BuffaloWings

Well, this is the same guy who was just happy that he got his 1,000 yards after the Meltdown in Miami. Tells me that his attitude was affected by the disorganized state of the Bills a year ago. I'll give him some time, but if he pulls a TO and demands more money before camp starts, that's the last straw for me with him.

This has also led to problems in the red zone (IMO). They keep the TE in to block and rarely send him out as a potential target. Thus, the offense becomes more predictable and easier to defend in the red zone, not to mention overall. Having a good pass-catching TE isn't the biggest key to an offense, but when you have one as an option, it make the offense a little less predictable. Oh, how I long for the days of Pete Metzelaars and Jay Riemersma....

I also agree....seems like once a player mouths off about how he's the best in the league, it comes back to bite him big time. That said, Nate is still a good CB. I almost want to throw out last year's performance based on the overall play of the defense (note, I said *almost*), but with a new coaching staff in place, maybe he can turn things around and be the Nate he was in 2004.

Hard to say, really. But this goes to the whole "character" thing that Marv has been preaching. This is why guys like Beebe never gave up on a play like that, even though it would not have affected the outcome. If I had any say in training camp, the first thing I'd show the players is the video of Beebe chasing down Lett and the video of Ben Watson chasing down Champ Bailey. Nothing shows more heart and effort than those two plays.

The problem as I see it with Kiper is his arrogance. I don't know much about his background, but a lot of his predictions seem to be ones that I'd make, as well (I just watch football and enjoy it as a fan...never played organized football, but watched it over the years and have become somewhat familiar with players and teams and who needs what, etc.). In the past, he's criticized teams very heavily when they don't draft the guy he expected them to....almost as if he's embarrassed that he made the wrong prediction, so he takes it out on the particular team. What I don't understand about him being the "draft expert" is why can't E$PN use the NFL and college analysts we see all year long. The NFL guys should know what the teams are looking for and the college analysts should know which players fit those needs. We never see Kiper during the season and then he comes out of hibernation in mid-January and we're supposed to believe he's an expert. This doesn't mean he's doing nothing from September through January, but E$PN is better off having him do some college analysis during the season so they can at least make him look credible. I think I don't like him primarily because of his arrogance and some of his unreasonable/outrageous opinions. Not to mention, when you put him and Theismann at the same desk during the draft, you'd rather turn the sound off and just watch the scrolling bottom line.

I don't see how this is a valid complaint...just because this is a team's first trip to the Superbowl doesn't mean they should lose so us Bills fans can be happy. This concept doesn't bother me because the Bills were - in my opinion - the best team of the early 90s. Not winning the Superbowl doesn't change that for me. Frankly, I'm happy to see Seattle get to the game. Like Buffalo, this is a city that has gone without winning anything for a long time. Think about how you'd give anything for the Bills to win one...Seattle's in the same boat. If they win, then great. So, in answer to SDS's question, I think I'd rather see the Steelers lose again. As much as I like & respect Cowher, it would be nice to see all of the bandwagon Steelers fans sit down again. They knew winning in the 70s, so it's time once again to see them experience a loss in the big one. There is some retribution...Giants fans got to experience losing the big one (and badly, too) in XXXV. What I'd *really* like to see in this game...a missed FG to lose the game, so Scott Norwood isn't the only kicker to live through the hell.

I just want to know who's going to be Murph's analyst sidekick....

If Sherman didn't work out because he wanted too much power, then I'm ok with him not coming on board. Generally speaking, look at the head coaches who were also GMs. I don't have details on all of them, but one example is Mike Holmgren. He went to Seattle in 1999 to be coach and GM. They made the playoffs in year 1, but underachieved since then. Holmgren's GM duties were removed before the 2004 season and Seattle got significantly better. It just seems that when you have a coach that is also the GM, it takes away from the coach's ability to coach. The coach's duties become significantly increased with the "distractions" of being a GM - contract negotiations, cap issues, etc. - all of which take away time from his duties of game-planning. When that happens, you have a less-than-impressive product on the field. Being just a coach allows more time for game strategies. This just goes to show how good of a coach Holmgren is, when he has the time to just focus on Xs and Os.

This is sad...not even a decent college b-ball game on TV for me, and I'd rather not watch basketball. Bowling is on E$PN right now.

Yet another "journalist" poking fun at the upper management. I'd rather hear these guys just say it was a bad choice than to turn it into a Saturday Night Live skit.

TD was a good cap manager, but made terrible personnel decisions. He did get the Bills out of a bad cap situation, but it didn't take him very long. Once they were out of it, he still tried to get bargain-basement talent and let the coaches try and work miracles. This puts everyone in a bad situation. My feeling after 2004 was to open up the QB competition in camp between Bledsoe and JP and let the best man win. It just seemed bizarre to me that the management handed JP the job - in February - with virtually nothing to base it on. I can't say whether that was a Mularkey thing or a Donahoe thing, but either way, it was clearly the wrong move. I can list the other personnel snafus and questionable draft picks by Donahoe, but I'd be here all night.

No. I'm pretty much sick of the whole thing, but I'm also used to it now. The worst I got it was during the time I worked for a guy who was a huge Cowboys fan. Once he found out I was a Bills fan, he never let me hear the end of it. It got to the point where he would make idiotic "Loser Bills" comments during meetings and while I was trying to work with him. Just remember, all the comparisons will stop once they win the big one.....right?

Denver can't stop them on 3rd down...seems like Cowher is outcoaching Shanahan in the first half.

Personally, I'd ask what will it take to beat the Patriots. Going up against Bill Belichick has to be the bane of everyone's existence these days, so defeating the Patriots would go a long way towards making everyone in this organization happy. Of course, I might ask what we'd need to improve on the team in order to do that....

I was in college at the time, recovering from a very bizarre Saturday night out the night before. The Bills just kept scoring & scoring. Kelly & Thurman were on fire and the Raiders seemed to have no chance. I'm still amazed to this day how dominant they were. Even on cruise control in the second half, they gave up nothing. Wow.

Yes, it's too late. A team has to petition the NFL to change their uniform at least a year in advance, I believe. I'm not completely sure of the timeframe, but there is a petition process and I don't think it's something that can be done within a few months. I hate the road jerseys, myself, but as we've said....bigger fish to fry right now.

Yeah, but I think Tolstoy is right here. After a while, these Parcells/Belichick disciples are going to be so far removed from the root of the tree that it won't make a difference anymore. Maybe the jets are thinking they're "stealing" something away from Belichick, albeit a somewhat unproven coordinator.

It doesn't need to happen right this second, but the teams have been filling these vacancies this week primarily because the Senior Bowl is next weekend and they want their coaches and staff in place ASAP to look at players for the draft. It would be nice if the Bills had everything in order soon, but they should also try not to rush it, like you said. Don't underestimate this, either. This is usually a huge scouting venue and if you have your staff intact and ready to go, your organization can have a plan going into the scouting trip and you can come away with good ideas on what players to draft. The problem is that the Bills are about a week behind everyone else, thanks to Mularkey dropping the bomb 6 days after he said he'd keep the job. Thanks, Mike.

Well, Mike Martz is running out of time unless he really wants to coach the Raiders. He's publicly said that he'd rather come back as a head coach. I guess my point was that given these guys are highly-regarded coaches/coordinators doesn't necessarily mean they'd be willing to coach under a guy they just competed for the job with. I don't disagree with MadBuffaloDisease...I just think we shouldn't expect these guys to come along. If they do, I'll stand corrected and hope they do well.

Your ideas are well-intentioned, but I have to disagree with all of these. Do we really think that if Mike Sherman takes the job, he'll bring in these types of coordinators? I seriously doubt it. About the only guy on this list that would be possible is Jim Bates and I'm not holding my breath for him. And why would Jauron want to be a DC in Buffalo if he wasn't selected for the head coaching job? Think about this...guys like Martz, Jauron, and Capers *want* to be head coaches. Yes, they're out of a job right now, but that doesn't mean they won't hold out for the one they want - even if it takes a year or two. From my experience (watching as a fan, that is), coaches will bring in guys that will work with them and buy into their systems - just like they do with players. This is why players like Dave Meggett and Curtis Martin and coaches like Belichick, Weis, etc. followed Bill Parcells around - they play for him and work with him. This really gives the best chance for the coach and the team to succeed. We have no idea how Sherman (still presuming he'd be the man) would work with someone like Martz or Capers...men who have it in the back of their mind that they could be head coach if Sherman failed, instead of being concerned about producing a winning team. Whoever is hired as the coach, I'd be more interested in seeing if he brought in his own guys as assistants. And remember...Jim Bates was DC in Green Bay for the last year of Sherman's 6-year tenure, so I don't know if we can consider him a "Sherman guy". Having said that...yes, it's possible that some of these recently-have-become-available coaches might want to be a coordinator, but I wouldn't put any money on it. And speaking of money, the big exception would be Washington, where Daniel Snyder shelled out gobs of money to get Marvin Lewis, Gregg Williams, and now Al Saunders to be coordinators...money being the factor, in my opinion.

I really think this is a move to just be sure that the Bills cover their bases. I'd rather see the Bills interviewing more candidates than picking the first guy that "knocked their socks off". I think Capers is probably one of those "good/excellent coordinators, bad head coach" guys, but it never hurts to get his ideas.

Yet many rumored him to be a candidate for almost all of the openings. I'm mildy surprised he wasn't even called in by the Bills. Maybe not everyone is convinced that he has turned around the Ravens' offense.

This is probably all a ploy by Marv & Ralph to leak Sherman to some and Jauron to others. They'll come out with an announcement on Saturday saying they've hired someone nobody expected.

It *shouldn't* be because Pittsburgh is still playing...assistants on playoff teams can interview and do everything under the sun for a HC job while their team is still going. However, it just can't be officially announced until said playoff team is done for the year. I can *maybe* see why the Lions don't want to wait, so they can have a staff in place for the Senior Bowl, yada yada yada, etc. But if that's the main reason they're not hiring Russ Grimm (if that's who they really want), it's a pretty poor decision by mgmt. Given that this is the Lions, it's starting to make some sense.

Just goes to show TD's character and how much he cared about Bills history. Jerry Butler was one of the first Bills I remember watching play in the early 80s (along with Joe Ferguson, Frank Lewis, and Joe Cribbs). I never heard a bad word about him.