SoTier

"The media" didn't force the bigot to post racist manure on Facebook. That's like that guy in Buffao a few years ago who was fired from his city job after a reporter taped him using all kinds of racist slurs like most people use the word 'the' when they talk. He blamed "the media", too. ^^^ I don't believe either of you. Three reasons: Direct TV specifically states that you have to cancel NFL Sunday Ticket before the start of the season, so why would you even bother trying to cancel? I seriously doubt that a lowly customer service rep working in a call center that might not even be in the US can make a decision to cancel your subscription and cancel what you contracted to pay. That policy has to come from higher up the corporate food chain, and it would take more than a few hours to even get the people together to discuss that decision. Secondly, if you're such a football fan that you were willing to pay to be able to see all out-of-market games, why are you so stupid as to cut off your nose to spite your face? You're such a patriot? Really? What exactly does NFL Sunday Ticket/Direct TV have to do with the NFL protests anyways? They broadcast the games, not determine what the NFL does. Since you're sooooo outraged, are you also boycotting ESPN and NFL Network as well as the local CBS and FOX affiliates since they all carry NFL? If you're boycotting the NFL, then why are you posting on a Bills MB? My guess is that your stories are about as honest as the one about Vonn Miller losing an endorsement because of the protests when, in fact, the endorsement deal ended months ago, but if you want to pretend moral outrage and make yourself look like the south end of a northbound horse, go for it.

FYI ... the protest by NFL players as expressed by kneeling or sitting during the national anthem wasn't a protest against the POTUS. It was a protest against police violence against blacks and other people of color and the racism that allows it to continue all over the country. Moreover, the protests have been going on since last season. Only this week-end's protests were specifically against Trump, and they were in response to an unprovoked attempt by the POTUS to intimidate NFL owners and players and to pander to the racist core constituency of the GOP. You really mean "lack of respect by privileged black players" which is what really chaps the asses of so many white fans who get their panties in a wad about "disrespecting" the country but lie to yourself if you like... If the protesting players actually meant disrespect they'd be texting/chatting on their phones like so many white fans in the stands do during the anthem. What's "uninformed" here is your post. The word is "tirade", and it's your post is an example of both. You don't know or care about the real issues behind the both the long term protests first started by Kaepernick last season and this past week-end's protests in response to Trump's attack on free speech. All you really care about is that your carefully tended myths about the US remain sacrosanct. Well said, sir. Nobody was paying all that much attention to the on-going protests until Trump stirred the pot in order to score political points with the GOP's racist constituency. Now, Trump, his psycophants, and supporters act like the aggrieved parties, including this Nickisher guy. If he was so upset by these protests, why didn't he quit last season? Don't tell me that no players ever knelt during the playing of the anthem in New Era Stadium all last season. My guess is that he quit his stadium job because he's got a better paying part-time gig with either the Erie County GOP or the Collins' re-election campaign. ^^^ I believe that eball meant that as sarcasm. The purpose of any protest is to disrupt the peace of mind of the powers that be, whether that is government officials or the voters who elect governments, by calling attention to a problem or a situation.

That drive was something I can't remember a Bills team doing in many years ... at least to a team that had a respectable defense and legitimate playoff aspirations. Usually, their playoff quality opponents did that to the Bills.

I seriously doubt it. If their "primary profit producing strategy is to sell Jordan's at idiotically inflated prices", then they would keep their mouths shut and stay out of the whole issue by pretending it's a "non story". Any business that takes a stance on any controversial issue risks alienating customers.

Well, yeah, but the season isn't ending today. You can get yourself all excited over a decent win at home but I'll wait until they're actually in the playoffs before I start doing a happy dance. We've been this way before ... and got lost each previous time.

Agree. The refs are supposed to try to curb behavior that could lead to more trouble ... and that looked like an action on Miller's part that could have escalated into something nasty later. One thing I'm wondering about is how much of a role the heat and humidity played in seeming to take the fight out of the Broncos defense in the second half. I was expecting that D to come out roaring, but it just wasn't anything like the defense in the previous two games ... and it was worse in the second half. It gets hot in Denver, but the city generally has low humidity. It's also at a high elevation, which is always a plus for Denver at home. I would think that the humidity and higher air pressure because of the lower elevation might have been somewhat draining on the Donkeys, especially their front seven as the game progressed.

I'm eating crow for this game. I thought the Bills were doomed for sure. Did the Bills somehow find an OL since they returned from Carolina or did Denver leave their best defensive plays back in the Mile High City? I'll eat crow for the season only when the Bills make the playoffs or win 10 games, even if they miss the playoffs. I'm still not seeing that from this team because there simply are too few play makers on the offensive side, namely Shady and Tyrod. Buffalo has the longest playoffless streak because their coaching has been crappy and, until the last couple of years, their OL sucked. It doesn't necessarily take a good/great QB to make the playoffs as witness the teams that have made the playoffs with like Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, but it does take a good coaching staff and a decent OL. More recently the OL didn't exactly stink, but it wasn't all that good, either, especially on pass protect but last season they managed an average offense under Tyrod but their buffoon of a HC messed up the defense, so the decent offensive effort was wasted. Sorry, but without a decent OL, a team doesn't have either a passing game or a running game ... and their QB looks like crap. Ask Andy Dalton and Eli Manning how that works.

Except it's not a "non story". The POTUS made a statement advocating the denial of free speech to a specific group of people who do, indeed, have legitimate grievances, if not specifically for themselves, but certainly for people who look like them and share their racial/ethnic heritage. The statement was, at best, divisive and inappropriate. At worst, it was blatantly racist. Even if many, if not most, NFL players are millionaires or on their way to being millionaires, it doesn't always exempt them from being victims of racism in subtle ways because racism remains alive and well , and the POTUS has openly given his stamp of approval to it. In fact, he went out of his way to do so. His statement requires a response from all Americans who aren't racists as well as from all Americans who value the Bill of Rights. It's certainly NOT a "non-story".

My main argument with your post was your claim that QB prospects had "value", and in 2018, they looked to have "value" throughout the first round. Generic draft picks have "value". Players have "value". Prospects don't except to draftniks since nobody knows if Prospect X is going to become a Pro Bowler or a bust, and it's what a prospect does after he becomes a player that's important.

Exactly this. Unless you can get to the very best QB prospect in the draft and unless he's the undisputed #1 prospect of all, I think trading up is a losing proposition. If the Bills had traded up to get Eli Manning, that might have been justified because he was the undisputed best QB prospect in that draft., but to trade up to get the 4th best prospect? Stupid move, and done totally to sell tickets since Losman was rated at about the same level as Matt Schaub plus the Bills still had Drew Bledsoe, so they really didn't have to have a QB in that draft. Losman would likely have been available in the second or the third if they wanted him, but if he wasn't, no great loss. The Bills fans whining about how bad trading up to get Watkins in 2015 was are simply clueless about what a really bad trade looks like. The Bills had the 18th pick in the 2005 draft but it went to Dallas to get Losman while Rodgers, who was expected to go in the top 3 lasted until 24! They could have also taken Cutler in 2006 who would have been a better choice than Losman, but the Bills weren't interested in another QB because they thought they had theirs. When you figure the cost of trading up to take a bust, you not only have to factor in the lost picks but also the lost opportunities. This is especially true of QBs since most of the time they're either good enough or busts with little salvageable value for the team that drafted them.

Even if he's as lousy a prospect as EJ Manuel, draft him anyways. That's always a winning strategy!

Actually, it has to do with the Bills having revolving doors for DBs, RBs, and WRs because they've been unwilling to pay market value for those positions, so that they are continually using first and second round picks on those positions so they can fill the holes left by the players they trade away or lose in FA. That why the Bills are always short on talent at several positions at once and why they never have depth and why they never have OLers and DLers being developed. FTR, the Bills drafted a QB recently in 2013. They drafted Manuel because they needed/wanted a QB in the first round not because Manuel was BPA. They could have taken him in the second or third round, and if some other team had taken him, they could have taken Glennon instead who is at least serviceable. It's not draft position but incompetence that's has insured the Bills have missed the playoffs for this entire century -- and are likely to continue to do so because they continue to do the same kinds of things they've been doing.

Most years there aren't even two QBs worth drafting. Only 5 of 14 years between 2001 and 2014 produced two or more decent starters from any round: 2004, 2005, 2008, 2011, and 2012. If Bridgewater can't return to play well and Bortles doesn't resurrect his career then 2014 won't be one either.

This is nonsense because it's based on false logic. The success or failure of any draft class or any position within a draft class can only be judged by success in the NFL of the players with the draft class or drafted position. Who the hell cares if there's 6 QBs taken in the first round in 2018 if they all bust? A first round QB who is a bust isn't any kind of "value". Moreover, for whatever reason, most likely because colleges aren't running pro-style offenses very much any more but possibly just mere coincidence, there's seems to be a growing trend in the last 5 years for serviceable or better QBs to come from outside of the first round. Looking at all the QBs drafted in the first round between 2001 and 2014 (I wanted QBs to have a minimum of 3 years to prove themselves), I found there were 39. Of those, 3 are likely HOF candidates: Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger from 2004 and Aaron Rodgers from 2005. Those guys are "top tier franchise QBs" IMO. (< 8%) There's another group of 6 or 7 first round QBs who I call "second tier" (I can't decide if Michael Vick should be in this group or in the next lower group). They're all winners: Vick (2001), Palmer (2003), Rivers (2004), Ryan (2008), Stafford (2009), Newton (2011), Luck (2012). Some of them will likely become HOFers, most likely Rivers, Ryan, and/or Stafford. (17.9%) I found another group of 6 QBs taken in the first round who weren't quite as good as the first two groups but who were certainly not busts, either. These were Alex Smith (2003), Jay Cutler (2006), Joe Flacco (2008), Sam Bradford (2010), Ryan Tannehill (2012), and Teddy Bridgewater (2014). I included Bridgewater because in his first two seasons, he was a very serviceable QB, and his future is in doubt because of an injury not because of how he played when healthy. (15.4%) The largest group, by far, was the first round QBs who busted. There were 23 of those. (59%). 11 of them were drafted in the bottom half of the first round. 5 busts came from the top three picks, including two #1 picks (David Carr (2002 - #1 and JaMarcus Russell (2007 - #1)). The remaining 7 were drafted between #5 and #12. Prior to 2011, you could count on the fingers of 1 hand and have a digit or two to spare the number of successful QBs who were drafted outside the first round: Drew Brees (2001 - 2nd); Matt Schaub (2004 - 3rd); Kyle Orton (2005 - 4th). There was also UDFA Tony Romo. Since then, there's been a virtual explosion of successful QBs coming from later rounds: Andy Dalton (2011 - 2nd), Russell Wilson (2012 -3rd), Kirk Cousins (2012 - 4th), Mike Glennon (2013 - 4th), and Derrick Carr (2014 - 2nd). The biggest take away from these numbers is that drafting a first round QB guarantees nothing. Carson Palmer, Phillip Rivers, Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, and Andrew Luck are all perfect examples of how much at the mercy of competent support from FO and coaching even good/great QBs are: all of these QBs have suffered at times in their careers from poor FO support and coaching. Those who think that all the Bills need to do to start winning is to draft a first round QB in 2018 are likely in for a rude awakening. It will take more than that. Much more.

Agree on both points. For believers that every OC or DC should have the right to put "his guys" and "his system" into action on "his team" consider that the Broncos also have a new coaching staff. The Donkeys' DC has been a 4-3 guy but guess what -- Denver's running a 3-4 because they aren't so stupid that they're going to kick Von Miller and/or his merry band of defensive terrorizers to the curb for some JAGs and/or draft picks ... and the Donkeys' OC has created his offensive "system" to fit Trevor Siemian's strengths. The Donkeys also upgraded their OL IIRC in order to improve their run game.

No, we "can't all just agree we are a QB away from the playoffs" because it's simply not true. "We" -- the Bills -- lack a FO with the will/desire/competence/interest (take your pick of one, some or maybe take all of them) to get the Bills into the playoffs. They've been proving that for 18 years. "We" -- the Bills -- lack a coaching staff capable of running any kind of modern offense. Ever hear the song, "Lost in the Fifties"? That describes the Bills offensive "system". More happy thoughts: The Bills QB isn't the real problem. Taylor's certainly capable of getting a team to the playoffs with some help ... like a defense which he didn't have last season and an NFL caliber OC which he doesn't have this season. The OL's struggles with the new blocking system installed by OC Rick Dennison is a major problem with the offense. QBs need protection when they pass. RBs need holes to run through. The Bills OL isn't pass protecting or run blocking adequately. After TC, preseason, and now 2 games, that the OL is still struggling says something's amiss: lack of talent, players unsuited for the scheme, poor coaching. Again, pick one or all. Also of concern is the ages of both C Eric Wood and LG Richie Incognito, both on the wrong side of thirty, and nobody on the roster likely to develop into players as good as those two. The Bills don't have an NFL caliber WR corps after sending Hogan East to NE last off season and Watkins, Woods, and Goodwin West to LA and SF this past off season. Behind McCoy, there's nobody to pick up the slack if he gets nicked. If he were to suffer any kind of serious injury, the Bills running game would be DOA because Mike Gillislee is hoping to win a SB ring with the Pats this season like Hogan did last year. The Bills do have decent TEs led by Charles Clay. The Bills do have what looks like a good defense. Unfortunately, Kyle Williams is 34 and may retire soon and it looks like the Bills are going to send Dareus packing rather than pay him. They have nobody else at DT to replace the talent if those two are gone. Several other key members of the front seven are getting "long in the tooth", too. The secondary has some decent pieces, but again, the best talent from the Bills secondary is now on other teams, most notably NE. At best, they're very thin.

Of course. QBs need targets, and Taylor doesn't have anybody but Clay and Matthews. Robey-Coleman might have been the star of the show if not for all the fireworks from Watkins and Woods. Oh, and BTW, Mike Gillislee rushed 18 times for 69 yards and a TD which is the same number of yards and 1 more TD than all the Bills runners in the Carolina game. Chris Hogan also grabbed 5 of Brady's passes for 78 yards and a TD in the same game. I wouldn't get my hopes up for a young QB doing well for the Bills next season, although I supposed whoever they draft will start because the fans will need some excitement. The Bills OL line struggles more in pass protection than it did last year, and except for Glenn, the other starters are either old or unproven or turnstiles. The Bills WR corps isn't NFL caliber, and maybe not even as good as some college WR groups. The RBs are all 28 or 29, which is old for RBs. The offensive coaching isn't up to HS standards.

Oh, whoopty doo! Is that the Bills new motto? "We're not the worst!!!"? Give them time. My guess is this week's game will be another one without a TD. That Denver offense is nasty. Then the Falcons will have a go at them.

Yeah, I'm pessimistic. I'm also sick of the Bills throwing their best players to the curb and seeing them go on to become stars for other teams. If it happend once or twice, you can say "that's the result of FA" but it's happened over and over again to the Bills since 2001. How is McDermott all that different from Jauron except for being somewhat more animated? How is trading away Watkins all that different from trading away Jason Peters? How is letting Stephon Gilmore walk in FA all that different from letting Antoine Winfield walk in FA? All I've seen in the way of improvement from the people running the Bills is a recognition that maybe a having a good LT is somewhat important ... although now that Whaley's gone, the Bills may very well revert to the advanced offensive thinking demonstrated by Jauron and Company: any big dude can play LT.

That would be too simple. It takes real skill to pull that off ... just as it takes real skill to be unable to build a team good enough to at least make the playoffs once in 18 years. The Bills, of course, have perfected the FO and coaching skills to do both ... which is why it's both very funny and very sad to listen to so many diehard fans so hopeful that the Bills are going to get it right with this latest iteration of the Perpetual Rebuild of the Championship Caliber Team that Never Was. Except they didn't. Moreover, Matthews and Taylor can't because they play in an offense that would embarrass many high school football teams ... and maybe even some Pop Warner teams. They've both been set up to fail by the Bills suppposed "brain trust". The rookie QB that the Bills draft in the first round next year is unlikely to fair any better than Taylor or Manuel or Losman even if he's got Aaron Rodgers talent. BTW, the Bills played a team supposedly worse than the Niners in the Jests ... and neither Matthews nor Taylor had "huge games".

That's because Manuel was NEVER as good a QB prospect as Goff. Goff was the first player taken in the 2016. Manuel was the best QB in the awful 2013 QB class and never should have been drafted in the first round at all. He was so good that the Bills dropped down several slots and he was still available. Like with Losman, they probably could have waited until the second or third round and still had him. Obviously, you didn't watch last night's game ... or you're in denial as to what you saw. Sammy may very well become a potential HOFer, especially now that he's been freed from the Neanderthal offensive concepts of the Bills coaching staff. The Bills LOVE to trade away All Pros and potential HOFers for the equivalent of used athletic supporters just like they did when they sent Jason Peterson and Marshawn Lynch packing for a JAG center and a career reserve LB and a career reserve RT. The Bills had "real reasons , actually good reasons for punting" these guys, too. At least according to the Bills FO and its diehard true believers. The Bills are a joke around the NFL and that's of their own making ... as Al Michaels' quip about NE having better Bills players than the Bills has already been applied to LA. It will likely be applied again to whatever team scoops up Dareus either before the trade deadline or in the off-season.

He's a talented player that the Bills gave away for a song because they didn't want to pay him, and he sparkled last night for the team that was willing to take him with his current salary and likely his much larger salary next year ... His foot injury and concussion are tied together only by fans attempting to rationalize yet another stupid move by the Bills "brain trust". It was only short-sighted if you believe the Bills are interested in truly building a winning football game. IMO, the Bills FO isn't. They're only interested in doing enough to keep the seats full so that the $$ continue to flow into the Pegulas' coffers. I have no doubt that the Bills will draft a QB in the first round in 2018, but expecting them to go out and provide that kid with protection and targets not to mention a coaching staff interested in the offense as more than a necessary evil, well, good luck with that. Offensive players tend to be more expensive than defensive ones, but the QB will be cheap enough on his rookie contract. The Bills will "get our young guy in the Spring" only because they're going to draft a QB in the first round in 2018 whether he's a particularly good prospect or not. That's exactly what they did in 2004 with Losman and again in 2013 with Manuel. But, hey, third time's a charm, right? With the Bills' innovative offensive coaching and great wide receiver corps, how could any young QB NOT turn out to be at least as good as Aaron Rodgers, right?

Pardon me. Two special teamers -- for other teams -- for an All Pro RB. That's the Bills way. No wonder the Bills haven't made the playoffs in this century ... and aren't likely to make them any time in the foreseeable future, either. Maybe you should have waited a while longer. I understand perfectly. The Bills didn't want to pay Watkins. Not this year, not next year. They don't need or want fast, game breaking WRs with sure hands because the genius offensive minded coaches the Bills continue to hire like offenses that were passe fifty years ago ... but carry on. Maybe in another half century, the pendulum will swing back to the era before the forward pass and the Bills will get their "championship caliber team" they've spent this entire century not building. More like a dozen of those 'one plays'. Watkins will probably become an All Pro like Peters and Lynch, and the true believers will continue to bleat about "they didn't want to be here anyways" so no great loss. Personally, I don't think the Bills are capable of building a good O since they don't believe in paying WRs or RBs or OGs. I'm not sure that they believe in paying QBs either, since they've never been able to actually draft and develop a good one.

I totally agree. CTE might have very well been a contributing factor in Hernandez's suicide, but the link between his playing in the NFL and CTE is limited I think. He only played in 38 games in three seasons, 2010-2012. He was allegedly involved in gang activity before he became an NFL player, and he was involved in gang activity while an NFL player. He also played HS and collegiate football. Finally, he may have also been in fights while in prison. He could have suffered concussions during any or all of those activities. There's no way to tell when CTE began to affect him -- or if it had, Maybe his suicide was linked to CTE but it might just have easily have been simply his inability to face life in prison. At least suicide is a recognized danger for individuals who suffer from CTE. Premediated murder involving the drug trade isn't. I don't think there's evidence to support your last statement. Everything that I've heard/read about CTE (I have a brother who suffers from it because of a car wreck) is that it's much more likely to impair a person's judgement than to make him a murderer, which is what Hernandez was convicted of IIRC. A person suffering from CTE might very well be dangerous, but it's because he/she might fly into a rage or maybe become paranoid but he/she is unlikely to be moved to murder a couple people in order to further his/her drug business by CTE. Maybe you could say that CTE might have lessened whatever inhibitions Hernandez had about murdering someone but I don't see how anybody could prove that. Hernandez wasn't a choir boy, although he originally had that image.

Bull manure! I don't remember anybody on the Bills in recent years that has been guilty of truly bad behavior off the field. There have been some drug violations, some PED violations, some stupid behavior, and some regrettable incidents, but nothing that's truly or deliberately vicious, violent, perverted or pathologically criminal. These are mostly twenty-something guys cut loose from two major restraints that force most twenty-something males to behave reasonably well: limited financial means and censure from parents, other family, friends, etc. They're going to get into trouble because it's what young people do. Because they're local celebs, they're gonna get their names in the news when they do it. Have any of the Bills been accused of rape? Of child abuse? Of killing someone? Of selling dope? Of robbing a bank? Of spousal abuse/assault? I think the biggest/ugliest incident was Shady's involvement in that nasty bar fight in Philly where a couple of people were seriously injured, but he wasn't charged in that. I'm not sure that anyone was. It seems to me that when the Bills have nattered on about character in the past, they were using code for "we're going to chuck talented players in favor of JAGs who cost a lot less and use 'character issues' as the excuse for doing it." I hope the current regime isn't going down that same road, but usually when something looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, it is, in fact, a duck.