BillsVet

Joel Buchsbaum had some great descriptions of players back in the day. Still, Gary doesn't strike me as a McDermott type player if there are truly questions about motivation. The other issue is, where does he play in the NFL? If he's a base end in a 40 front that isn't much value at 9. Drafting defensive line, it had better be someone who has demonstrated an ability to get to the QB and not someone who essentially sets the edge.

If they're going defense and it's waaaay too early, but I'd like to see a pass rusher if they remain at 9. Hughes is 30, Shaq is not a pass rusher, and so far Murphy has been too banged up.

Actions speak louder than words. McCoach says a lot of things, but at his heart he's a defensive guy and his UFA signings the last 2 off-season demonstrate he wanted that side of the ball fixed first. Foster is a UDFA and McKenzie they took a late season flyer on by plucking him from a practice squad. Neither is a significant investment and only got playing time when they realized their receivers weren't separating because each was a possession type. And this occurred after having drafted a big armed QB. This is not a deep offensive draft in the first round, so the narrative should stop there. Most mocks

If they spend 3 off-seasons rebuilding with the goal of merely making the playoffs that's a low bar. (Cue the person who tells us Buffalo made the playoffs in 2017). Lots of ifs and hopefully's. Josh had very little to work with, but I wouldn't pronounce him a franchise QB. Encouraging signs yes, franchise quality no.

They've taken 2 years to remake the defense with multiple UFA signings and high draft picks. And defense is typically the easier side of the ball to get up to speed, albeit harder to maintain. For that reason I'm not convinced that they'll get the offense in one off-season even with that cap space and the usual complement of high picks. Particularly when UFA offers less and less skill players and this draft is thin on top offensive prospects. And, throw in a coach who doesn't seem to embrace that games are won and lost by scoring points and having enough defense. He seems the opposite of that.

A hockey comparison? When does Free Agency start again? Heck, I'd take a discussion about the Combine or even the Pro Bowl at this point.

I don't see anyone saying defense doesn't matter, just that it's reduced in importance. Defense now is more about defending the pass and having more athletic defenders who can remain on the field for 3 downs. No offensive shootouts? I'd say 3 of the 4 games with a team winning by scoring 30 or more points shows something. Not completely definitive, but one weekend's worth of games cannot ever be. As far as running the ball, it's a lot different when guys like Gurley aren't facing heavy fronts and can run from the spread.

Effort doesn't count. Results do and teams don't get trophies for showing audacity. They have 90M in cap room as of right now, and despite what Beane says, they're going to spend. You don't get extra credit for having cap space when the season starts. Some fans don't recognize the expectation to win that the HC and GM know is there in off-season 3, but it's there.

So are a lot of people on this board. Play 200 NFL games hitting a defensive lineman dozens of times a game and see where your back or any muscle/ligament/bone is.

No. I'm saying that you take a QB when one is available and don't delay that decision because the timing isn't perfect. Decisions made out of desperation are typically not good.

In other words, when a QB was available in '17 (actually 2), McCoach decided a CB and the 91st pick was the best decision. And, they could get the QB later. Deferring on QB has plagued this organization going back years. It leads to being backed into a corner and taking a QB out of desperation (See 2013, 2018 drafts). As in, after 2012 when Fitz was DFA'd and in 2017 when TT proved he wasn't starting material. Year after year I'm amazed at the verbal gymnastics some fans will exhibit to defend their team against accusations of ineptitude. Buffalo essentially gave up on the 2018 season to enjoy cap flexibility in the future. Pretty gutsy strategy when some teams are firing HC's after 2 or even 1 season. Trust the process, right?

Andre has only said what a lot of reasonable fans are thinking or have said themselves: that McBeane have gambled their moves during the previous 2 off-seasons to clear cap will get them into the playoffs and win succeed. The jury's still out on this new regime. Because even though they've identified and acquired their QB, there's newt to nothing around the guy right now. And usually you don't build an offense in one off-season. The cost to clear the cap in 2018 was a 6-10 record and a weak roster. If they're not 10-6 next season or better, the "process" has been inherently flawed.

Today, the Patriot's short passing game is neutralizing the Chargers' pass rush. I haven't seen Bosa or Ingram really force Brady into doing much bad.

There was no substantive attempt to re-sign Woods. In two off-seasons this team allowed Watkins, Woods, and Hogan to leave via UFA or trade. And people complain about how the WR group was so poor this year. Some of this is on the Whaley regime, but a fair amount on the McBeane pairing. It is dumbfounding how the Pegula's never once hired any type of consultant to do an overview of the organization. Or, not that I'm aware of. They blindly retained Whaley, then hired RR when Marrone resigned, hired McCoach, and went along with his recommendation for Beane. The NFL is more competitive than it's ever been and mistakes during their tenure are still being made. CT is correct - NFL football is not something that's easy to figure out.

This reminds me somewhat of a few coaches that have gone with what they have rather than drastically change a roster or personnel in an area (offense or defense) to suit their style. Wade wasn't a great HC in Dallas, but he knows defense and those that he worked with in Denver were fantastic this last time around. He didn't impose a 3-4, but used DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller along with a talented secondary quite effectively. Or, Mike Tomlin upon going from Minnesota's Tampa 2 as DC to being Pittsburgh's HC that already had a 3-4 going. He didn't change things. Counter that with McCoach who rebuilt the defense, has traded key personnel, and made sure the rebuild would take at least 3 years to complete. In a perfect world, I'd want a HC and coordinators who are flexible and use the talent they are presented with rather than do a complete tear-off. That didn't happen in Buffalo. Yet, we're going to see what McBeane do in off-season year 3 now that they've got their way.

That's a good question...he's shown an inability to draft a QB (Osweiler, Paxton Lynch) and that's usually going to end your career. At some point Joe Ellis needs to find a way to move on from Elway as GM.

McDermott signing Davis is almost the same thing as Gregggg pushing for Eddie Robinson in 2002. Now, if only Chad Pennington could make a comeback and juke Davis out of his cleats.

No, he's not been let go:

And when it's time to re-sign both players, I'm thinking Mahomes will get paid more than Tyreek Hill. By at least 10M per season. When did people on a message board start posting threads that resembled the click-bait ads that run on every website? Because I'm pretty sure they're not getting paid by view.

Wondering about what might have happened offers no value and it's impossible to know if Reich would have succeeded or not. With all due respect, you do a lot of worrying. I remember Brandon being laughed at while attending the 2008 NFL Combine. He had no place there and was not versed in personnel, although he cited talking to John Butler as evidence he had some experience. To think, the lead personnel decision makers for the Buffalo Bills in 2008-09 were Russ Brandon, Dick Jauron, Tom Modrak (RIP), and John Guy.

Every year teams use first round picks on left tackles and they're almost never available on the free agent market. The question is, why? Sure, teams can get by without an All-Pro caliber type. But the freedom it gives an offense to match their LOT up against the opponents' best pass rusher (as Peters did with Mack on Sunday) is tremendous. Yeah, the game is evolving. QBs are making shorter drops to mitigate outstanding pass rushers. But if you've got one of these guys, you want to keep him. Buffalo is still feeling the pain, as evidenced by the multitude of guys who they've thrown out there since the 2009 season.

One wild card weekend's worth of games does not disprove an entire decade plus worth of regular season play. Besides, the playoffs isn't representative of what happens during the grind of a 16 game season anyway. It'd be like saying the NHL playoffs is indicative of better defense because goal scoring is down from the regular season. Of course it is. There's more being contested AND the teams are better. You don't out-scheme the rules. It's why league scoring has been steadily rising the past decade from 21.5 points per team per game in 2009 to 23.3 this season. As for citing the Ravens offense, it's not hard to confuse a rookie QB who's passing skills are extremely raw.

Better change the rules to reduce PI and RTP calls because defenses are playing not to be flagged. This has permanently influenced how the game is being played from emphasis on positional value (reducing RB, LB, DT for example) to the rise in passing as part of a team's offense, to coach selection, et al.

There's no need to worry about losing Daboll right now because I doubt he winds up with one of the 6 remaining HC jobs. Whatever happens, happens and it's out of their control. The real issue is how bad OC's getting hired to be HC's will affect the league. Everyone's looking for the next McVay, but those guys aren't growing on trees. I can see some undeserving types getting HC jobs and not being ready and/or not talented enough to handle the gig. Developing an offense is harder than ever with HC turnover, new schemes to implement, free agency moving players around, and the demand for instant results. And, they require incredible precision, not to mention an excellent QB. Right now, there are 6 HC vacancies. Of installed HCs, 1 who comes from the special teams side, 9 from the defensive side, and 16 offensive. The supply of great offensive minds will not, as with QBs, keep up with demand. Something's gotta give eventually. 18 teams have changed HCs since the beginning of the 2017 off-season (BUF, MIA, NYJ, CIN, CLE, IND, TEN, DEN, LAC, OAK, NYG 2x, CHI, DET, GB, TB, AZ 2x, LAR, SF)

There is no one way to organize your management team. Pete Carroll effectively hired John Schneider in Seattle and that's worked well for them.