Bob in STL

His trademark is no tradmark. I guess without the 8 Pro Bowlers that he had in Dallas his defenses are not very good. Perry Fewell did much more with less talent.

Easy one, there are so many. 1. Bryan Cox - no reason need be given. 2. Nick Bonicontti - constantly bragging and he was an awful host on his show with Lenny Dawson 3. Bob Kuechenburg - Big mouth offensive gaurd 4. Louis Oliver - talked the talk but could never walk the walk , he had one big game against us and spent the rest of his career getting burned 5. Dan Marino - just because of his tendency to whine and complain.

Or learn the slightest thing about defense and special teams? Or play his best players in critical situations?

What can be done to change the direction? First - talent, then coaching. Great coaches can only do so much with limited talent. Great talent makes mediocre coaching look good. You want to win the super Bowl? Fix the talent. Look at Bellick before Brady if you question this logic. To change things we need a few impact players on defense. I do not think we have any right now but we have a few good ones in Williams, Bryd and maybe Gilmore. Dareus is a maybe, but is stock is falling. Mario is an enigma of sorts, the kind of player not willing to take the role of leader. We have nothing at LB. --- So if talent is needed first I look at the GM and his scouting staff for the lack of talent. Coaching is next, again I look at the GM. This GM hired Gailey and he stressed "offensive minded" coaching. That is what we have. Gailey hires a college level coach to be a DC, then a retread in Wanny. Gailey does not coach defense and leaves it all to his DC. Looks at the results. Gailey is a nice guy and a good offensive coordinator. Unfortunately he does not cover all the bases required of a top NFL coach and his game management is poor. --- So if coaching is second then I look to the GM for hiring the coach and his staff. I think the whole mess lies with Nix. He has control of the draft, the scouts, the coaching and all football operations. Ralph hired Nix because "he knew him". Nix is a very good scout but he is proving to be not smart enough to control everything, including which players to draft and when. That is Ralph. Given Ralph's well documented limitations, fears,and inadequacies the best move he can make is ask Nix to "retire" and then promote Whaley. I am tired of change (we all are) and tired rebuilding every 3 years. We all know that is not the answer. Bringing in Whaley at least provides a thread of continuity that should prevent us from gutting the team, including the good players, while moving forward with a young and bright guy running the show. Whaley should then have the same freedom that Nix had and hopefully his first move is to hire a new head coach.

The blame should first be on the players. We have a bunch of softies on defense. Other than Kyle Williams, Gilmore and Byrd the rest play with no passion. Mario Williams is a blamer and not a leader at all. Dareus has become a cream puff. Teh LBs are atrocious and the weakest part of ther team. Second is the constant change. Three years ago we had a bunch of 4- 3 Tampa 2 players and a Coach (Fewell) that was at least getting something out of a lackluster group. Then we spend of bulk of two drafts to build a 3-4 defense and we did not find even one really good player in the bunch. Next we switch back to the 4-3 and bring in a lazy lout like Super Mario and a DC (Wanny) that is out of touch with todays NFL. Good intentions but poor execution by the lame front office. Right now it is just so hard to believe our LBs are so bad, Then there is Scott and Wilson and I can honestly say I wish we kept Whitner. Wilson is especially bad, he appears to have hit a wall and is in rapid decline. The drafting has not been good for over a decade. It is hard to believe that we cannot get lucky once in a while.

When they play Barnett oand Scottt at inside LB they get pounded ... yet they continue to go with this crazy formation. Shep is below average i think he is one of the guys that misses assignments. Barnett is ready to retire. At safety Geoerge Wilson is simply abysmal. Donte Whitner looks pretty though.

No way Chan gets fired. Chan needs to close out the season and then be accountable for his part in this mess. I would like to see Buddy Nix "retire" and then Whaley take over. First move by Whaley should be to replace the headcoach. I can dream can't I?

I have news for you, Wilson is already is better than Fitz. Today proved that. Need we remind you of Drew Brees? Wilson would have been a better pick than Graham. Look at who we have after Fitz. It is possible Graham would have been there at 4 for us anyway.

Lambs duck owner? I thought Wilson was an insurance guy?

That is the problem .. Wayne does not deserve to be in Canton. He would have been an above average WR in other eras, not a great one. Reed will get in. Stallworth and Swan were stars in the era when 40 catches was a big number in the NFL. Both made th HoF way after their careers ended. Reed's time will come.

I would have went for it but I really did not mind the punt, especially with the lead and the rain coming down. I think the timeout was the true sign of a poorly coached and poorly prepared team. Football 101- take the penalty, give the punter more room.

Bradford was very comfortable on that last drive. He converted a fouth down and two third downs. No DL pressure when we needed it most. Lets not forget George Wilson dropped two ints. He makes a play and we win and Wanny's defense gets bigs props. Would wilson start on any other team in this league? Where are all the Whitner haters now?

I agree that we are better on paper. Still, we cannot go any further in wins with the curerent coaching staff and the QB that we have. Fitz has not had a 4th quarter win in how long? Chan's tactical errors are getting comical to the rest of the league. How about calling time out so that you can take your FG team off the field and then punt from the other teams 35? Seems like a 5 yard penalty would be ok at that point and not worth losing a time out over? How about that critical 3rd and 9 and we throw deep into double coverage to an unreliable rookie (with Spiller sitting on the bench)? I am sure Chan will say "we say something that we wanted to take advantage of". Sure Chan. Or you can put your best player on the field and make the Rams account for him. Jeff Fisher must be laughing his arse off right now. He comes to Buffalo worried about CJ Spiller and Spiller touches the ball 8 times and no touches in the last 9 minutes.

Jackson is offically old for a RB. He is over 30 and hitting the wall. He should be second team and owuld make a decnet role player. Time to make Spiller #1 and stop the nonsense.

Because we are losing on purpose to get a better draft choice. Then we can draft the best RB in the draft to replace the departing Spiller.

I don't think he is afraid to gamble, you should not gamble in the red zone and he should not have too. I think the problem is he does not use his best players. Was Spiller even in on any red zone plays today? Was that Tashard Choice with the ball on the second last drive, the one were we needed a drive with two or three first downs to ice the game? Chan coaches like a guy who has never seen his team play before.

Right on. I sure hope Wood does not have yet another serious injury. Too bad ... he has a promising career otherwise. Very solid player and potential as a team leader.

Really? You feel sorry for Fitz? Do you watch him play? Explain the passes tot long, too short, too high, too wide, and in the dirt? Explain the interception against the Titans at home while supposedly protecting a lead? Fitz has a good line and the best RB combo in the league. There are some playmakers around him but he cannot deliever the ball with accuracy and he cannot get the ball downfield. Good QBs make their teams better. Fitz's play is making our offense worse than it is. Fitz is making a ton of money and he barely has the talent of a back up QB. He has the arm of a third stringer. Feel sorry for the fans. Fitz is doing quite well especially given his limited skills.

After Stevie, Donald Jones is the best we have. Talk to Buddy about that. Maybe if David Nelson was healthy it would be different? Ask Chan what happened to the TE.

It was the correct call unfortunately.

Whats wrong with the offense is easy ... Not enough Spiller and way too much Fitz. Defensive Coordinators that face us are catching a huge break. If I am the coach I ride my best player. Chan, what is your story?

Even with his two big plays he was horrible most of the day and missed a lot of open receivers. Hard to beleive that we have no other option at QB for two years in a row. The worst part of the Fitz mess is that there is no prospect to play. Buddy Nix should be fired. That will take care of Chan, Wanny and Fitz.

He is learning fast and right now he is the CB on the team.

What BS. The ref made the right call. Gimore had his left arm draped around the receiver. If Stevie were held like that you would want a call. Look at the stats - - The defense did not make the stops on third down. The coaching sucks on this team. The refs did not cost us the game. We did not make the big plays. ---------------- To the original topic: Punting was a stupid call indeed. We already got the big break on the Colts interception-turned-fumble. How about some low percetage passes and then a punt? Never even try to stretch the filed. That is what the offensive genious Chan came up with. In that last series how about two carries for Spiller, knowing you have 4 downs to work with, that might have kept the chains moving for us? I am just betting that Defensive Coordinators around the league are relieved that Chan refuses to ride the best player on the team. Defenses dictate to Chan what he will call. What kind of coach consistently sits out or decoys his best player when he gets to the red zone? Punting was a Jauron-like decision. A loser decision. Take a shot Chan, grow a pair please.

Are you kidding us? Williams was fine today. The entire DL was very good today. We have minor league LBs and it showed today. Even with that our dfefense help them to 13 points. Kyle is the last person I would call out on this defense. The absolute last one.