silvermike

He is a standup guy. That's why he should be fired with a handshake, a press conference, and sincere best wishes.

They didn't blow the game yesterday by being conservative, they blew it by being jaw-droppingly stupid. You can't hire another team's assistant as a coordinator without their permission, by the way. Most teams grant it, though there are some exceptions - Tampa Bay most notably.

Our line has actually, secretly, played okay I think - Preston is a disaster, but despite a gap in the middle, they've been opening holes and giving JP time to throw (not that he uses it). Say we bring in Alex Mack and some veteran depth? Would that satisfy you that we could have a solid, reliable front five next year, or do they need more starters at T and G?

It seems that the biggest problem under Marv was drawing up a list of needs, then going down and taking the best available player at each need. I can't say there was a much better safety on the board when we picked Whitner, and McCargo was distinctly the best available DT at that point - even if he hasn't lived up to his projections, he was the top choice at the time. I don't think there was a better DT that anyone would have taken in that spot. You keep going forward - Youboty was the best available CB; Lynch at RB, Puz at least a wash at LB with Harris (may be a little generous), Edwards of course at QB, McKelvin at CB, Hardy at WR - even Chris Ellis, though I'm less certain of that. But the team seems to have no ability to differentiate between talent at different positions: just because we need a SS more than a DT (arguable to say the least, but even let's grant it's true), a reliable SS is never going to be worth more than a gamechanging DT. It's like Jauron was drafting, called the scouts and said "who's the best available tackle? Okay, take him". And so on. Rather than assessing relative needs. And the trades-up were never worth it.

ZING!

The Cowboys used our pick on Spears, not Ware, who went with their own pick at #11. However, we could have drafted Aaron Rodgers if we stayed there, and gave Bledsoe one more season instead of giving up the farm to move up. But yeah, Sanders would have been there, and since we grabbed DT Anderson in the 3rd,w e might have grabbed DT Tank Johnson in thes econd.

Okay, I've gone back over the drafts from the post-playoff era, and broken our first day draft picks down into three categories: 1.) Successes. Not much explanation needed. (S) 2.) Priorities failure. The Bills drafted a guy whose position and talents did not match the team's needs. (PF) 3.) Scouting failure. The Bills drafted a guy who wasn't the best available player on the board at his position. Player is compared to the next picked player at his position. (SF) I know comparing players only to the next drafted is simple, but I don't have a ton of time now; I'll refine this later. Let me know what you think about these evaluations: 2001: 1st round: Nate Clements. Anticipated departure of Antoine Winfield and the inadequacy of Kenny Irvin. S. 2nd round: Aaron Schobel. Maybe not a superstar, but a reliable choice in the 2nd. S. Travis Henry. Sammy Morris has proven worthwhile in his later career, but this seemed to be a clear need. And a very good pick. S. 3rd round: Ron Edwards. Bills were scary thin up the middle, but Edwards was a marginal pro most of his career. However, the next three DTs off the board were Kenny Smith, Marcus Blade, and Willie Bell. I'd take Edwards in that lot. S. Jonas Jennings. Solid LT, late in the draft for one. Ryan Diem was one of the next three T's drafted, but the next one was Kenyatta Jones, who is worse. S. Whitey started off so strong - 5/5. 2002: 1st round: Mike Williams. Uberbust. However, it's undeniable we needed a great tackle. There is the LT/RT issue, but I'm sure that if he was really a top-5 talent, we'd either be thrilled to have him at RT or would have been able to move him to LT. SF. 2nd round: Josh Reed. With Price on the way out, we needed another receiver, and Reed was a great prospect. He's been a marginal pro, but better than Tim Carter,the next WR taken. S Ryan Denney. Role player at best, this seems like a bust. But again - at least DE was a clear need (the Bills had started Schobel across from a retiring Phil Hansen). And the next few DEs were total crap - Denney's career has at least exceeded Will Overstreet, though injuries may give him a pass, so we'll go on to Dennis Johnson, next on the board, who has been awful and bouced out of the league. I'm starting to question my system here, but this is an S. 3rd round: Coy Wire. Was Strong Safety a need here ? The team had been starting Raion Hill, in his only few pro football games. Can't fault them for trying, but you certainly can fault them for getting nothing more than a special teams player. Nothing special on the board, but if you're picking betweeen crap and crap, pick another position, it's not like this team didn't have plenty of needs. SF. down to 2/4, and those aren't a great 2. 2003: 1st round: Willis McGahee. Huge priority failure, and he has clearly been outmatched by Larry Johnson, next RB gone. SF AND PF. 2nd round: Chris Kelsay. Definitely needed a DE, as Denney was not establishing himself too well, so you can't fault the priorities. Next DE taken? Osi Umenyora. SF. 3rd round: Angelo Crowell. Can't complain - the LBs needed someone and he's performed well. THis is a hit. S so, 1/3, including a double-fail. 2004: 1st round: Lee Evans. No complaints in any way. S. JP Losman. Ow, my brains. Can't complain about the fact we needed a QB, but the next one up was Schaub. SF. 3rd round: Tim Anderson. Can't complain about choosing a DT, just this bum? Isaac Sopoaga was next. SF. 1/3 2005: 2nd round: Roscoe Parrish. Priority failure clearly, with Evans and Moulds holding down the fort, but the next guy wasn't anything better. PF. 3rd round: Kevin Everett. Not going to grade this one. 0/1, bringing our total for TD up to 9/16, though a more unimpressive 4/9 after a brilliant '01 draft. 2006: 1st round: Donte Whitner. Obvious and painful priority failure (what's so wrong with Lawyer Milloy?) though he is better than Jason Allen, I think. PF. John McCargo. Right idea, wrong execution. Total washout, and though Claude Wroten is nothing special, he's still playing football. SF. 3rd round: Ashton Youboty. Needed a CB with Nate threatening to leave, and the replacement was clearly worse here. Still some promise, so I'll say this is an S. 1/3 under Marv's first season. 2007: 1st round: Marshawn Lynch. Great pick: S 2nd round: Paul Posluszny: Solid pick, anyway, but I gotta say that our trading up for him - rather than 'settling' for David Harris, shows that we really scout well here. SF. 3rd round: Trent Edwards: Needed a QB pretty badly, as we can tell now. And plus, he's had his ups and downs, but would you really rather have Isaiah Stanbeck? 2/3 So we're running .500 with Marv, 3/6. I think it's too early to judge Brandonball, but I will say that each of our picks hit a priority. Whether they did it well, well, we'll see. But I think the thing here isn't that the Bills often whiff terribly - from '01 to '07, they were 12/22, which is at least above 50-50. The problem is that so few of those hits earn extra-bases. We draft narrow not-busts rather than dynamite stars.

We play Jacksonville every year, it seems.

Particularly because we had a pretty good SS who's still playing pretty well.

Yeah, I've always supported Whitner, but he's needed to take the next step for a long time now and he hasn't done it. He's a good enough tackler and a viable starter, but that's not worth the #8 pick, considering how much talent was on the board at positions that were needs then are are needs now.

Oh yeah, this is the only thing that's holding us back from serious playoff contention. Give me a break. The Bills have a lack of talent on the field and smarts in the staff. Deferring, location of coordinators, and demeanor in press conferences are not problems that have cost us wins.

The Bills could easily have colonized the Capital Region in the past decade if they had appeared in at least one playoff game. Without any reason to keep a marginal fan interested over there, the good will they built up in the 90s has atrophied away to nothing.

Hey, this year's skins went from 6-2 to 7-6.

I had been iffy on Billick but if he brings Marvin Lewis, I'm sold. Russ Grimm and Raheem Morris are still at the top of my list, I think.

I'd defer every time. It's great to go into the second half knowing you have an extra possession in your pocket. And I'd rather start the game with a defensive stop than a 3-and-out punt.

Let's expand to add Quebec City, Moose Jaw, Medicine Hat, a second team in Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Yellowknife and just have a 64 team tournament like in the NCAA.

Any coach who would comein with the current head coach assumed as his defensive coordinator isn't going to be lighting a fire under anyone.

The Dolphins are your top choice for a backup team? Go ahead and root for a football team on the rise. The Buffalo Bulls.

I'm not convinced Whitner is fully healthy. But since going down 7-0 means a lost cause with this team, I really can't blame anyone on the defense for thinking their cause has become a little hopeless.

Not a good sign for the Bills or for Jauron?

What bad coaches have won a Super Bowl? There are plenty of cases of coaches with exceptional talent going out in the first round. And adding one top free agent doesn't exactly give us exceptional talent at any other position.

Cowher or Peppers? No question about it. Cowher.

Whitner wasn't a great value pick at #8 in 2006, but he's not a bad starting safety. He's certainly a better choice than spending ANOTHER high draft pick on a safety.

It's also worth nothing that opposing offense never have to take any risks against us, because they know that our offense will just punt it back to them. If we EVER had a team facing desperation, we'd see a few more sacks and picks. Additionally, losing our best (such as he is) pass rusher in Schobel set us back, and Crowell and Bowen took a nasty bite out of our LB corps - not to mention persistent injuries to the DBs. They've been an above average but unexciting defense this year. Give them back their health and one solid playmaker, and they'll make the jump to elite. Adding only one playmaker to this offense would lead to one frustrated and pissed off playmaker.

Who do you suppose we replace Whitner and Peters with?