hondo in seattle

This is weird to me since years ago, King criticized us for hiring an old retiree in Buddy Nix when there were young and rising superstars - like Doug Whaley (he mentioned Doug by name) - we could have nabbed to be GM. Then again, people are entitled to change their minds as more information comes in.

Poor Reggie. A scatback who can't scat anymore isn't much in demand. If last season was indeed his last season, it was an ignominious end to his career. Speaking of images... I like the avatar!

I actually wasn't aware of this. Nonetheless, CTE could have exacerbated pre-existing tendencies.

Good to see Whaley remained classy. I'm glad he's gone but I wish him well.

It's a scoring league. The team that scores the most points wins. When TT played, we scored a lot of points. He's not a great QB but he's far from the worst.

Yeah. It's a good bet he suffers from it. Football made him into a celebrity millionaire. It may have also made him (or at least contributed to him becoming) a homicidal monster. He probably would have led a much better life if he had never touched a pigskin.

The pessimists have been basking - if pessimists can bask - in their being right for so long. This is the Sully rule: criticize everything the Bills do and you''re likely to be proven right. Never mind that the reasons why the Bills lose more than win are not the ones you've identified. When it comes to the Bills, optimists traditionally look foolish and pessimist appear to be realists. As an optimist, I believe we're going to break with that tradition.

Years ago, before he got the gig with the Vikes, I was kind of hoping we'd hire Frazier to be our HC. Given what happened there, I'm glad we passed. But as a DC working for a defensive minded HC, I see him as an asset.

Rob Johnson versus Doug Flutie? Here's how I remember it: Flutie would play like crap for 3 quarters and then play great for 1. California Rob would get sacked 1 out of 7 dropbacks. Wade's failing wasn't his inability to manage the QB controversy. His problem is that he didn't have a franchise QB.

Poor DJ was doomed. He had such a poor roster to work with and never did find the OC he needed. I agree. He did more with the talent he had than Rex did.

I gotta admit, I was never as panicked as the OP but I did think the firing of the entire personnel department was rash. But I've been impressed how quickly Beane put his team together. And more impressed at the credentials these new guys bring. As Kirby points out, in the process we may have lost a couple good ones like Tom Roth. But - on paper - this new scouting department seems to have the qualifications to get the job done. I'll probably never get this, but I'd love an insider's take on how Beane runs the scouting staff differently than Whaley. Does he value different things in a player? Does he organize the scout tasks differently? Etc. Just like coordinators have different schemes, GMs have different ways of attacking their area of responsibility.

When we make failure easy and success difficult, people often fail. Coaches/leaders need to make failure difficult and success easy.

It worked for Schwartz because we had a great front four. His scheme - as he ran it there - wouldn't work everywhere as you probably know.

The good points you do sometimes make are ruined by your sarcasm and nasty attitude. We're all Bills fans. We've all endured 17 years of suffering together. Why add to that pain by being mean to your brothers-in-arms?

Good story! Fred's career statistics certainly don't warrant the wall. But his talent (in his prime), his effort, his leadership, and his off-the-field contributions make him wall worthy IMHO.

Obviously, there's an appropriate balance between simple and complicated. Too simple and you're predictable. Too complicated and your players are thinking more than attacking - and making mistakes in their assignments. Rex was probably on the too-complicated end of the spectrum. He wanted to beat opponents with his coaching brilliance more than his roster. To further screw things up, the players weren't always getting a unified message from their coaches. Complication + poor communication = confusion.

I think, in his prime, Fred was elite. If I'm not mistaken, he once led the league in yards-after-contact. He made his offensive line look good far more than they made him look good. There weren't a lot of holes in front of Fred nor a lot of talent around him. Yet he produced, sometimes by pure willpower. Put him on the 90s Bills instead of Thurman and I think he has a Thurman-like career, assuming he could stay healthy. I'd vote for him to go on the wall. And KW is an obvious choice.

Why I'm optimistic. Offense. The plays were designed by a run game guru who was not noted for developing productive passing attacks. And the OC was a guy who's entire background was in the run game. Schematically, our passing attack will be much better this year. Defense. Rex, Rob and Dennis Thurman might have all been defensive geniuses. But together they did not put together a cohesive unit that communicated well and played well together. McD and Frazier almost have to be better. Why I'm pessimistic. We have some gaps in our roster. The secondary, in particular worries me. As does our WR corps. Our QB has some well-known limitations. Our run game was insanely effective last season. It's hard to imagine it being as productive this year with a new scheme.

Neither of you look foolish. We're all Bills fans and fundamentally brilliant.

I agree that Miller has some shortcomings he needs to overcome - particularly in pass pro. But I see us lining up the same guys as last year with RT as the wildcard. I'm really hoping Dawkins - or anyone - can upgrade that spot. Mills was brutal to watch last year.

I'm impressed that a guy with very humble physical talents like Fitz has been able to enjoy such a long and well-paid NFL career.

I guess I'm not that discriminating when it comes to football announcers. The only guy that ever annoyed me was Dennis Miller on MNF. Other than that exception, I really haven't cared much who's in the booth.

Yep.

My thought exactly. What the hell do I know about mid and lower level personnel guys??? But the men we're hiring all seem well-qualified, well-regarded, and are a diverse bunch. That's my guess, too. I'm sure Beane's reputation helps but this is coming together awfully fast and some of the guys we're recruiting to fill personnel jobs here are making more-or-less lateral moves. I'm thinking some serious money is involved.

I pretty much agree. Here's my guess... Yates will win the #2 spot because of his experience and his knowledge of the offense. He'll be an extra coach in the QB room. Peterman will be #3 because of his upside. Jones and Woodrum will be released.