Sisyphean Bills

Perhaps his definition of "solid" is fluid?

True, but, in some countries, gun ownership is illegal and shootings are consequently less routine events of the day.

His 'tude definitely irks a lot of people. Manziel simply oozes the smug, entitled vibe. On the other hand, he appears to have an addiction to alcohol. How much does that play a role in the image he has created? Hard to say. I'm not sure Gordon's teammates would agree that he is committed. He hasn't flamed out as spectacularly, but he has flushed multiple chances.

Chan Gailey was no doubt on board with the moves made while he was here. How many times did he profess that he and Nix were exactly on the same page? Even after he was let go, he said he'd be a fan of the Buffalo Bills. Which sounds an awful lot like he had invested a lot of himself in the team, does it not? Everyone understands that Gailey let his defensive staff do it their way. And Dave Wannstedt's way was to build a defensive line of superstars and let that unit physically control the game. Wannstedt failed in a historically bad way. But that doesn't mean Nix and Gailey were against that plan at the time. Indeed, to say now that anyone was against the plan flies in the face of the facts. What is interesting now is that Rex's system has been markedly different. Having four studs upfront who can wreck havoc in both the running and passing game is not what his defense has historically been about. His defenses are more known for platooning players, exotic looks, blitzes, multiple coverages. Ryan's defense is about pressuring the QB and forcing him to think fast and make mistakes. Wannstedt's defense, which got shredded far worse, was pure vanilla, what you see week 1 is what you get week 16.

They were talking about this situation yesterday on NFL radio and one of them went into rant mode. (Nothing unusual, but bear with me a second.) In this rant, he went on to say that he feels sympathy for Gordon. That he felt Gordon had a problem. And then compared it to the Manziel situation and that he felt nothing but anger at Manziel. The stark contrast of his reaction to the two players (both of whom have serious problems it appears from the outside) was really interesting. And there are a fair share of posts in this thread that suggest the NFL is being too hard on Gordon, the "hey, he just likes smoking some jane" comments and so on. There could be any number of reasons for these polar opposite reactions. If one can forgive Gordon for his lack of control with smoking weed, then it seems like Manziel ought to be forgiven for his lack of control when it comes to alcohol. But clearly there are other aspects in play. Gordon has exceptional, off-the-charts talent at football. Manziel—meh. Manziel won a Heisman and has pursued (albeit in awkward stumbling steps) a celebrity image. Gordon, not so much. Perhaps Manziel crossed a line when he started beating up Colleen Crowley. At any rate, it was an interesting contrast. Thoughts?

As in drippy?

Would he sell inventory though?

Haven't seen him play in some time, but his strength was playing in the box. Which made the pick goofy as heck, but the pick is all on Marv Levy and Dick Jauron.

I don't get this thread.

Agreed. He probably should've pulled an Aaron Maybin.

I'm sure they can find someone for a lot less to muff punts.

It's not difficult to understand. In this business, negotiations are handled by agents. Agents with cell phones with extensive contact lists programmed into them. Mario visited the Bills first because his agent understood there was mutual interest and had already worked up the outline of a deal with the possible landing spots. If Mario was highly likely to have received better offers from dozens of other teams, his agent would've steered him to those better offers. This was nothing more than an agent doing his job and doing it well.

I don't know. 7-11 is pretty posh and luxurious. I mean, what sort of gentleman wouldn't take his date there for dinner?

6 to 8 wins year after year seems like treading water, does it not?

Nah. It's all about selling the hard work that's going into the next draft.

Next thing you know, the Bills will hire a female coach.

Greed. The farmer and his wife lopped the head off their golden goose too.

I remember an interview of John Elway, when he was still playing, and he talked about how Wade was such a player's head coach that he let the lunatics run the asylum straight into a smoking crater. Elway was totally stoked that Phillips was fired. (And he was right, as Shanahan was finally able to get the Broncos over the hump and win a couple Super Bowls.) Perhaps it is ironic that Phillips is working for Elway's Broncos, but Wade has proven himself many times over as one of the very best DCs in the NFL.

Moderator note: Please try to keep this thread somewhat football related.

Some of the better talent that has been developed in recent years in Buffalo hasn't stayed. Some fans dislike that revolving door sensation, while some other fans get fired up about being cap thrifty.

Meh. He's not an awful writer. His articles may take all sides of a debate and stir the pot to get fans' riled up, but those are actually different things than being an awful writer. I mean if he was really an awful writer and unable to communicate, we'd simply have no idea what his thoughts are, let alone be able to take great umbrage with and plot them.

He's just trying to get people to not look at Super Bowl XV.

As a stand-up comedian said in a show, people are defined by the worst **** that they do. Nobody talks about OJ Simpson juking one of the Dolphins defenders any more.

Well, when the plan is to run as many plays as possible to move the ball between the 20s and play bend-don't-break on defense, the game clock just melts away. Then, it's just a matter of hoping the opponent screws the pooch, and the kicker can nail a field goal in the waning seconds.