hondo in seattle

This thread is really silly. First it's bad fandom. Haiku is too dainty, aesthetic and eastern to be combined with old-fashioned, blue-collar, macho American football. Second, it's bad Haiku. Basho must be rolling over in his grade. But what the heck: Sanchez and Tebow, two quarterbacks, no endzone. Bills win in shutout.

Thanks for the link. At first, I figured Seattle must have had some good reason for cutting him - perhaps he was slowed by some nagging injury. But the author of this article seems perplexed by the move and thinks Winslow still has gas in the tank. Make me want Nix to have a looksee.

Actually, I think Chan's schemes and play-calling made the offensive line look better than it really was last year. It's worth noting were last in the NFL in 3rd and short situations because our line provided zero push. Maybe this year, with Wood healthy, we'll be better.

I might watch it if the players took the game seriously. We've created a Super Bowl or bust mentality that believes anything less than a SB victory is a failure. The battle for the 'bronze medal' is just a game to decide how far you failed by. I think it would be hard to convince players that it's worth the effort - and worth the risk of injury. Nonetheless, I would definately watch if the Bills were playing.

I'm not persuaded but it's possible. As pointed out, they did something similar with Mount Jasper last year. I'm all in favor of giving Easley one more season to see if he can develop into a legitimate NFL receiving threat.

+1 Going into the regular season with just 4 WRs (plus Smith) worried me. This makes me less anxious.

So it was Polian's fault that he didn't sign us a better kicker? I'm okay with that. But I think it's silly to blame Marv or Polian for four consecutive Super Bowls (win or lose). The Bills were in the toilet before those two took over.

I'm embarrassed because you are right and I am apparently wrong. This is from PFT about the new rule: "The owners and players have agreed to expand game day rosters from 45 to 46 active players. The No. 3 quarterback will no longer be an “emergency” inactive player." But curiously, I found this as I researching the topic: "I also think you could potentially see more teams looking at that third QB spot as a potential weapon. Maybe more teams will start employing hybrid or wildcat style QBs as that third guy. Think of the Jets with Brad Smith...".

Marv did FAR more than manage egos! He also did a great job of preparing the team during the off- and pre-season. He was tactically smart (though not in the elite in that regard). His players played hard from the 1st Quarter than the last. They didn't mail-it in. You would see Kelly and WRs blocking for the RBs, for example. And Marv instilled in the team a never-surrender attitude that was exhibited in other games besides The Comeback. And, btw, the Bills won The Comeback without Thurman and Kelly. They wouldn't have won that game if Marv hadn't been the coach. Sadly, it's true that "as GM he made Tom Dohanhoe look like a genius" as Billy observes. But I'm willing to look past that. Marv is kind of like the kindly uncle who gives you some really crappy Xmas presents as he gets old and single. But I still appreciate him for the great Xmas presents he gave me before.

Think of Michael Jordan. Do we remember him in his prime? Or how he played in his Wizards comeback? I choose remember Marv in his prime as Head Coach rather than his failed comeback as GM. Those who think it was Polian and whoever who built up the Bills and Marv had nothing to do with it are misinformed. Certainly, ex Bills players remember Marv much differently. So do the Hall of Fame electors, who know more about the NFL than the vast majority of posters here. They know how hard it is to get any team into the SB four years in a row. Just think of all the great coaches who never accomplished this. There's a reason Marv was elected to the HOF. There's some truth in the idea that Kellly, Thurman, Smith, Reed, etc. made Marv job's easier and made him look good. But it's also true that Marv brought out the best in his players. I can easily imagine any of these players (minus perhaps Bruce), playing in another era on the Bills with another head coach and not having a HOF career. Was Thurman really that much better than FredEx? Was Reed really better than Moulds? It's almost blasphemous to ask these questions because Thurman and Reed are legends who piled up great stats and led us into the playoffs under Marv's direction. If Marv had FredEx and Moulds back then, they would have accumulated much better numbers than they did in fact. And their legacies would have been different. FredEx and Moulds would not have been just Pro Bowlers under Marv, they would have been Super Bowlers. (Fortunately, it's not too late for FredEx to have that experience). Marv may not have the best W-L record of the HOF coaches. Point taken. But he was twice tasked to turn around franchises with little talent and terrible records. Even Vince Lombardi would have needed some time (seasons with poor records) in those circumstances. Maybe the people who blast Marv are just too young to remember how truly pathetic the Bills were before his arrival. As someone who lived through the years of fultlity pre-Marve, I can only love the guy for what he did. The last few years of Bills mediocrity are nothing to the years of abject misery that came before Marv. In DJ's worse full year, he won 7 games. In the 2.5 years before Marv took over mid-season, the Bills had just total 6 wins. DJ's 7 wins per season would have been a welcome relief back in those days when we averaged 2 wins per season. Marv took this horrible team to the playoffs 8 times and the Super Bowl 4 times. More importantly, he made us proud to be Buffalonians and proud to be Bills fans.

We cut Brian Brohm a couple years ago and he's caught on as a second stringer with the Las Vegas Locomotives.

About Smith.... As of last year, teams are allowed to dress an "emergency QB" who does not count against your game day total. If you dress TT as the emergency QB, he'll sit on the bench, sip Gatorade and contribute nothing. If you dress Smith as your emergency QB, you can let him run the Wildcat (which was effective in 3rd and short situations last year), as well as use him as backup KR and WR. If you are going to dress an emergency QB, you might as well dress someone who will actually get on the field. By using Smith as the #3 QB, it's like we have an extra player every Sunday (he doesn't count toward the game day total). He might not be a great player at any position, but we get something from a role (emergency QB) that delivers nothing on most teams.

From the Associated Press: Buffalo cut five receivers on Friday. Coach Chan Gailey warned that what one sees now isn't necessarily what one will get next Sunday when Buffalo opens against the Jets. ''You've been around (general manager) Buddy (Nix) and I long enough to know that nothing's ever set,'' Gailey said following a brief walk through on Saturday afternoon. ''We're always looking for different ways to improve our team.''

Actually, I am not convinced at all that we'll go look for another WR. We kept 3 TEs including Dickerson the H Back. So I'm think there might be combination of things going on: * more two back sets since we had success with that last year * more of Spiller split out as a wideout so we have two of our best players (FredEx and CJ) on the field at the same time. * Dickerson on the field as an H back That's my guess but it's just a shot in the dark based on nothing more than speculation about who was cut, wasn't cut, and why. It could be something else entirely (like a trade in the works for another WR). *

I pretty much agree. The coaching change could be more than "+1." Last year we were all frustrated with Edwards and I'm excited to see what Wanny will do with the defense. That change alone is a +1 and maybe more. Coach Lee may or may not be another +1. There's a lot of talk about how he's helping Fitz with his mechanics and how Lee's a Wildcat Guru. I'm really not counting on anything but if he lives up the hype, our offense will be more potent.

They should sign Brian Banks to the practice squad, just to help right a wrong.

Thanks for the link. I hadn't realized that the Bills used two backs so effectively (6.2 ypc) or so often (21% of the time). It's funny what you notice and remember. Maybe they do indeed plan to use two backs more often this year.

Yeah, I'm sure Chan & Buddy are up to something I just don't see yet. I do get the four QBs, though. T Jack doesn't know the offense yet and Chan likes to suit up Smith as the #3 QB because he's multidimensional. But only 4 WRs? Despite all the good theories presented in this thread thus far, I'm still scratching my head and wondering what comes next.

His self-discipline and motivation seem to go through ups and downs. Apparently he went through an 'up' period this preseason. Maybe he's finally grown up. Or maybe he'll just end up falling into another hole.

Last year we started the season with 5 WRs (not counting Smith) and ended up getting Smith on the field as a WR as well as some street free agents. Yet this year we're only keeping 4 WRs which is really surprising to me. Gailey likes to throw the ball, likes to use crossing routes and likes 4 WR sets. So there's going to be some injuries. And players do need to be rested some time. It seems unlikely we'll get through the season with just Johnson, Jones, Nelson and TJ playing wideout. Does this mean we can expect to see CJ more at wideout? Does Chan & Nix think we can pick up a FA WR better than the ones we cut? Is Chan planning on using less 4 WR sets this year and maybe run the ball more? What do you guys think???

So we kept 4 QBs and 4 WRs and 2 Kickers! Wow. This just doesn't seem right. Each WR can have their own personal QB.

+1 Good commentary

Maybe we'll sign a FA? We ran a lot of 4 WR sets last year. Hard to do this year with only 4 WRs plus Brad Smith and maybe CJ split wide sometimes. There's bound to be injuries.

Yep! The NFL allows a team to dress an emergency QB. With Smith, we get to dress an emergency QB, WR and RB all in one guy taking up a spot that doesn't even count against the allowable game day total. If Fitz or TJack get hurt, Smith won't move up to the #2 position. He's not that good and that's not his role. His role is to be the jack-of-all trades.

16 of 16 predicting the Pats to win the AFCE. 9 of 16 predicting the Bills to get in as wildcards. There's a suprising amount of optimism out there for the Bills to make the playoffs for the first time since Chris Berman was knee-high to a bison. It's wierd to see people who were underwhelmed by Fitz and Gailey late last year now jumping on the bandwagon. In fact, it's wierd to have a bandwagon.