sllib olaffub

I respect your opinion, and admire your optimisim, because he would be a good addition to our team even at 80% of his old self. My position with Merriman hasn't changed, though: I believe he is one of the players whose body isn't built naturally strong enough, or tough enough (some guys go their whole careers without ever being really damaged) to withstand the NFL for long, so he leans on stuff like HGH - and since the crackdown HE HAS BEEN FINISHED. Is it a coincidence only - I can't help but ask - that ever since he's been watched for that stuff he can't stay healthy, while before then he was so good? And, what makes it even more obvious, the only offseason where he could've done the stuff and not been watched, he comes back strong for a few games - time enough to let the stuffs effect wear off - and then he goes back to being prone to injury. Now, I'll be glad if he proves me wrong. But, if I'm the Bills, there is no way I don't go after his replacements twofold until he proves me wrong, and if he ever does - then you can never have too many LB's in a 3-4.

I'm certainly not well versed enough in college football to know all the players available for this year's NFL draft, but, it looks to me like there aren't many top tier talents at the OLB/DE position this year, especially considering or comparing to years past. Nix might have to get creative when looking for truly dominant players for OLB roles by looking at less known, less developed guys - but who have the natural body and ability; or, and this is a real consideration, I think, all things considered - maybe the talent this year in the draft is more attuned to a 4-3 defense, and our D-Coordinator replacement wants to run that... it's hard, though, to imagine Nix budging on his philosophy regarding what defense is best, unless, and another "if", Whaley takes over. Could be an interesting off season for the Bills Defense.

Now, that would be ironic! You figure Brady will be playing as they're playing for 1st seed in the conference. These guys could potentially get hurt any time... now that would certainly put New England out of the race - so, it wouldn't surprise me to see Brady benched if the Patriots get a good enough lead.

I respect your willingness to be creative in order to solve our problems, but I really am tired of the Bills leaning on other organizations programs to find and develop players - I want the Bills to be able to find the jewels, and develop them; and I know they do, sometimes - but, we simply won't get to where we want to go until we are capable of 1.) Knowing our Identity as to which systems we want to run, how we want to look as a team 2.) are capable of identifying college prospects all through the draft and UDFA, select the right players 3.) coach them up, make players of them, and 4.) keep them on when they start to shine It is a matter of debate as to whether we've begun this process with Nix. Certainly, if we have, over these past two drafts, the keystone players we've drafted or picked up would be - IMO - Dareus, Carrington, Sheppard, Searcy, Williams, J. Rogers (I think he'll be a good CB), Nelson, Easley, Spiller, Ubrik, Hairston, and Chandler. Not too bad, really. The biggest criticism is the lack of DE, OLB, QB - and high round LT, what would normally be considered the most critical positions. But, has Nix passed on really great prospects at those positions? I don't think, glaringly, he has. Now, I know Green Bay employs this model, and it took them some 5 years or so to really put it all together - but, we need the pressure guys on defense, and we absolutely need a QB to begin developing. Both of those positions need be added, and we need the players to be solid, for Nix to have been successful after next season, I think. Will there be a QB in the draft - if there isn't one to be had in this draft, then we need better evaluators, because I suspect there will be at least 4 good NFL QB's to emerge out of this draft.

I really agree that we cannot win big until we have a QB who is capable of carrying this team, of making great plays, and of being consistently good - I don't believe we have that now... so, I'm on board with this organization going out and getting that guy as soon as possible, via draft, trade, trading up - whatever. I just think we'll be perennially losing until we have that piece. So, I see us going OLB/DE with number 1 this year, and then going QB with number 2 - unless there is a really spectacular prospect like Aaron Williams last year, who falls to our 2, in which case I could see us going QB 3. Definitely, I need, as a fan, to see the Bills add a QB who can lead this team if Fitz fails - because if they don't add one, I won't watch this joke any longer.

I agree - as I said, 7 home games with 40,000 people in the stands would certainly get his attention. BUT SELLING OUT THE STADIUM - EVEN 4 OR 5 OF THE GAMES, WILL ONLY RE-ENFORCE RALPH'S "PATIENCE", and go to show that RALPH WILSON CAN PUT AS CRA--Y OF A TEAM ON THE FIELD AS HE CARES OR BOTHERS TO, AND HE'LL STILL GET HIS $$$. I love your reliable perspective Promo, but I don't think it is Nix and Gailey people are angry about - it's more what Ralph appears to be saying between the lines, so to speak. I heard, "We're keeping Fitz at QB because we just gave him a bunch of money", and, "We're not drafting a QB next year". "We're not going to be changing our spending habits, in the way of F.A.'s; rather, we're going to build slowly - so a 4 year rebuild isn't out of the question..." What really gets me is this commitment to Fitz - It'll be the last straw for me if they allow themselves to go into next season without a viable option beside Fitz on the roster, and since we know he isn't a Franchise QB, and this draft coming up has the potential to have a few - it looks like now or another 3-5 years before we have a chance at a Franchise QB. That's what is killing me. And no mention of Defense? And 3 years is enough for any GM/Coach to put together a playoff team.

I hear you.

The old man "didn't pay Fitz all that money for nothing" - in other words, we paid for him, so we're playing him. I love all this tough love. Patience. Surround him with more talent - runners and TE's who don't get hurt? Runners? What the @#$% is he talking about? Fred and Spiller are fine. A TE - sure. A couple WR's - good, too. But, if they pass on a Franchise caliber QB this year, then that means they'll probably finish next year somewhere near 8-8. No franchise QB then. After that - maybe 10-6 and an outside shot at a wildcard. No matter, though - cause Fitz isn't going to lead this team to a SuperBowl. I'm not going to sit through another 3 years of pathetic football, and accept these ridiculous excuses. For me, if the Bills don't get a QB worth being excited about next offseason - at the least to be ready to go in when Fitz falters, then I won't waste another Sunday afternoon on these scoundrels. We do have a choice in Buffalo. Every year for the last half decade I've heard, "we don't have a choice" - and, that is the feeling I get, the impression I get from the majority of people here in this area. They don't like Wilson's antics, they sure don't like Russ Brandon's attitude, nor any of the upper management's condescending talk of "patience" or any other b.s. excuse - as if we're so ignorant to not know what we're seeing - and, AS IF WE DONT HAVE A CHOICE! As long as we don't collectively call their bluff it is true. But, if the Ralph filled up to only 20-40 thousand seats for every home game next year, believe me - everyone would see. The national media would take the fans side here, if we collectively stopped supporting this miscreant owner. The NFL doesn't want a team that wont spend what it can to be competitive. I read another poster here say he was done until Ralph gave him something worth supporting. I'm there, too. He can be as "patient" as he wants - I just hope he loses money every year from now on that he tries to pass that b.s. on down.

I'd like to add a comment here: as much as people claim a bad draft can set a team back for years, I often wonder the contrary - if you think about it, a team like Buffalo, go back three or four years, and just take away the whole draft - would we be too much worse for it now? It's possible we might even be BETTER! - if F.A.'s were had to replace what we didn't get in the draft. Now, take that imagined draft and replace it - the whole thing - with a real Franchise QB. Now, would we be better off now? I say yes. My point is, as the post that I've highlighted suggests, there are some positions on an NFL team you have to make urgent priorities. Would it really set the Bills back years if they spent all their resources this offseason drafting just QB''s and LB's? Think about it... say they traded their whole draft for an Andrew Luck - I know it couldn't happen - but hypothetically, we'd be out the other picks for that year, but we'd have the QB position locked up for 10-15 years. We go out in F.A. and get a couple LB's, a Tackle, a WR or two - maybe a corner - and I think that would put us further ahead than guessing on draft picks at other positions and missing out on a Franchise QB again. Or, taking two or three QB's and three to five LB's - I know, that sounds nuts, using the whole draft that way, but odds are they'd find what they needed, and next offseason they'd have less needs. Crazy, unrealistic, but somewhere there is a kernal of wisdom in this - I think it is that a team must find players at certain positions and build out from there, instead of mixing and matching every year, never finding the right combination, and always ending up drafting in the Out Of The Playoffs to Just Missed A QB range.

It's funny how many hundreds of pages of comments and complaints can be written about the Bills, but a fairly good recipe for improvement is as easy as the above, one sentence, comment. Really, a new, TALENTED D-Coordinator and an exciting rookie QB would do wonders to turn this team around. For one - a great coordinator, with a few F.A.'s and a couple draft picks, would have plenty to work with to make our squad good enough for a playoff run. Secondly, our O-line, when healthy, is not too bad. I expect a pickup at Tackle to help, and another WR, and maybe a speedy TE - all of those could be had in draft and F.A. - and you add to that one of the top 4 QB's - Luck is out, but Griffin III, Barkley, or Landry Jones would have enough talent to really give everyone some hope. And, even an excellent prospect at OLB, DE in the first and a trade or luck to land one of the few fringe QB's that might end up excellent in the NFL would still be feasable, if we absolutely cannot land one of the top 4 - I'm talking Tannehill, Foles, or Kellen Moore (if height doesn't exclude him). My point - it's not over, we're merely at another turning point. We'll all see how committed the Bills are this offseason, and that, I think, will determine the fate of the Franchise under Wilson, because I believe if there isn't a tremendous effort shown by this club to improve in the right ways, without showing signs of cheapness, there won't be another sold out game for awhile. I could see two thirds empty stadium if they pull some garbage and don't bring in any F.A.'s, don't do something with the defense - this offseason is it for this Franchise, AND THEY KNOW IT.

I think you're taking too narrow a view here - just because Wilson chanced on to the right combination of GM's during that span - who inhereted such a poor team as to luck onto some of the best NFL players in history, that perfect storm of luck was not a vindication for Wilson; rather, when he failed to realize how good things were, when he simply believed that football was a backyard sport where anyone could win with a little common sense, and proceeded to run Polian out of town, and then fail to pay Butler what was easily a fair deal - those instances, and the fact that the team has been in the other 80% of his ownership, one of the worst teams in the league (by a wide margin bottom 5) and is now one of the very worst run - that all points to Ralph riding this grand investment, milking it dry, and getting off when the cow's ribs are bare, knees are in the dust, and Ralph just lifts a leg and lands in a wheel chair, rolling off to the pearly gates with a rattle of a laugh echoing in the halls in Canton for eternity.

I respect your inventiveness for finding ways to excuse this franchise; however, when you say that the blame is widespread, that one cannot pin it on only a few variables, I say that is not the case. I say if you substituted only a few things, then our outlook would have been much, much better. For instance, if we would have had New England's, or Pittsburgh's owners for the last two decades - I'd bet all I have that no matter what condition they started in, they'd have been to a few playoffs and probably a superbowl or two by now. The only difference? One owner. That is just a for instance. The easy answer certainly doesn't encompass all the small points and people where fortune has gone awry for us, but, that is not to say that there are a few people or things that certainly could have changed all of this and didn't.

I would really love it if Whaley got a shot. He was highly touted the year before he came to Buffalo as a promising prospect for a bunch of GM positions. If he were to step up as GM - a young, vigorous man in a man's business - he'd be out to show everyone he can put a team together. There's no way he would sit back and take a slow approach to this. I mean, he'd have nothing to lose by trying to put together a winner quickly - after all, how long will Buffalo Bills be here? - and possibly a lot to lose if he was slow with it.

The only reason I can think of - and I've wondered the same, too; in fact, I thought he might have been a better option than Donald Jones 8 weeks ago, even - is that Gailey doesn't want to show off what Aiken can do now that the season is at an end, have the kid have a few nice games, and then lose him when he goes back to the practice squad next year. It's a far reach, I know - but, you've got to think they consider that stuff as they are the ones always picking up guys off other team's P.S.'s. And, with S. Johnson, Marcus Easley,Nelson, Donald Jones, Brad Smith, and maybe Roscoe Parrish coming into next offseason as starters - it's likely he'd go back down to the P.S. The thing is, I don't trust Gailey's ability to detect talent with these guys without actually giving them game opportunities. So, I really would like to see him get a shot - as well as Easley, who I was super psyched about.

Trouble is, given what we have seen, you can't wait until the season has started and we NEED a QB to try to find one. You've got to be proactive with the most important position on a Football team. This year's draft is the best opportunity for a starting QB since the Rivers/Rothlisberger draft. The time is now.

This is how I judge a QB: There are certain passes every NFL QB needs to be able to make. After all, he is at the highest level of the profession; so, if a player is anywhere within ten yards of a QB, the QB should be able to pass the ball to a catchable area. Passes in the ten yard range that are hitting the ground, or too high to catch, or going in the opposite direction of a reciever - those kinds of things might happen to any QB once in a blue moon, when the ball slips or something. But, with Trent Edwards, and now with Fitz, it happens FREQUENTLY that an OPEN reciever - one that isn't 30 yards or more downfield - is missed because of poor passing. Guys like Rodgers, Rothlesburger, Rivers, Mannings - the good QB's don't miss passes like that. For an offense to function you've got to be able to count on the QB getting the ball to where it needs to go. Fitz CANNOT DO THAT Consistently. Consistency is the key. Sure, some games he has a good completion %, but still, even at his best of times he is inaccurate, and his worst of times he is unsurmountable by himself. When your QB loses the game for you - we're not even talking about trying to win it, or overcome obstacles - we're talking he misses open recievers left and right and makes terrible judgements, then it is time to replace him. At the very least - YOU'VE GOT TO HAVE A QB IN THE WINGS if he falters next year. Having Fitz as the only option is the same as not even trying.

I agree with the point the poster was trying to make - coaching, good coaching, makes a mediocre team good, but bad coaching can make a talent laden team suck. That is a truth, and that is why I think any GM has to start at Head Coach and go from there. No crappy coach is going to win a Super Bowl. That should be chiseled into every owner and GM's mind - it doesn't happen. So, how can Buffalo address that? The answer has only three options, as far as I see: 1. Ralph gets lucky and a GM - Nix or Whaley, it looks like, hires either a young, up and comer who takes the league by storm, or somehow convinces someone like Schottenheimer to come around, who is old enough to look at a last run with the right pieces in place. 2. Ralph sells or passes on and a new owner can convince an elite coach to take Buffalo on. As it is, we all know no good coach will come here. Is our losing due to bad coaching entirely? No. That should also be said. Certainly, our coaches of late are not going to turn out to be great coaches elsewhere. But, our entire Football organization is putrid. I place more blame on those who should be finding coaches and managers - the ownership, other guys like Littman, or Overdorf, or Russ Brandon; those guys are not as concerned with winning football as they are at keeping a profit coming in. Frankly, Ralph's trusted advisors are all financial men. Who among them is going to say, we need to spend more on personnel, on management? Their jobs aren't to bring in football men, but to bring in money. If Ralph cared about integrity on the field, about being respected - if he is even conscious of that stuff anymore - he'd sell the team or let a football man come in and take it over. There it is - you can't blame it all on coaching, but, ultimately, without a very good coach, we are never going to be happy.

I fully understand those who say, "The best case scenario is for Buffalo to win out", but, I disagree, and here is my reasoning: The Bills just never lose bad enough to really get the QB they need to be competitive. I mean, the Polian duo should be given a horseshoe award for having Manning keep them in the playoffs perennially for the last decade, and then this, and they'll have Luck for the next decade plus. That is the way it should happen... Let's say we miss out on the top of the QB class and go CB, OLB, OLB with our first three picks, or some combination of Defense - the fact that the QB's are snagged - potentially 4 in the first 10 picks! - that sends some other talent down the board, and we draft wise enough to finally put together a solid defense that is young enough to mature together for the next 5 years or so. Good defenses, with an offensive minded coach like Gailey, could keep us hovering around .500 for the rest of that half decade, and we know what 8-8 does when it comes to trying to draft a QB. So, as much as I want the Bills to be winners, I feel they have to manage to get a true, franchise QB, to really be SuperBowl bound, and we're at the point where another heavy defensive draft, with the right picks, a change in D-Coordinators, and a couple key F.A.'s, and all of a sudden we might have a good defense for a run. As I was saying - I don't want to see us close, but falling short for the next 5 years - the one player that can single handedly carry a team into a Championship is a great QB. It's no fluke we haven't seen anything like a whiff of hope around here since Kelly - and the one Flutie year. Find us a QB this year, please! I'm hoping for pick 5-7 range; that should be enough to land one of the top 3.

I would take your plan in a heartbeat. I really like the idea of Whaley stepping up in another year or two and bringing his young energy to this team, and also bringing in a young coach he knows (from Pittsburgh maybe?) who is primed and ready to become the next great NFL Head Coach!

I was going to start another post - but I didn't think I'd get enough of a response, so I'll voice it here and also add a comment to the original post. As for the two defenses - I think we'd be much better off running a 4-3 unless we happen upon a D.Coordinator who can run a 3-4 excellently. Nolan comes to mind. If that guy were to come in here, he'd assess our roster, tell Nix who to get, and we'd have a top 12 defense his first season, guaranteed, and this discussion would be mute. So, it starts with who you have running your defense. If you're asking personnel wise, what do our guys seem best suited for, or which would be the quickest turn around - I'd say, again, the 4-3 looks like a quicker fix. Still, I'd go for Coordinator first. My other question - I've been thinking about this for the last few weeks. If the Bills were going to just raise Wannstedt to their replacement Coordinator after this season, why wouldn't they have done so already? I think the fact that they haven't says at least one of a few possible things: Either he hasn't committed to being the D-Coordinator, or Nix and Gailey haven't decided that is who they want. If the later were the case, why bring him on? What has he done, really? Can anyone attest to what he has added to this bunch? What are his responsibilities? He has agreed to come on and they want him to - that means they value something more than the chance at winning games, because if he'd of stepped in as D.C. six weeeks ago, we might still be in the hunt (although I doubt it, the point is, if you're really trying to get there, you don't pass on chances to better yourself). It is strange. Would a top tier D.Coordinator like Nolan come on with Wannstedt as an Assistant Coach? That would be intruiging... still there is something odd about that arrangement - any thoughts?

Perfect - "if you don't plug the drain, the sink 'ill never fill!" - summary of Buffalo Bills Football.

I agree wholeheartedly with this post - lack of depth! When they're 30 million under the cap, when they've been pinching pennies for decades now - and, the reason nobody wants to come to Buffalo, the reason no coaches, no marquee players like Clabo will come here is exactly that - we don't invest in winning. Bottom line. Winning at all cost, at top priority isn't the Bills motto - that is the bottom line, that is all that needs said until it changes. They (Ralph, Littman, whoever else) will not use every resource available - they act handicapped - and face it, who wants to work for a handicapped football team when there are other teams with ownership like the Sabres have? That is what we need, and the sooner we see a change, the better!

I'm looking for somewhere to vent this issue - after watching the video on the postgame with Gailey, and hearing his remarks about Spiller. Spiller was the only guy really doing anything offensively, and he was on pace to keep the Bills in the game on his own, and Gailey takes him out, and then shortly after abandons the run. Wans't Spiller supposed to be able to score from anywhere? Wasn't that the appeal of this RB? If you're down a touchdown, or even two, and there is still a quarter to play - who else on this offense has that kind of speed? But, my bigger issue is how he explains it - he is either hiding his true feelings, or this management is totally on different pages and lost. He says he doesn't want to expose CJ to too many hits? That is crap - the kid hasn't played much at all since he's been here - and he can't handle filling in for Fred for a few games full time. It's not like he doesn't have the whole offseason to heal if he gets dinged up a little. And, don't we have to see what he is capable of? It seems like Gailey doesn't want Spiller to shine. Is he trying to avoid a controversy with Fred? If I were CJ I'd be totally angry - I mean, this kid has the heart of a competitor - he isn't a quitter, and he gets to stand around and watch his own coach show a total, repeated, lack of faith in him. Gailey is starting to fall apart after these games - his, "we had a plan for CJ, to use him in the passing game" - it sounds like Gailey's plan was adhered to despite the circumstances of the game, and that would totally explain the Bills inability to adapt and change their game plan to adjust to the opponent's tactics.

Of those points, I'd say the alarming ones are the impact of their top draft choices the last few years, and the projected lenght of this "rebuild" at the rate it is going. Player talent evaluation is also one of the very biggest problems, as it seems these guys can't determine who on their own roster is capable of doing what - and, perhaps contributing to this, but bad no matter, they sometimes appear to not even know how they want to use these guys, which would make it tough to evaluate them - I mean, you can only really draft well if you know exactly what you need out of players, and two years into this we might not have the same coordinator = same needs, on defense next year! Edwards was a bad move from the beginning, and keeping him through this season is worse still...

I would applaud any attempt made by this franchise to be great at any style of football - and, it would be nice to see a real commitment to a vision, to mold a team that can be successful - and put it together. But, there is a very real window with molding a team, and it isn't only necessitated by a coach/GM having to prove themselves. You have to manage a salary cap - so, you have to identify key players that FIT A TYPE/MOLD and put the team together around them in 3-5 years, because, with a team like ours especially, we lose free agents and we rely on rookies and 2nd year players to replace them. So, two things we haven't done to make that happen: Identify a winning style, and draft for it well; and, bring in F.A.'s at the right time to fuse a championship team for a few years. As it is now - Gailey and Nix have one or two years left to show what they had in mind. After seeing this year, I would love to see a running game in Buffalo as opposed to this mess of a imitation Patriot offense.