BillsVet

No one said being a bust was only for poor play. Ki-Jana Carter was a bust, but only because he blew out his knee twice in about 2 seasons. For all we know he was a going to be first team all-pro. Troup may work hard, but the Bills have received little production from a 2nd year former 2nd round pick. As for the LB's, well, Buffalo does excel at shopping at the bargain bin. Eddins, Coleman, Batten, Moats, Merriman, Torbor, White seem to confirm that.

Emotions always placate fans but they don't win games. Talent and solid coaching in that order wins, and right now Buffalo doesn't have enough of either. I like Gailey, but he's working without enough resources to win enough and make the post-season. E.G., Buffalo has a tendency to use the draft to either A) replace departed veterans in UFA or B) draft skill position players. This is why during the Levy/Brandon/Jauron/Nix/Gailey era they've lost 60% of their games. There is no rebuilding actually happening, and will not until top management begins allocating sufficient resources toward personnel.

New owner in 2012.

What's that Fredo? Actually I think he's more like Mr. Smithers from the Simpsons. So it's Buffalo fans' fault that they don't go, but then you list the reasons why they're probably not going? What's that supposed to mean? But I'll be there regardless.

Curtis Modkins has been doing really well of late. I don't see a need for an OC.

HC's firing their coordinators in the middle of a rebuilding is not a good omen. Gregg Williams was able to hire Mike Sheppard, who was let go after a season, then went with Kevin Gilbride. On defense, he first had Jerry Gray, who was assisted for a season by Dick LeBeau, and held the DC job from 01-05 and worked for Mularkey as well. And what do these choices of George Edwards, Giff Smith, Bob Sanders, et al say about the HC? I choose to believe they're not so much a reflection of Gailey's inability to hire solid coordinators, rather who will agree to work under current management. Wannstedt is supposed to have the magic pixie dust, but he's 4-3 coach, and it'll be interesting to see if they change defenses if he's hired, keep the 3-4 and go elsewhere for a DC (if Edwards is fired), or keep the current DC in hopes more talent will make the defense improve. Whatever way they go, it's safe to say there'll be coaching changes only two years after this rebuild started. Other than coordinators moving on to be HC's, it's not good to have to change staff. This college coaching staff doesn't cut it, but it's not like they have much to work with either.

If you think the problem lies only at field level then there's nothing I can say.

If sacks allowed were the only metric to grade an OL on, they'd be great. Their OT's, even with Bell, are extremely weak and vulnerable against speed rushers. They also took some bad penalties. BTW, 19 carries for 55 yards for the starting RB yesterday. That's not a swipe at Spiller, though he needs better vision between the tackles, but I would hardly credit the OL when you can't average 3 yards per carry. That's not getting the job done, but cue the person who'll cite injuries as the only reason that happened.

So what exactly then were Nix, Gailey, the southern regional scout, and the national scout doing when they scouted him in college? There were four seasons worth of tape and hundreds of carries to go over to determine if he had what it took to run between the tackles. The second regular season after the guy's been drafted is playing things a little behind the curve, wouldn't you say?

Chandler is an average TE IMO. He got burned in pass protection a few times, notably by Maybin and he's not the type to stretch defenses in the passing game. That said, there are about 8 other positions that need to be upgraded before TE but this offense would be greatly improved with a TE who can run the seam and attack zone coverage. Pears took a terrible penalty today and struggles mightily with speed on the edge. Now that it appears that Hairston is the new Bell, I'd like to see them draft an OT in the top 2 rounds to come in and start right away. Pears is a replacement level starter who should be upgraded as soon as possible. Regardless of the pairing being Bell/Pears or Hairston/Pears, Buffalo's OT situation is among the leagues worst.

"There is no substitute for victory." -General of the Army Douglas MacArthur

I ate pistachios instead of pretzels today.

You're in luck. Buffalo has a GM who believes in exclusively scouting the south. There aren't really any other areas of the country to scout that he knows of.

At one point, the 2006 draft appeared to have no less than 5 starters: Whitner, Simpson, Williams, Ellison, and Pennington. Those guys were pressed into service when players underperformed or were injured, and 5 years later, only Williams is still with the team and three are out of the NFL. From a team building perspective, this team has proven that they rely too heavily on rookies or 2nd year guys who aren't ready yet. This happens when a team strikes out in the draft for so many years and refuses to sign dependable depth in free agency. For the record, Sheppard is playing over Davis and isn't an improvement. Aaron Williams is getting the nod with poor play from their CB's. Searcy is an injury substitution, same as Hairston. Spiller had 130 total touches in 24 career games, so his being called a starter now is weak. Batten and Moats play because Merriman predictably was hurt. Troup isn't starting anywhere and has been a huge disappointment. Carrington, even being a 5 tech isn't noticed much. Aside from Dareus, there isn't one young player who looks to be a long term starter. That may change, but if this team continues to depend on rookies all over the field, the result will be the same.

Weren't injuries a serious issue in 2007, 2008, and 2009? This seems more and more unlikely to be bad luck but rather bad planning and inferior talent. As for going BPA, they can do that because every single position is a need at this point. Kinda reminds me of 2006 when that draft was heralded as having produced so many starters, yet only 1 remains 5 years later. Yeah, they need instant starters once again, but that's asking a lot out of rookies. Nix has shown he's not very savvy on draft day and his record from 2010 indicates to me he's not all he was cracked up to be. And best of all, Buddy will go out of his way to talk RW out of spending money on free agents. So I guess the Bills are all in on Buddy being awesome on draft day, which looks to be a bad bet.

Bell and Merriman happen to play 2 of the most important positions on a NFL team. And beyond them there was little answer, which speaks to the lack of basic organizational planning from that front office. Predictably, both players have missed a lot of time, forcing Buffalo to look to late round draft picks who are unproven. I guess RW's need for luck applies to the personnel department, because that's what Nix was depending on. Nelson, Naaman Roosevelt, and Donald Jones are not the physical types. Nelson and Roosevelt are very thin and Jones is looking to be injury prone. Still, not one of those guys are proven NFL types and it shows when Fitzpatrick drops back. Guys like Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, James Jones are all proven type receivers. Jennings is perhaps the game's best X (with Rodgers), Nelson is becoming a great Z, and Jones is probably the NFL's best third receiver. To even mention them alongside Johnson, Nelson, and Jones is way off the mark. Besides, Driver is 37 and while not what he used to be, is better than anything Buffalo has save for perhaps Johnson. It's a weak group nonetheless.

Look at those players who've been injured. Demetrius Bell has been injured every season of his short career, so I would think a personnel type would see that it's important to have a quality swing OT. And yet, their version was a 4th round rookie who clearly needs a lot of work physically. The WR's? Beyond Johnson all of them are not physical. I'm not saying their WR group needs to be what GB has, but it's completely patchwork and again, not surprising that they've gone down with injuries. Roosevelt, Nelson, and Jones aren't the types who can take a lot of punishment. And as for Merriman, any fan who considered him anything more than replacement level at this point in his career clearly has some coke bottle rose colored glasses on. He defines "damaged goods" and yet the GM looked the other way and pronounced him ready. The loss of KW, Wood and FJ hurts. But beyond those injuries, there isn't one that people can cite as a huge loss.

Almost every year leading up to the draft the TE topic comes up for discussion. And each time it becomes a question of needs and how Buffalo has bigger positional issues above TE. Chandler is adequate, but he isn't someone that opponents game-plan around nor will he ever be. I don't think anyone can quantify how much of a force multiplier a top TE would be for this franchise, but then again you can add that to the list of positions the Bills don't like to draft high, like OT and OLB.

Buddy also said he got 35 calls a day for the HC job. But if this is true, that the GM talked the owner out of spending, it makes me wonder who told RW not to spend previous to 2010.

Buddy was pretty arrogant about the roster, then backtracked about week 3 with their depth. It's not all Nix' fault, he's just playing with half a deck courtesy of ownership. Now it seems Nix and Gailey are subtly noting the lack of depth and talent all over the field. As much as I feel sorry for them working without, they knew what they were getting in to when they accepted their jobs. That would be OK if Nix was better on draft day, but he refuses to make trades to add picks (hello depth) and his core rebuilding philosophy isn't one that can make up for blanks in free agency.

I thought they were reeling off 6 straight in the regular season then winning the SB this season?

Curtis Modkins could probably suit up Sunday. He hasn't had to do much with Gailey coordinating the offense, though years of getting coffee and lunch for Chan and his staff is probably catching up with him.

Problem: Buffalo has not been talented enough to win enough games during this or any season in 12 seasons. 1. Why? Because their draft and UFA acquisition record has been terrible. 2. Why? Because the team cannot attract better GM/front office candidates to find the talent necessary to sustain a good teams. 3. Why? Because no one better qualified to be a GM/front office type will take the responsibility of working for RW and Littman. 4. Why? Because RW/Littman will not commit the resources (budget and relinquishing of personnel authority) to ever make the Bills successful in an ultra-competitive league. 5. Why? Because the team has always been treated like a toy for the express purpose of being a revenue source for the owner. And so the team is run to maximize profit, even if it comes at the expense of rebuilding into a winning team. Then again, the plan all along seems to be to rely on luck for success. They're going to need a lot of it to overcome the self-imposed obstacles this team has.

Another GT alum, this one being someone who's been cut from two teams in about 10 days. Does this mean they pick up Mansfield Wrotto again?