San Jose Bills Fan

The punchline for the version I know is "Any other questions, two dogs?" Then again, you're K-9 so who am I to question your knowledge of dog jokes?

http://wgr550.com/two-bills-drive/14706889

I think I remember that episode. Seems like there was a mailman involved too.

BTW, the three most interesting NFL stories today all made me reflect on the Bills: 1) Bud Adams' public dressing down of his entire organization in stark contrast to Ralph's silence. 2) KC Head Coach Romeo Crennel's firing of himself as the team's defensive coordinator in stark contrast to Gailey keeping a death grip on the offensive play calling. 3) Mike Shanahan's public declaration that his team was playing for next year in stark contrast to the masquerade surrounding the Bills that they still have a shot at the playoffs. Also it's very interesting to me that both Shanahan and Gailey took over their respective teams in 2010 and that their won-lost records are almost identical: Gailey is 13-27 while Shanny is 14-27. With very different methods of failure, the Bills and Redskins won-lost records have been eerily similar since Snyder bought the team in 1999.

Reminds me of that old joke about how the young indian brave got his name. You're gonna get in trouble with comments like that. The PC police might get after you. I suggest you extend the peace pipe.

This has been my opinion too. While I don't really know or care who's calling the shots at One Bills Drive, I'm relatively certain that it's been a long time since Ralph issued any sort of edict. I think everyone who works under Ralph pays lip service to him out of respect and to keep him in the loop. Buddy said that he talks to Ralph every morning so I'm sure Ralph has an idea of what's going on. That said, I believe that he leaves the decision making to others.

Hail Fergonius. Verily and true doth thou speak. Methinks ye olde Bills would find your fair words worthy and of great use. What thinketh the others?

Odd getting a cramp after just a few series. Not so sure it's a cramp… hope you're right though.

The Bills might have a problem overcompensating for the Texans run game. They bit pretty hard on that one.

What, that guy won a Wade Phillips look-alike contest?

Bitte schoen LOL, they open in a spread/empty set. In their continued attempts to drive us all insane.

Potter, Morrison, McGee… T Jax, Delano Howell, Mark Anderson

I hope so. The Bills are 11 point dogs, btw.

Is this the live game thread then? Potter is inactive.

The nerves? LOL. Not the Bills can't win but it's not as if this is considered a tight matchup. I commend your intensity.

The bolded is another quote from Gaughan's piece which was very interesting. "As far as his own future as general manager goes, the 72-year-old Nix said: “Here’s the deal with me. I came here to make sure this thing was turned around and on solid ground. And I’m not going anywhere till it is, unless the owner says I am, and he and I are the only two that can.” Nix said 94-year-old owner Ralph Wilson still checks in with him by phone every morning, without fail."

As I posted in the OP, there's no signs that there was a press conference but now Mark Gaughan has published the same interview with the same quotes from Buddy so I'm not sure what's going on. http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121103/SPORTS/121109764/1082 Here's two additional quotes from Gaughan's piece: In fact, Nix indicated it has two more years to run beyond the 2012 season. “He’s got a year – or more,” Nix said. “I think Chan is the best – he’s one of the best offensive coaches in the league,” Nix said. “We’re playing three phases of our team – two of them are playing well, and we have to get the other one up to par.” Again it sounds like he's solidly backing Gailey and not giving the dreaded public "vote of confidence." It also sounds like Wanny's on very thin ice and is coaching for his job.

True points but this stuff (firing of subordinates) happens all the time. Buddy's made mistakes as had Chan. I guess the moral of the story is that the higher up you are in an organization, the more mulligans you get. Toss Wanny on the scrap heap and try again. I just wish it happened two weeks ago. But on the "bright side," Wanny gets a chance to redeem himself. He gets to prove his critics wrong.

Married to Cassel? They're done with him.

FWIW, Singletary has never been a coordinator. A head coach yes but a coordinator, no. But yeah, I'd be alright with him coaching our linebackers.

Triple tight end look Time to send the small guys in 12 yards cloud of dust

Probably that whatever happens in the future as far as QB acquisitions go, that Fitz always has a home here. I think that most view Fitz as the perfect backup QB and I sense that he's the kind of guy who'll take a demotion gracefully and for the sake of the team. Now whether the team would want to pay him $9 million a year to backup is a different story. Improving the defense would sell more tickets as it would result in more wins. It's quite disheartening though that the defense has regressed in spite of a unanimous opinion that it would improve this year. It's not too late to turn this season around but signs are certainly pointing at another year of missing the playoffs.

I imagine there are a lot of people in Kansas City who'd like to teabag Crennel. Actually he'd be an improvement over Wanny most likely. He has been a respected coordinator for most of his career, although he's a 3-4 guy so there's that. Yep. The stench of Gailey and Thigpen's tenure in KC still exists. No point really but if the Bills left Buffalo, I doubt the Bills moniker would follow them out the door. Also, the Chiefs used to be the Dallas Texans. Obviously they weren't gonna take that name to Missouri with them. On the Bowe conversation, I think Bowe's a great player but he's kind of an Anquan Boldin type in that he's more of a physical ball engulfer than he is a field stretcher. In my perfect world, whomever we finally get to solidify the position across from Stevie should be a field stretcher. Yeah I heard this one Thursday Night in the Chiefs-Chargers game. Pretty unreal. LOL

As some of you know, Bills GM Buddy Nix has returned from a two week scouting trip. As far as I can tell, he didn't have a press conference but he did (as many of you know) have an interview with WGR Radio and also with the BB's Chris Brown. There's a separate thread about the WGR interview and some comments about the Chris Brown interview but Nix also interviewed with the AP's (and our own) John Wawrow. The most interesting material came from the JW interview. The four major points of JW's interview were: 1) Because of the WGR morning interview, Nix felt compelled to speak with Fitz after practice regarding his future in Buffalo: "Aware that his comments on radio had raised speculation regarding Fitzpatrick's status, Nix approached the quarterback following practice to reassure him." 2) While Nix was very supportive of Chan Gailey, there was no support for Wanny and in fact there was tacit disapproval of the job Wanny has done: In defending Fitzpatrick, Nix pinned the blame of the Bills troubles on the team's under-performing defense. ''Listen, you score 34 points, you're supposed to win the damn game,'' Nix said, referring to a 35-34 loss to Tennessee two weeks ago. ''I mean, how many do we have to score?'' 3) Nix has no intention of stepping aside any time soon. In fact he sounds determined to stay on until he has built a solid foundation for his successor: As for his own future, Nix said he has no intention of leaving Buffalo until the team's a winner or owner Ralph Wilson fires him. ''I came here to make sure this thing was turned around and on solid ground,'' said Nix, who's in his third year as GM. ''And I'm not going anywhere until it is, or unless the owner says I am. And he and I are the only two that can. How about that?'' 4) Finally, the grand-daddy of the interview, the disclosure that Gailey IS NOT on a 3-year contract as had been widely and recently speculated about on this forum: "Hired by Nix in 2010, Gailey has a 13-26 record in Buffalo. Nix also revealed that Gailey has at least one more year left on his contract, something the team had previously refused to discuss." There's more good stuff too: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/bills-gm-nix-backs-gailey-173909749--nfl.html

One cautionary note about hiring coordinators. Often times, they get the credit for executing the design and instructions of the head coach, especially when that head coach wields authority. For example, if the Bills had a top rated offense, would/should that make Curtis Modkins a hot head coaching candidate? I'm not saying that is or isn't the case with Roman but I'm just pointing out that it's often difficult to tell where the credit for a strong offense should go, especially when the head coach happens to also be an offensive coach and former NFL quarterback.