Sisyphean Bills

This may be the case or not. Either way, it is really difficult to support. One could point to Manuel being the starter at the beginning of the pre-season, but then Kolb had slipped and tweaked a knee on a rubber mat. So one could point to that and say Kolb started the next couple of pre-season games. But, Manuel was injured and out for one of those. But, here's the kicker. If you believe there is more or less a dead heat in pre-season between Kevin Kolb, EJ Manuel, and Jeff Tuel at your QB derby, how can anyone think there was adequate competition at the position? (When you take an objective look at how Tuel's career went after he had to take the field when Manuel went down, it's not exactly inspiring.) It seems obvious that the Bills need to elevate that competition. They haven't landed the Brees or Mannings in free agency, so they just may have to go back to the draft to find it. Adding more guys that have at least two previous failures (Flynn, Kolb, Jackson, Leinart, etc.) or UDFAs like Tuel has not been a recipe for creating competition and great QB play for this franchise.

Some fans thought Wannstedt would be a huge upgrade. Turned out, he was spectacularly worse.

The rub is that the Bills organizationally and historically have put zero, maybe even negative, value on having great play at the TE position. It's almost like they seek ineptness for the comic relief aspect.

BTW, does Stevie Johnson know Hackett's playbook?

I was jesting a bit on the Jauron situation. Team was stuck in the rut of "we'd be good if we didn't have so many injuries", pulled off a mini winning streak, and Ralph sprinted to the podium to get an extension done with Jauron like he was a highly coveted head coach that might get away. All that, only to fire the guy and have him photoshopped (badly) out of the team picture.

In a word: pathetic. The offense has regressed horribly from last year.

How does it sit to have a QB that lays eggs on the road for a 7 home game a season franchise?

I was thinking the same thing. James Hardly was tall and reportedly knew a thing or two about small arms. Too bad he had the fluidity of a baby giraffe.

This is high comedy. Gary Kubiak puts Schaub into a game and his owner fires him the next day. So, trading for Schaub is "a solution." (This ad paid for by the "Fire Marrone" party.)

The risk there is that they might rip off a winning streak of 2 or 3 games and have to extend the incompetence with a shiny new contract.

Seems like about half of those names are no longer here. Maybe that earns someone a second slap on the back though.

Does it say anything when a team prioritizes kickoff returners in the draft?

It might help perspective to read some writers in other markets. This piece actually struck me as sort of laid-back to indifferent. He was not ranting about firing people, blowing it up, throwing your tickets in the trash, etc. He's shooting fish in a barrel -- the Bills set those pins up like a machine; and, of course, he nailed it. The Bills stunk and that's really nothing new.

Perish the thought that Ryan Fitzpatrick made them look better because he got the ball out of his hand before the plays developed. Or that Chan Gailey was a better than average NFL OC, a position that got downgraded as well. PS: Look I'm not saying that spreading the field and having a QB with an itchy trigger finger wouldn't look better. On the other hand, I saw Fitzpatrick threw balls to open defenders the other day and it didn't make me want to pine for those lost glory days in the slightest. But, with a "slow eyes" QB, jail breaks up front, a solution of spreading the field on top of it just doesn't sound like a way to improve. What happened to all the talk about developing a smash-up running game? I understand it's hard to market OL and all.

Well, I think many would revoke that free pass...

Yes, but the OL is leakier than a sieve.

Well, that took a long time. I thought he was out of gas.

I don't know about that. I think that was one possibility, but the noise out of camp was a steady PR stream of how awesome Manuel looked and was doing. Kolb was the 1b option, at best, until he got his egg scrambled.

That may well be, but how exactly is he going to leverage "Steeler Tradition" wearing Buffalo Bills gear? What has he done the last 4 years as far as building a program step by step? I mean three years of looking up to the Jauron era followed by falling down further isn't exactly setting the world on fire. I mean it's not even clear there is actual progress, let alone being consistent, or having any sense of urgency.

Well, if you want to dump contracts to "get better" (read: the Overdorf model of team building), Mario Williams might be edging his way on to that short list right quick like.

"$'s ¢'s" over "X's and O's"

"Mail it in, baby! Mail it in!" Wasn't that what Al Davis used to say?

Not disagreeing, but 2 yards per carry isn't exactly "lighting it up". There is room to smear the blame around plenty. You could even scratch your head about the whole OL and continuity is way overrated approach to the season...

Well, it seems to fit Buddy's explanation. When you interview the "perfect guy", keep on interviewing people and then come back to him later.

Anyone want to trot out their arguments about how Buddy Nix left this team in vastly improved condition?