WideNine

Most don't share their division with NE. How often do the Jets and Miami make the playoffs? The talent divide isn't that great, but teams in our division are handed 2 L's every season...except for the odd one-off game they manage to take from Belichick once or twice a decade. They also keep cycling through front offices and players looking for the magic formula to get over the NE hump...which usually just means they are in constant disarray and rarely in position to actually do just that.

Hoping that Lawrence kid goes to an NFC team out West. He's the real deal with ice in his veins. Just unfazed by pressure situations, groomed as a QB, with far too much poise, timing, and ability to squeeze his throws into a tiny window.

Our national scout is now their GM so he would be in pretty good position to piss in our Cheerios... The only saving grace is that as an org they are where we were at last year...under-performing QB, they are not in CAP jail, but need more than their projected EST. 20 million or so of available CAP in 2019, so they will be shedding players. Hate to lose talented FO folks, but it happens when they want to climb the ladder and scout to GM is a good jump. OBD needs to start filling the holes.

The Bills will be competitive once they can beat a Brady-led NE team, or he retires. The biggest obstacle to the Bills sniffing the post season over the past 2 decades is NE and we can talk personnel and player changes till we are blue, but if they don't get that monkey off their backs and turn those 2 L's into W's they cannot be competitive. The Bills get the brunt of the jokes from NFL teams that have not had to be in the same division as NE, so they are shocked when the Bills go out and spank a Vikings team or play other out-of-division teams tough. Is what it is, but the tide may be turning...grandpa Brady can't do it forever and we have a dynamic young QB and a chance to build this right McBeane better be burning the midnight oil for this off season to find the right coaches and players to build that foundation.

I am not current on O-line coaches, but I have always admired how coached-up NE's line is every year even when they seem to play the guy they picked up off the street. Looks like there is a reason they look as good as they do - interesting article rating offensive line coaches (wonder if Dante Scamecchia and Daboll have a connection - maybe the Pegulas can outbid Kraft for his services). O-Line Coaches who "had the juice" last year

Fair enough. Whoever they target as wide receivers I am primarily looking in this draft for guys that catch with their hands, high-point the ball, good catch radius, and attitude to compete. I am not seeing a lot of blazing speed with these larger receivers, but there is good speed. That is why I do not mind if they grab a TE or two from this draft where the pool is deep. They will not be blowing by DBs, but if they have great hands and can out-compete for the ball, and throw in some blocking on the edge, they would be a reliable outlet for Allen and maybe pitch in a bit springing our running game.

I would not mind if it goes like this, but in a defensive talent heavy draft I don't see McBeane going with this much offense, rather hitting FA to fill a bunch of holes there. Rodney Anderson goes a bit early considering he has to come back from injury and has a history of injuries, but I like the kid and his heart. I don't see Bama's Irv Smith Jr. lasting till the 7th, many mocks have him going in the 1st.

I am not a N'Keal Fan as i just cannot see the separation in his film so I have questions about how his speed and quickness translate into his pro game. So before the loyal followers of N'Keal freak out, folks are allowed their opinions, some if not most of us will be wrong. For my own ranking of WRs, I am willing to wait to see what his 40 time looks like at the combine, but I am thinking he will be around 4.57 or 4.58 which is probably not game-changing speed. If he shows more, I am open to being convinced as he has been a very productive college player - we will see. IMO there are no real exceptional WRs in this draft that just jump off the tape at you, but there are a handful of good WR's then a pretty quick drop. Admittedly, with how weak the QB play has been this year, perhaps there are a few of these guys have not been able to showcase their abilities.

I tried to improve on this last night because I feel like taking any of the available WRs at #9 is a reach, but anytime I took an impact defensive player first it kind of threw the whole thing off. The ideal situation is if Buffalo can trade down for an extra pick. If they take an impact defensive player I am thinking DT that can make tackles for a loss (thinking run stopping issues) behind the lind of scrimmage: 1. DT Christian Wilkins 6'4" Clemson (or Dexter Lawrence there are more than a few impact DTs here BPA) then one of the several bigger receivers available this year with enough speed and decent hands should still be available in the early 2nd: 2. A J Brown, or Riley Ridley - Brown may not drop so far, but Ridley should be about there. So in the 3rd you take a chance on the deep TE class and go for the best offensive linemen available. 3. OT Edwards or OG Deiter from a good Badger program or maybe Risner from Kansas. I like your Edwards pick as he is a road grader at RT, my interior picks here are guys that have played well in other positions across the line so good depth or ability to plug holes missed in FA We both land on TE here, but there is no way Hock (if he declares) drops to the 4th regardless of what drafttek says he will be gone by the early 3rd round, as will Fant (not a fan), and Albert Akwue...., Caleb Wilson just does not seem to have the quickness on film that I have seen on his write ups, looks slow out of his breaks... here is where I hope someone like Oliver falls. 4. TE Josh Oliver 6'5" 250 San Jose State Not used as much as he could have been, but an ex-basket ball forward, a lot of athleticism and you can see the snow boarder with the unique size and balance in the film. 4. EDGE D'Andre Walker 6'3" 245 Georgia - Looking to groom that guy that can play some edge rushing and perhaps begin to spell Hughes so he can keep that motor going. 5. OT Max Scharping 6'6" Northern Illinois - pretty solid prospect in a draft without a lot of offensive stars. The best thing about Scharping is that he doesn't get a lot of attention which is usually a good thing for o-linemen. 5. CB Iman Marshall 6'0" USC or JoeJuan Williams 6'2" 205 Vanderbilt is an intriguing DB for his size and coverage skills could also project to safety in NFL if he bulks up a bit. 6. DT Chris Slayton 6'4" 309 Syracuse - DT depth and we need to cycle guys in as we will be hurting without Kyle so grabbing 2 interior DTs in this draft. 7. There is rarely a run on punters, but we need one and why not if Mitch is there. My UFA sleeper is Jalen Hurd - 6'4" 230 WR Baylor - I think the kid has been a bit black-listed because he refused to stay in a RB role for Tennessee and transferred to Baylor to play WR. As a big upright target, the kid was taking a pounding at RB at Tennessee and they would not move him, but he is a naturally gifted athlete and pretty much was the multi-tool kit offensive weapon for Baylor and no team issues. He definitely has some rough edges as he just converted to the position not too long ago, but has shown a very fast learning curve with great athleticism and size, and from the RB background he has exceptional RAC. Will be interesting kid to watch in the senior bowl. https://thedraftnetwork.com/2018/12/29/2019-nfl-draft-player-profile-jalen-hurd/

He will get the most out of a read-option running QB... Kaepernick, Taylor, and Jackson. The move makes sense.

More Love for Hock - I hope he declares. I saw a few mocks that had NE taking him in the 1st to replace an aging Gronk. https://thedraftnetwork.com/2018/11/13/t-j-hockenson-the-better-iowa-te-prospect/ Some comparisons being made to another Iowa TE prospect from the class of 2017 George Kittle: Since Kittle holds a single season record of 1377 rec yards last year - high praise indeed. Iowa keeps producing some good ones.

Should add innovator to his resume.

I hate the post season... we fans have this... Not flaming the post or OP, but I just want to fast forward to the point where grandpa Brady and NE is dumped unceremoniously from the playoffs (check that off my wish list) and the Bills start making personnel additions or something news worthy.

I worry about reaching for any offensive player if a better defensive player is available. My risky player is the TE Fant. Great athlete with amazing vertical and the size/speed you look for, but Iowa fans felt he took a lot of plays off if they were not going his way, had inconsistent hands, and crumbled to the ground at first contact. Also the coaches there limited his reps quite a bit over the latter half of the year - a lot of speculation that they did not like his effort and blocking and preferred to use T. J. Hockenson as their go-to TE. Just speculation, but gives me pause. Either way a risky prospect considering there are some other TEs in this draft with less question marks. Whatever receivers the Bills are interested in, they should have them catch from a jugs machine set as high as it can go to see if they can hold onto the ball.

I think there is even a problem with the replays that go back to their league office, as they have overruled some on the field calls (like the KB touchdown in our 1st game against NE) where there was no video evidence to the contrary. Then alleged video review upheld a rushing TD (our 2nd game in NE) where it was clear that the NE RB was down and the ball did not cross the goal line. It boggles the mind and even retired referees who are now commentators have lamented that they are ruining the game. It also does not help that they police themselves and tell all the fans that they are awesome and get most all the calls they make correct. They do not even touch the fact that sure you can call a hold and it can be enough to be the correct call, but are you balanced and calling it the same for both teams. If not, it is not a good call, it is a call that should not be made. The league officiating website has a web page devoted to "these-officials-are-really-good" - they are just so professional....

NE is a bit of an anomaly in this evaluation. There was a time that Tom Brady needed a lot of help understanding defenses and having plays called for him.....that was over a decade ago. Like Peyton Manning, there is a point when a savvy veteran QB is like having a second OC - just one that changes the play at the line and handles the football.

Love the overt use of LAMP: to um.... LAMP your post...well played sir! Come to think of it, why don't we have lamp emoji tag for posts, save folks the time and bother of typing all 4 of those letters whenever I start a topic.

So everyone knew he was the best OT in the draft, yet every team let him slide and then let the Bills pick him up as an UFA??? It was not that he played TE for 2 years at Arkansas after being recruited as a defensive tackle and sitting out his freshman year as a reserve defensive linemen, and then entering the draft as an offensive lineman sans any actual experience as an offensive lineman that threw teams off? Could it be that he was just too flexible in regards to playing different positions that no teams knew how they would use him? I wont argue that Peters was an athletic freak and phenom, but he was a misfit too....at least early on. If he was all that and a known commodity from the get-go the Bills would not have been able to both cut him and stash him on their practice squad without some other team grabbing him. Rather than our slanted fan history that Peters had HOF Left Tackle printed on his undrafted FA packing slip, and that there was some conspiracy to keep the man down we could disagree forever... Or we could take Jason Peters own take at the time of the events. "Sometimes you can be too versatile that they can't find a spot for you, but I kept pushing," said Peters, the first Bills offensive lineman since Ruben Brown in 2003, and first offensive tackle since Howard Ballard in 1993, to be headed to the Pro Bowl. "I just go out and try to get better than I was the day before." That's when Peters asked former head coach Mike Mularkey to "put me in a spot and keep me there." You can read the whole interview prior to his pro-bowl here: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d80546e70/article/undrafted-free-agent-peters-defies-odds-in-making-first-pro-bowl Did the Bills mishandle it, in hindsight of course they did...they should never have tied up the money they did into Williams who ate himself off the team, then Dockery and Walker in free agency, and Mike Gandy was not their answer at LT. They threw good money at middling to bad prospects and likely left little room for the emergence of Peters... At the time of Peters rather obvious unhappiness with his pay a lot of teams were interested in him. A disgruntled young pro-bowl Left Tackle, who wouldn't be? But not many could afford what Philly eventually agreed to pay. So it is fair to say that a lot of teams (not just the Bills) missed out on the services of Jason Peters. There is a lesson there if the Bills dive into FA o-linemen market this off season to not tie up so much of your cap that you cannot do right by the young players they are developing today. Since this thread seems to be devoted to the perfect clarity of hindsight - nice article on former Bills players and coaches represented in this years post season. As most things in life there are moves OBD has done past and fairly present that appear to be good moves (Kelvin Benjamin, Sammy Watkins) and then there are players and coaches that have found success elsewhere (they include Peters). https://www.newyorkupstate.com/expo/sports/g66l-2019/01/230e2cb6ba1364/many-former-buffalo-bills-play.html

Totally agree - and the other problem with prevent-type defenses is if they switch to a passive zone. Most competent QBs and receivers know how to find the soft spots in zone coverage and often those soft spots allow receivers a shot at getting out of bounds and stopping the clock. Most of your patient veteran QBs will eat that situation up to march their team down the field into scoring position. If you are pressuring a QB into making poor decisions, why let up and let him gather himself and get into a rhythm? Offenses practice what they will do for their 2-minute drills so some DCs react to that up-tempo situation. I think defenses are better served sticking to what has worked for them, and keeping the pressure on the QBs. If they go empty backfield, just use the defense you employed to stop that during the game, with an understanding that you do not want to give up the sidelines to stop the clock, but that should not take precedence over simply preventing the completion from happening in the first place via QB pressure and successful man coverage. Probably over-simplifying it, but I have seen a lot of great defensive efforts flushed over the final 2-minutes of a game when a defense stops being aggressive and lays off the gas.

For the position he played he was dominant, but that position rarely gets the accolades as the stats are not kept for plugging gaps and such, not like sacks and number of tackles. Trying to think of a more overlooked position in football where if you do your job the right way, others are successful - maybe fullback? Was going to answer that the NFL would have to build an addition in Canton big enough to fit Ted into.... (insert deadpan drum sound here)

Fixed. Peters also took on the infamous negotiation-killer Eugene Parker as an agent. I don't buy the whole honorable wanted-to-be-here BS. Actions speak louder than words, and Peters actions to me were simply self-serving. Do I blame players for looking out for number one, not in the least, but lets not turn them into some kind of martyrs. He went after the LT money and did not want to wait for the contract he signed to be fulfilled - is what it is. Would Buffalo had been wise to renegotiate his contract, tough to say as it would have opened the door to the same happening to any of their players who excelled at the positions they were in. Hindsight being 20/20 they could have just left him at RT and tried him out at LT the final year of his contract to avoid the whole allure of LT money. On another note I read an article that indicated that the gap between LT pay and the rest of the o-line is shrinking. I think for a time the advent of premier blind-side pass rushers (for right handed QBs) made the LT spot worth every dime, but more teams are rushing from either side and have complex blitzes and stunts to attack the middle. It is getting harder to hide the weak links.

Fixed. How I do miss having ol' Skeletor on the Bills sideline

Was thinking the same thing, but the two could be related...not a deep year for Sr or Jr QB's that have earned an NFL grade, so maybe there is some talent in this WR pool that just didn't have anyone that could deliver them the ball.... It's a theory.

Was my take too. Mouse was a great o-line coach and molded a freakishly heavy, but nimble UFA TE into a pro-bowl LT. Early on it was kind of fun watching the coaches try to figure out what to do with him...used him as a wedge buster on Special Teams for a while...he was outrunning some of our linebackers. They signed him to a 5 year deal and he basically held out the last 2 did not participate in practice, showed up out of shape and got injured right off the bat and pretty much forced their hand. I think the Bills received 2 picks from Philly. Not a fan...would be different if he had honored the contract he signed and then asked for more $$$.

Have to admit it made game planning against us a lot easier...especially not having to worry too much about our run game. Our defense kept getting run over too, which extended NE drives and limited the offensive opportunities. Our Special Teams were a joke too. I am not laying all the blame for the NE loss on Allen, it was a team loss. I was only drawing a comparison on how (as the Chargers did to Lamar) the NE defense forced Allen to throw from the pocket and took away the deep stuff (for the most part) forcing a rookie into making the right pre-snap reads - which is difficult in general and in particular against NE with their many disguised looks.