My analysis on why Ralph kept DJ...

[TheChimp]

Some of you were around during the late Sixties and early Seventies when there was season after season of crushing disappointment. What makes it so different now?

 

That's the point. There is NO difference. That's the !@#$ing PROBLEM. Bill Polian was the ONLY aberration from the norm of failure that Ralph has so gleefully given us, while his kids' inheritance grows by the millions every year. And Ralph FIRED Bill Polian. The guy is not an idiot. He is a thief. And he deserves to be run out of town on a post, not have so many people singing his praises. The guy brings a perennial loser to our lives and never does ANYTHING to make it competitive, and we're supposed to THANK him? Does anyone even want to discuss the possibility that, had Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. decided not to create the Buffalo Bills, that someone ELSE might very well have done it? And they might have done a better job of making it at least APPEAR that they cared what the fans wanted? Please. Buffalo was RIPE for a team, and if Ralph didn't buy one, someone else would have. So please, quit sucking his dick. Pretty sure he can't feel it at his age, anyhow.

 

Let's call your posturing what it is: sandbagging. You're publicly bitching and moaning to buy an option on the right to tell the fans "nyah nyah nyah...told you so" next season if it goes badly. If it goes well, no harm, no foul--you fade back into the crowd of elated posters and all of this will be forgotten.

 

So, THAT's what sandbagging is? Really? In any case, what you just describe US doing is exactly what I see YOU people doing, setting yourselves up to look like some kind of geniuses when the Bills finally make the playoffs, and it's YOU who, every year, disappear into the woodwork when they inevitably fail to do it. I wasn't gonna call you sandbaggers, though. Because I'm pretty sure it means something totally different.

[Alphadawg7]

You have good points above.

 

However, that has nothing to do with the awful coaching job that Jauron did this year. Bad decision after bad decision and consistant clock mismanagement have nothing to do with Pennington, Flacco, Porter, Ryan, Turner, Edwards eratic play or injuries to Bills players. Jauron made mistakes that a coach with his experience simply should

not

make.

 

Period.

 

That either is, or is not, true. If you believe that not to be true, fine. Then we agree to disagree.

 

Remember, I said I prefer Jauron to be replaced now for this very reason, this post was to examine some analysis that might have gone into retaining Jauron.

[Alphadawg7]

The difference between Crowell and Ellison is HUGE. He may be a JAG, but he is in a different class than the alternatives.

 

The DBs may be JAGS, but when the injuries pile up, and guys (other JAGs?) have to move out of their natural positions, it can make a real impact.

 

Still, injuries are part of the game, and the Bills weren't decimated by them, as they were in 2007. But, I wanted to point out that, even though the guys who were injured might not be stars, the damage done was more than their quality status might indicate.

 

Good post

 

The problem with the injuries is the lack of quality we have gotten from recent drafts. We don't have the depth to sustain such injuries.

 

Greer and Youboty were playing as a starter caliber level when they were hurt and hurt more that is believed, especially Leodis took time to develop in is DB role. Schobels injury not only hurt our pass rush, but also our run D and significantly reduced the impact of Stroud as now he drew double and triple teams.

 

Our injuries were not as bad as last year, but they were still quite significant. You don't win in this league unless you can weather injuries and field capable players which we have shown we cant do.

 

We need a true GM and better drafts.

[BillsVet]

Dean, a lot of those guys are JAGs ("just a guy"). Crowell, Greer, Reed, etc. are middle tier players who ain't that great. Look at the Chargers -- LT is a shell of himself, the best rusher in the league (Merriman) misses the season, Gates is hobbled all season, and ... I'm sure there are a bunch of Angelo Crowells on that team that I don't even know about. Half the Broncos defense went out. Big Ben in Pitt seemed to be hurt all season. The Pats lost top-tier players (Brady, Adalius Thomas, Maroney) and Richard Seymour was nowhere near healthy for the first few games.

 

One common denominator from 07 to 08 was an inability to find dependable backups at a myriad of positions. Example 1 occurred when Crowell went down. Ellison immediately became the starter, and every knowledgeable Bills fan knew this was not very good based on his play in 06 and 07. He was a 225 lb SLB taking on TE's and FB's.

 

Fortunately, neither Posluszny or Mitchell missed time, because near the end of the season Buffalo only had Costanzo, Corto, Buggs, and Teddy Lehman for depth. Corto weighs about 210, Buggs is an undersized WLB, Costanzo is a special teamer, and Lehman could never stay healthy. That's it, that was the depth at LB. No wonder they couldn't overcome one injury. 20-22M beneath the cap and they couldn't spend a little to provide depth at a position which sees plenty of injuries. Apparently the front office forgot what happened in 2007.

[Tortured Soul]

No wonder they couldn't overcome one injury.

Yeah, no wonder. If you ignore the injuries to Digiorgio and Bowen.

[KOKBILLS]

Yeah, those aristocratic season ticket holders and sunday ticket subscribers with their HUNDREDS of dollars of disposable income! Who do they think they are threatening to withhold payment to Ralph Wilson? You are laughably pathetic. You do realize that those embarrassingly rich fans are the people who make it possible for you to watch the Buffalo Bills for free in your comfy chair, don't you? We get enough of curmudgeonese from Ralph, save it for your fellow broken souls.

 

Thank You BADOL! I could not have possibly responded to that garbage he posted better...

 

/deepbow

[DrFishfinder]

Remember, I said I prefer Jauron to be replaced now for this very reason, this post was to examine some analysis that might have gone into retaining Jauron.

I understand. If anyone has any insights as to the actual analysis or process that Ralph and staff used to make that decision, we would all be interested to hear it. I doubt we will ever put that particular issue to bed.

[TheLynchTrain]

1.) Continuity is great - but you get that by deciding on a coach you want long-term and keeping him long-term, not dragging out the process with a coach who has clearly shown himself not to be a solution.

 

2.) It's not a coincidence that we started playing much worse after we lost talent, sure. Schobel would have helped a lot in the stretch there. But every team has injuries, and ours weren't worse than average. You gotta win despite injuries, not take a year off every time you lose a quality lineman.

 

3.) Which circles? People like him, but I have heard few commentors say anything better than "his players respect him and work hard"

 

4.) Yes. It would be expensive to fire him. It's also expensive to field a successful football team. I'll bet Jauron makes half as much as Kelsay over the rest of hteir contracts. If he cut Kelsay and put the money to a new coach, then we'd be well ahead of where we are now.

 

5.) Trent did regress and JP played awfully. It's 100% Jauron's job and that of his staff to make sure that THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN.

 

6.) If Ralph has a plan to bring in Cowher after next season, all is forgiven.

 

7.) You said injuries already. Every team has injuries - it's how the game works.

 

Actually, Kelsay makes as much as Jauron in one year...4 years 24 mil....gulp

[The Dean]

Yeah, no wonder. If you ignore the injuries to Digiorgio and Bowen.

 

 

Indeed. In point of fact (at least fact IMO) the Bills have better depth at LB now, than they did in 2005.

[WOFTT]

I think Ralph took one look at next seasons schedule and thought "Dang, I can really fire him after that season" and decided to wait.

 

I see a three win season coming up. We might be able to beat the Jets though if Brett doesn't come back. Hopefully Tebow spends another season in Florida and he'll be available in the 2010 draft. He will be an NFL stud from day one if you can get him to run a little less but always be a threat.

[Alphadawg7]

Hopefully Tebow spends another season in Florida and he'll be available in the 2010 draft. He will be an NFL stud from day one if you can get him to run a little less but always be a threat.

 

Huh? I can't decide if you are being funny or serious...if you are being serious, then I will bet you a $1 that Tebow never makes a pro bowl in the NFL...

[granitestatebillsbackers]

Yeah, those aristocratic season ticket holders and sunday ticket subscribers with their HUNDREDS of dollars of disposable income! Who do they think they are threatening to withhold payment to Ralph Wilson? You are laughably pathetic. You do realize that those embarrassingly rich fans are the people who make it possible for you to watch the Buffalo Bills for free in your comfy chair, don't you? We get enough of curmudgeonese from Ralph, save it for your fellow broken souls.

 

I subscribe to Sunday Ticket, and I am hardly aristocratic--oh wait, that was your term, not mine. As for my being "laughably pathetic," I'd reserve that label for the geniuses who have characterized fans who refuse to showboat and threaten to cancel EVERYTHING as suffering from "beaten wife syndrome," or your clever reference to "broken souls," whatever that means. Another poster--Dr. Chimp, Mr. Chimp, The Chimp, whatever--suggested that I stop sucking Ralph Wilson's dick. Nothing affirms a poster's credibility more than resorting to that kind of thoughtful, intellectual response.

[mjohns85]

Here is my opinnion and analysis on what's going on with Ralph bringing DJ back. I still prefer to replace DJ now, but keeping isn't as crazy as our record suggest and does make some sense when you look at the bigger picture.

 

1. He is right on the money about a young team needing continuity (doesn't mean DJ and co. are the answer, but you don't develop young talent with constant change).

 

2. We had shown some improvements before our slide which coincidentally was about the time we started losing quality players to injury (Greer, Schobel, Youboty, Trent, Reed, etc.) which greatly contributed to our slide and inconsistentcy.

 

3. DJ, believe it or not, is still considered to be a pretty good coach in the NFL circle.

 

4. Ralph signed him to the extension already, so pulling the plug on him is going to be expensive at this point.

 

5. Troubles and inconsistency at QB greatly contributed to the demise of our season and we have a young QB who also missed time due to injury. This was the biggest reason for our fall from grace, not DJ. When Trent began to struggle he started to regress big time...hard to win in this league when your QB is timid to throw downfield.

 

6. There are some top coaching candidates available right now, but it is very possible that next off season will have several elite coaching candidates available as well: Holmgren plans to take 1 year off, Cowher emphatically stated he does NOT want to coach this next year until his daughter graduates (and his top 2 chocies to coach won't be available likely next year Jets and Browns), Shannahan likely takes one season off, Mariucci and Billick could also still be there, etc. Add Andy Reid too to that mix as I think he is back next year, but it might be his last unless Philly has a real strong season.

 

7. This team dealt with injury's to a lot key players on both D Line and O Line, QB, the secondary and LB positions. We didn't have the depth to overcome that.

 

So, when you add up all the variables, it makes some sense to give DJ one year to try and rebound. If he falters next year (which very well could happen with what appears to be a tough schedule next season) there will be some Elite coaches available and likely quite a bit fewer job openings than this season increasing our odds to land one.

 

 

I THINK #4 HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD