thewildrabbit

This! Lets also not forget this isn't the same old scouting dept or GM, and recall how good last years draft was. Think of all those teams needing a QB in front of Buffalo. Texans, Browns, Jags, Browns, Raiders, Vikings could all be looking at one of those top QB's with their first pick. all vying for,Teddy Bridgewater, Blake Bortles, Johnny Manziel, Derek Carr. Six teams that could utilize a QB, and four QB's possibly being drafted before Buffalo Picks at #9. Its almost like they are getting a top six pick of the non QB's.

To those who think that Mikey will turn down the job because its in Cleveland...are forgetting that he currently works in Buffalo. The fans that think Buffalo is a more stable situation are forgetting the man who owns the team. Anyway, who in their right mind turns down a job that would pay millions to take a shot at the Brass gold ring, and is one of only 32 in the world. I would question his mental state if he turned down the job.

Then you missed this Ray Horton reportedly top choice for Titans defensive coordinator http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/01/15/ray-horton-reportedly-top-choice-for-titans-defensive-coordinator/ I'm think he will be upset for being passed over for yet another chance to land a HCing job, first Arizona and now the Browns.

Just giving the guy an interview gives Pettine viability, and plants the seed for other teams to think about him

Yea, Ralph wouldn't mind that hire

I can top that! Former Jets ST coach Mike Westoff could be interested in rejoining his old team where he was the ST coach from 2001-2012. The Jets don't appear to be interested in him however. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/page/3/ Perhaps the Bills could hire Bobby April or coax Mike Westoff out of retirement

I know I am, panicking that is.... This was also just reported on NFL network Word is that now the Browns can take their time finding a new HC and the first choice is the Broncos OC Adam Gase Me too

Who knows, as he just might someday Good to see such a good guy get a great opportunity

I understand why the owners don't want to hire someone who looks like a non conformist. The man does look like he could break out with a fat doobie at any min. Lets face fact tho, if his defenses were winning championships like his brother Rex's did, well then he would at least get some HC looks, even with all that hair.

Hey, I agree as I think new GM Doug Whaley did a spectacular job with the 2013 draft, and with free agency. The trade with the Colts for Jerry Hughes paid off big time with 10 sacks. Manny Lawson, Alan Branch, Dan Carpenter & Thad Lewis. Re-signing Eric Wood, McKlelvin. Its not Whaley I'm faulting for the many mistakes made during this past season, its the new HC. I also tend to think that Marrone might have been influenced to keep certain players by Buddy Nix. Still, while Marrone does deserve a grace period of learning to become a top NFL head coach. This is the NFL, which stands for Not For Long. Last years 6-10 was not acceptable to many fans who thought the team could have made the playoffs this season, and they just might have if not for those many mistakes.

I don't entirely believe that, as the in the Marv Levy as GM period, Marv did try building the O line first thing, and brought in two very expensive O lineman. Which was a brilliant idea IMHO, but he just brought in the wrong players, as it looks like a lot of high priced free agents just work to get paid and then their play falls off. Buddy Nix was able to obtain a 100 million dollar DE. What a spectacular, and resounding splash in the free agent pool that made. Particularly for the Buffalo Bills fans who were frothing to have him signed by the Bills. Tom Donahoe was able to give away the farm in draft picks to obtain QB Drew Bledsoe. Which I also thought was a brilliant move to bolster a position lacking in true talent (Alex Van Pelt was the starter in 2001). Its just that once Donahoe obtained his QB he failed to understand or completely address that QB's shortcomings as to exactly why the Patriots were willing to trade him to a division rival. Bledsoe notably almost always folded under heavy duress, and although Donahoe drafted Mike D Williams from Texas with the first round draft pick at #4 overall to play LT in 2002. That pick just didn't work out so Williams was moved to RT, and then Bledsoe was then told he needs to speed up his release to get the ball out quicker. Why the Bills failed to continue to bolster that O line is beyond my reasoning. Where was the failure in all those regimes? My take is that head scout Tom Modrak was a big part of the problem, as talent evaluation has been very suspect during entire tenure with the Bills. When you look at what happened to the entire football side of the franchise after owner Ralph Wilson was finally tired of losing. Wilson then hired Chuck Knox. This 5x division winning with the LA Rams HC was absolutely amazing in every single category that you would want in a HC. Wilson now had his very own Bill Belichick clone in Knox. One of the first things Knox did was to bring LA Rams head scout Norm Pollom with him to Buffalo and revamp the entire Bills scouting dept. Then he went about bringing in some older rah rah guys from the Rams to give some leadership to the locker room. Those players weren't exactly the top players at their positions. What they brought to the table was game experience to teach the younger players what it takes to win games. My point here is that not only was the talent lacking the last 14 years, in the players, in the coaches, in the front office, in the scouting dept. It was also that this owner refused to give up his control over the football side of operations like he did with Knox and Donahoe. This owner has a thing for loyalty, and promoting from within the Org, as he seems to only trust people he already knows. What really stinks is, now that finally someone other then Wilson is managing the football side of operations. The new guy in charge is a baseball money / marketing man and not a football man. Not only that, I believe there is an edict set down to keep costs as low as possible in order to keep the franchise financially appealing for the next owner. Bills fans are screwed

Vikings hire Mike Zimmer as new HC For those that don't know who he is, he was the Bungals DC. Now they have lost both their DC & OC

Apparently, Marrone didn't get that memo.... considering he tried to do exactly that this year. Plus, it looks like this off season he is going to try and magically coach up the players they found on the waiver wire after they released Brown & Young. Nothing against you Bmore, its just that I kept hearing this same stuff during Gailey's first season, and we all know what happened with him. Anyway, coaches that are good at their jobs don't need a full season to evaluate and determine if a player is going to be able to play at a high level in the NFL. All they need is previous game tapes or a few practices in which they actually study the players and their techniques. Either a player has good footwork, good hands, proper technique or he doesn't. Either he can hold a block, and run block out he can't. Nothing mystical about it. That Buffalo Bills D line has some pretty good players on it, and if they are practicing hard then the players on the O line who can't do their jobs blocking them would stand out again, and again. Unless of course, if nobody is paying attention. I mean people like the HC, the OC, the O line coach, the D line coach. How does a player as bad as Colin Brown, or his backup Sam Young were, slip thru the system for that length of time? They had all off season, training camp, pre season. I just don't get it! This exact same thing happened in 2010 in Gailey's first year with Cornell Green, and like I said, we all know what happened to him.

awesome, love the kid

No question. Lynch was a 1000 yard rusher in Buffalo in 2008, and just was frustrated in what he was asked to do. In 2009 he took a back seat to Fred Jackson simply because Jackson was able to break that first tackle, and Lynch had to carry two defenders on his back to make yards. That 2009 O line was such a joke. Demetress Bell, Geoff Hangartner, Kirk Chambers. need I say more? Then in the beginning of 2010 it went from bad to worse with the additions of Cornell Green / Mansfield Wrotto at RT. Remember Fitz literally running for his life, and the team going 0-8 to start that year. Think of that offense, a FA RB in Fred Jackson, A 7th round pick at QB in Fitz, a 7th round pick at LT in Bell. A 7th round pick in Stevie Johnson. The Bills just kept trying to get milk from stones on offense while constantly drafting for a defense that went nowhere. Even back then two #1's & two #2's in the defensive secondary.

wow 59 pages...

Good for Wis, as I like the guy and wish him well. Every time i see his face he reminds me of Bill Cowher I gotta wonder what will now happen with Chris Johnson and Fitz.

Update, Ken Whisenhunt hired by the Titans. Good for him, as I like the guy and think he will do well in Tennessee. I have to wonder how Fitz will fit into this new team, and how will Chris Johnson do with Wis running things? Lovie Smith as the new Bucs HC. Former Vikings HC Leslie Frazier is their new DC Bill O'Brian as the new Texans HC. Jay Gruden as the Redskins new HC...any bets he doesn't last two years? Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota all still looking for a new head coach---see below update: "Panthers have a decision to make on Ron Rivera" http://profootballta...-on-ron-rivera/ Update: Tuesday 1/14: Lions hire Jim Caldwell as their new HC 1/15 Looks like Wis will hire Ray Horton away from the Browns to be his new DC in Tennessee

Like Ike...some of these new assistant coaches gotta learn how to brown nose... like some others on that staff! Cronyism, it worked out so well for Chan.

I don't like to be the bearer of bad news here, but I wouldn't count on this team bringing in a top quality free agent O linemen. Just look at the past history. Derrick Dockery, Langston Walker, Cornell Green, Garrision Sanborn, Cordaro Howard, Geoff Hangartner et al. In the past the Bills scouts haven't been able to judge the difference between a good player and a washed up has-been. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Then, Marrone is at it again. Silk purse, sows ear type of thing with.... "None of them were a part of Buffalo’s 53-man roster at the start of the 2013 season, but Doug Marrone sees all three of his young interior offensive line prospects as a part of Buffalo’s future. Mark Asper, Antoine McClain and J.J. ‘Unga are guards that Buffalo’s head coach believes all have the potential to be regular starters in the NFL." And, “We’re in a league that’s based on a salary cap and there are certain positions you need to develop and spend your money in other areas,” he said. “My background as an offensive line coach I realize that you’re not going to be able to spend top dollar for five offensive linemen across the board.” http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/Marrone-sees-promise-in-young-guard-prospects/eba6f00d-58f9-4daf-8dfe-6de9ab15ab16 If you love watching an O line dominate like I do, then this is a letdown, and the forecast for another down season Marrone towing the company line in the belief that top quality OG's are not needed and they can get by with "coached up players" off the waiver wire or low cost free agents like Gailey did, and like he did just last year. You would think that after 14 losing seasons of no playoffs that someone, somewhere at OBD would have noticed that all those defensive players drafted during that time didn't equal a playoff berth. Plus, the lack of top talent across that line since the Jim Kelly days have resulted in no playoff wins for 17 years. Look at the current Bills defense Two #1's at CB. Two #2's at safety. A 100 million dollar DE who was the 1st overall draft pick. A first round DT who was the #3 overall draft pick. A #2 at LDE. A #1 & #2 at LBer. That's 5 first rounders, 4 second rounders. So nine out of eleven on defense drafted in the first two rounds and its still a 6-10 team with no playoffs. I've been hoping that the Bills would build a top solid competent line for years and years. They fill one or two positions and think that will be good enough, and it never is. Think about having to go up against that Seattle defense, and then ask how would the Bills line do against that team. As far as the Bills obtaining 3 of the top 5 draft picks on the O line. I'm going to go on record and say I'll believe it when I see it.

Not me, as I want Manning to win another SB. Mostly to shut up the people who say Brady is the best all time, he sorta is...if you include the way his cheating HC got him SB wins. Jeez, if that is the worst thing Manning did in his younger years. He could be the next pope compared to most football players. I talked with an NFL scout and he stated everyone has something in their proverbial closet, and most of them involve an arrest.

The Bills were supposed to run a "read option" hurry up type offense with a twist of west coast in it, meaning a pass first offense. Then problems arose when the starting QB had a bad wheel from pre season. Kinda screwed from the start to be able to utilize that style of running QB offense. From what I saw the Bills ran mostly a pro style, single setback, shotgun offense with the TE almost always in to block. When you saw a 3 receiver cluster on one side, one of those receivers was TE Scott Chandler. That is now referred to as a typical pro set single setback offense. With usually no more then 3 WR's on the field. Sorta like the old K-gun that kept a TE on the field. The Bills ran a "hurry up" fast paced offense to keep the opposing defense in the same defense to keep substitutions limited or non existent. So the the rookie QB's wouldn't need to read constantly changing complex defenses on 2nd & 3rd down. From Hackett I rarely saw the 4 WR sets like Gailey ran last season, and don't think I ever saw an empty backfield 5 WR set like Gailey used to frequently call. Now some people will say that a pro style offense has the QB under center, and the spread has the QB in shotgun. That is simply not the case with regards Chan Gaileys "spread" offense, as Its not that simple. Why Gaileys spread worked so well in the run game is that when you put that 4th WR on the field it then forces the defense to either cover that WR with a LBer or substitute a DB in for a LBer. This creates a mismatch that makes it easier for offense to exploit. Should the defense keep the LBer in then its a QB's dream match up. Once the DB comes in for the LBer it makes it easier to run the ball as a DB is more easily blocked then a LBer. That 4-5 WR set makes the defense either spread out the LBers or DB's to cover the extra receivers, and thus they have a harder time stacking the box to stop the run. Its like running against a constant nickle / dime defense. Chan Gailey's biggest failing was to get the ball in his play makers hands more often, SJ, CJ & FJax. His 4-5 receiver sets had no teeth because only one or two receivers were worth a damn. He even stated he should get the ball in both CJ's & FJax's hands to the tune of 15 to 20 times a game. Although he never did.

I wouldn't go so far as to call him terrible, he did have some issues. He was very predictable, and did run that mid guard run play 70% of the time. Why some fans are so enamored with him is easy to see. When the offense was clicking, QB making plays, run game unstoppable, O line actually opening holes, and giving the QB time in the pocket. Hackett's play calling worked well. OTOH, when the run game was stopped, when the RB's were getting tackled behind the LoS, when the QB had no time. The play calls stunk. There was never a plan B to get the run game going, get the passing game going, help the O line. Some games were a complete outright disaster. No creativity, no innovation as I saw the same offense all year.

The Bills already have two #1's at CB....but hey, they need a third for the trifecta. Two #1's at CB, two #2's at safety for the defensive backfield. So, 1-1-2-2 At LBer a #1, a #2, a #6. So, 1-2-6 A #1 overall at DE that you are paying 100 million. a #1 at DT, a #5 all pro DT, a #2 at DE. So, 1-1-5-2 five #1's, four #2's. so nine out of 11 were drafted in the first two rounds on defense. While I wouldn't be upset should the Bills go LBer with this years #9. I'd rather see an OT, or a trade back to get an OG-TE, and extra picks.

Fans had a problem with the play calls and the lack of touches called by Gailey, and not the spread offense.