WideNine

I like that being able to take off and run is a part of both Lamar and Allen's game, but defenses will find ways to hem them into the pocket to force throws. Not only did Belichick do that to Josh, but he also took away the deep stuff forcing him into a game of pre-snap reads to find the open options underneath. Considering how good Belichick is at disguising coverages and confusing even veteran QB's, it was a tall order to think that Josh would be able to have a lot of success against that. Mechanics aside, I do think as long as Josh knows where he can go with the ball, he can get it there from the pocket more often than not, but that will take time for him to better read what defenses are giving him. All the above being said, I don't mind tipping my virtual hat to Lamar for his accomplishments this year.

I wonder who McBeane and Daboll have in mind for O-Line coach? We all agree they will be bringing in some fresh blood and hopefully some talented prospects...gonna need someone to coach them up.

He cracks me up, and certainly makes the AFC East more fun to watch - if only for the post game pressers and bizarre foot fetish. Balances out having Darth Hoodie sucking all the life out of a room during his pressers. I also don't see him building a dominant team so win-win.

I am not sure I have seen enough to justify any of the LTs going 9th overall, and not enough difference between Greg Little and Jonah Wlliams to justify one going well before the other... Cajuste is another good option. Watched some tape of Yodny and had to laugh at the write up 3 scouts had (2 said he needed to improve in pass-pro, but was a dominant run blocker, the 3rd said his run blocking needed improvement, but he was a wall in pass pro - you wonder if they watched the same games). Either way he has upside, can be dominant, and could be a good fit for the Bills too. There are more than a few solid run blocking RTs that should be available in rounds 3-5. I liked both OL Deiter and C Biadasz from Wisconsin. Deiter has played LG, LT, and C - having those kind of Offensive linemen that can backfill other spots on the line are extremely valuable IMO. Biadasz recently decided to return to the Badgers for another year so he is no longer an option - he was a consensus best player available at the center position, the next best center available is Elgton Jenkins. He, and I think only one other center will be at the senior bowl so folks should be able to get a nice long look at him going up against good competition. We could sink the money into FA Paradis who will be coming off of injury, but likely worth the investment if Elway and Co. don't want to pay him. Nice write-up about Paradis and how interior linemen are more in demand and getting more $. https://247sports.com/nfl/denver-broncos/Article/What-is-C-Matt-Paradis-monetary-value-to-the-Denver-Broncos--119564661/

I think the Bills are pretty flush with young secondary talent right now, and will be getting some more back from injury next year. You hate to draft for need, but the o-line "needs" some love and I fear that even middling o-line FA talent will likely be overpriced - Beane needs to find that sweet spot between finding a 1 or 2 solid veteran players and o-line talent in the draft that can be groomed.

I am with you on the tendencies of defensive-minded coaches to ignore their o-line needs. I think McBeane may actually buck the trend this year though, but I could see them grabbing a run-stuffing DT early as it is a deep position in the draft and the Bills are bad at stopping the run. Hopefully, watching the steady march of QB's that went on IR (Garappolo, Dalton, Smith, McCoy), and others that were knocked out of their line-ups (Wentz, Rogers, and his own veteran backup Anderson), as well as the steady stream of Buffalo RB's injured behind a line that couldn't open any running lanes brought home the fact that teams don't run the ball, or protect very well if they have a bad o-line.

I can see how this thread devolved from a franchise reputation into a regional "brand" thing...and continued down the rabbit hole. As far as facility upgrades go, I have plenty of friends who are Viking fans and they believe to a man that their years of franchise failures can be traced back to their team moving into a "cushy" dome in '81. I have been in their new US Bank Stadium (1.057 billion dollars) a few times and everything about it is top notch, but it has not translated into more wins for their franchise so maybe there is something to it. As a business move the facility does generate a lot of revenue hosting a lot of events like the Superbowl for one...but I cannot say it has done anything for them as a team. Green Bay fans cite the decline of the Vikings as a dominant post-season team as the reason they will never go dome and give up that home field advantage of the elements and such, but they still attract talent even without all the amenities. When it comes down to it, having a winning program and reputation is probably the most important factor for franchises competing for talent. It did make me think, could you imagine the Bud Grant of old trying to ban today's athletes from wearing gloves or having heaters on the sidelines...outside in Minnesota in January... not so much.

I would not tie up a lot of money into him, work it around performance bonuses and such, but if the bidding got too high you move on. Worth a look under the hood. I am not sold on Fant, just too many flags around him as a player, and inconsistent hands. If he is not a good effort guy, doesn't block, and does not have amazing hands, I don't care if he can run a fast forty or jump over my roof. And yes, I could be wrong... but I am not sold on him enough to think he warrants that high of a pick. Other than that, I agree with most everything you said and think there are plenty of round 2-5 bargain skill position players. I don't think we can fill all the vacant O-line positions with FA's, so there is going to be a need to draft some talent to develop (I really like a few Wisconsin prospects). That being said, I am a firm believer that an O-line needs 1 or 2 veterans to really gel and play their best.

Great point as potential FA do not get a tour of the facilities that are setup for the Bills players. There is certainly a marketing angle that teams need to consider when attracting talent - look how tilted the talent pool is when Bama is recruiting. Talented players want to play there and that leads to success, which leads to talented players wanting to play there.... and the cycle continues. I think the Pegulas are aware of this and the importance of the concept of "brand". The investment certainly shows for the Sabres facilities and not only does it say something about the stability of the franchise, it also provided an attractive location to feature college and world jr hockey events where potential players can be scouted and given a good impression about the Sabres team and facilities. There is a method to the madness, and I am confident they will get it done for the Bills.

So much for trying to make the game safer. I don't mind Mills doing what he did, and I think we all have enough of an idea of how McDermott reacted (off camera), probably hugged the big guy.

Seriously Tom? Rhetorical question as I believe you, but if I understand that correctly, as long as Kiko uses a different dirty play he gets off with a light fine. How messed up is that? "Kicked with left foot, kicked with right foot, elbow to head... that is just silly", should just be a running total of calls against Alonso for unnecessary roughness against a QBs who have given themselves up - I know he has more than a few of those under his belt.

Magic 8 ball? It is baffling, but the only thing I can think of is that the league has always been harder on those reacting to stupid **** than those who initiate the stupid ****. It is completely bass-ackwards.

It was immature - and WR's, especially good ones can have a diva streak. He's hungry, wants the ball, probably feels he can still get it done (he can), and he is losing reps to Ben's new favorite. That, and probably a lot of other dysfunctional things going on in that org that we are not even aware of. AB is not KB the skills are still there. We all know that he is going to be grilled about this episode from every team that shows interest. He is probably better off just being honest about why he was fed up with Big Ben and the Steeler's org... it happens. I think he could be a solid contributor and I would not mind the Bills taking a flyer on him. Having someone like Josh who can lob it a mile downfield is likely an attractive option too for a player with his skills who will want to put in an "I told you so" kind of year. If there is nothing more to it than the above, considering the weak WR class this year, I could see OBD talking with him. Jordan Phillips was not even near the difference maker that AB is and they were willing to bring him in when he and the Dolphin's org were having issues getting along... there is precedence.

I didn't say dumb - I just was saying "Culley - who?", and was more than skeptical hoping Daboll could fill the QB coaching needs. Nicely done, and finding folks that have a different take or better information about the Bills players and staff is one of the reasons I like to come here. More than happy to eat my words and it is obvious you had a better bead on his ability to contribute than I did. Crow never tasted so good - keep it up.

I think it is funny when folks throw out an obvious turd assessment then take the high ground about how Josh Allen fans overreact to the stink. Keep in mind I had no Allen expectations this year, did not follow him at college, did not think any rookie QB the Bills took would see much action, and that our offense would limp behind McCarron. For all their faults I like ESPN's Total QBR because it does not stop at a very limited set of completion % stats that do not give a very good picture of QB performance and it mirrors my own take on Allen's progress this year. Ranking Allen dead last says more about having a faulty analytics system than fans criticizing it supposedly wearing rose-colored glasses. I give more credence to a Total QBR ranking that takes in down and distance metrics and other metrics around QB contributions to keeping drives alive, scoring, etc.. Even so they had Josh dead last early in the year 32.4 - which was fair considering his performance and decision-making. I did not particularly care for his game. Since he came back from injury his rating using their same system jumped to 58.1 (good for 16th best in the league) http://www.espn.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/32747/bills-lay-foundation-with-rookie-qb-josh-allen-during-uneven-season Even taking a cumulative approach (factoring in Allen's poor early games) , Josh comes in 24th http://www.espn.com/nfl/qbr Any review of Allen's performance this year that does not account for the improvement in his game since coming back from injury is a review with a healthy dose of suspect objectivity, or using a very limited set of metrics to create the bias they are looking for IMO and of course it will generate a lot of negative comments here. On another note: Interesting 2017 article on the short pass/high completion % how it relates to performance https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/nfl-quarterbacks-are-leaning-on-the-short-pass-and-its-not-working/ I actually want Allen to hone his short game, but more for 1st and 2nd down situations as they could be more successful than our running game has been for creating manageable 3rd down and distance situations.

I really did not expect anything from any of the QBs available, and I pretty much expected anyone that the Bills selected would end up being terrible. I figured if the Heisman-toting Mayfield fell to us, he would end up being Manziel version 2.0; That I would end up reading about him running over some pedestrian late one weekend while on a drunken binge, fleeing the scene, leaving a rental car full of drugs, hookers, and some loaded guns. As a Buffalo Bills fan with a perennial list of letdowns, I would not have been surprised in the least - so admittedly the bar was set pretty low. If we ended up with anyone that did not promptly get into legal trouble and end up making negative headlines, I figured we would end up with someone who could maybe, barely manage to not lose games if forced into action because McCarron got hurt.... as long as he had a stout defense and were somewhat able to run the ball. I was resigned to watching our defense and simply hoping that they would punch Brady a few times in the ***** each year before we exited sans playoffs and I started watching hockey. Now I watch our Bills and the offense because they are actually fun to watch. The kid is a breath of fresh air. Yes, he is undisciplined and dangerous with the ball, he makes mistakes, but his desire and compete reach right out of the screen at you and can put you at the edge of your seat yelling at him, "Oh no, no, no, no, wait... yes, yes, touchdown!" He wants to make a play, he wants to score even if means he has to drag the entire offense down the field with him, and he has some jaw-dropping athleticism. Was anyone, who was not a fan of Wyoming college football, expecting this? It's the Allen roller coaster folks, it is different from anything we have had for years at the position, so why not strap in and enjoy the ride.

I believe if you are right-handed you should be set so you are looking along the line of your left shoulder when throwing ( so I have read), so it could be just a tweak in those mechanics. I think Josh got better as the year progressed, but consistency is going to require a lot of discipline especially since he has so much arm strength that he can throw from almost any awkward platform and often gets the ball there bad mechanics be damned.

This is what had a lot of us baffled regarding his quick slants and swing passes. Money to the left, and often off to the right. That just screams footwork/platform mechanics on his quick sets and short throws to the right...wonder if there is any correlation with passes that follow play-action or a single drop step. Not tearing every Josh throw apart, but I can get into these types of analytics. They can be meaningful.

For those who are concerned for Danny, it is all about pivoting from complacency to accountability. The Bills Special Teams unit was dead last folks. What message would it send if you jettison coaches saying they are not getting it done, yet keep one whose unit finished dead last in the standings? Sure Danny may have been dealt a less than stellar deck of players for Special Teams, but the NFL is chuck full of talent parody and ST units fluctuate all the time and what you expect is perhaps some poor play early on but through solid mentoring, coaching, and practice you should see some indication of improvement game by game in the unit. What we saw were the same kind of execution miscues and mistakes week in and week out and overall a pretty inconsistent performance. I am also not sure how much input Danny had on the kickers and punters who were brought in or let go... Also, when you think about teams like NE that draft near the bottom each year and do not always get a shot at the best talent, yet Belichick would never had tolerated the level of incompetence shown by the Bill's ST unit this year - if Danny were on his staff do you think he would have lasted through the whole year? I know folks probably do not like bringing up the Pats, but like it or not the road to the AFC East goes through NE, and if we are ever going to beat that @#!%% team OBD is going to have to run a tight ship that fields competent units - they do not all have to be top 10, but none of them should be dead last.

I am a bit concerned with Harry, but think he is the type of player who will keep working to get better. I like the kid, and have my fingers crossed that he takes a step forward next year having a season under his belt.

I understand the feeling, and I am not sure how Crossman is able to survive ...it is truly baffling. Particularly with the McBeane tandem, as resting upon past laurels does not seem to be their thing when doing coach evals.

maybe I will eat my words, but I do believe this is a really deep class of TE's coming out and every draft analyst and player personnel interview seem to all agree that this year's wide receivers do not merit 1st round grades, but some of the TE's do have late 1st round grades. I don't like the Bills reaching if there is a better BPA where they are drafting rather see them grab a DT who can stop the run than reach for a need role. My preference in this draft if there is not a clear impact player left at 9, would be to trade down to later in the 1st, and grab some more picks, but you never know if anyone will be truly desperate to move up. Teams can get really locked in on a prospect and I am sure Beane will be manning the phones. Regarding Fant... I do not doubt his athleticism, but there are some flags I have spent some time lurking on the Hawkeye fan boards as I do not watch enough of their games and they all agree that although Fant has ridiculous athletic ability, he is inconsistent catching the ball, and that if they really needed a pass to be caught, or if the TE was going to get tackled right away they would want it to go to their standout junior Hockensen - who may or may not declare so maybe a non-factor. The coaches at Iowa started limiting Fant's touches and game starts and there has been a lot of speculation - just some comments from their board: Hock has improved 100% from last year blocking, Fant hasn't improved since he was a freshman, and I've seen Fant take plays off that are away from him, and that don't fly with KF or hardly any coach. 33 cheerscoach, Nov 13, 2018 BTW - Iowa is starting to churn out some quality TE's Brian Ferentz their OC served as the Patriots Tight Ends coach 2010-2012 I still want to dig a bit more into the other top TE candidates Irv Smith Jr., Albert Okwuegbunam (if we draft him I guess we could go with Okwue Man for short), and Smith from Stanford. The Bills have options.

As some have pointed out Culley has spent more years as a WR coach than a QB coach. We have no idea how much he may have contributed to helping develop some of those young WRs. Hard to know what goes on behind the scenes, but seems like they had some overlap for this role and felt they could move on. I think that considering what they had to work with that the WR unit did pretty well, but we have no idea who was most responsible for that development.

I don't think Crossman gets released unless McBeane have a clear upgrade targeted, and know he will accept the position. That is the ONLY reason I can imagine for not taking any action to address the steaming pile his unit left on the field more often than not this year.

If no one has pointed it out, the College Football forum has plenty of folk who follow college football regularly and plenty of draft commentary. It's not a bad place to start digging into prospects and @26CornerBlitz brings in a lot of good info too.