BillsVet

No one can rationally indict the front office for failing to sign a CFL star. That's plain rididculous. The point remains that the bills have severely hindered their ability to catch up with the successful teams in the league by failing to hire a GM. Nevermind the HC, it's impossible to win without someone who has a personnel background guiding the football side of the house. The GM adopts of vision of where he wants the team to go, and gathers the players and coaches to make it happen. TD didn't seem to have a vision, but went year to year. OTOH, Buffalo doesn't even have that right now. They're too busy trying to market a fading product. Now is not the time to promote those not trained in managing football teams. Russ Brandon is a fine marketing guy, but he'll never be included among the Polian's, Reese's, Colbert's, Pioli's, and Parcells' of the NFL. You may like missing the playoffs nine straight seasons and not having a GM. I for one realize we're the only team in the league who can make that claim.

If he's a rush OLB, I'm not upset we didn't get him. Jauron isn't switching to a 3-4, which is something he probably doesn't favor. That's not my issue here. Instead, I'm choosing to look at the bigger picture. A poster made the assertion that trying is good enough, which is why the Bills are looking straight at 10 consecutive seasons without the playoffs. Philly's played in five more title games than Buffalo has appeared in the playoffs this decade. The point is clear: Some fans are content with the current state of the team and have become comfortable with mediocrity. If people stepped back and looked at how successful teams operate (PIT, NE, NYG, SD, BAL, et al) they'd see a trend of having a strong GM with a personnel background combined with a coach who brings a winning attitude. The Buffalo Bills have neither, and rather are counting on a marketing guy to lead them forward with a coach who is universally recognized as poor.

Obama's cousin in Kenya.

The poster you're referring to seems to think it's good enough to get close, as long as there's an effort. There are still plenty of people who see through this minor league front office to know that they'll try to a certain degree, but consistently fail. And it's not because they lost a CFL star, which isn't a big deal. It's that the Bills are no longer as competitive as they used to be. Russ Brandon is a marketing whiz. Anyone who can sell 56,000+ season tickets for this franchise has to be. But there's no evidence he's a shrewd personnel executive, in which he has no on the job experience. None. He's never been a scout, never was a director of college scouting or pro personnel, and never before 2008, had anything to do with the draft. This organization is run like a Mickey Mouse outfit, and there are still fans who think it's normal. It's not, but here's hoping they find some gold nuggets to make up for the coach and front office.

Kevin Colbert, their GM. He's the guy who hired Mike Tomlin and has been putting the pieces together since 2000. Pittsburgh's always done a pretty good job of evaluating talent and finding players. When Buffalo finds a GM, perhaps then they'll be able to do what Colbert's been doing this decade.

You forgot we let Tim Benhard go in UFA go in UFA to Baltimore. And perhaps if we'd have taken Seamus Tweed over Hardy, we'd be much better in the passing game.

I think it bears reviewing who the Bills provided on offense in 08 as opposed to 07. Essentially, Buffalo did nothing player wise on offense. James Hardy, a rookie and raw WR was the only significant addition. To make matters worse, a rookie OC who no less than 3 other franchises didn't think was capable of being an OC was promoted to the position. Talk about a problem waiting to happen. If you think Edwards was going to be successful with an inept rookie OC and no new weapons off of that 07 season, you're crazy. I'd really like to know why Edwards consistently failed against 3-4 defenses. Some of that is his fault, some parts youth in the league, with a lot of it a lack of preparation by this coaching staff.

This is the dirty little secret. RW will not pay big dollars for much of anything anymore. He's required by the current CBA to spend above the salary floor, but on coaches and front office executives he just doesn't have to. No doubt people like Wade, Polian, AJ Smith, and a host of others have been telling people around the league how bad it is to work for Ralph. It's little wonder that Ralph went back in time to get Levy out of retirement for the GM gig. I don't think anyone else was willing to do it. And when Levy went looking for a coach after Mularkey "resigned" DJ was happy to oblige him for less than the going rate for a HC. He was too desperate to ask for more. Organizationally, this franchise is a complete mess. They've been buying time for three years now on the back of the marketing folks.

You're trying too hard to prove your "insider" status. That alone indicates how unreliable you are and no one with legit contacts posts as much as you have in this thread alone. We don't care where your paycheck comes from, nor the car you drive. But when you come onto this board an make claims backed up by nothing you should expect to get questioned. You've certainly livened things up on Championship Sunday, but your credibility is zero.

You're missing the point entirely. The Bills have been bad to mediocre for nine seasons and all the while have depended on spin to attract fans. At some point, spin will not be enough to convince fans this team is headed in the right direction. Eventually, people or organizations that cannot deliver the goods and rely on hype are revealed as empty. Buffalo has miscalculated that its fans will return no matter what in 2009. Regardless, the Toronto experiment, poor showing in 08, and retention of DJ will not soon be forgotten spin or no spin. Any reasonable fan should ask for results after 3 rebuilding seasons. This question was partially answered when DJ was retained, despite losing 8 of 10 and blowing a 5-1 start. That tells me all I need to know, in that the team relies on PR to get fans, not actual results anymore.

Alpha is another sham. There is no reason for Matt Cassel's mother to know why the Patriots front office would want to franchise her son. Besides, most people at OBD are very high on Edwards. Trying to ink Cassel to a large contract at a position Buffalo already has a player at is complete non-sense. DJ likes Trent, and vice-versa.

It's not that simple. Cutting Schobel and Kelsay will result in 10M plus of dead cap room at the DE position alone. The Bills' bad moves since Levy took over have placed this team in dire straights. I suspect Kelsay will get the axe after this season, but Schobel isn't going anywhere. Marv made sure of that, and for the record, Kelsay will be 30 during the season. Schobel and Denney both turn 32 this year. They'll be going DE in the first round if Orakpo or E. Brown make it to 11.

The reason NYG will be successful is simple: they have a guy name Jerry Reese as their GM. He and Ernie Accorsi have built this team, and even after Accorsi retired, they were still very good. Reese finds talent all over the place (remember Ryan Grant was on their PS) and had a huge hand in that 07 draft which produced plenty of good players. A franchise will last as long as their front office can keep finding talent. The team which may begin declining is the Patriettes, who have lost their top personnel guys in the course of one year.

As if the problems on the field aren't bad enough, the front office still believes it can spin anything to get the fans back. Trent still has much to prove, but his HC has demonstrated he's poor. Inept coaching, poor talent evaluators, and an owner afraid to let anyone make decisions for him are holding this franchise back. If fans think 7-9 isn't good enough, and I don't, wait until this season rolls around. The stage has been set for a drop from the mediocre ranks.

You must have sources that tell you about Jason Smith. That's all I've got, because I'm sure you haven't watched much Baylor football this season. Let me get this straight: You're saying a guy who hasn't played in any college all-star games, went to the combine, or had an individual workout is better than a guy who's played the position for 2.5 NFL seasons. That's quality analysis right there.

Forget the salary cap, let's cut all the big earners. The deal Schobel signed makes it impossible to cut him this season without taking a huge hit. Ditto for Kelsay as well, he'd count 5M against the cap this season. The Bills are bad enough in their front office. Compounding their ineptitude by cutting overpaid veterans only adds insult to injury.

The plays work on Friday. After that, it's anyone's guess. Don't let the door hit you on your way out then.

Smith seems more suited to play LOT than on the other side. I guess if the Bills were planning on trading Peters, they could give it a shot. This organization has been running in circles for years now. Milloy for Whitner. Fletcher for Posluszny. Clements for McKelvin. McGahee for Lynch. Peters for J. Smith is very possible.

Every Bills fan ought to demand some sort of accountability from what looks like a minor league franchise. If that's whining, then there are plenty of fans across the NFL who are major whiners. This isn't Philly or Pittsburgh where success is demanded. A culture has developed in Buffalo where losing is taken in stride and fans quickly forget how bad the Bills are. What's more, this franchise is setting new standards for never becoming good enough or terrible. This season has all the makings of being terrible. A schedule that could be brutal, combined with a coach with no clue. It's going to get ugly in 09.

The comparison between the Seahawks and Holmgren is irrelevant. Paul Allen has deeper pockets than RW, and the latter isn't one to find people who will dictate the vision of the franchise. The TD experiment has forever shaken RW and besides, RW has never shown he'll spend over market value for a coach or GM. He's living in a previous era, and his actions affirm that he's not someone willing to throw money at a name coach. If Chuck Knox is the last example of a HC with a name coming to Buffalo, that's 30 stinking years ago. That's not a trend, that's an exception to Ralph's rule. Holmgren was one of the last to enjoy both the GM and HC roles together. It's too much for one man to handle all the responsibilities for those two positions. Any coach who goes to Buffalo knows what the job entails, in that RW and Jeff Littman will dictate the financials of the team. No GM will ever tell them otherwise. I don't think anyone with half a brain wants to work in Buffalo for Ralph, Littman, and around daddy's little girl Linda Bogdan. Ralph does not have a master plan at all. He's 90 years old, and the finest example of his lack of a future vision is the hiring of Levy. RW had no succession plan for when Levy retired, which was inevitable given Marv's advanced age. IMO, word has spread around the league that the Bills are a black hole in their front office. No one wants to work in that environment.

The natural progression is for position coaches to become coordinators, and if they're talented enough, HC's. It's unreasonable to expect someone like Schonert to struggle so much in his first season. He spent no less than 11 seasons as a QB coach, but perhaps he doesn't have the aptitude to develop into a good coordinator. It would seem not getting promoted to OC for multiple franchises would be an indicator that he wasn't. Dick Jauron thought otherwise, and probably had few options given his contract status last January. Fewell is a former defensive position coach, and either can't make average players better, or isn't allowed to by sticking with a system (C2) which has flaws without the proper players at DT, DE, MLB, and SS. I suspect it's a little of both, and these coordinators are not of the quality this HC needs to be successful.

Since 2001, it's safe to say the Bills have never lived up to fan or team expectations. Five years of TD proved to be more hype than results. Many thought Buffalo's fortunes would change with Marv Levy returning as GM. That also was more hype than anything else and the tally is nine consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance. Central to everything the Bills do, whether it is on the field or off, is how to conduct their PR effort to hype this team. Even when things can't get any worse, management never fails to offer a ray of hope on why fans should remain positive. We've already seen that happening this year, despite going 2-8 in their final ten and losing games in heartbreaking fashion. Predictably, the idea of continuity was drummed into fans' collective heads by the PR folks when the decision was made to keep DJ. Hyping an under-performing product ad nauseam eventually will have the effect of creating an untenable situation. It will be similar to a volcano just prior to erupting and if the team gets off to a bad start, everything will boil over and explode. Buffalo has been buying time since Levy arrived with the accompanying spin. This year, I finally think fans will show their displeasure and read between the lines. This team's goal seems more in-line with keeping costs down to set up the best conditions for a lucrative sale after the owner passes. In the meantime, the hype will continue. At what cost, we'll find out.

http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?showt...81300&st=30 For someone who admits to not caring for DJ, you're surely going to extremes to point out how he's "equal" to another well-known SB champion coach in Gruden. As I said before, I can neither confirm nor deny your contacts. But it's clear your agenda is to indicate that DJ isn't bad, while avoiding the prospect of coming out and saying it. When Brett Favre practically laughs at the play-call to roll out Losman, it's an indication that most people think DJ is a joke of a HC. And marginalizing Gruden to legitimize DJ is outright laughable. Nice try. And Bravo. As screwed up as a footall bat.

Everything is cyclical in pro sports, especially football. The Cover 2 developed in the 70s with Pittsburgh, and since then has been in and out of favor since then. Dungy's teams played it, but the big weakness is and always will be stopping the run. And it needs dominant players on the DL, at MLB, and S. Without that, it's tough to run a successful C2 defense. The major flaw I have with this defense is waiting for the offense to make a mistake. In the event a C2/T2 defense cannot force turnovers, it becomes problematic and susceptible to giving up big yardage. We've seen that the last few years with DJ's teams. Another shortcoming is relying on the front four to pressure the QB. LB's are dropping into short zones and aren't called on to blitz.

But is that what your sources tell you? Successful coaches almost need to be amateur psychologists who keep themselves slightly apart from their players. When I hear that players love their coaches and have experienced no success together, it makes me doubt their mindset. Marinelli was/is/and never should have been a HC. And after what DJ did in Chicago, he should never have returned as a HC. Neither have a handle on how a team should run, and both failed to find good coordinators during their time as HC's.