JohnC

The quickest way to fill the gigantic hole that exists is get a credible qb. That in itself will accelerate getting on the road to seriousness. Even with an upgrade on the OL the team's status doesn't change much unless the person taking the snaps is demonstrably better than what we now have. Orton was a good pickup in a qb market that was bare. When a fading below average qb is your best option that is not an optimal situation for a team with playoff aspirations to be in.

What is grabbing his attention is his stadium is a half filled stadium on game days.His back to the past approach to running the organization as reflected by his hiring of Bruce Allen (George Allen's son) was weird. Bruce Allen knows little about football personnel matters. He's simply an organizational manager and also an intermediary between the owner and the football staff. His forte is organizing reunions with players from the past and golf outings. I think he is belatedly learning that there is no quick fixes to systemic problems that he himself created. He is also learning that throwing money around for high profile acquisitions is not a solution in a cap system. Many people in this area are very skeptical about the owner but I do believe that he isn't foolishly meddling with football matters any longer. Although he does have a say on whether to dispatch or not dispatch RGIII this offseason. What's very apparent is that the Bills are a much better run organization with Brandon running the business side and Whaley running the football side of the operation.

WEO, I guarantee you that Gruden will be back. The only issue is whether RGIII will be back or not. Trust me on this issue.

Orton was in control of the situation (as you noted). He was holding the cards. He was willing to delay signing at the risk of not playing because if the Bills went in another direction he would have been satisfied with retiring. Orton knew that he hurt his chances of starting by signing so late. But he didn't care. What is sad about this situation is that although Orton is a very mediocre qb he was a major upgrade compared to what we had to work with. That is an indictment of the organization that should be mostly directed toward Nix who is still on the payroll.

The issue of Thad and Tuel regressing or not is irrelevant. Both qbs are fringe players at best. Each barely qualifies as emergency qbs. The HC needed to have Orton on the roster sooner rather than later because the backup situation was dire with Tuel, Palmer and Lewis. Whaley is not a dope. He clearly understood, as did Marrone, that EJ was not ready. Both of them watched him during the OTAs, training camp and preseason. It was my understanding that Orton was contacted by the front office during the offseason. What is clear is that DM was not going to allow EJ to struggle at the expense of having the season be quickly tanked. It was DM who informed Whaley that he was making a change. He was not asking the GM for his permission because he simply was no longer going to tolerate such a qb void on a team that did have talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball. No one can conclusively prove whether the GM or the HC was the driving force in acquiring Orton because we are not privy to the conversations going on among the staff. But you don't have to be a football afficionado to recognize that the Bills had a desperate situation at qb. If DM was aware that there was contact between the GM and Orton it would be reasonable to believe that he would aggressively encourage the GM to get something done. There was too much at stake for him to allow the situation to deteriorate into another early lost season. On this issue I agree with K-9's assessment of the situation. Overall I don't believe that there was much difference between Whaley and Marrone's assessment of the team's qb situation. Each knew that the qb situation as the season approached was untenable.

I live in the MD/DC area so I am very familiar with the situation. There is saturation coverage of this interminable saga in this market. There is no doubt that RGIII did an end around to the owner during his petulant conflict with Shanahan. I'm sure that the owner now realizes that he was wrong in having a preferential relationship with some of his players. It has caused problems with the rest of the team and the coaches. As much as people charge the owner with interfering with the team he for the past year or so has not gotten involved with the football operation. There is no doubt that Gruden is tired of his diva qb and he doesn't have confidence that he will develop into a quality starter. He simply doesn't believe that RGIII has the workmanlike approach to the game that is required for success and he doesn't believe that he will develop as a qb who can function in the pocket. What Gruden has confronted are the very same things that Shanahan confronted with his egotistical qb. The owner in advance agreed with the HC in the benching of RGIII. The owner is not a fool. He sees the same things that everyone else does: That RGIII is simply overwhelmed and is a battered player and person. The issue for the owner is whether to keep RGIII or to simply cut bait, as Gruden is recommending. Most people think that the organization is going to keep him for another year to see if he is salvageable. In my opinion if RGIII had the character, work ethic and maturity that EJ has he would not be having the troubles that he currently has.

You are over-analyzing the qb situation Marrone was facing. After seeing EJ in training camp and during the preseason he was well aware that EJ was not ready to start.The backup options DM had to work with were frightfully bad. At the time his backup options and possible near distant starter was Palmer, Tuel or Lewis. You don't think that his qb situation caused him great anxiety? It doesn't really matter which backup qb you prefer because they were all grossly inadequate If Orton was under consideration by the front office it would be foolish for DM not to be aggressive in encouraging the front office to make the extra effort to get him. As it turned out the situation played out as Marrone expected. EJ was not yet ready (if ever he will be???). Marrone was right in not allowing the season to be sabotaged because the young starting qb couldn't handle the job. In hindsight Marrone was correct that Orton was the best qb option for his team. To his credit he decisively moved to replace the young qb with the qb he preferred over the less than appealing qbs that he had on the roster. Willing to make the qb change at such an early juncture in the season is what salvaged this season. For that he should be praised. As far as the so-called conflict between Whaley and Marrone that doesn't bother me. It is part of the process and working environment between a GM with a longer term perspective and a HC with a more immediate term perspective. Too much is made of that exchange.

One of my primary points in the prior post was that especially at the qb position you have to go beyond your athleticism and learn how to play the position. It was never going to be an easy transition from mostly physically reacting in college to learning how to read defenses and make plays from the pocket in the pros. The center of criticism is not that he is merely struggling to learn how to play in a pro style offeense but that he hasn't dedicated himself to learning that critical aspect of his position. Not only was he non-receptive to what Shanahan was trying to teach him but he went so far as to publicly and privately attempt to undermine the HC who was trying to help him. Kaepernick is also have problems learning how to adjust his game. He like RGIII had initial success using his athleticism to perform well. But at least he is not ignoring and resisting what his coaches are telling him. It is not an easy adjustment for a qb prospect to transition from the college to the pro game. But you are guaranteed to fail if you go your own way without accepting the coaching that is there to help you learn how to play in the pro ranks.

What ails this team has much more to do with its roster limitations than it does with its unimaginative HC. This is an 8-8 or 9-7 caliber team. When all is said and done the team will perform to the level of its talent base. The Bills OL is below mediocre. Its starting qb is mediocre. Although the defense is an upper scale defense its sterling performances are being squandered by the limitations of the offense. What this franchise doesn't need is another turnover of the coaching staff. Starting over and then again starting over is a response that doesn't solve what is the source of this team's problesm, roster deficiencies. Is Marrone's selection of Hackett as an OC a mistake? How can anyone fairly assess Hackett when he is working with one of the worst OLs in the game and is calling plays for an inconsequential qb. The real problem isn't the playcalling but the execution of the plays. Until the personnel deficiencies are addressed focusing on the coaching staff and their strategies are fruitless.

The criticisms that he is receiving from his current HC is the same criticisms he received from the prior HC and his son, the OC. His former HC, Shanahan, is an old-school hard ass coach. But he knows how to coach qbs and he knows how to orchestrate an effective offense. Shanahan knew right from the beginning that RGIII was a work in progress and needed to evolve his game. But the friction came when RGIII was not receptive to what Shanahan was telling him. With RGIII everything with the HC was personal when in reality it simply was part of the process of coaching a player up. The problem wasn't Shanahan but it was his own insecurities.. The majority of the fans, the coaching staff, even the formerly supportive front office, the local sport reporters are tired of his diva act .He is a very self-centered person who has little understanding on how his behavior affects others. His constant stream of inane tweets aggravated everyone. Yet he can't stop his constant flow of tweets that are a source of controversy. No one is suggesting RHIII is a bad person because he is not. But without a doubt he is a misguided person. RGIII the performer on the field is a disaster. His benching is the best thing that could happen to him At this poinr he is a battered player and person. He might get back on the field before the season is over but that isn't what is going to salvage his fading career. He needs to dedicate himself to properly working on his game, stressing the mental side of the game from which he is now clueless. He needs to get is priorities straight. The irony is that his success in his rookie year deluded him into thinking that he had all the answers. It didn't take very long before he was faced with the reality of not being fully prepared for the NFL that takes advantange of the players' limitations. What RGIII's rookie year demonstrated to everyone is that he has extraordinary talent. He throws a beautfifull ball and is a terrific athelete. However, if you don't advance your game you regress. And that is exactly what happened to him while he was busy doing the star circuit in the offseason instead of studying film. If RGIII had the character and work ethic of EJ he would be would have few problems. The predicament he is in is the predicament that he created for himself because of his self destructive and insufferable inflated ego.

The most important relationship at work is with your boss. That is the person he has the most contentious relationship with. When you get two alpha males who are reluctant to back down then it is inevitable that there is going to be irreconsilable differences. GMs and HCs are never going to always agree. That is due to the natiure of one's position. While the HCs focus is on the present the HC has a more long term perspective. The situation between Harabaugh and Ballke remind me of the situation in San Diego betwee the HC, Shottenheimer, and the GM, AJ Smith. Both were inflexible and unyielding personalities. The owner tried to get them to reconcile their differences and have a workable relationship. Neither was able to accommodate the owner. One of them had to go so the higher ranked person remained and the HC was dispatched. I see a split coming at the end of the season. It isn't about there being bad guys. It is about personalities being able/unable to form constructive working relationships. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jason-la-canfora/24455137/jim-harbaughs-relationship-with-49ers-brass-is-getting-worse

There are people who are so intense and have a hard edge to them that they exhaust everyone around them. Usually when things are going well their combustible personalities are tolerated. When the performances start to slide they have no reservoir of good-will that will buy them time to get back on course. Harbaugh is they type of hard core personality who finds it difficult to compromise on an issue (ex.personnel) when he has a strong conviction on an issue. Tom Donahoe was an arrogant and condescending executive who not only was a control freak but made it known that he was the smartest person in the room. Instead of making decisions that were expected he would make maneuvers in order to demonstrate how he was creatively outthinking the conventional thinkers. (The injured Willis McGahee first round selection is an example of that.) In the end he was such an unlikable person (which he didn't care) that when his cumulative mistakes caught up to him it was an easy call to get rid of this pompous arse. My point is there are people, although very talented, are so intense that they burn out the people who work with them. These type of people are usually brought in to jolt a lagging organization into being successful, and then they are dispatched because they can no longer be tolerated. Harbaugh seems to fit in this category.

The problem with the Bills offense with respect to Spiller is structural. The OL is big, slow, can't react and adjust. That OL construction is the opposite of what suits the attributes of Spiller. One of the reasons why Hackett continues to have his backs run inside is because that is what this OL is built to do. Unless the OL is reconstitued (not this year) it would be better for Spiller to seek other opportunities. It is unreasonable to expect dullards to be imaginative. My advice to Spiller would be to seek an environment where flexibility prevails over inflexibillity. Find a location where your strengths and not your weaknesses are accentuated. It's certainly not where you are currently employed!

There is no trade value. Use him or lose him. If I were Spiller I would seek other opportunities where wisdom and common sense are more prevalent.

CJ Spiller is a more talented version of Darren Sproles (my opinion). Sproles has made a major contribution playing for San Diego, N.O. and now Philadelphia because he was properly utilized. If Spiller played for Kelly in Philly he would be a more multi-faceted player whose dynamic talents would be properly utilized. The idea that one of our best players is playing behind a lumbering molasses moving OL and mostly running inside is ludicrous. One of the aspects of Spiller's game that bothers NYC Bill is that he is not a workhorse back who is going to get a lot of carries. My response to that issue is so what! If you have a player who is capable of consistently making big plays (as he has done) and do it with fewer touches then what is there to complain about. Playmakers are tough to acquire; without a doubt he is a playmaker. They should be prized not vilified. For some people Spiller has become a symbol for what has plagued this misbegotten organization: ineptitude. They are wrongly targeting a productive player (whose talents are not maximized) and projecting their displeasure of the organization onto him. Although I understand their frustration I strenuously disagree with their assessment.

What I find discouraging is that obviously costs rise as time goes by. Assuming the Bills and the public authorities come to an agreement on building a new facility at the minimum a number of years will have gone by, thus making a costly project even more costly. Putting money into the rickety Ralph was necessary to make it inhabitable for the forseeable future. But that money could have been used as a public sector contribution for a facility that will be mostly privately financed. It sure would have been nice if instead of paying $1.4 B for the team the price would have been $1 B with the additional $400 M going towards a new facility.

Bill, What qb in the Spiller draft would you have taken in the Spiller draft spot? Despite your jaundiced view of him he has been a positive contributor for a consistently poor team. There isn't an offensve player on the roster since his selection who has made more big plays. What hasn't helped him is a coaching staff that has not properly utilized him. As I said in prior postings if Spiller played for the Eagles and their HC, Kelly, his talents would be better utilized. I never understood your continuous hostile fixation on Spiller. For you he has become a symbol for the ineptitude of this befuddled organization. If you want to get upset at a draft selection you should be more outraged with the Torrell Troup selection in the second round of that draft. He was an undersized nose tackle who had a history of back problems. When he played for us he like he was an undersized nose tackle with a history of back problems. That should irritate you much more than the productive Spiller. Where I depart from you is that I'm not going to be overly critical of a player who was drafted by an inept organization who makes plays. Whatever residual ire you have with him it should be directed to the abundance of players who were wasted picks and made little contribution. http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?season=2010

Since you have been to both Indy and Detroit what do you like and dislike about the facilities. In your opinion how adaptable are either facilities to a downtown or waterfront Buffalo site? I'm not asking about tailgating potential so much as I'm interested in your opinion about the facilities. I would also be interested to know about your observatons of the areas around the facilities. Was there much development around each of thes sites?

Thanks to the both of you for the information. Drew Brees had a challenging relationship with his mother who committed suicide. In the attached article I learned that Archie Manning had a similar experience with a parent. In general I get the sense that Brees is a pillar in the community.

I missed the thrust of your response. Sorry about that. Especially after the replay of the hit I got very upset. He should have been thrown out. That was a dangerous play. I recognize that sometimes the speed of the game affects the tackle but the form on the hit was dangerous from the start.

What is it about him that you take exception to? Kirby Jackson who lives in the NO area also made some vague comments about his character. He wasn't explicit but the tenor of his comment was critical. I got the impression that his public persona doesn't match his private persona. I suspect that Joe D doesn't have much affection for the current players who forgot the contribution of of their predessors when they signed their labor agreement.

That was a dirty hit. A clear cut case of spearing. The league office should severely fine him. I would have no problem if he was suspended. That was a dangerous hit that could have caused internal damage.

You don't think that the HC from the Eagles would better utilize his talents? There is no doubt that the poor construction and talent level of our OL has a major effect on limiting the offense. When you have a special talent you should work to enhance the talent not create a system that works against it.

Marrone was part of the staff of New Orleans under a very offensive minded HC, Payton. I'm sure when DM interviewed for the job he didn't stress that his approach to the offense was a dullard approach. I agree that there is a conflict/tension between Whaley's view toward the offense and Marrone's approach. Despite what I just stated I strongly believe that Marrone will be back next year. In my opinion what this organization doesn't need is another coaching staff change. Allowing this current staff to make adjustments is better than turning it over and starting over again. The bottom line is that Marrone is taking an 8-8 or at best 9-7 type team and having it in general play up to its level of talent. That is an accomplishment worth rewarding by bringing him back.

It's an issue of mindset. While you focus on the opportunity for the success of the fourth down attempt Marrone is more inclined to focus on the risk that the play won't work. There is no doubt that the situation is factored in when making the decision go for it or not. But with Marrone his disposition becomes part of the calculation in his decision-making.. His comfort level in taking risks is more limited than for most other coaches. .