Trent Dilfer on Trent Edwards:

[yungmack]

Also, Gailey has won as a head coach in Dallas. I could have coached that team to the playoffs. So to say he has won is kind of "taking things out of content."

You really think you could have, huh? I suggest you look up the Dallas record both BEFORE and AFTER Gailey. Then find the quote from Jerry Jones about what a huge mistake he made in firing Gailey.

[thewildrabbit]

If they'd made the playoffs in that second year, they very probably would have been handily eliminated; just as they had been in the first year of their rebuilding effort.

 

I like how you casually dismiss the fact that they could have made the playoffs, something the Bills haven't done in a decade. That rebuilding effort took Parcels one year, Buffalo should be so good. The Dolphins may just make the SB in the next few years depending on how well Henne develops.

I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm certain that Ryan will have the better career. There's a chance Ryan could stop developing as a QB, or that Henne could unexpectedly improve his performance by dramatic leaps. But as of right now, the two QBs have the following career stats:

 

____________Henne__Ryan

QB Rating:____75.2___84.3

yards/atmpt:__6.4____7.2

TD/Int ratio:___0.86___1.52

 

Considering Henne had some really bad WR's in Miami last season, lets see those stats after this next season along with Brandon Marshall's numbers.

 

Based on those numbers and other factors, it is safe to say that Ryan is currently the better QB. I personally believe his future and his upside are significantly better than those of Henne.

 

 

While I agree that Jauron's coaching and his choice of assistants were of questionable quality at best, I also believe Marv was a big part of the problem. He spent no first-day draft picks on OL; instead trying to fix the problem by signing the likes of Melvin Fowler, Tuten Reyes, Langston Walker, Derrick Dockery, etc. Melvin Folwer--Marv's solution to the problem at center--was barely drafted by the UFL. Dockery and Walker were decent, if overpaid, players. (Plus their bloated contracts drove up Peters' money demands.) Other than the acquisition of the recently-retired Brad Butler, Marv's efforts to address the offensive line were an abysmal failure. More generally, none of his free agent signings were successful. Add to that the fact that his only success story on the first day of the draft was Poz, and you're looking at a dismal track record as a GM.

 

Marv Levy set the proper pieces in place and Dick Jauron tore each and every one apart. The O line wasn't a complete mess until veteran O line coach Jim McNally retired and Jauron replaced him with a rookie. The O line went to hell and so did the protections, that was the year Edwards was concussed in Arizona.

 

He did the same thing with the OC, Steve Fairchild leaves and Jauron promotes a guy who had no business calling plays and setting up game plans. Just to prove that point, where is Turk Schonert now. Somewhere besides the golf course, because he isn't in the NFL

 

I'd argue the example of the Falcons proves exactly the opposite. As I mentioned previously, they went 7-9 in 2006, with Vick at QB. Vick's severe limitations as a passer were exposed against better defenses. But against other teams, he could compensate for that with his tremendous athleticism and arm strength. He'd run around in the backfield to tempt the other team's secondary to get out of position; and then heave the ball to some WR that had thus been left open.

 

Due in large part to the Vick suspension, the Falcons went 4-12 in 2007 with Joey Harrington taking the snaps. This was a team that had better than 4-12 talent, but that was being held back by the lack of a quarterback. Then they used the third overall pick to take Matt Ryan; which thereby turned a previous source of weakness into one of strength. Ryan proved to be a much better QB than either Harrington or Vick; and thereby gave the Falcons a huge upgrade at the game's most important position. Note here that after Ryan was off the board (3rd overall) there were no other quarterbacks of his caliber available in that draft.

It wasn't Matt Ryan that helped the Falcons revive as much as it was Michael Turner and the running game the Falcons have, it took so much pressure off that rookie QB, JMO

 

I like that idea up to a point. On the other hand, opportunities to draft a true franchise QB are few and far between. If the next Peyton Manning or Drew Brees is there at your pick, you take him, period. Obviously once you have him, the first thing you should do is build up the offensive line for him.

 

They were only able to get away with that because the Patriots were vulnerable and ripe for the picking. "Run the ball and win with defense" will get you a good regular season record, and may even allow you to win a Wildcard playoff game. But as you advance in the playoffs, your opponents become tougher. There will be times when your running game gets shut down, or when your defense allows more points than it should. When those things happen, it really, really helps to have a franchise quarterback and a good passing game.

 

Take the Steelers of the '70s for example. In their Super Bowl against the Los Angeles Rams, their running attack got shut down. And the Rams scored their share of points. Fortunately for the Steelers, Terry Bradshaw came up huge in that game, and they had Hall of Famer Lynn Swan at WR. Those guys allowed the Steelers to score the points they needed to win. The game of football has become considerably more passing-oriented since then.

 

If you look at the dynasty teams--that is, teams where a core group of players made multiple Super Bowl appearances--each of them has had a QB that's played at a high level--typically at or near a Hall of Fame level. Consider the following:

 

'70s Steelers: Terry Bradshaw played at a Hall of Fame level in the postseason, even though his regular season play was mediocre.

'70s Vikings: Tarkenton

'80s 49ers: Montana

'80s Broncos: Elway

late '80s/early '90s NYG: Simms/Hostetler

'90s Bills: Kelly

'90s Cowboys: Aikman

'90s Packers: Favre

'90s Broncos: Elway

Late '90s/early 2000s Rams: Warner

2000s Patriots: Brady

2000s Steelers: Roethlisberger

2000s Colts: Manning

 

The above list illustrates how much easier it becomes to make it to or win a Super Bowl if you have an elite-level quarterback. Compare that to the Ravens of 2000. They had one of the three best defenses of NFL history, they had an offensive line led by Hall of Fame-level Ogden at LT, and they had Jamal Lewis with his 2000 yard rushing season. And yet that team only won, or even made it to, one Super Bowl because it had been hamstrung by limitations at quarterback. Think of how much more it could have accomplished if it had had a guy like Carson Palmer or (better) Peyton Manning under center!

 

Like I've stated before, some of those "elite level" QB's didn't become elite until they won a SB. Tom Brady was a 6th rounder and Montana was a 3rd, some of the best ever like Favre were not drafted as " elite franchise" QB's

 

I'll grant that as things currently stand, the Bills' situation at LT represents a hole bigger than the one that sunk the Titanic. Also, I agree that their offense will experience major limitations until that hole is addressed. I'm guessing/hoping that when they do address the position, they'll do so with a guy they believe to be the right answer at the position. That typically means a first round draft pick, or else a guy taken in the early second round. Under this theory, there were no tackles they liked at #9. But that would just mean that they'd want to address the LT position early in the 2010 draft.

 

Now see, why should the Bills screw themselves this season by not filling that LT position, why wait until 2010?

 

Perhaps so they can draft Jake Locker next year...Now wouldn't it be truly sad if that happens and he turns out to be another Ryan leaf.

[starrymessenger]

That first statement about Tennessee kinda destroys your credibility...

 

RT David Stewart 15 GS- 6 years exp

LT Michael Roos 16 GS -6 years exp -pro bowler

C Kevin Mawae 16 GS 15 years 8 time pro bowler

LG Jake Scott 16 GS - 7 years exp

RG Eugene Amano 15 GS-7 yrs exp

 

The above players who played all 16 games took 1039 game snaps, this 2009 offensive line was second in the NFL in allowing sacks, at just 16 sacks...

 

Chris Johnson did have a 2k yd rushing season, but just think how well Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch could do with the blocking that Johnson got. Not to mention how well Trent Edwards would play if he was behind that O line.

 

Also, its doubtful he suffers his second concussion in two years playing behind that Tenn O line, instead he played behind an inept, inexperienced, below average ability line, and on a team with a rookie game planner / play caller.

 

 

Now, even if chan gailey was the most brilliant play caller in the NFL or the most brilliant QB coach in the NFL, exactly how does that equate to giving the QB more then 3 seconds to throw the football?

 

Agree with your comment re their O-line. Would go further though and say KC and VY are just plain flat out better playmakers than Trent under center. I don't wonder so much what ML or FJ would have done behind that line and in that system. I am more intrigued with knowing what Spiller could do (not that we will ever find out any time soon).

[Orton's Arm]

I have to believe that our opinion -- or the opinion of a substantial number of people around here -- that our O line stinks, is incorrect. If it was truly really bad, Nixley would definitely be making all sorts of moves (trades, shuffling players, signing FAs, etc). Because that's NOT happening, because there's no particular sense of panic, management and coaches must feel pretty good about what they have. And because they are far, far more experienced at judging and coaching football players than I am, I'm going to trust that they know what they're doing.

 

Of course, I fully expect that tiny, vocal minority of perpetual pessimists who can't stay away from posting at TSW will dismiss what I've just written because they seem to believe that all coaches and management with the Bills are idiots who don't know nearly as much about football as their critics do.

There are several points worth bearing in mind:

1) Nix does not have unlimited resources. Whether it's draft picks, players or picks that can be traded away, money to be spent on player salaries, etc., there's only so much Nix can do in any one year.

2) The pool of good free agents generally, and good offensive line free agents in particular, is generally very limited.

3) Nix might want to focus all his available draft-day/trade resources on long-term solutions to problems, while allocating very little to stopgap measures.

4) Nix inherited a Bills team with many holes. Given the limitations of Nix's available resources, he could only reasonably be expected to find long-term solutions to a subset of those holes.

5) It is possible--or rather probable--that Nix felt that, given the opportunities available this year, there were relatively few opportunities to find permanent solutions on the OL that offered him good bang for the buck. At the #9 overall pick, for example, Spiller was a more highly rated player than any available OL.

 

I believe that Nix is (or at least should be) deeply concerned about the state of the OL. But he might not have seen good opportunities to upgrade the OL this offseason, or else saw other, better opportunities to find upgrades at other positions of need. Over the course of the first two to three years of his regime, I fully expect him to allocate significant resources to overhauling the OL. The fact that that didn't happen this draft does not mean that it won't happen relatively soon.

[eball]

I dunno, perhaps RW doesn't trust anyone under 70 anymore. All I do know is I'd rather have seen the Bills hire a bright young mind like the Falcons did in Thomas Demitroff, who they stole away from the Pats.

Did you miss the Bills' theft of the Steelers' young GM-in-the-making a few months ago?