Sisyphean Bills

I think you may be forgetting that "the cycle" has been shorter for over 90% of the rest of the NFL. You'd like to prepare for things like that, but you should have seen how we cycled on Friday.

He's also never played on an offense with a line this green.

It's always the greedy agent's fault.

"Diaper dandy" goes in there somewhere...

Coaching is a big part of the modern game. Who calls the plays? The way some would wish it, Bill Walsh was an average coach that was nothing but lucky when he happened to land a 3rd round QB named Joe, his revolutionizing the game was no big deal. He had 2 losing seasons to start out his career and we should stop there because we wouldn't want the 3rd season, when he won a Super Bowl, to be discussed. Don Shula had 2 losing seasons out of 33 with two different organizations because he always had great QBs carrying him around. Kiick who? Csonka what the fug? Joe Gibbs had 3 losing seasons out of 16 and won 3 Super Bowls on the coattails of a number of gifted QBs like Mark Rypien. Oh, I sure these examples don't count because they somehow, actually miraculously given the time spans involved, always had more talented rosters than the rest of the NFL.

OK then.

Were they going against future Hall-of-Famer Demetrius Bell?

They have caddies at the put-put?

Got you to 'step up' though.

Such a shame. And a perfect speller no less!

Just turn yourself in at the nearest spelling police station already. Before you hurt yourself.

As in Maybin good, Maybin he sucks?

So, it's 1 may and many nots, is it? Not good for our latest #1, that.

You're dismissing a seance?

Well, that might be better than watching the paint dry, er, I mean Dickeradoo ball.

Sounds like a Dick Jauron is Bill Belichick argument.

What's your name? Are you worth millions?

He's an undersized, quick-first-step rusher. How long do those guys really last? Data point: Jevon Kearse had 3 stud years before injuries took a heavy toll. And who's to say Maybin can hold Kearse's jock at this point?

Walker. "He'll be fine."

You could even say similar things about the way they win. For example, the Raiders game early in the season when the Raiders team was in a full on boil of controversy with the owner and head coach having a major feud. The Raiders came out and out played the Bills for most of the game. The Bills pulled out a win in that one with a 4th quarter rally, but why should a team that is billed as ready for a playoff run need to rally late in the 4th quarter against a struggling team with a multitude of problems? It is better than losing to such a team, but it sure doesn't inspire much confidence. It is 100% in keeping with the "keep it close and hopefully make a kick at the end; it's tough to win in the NFL" game plan.

Yep. I think Belichick had a lot to do with that win. I mean very few people gave the Giants a snowball's chance going in. The Bills had racked up 428 points on the season and were an offensive juggernaut. The Bills had pasted their playoff competition to the tune of 44 and 51 points. The Giants defense held them to a mere 19 points. Pretty damn good, considering. The Giants also played keep away on offense and took the air out of the football. They knew going in that they didn't want a shootout, so they milked the clock on offense and tried to keep the Bills offense off the field by pounding the rock at a defense built to win in the AFC against the Marino and Elway led teams of the time. That was also a big component (and the point of agreement I had with SJBF). Of course, the defense with Taylor, Johnson, Banks and Marshall had a big hand. Still, Parcells and Belichick won that game with great coaching. The Bills had better overall talent and lost: Kelly, Thomas, Reed, Lofton, Smith, Bennett, Conlan, Talley, ... unless someone wants to argue that OJ Anderson and Jeff Hostetler were great players.

OK, I can go with that, actually. I think his scheme did limit the damage, and kept the Giants in the game from that standpoint. The Bills had been destroying people. But it wasn't the only reason and I did overstate that. Thanks for the spot-on. I think those missed offensive opportunities and being forced to attempt a long kick with an average-legged kicker had quite a bit to do with the Giants defense under the direction of Bill Belichick, however. The Bills offense wasn't handcuffing themselves. I have to disagree with this last bit. He gets a ton of credit in my book. Holding the Bills offense to 19 points was huge. The Giants defense was #1 in the NFL that year, so even if you quibble about the Super Bowl itself, I think you'd be deluding yourself to say the Giants defense didn't carry that team to the big show on its back. Hostetler didn't do it, that's for darn sure. We'll have to agree to disagree on that, I guess. (Edited)

Clearly you haven't been reading the erudite posts that illuminate that the only important thing for a football team is the QB. Obviously, if Dick Jauron had Tom Brady he'd be just as good a coach as Bill Belichick. The defense, special teams, the other 10 guys on offense, the front office, the coaches -- they are all just there to carry the QB's suitcase.

The comparisons to Belichick are supremely naive. Bill Belichick won Super Bowls as a defensive coordinator before he became a head coach. His scheme was the primary reason the Giants upset the Bills in the Super Bowl. He's won Super Bowls in his second stint as a head coach. In between, he helped resurrect the Jets from the dead with Parcells. Saying Jauron is just like Belichick on nothing more than Belichick's record in Cleveland is a lame single data point with no weight that holds no water. I mean it is flat out ignorant of the fact that Belichick came into Cleveland when it was a veteran team with a ton of holdover talent from Schottenheimer's era 3 years earlier and that talent was getting long in the tooth. It's wasn't until his third year that he even really started to overhaul the roster in earnest. In his 4th season, Belichick had the Browns in the playoffs and they actually won a playoff game against a team with a winning record. Jauron has been a head coach for 8 years and never done that.