Dr. K

You said it. The unrealistic expectations here are monumental. The scapegoating never ends--the minute the team gets rid of one scapegoat the search for a new one begins. It's very hard to take.

The non-playoff stretch may be true, but I'll bet you a dollar the won-lost record under Donohoe is by no means the worst won-lost percentage over an equal period in the Bills' history. Between (rare) playoff appearances before 1990, the Bills REALLY STANK. In the Donohoe era, the Bills had three seasons of .500 or better ball. I'm not satisfied with this, of course, buy you guys who say he was the worst in Bills history need to have lived through that history.

Your headline implies the national media didn't like them before they were fired, but now are hypocritically changing their tune. That's not true. YOU didn't like them before the firing. The national media were never down on TD and MM the way the desperate local fans and guys like Jerry Sullivan were. We'll see who was right. I'm not optimistic.

I agree fundamentally. When I said that Mularkey was being set up to fail, I did not mean that it was done deliberately. I meant that the situation was such that his likelihood of failing was very high, no matter how good a job he did. Modrak living in Florida, Ralph intervening in team operations, wholesale dismissal of the coaching staff, divided responsibilities, etc. I agree that Wilson and Levy want the Bills to win. But the organizational mess left in the wake of Donohoe's firing and the underminind of Mularkey is not conducive for building a winning team. I overstated in referring to "the good old days" of Donohoe. Of course these have not been good days. I was frustrated by his arrogance, by his dumping Steve Christie as if he could pick up a first rate kicker just anywhere, by his thinking Bledsoe was going to solve the QB problems, by his hiring Gregg Williams (whom I was ready to hope would work out better). But he also was a strong football man, who had a vision. You knew who was in charge. Maybe all this will work out, but I think the decks are stacked against this team pretty highly right now. I feel more this is 1983 than it is 1989. I fear we are in for a spell of absolute bottom-of-the-league performance; I fully expect several 3-13, 2-14 seasons in the next few years. I used to think that, despite the fact that Bills fans on this board were all hysterical, the team management was under control. Now I feel like the management is an accurate reflection of the desperation and bad judgment of the fans.

If you think this season was "rock bottom" then you were not a Bills fan before 1987. I predict you are going to see real "rock bottom" in the next three years.

Certainly he changed course at times, like on Bledsoe. But I still think he was a steadying influence. I don't know how the Bills get their house in order now. Certainly it makes me doubt they will do any better next season than this. I can see a complete collapse, a rebuilding, by necessity, from the ground up; not a fast turnaround. Get ready for confused quarterbacks, changed schemes, and a 3-13 season.

I never though keeping Mularkey was wrong. YOU (and a hundred other flamers on the board) thought keeping Mularkey was wrong. We'll see what happens.

This latest news about Mularkey resigning convinces me the situation with the Bills is out of control. I can understand him quitting, since he was basically being given a vote of no confidence, and being forced to fire all the assistants, yet still would be held responsible for the team's performance. The situation was designed for him to fail I suppose you could say this clears the decks and hope for better, but I tend to read it as leaving the scene in chaos. Marv is a rookie GM, the entire coaching staff will be new, and the direction fo the team is in complete flux. It's going back to less than squre one. Those of you who wanted the whole thing blown up, you go your wish. I predict people will be looking back on the good old days of Tom Donahoe within a year. Donohoe's decisions may not all have worked out, but he had a plan, and was rational, and he did not make hysterical changes based on the mood of the fans or the result of the last three games. I see no signs of steadiness in this organization, at any level. We are REALLY in Arizona Cardinals territory now.

In fact, Shaud Williams does pass block better than McGahee. I think you may right that McGahee should be in there, but they were not going to be running him with a minute left to play and no time outs yet, and Williams is a better receiver.

McGahee was probably on the bench because the Bills were going to have to throw, and the Jets knew the Bills were going to have to throw, and McGahee CANNNOT PASS BLOCK TO SAVE HIS LIFE.

I think I've had enough of Jerry Gray's defense. How many times did he call a blitz on a third and long situation, allowing the Jets' receivers to beat the Bills's secondary one on one? On the last Jets drive for a field goal it happened three straight third-and-longs. The year was the WORST third-down defense I can remember the Bills having in twenty years. Gray's scheme does not work unless he has superior personnel in 8 of 11 defensive positions. If the Bills don't force a turnover they give up long drives or big plays with awesome regularity. It is a defense designed to force sacks and turnovers, and when that doesn't work, it is hopeless. How many times did Cincinnati punt last week? How many times did the verkochter JETS punt this week? Come back Wade, all is forgiven!

A sad season, begun with such hope, full of humiliations, ending with a classic wouda-soulda-coulda loss. I need a rest from this team. I don't know what they are going to do for next season, but I don't see any easy fixes. But thinking about them any more is a formula for depression. Cheers to all my fellow Bills fans.

A combination of ! and 2. JP didn't get him the ball as much as he was open. Moulds became impatient and convinced that JP couldn't get him the ball, and so he developed a bad attitude and habits. But he still can do it when he wants to, and when the QB is able to see him and get the ball there.

I don't know why so many of you assume that Mularkey will put his own welfare ahead of that of the team. I just don't see that in him. He may make some bad decisions, but he's not a villian. Most of the bad decisions in the world are made by people who think they are doing the right thing. If you don't get that, I don't trust your ability to evaluate character.

Ah, but now that I've got my insidious hooks into you, you'll soon be eating granola and driving a Prius.

You're right about my being an out-of-towner and therefore not able to know accurately how the locals who fill the stadium feel. That may be the determining factor here. I do understand why the team may fire TD and MM, or one and not the other, I'n just not convinced that it's the right move. I want to see more change on the roster, and maybe in defensive strategy, than I necessarily want to dump the management (though I also have never been crazy about the heavy-blitzing Gray defense).

This is not a result of yesterday's game (though I was pleased to see it). And it's not that I've thought TD has made great decisions all along (I was on record as thinking that breaking up Wade's defense was a mistake, and I never liked Gregg Williams, and when we got Bledsoe after suffering through the excessive number of sacks Rob Johnson took, I wondered why everyone thought this was not going to be a problem, etc.) or that I don't agree that MM has made some strange calls... BUT, even given all this, I have not been convinced that firing TD and MM is the best thing to improve the Bills' future, and I still am not convinced. I think mosat of the decisions TD has made have been completely rational and designed to address specific problems, and to improve the team. They have not all worked out. Likewise I do not see MM's coaching as without merit, and I think there is potential for him to be a fine coach. The sentiment on the board seems to be overwhelmingly in favor of dumping both of them asap. I just wonder if there are any other posters here who feel the way I do, but who have been unwilling to face the abuse likely to ensue if you expressed this opinion. So, anyone else want to see MM and TD back next year? Any conditions that would apply? Oh, and by the way, Merry Christmas to all, and Peace to Men (and women) of Good Will.

Is Williams completely out of the question in this discussion? I point out that the running game was doing much better early in the season when he was playing RT than it has been since he has been riding the pine or trying to become a guard. When he was healthy, he seemed to me like a pretty good tackle. The problem was we expected a lot better than pretty good from a number four draft choice commanding such a huge salary.

The number of fans on this thread who don't understand how moronic it would have been to go for two in this situation is an accurate reflection of how moronic most of the fan commentary on the Bills situation right now has been. Sheesh!

The rest of this is going to be increasingly ugly. Does Losman get into the game?

I agree with Nick on this one. I think a lot of the dissing of Mularkey is classic fan reaction to a disappointing season. And this does not mean I defend all his decisions or like the way this season has gone. But in pro sports the inevitable fan reaction to losing is to fire the current coach, who must be the worst coach in the universe, and long for the savior coach, who is a knight in armor and whatever his history has been elsewhere, has never disappointed us here.

I don't know how the current fans would treat those teams and players, but it definitelys eems to me that the hate and blaming are out of control right now. They have a very short fuse and are too much invested in the success or failure of the team. Your statement that "when sprots bercomes your reality, what actually happens is that you lose touch with reality" is profound and true. I might add that, if you let this happen, you will never be happy, even if your team does win a championship. It's almost as if these fans think the performance of the team is a measure of whether their lives are worthwhile, and when the team fails, they take it personally and are murderously angry at whomever they can see as responsible. As if Tom Donohoe came into their house, trashed the place, and abused their only daughter.

Most of this bloviating about whether it's Moulds or MM who is at fault is sound without content. The answer is neither or both or who knows enough to offer an intelligent opinion.

No, don't bring back Marv. I love the guy, but the Bills began their decline, in my opinion, when after three Super Bowl losses Wilson fired Bill Polian instead of firing Marv. Everything that has happened since then has derived ultimately from that mistake. Another coach might have gotten a Super Bowl win out of the Kelly-Reed-Thomas--Smith team (or maybe not), but Polian is the guy whos absence has led gradually to where we are today.

You got it, bro.