BillsVet

Dorsey's season was going to be bad when the Chiefs lined him up over the guard as opposed to playing the 3 technique like he should. Jason Whitlock wrote about it in a column this week. He's not a guy who's going to occupy 2 blockers as a 1 gap or 3-4NT will. I'd like to see him used better, but it didn't help that he weighed in less than 300 pounds.

Actually, Detroit is closer to Oakland Last five seasons cumulative records: Oakland 19-60 Detroit 21-58 San Fran 24-55 St. Louis 27-52 Cleveland 28-51 Kansas City 32-47 Buffalo 35-44 Cincinnati 37-41-1 These five franchises have combined for exactly two playoff appearances in 5 years. All of them have issues in their front offices, and refuse to make changes. Meanwhile, Atlanta and Miami addressed their problems and hired competent football people to run the show. I would call these teams the bottom-feeders of the NFL. It is not coincidental that all of them have bad owners, which cannot be underscored.

You just have to love Polian. He's got some attitude, and it takes guts to tell off the spoiled daughter of the owner. I was happy when he got a SB win with the Colts. Goodness knows he deserved to win at some point, and he built that team to win long term. Indy has had something like 7 straight seasons with 10 or more wins.

No.

He took the fall for the Jags poor season. It's obvious that Del Rio wasn't going anywhere with a 20M buyout. But I seriously doubt that senile RW will choose to go outside the organization for anyone. That includes a GM, HC, and people in personnel. He's content to keep Guy, Modrak, Brandon, Overdorf, and DJ. Which means we'll be fed a line of bull about continuity for months to come. I predict 2009 will be similar to 2005, minus TD of course. It's going to get ugly-quick.

Sound Familiar? Apparently, the Lions are emulating Ralph's style by promoting from within, and interjecting when they see fit. When ownership attempts to make decisions they have no business being involved with, you have teams like the Lions, Bengals, Bills, and even the Cowboys. It's too bad that Bills fans must endure their owner running this team into the ground. I sincerely hope enough vote with their money and decide to do something else when it comes time to renew season tickets. We're not far from being the Lions. This latest declaration from RW makes that crystal clear.

Cue the person who says that he's kept the team here since inception of the franchise, and that should be enough. It's an indication this franchise is going nowhere when a 90 year old owner still runs the show and insists on controlling each person beneath him. The Levy experiment as GM was all about PR and recapturing the Polian years minus BP. Unfortunately, building consensus with bad front office personnel in franchises that are perennial losers will never work.

It would be the trifecta in the AFCE. Belichick/Pioli in NE, Parcells in MIA, and Cowher in NYJ. With a lineup like that, we'll be seeing last place more often than the KC Royals. And to think, we've got them all beat with Russ Brandon. Awesome!

In a flipping heartbeat. And get rid of all the RW cronies like his daughter. This franchise is so similar to the Lions, and it's becoming more evident with each passing day.

As Asst Dir of College Scouting, she probably "works" for Modrak. But still, you've gotta love BP telling her where to go. The fact that she tried telling the GM what to do is par for a Wilson. It's so emblematic of this franchise. Detroit, Cincinnati, and Buffalo. All three keep things in the family and go nowhere.

BADOL-what do you think of Buffalo's CB's at this point? I agree that they shouldn't have a need to draft a CB for at least five years, but I've got to believe re-upping Greer will be costly. With McGee up after 09, 11th pick money to McKelvin along with Youboty and Corner, that's a lot of resources allocated for just CB's. I wouldn't mind seeing Greer franchised with the intent to trade him. I suspect he'd garner a 3rd rounder, especially to a team like CLE (albeit with probably a new GM) who sorely needs CB help.

That's very disconcerting re: Modrak, and perhaps an attempt to get rid of a guy who refuses a promotion. I know from a military perspective that people who ducked responsibility weren't the types I cared for. Chief scout ad infinitum is not what this team needs right now. Three years after TD was axed, it's not a legit excuse to say he didn't want to take the job a friend of his was fired from. I'll hold out hope the Bills are looking for a GM, but with RW's comments it's not likely. I figure they'll just repackage their current regime and reinvent themselves like a football version of an aging rock star. The song remains the same though and we all know it. If Guy swayed RB, DJ, or Marv at all, he should be fired. Of course they promoted him to ensure "continuity" which is fast becoming the great buzzword on this board and at OBD. Unfortunately, it's as substantive as change and hope are. Everything that's gone wrong in this organization, as you know, can be traced back to the lack of front office talent. Lack of decision makers, lack of preparation, and a desire to select luxuries as opposed to BPA at a position of need. It's why we're still mediocre after all these years.

I understand those guys were somewhat stop-gap guys. Few of them were proven NFL starters and couldn't be counted on when the season began. My ire springs from the fact that this team was sold as being up and coming that season, in light of Marv returning. I think many fans underestimate the spin machine Buffalo has in the front office. Price got a 10M deal, Tripplett 18.5M, Royal 12.5M, Fowler 7M, Reyes 5M, while Davis, Nall, K. Thomas, A. Thomas, and Bowen probably got about 7M combined. Surely they weren't huge expenditures, but 53M later their not much further along. I would have thought by now they'd be replaced. Instead, we're short a TE, C, and another DT. I'll admit it's worthless quibbling over the past. It's not going to change anything either way. I just take issue with the way this team was rebuilt. That's not to say they have to be like ATL or MIA, but after three years I expect more than another 7-9 or 8-8 season. This is my final post on the Levy era. I'm done. Promise.

There can be no question that DJ is an outstanding human being. I've read that he was noted in HS for one particular moment where the basketbll team only carried a certain amount of players. DJ was the star and as you'd expect had a jersey. One kid didn't have one, and DJ made a point of providing his when the kid finally got a chance to play. I like that DJ doesn't throw his players under the bus. I've paid some attention to Brad "Chilly" Childress in Minnesota, who, after the NO game earlier in which Reggie Bush returned 2 punts for TDs, complained that his punter mistakenly punted to Bush. To me, that's a cop out, and representative of a coach who was desperate to keep his job. DJ would never do something like that. Even though he's a good man, it doesn't cover up that he's not a very good HC. Fortunately, the man upstairs doesn't take that into account when your time is up.

IMO, it's only a partial solution to involve Modrak more with personnel decisions. He obviously enjoys being Buffalo's chief scout, preferring to be away from OBD. I can't blame him for wanting to be away from the corporate environment and going on the road. But this talk of the inner-circle includes whom? Brandon, Wilson, and Jauron? If that's the case, no wonder they haven't done much right since 06. None of them are schooled in personnel like a pro or amateur scout is. When RW refers to more power for Modrak, I have to believe it's because he's taking personnel control away from another person. I don't know who that could be at this point. If DJ remains, I think his opinion will carry weight, but not as much as these past three years. Regardless, trusting RB to make de facto personnel choices is tantamout to having your lawyer pick stocks for you. I've never been a big fan of consensus. Sometimes, a leader has to do what they feel is right. And a good personnel man like Modrak who has been involved in scouting knows a good player from a bad one. I still think someone with football experience versed in building a winner should oversee Modrak and Guy.

Simpson isn't playing because he's not good enough. As Bill from NYC says, Simpson looks like he's running in sand. He's late in coverage and fails to diagnose things. Safeties who have no instincts don't play in this league. It's that simple.

The 06 class was horrible. Dibs, you're rewriting history with this logic that it was low cost, therefore it wasn't bad. Only 2 out of the 10 signed in 06 are with the club. They are Royal and Fowler. One guy starts and shouldn't while the other was benched. Price, A. Thomas, K. Thomas, Bowen, and Tripplett are out of the league entirely. Nall is a 3rd stringer (again) and Reyes was taken from his job at Bank of America to fill in when Jacksonville caught the injury bug. Andre Davis gets minimal PT in Houston. When you sign guys to 3, 4, or 5 year contracts, you hope they play them out. Fowler managed 2.5 seasons, and Royal 3 years out of their deals. Regardless, none of those 10 guys signed even helped this team just three seasons later. None of them, and we're back to finding replacements. Buffalo will be around the same record in 08, which tells me the rebuilding plan started in 06 hasn't worked. As for Whitner: some players make plays regardless of who is around them. DL don't have to worry about safeties playing behind them, but safeties depend on DL play. Even so, there are playmaking safeties, and guys who are just there. Whitner is closer to the latter category than former. When you have holes on the DL, drafting players in the secondary is pointless. And Ngata can function is a C2, because as I've said numerous times, he has the quickness to penetrate as a 3 with the strength of a 1 gap player. He didn't fit because the Bills were chasing small players who don't help them as much.

Schedules are released in April, IIRC. Not sure which teams of the AFCS and NFCS will be visiting Buffalo at this point. Regardless, this season's easy schedule will pale (most likely) in comparison to the 09 version.

Donahoe so wanted to continue his legacy in Buffalo that the Bills went with a HC familiar with a 4-3 as opposed to a 3-4. That is a huge change in defenses, in that 3-4 DL must be bigger at stopping the run. 4-3 DL aren't as big, but should be quicker. Additionally, Pittsburgh rarely makes big trades and UFA acquisition. Yet TD went out and traded for Bledsoe, signed TKO, LFB, and you could argue signing a RFA in Lindell. That directly contradicts what the Steelers do in building their team.

Shopping Peters is the equivalent of the Bills saying they don't want to deal with his salary demands. It further reinforces the small market franchise that can pay some of their own, but not too many. If Buffalo receives draft picks in a trade, it'll be another step on the stairmaster to mediocrity. I don't see how it builds the team, unless those picks are used well and all of them contribute their rookie season. Additionally, it will open another position needing an immediate replacement. You don't need a dominant LOT, but it sure helps the QB feel better about his blindside. Peters didn't play outstanding football all of the time, but his presence helps this team, whether it's at 3.25M or 8M. If he's dealt, I can't see how it helps the team make the playoffs in 2010.

I respectfully disagree. Those first two seasons he rebuilt the team, which was obvious considering they went 3-13 in 01. But beginning with the McGahee pick in 03, he began stocking this team in a haphazard way. He hit on some UFA's in Fletcher and Spikes, but coming off the 8-8 season in 02 he selected another RB (after taking Henry in the 2nd of 01) with a first rounder. To me, that was where things were spinning out of control. Going with Evans was a fine pick in 04, but there were bigger needs elsehwere. In 05, he used his top two picks on a small WR and TE. Again, there were more pressing needs elsewhere.

Their talent evaluators can't be excused either. I'll maintain TD didn't have a vision for what this team would become and I'm speaking about an identity here. Buffalo badly needs one guy that can take a vision and find the players to fit it. A GM has this vision, finds those players, and goes about getting a coach to make it happen. I know a lot of people on this board hate Parcells, but he has done this in textbook fashion for Miami. The cost was high, and the results are above and beyond what any reasonable NFL thought could happen, but it's paid off.

The Bills version of Modrak, Guy, Brandon, and DJ is not even in the same room as Belichick, Pioli, and whomever they have handle Pro Personnel and College Scouting. Not even close. Suggesting that their setups are similar is merely a generalized comparison which ignores the substance of both teams' front office arrangements. Modrak, and Guy have been around for 8 seasons. Their acquisitions haven't been anywhere near what the Patsies have done in that time frame. I'm sorry, but Buffalo's front office should not be rewarded for futility. Remove the TD years, and it's still be three full years of rebuilding. That's not cutting it in the 21st century NFL.

It's hard to evaluate Guy and Modrak, because we're not sure they're as involved in the decision making progress. They may be competent, but their role is to assist the GM and supply him with information regarding other pros or draft eligible players. They are not the decision making guys, which is why a GM is necessary to bring everyone together and get the team to success. I think people don't understand the a Pro Personnel Director and College Scouting Director assist in maintaining the GM's vision of the team. They should have input into which players are acquired, but it's on the GM to guide all the personnel decisions. Brandon has no experience whatsoever in that. None. There is no NFL franchise that exists with this front office set up. The titles may not be the same, but every team either has a decision maker or a bonafide team like NE does with Pioli and Belichick.

Yes, it's clear that this team is on the way up in the NFL. The off-season last year was supposed to put Buffalo into the playoffs. Instead, we're right back where we were after 06 and 07. Brandon is not on par with any decent GM in the league.