NoHuddleKelly12

I know you’ve got one heck of a hangover to suffer through this morning—my condolences ?! That said, I won’t argue over the low bar that is “drought GM’s” and their rankings—I will commit that he was better than his immediate predecessor Nix

^^^^This. Only forgot to mention in your ? list of worn out LB’s credited to Nix, the name of Shawne Merriman, who was about as broke down and worn out as a recovering roids rage nut could be by the time Nix claimed him off the waivers scrap heap. His Wikipedia page is pure comedy gold when you get to the Bills era: Buffalo Bills (2010–12) Merriman was claimed off waivers by the Buffalo Bills the day after his release from the Chargers. On November 10, Merriman suffered an Achilles injury during his first workout with his new team. Subsequently, on November 27, the Bills placed Merriman on season-ending injury reserve. He signed a two-year contract extension worth $10.5 million with the Bills on January 1, 2011. The deal contained $5 million guaranteed, including $3 million of his 2012 salary. On October 25, 2011, Merriman was placed on Injured Reserve list for the second consecutive season after suffering a partially torn Achilles tendon. Merriman finished the season with nine tackles and a sack in five starts. During the 2012 offseason, Merriman was moved from outside linebacker to defensive end due to the switch of 3–4 to 4–3. On August 20, the team released Merriman. Merriman signed a contract to return to the Bills on October 15, 2012. Retirement On March 5, 2013, Merriman announced his retirement.

Not to mention it sure seemed like Whaley did everything possible throughout his tenure to keep/justify EJ in a Bills uni until the bitter end...just for giggles, here’s some fun EJ trivia you may or may not have known: 1st nfl Qb to have lost a game in 3 different countries—U.S., Canada, U.K. Only to break his own record of futility by becoming the 1st nfl Qb to have lost a game in 4 different countries—add Mexico to the above.

Even the head of a team’s scouting department is still not pulling in millions in annual salary; why would this category be any different? Scouting of any kind is not in GM $$ territory. https://nationalfootballpost.com/are-nfl-scouting-departments-underfunded/ https://www.sapling.com/7746693/average-salary-nfl-scout

Hairbrained, yes. He’s got a cushy gig with little spotlight/pressure, and left under a cloud in Buffalo once already—so what would be in it for him? https://gph.is/1aRLsYP

Let’s take a look after this season’s in the books. But am I surprised at the 1/4 pole? Not really. Let’s see a marked step forward starting tomorrow. I’ll take something similar to the Minnie game please! Just got my XXL Allen game jersey in the mail today so I’d better not regret it, lol

I’ve never quite understood this logic that a lot of posters have spread on these threads, that just because McD comes from defense, then he automatically doesn’t value/understand offensive football. What does a defense have to stop? Another defense? Of course not. Offensive football. So someone who understands D and is good at it, would have to by extension understand what types of offenses are currently “cutting-edge” and what sort of problems they present to a D in working to stop it at a schematic level; thus if you succeed, making you an opposite but equal “reaction” to the offense to be able to most effectively stop it. My point is, from a philosophy standpoint he should be quite understanding of what a good offense looks like—you hire the offensive OC to make the sausage that you may not be as up on, what goes in to the seasoning of it, Daboll’s been letting him down on that front obviously, which was made plain in McD’s postgame pressers this week. But oblivious to offense? Hardly. He’s a HC, and is fully aware of the need to be on top of both sides of the ball now. Otherwise, what’s the point of even having one? Go into a game with coordinators only?

I always remember him playing with a fire in his gut, wore his heart on his sleeve and gave 100% effort. KB needs to watch some of his film. (Oh, and he was definitely interfered with in XXVI)

That’s the spirit! But is it safe to say that you are not in an actuarial profession, like underwriting life insurance? How do you deal with the inevitable heartbreak the Bills have offered up since the AFL championship parties?

Remember his obnoxious Bills wrapped truck? Those were the days—“Wherever that snow dumps the most, that’s where I want to live” ❄️ ⛄️, lol.

Thanks 26CB. Everything I always loved about #12 while he played is still nothing compared to the type of person he's been off the field since he left the game behind--and has stood down a tougher foe in cancer while doing so.

^^^^^^ This. A lot of us probably felt the same way at the end of camp that the prudent thing would be to have AJ/Nate combo play out the string for this year until the roster would be in a position to actually be competitive around Josh. Then after Nate fell flat and with AJ gone, what exactly were we to do? The selfish part of me also wanted to see him play now too. But definitely have my worries with his health, confidence issues, etc.

Exactly--the dude pulls secondary doubleteams all day, jams at the line AND a trailing linebacker, just because they worry about him ghosting the field. Now we know why Mahomes is a budding superstar

Maybe they are planning to turn Phillips loose on offense?

This was totally called going into the Minnie game, where the the question was, what would the cover story become if the Bills pulled off one of the greatest regular season upsets in their history? Now that they did, but then fell back to earth last week, no surprise that it had nothing to do with Bills' own efforts during that game. I admit I also felt like it could wind up a trap game for Minnesota, but the game itself just felt like Buffalo got after it and whipped them straight up. Zimmer said the same thing after in his postgame presser.

That will = a tall glass of haterade around these parts

Would've been happy to see 8-8 with developmental projects littering the starting roster and cap situation being what it is, although getting there will be tougher sledding than I expected. At this point just want to see key guys stay healthy, and JA/Edmunds to develop their potential in noticeable ? ways. Oh, and can the OC.

(1) Mariota is not a world beater of a QB, combined with (2) we've shown that with the right playcalls on D, we can generate pressure/sacks, and in turn help set the table for turnovers. I am a little worried about additional injury to R. Bush after having to already replace Hyde, so could be a long day for the secondary if MM gets all day to read the field and throw. (3) But also feel like this is a make or break moment for the offense this season, and guys will step up because there is no where to go but up. Hearing all week how this is the worst group of talent ever to put on the charging buffalo (despite what flashes they showed in Minnie), (4) Allen takes a big step forward in his ability to process (no pun intended) quickly and be more decisive with his decisions. Net result? Bills 24-13, without the game ever being really in doubt. Bills win the toss, do the league-wide cliche "coaches cutting edge playbook" move and defer. Mariota designed option run is sniffed out & stuffed for no gain by Murphy to set the tone for the day.

I'll take whatever good news coming out of OBD!

If by solid #3 you mean practice squad sure hands team?

There are definitely glimmers that the D is moving in the right direction again after a disastrous start--all of the draftniks that be, said Edmunds was right there with being a legit 1st round talent/steal where we got him. Let's review at the end of the year

BB's ego dictates that Gordon becomes his next system Randy Moss? Wasn't able to salvage Coleman though.

I feel like making the playoffs last year was totally unexpected (realistically) prior to the start of the season given the coaching/regime change and overall significant roster changes. I don't think you can discount the "lift" it gave the fanbase along the way, and I for one about lost it when we finally got in--and yes, I did contribute $17 to Andy Dalton's foundation also, so there's that.? I do feel like it allowed me to better process what we are going through right now, because it established some sorely needed trust, and I don't think that McBeane ever promised non-stop playoffs during the overall rebuild--I doubt they expected to make the playoffs last year either. We've already gone over the cap dead money situation and unexpected roster hits to start this year ad nauseam, so I didn't expect much from this year to start, other than progress with the foundation itself, and at least you can say the cornerstone pieces of the team (Allen, Edmunds) are in place and will hopefully develop now for future sustained success.

I like this idea too--plays to his strengths of finding an open seam and winning some one-on-one battles as opposed to having to forge his own path at the line, which as we all know, is not his preferred style of play, and hasn't been going anywhere much this year.

My worry (others on this board have also raised this point as well) is that he appeared to over-anticipate "phantom" pressure points where the rollout bail maneuver (as opposed to stepping up in the pocket a couple of steps) because of the overall amount of times that he was either getting hit or facing legit jailbreak pressure in the interior of the line--caused him to abandon his designed drop/release point too early. I think that's what in large part led to a ripple effect/outcome of what you are referencing. Hopefully as he settles in and gains an internal clock more in line with the rhythm of the game, that will be less of an issue (along with better play by everyone else).