More Than Anything, Here's What I Want...

[JDG]

2005 was not a good free agent year by any stretch of the imagination. Gandy and Holcomb are marginal NFL starters AT BEST.

 

2002 wasn't very good either. Fletcher was the only decent pickup in that short list of names you provided. I'm willing to cut TD some slack here, though, because of the residual Butler cap hits forced onto that offseason.

 

2004 was also below average. Villarial and Vincent are already showing their age, and thus were overpaid.

 

I only agree with you on the 2003 offseason. That was TD's one year during his Reign of Terror in which we were major free agent players.

524740[/snapback]

 

 

For 2005 - what better QB was available than Kelly Holcomb? Jeff Garcia? Kurt Warner? Quincy Carter?

 

You might have better luck coming up with a better OLineman available than Gandy, but again, only a few.

 

Your other general complaints are that other FA's signed by Donahoe have been old, overpaid, or just not very good. Well, that's the nature of the FA market. Pro Bowl-caliber players rarely get onto the FA market, and Donahoe was extremely fortunate to land one of them like Spikes. And again, if you compare our FA activity compared to the FA activity of other NFL teams, I think you will see that we will appear to have been fairly active.

 

JDG

[Mark VI]

I don't believe the Player aquisition argument applies here.

 

Rich is talking about a mindset from the top which has spread onto the roster. We can debate ad nauseum about the talent level of this team or the value of the UFA aquisitions and draft choices.

 

Fact - Ralph hired TD and is responsible for his failures as much as TD himself.

Fact - TD hired Gregg Williams and Mike Mularkey. Both displayed a tendency to be badly outcoached in most games. The Ghost of Cowher past must still haunt him as he refuses to hire a strong minded coach he can't control.

 

4-8 in Year 5 is unacceptable and it looks like it will get worse. The Steelers collapse in last seasons finale should have been the wakeup call that this was a 9-7 team that was very lucky and overrated. They caught the scheduling break of a lifetime in 2004, by playing 6 bad teams in a row. 10 TD's from the D and ST's. The O struggled in many wins. No such breaks this season. I can trace 4-5 losses this year directly to coaching blunders.

 

Now chaos is everywhere at OBD. How can this team even concentrate on proper preperation for the Pats game ? What a circus.

 

TD and MM need to leave upon the conclusion of this season. The ability to market this team will fail unless a change is made. The hat is out of rabbits and the press and fanbase have turned on the front office.

[Rico]

For 2005 - what better QB was available than Kelly Holcomb?     Jeff Garcia?  Kurt Warner?   Quincy Carter? 

524762[/snapback]

Since you asked, Brad Johnson. Total 20/20 hindsight there.

 

I'm cool with Holcomb, though. The team that missed the boat was the Cowboys. If they would've signed Johnson, they might be looking at a deep playoff run instead of another Bledsoe meltdown... I'm cool with that too.

[plenzmd1]

O.k., I don't get how you, and so many other people on TBD can say that "we are STILL no better off cap wise."   The Bills are currently projected to be $8mil under the cap, and that is before releasing Mike Williams or letting anyone else go, and before restructing anybody.

 

Secondly, Donahoe has done nothing if not sign premiere free agents.

 

In 2001, even in our "cap hell" year, he signed Larry Centers.  O.k., nothing to get excited about.

 

In 2002 he signed London Fletcher, Chidi Ahanatou, Trey Teague, and Mike Hollis.

 

In 2003 he signed a tagged Takeo Spikes, Jeff Posey (first day signing), Sam Adams, Rian Lindell, Olandis Gary, Bobby Shaw, and Lawyer Milloy - a massive FA haul by any NFL team's standards.

 

In 2004 he signed Chris Vilarrial and Troy Vincent - a solid FA haul.

 

In 2005 he signed Mike Gandy and Kelly Holcomb.

 

The Bills have been free agent players in each of the last four years, and arguably the top FA player in the whole darn League in 2003.   Moreover, just look at our history of "compensatory" draft picks for the last four years compared to those of the rest of the NFL to really tell the tale of the tape on our net-play in free agency. 

 

So, in short, I don't think that your above criticism adds up.   The Bills have been a player for top-line free agents under Donahoe, and he has continued to keep our cap situation under control.

 

JDG

524215[/snapback]

JDG, i like your points. My cap observations come from the fact that we needed to convert salary into bonus for two of the highest paid players on the team just to have some cap room this year. I have NEVER blasted TD for the Williams signing, some guys just do not work out, (but I think Big Mike was hurt all year and can still be a good to very good OL) and if you buy into the fact that TD was hamstrung by the cap, the structure of the Williams rookie deal, with large bonuses after the third year, was all he could do, and one must give him credit for getting the deal structured that way.

 

I also buy into the old Levy adage that a FA signing generally hurts the team he is leaving more than helping the team he is going to. But, when you take into account just how much in disrepair our OL(and DL for that matter)was coming into this year, the only prudent course was to leverage a bit of the future and sign a quality guard, or for christ sake at least keep Tucker there. If he and MM are contstanly harping about consistancy, and needing time for the OL to play together, why the hell do chandge 40% of the playeres year in and year out. I know that we played agaisn't some bad teams last half of the year last year, but it seemed to this uneducated observer the line was staring to gel a bit, and would have made better strides this year if kept in tact, which in my opinion could have been easily accomplished

 

 

Like I said in my first post, I do not think that we are appreciably better cap wise than when Donahue got here, and certainly the product on the field is no better.

[The Tomcat]

Who's R.Rich???

[***PetrinoInAlbany***]

Does Losman-McGahee- Evans-Parrish and possibly Everett not count as a "core"?

 

JDG

524761[/snapback]

That's our "three amigos", granted. And that's a good point. But what I was actually referring to was how many starters will be returning next year. Put those four guys behind a sub-par, ever changing offensive line ... give them a bend-and-what-the-hell-break-too defense ... and you're likely to get ... well, 4-8.

[JDG]

That's our "three amigos", granted. And that's a good point. But what I was actually referring to was how many starters will be returning next year. Put those four guys behind a sub-par, ever changing offensive line  ... give them a bend-and-what-the-hell-break-too defense ... and you're likely to get ... well, 4-8.

525152[/snapback]

 

Well, while our three amigos are our core - that doesn't necessarily mean that they are good just yet..... and I think that that, as much as our sorry defense and poor offensive line explain the 4-8 record. Evans, after all, despite the flashes is in just his second year, and we all know about the apparent 3-year development timetable for NFL WR's. Parrish is in the core too, but he's hardly played. McGahee is currently in a multiple-game funk where he not only has had abysmal stat lines (see 1.9 ypc for 3 quarters vs. Carolina), but has also failed to delivery any game-breaking plays for us. He hasn't been a difference-maker. And then, of course, there is JP Losman. I like JP Losman. I think JP Losman *could* be a fine QB in the NFL someday. I think that JP Losman has shown signs of progress this year. *But*, just think of how many games it is at least *arguable* that he lost single-handedly for us. In weeks 2-3-4, the boy couldn't hit the broad side of a barn - and perhaps most greivously, he led us to a loss against the woeful New Orleans Saints. At home against Carolina, he failed to generate a single TD-scoring drive *at home*, in a game we lost be 4. And most egregiously, in the Miami game, Losman committed two *terrible* turnovers in the red zone - if either one of those is converted into just 3 points, we win the game.

 

So again, I think that TD has built a core - but that core has certainly not reached maturity.

 

JDG

[JDG]

That's our "three amigos", granted. And that's a good point. But what I was actually referring to was how many starters will be returning next year.

 

Our curent starters, listed in descending likelihood of staying:

 

Defense:

Locks: McGee, Fletcher, Schobel, Spikes, and either Edwards/Bannan

Likely: Kelsay, Vincent, Clements

Unlikely: Milloy, Posey, Adams

 

Offense:

Locks: Losman, McGahee, Evans, Peters, Shelton, Villarrial

Likely: Campbell, Gandy, Teague

Unlikely: Moulds (*grmbl*), Anderson

 

JDG