Sisyphean Bills

About this point, I don't think so. Gailey has actually led a rather charmed coaching career. He's worked for the Broncos, Steelers, Cowboys, and Dolphins for the majority of his NFL experience. Those were all above average teams and organizations and there was a lot of winning in those years. Gailey's experience with rebuilding a cellar dweller is (and he has said so point blank himself) rather limited. He was with the Chiefs for one dismal season and now he's here in Buffalo. Now, hopefully he sponged up enough from the good organizations he worked at before and is able to bring that to Buffalo, but he is clearly not a head coach with tons of experience in rebuilding franchises from the dirt up.

Whatever, Robo-head. As to Doc's point that 2004 had nothing to do with coaching, he should've researched beyond Wikipedia. Norv Turner left after the 2003 season, which resulted in a reorganization of Wannstedt's offensive staff. Joel Collier was promoted to OC, demoted, and Chris Foerster promoted to OC. You also had some degree of chaos in the front office with Dan Marino coming in, deciding it was too much like work, and leaving.

Almost as much as cherry picking.

It wasn't really so clear cut. His defenses went downhill in a big way over those 6 years. They started out great, declined, and were putrid by the time he got fired. His offenses started out poor, got better, and then also ended badly. His best offense and his worst offense had the same QB, by the way. Raymont "U-back" Harris being the centerpiece of your offense probably wasn't the best idea...

Surprised the Eagles would let him get away.

LeBeau said he preferred the coaching environment in Pittsburgh to what he had experienced in Buffalo. He's not an idiot. You're not a manager, are you?

The Assistant Head Coach title is significant in that it means other teams must request and be granted permission to hire Wannstedt from Buffalo for any position other than Head Coach. It also means Wanny will make more money than he would've as a position coach. As to how the Bills will structure their staff, that is entirely an internal matter. In Seattle, for example, they are currently structured where the GM reports to the Head Coach and the AHC/OL Tom Cable is apparently going to have a role in hiring the offensive coordinator. Even last year in Buffalo, everyone knew that Gailey was the OC even though Modkins had the title. It's a good sign because the defense was truly terrible and it must improve. Whether Wannstedt ends up doing everything, doing the game planning while Edwards makes the calls on game day, or whatever, it gives Gailey the ability to adjust roles on the fly as he sees fit. Chan isn't going to throw Edwards under the bus, but it's pretty clear from his comments that he has a ton of respect for and confidence in Wannstedt.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/si_online/covers/images/1998/1109_large.jpg

Fair enough. Don't be surprised if the Bills sprint to the podium to take AJ Green if he has a great combine.

What makes you think Belichick would trade up to the 3rd spot? Is it his history of trading down? Or that he gets tons of mileage from guys he picks up off the waiver wire at the skills positions?

It will have nothing to do with him hitting the wall and his production falling off a cliff, of course.

Eli is debatable. I think he happens to be a leader on that team and the catalyst of their offense. On the other hand, his play can be erratic and people still think of the Giants running game and defense as big reasons for their success. As far as the point of having to be in a Super Bowl (not your post), that's bunk. Bert Jones never got to a Super Bowl, but was a great and franchise QB. Phillip Rivers carries the Chargers and he may not get to a Super Bowl. On the other hand, you have Rex Grossman, who got to a Super Bowl despite himself and is just a fringe journeyman QB.

You're formerly Dik Smub, correct? If so, I do recall your pet theory that the Bills destroyed themselves by trading for Rob Johnson and signing The Midget, etc. and your conclusion that they should go after a QB like Jake Delhomme so as to spread their cap resources around. Now that they are and have been well under the cap, maybe that theory isn't relevant, and the original premise that teams could make do with a generic brand QB seems suspect as well. Given the list, I'll cross out all the names that have played for 1 franchise. Current franchise quarterbacks: P. Manning, T. Brady, A. Rogers, B. Rothlisberger, D. Brees, P. Rivers Borderline: T. Romo, E. Manning, J. Flacco, M. Ryan Becoming and Fading: S. Bradford, J. Cutler, M. Sanchez, M. Stafford, D. McNabb, B. Farve That's clearly more than half. (I am aware of the Manning/Rivers trade and consider it a contrived technicality of a red herring as neither player spent even 1 second with the team that technically drafted them.) That leaves you with Brees, who changed teams after a bad shoulder injury; Cutler who forced his way out of Denver after his idiot young coach let word leak out that he was willing to consider trading him; Donovan McNabb at the twilight of his career (not unusual or remarkable at all); and, Favre, who was with a terrible organization, got traded to a master QB developer, spent almost his entire productive career in 1 organization, and then bounced around and struggled in the twilight of his career. On the other side, you have 12 QBs that are leading their original team. Like I said before, there is more than one way to do it. Saying I said otherwise is misrepresenting what I wrote. Yes, it is possible to find a franchise QB as a UDFA or in the 6th round instead of the 1st round, but it is a fact that the odds of doing so are much more against you if that's your approach. The Buffalo Bills are a historically losing franchise. They have expended their very top pick on a QB exactly ONE time in their entire history and that was in 1960 -- over 50 !@#$ing years ago. They've been dumpster diving for coaches and QBs forever.

It can be done in other ways, of course. Teams can win with a Rex Grossman at QB. But, isn't this thread asking "what is a franchise QB"? Having a franchise QB just makes everything else that much easier. When you have Peyton Manning, you can still win with rookies and role players and keep rolling when injuries happen. When you don't have the franchise QB, your margin for error becomes slimmer. Like they were saying last week, the Jets had to play the "perfect game" to beat the Patriots. The Patriots had Tom Brady, and though they lost and made big mistakes, they were in that game until the very end.

The NFL is now a passing league, and a team needs a good QB in order to compete at all. Playing QB in the NFL is the most demanding job in sports and takes physical, mental, leadership, work ethic, emotional, dedication to perfection, and maturity skills that are extraordinarily rare in the first place. A franchise QB is the creme de la creme of this vocation. One doesn't simply draft a franchise QB because they have a top pick; it's obviously not that simple. One drafts a college kid who seems to have the right make-up and physical measurables and if everything goes right, he becomes your franchise QB. A franchise QB transcends the position of QB to become not just a QB but a driving force within the franchise over a sustained career, a leader within the organization, an extension of the coaching staff on the field, a leader of men that makes everyone on the team better, respected by teammates, feared by adversaries, and even the singular name associated with a team's overall success.

He talked to some "free agents," hunh? Did he talk to any football players?

Chet Soda was the original owner of the Oakland Raiders. The good news is that Bud Adams was the original and only owner of the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans.

Are you serious?

He's not a bad player and if one surrounds him with other standout defenders, like when he was at Ohio St., he can show his stuff.

Bad move from a marketing and recruiting perspective. New York, Boston, and Miami are much bigger markets and our businessman owner knows it.

If they talk Ralph into another Aaron Maybin sort of pick, another Dick Jauron style atomic wedgie could be in the works real quick.

Is your point that the rebuilding process would be aided if the Bills could play in a backwater league, like say the UFL?

I think the 3 turnovers deep in their own end is what played into the Steelers hands. I went through the official gamebook and counted 36 pass attempts. The Ravens did throw the ball much more than they ran it -- 16 rushing attempts. The running game was highly ineffective, but it was essentially "what they do" under Cameron with packing the box with extra blockers. That just doesn't confuse the Steelers one iota. Cameron is also out of the vertical stretch school and getting big chunks in the pass game, so those sorts of plays are again "what they do." But, again, the Steelers know that as well and left them with the alternative of dumping the ball off to Ray Rice. Rice touched the ball more than all the other Ravens offensive weapons combined and simply was not effective (2.6 yards per carry, 4.6 yards per catch, a back breaking fumble, and several bad whiffs at picking up the Steelers rush). I don't think Joe had a great game, but there were other culprits on the Ravens offense to include in the blame game. JMO. As far as spreading the Steelers out and such, the Ravens do have a collection of veteran "possession" WRs so that isn't completely out of the question; but, like you said it isn't what Cameron does. Marty ball will win a team a lot of games, but it continues to show weaknesses in the playoffs.

The Ravens WRs dropped balls that hit them in the hands. Ray Rice was mostly useless in protection and couldn't find a hole with a flashing arrow leading the way. Steelers players stepped up and made simply amazing plays. The game plan of going with 13 personnel and trying to blow back the Steelers was a totally uninspired Cam Cameronism. The officiating suffered, ahem, a little home cooking. And, yes, Joe Flacco threw some bad balls.

But he was coached by Jeff Tedford; he must suck.