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Agreed. McD brought Frazier onboard as his DC because they were aligned schematically. McD knew what scheme he wanted to execute and chose a DC who was philosophically supportive. Based on their defenisive rankings over the past few years, it was a good marriage. But, as I recall, when McD took over the play-calling a few years back, he called a more aggressive game. I've got to imagine that's where the dissatification lies - in the playcalling. Over the years, I recall both players and coaches praising Frazier's gameweek preparations. I don't recall much praise for his gameday playcalling. Sometimes what people don't say is telling.

His departure was so weird and mysterious that I kept an open mind. Was this a soft termination? Or maybe he had a private family issue to take care of and was only taking a leave of absence? My mind is less open now. If I had to take a SWAG, I'd say McD was generally happy with Frazier's preparations throughout the week but not happy with his predictable, cautious play-calling. McD decided that he'd do the play-calling in 2023. The two men talked it out at the end of the season and Frazier didn't want to continue in a diminished capacity. And this is what they come up with.

It sounds like, as some surmised, that Frazier is out permanently: The NFL released a memo on Wednesday listing the 40 participants of the league’s 2023 coach accelerator program May 21-23. Leslie Frazier’s name was included in the memo, however, he was one of three head-coaching hopefuls (along with Pep Hamilton and Kris Richard) to not have a team affiliation next to his name. www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/does-leslie-frazier-s-latest-venture-hint-he-won-t-return-to-bills-in-2024/ar-AA1bkG6e?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=b643a44bc2294b33ae7f8a3b6dd8b453&ei=44

This is the kind of thing my family will buy me for my birthday or Xmas and I'll act like I'm happy to get it.

We go 1-1 against Miami and the Jets. We go 2-0 versus NE We beat Las Vegas, Washington, JAX, Cinci, NYG, Tampa, Denver, Dallas, and LA Chargers. We lose to Philly, KC. We also lose to one of the teams I previously said we'd beat. 12-5.

I'm not a fan of the violent implications but I understand the urge. Grabbing someone by the neck and forcibly kissing them is unacceptable. If someone did that to my wife or daughter, I'd hope for something more from the authorities than a slap on the wrist. Jail time is appropriate.

Agreed. I never thought HOFer when watching Eli play and I wouldn't vote for him if I was a selector. His brother and father were both better QBs. But the rings get him in.

Kay, you should write a book about the early days of pro football in Buffalo. I didn't know about the game at the Polo Grounds - or if I did once know, I had forgotten and didn't register the significance. Cool we beat the great Jim Thorpe in front of a NYC audience. Sucks that the game probably affected the important game the following day against Akron. It's interesting when you look at the old schedules. Back then professional NFL (APFA) teams played games against non-NFL semipro and pro teams. In 1920, the great Canton Bulldogs played the Washington Glee Club - an actual glee club??? - in front of 11,000 fans and only managed a tie. Canton lost to another non-NFL team: Union AA of Phoenixville! Phoenixville billed itself as the "US Professional Champions" after finishing their season - mostly against non-NFL local clubs - undefeated.

I mostly agree about Namath not belonging, BUT... Professional football used to be more about running than passing. Namath was one of the very first gunslingers. In 1967, Namath became the first pro quarterback to pass for over 4,000 yards. The feat wasn't repeated for another 12 years when Dan Fouts did it with Air Coryell. And, remember, when the AFL and NFL merged, the AFC was considered the junior league. Namath's confidence going into the third Super Bowl as huge underdogs was memorable. The Jets victory, with Namath as MVP, changed the AFC's perception and helped the popularity of the league. I don't know if you ever watched Namath play. I did. He was a beat-up, weak-kneed wreck in the second half of his career. In his prime, he was a real threat.

The selectors look at stats, honors (All Pro, etc.), and rely heavily on their own memories. And that last fact is problematic. Selectors don't watch every regular season game. But they do watch the playoffs and they certainly watch Super Bowls. So guys with good playoff and Super Bowl credentials, like Swann, get in. This will be controversial, but I believe if Eric Moulds played for that Steeler team, he'd be in the HOF instead of Swann. But Moulds has no chance because his career in Buffalo was barely noticed despite his talent.

Kay, you've been very informative! Good stuff!!! I figured you'd mention Buffalo's weaker schedule and it is, admittedly, a good point. I don't know if the Bills are building a museum at the new stadium, but they should. And they should have exhibits celebrating the professional football teams that existed in Buffalo before the Bills. I don't know much but I'd love to learn more and it would be cool to see old game film - where it exists - and artifacts like yellowed 1920's news clippings, leather helmets, and melon-shaped footballs. My last push for wanting Hughitt in the HOF... The Canton Bulldogs are considered by many to be the NFL's first great team. There's a reason the HOF is in Canton. But the All-Americans were just as good the first two years of the NFL. Buffalo scored more points and won more games - admittedly against a weaker schedule. In head-to-head matchups in the 1920 and 1921 seasons, Buffalo went 1-1-1 against Canton and outscored them. Canton had 3 HOFers on its 1920 squad and 1 on the 1921 team. In their short history, Canton had 6 HOFers. The All-Americans, despite their dominance in 1920-1921 had none. It seems disproportionate and unfair. The HOF selection committee should recognize the All-Americans and vote one of their players into the Hall. Like other NFL teams, the All-Americans had some weak opponents that pumped up their stats. But Buffalo could compete with the best of them. In 1921, we finished the regular season undefeated, having beaten the top NFL teams: the Chicago Staleys and Akron Pros (and tying Canton). But you know the story... After finishing the season with a convincing 14-0 win against Akron, the exhausted players took a train ride to Chicago with no days rest for an "exhibition" game that the NFL decided to count as a championship game. Undefeated... but no championship or Hall of Famers. Doesn't seem right.

Yeah, I'm hoping he gets a HUGE contract. The more money Williams and Rodgers get, the less the Jets have for skilled free agents.

So... low risk/low reward?

The pass rush is a legit concern. Our pass rush was significantly better last year when Miller was healthy. Hopefully he fully recovers and plays a full season. In any case, our pass rush won't get worse than last season. We will feel Edmunds' loss but our D won't fall apart. Especially if our key defenders can stay healthy. Think of the advantage of having Von, Tre and our safeties healthy this year.

Let me ask you because I don't know, and you might... In 1920, Buffalo led the league in scoring by a wide margin. We recorded 258 points that year. The next best team, the Jim Thorpe led Canton Bulldogs, scored 208. In 1921, we again led the league in scoring by a wide margin. We put up 211 points that year versus 148 for the next highest-scoring team, the Akron Indians. We were an offensive powerhouse. In the first two seasons combined, we scored 469 points. The next best team (Canton) scored 314. We outscored the 2nd most talented team, the storied Bulldogs with 4 Hall of Famers, by just about 50%! Were we just that more talented - with zero HOFers? Or was Hughitt doing something interesting on offense? The PFRA article says Hughitt was a "progressive" coach and employed a system he learned from the "legendary" Fielding Yost. Yost won 4 national championships at Michigan with his "point-a-minute" offense. Maybe Hughitt did bring some impactful offensive scheme into the NFL??? Something lost to football history???

It was OJ who I was specifically thinking about. I think OJ is one of the most talented athletes to ever play the game of football. But I try to imagine how the families of his victims must feel about him being honored in Buffalo. We can't limit the Wall of Fame to choir boys. But there must be some boundary, some bridge too far. In my opinion, OJ is beyond that limit and should come down. Btw, I'm not thinking about an annual review to delete players. I imagine a one-time thing. The Ralph had its wall of fame; the new stadium has its own.

Maybe the Pegulas should form a committee that reviews the entire Wall of Fame for the new stadium. Give them the opportunity to delete some players and add others. Start fresh.

Yeah, I don't think we should eliminate Josh's role as a runner. He's too valuable. But he's not valuable if he gets hurt. So I think Dorsey should not call any designed QB runs in most regular season games. We should save Josh-the-runner for big games/playoffs.

"Must address" is strong terminology. I'm not sure they "must address" those positions. And, with our cap situation, I'm also not sure they will. I suspect, all of our 2023 starters are already on the team. If we get a couple more quality backups: great.

I don't get some of the drama here. At worst Ray is a cheap camp body. We need camp bodies. At best, he's a quality backup. There's no loss and a possibility of a modest gain.

I guess you can count me among the people who overrate Fred. With the likes of Trent Edwards, JP Losman, Kyle Orton, and EJ Manuel handing him the ball, Fred didn't see a lot of defenses selling out to stop the pass. Fred played for really bad teams often behind woefully bad OLs and still produced. Somebody can fact-check me, but I think one year Fred led the NFL in yards after contact. He got a lot done without a lot of help. Sometimes when I watched him play, I thought he could have been a HOFer if he had played with the Bills during the late 80s/early 90s instead of Thurm. *Guess who had a higher yards per carry average for their Bills career, Fred Jackson or Thurman Thomas?

I'm sorely disappointed my bid fell short. I was hoping to relocate the team to Cheektowaga.

Biscuit was the UPI Defensive Player of the Year twice. How many guys won twice and don't make the Hall? But I think the selectors have Bills fatigue. For a team that never won the Super Bowl, the 90s Bills already have a gaggle of busts.

Von did say he wants to be a GM someday. Getting involved in personnel already?

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics..." Stats are indeed facts, but they are not all the facts and never tell the whole story. Context matters. Harris played in a more-balanced offense. Motor played in an offense that was very much pass-first. Opposing DCs didn't spend a lot of time game-planning how to stop our running attack. That was never going to be a difference-maker in the outcome of the game. The entire defensive scheme was about stopping Josh. So when Motor did run, he was often running against nickel and dime defenses against players who were coached to play the pass first. Pretty much the only games I've seen Harris play were his Buffalo games. Maybe that's not a representative sample, but in those games he looked bigger, faster and stronger than Motor. But it's not just Motor versus Harris. Last year, Hines came on board during the season and, according to some sources, never mastered the offensive playbook. And Cook was just a rookie. Both ought to be more productive this season as outside runners and receivers out of the backfield. The addition of Harris and Murray gives us the ability to pound the rock up the middle which we lacked last season. And Harris has some outside ability as well. I, for one, think this is the best stable of running backs we've had since Shady was the headliner. I just hope Dorsey knows how to use them.