BillsVet

Their 2008 playoff appearance suggests that they overcame the McGahee deal quite well, wouldn't you think? And as long as you're ripping Newsome, why not talk about his better moves in drafting: Ray Lewis, Jonathan Ogden, Peter Boulware, Chris McAlister, Jamal Lewis, Adalius Thomas, Todd Heap, Jamal Lewis, Ed Reed, Chester Taylor, Terrell Suggs, and Haloti Ngata. Newsome isn't perfect, but when it comes to building a football team, he's pretty darn good.

Demetrius Bell, according to many on this board, is. Why not?

History (2001-present) would indicate the Patriots are indeed better at knowing whom to release and when. Buffalo, not so much. Of course, that's what happens when, in succession, you have a maniac, 80 year old, and someone who hasn't spent a day in personnel prior to 2008 playing GM.

I said they rarely have busts in the first or second round. Before getting all hot and bothered because you want to discredit me, re-read my post. And for the record, NE has positioned themselves quite well wrt Wilfork. They drafted someon their staff believes can take over for VW. His name is Ron Brace, a big DT from Boston College. That's called leverage, so when Wilfork sits, he'll know his heir apparent could be working for a starting job for down the road.

Every front office makes mistakes. It's the amount of mistakes that contribute to perpetual ineptitude, and the Ravens are usually pretty good. Their GM, HOF TE Ozzie Newsome is renowned for his ability to find talent although trading for McGahee was not his best move. That said, I'd still rate the Ravens front office as one of the better ones in the league. Considering they went deep into the AFC playoffs with a rookie HC and rookie QB, they must be doing enough right.

By having a front office that knows what it's doing. Kevin Colbert and Pioli/Belicheck are some of the finest talent evaluators in the business. They're extremely adept and knowing who to retain and players to replace. They rarely have first or second round bust picks and use UFA effectively. We all know this is a players's league, at least after the former CBA. In order to mitigate this, signing a guy before he gets to star status is imperative. This is where the talent evaluators must coordinate with management. Levy did right by getting Peters a moderate contract in the summer of 2006. This was only half the battle, as Peters moved to LT in mid 06 and did a commendable job. His play was better in 07. After the 07 season, they elected to sit on principle and avoid recognizing the player. So yes, the Bills demonstrated little foresight and creativity. One wonders what may have happened if Buffalo offered an extension after 07. I'm speculating that Peters would be the LOT in 2009. Buffalo's front office has little credibility, given their penchant for making the wrong decision. This is exemplified by the on field product and which remains a point of contention among fans who recognize that success shouldn't take place one each decade.

If the team is relying on no less than five rookies (Maybin, Wood, Byrd, Levitre, and Nelson) to improve their standing in the AFCE, I've got an issue with that. I like their draft, but not the fact that they'll again bank on rookies to improve. If, after three seasons of rebuilding you're forced to count on first year players, that indicates to me that the previous off-seasons weren't all that good. And it would be an indictment of those who make decisions on building a team. For the record, I've read Larry Felser and don't necessarily agree with everything he writes. If people want to say RW knows something about football, then Felser does as well. Covering as many seasons of Bills football means you've seen quite a bit. This is a 7-9 team from a season ago. Rookies are merely something new to hope will make a positive difference. And from a marketing/business vantage point, they're a relatively inexpensive option to hype. History shows that few draft classes move a team from mediocrity to a playoff appearance.

What's completely mystifying is how, out of 31 teams that played the past 10 years, that only two have failed to make the playoffs. Worse yet, the other woeful franchise, Detroit, finally made changes at GM and HC in 08-09. I've got no issue if fans want to hope the team's on the right track. Just provide some evidence suggesting that this is so.

I'm miffed on how any knowledgeable fan can defend an organization that hasn't made the playoffs in nine seasons during the salary cap era. Most of all, I'm miffed at the structure of the organization. There is no one individual managing the football side of the house like most successful franchises feature. Instead, the arrangement is a triumvirate of Wilson, Littman, and to a much lesser extent, Brandon controlling things they have no business or training in handling. And through it all, a respected writer authors something questioning the direction of a moribund team that has proven nothing on the field since the 20th century, and he's instantly discredited. That's mystifying.

Larry Felser, because you don't know, has covered the Bills since Day 1. His opinion is extremely valuable, and here his examples demonstrate a growing trend at OBD: uncertainty and knee-jerk reactions. There is no rhyme nor reason to Buffalo's personnel management and direction of the franchise. Because there is no bona-fide GM holding things together, transactions are made which seem random and unorthodox. Felser is simply pointing out that when Buffalo is faced with a difficult situation, they aren't clear on how to handle it and go with the nuclear option. I would agree.

It'll be interesting to see whether Butler can make the change from RG to RT. Recall that Buffalo didn't really change their draft board upon dealing Peters. That to me is laziness, and an indication they assumed that players could convert when there is no concrete evidence they can. They just had too many holes to fill and not enough picks to do it in. For a team in year four of rebuild mode, that's unacceptable. It's a stretch to say Butler is a slam dunk to make the transition, Chambers can play RT all year, or that Bell is ready. This is a big gamble.

It's not that simple. I'm a Bills fan, and darn tired of losing. While some franchises win regularly, Buffalo finds new ways to lose consistently enough to be neither good or downright awful. Especially when you consider that in the salary cap era that parity is practically legislated by the NFL. When Buffalo had a chance to find a legitimate NFL GM, they reached for a marketing guy. When Buffalo had a chance to fire a HC who hasn't been able to win with draft picks and UFA's he had a hand in acquiring, easy schedules, and three seasons of rebuilding, they didn't. Dissent is healthy for some Bills fans who want more than a 7-9 team which cannot get into the post-season. For those who demand little and are happy to have a team, keep on truckin'. Just don't tell me that maintaining the status quo is good enough. Buffalo hasn't done anything yet, and given their track record of failure, I'm not buying their PR until I see some success on the field.

I'm not so sure Ralph's "way" has been kind to Bills' fans. It's his team, and he can do what he wants with it. But in recent years, it's been one thing after another. I wasn't around in the sixties, but making the playoffs 13 times in 39 NFL seasons is not good enough.

And he still hasn't been able to go .500 in three tries, nor in 4 out of five seasons at his last job. In most other franchises, that'll get you fired, but not in Buffalo. I frankly don't care what happens with other teams. If you can't win by year 3 of a rebuilding plan, you've failed. End of story. And out of that overhaul, none of his picks in UFA and the draft can be considered a playmaker.

I'd like for someone to explain how DJ isn't at fault for the sorry state of affairs this team is in. His on-field effort is truly lacking any innovation, and when he held sway over Levy in building the team, he ultimately guided Marv down a dark path. UFA 06 was putrid. UFA 07 was poor. Draft day 06 resulted in some average players, and the book is yet to be written on Lynch, Posluszny, and Edwards. Otherwise, DJ's act takes about 4-5 years for mediocre front offices to see it's the same game with the same results. Look at the top 12 teams in the draft this season. Nearly all of them made a significant change in the front office and/or at the HC job. Only OAK and CIN (who's owners are de facto GM's) along with SEA and GB didn't make some shift at the HC or GM position. The latter two teams went to the playoffs in 07. Hooray for continuity.

Yes, DJ sucks. Winning 43% of your 130 games in the NFL constitutes sucking. And when NFL teams are looking for a low cost option at HC (where people like Tony Sparano receive 3M contracts) DJ is attractive. There is absolutely no reason why he should still be leading a franchise's players onto a field. When you coach for two seasons and have high expectations in the third, yet bumble your way to 2-8 in the final 10 against one of the league's easiest schedule, there is no reason to retain the guy. But yeah, it's all QB play all the time. DJ flat out stinks. For the record, prior to last season, few first round rookie QB's had ever been as far as Flacco and Ryan. Simply being a first round pick does not equate to being an offensive weapon. Roddy White is on par with Lee Evans, but Michael Jenkins isn't outstanding by any means. I'd also say that Michael Turner and Marshawn Lynch are not far apart talent wise either. What I would like to know is how rookie HC's can coach rookie QB's with guys like Mike Mularkey and Cam Cameron at OC and get into the playoffs. Yet DJ, with a second year QB and a guy with 10+ years as a NFL coach and nearly the same time as a NFL QB can't do better. Please explain that to me, because I'd love to know. QB play was an issue at times last year. I'd venture to say that coaching has been a problem for much longer. And for the record, scoring more points than the Fins is not grounds for success. Miami beat those same Bills twice, with a rookie HC, weak armed QB, rookie HC, and Dan Henning calling the plays with no decent receiving options, a rookie LT, and little at TE. Do you work for the Bills, or have some vested interest in their continued mediocrity?

Looking at the HC's in the AFCE is also scary if you're a Bills fan. All the coaches are proven as either/or a coordinator or HC. Rex Ryan is a rookie HC, but he has a solid track record as a DC. I'm sure he'll use the model Baltimore used with Flacco last season to work in Sanchez. Tony Sparano proved his worth by taking a less than stellar roster into the playoffs with a castoff at QB. And of course Belichick has those 3 SB titles and a history of being a defensive mastermind. Beyond players, those three coaches are all better than DJ and his staff. RW, for all of his positives understanding markets in the NFL, still has and never will grasp how important it is to have and keep quality coaches. But that's not news to most Bills fans from years gone by. Coaching is the most important commodity on the field, but Buffalo doesn't have a strong and innovative person holding down any of the HC, OC, and DC positions. The Bills will not get better until they find better coaching, like NYJ, MIA, and NE have done.

Absolutely. The schedule was easier, yet the offensive results even with a new OC in 08 weren't much better. I'd further note that teams like Miami, Baltimore, and Atlanta had few offensive weapons. The latter two teams featured rookies QB's, who didn't have multiple targets either. Yet each of those teams had an offensive identity which they didn't depart from: efficient passing combined with strong running games. All three of those teams made the playoffs and protected their QB's. They also remained true to their identity. The common denominator among playoff teams is solid coaching. Bad and mediocre teams more often than not have bad to mediocre coaching. We can argue about QB play all day, but when I see rookie HC's like Mike Smith and John Harbaugh get to the post-season with rookies, it tells me DJ is simply inept. Nice research here.

The launching point was 2006-early 2007. They should be on the moon looking at Earth (i.e. playoffs) by this point, not hanging out in the ranks of the lower third of the NFL. I'd rather have an offense with an identity minus big weapons than a team that goes away from the run inexplicably when it's working. The away MIA and SF games illustrate that ad infinitum. This team, from the middle of 08 forward had no offensive identity. They weren't a running team and they couldn't pass the ball much either. I expect the HC, in concert with the OC to have that down at the beginning of the season. I guess that's too much for a coach who wins less than 43% of his games and an OC who couldn't get promoted until he'd been a QBC for 10+ seasons in the NFL. For the record, DJ couldn't do it in Chicago either. The disparity between his OC's (Gary Crowton and John Shoop) was as wide as the Grand Canyon. Neither succeeded either. Why anyone expects success here is beyond belief.

We've seen with teams like the Giants' OL how important it is to keep talented players together for as long as possible. In the span of 3+ seasons, Buffalo's thrown more OL groups out there it's little wonder they're not good. But I agree here, it's expecting an awful lot of two rookies, an untested former backup and 2 others who are switching positions to excel. In many instances, Buffalo addresses problems with patchwork solutions. They had a below average OL in 06 even with Peters. The response was to buy an OL with Dockery and Walker. This didn't work long term. Now they're going with rookies and cheap options like Hangartner and Butler.

And yet with all those statistical areas improving, the team magically went 7-9 with the 2nd easiest schedule in the NFL. Improving offensively with an easy schedule is a moot point IMO. This should be anticipated and not highlighted.

First, please post more often. Second, I think everyone understands the NFL is a business and teams want to make money, particularly the big boys. But the gap between making money and winning has grown in Buffalo. The decision to retain DJ, when most of the fan base had seen enough, is emblematic of this entire franchise. Brandon does not have the full power to hire and fire coaches, nor can he control much else. His responsibilities are essentially limited to being a face for the 90 year old owner. They spent little this off-season on players. Owens is on a one year deal, Hangartner reportedly signed for 10M over 4 years, Fitzpatrick is a backup QB, Florence signed for 2 years 7M, Rhodes didn't receive a huge deal, and neither did Pat Thomas. In effect, when a lot of fans figured Buffalo would need to go big in UFA to appease the fans, they did very little. Even the Owens signing, which I still love, is really not big money wise.

Tony Sparano, as a rookie HC, would have coached this team to a better record than 2-8 in the final 10. After watching the two Miami games, Sparano proved to me that coaching (like players) is all about talent. DJ's talent as a HC is minimal, but he's latched on with franchises that have been or are a perfect match: one needs a cheap coach and that coach needs a job. At this moment, there are few coaches with 2+ years in the league who I would say are worse than DJ. I only wish Buffalo had hired a guy without the experience in 06 that had coaching potential. Pittsburgh did it with Tomlin, Arizona with Whisenhunt, Miami with Sparano, et al. Good coaching makes a below average team better, and an average team good. Buffalo has below average to poor coaching with average talent, ergo, the team tops out as mediocre.

You're supposed to believe everything that comes from OBD, including the hype on players who've never played a down in the NFL. Bowen was a tackling machine at Iowa State, but returning from an ACL tear and having not played in the league is not something a reasonable fan should expect to work. That, and Demetrius Bell becoming a quality NFL starter. These two story lines will only grow as the season approaches, and it's an effort to excuse the front office for not pursuing proven NFL players.

It's the build over four year plan that Buffalo employs. It's a slow and tedious process, and one which was delayed when dollars were allocated to bust free agents. But picking up 1-2 good players per off-season, particularly 30+ year olds is not what will make this team win. They've got to hit on their first day picks and make prudent decisions in free agency. Levy's track record was the exact opposite: not enough success on day 1 and poor choices in UFA. The most concerning aspect is how each team in the AFCE have improved. NYJ has a strong defense, and MIA has Parcells. The Patsies are still the patsies, but after four years, there's no excuse now post-TD not to win.