Lori

Towards a man Simon likes and respects as much as he does Marv? I doubt that. You think it was just a coincidence that when the signings of Kelly, Dickerson, and Levy as guest analysts were announced last fall, Levy was the one who ended up on Simon's show? I don't. Clutch: Not before April? Hmmm...

When the "talks aren't going well between Wilson and Mularkey" quotes were coming out, the general consensus semed to be MM had guys he wanted to keep. I'm beginning to think it went the other way, with MM telling Wilson he might as well fire him now if he wasn't going to be able to bring in a defensive staff more to his personal preference. (Like, maybe, being able to generate some semblance of a passrush without blitzing on darn near every play?) At this point, playing some 3-4 next season wouldn't surprise me. (Not necessarily saying I'd AGREE with the idea, but I won't be shocked if I see movement in that direction.) Wade Phillips managed to convert the SD defense in a single offseason, and Mularkey watched an awful lot of good 3-4 D while he was in Pittsburgh... Right now, just something to keep an eye on vis-a-vis personnel decisions. Very nice, with the Rasputin reference..

Okay, you're a homer. So am I. After all, Shane Conlan is a big part of the reason I became a Bills fan in the first place. There are more pressing needs elsewhere (did I hear the offensive and defensive lines mentioned? Thought so...), but if Marv could find a way to address them and still get him here? Sign me up for a Puz jersey right now.

Yup - the same unit that would resolve their differences and end the following season in the Super Bowl. And, I might add, doing so without Levy calling out players in the media or benching/suspending any of them. Hmmmm....

Short version: After Schopp/Parker went off about the Losman/Vincent incident, Donahoe pretty much locked out the entire station... even including Howard Simon, with whom he'd previously had a decent working relationship, after WGR hired him that November. Speaking at a conference last April, HS mentioned he no longer had the same level of access to players/admin he'd had at WNSA/Empire. Schopp tried to spin it into "we can't get interviews because we don't pay the team like the 'official team stations' do", but he and Parker were ultimately to blame. In the post right above yours, I included a link to Chuck Pollock's column in Thursday's Olean Times Herald. He covered the situation fairly well, and (to be honest) could have added a few more examples of the petty crap OneBillsDrive was pulling with the entire press corps this past season... My opinion: Donahoe had every right to be upset at the two guys responsible for the Losman/Vincent thing, but his retaliation went too far. It would be like shutting everyone at the News off because he didn't like one of Sullivan's columns.

Middle-of-the-pack points-wise, but (thanks in no small part to Larry Johnson) stomped everyone in the playoffs/Super Bowl. All hail "Chaos Theory"!

PSU-Miami, January 1987. "Vinny Testaverde has a bright future as an NFL quarterback. John Shaffer has a bright future as a financial analyst." That may have been true -- Shaffer is doing well on Wall Street, last I heard -- but he also has a national championship ring from that season, and Vinny doesn't.

Agree, with one exception: if there's somebody out there who thinks he might have a decent shot to be elevated to the HC position if/when MM does get canned, he might roll the dice.

Indeed. Direct quote, from a GR pregame show in December 2004: For those of you who got to see the first PC Tuesday - did you find Ralph's rip-job on Sully hysterically funny? I know I did. (And judging by the background laughter, most of the other journalists there seemed to enjoy it as well.) "Every time you ask a question, I have to increase my dose of Prozac..." One more media-related thought, since it seems to fit well in this thread: while Donahoe saved most of his vitriol for Sully and GR, he also managed to torque just about everyone who covers the team. (Read Chuck Pollock's latest column for his take on that.) Some of the WGR hosts DO go over the top; not counting ChuckieD, the two mentioned in the title of this thread are by far the worst offenders. But from the many times I've seen Donahoe speak in person, I've come to the conclusion that he never passed up an opportunity to take a few cheap-shots of his own. A few weeks back, Pollock used the phrase 'bunker mentality' to describe the atmosphere around One Bills Drive. How appropriate. Marv Levy's title might include the words 'Football Operations', but one of his first jobs will be to repair the P.R. damage caused by Donahoe's heavy-handedness. As always, just my opinion...

Exactly. Draft, free agency, the new assistant coaches... plenty of stuff to talk about.

If he/Modrak/whoever can find some upgrades for the offensive line, then yes, I do. 'Smash-mouth' doesn't work very well when you can't trust your team to convert a fourth-and-one.

Of course, The Stadium Wall had the Jerry Gray info twelve hours before WIVB....

In theory, I might agree with you. In practice, though... Randle El might not be a big guy, but he's got at least 25 pounds on Parrish. Also, he can take a hit - he did plenty of that playing QB at IU - and he knows how to block. I don't see RP excelling in either of those areas any time soon, and I don't see how he'll ever hold up as a full-time #2 WR. Just my opinion, of course...

Not hard to believe. When I think "smash-mouth" offense, Roscoe Parrish isn't the first guy that comes to mind.... ...or the second... ...or, well, anywhere in the top 1,000 or so....

Threepeat this, "Choke-sign" Carroll.

Chad Pennington vs. Eddie Robinson. Aw man, now I'm gonna have nightmares tonight....

De nada. Just giving credit where credit is due...

Howzabout a late-night *bump* for this thread?

They haven't executed you yet? Crap.

Nice sig line, by the way. But I dunno if I buy Marv as Joliet Jake....

According to BillsDaily.com, Teague is a free agent.

UPDATE: Both WGRZ (2) and WIVB (4) led with the press conference/Levy story. Ed Kilgore now cites two sources in saying Levy will 'aparently' be the new G.M., and the official anouncement could come as early as tomorrow.

Marcus Allen was a great RB who spent the second half of his Raiders career splitting time with Bo Jackson, which didn't do anything to help either player's stats.

Two of the 6:00 local news reports (WIVB and WGRZ) reported as much -- but at least in Channel 2's case, couldn't confirm beyond a single unnamed source within the organization. No official announcement has been made yet. Here's the story link for WGRZ. All it says is this: And considering my name was attached to that Bills Beat entry even though I didn't submit it, I'm happy it's been removed. (Sheesh - I try to submit stuff, and get ignored... )

You mean, for every single game? The NFL.com Gamebooks have them, but I've only got those downloaded for the last three seasons. Not sure when the media guides started including them, but I can check that pretty quick.... ...okay, looks like the player-participation charts only go back about ten years. As for the coaches, the media guide has a list of names/dates, but doesn't list job titles for the assistants. You'd have to go to the guide from whatever season you were interested in. If there's a website for that, I'd love to have it, but I'm not aware of any. You looking for any year/s in particular?