BarleyNY

Retaining Schwartz as DC and adding a strong offensive mind as HC would have been the way to go. Jackson and Gase definitely would have been on that list. But not Pederson - that guy's a trainwreck.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36400365 Seriously. He's 96 and used it to save the life of a woman who lives in his retirement home. It was the first time he had ever used it to save a life. "Staff had rushed to the table when the woman started choking, but stood back to allow Dr Heimlich to carry out his manoeuvre."

Whaley & Co. have been giving some very large guarantees in the larger contracts. Much larger than what is standard practice in the NFL. It seems to be their way of getting deals done. Buffalo hasn't been a primo market and they seem to be utilizing the larger guarantees in lieu of bigger overall contracts. It carries some significant risk, but it's not the worst strategy. It will be interesting to see how it works out.

And I find it embarrassing to watch people make s*** up out of thin air to try to make a point or seem superior to others.

Why? He's 35 and has made $62M in his 13 year career. He is either going to take a smaller deal on a strong contender or look for a big payday (relatively speaking). He'd certainly be a lot of help at a position of need, but I just don't see the Bills dropping 5 or 6 million on a one year deal for him.

I've been critical of the Bills this offseason - and they've deserved it - but I agree that there has been some very unfair coverage. The Buffalo News has been off the charts unfair, just ridiculous stuff coming from them. The national media has been critical, but much more fair overall. They aren't treating the Bills any differently than they would most other teams. For example, Whaley's recent comments from any other GM would have been ripped the same. Some people here are very sensitive to any criticism too. It would help this board if everyone could differentiate between: "Shaq Lawson is an excellent prospect, but was an overdraft at 19 because of the labrum tear. The Bills should have drafted another player at 19." and "Shaq Lawson is a bust." A lot here read the former as the latter.

Lol. Doesn't everyone who hires someone to run something keep them in that position until they think they can't do the job? Is there an NFL owner somewhere who likes to leave a GM or HC in place long after they lose confidence in them? Yeah. Rex was disappointing for sure, but Bowles was awful. He was particularly terrible at game management.

I give you Mike Mularkey, head coach of the Tennessee Titans. That seems to be their opinion regarding retaining him this season. And they're wrong. Retaining him for a second season is a horrible decision.

I couldn't get through the article. There's only so much I can handle of someone telling me how great they are. I understand that some people have big egos and that some people like to talk a lot, but it seems to me that if you're so great then it'll be easy for most people to see. You won't need to talk about it yourself because everyone else will take care of that for you. If it's true.

6th round pick

Yeah, but you need to have continuity with the right people or you'll just be continuously mediocre or poor. The Titians are opting for continuity with Mularkey. How do you think that is going to work for them? I read a study about successful people awhile back. One of the main points it made was that they typically failed - and quit - a lot, much more than the average person. Two of their best traits were: 1) being able to identify ventures that were likely to fail early in the process so they didn't waste time and resources on them and 2) continuing to believe in themselves so they kept trying new ventures. Eventually something clicked and they made it big. In essence, they did the opposite of what is usually praised in this world. They almost never saw things through. Over and over again they quit, usually early in the process.

But of course!

Oh, so witted. And he's totally from Sardinia. Wasn't it obvious?

I think eball was just being sardonic.

Agreed. He'd have to run a much different offense in the NFL than he did at Baylor. Some team may give it a go with him, but it'll be a mistake.

Yeah, because problems usually go away when you ignore them. God forbid they actually get acknowledged and addressed. Hope the hole you keep your head in is comfy.

No. It's about a GM, HC and other team representatives doing things that people in their positions should know better than to do. Of course the media was going to run with Whaley's "violent game" comment. That shouldn't surprise anyone, especially Whaley. That's why GMs generally don't make comments like that. They are supposed to know better. And, again, it wasn't one comment - it's been a parade of issues.

The Bills look bad right now to pretty much everyone who isn't a Bills fan. Go ahead and stick your head in the sand or pretend that's unfair if you'd like, but I'd wager that if this was all happening with the Dolphins or Jets you'd be talking about how bad they looked. And you'd be right.

What am I overblowing? Sure, if - and it's couple of big ifs here - things settle down and the Bills get into the playoffs this season, then none of this will matter. But what if they don't? And what if the recent series of missteps is indicitive of deeper problems in the organization? That is what I'm worried about - and worrying about something like that (as opposed to insisting that it is definitely the case) is completely warranted here.

Obviously they have a lot of interaction with the man and I'm not hanging him here - plus there seems to be a lot more responsible parties than just him. I guess I didn't finish my thought on the Pegulas. They have to be concerned about recent events and I would naturally expect that to lead to them tightening the ship. That's what I'd hope would happen at least.

I'm sorry for your loss. It's never easy and you had a great one. My dog turns 3 today, which means it's been almost 4 years since our dog, Barley, passed away. I'm so sorry. Hang in there.

Each individual issue we've seen the last few weeks isn't a huge deal in a vacuum, but collectively they're starting to paint an ugly picture. How much stuff has Whaley, Rex and the team had to walk back lately? Just off the top of my head there's: - Whaley's comment regarding people not being built to play football. Walked back with a very league-approved "clarification". - Whaley's comment about getting 3 immediate starters from the draft (an odd thing for a GM to say since the coaching staff selects starters). D'oh! - Whaley's response that there was no concern regarding Lawson's shoulder when questioned about it immediately following his selection. Whoops! - The Bills immediately revising their new media rules when some of the dumber rules were questioned. - Rex's decision to introduce Trump at his WNY rally, which led the team to release a statement distancing themselves from his appearance at the event. The Bills have looked very incompetent recently. It's like no one is stopping to think before doing anything. I'd love to know how the Pegulas are reacting to all of this. It can't be good.

It is usually better to move on quickly from a mistake than let it linger. If Pegula does not think that Rex and Whaley can be successful, then why not move quickly? Just make a good choice so you don't wind up flipping coaches and GMs every season. And on a more depressing note, I see the fans on this board rip the Browns a lot as a horrific organization (and maybe I'm a bit sensitive to that since I'm from Cleveland). That's fair though because they have been so very bad for such a very long time. But the Bills are pretty close. Over the last 15 years the Bills have exactly 15 more wins than the Browns. That's an average of being exactly one win better per season than the team everyone uses as the reference point for being the biggest long term train wreck in the NFL.

I addressed my thoughts on this in another post, but I'll rehash it here since I cut my response to you short. I'd call their seats warm now, but that could change quickly. Another .500ish season probably gives both Whaley and Rex another year, but with very hot seats. A very bad season and we probably would see them get the boot. Texture is important. Are they competitive throughout the season? Does Rex still have support of his players? At some point things like injuries, lack of talent at important positions, etc. aren't excuses, they're self-created problems. However it works out, I'd expect Whaley and Rex to stay or go together. I think I was wrong about Rex. I really thought he was a good hire, but he really disappointed me with the way he handled the defense last season. He's going to have to fix what ails that defense to change my mind this season. Whaley is more interesting to me. He's done well with some things (Darby!), but is raw (see recent comments made to media as an example) and has made a fair number of moves that I really didn't like. Since Rex got here it sure seems like Whaley is shopping for the groceries that Rex is telling him to buy, but I don't think that saves him if the housecleaning happens. Pegula didn't hire him and there's a reason his extension goes through the same season as Rex's contract. Whaley might just need a bit more seasoning under a quality GM and I wouldn't be surprised to see him be a very good one down the road.

Players and teams sign agreements prior to players practicing. They state that if the player is injured during practices, conditioning or other team related activities they will negotiate as if the player had not sustained an injury. Teams have to honor those agreements or no player would ever practice again without a signed contract.