nodnarb

Kirk Ferentz: Absolutely Unfortunately, he'll go to one of the other 8 teams with a vacancy. Hopefully it won't be the Jets. Ferentz is good, and the one thing he knows best is O-Line.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Mularkey make a big move to try to pry Whisenhunt away from the Steelers...by pleading for Ralph to give him a big raise to make the lateral move. I read somewhere, and I don't think it was ever verified, that Mularkey wanted to hire Whisenhunt as his OC but TD insisted on Clements. If that's true, you have to think that Mularkey will WANT Whisenhunt...and it's just a matter of 'will the steelers let him go'...which is doubtful.

Anybody have a funny feeling about Reggie Bush's knee tonight? I don't, I'm just asking. Texas 30 USC 28

BBBBBWWWahahahahahahahahaaaa!! I just want you to know how hard I laughed when I read that. A real bellygrabber. Thanks.

I should add that Ralph can't be happy with Bennie Anderson being Donahoe's answer to the critical left guard spot when Wahle and Rivera were both available. I know we weren't. Benny can't pass block to save his life. And "mauler"? My ass. You have to know what your assignments are before you can block anybody effectively. 9 false starts? Pffft. Hello, backup status. I'm THRILLED to hear that Modrak is going to get involved with pro personnel for the first time. I think he'll hit the cover off the ball. If we can make a bid for Hutchinson, we'll have taken the first step toward being a contenda.

This is just a hypothesis, but hey. I know that TD was and is respected by ralph, mularkey, modrak, et. al. I also think that there must be some truth behind ralph's comment that TD suggested that he resign. TD became an intensely hated man in Buffalo. Right or wrong, he was reviled for annual underachievement of the team. On average I'd say that the more awake side of the fanbase was happy with about half his moves. E.G., drafting Lee Evans was a great move but not keeping Pat Williams might very well have been his undoing. He built a team predicated on continuing to have a top 5 defense. Oops. We couldn't stop the run anymore. But I digress. I think Ralph is tired. After listening to his desultory press conference, I *know* he's tired. The prozac comment...Oy...Simon here put it best when he described him as "addled". The perfect word there. But it's *Ralph*, right? And I think he just wants to feel comfortable. I was FUGGIN RELIEVED to hear that Modrak was retained. Folks, the guy knows football, and he's very well respected, and built that Eagles team that now seems on the downward slide without him. (He did NOT draft Freddie Mitchell, mind you). So I think what happened was, TD figured that it's best for the team to move on and Ralph was going to let him go anyway and they both knew it. With Marv overseeing the operations (at 81 or whatever) the Bills will again have a face that most fans and the community won't - CAN'T - hate. And that's what the Bills need right now as fans lick their wounds. Bringing in Marv gives the fall of the Bills a softer landing for many fans. And that's what Ralph wants now...because...and this should be obvious.... The Next GM is not currently available. There are too many vacancies and too few candidates right now. It's a BAAAD year to start from scratch. We're obviously not going to have Marv as a GM for years....This is clearly a stop gap effort to keep the sales base high, the fans happier, and the community placated. This is a temporary solution. I'm not unhappy with it, cuz you know, it's Marv and all. But he's 81 and hasn't played this role before, so I'm skeptical...but not significantly so because it's obvious that this is just a band aid. So, the 2006 Buffalo Bills: The Band Aid Season. Here's to getting back to .500!

LOOOOOL

...oh... With the first pick in the 2007 NFL draft, the Buffalo Bills select...

what did I miss? What a strange day so far. How much weirder is this going to get?

Glad to hear that Modrak will remain the head of football operations. He's a better judge of talent than donahoe. I hope Ralph doesn't get *too* involved...he's older than some stones. You can't tax an old body like that with administrative concerns...

Jeff Fisher would be an upgrade. Marty still hasn't won a playoff game, has he? But he'd still be an upgrade. Part of me actually thinks the big mistake was letting rusty go...the guys looked gassed in every 3rd quarter this year. Wasn't the case last year. They played hard as they lost. There just aren't that many good candidates available.

Modrak is an excellent football guy and Russ Brandon can do what Donahoe did. I'm happy that we're not losing Modrak. I just wonder why Mularkey is being retained. But I suspect that it's because there is a glut of vacancies and a dearth of good candidates. There, I said glut and dearth in the same sentence. Cool. Maybe one more year of mediocrity under Mularkey will allow Ralph to jump on Weis after he wins a championship next year. Or Parcells after he realizes that he can only go so far with Jones breathing down his neck and Bledsoe slinging it. Or maybe neither is true and I'm clutching at straws. But anyway, I'm glad we're not losing Modrak.

if you think vince young is a top ten pick then don't bother with any aspirations of being a scout. He'll be lucky if he's taken in the first round and I wouldn't be surprised to see him fall to the 3rd. Who wants a guy who's not even going to be as good a passer as mike vick?

I'm thrilled to hear Ralph say this. It means he still has plenty marbles left. Does ANYBODY here have any confidence that Mularkey can outcoach Belichick...or even Nick Saban? Well then, what's he doing as our coach? If we can't get by those two, we'll never have a shot. Belichick is going to be in the Bills' way for the next 15 years. He's not going anywhere. The problem, of course, is...who's out there who's better? Smarter? Don't say Bob Fuggin Stoops and Jim Fuggin Fossel. I'd give Kirk Ferentz a maybe and Bill Parcells is a dream that won't come true. With all the coaching changes this offseason, it's going to be slim pickings. But I wonder what the scouting dynamic really is at OBD. I mean, has Donahoe vetoed anything and gone with a guy that the scouts or Modrak liked? Or has the reverse happened and he's foisted picks like Losman and Mike Williams on the group? (Just using those as examples, so don't jump on me, Losman apologists) I think in the outcome, we'll learn a lot about many things we've long wondered. At least I hope so. But hope and Bills football hasn't been a successful marriage yet.

sure, that makes sense. move the best right tackle we've had in years out of that position. yea, wow. smart.

Bingo. And because most coaches and gms are aware of it when teams are interested in a PS player, moves like this happen in week 17.

I'm surprised and yet not surprised to see all this bluster about crowell's deal. BIG FUGGIN DEAL? Crowell has proven that he's damn good football player who can do a lot of things. He plays smart, he can blitz, he has good hands, and he doesn't get caught out of position. He's fast, he can tackle, and he has proven himself as a starting caliber LB. 2 million per year is PEANUTS - even for your #1 BACKUP LB. The reaction to this deal is bizarre. Worried about a 3 year 6 million dollar deal? I'm happy to see this. Crowell deserves it, and it's not too much to pay a backup. Everyone gets hissy about Posey but he plays a role in this defense that does not capture many plays. Crowell can play both sides and probably even back up the middle. He's everything you want in a backup LB if we had paid him 3 million per year I wouldn't have sneezed. The reaction to this is funny...

If there's still a few stragglers around who believe that Schobel isn't a good RDE, they probably don't understand the game too well.

Problem with this theory, if it's a theory, is that losman hasn't proven that he can be even a serviceable backup in this league, while palmer has proven that he's a winner. I still suspect that JP is a coach killer. I hope it's not true, but he shows classic signs of being a good practice QB. He doesn't do the most important things well: > He doesn't see the field well. > He doesn't have good accuracy. > He overracts to pressure, be it real or phantom. > He doesn't exhibit good decision making under duress or in critical situations. I'll be patient with him, but it's obvious that Holcomb should have started this season and who knows where we'd be right now if he had.

PFFT. They showed us that they can finally play a game in week 16. The coaches showed us that they can manage a game once they were out of contention. The coaches have shown us that Holcomb gave the team teh best chance to win the whole season, and yet they failed to see it until their jobs were on the line. They showed me too little, too late. If anything, we should be concerned that this might fool Ralph into believing that Mularkey can coach his way through the AFC East. He can't. So why keep him?

mcgahee an alternate? great. now we're going to hear how he's a 'pro bowl back'. I'd rather have an underrated back like Tiki Barber than an overrated guy like McGahee. But then again, it could be this inept offense holding him back. If I had to put money on it, I'd say that McGahee would be a fuggin monster on a team that could block. Still dont like how he talks the talk though.

According to Bills Digest. This kid is one of the few bright spots on this team. His upside is unlimited. If he can be one of our best linemen after only playing the position for a few weeks, how good can he be? They have to find a way to convince this guy to sign, cuz you KNOW he's going to be in major demand. He agreed to sign with Buffalo cuz we were weak at TE and that's what he wanted to be, but now that he's performing well at a higher paid position, he's going to use his upside to command a much bigger contract than you'd expect for an undrafted rookie free agent tight end with a few weeks of experience playing tackle. I do hope we can sign him to a long term contract. Anybody watch the tape on this kid? I've seen him get beat ONCE - by Peppers. He's standing people up, not taking penalties, and doing a damn good job with stunts thru his gap.

Say that reminds me... SDS: I think it's time you replaced the McGahee pic at the top with a nice graphic of Moorman punting. It would really summarize the season nicely.

I wonder about the Rusty Jones/ Brad Roll thing, too. I just remember these players looking like they had more in the tank last year. But more importantly, more anti-Mularkey missiles from Capt. Easterbrook: The Bills have done fine in the first half in 2005, outscoring opponents 140-138: The second half is a different story; Buffalo has been outscored following intermission by a worse margin than any team except cellar-dwelling San Francisco, which just became bowl-eligible. (See below.) Buffalo's second half-performance seems the cumulative effect of Bills coaches making timid decisions as if they assume the game will be lost anyway. As this column has documented, for five years under novice head coaches Gregg Williams and now Mike Mularkey, the Bills have punted, punted, punted in situations where winning teams seize the day. Not only did Buffalo punt on fourth-and-2 when down by 11 against Denver; earlier Buffalo punted from the Denver 33. When coaches don't try to win, their players get the message and eventually quit too. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/9107835