BillsVet

Absolutely. They're both short QBs, can run really fast, and are about the same age. Pretty much the same guy.

Except that they didn't spend hundreds of millions on defensive linemen who now don't fit the new HC's scheme. And they never stopped trying to find a QB until they knew they had one. And they have a GM and HC who are attached at the hip in terms of roster building. Yep, pretty much the same thing...but different.

More money spent on a DL and defense? Fans are 20-30 years behind the times advocating a strategy to win with defense and more cap dollars toward that side of the ball. You win with offense, specifically the passing game. Trying to do it any other way is a recipe for failure.

They don't already?

Jim Schwartz fought all 32 NFL HC's and knocked them out with one punch! To Jim Schwartz! I heard he shut out 19 opponents in a row one season...and won the Super Bowl with 11 defensive linemen blitzing every down!

I thought Polian's comments came off as asking through the media for a job. Strange, but I'm not advocating for him based on the analysis he's provided. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if no moves are made nor if some heads managed to roll. It does seem though that the personnel leader isn't thrilled with the coaches use of certain players. I guess we'll wait until after the season Thank jw. #damagecontrol

I've always found it curious that both Brandon (as managing parter in 2013) and Pegula in 2015 seemed to make the final call on a HC when they needed to hire one. Whaley at a minimum was in the room for interviews and most likely contributed but did not get to make the decision himself. Whaley came from Pittsburgh which seems to have a more classic type front office, although others can speak to that better than I. Perhaps his issue has been not having authority commensurate with his what he knew in his Steeler days. In Buffalo, he's dependent on the HC's employment of picks, and if reports are correct, there's been dissatisfaction with how players are used. Yet, he doesn't supervise that HC, which has to rankle him. Either way it's not been very smooth transitioning from one regime to another over the past few years.

Pete Carroll has a solid relationship with GM John Schneider in Seattle and doesn't report to the latter. Bill Belichick runs it all in NE with assistance from Floyd Reece running personnel. The issue isn't ensuring the GM has control, it's the personalities involved and clearly Doug Whaley doesn't get along with HCs. I would agree the org chart isn't suitable primarily because the owner isn't there supervising the GM and HC. That then raises the subject of a football "Czar", a position somewhat new to the NFL but one brought on by the changing nature of the NFL. The league has advanced tremendously the past decade and a classic org chart of HC reporting to GM and GM to owner may not work any longer. Seattle, New England, and a few others have embraced the change is have succeeded with it.

IIRC, one of the top UFA targets Rex made with NYJ in 2009 was Bart Scott. They definitely overpaid, but on this defense having someone who knows it and can perhaps teach it is worth more. Now the question becomes is it worth it to make all these moves to have the defense Rex wants to run. RR isn't deviating from his scheme, so the only options are to get the players or get a new HC. Good post Dave.

Polian offering his services publicly seems strange, but it'd be hard for Pegula from a PR perspective to decline. I know a lot of fans love Doug Whaley, but there's clearly a major conflict between the GM and HC as evidenced by some personnel decisions during and just after camp. What's needed is an honest assessment of the team and personalities involved building the roster and Polian is someone Pegula clearly trust. Regardless, something needs to change at OBD because there's so much negative energy right now.

Rex needs to be asked what's happened and why this team has become a rudderless ship. Now, if those reporters asked penetrating questions of Doug Whaley it's a different story. Because according to some Doug Whaley is not at fault. And that's mostly because what he does is out of the purview of fans and therefore hard to understand. Rex OTOH is there 16 games a year making decisions more easily debated.

The media doesn't approach a professional sports team the way its fans do. That may be the greatest misconception on TBD in the time I've been here. When this bumbling franchise starts making the playoffs perhaps the "negative" articles construed by some fans will be less frequent. And I'm sure the media knows a lot more than they're putting out there, primarily not to totally sever their ability to cover the team. We know how the Bills have controlled the flow of information over the years. Listen to Bills lead journalist Chris Brown on the WGR extra point show from Monday 12/14 at approximately the 22 minute mark. He says what the poster wrote. http://media.wgr550.com/a/111757062/12-14-extra-point-show-with-sal-capaccio-hr-2.htm?q=Chris+Brown Tyrod does indeed need throwing lanes to see the field.

McCoy's contract, particularly this coming off-season, needs to be a part of the discussion regardless of how much Pegula spends. What the Bills did giving him an extension to placate his trade inhibits their ability to staff other positions, namely defensive ones. And that will undoubtedly be a requirement real soon. I think certain fans like (and vocally support) McCoy more for his name than his output on the field. He's in the news a lot and for a team with (some) fans starving for any shred of attention, he provides that. What he doesn't provide is value based on his contract.

Two irrelevant franchises playing a week 16 match-up. Not exactly a programmer's dream if you're NBC, even if it is the Cowboys.

The irony is that last year, as the article noted, Buffalo's starters apparently lost only 13 games to injury. No one then talked about how their success was due to a lack of injuries. Besides, if injuries are to blame for the 2015 season like we're told by the homers, that reflects poorly on the roster depth built by the personnel staff. I can understand blaming injuries if your starting QB is a top player and he's lost for the season in week 2 or most of your offensive line goes down. But those things didn't happen in Buffalo this year. Regardless, some people conveniently people cite injuries when they don't want to admit the team was constructed poorly.

It's about time bad NFL teams were able to draft GMs from other teams. Buffalo, with the likes of Marv, Brandon, Nix, and now Whaley, clearly needs an upgrade at the position but continues to have people unqualified or just bad at the job.

"Almost every big name on this roster was either acquired for way too much or cast aside by the rest of the NFL. When the Bills hired Rex Ryan, he almost satisfied both criteria. The Bills already had a good defense. They needed offense — the one thing the rest of the league agreed was beyond Rex’s purview. Then we found out they were coming into camp with a quarterback battle between EJ Manuel and Taylor? And McCoy was supposed to change everything? It was a disaster in the making." http://grantland.com/the-triangle/tell-your-grandkids-about-the-2015-buffalo-bills/ Posted this link in another thread, thought it more appropriate here.

How not to build a franchise in the 2015 NFL landscape: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/tell-your-grandkids-about-the-2015-buffalo-bills/ The McCoy trade was audacious, but not aligned with their philosophy, cost too much in cap dollars, and provided a diva to a team that needs blue collar types.

You believe what you want to believe because it fits your narrative. If the team makes changes this off-season (and there's a chance they will) I expect your daily activity to dwindle.

Always amazing to see the same people defending coaches, management, et al. and predictably citing injuries as the issue. Happens every year. All after the QB has been healthy to start 11 games with Whaley's boy starting the other 2. Besides what teams aren't banged up by this point in the year? Then there are teams like NE who lose much of their OL, receivers, linebackers throughout the year and still beat quality teams. Buffalo gets to play the two weakest divisions in the NFL and people cite injuries.

Pot meet kettle.

I'll try to use another analogy. If you hire an artist to paint your picture and you don't like it, do you demand they change their brush or colors? Or do you get rid of the painter? Because that's what we're talking about here. It's not a coincidence that the finished product every year never ends up right. And it goes deeper than play-calling or the defensive scheme. I like debating the nuances of decisions made above the field of play. And you're position remains that those things are cloudy, so we can't criticize them as much. Inevitably, you place the criticism on players and coaching because those are more obvious entities. It fits with the narrative of surface fans who don't get into the nuts and bolts of team-building because it's not as easily understood.

I know your schtick is to defend OBD at all costs. Never blame the management, only the moving parts they decide on. But you conveniently missed my point in the thread about coordinating the RB in a run first offense with the OL. You know well that they've prioritized featuring a bigger OL with tackles like Glenn and Henderson, then filling in with Incognito. Wood is a bigger center. And in theory that fits with a power-run scheme because they're run blockers first. Except they then went and traded for McCoy, who is a shifty type back that tries to make guys miss. He fits a zone-blocking scheme with more agile OL, which they don't have. Ironically, the guy more suited to that scheme and personnel is a 1 cut type like Karlos Williams, who unfortunately can't stay on the field. He cost them a 5th. McCoy cost them a former 2nd rounder and 26M guaranteed. This more than illustrates how everything needs to be aligned. But it's not. You don't go 6 years of rebuilding with a guy intimately involved in personnel and expect him to get it right all of a sudden.

Taylor doesn't see the middle of the field well according to Bills lead cheerleader Chris Brown on the WGR Monday morning extra point show. Besides, what kind of NFL OC doesn't call routes that go over the middle of the field at some point in a game? Because I'm pretty sure they're not all within 5 yards or along the sidelines. Play-calling may again be suspect, but it's not all on the OC. The QB needs to make the intermediate throws when they're available.

Someone needs to babysit the HC and make sure his plan fits with the GM's personnel acquisitions. Right now there's a clear disconnect, as evidenced by the QB debate. As much as I want to think Rex knows what he wants to do, I see issues matching personnel to scheme. Whaley (and Nix before him) wanted a big OL, yet they made Spiller their first round pick in 2010, who was not a between the tackles runner. Same can be said for McCoy, who is a slasher and never will be a one cut type back more suited to what the OL is. I'm not one for bureaucracy, but having an experienced football guy supervising the two (if they don't report to each other) is essential. If you're house is on fire, would you prioritize getting the garbage to the curb? Getting another guard, linebacker, or running back isn't making this team better. You make sure the team has the right people in charge who can create an identity and find players to fit it. Frankly at this point it's pointless to talk players if the people acquiring the players aren't sure what they want to be and whether that plan is suitable to winning in the modern NFL.