BillsVet

It's a rebuilding year plain and simple. I heard Terrence McGee this afternoon talking about not liking the new defense-at first. So there are a lot of things to learn, and not even mini-camps, OTA's, and training camp will be enough. I'm sure that they'll get the new schemes down, but usually it takes a season. McGee himself struggled adapting to the T2 in 2006, but became a reliable CB thereafter. I agree, optimism is fine as long as it's grounded in reality. On that most fans can agree, but there seems to be no basis for much of the optimism here, aside from the fact that the GM and HC are new. Somehow, new has always translated into better. For me, there's too much uncertainty surrounding this team with ownership to get overly hyped up. The lease is up in 2012, and it's not hard to get out of it before then. Sometimes teams have to hit rock bottom to move up.

Can someone tell me again why GB stashed Meredith on the PS to begin the 2009 season last year? And, why didn't GB call up Meredith when GB had to re-sign Mark Tauscher and start Chad Clifton at LT? He's a project player who doesn't have the weight to work at RT and the agility to play LT. This isn't college anymore, regardless of which conference he played in. Starting OT's rarely come from the practice squads of other teams.

I am. Did you know that before Bill Belichick had Tom Brady, his career coaching record was remarkably similar to Dick Jauron's after his last 5 NFL seasons in? If only Buffalo could have given bad luck Dick better players. Oh, I forgot DJ got to pick the players too! And to think, Ralph Wilson felt the need to re-sign DJ.

It's not hard to look good when Dick Jauron is your predecessor at HC. Of course Gailey appears competent, he's being compared to one of the most mediocre coaches in recent NFL history. This is a HC who hasn't had much NFL success in about a decade. Playing to potential sounds really nice, but this team is loaded with youth. When you rely on rookies and 2nd year players, there's a learning curve and growing pains. By my count, 6 positions on offense and 4 on offense feature rooks or sophomores who'll start or be counted to contribute. Gailey can't coach all those guys up in one off-season no matter how many fans here want to re-write his resume.

Nix has already said you can't do it all in one year. I'm paraphrasing of course, but the point is this is a 2+ year rebuild and results probably won't be there very quickly. The OT starters and depth are very poor, but offensive lineman don't sell tickets either. While some fans are gushing about Spiller, I bet every personnel guy at OBD realizes that the OL is again a huge question mark with marginal talent. Last year plenty of fans on this very board glossed over the details of moving guys, trading Peters, and starting rookies. We know how that worked out. And it's happening all over again thinking project players like Bell, Meredith, and Wang are going to be dependable starters.

Let's wait for Spiller to play a season, Byrd to follow up his rookie season, and McKelvin to play a second full season. And for the record, Buffalo's been weak on both the OL and DL. All of the aforementioned guys play off the line.

Every upper echelon NFL team has difference makers, particularly at the hard to find positions of QB, LT, pass rush, and NT/DT. Teams like IND, NE, SD, GB, MIN, NO, PHI, et al feature multiple players who are at or near the top at their positions. Buffalo has some nice players here and there, but no one I'd classify as an All-Pro. They failed in the 4th quarter for several reasons, not just because DJ was their coach. From a talent perspective, they're average to bad across the field and that will remain one of the contributing factors to losing games. It's an ensemble cast with no stars in 2010.

You really think it's that simple?

How do injuries happen w/o DJ being the HC? Gotta feel for the kid, given that he's a developmental player and needs all the work he can get. Still don't see Buffalo going after a Gaither or Jammal Brown.

Teams with a new GM, HC, new offense, completely new defensive scheme (T2/C2 to 3-4), 3 QB's, i.e. no QB, no proven #2 WR, no depth on the OL, no proven LT, rookie NT, no proven OLB pass rushers, rookie DC, rookie OC, and Ralph don't go from 6-10 to 10-6 in the AFCE. Competitive is a relative term when used in the aforementioned context. One could argue Buffalo wasn't in the playoff hunt in either December 08 or 09. After all, how many playoff teams did the Bills defeat from 2005-2009? Not many.

This is an excellent point. I think DJ got inside of TE's head and owned space in there for the QB's first 3 NFL seasons. Furthermore, DJ didn't exactly give too many votes of confidence in his entire team with his on-field decisions. I recall last season the punt at about 7:00 remaining in the 4th quarter versus NO as a prime example. It was a cowardly, take no chances approach that probably reasonated inside many of the players minds. There's a time to be aggressive and a time to be conservative. Jauron never could figure out when to be either. When he needed to be conservative, he'd get aggressive (FB option pass w/Losman at NYJ in 08) and vice versa. The only time I remember DJ going for the throat was the home opener in 2008 when they got an INT and on the first play from scrimmage vs. Seattle, TE threw a TD pass to Royal.

Georgia Tech

Davis and Edwards signed on 16 MAR. I posted 5 times the day following, and multiple times on 18-19 MAR. If you want to continue making stuff up, go ahead. It's not helping your credibility one iota. Me doubting Gailey as their primary or secondary HC target seems to fit with the timeline. I harp on this team because they've stunk for the better part of a decade. What exactly have they shown this offseason to prove things are going to be any different? If you think it's negative to complain about a losing team that couldn't attract top GM/HC types, well, when would you begin to complain? 13 years? 15 years? Hope for the sake of hope is worthless. If you've got an ax to grind, well, take it somewhere else. You've had your share of swings and misses too around here.

If Buffalo approached Gailey early in the process, it was as a fall back emergency option. Nix was introduced on 12/31, though Gailey was not hired until 1/19. In between, the Bills interviewed Perry Fewell and Leslie Frazier, while pursuing Brian Schottenheimer, Russ Grimm, Bill Cowher, and Jim Harbaugh. Gailey probably wasn't their 3rd or 4th option.

Let's take this a step further. KC finished 31st in yards and 31st in scoring during 2007. Gailey arrived in 2008 as OC, and they finished 26th in yards and 24th in scoring. Certainly an improvement for an offense that eventually relied on Tyler Thigpen at QB. However, after 3 low scoring preseason games, an imperious Todd Haley fired Gailey (EDIT: in 2009). Clearly, Gailey has improved some teams on offense. This being the case, why then was he not considered for any other OC job, let alone a HC job for 2010? I don't recall him interviewing for a single job this past off-season.

And blocking kicks. Marv said Buffalo needed to make more plays there. I heard enough from Marv when he refused to say that DJ wasn't good enough. At that point, it was all about saving face given that Marv hired DJ who was clearly outmatched as many on this board knew.

That sounds very logical considering the owner's MO. Where I have an issue is when a 91 year old man is making decisions for a NFL team with such a poor track record. Additionally, how can the franchise hire the best and brightest when everything hinges on one man's health? No one knows, and it's killing the long term planning that each and every successful team does year to year. Heck, we don't even know if the Bills will be in Buffalo by 2013.

Russ Brandon interviewed Shanahan in late November, though Nix wasn't hired until 12/31. And Buddy admitted the GM thing came about a week before the introduction PC. So, what was Brandon doing from late November to about Christmas and why couldn't he get any other interviews? Teams generally don't have major problems finding candidates to interview for their GM position. Buffalo does. You can think they're conducting a GM search like any team, but I'll continue to believe the door was repeatedly slammed in their face and only Nix and Guy were willing to interview. With Guy's dismissal, they in effect interviewed one candidate, and he was in-house. Who finds their GM this way?

Any NFL team that wants to be competitive needs an experienced and savvy personnel man as GM. RW eschewed that logic and reached for people he knew that had absolutely no knowledge in this area like Levy and Smithers. To make matters worse, men like John Guy and Tom Modrak inexplicably remained from the old regime. Augmenting those was DJ, who had no clue how to build a team. This is how teams float in the 6-7 win territory year after year.

No, and the news we hear from players indicates just how bad DJ was: less than challenging practices and then simplified offensive and defensive schemes. And ironically, many on TBD questioned DJ's methods but were bashed for not being undying optimists. For this team to get back to respectable, Gailey is going to need to be a LOT better than DJ was. Nix at least has personnel experience, whereas Levy and Brandon had none. To think this team, meaning RW, thought they could be competitive with Levy, Brandon, and DJ shows how messed up ownership is/was. Bills fans have to hope they got lucky with Nix/Gailey, because not one other NFL franchise considered either one of them for any position close to what Buffalo hired them to do.

I'm making the point that any national writer/personality who says Buffalo won't be good is always attacked for their opinion on TBD. Nothing more, nothing less. Usually, this means saying the personality has made a bad prediction at one time, hates the Bills, or doesn't know the NFL. I happen to agree with Schein's assessment in that the team has too many question marks and their leadership selections at GM and HC were the result of Buffalo's reputation being damaged beyond repair.

Over the long haul, being pessimistic and negative about the Bills has proven correct far more often than your unabashed optimism. It's inarguable. And while I don't automatically give credit to every writer's negative opinion, the vast majority have said Buffalo is in big trouble. Heck, Schein even wondered what would have happened if Gailey hadn't been hired as HC. Would he even be in the NFL? But in response to your comment about the weather, today I mowed my lawn, spent time with my mentoree, went to the store, and posted something about the Bills. Thus far, I'v enjoyed the day. But go on being self-righteous and trying to suppress everyone who has anything but unrealistic expectations for the Bills. I mean, I don't play or coach, so I don't know anything and will therefore yield to your omniscience and solid track record of Bills prognostications.

Schein Organization rankings Really surprised no one has ripped Schein for his take here. I mean, doesn't he trust Nix and Gailey to get this team over the hump?

Gregg Williams was a defensive minded coach who had just coordinated a top defense in Tennessee. Gailey hasn't coordinated a top offense since Miami in 2000-01. He was so adept that he wasn't pursued for another HC job and went into the college ranks where he was the DJ of the ACC. And this concept of Gailey getting a team into the playoffs, well, he was coaching a fading Dallas dynasty. Nothing he did there was dynamic or particularly noteworthy. For goodness sakes, they made the playoffs in 1999 with an 8-8 record. The concerns are more than what you've listed. In addition to QB play and the OL, Buffalo doesn't know where it's going to get a pass rush from, and will likely feature a rookie NT. IMO, QB, LT, NT, and OLB in a 3-4 are the major positions on a football team. The Bills have major issues or question marks at all of them. That's not how to get into the playoffs. For Buffalo to break even it'll take a lot of players producing unexpected results, which is extremely unlikely in a tough AFCE.

Hype and hope only works for so long. Eventually, most people read between the lines and come to the realization there is neither. Just because something changes doesn't mean it's better. And as much as this team will be in competition for the 2011 top pick, who knows what happening with A) The NFL's looming work stoppage and B) Buffalo's ownership situation. I'd like to believe Buffalo becomes a good team at some point. But the outside factors listed may not allow it.