All_Pro_Bills

Trading Lamonica to the Raiders was the worst. Trading Lynch to the Seahawks is looking worse and worse. The Watkins trade up? Not even close. First Watkins is not a bust, far from it. He'll be a #1 WR in this league for years. The Bills swapped 1st rounders last year and give up a 1 and a 4 this year. The moaning and groaning here about surrendering the 2015 1st rounder is based on the premise that the team somehow gave up a pick that could have been a 'franchise QB'. Fact is there's no slam dunk franchise QB is available in this coming draft at the 19th spot. There's two top prospects and after that the talent level drops to 3rd/4th round territory. Then there's the hypothetical debate about how things would have turned out if they kept the 9th slot and drafted somebody else (i.e. Beckham). Anybody can back-test the draft, second guess any teams picks, and select top performers with the help of hindsight. In total, I think Whaley's done more to add solid players to this roster through the draft, trades, free agency, and waiver pick ups, than any front office guy since things started rolling downhill after the 1999 season. Look at those drafts and the only one I see that had more hits than strikeouts was the 2001 draft. Is he perfect? No, but nobody is in this business. I expect Whaley and the front office will have another productive off season and that along with upgrades in the coaching ranks is going to propell this team forward.

We can all speculate but time will tell which way things go, up, down, or nowhere. My expectation is things continue to improve as long as the front office proceeds with making improvements to the roster with a coach that is aligned with and knows how to use the players to their best. And maybe Ryan attracts some players that would otherwise not consider Buffalo. Rumor has it Revis might want to reunite with Ryan and if the Bills could pull that off the CB tandem of Gilmore and Revis supported by Graham and McKelvin would be deadly. One thing for certain the Bills with Ryan will develop a brash and in-your-face identity. Other than a team with no good QB (which is all I hear in the national media when discussing the hire) an identity is something I found lacking for a long time. Whether you like this new identity or not is a matter of personal preference. One benefit is this attitude infects and engages the home crowd 8 times a year and makes RWS a miserable place to play for the visitors.

I more or less agree and the jury is still out here regardless of how many 'expert' opinions there are out there. There seemed to be something fundamentally wrong with the Marrone/Hackett offense. So how can we be certain that EJ can or cannot be a productive NFL QB with the right coaching and system? Bringing that is my expectation of Ryan/Roman here. How many players regressed under the Marrone/Hackett offense? The offensive line was awful across the board with even Wood and Glenn falling off. What happened to Hairston? He was a competent starter at one time and couldn't even sniff the field most of the season. Even Orton, who I thought started out well, seemed to have the life sucked out of him by the end of the season. The fact is we don't need the offense to light it up here. Just protect the football a little better and score 7 points a game more would get us close to 12 wins with the current defense which we can expect to be even more lethal next season.

I see the QB issue two ways at this point. Guys moaning and groaning about the QB situation see it as some kind of static situation that can't change. Its going to be dynamic and one of the big focuses of the organization in the off season now that the coaching decision has been made. There are options out there. We don't need a superstar but rather someone that is going to be marginally better than Orton/EJ. 1) We're going to get what I expect to be an unbiased set of new coaches, Ryan and Roman along with whoever they bring in to fill out the offensive staff, coming in with a blank slate to evaluate EJ and determine if he can become what Whaley invisioned when he was drafted two seasons ago. I expect them to evaluate then create and execute some kind of plan. 2) Whatever Ryan comes off as he's not stupid. He knows the QB was the major source of failure with the Jets. So there had to be dicussions during the interview process about the Bills QB situation. Word is Whaley talked up EJ as Plan '1A'. That's fine but if I'm going to take the HC job then I want to know we're going to have a plan '1B' to acquire either through free agency or trade another option under center. And we should see this unfold when the free agency period begins along with before and during the draft.

I'm less concerned about who is in charge of what than I am about everyone being aligned with the same system, philosophy, and approach to acquiring and identifying the necessary players to build the team and play a system everybody supports with their actions. There's a time for debate but once a course of action is set everybody has to get behind it. With Marrone it sounded like he refused to accept that time had passed and he was always rowing against the other guys in the boat.

Professional football is a physically demanding sport and those demands can cut a person's lifespan significantly. Watching Peyton Manning over the last 5 or 6 weeks you can see a huge drop in his play. Sometimes it happens gradually and sometimes all at once. This is a case of the latter. 39 is not old but it is for football and usually the players still active at that age are punters and placekickers that don't get hit very often. Can he come back next year and recover his abilities? Maybe, but he'd be wise to call it a career and not expose himself to the potential for any signifcant injury beyond what he already has suffered. As for Denver they went 'all in' with the defense this year and that group didn't show up yesterday. And Manning didn't play well. All of which spells an exit from the playoffs. My bet is New England vs. Seattle SB which would make a pretty good game..

The question is, all other things equal, would the Bills be better than 9-7 with Beckham instead of Watkins?

The Giants offense was designed to push the ball downfield to the wide receivers while Marrone's Bills offense this season was designed to create 4th and 1 situations in order to play a field position strategy, play good defense, and put special teams into a position to kick as many FG's as possible.

The media didn't force Marrone out. He left because he saw a chance to pocket $4M and leverage his 'resurrecting' the Bills myth into another lucrative deal with another NFL team for more money and more control. From what has transpired so far that appears to be the Jets. And even if the media did run him out of town that only shows he's an emotional weakling that isn't suiting for a HC job where interacting with the press and dealing with potential criticism is a certainty. My theory is most of what he did and didn't do during the course of the season was aligned with his objective of putting himself in a position to make his next move. Defense and FG's won 9 games, not the genuis and superior coaching skills of Doug Marrone.

This coaching search is different for the Bills mainly because we now have ownership that we can assume isn't going to constrain the selection process with any budget limitations. And by interviewing a large number of prospective candidates you also get a fairly big sample of opinion on how the outside world perceives the Bills and what the 'problems' are associated with the operation and the team along with how others might approach and fix it. This can help reinforce that your on the right track or provide you with information that might conflict with you current approach and cause you to assess your plan and modify it if needed.

If Pegula wasn't interested in retaining the HC he inherited with the team, then Marrone did TP a favor by opting out. Give him more control and money? Thanks but no thanks. Now ownership doesn't have to answer questions and get second-guessed about why they fired a coach that went 9-7. He simply issued a thanks for the job and good luck statement. And now as more and more information becomes public a picture of Marrone as a total jerk is being painted. And as each day passes the possiblity that Doug might be left without a chair when the coaching search music stops becomes more likely. Well played Mr. Pegula..

It is absolutely pure conjecture but its being talked about because Beckham had an amazing rookie season while the numbers Watkins put up while good, paled in comparison. There's no question Beckham had a better rookie campaign and looks like the best receiver of the draft class after one season. So the debate is would the Bills have been better off taking Beckham at #9 and keeping this years 1st round choice? After one season the raw numbers imply the answer is 'yes'. But one season does not a career make. You can argue that circumstances and situations being different there's absolutely no possibility that Beckham would have put up anything close to what he did if he was playing in the Bills 2014 offense. And inversely, you could argue that putting Watkins in an offensive system that focused on getting the ball to the wideouts run by a two-time Super Bowl QB would have generated much better stats than Sammy was able to under the Bills offensive system with Manuel and Orton running the offense with play calling from Hackett. And playing a schedule where you faced of 7 of the top 10 pass defenses in the league where the Giants faced 2 of the 10 and lost both games.

This story about Marrone being displeased with the Watkins pick and storming out of the draft room is revisionist history created and communicated by the Marrone ‘camp’ with a purpose of portraying Doug as a sort of victim here. Highlighting the 'poor hand' he was dealt by the GM and at the same time showing what an amazing job he did this season. Imagine what he could have done if he had a front office that could actually get him the players he wanted? 9-7 with the completely untalented team the GM assembled (like 3 pro bowl defensive lineman) was nothing short of a miracle. Pure drama.

I suspect if the Jets don't take the bait and jump on hiring Marrone quickly he may sit for a while here.

A few days ago I watch the top 10 single rushing seasons on the NFL Network. OJ's 2003 yard performance was rated #1. They didn't say the guy had the greatest single season of any running back that ever played in the NFL but since he got in trouble with the law after his retirement we're not going to make him #1. Same thing with the Wall. He was put up there for what he did as a Bill and nothing else. Sure guy turned out to be a dirtbag but that doesn't diminish what he did on the field and he's never going to be a candidate for sainthood.

Translated - what Polian says is that Whaley didn't listen to Marrone and he did the best he could with the cast of misfits Whaley gave him and what happened wasn't Marrone's fault. In most places I think it works the other way. The GM calls the shots and the HC works with the players provided. This isn't college where coaches do the recuiting, its the pro's. This is a lame excuse by Marrone delivered by Polian. Funny we didn't see any impact on the performance of the defense or special teams, just the offense. His area of expertise. A good coach works with what he has and adapts to the constaints and conditions including the players around him and its a head scratcher why people think Marrone is some kind of amazing coach when his lifetime record Syracuse/Buffalo is below .500.

I see the glass half-full here not half empty. The circumstances of the off season to date do not require a rebuild. This is a reload at most. The defense and FG's carried this team all season. With the exception of the status of Jerry Hughes returning this group should return pretty much in tact. In his two seasons Marrone had Pettine and Schwartz, two very good DC's so this freed up his time to focus on the other aspects of his job. The offense was terrible and regressed in 2014, 26th in total yards, 25th in rushing, and 18th in passing. Hackett was in way over his head and lacks the experience and competency to be an NFL level OC at this point in his career. And Marrone let his personal relationship with Hackett cloud his judgment. In my view losing Hackett is a plus. I'm confident any new HC is going to bring in somebody better and my expectation is significant improvement. Polian was supposed to be brought in as an advisor but as information trickles in it sounds like he already had his mind made up with talk of bringing AJ Smith back. So much for taking the time to sit down and gather information, interview people in the organization, understand the current philosophy. This is a disaster averted, another plus. Also expect to see Ralph's cronnies gone too along with the dysfunction and conflict they generate. That has got to be a plus. The organization will emerge this off season with one goal, one mind, one plan. The big question is QB and that would have been whether or not Marrone stay, whether or not Polian came on boards. Did they have some secret plan that Whaley, Pegula, and the new HC could not have come up with? Not likely. Marrone leaving and Polian not coming has been the best thing to happen so far this off season for the Bills. Addition by substraction. Now if TP would get rid of Ralph's cronnies it would be 3 for 3..

Whaley's done a credible job to this point and he's only been calling the shots as GM for a short time. And I don't understand all the love for Polian. Sure, he built the team of the 90's but that was more than 20 years ago. As an older fan I enjoyed those best of times for the Bills but as far as I'm concerned he's yesterday's news. As for Whaley, with the exception of Manuel, and its a big exception which I never understood the choice, he's done a good job. And Marrone opting out and allegedly shooting his mouth off - looking at the big picture no great loss. If true, I suspect this type of behavior is going to raise some red flags with a lot of perspective teams owners. You pay a guy $4M in severence the least he can do is use a little common sense and leave with a little grace and dignity.

I support this as one good option with the exception of considering Donnie Henderson as DC because he's had some experience at the coordinator job. The defense carried this team and the stat show it. This team needs a sharp OC that can game plan and design plays specific to the ability of the players and not some elementary college offensive system that Marrone and Hackett were too stuborn to dump. I'm for keeping Whaley too. I don't think his performance is a problem here. In 2 games the offense scored no TD's In 5 games the offense scored 1 TD In 5 games the offense scored 2 TD's In 4 games the offense scored 3 or more TD's and 2 of those were against the Jets. The other 2, NE, and Denver were losses.

You have to view this as an opportunity rather than a disaster. You had a meglomaniac coach try to leverage and squeeze consessions from a new owner. The owner said no, so the coach had no choice but t exercise his exit clause. Now a 72 year old former GM sees the job as too challenging and declines the offer. Who can blame him? If anything I wonder why Pegula should have considered Polian in the first place. In the end the Bills will end up better and stronger this off season. Because the position in attractive to most of the top candidates for HC openings. The big reason, is the same reason Marrone left, money. You've got the 3rd or 4th wealthiest owner in the league that is not afraid to spend and will give a new coach more or less unlimited resources to get the job done. What HC candidate could ask for more?

The Bills would have to give him permission to speak to other teams. If Marrone wants him he could offer him an assistant HC job and that promotion would generally allow him to move elsewhere. If I was the Bills I'd try to squeeze a 6th or 7th rounder out of the Jets for the fun of it. Just to mess with Marrone if he wants Hackett so badly. But on the other hand, letting him go more or less guarantees the Jets offense will be horrible. The other option is for Pegula to just eat the contract, let him sit at home, and hire another OC. One thing for sure, we don't want Hackett here in 2015 no matter what.

He has several interview scheduled. His agent is doing a fantastic job of selling his client. I can't wait to see which team takes the bait. You have to assume any part of the package Doug demands will include bringing Hackett along. It might be the Jets. Woody Johnson is being advised by Charley Casserly, someone I consider to be a failure as a GM with a series of failed drafts in Washington and Houston and a guy that carried his predessors work to a SB. But Charlie just loves Marrone. Go figure! In a sadistic way I hope he does get the Jet job. It will be fun to watch a guy that had trouble with the Bills press corps explain his stupid in-game decision making to the NYC press. That along with seeing the Bills defense throw around Hacketts high school offense like a ragdoll 2 times a year. I can't think of anything better.

The home team wins..

This is a lot of drama generated by the press. So Marrone might have talked to Polian. Big deal. And if the discussion convinced Polian not to take the Bills gig so what? If so, he was never the right guy for the job because to evaluate a situation you need to come into it with an unbiased view. If he 'took' Marrone's side then he isn't suited for the job, period. So if this is the case he did the Bills a favor. Fact is Polian wasn't the right guy for the job anyway, you need somebody with expertise that doesn't have any connection or allegence to anyone involved. A person that will be completely loyal to the owner. Pegula needs to look forward like he finally did with the Sabres by hiring Murray, not back to the past. And if Marrone was truly bad-mouthing his previous employer, whom he just left while pocketing $4M in severence, he isn't so smart. Bad mouthing a previous employer is a serious no-no issue when it comes to interviewing for a new job. IIn addition, if his contract had non-disclosure and non-defamation clauses he could be putting his severence in jeopardy by shooting off his mouth and making negative comments about the organization. Pegula's statement on Marrone leaving was polite and professional. Translated - "Thanks and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out". In the end I think we'll come out smelling like roses here with a better HC and higher quality staff with some positive changes in the front office along with a clearer organization structure.

I wanted a totally unbiased outsider to come into the job so Pollan not accepting the position doesn't bother me. In fact I'm glad he declined. Bringing in Polian was exactly like TP's yesterday's hero's approach with the Sabres. It forces ownership to go outside their comfort zone and do something else, something that might be more effective. There's also talk that Marrone 'convinced' Polian not to take the job which is neither confirmed or denied. If Bill needs Doug to tell him that then strike two I don't want him. Most likely after looking at the position he just wasn't interested in coming back and putting in the time. You don't need to be a genius to see some obvious issues with the Bills. You have a coach and GM that aren't on the same page with personnel or systems. You have an OC that is not NFL competent at calling and game planning at this level and a HC that has a personal relationship clouding his judgment here. You have an offense that has regressed in the two years under Marrone, an alledged offensive guy. You have a defense that is playing at a championship level pretty much on auto-pilot with two different DC's in 2 years. (an observation and not a problem) You don't have an identified starter at QB going into 2015. You have Ralph's old guard cronies still embedded in the organization after 3 months of new ownership. You have a new owner who should have brought in his advisors the Monday after the NFL approved his bid so they could observe the workings of the organization during the course of the season, not after it is over.. The hard part isn't figuring out what's wrong but rather what to do to fix it but Marrone leaving makes solving the first 3 easier. Polian was not the guy I wanted doing this.