Sisyphean Bills

I don't think Pittsburgh is comparable. Pittsburgh has its system which comes down from its ownership--the Rooney family. Their process is ingrained into the fiber of who they are. They seek out players and coaches to mesh with that tradition (for the most part). Tomlin, to his great credit, did not try to fire Dick LeBeau and install the Dungy Tampa-2 when he was hired. Instead he focused on working within the established culture of winning. He had quick success in doing that. The Bills lost their owner and the new one hasn't had time to figure it out. Russ Brandon has been the Bills "owner whisperer" and the face of recent "tradition". He has presided over the longest continuing playoff drought in the NFL. That isn't something coaches and football execs should contemplate trying to "mesh with". Getting the shop ready for sale and losing should no longer be the priority of the franchise's culture. Winning football games should be the priority.

Bah. I want a coach that will parrot the company line and fall on his sword at the end of the day. Winning is hard. Accept the losing.

Question though. Which is more important: breaking Andre Reed's records or winning a Super Bowl? It's a zero-sum game. In bogo-math terms, if the Redskins take a hit of -10 in a trade for a player who gives them a +0.25 then they lose ground versus everyone else.

I don't like this analogy because it makes it sound like the outcome of team building is as arbitrary as rolling dice, that having a blueprint, going after the right parts aggressively, and doing your homework with scouting and self-scouting are wasted motion because anybody with a dart board could do just as well. But what I really wanted to say is that people that play craps keep playing craps because of the random positive reinforcement. Sometimes they actually "get it right" and win.

What is it about hair? I was just reading a movie review about a movie that had lousy storytelling, bad acting, undermined its own characters ... and in the comments at the end people argued about the actor's hairstyle and hair color.

Not disputing that the QBs suck, but there are other factors. (And it doesn't have to be overly complicated.) A QB can't make good throws if, for instance, there is a 350# guy hanging on his throwing arm. Or say the WRs all run 15+ yard routes and there is a jailbreak pass rush with no room to step up and less than 2 seconds to chuck the rock. Is it the QB's fault if he doesn't "just throw it" in that situation? Would anyone applaud the QB's effort if just getting it out of his hand ends up in pick six plays numerous times? (It's a recipe to get benched/cut.) What we need is a whole roll of "you suck" stickers so we can apply them liberally to the offense.

He wasn't winded.

Maybe they can send Hackett to a workshop.

Face time on both ends. What's not to like?

That last is a really good question.

While it is fun to stand outside the fence and criticize the paint job of the merry-go-round and say the ride has too many deer and headlights, and simply not enough heavy horses, unless they actually buy a freaking ticket, stand in line, and get on the damn thing, they are guaranteeing only one thing: they have zero chance of grabbing the brass ring.

I just remember the sound of dirt hitting pine boards in September...

It means that watching all-11 players on offense and what they are trying to do is highly unimpressive. That's coaching.

Actually, I am not saying because of QB play at all. I agree with you that QB play could improve. Still, I think the OC is in over his head.

Nope. Remember the "hurricane game" in Buffalo a few years back when the remnants blew through the area during a game? I distinctly remember being informed that playing football in a hurricane was "no big deal".

And they came up with the answer: 'not enough capital Q's in the offense'?!?

Shouldn't you be working on that Code of Conduct volume set?

They are suffering though. It dipped below 95.

Those RBs always go a round before you think they will.

Why is the word "almost" in the title of this thread?

I heard he is running for Burgermaster somewhere.

Does the governor of New York wag the NFL dog?

Not trying to sound pedantic, but Sunday Ticket is a different NFL contract. So, the answer I linked to is for a different question altogether. "Nationally televised" is typically referring to one of the major contracted networks putting the game on air nationally. Since Sunday Ticket puts all games on to paying subscribers wherever they may be, "nationally televised" in that market is essentially meaningless. But, I get your concern. You have Sunday Ticket and want to see the game even though it was moved to Monday.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000431579/article/jetsbills-game-moved-to-detroit-on-monday-night No. Locally on CBS.