RuntheDamnBall

Why would anyone want to come here if we fire our fourth coach in the past ten years? Why would Cowher want the job more now when SD and Miami are likely to be open? Why would anyone spurned in the last hiring process want to take the job now? Why do we want to give up on Gailey when it's clear that he can do the job when he has something to work with? Nick Mendola pointed out that the offense has seen a greater single season improvement in points scored than at any point in the past decade. That's Gailey, working with next to nothing over the second half of the season. The first solution here is to hire a reputable DC, who may already be in house. Then they have to add A LOT of talent at the LB positions, re-stock the CBs, get some more WRs, and look for some quality depth with starting promise at OL. George Edwards is an incredible failure, and Fitz is lost this second half of the season, but I haven't seen enough to say that it's time to give up on the current strategy. This team was starting from rock-bottom with Nix and Gailey, and I know it sucks, but we are only near the end of year 2. Year 3 should give us the evidence as to whether they are turning the corner or just treading water.

Now how the hell does that make sense? What exactly have they put you through? And do you think the players enjoy losing, getting hurt, and getting their asses kicked? And if they were to somehow miraculously win and embarrass Tebow or New England, they would have "put you through" less misery, and given you something to enjoy.

I agree with you. I rate Moore more highly from what I've seen. People call Cam Newton a winner after one season doing so in D1 and another in JuCo. Moore has a greater body of work, and growth, to show. He also plays in the cold, and he has had to play plenty of winning teams despite BSU being in the middle of nowhere in BCS terms. R4 would be a steal. R3 would be fine with me. R2 makes me nervous because then you are really starting to put pressure on the kid. I am not saying I would take him over Griffin or Luck, but if the choice were to trade up for Barkley or sit and grab Moore in R3, I'm choosing the latter - it gets me another player and a solid QB who can sit behind Fitz and learn the pro game.

I wouldn't compare MLB, though three of those teams have been pretty bad for most of that time. The margin between not making the playoffs and making them is pretty slim, and I hesitate to say that a team that makes the playoffs from the weakest division is ever as good as the third-best team in the AL East. I'm not just saying this because I'm a Jays fan, even though I am.

Maybe he's secretly hoping that Merriman gets cut, gets picked up by the Jets or Ravens, dominates, and gives us something new to complain about.

Where's the "deep voice" guy?

If it's all downhill from age 27 then you've got a lot of front offices to savage. One of our best players on D (Barnett) is a supposedly broken-down and older LB. Merriman's a relatively inexpensive reclamation project. Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't. Maybe he yet will. We're not saying "wow, amazing pickup!" We're simply saying that the pressure looked better with him in there. He allowed other players to do their thing and though it didn't always result in sacks, it resulted in some defensive success - penetration, hands up, turnovers... Also, please share with us more of your intimate knowledge of biology and how steroids work. + this.

We should re-sign him for as reasonable a price as can be gotten, though this FO for some reason doesn't do with some players what it does with others - extend them before they get too expensive. That price has been going up all season, and it was bound to. The goalposts get moved once you get into the season, and if they didn't like the price in August, they sure aren't going to like it now. Did we not see this with the Sabres in the past? That said, the bean counters do have a role - an advisory one. If we can get a guy like Barnett for less than half of what it costs to get Poz, that's a good football move that coincides with a good business move, which makes it doubly good - better product = better returns. I'd hope to see the people responsible for the financials making that kind of advice. We talk a lot here about how bad Russ Brandon was; and he was. He was a marketing guy. I wouldn't mind seeing the Bills taking a real market mentality to football evaluation, though, looking for undervalued players and skill sets. In baseball we see that executed well in Tampa Bay and we have seen it done well in Oakland in the past. It's my hope that Whaley is perhaps that kind of guy.

Yep. I saw this, too. He was also being held like crazy. If they're holding you, it's obvious you're demanding attention.

And before the game: "That's a tough Bills team," "They don't give up." "They have a lot of injuries, but this is still the NFL and anyone can win on any given Sunday." "Spiller is elusive. We'll have to work hard to stop him." And... cue beatdown.

DD, I like your style most of the time, but isn't it disingenuous to suggest that since the results weren't that bad in this case, that they justify the means? It is bad operational strategy to have too many people in on the football decisions, especially if it's the people with less football acumen who are dictating them. The idea that this is a bottom-line run organization that ultimately doesn't care enough to put a winning product on the field is nothing new here, and really, until they prove otherwise, they kind of deserve that criticism. I do think some (so far, mixed-results) decisions correspond with a desire to improve - Merriman, the Fitz extension, Barnett, good scrap-heap acquisitions at TE, RT... But until they make the playoffs for the first time in twelve years, they own the criticism and the responsibility for making it right. If they don't, 25,000 empty seats will be a September phenomenon, not just a playing-out-the-string December one. They ought to realize that this hurts the bottom line more than a few extra Mil going Stevie's way.

You may be right, but the way Dallas spends vs. how Buffalo spends are two completely different animals. Dallas actually spends enough to be in cap danger and has elite players to pay. Hangartner was getting paid slightly above going rate for a backup or average interior OL. For one more year while you find out what you have, it would not have been throwing good money after bad. I think Hangartner at OC while everyone else can maintain their positions would have been better than Levitre, then Urbik (who has performed OK) and multiple shifts. Urbik should have been able to stay at RG.

Welcome new GM C.J. Leak.

last thing from FB [typos included] Despite the near unintelligibility of this, I feel for the guy. He's been durable, and I hope he doesn't leave to ply his wares elsewhere. The Bills will be even more lost without him.

I get you. But honestly, there are very few good receivers who aren't showboaty, flashy, "me" guys. And, I think, at least Stevie rates among the more genial category of those guys. Growing up - sure. I don't want to see him costing his team penalty yardage. That said, there are times when Bills receivers are getting mugged out there and nothing gets called. I am sure he's getting tired of it. I'm sure he's getting frustrated. I'm sure he's pissed that he's not at 100% and can't go as all-out as he intends. I'm sure he's mad about his own mistakes - celebrations and drops included. This is a really trying part of the season. Remember the "bickering Bills"? Those guys needed to grow up. Then they did. SJ is producing like no other receiver we have. He is one of the few around to beat Revis lately. If this team isn't ready, it isn't because Stevie Johnson isn't. It's in part because it doesn't have another receiver with a fifth of the talent, at least not that we know of. That's all.

Did you miss the part where he is playing with a torn groin, bad knee, broken fingers and separated shoulder while being chased by large, athletic men who want to kill him, or are you just choosing to ignore it? I imagine if you were playing in the NFL with just one of those limitations you would be crying like a little girl. The guy is trying his ass off and he is the last talented man in the WR corps standing, basically hobbling. And fans like you want to see him go. I sure hope you don't get what you deserve with a wish come true.

Believe it or not, it can get worse than 7-9. Reaching for Losman at #13 most certainly would have been worse, and could well have resulted in reaching for another receiver in the future.

Because obviously they didn't work hard enough to persuade a team dead-set on drafting Cam Newton to surrender that pick. Ideally they would have done this by mortgaging the future completely and trading as many draft picks as it would have taken. If not, there was always the backup plan of getting Carolina to accept Kelsay, Maybin, Donald Jones and Chad Rhinehart packaged with the #3. That should have gotten it done. Nix failed us here.

To make an irrelevant point.

throw him some mad money.

And then you never get Andre Reed or Don Beebe or Pete Metzelaars. Those occasional exceptions have to be less than occasional to make some hits. The draft is an inexact science.

The problem, to me, is that there are several volumes on how to beat the Bills with your offense. One is with relentless slants and screens, another is to run on them once the injuries hit, because depth is a problem. Yet another is to attack the CBs who won't make a play on the ball (McKelvin) or the inexperienced guys. In essence, the problem is that there are far too many variables right now to assess why this defense is underperforming. It's a combination of: 1) not enough talent in some positions 2) poor coaching and assignments 3) inexperience, which means that #1 could improve, or... it might not improve. 4) poor depth The offense isn't looking great right now but I think getting #1 center back, addressing OL depth, and picking up a couple of receivers will have them back in business. Give Fitz time and a few more reliable targets and it should get back to what it was in the early weeks of the season. The defense looks like a bigger problem to me. It doesn't matter how good your offense is if you can't stop the other team. The Bills will not be winning track meets for a long time, IMO.

THIS.

That "Spark of excitement" = players executing and generally playing well against the NFC West. Besideswhich, the comparison between Harbaugh and Fewell is completely bonkers. What in God's name makes you think that a Tampa 2 defensive coach who was Jauron's understudy has anything to do with a guy who played QB in the league, had actually been a head coach for something other than an interim period prior to his hiring, and is generally regarded as a solid offensive coach? Lots of yelling and excitement? Is that all it's going to take? Jesus, I do that every Sunday. Hire me, I come cheap and passionate.

So... he was acting just like a young version of a receiver that helped Cincy finally get to the playoffs? Oh, Jesus, that sounds terrible. Get your head out of your a$$ and listen to yourself.