jahnyc

The current reality in the NFL seems to be that a lot of teams are in need of a #1 WR and upgrades on the o-line. Look at the steep price paid for Cooper by the Cowboys, and I am not sure whether Cooper is a true #1. Other teams were after him as well, including the Eagles. I doubt there will be a #1 WR available in free agency next year. This likely will need to be filled in the draft, and WRs can take time to develop, assuming that they do develop into quality players.

Considering the current talent level, I think a quick turn around for next year is unlikely. We also will have new holes next season if KW, KB and McCoy do not return. We do not have enough picks in the early rounds to expect a bunch of instant starters from next year's draft, and a number of teams have significant cap space for free agent acquisitions, so it will be competitive getting quality free agents to sign with the Bills. I think this rebuild is going to take time, both in terms of upgrading the roster and the development of Allen. As noted above, there is a lot of work that is needed to improve this team.

I want to have confidence in McBeane's ability to rebuild the roster, but I don't because of their head scratching personnel moves and lack of a plan at QB (both in terms of developing and mentoring Allen as well as the failure to sign an adequate back-up QB). At this point, they have opened themselves up to second guessing and criticism, which I think is more than fair. I assume that they will get at least through 2019 to straighten out this mess, but I understand the collective frustration and those that think they already should be on the hot seat.

Hippodrome was crowded and overall pretty good to watch the Bills play the Colts. They showed all of the NFL games upstairs (except for maybe the Browns) and they set up a separate viewing area for the Bills-Colts, which was comprised of a small sitting area with maybe six or seven rows with three chairs in a row plus a long sofa along the side of the seating area. Only one Indy fan in the group, but I am not sure how many were fans of the Bills because there were people wearing different team jerseys. I think some people were waiting for the later games. Surprisingly, I think the biggest crowds were there to watch the Panthers and the Texans. There also seemed to be a fair number of Eagles fans. Food was fine. They had Buffalo wings, but, unfortunately, I am trying to eat healthy.

Unfortunately, I believe that our options have been more limited than most teams when it comes to hiring new GMs and coaches, as well as free agent acquisition, due to the combination of recent franchise reputation, ownership and the realities of being a small market team. This also has impacted our ability to retain players. It probably does not help that the Pegulas do not have a team structure with a strong president, which may have helped mitigate these issues. Overall, there has been a level of front office ineptness over the last 20 plus years that is difficult to fathom. I am tired of each new regime trying to convince us that they are smarter than everyone else and then failing miserably with head scratching decisions.

Thanks, GB. She is living in Kensington, near Queen's Gate. Great area. She is doing a semester abroad program, and having a great time in London.

Thanks! Have been enjoying our time in London and visiting with our daughter.

Thanks for all of the replies. Likely will check out the Hippodrome Casino on Leicester Square. I did do a Google search before posting and asking the question. Results included some of the casinos in Leicester Square (including the Hiippodrome), Riley's, Belushi's and Naughty.

Any recommendation for a good sports bar in London that will show the Bills game against Indy and other NFL games? Staying in Mayfair but I should be able get to other places pretty easily.

I think Roman (or at least the Roman schemes) was the best recent OC for the Bills. The offense produced based on his system with a below starting QB (Taylor). I wonder how much better his offense would have been with a better QB. Gailey also was able to get more out of a below average group of players on offense.

None of us know how Allen will develop (or not develop). He is a project, and, if anything, more raw than I expected. He should not have been the starter in his first year. This is going to take time to evaluate, and the Bills will need to figure out a viable back-up QB in the interim.

The combination of drafting Allen and moving up with picks and trades to have that opportunity is the thing that I would have to at least consider as the biggest redo of the offseason. I know that the Bills were determined to get their QB of the future in the most recent draft, but you can never force these situations if the players that are most likely to fulfill that need are not available to you. I don't know who the Bills had as their top choice or choices at QB in the draft, but they could not get in to position to take Mayfield or Darnold if that is what they really wanted. I thought the Bills only pursued McCarron after some of the other veteran QBs were signed by other teams (i.e., McCown, who I thought was their first choice). Bridgewater likely would have been an upgrade, and maybe he should have been considered as both a potential short and long term solution so that we would not have believed it necessary to move up and take Allen. Of course, the reality may have been that McBeane really wanted Allen more than any of the other choices. If this is the case, I would question the ability of this front office and scouts to evaluate talent. Allen is a project and has a long way to go before he is playing even at the level of Darnold and Mayfield. I don't have the feeling that Allen can be developed as quickly as we would like.

Allen is really raw and it shows. He has a lot of natural gifts, including arm strength and good athleticism, but he is a project. He also has come into arguably the worst situation of the four rookie QBs in terms of talent around him and overall support (in terms of coaching on offense, QB coaching and veteran support (which hopefully will be better now with the arrival of Anderson)). He does seem less developed in many respects compared to Darnold and Mayfield. I do think it is a good thing for him to play this season. We do not have five years for him to develop. He needs to show improvement during this season and next for us to have some confidence that he can be the guy at QB.

I agree that McD can coach. The overall talent on this team is poor, and he has coached the team to two wins against good teams so far this season. I understand there also have been blowout losses, but I think it is a mini-miracle that this team is 2-3 at this point. I do have concerns about the coaching on the offense side of things, but I think McD is good at keeping the players believing that they can compete, even after bad losses. McD needs a stellar OC. I do not believe that Daboll is that guy, and if he is not, then McD needs to find one as soon as possible.

Entirely subjective, but I don't think I would put Edmunds in the top 25. Allen definitely would not.

10 Years After--I'd Love to Change the World Blue Oyster Cult--Astronomy Elton John--Funeral for a Friend Michael Schenker Group--Into the Arena Derek and the Dominoes--Layla (Eric Clapton and Duane Allman)

We can certainly include TE on the list of needs. One could make the argument that we have a need for a quality starter at every position on offense, other than maybe LT, QB and FB. Even at QB, we still need a veteran back-up.

Just brings us back to the same questions, which all relate to whether the Bills are putting enough around Allen to help him develop and succeed. This previously has been discussed on the board, but it does seem odd that the plan for his development in the first year has been completely botched, particularly since the Bills knew that Allen was raw coming out of college. The Bills used so much draft capital to move up and draft him. It does not make sense that they would then put him in a situation with a poor o-line, poor wide receivers, no QB mentor on the roster and an OC with a poor track record as an NFL OC.

Unfortunately, making the playoffs last year was a red herring and not indicative of the team becoming competitive on a consistent basis. This year, the team has hit rock bottom because of a huge amount of dead money and the purging of the roster. Other NFL teams have turned things around quickly, but I am not sure I can remember many other teams with the number of talent deficient groups that we currently have, such as the o-line and wide receiver, combined with a very raw rookie quarterback. In the near and long term, the overall situation is very uncertain for significant improvement. After all of these years of ineptitude, it is really difficult to be experiencing this level of poor performance and continue to be patient. I do wish that I was more confident in the abilities of McBeane to turn this around.

Does there have to be a relationship between culture and strategy? Can't you have both culture and strong/sophisticated strategy? I think the use of the word "trump" in this context is unfortunate and probably not what he meant.

The Daboll hire was critical to get right. It will be interesting to see if he can work well with Allen and help his development.

At this point, where are where we are and we need to devote whatever resources are necessary to develop Allen and provide the offense with skill players and a strong o-line. McBeane will have tremendous pressure to fix the roster next offseason with the draft and free agency (with a lot of available cap space). They deserve the pressure after stripping the roster, but they also should have the opportunity to do the rebuilding. McBeane also need to do whatever is needed at the coaching level to speed Allen's development. I have no idea what kind of a job our QB coach is doing, but if he needs help or is not the right person to develop, McBeane need to act. Same with Daboll. Significant assets were given up to draft Allen, and while he may be getting valuable experience playing this year, McBeane need take whatever actions are necessary to give him the best shot to become a quality NFL quarterback.

The problem is that there will be a bunch of teams with a lot of cap space next offseason, including the Colts, the Jets and the Texans, all of which have more cap space than we do. The Browns and the 49ers also have significant cap space for 2019. This means there will be significant competition for a limited pool of quality free agents, and I don't think that Buffalo will be as attractive a destination as compared to some of these other choices, particularly if the team and Josh Allen struggle this year. Each year, it seems that the pool of blue chip free agents gets smaller as teams sign their own to be free agents before they can hit the market. I don't think we can count on fixing most of our talent problems through free agent acquisitions in one offseason.

I am worried about Allen's accuracy throwing the ball. This was a well known issue prior to the draft, but if it does not improve, he (and the Bills) will have problems. I really hope this is fixable, but he looked awful today. Plenty of blame to go around, including play calling, wide receivers and o-line, but his lack of accuracy is my greatest concern at this point.

Specifically , for Allen, I would like to see that he can be accurate with his ball placement. For Edmunds, I hope to see that he learned from last week to be more effective in recognizing and defending passes over the middle as well as showing better instincts overall.