eli Manning. Winston's decision making hasn't improved at all IMO.

Early in the season, I pretty much thought like you do, but Bortles has been playing pretty well since about mid-season, and has been even better the last three games or so. I don't know if the proverbial light has turned on or if he's decided he'd rather be an NFL QB than a party boy or if Marrone is some kind of "QB whisperer", but he seems to be more than competent. I would definitely take him over either Winston or Mariota at this point as both of those guys seem to be trending down rather than improving.

I think Jones was pushed to start too soon and without good mentors, and maybe not really good coaching, either. With Woods and Goodwin tearing it up on the Left Coast, it makes the kid look even worse. He needs to make very significant improvement by early next season or calling him a bust is fair. He really ought to be showing better than he is by now.

Well, just about every suburb except the Tonawandas and Evans and Angola are "east" of Buffalo, from Amherst/Clarence which are northeast to Hamburg/OP which are SE. Cheektowaga, Lancaster, and Elma are all basically east. Even Alden.

Bortles had a rocky start but he's been playing well since about mid-season -- and apparently getting even better the last two or three games. Maybe he's decided he really wants an NFL career rather than be a party boy. I think McCown might make it as a sentimental choice. He certainly played better than anybody thought he would. Mariota just hasn't played well most of the season. If Tennessee didn't have that stout D, they'd be a 4-5 win team if they had to depend upon their supposed franchise QB. Flacco also hasn't played well. He's really shortened his game down this year, probably because of the problems the Ravens have had with their OL. I think Bortles and McCown get added althought McCown won't be able to play because of injury. Only if you count Pro Bowlers whom the Bills sent packing.

Another day, another "Oh, woe is me! Since the Bills aren't going to win the Super Bowl, they shouldn't win any games so that they can always go 0-16 and get the #1 pick in the next draft!" post. While I agree that the Bills are worse off talent wise than they were in 2016, that's not really on McDermott. The "process" of shedding talented players rather than pay them market rate has been something that the Bills FO has been doing for the entire length of the playoff drought ... and likely since they fired Bill Polian 25 years ago. It appears to be continuing despite the change in ownership. McDermott, for his part, seems to be a pretty decent HC who does a lot with what he's got. My biggest gripe about him is that he needs to replace Dennison with a better OC who is more willing to create an offense that fits his personnel. The Bills are currently 8-6 and are holding the first wild card slot a week before Christmas. Even if they lose to the Pats, they could still make the playoffs if they beat the Carp and get some help (and not necessarily implausible help, either). How does that make even one of their wins "meaningless", OP? As other posters have noted in another thread, if the Bills miss the playoffs, what it will do is make at least 2 or 3 of their losses even more frustrating. It's been a dozen years (2004) since the Bills have been legitimately in the playoff hunt this late in the season. Here's to the Pats playing as flat in Foxboro Sunday as they did in Miami two weeks ago ... and to Cutler being as much the space cadet he's usually been for most of his career. 10-6 and missing the playoffs on a tie breaker would suck, but it would be the first time that the Bills got 10 wins in this century. It could NEVER suck as much as going 0-16 or 2-14 or 3-13.

I'm not going to label him a bust now only because it frequently takes 3 years for WRs to master the pro game. Ideally, Jones would have had a good veteran WR to watch and help him out early on. Who did he have? Watkins was gone after the first preseason game. Matthews was hurt after his first practice. Benjamin didn't arrive until almost Halloween, and he's been mostly hurt. Thomas didn't arrive until the season had started, and he was signed as a FA. The other Bills WRs weren't NFL caliber WRs so how could they give him many pointers? FTR, should Jones really have been drafted as high as he was or was this ANOTHER case of the Bills drafting a rookie to be "just as good but cheaper" than a good veteran they let walk away because they didn't want to pay him market rate ... and getting bitten in the arse once again? Only time will tell ...

I agree with the idea that the Bills are playing over their heads because they aren't talented, but this appears to be one of those years where coaching and effort can even the odds considerably, especially in the AFC. For all the Bills problems on the defensive side, they seem to have regained their ability to tighten up considerably in the red zone. I wish I had more confidence in Dennison's offensive mind set because he continues to go into turtle mode whenever the Bills get a lead (see KC and Miami games).

But because Wilkerson will be cheaper, Bills fans will love him. Right. I bet you don't like spending money on OTs either.

Another day, another day "we have to draft a QB in the first round so he can take us to the playoffs" thread from the OP. He doesn't care who the Bills draft just as long as he's a QB and they take him in the first round. How'd that work the last two times the Bills tried that??? The only thing that drafting a QB in the first round guarantees is that the team will be committed to him for at least four years unless he's a J'Marcus Russell or Johnny Manziel style bust, so they won't be drafting another first or even second round QB if a better prospect comes along during that time. The Bills got bitten in their arses for drafting both Losman and Manuel higher than they should have been drafted. Even if a first round -- top 5 pick even -- turns out to be a great QB, that's no guarantee that the team will make and/or win playoff games. The OP uses Andy Dalton who has been a decent, even Pro Bowl, QB at times in his career but conveniently ignores Phillip Rivers. The Chargers have won exactly 1 more playoff game than the Bills since Rivers became their starter in 2006, and they've made the playoffs only once in the last eight years.

Yeah, but he's not necessarily BETTER. Dawkins has played well as a rookie but that doesn't mean that he's going to continue to develop and improve. Lots of rookies don't, and what's "good" for a rookie isn't all that good for a three or four year veteran. If he doesn't, then he'll end up a mediocre LT at best, which means that whoever is the Bills QB in the future will be getting pummeled unnecessarily ... because the Bills were once again too cheap to keep their own talent.