dave mcbride

Happy to do so. The reason they had the #1 rushing attack was because of the threat that Taylor himself posed in the run game plus the actual yardage he piled up in 2015 and 2016 -- 1,150 yards over two seasons, which led all qbs in the league in rushing. There is a reason why Mike Gillislee had such a high ypc - a well-designed run game that accentuated the threat of Taylor taking off on designed runs on any play. The statuesque Orton contributed zilch to the Bills' run game. Again, I'm not an Orton hater. I like to think of myself as reasonable about Taylor too. I think too many here aren't reasonable about him and don't pay attention enough to other teams.

One team hasn't drafted their franchise qb of the future; one team already has. I don't think anyone here think that that Bills shouldn't try to get a qb in the first round next season.

The Bills were a terrible matchup against the Pats, whose offense completely eviscerated them early on. They were playing in NE too, and NE was obviously on a roll at that point. They weren't going to win. Random numbers? Since when does "larger sample size" translate into "random numbers"? The context of Taylor's won-loss stats are important too: the defense has never been below 20 in DVOA since he's been here. Orton played with a defense that was, to repeat, #2 overall in DVOA and which led the league in sacks.

1) Why "no way"? The Pats (playing at home) won the SB that season, you know. If you think that the Bills would have beaten NE in NE if there was something on the line for the Pats in that game, I don't know what to say. "All that matters is the W-L." Orton lifetime: 42-40 with an 81.2 rating; 4 rushing TDs and 296 yards rushing; 3.7 percent of passes were TDs; 2.5 percent were INTs. Taylor lifetime: 21-18 with a 92.1 rating; 14 rushing TDs and 1586 yards rushing (in half as many starts); 4.2 percent of passes were TDs; 1.5 percent were INTs.

Orton's failure to connect vs. KC on two plays he had open receivers (Hogan in the middle of the EZ, Watkins in the corner) at the end of the game cost them the game. Sammy saved him in the Detroit game with a circus catch on a throw that was 10 times worse than the O'Leary catch, and bear in mind that Orton played badly that game (including throwing a pick-six). Orton came through vs. Minnesota with a series of good throws to Chandler, Hogan, and Watkins at the end. He led the Bills to a victory against a NE team that basically rested their good players for most of the game too. If that game had mattered, the Bills would have been destroyed. My point is, let's look at the details of his performance before proclaiming and citing qb wins (a mostly but not entirely garbage stat). Bear in mind that I was not an Orton hater and thought he was OK overall. He wasn't as good as Taylor has been, but he was a credible NFL qb who was a major upgrade over Manuel.

The Bills defense was #2 overall in defensive DVOA in 2014. That is the one and only reason the team went 9-7. No, it's because we have a garbage coordinator. The playcalling in the second half was among the worst I've seen in my long history of watching the Bills.

He is definitely still cut on a dime. Like the rest of the offense, he is handicapped by a bad scheme and weak playcalling.

Avoid the debate about him then. Huh?????? wtf.

The whole premise of this thread is hot take city. Watkins generated 147 yards and a td via a mix of catches and PIs (6 in combination). He had a good game.

He generated two PIs for 63 yards in crunch time too.

I feel like people overreact to plays that the color guy focuses on after the event. Alex smith makes a way worse throw on 4th down and trent green says nothing. Hence nobody else says anything. and, by the way, the reason the bills didn’t convert on 3rd and 2 was because of a ridiculous trick play call in which an unfooled kc defense keying on shady found him immediately 4 yards deep in the backfield.

You are kidding. It was a 14 yard completion that was a little low but which a better te (kelce or gronk) snags and rumbles forward.

That throw wasn’t where you would like it, but it was ok and very catchable at least. On thanksgiving stafford missed a wide open golden tate on the lions’ final possession and it cost them the game. All qbs, including good ones, miss. Alex smith’s miss on the fourth down play with 2:50 left was a far worse miss than taylor’s.

Dennison is the worst.

If dawkins doesn’t hold that game is over. Cadet had that run clear away even if dawkins dowsn’t hold. the pass to o’leary wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t that bad. Jordan matthews caught an even lower pass and didn’t go to the ground. Some of that is on o’leary. It was lower than you’d like but it wasn’t THAT low.

I’d say slightly above average, but I’m not going to argue about it. It was classic Taylor, for better or worse. Regardless, the playcalling in the second half was ridiculously bad. The hold on Dawkins (who played really well) was really bad.

What??? He played well but they took it out of his hands and made a bunch of terrible play calls to boot. Dennison stinks.

I suspect Cousins stays in DC.

Good post. The font size, though!

I'll take Rosen 8 days a week, but I doubt the Bills will have the ammo in the form of picks to get him assuming Cleveland is dead set on getting a qb (which i guarantee you they will be). Basically, we need to root for SF to go into an even deeper tailspin and for gregg-o to inspire a decent cleveland defense to win a couple of games on their own.

Actually, he played one game and one play.

I can't imagine him not going pro. He's really good and will be a top ten pick. Plus he will have graduated. Why on earth would he stay?

As a Bruins fan and alum, this is excellent news. Mora was terrible despite the winning early on.

Cleveland is taking a qb. I pretty much guarantee it.

Not sure you know who Ted Lowi was, but he was an extremely influential political scientist at Cornell (died last year) who stipulated the following: 'Professor Lowi acerbically coined what he called the “Law of Succession,” which holds that each new president enhances the reputation of his predecessors. He also posed a corollary: “This is the only certain contribution each president will make.”'