silvermike

Cowher left after going 8-8 a season AFTER winning the Super Bowl.

If it's the Shanahans, I'd guess that the Texans would let Kyle out of his contract to go work for his father. Especially given that HC Gary Kubiak is a protege of Mike. If it's the Schottenheimers, I'd say there's no way the Jets would let us take Brian in a lateral move. Though possible: Marty GM, Brian HC.

Jauron's about to get $7M for not working. Even if he gets 2% back on that annually, that's $140,000 a year to live on for a guy who seems basically pretty frugal. He should get a job coaching football at his old high school and relax.

There are basically two options for who's going to be in charge of building football operations in Buffalo: Ralph Wilson or Russ Brandon. Whoever comes in - even if it's Cowher or Shanahan - is going to be hired by one of those two guys. I'd be much more confident with Brandon running that operation than Ralph. Cowher's not getting the deed to the team, he's going to have to report to someone. I think Brandon would be a better boss, who's probably more likely to defer to the coach than the owner.

Um, how good is Chicago's college scouting? Their defensive picks have worked out okay, but they've had a series of major whiffs on offense now.

Being a good special teams coach doesn't mean he'd be a good offensive or defensive coordinator. If it's just leadership skills, it makes sense for him to be considered for HC, but if it's a question of strategy, I mean, why would April have any special insight into the 3-4 defense or spread attack just because he runs good wedge blocks?

Yeah, right now we don't have a front 7 that's well adapted to any defensive scheme. The talent worth preserving is Posluzny, Stroud, Williams, and Schobel, with at least an attempt made at playing Maybin. Stroud and Williams could be two ends in a 3-4, if they could add a big NT in the first round, I think that puts us in reasonable shape, with Maybin, Posluzny, Mitchell, and Ellison at LB. Schobel would likely play situationally as a pure pass rusher in this scheme, and we could end up with a 4-2-5 nickel.

I'm glad Brandon is involved in the search. He's not cut out to be GM, but if someone has to pick out next GM, I'd rather it was Russ Brandon's decision rather than Ralph Wilson's.

I'd say it's Leslie Frazier over Fewell.

Yeah, I'm guessing that will be our solution to the Rooney Rule. After firing Jauron, Wilson/Brandon called up Fewell, and told him he could be interim HC if he promised to interview after the season, no matter how obviously we were mooning after some other guy. If he refused, April would have had the job. Although that only works if we figure he wants to get his head coaching start with this sorry group at the end of this sorry season. Maybe he refused the offer and this is his punishment.

Don't forget the release of Doug Flutie, Rob Johnson, and Drew Bledsoe, the expiration of JP Losman's contract, and the trade of Kelly Holcomb.

All the reports I heard to that effect were before the firing, not after. We'll see what happens now.

Leslie Frazier should be on the list, if we're considering coordinators.

Yeah, I think our best bet is to strike gold on a younger GM with a great eye for coaching talent. Basically on the theory that we won't attract/pay for a proven GM-type coach.

I'd say that about sums it up. You can choose the Patriots offense vs. the Colts defense, needing 2 yards in one play, or the Patriots defense vs. the Colts offense, needing 60 yards in 2 minutes. I'd say the odds are at least even, and I can't argue with a coach who decides to take one play to win the game. I'm just glad it didn't work.

While I endorse the 4th down call, I think if you're going to go for it on 4th and 2, why not run on 3rd and 2? Run out the clock a bit more, and narrow the conversion.

I think I like the 4th down call. You have one of the best offenses of the past 30 years. They need two yards to win the game. What are your odds of converting that play? 60%? 70%? I think that's a worthwhile risk to keep Peyton Manning from having a chance to win the game.

It was the wrong call, but we weren't going to win again anyway, I suppose.

Except for that Super Bowl appearance.

It doesn't matter if Jauron is fired tomorrow or the day after the Indy game. Bobby April isn't going to rattle off 7 wins and get us to the playoffs. We might as well just let this disaster play itself out.

I'd say Jacksonville could be the kind of uglyfest that ends our way. They're just the kind of team that plays down to the Bills. Garrard throws a pick six, the Bills trail 14-13 and recover a muffed punt, win 16-13. Ugliball. KC is terrible. We might be able to beat them on the merits. Miami/Jets: I wouldn't be surprised if we won one of these. Medicore division teams lose to their awful rivals fairly often. The last three are sure losses unless Manning/Brady/Ryan are resting after clinching homefield (seems unlikely for anybody but Peyton). And even then it's iffy. So I think if everything goes our way, we could finish 7-9. I'd say 5-11 is most likely.

The reason I want Jauron to be cut today is to remove the possibility that he turns in a 3 game winning streak to go from 3-10 to 6-10 and gets retained.

If we lose to Jacksonville, it might be time to run for the bus.

Wow, Fitzpatrick is really terrible.

Edwards pulled here - not sure why, exactly.