Bills Training Camp Preview Part 3: Pessimism

By Steve

The Bills get back on the field in real pads this week so lets preview it. Part 2 was Optimism (shockingly) Part 1 was Questions and Answers and now on to part 3. PESSIMISM. (My specialty).

Well, lets face it. The Bills are the Bills. They havent been good in 20 years, have made the playoffs once in the last 18 and have a Vegas over/under total wins of 6. What the hell isn't there to be pessimistic about?

Here's some Pessimism:

1. The Receiver Corps
Holy shit. Zay "bath salts" Jones, No Knees Benjamin, JEREMY KERLEY? Is this real life? They are counting on Rod Streater too?

2. The Quarterbacks
Is there a chance that any of the 3 of McCaaron, Pizzaboy-Peterman or green Allen are better than Tyrod Taylor? Its possible but highly unlikely. Maybe AJ can be decent and not afraid to throw the ball but he has a weaker arm and less athleticism than Tyrod, Peterman threw 5 picks in 30 minutes of game time and Allen played in the fuckin Mountain West last year. Expect a lot of Chris god damn Ivory

3. The first four weeks of the sched
At Ravens in their opener, Chargers, at Vikings at Packers? Yikes. Could there be a tougher start?

4. McDermott
Yeah McDerrr isnt as dumb as Marrone or disorganized as Rex but this guy is a vintage football coach and thats not a compliment. Punting in OT on the other teams side of the field? Putting in Peterpan at the Chargers in a huge playoff contention game? Running 82% of the time on 2nd and 10? Not buying in to math? Hes better than Jauron Mularky or Greg but whats that even mean?

5. LeSean McCoy
God damn it.

Bills Training Camp Preview Part 2 Optimism

By Steve

Buffalo Bills training camp preview time boiiii. Part 1 questions and answers can be found here. Time to move on to reasons why Bills Mafia has (gasp) reasons to actually be optimistic heading to SJF. And no this wont be a sarcastic (entirely) post:

1. The Defense
The Bills defense with returning DC Leslie "i look alien-ish" Frazier should be a solid if not great unit. Sure Thumper and his tackles 8 yards past the line of scrimage are gone but thats about it. They over paid for a solid (star) DT, drafted an alleged stud linebacker/freak and are replacing one injury prone CB no one ever heard of (Gaines) for an injury prone CB everyone has heard of (Davis).

The safeties are still legit and there is now some depth behind Shaq "bust" Lawson at defensive end. Banking on Trent Murphy and a guy w a million letters in his name is risky but Murphy should contribute. Who knows, maybe Matt Milano is actually good too.

2. New OC Brian Daboll
Can anything be worse than Rick Dennison? Well, actually, I guess it could be (see the QB depth chart) but at least  Daboll is young and has recent college experience. Granted, his previous (team) success is meaningless especially when it was so talent rich and the Bills offensively are so talent poor; but the Daboll hire is refreshing and some what inspiring.

3. The Division
The AFC East sucks. Ryan Tannehill, a stray McCown bro and a 41 year old bitch boy are the other starting QBs? Sure the Patriots are dominant but god damn arent they due for a mediocre year? Please? Either way the Jets and Dolphind are no better than the Bills. Is it not possible, if you squiny reallllly hard, andddd sit down, and dont think about it too long, that anyone could technically win this weak division?

4. The Back Half of the Schedule
Yes, Im the guy that says the schedule the way it appears now is meaningless to what it will look like in November butttt. After a gauntlet in the first 4 weeks the schedule appears to soften greatly. (Uh oh im staring to reach already)

5. The Offensive Line
Yeah sure Eric Wood is gone and so is Richie Incognito but how good were those dudes relative to their salaries and the product on the field? Is it not possible that with some new blood in there that the pass blocking could be significantly better? Tiny Ty was running for his life last year. (Uhhh def starting to reach)

6. LeSean McCoy
Alright I ran out of positivity.

Up next? Pessimism!

Vegas Odds for Buffalo Bills week 1 Starting QB

By Steve

The odds for which quarterback will start week 1 for the Bills are out from Las Vegas. Via @Covers

NFL "Who will be starting QB in Week 1" betting @BetDSI

A.J. McCarron -150
Josh Allen +160
Nathan Peterman +820

Id love to take the long odds on Peterman for entertainment purposes only of course. (Based on McDermot's gushing love for the pizza delivery boy)

Buffalo Bills Training Camp Preview: Biggest Questions

By Steve

The playoff appearance hangover is over and its time to rise and grind again. Training camp officially starts on Thursday and tiny Tyrod Taylor is long gone. Dennison is gone, the draft capital was thrown in the garbage for a garbage rookie QB and McDermot is still the coach.

In this 3 part preview I'll give you some early quetions and answers as well as reasons to be optimistic heading into this season and reasons to be pessimistic (my specialty).

Biggest questions heading into camp:

Who the hell is Brian Daboll and what kind of offense is he going to run?
Presumably the offensive scheme will depend on who the QB is. Ideally RPO intensive if Josh Allen shockingly wins the job, boring and plotting if the other two win.

Will AJ MccAaron out perform the pizza delivery boy masquarading as a QB Nathan Peterman?
Probably not. But with these weapons it may not much matter any way.

Did Sean McDermott learn anything over the offseason to become a competent head coach for a change?
No.

What the hell is going on with McCoy?
No clue.

Is there anything to build on from last year's playoff appearance?
It is usually argued by "analytics" people that defense from one year to the next swings wildly. Fuck analytics in football. I think the defense can build on 2017 and should be top 10 this year.

Who will be a bigger impact player Logan Thomas or Rod Streater?
The tight end and receiver positions are in shambles. Thomas is almost gauranteed to make the team thus he will.

Who has the most pressure on them?
Tremaine Edmunds hands down. A linebacker in the first round AND you traded up for him and he just turned 20? He better make a difference instantly.

Is Chris Ivory really the # 2 runningback?
Yes, god help us all.

Is there any pressure on the front office to win?
No, sadly. Then again, anyone hear from Terrance lately or is he mailing it in and Kim is in charge?

Sabres Trade Ryan Oreilly to Blues

By Steve

Remember when the Sabres were going to be amazing and win a lot because they drafted Jack Eichel and overpaid for Ryan O'Reilly 3 years ago? Lol

Today they dumped theie problem child drunk bitch boy quitter to the Blues.

"BUF gets 1st in 19, 2nd in 21, Tage Thompson, Vladimir Sobotka,Patrick Betglund for Ryan O’Reilly. No salary retained. STL pays ROR signing bonus."

Tage Thompson is a 2016 first round center that had 8 goals in 71 games between the AHL & NHL. (Basically a nobody)

Sobotka is a 31 year old center who washed out in Boston and the KHL. He had 31 points last year and is under contract for 2 more years at $3.25 mil.

Bertglund is a 30 year old center with worse stats (26 points last year) and under contract for 4 more years at $3.85 mil per.

The Sabres are definitely worse today but Im surprised they got 3 players and 2 pick for a piece of shit baby.

Saving the $7 mil bonus is useless to all of us except Terry Pegula. It was meaningless to the cap and adding the 3 players basically evens out ROR's cap hit.

Oh well