thewildrabbit

Gaily might have been noted for running the ball because of his past with the Steelers and Cowboys, but just like Jauron in Chicago had a history of being run oriented, both men seemed to have changed philosophies.

IMO both the Steelers and Packers O lines get a bad rap with Aaron Rodgers and Big Ben because both those QB's tend to hold onto the ball longer while waiting for the receivers to get open. Thus the stats for QB pressures and sacks is higher then it should be. So everyone assumes the lines are not very good. While not stacked with pro bowlers on their lines, both those teams had some very experienced veteran players all over the lines. Both those teams also have very elite QB's, defenses and receiver corps. Neither of those two SB teams had other teams cast offs picked up from the waiver wire or as many players with little veteran experience as Buffalo has had the last few years. The Buffalo Bills have been a revolving door at every position on the line for the last decade, 35+ different O linemen, and 10+ different QB's. Claybo would have been a tremendous upgrade at RT for the Bills on so many levels. A starting RT good enough to go to the PB as an alternate. He would have brought leadership and veteran experience and shown those young Bills players what it takes to be a good linemen I don't care what scheme the Bills utilize, they will never be a playoff team until they address they other 3 spots on the line and find a good tight end. Bell can't stay healthy, the center has back problems and the RT's just don't cut it. Dunno why its gonna take 3 years to get this done...are 3 positions that difficult to fill?

This is probably why Gailey did have 6 winning seasons in his 6 years at GT as HC.... but then never beat the teams biggest rival in the Georgia Bulldogs-never won the ACC-never went to a BCS bowl, never won more then 9 games in a season and his teams never once finished in the top 25. As OC of the Chiefs his offense at KC went 2-14 with the QB slinging it all over while almost ignoring the running game, sound familiar? The mere fact that the Bills went after Clabo means they know they have trouble with the RT position or they wouldn't have made a strong pitch for the guy, that and also knowing Nix doesn't like to build thru free agency means big trouble. Anyway, I'd be a whole lot more confidant in the offense if I knew that it was filled with athletic top young players rather then cast off waiver wire scrubs and late round maybes. The difference between a below average player and a great player is one will step up his game in the 4th QTR and do what it takes to win the game....the only time the other steps up is to get his paycheck.

interesting article, http://www.rotoworld...e-rankings?pg=3 30. Buffalo Bills (4) LT: Demetrius Bell LG: Andy Levitre C: +Eric Wood RG: *Kraig Urbik RT: Mansfield Wrotto ""You can make a strong argument that this is the least talented line in football, but Chan Gailey's creative scheming keeps it from getting his quarterback killed. The entire right side is comprised of other teams' castoffs, and undersized Levitre is a big run-blocking liability. The Bills seem to think the world of Bell, but he's one of the worst left tackles in the NFL. Expect a carousel of starters at the positions currently manned by Urbik and Wrotto, and lots of quick outs from a noodle-armed quarterback. It's no surprise that deep threat Lee Evans is on the outs; they can't get him the ball. "" Biggest beneficiary: Ryan Fitzpatrick. Short throws are his bread and butter. Notice in the article that the author has the Eagles at #8 and states that Jason Peters is back to playing at an elite level

Amen Evans was drawing most of the coverage and opposing teams only really saw him as the Bills best WR threat, which left Stevie Johnson open and single covered most of the time. Just looking at the games after Evans was injured the offense didn't look nearly as good as when he was on the field. So, unless someone steps up to draw coverages away from Johnson i don't see the offense as being as successful as when the Bills had Evans. Yea, you are right, If I were a Raven fan I'd be stoked as they got the Bills best wideout for a 4th, Flacco must be drooling Anyway, best wishes to Lee Evans, a class act and I hope he gets a SB ring

Guys, the Patriots took a kid who hadn't started a game as QB since high school in Matt Cassell and he took them to a winning record. Trent Edwards would look good on that team...

No worries, .the stadium will still be filled and RW will continue to make as much money as he can. BTW, should attendance falter a tad this season, the Bills will draft a QB in the first round next year to draw them all back into the fold. So easy to toy with fans so desperate for a winner

The Bills needed the cap room, they had to move somebody!

Hey, the team is rebuilding The first year was a wash because Nix and Gailey were evaluating the players and talent. This year they worked on the defense as they only have so many draft picks, so maybe the offense next year. 5 year plans generally take 5 years....

Hey, you know what, I'm very happy for the kid. He slaved on a team that only cared about filling the stadium... so ole ralphie could fill his pockets. Now he has a real shot at a SB ring! The kid did his job, kept his nose to the grindstone and worked, said all the right things, and never a bad thing about the team... he deserved better then to languish on a loser his entire career

Sorry, I just don't see this vision that you speak of...let me just say that IMO I think Gailey gets far to much credit for the play of Fitzpatrick. So the real question is...can the Bills adequately protect the QB, and can they run the ball when needed? What helped make the Kelly era offense so effective was the play of Thurman Thomas, the Bills had a running game that nobody could stop. If you go back and look at the stats for those years you will see that the Bills often ran more then they threw. They also had a #1 pick at G, a #1 pick at LT, a pro bowl C obtained from the USFL and overall a very very good offensive line most of those glory years. I just don't see any team winning in this league with a patchwork O line and constantly throwing the ball...unless you have Big Ben / Aaron Rodgers.....but then you had better have their defense and receiving corps too. Lets not forget that both those QB's recently suffered concussions, and if Rodgers concussion last year was severe, and if he missed more then one game from that concussion, then the Packers don't even make the playoffs, much less the SB. Kinda why I think both teams have recently spent high draft choices on upgrading their O lines. I just remember the Bills last two games of the season last year... I also remember Fitz virtually running for his life against the Jets. I look at this year as the very first year Fitz will be the starting QB on an NFL team, the guy deserves better protection. The Bills finally find a QB who is decent... I just don't get an offensive minded HC not building the line first thing...2 years now.

Saves money, maybe get a OT in return? But yea, in my mind it was Evans drawing more coverage that got Johnson open more often, what happens this year when they roll coverages to Johnson....

If all Chan Gailey had to do was run the offense, set up game plans and call plays I'd be less concerned about the offense. But he is involved in every aspect of the team as HC, every position and every area because he chose to hire a bunch of college coaches to be his assistants. So not only is he running the entire offense.... he also needs to teach all the other coaches that lack experience in their jobs. In my view this is primarily why the team was so bad last season as its a very demanding job just to be the HC without all the other responsibility he has to shoulder because so many of his assistants lack experience. BTW, the line looked so much better then it was last season simply because Ryan Fitzpatrick was able to find the open receiver and hit him within 3 seconds or less, which was amazing. Go "youytube" that Stevie Johnson drop in the endzone against the Steelers, Fitz was able to get that ball out in 3.5 seconds on that deep passing play. By the same token its why Brian Brohm and Trent Edwards looked so bad with the very same O line. Not only that, Fitz was amazing in his escape-ability, the only QB with a better yard per rush was Mike Vick, and Vick was only slightly better. My concern is the beating the Bills QB's are going to endure this year when they don't get the ball out in under 3 seconds, plus the running game is going to suffer with inferior talent on that line.

This is going to be an interesting year concerning injuries as with no OTA's, no mini camps, no conditioning at the stadium because of the "lockout" Stating that, "IF" the Bills can stay healthier then their opponents they have a shot at a winning season. The season is so close now, lets just sit back and wait and see.

Yea he should be solid RB for the phins Miami could be gearing up for Andrew Luck or Bill Cowher, either way I don't see them winning many games this year Unless he turned out to be another Adrian Peterson-Chris Johnson, we will see in a few weeks

I think the Bills are better also In regards to the QB position, and could win more games then all of the teams you mentioned. BUT! The problem is, and has been at LT since they traded away Jason Peters, and then didn't replace him in the draft with another top LT. Now, since Jauron cut Langston Walker at RT the Bills haven't had a solid top performer at either tackle position, and they still don't. So i can understand why the bookmakers and NFL analysts are saying the Bills will be bad regardless of the QB or other talent on the team. The odds of Buffalo making it to the SB are 150 to1, which is the worst they can be. When it comes down to cold hard cash on the line for the bookmakers, they tend to be right a lot of the time. The Bills coaching staff and GM must feel confident that they can win with the current players on the roster, so lets give them a chance to see if they can.

There is, his name is Kyle Williams As much as everyone can't stand Whitner, I just don't get it. It wasn't his fault that Jauron drafted for need, a safety that early in the first round... in reality he graded by other teams to be a late 2nd or 3rd round draft pick. Like Donte Whitner, even Mike Williams of the Donahoe era started and played RT for the Bills for a few years, he may have been mediocre, but at least he was a starter. Both Maybin and McCargo have set a all time low for Buffalo Bills bad draft choices IMO Aaron Maybin, 1st year-2010 -11 games 1 game start -6 tackles -4 solo -2 assists-0 sacks 2nd year- 16 games 0 game starts- 18 tackles 11 solo 7 assists 0 sacks So a guy drafted with the Bills first pick in 2009 with the 11th pick overall, and was drafted primarily to rush the passer- 2 years 24 tackles 0 sacks John McCargo, 2006 draft, 2nd Bills pick in the first round, the #26 player taken. 47 games- 5 years- ONE GAME START- 32 tackles- 15 assist- 2.5 sacks So between Maybin & McCargo, 7 years playing, and combined 2 game starts....

With no GM and the President living in Detroit and / or oblivious to what the defacto GM was doing. Jauron managed to cut the starting RT Langston Walker and then went on to fire his offensive coordinator two weeks before the season started his last year. Not the workings of a "normal" head coach. If he was just hanging onto his job with no authority then how does he make those moves? So, With Maybin as the first pick, then Wood, Byrd, Levitre, Nelson, Harris, Harris,Langster all following. I think Jauron had a hand in drafting all those players. In Maybin he must have pictured another elite pass rushing LB like DeMarcus Ware (6'4'' 262lbs) Remember the line ''You can't teach speed" The franchise has a decade of making the wrong decisions on draft day. Look at John McCargo, why is that guy still on the roster? Jauron and Modrak are gone, lets hope things have changed at OBD

I like Fitz also, he showed a lot of heart last season. He may not be an "elite" franchise QB ATM, but some teams have gotten to the SB and won them with guys just like him, Trent Dilfer comes to mind.

I stand corrected, Spiller played in 14 games- one GS- 74 attempts 283 yards 3.8 YPC avg. the first stats I posted gave him a 4.69 YPC avg... a quick wiki look up, my mistake. Still, to say those stats for him in his first year are not a disappointment for the 9th overall pick in the draft... Adrian Peterson was picked 7th overall in the first round of the 07 draft by Minnesota was kinda my point ...in case you missed it

Well said Freedom of speech, its what makes this country so great! Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship! Its almost like some fans here take it personally when someone talks about the business mistakes made by men who were hired to do a particular job. Both Gailey and Nix are getting paid millions to do their jobs, and us fans have the right to scrutinize their every move and hold them accountable, even if the owner of the team doesn't care to. Which is exactly what happens in every other fan forum for every team. Right now both Nix and Gailey have their work cut out this year to prove their critics wrong. I'll admit I'm one of them as both these men made many serious errors and blunders in their first year. Nix himself said it best when he stated that the fans don't want to hear about the labor pains, just show me the baby. Well, we are still waiting for the baby! To the posters here who think I am always so negative, to bad you missed the 200+ posts where I am defending Ryan Fitzpatrick, and even Gaileys decision to keep him as the starter

The thing a lot of Bills fans don't realize is that Jauron went about scuttling the team before he left. The experienced veteran O line coach Jim McNally retired so jauron replaces him with an assistant instead of hiring an experienced line coach. BTW, McNally is currently working for the NY Jets as a consultant. Jauron implements a "no huddle" offense and cuts the RT Walker because he can't get to the line fast enough, then scraps the "no huddle" after two weeks. That RT would still be an upgrade over anything Buffalo has had since Jauron cut him Jauron cuts his OC two weeks before the season starts and replaces him with the QB coach,so now the QB coach is the OC, calls plays and sets up the game plans. Both Fewell and jauron had a reasonable excuse for a 6-10 season because of that one stupid move. After reading many of the posts here from Bills fans discouraged by the fact that Nix still hasn't addressed the RT or TE positions for 2 years...it might not take many losses this season before the torches are lit.

Not for nothing at least Gailey was smart enough to bench Spiller when he found out the kid was clueless as a blocker, jauron would have kept him on the field You are right, Nix should get props for at least attempting to sign Clabo. If he is still not certain as to how good the people under him are at evaluating talent, then going after a certified pro bowler free agent RT makes perfect sense. Lets look at a decade of ineptitude at drafting. Modrak is finally gone but who knows if any remnants of that historically bad scouting team still remain. As GM I would think Nix simply reads the scouting reports given to him by the teams scouts, if some of those people are bad at their jobs it may take more then one year to figure out who they are and get rid of them. It did take ten years of Modrak scurrying about before the axe fell on him, Nix should also get props for getting rid of him The Jets were 4-12 in 2005. The very first thing Mike Tannenbaum did when he was hired as GM of the NY Jets was to draft center Nick Mangold and LT D' Brickashaw Ferguson, thus building a solid O line immediately . The result of that build was a 10-6 season, the Jets have had a dominate O line since 06. Brad Smith and Leon washington were also drafted in 06. For those that don't know Tannenbaum worked under Bill Belichick in Cleveland. Kinda the reason why some Bills fans are complaining about two drafts, two free agent periods and no real line help, or TE

Sok, just keep replying over and over...I read it a day or so ago, scuse me if I got the players mixed up...jeez Anyway, all that link did was post hearsay ""Some had pegged the Buffalo Bills offer as being in the neighborhood of $7 million per year"" Wth is Some? Speaking of Dockery and Walker at least they both started and played full seasons, unlike Cornell Green. Stating that, it looks like Marv Levy did better in his first year as GM in both the draft and free agent signings. Like I stated earlier the season is right around the corner and the world will see if this man is worthy or not.

What reports are those? Have a link?