Maguire's Beer

Here's hoping no one drafts him and we get him as a UDFA. But I wouldn't count on it.

Sounds like a guy with a lot of character, at the very least.

Would have preferred Unger, but glad they took a starting C rather than reach for Britton.

Agreed. And it would be a solid pick.

Pass. Pick up OT depth later, take Unger now.

Uh-huh. You keep thinking that.

Regardless of how merited the reaction is, we're already seeing a lot more of it over the past hour. Not a good thing, but not surprising.

Yeah, I expect the taboo against wishing death on our elderly leader is likely to be honored more in the breach than the observance in coming months.

True. But. I'd rather be a Lions fan. The Lions don't have one foot out of Detroit. What makes being a Bills fan in 2008-09 so uniquely agonizing is that you can't say "there's always next year." Every year feels like it could be our last in Buffalo.

RW: Roger, I've got an update on Operation Toonie. RG: Yes, Mr. Wilson? I'm all ears. God knows we need to start pushing this along -- after three years of JauronBall you're still selling out every game in Buffalo. Meanwhile, we could barely sell out our Toronto showcase! RW: No problem, young man. I'm issuing a statement today indicating not only that I'm keeping Jauron . . . RG (excited): Yes? Yes? RW: But that I might be keeping the entire offensive staff. In the name of continuity. RG: Ohhhh, that's brilliant. There's no way that you'll be able to sell tickets in Orchard Park next year -- and that brings the Canadianizing process one year closer. Still, though -- I really do think you should resign JP Losman. You know, just to really crush their spirit . . .

OK -- after a closer look at the ESPN report, I think that they're simply mischaracterizing the Wilson statement. They don't claim to have any extrinsic information about the rest of the staff, and the Wilson statement doesn't address any staff members other than Jauron. So I'm still expecting Turk to be sacrificed.

Of course, if ESPN is right that the entire staff is sticking around, this thread is moot. In that case, Ralph is criminally insane, and Jauron is a Svengali. That said, I think that the four-letter network is misreading the RW statement. There's nothing in there specifically addressing the staff other than Jauron.

You have GOT to be kidding me. I was certain that Wilson was going to give us Turk's head on a pike and claim that it represented real change. Uneffingbelievable.

I doubt it. Wilson doesn't make that "statement" without exacting Jaron's assent to the firing of the entire offensive staff. Jauron gave up Turk et al to keep his job. Not sure how I feel about that.

I'm really starting to think so. It's the Paul Snyder way.

When Wade was given the ultimatum between keeping his job and keeping control over his staff, he chose his staff (incompetent as Ronnie Jones might have been). When Mularkey was given the same choice, he followed Wade and quit on principle. Dick Jauron appears to be willing to do whatever it takes to keep his job. It's clear from Unca Ralph's "statement" that Turk and the rest of the offensive staff are going to be sacrificed here, and Jauron appears willing to go along with it. I can't decide whether that's good or bad. On one hand, there's something noble about standing by your guys when told that you have to fire them. On the other hand, maybe Jauron realizes that the offensive schemes and playcalling were a joke, and wanted to can Turk et al himself. I mean, it's not like Jauron didn't take hits for Turk all year -- the most obvious example being the JP rollout blame. Maybe he's had enough, and wants to start fresh on the offensive side of the ball. Yet there's still something troubling about Jauron willing to at least appear to all the football world like a craven puppet of an erratic owner -- even if it was the right decision. I wanted to see Jauron fired, even though I strongly believe that we're going nowhere as long as we don't have a strong GM in place. But given that we've got the structure we have, and given that we're stuck with him . . . does it make you think more or less of Jauron that he was willing to throw Turk under the bus in exchange for one more year?

I guess you need to drive a Bugatti to get the straight dope these days.

Sh*t on a stick. No GM and a coach with the testosterone levels of Betty White. I'm telling you, this is the Paul Snyder playbook.

Well, this gets back to one of my hobby horses. I'd like to see the Super Bowl -- and for that matter, the Pro Bowl -- played in a neutral city every year, with cities bidding for the game a la the Olympics. The profits could be spread amongst the teams. Imagine how much Vegas interests would pay to host the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl back to back.

Man -- if you thought that star players feigned injury to duck playing in the Pro Bowl before, wait till it's in Jacksonville or Detroit. It's a pity. Honolulu supported the game with gusto.

I'd like to pretend that I wouldn't watch the NFL, but I would, and I'd probably end up following the Skins out of sheer proximity. That said, my Skins fandom could never be the same as the way I feel about the Bills. I'm still a kid when it comes to the Bills. I've followed them for almost 30 years, for as long as I have memories. I'd follow the Skins, sure -- but they wouldn't matter to me like the Bills.

Indeed. Littman's involvement is an old story at this point, and it has been at the heart of the club's problem in the 15 years since he chased St. Bill Polian out of OP. We need a GM before we hire a new coach.

Hmm. YOU would say that.

This, of course, is the problem. Wilson is meeting with accountant Jeff Littman and marketing ace Russ Brandon (and Florida resident Tom Modrak) to discuss head coach Dick Jauron's future. If he fires Jauron, he'll be consulting with Littman and Brandon (and Modrak, via conference call from the links) about who to hire as a new head coach. And he'll be consulting with Littman and Brandon (and Modrak, via conference call from a sloop 20 miles off Bimini) about free agents, and the draft . . . We don't have a general manager with authority over player and coaching personnel, and Wilson isn't inclined to hire one. This is the problem. Changing coaches, without addressing the vacuum at GM, is akin to shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic (or, more appropriately, on the Canadiana -- a once grand ship slowly decaying en route to a final resting place in Ontario).

I'd rather see Turk Schonert given the GM /HC/EVP for Football Operations package.