thewildrabbit

Excellent point So many posters here just don't understand how important the offensive line is to a QB and how well he performs.

I agree that the Bills need to solidify the offensive line asap. The Bills stole a scrub QB from the Packers and decided to throw him into the fire to see what he do...no way the Bills draft a QB this year and he doesn't start . Two thoughts on this, should the Bills draft a named QB in the draft with that 9th pick it might just give the front office/marketing the "exicitement" to sell out games again this year. The Bills could still use that 9th pick on a QB and still look for tackles in rounds 2-7. Let's just hope this new staff of draft experts knows the difference between an average player and a great player

Plus the fact that Big Ben had a dominate running game his first two years with the Steelers, the team rallied around the "Bus" Jerome Bettis for that SB win. That gave Ben time to develop behind a decent line, its only recently that the Steelers started passing more and running less. That O line of the Steeler's is still way better then Buffalo's, despite the fact that Ben holds the ball longer then he should and takes sacks as a result. The Vikings are a perfect example of what to do in building a team, and then go looking for a QB. Build the two lines and defense, draft a top RB and all they needed was a QB. So once they did find someone decent he would have time to make throws and a ground game to help carry the team so all the pressure isn't on just the QB.

This team is about two years away from having a decent offensive line that can run proper protections and function as a cohesive unit, that is of course "if" they address the LT position in the draft with that 9th pick, and "if" Gailey knows how to build a decent O line. Throwing caution to the wind and bringing in a name QB like McNabb might just sell the season tickets this year, but he will run for his life just like Edwards and the team will lose games, so why waste draft picks on one player when so many other areas of the team need immediate help.

I tend to agree to a point, should Williams have gotten fired even with Brees as QB, Brees wasn't that great his first few years. My thinking is that Mularkey could have developed Brees instead of drafting Losman and everything might have been different. Then again, If only Tom Donahoe had drafted Ben Rothlisberger, the guy he really wanted and settled for Losman.

The thing is... no matter what QB is behind center, if the O line isn't drastically improved with a decent left tackle who can play 16 games it won't matter who the QB is. Plus they need upgrades at other positions on the O line. In the 4 sets of years that the Bills were actually a decent team they all had really good O lines. Jack Kemp had Billy Shaw et al. OJ Simpson had the electric co.-Joe Furguson had Jim Richter et all. Jim Kelly had Will Wilford, Kent Hull et al. Chuck Knox was an ex O-linemen himself, he drafted Jim Richter with the #1 pick in 80 and let him sit on the bench and learn his first year, Richter played 14 seasons for the Bills. The 90's era Bills always had a really good O line, Levy, Polian, Marchibroda all helped build that line with...Will Wolford-Jim Richter-Kent Hull-John Davis-Howard"house" Ballard. In 1990 Pete Metzelaars wasn't the starter, Keith (k-gun) McKeller was, Pete was the blocking tight end and was able to play tackle if needed, that's how good a blocker he was. Look at my avatar and notice the hole Thurman Thomas had to run thru Should the Bills manage to acquire more really good O linemen via the draft, free agency or trade, then they just might allow any QB to have a successful season.

Why start complaining about the coaching staff before they even play a game, just waste of time IMO. Lets see who the Bills draft and how they set up an offense before jumping to conclusions. I've read that Gailey wants to bring in Thigpin and run high powered passing offense...which seems kind of foolish considering how much time it usually takes to install any new passing offense. You know, kinda the same way Jauron told the world the Bills would run the no huddle, then fell on their face. Then I've also read that new GM Nix wants Gailey to build a power running game first and then work up the passing game. Guess we will see what happens by September.

You guys gotta understand that every time the Bills start to make moves in the direction they end up shooting themselves in the foot. An example would be the hiring of an experienced O line coach in Jim McNally, the guy who mentored Anthony Munoz in Cincy and developed Jason Peters in Buffalo. This was a great step forward, but the Bills should have drafted and built that O line when he first arrived in Buffalo so he could have developed more young players, instead of bringing in overweight high priced free agents. McNally retires and the Bills promote from within, the line goes south and naturally everyone blames the players and not the inexperienced O line coach. The combination of a bad strength and conditioning coach and rookie line coach turned what could have become a decent line into one of the worst ever.

Chan Gailey might have been the OC at KC, who was calling plays the last two years for the Buffalo Bills? Turk Schonert 1 yrs exp- AVP no exp The Buffalo offense has been bad for 10 years, lets hope Gailey can fix it.

Will Wolford at LT - Kent Hull at Center, O line is fixed

What most fail to realize is... the Bills used the running game to set up the pass. The Bills used to run more then they threw the ball in the Kelly era. While the Bills O line was better then most, it wasn't even close to what Emmitt Smith had in Dallas. If you go back and look at what Thurman Thomas did, 5x pro bowls-1991 NFL MVP-1992 NFL offensive player of the year. Thurman Thomas is the only NFL player to lead the league in total yards from scrimmage for four consecutive seasons. Now considering he almost never caught the ball while in college it is amazing that he is one of six NFL backs to have over 400 receptions and 10,000 yards rushing. He is also one of five backs to have rushed for over 1,000 yards for 8 consecutive seasons. I know I'm leaving out a bunch of playoffs stats and other stuff. Just think, this kid kept Barry Sanders on the bench in College. The guy was like 70% of the offense in Buffalo, he gets my vote.

The main reason for that is because once they have been beaten down game after game at the NFL level they usually Never get another solid chance to prove them selves on a great team. I can think of one exception, Jim Plunkett. Who was beaten up and injured game after game in NE and then went on to the Raiders to win a SB. The Bills could draft a QB in the first round every year for the next ten years and still never find a Payton Manning- Brett Farve- Joe Montana. Those players are legends of the game and are more rare then hens teeth. Then there is the painful truth that even if the Bills did indeed find the next NFL legend and drafted him only to see him turn into Archie Manning-David Carr- Joey Harrington and get pounded game after game into losses each week behind a poor O line, in a poor scheme, on a bad team...what sense does that make? Anyone remember Steve Young and his first two years in the NFL with the Buc's, now that was painful.

Six Things I Know About Any Bills QB I Know To Be True 1. They lack the time to throw downfield 2. They lack the offensive scheme that allows receivers to be put into position to get open 3. They lack the trust that his receivers will be in proper position and be open for timed routes 4. They lack a dominate running attack to take pressure away from them 5. They lack a decent game plan and play caller 6. They lack a decent offensive line to protect them There is a reason the Bills front office went to an offensive minded coach... I would suppose 10 years of being 25th or worse on offense might be that reason... TEN YEARS!!! But hey, it is always the QB's fault right!

Perhaps it is because new QB's usually arrive with such promise and start to show some flashes of greatness and then rapidly regress from the hits they are forced to endure behind poor offensive lines. Anyone rememeber that JP Losman threw 2-83 yd TD bombs to Lee Evans against the Texans in 2006, he went 26-38 340 yards and 3 TD's. Then after they see that performance the fans expect that every game. The Bills haven't had an offensive coordinator even close to the level of Ted Marchibroda since he quit to be the HC for the Colts. You know, the guy who set up the old Redskin "counter trey" running game and taught Jim Kelly to call his own plays.

I think coaches tend to defend their own hires no matter how badly they perform. Bruce DeHaven will be a good hire, now if only he can find another Steve Tasker

If nothing else it makes you wonder why Gailey / Nix are waiting until the SB is over to fill their staff. Considering the senior bowl is this week and coaches like to get to know the players, I would think there is a reason as to why they are waiting to announce the DC. Me personally, I'd be interested in the Colts DC and how he made the transition from the Tampa 2 so smoothly.

Very true, I'd read about this several times. You can't give a head coach a solid chance to prove himself after only two years,simply not fair. I think Bills fans need to give Gailey 3 years to install his offensive scheme and the players he wants to run it and then judge him after that.

If what he says holds true... and he builds a team with a power running game and strong defense. Then he will be the Bills head coach I have yearned for since the 90's era. I look at the Ravens, Titans and now the Jets and only wish the Bills could play like those teams

HoF... yep

No, in fact you didn't read it. If you had you would have seen that I posted this... So again, Vince Young wasn't the only thing that changed. Like I stated earlier that Young was a part of it, the defense drastically improved as did the running game with the offensive AP player of the year in Chris Johnson. I also stated that Kerry Collins may have hit that proverbial "'wall"', which means he is at the end of his 16 year career. I also stated the entire team played better after the bye week. In your view the only thing that changed was the QB, so yea... I'd say that is myopic.

You state Tony Romo as among the leaders in sacks allowed, and yet Dallas has one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, same with McNabb and Farve. Did you notice how poorly Romo performed AFTER LT Flozell Adams was injured and knocked out of the game in that NFC divisional playoff game in Minnesota? Arron Rodgers game performance increased after O tackle Mark Tauscher returned form IR, there was a post about this in PFW. Both Rodgers and Rothlisberger simply tend to hold the ball to long while waiting for receivers to get open, sack stats don't always tell the whole story. As great as Jim Kelly and the k-gun offense was for the Buffalo Bills during the 90's, would you believe me if I stated that the Bills ran the ball more then they threw the ball most of those years?

It is perfectly clear that your perspective of how you see things is myopic= A narrow foresight, a narrow view of something. BTW I wasn't trying to flame, just trying to get you to broaden your perspective of how others see things. Did you actually read my post or just skim over it and deduce that I was solely criticizing you, and you respond with the point that I agreed with some of what you stated? The Titans defense allowing 59 points to the Patriots before the bye and then only allowing an average of 17 points per game after the bye and Chis Johnson had more to do with the Titans resurgence then Vince Young did. What QB couldn't succeed behind a great O line with a dominate running attack? That same formula allowed the Ravens to beat the Patriots "IN" New England for that "wildcard" playoff game, with QB Joe Flacco throwing 4 of 10 for 34 yards, clearly the only thing he did well that day was hand the ball off to Ray Rice. That same formula allowed rookie Mark Sanchez to actually develop this year and help bring the Jets to one game away from the super bowl, it also helped he had the best running game in the NFL.

It is clear to me that you are myopic and only see what you want to see, not that big a deal because even coaches like Jauron see things your way. Consider this concerning Tenn, the defense had a new DC who was promoted to that position and did a horrid job with the defense until Jeff Fisher stepped in and helped him with it. The Titans also got back several defensive players from Injuries around the same time, like their all pro CB Cortland Finnegin. The Titans were beaten 59-0 at the Patriots just before the bye week and there was serious talk of Fisher being fired. Although I'm not denying that Vince Young help spark the team with his running and throwing, but the entire team played better after that bye week. The defense only allowed 17 pts per game after that embarrassing NE blowout loss. With even the threat of a halfway decent QB behind the line it opened up both the passing game and running game. Lets not forget that Chris Johnson had over 2000 yards rushing and was named the AP offensive player of the year. Tenn also has one of the most dominate offensive lines in the NFL and an amazing running attack. So at first glance it might appear that Vince Young was the sole reason for the Titans going on that tear after the bye week, he wasn't. Also,Kerry Collins just might have hit that proverbial "wall" after 16 years in the NFL.

Really good post Lori, I'm also in the "fix the line first" camp... Although, I feel it is lost with so many on this board Because you will never convince some on this board to understand that the Jets with a rookie QB, who played some downright horrid games this season were one game away from the super bowl because of that great running game and great defense and not Sanchez. The more he played, the more he learned and was able to develop because of the great protection he had. Shoot, even some of the coaches in the NFL still don't "get it", that you can't throw a young inexperienced QB into a sink or swim environment and then expect them to win games for you with a bad O line. I'll tell those to look at the Lions this season, Matt Stafford looked awesome in some games he played in, but I wonder if he will survive over the next few years to be able to develop into a top QB... or will he become another train wreck like Joey Harrington-David Carr and countless others. All I gotta say is... look at the Baltimore Raven's wildcard playoff game at New England and winning QB Joe Flacco throws for 4 of 10 for 34 yards The Ravens pounded them into submission with a terrific running attack and defense. Lord, I hope Gailey can build an O line and defense like the Ravens have, and it won't matter who the QB is.