From top to bottom, Bills have a lot to prove

[keepthefaith]

More than any team in the league, the Bills have a lot to prove. From top to bottom.

 

First there is Ralph Wilson who on his own has challenged the league and the CBA as unfair. A guy who just wants to win and win now inspite of the economic disadvantage dealt his team. Then there is Marv Levy, 80 years old in uncharted waters as a first time GM, trying to prove that Ralph made a good decision to hire him and needing to live up to the expectation of fans and players who know him as a hall of fame coach and the leader of '90's Bills. A guy who could easily have relaxed into retirement but instead took on the biggest challenge of his career. How aout Coach Dick Jauron, run out of Chicago and thought here (I'm a former Buffalonian living in Chicago) to have no chance to ever be a head coach again after the decline of the Bears from 13-3 to awful. Career wise he has the most to gain or loose in Buffalo. If he wins, he prove the naysayers wrong, and he has plenty of them. If he looses, he's finished as an NFL head coach. Huge upside/downside for Dick. Then there are the veteran free agents signed this offseason. Guys like Tripplett, Royal, Price, Fowler , Bowen and Reyes who all want to prove that their teams should have retained them. How about the Quarterbacks, all 3 of them wanting to start. This year's draft choices, picked too high or picked too low or shouldn't have been picked at all. They all should have a bit of a chip on their shoulder. Takeo Spikes, coming back from a serious injury, better than ever? Willis McGahee, is he a top tier back or not? Lastly is us, the fans, who deserve a winner and will support our team unconditionally, wanting to show them all that the team of the 90's was no fluke and that our underdog city belongs in the spotlight.

 

I like how this season shapes up. There are huge motivating factors here, the kind that can get the whole organization on the same page. It ought to be the mantra for this new regime. It's us against them. Nobody expects anything great from us. We don't have the talent. Our old owner has lost it. Our GM hired a nice guy for a coach.

 

Well take a look at the '05 Chicago Whitesox, world champions in convincing fashion. They laughed when Ozzie Guillen was hired as the manager, they had a low payroll, they had some castoff free agents that were never factors on their old teams, their pitchers, some of them, were unproven. What they did have was a team full of guys willing to put it on the line every game, who played unselfishly, believed in the new coaching philosophy. They had this after getting rid of the old guys and the troublemakers. More than any team, they were all on the same page. Sounds a little like the New England Patriots and maybe the new Bills. I like how this is starting to look.

[michaelpt107]

More than any team in the league, the Bills have a lot to prove.  From top to bottom.

 

First there is Ralph Wilson who on his own has challenged the league and the CBA as unfair.  A guy who just wants to win and win now inspite of the economic disadvantage dealt his team.  Then there is Marv Levy, 80 years old in uncharted waters as a first time GM, trying to prove that Ralph made a good decision to hire him and needing to live up to the expectation of fans and players who know him as a hall of fame coach and the leader of '90's Bills.  A guy who could easily have relaxed into retirement but instead took on the biggest challenge of his career.  How aout Coach Dick Jauron, run out of Chicago and thought here (I'm a former Buffalonian living in Chicago) to have no chance to ever be a head coach again after the decline of the Bears from 13-3 to awful.  Career wise he has the most to gain or loose in Buffalo.  If he wins, he prove the naysayers wrong, and he has plenty of them.  If he looses, he's finished as an NFL head coach.  Huge upside/downside for Dick.  Then there are the veteran free agents signed this offseason.  Guys like Tripplett, Royal, Price, Fowler , Bowen and Reyes who all want to prove that their teams should have retained them.  How about the Quarterbacks, all 3 of them wanting to start.  This year's draft choices, picked too high or picked too low or shouldn't have been picked at all.  They all should have a bit of a chip on their shoulder.  Takeo Spikes, coming back from a serious injury, better than ever?  Willis McGahee, is he a top tier back or not?  Lastly is us, the fans, who deserve a winner and will support our team unconditionally, wanting to show them all that the team of the 90's was no fluke and that our underdog city belongs in the spotlight.

 

I like how this season shapes up.  There are huge motivating factors here, the kind that can get the whole organization on the same page.  It ought to be the mantra for this new regime.  It's us against them.  Nobody expects anything great from us.  We don't have the talent.  Our old owner has lost it.  Our GM hired a nice guy for a coach. 

 

Well take a look at the '05 Chicago Whitesox, world champions in convincing fashion.  They laughed when Ozzie Guillen was hired as the manager, they had a low payroll, they had some castoff free agents that were never factors on their old teams, their pitchers, some of them, were unproven.  What they did have was a team full of guys willing to put it on the line every game, who played unselfishly, believed in the new coaching philosophy.  They had this after getting rid of the old guys and the troublemakers.  More than any team, they were all on the same page.  Sounds a little like the New England Patriots and maybe the new Bills.  I like how this is starting to look.

690533[/snapback]

Great post. The bears were 11-5 having a very good Tampa cover two defense with Kyle Orton playing qb. Quite possibly the bills could do the same thing-you never know. go bills.

[Kelly the Dog]

I like your optimism, however blind it may be. You're right this team could surprise us.

 

However, every team and GM and coach in the league has a lot to prove. If Ralph wanted to win, how about opening up his checkbook a little more for some talent and coaches?

 

Marv could have relaxed into retirement is just a joke. Marv has been lobbying and publicly embarrassing himself telling everyone who didnt want to listen how much he wants a job in the last few years.

 

Dick Jauron has a lot to prove because he hasn't proved much and few if any teams wanted him to be their head coach. I know of only one. He was pretty much done as a head coach if his team tanked at his next job anywhere.

 

This team has a lot to prove because he hasn't won in a while, it has basically an unproven coaching staff at the highest levels, and at GM. It has a lot of unproven players.

 

Look at the Sabres. You have to love the way these guys play, and certainly their talent was missed by a lot of other teams. That could happen to the Bills, it's possible. But the Sabre players say things like "We knew we could play with anybody in the league. We never doubted ourselves..." All of which is true. But do you know how many other young, inexperienced, unproven clusters of misfits have been assembled and became a team, said and meant that identical stuff, and then played like a bunch of untalented misfits?

 

All of them.

[Nanker]

I like your optimism, however blind it may be. You're right this team could surprise us.

 

However, every team and GM and coach in the league has a lot to prove.

 

This team has a lot to prove because he hasn't won in a while, it has basically an unproven coaching staff at the highest levels, and at GM. It has a lot of unproven players.

 

But do you know how many other young, inexperienced, unproven clusters of misfits have been assembled and became a team, said and meant that identical stuff, and then played like a bunch of untalented misfits?

 

All of them.

690660[/snapback]

 

Agreed, and we have nothing in our control other than to watch and (hopefully) enjoy the games as they unfold.