RuntheDamnBall

"MCCARGO MAKES A PLAY!" Come on, Rich, he's just surprised like the rest of us.

Well, they did install a security system, and I think that on the other hand, instilling a lot of pride in the neighborhood will do a lot to help people be vigilant on behalf of one another. Again, not a fan of the show, but I was pleased to see their approach to this one, where it was really about helping the whole neighborhood -- and the neighborhood helping itself.

Facts suck! They also faced two opponents who laid down for them after Rex declared his own team out of the playoffs, Wade-style. I think the Dolphins are actually far better primed to own the division if Ronnie Brown can heal up and they sign a legit receiving threat (thank heavens for the Parcells-T.O. feud!). They had to play a different game when Brown got hurt. The Jets got a lot of luck and happened to play some good playoff football, but they are flawed.

I'm actually not crazy about this show in general, and I know that Buffalo's past has warranted some cynicism, but it's kind of sad to see it so present in this thread. Some good kids are going to get to go to college and a nice family was the center of a whole neighborhood effort that really brought out the best in a lot of people. I guarantee that most of the volunteers did not appear on TV, and it could actually be possible that people just wanted to be part of something larger than themselves. Buffalo could use more of that, and we can at least wait to see if these people make good on their promise to pay their good fortune forward.

Must hurt you to hear the Saints stole that title from your Pats*, who have been the beneficiary of more gift calls than any team I've ever seen. The good teams get the calls, and Favre got a few, too (the Hargrove hit that shook him up was way legit). Call it how you want, but they went to booth review on three calls on one drive to at least try to get it right. Prior to two minutes left in the game they are not even going to go there, and the original call is going to to stand.

Absolutely noted about the 8-8 playoff trip. But if 8-8 is the worst he did with declining resources (the aging "triplets," etc), I think it's safe to say that the guy's worst results were better than Jauron's. Chan also strikes me as a guy who learns from his mistakes. We'll see if this is true. At the very least, this should point to more hope than we're seeing around these parts.

Not so, friend-o. I simply said he's got more of a record to judge at the HC position than does Frazier, and that the Bills can't really afford a wild card right now. By the way, which aspects of Gailey's record do you confuse for Jauron's? Is it his 8 winning seasons as a college head coach, compared to Jauron's zero? Is it Chan's having gone 2-for-2 seasons of .500 or better as an NFL HC, compared to Jauron's 1-for-5 prior to joining the Bills? His two trips to the playoffs in two chances versus Jauron's one in five with the Bears, one in 8+ for his career? Is it the four Super Bowl staffs that Chan has been a part of (Jauron has been to zero)? I'm not singing Chan's praises. He wasn't my choice. But he wasn't the worst choice, he may be the right choice, and he certainly deserves some time before being called another Jauron. His winning record in the NFL and two trips to the playoffs should be enough to earn him a little benefit of the doubt. My only point here was to question your own: that Frazier was hands down a better choice for the Bills at this time.

Did I say "great" in reference to Gailey anywhere in my post? Please point it out to me and I'll delete it. BTW just because Orton is not an answer to their woes doesn't mean he's not better than any QB the Bills have

Prove it. There's nothing to suggest that Gailey was necessarily looking for another OC job. Maybe he was, but no reports indicated he was eagerly interviewing for those positions.

By "better sale" do you mean better PR choice and/or more fan-appreciated choice? I'm sure optics figured into the discussion after this season's disappointments, I am definitely not sure that the fan choice is unequivocally the best football choice. Frazier may yet be a great coach, but I'm less certain he would have been the right coach for this team. He would have been coming into his first shot as the #1 person responsible for gameday decisions. He would have had to oversee an offense for the first time, even if he had a hands-off approach and left things to a notable coordinator like Saunders. (If this had been the case, would the offense have been in better hands with Saunders than with Gailey?) The offense has needed fixing for years and the Bills brought in an experienced hand and a guy who has done more with less. Defensively, I will be happy to see us abandon the Tampa 2, and preferably move towards a hybrid D that will adjust to opponents' strengths and weaknesses. I'm not sure we'd have seen that with Frazier, and I definitely don't think we've got the personnel to make the Tampa 2 a success in the world of outdoor, cold-weather football. Gailey's got a winning record at all levels and two playoff appearances in two years at HC in the NFL. I'm going to give Gailey a shot, and unless you've got Tuesday's Mega Millions numbers, I don't think either one of us can say who will be a more successful head coach.

Plus, if the Vikings want to win, they could decide to 1) not have 12 men in the huddle at a critical juncture in the game when in debatable FG range. 2) not throw an INT following that first critical mistake. Favre got greedy.

Who's sensitive? I just asked a simple question. BTW, is it worse to insult an entire nation, or to call someone who's being a douche a douche?

Are you this much of a douche in real life, or do you just play one on the Intar-webs?

It's not like this defense needs any assistance pissing its pants.

That's pretty much excellent news. It also means that, unless they hire a replacement, Nix is pretty much the man to look at when examining the successes and failures of the FO.

1. This 2. LeFevour

It's hard to be a sound technician in the NFL? It's hard to hear reporters in an NFL PC webcast?

LMAO! That said, I hope these guys do well. Neutral on the hire, and I'll root for 'em.

Has no one paused to consider that Lombardi -- or any former GM looking to get back into the league for that matter -- is going to have a skewed perspective on the Bills' front-office moves? I'm sure he thinks he was the right guy for the job, and that he didn't get the chance to prove it. I'm on the fence on Gailey, but I'll see what he does first, particularly with regard to assembling a staff.

Sorry, man, that's a super-weak attitude. If you're trying to keep the job and you claim that you're playing to win, no game is meaningless. If I was doing the hiring, that'd be the game that sealed Fewell's fate.

I don't know about that. Some of his decisions, especially in the Atlanta game, were straight out of the Jauron playbook, in a situation in which he had nothing to lose. Ignore that this is from Jerry's commentary and focus on the situations here: I had high hopes for Fewell based on the first two games. This game had me pretty certain that some Jauron had rubbed off on him. He did get more out of less than Jauron did. But he is the guy whose scheme was responsible for playmaking DBs that played ten yards off the receiver. The result was getting burned every time by the short passing game, especially against NE*. His run defense was terrible, and consistently so. He had every opportunity over three years to demand the kind of players he wanted. After three seasons, we still had tiny LBs and not enough muscle. I hope when Perry gets his next chance, it'll work out better for him. He might work out well as a HC with better front office support. We'll see. Very recent history is not kind to the Jauron era and I think most ties to it should be cut for the sake of eliminating variables. I do wish they'd kept April (who was not a Jauron hire), and I think the crime here might be that the team didn't find out how it would have performed under him.

Not sure what you meant. I meant that it speaks volumes about league perception of Jauron that you'd hire his DC instead of Jauron himself, a more experienced HC/DC. As GG notes, it might not have been a clear choice and Jauron could have turned it down before it came to a decision between the two.

He "motivated" the Chiefs, who had been strong under Vermeil, to 2-14 and 4-12 records once he got the chance to make the team his own. People all over the league question his decisions on gameday. He was 39-41 in what was considered his more successful coaching job. His plan to "rebuild" the Chiefs started with trading Jared Allen. He and Peterson together missed on plenty of draft picks (sound familiar?). His teams blow games in the fourth quarter often (sound familiar?). Their conditioning is in question (sound familiar?). I don't have to been there in the locker room to see that I don't want Edwards anywhere near the Bills' locker room.

Gotcha. Thanks for that; I had missed that one. I wonder what he'd consider a step forward. He surely can't be thinking he's going to get another HC gig, and there aren't that many DC jobs out there either. The Giants would seem to be a good place to rebuild a reputation, Coughlin or not. In a scenario where Coughlin ended up on the hot seat while the defense performed well, I could see Dickie J backing into another HC position. The Post would be funnier for awhile, anyway.

Agreed, garbageman. It's one part poor talent, and at least an equal part poor development. I was a Losman supporter and I am glad he moved on, but I think neither he nor Trent got the support they needed to become good NFL QBs in Buffalo. In fact, I think Buffalo wrecked both of them. On the flipside, both Aikman and Kelly were showing promise in year 2. There is room for a rough first year if there's progress made in the second. It seems like Bills QBs are always doing the reverse. I did see some progression in JP's game in his 2006 season, which is why I thought it bad that they changed their approach in an effort to hand things off to Trent before he had proper seasoning. The proper path here would seem to be getting a stronger veteran (McNabb?) and drafting his replacement to take over in 1-2 years' time. It worked for the Pack with Favre / Rodgers, Jets with Vinny/Pennington, Cowboys with Bledsoe/Romo, the Pats with Bledsoe/Brady... and, man do I wish it could have worked out in Buffalo with Bledsoe/Losman! I still think it's the right approach to take going forward, though. If they do it on the cheap with Fitz and a future commodity it could work, but only if they're going to take the "McNabb money" and further fortify the lines and WR corps. With a few poor games from Fitz, though, a new and presumably first-time coach will feel the pressure to put in the youngster. Hopefully we're not just spinning our tires here.