BillsVet

Uneventful Christmas?

With Jabari Greer due to hit free agency this off-season, Buffalo will face a question about whom to retain at CB. Both Youboty and Greer are up after 09, meaning they'll have some decisions to make at the position. The reality is Buffalo cannot keep Greer and McGee, with McKelvin in the mix. Either JG or TM will go, and I suspect it will be Greer because his contract is up now. That said, franchise him and get a pick instead of letting him walk out the door. While he's not the name that Clements was after 06, JG will get significant attention on the UFA market. If the Bills have learned anything, they'll franchise Greer with the sole intent of trading him. I highly doubt they'll get stuck with a franchise tender as too many teams like CLE, STL, DET, and others need a NFL ready CB. Picking up a 3rd gives this team options in the draft and sets them up to move around if necessary. Then again, it's the Buffalo front office, where amateur scouting VPs aren't in the "inner circle."

Sullivan does one thing that annoys the perpetual optimists: he tells it like it is. Disagree with him or not, Buffalo has had no measure of success since 1999. And with RW possibly keeping the HC and front office intact, there should be rampant demand for changes. Sullivan is demanding there be changes, and asks questions most of us wouldn't have the audacity to ask. So go ahead, hate him for being an op-ed columnist. The BN loves when you do. Let's be clear about something. Of the 31 franchises in operation since 1999, 29 of them have made the playoffs. And as we all know, only the Lions and Bills have not. If you're OK with that, you hate Sullivan.

Even if Modrak becomes GM without the title (which I doubt) the likelihood that DJ is fired is zero. I cannot see RW elevating a guy who's been with the team since 2001 getting rid of their hand-picked coach. Levy came in and kept things the same. Overdorf, Guy, and Modrak all stayed which indicated to me that Levy was a short timer, especially with him being over 80. There are no major changes coming. No GM, no new HC, and the same collection of decision makers. EDIT: This is similar to 2000 when Jerry Angelo arrived after DJ's second season in Chicago. Angelo took control over personnel from DJ, who never saw eye to eye with the former. I'm sure much of it had to do with DJ's lackluster record in 99 and 00. The

Agree wholeheartedly here. If Buffalo made 35M in 07, with Toronto and the high season ticket sales this year will undoubtedly put that in the 42-45M territory. Bad teams have bad owners. And by bad, I'm talking about the refusal to change when things go bad. You have the Colts, Pats, Giants, and Steelers of the world who go to the playoffs nearly every season. And then you have the Lions, Bills, Bengals, Raiders, et al who never do. It's no coincidence that those four teams have arguably the worst four owners in the sport. If Ralph chooses to keep his front office and coaches similar to 08, I think it finally bites him in the behind. No way are season tickets sales going to be near 08 levels, given the economy and sad state of the franchise. I hope fans finally start voting with their checkbooks.

You're including the choices made by Randy Mueller and Bill Parcells to demonstrate a single point is ridiculous. Parcells entrance brought with it a completely different mindset. I seriously doubt that Parcells would have drafted a WR ninth overall. Hence, why Randy Mueller was fired by BP shortly after the (EDIT: latter) took over football operations. Parcells drafted Henne, but he used his first two picks on a LOT and DE in Long and Merling last season before taking a QB. The recipe for success is finding a competent football mind with a clear vision and understanding of what makes people tick. Tom Dimitroff has done the same thing in Atlanta. Both found QB's (with Ryan outplaying expectations) and put an OL in front of them. Most importantly, both Parcells and Dimitroff have instilled a winning atmosphere in areas where that attitude hasn't existed in quite some time.

The secret to being an effective small market is having the best scouts, along with Pro Personnel and Amateur Scouting directors. Plenty of smaller market teams make do with less. Check the Forbes report, and you'll see that Indy had less revenue in 08 than Buffalo. Ironically, their success (7 straight seasons with 10 or more wins) shows small market teams can win. Sure they built a stadium, but as some on this board have pointed out, it was a cumulative effort in that part of Indiana among counties. It helps they have the best modern era GM helping.

Rookies learning the C2 take time. That goes for each position, particularly LB's who drop into zone coverage. I think Posluszny will improve in his second full season. But it is concerning he hasn't developed quicker. Drafting a center is ridiculous. There are other center's available this year, namely Unger, Luigs, and Mack. I wouldn't be surprised if C was addressed in FA or the 2nd round.

The greatest disappointment was depending on a rookie to help an offense ranked near the bottom of the league. That might have been acceptable, but no decent TE was added to the roster either. Not adding a pass-catching TE was another shortcoming last off-season, because they had too many holes like DT, OLB, WR, and TE. This coming off-season the Bills still have huge holes, namely at C, TE, DE, DT, OLB, S, and perhaps RT. Every year there are so many areas to address, and 2009 looks no different.

Where's your top 25 list of GM's? That was conspicuously absent. When Marv coached this team to success in 2006, those were, err, he was GM. Nice try.

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.