BillsVet

I should have clarified on coaches making poor decisions: there are moments in a game that a coach can do the right thing or make the wrong choice. The call to roll Losman out and have him throw a pass to the FB is a catastrophically bad decision that affected the outcome of a game. Deciding to go for it on 4th and 1 in the second quarter and fail isn't as huge a thing. DJ tends to screw up at the worst possible moment and we've seen it through three seasons. I can list no less than 5 games in the past 2 seasons he's made catastrophically bad decisisons that determined the game. I personally don't think he's more than a coordinator if it weren't for Buffalo. I'm not demanding a firing of the HC without the coordinators. I didn't say you said that. If DJ goes, all of them should go. But again, we're talking about a team that's been in rebuild mode for three seasons. If DJ had as much personnel control as I think he did, it's amazing he doesn't bear more responsibility for such a thin team. And he's proven he can't find reliable coordinators, neither here nor Chicago. He can't coach, and he doesn't know talent. Those are fatal flaws for a HC. Second, there's no way I can confirm or deny your sources. However, there are some very knowledgeable fans on this board who see more than what a casual fan does. I've been to 14 of the last 15 home games, and while that doesn't make me an expert, I've been able to deduce what kind of coach DJ is. He'll generally make the safe pick, but not all the time. Occasionally he gets a wild streak and goes for it. But if one bad thing happens, he goes into his shell. For the record, Edwards' durability is my only major concern with him. The coaching he receives is another matter. Watching him after the Cleveland game and throwing 3 picks, I wondered who would get him going. He doesn't have a mentor on that team to work with him. Van Pelt and Schonert are former QB's, but they're not preparing him adequately. To have no answer for 3-4 defenses so many times is appalling. But we're talking about a guy with little more than a season's worth of starts. I'll give him more time.

When coaches make bad decisions on gameday, they lose. Whether it's playcalling (at NYJ) or which players to start (an injured McGee over a healthy McKelvin) or which players to draft (Whitner over Ngata), it's clear DJ isn't good enough in all phases of the game. I'm not sure who your sources are, but if DJ was a good HC, he would have proven it by now. He's hired four OC's in his 8 seasons as a HC. Three of them are in the college ranks and won't return anytime soon. Neither of his two DC hires were/are very special. No rational NFL "insider" would say DJ is anything more than a guy lucky to be working for a minor league NFL team. But I'm still confused. You'd rather see DJ fired, but want to keep the same coordinators for the sake of continuity. That's a non-sequitur, and goes against your original post. DJ is a bad coach, and I'd wager that there are few in league circles who agree DJ is even below average.

I'm not sure how long you've been following this team. Because in football, teams with the best talent evaluators generally win. Usually those talent evaluators are GM's, or directors of pro personnel or amateur scouting. Ralph spends money on players because he has to according to the CBA. On coaches and talent evaluators, RW spends near the bottom. He has no GM, which is ironically the same setup the Bengals have. And it's clear RW makes decisions on really important things, like coach. That's the same method that Jerry Jones and Al Davis utilize. The point to all of this is simple. And your football background cannot be deep, or else you would know this. Teams with great talent evaluators win, and teams without them and have owners making football decisions usually don't. And for the record, there aren't many cheaper coaches than DJ.

Ralph Wilson, for the past three seasons, has been in the business of buying time. He named Levy GM to get the fans back after Donahoe. DJ was hired, along with the lackluster coordinators, one of whom is now gone, because the HC had experience. When Wilson elected to keep DJ and not mandate changes in the coaching structure, he gave his stamp of approval for mediocrity. Turk Schonert is an also-ran who's best suited to remain a QB coach. Perry Fewell is no better than average, and isn't someone opposing OC's fear. RW won't make changes unless those guys have a contract expiring. What RW doesn't realize is, by keeping the same joke of a coaching staff and front office, he's amping up fan anger. By this time next year when the team ends the year for a 10th straight non-playoff season, he'll be out of cheap options. And the Bills will be right back where they were after 2000, when TD started.

Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata, Bertrand Berry, Darnell Dockett, James Harrison, Lamar Woodley, and Trent Cole. Those are the guys who play in the front 7 for those teams. They have a say in how productive Baltimore, Arizona, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia's safeties are. Pressure on QB's is what usually makes safeties successful in coverage. And front 7's can free up safeties to make plays against the run.

He seems to have excellent athleticism and wasn't a bad TE for UC. I think Barwin could be a sleeper as well, but I haven't watched him as much as Everette Brown or Orakpo.

The bottomline results are that Buffalo severely underachieved against the league's 2nd easiest schedule. The fact that an "inner-circle" was convened to review the HC is an affront to Brandon if he is indeed handling personnel. This includes coaching, but it was Ralph and perhaps Littman who made the decision, not RB. In essence, we don't know what Brandon has done, so it's non-sensical to give credit to him for anything. He isn't a personnel man, and running an organization by consensus is a big reason why this team is about the same as they were three years ago-adrift in a sea of mediocrity without much hope for a playoff team anytime soon.

Because fellow GM's in the league grow up working in personnel. Whether it be pro or in amateur scouting, this is where GM's come from. Even Marty Hurney worked in personnel down in Carolina before ascending to GM. Russ Brandon was groomed in the marketing arena, and has no real world experience in personnel. The people who most likely figured into the Stroud acquisition were Overdorf and Guy. The signing of Mitchell came about from research provided by Guy, and confirmed by football people. It's like having your lawyer select stocks for you. You wouldn't give that responsibility to someone who is not experienced in the field. While people like Pioli, Parcells, Polian, AJ Smith, Ted Thompson, Jerry Reese, Ozzie Newsome, Kevin Colbert, and Tom Dimitroff grew up working in personnel, Brandon was making marketing pitches. There's a distinct difference.

Way to take my statement to extremes. Then again, it's a natural reaction when fans want to forget how miserable this team was in 08. For the record, Buffalo had the second easiest schedule in 2008, yet could not improve on the supposedly injury marred 2007. And that was after making good UFA acquisitions, having a year under Edwards' belt, and getting rid of Fairchild. The owner has gone into shell-mode and will make all big decisions, while refusing to hire a legitimate GM. The coach has proven he can't make good decisions in crunch time. The last few drafts aren't stellar, although a few players may succeed. The truth is, some people are so used to losing that it doesn't bother them. To quote Vince Lombardi, "If you can accept losing, you can't win."

The entire organization, or at least those who voted to sell a game to Toronto, misunderestimated the support of the fans. Combine that with a season big on hype and little on actual results and this is the most angry fans have been in years. Selling games, consistently poor teams, retaining DJ, and not naming a real GM are more than enough reasons for fans to be ticked. It's arrogant to think RW will overcome this with one or two FA pickups and the draft. The problems just run too deep.

It's a great move for the Bills...one less S for DJ to try and convince the front office to take.

They do...John Guy, and he's been involved with football, er, stuff I guess.

Pioli is Parcells' son in law. I think he's learned a few issues about building a NFL team and will carry that over to KC. Unlike Cleveland, KC hired a GM first and will then handle the issue of the head coach. I suspect Herm Edwards is gone and Pioli will hire his own guy. Even though Pioli didn't have final roster control (Belichick did) he's someone who finds excellent subordinates (Dimitroff) and they understand his vision for a football team. Amid all these moves in front offices, it's funny that Modrak and Guy are never mentioned. The former may not want a promotion, but if Guy was that good, he'd be a GM candidate.

After the AZ game, the aggressive play-calling ended, and in its place was a return to the play not to lose philosophy consistent with all DJ coached teams. But for one loss to change things so abruptly is such a joke, and emblematic of a greater issue about the guts of a HC who can't pick the right times to take a calculated risk.

It helps to have a pass rush, which is something that Carolina never seemed to generate despite having a premier DE. Their DT's aren't especially strong, and it's no suprise Warner had all that time to throw. Carolina's DB's aren't all-world, but they're not terribly bad either. We'll see how much time Warner has to throw with Jim Johnson throwing everything at him. Warner's a pro, but this will be an interesting matchup: veteran QB versus strong blitzing defense.

Thanks for the link. I think what gave Baltimore an edge was solid depth on defense, and the coordinators knowing what to do when they lost key performers. Bannan starts for the Ravens, but he wasn't acquired for the role. Still, both he and Leonhard have not been liabilities although neither will be stars. Found it noteworthy the pats were 32nd in the league during 2003.

There are major issues at several positions. There is a serious issue with a coach who always seems to make the wrong call at crucial moments. There is no GM, and an owner who makes the call on more issues than I think most realize. The front office should be blown up, with a veritable football man hired to run the show. It didn't work with TD, but fearing it could happen again is just that: fear. And fear wins no football games. Winning in the NFL is produced when front offices have good personnel people who find and retain talent. Buffalo does not have that, at least not in abundance. I'm not sure if Dockery was ever considered a top 15 NFL guard and have never seen anything calling him a superior talent at the position. Seeing him run onto the field is painful, as I've witnessed many times while attending games. His mobility is poor. Peters is not the issue, though his play was subpar this year. Again, it's convenient to blame the center, especially in a predominantly zone blocking scheme which shouldn't mean the guard depends on center play. But finding excuses in and of itself is convenient to pass the blame. Without looking it up, name Steve Hutchinson's center in Seattle. I'm sure you can't do it, yet league wide people knew how good that guy was before departing for Minnesota. So much so that he was a multiple All-Pro pick. But it's convenient to make excuses if there's any hint of a mediocre to average player next to them. It's part of the reason some have an issue saying Whitner's not as talented. They blame the pass-rush, which is partly true. Then again, Adrian Wilson is quite productive minus a great front 7.

Caldwell might be a fine center at Alabama, but he's more of a zone blocking OC in the NFL. I don't think he's got the base to anchor against large NT's. I'd prefer Mack, but then again so would most. It would seem it's early for a TE at 11, and I'm not really high on the DE's. Maybin is smallish, and Orakpo seems to be in the mold of a Gholston, though not the same. At this early point, I think it's in Buffalo's best interest to trade down.

Doing things by committee is a wimpy way of making decisions. In all successful organizations there is a good leader who makes the final decision after consulting with subordinates. But alas, there is a leader in Buffalo and he's 90 years old without much experience handling personnel. Leading by committee is the best way to deflect blame when things go wrong. It's why the Bills are no better today than they were in 2005 when TD left.

The HC has 8 seasons of NFL playing experience along with 24 as a coach. I'll do the math for you and it's 32 years of NFL experience. The OC has 9 seasons of playing experience and 13 as a coach. In contrast, Edwards has all of 2 seasons experience in the NFL. 2 years versus coaches with 32 and 22 years of experience in the pro game. But let's continue to blame a guy who threw 11 TD's and 10 picks. Now come back with the familiar refrain of "coaches don't throw INT's or make bad plays" argument. You've already started that excuse.

Yes, because there's always an excuse lined up when things don't go well and because young QB's always do well when they have poor coaching. It's funny, because Trent's "decline" coincided with DJ and Turkey's decline as well. But you've isolated the QB as the reason why things went bad. Sure, Crowell is at fault for doing the surgery thing at the last moment. But what about Buffalo having a LB behind their starting trio that weighed over 240 and had some experience? Or how about surrouding Edwards with more than one receiver and RB without a decent run blocking OL. In a season where Brady was down and out after week 1, the Bills had every chance to win to win in that division. They failed, and I'm tired of fans who demand nothing and complain about people who do. The will to win is not alive at OBD and there is a culture of losing. DJ does nothing to erase that, and it's for this reason that Buffalo needs a coach who hates losing as much as guys like Parcells, Belichick, and Coughlin. Then again, it's all the QB's fault

Rod Graves seems to be a competent GM, and Ken Whisenhunt a good HC. The mark of a good coach or executive is finding good subordinates who can be counted on to take their supervisor's vision and apply it to their area of concern. The Cards need some players on defense, but they've got a decent core. Overall, they need help on OL and at RB, along with some pass rush help. Playing in a weak division helps, but they've got the makings of a decent franchise. Warner won't be around forever, but in the meantime he's very good. I give a lot of credit to owners who don't get in the way of their real football people.

1. This season proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Marv Levy was a failure as a GM. Hiring DJ, the 2006 FA class, the 2007 FA class, and selecting guys like Whitner and McCargo were all bad to below average moves. Good HC, but terrible GM. 2. We also know that tapping a business/marketing guy to lead the front office is absurd. And then when crucial decisions must be made, his vote as top man in the front office doesn't count. I'm speculating here that Wilson, with Littman's financial input, made the call to retain DJ. I suspect it was Brandon who knows how futile it will be to have DJ in the fold and sell tickets. 3. We know that Ralph, despite all his bluster about being dissatisfied with the team, really doesn't mind mediocrity as long as they're profitable.

A minor league exists within the framework of the NFL. Teams belonging to this group IMO include: Detroit Cincinnati Oakland Buffalo Cleveland St. Louis Kansas City All of them have poor owners (yes, Randy Lerner hiring a coach before a GM is a joke) and all of those owners refuse to allow anyone to have too much control. Before hiring Singletary, I figured SF was in that group, but I'll give the 49ers the benefit of the doubt. Miami picked themselves up out of the doldrums when they hired Parcells. Should KC get Pioli, they'll become respectable immediately. Atlanta did the same in the wake of the Vick/Petrino departures, so it's not out of the question that a team can become good. So long as they find the front office personnel to make it happen.

Let me guess-you're the guy who played the rabbit, right? Or perhaps you're the eggman to John Lennon's walrus.