Why Rebuilding Has Taken a Decade +

[flopagamo]

They are still looking for a QB. That's the most important player, and they haven't been able to fill that hole (no, I don't need to hear about getting an O-line first or "defense wins championships").

 

Many teams struggle after their franchise QB leaves, it's just that the Bill keep making the wrong choices concerning QB's (and plenty of other areas as well obviously). Some of the Bills teams in the past 10 years were good enough to make the playoffs if they had a top shelf QB at the time. The Bills haven't found one, and it has a huge effect on the psyche of the team. Really, aside from the Kelly years, this franchise has been nowhere, and it's not a coincidence that he is the only top shelf QB that they have had (Please don't interject with "Joe Ferguson!", I grew up watching him play. Not top shelf.)

I was going to argue at first, but then I went here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_Bowl_champions

 

The teams that won the Super Bowl without a 'top shelf' QB, over the past 20 years:

1990 Giants (superior defense)

1991 Redskins (with Mark Rypien, who was rarely touched by a defender that whole year)

2000 Ravens (superior defense)

2002 Bucs (superior defense)

 

And this includes calling Eli Manning a top shelf QB, which might be a stretch. So yeah, that's 16 of the last 20 Super Bowls won with a big time QB. It is a rare championship team that has it's heart-and-soul leader in a position other than QB.

[evilbuffalobob]

I don't disagree, but holding tight could mean that DJ would still be coach.

[Thurman#1]

Why Rebuilding Has Taken a Decade

 

In the NFL, a team should be able to go from bad to mediocre or mediocre to good in just a season. Yet outside the 2001 to 2002 improvement, the Bills have never made such a leap that other teams have done time and time again. It is not just bad drafting or bad coaching. It is creating new holes unnecessarily. Almost every offseason the Bills dig themselves a new hole. Instead of focusing on addressing their existing weaknesses, they do something that creates a new weakness.

 

1. There was blowing up the 3rd ranked 3-4 defense and implementing an entirely new scheme (the 46).

2. There was trading away McGahee and letting Spikes and Fletcher go only to have to spend the first two draft picks in 2007 on a running back and a LB.

3. There was blowing up a mediocre offensive line only to create a league-worst OL.

4. There is forcing a switch to the 3-4 when the defense merely needed some reinforcements for run defense.

 

These are just a few examples. I am sure others can come up with more.

 

Instead, why didn't the Bills just keep the players they had and the schemes they had and just looked for how they could add depth and competition. Anytime there is any progress, there is this strange desire to blow something new up. I wonder if the Bills had just held tight and sought steady improvement each year that we might have a solid team today.

 

 

Your whole premise is flawed. We haven't been rebuilding for a decade. During that decade, we twice made the decision to rebuild. Only twice. The Donahoe years started with a rebuild which proved to be unsuccessful. After that, we never totally blew things up and started from scratch. Which is the reason we were mediocre all those year.

 

The second rebuild started this year. In about three years, we will see how successful it is.

 

Why didn't we keep the players we had and just add depth and competition? Maybe because we didn't have a QB, an OL, more than one WR, a TE, anyone to rush the passer outside of the now-retired Schobel or a powerful interior defense? Just a guess but that seems the reason to me. Because we didn't have a core of good players to build around. Granted, we have a hell of a punter, but that's not enough to rebuild around.

 

They are still looking for a QB. That's the most important player, and they haven't been able to fill that hole (no, I don't need to hear about getting an O-line first or "defense wins championships").

 

Many teams struggle after their franchise QB leaves, it's just that the Bill keep making the wrong choices concerning QB's (and plenty of other areas as well obviously). Some of the Bills teams in the past 10 years were good enough to make the playoffs if they had a top shelf QB at the time. The Bills haven't found one, and it has a huge effect on the psyche of the team. Really, aside from the Kelly years, this franchise has been nowhere, and it's not a coincidence that he is the only top shelf QB that they have had (Please don't interject with "Joe Ferguson!", I grew up watching him play. Not top shelf.)

 

 

Joe Ferguson was absolutely good enough. I grew up watching him too. Our offense was sensational and while OJ was the main reason, Ferguson was absolutely a franchise QB. The reason that team never went anywhere was that we never had a great defense. Kemp, Ferguson and Kelly. That's it. Flutie if we had gotten him a few years earlier before his arm went. Lamonica if we'd kept him.

[Geno Smith's Arm]

I was going to argue at first, but then I went here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_Bowl_champions

 

The teams that won the Super Bowl without a 'top shelf' QB, over the past 20 years:

1990 Giants (superior defense)

1991 Redskins (with Mark Rypien, who was rarely touched by a defender that whole year)

2000 Ravens (superior defense)

2002 Bucs (superior defense)

 

And this includes calling Eli Manning a top shelf QB, which might be a stretch. So yeah, that's 16 of the last 20 Super Bowls won with a big time QB. It is a rare championship team that has it's heart-and-soul leader in a position other than QB.

 

I don't even believe it's a fair measure to say that they have to win a Super Bowl to be a top shelf QB. Off the top of my head I would set the bar at say a playoff win in 3 separate seasons (career-wise). There might have been a joker or two that has managed that, but I think a QB had to have been pretty good to manage that. I'm not saying a team can't get some wins with an average guy, or that the Bills shouldn't have done better regardless of the QB fiasco's of the last decade, but not being able to find THE guy has really been detrimental, and it's hard to get the ball rolling without one. It's a BIG psychological factor. The current Bills KNOW, before the season starts, they are going nowhere.

 

There is a reason why the Bills have had so many injured players during these terrible seasons (no it's not because Rusty Jones is gone). Each season is a pointless, mentally and physically painful exercise to play through. It's human nature. Really, what is the point for them to go out there on a bad knee, take the painkiller shot, rehab HARD, risk shortening an already short career, all to come back in time for the 12th game of the season when the record is 3-9? It's hardly motivating...

 

 

These guys are beaten down, and it permeates the organization

Edited October 5, 2010 by Matthews' Bag

[billsfreak]

There is a difference between rebuilding and recycling, which the Bills have done for over a decade. A third world country could rebuild faster than this organization is. The answer to all the Bills woes points straight at the owner, as nothing happens without his blessing. He is the driving force behind hiring front office personnel and head coaches that no other team would dream of hiring, because they are obvious reaches driven by their low salaries. For people to think that Ralph is actually trying and doesn't see that his efforts are so far below what it takes to be a winner are delusional. He knows it is all his fault, why else would he cancel his Hall of Fame ring ceremony last year because he was afraid he would be boo'd too much. The only way to fix this mess is to get rid of Ralph, or hit him in the wallet and force him to spend, but he has already stolen so much of our hard earned money that he probably doesn't need anymore. When people come on this board or in the media and say that Ralph is upset or embarrassed by this team, it is nothing but a joke. If he truly felt that way he would do something about it, which he has the money and the power to do, but chooses his bank account over the goodness of the organization, the team and the NFL's best fanbase. I would never, ever wish someone death, but I would love nothing more than to get a new owner and turn this mess around, but sadly the only way we will get a new owner is when Ralph passes so our beloved Bills are doomed for quite some time.