Bills GM Brandon Beane "objected to the idea that the Bills are throwing in the towel" on the '17 season after trading WR Sammy Watkins to the Rams and CB Ronald Darby to the Eagles on Friday, according to Matthew Fairburn of NEWYORKUPSTATE.com. Beane: "This is not a 'throw in the towel' thing at all. Somebody mentioned that somebody put that out there. Quite honestly, that's annoying to me. You don't know me if you think I'm throwing in the towel. ... I'm not throwing in the towel. If we were throwing in the towel, I wouldn't have tried to get a starting receiver back." Fairburn noted neither Beane nor coach Sean McDermott "wants to listen to any notion that the Bills are 'tanking' or 'throwing in the towel.'" However, McDermott "understands the angst fans are feeling as they watch two key players leave the team" (NEWYORKUPSTATE.com, 8/11). In Buffalo, Tim Graham noted McDermott and Beane "conceded they would have to sell Friday's startling trades to the locker room and to fans who've waited nearly 18 years for the playoffs." McDermott: "I absolutely get it. That's why I didn't sleep last night because these are tough decisions. I'm a part of that. When I signed my name to that dotted line, I became a part of that 17-year time period" (BUFFALO NEWS, 8/12). Also in Buffalo, Jerry Sullivan wrote this "isn't a tank job, like the Sabres three and four years ago." These deals are "more about the future than the present" (BUFFALO NEWS, 8/12).
LOOKING FOR A STEADY HAND: THE MMQB's Peter King writes Bills Owners Terry and Kim Pegula have to "mentally commit to Beane and McDermott for the next five years," as the "mayhem in Buffalo must stop." The team has been through five GMs and six coaches "in the past decade." Of the 20 players the Bills "chose in the top four rounds" between '12 and '16, only six "remain on the team" (MMQB.SI.com, 8/14).
