BillsVet

As has been said repeatedly here, 2 other teams began significant rebuilds in 2010: Washington and Seattle. They had several things in common with Buffalo that year, including a new GM, new HC, did not have a clear answer at QB (I'm aware of McNabb in WAS), and were switching defensive schemes. It's okay to say Nix has been an abject failure. And as bad as he was at finding a QB, he might have been worse on defense where the team spent huge resources to upgrade a unit that ranked at the bottom of the league for his entire tenure.

Chan and Buddy were both bull-headed throughout these past 2 seasons with Fitzpatrick at the helm. And to make matters worse, the team fell prey to the media clamoring for the guy to get a contract extension after the quick start in 2011. This despite Fitz's performance from 2008 to 2010 indicating that while a fine backup, he was not starting quality. I hope things change in their evaluation of the QB position. But Nix's grand plan for rebuilding was DOA when he and the HC wouldn't budge from doing anything but playing Fitz.

LB's have to be able to cover and stop the run. The days of 2 down guys who come off the field are essentially over, and it's obvious the Bills have a few of them like Kelvin Sheppard who are liabilities against the pass. It's nice for Nix to acknowledge this now, but the trend toward passing oriented offenses has been going on a few years now. Regardless, the LB's struggled in run support, which is all the more indication that this is a part of the team sorely lacking. And that's before even contemplating a move to a 30 front.

This. Brandon and Jauron inexplicably decided to retain Losman in 2008 after he'd lost his starting job the previous season. A move like this shows a lack of savvy and was a decision of convenience owing to Losman still being under contract. Cut ties and move on from Fitzpatrick. RF said after the finale that he was a starting QB in this league and it's clear he is not.

There are enough information sources within the NFL to see that Brandon was not truthful about the hiring process. All of this would be moot if the Bills started winning and weren't so focused on rebutting criticism.

Gotta disagree here Dawgg as there's more to the Lovie Smith thing than just this. Chicago obviously has a higher standard and this team was trending in the wrong direction. Sure, Phil Emery probably wanted his own guy in there after he got the job last off-season, but it's worth noting that Lovie could never develop the offense. He went through more coordinators and Emery had to know it wasn't going to get better. From 2004-2012, Smith's offenses were ranked higher than 14th once, and that was the SB season of 2006. Emery is also big on analytics, and he had to have known that's not an outlier, it's a trend. He also talked about OL a little bit here: http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2013/01/phil_emery_provides_tremendous.html

I recall a few years ago when Len Pasquarelli would write articles playing up his friend Tom Donahoe. There is a relationship between all of these NFL insiders and the teams they cover and while I'm not alleging the local media is complicit here, sports reporting isn't exactly what it used to be. I'm not crazy about the hire of all these SU guys into the pro level. Gailey couldn't build a quality staff either, gathering guys from his many stops in the college ranks. At the same time, I don't see the Bills getting a new 3 year window like Gailey, Nix, and company received in early 2010.

Sure, RF has a weak arm, but how does that explain Stevie being over 13 yards per catch the past 3 years and Scott Chandler out-doing Jones by more than a yard per reception since 2011? Scott Chandler doesn't run by some defensive lineman. TE's simply shouldn't be gaining more yards per touch than your #2 WR.

Donald Jones is banged up each season and for his career has averaged less than 11 yards per reception. He shouldn't be more than depth on this roster. David Nelson is a guy just over 11 yards per catch, and if SJ moves to the slot, Nelson is without a role save for 4 WR sets.

Most Bills fans are taking a wait and see approach with this team now more than ever. When Marv was introduced, there was a lot of blind optimism. The same could be said when Nix took over, owing to his personnel experience over Brandon and Levy who had little business being GM's. Sure, there are some homers who'll beat the drum for everything OBD does, but 13 straight losing seasons has most fans remaining ambivalent or emotionally detached from the decision making. That said, I don't think Marrone gets a lot of time and the personnel decisions made this off-season will tell us a lot. As Buddy said, it's time to win and they haven't done it.

I think the days of two down run stopping LB's who struggle in coverage are over with the read-option in vogue. When you look at the ILB's who received All-Pro votes, most are not 250+. Almost all are in that 230-240 range and aren't a liability when the QB drops to pass. Buffalo doesn't have a guy like that, save for maybe Barnett who's entering his 11th season.

It's interesting that no draft pick or free agent signing of Buddy Nix received any votes either. Building a team isn't about having Pro Bowlers or All-Pros (ask the Chiefs) but there remains a distinct lack of talent on this team.

Yes. That and the fact he hasn't been a position coach in the NFL. McDaniels had BB running the show. Guy has gone entire seasons without coordinators. The OC choice should elicit this response:

It's because it is. Marrone has NFL experience, worked around some talented people, has been a HC and someone not what I'd call a retread. I like that these long term decisions aren't being made by someone like Nix, who is best served scouting. That said, time will tell.

The hire indicates to me that Nix has become GM in name only. He'll continue to scout, which is where he's most comfortable but the higher level stuff is Whaley's domain now. And that includes building this team's identity and synthesizing that with the personnel side of the house. Nix struggled to build an identity and mesh it with Gailey's vision. It would seem more competent people are in the GM and HC roles as opposed to a week ago.

Joe Banner making his mark. They look very bad swinging for the fences on Kelly and coming up whiffing while still not having a GM. Although they did say they'd get the HC first before the GM.

Don't think coaches that come over from other teams can't make parallel moves, i.e., an OL coach from one team taking the same job with another. Teams circumvent that somewhat by naming the guy an assistant HC like the Bills did with Bill Kollar a few years ago.

Well done SDS.

Adam Schefter, in his ESPN column today, notes that each of the past 4 SB champs did not feature a 1000 yard rusher and that those teams did not feature top rushing attacks, save for the 2009 Saints who were 6th. However, each of the last 3 SB champs had a top five passing offense.

John Madden wasn't fired but I'm not guessing he's available. The old Bum Phillips quote seems appropriate again: "There's two kinds of coaches, them that's fired and them that's gonna be fired."

Bears GM Phil Emery apparently knows: http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2013/01/phil_emery_provides_tremendous.html A wordy but insightful answer to an issue that significantly limited Chicago this season. For all the heat he's taking about Lovie Smith, he's got a lot of evidence to demonstrate why he made the move. I have a feeling Whaley is well-versed in stuff like this and it won't matter if Nix knows or not.

Number 1 thing a coach needs is a reasonable chance to be successful in their mind. That means a QB, either having the guy or being willing and having a good plan to go get him. And it means seeing that there is a structure in place to support him, which Buffalo's done better at since 2010. The Bills aren't a total rebuild and more coaches willing to interview is a sign of improvement. Still, there are 6 other destinations and competition will be fierce for the more in-demand guys. The coaching search will surely demonstrate where the Bills are in the NFL landscape.

In my day we didn't have Christmas songs. We just screamed until our vocal cords ripped. And that's the way it was and we liked it.

The group-think transpiring reminds me of 12/31/2009 when Nix was hired. It's wasn't fair to be negative back then. Three weeks later when Gailey was hired several people denounced those who weren't happy with the hire. Most companies do qualitative analysis as a means of continuous improvement. The Bills doing it isn't revolutionary, but I find it hard to mesh this concept with a GM who does not follow established trends throughout the NFL, like taking a QB. Nevertheless, he's sticking around and his first HC pays the price.

I've seen a lot of GM's get two shots at the HC and it's reasonable. If every GM was fired with his first HC hire it would probably eliminate some decent GM's. The issue remains that Nix has not crafted and developed an identity for this team. And it's what I'd expect from a guy who's more interested in scouting than being at the top of the football house. I'm not high and Nix for this reason. And even his area of expertise, scouting, isn't quite what the new team president said it is.