gobillsinytown

So, if she came up to you and said: "Oh, LA Billzfan, you make me so hot!", you would not "Git 'R Done", so to speak?

A quality control coach does a lot of the film breakdown, taking the raw film of opponents and breaking it up into segments for the players to watch. For example, Alex might see a tendency for an opponent use a particular defensive formation on 3 and long, or he might notice that a saftey always cheats up closer to the line on a specific offensive formation. If he's good at it, and I would guess as a former QB he probably will be, he'll be a lot of help to the players.

I'm getting desperate for football already. Is there any NFL Europe/Arena League/Semi-pro/sandlot stuff on ESPN2 or something? Pro basketball sucks and I can't get the Sabres here in Youngstown without a dish. March Madness seems to have lost it's luster. Anybody know if the NFL Europe is playing now. Man, I feel so pathetic.

Played high school football. TE on offense, DB on defense. Not a starter, but I learned enough about the game to know that everything starts and ends with the O and D lines. I was lucky enough to play for a team that was good at both, and for a coach who understood their value, since he was a lineman in college (Michigan). I feel that, generally speaking, a team with good O and D line play is going to be successful. Granted it's more complicated in the NFL, but it's like Marv says: "Nothing has changed. Run and stop the run"

You got it! If the team sucks Ralph has every right to send notes. But I bet he wasn't sending very many notes when they were winning. All the team has to do is start winning and the notes become irrelevant.

I'm not sure what's worse: Having to endure listening to T.O., or having to endure the obsessive coverage of it to attempt to sell magazines or boost ratings. I think of this as a co-parasitic relationship. T.O. needs the coverage to satisfy his ego and try to sell himself as the bad boy, and the professional sports reporting business needs T.O. for what they perceive as economic opportunity. Personally, I hit the "off" button on this subject a long time ago. I'm now just hoping ESPN and all the other outlets find something else to obsess about.

Oooops! I need more coffee

From the Buffalo News: "The Bills also considered Baltimore secondary coach Johnnie Lynn and former Green Bay coordinator Jim Bates to be their defensive chief. The Bills reportedly were offering former Green Bay coordinator Jim Bates roughly $850,000 a year. That would have been a bit more than Bates was making in Green Bay, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. According to a source close to Bates, it would have taken a more substantial offer from the Bills to attract him to the position. " -So now we now the salary was competitive. I think the guy has overestimated his value. As of now I don't think he's got a new job.............

My sources deep withing One Bills Drive say that the Burger King is also a high motor guy who plays bigger than he looks.

I was fortunate to be at that game. My friends and I noticed the hafltime adjustment immediately, but I think it was quite a gamble. Marv said so in the press conference after the game, when he said the score "could've easily been 70 to 3". I think he was betting that the change and the ability of his linebackers would confuse Moon just enough to throw him off his rhythm. The atmosphere at that game was amazing. The hair was standing on the back of my neck the whole 4th quarter!

All of this makes sense, except for one problem: We really don't know why Bates turned down the job. There have been rumors on the internet that it was over money, but the only way to be sure is for Bates to confirm that. That being said, the one trend that we can see in the NFL is that owners are moving away from "name" coaches, since Martz, Sherman, Bates and other "name' assistants are still out there. Maybe we're seeing the next wave of coaching talent moving up the ranks. In the long run all that matters is winning. So if Ralph and Marv are picking coaches who will help the team win, who cares how much they make?

Being cheap doesn't mean he will fail, only that it is silly to get ones hopes up that guys like Jim Bates (who is likely making not much less to coach with the Packers this year, than Dick Jauron will make in Buffalo as a HC) will come to Buffalo. 586091[/snapback] OK, let's follow this for a minute. You're assuming something about Bates that I'm not sure is safe to assume: That he turned the job down because of the money. I've read some rumors to that effect, but nothing that's been verified by Bates himself. Regardless, why would someone "get their hopes up" that an assistant coach is going to make all the difference? What if Bates came here and the defense stunk again? And those teams that are rumored to pay top dollar for their coaches don't necessarily win. Take for example Dallas. While it's true that they have a winning record, by this line of reasoning they shoud be getting to the superbowl or at least the playoffs every year with the amount of money that's tied up in Parcells alone. All I'm saying is that running an NFL team is far more complicated than just plugging in salaries or getting lucky. The Bills were one of the winningest teams in the '90's for a reason, and it wasn't just luck.

I'm guessing you're being sarcastic, but I'll assume you're not. The fact is, NO ONE on this board can say with any real knowledge that Ralph is cheap when it comes to hiring coaches. If anyone here cliams that they can, then I invite them to produce the salary figures to prove it, with comparisons to other teams coaching salary figures. Let me add some perspective to all this shrieking and gnashing-of-teeth on this subject: I live in Youngstown, Ohio, about an hour away from Cleveland. When Bill Bellicheck was the head coach, no one in the Browns' fan base believed that he was going to be anything other than a loser. The talk shows were filled with broad statements about his lack of personality, his lack of experience and lack of ability. Why? Because they were losing. I can also recall the New England "boo birds" saying the same thing when he was hired to coach the Patriots, with all the same hand-wringing that's going on with the Bills' fan base right now: "The owner's abandoning the team! We're going to be 1-15 next year!", etc. etc. etc. I would think by now that most Bills fans, who are smarter and more informed about their team than most, would understand the one golden rule of NFL operation: Win and you're in. Lose, and you're out. It really is that simple. So when a team is losing, coaches and GMs are going to be fired and new ones hired. The fact still remains that we really don't know, nor do the sportswriters on the internet or at ESPN know, the inner workings of any NFL team, nor do we have the backgrounds or experience to evaluate an NFL organization. I can understand that everyone's upset that the team they love is losing (me included), but this is getting ridiculous. If all the NFL owners were only going to pay for "name" coaches, how would someone like Bellicheck get another chance with a new team? Relax.

Must be because Ralph is so cheap that he's only going to hire guys that have been fired. Because their salaries will be lower. I mean, we have just the worst owner. I know of teams, the really good ones, that only hire assistants who have never been fired, because their owner isn't cheap.

Man, is this a group panty bunching? When teams change the GM and the HC, other staff changes always happen with them. This is part of the normal transition to a new staff, this is NOT unique to Buffalo. It has nothing to do with: 1. Ralph being cheap (a fact that no one can verify). 2. Sam deserting a sinking ship. The bottom line in the NFL is brutal, but it's a line that ALL coaches and administration people understand and accept as part of the game: Win and you've got job security. Lose, and you're out. It comes with the territory, so let's all just relax and see what happens.

It's a tough injury to come back from. However, if anyone can do it, it's TKO. There was a feature article on him in one of the major sports magazines and the surgeon was pretty optimistic (I think it was Andrews). TKO is an incredibly determined individual who seems to have great discipline and focus. If he comes all the way back, it will be a great story for a guy who really deserves it.

I'm all for some more: 1. Truly bizarre trade rumors. 2. "Insider" information, from unnamed sources inside OBD. 3. Angry rants from "passionate" fans who feel deeply betrayed and rejected by the team because they're not picking the right: a.) head coaches. b.) players. c.) assistant coaches. d.) parking lot attendants. 4. People who say they're "not gonna watch anymore".

I think Haslett's remark about Kent Hull probably sealed his fate. I've never seen the complete text of the interview and I'm sure it was taken out of context, but even mentioning steroids and players or former players is definitely taboo. I always got the impression that Jim has a hard time keeping his mouth shut about subjects like that, and for a head coach, thinking about what you're going to say before you say it is skill set number one.

...you're probably right, in which case I'm going to GOUGE OUT MY EYES!! It's not so much Bruschi, but the mindless, overdone coverage of him.

...interesting comment from Rodney that the league should use the "best refs" for playoff games. They do. During the year every official, at every position, is graded. At the end of the year, only the officials with the highest grades get to do the playoffs and Superbowl. Apparently though, the league deliberately put a bad crew in for the game because the NFL has it in for them. I for one am ecstatic that they lost, because if they had gone on to the Superbowl it would have been unwatchable. In the pregame, they would have done an hour on Bruschi alone, and probably two hours on Brady. Good riddance.

I read his "Inside the Helmet" book, which was excellent. Had a couple of good bits in there about Bruce Smith, Darryl Talley, and Jim Kelly, which were quite postive. He's a good writer, but as far as his abilities as a "rumor" guy, I think he's out of his element. If Mularkey and Donahoe are using Ralph's phone calls as an excuse, I'm glad they're gone......they should just STFU and move on. Other owners and coaches are not going to be sympathetic and if the rumors are true that they're whining, it's going to be difficult for them to get other jobs. I also don't understand why they're talking about their families getting harassed. That happens in every NFL city when a team is losing. I think it's an unfair portrayal of Buffalonians. There are nutjobs in every city, so you put your kids in private school where they'll be left alone.

I think the biggest challenge with the base 3-4 is that the nose tackle is being asked to consistently tie up at least two offensive linemen on every play, aka "two gap". Then, the linebackers shoot the gaps that are left. The problem is that there are very few D linemen in the NFL who can consistently play the nose. Offensive linemen are just too fast now. That's why very few teams use the 3-4 or even the 4-3 in it's pure form. They may say they're 3-4 or 4-3, but that's really only in theory. In truth, defensive coordinators are shifting their players so much and blitzing so many different players, what the base defense is has almost become irrelevant.

This is from "profootballtalk.com", one of my favorites, not because they're necessarily accurate but because they have a sense of humor about pro football: "Though former Bills Pro Bowl linebacker Jim Haslett is regarded as the favorite to replace recently former Bills coach Mike Mularkey, we're told that the list of candidates has some "interesting names" on it. We've don't know any of the supposedly "interesting names" at this point, but we're working on it. For now, we'll throw a few of the "interesting names" possibly identified by the dyspeptic duo of Ralph Wilson and Mary Levy in the hopes that, through dumb luck (emphasis on the "dumb"), we'll get one or two of them right. Jim Kelly. Mike Ditka. Deion Sanders. Jim Mora. Frank Reich. Vince Lombardi. Matt Millen. Chris Berman. Scott Norwood. The guy Levy once called an "overofficious jerk." Tim Russert. Donald Trump. Stay tuned."

....and I heard from my fifth cousin that Don Boyarsky, whom Hank Bullough preferred over Fred Smerlas, is a candidate because he's an ex Bill and sometimes bad players make good coaches.

At this point I'm starting to believe that coaching success is a combination of being at the right place at the right time, with the right players, some luck, and hard work. Being close to Cleveland here in Youngstown, Bill Bellicheck was considered a disaster as HC for the Browns, and took the New England job to a lot moaning and groaning in Boston. We know what happened there......so why not Haslett? You never know.