Sisyphean Bills

What's that? Too much upside?

Continuity is good though.

Tim, when the Bills are offering free agent contracts, do they ever offer 1 year deals? We know the T.O. deal was for one year, but it came up in another thread that they may refuse to offer other free agents 1 year deals.

You may be right. And, I was thinking of the TO deal... Still, a hole is a hole. Trying to patch it up for 1 year with a mercenary isn't completely without any merit. In fact, patching enough holes might pull a team out of the bottom tier and establish some sense of a winning atmosphere. Besides most of the free agents they've brought in here in the past 4 off-seasons haven't played out their contracts anyway.

Does that include coaches?

What's the over-under on when T.O. makes the list?

Better go sign more DBs!

Do you think the Bills actually refused to make him a one year offer?

Sounds like an opening day starter.

He could also lose about 30 pounds and become our NT on defense.

It actually sounds more like an attempt at a polite blow-off explanation. Would you rather he had said, "I was tired of losing and dysfunction in St. Louis and all Buffalo offered was more losing, another ownership change looming on the horizon, and more of the same old sh-- -- so, no, I was never going to sign a multi-year deal with the Bills"?

Is McKinney a ninja?

Here it is.

I assume you have league-wide testimony for that. Link? Link to league-wide testimony? Mike Smith would've cut Lewis and Reed? Link please. League-wide testimony or your opinion? Your game is too boring... [Edit] Maybe you could provide a link to a list of all the other coaches that got extensions 5 or 6 weeks into the season while you are at it.

It's hard to win in the NFL. (Harder still with a bag on your head. )

The Taurus got a flat?

Why do you say we have no veteran talent? Walker, Reed, Evans, T.O., Parrish, Stroud, Schobel, Denney, Kelsay, Johnson, Mitchell, McGee, Scott, Lindell, Moorman, Rhodes, Florence, Chambers, Fox, Hangartner, McIntyre, McKinney and Thomas are all 5 year or more veterans. Did John Harbaugh start out by gutting the Ravens of most veteran talent? Did Mike Smith gut the Atlanta Falcons of most veteran talent except for 4 positions? No and no. And, before we go off and say the team "had" to be gutted because Donahoe had left absolutely no talent, it might be worth noting that Lee Evans, Aaron Schobel, Terrence McGee, and Brian Moorman are still, after 3 years of total rebuild, among the very best players on the team. Schobel and Moorman both being Pro Bowlers. Here it is year 4 of the Jauron Era and they have gutted the OL for a total rebuild and drafted an underclassman project pass rusher. Let's face it, most teams would not have been too worried about losing Jauron and would not have prematurely given Jauron an extension and after the season had spiraled down the drain with an 0-6 division record, they would've let him go willingly. So, trying to fix the OL in year 4 is, from the git go, a day late and a synapse short. Still, most overhauls are going to start with the foundation first and try to put together a solid OL so their franchise QB has a chance of developing rather than getting broken in half and so they can take pressure off their QB. (Anybody recall all the threads lamenting Trent's groin concussion and how he became erratic and pensive after his concussion, shoulder, groin injury?) On defense, you simply have to have a pass rush to be anything north of average. With no pass rush, you're just going to waste your secondary, even if it is made up of All-World players. Worse yet, is having a bad front-7 that can't stop the run or rush the passer, either by talent or design. Then you have a secondary that has to make all the stops, wears down over the season, and starts failing due to injury. (Anybody remember all the love thrown Jauron's way 2 years ago when his secondary got cratered and the Bills started at least 9 different guys in the DB?)

Trying to derail the discussion with facts, eh?

What does "high-end organization" have to do with the current Bills? We're talking about a team that hasn't been to the playoffs in 9 years, here. Their drafting strategy might need to be a little different than a team that has been competing for championships most of that time and already has the pieces, depth, and systems to sustain the success that they've already proven they can have.

Sure, go on talking trash about Marion Motley.

and John McCargo.

Clearly, Rotoworld has gone off the deep end.

Are you saying that teams do not factor their own positional needs into their draft strategy? Because, the above seems to read that way and that would be clearly incorrect. Let's take Bill Polian and the Colts again. You don't see the Colts drafting 1st round QBs and the reason is obvious -- they have Peyton Manning. When James signs with the Cardinals, they didn't simply count on the backup Rhodes to step up as the starter, they went out and drafted Addai. Again, when they were concerned about Jeff Saturday's status, they went and drafted 3 Cs in the hopes of finding one that could be his replacement.

NP. It's just making mountains out of mole hills, really. We both know that the guy on the other side is Lee Evans. It's no Earth shattering revelation on this board. I chose the phrase "TO and anyone" not because I thought Bills fans would be confused but to play to the TO hype. People like to talk about TO and throw out his stats (when he did not play with Evans). Especially in the media, it is TO that takes the spotlight and then the "others" that tag along as his backup band. The actual point was that behind Edwards at QB, we have some questions. Heck, Edwards is far from greatness himself. Of course, we have a new backup and "new means better" to the few.

I think we probably have a different working definition of "jail break" here. What I meant is situations were pass rushers are coming through the line in multiple gaps while the OL stands there confused and barely, if at all, touching much of the traffic flowing past them. That happened all too often in the past and that is entirely avoidable with an even adequate line playing as a unit. I think what you may mean is situations were there are more defenders coming than there are blockers. This can also be countered by going to max pro, which would keep 8 blockers in. So, the defense would have to all-out blitz with 9 guys to outnumber the protectors, leaving the WRs in man coverage and one slip or missed tackle away from a touchdown. Rushing 9 just doesn't happen all that often. Still, there are times when you are absolutely going to be outnumbered in terms of rushers and the line should block inside out and it is the QBs responsibility to make the free defender miss and/or get rid of the ball. Flutie was freakishly good at avoiding free defenders, I hope we agree on that.