BillsVet

You cannot be serious. A HC overruling a GM? On draft day? I hope this is a joke.

Amen. And for the record, where do most teams that run the T2 play? MIN and IND both play in domes, and Chicago's defense hasn't been stellar for awhile now in the cold weather. Outside of that, no one else plays the T2. And even though it's not a guarantee he'll coach the T2, they have the personnel and it would take a total rebuild on defense to convert to a 3-4 and great effort to go with a 4-3. That's why I don't want a guy versed in the T2. At least when Tomlin took over the Steelers, he was wise enough to let Dick Lebeau maintain his great 3-4.

Yes, the Bills should take their time and do all of their research before hiring a coach. However, it's imperative to get a coach on board so they can begin evaluating their new roster and decide how to approach UFA/RFA and the draft. The GM has to coordinate his vision with that of the new HC. I also believe the Bills job, despite being the only one truly open (if we believe reports about Carroll) is not an attractive one. People like Polian, AJ Smith, and others have put the word out that working for RW and Brandon does not permit enough operational latitude to control a new GM's destiny.

I'm embarrassed that you attend the same institution that some of my good friends used to years ago. You come off as a spoiled kid that can't take some good natured ribbing. If you can't handle it and stop making a fool of yourself, it's best to do something else. And I'm quite certain you don't know who Howard Beale is, unless of course you've consulted wikipedia or imdb. Relax for goodness sakes.

tbarrett2030 is the Howard Beale of TBD. And this is best help he ever got.

To quote Kent Dorfman, a.k.a. Flounder: "Oh boy is this great!"

Good. There's been a tendency on this board by big green folks to say that volunteers are simply amateur and professionals are the only "true" firefighters.

Two part question: Have you ever seen Backdraft, and are paid fire departments so much better than volunteer ones?

Two questions: 1. Do you pity any janitors? 2. Do you go to school at an Ivy-League caliber university?

APUS is another resident poster who knows better than to question the future and stability of the franchise. Don't take it personally, there are several of them around here that question the fact that we wonder if this team will ever return to being a top NFL team. Mostly, these posters show up during the offseason to talk up how next season will be better. And without variation, they're wrong. I've seen it happen for three going on four offseasons now.

No one is realistically saying the owner is a bystander in a coach or GM search. The degree of involvement is what remains troubling for me. Ralph Wilson is an owner, not a GM and as such doesn't know the finer points of what a GM or HC does. I expect him to have say but not make the choice. And if you believe that Nix isn't getting "input" from RW, Mr. Smithers, and Littman, you're living in a cave. Nix is a football guy, but the authority he has will be seriously in doubt until he can make changes to the front office. And that's probably not happening, given that John Guy and Tom Modrak are still in their positions. Make no mistakes APUS, RW is making the decision.

I think the OP is making a point deeper than that. The Bills entered the off-season needing to find a GM to fill a vacant position (Levy and Brandon don't count) and a new HC. They never interviewed one person outside the organization for GM, and have interviewed only one individual in 10 days from other teams (Frazier) that they have a reasonable chance at hiring for HC. They've been rejected by name and no-name coaches, and have an owner who meddles more than just about anyone in the NFL not named Snyder or Jerry Jones. Has it occurred to some fans that few people are willing to work here? And that's why we have to evaluate where we are as fans of this franchise. We can say we're "die-hard" fans, but there are two major issues taking place here: 1. The team has been bad for a long time. Perhaps not Raiders or Lions bad, but consistently mediocre. That record of futility is a lot to stomach, especially when the promised evaluation and supposed house-cleaning hasn't/isn't happening. 2. The ownership situation is seriously in doubt, and has been for a long time. When fans ignore that, they're ignoring reality. We don't know where this team goes when the owner passes and that uncertainty adds to an already bad situation.

I want to say this thing went down, but who knows. The way Marv drafted was supposedly based on "football" character, not "character" character as explained to me on this board. Football character has nothing to do with actual character, and essentially means that the person is committed to being an excellent football players. The football character argument is pure BS by the Marv apologists to squirm out of the fact that Levy's two years set the franchise back. Marv got 1 starting player out of 6 picks in the first three rounds of the 06 and 07 drafts: Posluszny.

What if that asset showed a loss ten years running? Would it be okay for the owner to keep calling the shots? The man is 91 years old and he's in charge of a company which is valued at more than 900M? How many fortune 500 CEO's are in their tenth decade of life AND making good decisions? The bottom line is, football people are not allowed to make football decisions in Buffalo. At least not since Polian. For the most part, all of the teams which are run by their owners are colossal flops: Dallas, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Oakland, and Washington. Dallas hasn't won a playoff game since 96, Cinci is in the playoffs for the second time in nearly 20 seasons, and the other have little to show for this decade. RW is holding this team back with his penchant for making bad decisions. He cannot trust anyone and it's killing the franchise.

Every team that fires the HC takes the rest of the coaching staff out at the same time. Occasionally, the incoming HC takes someone from the old staff, but it's not usually an OC or DC. If they're cleaning house, they've left quite a few rooms untouched. In order to properly set a new course, it's time to remove Guy, Modrak, and Overdorf among others. If not, there hasn't been a house-cleaning, but a sweeping of these problems under a big rug.

They say the most dangerous place to be in DC is between Chuck Schumer and a camera. Not my words, but a big thanks to old Chuck for telling us what we already know.

Brandon is the Waylon Smithers of OBD. As long as Ralph (C. Montgomery Burns) is still around, he's going to need a yes-man to carry out his demands. And his chief demand is to be profitable, which is where Underdorf helps. The coach search will have more impact on the future of this team than any other. A GM isn't especially visible during the off-season, at least when compared to the HC. Buffalo fans have seen almost every type of coach since 2001, so if the Bills try to sell a "hot" assistant as their next guy, the exodus will begin.

I see teams league-wide watching each other to see what's going to happen in 2010. There's a wait and see approach, and I can't see them spending big on a HC, despite reports to the contrary. I don't see there being a lot of activity this offseason. Everything is about 2011 and the potential lockout. There won't be huge contracts going out this year, especially since many potential UFA's will be RFA's and require compensation.

Mankins is a G and not an OT. And I don't see a 4-3 team taking a guy like Cody, he's a 3-4 NT two down type of player. As much as sideline to sideline LBs are necessary, unless the Bills shore up their DL, it doesn't matter. Too often the DL aren't freeing up the backers to make plays and while fans love names like Stroud, he is not occupying two blockers like he used to.

I like Bulaga in the run game as well. It's one game, but they've run behind him and at Morgan consistently. Buffalo may need to find their LT with that 9th pick whether they like or not and Okung should be gone by then.

Bulaga getting the better of Morgan earlier IMO.

There are three positions not often found via UFA: QB, LT, and DE. At this early juncture, if Okung and no QB's are there, I'd go DE with Derrick Morgan. Buffalo's pass rush isn't especially strong, especially if Schobel retires. There's a lot that needs to happen, but it seems the drop off from Okung at LT to Bulaga or Trent Williams is steep.

Or perhaps wait another quarter century and interview for vacant GM spots.

Tim's comment about April being very upset in not getting the interim HC job was noteworthy. Granted, this is a ST coach, but he carried the Assistant HC tag as well. Either way, it's hard for a ST coach to become a HC. The guy is 56 and probably knows he doesn't have another 15 years in the league. As much as many like April, the franchise needs to turn the page on the DJ era and allow the next HC to build their own staff.

McNeill, Ryans, Evans, and Ruud at a minimum are restricted free agents and would not come without surrendering draft picks. Vick, Vanden Bosch, Kampman, and Merriman are older or have injury concerns and it's not time to be taking chances. And based on Bills recent history combined with no cap floor or ceiling, I don't see them breaking the bank in UFA. Get more picks and begin the rebuilding the right way.