BillsVet

Kollar to Houston "They had a squirt with the GM Russ Brandon and (Bills Owner) Ralph Wilson, and it went for quite a while. It wasn’t like it was a one day deal. The Texans had been working on it for over a week, and it finally came to be the other day.” Evidently, it was not something everyone was on-board with at OBD. This has been discussed previously on TSW that Buffalo simply didn't want to let him go. He has 20 years as a DL coach in the league, so obviously he's done something right. I would also point out that former Rams DT (and first rounder) Jimmy Kennedy had the same feelings toward Kollar that McCargo probably has. Kennedy was a complete bust, and is not a sure thing to make the Vikings roster this year. Perhaps it's not the coach but the player. Furthermore, why didn't Kollar get tough with Kyle Williams? Perhaps it's because Williams, while not as athletic, works hard in and out of the season. McCargo has never demonstrated a willingness to put in the time necessary to live up to first round pick status. He won't even start in his fourth season in the league, which pretty much clinches it, no matter how many puff pieces are written between now and opening day. But it makes fans feel good that an article comes out which agrees that a former first rounder might suddenly turn the corner after three forgettable seasons. Sure.

The Bills have been more hype and hope than reality for a long time. I don't think McCargo will develop with the introduction of a new DL coach. And before anyone goes off the deep end, the Bills initially did not want to let Kollar go to Houston. So evidently they liked Kollar's methods as opposed to being worried about McCargo's development with Kollar present.

I'll always maintain it was Polian who was a bigger reason the Bills were so darn good from 88-99. His talent as a talent evaluator is evident from his work in Carolina and Indianapolis. He consistently builds playoff caliber teams. Marv was voted into the HOF as a coach and for that he should be praised. He excelled at using big words and steadying the ship featuring all that talent. OTOH, his two seasons as GM left a lot to be desired. In his two years, Buffalo signed 14 UFA's. 13 are no longer with Buffalo. If those two years were a foundation for the future, Buffalo wouldn't be a 7-9 team in 2008.

It's worth saying: Ngata could've been a Buffalo Bill. But as we've been told ad nauseam, he didn't fit the Jauron system. Two years after wasting a pick on a DT and selecting a DB who is above average but not spectacular (because he doesn't have the players around him) Buffalo traded 2 picks for Stroud. Team Building 101 courtesy of the Buffalo Bills, Russ Brandon, Marv Levy, et al.

Millen was canned when Ford the son said if he were Ford the father he'd fire the guy. IIRC, this happened early in the season when Detroit got off to a typical bad start. I think in any other place, Millen would have been gone 2-3 years ago. Buffalo hasn't made any long term changes to the front office or in the coaching staff in more than 3 seasons. Fairchild left on his own, as did Kollar. By retaining DJ, the team is saying they're content with a mediocre HC. I still don't think fans realize how hard it is to go without a playoff appearance in nine straight seasons during the salary cap. Only the aforementioned Lions can match this record of futility.

Only if the team becomes less profitable and fans become restless a la 2005. I think Brandon is the man for the duration and no attempt will be made to hire someone who actually has a resume deeper than, "Bills COO/GM 2008-present."

He hasn't traded for John Henderson yet. Ergo, he's not good. Brandon has spent all of one year working the personnel end of the house. No one learns the intricacies of this highly complex subject in that amount of time. Every successful team in the league has a GM well-versed in the increasingly challenging aspect of evaluating talent. Buffalo does not have the guy to bring together the college scouting and pro personnel departments. He has no experience building a team, and for a franchise reeling, having a guy learn on the job is the absolute wrong answer. Buffalo does not want to make large changes to the front office and coaching staff because they simply don't know about the owner. It's the reason no one has been brought in from the outside at GM or HC in more than three years, despite consistently mediocre teams.

There are probably at least 30 other franchises where fans would applaud this article if their team went without a playoff appearance in 9 straight seasons. Nevermind the comment on people at the airport. Isolate on criticism of the franchise. Those 30 other teams' fans would not tolerate 9 seasons of inept play, poor personnel decisions, and terrible coaching like Buffalo fans do. But when anyone has the audacity to challenge a team which has spent more time designing marketing campaigns than actually winning games, it hurts their feelings. It's okay to like the team but disagree with the path they're taking. Just don't expect people to stop their criticism when the team goes 2-8 in their final 10 games and makes no significant moves in the off-season, save for picking up a big name WR who is still good, but not a long term answer.

I've never seen a team invite more players to town and not sign them. Two years ago Posluszny went down and the team had serious issues at LB with only Crowell being a proven vet. Last year, Crowell went down, and Ellison was forced to start. I suppose the more things change the more they remain the same. One injury to a starting LB and a guy like Pat Thomas, Alvin Bowen, or John DiGiorgio is a long term starter. Depth on a team that finds ways not to spend cap room will always be a challenge. The short term benefit of increasing the profit margin goes out the window when injuries and a lack of depth is revealed.

Let him have fun pretending the Bills are the standard for successful NFL franchises.

Cincinnati does a wonderful job of getting taxpayer money and continuing to put a inferior product on the field. Mike Brown knows that winning is good, but being profitable is more important. The NFL is too popular and the threat of leaving too great for a city to let a team leave.

As long as Trent remains healthy, I think he'll be a good QB. DJ has proven he's not capable of winning against playoff caliber competition. Brandon was elevated to a position he had no experience in, and RW is RW.

An emerging trend in football is a franchise's reliance on four individuals: a GM, HC, QB, and of course owner. If a team is above average in these ares, the franchise will be successful. The question remains how to qualify what works as good for the management positions which do not have statistics to demonstrate their effectiveness. Everything in a franchise begins with the GM. Teams like Pittsburgh (Kevin Colbert), Indianapolis (Polian) NY Giants (Jerry Reese) Miami (Parcells/Ireland) New England (Belichick) Green Bay (Ted Thompson) and a few others regularly win. Teams without proven talent evaluators at GM do not. It's my belief that a GM is the single most important position, front office or on the field, in any franchise. EDIT: Their importance not only comes in selecting a coach, but in repeatedly finding talent through the draft and being smart in UFA. Second most important is the QB. There is no more important position on the field, and a good one can make great things happen. I won't forget seeing Roethlisberger hanging on in the SB or guys like Drew Brees make unknown receivers look like All-Pros. To me, the QB is the second most important asset a team can have, so much so that team's continue to gamble in the draft by taking players who they hope can develop into stars. Third is the HC. We've seen enough instances (Sparano in Miami, Mike Smith with Atlanta) where a HC can gameplan and out-fox opponents with lesser talent. They game-plan to highlight their strengths and minimize weaknesses. Lastly is an owner. The best owners seem to take a back seat to their management and empower their front office people rather than dictate. Former Dolphins majority owner Wayne Huizenga, the Mara's and Tisch's with the Giants, Bob Kraft in NE, and the Rooney's in Pittsbugh epitomize what good owners do: let football people make football decisions. All in all, the Bills don't seem to have the decision makers at these key management positions. Edwards may well develop into a solid QB. But the other three positions are all below average and if (a huge if) the team does not find themselves in the post-season, the GM and HC should be replaced. Out of the worst 12 teams in the NFL in 08, 8 (DET, STL, KC, SEA, CLE, JAC, SF and DEN) made significant changes to their front office or at HC. Only Buffalo, Oakland, Cincinnati, and Green Bay did not. I can understand GB, but those other three are perennial doormats.

What's not to love? Converting average RT's into a LT. Starting a former G at RT, introducing two rookie guards, and starting a former backup and unproven commodity at C. For some reason, I'm not worried so much about the rookies or Hangartner. It's thinking Walker will not require a TE to prevent speed rushers from putting Edwards into the turf every passing down. Butler's an absolute mystery, and trusting him to learn a new NFL (not college) position is non-sensical. But if fits with this team's philosophy to hope and gamble things work out. Their track record hasn't been so good of late on the OL. See Dockery, D., and Fowler, M.

IMO, nothing less than a playoff appearance is good enough in 2009. Some would argue that merely having a winning record is satisfactory, but it's not. Jauron's three inept seasons are enough for most NFL teams to can a HC, although in Buffalo it's rewarded. That sort of thinking must end, but it'll only go away when RW sees fans leaving. If a team has a playoff drought longer than 30 out of 31 other NFL teams in play since the late 90s, that's plain abysmal. Keeping Jauron and his "continuity" increased pressure on the franchise to levels DJ cannot attain. The public expectation is and should be to get into the playoffs, which is the same as last year. I've said it many times before: More Bills fans need to take notice of what successful teams are doing. Imitating those teams is not necessarily a bad thing. Watching Parcells with the Dolphins and Dimitroff for the Falcons succeed without prime talent and name coaching should force every fan to expect more from their team.

Marshawn Lynch. Lee Evans. Fred Jackson. 2007 2nd team All-Pro LT. And Buffalo should not have been expected to do much offensively. Yet Miami had nothing at WR, little at TE, and a weak-armed castoff at QB. Their RB's returned from a serious knee injury and from a year suspension. Not to mention, rookies at LT and OG And they won. It's coaching. Having the right people at HC, OC, and DC can make average players into a good team. Bad coaches with average players can make a bad team. Buffalo fits into the latter category. For the record, you're arguing that Dan Henning got more results with less than Turk Schonert did with the aforementioned players.

Take it for what it's worth, but you're subscribing to wishful thinking. Walker, a career G-RT and Butler, a converted G will be starting OT's. That is a huge gamble and that's all Williamson is saying in his article. You latch on to anything to continue the Malign Peters Tour. I get it that you believe in quantifying OL play purely through the subjective sacks allowed stat. Buffalo will need to tweak their offense to cover the fact their new LT is a liability in pass protection. And the RT isn't a solid bet either. If people who cover the NFL don't know about guys who've been playing for 7 and 3 years respectively, that's not being inconspicuously good, it's called mediocre.

And that's fine. The WCO is noted for throwing the shorter routes and letting a receiver make it a big gain. Thing is, Buffalo will be in their share of 3rd and long situations where throwing the short route won't work. I've got a feeling DB's will press TO at the line to prevent him from working those routes. And when that happens, the short routes won't be as valuable. I frankly don't trust Schonert to be that OC who can use the weapons at hand. He couldn't solve the 3-4 after several attempts and after 10+ years as a QB coach. Life will be difficult for Trent if he's forced to take more than 3 step drops. Walker's ability to pass protect on the left will force Buffalo to use a TE over there. And Butler's going to need help as well. I think there'll be plenty of 2 TE sets, no matter what they say is going to be run.

Question is why did STL cut him after such a productive season. This notion that he'll work for us remains to be seen, but it's the case of we want something new to us, not always what's better. The Bills have issues at LB and depth at the position as well. He's not going to be all the answers at the position.

They've brought in several players who weren't signed. Keiaho, Winborn, and others. The knock on PT is he's not suited to play SAM, which is what Buffalo needs from a LB. Keiaho said Buffalo reverses the LB duties as opposed to a traditional T2, but it's anyone's guess how another sub 230 pound LB fits in today's NFL.

You're a glutton for punishment.

To some, criticism before everything becomes obvious is uncalled for. So many want to "hope" things work out and trust the current front office. Their attempts to rebuild the OL with scrubs didn't work. They then signed big dollar UFA's that didn't work either. Now they've tried going the patient route with drafted players. I hope it works, but trusting this front office is like trusting a politician to make your life better. Criticism of Levy was attacked during 07 and into 08. Now we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that his era was not as successful as previously thought. Some fans know when things won't work, based on experience. Other teams do not have GM's. Cincinnati, Oakland, and Dallas all have owners who want to run the entire show. All have failed miserably. It's amazing that Buffalo thinks they can win with a man who had nothing to do with personnel before 2008. I'll be cheering as well at those home games and watching on TV. Thing is, casual uniformed fans dot the landscape and are more interested in hoping that knowing. It's why they don't pay attention to what winning franchises like NYG, NE, PHI, IND, SD, BAL, et al, are doing to win. Each of those teams has a solid front office who know what it takes to build a winner.

There is no hate for DJ. That term is reserved for murderers, terrorists, and those who bring harm. Dick Jauron has a good heart and cares for people. For that, I give him credit in a league where this is rarely found. However, as many others have pointed out, his talent as a National Football League head coach is limited. He loses games he should win, is regularly defeated by playoff caliber teams, and has one winning season in eight. Pointing out that he won coach of the year is funny however. Wayne Fontes is a COY recipient. Is he solid in your book as well? COY awards from 8 years ago mean nothing in 2009. There is nothing in my post made up. Provide specific examples and don't attack the poster. Criticize the post.

I remember TT making the comments on a Monday afternoon how the Bills wouldn't be good until there were changes to the coach and ownership. Anyone's who's been to games sees Thurman and Jim Kelly all the time. They want to see their team start winning again and know a good coach when they see one. Rarely does a HC get more than one gig. As a matter of fact, only 7 out of 32 NFL HC's (Turner, Belichick, Mangini, Coughlin, Mora Jr., Phillips, and Jauron) are on their second job. Each of those guys either has a particular talent on one side of the ball, is starting their second job, or has success in the next job. Jauron fits into none of these.

Buffalo re-made their 04-05 OL over in 06-07. It didn't work. Now the unit that remained together from 07-08 has been blown up for 09. Why should anyone believe they got it right this time by inserting two rookies (who I'm high on, but are rookies) a UFA C who hasn't played the position if it weren't for injuries in Carolina, and two guys not suited to their positions at OT? Changing things does not equate to change for the better. It is the current front office making these changes, and so far they're not doing so well. The only change this team needs is a blown up front office. That means a real GM and at least a new pro personnel director.