Sisyphean Bills

Preparation, in my opinion, is more than just book learning, good meetings, and having efficient practices. It's not purely tactical and I don't really think the Bills display they are well-prepared even at that level at times.

Yep. It's a good argument against being fully prepared. My light-hearted comment about 3rd down percentage and 8 decimal points earlier was intended directly at that dichotomy, in fact. Being able to rattle off pages of statistical data ("book learning") may be an impressive display of memory. But, it does not necessarily follow that someone with that data can always make the best inferences and deductions and do so quickly under pressure. A more concrete example of that is the Jets game and the infamous "rollout" call. Regardless of whether one wants to believe it was Jauron's call (which is what Jauron himself insisted) or whether one wants to assert it was Schonert's call and Dick Jauron was in fact lying to protect Schonert from criticism (which is the epitome of irony, no?), the play call itself and the reasons given for it all point to my point about "data without sufficient deduction". Running a roll-out pass play is, no doubt, statistically not a bad option as the defense is most likely expecting a run in short yardage; it most likely was not going into an all-out blitz sending absolutely everyone as the defense doesn't want to give up a big play; with the 2 minute warning time stoppage, a run or a pass would've taken the same amount of time off the clock; statistically it was quite improbable that the QB would fumble; and, there was almost no chance at all the defense would recover and be able to score a touchdown and win the game. All of that data was there, but the processing failed spectacularly. Many people, some even at the game, had a "bad gut feeling" as soon as Losman stepped away from center and started to roll out. All the above statistical data failed to note that Losman was, again, shaky and pressing to try and show that he was a good QB, deserved to be the starter, and worthy of a 1st round selection. But that is something a coach doesn't get out of book, it is something he has to see as the game is happening in front of him and have the ability to deal with in real time.

That could've been great, but it ignored that the line, other than Peters, was below average to downright pathetic (IQ Preston in the latter) at run blocking. Quantity does not mean quality; the Broncos under Mike Shanahan never had the "biggest OL in the NFL".

Actually, I don't care if you don't want to believe players said these things. Note that I actually agree with your point about never being prepared. Note further that I didn't present what the players said as direct quotes. They were given as excuses at times last season, and other posters may recall hearing the gist of those statements. You said that the Bills players were "fully prepared each and every week", yet in interviews they explained various problems as due to a lack of knowing what the opponent was doing. Even Dick Jauron expressed some surprise after one game with a comment that what they practiced on Friday went really well. It's no great stretch to understand that he implied surprise that things backfired in the game and to understand that getting surprised is not consistent with someone that is "fully prepared". I think we are actually mostly in agreement. Dick Jauron does prepare his teams to play the game, but it is not a black and white issue. They are neither "fully prepared each and every week" nor are they "never prepared". There is evidence to support both in fact: the Bills commit few penalties under Jauron, which can being related to being well-prepared and knowing your assignments. On the other hand, one might counter that the Bills "waste" timeouts at the strangest points in games. That can be attributed to not being prepared, not getting the plays and formations in in a timely and clear manner. Again, you may choose to disbelieve it and I'm not going to try to find a link since I often listen to these sorts of interviews on the radio (sorry, real world information does extend beyond links, though that can make holding a civil conversation here difficult at times), but I do recall Trent Edwards responding to a question about the questionable use of timeouts on the radio that they weren't getting the plays in from the sideline, it was a communications issue, and so forth. I heard him say it and I've seen the on-field results and adjustments with my own eyes, so I'm sorry but I can't agree that the team is "fully prepared each and every week."

The players have also said that they never practiced against the 3-4 fronts they saw in the game; and, Trent Edwards said that he had never seen various coverages that opponents gave the Bills. But, I'm sure they knew the opponent's third down conversion percentage to the 8th decimal place.

The question is if Elton is touching you with his 10" pole...

Isn't that like most of the UFL season?!

Brian Cox. But that play wasn't between the whistles... hmm.

Heard of him also.

Well, when your strategy is to take the air out of the ball, keep the score close, and kick a FG as time runs out, then your strategy is to just have a chance. Of course that isn't really aspiring towards greatness.

Don't you remember when Deion Sanders bulked up and it turned him into a better CB?

A comment on this bit: you realize that you are basically saying, "so long as it works like the Colts", in a nutshell. Except the Colts don't run a hurry-up in terms of clock. They can do that sometimes, but Manning is often using the entire clock, calling plays at the line, and giving the defense fits with false tells, etc. I'm not convinced the Bills offense is on par with the Colts. Also, the Colts had a veteran line for a long time in front of Manning and have struggled more recently after the notable retirement of their franchise LT. Finally, there is a problem with putting the smaller, quicker Tampa-2 defense out on the field often. It's smaller and the more snaps it faces the more it will wear down and the more players will break. This has been the case for the Bills with this defense, where they've had to reach quite deep, especially at some secondary positions. Also, the strategy of the Tampa-2 defense is to defend the field and force the opponent to methodically matriculate down the field. Speeding things up on the offensive side can translate into the opponent getting more opportunites. More opportunites means more chances to put drives together without shooting oneself in the foot. It's the NFL afterall -- even the Lions, as inept as they were, scored a few touchdowns.

Oh, I don't know. It might make the line look better because you don't see them that much, and given most people's short attention span and short-term memory issues...

Great news. That'll help him peel back into the deep middle faster.

There are at least two sides in any negotiation. Setting aside multiple personality disorders.

It's OK. The Bills have left themselves with plenty of options and don't really need most of these guys right away. Oh wait...

I guess they don't know about drafting a 1st rounder to save money.

Nailed it.

It would be more genuine to claim they won't miss Peters at all if they actually had another top 16 LT that was stepping in to replace him. They don't. There is a certain irony in claiming Peters was purely a product of Bills marketing hype and then claiming the Bills 100% revamped OL will be just fine.

Mike Rockwood > Joel Bell

Is that like comparing Rick Mirer to Patrick Ramsey?

It's a good shtick, isn't it?

Thanks for the response. I tend to agree and felt the "least number of sacks" stat was overblown. Effective line play isn't about having 1 stud and a bunch of marshmallows. If you look at the Rams, they had Orlando Pace, one of the best LTs of all time, and they still had many problems up front, couldn't protect the QB (sacks came from the blindside even) and had a sputtering running game. Not so coincidentally, Dick Jauron hired a coach out of St. Louis to install the same system here.

So, in other words, you agree that Brandon said he told Peters he wasn't going to negotiate a new deal until after the Evans negotiation concluded. Exactly what I wrote.

They had no talent, of course.