MRW

I think you're reading stuff into that post he didn't say. He said Brandon let Jauron choose his own players after he had already compiled a record of futility, but I didn't see any claim that Brandon hired Jauron.

Now it's time to worry about Gilmore, if he's getting schooled by a UDFA!

It wouldn't surprise me to see him cut, but his advantage at this point is he has shown the ability to make catches and make plays in this league, even if it hasn't been frequent enough to justify his contract. Right now you're seeing rookies going up against rookies. We'll see how things develop as they move into full-team practices and preseason games. Guys just out of college can have all the measurables, but sometimes it just doesn't come together on the field. It's very unlikely that all the rookies will develop and reach the potential we see in them right now.

Huh, so much for 3rd and 4th rounders being difficult to sign under the new CBA.

I thought he was talking about the score of the first game.

Thanks for your contribution.

Definitely a prime candidate I had overlooked.

Worst Bills decision to let a player leave in recent years: Fletcher, Antoine Winfield, Pat Williams, or Ted Washington?

Eli Manning also. Having said that, the reason to have Manuel sit would be if he can't beat out Kolb/Jackson, not based on some nebulous notion of stunting his growth. Once upon a time I believed that it was better to let guys sit and learn, but I've come to think that anyone with the psychological makeup to succeed as a franchise QB will have the mental fortitude to handle the ups and downs that come with learning. Losman didn't have it, Edwards didn't have it, and I don't think any amount of sitting on the bench would have helped them develop it. We won't know until we see Manuel under the pressures of dealing with the starting job, but I like the signs so far that he does have it.

I think this is a very good point. I hope that the staff was upfront with Kolb and TJ that they intended to bring in additional legitimate competition (and I imagine they were, given how open they've been about needing to draft a QB) but throwing a fourth QB into the mix would seem very likely to leave them feeling treated unfairly.

Yeah, Manuel has seemed very charismatic and outgoing in the videos I've seen, and he projects confidence and eagerness without being arrogant or self-effacing. I think the QB hopes we've had in the past have tried to hit that mark, but it always seemed forced. With Manuel it seems natural. As you say, what really matters is how he plays, but I like everything I've seen out of him so far.

I think it will be far more important for the team to get experience with the new system than to try to keep it under wraps for the first game. You won't want to show everything, but players need to experience it at game speed.

Sure, evaluating team performance is the GM's job. But as seen above in your reply to Kelly, you continue to conflate the GM's role with the head coach's role. The coach's role is to assemble a staff. I think it's misleading to state that Nix has hired 2 (or 3) OCs and 2 DCs. He has hired 2 HCs, and they have hired assistants for their staff. The distinction is important.

If Nix was not willing to trust Gailey to right the situation, I would rather he fired him and brought in someone he was confident in. I don't think you and I will see eye-to-eye as far the appropriate role of a GM in this situation.

And I don't make any bets or guarantees that the Bills will have a good season. The funny thing is, I think I actually agree with the pessimists in terms of expectations for the Bills, it's just that I don't share the relentlessly downbeat overtones I see in many posts. Yeah, I don't think the Bills are poised for a great season - but what's the big deal? I'm not gonna be a downer about it.

It's perfectly fair to fault Nix for putting too much trust in Gailey's judgment. But honestly, I want the GM to let the HC make his choices for a staff. There's no doubt that Gailey was a bad choice for HC, which carried over into poor selections for coordinators, but I don't think the solution for that is for Nix to micromanage the assistant coaching staff.

My post meant exactly what it said, no more and no less. I didn't say a single thing about whether it was "logical" to promote Wannstedt, I was addressing your statement that it was Nix's call. I don't think it was, I think the extent of his involvement was to (possibly) suggest to Gailey that his initial pick for DC was in over his head. Again, Nix has responsibility for the overall performance of the coaching staff. Gailey was a failure, and that can be laid at Nix's feet. One of the reasons Gailey failed was having Edwards and then Wannstedt as his DC, but I don't think Nix is responsible for those particular bad decisions.

That one's easy. Following the Bills is something we do in our leisure time, for entertainment, so why not dream big? It's like playing the lottery. If you don't get crushed when your dreams don't pan out, there's no harm in wishful thinking.

As Kelly said, yes, I'm fairly sure that Wannstedt was Gailey's pick. It would not surprise me if Nix said, hey, the guy you hired sucks, get him some help, but I don't think he said, hey, the guy you hired sucks, let's get Dave Wannstedt in here.

Huh, and here I thought Gailey picked his staff. Any link to back up your contention that Nix brought in Wannstedt? Note, I am not claiming that Nix is not ultimately responsible for the performance of the coaching staff, but I think it matters that he is not the one picking assistant coaches.

Well said. I'm all for rational analysis of the team (which, sadly, was/would have been negative for the past 10+ years), but "it's only minicamp"/"it doesn't mean anything until September"/"I won't believe until they win" is not rational analysis, it's just wallowing in misery. To those people, I guess I would say, try to attach a little less importance to the Bills? It's fine to not think they're going to do well, I don't think they'll have a great year, but I think if you can't entertain some hope that things will be different this year, you're cutting yourself off from a lot of the fun of being a fan.

You beat up that straw man very impressively.

Of course, it feeds on itself. If Wannstedt came up with a better plan in the first place, maybe the players would've bought into it.

I waver back and forth, but ultimately I start every season with hope that things will improve. Of course, given the track record of the last few years, that gets beaten out of me earlier and earlier every year. But the bottom line for me is, I don't feel like I would benefit from being heavily skeptical at this point. I do like the feeling of hope in the offseason. For the past 1/3 of my life it's been the only reason to be a fan, so I don't think I will ever give it up until I am done with the team.

Interviews and comments from the defensive players made that obvious, although everyone was too professional to really call it out. They were left to figure a lot of stuff out on their own and motivate themselves, and they failed miserably. But clearly the coaching staff hung them out to dry, not out of malice, but just incompetence.