folz

Yeah, to me it looked like he didn't know what the snap count was, allowing Bosa a step or two before he even moved. Mills shouldn't be starting in the first place, but if ever a player doesn't try or risks the health of a teammate, that player should be off the team asap. That was one (of many) of Rex's problems, when Mario was playing half-assed and he never benched him. Not a good look for the rest of the team. I doubt Mills did it on purpose, that's his job, the team's playoff chances, etc. that he could lose by pulling something like that. Instead it just shows the ineptitude of this offensive line, at least in this offensive system. Bring on Seantrel and Groy or Miller. You're willing to bench your QB, why not some underperforming O-linemen.

He dissects the issues with Tyrod well and we can all agree we don't know what we'll get from Peterman yet (I'm a little more hopeful than he seemed...but its fair to be skeptical of a 5th round rookie), but I'm not sure about his assessment as the entire team being bad. "none of it matters because the Bills are a bad team. Not in the way that the Ravens/Dolphins/Raiders are bad, but truly bad." "Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa are going to dunk all over his offensive line on Sunday." "This won't be garbage time against the Saints shell defense. He'll be working with one of the worst supporting casts in football against a quality defense." Those quotes seemed a bit harsh. Yes, it's tough feeling great about this team after the disastrous way in which the last two games have gone. But worst supporting casts in football? Yes the receivers were pretty bad to start off the year, but now your starting three are Benjamin, Matthews, and Jones (seeming to have gotten over the yips). You have Shady, Clay, DiMarco, and O'Leary. I'm not claiming they're one of the best supporting casts, but one of the worst? Really? I don't know. Yes, the O-line has been struggling, but I still doubt that they are one of the worst in football. As for the defense, they looked horrible the last two games and he was correct in pointing out the pass rushing issues, but they have also put together 5 or 6 really good games. So, I'm not totally counting them out yet. But they do need to figure out the D-line issue (pass rush and against the run). Maybe more blitzes, maybe having brought in a bigger body (Coleman), etc. will help. Anyhow, time will tell. I am hoping that the last two games were a bad stumble in a long race rather than a team finally being exposed as the truly bad team that they are. And I am hoping that Peterman will be a spark, playing the offense the way the OC designed it---which should hopefully make the receivers and O-line look better. But then I'm a Bills fan...ever hopeful.

I really thought your second paragraph was about to go in a different direction (regarding college) than it did. But I'll get to that in a minute...anyhow, this isn't directed at you SoTier but more to the media or ultra-left who always play the race, gender, or whatever card to keep us fighting each other rather than coming together as we should be doing. First of all, opinions are often built upon perceptions rather than reality. The reality is that as of 2016, whites account for about 77% of the U.S. population and blacks about 13.3% of the population. That means that the majority of high schools in the country probably have a white QB simply because there are more white kids overall across the board. So, those kids are all being developed as QBs, while a much smaller number of young black men are, not because of racial bias, but because the pool of kids to draw from is just soooo much smaller. So, the number of black QBs going into the college game prepared is going to be smaller just based on demographics and nothing else. Now, I don't know the exact number of or ratio of black QBs to white QBs in college, but the fact that some feel it should be closer to 50/50 when one pool of players is most likely six times smaller than the other pool of players, seems a bit crazy. Unless, as another poster pointed out, that someone is just assuming that automatically a black athlete is better than a white athlete based on race alone. As to the Bills being lumped into the "racist" NFL coaching and ownerships who won't give black QBs a break, I posted in another thread, the Bills have had 6 black QBs over the last 6 years and they have started 60 of the last 73 games for Buf. So, anyone trying to throw the race card at the Bills organization seems to be way off base. And finally, with all of the discussions about the problems of college QBs transitioning into the league, one thing that I have often heard said about the college game right now is that college coaches are just taking their best athlete and putting him at the QB spot because it gives them the best chance to win at that level. They're not choosing the best passer or the guy who can read defenses, etc. No, just the best athlete. So, many of these guys do not translate to the NFL. It isn't because they are black (look at Johnny Manziel) it is because they aren't the most skilled at what it takes to succeed as a QB at the next level. If the college game were instead grooming the best passers and smartest players (football smarts) then maybe more of the black QBs that start in college would make it in the NFL because they would have the right skills to do so, they would be more than just a great athlete. So much goes into any discussion like this, but the media, social media, and many people just want to scream racism right away. Yes, we need to point out injustice where it stands and not deny issues that exist. Yes, in the past there was a bias by many owners against black QBs (not Ralph though). I am not ignoring that, but Tyrod's situation has nothing to do with that at all. As a country we need to start coming together to discuss issues and cooperate, not just point figures and assess blame. What good does that do? Yes, racism needs to be addressed, but when it turns into everyone is a racist just because they are white or because their words were taken out of context, ugh.

During the last six seasons, the Buffalo Bills have employed six black quaterbacks (T. Taylor, E.J. Manuel, C. Jones, T. Lewis, D. Dixon, T. Jackson). Over the last five years, a black quarterback has started for the Bills in 60 of 73 games. Just sayin'

Of course, none of us knows for sure if Peterman will be better than Tyrod, but what I think people are seeing (albeit on a very small sample size) is Peterman getting the ball out quickly. That skill better fits the offense this team is trying to run. Also, sacks and the Offensive Line have been a problem of late. If the ball comes out quicker, you mitigate the pass rush. It also appears he has better anticipation. He doesn't wait for the player to become open. That should allow the receivers to make more YAC. And if the receivers are more involved, hopefully it keeps defenses from crowding the line, opening up the run game. They are two different QBs with two very different skill sets and it just seems like Peterman's skill set (quick release, anticipation throws, better accuracy---possibly) will be more successful in this offense than Tyrod's skills (running ability, extending plays, the deep ball). When he has been put in (in preseason or NO game), Peterman has done well. The moment didn't look too big for him. He wasn't lighting it up, but he rose to the challenge each time so far. I don't expect him to come out and play like an elite QB, but I also don't think he will come out and fall flat on his face. What we need right now is consistency. And I think he provides more of that simply because Tyrod (due to his skill set) probably goes off script a lot more.

Sorry dude, that is not true. In the last 7 weeks of the season (that is all but 2 games this year) MG has averaged 34 yards/game. He has had 0 TDs in 7 weeks and his biggest game in that 7-week span was 54 total yards from scrimmage. Not to mention that he has hardly played since fumbling the ball 3 or 4 weeks ago. BB doesn't like fumbles. It had nothing to do with the gameplan...MG just has not been good in NE. As to the switch to Peterman, earlier this week I was going to post that "despite having been a Tyrod supporter, after watching both QBs play against NO, I too finally admit that it may be time for a change." I was just so disgusted with the loss that I didn't even bother posting anything. So, I am totally on board with this move at this point. Looks like its time to change my avatar again. (I should try putting Tom Brady as my avatar because whoever I have chosen over the last few years ends up failing). It really comes down to, as most people have said, Tyrod's risk averse nature (I'd rather see Fitz throwing INTs while attempting a comeback, than a QB who doesn't even try to make a comeback) and teams realizing that if they keep him in the pocket, he'll struggle (CAR, CIN, NYJ, NO). Maybe not every team has the front 7 to do that, but enough do who can make Tyrod disappear. Which means if we fall behind, the game is over. His main assets have been low turnovers, his running ability, and his deep ball. The last two years he was averaging 40 yards rushing a game. This year he is averaging 26 yards a game and he only has two games where he rushed for 50+ yards. He was on pace for 5 throws of 40+ yards or more this season, in 2016 he had 7 and in 2015 he had 11. So, his strengths have been minimized this season, while his weaknesses (holding the ball too long, not anticipating throws, not allowing his receivers the ability for YAC, inconsistency on intermediate throws) have continued or gotten worse. I really expected Tyrod to take a step forward this year and up until the Jets game was still hoping he could...I was wrong! It's a tough move to make at this point in the season, but really, it's the only chance to keep this season alive. I give McD credit for having the guts to pull the trigger.

I was confused by the thread title as well, thinking the Bills said or did something to make a statement. But thinking in the context of the thread title, the statement that they did make was playing for 60 minutes on Thursday. That game was out-of-hand by the 4th quarter, the team was flat and playing poorly. I've seen many teams just give up at that point, but the Bills kept battling, scoring points, getting the onside kick, etc. They didn't quit even though they were playing poorly and the game was in essence over. I know because I sat in my seat at the Meadowlands until the very last play...still cheering every positive play. Never say die! This team will bounce back this week...and even a close win over the Saints would be a statement game at this point in the season because of how the Saints have been playing and because of how our last game went.

While being able to sit and learn for four years is a definite advantage over a rookie coming in fresh, NFL people say all the time that you can only learn so much on the bench, you have to get game experience to progress as a QB. Wilson has started now for 5-1/2 years, Tyrod has started for 2-1/2 years. Let's let it play out. Plus, let's not forget the advantages that Wilson had over Tyrod in relation to the situations they were walking into: Tyrod came to a team in the midst of a 17-year playoff drought, with a bad Head Coach in the first year with the team and who destroyed a good defense. Wilson was walking into a team with an excellent head coach in his third season with the team and arguably the best defense in the NFL; historically good---Althon Sports ranks the 2013 Seattle defense (Wilson's 2nd year) as the 4th best ever in the history of the NFL, just behind the steel curtain; Gil Brandt of NFL.com also has that defense 4th best ever...you get the point. Oh, and Marshawn Lynch in his best years. Another point is that Wilson had consistent receiving targets. He's had 5-1/2 years with Doug Baldwin, 5 years with Kearse, 3 years with Jimmy Graham and Tyler Lockett, and 2 years with Golden Tate. They may not represent an awesome receiving corps., but really solid and they were able to build a rapport because none of these guys missed extended playing time due to injuries. Tyrod has not had that stability in his receiving corps, nor no where near the talent when Sammy and/or Woods were injured. In his first 2-1/2 years Wilson had a healthy Doug Baldwin for 38 games. Tyrod had Sammy for 21 games and some of those games he was playing injured. That stuff makes a difference. Too many people look at things in a vacuum. Anyhow, Tyrod is the man for the rest of this year, so why not just take a wait and see approach. With Benjamin now in the fold, I think we'll have a good idea by the end of the year where we are, as a team, with Tyrod at the QB position and which way they'll need to go moving forward. So just sit back and enjoy the ride till then.

I think this statement is a bit unfair. Tyrod has proven he can win if something goes wrong (as in one or two things going wrong as your post intimates), but EVERYTHING went wrong Thursday night. It's not just, say, the O-line had a tough game, or some bad calls from the refs and he didn't overcome. It was the O-line, the running game, the defense, bad tackling, turnovers, penalties, coaching (why was Tolbert the feature back on one series in the first quarter? Why wasn't Tate active?), etc. There are very few QBs that win a game where every other aspect of the team is failing. Many a great QB has been a part of a total team collapse. Just this year, KC, Pitt, NE, etc. have all had a loss like this where the whole team just looked awful. This entire team just came out flat and didn't recover until the 4th quarter, when it was too late. I did also want to mention the sacks. I was at the game and so (besides seeing how low energy the whole team was on the sidelines) I could also see the whole field. So, this is my perspective (having not rewatched the game broadcast or All-22): I would put 2 of the 7 sacks on Tyrod. There was one where he had a crossing route open right in front of him. It would have been a tight throw as one LB was trailing and one approaching from the front, but he should have made the throw---he was gun shy. And then there was one that he should have thrown away. Nothing was open and the pocket was collapsing, but he had enough time to get rid of the ball and didn't. Then there were two that looked like designed QB runs or bootlegs that the Jets totally sniffed out and won on (so not on Tyrod). And the other 3 sacks, he didn't really have an option other than to try and hold onto the ball and not get killed. Tyrod played well under the circumstances. No, he didn't have enough to lift the team up, but I don't think most QBs can when EVERYTHING is going wrong. And yes, he made mistakes too. So, the loss is on him as much as anyone else. But the team lost, not Tyrod on his own. There is no way this game should be used as ammo against Tyrod.

Yes, the flight is only an hour and change, which doesn't seem like much, but I fly back-and-forth from Rochester and NYC often and it can suck up your whole day. You have to pack, get to the airport, be there at least an hour and a half before your flight (maybe more for a full football team), get through security, etc. And then on the other end, you have to get off the plane, get to transportation, fight through NYC traffic (I have had trips to the airport that took 1-1/2 to 2 hours due to traffic). And this holds true even if you fly into Newark. Best case scenario, it's about an hour from the airport. Then you have to get everyone to the hotel, check in, drop your stuff off, and then finally head to lunch/dinner/or team meeting-practice. That entire process can take minimum 6 hours. If you fly in the day of the game, that can take a lot out of you mentally. if you fly in the day before, now you have to get to where you are going to practice, etc. That whole day is thrown off, while the opposing team woke up and went to practice as usual and back home for a good night's rest. There is definitely an advantage to being home on a short week. Not saying it is an excuse for playing as poorly as the Bills did last night, but its not just a one-hour flight. Of course, a better team should still be able to deal with that and beat an inferior team, but don't act like it's nothing to have to be the team that travels. They should definitely do away with Thursday Night Games! (Screws up fantasy too.) I looked up the stats on home vs. away for Thursday Night Games, here it is (with no conclusion being drawn by me) The HOME team has won 69 of 113 Thursday Night games going back to 2006, or 61% of the games. (Regardless of who was favored or who was the better team.)

Alright billvernsays, it's yours. Text me and we can discuss details. I sent you a private message with my number.

Hey Bills fans...especially those in the tri-state area. I am going to the game tomorrow night, but had a friend back out on me. So I have an extra ticket for tomorrow's game in the meadowlands. I'd rather have it go to a Bills fan if possible. So, It's free of charge to the first poster who responds that they want it and can make it to the game. Only caveat is you have to sit next to me . We could meet up outside the gate at the stadium before the game tomorrow to get you the ticket. First come, first served! (Seats are up high...section 339, but like right down the 50 yard line...so viewing is very good.)

Love that Guy! He is the epitome of everything you want in a football player, in a leader, in a role model, in a friend, in a parent, etc. I said in a post last week, "why wait for retirement, put Kyle on the Wall now!" Let's get this guy not just a playoff appearance, but a solid playoff run. (Wish we could have done the same for Freddie.) I've enjoyed watching a lot of Bills players during the drought years, but there are three players (over the last 17) that stand out to me as true Bills and deserving of being on the wall of fame: Kyle Williams Fred Jackson Brian Moorman (in that order)

Late to the party here, but I am over the moon. KB is a legit #1 WR. I've had a bunch of Carolina guys on my keeper team over the last 4 or 5 years, so I've watched a lot of Carolina's games in that time. And I love this kid...so happy he's a Bill. He did hurt his knee in week 3, but has been playing through it. Yes, a WR who will play through his injuries (if not too serious). He tweaked the knee again two weeks ago, but played through it. So, the knee does bare watching, but I can't imagine they would have let him play if there was the threat of further injury. So, hopefully it's on the mend and nothing to worry about. GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!

I will be there! Go Bills!

Thanks Ice...it was a heart-attack ending for sure. This team believes in itself. It's nice to see. Hope the bye week helps the Pack retool and rebound from the loss of Rodgers. (And not just because I need Jordy to keep scoring for my fantasy team. )

I grant you your point...but he is a rookie from a small school in his 6th game. Of course he is still working/struggling on doing some of those things consistently at the pro level. I just think we need to have some patience with him. I only wanted to point out to those who may have complained about drops in this particular game that it was really just one bad drop. You still don't want that, but it wasn't as bad as 2 of 9 seems. I really think this kid will come around. And I'm a fan of Tyrod and Zay. They are Buffalo Bills. I want all of our players to succeed. It's ok to talk about where they need to improve or if they should get more or less playing time, etc., but If they're happy to be a Bill and working hard, I'm rooting for them.

I was going to say the same thing. Don't give up on Dareus yet people. I don't think he is a malcontent as has been rumored. Maybe he needed some tough love, but McDermott is the kind of guy to do it right. Two points: 1. As DaBillsFan said, Marcel made the tackle on the last long lateral play of the game. He was right there at the end fighting. 2. Watch Marcel's face during Kyle's postgame speech (linked above) he looks happy, engaged, he keeps saying "yes sir" to all of Kyle's statements. I love how McDermott is running this team. And as for Kyle, why wait for retirement, put him on the Wall now!

I just watched the game back on gamepass and took a look at the throws to Zay. From what I could see, he caught 2 of 9 targets...which doesn't look great, but... 4 passes were completely uncatchable/no where near him (bad throws by Tyrod due to pressure or whatever) 1 catch on the sideline where he was draped by a CB, could have made the catch, but it would have been a tough/great catch. There was the one miss on the throw to the endzone, where he got tripped up by the CB's feet, so I don't put that one on Zay. 1 bad drop, no excuse 2 catches: one for a first down another for 7 tough yards in the redzone. When you actually look at the plays, he didn't have 7 drops, he had 1 drop and one contested play that maybe he could have made. It wasn't as bad as 2 of 9 appears.

Give the kid a break. He's a rookie in his 6th pro game. He's just a little inside his own head right now. It's not his fault that he was drafted to a team with a weak WR corps and he was forced to be a number 2 and then number 1 receiver (with Matthews and Clay down) right out of the gate. That's a lot of pressure for a kid coming from a small school. If we had at least two solid threats ahead of him and he was eased into a slot receiver role, his development would have probably been better, without so much pressure. But despite his drops, he's getting valuable starting experience. He just needs to gain Tyrod's trust back and catch some passes to get his own confidence back. How anyone can call a player a bust after 6 games is beyond me. Honestly, how many draft picks 2nd round or lower each year bust out right away? Many receivers don't fully get it until their third year. For the love of God, let the young players develop before you run them out of town.

As far as this incident goes, no big deal. He went out there to protect someone close to him (on the other team) thinking he could get his teammates to back off before something happened. That might not go over well in the Raiders locker room, but I don't think his intentions were bad. He wasn't running out there to start fighting. However, rules are rules. He did leave the bench and shove an official. He was right to be penalized, ejected, and fined. That ref doesn't know that he's cousins or whatever with Peters, so in the moment, he can't assess his intentions. Just like the Von Miller/Tyrod Taylor psyche play. In that moment, the ref doesn't know that they're friends and just joking around, so he assumed the intention was something else. You can't expect refs to know the players relationships with each other. BUT...those who don't understand why many people don't like Marshawn obviously do not remember his time in Buffalo. I don't know the guy personally and people who do say he's a great, funny guy. But from the outside when you see him hit a woman with his car and then flee the scene (not even waiting to see if she is ok) and try to not get caught for it, when he brings his own liquor to bars (very disrespectful to local businesses), when he would (be it some kind of joke or not) intimidatingly corner people in bars and demand that they give him twenty bucks, when he can't get over himself with the media (as bad as they can be), when he talked bad about the Bills or Buffalo (back at that time), arrested for illegal gun possession, DUIs, etc., it is no wonder some football fans don't have warm fuzzy feelings about the guy. Maybe he has matured since his days in Buffalo, maybe not. But I was glad when he was traded and no matter how well he played for Seattle, I never wished we had kept him. I want to like the guys that I root for (like the guys on this McDermott team). Marshawn may be a great guy to the people in his life or in his community, but from the outside he doesn't appear like a great guy or appear to extend common courtesies to people outside his circle. I could be wrong and I'm not condemning the guy, everyone deserves second chances...but there are very solid reasons why some fans don't like him.

If the refs had called a fair game, Jets win this one comfortably. Beyond the S-F no TD that directly took points off the board, the refs also picked up two flags against the Pats, didn't call the obvious pass interference on Gronk in the endzone, etc. They may call some make-up calls at unimportant junctures of the game, so the number of penalties at the end of the game looks balanced, but the Pats always get the calls that have a big impact on the outcome of the game when they are playing non-Marquee teams.

Rhino...Sammy may have elite ability and elite potential (you probably won't find many to disagree with that) but you can not call him an elite WR in this league. At least not yet. With 4+ years in the league this is what you are getting from Sammy: 10 games played per season / 61 yds per game / .45 TDs per game over a season, that would equate to 610 yds and 4 or 5 TDs. That is good for a 2nd WR, great for your 3rd WR, but does not equate to elite. If he played 16 games with those averages, it looks better with 976 yards and 7 TDs which is very good, but still not elite. Add in his availability issues to date and his possible "me" centric attitude and I doubt there are many teams who would have given us more than what we got for him. No one was giving up a 1st rounder for that production. To think that every other front office would pay top dollar (money-wise or trade-value-wise) for Sammy is naïve. Most GMs and coaches are conservative and don't pay for potential (they may draft for it, but you don't give up too many assets for it). Yes, Sammy has big potential and if he stayed healthy for a whole season and had good QB play in the right scheme, no doubt he could be elite. But there is no way he can be considered that at this point in his career. Elite potential means nothing until you prove it on a consistent basis. Plenty of guys have had potential and it never quite panned out in the league. To be elite you have to be available and consistent. So far we have seen a few games in his rookie year, one game for the Rams this year, and that 8-10 game stretch in 2015. That equates to less than 1/4 of his playing career thus far where he played at an elite level. I like Sammy, even drafted him in Fantasy because I thought he would break out now that he's healthy and maybe he will eventually reach elite status, but as of now, no, he is not an elite receiver and I think the Bills made the right call moving on from him...even though we could use him now. It was the right move for this team at this time.

That article is sexist...what about Helen Hunt?

I'm surprised that some posters are saying Humber had a bad game in Carolina. I think maybe you are letting ONE play (against a really elusive player no less) where he missed the tackle overshadow what was otherwise an excellent game for him. The guy had 11 tackles, 7 of which were solo tackles in space. He was ballin' all over the field. Humber has been playing really well. I'm not sure what games some of you guys are watching.