The Buffalo Bills made headlines last week with two separate trades. They parted ways with star wide receiver Sammy Watkins, who said his goodbye to Buffalo by thanking the city for the memories. In exchange for Watkins, the Bills received a second round pick and cornerback E.J. Gaines. But that wasn't the only move.
Ronald Darby's Time with the Bills
Darby had an excellent rookie season with Buffalo, but struggled a bit in zone coverage last year. Because Sean McDermott runs a zone coverage system, the Bills organization decided it would be best to part ways with the young cornerback if they could get something reasonable in return.
The Eagles decided to give the Bills wide receiver Jordan Matthews, who is already injured, and a third round pick. Matthews was supposed to act as the effective replacement for Watkins, but now that status is in doubt. Still, the Bills have to be happy that they now have two picks in each of the first three rounds of the 2018 NFL draft.
Preseason Game Against Eagles
The Buffalo Bills offense looked terrible in their week 2 preseason game against the Bills. There's no sugarcoating it. Even against the second team defense, Tyrod Taylor and the Bills struggled to get anything going, and the offensive line frequently collapsed against the pass rush.
The worst play probably came on a Tyrod Taylor interception.
Guess who picked it off?
Tyrod Taylor's pass is intercepted by...Ronald Darby. #BUFvsPHI
— Buffalo Bills (@buffalobills) August 17, 2017
That's right, former Buffalo Bills cornerback Ronald Darby, who was just traded, picked off Taylor. It probably didn't hurt that he has some familiarity with Taylor's tendencies, but it's not an encouraging sign for Bills fans who are hoping that Tyrod Taylor could finally bring the team into the playoffs.
Penalties
Tyrod's interception wasn't the only problem. Another issue were the penalties, which were extremely frequent during the Rex Ryan era. Sean McDermott promised that he would fix them, but it certainly doesn't look like he has yet. And Bills fans on Twitter obviously were not too happy with the yellow flags littering the field.
I'm not sure what we've had more of... Rain this summer or penalties this quarter #Bills #BuffaloBills #enoughwiththeflags
— Mark Sommise (@Mark_Sommise) August 17, 2017
starters with 4 penalties so far not including special teams. they had more discipline with Rex! seam McDermott is a fraud!
— jwalkerz (@jwalkerz1) August 17, 2017
There's no doubt that Sean McDermott has a difficult task ahead of him as a first year head coach, but penalties are an area that he should be able to control. Discipline is an important asset in football, and McDermott should have the players primed and ready to not commit any careless penalties during the regular season.
Last season, countless drives and games were either lost or extended by dumb penalties, and that needs to change. So far, it doesn't look like it has, so that's something the Bills will just have to work on prior to the start of the regular season.
