Fan in Chicago

Guys, this is not the CIA - if Sherman wants to be secretly at OBD, he can fly in to Rochester/Erie and drive in. One of a million ways he can sneak past the cameras.

Taking this off-topic now: but it depends on how much you have invested. So if you are GE, a multi-billion dollar enterprise, $10 million is not much. But yes, if it is you or me, I wouldn't even be able to croak for a few weeks. What I am saying is that considering the owner's level of investment, he may be correct in saying 'only $10 million'.

I agree but special QBs are hard to come by and teams are wise to lock up the ones that come their way. It is a difficult situation that can only be handled contractually - if he is injured then payments are reduced to minimize cap hit. Not sure what the league rules are in this regard. Stepping back, I think if (hope not) Palmer's injury is career ending, then Cincy has more trouble than simple $$ - they have to find a capable starter which as we all know is an art by itself.

Depends on Palmer's long-term status. Last I heard it was a pretty serious injury that puts his career in jeopardy. I think Cincy keeps Kitna to have a half-way decent back-up for Palmer or anybody else.

Yes, but ... this is a poll. So you are saying you are evenly split between all choices ?

As of right now, 51% don't want Jauron. Hope ML is reading this board and makes a democratic choice. As I have said before, this choice needs to be good in the long run, but, more importantly, popular in the short run.

I forget who that was. Was it ICE ? Anyway, right now it looks like between you and SOPRANO, we have all the sources we need.

maybe I was not too clear. My point was that being liked by the players should not be a major criteria in the HC hiring process. I will add another analogy - business needs productive employees not happy ones.

General rant not specifically directed at DJ. I don't care if the coach is well liked by his players as long as they come on game day ready to give their best. Equate this to parenting - I want to be a good parent but not necessarily my kids' best friend.

Don't remember the specifics but the general feeling around here was that the 'ball bounced in favor of Chicago' very often that year in the close games.

Aah, I can say my second favorite team is a toss-up between the Steelers and Packers. As you can tell my choices are teams from mostly blue-collared type towns. Living in Bears country and watching a game with friends makes me a Packers fan just to irritate the heck out of them. Hey, I was even rooting for the Panthers this past weekend and was a very unpopular viewer ! As for DB, I think after the weekly debates earlier on in the season most of us either got tired of that topic or gave up. I was one who still believes it was the right move to get rid of him. he could have done nothing much more significant this season. Atleast by being abysmal, it gave us a chance to shake up the organization rather than bordering on the playoffs and changing nothing. How things turn out after now only time will tell.

Not to mention that we will get a few free fans from Green Bay along the way. I mean it - looks like several posters from that board liked the guy and may follow the Bills as a secondary favorite. As an aside - kudos to SDS for soliciting views of the teams whose HC may become ours. I am sure if he did that from Bears fans, the universal opinion would be stay as far away from Jauron as possible.

Neither do we know how good or bad ML is at choosing HCs. So I will reserve judgment for 2 years.

Thanx for the post. Yes we hired Marv Levy (our coach during the superbowl years) as the new GM. And yes, TD was too dense for a number of things and in his mind, may have truly believed his five years of strategizing would pay off this year. To your point about Sherman, I think from the opinions of all cheeseheads and observence of Jauron in Chicago: I think Sherman may be the best available candidate.

I don't see how not playing a rookie for half of his first season makes you say ML reluctant to go with rookies

Hope it ain't true.

What I have learned after so many years on this board is this - the larger sentiments of this board truly are a lead indicator of changes that happen on the Bills. I am too lazy to type out examples, but my point is that this hiring has to create positive excitement else that HC will be fighting a tough battle right from the beginning.

For one reason or the other, he was a loser as Chicago's HC and in Detroit. In addition, if he cannot handle press conferences the Buffalo media and this board will roast him alive. I repeat that we can consider him for the DC position but not as a HC.

Putting all these discussions in perspective: We know what these ex-HCs have done in their previous jobs (known devil) as compared to some hot-shot co-ordinator who we know squat about as a HC. Short of getting a winning HC out of retirement, Sherman looks like the best option out there. I highly doubt the current management will take chances on yet another coordinator.

Hadn't the previous guy won a game for Jax causing much excitement when we brought him in ? Forgive me if my memory fades.

The thought of taking on a Jax back-up as our starter gives me the shudders.

Best under pressure ? Ignoring Hasselbeck and Plummer (both not tested in playoff pressure), I give the edge to Delhomme simply because he has been to the SB and played well against NE (under pressure). Ben R has proven it in one game against the Colts.

Random thought - I wonder if there is some way to calculate what percent of fired head coaches have won the SB for their subsequent teams ? We are in a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. On one hand you can ask for previous head coaching experience and end up with any number of fired HCs as candidates. On the other hand we can hire a co-ordinator and run the risk of having yet another disaster on our hands.

Olin Kreutz (Center) was Chicago's Rd 3 pick in the 1998 draft and has been doing very well.

Wish we could talk Mike Ditka (despite his latest HC job) or Jimmy Johnson (despite his spiky hair-do and general feeling of resentment on this board) out of retirement.