BillsVet

Thanks for the heads-up. Not working in media will leave me using Jerry Sullivan as a source, which I should not have done. John, there's no doubt the wilderness of the 04 and 05 drafts (save Evans and Parrish) have contributed to the mediocre results from 06-08. However, TD has not been here since the 05 season, and as we've seen, rebuilding doesn't have to be a 5 year plan. Sure, UFA doesn't allow the bigger names to hit, but solid drafting combined with good coaching should facilitate teams improving quickly. Furthermore, the direction we've seen has placed a premium since 06 on skill positions. Poz, McKelvin, Lynch, and others seem to be or will be solid starters. But at OT they've jettisoned their best player (there's much more to that story) and haven't drafted a pass rusher on the first day until Maybin. If RW wants to run the organization, so be it. It's his team at the end of the day. But he's not a personnel evaluator, and the people charged with this aren't all that good. TD may have been responsible for 01-05, but 06-07 when Levy was here weren't stellar, at least not yet.

1) Byrd was selected to play FS, which was supposed to be manned by Simpson. We have a trend folks of bad picks in the secondary, yet DJ continues to hold sway on the front office. 3) I think Stroud, Williams, Posluszny, et al aren't bad against the run. They're improved, but it won't matter if they can't stop the pass. 7) Not a surprise, it took the front office three years to realize you must draft guys with more than 5th round picks. Or, when you trade up for a DT, to not reach. The way they've gone about building the OL and DL until this season is underwhelming 8) I'm sensing 5-11 or 6-10, the schedule isn't kind and the AFC is much more competitive than the NFC.

I missed that. Tim on the money as usual. I'll be humble and say great minds think alike.

Sparano cancels practice; takes team to G.I. Joe Which movie would DJ cancel practice for? This can include current and previous movies. I'm going to go with Forrest Gump.

Not the Bills. They're 0-6 against Belichick. I don't care about how other teams fare against the Patsies.

If the offense was holding back, the entire team is doing one heckuva sandbagging job not letting it on. Someone might remotely believe this if things didn't look so similar to their final games in 2008. The Bills failed to score TD's in three of their final 5 games and only scored 60 points in those games. DJ could not out game plan rookie HC's in Sparano and Singletary, and a soon to be fired Romeo Crennel, And since he's been HC in Buffalo, he's 0-6 against Belichick. I doubt he's purposely holding back. He's also 13-43 against teams that make the playoffs.

I gave them a chance in 2006...7-9 in a rebuilding year. I gave them a chance in 2007...7-9. I gave them a chance in 2008...5-1 start, 2-8 finish en route to...7-9. You're in the minority here, because for the first time since 2005 the majority (at least on this board) want a winning team. The starters have been outscored 55-3 in 6 quarters, the coach hasn't changed, and the QB is unwilling to throw more than 10 yards downfield. Can you promise you'll show up more than you have in the past 2.5 years if the Bills aren't playing well? Something tells me you won't, because this team looks the same as it did to finish 7-9.

The run defense has been better. But if you can't stop the pass, there won't be a need to run. This reminds me in 2006 when teams ran the ball for 140 rypg against the Bills, yet Buffalo was top 10 against the pass. Roethlisberger and Batch completed a lot of passes, especially on 3rd down. If they don't get a pass-rush, there will be much more of the same. This defense must play flawless each week if they're going to win.

Littman just seems to be in the shadows, hence my terming it "lurking." I think the both of us know this guy tells RW what he wants to hear, as in how to make more money. But you're right, he's there among the inner circle as much as RB. While driving home, Jerry Sullivan noted that the Bills are not printing as many media guides this year to save money. To me, a NFL team doing this is unfathomable. Buffalo may not be raking in the money Jerry Jones or Bob Kraft do, but saving on paper? Sullivan noted that the Bills spend on bad players but cannot use the same amount of paper as last year and it's a valid point. It's not as if the team doesn't spend money, it's on which players. Tripplett, Royal, Kelsay, Schobel, P. Price, Dockery, Walker...the list goes on and on. It's my belief that RW has decided to pack it in. He's not going to make any more long term decisions than he has to given his advanced age. He wants to set up his family as well as he can when the team goes to sale. Littman is merely helping him achieve this end-state. There were reportedly 2 votes for keeping DJ and 2 opposing. I believe it was RW and Littman, and those are the most important votes.

Very well put. The issue all along has been an atmosphere which is not conducive to making football decisions. 32 teams in the league have priority 1A of making a profit. 1B is being competitive. The difference remains that some teams differentiate from 1A to 1B must more than others. Lurking in the background is the mysterious Littman. He's the type of guy who oversees RW's finances, but his presence is as open as RW's was in retaining DJ. Continuity is nice when you've got the right people and extenuating circumstances prevent winning. It's clear by this point that Brandon and Jauron aren't good enough. But the owner and CFO will remain no matter what.

Who the heck is advising Wilson on football matters? Or could it be that he's calling the shots and Littman is providing the financial implications of those choices? We know after the retention of DJ that Brandon is a front-man for the organization. And while this isn't as bad as Cincinnati or Detroit during the Millen years, Wilson has no football people in the inner circle. Jauron's greatest failing has been an inability to find good coordinators, particularly on offense. None of his former OC's are even in the NFL anymore. I read last year that Wilson directly negotiated the contract extension with DJ. After all, RW couldn't fire someone he had re-signed just two months previous. Dave, I'm not directing this rant completely at you. I just want someone to show me where sensible football people are actually allowed in the decision making process at OBD. Because from where I stand, it's not happening and the 91 year old owner is making decisions with his CFO.

As this season devolves, it'll be interesting to see this board transition into highlighting anything Peters does wrong. The guy had a bad 2008 season and according to Football Outsiders, was in the bottom 20 in taking offensive penalties and blown blocks. The worse 2009 becomes, the easier it will be for Bills fans to go after Peters. I suspect Peters will eventually round into form and Philadelphia makes the playoffs.

I'm sure Harrison can squat more than 400 pounds, but he's a beast. I'm sure he benches 475+ though and would handle Walker's 365 without problem. Walker just seems like a fish out of water at LT. If the rumors are true the Bills do not favor him at LT, I can certainly see why. He lacks the foot speed and technique necessary to re-direct pass rushers, particularly the shorter ones. It's not so much about pure strength, but getting leverage to keep a pass-rusher from getting to the QB. Buffalo will see Julius Peppers, Mario Williams, Joey Porter, John Abraham, Gaines Adams, Freeney/Mathis (albeit in Wk 17), whoever NE throws out there, and Calvin Pace a total of 11 games out of 17. It will be a baptism by fire for whoever starts at LT.

Watching the pick six, it's amazing how James Harrison abuses Langston Walker. LW outweighs Harrison by 100+ pounds and is 8 inches taller, but he struggles mightily to the point that had Edwards not thrown, he probably would have been sacked. The Bills will see plenty of top notch pass rushers from the right side this season. I don't know if Kugler/Schonert/DJ have a plan to mitigate the lack of talent/experience at LT. Edwards/Fitzpatrick's health will depend on it.

We've yet to begin the regular season, but it is more than justified to make the point that rebuilding a team with skill players is/are the moves made by incompetent leadership. The Bills are hyped because they feature Lynch, Evans, Owens, McKelvin, Posluszny, and perhaps McKelvin. Skill players sell tickets, but they struggle when the linemen can't do their job. It is the mark of TD, Levy, and Brandon that they did not pay enough attention to both the OL and DL. When they did draft OL or DL, they were generally flops beside Schobel. Now, the finally admit fault and take 3 lineman in 09. What took them so long? Was it the big contracts doled out to Dockery and Walker?

Historically, GM's get two whacks at hiring a GM before they're fired. I think a HC shouldn't be able to hire more than 2 OC's or DC's before they too are dropped. That is, unless the coordinators are getting HC jobs. We all know Fairchild would have been fired had it not been for the Colorado State gig, so in effect Schonert being kicked to the curb should be the final straw for DJ. This is a man who's never chosen good OC's: Gary Crowton, John Shoop, Steve Fairchild, and now Turkey Schonert in nine seasons. It will not change, and his DC choices (Greg Blache and Perry Fewell) aren't going to be HC's anywhere anytime.

In light of RW's ownership of a NFL franchise since 1970, one must seriously doubt his ability to find AND retain the top football people. Eventually, every single football person left on their own volition or was fired. Saban, Knox, Polian, Butler (AJ Smith). IIRC, Levy had some issues with RW at the end as well. This track record is manifested in an entire decade of losing, with no end in sight. RW may be in the HOF for work done 40-50 years ago, but he never excelled at allowing good people to work for him. I think most people applauded hiring TD, but even though that didn't work, RW's reaction to this failure is almost as worse. He hired people not capable of performing the jobs they were brought in for that could be controlled. Neither Levy or Brandon are capable personnel people, and were set up to fail. The on-field product is a direct reflection of RW's and Littman's stewardship of the franchise.

When you have 15 possessions from your first team offense and cannot muster one single TD, there is a major problem. The defense is still not making stops on 3rd down. The special teams appear to have regressed, as evidenced by multiple penalties (from rookies), and the coaches have admitted their deep concern. Preseason matters more than people want to admit, especially the third game when starters play an entire half. It was supposed to be a big test, and Buffalo failed miserably. I'll bet many of the issues we saw yesterday will be manifested in the regular season.

The second comment was almost as troublesome as the first. Langston Walker looks heavy? He had issues handling James Harrison last night, who is about as good as a rush OLB comes. But if he knew he'd be tasked with playing LT in April, why he didn't cut down his weight is beyond me. He's the type of player who is big but not exceptionally strong. It's going to be interesting on offense.

As bad as I think it'd have to get to see DJ fired, I still don't think there will be a shake up in the front office. For whatever strange reason, the inner-circle consisting of RW and Littman have put their eggs in the Russ Brandon basket. It's been said ad nauseam on this board, but I'm beginning to think the only thing which will change things would be a huge drop-off in season ticket sales. The catch remains that many fans are fearful of losing their team, and like Jerry Sullivan points out, they buy season tickets to guard against that tragedy. Unfortunately, mediocrity is the result. TD was a failure, but his terrible run should not prevent RW from hiring someone and giving them the keys to the kingdom. Plenty of solid football men are out there who can turn this team around, so long as the owner and his CFO/#2 consent to trusting someone. The Bills have a serious disease, and firing DJ would only be treating the symptom(s). A new GM who hires their own coach is what's called for. And I'm not talking about a former octogenarian head coach harkening back to the glory days or a marketing guy no more qualified to run a franchise than my local high school HC.

Hey...it's Turk Schonert's call to make those plays. He watches film 80 hours a week AND he knew Bill Walsh. No one should be criticizing him. NO ONE.

Dick Jauron never called criticizers of his game plans "Nazi's"

Dick Jauron never called 911 when his chicken fingers weren't ready at Burger King. Ever.

The difference in TOP is as lopsided as I've ever seen in a NFL game, preseason or regular season. I was looking for Edwards to throw the ball downfield and it never happened. Fitzpatrick rifled the ball, although a few were incomplete. It's time for a different game plan Durk and Tick. Farrior knows, but the offensive guru Turkey can't figure it out. No wonder TB, NYG, CAR, and BUF from 98-00 didn't want him as an OC.

Russ' job is done...55k season tickets sold in a bad economy.