Cash

Pats fans complaining about someone else whining too much? All I ever hear from Pats fans is whining. Even after wins! And they have absolutely no self-awareness. Talking more about my coworkers here than PatsFanNH.

2016 Tyrod >> 2015 Osweiler. And 2015 Osweiler got 4 years, $72 million. That means 2016 Tyrod can reasonably expect at least that, probably more, if we cut him. If I'm his agent, no way do I accept a restructure less than $20 million per.

The strongest argument that we underachieved is that we had 9 potential pro bowlers - 2 straight up and 7 alternates. Typically the teams at the top of the standings get a lot of "straight ticket" votes, so for a middling team to get that many is pretty impressive. There is talent on this team, especially on defense. I'm of the mindset that better coaching alone can get the D to average at least. I'd like to see a mixed bag of resource allocation in the offseason - we really need better depth at WR and TE, and QB should be a consideration even if Tyrod is retained.

During the game, I will root for the Bills. But I won't be upset if they lose, because it makes a Rex firing more likely. I don't particularly care about the draft position. In the unlikely event that Rex is fired before the game, I will 100% be pulling for a win.

Decided to vote a week early because my mind is made up at 7-8. Fire Rex. The punt was inexcusable, and a fireable offense. Sometimes quarter to quarter. I don't know that I've ever seen a team this inconsistent. We are capable of extreme highs and lows in all three phases. And that averages out to mediocre.

Our only chance was to go for it. If we didn't make it, we would've lost. But going for it still would've been the correct decision, and most of us wouldn't "roast" Rex for going for it. There's no way to expect the D to stop Miami's O at that point. Punt or get stopped, you're eliminated either way. Go for it, you've got a chance.

Totally agree. Before yesterday, I was sort of in favor of keeping Rex if we went 9-7, and maybe even if we went 8-8. Now, he has to go. The punt was a disgrace. Given the ways our offense and our defense were playing, it is completely indefensible. I'd be fine with promoting Lynn, or hiring an up and coming coordinator (a Hue Jackson type, just hopefully more successful in his first year). I'd prefer to have some continuity in the offense - including TT's option being picked up. And frankly, there's plenty of talent on the D already. Maybe not top 5, but we should be better than this. It's the coaching. It reminds me of the Chan Gailey years. Whether the D coordinator was that make a wish kid for the first two years or Wannstedt for the third, the big problem was coaching. One year later, Pettine takes largely the same talent and turns it into a great defense. One year after that, Schwartz takes the same talent in a vastly different scheme and turns it into an even better defense. We've lost some talent since then, but not enough to account for this kind of collapse.

First let's institute a rule where if a coach walks away from his contract, he has to pay back everything he's earned, including apparel deals and endorsements.

Not voting until the season's over. If we go 9-7, I think probably keep him. If 7-9, probably fire. 8-8, also probably fire, but we shall see. I do think that even if he's kept, he should be quietly encouraged to let his brother seek greener pastures. Basically if it looks like the team has quit on him, fire him. It did pretty much look like that against Oakland and Pittsburgh, but if they close out with 3 straight wins, then it's hard to say the team quit on him.

Everyone knows you can't win with a mobile QB, so therefore the Texans should keep playing (and paying) this classic pocket passer.

1.) Whaley doesn't negotiate the contracts, Jim Overdorf does. 2.) I agree with you about the giving away of picks, but I do wonder how much of that comes from above him. I still tend to think the Sammy trade was marketing based. I have no proof.

I'll bite. It does seem like there's something to the idea that Rex's D completely needs a "coach on the field" at safety to handle all the complicated checks, or maybe it needs one at safety and another at LB. But if that's the case, then Rex needs to loudly and frequently tell his GM to go get him more than one safety who can fill that role! I'm not convinced that the Williams injury is really that critical - it makes just as much sense that we happened to play 4 bad offenses in a row, and that also coincided with a random streak of good play by the D. But if it is all about the Williams injury, then that, to me, is on Rex. He's the one who knows his scheme and its requirements. He's the one running practices, who can tell who is capable of running the D and who isn't. He knows which safeties he's had in the past who "got it", and can suggest those guys to Whaley.

He looks great, but from a team-building perspective, it doesn't make a lot of sense to draft a WR in the first when any 2 of these are true: 1.) You don't have an established QB 2.) You've already spent heavily on a WR 3.) You're more than 1 piece away I think all 3 are true right now. Good WRs are important, but they basically come around every year, and if they pan out, they need to get PAID. So if we're going to trade Sammy, or we're sure we'll let him walk rather than sign him to big bucks, a guy like Davis would make some sense. Or if we're in a spot where Davis makes us a contender for the 3-ish year window where we have both him and Sammy, that would be a great move. But I think we're a ways away from there.

Very good breakdown of the situation, along with your prior post. We'll see how the season turns out, but if it keeps going south, I'd favor a "burn it to the ground" approach. Fire the coaching staff (I could go either way on GM - I tend to think Whaley's faults might not be his fault; see below), let Gilly walk, let Woods walk, don't exercise Tyrod's option, sign only guys who don't count for the comp pick formula, and trade down in the draft as much as possible - preferably for 2018 picks. The new coach comes in with an understanding that there's no pressure to win in 2017 and we do a full-on rebuild, which we haven't done since... Gailey, maybe? Ever since the no-playoff streak got long enough to be a thing, the Bills have been in "win now" mode every year, because they know they can't sell rebuilding to an already depressed fanbase. But if ever there was a time for it, it would be with new ownership. Great post, and I totally agree. I think Whaley is a good GM in terms of scouting/acquiring talent - both in the draft and in the pro ranks - but the organization has never seemed to have a coherent team-building vision. I don't know if that falls on Whaley, or if it's the situation many fear where Russ Brandon is dictating moves to sell tickets (Sammy trade being a prime example), or if it's something else.

Yeah, the last few (3 or so?) weeks, I've focused on Hughes a fair amount while watching the game, and he's been pretty invisible. Earlier in the year, it seemed like he was playing great, even if he wasn't necessarily getting sacks. Forcing a hurried throw or forcing the QB into the waiting arms of another pass rusher are great plays that don't show up on the stat sheet for Hughes. But it seems like it's been a while since he was making those plays. I have no idea what the reason is - injury? scheme? effort? - but it's definitely a big part of our defense falling off a cliff.

Serious question: if his problems stem from sickle-cell anemia, how can he ever get "healthy"? That's a genetic trait that he presumably has had his entire life. So what changed this year, and what would change going forward? I don't know a ton about sickle-cell. As for Michael Floyd, I'd probably be in favor of claiming him, maybe just in the hopes of getting a comp pick when he leaves in the offseason. But then again, it's not my $1.3 million paying for the hope of an extra late round pick. I don't know much about Floyd's off-field problems, other than that he was recently arrested for DUI. If memory serves, he's never had a season worthy of his draft status, but he was pretty good last year. If Floyd could get his act together and be the guy from 2015, I'd rather have him than Woods at the same money.

Thanks for the recap! My reaction: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

That would be a slight upgrade: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/ Not counting this year, we've had five 6-10's, three 7-9's, three 8-8's, two 9-7's, and one each of 5-11, 4-12, 3-13. This year will be between 6-10 and 9-7, but 6-10 will remain our most common record during the streak no matter what.

Gleason is kind of a hack, IMO. As Rumblings pointed out, he buried that allegation (of a verbal fight between Hughes and Wolfman Rob) deep in his article, and provides no source or background. He doesn't even allege that he has a source. Did anyone else report about this alleged fight, beyond just regurgitating Gleason? If so, I haven't seen it. Now, Hughes having beef with one or more of the coaches is totally plausible, and him getting less PT as a disciplinary measure is also plausible, but that doesn't make either one true. It's more plausible to me that Hughes' PT was reduced because he hasn't been playing as well lately (true in my amateur opinion) and maybe has been dogging it in practice.

1.) ABNE 2.) Then, anyone but the Cowboys 3.) I've always liked Green Bay 4.) Any underdog/unlikely candidate that is similar to the Bills - the Vikings are a good example here

Exactly. From what little I've seen of JimmyG, he seems a decent bit above the previous Pats backups that flamed out (and don't forget to include 3rd round pick Kevin O'Connell in that list). And maybe he's good enough to succeed with the Pats' hefty support network around him, but I'm not seeing him as good enough to drag us (or the Browns, e.g.) out of the dumpster. However, if I'm wrong, and he's as good as some people think (one of the posts in this thread compared him to Aaron Rodgers!), then I think it's very unlikely that the Pats make him available for trade -- especially within the division. What are the odds that 1.) He's really that good, and 2.) The Pats are wrong and think he's just mediocre? 1%? I don't think that chance is worth the cost. And keep in mind that the cost would likely be both draft picks and a fat contract for JimmyG.

Actual result was pretty much right in the middle of those two. #fingeronthepulse

Nope. Not for anything. Brian Hoyer 2.0

A convincing win might get be back on the 2016 bus, but with my hand on the "request stop" button. I don't expect a convincing win; I expect a loss that feels like we could have or should have won. Next most likely outcome IMO is a loss where we're never really in it. But I also wouldn't be shocked if the Bills beat the Steelers then lose to the Browns. I will say right now that if the Bills play 4 complete games down the stretch and win them all, I'll consider the season a success whether they make the playoffs or not. A complete game would be one where both offense and defense look good in all 4 quarters, and special teams aren't atrocious. Doesn't necessarily mean a blowout, because the other team might be playing well, too. But I'm done with moral victories -- if we look great but lose because Roethlisberger and Brown were ridiculous, the Bills still suck. I've already cut them a lot of slack this season (and many others), and there's no more slack to cut.

I'm not at all excited about this, but I don't totally get the hate that's being thrown around. In our last game, we started Justin Hunter and Walt Powell at WR, with Brandon Tate as the 3rd WR. Woods did wind up playing, but it seemed like he was only available in the case of an injury (which, of course, happened), and didn't look healthy. And that's the full list of active WRs on the Bills last week. We won't have Sammy Watkins back for at least 3 more weeks, and quite possibly longer. (Even if he comes back, I have no confidence he stays back for very long.) Who knows if/when Goodwin comes back, and even if he does, he's not very good. Tate may miss significant time. Woods might not get back to 100% all season, and even if he does, it probably won't be until after the bye at least. Our only non-WR weapons in the passing game are Clay and McCoy, and both of them are banged up as well. So I think it's fair to say that we need help at pass catcher, and specifically at WR. Given that, what options are truly better than bringing Harvin back? Maybe trading for Alshon Jeffery, but that's all that comes to mind. (More on that later.) Signing Harvin doesn't preclude the Bills from calling up the Ed Eagans and Dez Lewises of the world, nor does it preclude them from signing some dude off another team's practice squad. If (when?) Harvin flames out, those kind of moves will still be in play. But Harvin has more upside than a Lewis or Eagan type. And, since he was with the team last year, he has more familiarity with the offense than most options would. I'll go on record as saying I don't expect much impact from Harvin - but I'll be happy if I'm wrong. I think the most likely scenario is that he makes a couple of nice plays, but doesn't do much consistently, and then gets injured at some point, or possibly phased out if Watkins & Woods both get healthy. But even in that scenario, how is that worse than any of the other options available to the Bills? Do people really think there's some star receiver out there waiting to be signed? Lastly, re: Alshon Jeffery. At the right price, I wouldn't have minded a trade for him, but it's not even close to a guaranteed success. First, he's been very injury-prone the last couple years. Second, he doesn't know our offense at all. Third, it would cost draft picks to get him, and maybe more than he's really worth. (If Chicago made him available, but only for a 1st or 2nd round pick, I don't think that's worth it.) And finally, he's a free agent after the year. If he walks, you might get a comp pick for him (as long as you don't plan to sign any free agents), and that could be good, especially if it's basically the same pick you traded for him. If you sign him, that's a lot of $ tied up in an injury-prone player, and could cause problems with Watkins - I doubt either guy would be happy being the 2nd-highest paid WR on his team. Having said all that, if they traded a 4th or lower for Jeffery, I'd say it's worth the downside, but I get why that might not have been possible.