JohnC

Over the previous few years our OL was overmatched. No amount of scheming and coaching could overcome the lack of talent. It has become evident again that the line's problems relate to talent level. To put it mildly Henderson is struggling.There were a number of plays where he simply whiffed allowing the defender to blow up the play. Urbik is a reasonable utility backup but he is not a starting caliber of guard. Glenn's best year was his rookie year. The organization has been secretive about his offseason illnesses/injuries which I'm sure affected his preparation. But in general he has been a disappointment. There is no question that Incognito is our best lineman. Without a doubt he is a tough player but with us his of style of play is much more refined and less of a wild brawler. Without his addition this line would be sunk. As you noted the absence of McCoy and Watkins have impacted the offense. But we are not the only team that has to handle those inevitable challenges. What was evident in the Giant game was that their DL controlled our OL. On top of that they stacked the line overwheling our line even more. Roman's response was to stubbornly run plays into the strength of the defense. As you indicated Roman called a very unimaginative game and didn't react well to the flow of the game. That was very disappointing. I'm not a Rex fan, and never have been so. He is more of a personality than he is a thinker. He is the type of person who can wow you in an interview but over time it becomes evident that his assets relate more to style than substance. In both the Pat and Giant games the personality and demeanor of those respective teams reflected their HCs. It was evident for all to see in the Giant game that the lack of maturity and discipline is a reflection of the personality of the HC. The test of aspiring teams is not when they handlily beat lesser teams. The test is how do you perform against very good teams. That is when the measurement is real. It is not unfair to say even for a hometeam fan that the Bills had more talent than the Giants. The Giants prevailed because they were better coached and played with more maturity and intelligence. That is very disappointing.

Successful teams such as Baltimore, Green Bay, Pitts etc have a simple philosophy: draft according to the ranking on your draft board regardless of position. You can't be completely absolute about that approach because you have to to a degree factor in positional needs and roster positional strengths. The Bills were very interested in Keuchly in his draft year. He was taken. So Nix stuck with his board and selected Gilmore. That selection demonstrates that it was the right approach to take. Successful teams mostly build their roster through the drafts. The best way to build the roster is to draft the highest rated players. It's an easy concept to understand and a challenging concept to execute. I have heard Whaley talk about his drafting philosophy on a number of occasions. He has repeatedly emphasized that it is essential to stick to your board and not reach for needs. It's tempting to do but in the long run it will not work. My point is that that your team is more likely to be successful when you focus on drafting talent over drafting for positions. Where I slightly differ with your approach is that I believe that you can still bolster your OL and DL by staying within the framework of following your draft board rankings. It seems to me that you get too fixated on the positions being drafted in the first round. The other rounds count also!

The questions regarding the penalties and the team's lack of discipline were not only very obvious questions but certainly weren't very challenging questions. If he didn't expect this type of question to be one of the first questions after this game then he is a dolt! His answer that he was proud of his team's willingness to fight made little sense and made him look foolish. The undisciplined play of Hughes, Preston Brown and Aaron Williams in the Pats game is disturbing. Kyle Williams, a mature and responsible player, has expressed his displeasure with a cadre of players who are playing with a lack of poise. The after the play penalties are unacceptable and shouldn't be tolerated. I strongly believe that the demeanor of the HC certainly influences how the team conducts itself under stress.

I agree with you that the Urbik call was marginal and the Incognito call made little sense. But the bad calls and the aggravating over-officiating are present in all games. The games are difficult to watch because of the way the games are being called. There is little continuity and flow to the game. All teams have to contend with the capriciousness of the calls. Because of the flukishness of the officiating the difference between winning and losing often comes down to playing smart. The after the play penalties on Hughes and Preston Brown were very damaging. This was a closely contested game. Although we didn't play especially well, neither did they. It was a very winnable game. The difference was the more mature manner in which the Giants played compared to the immature manner in which the Bills played. That is a function of coaching. It's not surprising that our entertaining and quoteable HC found a player appealing who cold cocked a qb in the Jets lockerroom and broke his jaw. That player is currently serving a suspension for his thugish behavior. He is the type of player that Rex wanted on his roster.

In his mind Rex may think he is supporting his team with his bravado but in reality his comments were embarrassing. The problem is he is who he is----you get what you get!

I agree that the Bills were primarily at fault for this loss. The calls by the referres in all games are becoming too frequent and very arbitrary and capricious. Making a lot of calls doesn't mean that good judgment is being made. I thought the holding call on Urbik that nullified the TD was very marginal. However, I am very critical when there is a loss of control after the play is done, the Preston Brown penalty was foolish and damaging. When the Bills played the Pats Aaron Williams lost his composure after a penalty and continued on with his emotional rant on the sidelines. That's unacceptable. The person who sets the tone for the team is the HC. He may believe that being a loud mouth braggert is a way of instilling confidence in his team but it's not. If your HC is not acting with maturity and composure then it is not surprising that his team acts in the same foolish and irresponsible way in the heat of the battle. In other words we basically agree.

That's my point! Eli executed the strategy very well. He did his part to neutralize as best he could the defense. But the difference in this game was that the Bills lacked discipline and maturity compared to the Giants It was apparent from the beginning of the game that this was not going to be a shootout type game. It was going to be a tightly contested game. The ultimate difference was one team was more composed than the other. Eli did what he had to do. He is certainly no Brady. But he played within himself and he didn't panic. The difference was the lack of composure by our team. Put aside the stats in this game. Even if one had little knowledge about football it wasn't difficult to determine which team was more mature and composed. This loss is not attributable to a talent differential. This loss was attributable to the difference in the caliber of coaching. The caliber of coaching doesn't become evident when playing against demonstrably inferior teams. It becomes very evident when you play against the better teams and better coaches. In the Pat and Giant games Rex's stature compared to BB and Coughlin was very small. It was reflected in how the team conducted itself.

Two top notch HCs devising a strategy for their top notch qbs to counter a good defense. Coming up with the strategy to offset a strength of a defense is not the real challenge. It is the masterful execution of that strategy by the respective qbs that is most impressive. On one side of the sideline bluster and histrionics were on full display. In our two losses two HCs not known for their engaging personalities were with seriousness and purpose doing their jobs. Leadership is not about seeking the spotlight and being quotable. Leadership is preparing your team to play with discipline and intelligence. The personality of a team is most often reflected by the personality of the HC. Without concerning oneself with the stats anyone who watched the Pat and Giant game can see the difference.

Fear not I will not lead you astray!

Teams have adjusted to our talented d-line by making the first read and the quick throw. Both Brady and Eli are experienced qbs who know where to go with the ball and don't hesitiate. The quick release passes have countered our talented rushers.

One of the obvious disparities between the teams in this game was that our OL was overmatched by their DL. There were few lanes for the backs to run. It seems to me that Rex is trying to outsmart and outthink the opposition with his defensive schemes. Mario Williams, who last year was one of the most dominant players in the league, has become an invisible player. Instead of unleashing him to rush the passer I saw him dropping back into coverage. When the defense is the strength of your team don't complicate the schemes so that your best players are not attacking the play. Play to your strength and cut out the gimmicky nonsense. In general I thought TT played well. Not exceptionally, but competently. The holding call on Urbik on the TD run by TT was a brutal call. The refereeing in all NFL games has gotten out of hand. It's as if the referees are getting paid by the number of calls they make. It is killing the continuity of the game and it is excruciating to watch. One quarter of the season has gone by. Rex's team lacks discipline and doesn't play smartly. In this game and in the Pats game RR was demonstrably outcoached by higher caliber coaches. Being a colorful personality and very quotable may make you a more likeable coach but it doesn't mean that you are an effective coach. In this game it was apparent to me that the superior team and the better coached team won. I'm not happy how this game transpired but I am far from being discouraged. The more TT plays the better he will get. The Bills are a fringe wildcard playoff type team. We will be playing meaningful games up to the end. That is a step forward.

The lucky gem of good fortune this year is the signing of Tyrod Taylor. His athleticism has been touted since he came out of college. But his passing talents have by far surpassed my expectations. He has a good arm, is accurate and has an excellent touch on his ball when required. Most of his swings passes have the right amount of pace on it and the throws allow the swing receivers to catch it in stride, a talent that EJ struggles with. Who would have thought that Incognito who was a reclamation project would not only be the best lineman on the unit but one of the best guards in the league? I had qualms regarding bringing in Harvin but so far he is our most productive receiver. TT, Incognito, Harvin, Clay, Miller, Williams, Darby are all contributing players who were added this year and bolstered the roster with an emphasis on upgrading the offense. It wasn't a marginal change. The prior sluggish offense has in rather quick order morphed into an exciting high octane offense. Quite impressive! That caliber of work is worthy of an early extension! I say this more as a question than a comment but I thought that Jacksonville wanted to squeeze more for their trade down with us. I was under the impression that from Buffalo's position it hit its limit on what it was willing to give up for the move down to select Roethlisberg?

If you want to be critical of some of his decisions then that is fine. But if you look at last year from an overall perspective his record last year (9-7) reflected its talent level, if not slightly better than its talent level. Whether Pears was a better RT or RG is in the grand scheme of things inconsequential. Pears was a very limited player whose skills were diminishing. Having such a limited offensive lineman on the roster is an indictment to the talent level that Marrone had to work with on the OL.

You bring up the suggestion that he was forced out and then challenge others to demonstrate that it wasn't true. What an absurd approach to take. If you have some evidence that he didn't leave on his own accord then show it. Requiring someone to disprove a claim that has no basis is a lazy way to make an argument . Or a more challenging way to say it is: put up or be silent. (I didn't want to be too provocative and impolite so I toned down the saying.) Why anyone would take someone in the pro sport business acting in one's own self-interest as if it is a personal insult makes lilttle sense to me. Is DM arrogant? Who cares if he is? The business is replete with people who are arrogant. The notion of wishing to take revenge on a departed player, coach or front office staffer is beyond my comprehension. For me, cranky Doug is not simply an afterthought, he is forgotten. You are giving his departure too much attention.

Whether Pears played RG or LT he was inadequate. He was barely a functional player whose limited skills at that point of his career were diminished.

With respect to the top highlighted portion if you think I consider him a victim or martyr you have not carefully read my responses. With respect to the lower highlighted portion DM has a right to make whatever decision he wants regarding his career. Whether it is the right decsion or not it is on him. He exercised his prerogative and left on his own volition. Who cares whether it was a good decision or not? It's business, not yours.

If TT, Clay, Harvin, Miller, Incognito, Williams were members of the offense last year do you doubt that the coach you have a lot of venom for would have had his team in the playoffs? He had a flaccid offense because too many of his players on that side of the ball lacked potency. Evidently there are a lot of people who are disgruntled that he left!

Excellent post and excellent insight. On the one hand his critics disparage his competency and then on the other hand they complain that he decided to leave a situation that he didn't want to be in. As you wisely put it they didn't like him while he was here and they like him even less for leaving. What's the definition of irony or is it paradox????

How can you wreck the offense when you don't have an offense? He had the worst OL in the league and he had a second-rate backup qb who joined the team out of shape because he didn't work out intending to retire. What is wrong with exercising an option that he had in his contract? Players, coaches, front office staff certainly do the same thing. He was a back door candidate for the University of Michigan job. He was willing to take the risk of leaving a HC job because he was determined to leave the situation he was in. There is nothing unusual with someone taking a job and then realizing that he wasn't happy with the job for a variety of reasons. If someone doesn't want to be with the organization for whatever reason then leaving is the right thing to do. He can establish whatever conditions he wants to push. If the bosses say no then it is no. If you find him to be so distateful as a HC and person then you should be celebrating that he left instead of criticizing that he left. As I said in another post he did the organization a favor with his departure because the franchise was able to find a better organizational fit.

Harvin is playing really well this year. But if it came down to keeping Incognito or Harvin I would prefer Incognito. The Bills are loaded with receivers such as Watkins, Woods and Clay. As it stands our OL is thin. Whaley has done a terrific job in picking up troubled players that most teams didn't want to deal with and giving them an opportunity to put their careers on track. He did his due diligence and took calculated risks with show me contracts that made the team better. As it stands Incognito is our best offensive lineman and Harvin has proved to this point to be our most productive receiver. With his draft and free agent acquisitions Whaley has done a stellar job this past offseason!

No one has categorized DM as an exceptional HC. And no one has categorized Rex Ryan as an upper tier HC either. Rex was fired from his last job while DM left on his own accord. Did Doug Marrone have flaws? Absolutely. A great deal of his problems stem from his stern personality. A lot of people viscerally react when the topic of DM arises because of his decision to leave the organization. What is there to complain about? He did what he felt was right for him and his family and the outcome worked out well for the organization. While many people try to portray his departure as an act of disloyalty I see it in a different light. He had a different vision on how to build a roster and evaluate talent from the GM. There were conflicts over the roster then and there would have be escalating conflicts down the road. He assessed his situation within the organization and then decided to leave. If one is not satisfied with the situation then it is more honorable to leave than to remain in a situation you are not comfortable with. The Bills organization did not lose when he left. They turned the vacancy into an opportunity to find a HC who is a better fit for the organization and certainly for the GM. You don't think that Whaley was relieved that he didn't have to deal with the cantankerous DM any longer? There are many harsh critics of DM over the manner in which he handled the offense. He took a very conservative approach because he had little choice. The strength of the team was clearly its defense. His offense was so limited with incapable players that he felt that the best tactic to take was to do no harm and rely on the defense. Even for those who disagree with that boring approach it doesn't mean that it was an unreasonable approach to take. The priority for Whaley this offseason was to bolster the offense by bringing in players such as Incognito, McCoy, Clay, Harvin, Cassel, TT and drafting players such as Miller and Williams. That certainly was a recognition that there was a talent deficit on offense that the former HC had to contend with. While there are many harsh critics of DM I am not one of them. His won/lost record reflected the talent level, if not slightly better. What more can you ask for?

The team was 9-7. We had the worst guard play in the league for the simple reason that we had horrible guards. Richardson was not ready to play and he was a disaster when he played. Henderson was overwhelmed as a RT and he was better than Kujo who based on performance shouldn't have been on a NFL roster. Wood had a poor year at center some of which can be attributable to the poor play of the guards playing alongside of him. Glenn had an off year that he is carrying forward to this season. Orton was a mediocre backup qb who joined the team late and had to work himself into condition as the season advanced. No one is saying that Marrone is an innovative offensive coach. But the failure of the offense is attributable to its lack of talent, not the schemes. If you added TT, Harvin, Incognito and Miller to the 9-7 team that Marrone coached last year that team would have been in the playoffs, regardless how unimaginative a HC Marrone was. Kyle Orton had retirement on his mind before he finished the season. He cashed it in on his own voltion. His end of the season disinterest was very evident for all to see. His hitting the deck to avoid contact when he was a yard or so away from a first down was emblematic of how much he cared at that point.

The Bills went 9-7 last year under Marrone. Their record reflected their talent level and a little beyond it. If TT was the starting qb last year and played at the same level as he is now playing the Bills in my estimation would have won possibly another two games and made the playoffs. DM beat Rex's team twice last year (43-27. 38-3) by a combined score of 81-30. Kyle Orton was a very limited qb who was nothing more than an adequate backup. The reason why DM would have kept him the next year if he would have stayed is because Marrone was done with EJ as a starter. If your best option is a mediocre qb then you go with the mediocre qb. The Bills front office expected DM back this year. He left on his own accord. He moved on and the organization moved on.

Greg Roman is an excellent OC. However, I don't care how innovative he is or anyone else is with the caliber of OL and the caliber of qbing we had last year no OC would have been successful on. Is Greg Roman a better OC than Hackett? Absolutely. What would he have done differently on offense that could have overcome a limited veteran qb who had less mobility than Stephen Hawking without the wheel chair and an offensive line that couldn't hold back a defensive line full of Rosie O'Donnells? The talent on offensive is dramatically upgraded from last year. You don't think the addition of TT, Incognito, Clay, Miller, Harvin has made a difference compared to the slugs that staffed the offense last year? The bottom line is that the insufferable Doug Marrone had a team that always played hard. The 9-7 record that the team had not only reflected its talent level but slightly went beyond it. Being a diiiick doesn't mean that one is incompetent. Being a diiick is simply being a diiick.

Marone has taken a lot of criticism for the way he left the organization. I have no problem with his inglorious departure via the buyout clasue that was permissable within his contract. Marone didn't agree with a lot of what Whaley was doing regarding personnel. He had a different vision on how to build a roster. One way to look at the situation is that instead of contending with the conflict that existed and would continue to exist he left by his own volition. There is no doubt that DM was acting in his own perceived interest. But he acted in the organization's interest (intentional or not) by not wanting to be in a situation he didn't want to be in. Is Rex a better HC than Marrone? That isn't the right question. He is a better HC for this organization than DM was because of his willingness to work with the staff instead of in conflict with the staff. No HC and GM are going to agree on everything. They have different perspectives on their roles that can't always be reconciled. However, Rex knows how to work through conflicts and disagreement where because of his stubborn and inflexible personality DM wasn't able to manage differences of opinions.