thewildrabbit

Scott Pioli is listed on the Patriots website as "Vice President - Player Personnel"... so if another team wants to grab him, it usually would be to promote him to president. I'd imagine the reason for this is the same reason as to why Bobby April has the title "Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams" so another team can't simply offer him a job as ST coach,it would be to a job title equal to or higher then what he already has. Last year Thomas Dimitroff, scouting director for the New England Patriots, was named as general manager of the Atlanta and he is having great success at Atlanta so I'd expect lots of teams looking to grab personnel from the Patriots again.Another name I'm hearing about is Josh McDaniels to a head coach from Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks. But he turned down job offers last year so I suspect he will only go for a select job opening.

I like Dick Jauron, I really do, as he seems like a very sincere and honest guy. I like Turk Schonert also,he seems like a very driven guy. Meaning he really wants to do the best he can to get the passing game to work. The problem is that neither one is good at their current job. With all the years of playing and coaching experience between those two you would think that they would have enough smarts to utilize their personnel properly. Instead of working at getting the running game going early in the season they called shotgun plays all year long putting the QB's under constant duress.This staff thinks they have Payton Manning behind center and not young QB's still learning.

I can recall Joe Cribbs,what stands out to me was at the goal line when the bills needed to score he wanted the ball .When a crucial first down needed to be made,he wanted the ball. Its just that he never seemed to make those clutch plays.

75 yds

I wish the Bills would.. I doubt he would ever work for Ralph Wilson again though

Still this would also help in acquiring players through the draft or free agency as so many Cowher's players are still winning games at Pittsburgh, this guy knows talent Tom Donahoe is a former general manager and President of the Buffalo Bills of the NFL. Prior to his tenure with the Bills, he was Director of Football Operations for the Pittsburgh Steelers. In what was largely seen as a power struggle between himself and head coach Bill Cowher, Donahoe left the team in 2001. Donahoe was selected to replace John Butler as general manager as well as take over the position of team president from a retiring Ralph Wilson. Wilson, while still maintaining ownership of the team, wanted to step aside from the day-to-day operations of the franchise, and chose Donahoe to take his place. Ralph Wilson took a gamble that Tom Donahoe was the smartest guy in the room when the Steelers were drafting all their great players year after year. Guess what, he wasn't. It was 'The Chin", Bill Cowher. Take a long hard look at the Steeler defense that's playing this year. Bill Cowher drafted most of those guys. He he a great talent evaluator and would make a really good GM / head coach. Plus giving him the title as GM would alleviate some of the pain in giving him the money he is seeking to return to the NFL for,upwards of 8-10 million a year.

It took almost 7 full years of losing to the Dolphins before Ralph Wilson would hire Chuck Knox 1977 3-11 Coach Jim Ringo is fired and replaced by Chuck Knox. In addition an era comes to an end as O.J. is traded to the San Francisco 49ers for draft picks as the Bills began to rebuild. 1978 5-11 1979 7-9 Jim Haslett was named Defensive Rookie of the Year. 1980 won ills on Dec. 30, 1985, the Bills were suffering from back to back 2-14 seasons and fan interest was at an all-time low. Polian had beDivision, 11-5 The Bills begin the 80's by doing something they failed to do in the 70's; beat the Miami Dolphins.Bills got their season started with a 17-7 win, as Bills fans rushed the field and tore down the goal posts. beaten 20-14 by the Chargers in the Divisional Playoffs at San Diego. 1981 10-6 Wild card, beat Jets first playoff game and lost to Bengals in next. correction 1982 * strike year* Chuck Knox quits to go to Seattle, He would later be replaced by assistant Kay Stephenson.Chuck Knox called Buffalo "the coaches graveyard" 1983 8-8 1984 2-12 1985: After finishing with the worst record in the NFL the Bills select DE Bruce Smith with first overall draft pick. However the Bills would stumble out of the gate again losing their first 4 games before Coach Kay Stephenson is fired, and replaced by assistant Hank Bullough. Under Bullough the Bills would not fair much better winning just 2 of 12 while posting a 2-14 record for the second year in a row. *Polian was General Manager in Buffalo from 1986-1993. "When Bill Polian was promoted to general manager of the Buffalo Ben with the Bills since August 2, 1984. He was originally hired as director of pro personnel, where he impressed Bills Owner Ralph Wilson by telling then-coach Kay Stephenson "We were 2-14 on merit--we have the worst personnel in the NFL". On February 7, 1985, Bills general manager Terry Bledsoe suffered a heart attack and Polian was named along with, director of scouting, Norm Pollom, to handle contract negotiations in Bledsoe's absence. Polian was instrumental in the signing of Bruce Smith to his first NFL contract. This impressed the Bills' hierarchy enough to warrant a promotion to GM, after the firing of Bledsoe, in 1985. Polian proceeded to build an NFL powerhouse. In 1986, Polian got USFL star Jim Kelly to finally come to Buffalo. He next hired Marv Levy to replace Hank Bullough as head coach. On February 4, 1993, after the Bills had appeared in their 3rd straight Super Bowl, Bill Polian was fired as general manager. Polian wasn't fired because he wasn't doing a good job, he was fired because he didn't get along with treasurer, Jeff Littmann, for reasons unknown to all except those close to owner Ralph Wilson, Littmann and Polian himself. The way the Bills were able to make it to the Super Bowl in the 90's and get so darn good was the fact that Ralph Wilson found a football genius in Bill Polian and promoted him to GM. If you look back at the late 80,early 90 Buffalo Bills they had some pretty darn smart talent evaluators with that team in Polian, John Butler and A J Smith. Just think if the Bills had NOT fired Bill Polian and instead promoted him to president here in Buffalo,how many super bowls would the Buffalo Bills have gone to, and won? Anyway to the point of this post. Ralph Wilson has a history of promoting from within the organization unless the team is certifiably horrid. It took 7 years of losing against the Dolphins before Ralph Wilson hired a "name" coach outside the organization in Chuck Knox. Knox did manage to get the bills into the Playoffs for a few years even against Don Shula. The Bills already face another Don Shula Dolphin type dynasty in Bill Belichick and the Patriots in the AFC East and we just don't know yet on how good Tony Sparano can be with Parcells pulling the strings as the Dolphin president. The 2008 Buffalo Bills are about to be swept in the division with Tom Brady out all year and the Bills with one of the easiest schedules in the NFL. I'd say something drastic is called for if this team ever wants to climb out of mediocrity...but that's me.

One way the Bills could get better very fast is to go for a shooting star.. The first would be to go for the ultimate star in Scott Pioli,hire him away from the Patriots and make him President! Offer him the opportunity to also be the GM or name a GM and allow him to bring Josh McDanials as head coach and Matt Cassel as the QB. This would accomplish not only making the Bills more effective in drafting and acquiring players, have an instant successful QB and play caller. It would also submarine the Patriots for a few years so the Bills could actually have a shot for a Division title,world championship. A star and still very effective result would be to hire Bill Cowher as either GM or head coach or both. The only drawback would be answering to the president / owner in Ralph Wilson Still this would also help in acquiring players through the draft or free agency as so many Cowher's players are still winning games at Pittsburgh, this guy knows talent.The "Chin" would help define this team with a smash mouth defense and hard nosed rushing attack. Lesser bright star on the horizon would be to hire a new GM and let him define the teams coaching staff. That would be Charlie Casserly,Mike Lombardi or someone with some decent experience in being a GM and a really good talent evaluator. Perhaps someone like Mike Mayock on the scout/assistant GM team. Dying star, AKA Buffalo Raiders,keep the same situation with no GM,no coaching change and the owner as President

Both Cowher and Jauron were NFL defensive backs,both know the defensive side of the ball. I'd think that Cowher would boot the 'Tampa 2' and install a Dick LeBeau style of attacking D and make Jauron call it

If Marv Levy and Ted Marchibroda were out coached in the Bills first super bowl by Bill Parcels and Bill Belichick how can you think that Dick Jauron will ever see the playoffs?I seriously doubt Jauron will ever beat a bill Belichick team. He managed to take a nobody from nowhere as a RB and he rushed for over 100+ yards against Buffalo. Not to mention Matt Cassel who hasn't played since high school and now he looks like a pro bowl QB with 2- 400 yard passing games this year. What on gods green earth makes you think Dick Jauron will ever beat the Jets and Dolphins now that they don't suck? Get real guys, this team is about to be swept in the AFC East with Tom Brady out all year and the Bills with one of the easiest schedules in the NFL.I don't care how much talent you bring in by drafts or free agency this coaching staff will continue to fail because they just don't have the talent themselves.

I can recall Bruce Smith had hold of Hostetlers wrist and he had the ball in his hand and somehow he managed to keep holding on to that football,kind of amazing.No turnovers in that entire game. Anyway,If only they had run Thurman Thomas early and more often as the only NY Giant LB on the field most of that day was Lawrence Taylor who was spying Thurman.

The Bills lost those super bowls for two reasons,(except for the the first SB) by the time Buffalo got through the brutal AFC they were so banged up that they just couldn't compete at their best.In fact I can recall in the Denver AFC championship they needed Pete Metzelaars to sub in as a tackle because of injuries. Also. one year the NFL decided it wanted to cut out a two week wait from the championship games so they changed it to one week,simply not enough time to get the Bills healthy. The first year the Bills went and faced the NY Giants who had Bill Parcels and Bill Belichick,as good as Marv Levy and Ted Marchibroda were... they were out coached. In typical Buffalo fashion they failed to run the ball enough and tried to throw on that Giant secondary who had held Montana to one TD points in two games.Belichick would later state the giants played that game in constant nickle and dime coverage the entire game.

Given the much easier schedule this year I'd say that stats are kinda meaningless. This team wasted a year because they opted to do everything on the cheap. Promoted an offensive coordinator,line coach and QB coach and didn't hire an actual GM. This could have been a huge year for the Bill,instead they declined

The Bills wouldn't pay anywhere near what either of these two would want as a salary. This is a team who's GM quit and they haven't replaced him to save money. They won't fire Jauron because they won't eat his contract like the 49ers or Ravens did. Go ahead and dream about those two if you like. If I'm dreaming I'm dreaming BIG! I wanna see Jauron demoted to defensive coordinator so the bills can save from paying him off and then Hire Bill Cowher to be GM and head coach at whatever it takes to get him here. I already know who the smartest guy in the room was with he and Donahoe were drafting for the Steelers.Look at that Steeler Defense and tell me you wouldn't want the Bills to be that good.

This coaching staff gets an F- in my view, I realize that the OC Turk Schonert, OL coach and QB coach are all rookies this year but it cost this team so many games it makes me Ill There is a direct relationship between the bad play calling and QB play then most think,the play calling is the main reason why the QB play went downhill. Until week 11 against the Cleveland Browns the OC had rarely called and used play action passing. (If only the OC would stop calling the shotgun passing plays and run the Ball more) I've been stating this all year and only lately has he started to run the Ball more often. It just seems unbelievable that someone who has spent 20 years in the NFL would not understand that he doesn't have a QB the caliber of Payton Manning behind center so he needs to set up the pass with the run. Passing perhaps 15-20 times a game instead of the 30-40 times. Again like I've been saying all year the Bills have two really good running backs and they simply fail to utilize them.The OC kept forcing the 2nd string QB to throw the last few games instead of simply running the ball more often. Look at what Marshawn Lynch was able to do against the 4th ranked defense against the run in the Jets, he was owning them. With a different set of coaches this team could have finished in the playoffs this year,no doubt about it. Personally I do feel like starting over with some coaches that actually have brains and use them.I look at Miami and Atlanta and really can't stop hoping that Ralph Wilson fires these inept coaching clowns

Say hello to the LA BILLS I'm hoping Jim Kelly gets enough support behind him to buy the bills and keep them in Buffalo but at this stage it doesn't look likely.It almost looks as though the Bills FO want to lose support for the team to make it easier for them to move to a different city.

If the talent is that lacking on this team how did they almost beat the Jets this last game? What this team lacks is an offensive coordinator who knows how to call plays to put his players in position to win games,not lose games. The head coach stinks also! Do you have faith in him to out coach Bill Belichick ? This OC calls the shotgun formation around 75% of the offensive plays and before the Cleveland game he RARELY used play action passing formations so back at week 11 it was like 98%. The shotgun formation is telling the opponent screw whatever defense you show us we are going to pass (or draw from it occasionally). All season Schonert has been putting the most pressure on the QB when it should be on the running backs, The Bills have two very talented backs in Jackson and Lynch and until the last few games don't rely on them enough. Hell,In that 49er game Lynch was killing them and he got one stinking carry in the 4th QTR,WHY? Instead Schonert tried to force the 2nd string QB to win the game by forcing the pass every down. This team could have won a ton of games this season if not for the inept coaches,the 's

I tend to agree, If it wasn't for the absolute total failure to call the correct play call against the Jets The Bills would have beaten a 12 million dollar QB,not to mention all the other high priced players the Jets acquired the last few seasons. The Bills have the talent,they just lack the coaches to put them in the proper situations to win. Making the 2nd string QB try and throw to win any game is completely foolish and yet this staff keeps forcing that. I could see this team under a different head coach and OC getting 11 to 12 wins this year.

Duke Preston did a good job on Kris Jenkins this last Jets game Marshawn Lynch,man is he truly a beast once he gets going.

Anyone here think Dick Jauron can out coach Bill Bilichick ?? That is what it will take to win this division once Brady is healthy. Frankly I don't see the bills beating a division opponent again with this current coaching staff. Good luck bringing in really good free agents after the world was able to see what morons the Bills have for coaches with that Jets play call. Even the coaches threw JP under the bus for that last fumble by putting him at third string,wasn't it their fault for starting him over Hamden considering he is gone after this season? With a decent head coach and OC this team should have been 11-5 this year instead of a total collapse.

I Agree Everyone is blasting him for the Bledsoe pick up but he really brought some excitement in to Buffalo for awhile.

I agree Now after the football world has seen the most inept play call in football against the Jets who would want to come to Buffalo as a free agent if this coaching staff stays intact?

Why do you post stories that "MIGHT" be true? This is from Pro Football Weekly and it is TRUE! From PFW: “When you look at Charley Casserly’s last draft in Houston, you’ve got to give him some credit. Mario Williams and DeMeco Ryans are Pro Bowl players. Eric Winston has been solid. Owen Daniels is emerging as one of the game’s best all-around tight ends. (Casserly’s) last draft was a helluva draft. The biggest problem he had in Houston was building the offensive line. He paid a lot of veterans in the supplemental draft that never panned out. But he has hit on high picks. Dunta Robinson has turned out to be a better cornerback than DeAngelo Hall. Andre Johnson has become one of the premier receivers in football. And he uncovered some late-round gems, if you can call them that — guys like (Buccaneers DE) Greg White and C.C. Brown.” Simply because some idiot writes a sour grapes column doesn't make what he writes the truth. Houston really bashed on Casserly because he didn't draft Reggie Bush OR Vince Evans and he made the most outstanding correct choice and most likely lost his job for it.That's exactly the type of GM I'd want in Buffalo !

From Pro Football weekly : From PFW: “When you look at Charley Casserly’s last draft in Houston, you’ve got to give him some credit. Mario Williams and DeMeco Ryans are Pro Bowl players. Eric Winston has been solid. Owen Daniels is emerging as one of the game’s best all-around tight ends. (Casserly’s) last draft was a helluva draft. The biggest problem he had in Houston was building the offensive line. He paid a lot of veterans in the supplemental draft that never panned out. But he has hit on high picks. Dunta Robinson has turned out to be a better cornerback than DeAngelo Hall. Andre Johnson has become one of the premier receivers in football. And he uncovered some late-round gems, if you can call them that — guys like (Buccaneers DE) Greg White and C.C. Brown.”

This coaching staff would have screwed Jay Cutler into the ground by now,no two ways about it. Please don't equate Dick Jauron to Mike Shanahan. This team would never hire Shanahan because they wouldn't pay him. That is why we get dolts who call passing plays on obvious running downs, The Bills hire bargain basement coaches. Kinda like Walmart and costco left overs that hit the dollar store. bIlLSs r uS