SDS

Well, on the face of it - it doesn't seem so bad. But in the context of how this season unfolded, it is hard to point to the bounce of a pointy ball as the reason why we are 4-10. I don't see "bad luck" as the culprit as much as I see a bad football team.

Which is the mode I have been operating under for mucho weeks now... I expect good teams to beat the snot out of us and they rarely disappoint...

There was Relentless and Relentless II.... What about the story that covers 2000 and beyond? Resentment?

One of my many pet peeves in life are fans who comment on the precision of WR routes. 1. How in the name of God do you know what the WR was supposed to do on any given play? 2. Even if you DID know the answer to #1 - could you tell me where you bought your special TV that displays the whole field on every play? Mine tends to follow the ball and thus I miss 95% of what every WR does during the game.

Neither of them have ever been in my kitchen?

why is this so difficult to understand? If we were to win that game we needed 2 TD's and a FG. Therefore there are TWO chances to go for a two-point conversion. There is no reason to go for it on the 1st TD.

RP should not be "bashed" because he is who he is and he is doing his best... It isn't his fault the Bills selected him in the 2nd round. The anomosity towards him is really anomosity towards TD and company for making that selection. I feel bad for the guy and think that he may severely injure himself out there. He just doesn't have the size to play WR in this league.

BTW, there are only two remaining in the survivor pool. Going into week 15 is frickin' believable IMHO. I have prizes to give out for the individual winners in weeks 1-8. I'll have to see how that shakes with ties, etc... Prizes were donated by Sully's Stadium Sportswear with a lot of help from Hammered a Lot!

Since I have James and Smith... I hope team B blows it up this week.

WTF. Wade had to file a grievance to get paid from Ralph for his last year. Do you actually think he is going to come back here regardless if he walked on water?

But when he hired Wade, his charter wasn't "stability" it was "hire a DC"... Big difference. If you are suggesting that the coaching staff remains intact and just adding the aura of Marv around OBD, well, then I have no idea where you are coming from. How does Mularkey still get a vote of confidence? What has he done to deserve MORE responsibility? What about Clements? Gray? I don't see it... If you are going to bring Marv in to change something, well then - everyone is going to expect something to change more significantly. I think that goes beyond the war room and who brings in the free agents. Removing TD can't be THAT much addition by subtraction.

that success lived but a single season... The point is, there aren't 32 Mannings/Kellys/etc... to be handed out to every team. Sometimes you pick a Collins or Trade for a Bledsoe, or take the 4th QB out of a draft when your team needs help at QB. Clearly Donahoe has made mistakes. Maybe it will cost him his job. But he is not a dumb football man.

I know you are saying that in jest, but seriously - isn't it kind of stupid to make fun of a guy for being organized and for performing well in an interview? Do you want them to be unprepared and incoherent while applying for the job?

because, despite what suicidals say - building a football team isn't easy. You can't go to WalMart and pick out all the ingredients on their well-stocked shelves. Sometimes you address an area and the player fails. Sometimes the right guys are not available when you need them. Sometimes greatness comes from the darkness. Remember, Polian built the Panthers around Kerry Collins. Mistake? Yep. But that is who was available at the time. So, smart men can fail very easily in the NFL....

Well, it all depends on your definition of "prepared". We were never as prepared as our opponent in those 4 Super Bowls. In fact, the longer the "prep" period - the more we got hammered. But, yes - during the regular season our cast of Hall of Famers were prepared. You can call it backhanded if you want, but that is who he was. He was a head coach that players loved to play for but he is also the guy who stood and watched Jim Kelly throw pass after pass against the Giants in SB 25... Personally, I would have traded a little of the man love for Marv, for someone who was up the task on those January Sundays. The HC/GM dynamic is what you want to make of it. You can have administrators, personnel guys, money men, football coaches, or any combination in-between. As long as it works. The question is - who, after being out of the game for a decade, would he bring in to provide stability? Despite the constant pissing and moaning about cronyies - that is the name of the game in this business. If Marv's charter is to bring order to the chaos - then that is not done with new, unproven, unfamiliar people. That can only be accomplished by hiring friends and former colleagues you know and trust. So, who is in Marv's pool that is still alive, still available, and ready to work in Buffalo and for how long?

how is it that in one post he doesn't know anything about football, but in the next he was a very good football coach?

If you read into it a little bit and see what he has done in Indy then you can see hiring a Mora or someone else to bring stability and perhaps even some modest winning seasons (say of the 9-7, 10-6 flavor) even though they have never really been over the top successful. The key is then the "next coach", who takes the foundation and puts it over the top. The Colts built an amazing offense, but had no defense. Dungy was the perfect fit as he has always fielded great defensive teams, but couldn't tell you the definition of a forward pass. That well crafted combination might yield a perfect season... The question is - will this band of headhunters let a Marty, Reeves, Mora type come in to stop the digging, knowing full well they have a foot out the door?

Thanks for saving me the time. Yeah, what he said.

Fred Smerlas: http://www.twobillsdrive.com/articles/read...icle=1008245943

What would be the fun in believing that?

This analysis only works for cities in a small latitude/longitudinal range...

If you want to continue your Marv ball-washing, go right ahead. You can choose to "forget" some real issues he had as a head coach and what transpired during his tenure. However, since Marv refuses to keep his name out of the news and since some fans keep dredging his name up (while clearly having a vision of his time spent in Buffalo that never really existed) - some of us are forced to remind people of the warts. And there WERE warts. Plenty of them. If the discussion is going to continue on why he should be brought back, then it is perfectly acceptable to discuss the bad along with the idealized fantasies. I only talk about my opinion of Marv when others try to jam some goofy-assed angelic view of him down my throat. Personally, I wish he would just enjoy his retirement and I wish fans would just let the past go and look to the future, so we don't have to have these kinds of discussions.

This is simply the ramblings of a lonely man who desperately wants the attention of the NFL community. Just as he "announced" his availibility to coach again some time ago when no one was asking for his services (with his pleas for work going unanswered), Marv has thrown his hat into ring with the windmills. Question, is Marv the ONLY HoF coach to never have been asked/begged to "unretire"?

perhaps this explains the underthrown balls...

Since you brought up that last SB, let me throw out my most "stinging" memory of Marv Levy. Marv had taken over play calling whenever the ball was inside the 10 yard line (a baffling strategy if you ask me)... Well, at the end of the 1st half with the ball on the 5ish yard line and 3rd down, what does our Head Coach call? A fuggin' shovel pass against the fastest defense in the league... Nice call Marv. You guaranteed a FG when a TD was a real possibility. It set us up nicely for the James Washington fumble return to start the 2nd half.