Sisyphean Bills

The thing is that from a purely football perspective (which should be the mode under which the head coach is operating), there were other options with respect to Langston Walker, the first and foremost being to demote him to second string. He didn't have a great pre-season, but the Bills had no depth on their OL. It would have been prudent, and in retrospective of seeing all the injuries, it's undeniable, really. But, the Bills tried to trade Walker and then dumped him outright. That wasn't a pure football decision -- it was a cap/money decision and the financial side of the operation must have had input on it. Since the structure of the team was "no one is really in charge", you can take your pick of whether you want to blame Wilson (the frail and 90 yr old Owner/President), Littmann (Ralph's personal CFO), Brandon (the GM wannabe/Marketing Wunderkind), Overdorf (Chief Cashflow Officer of the Bills), or Dick Jauron (All-around Good Guy and Player's Coach).

Sounds like the FO is doing something right. A bottom third salary structure for a bottom third production.

Trent can get some new plastic teeth after the season.

They picked up Terrell Owens on March 7th. The offensive problems were solved.

I know the answer. Do you?

Chan wanted the QBs to get into the flow of the game a bit and didn't think they'd get enough snaps if he split the time 4 ways. He was probably thinking we'd have lots of 3 and outs on O and the Redskins would put together lots of long sustained drives on our D. Can't say he was too far off...

You're using the same crystal ball that led you to predict T.O. would make the no huddle offense an explosive juggernaut.

I'll assume this is a rhetorical question.

Thanks for telling me that the rhetorical question was a rhetorical question after I said as much.

This. Running the ball will be what the Bills do because they don't have a line that can protect, a good (or durable) QB, and have nobody other than Lee Evans and their RBs as weapons. It's called taking your lumps.

They didn't want Brohm to go anywhere. They wanted to keep him. He decided to take the opportunity to compete in Buffalo, because (in his own words) he felt it gave him a much better situation where he could get on the field and play. (Not every QB is Billy Volek.) Of course, you know all that, Deano...

So, let's see. The Bills went after Mike Shanahan, supposedly offered him the moon and a few planetoids, and he stalled until the Redskins job came open and signed with the Redskins immediately. Then, you throw in your argument that the Bills "tried to get McNabb but he didn't want to come here." Why would that be? Because the Bills are obviously committed to winning and doing what it takes to win championships?

DBs will always suffer when the front 7 stinks. That front 7 will stink for at least the 1st 4 games. Maybe longer. You have guys all over the place playing new positions being coached by a guy who has never done it before. There WILL be growing pains. My guess is we start at least 0-4. True. But, Jauron stacked this defense with guys to fit the Tampa-2. We will have to play those guys whether they are misfits for a more aggressive, pressing man-to-man scheme or not. This experiment has the downside that it could come off every bit as awkward as the famous switch to the "No Huddle" offense did in the 2009 season. I hope not and I hope some of these cats can change their stripes, but this isn't the Heavy Fewell system any more...

Um, does that mean he sucked at this drill? Or just that he looks small? Not sure what to make of that. We will run the ball, there is no question about that. Running it well seems like a real stretch. and he still isn't good enough.

A bit like comparing feces to dung.

As poor as the secondary played against Washington, the concern that the switch of defensive schemes may not be the best thing for those guys has grown a bit of legs.

That's kind of an interesting list actually, as I see these 3 teams as having somewhat different approaches. The Patriots are a big market team and actually pretty aggressive in turning over their roster. They build through the draft, are very active in trading, in the mix for big-name free agents, and sign a fair number of B-list free agents that they seem to always get more out of than other teams. Pittsburgh is a small market team that leans very heavily on the draft. As far as free agents, they just don't go there very often. Harrison was a scrap heap project that worked. Flozell was an atypical pickup to help their OL which has regressed recently. Then they have picked up a few veteran QBs over the years: Batch, Leftwich, Maddox to name a few. The Colts under Polian are another small market team that leans almost exclusively on the draft. They are like Pittsburgh, but maybe a touch more extreme. In fact, they are so overwhelmingly draft based that it makes one wonder that if they had added a key free agent here or there over the last 5 years or so if they couldn't have put themselves right over the top and totally dominated the NFL winning a fist full of Lombardi Trophies.

Apparently. General comment on the thread: As far as Brohm, saying he wasn't able to make the Packers regular roster last year doesn't mean that he is also the worst QB on the Bills roster this year. For one thing, it's relative. It's not hard to believe that the Packers have a couple QBs that are far better than anything in Buffalo. Secondly, football ability isn't a constant. Some QBs, say like Rich Gannon, are just late bloomers. It is possible that Brohm is going to be a late bloomer himself. It is also possible that he is the worst of the 3 vets on the Bills. About all one can say for sure with this 3-way is that it just confirms, paraphrasing Madden, that the Bills have NO legit QB and leader on their offense.

It's telling that in this "open competition" (cough) that Trentative will be The Man for the first 2 scrimmages while Brohm and Fitzpatrick get one token chance each with the backups and camp fodder. Seems like it is still Captain Checkdown's job to lose. Bring in Captain Meat Shield for another year...

You mean after he changed his name to Perry Fewell?

I think that they could pay 'em and get some to come as well. I just don't think it is a priority. Keeping a nice cash flow profile seems to be more important (cynical, yes, but after what they did last year, it's not out of the question).

I think we're talking about different things entirely. I mentioned them, not as examples of why not to explore free agency to improve the team. Indeed, I think not bringing in experienced veterans to help coach up the youngsters is misguided. On the other hand, our new coach had been out of the NFL for a while and his last (only) stint as a head coach with the Cowboys was a looooong time ago. It's unclear where veterans that know him and his approach would come from or if they exist at all... but that is another story. I mentioned Dockery and Walker as a point from the player's perspective. Free agency is a two-way street. In order to sign free agents, you have to be an attractive destination to some degree. Last year, the Bills completely dismantled their OL for money reasons. Peters was a Pro Bowler and they played hard ball with him (Wahoo! School him, Russ! Save Ralph's money! Yes!). So there is an example of a kid that played above his contract and he was shipped out. Dockery didn't play up to his contract, so the Bills dumped him rather than pay him a roster bonus. They asked Walker to play a position that he wasn't capable of playing and when they discovered he couldn't do it, they dumped him as well. Now, if you saw all that and were an OL in the NFLPA, would you be chomping at the bit to move your family to Buffalo for an extra nickel? Not me. I'd take a little less to play with an organization that seemed to have a clue and would put me in the best position to succeed.

Free agents: The Bills have been worse in identifying talent in free agency than they have been in the draft. (So long John Guy!) When you consider what happened with Dockery and Walker, is it really surprising that free agents might look elsewhere for a more stable opportunity?

http://www.greentreecapital.com/ec-positioning-company.html The company isn't going to be sold on its consumable asset inventory (players); it will be sold on its economics, cash flow.

I know what you mean, but it is actually not easy to be so incompetent and put up a front that you are trying. I dare say, it is hard to think the Bills are serious about winning given the results. One has to make an overwhelming overabundance of bad decisions to be playoff-less for a decade. That's because given the salary cap, free agency, the draft, etc. it is fairly routine for teams to bounce back and have a season here and there where they reach the playoffs. Only the Lions and Bills are this bad. In comparison, more different franchises have won Super Bowls in the last decade. Who knows, but the notion that the Bills will be built (in essence) exclusively through the draft may cause the owner to lose his patience yet again. It's definitely not the quickest route and it may not ever reach fruition given the owner's age.