BillsVet

You have to wonder if there's a direction at OBD beyond profiting until the inevitable. Decisions from this off-season through this week indicate there's isn't much in the way of a plan.

Ryan Fitzpatrick has bounced around the league from STL, to CIN, and now is in BUF for a reason. He's a journeyman backup guy without the physical talent to win consistently. I don't care who he's playing for, he's a career backup and has plateaued into what he is now. When every team had a chance at him no less than 3 times they passed. That should tell you something that has nothing to do with his WR corps or OLineman.

In normal organizations the GM has control over football operations. In Buffalo, there's a GM who's actually been in NFL personnel before (finally) and a Senior VP of Football Administration. It's time to get rid of the guys who've survived all the firings: Overdorf and Modrak. Those guys are as teflon as John Gotti. If RW cared he'd have demanded these guys be gone years ago. Heck, Overdorf cuts guys and doesn't tell anyone. The Bills define dysfunctional in their front office.

I didn't want to be negative. Apparently that's not looked kindly upon by some on TBD. I'll rephrase: It was a horrible move made by people who can't evaluate talent and reward inferior players.

If you read this and another Kelsay devoted thread, you'd see what I said earlier: that in an unbelievable show of agreement, most TBD'ers agreed the move to re-sign Kelsay was extremely questionable. You are in the extreme minority.

I watch the games. As do many others on TBD who nearly universally come to the conclusion he's not worth that kind of money.

I did not advocate allowing Fletcher to go in 07, given that they had no one on the roster to replace him, and the guy was indeed very durable. He actually played the Tampa 2 better in 06 than I think Posluszny did in 08-09. As for the tackle statistic, one could argue that a tackle made by a DB 10 yards downfield counts as much as one made 2 yards off the LOS by a LB. Yet, there is little to differentiate the two from each other. It's also a stat that's subjective in that teams and other sites assign them differently, so there's debate about who gets credit and who doesn't sometimes. All in all, not a good judge of talent many times.

Locker missed some throws last night he needs to make at the next level. He also had about 5 drops from his receivers and still went 24-39 for 313 against 18th ranked USC. In all draft threads this early in the season it needs to be mentioned that it's very early in the process. This is his second season, as the OP noted in a pro-style offense. That said, if Sarkisian keeps running him on short yardage situations he's going to get Locker killed.

The point is, the guy's already been in essence cut by GB. He was beaten out by Matt Flynn, a 7th rounder the same year Brohm was drafted. Now, he's been in Buffalo almost a season and could not beat out Fitzpatrick for the backup job. Brohm couldn't win the backup job in GB either and ended up on the PS. Sense a trend here? Ty Detmer set college passing records. So did David Klingler and Andre Ware. What's your point?

Brohm's attractiveness comes in most Bills fans not knowing what he can do. In 3 NFL seasons he has one unremarkable start and was stashed far back in Buffalo's QB rotation. Additionally, one proven NFL franchise in GB has already essentially cut him and Chan Gailey didn't sound enthused about him after the team abruptly cut Edwards. A lot of homer's like to say trust in the HC and GM, and if that advice is to be taken here, it's that Brohm isn't good enough.

Because 25 years ago RW hired the greatest GM in modern NFL history. He's due to get lucky again, isn't he?

London Fletcher made a lot of tackles and people around here called him overrated. Next to passer rating, tackles are the most worthless statistic in the NFL. And according to ESPN, the Redskins have 3 of the top 10 tacklers in the NFL on their team. And guess what? Their defense has stunk it up this season. Besides, two of those guys were DB's: Laron Landry and Deangelo Hall. That's never good. I think RW likes him and didn't want him going anywhere. And so he ordered Overdorf to get it done without much input from Nix or Whaley. Complete speculation on my part, but I can't see another NFL team vying for his services or offering anything close to what Buffalo did. Nor can I see experienced personnel guys like Nix or Whaley pushing for the guy to get a new deal. It's almost as if they had some extra money burning a whole in their pocket and decided that Kelsay's been a good soldier so he deserves more for not grumbling about the embarrassing nature of this franchise.

Fanvision is something being considered to retain ticket sales. I believe this year was the first time the NFL experienced a loss in ticket sales since the late nineties, no doubt influenced by the availability of games at home and better (and cheaper) televisions with HD. Cowherd was talking about it a few weeks ago.

Sad thing is, RW as an owner lives in a bygone era when the margin of error wasn't as small as it is now. I don't think he or the people advising him are willing to admit or invest in the resources to win at this stage in his life. He doesn't understand that having a GM and a HC who are ahead of the curve are absolutely necessary. So he's hired has-been's, never will-be's, or people just plain unqualified for the job.

Seriously? He was a LDE in Greggo's defense and that was like a century ago and now he's being used as a LOLB in the 3-4. Buffalo hasn't played the 34 since 2000, so I think a lot of fans lose sight of what's being asked of whomever plays this position. Bills 34 LB responsibilities This is an explanation of what's expected of a LOLB (what Kelsay plays) and he's not good enough in coverage to handle the job. His agility and quickness allow opposing TE's to run all over the field, as Jermichael Finley and Gronkowski/Hernandez have done the past 2 weeks. He is a two down player in this defense being paid as if he's a three down guy. A normal front office would use their pro personnel staff to evaluate who's working in the new scheme. And Doug Whaley being the man heading that department, I can't for a second believe he advocated paying decent to good money for a part time player. This move came from someone else, which is more indication that football people aren't making the football decisions, regardless of Nix/Whaley/Gailey being on board.

It's another point of view, that's for sure. Not that it's grounded in reality, which is always a problem on OBD. Homer pollyanna's don't score well. But you knew that.

Record-wise, the 00-10 Bills won't be the worst era in team history. But then again, teams these days have more opportunity to get better and faster. There's UFA, a salary cap, revenue sharing, et al. In those previous years that were worse on the field, the only way to win was to draft well. So while the past 10+ years doesn't look as bad on paper and certainly not on the field, going this long and being this mediocre to bad is harder to fathom. It's hard to compare eras, although the attention to the game is exponentially greater. And while RW has threatened to move, the team is on more uncertain footing now than it's ever been, JMO.

How many players need to be disgruntled or express dissatisfaction before people realize something's amiss at OBD and has been for a long time?

Played with Miami? Experience as a backup playing 3-4? Why not?

Or like Brian Orakpo or Clay Matthews Jr.?

Fair enough. If I had the opportunity on a rebuilding club to select the best DB or best DE, I'm going with the latter. Brady and Rodgers made that secondary look awfully pedestrian the past two weeks.

You could have Darrelle Revis and Nnamdi Asomugha with Polamalu and Ronnie Lott for your secondary and without a pass rush it's nothing. Having rushers with the right scheme was proven in SB 42 when NYG battered Brady and stopped their high-powered offense. You draft pass rushers first and then find corners. Kinda like drafting OT's before RB's.

So who's Buffalo version of Warren Sapp, John Lynch, and Derrick Brooks? And does this make Monte Kiffin and George Edwards equal as DC's? Reality is that Buffalo has far less talent than TB had in 1996 on defense. TB went 6-10 in 96, and thus did not bottom out. The Bills will not play .500 ball the rest of the way and will not win more than 4 games. Proclaim that negative, I don't care, but the situations are vastly different.

Really? Marcus Stroud has all but been put on the missing persons list although Dwan Edwards is decent to good. Unfortunately, the defense is among the league's worst against the run. And, in passing situations they play guys like Ellison and Bryan Scott at LB to make Kelsay play DE where he gets no push whatsoever. Kelsay will play a lot more 43DE than 34OLB if games continue the way they have. Ironically, people bashed guys like Fletcher because the team overall was bad against the run (140rypga in 06). I see now we're excusing a guy who happens to play in a bad defense proving once again it's a unit issue, not one guy.

Jim Overdorf strikes again. Senior VP of Football Administration who ordinarily works with the salary cap. But with no cap this year, he's turned his attention to cutting former starting QB's abruptly and then re-signing underachieving and well-spoken players who do not make plays. A great day to be a Bills fan!