WideNine

Another Carolina connection....folks cannot deny the trend with decisions. That being said, I do like the hire... I think he will be solid in the role.

Respectfully disagree with the low assessment. Although our QB and o-line needs have been right up there. We focus almost too much on our smurf receiver core when a real TE would contribute to pass-pro, run-blocking, receiving mismatches downfield, and short yardage gains against press coverage. It is the versatility of the position that makes finding a quality TE a priority. Belichick knows this and that is why NE always has some great ones on the roster. I expect they will pick up another from this year's deep crop as well.

Wait....didn't we have Lonnie Johnson?

Not upset in the least, but do believe Tyrod was not facing the reality of the situation. That is, that his talents had been evaluated and found wanting rather than his skin color. Not that it should matter, but he was evaluated by two front office individuals who often refer to Cam Newton as the kind of ideal QB they were looking for talent-wise. Big, mobile, with large hands to grip the ball in adverse weather...like Allen. Cam was a project with a lot of upside coming out of college too. I am with you that folks should be able to take a deep breath and talk about this topic, but it is a charged one where folks tend to lose their calm. Should not be a surprise.

I find myself defending Gugny - ugh Look folks, this is not going to be resolved here - maybe the mods can move this to another forum as it is good to discuss. Does racism exist - of course it does, but it is not just white's who are racist - there are plenty of blacks and more races and cultures beyond our narrow USA focus. Work long enough with global companies and you can find disdain and stereotypes for other races, cultures, and religions all over the world. I was on the phone with a black manager back in November discussing some problems we were having getting to done on some things with our new team from India, and he literally said "monkey-see-monkey-do"....in reference to how coin-operated they tended to be. I damn-near dropped the phone. Not that I ever would, but had I said such a thing and had I been overheard I would have been unemployed that same day - yes, I am the dreaded white guy who can never have a clue - trust me, you don't know me, don't know where I grew up, how much money we had, or what skin color my friends were - so don't jump to any prejudice opinions right out of the gate (guarantee you would be wrong). There is a double-standard that I have run across with black folks in the States where they believe that they are somehow immune and exempt from the propensity to have pre-judgments (prejudices) born of fear and basic human nature when confronted with race, social, or religious groups that are different from them. I have worked enough, and visited India enough to know how poor folks are there. The remnants of their caste social system is alive and well, and women (although present) often are treated as if they do not exist in the meetings I chair - until I crush that attitude. That being said I have met many good folks that work very hard and I consider them friends, and I have met some who have lied and cheated and tried to "get over on me" just as much as other races - its a human thing apparently (imagine that). When the team from Bangalore that I am currently working with wanted to see pictures of my house with my Christmas lights up, they were floored that I have such a small family living in such a huge house (I don't live in a mansion). I can't speak for Gugny, but I don't have any hate for Tyrod, but his comments were inappropriate and are part of the problem here in the States and not part of the solution. Most of all they did not take into account the fact that his own limited performance may have been the factor for decision-makers at OBD moving on. It was small-minded, and a stereotype perpetuated by a victim-complex mentality that gets in the way of individuals looking in the mirror and asking themselves what they could do to be better at their chosen profession - whatever that is. It is much easier just to blame others and racism than being able to accept that perhaps others are better at playing a position in football than you are. He was hurt, maybe even setup by the reporter (got to be smarter in this day and age of 1st amendment suppression of everyone - because SURE people can solve things by NOT talking about them), but it is a stretch to think that the coaches and decision makers who had gone on the record for being proud of working with Cam Newton and wanting to find a QB with similar abilities wanted to move on because of the color of his skin. They saw a crop of QB's coming up in the draft and they felt that those prospects had a higher ceiling than Tyrod - no conspiracy, no race card, simply evaluating ability to take this team farther and needing the draft picks to make it happen. Ask yourself, would it have been racism if Cam Newton 2.0 was available last year and OBD moved up and took that person in the draft? They sort of did, as Josh Allen has a lot of traits that Cam had coming out, cannon of an arm, can move around, a bit raw at the position - he just isn't black. Not really the right forum for all this, but a good thing to discuss and air out. And although I do think I have seen the ceiling of Tyrod's abilities, I do think he is better than more than a few starting QB's in the league and hopefully he gets his shot with another franchise that needs to an upgrade to that position that they cannot address via draft.

This. What's the big deal? Who did not do this when they were a kid with every other friend you had? Odds are he and Darnold have done this a few times at Jordan's camp. Now if he was challenging him to a street car race or jumping bikes or doing x-game stunts... then I would be concerned.

This...get a vet to anchor your line, then fill the Tackle and Guard spots. Besides the best center available was Wisconsin's Biadasz IMO and he did not declare. Otherwise he would have been my #1 draft o-line target.

Well if you know your team is going to suck regardless, why not say it is all part of a "plan". Now if Lawrence was up for grabs next year, then the Phins tanking all the way would make sense. Providing he stays in one piece at Clemson, once that kid is eligible he is the kind of QB that I think more than a few NFL teams are going to try to out-tank each other to get.

Sorry for the long post, but bored, it is like 30 below zero, and thought I would put some time into this so take from it what you will: M. Brown is fast - the real twitchy kind of fast with break away speed and I think he will have a great 40 time. All that being said, I am not sold on M. Brown as someone the Bills should spend their draft capital on: First he is a warm weather kid - grew up in "Hollywood" Florida. Second he is small, a feather weight: at 5’ 10” 170 lbs (I think he is closer to 160-165) Third, these are some notes from another prospect review site, and also what I noted from the video of bigger games. "His route running is excellent at times. He makes great cuts and accelerates out of breaks. He can get lazy and round off cuts but that can be fixed with coaching. His hands are average and will drop the ball when open due to concentration issues. Again I don’t think that it’s a systemic problem and can be improved with coaching. He is not good at contested catches and needs a open window to make his receptions. He is elite in the open field but he doesn’t have the greatest tackle breaking prowess. He often goes down with an arm tackle. This might improve as he ages and gets a little stronger. He is not a strong player and his ability against the press is due to his quickness and not his strength." I like to see how players step up in big games: Rose bowl with Mayfield at QB, Mayfield leaned more heavily on Lamb for the game: 14:53 mark - Marquis Brown 1st target I see in the game - brought down pretty quickly before getting to the sticks. 16:54 mark - you see Browns explosive speed as he simply outruns defenders and picks up a bunch off of a drag route underneath. after that he is only used twice on reverses and goes down quickly both times (not going to take anything away from the Georgia defenders who do a good job playing sideline to sideline and tackling). I think that was it. As a side note: check out Mayfield at the: 24:03, 24:36, 24:49, and 27:04 mark and imagine him behind the Bills o-line. He obviously has a commanding nature, decisive, and gets rid of the ball in a hurry, and was productive in that Sooner offense - in that respect he certainly reminds me of Brees. That being said, Cleveland must have a much better line than we do, because damn... he definitely is not the type to escape the rush and pick up 20 yards like Allen. I did not watch the Rose ball in 2018, but Mayfield also had a penchant for sailing wobbly longer passes into double-coverage and honestly the game should have been over when he threw an interception into the end zone during OT, but they threw a flag and gave Oklahoma another set of downs to try to win it. Not-so-much. I realize he was playing hurt during the Orange Bowl, but ugh - not sure if he made a single catch. I mean as a QB Murray makes a good running back. Either way the Oklahoma offense leaned more heavily on Lamb again as their go to receiver. Their #45 fullback has soft hands and threw some great blocks, too bad FB is a dying position...any way 4:20 mark - 1st pass his way (drop). 11:47 mark - 2nd catchable pass his way (drop). I think that was it - Brown was certainly productive at college, especially when Mayfield was behind center, but I just did not see it against good competition in big games. Take from it what you will, and there may be folks with a better perspective. Either way I don't see what this kid would bring that we do not already have on the roster with Foster, and I think Foster has better hands (particularly the way the ball can be during our cold weather home games). We need receivers with great hands and I don't care if they can run past everyone and jump over the freaking moon if they can't hold onto the ball what is the point.

Fair enough, and I felt like I had heard that he has tried to help our other QB's before, so no rain on my parade. Thanks for the insight, still probably wouldn't hurt the kid to hear him out.

Sounds like someone that needs some convincing. Pretty easy to say when he is leaving games with a clean uniform, and teams get a "roughing the Brady" call just for breathing on him. C'mon Wade set the tone...get your boys to hit hit him early and often.

Has Jimbo ever offered to do this before, or said "I think he's the real deal" about any of our revolving door of QB's? Maybe he has...and I have forgotten, it happens. Even if it is nothing more than Jim wanting to finally pass the proverbial torch to someone he thinks can actually carry it, would it really hurt to give them the film room for a bit for a session of when you see this, you can go here with it quickly, or this is a good thing to key on, etc.. The fact that Jim is seeing a gap in his game and keeping it private is a pretty sound approach IMO - why give opposing DC's any help. No matter how many "old guys" are lining up to give advice, for Allen he just needs to have a sponge mindset and soak up as much as he can at this stage....especially if it is a Hall of Famer who is offering the advice.

I believe our 2019 regular season opponents are: Home: Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Ravens, Bengals, Broncos, Eagles, RedskinsAway: Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Browns, Steelers, Titans, Cowboys, Giants So wins: 2-Dolphins, 1 Jets (better odds to take both if we fix our ST's that handed the 1 game to them last year on a plate), 1-Bengals, 1-Broncos, 1-Redskins Probable Losses: 2-NE (unless we can break the damn curse), 1-Steelers, 1-Cowboys, 1-Giants, 1-Eagles (teams that just are more complete and can really run the ball) Toss-up: 1-Jets, 1-Ravens, 1-Browns, 1-Titans, So taking six would be about right....I am hoping that we can win them all (of course).

For what it is worth - his bio from Eastern Kentucky: https://ekusports.com/coaches.aspx?path=football&rc=865 Looks like he was credited with turning their Offensive Line around and they were recognized for limiting the number of sacks they were giving up - so liking that bit of the resume.

I think the Redskins might lean more towards a deal with the Eagles for Foles. They would have to shed some Cap to do that though and I think they are pretty tight on funds....would be the more sane option than throwing the dice at this class.

They need an outside separate organization to grade their performance and head off obvious interest conflicts. Like hiring a former Kraft lawyer that someone mentioned, or ensuring some reasonable level of impartiality for games. Censure or dismissal of poorly performing refs, and those who are into verbally abusing players. They do have full time officials now, but as an organization they are rife with nepotism, and still think they can grade their own performance internally. I don't think it is an easy job, but it would not take much to insert more credibility into that part of the game, just some steps like the above.

Just can't ... so "meh" this year seeing the Pats again. Another year of non-stop NE ball-washing from the announcers...The only thing that is in the Rams favor is that they have Wade as a DC he will have a better plan than KC, and the NFL wants their LA team to be successful and start to generate some fan following. They were dumb to let the original LA Rams team move in the first place, LA has been lukewarm to the idea of another NFL franchise ever since. You would think that if viewership is down enough the NFL might start slanting the calls against Kraft's team next year - no more phantom roughing-the-Brady calls and actually tossing Edelman and Gronk when they Edel or Gronk someone blindside on the head. I do kind of want to see ol' Wade get some pay-back against NE and Belicheat.

I simply cannot express in real words my depth of loathing for NE, the Pats, or the Bruins... So in the immortal words of some guy in NYC holding a sign that cracked me up.... Baston saks cack

Hmmmm....Oliver going 14th? The jacket incident aside, he won't drop that far. Has Hockenson at 19? I and a few others here really like Hock, but I hope other teams (NE) do not grade him this high or he will likely never see a Bills uniform. Shush Kiper.

I have thought about that myself, I do not think they just decided to start Peterman out of the blue, he was earning their trust with his practice reps. The only thing I can think of is that there was just too much of a difference between the intensity and chaos going up against our scout team and facing real defenses. I particularly do not envision pocket-collapsing effort happening in practices and when that happened in games Peterman lost that practice-level poise and became the stat-padding, interception-throwing machine that had defensive backs and safeties salivating across the league to go up against him. There is something to be said for having the kind of depth to have a decent scout team, then again Allen and Barkley found a way to move our offense sans all the turnovers. Allen had his pocket-presence and legs to get him out of trouble, and Barkley seemed to have a better grasp of where to go with the ball and getting it out of his hands quickly.

This. And wasn't their QB Prescott sacked 56 times this year....almost broke the NFL record - they fired their o-line coach mid-season. Burn Cowboys dumpster.....buuuurn

I don't think he is a locker room cancer guy, but the Iowa coaching staff are serious about how their TE's need to play. The rap on Fant was that he was taking a lot of plays off when they were not going his way, no desire to improve his blocking, and inconsistent hands. That is why Hockenson was their go-to TE down the stretch. Fant is incredibly athletic, but Hockenson is the more NFL-ready TE IMO. As with all things time will tell. The fact that the Iowa program has produced Kittle (breaking NFL receiving records), and now 2 more TE's that will both go in this draft - they are certainly doing something right there scouting and coaching these guys up.

Ours reflected QB's getting knocked silly till we got one that could bob & weave, and out-run defenders. Will be nice to have an offense that can actually run (with RB's), block, and hold onto TD passes.

Edmunds started hitting the run gaps better too towards the end of the season, so you are right - the Bills were playing a lot of young guys who have a lot of upside. I still think Edmunds would be a freak edge player rather than playing Mike, almost feel it is wasted ability in this scheme but we have Hughes in that role for now.

Great post. The only real concern I have with our defense still is they could not stop the run...and it truly showed against teams with good running games and in the red zone. It is how NE crushed us as well as KC this year. Mahomes and the Chiefs would go 3 and out in the first half and then sit cooling their high-powered heels for 10 minutes while NE banged out run after run eating up the field and the clock. It was a psychological way of defeating the Chiefs early in the game and led to their offense feeling desperate like they had no chance unless they scored with the few chances they were getting, which led to mistakes and punting again, then NE went back to the ground. After a healthy dose of that and the Chiefs' "D" cheating more guys into the box, NE broke out the play action in the second half and was able to get behind them with Edelman and Gronk, etc.. Even then the Chiefs Offense did make a game of it and caught up in the second half. If the Chiefs defense had been able to shut down the run early it would not have even been close IMO. Not exactly a new game plan from NE, Belichick has gone after and leaned on some bruising RB's in the post season before, but still a very good one to use against a potent offensive team with a "meh" defense.