Dr. K

That's far from enough said. They may have liked to play for Rex (which I do not believe is universal) but the guy took a top five defense and sank it. It doesn't matter if they loved playing for him; what matters is the results. This

I know that. My point is: who gives a damn about him, and why should they?

Who is Bart Scott and why should I care what he says? Did he watch the Bills defense screw up repeatedly all season? Linebackers with heir backs to the line of scrimmage trying to get a signal straight as the ball is snapped? Too many or too few players on the field? Three 200-yard runners?

All the hysteria about Tyrod not starting this game, and Lynn not satisfying the reporters at the Wednesday PC, and speculation about who's making decisions, and the wild negativity about Whaley strike me as being wrongheaded and short sighted. I am happier about the Bills' situation than I have been since they hired Rex, which I thought, and said the time, was a mistake. Here's what I like about where we are now: 1) Rex is gone. This offers a chance for the team to become more disciplined and focused. No more clown show press conferences and egomania. I expect a lot less bluster standing in for accomplishment, less boasting about what the team is going to do before it's done anything. The stupid pickup truck. The skydiving. It was always the Rex show and I was tired of it before it even started. 2) A cleaner chain of command. Whaley picks the coach and manages the roster and stands or falls on how that plays out. I think a lot of the negativity about Whaley's tenure is overblown, but whether I am right or not about that, we are going to see accountability. I expect the Pegulas to learn their lesson and stay out of the process. 3) It's early yet, but I am hoping they hire Lynn as head coach, not some "big name" guy who may draw media attention but whose days are past. Please, no Cowher, no Coughlin, no Gruden, etc. (Even if they would come here, which they probably would not). 4) The end of Rex's defensive scheme, which did not play to the roster's strengths. It made Gilmour, for instance, look worse than he was. Likewise Brown the linebacker. It chased Bradham off the team. Good riddance. Let the national media say whatever they want about the Bills. Let the Buffalo News and Sully and the others whine and stir the pot. I hope the front office completely ignores them. I could probably think of a couple of other bright spots, but that's a start. Happy Holidays and best wishes for the New Year.

Very interesting. A very positive take.

Seems reasonable to me. Not sure we can count on the offense to get better or the defense to rebound, but the moves make sense given where the team is now. Lynn will report to Whaley instead of to the Pegulas and Whaley's keeping his job will depend on whether Lynn makes it work.

JMJ pray for us. The obsession with damning Whaley for not having a press conference today is laughable. Get a life.

Listening to the reactions here tells me why so many of you people were having orgasms over hiring Rex. It's all about the glib answers in the PC and interviews, the manly end-of-the-bar bluster, the guy who has a quick answer or a joke for every question, the guy who never gets caught out in a contradiction and knows how to play to the audience. I thought he did fine, given the circumstances. I would never presume to judge whether Lynn could do the job based on a press conference.

I wish to god he had bought the team. It would have saved us from his presidency. And he would have run the team into the ground, sold it, and it would move to San Antonio.

I would say losing this one might have long term positive benefits for the Bills, the primary one being Rex would be a goner. Therefore, the Bills will win.

This.

Get back in the box ASAP.

Fire the freakin' coach yesterday. Like you I thought hiring Rex was a mistake (pats self on back). Tyrod has problems that I don't think are going to go away, but Rex's destruction of the defense, and the way installing his system has scewed up who we are required to draft, is the main source of the problem. Oh, yes, and his team's lack of discipline, his weak game management skills, his putting defensive backs in situations where they will look worse than the are because of his idiot schemes, his hiring of his loser brother. . . . etc. Aside from that, no problem.

Tyrod started from day one last season. It's not his first year as starter. Woods would start for most teams.

I agree completely. Rex is the problem, not Whaley. I sure hope, when they eventually dump Rex, they don't dump Whaley. Instead, they should let him pick the next coach, not get all excited by some stupid interview, and have that coach answer to him in the chain of command.

No way in hell does this team go 10-6.

Rex is the problem, not the solution. "The team is not mentally there yet?" No kidding--and their unpreparedness is a direct reflection of their coach. If they keep Rex on for next season, they are dooming themselves to another .500 record at best, and more likely 6-10 or worse.

Hiring Rex is on the Pegulas, not on Whaley, I think. Rex reports to them, not to Whaley. He is not Whaley's man, though Whaley has tried to make the best of the situation and give Rex the QB and the players in the draft and coaching staff that Rex has said he needed.

I am 100% behind this reading of the problem. With one addition--I would not blame Whaley for the place this team is in. This is Rex's team. Whaley does not have organizational power over Rex, but has given Rex what Rex said he needed to run this team. And the result is on display. It all goes back to the coaching, even the player selection. He is a disaster. I blame Rex, and The Pegulas for hiring him.

I think Tyrod has grave limitations, but this loss is not on him so much as it is on Rex. Rex wants them to play this philosophy of football, where they get the ball with two minutes before the half and a six point lead and just run the clock, with no urgency, no attempt to score. He was happy I guess to go into the half with a one point lead. The guy cannot coach. When push comes to shove, the defense is a joke. He leaves his corners out on an island and if the pass rush does not get to the QB they get burned to a crisp. And good QB is going to rip them to shreds, and a mediocre one (Fitz) will do so half the time. The game has passed the man by. This is on Rex, and on the Pegulas for hiring him. Whaley, who has found quality players in unlikely places, who has does his level best to give Rex the players he wants, is probably going to pay the price for the Pegulas' idiotic decision to hire Rex.

There was a shot of the Bills players on the sidelines when the score was 24-23, I think, that told me they had lost the game. There was such a look of defeat on the faces of the players, including Tyrod, that I knew they were done, even though there was a whole quarter left to play. They knew they were going to lose and had no faith. The looked like zombies. Please fire Rex now.

I joked earlier, but seriously, I don't see the Bills winning this. Maybe they stay close for a while if the defense plays above their heads and they are able to run on the Raiders, but the injuries and matchups look bad.

What I meant was the average quality of QB play in the league is mediocre to bad. I really do think EJ, with the right coach and OC, will play well elsewhere. I know most people here think that's insane. Most people here thought hiring Rex would give us the #1 defense in the league, no problem. We'll see what happens.

Given the average quality of QB play in the league, yes.

I am on your side about this, but the arguments made in the piece linked to have some plausibility. Unless something changes drastically, Tyrod will not be hitting receivers in stride over the middle of the field any time soon and he won't be leading any furious come-from-behind heroics through the air in the fourth quarter. But he doesn't turn the ball over and he runs well. I have always thought EJ got a raw deal here, but there is no way he is every going to get that chance in Buffalo—certainly not under Ryan—so the sooner he gets out of town, for his own sake, the better.