zonabb

Nope. Who quits an NFL job with that defense? Marrone doesn't strike me as quitter and he'll be back, and he earned it.

I decided, stupidly, to use the web browser to listen to WGR55 since the Orton retirement, just to hear what his decisions was based on and it's just reaffirmed my hatred of talk radio. Murphy has Chris Brown on (who can't offer squat in terms of critical insight or thinking but constantly tows the line) but they go to caller after idiotic caller. Who the hell calls these shows? Seriously, get a life or at least check in to reality every once in a while. It's abysmal. Stop going to callers for the love of all humanity and save the people listening the desire to dive through their office window to the pavement below. As bad as some of these hosts are, the callers combine to make it un-listenable. Do we have an intelligent caller somewhere in WNY?

Pears Spikes Spiller

Sure hope so. The season of sellouts and winning record should help us. Sick of the same teams every week on prime time.

Why do they suck? One is a condescending, arrogant card-collecting geek whose tone, attitude, and disdain are un-listenable. The other is too afraid to have an opinion that differs from the geek because he's afraid he'll get the same treatment everyone else does... disgust and being dismissed and derided. We're absolutely bereft of a single quality member of the media in this outside-the-top-50 media market with one newspaper and one sports radio channel. I guess if I were Sullivan, Schopp, Parker, Gleason, etc I'd be miserable working in a minor market covering losing teams.

So in one year... Preston Brown is not better than Arthur Moats? Sammy Watkins isn't better than Stevie Johnson? Seantrell Henderson isn't better than Erik Pears despite taking his job? That's three good rookies who have majorly contributed to a 9-7 team. Hughes for Sheppard was a steal. Dixon was a good pickup. Gray was a good pickup, as was Thigpen. Charles was another good get (although last year). Yeah there were some bad ones like Kujo, although I wouldn't write him off yet. Bryce Brown has to get better but I'd take him over Spiller right now for 2015. If you have an ac to grind about talent, I think you're off base. Arguably Whaley, and Nix, have put some very good talent on this roster after some horrible first round picks that handicapped this team during this run of futility (Fat Mike Williams, Erik Flowers, Willis McGahee, etc...)

It was written five days ago!

OK this is sort of related and I don't like to start threads but man the talent question is interesting. I'm for talent first and coaching second. But its now the time of year when every blowhard with a website has an opinion on team needs and picks and they are often so laughable that they destroy any credibility the author may have actually had. Gil Brandt, who many like, has the top three position needs as QB, LB, and S. It's certain that few can know exactly what a team's needs are but it should be obvious what aren't needs and LB sure as hell isn't one. And to not mention OL is a joke and underscores how little the average nation honk knows about every team. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000407751/article/updated-2015-nfl-draft-order-top-3-needs-for-all-32-teams

Buy a nibe Bills hoodie or jacket. Never understood someone, much less and adult, wearing someone other man's name on their back. Root for the logo, it always be here (thanks Pegulas) not the players who have zero loyalty to Bflo. With that.... if I were that type and dead set on doing, Freddie is the only option.

Or did the talent just suck? Did you expect improvement from soiled vets like Urbik and Pears and Williams??? The problem is no talent at the guard position. The center and tackles get forced trying to do too much and if they've regressed, which many suggest, how much is because of the failure of the rest of the line?

So who did EVERYTHING to win 9 games this year? Just curious since the head coach, you know, determine just about everything. Just wondering.

Looking to see where the pressure was coming from or if he was going to get blasted? Yeah, that's a bad play. Sorry but any QB playing with CJ in pass protection and behind this line, as far I as I am concerned, has every right and responsibility to "look out" for where he's getting killed from. It's PTSD... post traumatic sack disorder.

My bad.

Yep, one game and he's anointed a pro bowler.

Yeah cleaning house has worked so well in the past.

Not that we should have expected them to get the ball to Watkins, they haven't made that a point all year despite the good that comes from it. Oh well great year for the guy.

Be nice if Sammy gets 18 more to get to 1,000 with this offense.

Nope, everything is KOs fault.

Is every bad KO play all anyone has to make their argument against the guy? He's 11/15 for 143 and a TD and that's just total garbage? I'm not saying the guys a superstar but posting after every he doesn't complete a pass or gets sacked is just bad form.

I'll continue to harp on talent. Coaches are there to mold malleable talent. A lot of it fine tuning quality skills. When you have players who lack athleticism, intelligence and raw talent, who exactly do you could them into productive players? By that argument, every single human being can be an NFL player with the right coach. It's just not try. Pears, Urbik, and Williams are backups playing fulltime and you want to have the OL coach strung up because they're immobile, stiff and lack athleticism?

It's both but Whaley has shown he's very good at talent evaluation. As I've stated in other posts, we've gone through coach after coach who've been fired for what is basically being saddled with subpar talent. You can't turn slow into fast, stupid into smart. They all miss, every single GM misses and often. Whaley is no exception. But he doesn't have a Flowers, McGahee, or Mike Williams (the fat one!) on his first round bio yet. Seriously, Watkins as two first round picks has already surpassed what we got from those 3. Think about that next time we want to run the guy out of town for trading the 2015 first away. I'm all in on Whaley.

This Confora piece is why the media is garbage. He like hacks such as Florio never use names, they cite anonymity (using that as an excuse to make stuff up to drive clicks to make more money). This one is easy to understand. They've all watched the Pegulas take over the Sabres and welcome back former players with open arms, even LaFontaine into management (which worked well). So they basically extrapoltae that out to "This guy will bring in the past" and conveniently there are the Polians. Joke. I can play connect the dots just as well. I read the headlines and this post and to be honest, I'm perplexed why anyone reads this garbage.... it's rarely true.

Very possible but also the problem with the NFL mindset. What is the biggest problem with the team? The OL. OK so let's fire that guy, he obviously has the talent but despite making it all the way to the NFL, just is a horrible coach. What else? Oh, the offense in general? OK, let's fire the coordinator too, you know since he has no limitations on him whatsoever given the massive OL talent and franchise QB. Firing everyone, every time doesn't work. If you subscribe to that argument, that the talent is there and always has been, then why has every coach we've had in the last 15 years sucked and been fired? Let's be honest, it comes down to talent. Every single one of us here has worked in a job with a co-worked who can't be fixed. That despite his degree and years experience is just garbage. Should his boss be fired or him? Him. So why in the NFL do coaches get fired when the talent sucks, which has been the case for the Bills for 15 years? The argument comes down to talent evaluation and they've sucked it for a long time. And it plays out in a very odd manner... the guy drafting the players gets to hire the coaches and then fire the coaches when the players fail.... he gets to pass the blame. I think anyone who can dedicate a few hours today to reading what's out there, watch some video (all-22), and watch today's game should come away with the issue. It's talent on the OL. It has killed the running game, thwarts the passing game, and like any QB playing behind such a line, you regress because the line play is so spotty you can never be confident you'll get the time you need. Does that mean fire Whaley, hell no. People want to complain about the kujo pick, count me in. Some complain about the Watkins deal (not me). Call him out for being in the room and supporting the EJ pick fine (I'll say it til I'm dead.. when you need a QB you have to draft one and in the years the Bills have picked QBs they've picked after the talent, the Manning, RIvers or had to pick one and they were all garbage. the bigger issue might be the years they didnt take one). I see the pro and college personnel departments doing a very good job in the last two years. The drafts have been good (there will always be misses for everyone), they stole Hughes, they pour over the waiver wires and practice squads and have got some intriguing players like Gray and Thigpen. I'm all for letting this coach and this GM ride it out. Put a president of football ops in above Whaley and put Brandan in as the CFO or something along those lines on the business side. If they got a legit TE and 2 guards, they're a playoff team next year with Orton. And no, I'm not drunk or high!!!! Look around this league at playoff QBs who sneak in outside of the franchise guys. Newton and Dalton's numbers are pretty close to Orton. Newton - 13 games, 3,013 yards, 17 TDs, 12 ints, 58.3% comp., 81.3 rating Dalton - 15 games, 3,154 yards, 17 TDs, 15 ints, 63.5 comp, 83.3 rating Orton - 11 games, 2,842, 17 TDs, 10 ints, 63.9 comp, 86.8 rating Neither is a franchise QB. They're good QBs. If we're talking playoffs, Orton can get it done with an improve line, which will make the running game better and along with a TE, make the passing game much improved. I read Jay Skurski's five keys to the game and he basically called out Orton as the problem. Wrong and that's the problem with the media. Yeah he's had some bad moments. But we're not getting a QB in the draft this year, we'd only get a similar one in FA, so I'd take him back back and let EJ compete for a shot while taking a flyer in the 3rd round. Let this group ride for another year!

Levitre must have been the reason. Doh.

I'm confused. So he has nothing to do with the Defense's success but he should be fired because he has everything to do with the Offense's ineptitude? Sounds like cherry-picking what you want to hold him accountable for and what you don't. So he has zero input on the defense? Doesn't get involved with it whatsoever? Drew names from a hat to hire a DC? So much illogical, emotional reactions and ideas on the future of Brandon, Whaley, and Marrone. Everyone wants to highlight failures to justify removal while conventionality ignoring any success. There are some premises or ground rules that should be used in such conversations. 1. No one is perfect. Everyone here seems to be a CEO with an excellent track record, apparently with massive experience in professional sports. 2. Continuity matters. Ever work a job where there was turnover a few times in a few years in a key position. It sucks. Ideas and culture change and many times a good approach gets thrown out the window after a year when someone moves on or is fired. Does this team need to clean house every two years? It speaks to a continual blame on coaching. I think at this point, Whaley is a good GM and they should ride out another year with both. Honestly, ask yourself who would come here and are they an upgrade? Be serious about it. We wouldn't get a premier college coach or a premier retread NFL coach. So as much as people say "Get Malzhan or Briles or Sumlin" it ain't happening. OR Harbaugh. Nope. Without a QB and with 15 years of disaster, this isn't a great gig. You'll get another Marrone. So ride this one out for another year, see if you can find a serviceable QB and have at it. 3. You can't make a QB. It's the hardest position in professional sports. There is a limited supply of franchise ones. Blaming Whaley or Marrone for that fact is a shortsighted. The main problem is.... you have to try, meaning you have to roll the dice and gamble on a QB. This team has rolled and failed, rolled and failed in this 15 years of futility I would argue in many cases because they had to pick someone. And the years they did, the entire crop was garbage. Everyone would have went ape if they didn't draft a QB in 2013, a year full of garbage. Geno Smith sucks, Glennon sucks, Nassib and Barkley suck. If they would have gone and drafted one of these, same results. So instead of drafting garbage late, you roll the dice and try to get the best of the bunch, and honestly, if you've seen these other guys, they all really do suck. You become a victim of your own circumstances. In JP Losman's draft we didn't get a shot at Manning, Rivers or Roethsliberger. Again, victim of our own circumstances. You could argue they should have moved up, maybe they tried and couldn't, which seems likely. They moved up for Losman. Look at the rest of the QBs drafted and you'll see the argument that you can find one later is a laugher. In fact look at the QBs drafted every year. Pretty scary how much junk is out there. You might get lucky with a serviceable one but you don't get franchise ones in nearly all cases. 4. None of this fire and clean house worked under RCW. It was the culture here and it was a disaster. I'm hoping that everyone is back. I've even changed my mind on Hackett after reading some good analysis and all-22 stuff this week on the pathetic line. Honestly, you watch some of that and you realize why Orton went to his first read a lot; why they ran out of the gun way too much and couldn't play action; why so many screens, etc... The line was limiting factor on this offense.