spartacus

worked good enough last year with Ronnie Brown (who couldn't throw) to make the playoffs. maybe if the Bills were being teh innovative ones, you wouldn't be so defensive about creative offense.

you would be correct a well run team would have a clear delineation of responsibilities between its HC, GM and other front office personnel. unfortunately in Buffalo we don't have a GM and the front office is not well run we are subjected to the inner circle jerk system where no one has ultimate authority and no one is accountable. but since Dick is the only one with actual football background, it is not beyond reason that he has more input in the circle jerk than other HCs who report to a real GM in a real front office environment.

Contrary to the majority of posters opinions, the OL the last 2 years has been the most effective since 1995. The pass blocking was good enough to give the QBs time to make plays. People have short memories and forget about the absolute horrible play in past years where the Qbs were constantly running for their lives. on one hand they claim the 2008 OL to be the worst ever, yet the offensive production in 2008 was the better than recent memory With a slug at LT and 2 untested rookies on the interior, DCs will have multiple areas to exploit. Expecting all of the OL to perform flawlessly is just silly. Things could ugly very quickly if an early season breakdown results in a big hit on Trent which knocks him out or turns him gun shy.

your assessment of the OL is correct. The same OL struggled to sustain a running game when playing out of a normal formation because they weren't that good. However, by utilzing the no huddle they were able to exploit their superb conditioning to offset their lack of talent. Parcells is doing the same thing in Miami with the Wildcat. He is making an offense with no NFL calbier WRs into a dangerous weapon. Dick does the opposite- he takes the most dangerous Lee Evans and neuters him

the front office is respopnsible for acquiring a QB- but our inept talent evalautors is a story for another thread. It is the coaches job to develop the QBs that are on the roster. Dick and his boys are going 0-2 with JP and Trent. Last year, Trent came out like gangbusters and showed he has the talent to be successful. That lasted for 5 games and then Trent became possessed by the ghost of Bruce Mathison. It's the coaches job to rebuild his confidence and put him in position to succeed with play design and play calling. the coaches failed him miserably in 2008.

pretty short sighted homerism Miami recognized the risk their QB so they went out and got a real QB to run the Wildcat. With Pat White there is no need to have Chad on the field wasting a position. Miami is being innovative and pro active in creating an edge that will help them win - sort of like what the Bills did with the K-gun no huddle eons ago we get Dick and the same ol non-functional crap

this is the quote - "None of the LT's can do worse than the "Pro Bowler" who performed poorly last year." As I note above, this is embarrassing. He says not only Walker but any other LT on the team can do no worse than Peters. Walker at his best and with a TE and RB committed to the RDE will still not perform any better than Peters did last year. Walker does not have the muscle or the quickness to perform at anyway near the level Peters did last year- even though it was down year for Peters. Peters handled the RDE by himself and covered for Dockery as well. Walker at RT got help from the TE all the time.

sounds like lack of accountability that has plagued the Bills for the last decade

yeah- you caught me- The 0-6 record against 3-4 defenses in the AFC East is a complete fabrication

Bills fans tout themselves as being the most knowledgeable in the NFL, but this comment echoed by many on this board is downright embarrassing.

which gets us back to our inept OC & HC where have these plays been for the last 3 years???? what seismic shift in philosphy will dictate they put these plays in the playbook and actually calling them during games in 2009?

sounds to me like the coaches took less than average talent that went 1-15 the year before and found a way to use some gimmicks like the Wildcat to improve to a playoff team in 1 year. they convinced the players they could win then demanded that they play to a playoff level. Bills players take Dick's lead and know that losing is OK

If the offense was so much better in 2008- showing some consistency in converting some 3rd downs, how can it be that our OL was completely useless as many posters allege??? I would think that the learning curve on the 2009 OL will heavily impact the carryover of that 2008 success to 2009.

If the OC under Parcells made as many boneheaded moves as Turk is accused of making, then Parcells would have canned his butt in short order. With the Bills we get the continuity of more boneheaded play calls - no matter who takes the blame

not sure why you are confused. Football is not rocket science Good teams control the line of scrimmage and impose their will on the other. They are aggressive and attack on both offense and defense. Bad teams are passive, make up a lot of excuses and "take what the other team dishes out" and end up watching the playoffs on TV - happy with their 7-9 record.

I mean he sucked against the teams playing a 3-4 which is why we went 0-6 in the division. The coaches did nothing to adjust to the soft coverage teams were playing because it confused Trent and rendered him useless. Either Trent is totally hopeless (which I don't believe to be the case) or teh offensive coaches were inept last year in preparing Trent to face 3-4 defenses and adjusting to in game changes. Much of this may be because Dick mandated the offense play indoors exclusively against our own 4-3 defense which left Trent clueless against the 3-4's he faced.

we might need a TE??? The entire offense will be handicapped because they will need to commit a TE / RB to help Walker on every pass play longer than 5 yards. not sure how effective TEs and RBs will be taking on elite pass rushers after they get by Walker. Walker is too slow and has no lateral movement to keep up with speed rushers. It will be even a bigger joke if the braintrust does not plan for this from day 1. The coaches in the AFC east will have a field day alternating between testing the rookies inside and exploiting Walker's fatness.

there are only 2 ways to play defense - 1. attack and be aggressive with whatever personnel you have or 2. take whatever personnel you have and sit back, be passive and react to what the offense dictates Even though he had one of the best pass rushers of all time, Walt Corey wasted Bruce Smith's talents by playing a poorly conceived passive 3-4. Teams that attack, play for titles

There are only 2 kinds of defenses 1. one that has an aggressive, attacking philosophy that can be run out of a multitude of fronts (3-4, 4-3, 46, etc) This is used by good teams that content for championships because they intend to impose their will on the offense and dictate tempo of the game. 2. Then there all of the other passive, bend but don't break excuses for defense that keep games close and allow teams to compete with less than average talent. This defense is just as ineffective out of multiple formations and fronts. Teams playing not to lose, like the Bills, use a passive philosophy and are consistently mediocre but usually not downright awful and never consistent contenders.

you are not quite accurate when it comes to Dick. he has a mantra which he has imparted to his team which is reflected in their performance on both sides of the ball He preaches and teaches that - "It's hard to win in the NFL" and it shows in how his team plays against the better teams

why do the performance of Dick's QBs always end up in the bottom category? Trent showed he had some talent over the first 5 games, then mysteriously he became a basket case. He was totally unprepared for 3-4 defenses Coaching should have prepared him better and then coached him up to recover his season.

why is it that Dick has always had bad QB play in all of his coaching venues?? even last year after a strong start by Trent, Dick's coaching turned him into a basket case. It is either Dick's philosophy or the inept OCs and QB coaches that he hires that cause his QBs to play like crap. but it is no accident and Dick does not get a free pass for having crappy QB when he has such a big input the personnel.

great - Bowen weighs less than Ellison not exactly a vast improvement in stopping the run i guess the Bills figure a 5th round rookie must be better than a 6th round vet.

they could play him as a SS in the box - he is the right size

Both JP and Trent both played horrible last year after 3 years in the DICK system. it is no coincidence that Dick has never had good QB play. He employs very weak OCs and then demands that they run ultra-conservative systems which are designed to keep the game close minimizing turnovers - there is a directive to not take chances like not throwing the ball to the endzone which would risk the sure fire FG chance you already have. This team will never be fun to watch or be very successful while Dick is the coach.