BillsVet

Homer goober fans won't admit it, but when it comes to proven personnel guys, I'll side with Bill Parcells on his moves. He's earned the benefit of the doubt, but isn't one to like diva WR's (see Terrell Owens circa 2006). No doubt he understands that Henne needs someone besides Davone Bess, Greg Camarillo, and Ted "Bust" Ginn. In the NFL there are talented front office executives, and pretenders. MIA has bolstered two areas they were weak in: WR and LB with Marshall and Dansby. Ordinarily, I wouldn't put much into being good on paper, but Miami has a solid HC picked by none other than Parcells.

Are you kidding? As if Miami's offense was stopped cold by the Bills secondary last year? Did you watch the first game where Miami ran the ball down Buffalo's throat? And now Buffalo doesn't have a NT nor proven OLB's for a pass rush. I think Miami's move here is to get a proven pass catching threat. And I've got news for you: team's aren't scared of secondaries unless you've got a pass rush. And right now Buffalo doesn't have that. Good front offices seize opportunities. Buffalo's can't because everything is tied to a 90 something year old owner.

Buffalo needs to find 2 or more instant starters in every draft. I'd argue they've been looking for instant 2 or more starters in every draft since 2006. And it's not just at the east to fill positions like RB, LB, G, and S. It's LOT's, OLB's, NT's, and QB they need.

This is great value: Use a first round pick in 2007 on the easiest position to find a starter and transform it into a 2nd rounder in 2010. It's bad decisions which domino like this that prevent a team from ever becoming a playoff team. Sure, getting a late 2nd would be great, but it's no consolation and forces the team to find non-scrub UDFA RB's for September.

I see the results optional crowd is back in full force now that the off-season is upon us and last season is merely a distant memory. It's obvious rebuilding is the name of the game in 2010. What few people can rationalize is how long it takes a team to rebuild. If you're the Falcons or Dolfelons, it's about 1 year. For a team like Buffalo that is constantly losing talent and replacing it with draft picks, indefinitely. No one expected the Jets to reach the AFC Title game in 2009, but there they were. So they conducted a partial rebuild in one season, obtained their supposed QB for the future, have a real NT, top CB's, acquired 2 top WR's, and an outstanding pair of ILB's in less than two seasons. If the Bills have half that by mid season 2013 (assuming they've extended the stadium lease and remain in Buffalo) we'll all do cartwheels.

Last November, Schobel questioned the path Buffalo was taking. A short time later, DJ was canned by RW (not GM Smithers) and proceeded to get rejected by every name HC and hot OC available. I think AS' impact on the team is more significant than most realize. He's the longest tenured Bill, their best defender, and rarely speaks. If he is moved on draft day (which is complicated by his large contract) it should tell even the homer schlub goober fans this team is rebuilding. Besides, moving 43 DE's to 34 OLB's isn't something that typically works. Ask Aaron Kampman.

This talk of skill players in anything before round 3 I think is grounded in the fantasy football movement. I don't think one RB, WR, CB, S, or ILB should be taken until they've stocked up on OL, NT, and OLB. Besides, you don't take a safety 5th. You take the overhyped guy at 8 with limited ball skills who no one had going before the 15th pick.

Cornwell looked to become Exec. Director of the NFLPA last summer and had some support from a few player reps. It was a surprise when DeMaurice Smith won the job. As much as the article provides some information, Cornwell is NOT a neutral observer to all of this.

Holmes has issues, but he's another way to help Sanchez improve faster. Having said that, there's no doubt that NE, NYJ, and MIA are all much stronger than Buffalo. NYJ looks like they're going for broke, which is a far cry from the Bills. Buffalo is commited to not commiting to much more than the minimum.

I'm convinced that DJ just never had the players. If he'd have had Tom Brady, there's no doubt DJ would've won at least a SB or 4. His players always played really hard for him and didn't quit no matter how many times his game plans ripped their collective hearts out. Thank goodness someone with real qualifications in two whole seasons thought Buffalo was a top landing spot.

Whenever I think of DJ, I am reminded of this thread from about one year ago: Coward-gate Jauron's flawed wisdom of drafting smaller skill players at the expense of the OL and DL is what makes this team need to rebuild in 2010. No team in the NFL since 2006 was mediocre longer than the Bills: 27-37 in four seasons. Seeing him punt in the fourth to NO at home down 10 with 7 and change was what coward-gate was all about. Anyone giving even a shred of props to the man should remember that game.

What Gailey likes or dislikes is a mystery. His last two NFL jobs (00-01 MIA OC, 08 KC OC) did not put him into a position to have much input for personnel. I would argue his HC stint in DAL in 98-99 didn't either; everyone knows Jerrah Jones has final say on everything including jock straps. The only window is perhaps his recruiting at the college level. But there, he found players and could not win with them. At GT, he favored athletic type players, but that doesn't mean much considering the Bills don't play in the ACC. Maybe because it's down to about 10 days left to draft day that we're having this discussion. But I don't think his time in college will give away what he'll do. After all, Derrick Morgan, Jonathan Dwyer, Morgan Burnett, and Demaryius Thomas do not fit their primary needs.

I hadn't thought about that, but no other division in the NFL features three large markets and one small market team. It's not that small teams can't compete, but Buffalo is no run of the mill small market team. It could be argued the Jets don't have a stellar GM, but the Parcells/Ireland and Belichick/Reese pairings are two of the best in the NFL. BADOL, I'd love to have Buffalo in a division where their foes are staffed with lesser talent in the front office. Say perhaps the NFCW?

Someone should remind Florio that Dick's inability to draft OL and DL is part of the reason he was DFA'd in November. That, and DJ's wimpy game plans, particularly in the home Saints game last season, where he rolled over in the 4th quarter. Of course, it didn't help that the front office, led by the incomparable RW, Smithers, and Jimmy Overdorf could not re-sign Peters after his 2007 season. While it's true Peters has some issues, you don't subtract a LT and then hope guys who've never played the position before. Buffalo has become the proverbial hamster in the wheel-running in circles, but they do replace their wheel every now and then.

I don't think there's a question why Whaley was brought on board. The question remains, how many years will the Bills be in Buffalo? Their stadium lease expires after the 2012 season, and RW is 91. Talking 2+ years down the road is conveniently forgetting there may not be a team, as no one can give insight into what happens when the owner passes away.

Whitner, McCargo, Youboty, Simpson, Lynch, Posluszny, T. Edwards, Wright, McKelvin, Hardy, Ellis, Corner, Fine. Those are the rounds (EDIT: 1-4) picks of the Marv/Smithers led drafts from 06-08. By my count, only 2 of those guys will start in 2010: Posluszny and McKelvin. Neither are OL or DL, and if there's a epilogue on those three drafts, it's that Marv and Smithers were absolutely clueless and relied on an equally clueless Dick Jauron for personnel guidance. There should be no doubt about what to do on draft day: find an OT in Round 1 and a NT is Round 2. No more skill players until those lines are resolved, because right now they both are missing huge pieces.

I wouldn't take a RB in the first round given their propensity for injury and the league being more pass oriented. Not to mention, RB's depend a great deal on an OL, and Buffalo's is a among the league's worst there. TD/Marv/DJ/Brandon used no fewer than 8 draft picks in rounds 1-2 from 04-08 on non-lineman. The exception was McCargo, who is a bust. And some fans wonder why the toughest positions to find, OT's and pass-rushers, haven't been filled yet. Your point is strong, but I think fans begin to like specialty players because their actions on the field are more easily quantifiable whereas OL or DL are not. Homer goober fans would rather build a fantasy team than a real one, and Spiller fits their football needs.

He was mentioned in trade talks to get him in for off-season workouts. With one example, OLT's aren't traded for picks just before the NFL Draft. When people talk of _year plans, it's kind of funny. There may be a lockout in 2011, and the owner's age impacts anything the Bills do. Buffalo hasn't picked a long term GM in forever, and Nix hasn't changed that. That's not a coincidence.

If the Bills take Spiller and neglect their OT and NT needs, it's more of the Marv/DJ method: more skill positions and neglecting the lines. Only difference is now Nix and Gailey are doing it. OT's and DT's aren't typically found in the low rounds, and passing on them in a draft with plenty of them would be a colossal mistake.

Kevin Smith was banged up last year, and his long term health is in question after sustaining a torn ACL and separated shoulder.

If it is indeed Lynch on the block, there's another knock on the Levy/Smithers/Jauron era of the Buffalo Bills. Their 1st round picks in 06-07 are a big part of why this team is rebuilding again in 2010. Besides drafting more skill players and skimping on lineman, Whitner, McCargo, and Lynch have been disappointments or merely pedestrian. It was reported Ralph wanted Lynch in 2007's first round. If so, it's further proof needs to be seen and not heard on draft day aside from agreeing with the people he hires. Lynch-Bills (bottom of link)

2007 Dolphins: 1-15 2008-09: 18-14, 1 playoff appearance 2007 Falcons: 4-12 2008-09: 20-12, 1 playoff appearance If it's smoke and mirrors to do what ATL and MIA have done, sign me up. Going from (EDIT: top) 3 pick in 2008 to winning no fewer than 9 games their next 2 seasons. By the way, Miami's Tony Sparano has the same record in his first two seasons with that rebuilding Miami team as Chan Gailey had with the fading Cowboys dynasty of the late nineties. For some reason, Bills fans have adopted a defeatist mentality. It's almost as if rebuilding itself means the new folks at OBD are given another free pass for 2-3 years. It was like that when Marv was hired. And while I'm aware they haven't been the ones running the show for the past 10 years, Nix, Gailey, Smithers, and old Ralphie should have a sense of urgency given the failure to reach the playoffs in forever. I feel like Dick Jauron himself is posting on TBD, given that it's hard to win in the NFL.

It's downright laughable to hear Bills fans say that their team doesn't need to win next season and it's impossible to win now. Just because TD, Marv, and those HC's are gone doesn't give the team a free pass for another 2-3 years. Heck, they might not even have that with the owner being 91. The goal should be to win now AND rebuild for the future. Didn't the Dolphins, Jets, Falcons, and Ravens do that in the past 2 seasons? And if that's the case, even the casual uninformed goober fans that inhabit TBD should ask for that as well. Unfortunately, when you hire anything different than what was previously in the front office or at HC, it's an automatic 2-3 year extension for them to succeed to some fans around here. Those people are merely happy to have a team. There's a bad trend emerging, and it's lowered expectations year after year. It's worked out so well, especially since 2006.

It's not just the AFCE, it's the entire AFC since the early part of the decade. When you've got perennial playoff teams like NE, BAL, PIT, IND, and SD, Buffalo's chances of making the playoffs are remote. That's one of the reasons Buffalo's drought goes as far back as it does. What has destroyed Buffalo's rep across the NFL is their absurd hirings at GM from 2006-2009. Levy and Smithers were both unqualified to be NFL GM's, and the league knew it. It also doesn't help that RW is 91 and far past his prime to be owning a NFL team.

Todd McShay: The guy's a bum, but everyone else ranked him high so I have to. Where's my tan in a can cream?