The thing that impresses me most about this Bills crew

[Pyrite Gal]

I'm a big believer in the sense that a good team needs both "adult" leadership from the coaches and team braintrust but also on the field leadership from players who can credibly say they have been there before.

 

This was one of the areas where I felt the Marv design/Jauron implemented Bills teams were lacking. I agreed with the moves to let quality guys like Flech and legit Pro Bowlers like TKO go. I still feel these players had something left, but unfortunately they were on the downhill side of their careers and by the time the Bills rebuilt they would be beyond productivity. It seemed best to say thanks but adios as these players would merely soak up valuable PT from youngsters.

 

To make matters worse, the end of the TD era saw the Bills invest heavily in youngsters like Willis and JP and it was turning out that though he is a vey good runner, WM ain't never gonna be a team leader and the Bills were attempting to mold JP into something he likely would never be (IMHO he is an outstanding athlete who can be productive improvising, but this is not the Bills O game which demands a level of discipline that simply is not JPs best game).

 

The Bills cut ties with the past incredibly quickly and in my lesser moments I feared we would go off into the rebuilding wasteland for a number of years.

 

However. it seems clear to this watcher that a tremendous amount of credit is due to both Marv and Jauron and the management team they have built.

 

A. While it is still to early to make a final judgment even on their first draft (and this year after 4 games there is little rational to say) Whitner, Youbouty, Lynch, Pos, Edwards give the Bills 5 consistent contributors from their first 6 day 1 choices (Youbouty is the biggest stretch here as this is treating the nickel more like a starter). Even the Mccargo pick though disappointing for a 1st rounder is a contributor to the rotation.

 

B. FA has been used to solidify the OL (not even very good yet but definitely good with potential IMHO) and fill in with spot players who play clear roles. They also have extended players such that the major stress is not to sign or lose players immediately but situations like Evans where there is a demand for action but not immediate demand.

 

Most impressive to me is that they seem to have put this transition in place while not going through the traditional total wasteland of rebuilding which would have seen us put up something like a 3-13 mark with the initial deck clearing but we remained at least mathematically in the playoff hunt until the next to last week.

 

We have not done it yet at all so no mission accomplished foolishness, but definitely with a young roster and a credible attempt at getting folks into the right slots for onfield leadership (Whitner needs to make a Pro Bowl to firm his leadership status, Mitchell will need to play a role as someone who has been there before, Edwards needs to keep accomplishing growth in the same pattern and rate) and this will be good

 

The future's so bright I gotta wear shades.