Sisyphean Bills

Is this meant as an argument as to why the Dolphins have an inferior OL than the Bills? Because, it doesn't follow. If anything having a whole game more of offensive snaps indicates that the Dolphins offense was significantly superior at moving the chains. Since they had worse skills players, it stands to reason their OL actually played better, eh? I dunno about that. They lost how many games by a field goal or less? I seem to recall someone saying it was a record. What was the average yardage per attempt for both offenses? The sacks issue may be misleading because the Bills rarely utilized the passing game and it consisted of almost nothing but quick, short passes. That can minimize interceptions and sacks as well as offensive scoring and plays.

I've got no beef with your speculations, SD. You're not the one calling people idiots. 13 teams had worse records means 18 teams had better records, zero-sum game and all. To be a playoff team, that means the Bills have to pass 6 teams ahead of them (3 AFC teams) and hope nobody from behind passes them in the process. The Jets and Dolphins are working hard to improve; I'm not sure they should be taken as afterthoughts and as 4 automatic wins. Any of the 7-9 teams could improve from last year and all of them except for the Bills and Lions have gotten to the playoffs in recent memory. Want to talk injuries? The Ravens were a 13-3 team in 2006 and were decimated with injuries last year. They still have talent, if they can put it together and stay healthy.

Who are the Bills going to pass to get into the playoffs in 2008? There are 6 playoff berths. Patriots, Colts, Chargers are in barring unexpected implosions. The next tier has the Steelers and Jaguars. They've had some changes, but are overall pretty stable and good teams. That leaves 1 spot. So, we have the Titans, Texans, Browns, Broncos, and Bills in the middle of the pack. And, who's to say some lower team won't get it turned around in a hurry? The Ravens have some talent if they can get any consistent QB play. How about the Chiefs, Raiders, Bengals, Jets, or Dolphins? The Jets might surprise again. The Bengals have talent. If they can clean up their mess, who knows? The Raiders, Chiefs, and Dolphins are in major rebuilding mode.

Really? Was the NFC West so much inferior to the high-powered AFC East? Let's see, the NFC West played the NFC South and the AFC North. So really, you're saying the Bills would've won 5 more games because they'd, I guess, sweep the NFC West, which would only get them to 9-7. So the other 3 games would have to come against the AFC North (which they went 2-2 against) the NFC South (they went 1-3 against the NFC East; Atlanta and Carolina arguably nets 1 more win; we're up to 10), or wins against the 2 free opponents (which they whiffed on going 0-2). On the other hand, this is optimistic and a few bumps in the road puts the Bills right back to hovering at around 8-8 with all the rest of the middling also-rans. Tell that to the people that keep posting the Bills wouldn't have won more than 3 games without Jauron.

Didn't you read the article that said the running game is uncool?

Hypothetically, if the Bills were in the AFC South, for example, their record last year might not have been much more than 2-14 or 3-13. Would you accept Rich Kotite?

It is rare for a rookie to come in and play with maturity and confidence. On the other hand, it isn't totally unheard of that a change at the QB position can produce some positive results for a few games. If there is no tape on the QB and the guy is competent, it can result in the team coming out and looking rejuvenated and better. This doesn't mean Trent will implode. It just means that it's a long trip and it's not for certain based on how the horse comes out of the gate, how he'll break the finish line. Trent will have to continue to improve because the rest of the NFL now has some tape on him and will be working hard to take away his advantages.

No worries. Doubt he'd even consider coming back.

Driving drunk or running over people?

A coach adapting scheme to the players he has? Preposterous!

In my opinion, there was a steep drop off from even an aged Milloy to an aged Matt Bowen who was going into his last season as an NFL player. Bowen was more of a special teams / role player. Lawyer Milloy is and was a respected NFL veteran and leader. Milloy may not be the player he once was at this point in his career, but I'm not sure why you want to try comparing him to a bubble, career journeyman type player. Milloy, even in the twilight of his long productive mostly injury free career as an Atlanta Falcon, has posted 2 consecutive years with more tackles than Bowen's absolute best year in 2003. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/stats?playerId=2329 http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/stats?playerId=988

Who knew #78 required a response? The problem with post #78 is that it attempts to extrapolate and build modest straw men to rip down an argument that was never intended as a sermon to describe the one and only way to do something. That part of the thread was about the SS position and the Bills need to fill it, and yet #78 swerves off into discussing DEs, QBs, St. Jauron, and a little ad hominem for fun. But, the sub-thread started with a mere statement of undeniable facts. Lawyer Milloy is still playing. Lawyer Milloy was cut prior to the draft. The Buffalo Bills were compelled to address the hole at their starting SS spot on the roster somehow. The rest is suppositions on either side of the point: specifically, was it a requirement to dump Milloy or was there an alternative? One can suppose that there was no alternative and that Jauron and Levy's hands were tied. On the other hand, someone else can suppose that a head coach can come in to an organization without an agenda to install his systems immediately and without the prerequisite that veterans must be released with no serviceable replacements on the roster. This has nothing whatsoever to do with saying Lawyer Milloy is great, that he's better than Whitner, etc., etc. He was a veteran leader on the team, and let's face it, the team wasn't going to the Super Bowl with or without him. It wasn't going to the Super Bowl based on the upgrade at SS to Whitner, either. Still, considering the alternative makes "no sense" and might smack of things that aren't exactly perfectly comfortable or conforming to idolatry worship of all things Buffalo Bills.

Agreed. It is just too hard to imagine that a guy that bragged about defrauding the Sullivan ownership by sneaking his buddies into the stadium for free would be tolerant of any form of cheating.

Lots of reasons. But here are a couple: 1) Inadequate development time and coaching. QB talent is fed to the wolves early and often. Terry Bradshaw would've never played in a Super Bowl in today's NFL. Modern NFL offenses are overly complicated for a college player to walk in and instantly make it work. Patience has been replaced with "10 starts is plenty". 2) Pay structure and salary cap. Young QB talent (ala Matt Ryan) walk in the door as the highest paid guy on the team before taking a single snap. They have to play because teams can't afford not to play them. 3) Free agency. Players are bouncing around the NFL every year making continuity of a team impossible. Before a young QB can get used to the players in the huddle, they're gone. 4) The NFL coaching merry-go-round. Coaches and their systems are here one day and gone the next. Many people can excel at their work in the right niche environment. Very, very few are so adaptable and talented that they can excel in any and all environments they are thrown into.

Gregggggggggggggg!

NFL personnel people will not look at the wins at all. They understand this is a team sport. They will however look at the tape of Losman and observe that he has flaws to his game as well as talent. They then have to determine if his flaws are correctable with proper coaching and if his talent fits with the systems they want to run. Yep. Said another way, why give up draft picks and time to try and develop a guy in-house on a 1 year contract when you already probably have some young QBs on the roster? And, yes, unless JP does a new deal, he'll hit the market next year from whatever team trades for him. Add to that that there is still a strong motivation for teams to develop their own guys rather than try the salvage route of taking players left on the scrap heap by other teams and trying to pump new life into their flagging careers. Even more so when the guy is a 1st round QB, since an NFL executive will be more likely to contort himself into a pretzel than suffer the ignominy of associating his team with a "mega-bust QB".

Sounds about right for the Bills. Everybody knows vintage vets on the lines with youth and greenhorns in the secondary and offensive skills positions is the way to build a team for a championship run.

He better look out. When it gets cold, they may throw him out of the hive.

Shh. Don't tell anyone, but Tampa actually made the playoffs in 07.

It's the off-season, dude. Fans of 32 teams are planning their Super Bowl trips at this point in the season. It's Nirvana for everyone. And, yes, while we're circle jerking, all the Bills injured players will bounce back and be better, stronger, and faster than before. Well, except for the three that broke their necks and are out of football. But, hey, they sucked anyway. SUPER BOWL!

and c) Turk Schonert.

My hunch is that Evans won't sign and will test free agency, barring a truly miraculous about-face of the anemic, punchless 2007 Bills offense. And, unless the Bills are prepared to use the franchise tag on him, he'll end up somewhere else.

I'm no fan of what TD did here. Never was. So, no need to convince me. On the other hand, there are/were people that would disagree with your statements above. Look, I'm presenting the other side of the argument. There are plenty enough around here to wash the Bills balls already. What has "getting a 2-3 year jump" on replacing the veteran leadership done exactly? The Bills still have a number of question marks. They haven't had a winning season under Jauron. They are just now getting around to getting the DL sorted out and spending more draft ammunition on the secondary, after the linebacking and secondary was beat to smithereens last year. Speaking of years of production left, how many does Stroud have left in his rusting tank? They didn't get another year or two of service out of some veterans that could've helped the youngsters transition to the NFL game. Have they answered the need for a pass rush? On offense, they are looking for a new identity while trying to keep things familiar. Do they have a TE, FB, dependable #2 WR? Hey, I'm hoping it all works out too; but, I'm not counting the interest before the deposit is made.

You'll probably go on waiting since you haven't defined what you mean by "starting caliber" which means anyone that is fool enough to spend time on an answer is walking into a trap.

Ah, right. Milloy isn't a Bill anymore so we are required to hate on him. Oh well. The point wasn't that Milloy was or is a great player at this point in his career. Nobody said that. The point was that Dick and Marv simply released a veteran player and created a hole that they then had to go fill. Is this argument really new to you guys? It is possible for a new regime to try and bridge from the old to the new without jettisoning the core veteran leadership of the team and some brain trusts actually take this approach. On the other hand, other brain trusts prefer to take the path of blowing everything up that the last regime was trying to do because they know the fan base will extend them a honeymoon period to do their demolition and from-the-dirt rebuilding. Again, I'll say it very slowly this time. The point is NOT about Milloy's abilities or Whitner's abilities. It was about creating a hole in the line-up that had to be filled.