Tim Anderson's Lunch Pail

You could not be more wrong in your assessment. The Colts play the same cover-2 scheme that you refer to. And they paid big bucks to a corner that I'm sure more than three quarters of NFL fans had never heard of before the contract. And if the Colts truely value their corners more because of their playing conditions, why did they let both Nick Harper and Jason David just walk in free agency two years ago?

As a fan, I would probably want Troy Polamalu. I can't get enough of watching him play. He is in the top percentile of difference-makers in the NFL. If I was the GM of the Bills, looking at our needs and best fit, I would choose between DE Mario Williams, DE Justin Tuck, DT Albert Haynesworth, MLB Patrick Willis or QB Peyton Manning.

The power struggle was there, but it was between the owner (Bud Adams) and Fisher. Adams is from Texas, and he wanted Young. Fisher wanted Leinart to team up with offensive coordinator Norm Chow. I'm not saying Reese was directly responsible for drafting Young, but he certainly wasn't on the side against it.

I'm just glad to see that the Bills aren't so stubborn that they wouldn't bring back one of John Butler's guys. Let's just say I was pleasantly surprised to see they brought Nix back.

And he also drafted two headcases more recently: Pacman Jones and Vince Young. He's had some good pickups and some bad ones. I don't think he's that great of a personnel man. His experience didn't stop him from drafting guys with serious red flags that have not panned out.

I'll bring the lunch pail!!

You really think he's worth the trouble? He's a shell of his former self. He is no longer a factor in this league, and the attitude doesn't help.

Bring him back? Our defensive line has been mediocre for years. He was irritating more than anything else. He loved Tim Anderson. That is a sin that should NEVER be forgiven.

Interesting comma placement.... Anyway, I think the Ravens will tag him before anything happens.

He'll play anywhere, money talks. I have been thinking for a while that he would be just the kind of big name splash pickup. If the Bills were seriously going to dump a ridiculous contract on someone (remember, PR issues), you couldn't do much better than Peppers.

Boy, imagine how good our highlight package could be if we get to 8-8 next year!!!!

Yeah!!!

Turned his back on Buffalo? I'm pretty sure he still lives here

Lol, why would they just declare the Patriots the AFC East champions? I thought that teams agree to tie-breakers for a reason, haha

Do you think Mangini has any regrets over giving his newborn son the middle name Brett after Favre? Uncomfortable. That's almost as bad as giving a coach a three-year contract extension when his record was 5-1, only to see him finish 2-8.

My early favorite for the job (if Jauron is fired) is Spagnuolo. For two reason. One - He knows that you have got to get after the QB. Two - Being in New York, he knows how important the run game is. We play in freakin' Buffalo. You would think devising an offense with a run game like the Giants or Panthers employ would be a no-brainer, but for some reason that is too obvious. Three of the top teams in the NFL this year - Giants, Panthers, and Titans - can run over any team. But we should really get a new offensive coordinator that can devise fancy pass plays during December.

Let's hope when they interview you they don't ask for a list of user names that you use...

As far as the contracts go, I am pretty sure - borderline positive - that if they engage into a contract with a new team, the old team is only on the hook for whatever more they are due. For example, let's say Brian Billick was slated to earn $4 million in '09 and '10 from the Ravens, even though he was fired. If the Bills offer him a contract for $2 million in '09 and '10, the Ravens would then be responsible to pick up the other $2 he was supposed to make, so Billick is still making $4 million per year. Also, if Jauron signed the extension, and we fire him, we will hopefully have some of his salary offset by whatever team signs him to be a DC or defensive backs coach.

Oh God no. I love Cowher, but demoting Jauron and making him the DC would be like mixing bloods and crips. Cowher's DCs run attacking, blitzing defenses. Jauron likes to sit back and give the offenses all day to eat them up.

Also, with the 3-4 D... Imagine (and again, at this point, it's all we got) signing Suggs to play OLB and drafting a DE like Tyson Jackson out of LSU to play DE. He could be a stud on our defensive line for years - similiar to the way the Patriots have ridden Richard Seymour in their 3-4. Now I am getting excited...

Absolutely not. You can not tell me these guys would do any worse than what we've had here for the last decade. He coached for the Ravens 9 seasons. That does not happen accidentally. He had a winning record five of those nine seasons. He was 8-8 once. His worst season was his last, when they went 5-11. That's one less win than we have in '08. I would like to know why you think they are "horrible" choices. I would rather bring in a retread like Billick than bring in another "hot" coordinator like Spagnuolo or McDaniel who we will ultimately ruin and fire in three seasons. I don't think we'd be as far off as you think. We are set a CB, which is relatively important in a 3-4 (moreso than in our Cover 2). We could rotate guys like Kelsay, Denney, and Johnson at end. Stroud and Williams can still plug up the middle. At LB, we could try to slide Schobel back there and make him more effective coming off the edge. Posluszny and Mitchell could move inside, and we could focus on drafting another OLB. I think with just a draft pick here and a free agent signing there, we could seriously run an adequate 3-4. And Terrell Suggs has the franchise tag on him. He'd cost a fortune, but if he hits the market he'd instantly add a dimension to our D that we have not had in some time.

ProFootballTalk ran a report today about Brian Billick and Mike Nolan shopping themselves as a head coach/defensive coordinator (respectively) combo. I, for one, would love to bring them in here. I know that Billick can sometimes only be tolerated in doses, but at least he's passionate. He has won a Super Bowl. Heck, the only thing I think he failed at was truly finding a QB. As far as Nolan, he was a tremendous coordinator for the Ravens. Additionally, Billick is still being paid for the next two years after being fired by the Ravens, and Nolan has one more year left on his deal with the 49ers. I don't exactly know how all of that works out, but to me, logic says that the Bills could offer him a deal with low money for year's one and two (say one million per) and the Ravens would have to pick up the rest of the tab owed, and then the Bills could - in an effort to make it attractive - pay him four million a year for years three and four. That would only be a committment of four years, $10 million for a top notch guy. This has me excited again. Let's hope Christmas comes again after the season...

Well, it's nice to see someone actually owning up on the boards, but I wasn't really asking you to do that. I was just implying that considering you were such an advocate of Hardy even before the Bills took him, I would hope that you at least give him a little time to develop because you know what type of player he has the potential to be

Not to be nitpicky, but if I remember correctly, you were one of the people that really wanted us to draft Hardy. I don't feel like going through old posts, but I'm pretty sure you were all about James Hardy at Indiana.

Why would you say who cares? Obviously, Hardy has struggled to acclimate to the pro game. But if he has a serious knee injury, such as a torn ACL, that will only make things more difficult. He is a second round pick. You "care" if they get a serious injury. You can knock Hardy all you want - and he deserves criticism - but he is not alone. Hardy's two TDs this year are more than the other WRs in the draft we were looking at (Thomas, Kelly, and Sweed) COMBINED. In fact, the only one of the three with a TD is Thomas, and it was as rushing TD. Young receivers struggle with the nuances of the position.