Buffalonian-at-Heart

I couldn't agree more.

..... or pants on the ground.

2 decent seasons doesn't guarantee anything, but it is significant when you've had them in your first 3.5 years as a starter. In addition he's 6'5" and stayed healthy the last two years while taking on that many sacks.

I can't believe people are saying Fitz and Edwards are as good as Campbell. Now Campbell's not very good, but he's head and shoulders better than our QB's. It's not close. Campbell threw for 3,618 yds, 20 TD's, 64.5% completions, and an 86.4 QB rating. Except for Losman coming respectfully close in 2006, we haven't had a QB sniff those kind of numbers.

[/quote Sounds like Campbell is a clone of Losman and Trent. Yeah, you're right. But he's a clone of their strengths.

I'll pass on Peppers. He's 30 years old, and has major motivation issues. You give this guy a 4-5 year deal at $16-$20 mil per and your team is in trouble. I predict he will never get double digit sacks again. Once this guy gets his sweetheart contract, he's going to play dead.

Wade Phillips is just one of the good guys in the NFL, and a good coach to boot. He did a great job while he was here, we just didn't realize because the Flutie - Johnson debacle.

I didn't think his blocking was all that bad, especially for a rookie. About 10-15 lbs and some technique coaching will go along way with this talented kid.

Let me clarify a couple of things since we are having good dialogue. I'm not trying to convince myself Gailey is the guy, just simply saying its possible he could be. I felt the same way about Jauron. After the initial shock wore off, I thought heck why can't he be good? Just because I don't hate this coaches (and I'm not implying you do), doesn't mean I'm ignorant when they don't produce. It's just possible to hire someone and end up with a Sean Payton for instance. I think you'll agree that I'm certainly not throwing accolades at Gailey, although I understand the origin of this post kind of did because he said "we're looking smarter and smarter". But here's my whole point. The poster says we're looking smarter and smarter, I'm saying its possible Gailey could be the guy because history shows this is how good coaches manifest. Don't take me wrong as being a smart a$$, but you misconstrue that as ready "to put his name on the wall at the stadium". Now I know your being sarcastic because no one really said that, but what's the bigger extreme? Believing in Gailey or the idea he has very little chance at succeeding? You said "its been a long decade of losing, so some of us aren't willing to forget the past". Dude that's all we have. Here's the fundamental difference between believing Gailey could be the guy and buying into it and I'm behind Gailey but I'm frustrated because nothings been right in a decade. You will be frustrated until it happens and I'm only frustrated when it doesn't. In the middle I'm a lot less stressed out. Just thought I'd try to get you to see that point of view.

Oh I understand what you're saying. I just think that its reasonable to have the opinion that they are doing some smart things, even though none of it has any merit yet. Just kind of early observations.

Man I totally get what you're saying. After the announcement of the Gailey hiring I was in about a 2 hour state of shock. Then I was reading a bunch of articles where people were optimistic (BuffaloRumblings.com), and it actually made me angry people could have any good feeling about this hiring. I'm not trying to tell you that you should think exactly like me, but maybe I can give you a different point of view to consider. Every NFL coach has a story. They are all very smart men to even be anywhere near the NFL. In saying that just think of all the stories; Dungy couldn't win the big one in Tampa, Gruden brought them to the promise land. Dungy wins one in Indy. Can Dungy's replacement win with his team? An unpopular Levy gets hired as Buffalo's coach, then he builds a 4 time super bowl team. Marty ball has a great regular season record, but can't win the big one. The St. Louis fans are livid an NFL dinosaur and burn out gets hired in Dick Vermeil, it didn't help that he went 5-11 and 4-12 his first two seasons, you know the rest of the story. Can Cowher do it with another organization seemingly of his choosing? Can Shanahan really do anything significant without Elway? I know Gailey isn't necessarily on any of these coaches level, yet. But its possible man. NFL history is littered with success stories of coaches who rewrote the story of their career. There are also a lot of coaches that have had success, went to another organization and failed. And only a few cases where a coach has had success and then had it again at a different venue. Give me a coach that hasn't won one yet any day, and I'll bank on the hope there's a fire in the belly to get one given the RIGHT chance. I like Nix, I'm starting to warm up to Gailey. I definitely like the way he carries himself, and I like the staff he's putting together. Is it possible that we are the next success story with an unproven unpopular coach? I have no idea, just as you really don't know for sure he'll fail. Come on man, get behind this guy. At the very least you'll feel better.

I think the poster is merely stating an opinion that he likes the hires, and at the end said the same thing as you. You said "most of us will hold judgement on them and just hope for the best.", and he said "My opinion will change with wins and losses". I know we have to reserve judgment because the new regime hasn't even had a team meeting, let alone play a game. But we can judge what they have done on paper. Don't you like or feel optimistic about where we are headed based on some of the hires?

That was a tough read man.

Do you have down syndrome? The premium will be on draft picks. I didn't say anything about top veteran players, you made that up on your simple mind. You will see teams willing to deal players for draft picks to a new level, I emphasize willing. Whether teams will be willing to deal draft picks is another matter. Furthermore the demand will not be the same, the demand will decrease big time. Saying the NFL off season in respect to free agents is simple economics is not only shortsighted, its imprudent.

If you haven't already, check out Jeff Beck live at Ronnie Scott's? It's one of the best musical performances by an all star band I've ever seen. He has a 23 year old phenom playing base, beautiful GIRL named Tal Wilkenfeld.

I think T.O. served himself well last season by showing he could play for a bad team and not blow up. I think this will lead to several more options for him this off season compared to the last. All of the other options will be better for T.O. than Buffalo. We are in full blown rebuild mode. The only possible scenario of T.O. returning is if we blow away the offers he gets elsewhere. I don't see the Bills doing that, I think Chan knows it's crucial to see what we have in our two young WR prospects (Hardy, Johnson).

What would you revive in Edwards?

Go away. These threads should be deleted immediately.

Thank goodness you were here to wake me up. This post is less than useless.

oh boy, coo coo

Well said and I agree with most of what you said. Teams will have to build through the draft this year and yes there will be a premium on draft picks. So therefore you can get a player in trade for less this year, because the picks are worth more, due to the unavailability of FA's. I think the Bills may have to use some picks to bring in a guy or two.

One of Whitner's friends must have talked Condon into it. This sounds like Ari Gold signing Johnny Drama. No doubt Whitner will get passed off to someone like Lloyd.

You don't think you pay someone $9 million for that kind of production, but think another team will??????

The new defensive alignment should look something like this. 3-4

Couldn't disagree with you more. I think Chan's put together a nice staff. I also think Nix is doing a great job, Doug Whaley was a very nice signing and a great succession plan. Ladies and Gentleman things are coming together nicely in Buffalo.