silvermike

The dude would be absolutely devastating in a wildcat formation - there's a lot you could do with Tim Tebow other than have him be your everydown starting QB. If he starts to slip for some reason, I wouldn't be surprised to see him end up on the Dolphins or Patriots, unfortunately.

I'm really not convinced that the owners would have decided to make less money just because they were paying less in salary. Jerry Jones would just be richer, and he'd be buying players from the Bills instead of signing our UFAs. If anything, with lower salaries, football teams would be a safer investment, meaning more people would want to buy them, they'd be more valuable, and therefore more difficult to purchase for a local group.

Just out of curiousity, he're the all-active, all-Bills-drafted team. Let me know if you have any thoughts: QB: Trent Edwards, JP Losman, Todd Collins RB: Marshawn Lynch, Willis McGahee, Shawn Bryson (I'm assuming Travis still gets suspended) FB: Sammy Morris WR: Lee Evans, Roscoe Parrish, Josh Reed, James Hardy, Stevie Johnson (look familiar?) OT: Jason Peters, Jonas Jennings, Demetrius Bell OG: Brad Butler, Mike Pucillo, Aaron Merz C: Duke Preston (only center drafted since 1995. This may be why we suck at this position) DE: Aaron Schobel, Ryan Denney, Chris Ellis, Chris Kelsay DT: Kyle Williams, John McCargo, Marcus Stroud (trades are fine), Tim Anderson LB: Keith Ellison, Paul Posluszny, John DiGiorgio, Mario Haggan CB: Nate Clements, Antoine Winfield, Terrence McGee, Jabari Greer, Leodis McKelvin (our clear strength) SS: Donte Whitner, George Wilson FS: Ko Simpson, John Wendling

Could the Bulls beat the Bills right now? They'd certainly have them outcoached.

I think this issue here isn't that Poz is a bust, but that we gave up a draft pick to get him. I think he could be a great player. Is he a third round pick's worth better than David Harris is the question here. I don't think I could say that he is. I'm not sure it was clear at the time.

Free agency makes bad teams better and good teams worse - I think a more competitive league makes for a more interesting league. And I should note here: If you don't like the holdouts under the franchise tag, get used to ten or fifteen holdouts per team if there's no unrestricted free agency and it's the only option to negotiate.

I wonder if this would sting more or less if the Juice were a member of a Super Bowl winning team in Buffalo.

1/) Officially. Tickets are available, but they are returned visiting team tickets, and other fudgeables 2.) Nope, on TV 3.) Hasn't been announced 4.) No. 5.) Spring, but they haven't announced a date

Um, no. I like free agency as long as the salary cap is there to protect the balance in the league.

I have no idea what's wrong with the Sabres. How do you get 46 shots on net and come away with one goal?

The best defenses play the scheme that fits their staff. The middling ones stick to a scheme even if it's against their talent. And Kansas City and Detroit just have Arena-league talent. Note that both TRADED AWAY their best defensive linemen this spring.

The 3-4 isn't easier to staff - the key positions are the defensive linemen, and good ones are absolutely required. It worked for us because we had Bruce Smith.

I think there are a handful of coordinator level guys who really stand out - Spagnolo, Russ Grimm, and Josh McDaniels. Plus a wild-card in Raheem Morris. I'd say the Marty/Schotty/Billick kind of guys are more likely to get a team to the playoffs in the next five years, but the next Super Bowl to be won by a coach who's not an HC right now is probably going to be won by a current coordinator.

Kelly really is banging his drum about keeping the Bills in Buffalo after Ralph gives up the team. I wish he wasn't such a blowhard so I could tell if he had anything to back that up.

What if it took moving to a stadium in Manhattan? Still in-state, no border crossing, easy flight - still 100% not the Buffalo Bills. If the Bills can't win in Buffalo, then I want them to keep losing in Buffalo until the city turns it around. A game or two per season up at the Skydome, sure. But the team is the Buffalo Bills, and their home is in Western New York. Anything else, well, you might as well find a Browns fan who roots for the Ravens.

I heard it. He was really frustrated. I hope he's right in being optimistic that there will be a new ownership groupu in Buffalo

I'd say Spagnolo, Grimm, McDaniels, and Moore are the most intriguing options from this list.

Spags is making about $2M per season. If Ralph isn't willing to pay his coach as much as he pays a medium-talent guard, it's pretty hopeless.

How high would you guys be willing to take Alex Mack? If we end up picking #11 or so, would that be too soon for a center?

I haven't seen any mock drafts that say we're going CB - I wouldn't trust those that do. I've mostly seen DE.

Also see my rundown of experienced coaches here: http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?showtopic=78069

If Ralph and Russ decide to pass on an experienced coach, these are the guys commanding the top units in the league, plus a few more who have gotten some serious buzz lately: Offense (by points): #1: New York Giants. OC: You don't wanna know. #2: New York Jets. OC: Brian Schottenheimer. Son of Marty Schottenheimer, considered as a candidate for the Miami HC position after Nick Saban bounced. Ranked 25th and 18th the past two seasons, also was the QB Coach in San Diego and trained Philip Rivers. #3: Arizona Cardinals: OC: Todd Haley. Ranked #7 in 2007, WRs coach previously with Jets, Cowboys, and Bears - no notable names on the resume trained. Also notable: Asst. HC/Offensive line coach Russ Grimm. O-line coach in Washington in the late 90s (trained Jansen and Samuels), and the Steelers from 2000-2006. Considered for Bears job that went to Lovie Smith, Steelers job that went to Mike Tomlin. #4: New Orleans Saints. OC: Doug Marrone. Ranked 5, 12, and 4 in his three seasons there. O-line coach with the Jets from 2002-2005; I can't think of any major linemen he brought up there. #5: Green Bay Packers: OC: Joe Philbin. 4th last year, 22nd the year before. Has previous coached Green Bay's offensive line. Defense: #1: Pittsburgh Steelers: DC: Dick LeBeau. 71 with an unimpressive stint as HC with the Bengals, but then, it's hard to blame him for that. Defenses ranked 1, 3, 11, and 2 with another #1 in place this year, also #5 with Buffalo in 2003. #2: Tennessee Titans: DC: Jim Schwartz. Lost out to Mike Nolan for the 49ers HC job. Also interviewed in Washington, Miami, and Atlanta this season. Ranked 25, 11, 13, 30, 29, 31, 8 and now 2, though admittedly, the Titans had some salary cap problems in there. Has worked with Football Outsiders if you're into that kind of thing. #3: Baltimore Ravens: DC: Rex Ryan. Son of Buddy Ryan. Interviewed with Baltimore, Miami, and Atlanta before returning as DC under Harbaugh. Ranked 10, 1, 22, and now 3rd. Defensive assistant there during their Super Bowl. #4: Tampa Bay Buccaneers: DC: Monte Kiffin. Great coach, but has not been interested in a head coaching position and will likely join his son Lane in the college ranks next year; Secondary Coach: Raheem Morris. Defensive assistant 2002-2004, 2006-08. Defense ranked 1,4, 9, 8, his first stint, 21 when he was gone, and 3 and now 4 since his return, though it's probably a big exaggeration to attribute that drop off to his leaving. The pass defense has been ranked 6th or better every year he's been on the staff. Considered to be a very hot prospect despite not being a coordinator. #5: New York Giants: DC: Steve Spagnolo. Terrific coach last year vs. the Patriots. Ranked 17th during the regular season based on points, had previously been a linebackers coach in Philly. This isn't an exhaustive list of course, but it's at least the top few bananas.

Here's the situation, I think. Coaches that have been fired, were fired for a reason. They're decent, but they're not the kinds of guys who are that likely to suddenly discover that they're great coaches. They're pretty good to average coaches. Obviously, there are exceptions for guys who left voluntarily (Cowher, Vermeil), but the average ex-coach is a longshot to suddenly turn it around. Admittedly, they've been on a hot streak lately (Coughlin, Dungy, Belichick), but I'm not certain that Billick, Schottenheimer, or the other guys are that caliber. With Morris or another coordinator, there's a lot more risk, and I think, a much higher reward. Morris COULD be a world-class HC; we're pretty sure that Marty isn't. Or he could be the next Rich Kotite - we also know Schottenheimer's not one of them.

Based on our track record, which coaching hires should we be terrified of coming to the Bills next season? The ones I see us going with - tragically: Dom Capers Dave Wannestadt Perry Fewell Any others spring to mind?

It's frustrating, but this team has done at least 25 terrible things in the past year that bother me more.