BillsVet

Replying to your own post...that's the epitome of greatness. And by greatness I mean not great.

Remember when Josh Reed would move in motion a few years ago and we all knew it'd be a running play? I didn't think it could get worse, but it has. Unfortunately, there are still mouth-breather fans who believe players are at fault. It's not that simple when the people managing those players cannot figure out how to use them. That said, if TO drops a pass and is wide open, it's his fault. But TO was used a lot in motion last year in Dallas to mitigate his issue getting off the LOS. Apparently, DJ doesn't know that and insists on avoiding any type of motion. DJ is the worst coach of the past 25 years. And I remember Rich Kotite.

Playing at 219 is a wee bit small for being a NFL LB (cue the Coy Wire mention) and won't help make the run defense better. This is an indictment of the team's inability to properly build depth these past few seasons. I've never seen anything like this, and haven't noticed any other team moving guys from S to LB and back. First it was Nic Harris, a fifth round rookie and now Scott. When you've gotta convert SS's into OLB's when a starter goes down it's not a solution, it's desperation.

With all these injuries, the propaganda is writing itself to keep this coach: youth and injuries.

For RW to ask forgiveness of BP is impossible and we all know it. RW is a man who won't put Lou Saban on the Wall of Fame, the same man who fired Wade Phillips and sued to not pay him. RW may have mellowed in his age, but in his mind, the money man is more important than the guy who builds the team which makes the money. Littman and Brandon's job status is tied to RW's longevity, because they ain't going anywhere. At least we're not Raiders fans. Because that's all I've got right now.

Most of us, myself included, want to see top to bottom change in this organization. Someone like Chris Polian or another proven scouting mind is absolutely essential to getting this team off the NFL scrap heap. At the same time, I'll contend there is no one within the NFL personnel community of pro and amateur scouting directors who would work for RW given his penchant for meddling. Enough men have been run out of this town by the likes of RW and Littman that it'd be hard to find a good one. I'll also speculate that few coaches want to work in this environment either, which isn't much better than Oakland and Washington. These teams are toxic workplaces, and no coach wants to start here because HC's generally have one shot at success.

Maybe Marv is available as well. As bad as his tenure was as GM, no one would dare criticize him for being HC during the glory years. For the record, George Wilson was the only player before the game to visit the fans in in sections 122-123. Solid guy.

Randy Lerner is another clueless owner who made a dumb move in hiring his HC before the GM. Mangini wasn't in demand, but RL felt the need to hire the guy. Mangenius decided to hire Kokinis away from Baltimore, but he wasn't the true GM. It was more of a Belichick type scenario. Reminds me of Dan Snyder hiring a guy for OC without having a HC, and then promoting the OC to HC despite never being a coordinator. Any owner that think they can run the personnel side of the house is too arrogant to be successful. Al Davis comes to mind, but at least 25-30 years ago he had a clue.

And yet fans who came here to question the direction of the team were criticized as being pessimistic, negative, and stuck in the past. Many of those fans said an OL with essentially 3 rookies would not be able protect their QB and open up running lanes. Many of those fans said DJ would not get any better in his 9th full NFL season as a HC. Many of those fans asked how a marketing man masquerading as a GM with close oversight from the 91 year old owner would turn this team around. All the while having Tom Donahoe era personnel men working for him. These fans don't need apologies because they knew before the season began that this team was in serious trouble. What's pathetic is that some fans who criticized them now are nowhere to be found. And that is what it is.

A caller questioned the reaction players have when front office moves are made. Transactions like firing a GM, trading players, et al. The idea was, what does a QB think about players such as Peters being traded when their fate depends on guys like the LT. Or when a well-respected executive is fired seemingly out of the blue I can't directly quote TT, but he said there were lots of players teed off in 93 when it happened. They loved and feared Polian, who he added, still maintains a house in the area. I don't want to get hopes up, especially on TBD, but he said BP loves WNY. Now, I don't expect, nor should anyone look for Polian to arrive anytime soon. I just found it interesting that the players loved the man and could not understand why he was let go. It shouldn't surprise anyone really.

Jauron needs to get up at his weekly "it's my fault" speech to the media tomorrow and resign. Jerry Sullivan's article in the Buffalo News make a point of DJ not knowing much about offense, despite having been around the game for years. The scariest thing is, he had a big hand in building the team from at least 06-08.

He's hiring more PR staff?

Jauron has no vision for building a team, particularly on offense. There are no slants, no PA Pass, no draw plays, no passes between the hash marks unless it's to a point target, and certainly the most predictable offenses. Most of it is related to the 4 rookies on the OL and physically deficient QB. Still, that's not an excuse to run a vanilla offense in Week 8 of the NFL season. What were they doing in all those weeks of minicamps and training camp? Jauron's had 5 OC's in 9 NFL seasons and not coincidentally all of them were unable to craft an offense for their HC.

When a HC goes 2-8 in his final ten to finish 7-9 after a 5-1 start, how does he get fired? Jauron could go 4-12 and this team's propagandists would find a reason to keep him.

That worked so well for Polian. The best personnel man in the past 25 years was fired by the owner who got his HOF ring today. This will be RW's team until the end. We'll never know all that happens behind closed doors at OBD, but it's noteworthy that the Bills went from having perhaps the best front office in the early nineties to having the worst one 15 years later. Yet through it all, RW still runs the show.

And many around here didn't want to admit this during the late summer when it became clear three players who had not taken a NFL snap before 2009 would be starting on that line. It's not surprising they have to run simple sets to make up for that inexperience, especially now that another rookie was forced into duty with Meredith. How can anyone give the front office credit when they've tried twice in four off-seasons to rebuild the OL? This time they just did it cheaper, but the results aren't all that different.

And Schonert, even though he'll never get another big NFL job, is laughing his hind quarters off. In his 9th season as a HC, Dick Jauron has successfully found new ways to develop unimaginative offenses which are typically at the bottom. This is not the exception with DJ, it's the rule. He is bad and getting worse and for an opposing NFL player to say this, speaks volumes about the entire team. Because it's RW's coach after all.

You seem like a nice person John and I'm not patronizing you here, but.... Why should we have any confidence they'll find good players if the same flunkies keep running the personnel side of the house, supervised by someone who grew up selling tickets and marketing a team? They are incompetent and probably not going anywhere. Management is among the worst in the entire league. Awesome. I believe Jimma Carter had one as well.

Bill, thanks for the comments again. Being at the game I miss some of the sideline things, even though we sit in the front row behind the tunnel side EZ. Thanks for the info. Today can be no better example of why Dick-ball does not work. Even forcing turnovers and running a vanilla no guts offense, they managed to once again break down defensively in the fourth. Sound familiar? It's like freaking ground hog day each game-day. RW said at halftime that his goal was to give the fans a SB win. Are we any closer today than we were at the end of 2005? I think not, and it's an insult to the intelligence of Bills fans to believe this remains their goal. At the same time, I'm happy no one booed a 91 year old man and everyone should respect their elders. It's still worthless to discuss the merits of individual players and coaches because until the men picking and coaching them are replaced, it's a waste of time. When this decade began, there were 30 other teams in the NFL. All of those teams save Detroit have made the post-season at least once. If it's not clear a total housecleaning is absolutely necessary again, I don't know when it ever will. Fans who want to criticize players should stop wasting their breath. It's management folks.

After this team lost to Cleveland, anyone should realize this team can lose to anyone at anytime. Houston's been an up and coming team for it seems like forever, but in a battle of talent and coaching, they have the advantage. That's not to say Gary Kubiak is a great coach, but he's a heckuva lot better than DJ. And when you compare QB's it's pretty obvious: Schaub is an injury-prone talented guy with good weapons. Fitzpatrick is a weak-armed inconsistent and more daring than than man he replaced. Anything can happen, but Houston should take this one.

I thought that article would be another puff piece about how JM has stepped up his approach to the game. And all it talked about knowing Williams from the NCST days. In 2006, Marv tried to forge a front office that cooperated and made compromises. Unfortunately, he couldn't be a leader after having been out of the league for nearly a decade. This very approach, still alive and not well, is what gets you picks like McCargo. It also finds average players who can't change games. Or you find busts that never play well. Oh, and having incompetent holdovers from the TD regime also hurts. Modrak and Guy have to go and be replaced with completely new GM, Pro Personnel Director, and Amateur Scouting Director.

It's not hard to understand why the Giants have been good for a long time: their GM's who are supported by the Mara/Tisch families as ownership. George Young (79-97), Ernie Accorsi (98-07), Jerry Reese (07-present). Those guys knew what they were/are doing and four SB appearances with 3 titles proves that. I'm not sure there's an era with this good of GM's as the Giants have had since Young took over. As much as the NFL attempts to equalize payroll, they can't (as is suggested in the article) equal out the minds in the front office. It's why socializing anything never works.

If there's one word that's been tossed around far too much, it's potential. All it means, as mentioned repeatedly, is you ain't done nothing yet and that about sums up Buffalo Bills football from 2000-2009.

It tells me they've beat up on bad teams. Carolina is getting to be a dumpster fire at 2-4, the Jets are 4-3, and TB is 0-7. Combined W-L is 6-14. Just about par for the course when you roll back the layers behind DJ. DJ was 57-76 entering the season. My records indicated his record against in these categories: 13-43 against playoff teams 44-33 against non-playoff teams. So DJ is living up to reality once again. Beat up on bad to mediocre teams, while getting creamed by good teams.

The Titans are missing Albert Haynesworth. But it's hard to see one guy making them go from 13-3 to 0-6. This chart showed me one thing sure to make any QB wince: 54 QB hits allowed in 7 games, tied for worst in the NFL. Even though Trent is prone to injury, that's far too many hits. Unless you've got Roethlisberger.