I now fully trust the front office

[Adam]

All this we have to get a WR who can produce now....NO WE DON'T. We don't HAVE to do anything. We don't have to make playoffs next year. We HAVE to keep building smart, and not rush things. If you can't deal with the team rebuilding from the Donahoe fiasco, thats just too bad. It takes time.

[obie_wan]

All this we have to get a WR who can produce now....NO WE DON'T. We don't HAVE to do anything. We don't have to make playoffs next year. We HAVE to keep building smart, and not rush things. If you can't deal with the team rebuilding from the Donahoe fiasco, thats just too bad. It takes time.

 

sure why not take another 10 years to make the playoffs

 

The next coaching regime will appreciate your patience

[BillsVet]

All this we have to get a WR who can produce now....NO WE DON'T. We don't HAVE to do anything. We don't have to make playoffs next year. We HAVE to keep building smart, and not rush things. If you can't deal with the team rebuilding from the Donahoe fiasco, thats just too bad. It takes time.

 

This post is pure insanity. As much as I think Lynch and Edwards will improve this season, you've got to have more than Lee Evans in the passing game, which is all they've got other than the hope Lynch will catches some passes himself.

 

I agree with Obie Wan...if waiting and patience are your strong suits, what's the big deal about having another 2-3 seasons of sub par 7-9, 8-8 seasons? If you're a fan who thinks team accountability and the playoffs are reasonable expectations you'd think otherwise.

[Ozymandius]

All this we have to get a WR who can produce now....NO WE DON'T. We don't HAVE to do anything. We don't have to make playoffs next year. We HAVE to keep building smart, and not rush things. If you can't deal with the team rebuilding from the Donahoe fiasco, thats just too bad. It takes time.

 

The Bills organization completely disagrees with you, as they themselves have said that this is a huge year for the Bills. So I guess you can't fully trust them anymore, right?

[BillnutinHouston]

If Democrats in this country are all excited about putting Hillary or Obama in the White House, then, suddenly trusting the Bills' front office because of a few mediocre weeks of offseason moves doesn't seem odd at all to me.

[Adam]

This post is pure insanity. As much as I think Lynch and Edwards will improve this season, you've got to have more than Lee Evans in the passing game, which is all they've got other than the hope Lynch will catches some passes himself.

 

I agree with Obie Wan...if waiting and patience are your strong suits, what's the big deal about having another 2-3 seasons of sub par 7-9, 8-8 seasons? If you're a fan who thinks team accountability and the playoffs are reasonable expectations you'd think otherwise.

And overreaching to fill a need is not insanity?

 

You take the best players you can get and adjust your game plan around that. Otherwise you are perpetually mediocre. If a WR is the best talent there, you take it and let him develop.

 

If Dorsey or Ellis is there, I say take him. Put either of them with Stroud, McCargo, Johnson and Williams and you have quite a group. With the decent group of DE's we have and the improving LB, we can approach dominance on defense if the secondary plays well.

 

Pair that improved defense with our special team, and you are talking about winning much of the field position battlle, which would greatly help our offense, particularly our "rookie QB"

 

Much is said about following the Giants blueprint- I really look more at Green Bay- they have terrible weather just like Buffalo and built up their defense. BUT, they really dug up a gem in Rian Grant- the undrafted RB.

 

Remenber- its not how long have you been out of the playoff, its whether you are smart enough to devise a plan to get back there- and it won't happen overnight.

 

And as far as the Bills saying that this is the big season for them......what else are they supposed to say? They want to sell tickets. They aren't a very good team that just missed they playoffs at 7-9, they are a below average team that overachieved- big difference

[Pyrite Gal]

we had the same holes last year at WR.

 

Last year's free agent plan was the same as this year's - do nothing.

 

Based on prior history of being forced into drafting specific positions - the Bills will reach for a WR at #11 who will take 3 years to become productcive - just in time for the next coach.

While clearly this team can be cited for not spending big bucks on bringing in prominent FAs, i think it actually defies reality to claim they did nothing on FA the past couple of off-seasons.

 

Specifically:

 

1. The biggest thing the Bills did on FA was to extend the contracts of their own so that this team has zero big money players commanding big contracts in FA. This no small thing and in fact involves some degree of risk as to whether the youngsters we extended well before we were forced to may not be worth a big contract. In general so far so good with the extension of Peters being the big win for the Bills.

 

2.There are reasonable arguments that they spent more on these players than they were worth, but as the market is changing with the new CBA big contracts for folks like Dockery may actually not be so far out of line with the market. The actual facts seem to be that after significant expenditures on the OL for folks like Dockery and Walker, while the OL is not a proven unstoppable force it is certainly much improved over previous models.

 

3. Not spending big on FA acquisition may not be an unreasonable strategy if we were simply not good enough in other places for a big deal acquisition to make the difference. A call for buying a player(s) to make the difference for us making the playoffs is reasonable but as this team was more than a player or two away the last couple of years blowing the wad to simply satisfy fan disappointment might be good business but probably not good football.

 

4. Perhaps the most impressive FA move by the Bills the last couple of years was their willingness to let Triplett go because they realized they made a mistake. I think that a big way FA can kill a team is that when the leadership is more interested in how they appear rather than winning.

 

The FA work is far from perfect buy is a lot more than doing nothing the last couple of years.

[obie_wan]

While clearly this team can be cited for not spending big bucks on bringing in prominent FAs, i think it actually defies reality to claim they did nothing on FA the past couple of off-seasons.

 

Specifically:

 

1. The biggest thing the Bills did on FA was to extend the contracts of their own so that this team has zero big money players commanding big contracts in FA. This no small thing and in fact involves some degree of risk as to whether the youngsters we extended well before we were forced to may not be worth a big contract. In general so far so good with the extension of Peters being the big win for the Bills.

 

2.There are reasonable arguments that they spent more on these players than they were worth, but as the market is changing with the new CBA big contracts for folks like Dockery may actually not be so far out of line with the market. The actual facts seem to be that after significant expenditures on the OL for folks like Dockery and Walker, while the OL is not a proven unstoppable force it is certainly much improved over previous models.

 

3. Not spending big on FA acquisition may not be an unreasonable strategy if we were simply not good enough in other places for a big deal acquisition to make the difference. A call for buying a player(s) to make the difference for us making the playoffs is reasonable but as this team was more than a player or two away the last couple of years blowing the wad to simply satisfy fan disappointment might be good business but probably not good football.

 

4. Perhaps the most impressive FA move by the Bills the last couple of years was their willingness to let Triplett go because they realized they made a mistake. I think that a big way FA can kill a team is that when the leadership is more interested in how they appear rather than winning.

 

The FA work is far from perfect buy is a lot more than doing nothing the last couple of years.

 

let's try to stick with the topic.

 

The Bills did nothing to fix their WR situation last year.

 

 

Can't disagree they spent megabucks to fix the OL - because they ignored it for 10 years in the draft.

[Pyrite Gal]

let's try to stick with the topic.

 

The Bills did nothing to fix their WR situation last year.

Can't disagree they spent megabucks to fix the OL - because they ignored it for 10 years in the draft.

My apologies as I thought the topic of this thread was how much to trust the front office to try to do (and to succeed in trying) the right football thing.

 

If in fact that is the topic, then summaries which are generally accurate help to do that.

 

A summary that the Bills did nothing, or that the Bills were perfect in every way may be attractive to some as these extreme views (which the internet often attracts) are easily and simply stated. Some of us prefer however, accuracy. This is difficult because nuance can often mean length (and it gets really difficult because length does not assure accuracy either).

 

However, in this case the facts seem fairly obvious. The Bills clearly did a lot more than nothing regarding FA the last two years (Do you agree?).

 

Further, it is quite arguable that the nothing they did more than was arguably smart to do (extending their own FAs cheaply like Peters or McGee) or at least has made things better though not perfect (Dockery and Walker for example).

 

The actual topic as to whether they can be trusted for FAs is answered well by a recognition that the partial successes in FA put them within spitting distance of trust and some excellent draft results the last two years (a plethora of starters drafted on teams that produced demonstrably better records than the pre-Marv Bills) put the Bills front office in the "trust but verify" zone as far as FA goes in my book.

[Dan]

My apologies as I thought the topic of this thread was how much to trust the front office to try to do (and to succeed in trying) the right football thing.

 

If in fact that is the topic, then summaries which are generally accurate help to do that.

 

A summary that the Bills did nothing, or that the Bills were perfect in every way may be attractive to some as these extreme views (which the internet often attracts) are easily and simply stated. Some of us prefer however, accuracy. This is difficult because nuance can often mean length (and it gets really difficult because length does not assure accuracy either).

 

However, in this case the facts seem fairly obvious. The Bills clearly did a lot more than nothing regarding FA the last two years (Do you agree?).

 

Further, it is quite arguable that the nothing they did more than was arguably smart to do (extending their own FAs cheaply like Peters or McGee) or at least has made things better though not perfect (Dockery and Walker for example).

 

The actual topic as to whether they can be trusted for FAs is answered well by a recognition that the partial successes in FA put them within spitting distance of trust and some excellent draft results the last two years (a plethora of starters drafted on teams that produced demonstrably better records than the pre-Marv Bills) put the Bills front office in the "trust but verify" zone as far as FA goes in my book.

You make some very good points. However, you're neglecting the primary premise of the anit-FO arguement. Yes, the FO did something in the last 2 years, but they did nothing good for the 8 years prior. For some reason, the current FO is held accountable to the decisions that were made years before they had any control over the team's acquisitions.

 

IMO, the current FO has done a very good job of rebuilding the team. We're heading into year 3 and we've had 3 solid FA periods. The team is financially in great shape. And, despite, the concerns over taking a safety, they've drafted quite well the last 2 years. They've released the attitude players (McGehee, Clements) and the aging players (Spikes, Fletcher) from the previous regime, while re-signing the players that best fit the new team (Schobel, Parish). It's nothing flashy, but its solid team building.

 

The problem, I think, is that people (1) expect immediate results and (2) don't distinguish the current FO's actions from the prevous FO's actions. For the latter, well either they get it or they don't. My guess is they don't just because it's fun to complain with little care for what you'r ecomplaining about. For the former, I attribute it to the recent trend of expecting instant gratification. When you build through the draft, as the Bills are currently doing, you have to remember that it takes several years for a rookie to develop and be a consistant contibutor. But, today, we want instant gratification. Too many people expect draft picks to produce probowl-type performances from year 1. However, the reality is just the opposite.

 

IMO, you have to judge a FO in years 3-5. We're just getting there. It takes at least 2 years to get the players that a coach wants, to install the systems that he wants, and for the players to learn those systems. So, in year 3, we should see some progress because we've had relative stability on both offense and defense as we're building. The biggest concern I have is the QB. Not because I don't trust Trent; but because Trent is only a 2nd year player and 2nd year players are often erratic and inconsistent. And, on top of that, he's playing the most important position on the field. So, the QBs inconsistent play has a way of trickling through the entire offense. Hopefully, he's got all the immeasurables that people seem to think he has, most importantly a short learning curve. Because, if so, then I truly think we're contending for a playoff spot. If not, then I'd say we have another year of falling just short.

[Trader]

While I agree, they have to address their shortcoming at WR and DB going into next season or I fear our record will remain close to the same.... Out of the playoffs.

 

I think they have a couple of alternative plans ready to go. I like the job the FO has done and I am really looking forward to the draft to see how they handle it.

[Pyrite Gal]

If Democrats in this country are all excited about putting Hillary or Obama in the White House, then, suddenly trusting the Bills' front office because of a few mediocre weeks of offseason moves doesn't seem odd at all to me.

Its not that anyone thinks the Dems are good (or even adequate) it's that they know for pretty sure based on their performance that the GOP is neither good or adequate. So too with the Bills. The Marv led drafts and the moderate FA moves so far look brilliant compared to what Donahoe achieved.