JohnC

The loquacious and moronic HC that was hired took an effective defense managed by two prior DCs and scrambled it to fit his preconceived antiquated notion on how to run a defense. The self-proclaimed defensive guru was so smart that he out-smarted himself and demonstrated how much of a dope he was. When you watch the Bills and compare their offense to most offenses in the league it is apparent that their passing game (in a pass dominant league) is so basic that it can be described as primitive. This team's record of generational futility is not going to change until the qb play at the minimum rises to the level of average competency.

Everyone is searching for a bogeyman. Brandon fits in with their conspiratorial narrative. The standard football organizational structure was established with Nix. Then that standard organizational structure was further solidified when Whaley took over and brought in people he wanted. The Bills have struggled because the front office, coaching staff and ownership have not consistently enough made the right decisions. Do you want to know how to change the irrational belief that Brandon is the lurking evil presence that is sabotaging this team? Get a freaking qb that can read defenses and throw accurately!!!!!

The point that Paul Hamilton was making was that it is difficult/unfair to make judgments on your squad when so many players are hurt at the same time. A couple of weeks ago almost half of the squad was AHL call ups. Now that the injured players, especially with the return of Eichel, have returned and are close to returning the pessimistic view of the team has improved to a more optimistic assessment. Most people acknowledge that the Sabres are still in the rebuilding stage. When a team is at that less than robust juncture there is little margin of error and ability to absorb injuries compared to teams that have fuller rosters. Now that most of the injured players are back in action the assessment is much more upbeat with the realization that players will continue to get hurt and rehabilitate. Needless to say it's not surprising that this fuller roster is currently steadily earning points. Thank you Jack!

The fun part of following the Sabres now is not that they are a dominant team but it is watching a team step by step being built into a serious team. This team is far from being a finished product; that can't be denied. However, it is the progression that is clearly visible that makes following them enjoyable. Also, having one's own superstar, JE, is also something that gives special value to following this team. The Buffalo Bills for too long have been a downtrodden team. I'll always be loyal to them. But that doesn't mean that their generational mediocrity hasn't worn me down. I have grown very tired of this never ending futility. At this point I would never attend a meaningless cold weather game even if the tickets were for free. Sad to say.

I would rather be imprisoned than exiled. At least I would be ensconced in my homeland. Despite Garth's putrid reputation didn't Garth Snows's team make the playoffs last year? If he can lead a team to the playoffs then why not us????

I don't want to get into a quibbling exchange as to the value of players and positions. I agree with you that a third pairing defenseman has more value than a third or lower line forward. However, when one is discussing a GM who has made a number of deals and it leads to discussing a third pairing defenseman then it is safe to say that no matter what the value is of that type of player it certainly doesn't fall into the category of a significant loss of talent. Third defensive pairings can be staffed with fundamentally sound stay at home defensemen who play a relatively safe (conservative) style of game. That style of play may not advance your offense but hopefully it will not hurt the team until the top two pairings can get back on the ice. I would say that Jorges falls in that category of player. A Jorges type of player is more of a functional player than being an essential player. Without a doubt that type of player is needed to fill out the roster and serve an important auxiliary role.

I doubt even when healthy that you can categorize either player as significant NHL players. That's not to say that they aren't respectable players but it is not unreasonable to say that they are very replaceable players.

Next year Guhle will be on the roster and will be in the top three pairing, possibly top two pairing. He came close to making the roster this year but having another season in the juniors gives him more time to mature, especially physically. I agree with you that giving up a first round pick for Lehner was too generous of a payment, especially for a player that was hurt and didn't appear to be in the plans for the team that dealt him. Even with these hesitations having two solid goalies is not a bad situation to be in. A few years ago this team deliberately de-constructed itself in order to start the rebuilding process with a top tier draft pick. That risky approach worked out with our selection of Eichel. Steadily pieces are being added and now this team is unquestionably an ascending team. Will it make the playoffs this year? I'm not sure. In my mind they are still a fringe playoff team this year. The Sabres have a really good prospect in Nylander who is developing. Next year or the year after he should be a contributor. The point is that our GM had a lot of assets in draft picks and prospects. There is a limited number of spots to fill. So he traded some off to get players. In general, I think the GM has done a good job. To put things in perspective when a GM makes a lot of moves not every transaction is going to work out as planned. But so far he has bolstered the roster so that it can compete with most teams. Although this team is a couple years away from being a top tier team there is no doubt that it is inching its way up the competitive ladder. Moving up and feeling cautiously optimistic is certainly better than being stuck in the muck of mediocrity. Just ask any Buffalo Bills fan!

Okposo is a good and strong skater. Very impressed with his game. He can play well with all types of players. Both he and O'Reilly play with intelligence and instinct. I wish that Kane would learn to play around the net more. He has great hands and can finish in tight quarters. His perimeter game is a lot of flash and dash with little production. I thought that Kulokov had his best game for us.

My pants are wet. I just peed my pants! When one stands back and thinks about the situation you have to laugh over the absurdity of it all!

It can't be Doug because he buried himself with his own shovel! The only person this curmudgeon outsmarted was himself. He took the buyout and then sabotaged his future in the business.

I'm not saying your source lacks credibility but the process you are describing makes little sense to me. Assuming that Rex gets fired after the season then why wouldn't the organization open up the hiring search to more candidates? Why target and lock in someone so soon when a more appealing candidate/s might surprisingly become available? One of the glaring mistakes that was made in the Rex hiring was for the owner (Kim) to act on her first impulse. It seems to me that no matter who the favorite candidates are it would be wise to discuss the pros and cons among a number of football people inside and outside of the organization.

There is no quick fix to the many problems associated with this team. However, the one way to compensate for a number of weaknesses on a team, offense and defense, is to acquire or develop a competent qb. Because of the cap and the frequency of injuries all teams have weaknesses. That is inescapable. I must admit that I fall in the category of being a vituperative critic of Rex even before he drove up in his specialty painted truck. Putting aside his bluster and irritating obnoxiousness (my biased negative feelings toward him) my main criticism of him relates to his football philosophy and how it no longer translates to the current game. It just doesn't work! Why stick with someone who is so wedded to his system that no amount of tinkering with it through personnel and coaching changes will alter the incompatibility of his defensive system to match up with the offenses of today? The Bills are in the usual situation that they have found themselves in for a generation i.e. being out of the playoffs. The one advantage of being in this maddening recurring situation is that there is nothing to lose. My recommendation is to give Cardale Jones a try and see how he does. Just maybe it will accelerate the maturation process and give him an incentive to better prepare this offseason? I'm not saying anything that hasn't often been stated by many others. Until the qb position is significantly upgraded little else will matter. Give Cardale a chance to take some snaps and see what you got. At this point in the season winning or losing doesn't really mean much. We know what we have with TT and we know what we have with EJ, both genuinely nice people who aren't good enough qbs.

You have made the point that Rex isn't the only reason why the Bills are losing in your tepid support of him. Well that is a weak position to take in arguing for his retention because no one person in this organization or any organization is the sole reason why a particular franchise fails. Rex was simply a bad hire who was fired from the previous job where his overall record was a losing record. His philosophy of the game and view of the NFL of today is archaic. The rule structure of the NFL is predicated on offense and the passing game. Rex has a slogging foot soldier mentality in the modern era of jets and missiles. He is a WWI general whose vision of the battlefield is fixed lines. Simply put his football philosophy is outdated. The one thing that Rex proudly proclaims to anyone who is foolish enough to listen to his bluster is his expertise on the defensive side of the ball. Yet the reality is that on that side of the ball he is a dismal failure. He took a defense headed by two different DCs, Pettine and Schwartz, and he dramatically diminished that unit. It's time for a change. We might not find the right replacement but what we know for sure is that what we currently have isn't working. What is obvious to most people is that bluster and the ability to draw attention to oneself doesn't trump discipline and intelligence. There are many weaknesses plaguing this team. The primary one is the qbing situation. But one thing I can say for sure is that the caliber of our HC and his competency in general is without question is more of a liability than it is an asset. Getting rid of Rex may not resolve the many issues that this franchise is dealing with but at the minimum it is a step in the right direction.

When you watch a TT and the Bills passing game it is so primitive compared to the rest of the league's offenses. You rarely see our qb go through progressions, rhythm passes, seam passes and throwing to the spot instead of to the receiver. It's just so simplistic in an era of sophistication. It's like playing checkers when the rest of the league is playing chess. It's sad and embarrassing.

Just curious about the out-of-towners who buy season tickets and come into town for a number of games. I salute you and PTR and others on your extreme loyalty but wonder if it would be easier to not have season tickets and procure tickets on a game to game basis. Is it that you want to stay with your "group" when you do attend? Have you had difficulty selling your tickets at a reasonable price when you can't attend? What I find most dispiriting about the Bills is the bleak "sameness" for the past generation. This year I decided that if DirecTv wasn't going to give me a discount on the Ticket that I was simply going to do without. I also decided that I was not going to be a captured customer any longer to this malignant franchise that provides lackluster entertainment value. So if the weather was appealing I DVRed the game and got outside to enjoy the fall weather. If the game turned out to be a typical dud I erased the recording and avoided the agitation. I encourage you to write your letter to the Pegula's. The expression of "collective" exasperation does have an impact. Yesterday, while watching the game the camera showed Terry P in the booth watching his more than $1 billion team get stampeded and embarrassed. He was not happy to say the least. No doubt that making changes is required. But making impulsive changes without serious thought (such as the Rex hiring) is not going to advance the situation. The Bills have been an irrelevant and invisible franchise in the NFL for a very long time. It's tiresome and shouldn't be tolerated, especially by the paying customers.

Expand your book!

It was Bill Cowher who recommended Whaley. He was highly thought of in the Steeler organization. The looking back to the past for faded luminaries such as Polian, Cowher and Coughlan is not only an act of desperation but an act of foolishness. The person mostly responsible for the Steeler roster during the Cowher and current era is Tom Colbert.

You have very much misinterpreted my many posts on Brandon. His niche is the business side of the operation. That's where he does a good job and that is where he belongs. I have never said otherwise.

I challenge you to find a comment from me where I promoted the idea that Brandon should be instrumental in the hiring of the next HC?

You are grossly misstating my position. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be changes. Hiring a new HC is not an insignificant action. However, I strongly believe that dismissing the GM and rebuilding the front office and coaching staff will set this franchise further back. Not having a qb who can function at a reasonable level is first and foremost the issue that needs to be addressed. There are no quick and perfect solutions to that issue. But there should be qbs that are on the market capable enough to manage an offense at a level that allows this team a reasonable chance to compete. Maybe a qb like McCarron who is reasonably accurate and can read defenses might be a passable option for the short term.

We simply are going to respectfully disagree on the best course of action to take in moving forward. Blowing up the operation to satisfy the frustrations accumulated over two decades of failure may on the short term give you a brief sugar rush. However,as far as I am concerned it's like running a marathon and at three quarter point you have a pebble in your running shoe preventing you from competing in the race. You would want to stop racing and go back to the starting line where you would remove the immobilizing pebble. Isn't it better to fix whatever problems you have at the point that you are at rather than going backwards in order to move forward? The Bills have issues from a roster standpoint that go beyond the qb position. But as I stated in a prior posting so do all teams! Fixing the main problem at the qb position isn't going to fix all problems but without a doubt it would be the most meaningful and constructive change. For me the Rex hire was a very damaging hire. Not only has his hiring had a major negative repercussion on the defense but most damaging is that he brought his archaic approach to the game, especially on offense, that makes it difficult to compete in the NFL of today. Dinosaurs are outdated and should not be allowed near a sideline, even if they are very quotable and wear cool sunglasses.

Ralph Wilson was the prior owner of the Bills. He hired Levy to take over the operation. That was a disastrous decision that set the this middling organization further back. If the owner wants to make a decision, smart or not, as the owner that is his prerogative. It was Ralph who hired Nix. Was that the best hire? Of course not. Mediocrity breeds mediocrity. Again, if the owner wants to make a decision, smart or not, as the owner that is his prerogative. Whatever football authority Brandon had at the end of the Wilson era was not due to him conniving for power at the expense of an unsuspecting employee. There was a vacuum in a dysfunctional organization and he was doing whatever he had to do to keep the organization functioning. The Pegulas' spent $1.4 Billion to buy the team in an auction. Kim Pegula was smitten with the fast talking Rex. Whaley and Brandon were in the room. Kim wanted to hire Rex and she did. That was her decision. Again, if an owner wants to make a decision, smart or not, as the owner that is his/her prerogative. If you want to list the weaknesses on the Bills' roster to point out its weaknesses then go ahead and make a point that has little meaning. In the cap system all teams have weaknesses, that includes the Pats, the Cowboys or whatever team that you want to examine. If you want to persuade me that Rex is not an asset then you are wasting your verbiage for the simple reason I have publicly stated that position when he was hired. You can put all your energy in designing whatever management system you want. Bring in all the consultants you want to bring in to advise you on management systems. As far as I am concerned you are chasing the wrong dog. What mostly ails this franchise is the same issue that ails most mediocre franchises i.e. a lack of a credible qb in a sport where having a credible qb is the primary basis for success.

If the problem is that the GM and the HC have equal voices when communicating with the owner then the solution is simple: change the balance and make the GM be the primary voice. That doesn't mean that the owner can't have discussions with the HC. The owners can talk to whoever they want. The reality is that most decisions are made through a collaborative process. Getting input from a variety of sources is the norm. But in the end when it comes to the roster the GM has the final say and when it comes to coaching and strategy the HC makes the on field decisions. The central problem with this team has little to do with discord between the front office and the coaching staff. Although there being some tension between the two segments is part of the landscape. The one thing that will dramatically alter the dynamic for this fatigued franchise and give it an invigorating boost is finding a more talented qb to take the snaps. That's the primary issue!

The belief that a football czar would remedy the problems hindering this franchise makes little sense to me. All organizations have their own football czar: it's called the GM. Adding another layer of authority to challenge the decisions of the GM only creates more conflict and tension within the franchise. I don't understand your fixation on Russ Brandon being the bogeyman behind the curtain who is sidetracking this franchise. That isn't the case now even if it was in the past, and that is a debatable issue. Terry and Kim Pegula are new to the football business. They are not shrinking violets. If they want they can call anyone in the business and solicit input from sources outside the organization. Without a doubt as new owners they made mistakes that they wouldn't make now. In my opinion the biggest mistake Kim made was in jumping the gun in the hiring of their first HC. As I and many others have said what mostly ails this team has little to do with the structure of the organization and much more to do with elevating the talent level at the qb position. While you and so many others are focusing your attention in the men wearing the suits the real issue is finding the right person to take the snaps. That more than anything else will alter the negative tenor of the conversations dealing with this franchise and dramatically change the collective pessimistic attitude toward this franchise.