Dr. K

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.

This is laughable. Coughlin lost his team at Jacksonville, and Ditka at New Orleans. Right now 90% of what is being posted on this board is hysterical.

I for one do not want to see Mularkey fired. I think he has a lot of the requisites to make a good head coach, and I like him ten times better than I liked Gregg Williams. I think people are giving him a lot less slack than they gave Williams, which is understandable since we have gone some time without a playoff appearance, but I also think that that is causing fans to unload things onto Mularkey's shoulders that are not his responsibility. I think he's made some questionable calls, but I think he has the makings of an excellent coach.

Good post. Thank god it's not another "My hair's on fire! This is the worst team in the history of the universe! Get rid of Donohoe or my life will end!" post. Believe me, I'm as upset at anyone at that collapse Sunday, but though I have lived and died with the Bills for forty years, really, this isn't life or death.

...take the players out for a sex weekend on a rented boat.

I'm absolutely with Horus on this. I think too many people here minimize the difficulty of finding a replacment for Moulds who is going to command the respect he gets from defenses. The assumption that Evans is automatically going to step up, wihtout Moulds on the other side, is like the assumption Atlanta made that Peerless Price would be a number 1 receiver no matter who was lined up on the other side, or the idea TD had that he could cut Christie and come up with a reliable kicker from just about anywhere.

I think you should take whatever sort of sign you want to the stadium. As for my suggestion of a sub-board, that was a joke. Of course I understand that people are going to post another half million screeds telling us once again how drafting Mike Williams was a terrible move, and how Donohoe spends all his time looking in the mirror and hiring ex-Steelers, and how Moulds should be cut right after we burn Josh Reed at the stake. Yada yada yada. It's just so predictable. As David Byrne said, "Say something once, why say it again?" They had a plan, it didn't work. Time to pick up the pieces, make some rational decisions, and see what happens next. The whines of outrage are way beyond tiresome at this point.

...so you can move the tiresome number of posts on this board blaming Global Warming, the War in Iraq, street crime and widesspread male erectile dysfunction to Tom Donohoe. The negativity here would be laughable if it did not make the place such a drag. And it's so plonking repetitive and whiny. I did not realize that Jerry Sullivan had perfected cloning.

Good one, Kelly. Says it all.

Maybe I'm a day early, but in the midst of this season of our discontent, I offer a few things I think we might be thankful for, despite the fact that Mike Williams is not what we hoped he would be. 1. Good food, which for me includes roast turkey (dark meat, please), fresh cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy, and pumpkin pie. 2. Weather. That includes sun, rain, snow, fresh air, falling leaves, and leaves that don't fall. 3. Family. Despite the fact that they can drive you crazy. That especially goes for children, who, until they figure out how to upload us all as digital information into computers, are the only tase of immortality you will ever have. 4. Friends. Otherwise we would all be solipsists. 5. Interesting work. It would be heaven if we all had jobs that challenged but did not kill us, kept our minds alive, provided enough income to support ourselves, and did not destroy the world in the process. 6. Sex. Even when it's bad, it's good, and when it's good, to borrow the words of a wise man in another context, "Where would you rather be than right, here, right now?" Here's to all of you, and to a sense of perspective.

I really don't know. I'm pretty discouraged, But it seems to me a lot of what we all say on the board is silly, flailing around, suggesting desperate moves as if there were some miracle that was going to turn the team around, or putting it all on some simgle scapegoat. Donohue, whatever you say about him, had a plan. It didn't work. I don't know if he can turn it around, so maybe you need another management team. Sure, fire him. But new management is not going to turn this team around right away--you're still looking at years. The Bills went for decades trying lots of different coaches, general managers, players, etc. and were still bad. I guess the only thing I'd say now is stop playing the old guys; play the young guys and figure out if any of them can play. At least then we might know the size of the hole we're in.

I missed a couple: hire a baseball guy as general manager get Drew Bledsoe back

Been reading the board and based on that I think I got it figure out what we need to do to get back to the Superbowl. It's simple . . . fire Donohoe fire Mularkey fire McNally cut Moulds cut Williams cut Reed get rid of Clements get a whole lot of great new players (from www.greatnewplayers.com, I guess) hire Jim Kelly as OC run on every down I don't know why the Bills' management can't figure this out.

Humiliating defeats have been much more common in the history of the Bills than victories or even competence. Those of us who have been fans since the 60s know that, overall, this has been a TERRIBLE franchise, with the exception of the period from say 1988 to 2000. Between 1966 and 1988 the Bills were the worst team inj football. I can't tell you how many times I saw them do humiliating things. When they looked good, I could only wait for the pratfall back to their "normal" state of incompetence. Unfortunately, I am getting that feeling about the Bills again. They have just gone back to what they have always been. No surprise, really. What else should we expect? I want something different, but I don't expect it. The Bills and the Cubs. It doens't have to be that way, but it is.

I'm in general agreement. Lose the following after this season: Milloy Adams Vincent Posey Teague In general, if a player is 30 or older, he must prove he is able to play and keep playing for the next three years to be kept on this team. Try to get something for Moulds. If you can restructure him, maybe keep him, but not at any cost. Tag and trade Clements if you can't sign him for a non cap-breaking deal. Invest big time, through draft or wise free agency acquisitions, in the O-line and D-line. Spend the rest of the season finding out if these young guys can play. I want to see Parrish, Preston, the backup linebackers, the safeties and backup corners on the field a lot more.

I don't know what to do about th coaching and management right now, but I have an opinion on the roster. I say take a good look at the roster right now, and if a player is not going to be here in two years, don't play him now and cut or trade him after the season. Go with the younger players, and see whether they can play or not. Maybe keep Fletcher in there, but play the youth movement. That means, after this season and even now, forget Vincent, Milloy, Adams on defense. On offense, I guess you may have to keep guys like teague starting for now in the hope they have a marginally better chance of keeping Losman from getting killed, but I don't see him there in the future. Play the younger linemen, Preston, etc. Maybe give M. Williams a last shot at right tackle (Peters didn't look to good today). But if the team is going to do anything next year, invest heavily in both lines. I think they can hold their own in the defensive backfied with the young guys from the last three seasons, and at linebacker with the Crowell and Fletcher and hopefully with a recovered Spikes, but I don't see what Posey is doing for us. Help in the D-line. Before last season people were saying the Chargers had a terrible line: they drafted and started two rookies and now they are beating up on people like us. To sUmmarize: INVEST IN THE O-LINE & D-LINE. PLAY THE YOUNG GUYS. LOSE THE OLDER PLAYERS, EVEN IF THEY HAVE A LITTLE GAS LEFT IN THE TANK.

Th reason I ask is that I don't see the Bills beating the Chargers in San Diego if Losman does not have a strong day passing, at least 250 yards and probably more than 300. I don't expect Wills to have a great day running unless the Bills force the Chargers to back off the LOS by completing many passes. The only alternative way for the Bills to win is for our defense to force many turnovers, as they did against KC, and not turn the ball over themselves. Could happen, but don't bet on it. So, do the Bills and Losman and the coaching staff have it in them to produce major yards through the air in this game? They haven't so far this season in any game.