Sisyphean Bills

Yep. Winning sucks chicken nuts. So much better to get annihilated.

After this, how'd you like to be the guy that has to talk free agents into coming to Buffalo at reasonable multi-year contracts? Most of the players John Guy finds stink, but the few that are average have to be overpaid and then get dumped as well.

The plank gets shorter with each stumble...

Actually, teams usually didn't even need 3rd down last year.

Congrats. I figured he'd be jettisoned next year given the Bills had no depth on the OL ... but clearly we don't want depth. http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/index.php?...t&p=1493008 Runyan is in Kansas City. Oops. Walker was terrible this pre-season at LT. I recall one series where he was faked out of his jock 3 plays in a row with a head fake. Oh, and let me state one last time, Walker was nothing special at RT. "Best lineman." Bwahaha!

Well, I guess it didn't take as long as I thought way back then.

I'm not sure what you are saying. Formations are not the same as packages. And, you are right that the limited number of plays, packages, and formations that we used telegraphed the offense's intent to the defense to the point that fans knew what was coming. Why is that "good" though? People are jumping to the conclusion here that Schonert ran a complex offense with all sorts of wrinkles and razzle dazzle, but did anyone actually see this offense on the field? Schonert may have coached a ridiculously complex offense, but on the field in the games, his play calling was simple enough that drunk fans were calling the plays before the snap. So, which one was it? I don't disagree with your last statement, btw. The classic West Coast offense was designed so that all the plays could be run out of the same personnel set and formation. That seemed to work OK.

Dude, take a breath. I don't think Mr. Wilson pulled strings to fire Schonert and have argued the exact opposite for days.

You are asking this after what happened last Friday and Saturday? The answer is what I've been saying for 3+ years: leadership. Whether you think the firing of Schonert was 100% Wilson's idea or not, the timing of the move is pure panic and shows a lack of sound and decisive leadership any way one slices it. Jauron either caved to management pressure rather than fight for his guy and something he was committed to implementing; or, he failed in spades to identify the right OC and protracted a lousy working relationship all the way to the brink of the start of the season even after the dismal proof of last season that it was failing to produce, which gives him and the team no time and no way to rethink the approach or hire someone with any experience. This is an epic leadership failure, and a very public display that the Bills are in disarray. "If the head [coach] is not in charge, then you have nothing but chaos and nothing good can come out of a situation like that," Marty Schottenheimer. Turk said very clearly that Jauron would not let him run the offense he wanted to run. "He limited the formations. He limited the plays." The same course was taken by Fairchild's offense, starting out as one thing and then it all went into a shell complete with training wheels and couldn't get defenses out of the box.

Scary stuff. They actually line up in different formations and have guys running in motion and stuff. Completely batso!

Helps to actually have a GM.

Didn't he have something like a dozen TE on scholarship at BC?

He'll be busy kicking our butts from the Dolphins box.

Long running gag around here. Trying to lighten the mood a bit in this morgue.

The situation sounds like a completely lubricated cluster. The OC wanted to run his own offense and the HC wanted a different offense. The HC kept having to change and limit what the OC wanted to do. The OC says he tried to simply things but could never get it simple enough to suit the HC. Is the problem wanting it complex? Or is the problem removing sets, formations, and plays from the offense? Does it even matter? The result was a ridiculously conservative offense that played it safe above all else, limited mistakes, couldn't score, and couldn't get first downs. It's quite possible that neither Turk's system nor Jauron's philosophy were the problem, but trying to blend the two diametrically opposed approaches was a disaster. At any rate, we will find out quite a bit about what a Dick Jauron offense is all about soon enough.

Don't forget this guy.

Jiminy Crickets, man, what a concept!

Super Bowl!

Here's an idea. Huddle up.

That's a good point, Dog. They started with Fairchild who was to install a version of the Martz offense and it was actually starting to take some shape toward the end of year 1. The Bills went 7-9 with JP Losman starting all 16 games and a pretty weak roster, in truth. Mike Martz is famous for having a huge playbook and creating new plays and installing new things day to day.

Jauron supporters have long been tossing the nugget out there that maybe this year Jauron will "get it" and become a head coach that holds people accountable, etc., etc. Well, we have a case here which totally supports that fervent wish; Jauron has, from all the evidence, taken a very uncharacteristic and extremely bold move to correct something that was blatantly broken. Ironically (or maybe not), the first thing that happens is Jauron is divorced from the move entirely and relegated the role of the dutiful stool pidgeon. And that says a lot just in its own way. If this had happened in New England, there would be no question who made the call. Heck, there isn't really any question who made the call in Kansas City or Tampa Bay.

I agree, my friend. This is just a really awkward and really public affirmation that Jauron made yet another bad hire and made a major mistake after last season in not taking aggressive steps to revamp his staff and bring in the best coaching minds that he could get. After the 2-8 collapse, complacency should've been the furthest thing from anyone's mind. I guess I'm just sort of tired of the "I hope Ralph dies, every bad decision is his fault" and "Jauron is a victim of venomous fate" rhetoric. Especially when that doesn't add up. Well, there is always next year.

Want to dissect his press conference, then there is this quote. "There's clearly a lot of fault here, not just Turk, and I'm willing to accept certainly my share of that." Now put yourself in Jauron's shoes and assume this was an order from higher up. You get an order to fire one of your staff immediately. You call your boss and state that you're dead set against it. He's doing a good job and we just need to be patient and the timing is horrible, you are coming up on an important deadline and plans are already in full swing. Your boss disses your authority and tells you to fire the guy now or you are both fired. Fire the guy and tell him it was your idea. Oh and by the way, hold a press conference by yourself and take all the responsibilty for this decision on yourself. And, you're so afraid to lose your job that you throw a loyal and valuable employee that you really want to keep under the bus, telling him you decided to let him go because he wasn't doing what you wanted, and then hold a press conference and say, "There's clearly a lot of fault here, not just Turk, and I'm willing to accept certainly my share of that." Don't think so. Far more likely, it is what Jauron said it was. Things are going badly. The stench is palpable. He has to do something and he's butting heads with a guy on his staff. Things are regressing and not progressing. He decides he might have to make a bold move because it is dysfunctional and going nowhere. He calls his bosses and tells them what he is thinking. They may be surprised or not but understand the reasons and sign off on it. He fires the guy and they try their best to move forward.

It may well have been the Detroit game, how it was called, things said, expectations not being met, insubordination. No question the timing was bad, but if the situation was continuing to fester (Schonert basically confirmed that it did) then it was inevitable.