Typical TBD Guy

Marv is a health nut. He eats all the right foods and jogs 15 miles a week. His mind AND body are in way better shape than most of the fat !@#$s who post here. I'd rather not have Marv coach either, but not because of his age - because I think he can be a great GM, and I'd rather have him devote all his time and energy towards that.

Allow me to summarize the current debate over Haslett: The argument in support of Haslett: 1. The owner, the GM's, and maybe Ditka deserve at least as much of the blame for the Saints' recent mediocrity. 2. They've been playing in the toughest divisions of the NFC this century - the old NFC West and the new NFC South. 3. Katrina made 2005 a futile effort for anyone. 4. He DID win the division and get the Saints to the 2nd round of the playoffs in his rookie year (the 2nd round of the playoffs is like the Super Bowl for that franchise). 5. Other than Mike Sherman, he is the most attractive of all the realistically available head coaching candidates with previous NFL HC experience. 6. He really wants to coach for Buffalo, which will resonate well with the fans (this never hurts; look at what it did to TD, GW, and MM). 7. He'll come cheaper than most other experienced head coaches, so maybe Marv can convince Ralph to use all this saved HC money on the OC and DC. 8. Supposedly has a good relationship with Wilson and Levy, which could only help in trying to develop team chemistry and cohesiveness within the organization. 9. Lots of head coaches have done better the second time around in new situations, most notably Bill Belichick leaving Cleveland for NE. 10. Supposedly a players' type of coach. 11. Also has pro experience as a DC. The argument against Haslett: 1. Five straight years of missing the playoffs after a great rookie coaching season (7-9, 9-7, 8-8, 8-8, 3-13). 2. He called out some steroid users in the early 80's, including Kent Hull. 3. His team played undisciplined the past few years, ranking poorly in penalties and turnovers. Feel free to add to this debate. Personally, I am undecided over this one. I don't follow the Saints at all, so I know very little about Haslett beyond what I read here. His rookie year was impressive, his final year was understandable, and he otherwise would be a great match for the Bills...but I can't get over the 4 straight years of about .500 ball.

I wonder if Haslett has good relations with Bentley and Howard...

No, sorry. But you need to hurry up. Some of us are already at Mularkey's front door. The catapult with flaming tires is coming up the driveway as I type.

That one grade school teacher just saved our 2006 season !

No sh--, dude. My signature lineup is what I WANT to see happen, not what I think we will actually see happen.

He's probably an unrestricted free agent in March.

Carolina's Mike Wahle...the guard who everyone here last year was saying Teflon should sign, but Teflon didn't Hey, if cutting Moulds means finally getting some legit offensive line help, then GOODBYE ERIC.

Personally, he's my favorite too. But will he last all the way down to #8? We know that Bush, Leinart, and Young will be taken before him. So that leaves 4 more...

OK, I just talked with a good friend of mine who is a smart Seahawks fan. He says that he doesn't think they'll be able to afford the franchise tag on Hutchinson, nor will they be able to re-sign him. So, Hutchinson AND Bentley are a real possibility if we are willing to overpay and if Marv Levy is serious about finally addressing this 10-year+ Achilles Heel of our franchise known as the offensive line. How about this OL????: LT Peters LG Hutchinson C Bentley RG a healthy Villarial RT a healthy Mike Williams, with a pay cut PS: Right now, I don't think the free agent market for DE and DT is all that attractive, so we can focus on these positions through the draft.

A great discussion you've started, sven. You need to post more often. Here's my own take on building a football team. I've ranked the positions by the amount of cap money I'd allocate for them. Interpret this as a general bluprint for success. I didn't bother with the specifics of the money to spend, since it always comes down to the laws of supply and demand for each position in each offseason. Also, I'm only including the starters because I believe the backups that round out a full 53-man roster should be filled only by draft picks still under their first contract or vets playing at the vet minimum: 1. DT's 2. OT's 3. DE's 4. C 5. OG's 6. RB 7. CB's 8. WR's 9. OLB's (standard 4-3 def.) 10. MLB (standard 4-3 def.) 11. QB 12. TE 13. SS 14. FS 15. K 16. FB (standard pro set form.) 17. P 18. LS (usually a backup TE or o-lineman will suffice) My opinion of the OL and DL is very similar to yours, sven. The only truly "weird" thing about my list, I suppose (aside from my high value placement on the C and G's), is my value of the QB position. That's because the definition of "talent" for this position is so complex and so vague that you can find a solid starter here more easily in the later rounds of the draft or the free agent bargain bin than at any other position...with a caveat: you must know EXACTLY what type of offense you're running and exactly what type of personality you need commanding the other offensive personalities on the field.

D'brick...whatever his name won't be around for our #8 selection, and Hutchinson will be franchised/re-signed by Seattle. Bentley can be had, but we may have to make him the highest paid center in the NFL to do so. I am, though, buying into your theory about Mike Williams. I think many people on this board are being ridiculously harsh on him. He reacted to a major death in his family like many guys in their early-to-mid 20's would react to such an occurrence. Plus, my own suspicion (NOT based on any facts) is that Big Mike suffers from some type of depressive disorder, which had only been made worse with his grandma's death plus the ENORMOUS career expectations put on him. Throw in the constant coaching turnover, changes in offensive philosophies since 2002, the injuries, and well...here we are discussing it. I'm very curious to hear how everyone would feel about this 2006 OL, as far as ability and realistic chances of happening: LT: Mike Williams (hey, if he loses weight and regains that motivation ) LG: 2nd round draft selection - best guard available (1st rd goes to DL) C: Bentley RG: Villarial (remember him? he had injury problems too) RT: Peters

Maybe so. With all of the holes this team currently has, I have no problem with going for a bunch of solid players (Darren Howard, Grady Jackson, etc.) over 1-2 superstars. Rtconnor is right. As long as the guy leaves the division... But think about this one, fellow Bills fans: we may be anywhere from $15-25 million dollars under the cap (depending on the EM and MW situation)! Factor in our 8 early round draft picks (plus JJ, PW comp.), and with Abraham or not, this team has a chance to get better quickly!

This website says he'll be an unrestricted free agent by March. I've heard that the Jets are in major cap trouble, so I wonder if they'll be able to re-sign him...assuming they haven't already. Yeah, you know it was coming: "hey, I've heard of him. Git 'er done, Mr. GM-to-be!"

But didn't Ogden spend most of 2004 playing through a knee injury he suffered in the preseason? I think Ogden had a bad 2004 season in general, and not just a bad week vs. the Bills. My original point was that Schobel is vastly overrated as our #1 DE for the moment. I see AS more as a quicker, lighter, Phil Hansen type. Players like him have their place on teams, but our new GM needs to improve the DL players around Schobel in order to maximize his effectiveness...what CTM just said a few posts ago.

I won't. Clements has had a mostly outstanding career up to this season, but that doesn't take away the fact that many posters here were warning the rest of us last year that Clements was overrated and prone to make the type of boneheaded mistakes that even the "elite" CB's don't make from time to time. And that was the purpose of my post - to lend credence to those posters who saw things in our 2004 defense that foreshadowed the 2005 collapse, things that Tom Donahoe and the ESPN "experts" like Mortenson overlooked. For the record, I admittedly wasn't one of these perceptive fans. I was an apologist for our defense up to this season.

Keep 'em coming, Chrissy! To answer his latest question about the defense, there were signs of cracking that TD should have picked up on: 1. Letting Pat Williams go without finding an equal offseason replacement. 2. Aging veterans at safety. 3. Overrated starters - Posey (always sucked outside a 3-4), Adams (always lazy), Schobel (always missing against better competition), Clements (brain farts in clutch time, like in last year's opener vs. Jax). 4. A 3rd down percentage ranked much, much worse than #2...THE biggest sign that our defense was a collection of choke artists. 5. Season-ending screwup in Pittsburgh, as well as both Patriots games last year. All of this WAS anticipated by more perceptive football analysts than Chrissy - or our GM, TD. There were lots of TBD'ers suggesting that this D was horribly overrated last year.

Franchises that have had a worse cumulative regular season winning percentage since TD became GM in 2001: Lions, Cardinals, Texans. That is all. Um, yeah, okay, Mr. Mortenson . I think we Bills fans are willing to take our chances on a new GM.

I can see Peters as a good LT in the future, though not for a couple more years. And does JP have a couple more years? Doubtful. It'd be much easier to just draft our future LT. Gandy is a career backup at either G or T. Doesn't have great lateral movement, and commits way too many penalties for a veteran. He can hold his own against average opponents, but gets totally dominated by good ones. Starting guards are among the easiest positions to fill...if you're a halfway decent GM. It's time to raise the bar for this future OL. I was excited about Preston earlier in the year, but if he can't beat out Anderson and Teague at this point, can he be ready by next season? I'd feel much better with a LeCharles Bentley or a 2nd round C than Preston...though I wouldn't be mortified if we stuck with this guy in 2006. Teague is the main reason why McGahee is averaging less than 4 yds per carry. A significant percentage of 1st and 10's become 2nd and 8's/9's because of this one single player who simply doesn't have the power and leverage to handle your standard-sized NFL DT's. Like Gandy, he's a decent backup but an awful starter. I don't yet have an opinion on CV's future. He's had an unusually terrible year, but injuries may have been the reason for this. Part of me wants to upgrade at RG, but the other part of me knows that there are only so many players you can cut before you have no choice but to expect another season of 4-12. Hey, let's assume for the moment that Big Vagina Williams would take a pay cut...anyone think moving BVW to starting RG would be a good solution?

Small difference. Fan bashing of Ruff/Reiger was premature because both had actually accomplished something for the Sabres (Eastern Conference champs in '99?) before failing to miss the playoffs for three straight years. Tom Donahoe, meanwhile, hasn't done squat for this team after 5 full years. Mularkey's only had 2 years to screw up, but wow...I don't think Ruff ever lost his players like Mularkey has this year. Oh yeah, and both Ruff/Reiger had to put up with a salary cap-less league and a criminal owner while their team struggled. Donahoe and Williams/Mularkey don't have a similar excuse.

Yeah, but the dead cap from those 2 would be about $10 million! Moulds should only be cut if we can land an equal or better #1 WR on the market for significantly less than the $5.5 million we save by his departure (unlikely, I think). Same goes for Mike Williams, though in his case I'm guessing that we can find a better backup LG for less than the $5 million we save ( ) by cutting his fat arse. Also, if you look at clumpy's web site, it should be obvious to all that Posey and Adams are playing their final 2 games as Bills...among many others I'm sure.

For much of the past 5 years (and past 3 in particular), Tom Donahoe has been pandering to Buffalo fans like you. How far has it gotten us? 2005 Record: 4-10 and falling... Enough already. We need to spend close to 100% of this coming year's draft picks exclusively on the OL and DL. And as far as free agency is concerned, I wouldn't waste much money on any of the non-line positions outside a WR to possibly replace Moulds and/or a CB to possibly replace Clements. No joke. Every other position on this team is currently serviceable except for T, G, C, DE (Schobel is a #2 DE and nothing more), and DT...ok, and maybe SS and FS too .

Tell that to the Sabres !

Bettman could have allowed outside suitors from southern or western US cities to bid on our bankrupt franchise, but didn't. Instead, he was adament about respecting our fan base and keeping the 30+ years of pro hockey tradition in WNY. He even made the NHL stand in as temporary owner for a season while the WNY community got its act together, when he could have easily folded the franchise as this would have been the more sound financial decision for the league at the time. Bettman's loyalty to WNY is huge (his alma mater is Cornell University...maybe this is why he has respect for the region?), so I wonder why people here hate him. Care to answer, MBD?

Why do people here generally hate Bettman? He helped keep the Sabres in Buffalo after the Rigas debacle.