scribo

E-mail from BB.com: Yeah, I wonder what the news is.

Because TD failed by trying to raid/copy a Superbowl team, and now Marv is trying to win by raiding a basement-dwelling team. You see the problem in that now?

It think it is a fair assessment. Yes, Snyder learned the hard way that he cannot meddle so much in the team's day-to-day ops and player decisions. Once he learned that, he figured out it is all about coaching. He kept his wallet wide open and bribed Gibbs out of retirement. Now Snyder does what the hall of fame coach asks, including retaining one of the best DCs and signing one of the best OCs. Make no mistake about it, Gibbs is calling the shots now. Snyder is doing what a good owner should -- giving the coach/GM what he wants. As for the comment "aside from this season, the Redskins have actually been WORSE in this millenium than our beloved Bills" -- yeah, and aside from that Richard my brother is a sister. The fact is that the Redskins' ship is now on the right route.

It is possible. He is still under contract. The Bills apparently have not fired him. So Grey would have to find an NFL team that would make him at least an assistant HC or give the Bills some sort of compensation (highly unlikely on both counts I think). Or he would have to leave the NFL for the remainder of his contract -- I would assume there are some decent universities that would hire him in some capacity.

I'd be happy. I would think Marv and Ralph were bloody geniuses, and I would personally send Ralph an apology card. But it definately will not happen. Ralph doesn't care about his team the way Dan Snyder cares about his.

You are correct, of course. It also remains to be seen if the Bills in fact retain Grey. But this is what news reports are pointing toward. That's all I meant. I will go back up and edit to make that clear.

Well, this is going over well... About 15 hours after the news broke nationally, and here is a sampling of the front page threads: *This Team Cannot Compete in Today's NFL *If Marvelous wiffed this bad on a head coach, just wait until the draft. *FIRE MARV - he's now useless, actually harmful *Bills have no credibility - Fans have no confidence *The sky is full of parachutes - Jauronimo!!! *Go back to Chicago MArv!! Similar to Donohoe's decisions *Dick Jauron - Cousin of Satan *While Jauron might end up being a success, don't try to sell him to us! *Marv "Riley" when does he take over *Its over, why bother watching this team? Jauron is a complete LOSER, boycott!! And the current "Are you happy with the Bills decision to hire Dick Jauron as Coach?"poll is currently: YES 20.73% NO 79.27%

And if I recall correctly he is an Ivy School grad, too.

As several news reports indicate may happen...here's a look at what we MIGHT see next season: GM - Marv = 81-year-old rookie GM HC - Jauron = Straight from the ole boys club OC - Olson = Never-proved-anything (basically) rookie OC DC - Gray = Isn't happy here, cannot make halftime adjustments And, among the assistant coaches, we have Sam Wyche, who I really like but cannot be even remotely happy about the way his buddy MM was treated. Plus, he didn't even get a courtesy interview. Lots to look forward to next season... NOT THAT COACHING IS IMPORTANT OR ANYTHING THESE DAYS

How this guy could possibly be the best OC canidate out there is wayyyyy beyong me. If this happens, it won't be a surprise to me, as Ralph has made it clear that he lied to ll of us when he said money wasn't an issue, and thay he would bring the best to Buffalo.

I agree 100 percent, and that is why I am so shocked that the team allowed that ass to break the news.

The media storm is going to be unbearable for the Bills. It is going to be clearly spelled out that Marv is doing his friend, Jauron, a huge favor, at the expense of the team. The worst part is that it will become obvious that Marv is crazy enough to actually believe this is best for the team as well. Season ticket holders are going to cancel. And... I predict that Ralph will change his mind within the next 10 days, fire Marv and Dick, and bring in Mike Sherman. This will, of course, be worse than even what we have. This crap will only get deeper. The real problem the Bills have now is that without TD, no one is capable of selling us all on the new coach.

Too bad Caldwell is a pass-first kinda guy. That is not a Jauron kinda scheme. Nor is it what the Bills should be looking at. Caldwell will not be a Bill.

I will boycott any newspaper that has a reporter present who does not put the screws to RW and ML. There better not be any soft-gloving today.

No, I don't like those plays.

I am very dissappointed with this hire, but it is nice to read (elsewhere) that Jauron's success has come in the form of stiffling, opportunity-captializing defenses and solid smash-mouth rushing attacks.

No, but, damn, he's the guy now.

Too true. Seasone ticket sales will drop dramatically -- you can count on it. The backlash will last all off season. The media will sense this, know their readership wants blood, and really turn up the heat at the press conference. This is the first Bills move I can remember that has caused me to (however briefly) question my loyalty to the team. OK, so I've come back to earth and realized I can never stop rooting for this team, but I am really, really upset the ownership has so blatantly taken the cheap way out while hooking up Marv's pal. Mabye that last part is what pisses me off the most. IMHO, the Bills passed on a highly-qualified coach for Marv's buddy from Chicago who also just coached in Ralph's hometown.

I land firmly in the third of three choices. I wanted so bad for SOPRANO to be right, I decided to go along with him. I certainly had doubt, but it was fun. Now I never want to hear from him again. This whole thing shows why a poster on a message board should NEVER be given the creditability that a "real" journalist is afforded. If Leo Roth or someone similiar came out like SOPRANO did make such a firm statement that turned out to be false, he'd be fired and wouldn't be able to find another reporting job. SOPRANO gets to walk away with nothing more than a tainted username, which he can dump at any given moment.

Don't forget about technology. I conduct many interviews and other types of meetings all around the world from my office. Teleconferencing is great, and one would assume the Bills have such capabilities.

Ah... the pencils like Sullivan have to tell themselves daily that people without a "real" publication are without credit. And they may have a point. My one real problem with trying to compare a poster on a message board to a journalist working for a newspaper, TV network or even a mainstream Web-based media outlet is that those writers put much more than just a disposable username on the line. Sure, if Soprano turns out to be wrong or full of crap, he won't be able to show his virtual face around here again -- unless he uses a new ID or even a new IP. But if Sullivan or Leo Roth wrote something as definative as what Soprano has written here, and then that journalist turned out to be wrong -- well, he may have trouble keeping his job or finding a new one. Soprano has bet his username on the info he is passing, but he hasn't bet his real name on it. That said, this is fun, I hope Soprano is legit, and I look forward to next week.

That statement holds no water in this discussion. Dan Snyder bought the Redskins because he has been a Washington fan since he was a litltle kid -- not because he necessarily saw it as a great investment. The Bills CAN make money for their owner when they do well -- and even when they don't. If Snyder had been a Bills fan his whole life, why would he move the team? Even if you were from and living in Los Angeles, but you were a lifetime Bills fan, would you move the team? Snyder made plenty of bonehead moves before Gibbs' return, but from my view every move was made with the sole intention of making the team more competitive -- not more profitable. With the Saunders hire and the Williams retention, the Skins are a very early legit Super Bowl XLI contender.

Thanks, BigCheese. It really impresses me that so many Green Bay fans are coming here and defending their ex-coach. I cannot imagine too many Bills fans doing that on a Miami board now that Mularkey is supposedly interviewing there. I also don't recall Bills fans chiming in on Redskins sites, saying nice things about Gregg Williams.

So Caldwell coaches Peyton? How hard can that be? Really... Poeticlaw may be on to something here.

I would be pissed to some extent, as I've forked over some real dough from my two Spikes and Evans unis. Of course, if it really helped the Bills get back on track, which I am sure it wouldn't, I'd be all for it. Hell, I'd paint my house Bronco orange if it helped the Bills win.