Changing the culture

[Homey D. Clown]

I am not going to defend everything the coaching staff has been doing recently, but in order to gather more information about the players this coaching staff has at their disposal, they need to see them play. CJ Spiller, any, or all of the receivers, linebackers being moved, offensive linemen being tried at other positions, trading away some veterans, these things have not been done in Buffalo in more than a decade, and I see these things as very beneficial. People seem to forget that what the Bills team has been under DJ was an under-performing bunch of coddled athletes that never had to worry about someone taking their job, and when Gailey came to town, he made it very clear nobody's job was safe. I loved Lee Evans as a professional, but in 7 seasons, he vanished for massive stretches of each season, and was simply not a game changer. Could we have used him this year, sure in some capacity, but I just don't think you can keep a guy like that on your roster when this team needs someone who can do more than run a deep route.

 

Things need to change, and if the players and fans don't like it right now, too bad, this team has sucked balls for too long, and if Chan Gailey's approach doesn't work right away, it probably will somewhere else, when the media and cheap-o owner run him out of town.

 

I want to see CJ Spiller more, I love Freddy, and want to see them both featured, I just don't see how you can develop the guy by not playing him.

 

Lastly-

From what I have seen so far, it appears that the defense has been addressed quite well in the new regime's first 2 drafts, and if the defense can improve this year, I think its only fair to hold out hope that they can do the same on offense. I know we as fans want it to happen faster, but it's just not going to. I still think this team is on the right track.

 

it's easy to forget how very little talent this team really had going into last year.

Edited August 25, 2011 by McKinleys Curse

[Armchair GM]

Listen, the FO @ OBD can only do so much being partially handcuffed. If you want to see a change in the culture of an organization, it will have to start @ the top and trickle down as it does with any successful organization.

 

The Sabres, and Buffalo, got lucky with Pegula. He's a guy that is more enthusiastic about the actual game than the $$ he can make off of it. I'm no Ralph basher, but the only way this organizations culture changes for the better is when new ownership takes hold of the reigns. Hopefully, it'll stay right here and we will get what we deserve as a loyal fan base...an organization with a winning culture that will produce a winning product.

 

OR...we can hold out hope that Ralph has a moment of clarity in that he realizes he can't take all his $$ with him to the afterlife, his kids want nothing to do with the team after his departure and he says F*$@ it and goes for a SB ring before he expires...

Edited August 25, 2011 by Armchair GM

[Buffalo Barbarian]

All good points but not using free agency is reprehensible.

Edited August 25, 2011 by Buffalo Barbarian

[Spiderweb]

Lee Evans WAS a game charger, albeit it wasn't anywhere frequent enough. Lee will still be missed, and while I hope someone can step up, I've not yet seen anything from Easley to make me believe he's the guy. He still seems a bit tentative when on the field. Donald Jones hasn't impressed me either. David Nelson has impressed, but he won't be the guy to stretch the field. "Bust" Davis will soon be cut.

[ThurmasThoman]

very good post, and in general what i've been saying for a year now.

 

basically - the team that gailey and nix inherited was absolutely, without a doubt, devoid of top level nfl talent. whether you want to blame that on

rus brandon, tom modrak, dick jauron, ralph wilson, marv levy or anyone else is your own personal perogative, but the fact of the matter is, the best talent on our team couldn't even get us to .500.

 

last years team won 4 games, and we drafted 3rd.

 

if you literally replaced every single player with a cripple, at worst, we would move up 2 spots in the draft.

 

again, to reiterate, if the buffalo bills fielded a team of paraplegics this season, in a worst case scenario, our draft position would change 2 slots.

 

why ANYONE who considers themselves a fan, would bemoan the loss of ANY of the players on that roster is beyond me.

 

lee evans didn't even have good numbers last season!!!

 

do people on here honestly think that the bills could have done better than a fourth round pick? how, exactly, in your mind do you envision that conversation going with nix?

 

"hey, you could have gotten more than a 4th for lee evans."

"i could have?"

"yes"

"the possibility of trying to get a higher pick never crossed my mind young man. you seem to have a natural gift for running a professional sports organization, would you like to come work for the buffalo bills?"

 

and as for why we haven't signed more free agents... why would a free agent want to come play here? were rebuilding. playoffs/national tv/fame and fortune... or join a rebuilding project?

 

clear this team out. the defense is obviously improving, and it's clear that they started addressing that first.

 

next draft, im sure it will be the oline.

 

man... we're rebuilding. washington has been "rebuilding" for a decade plus with snyder, using the exact method that every fan on this board seems to want to see. buy the best players to fill positions. how's that working.

 

new england

pittsburgh

green bay

indianapolis

 

all franchises who use the draft, waiver wire, and bargain bin free agents to build super bowl winning teams. it doesn't happen over night, and were going to need a better quarterback, but ill take this approach to a "lets spend 25 million this week so we can maybe make the playoffs" approach any day of the week.

[Acantha]

All good points but not using free agency is reprehensible.

Yeah...if they did that it would suck.

[Mark Long Beach]

 

...again, to reiterate, if the buffalo bills fielded a team of paraplegics this season, in a worst case scenario, our draft position would change 2 slots.

 

why ANYONE who considers themselves a fan, would bemoan the loss of ANY of the players on that roster is beyond me.

 

lee evans didn't even have good numbers last season!!!

 

Nice! That brought tears to my eyes!

[PS 56]

Despite our lack of talent, we had some great games last year. I liked our wins... Hated the losses. I loved the fact we were tied with Pittsburg, Baltimore and Kansas City at the end of regulation play. I was in a bar packed with Steeler fans for that game. They were so cocky at the beginning. Toward the end you did not hear a peep from them. I want this team to get better so bad it freaken hurts. I could give a damn about the pre-season. Loose every one of those meaningless games. Learn all you can, shuffle players, get rid of others.

 

But if we are not at least competitive and showing some improvement this season over last I am going to go to Ralph Wilson's house in the winter and pee several epithets in the snow of his front yard.

 

[CodeMonkey]

Despite our lack of talent, we had some great games last year. I liked our wins... Hated the losses. I loved the fact we were tied with Pittsburg, Baltimore and Kansas City at the end of regulation play. I was in a bar packed with Steeler fans for that game. They were so cocky at the beginning. Toward the end you did not hear a peep from them. I want this team to get better so bad it freaken hurts. I could give a damn about the pre-season. Loose every one of those meaningless games. Learn all you can, shuffle players, get rid of others.

 

But if we are not at least competitive and showing some improvement this season over last I am going to go to Ralph Wilson's house in the winter and pee several epithets in the snow of his front yard.

 

I'm not sure how you define a great game, but I define it as a game played at a high level by both teams.

Every game last season was played at a very low level by the Bills (and sometimes their opponents) in my opinion. It is impossible to play a great game when you have **** for talent.

 

If you define a great game as a game whose score was close, then I can understand your statement. But I cannot call a turd-fest that happened to end up with a close score a great game,

[tennesseeboy]

in the final analysis its about winning, and we are doing nothing to build a winning team. We have lost a TON of talent. This week I saw Jabari Greer starting for playoff team New Orleans, Travis McGahee playing well for the Broncos, Evans and Whitner contributing for their teams, Leonhard is a starter for the Jets, Peters is starting for the Eagles and Incognito is starting for the Dolphins. We get what? Nothing or fourth round picks in return. Next, we never draft high in the positions of need such as the Offensive line, to include Tight End. The Dareus pick was a very good first round pick in an area of need but it is not what has happened (Maybin, McKelvin, Spiller). We fiddled around with qback until we settled on Fitz who may or may not be good.

 

I think a culture of winning starts at the top, and I'm not seeing it coming from Nix or Gailey...or wilson for that matter.

[JohnC]

But if we are not at least competitive and showing some improvement this season over last I am going to go to Ralph Wilson's house in the winter and pee several epithets in the snow of his front yard.

 

 

Just to let you know so you don't make the trip for nothing. Ralph spends his winters in Florida. If you expose your sausage down there the mosquitoes will have a feast.

[DefenseWins]

I am not going to defend everything the coaching staff has been doing recently, but in order to gather more information about the players this coaching staff has at their disposal, they need to see them play. CJ Spiller, any, or all of the receivers, linebackers being moved, offensive linemen being tried at other positions, trading away some veterans, these things have not been done in Buffalo in more than a decade, and I see these things as very beneficial. People seem to forget that what the Bills team has been under DJ was an under-performing bunch of coddled athletes that never had to worry about someone taking their job, and when Gailey came to town, he made it very clear nobody's job was safe. I loved Lee Evans as a professional, but in 7 seasons, he vanished for massive stretches of each season, and was simply not a game changer. Could we have used him this year, sure in some capacity, but I just don't think you can keep a guy like that on your roster when this team needs someone who can do more than run a deep route.

 

Things need to change, and if the players and fans don't like it right now, too bad, this team has sucked balls for too long, and if Chan Gailey's approach doesn't work right away, it probably will somewhere else, when the media and cheap-o owner run him out of town.

 

I want to see CJ Spiller more, I love Freddy, and want to see them both featured, I just don't see how you can develop the guy by not playing him.

 

Lastly-

From what I have seen so far, it appears that the defense has been addressed quite well in the new regime's first 2 drafts, and if the defense can improve this year, I think its only fair to hold out hope that they can do the same on offense. I know we as fans want it to happen faster, but it's just not going to. I still think this team is on the right track.

 

it's easy to forget how very little talent this team really had going into last year.

 

 

 

So anyone who is not a "GAME CHANGER" however you might define it must go????

 

I got a news flash for you! Most players in the NFL are not "GAME CHANGERS"... You need what I might call "mid-level" players (good - but not great, would be my definition) and Lee was certainly that... I don't mind replacing Evans when you bring in a BETTER player, for sure... But none of these guys have come even close to doing that...

 

And while I like this years draft, none of last year's picks is even close to starting yet... Troup and Carrington appear to have promise... Spiller hasn't earned anything yet and that is indeed disturbing... I think we can all agree that an improved OL would make evaluating Fitz, Spiller, Brad Smith as well as our young receivers much easier...

[Homey D. Clown]

So anyone who is not a "GAME CHANGER" however you might define it must go????

 

 

 

I don't remember that being my point, but since you're asking, it is, in my opinion not a bad thing that Evans was traded IF the team finds a better player on the roster. My point was that I didn't see him as a benefit to this team's overall big picture anymore, and his lack of other route running skills made him a one trick pony. There are lots of guys who can contribute in more than one capacity, and i don't think Lee was that guy anymore. Besides, the bigger issue is that with the offensive line as bad as it is these days, who would have the time to wait till he was open to even deliver the ball to him?

 

But to most people's point about the trade, we currently didn't make the team better by trading him in the short term.