Season optimism vs. reality

[odon59]

I posted this on another thread and it got some positive feedback, so I thought I would share it with everyone.

 

I want to be optimistic too, and I agree with the previous analyses about the young players performance last night. Here's the problem - most games in the NFL are close, yet some teams win consistently and others lose consistently. Guess which one the Bills are? Last night wasn't about talent, and most NFL games are not decided on talent because there is too much parity in the league. Go position by position - the pats are clear cut winners at QB, nose tackle, and probably LT. On the flip side, the Bills have better "talent" at RB and DB. A lot of the other positions are pretty much even.

 

The difference is coaching and players playing smart football. The Pats players are COACHED to do things like rip the ball out if you're the second guy in on a tackle, and they also happen to have the presence of mind to actually do it in important situations. Likewise, Mckelvin wasn't COACHED to do the smart thing, or atleast he didn't have the football smarts to do it. He's clearly a superior athlete to the Pats return men, but his decision making was bad and it cost the Bills the game.

 

Take the 3 close games this past weekend: Denver/Cinci, Buffalo/NE, and San Diego/Oakland. The perennial winners won and the bumbling Bills, Bengals, and Raiders lost. Coincidence? I think not. All the winning teams have superior coaching and players that play smart football.

 

Sorry for rambling, and again I really hope the great performances of the young guys is evidence of things to come this season. But honestly, I don't think their culture of losing will change until superior coaching is brought in. It's been said before, but this past weekend really exemplified that theory.

[NewHampshireBillsFan]

I posted this on another thread and it got some positive feedback, so I thought I would share it with everyone.

 

I want to be optimistic too, and I agree with the previous analyses about the young players performance last night. Here's the problem - most games in the NFL are close, yet some teams win consistently and others lose consistently. Guess which one the Bills are? Last night wasn't about talent, and most NFL games are not decided on talent because there is too much parity in the league. Go position by position - the pats are clear cut winners at QB, nose tackle, and probably LT. On the flip side, the Bills have better "talent" at RB and DB. A lot of the other positions are pretty much even.

 

The difference is coaching and players playing smart football. The Pats players are COACHED to do things like rip the ball out if you're the second guy in on a tackle, and they also happen to have the presence of mind to actually do it in important situations. Likewise, Mckelvin wasn't COACHED to do the smart thing, or atleast he didn't have the football smarts to do it. He's clearly a superior athlete to the Pats return men, but his decision making was bad and it cost the Bills the game.

 

Take the 3 close games this past weekend: Denver/Cinci, Buffalo/NE, and San Diego/Oakland. The perennial winners won and the bumbling Bills, Bengals, and Raiders lost. Coincidence? I think not. All the winning teams have superior coaching and players that play smart football.

 

That is why Parcells's famous statement is so true: "your record is what it is". The Pats* are 1-0, the Bills 0-1. I guess the good news is there are 15 games to go and the Bills may win quite a few, if they start to minimize stupid loser mistakes like not protecting the ball on a KO return. Not doing anything stupid to lose a game is a lot more important than doing something brilliant to win a game.

 

Sorry for rambling, and again I really hope the great performances of the young guys is evidence of things to come this season. But honestly, I don't think their culture of losing will change until superior coaching is brought in. It's been said before, but this past weekend really exemplified that theory.

 

We need to change the culture of losing. What Parcells said is so true in football: "your record is what it is". There are no excuses or moral victories. It is also a lot worse to lose a game by idiotically trying to get one more yard and fumbling than for another team to go 80 yards in a couple of minutes and win against you. Losing by stupidity is much worse than losing in any other way.

[Hsp08]

I posted this on another thread and it got some positive feedback, so I thought I would share it with everyone.

 

I want to be optimistic too, and I agree with the previous analyses about the young players performance last night. Here's the problem - most games in the NFL are close, yet some teams win consistently and others lose consistently. Guess which one the Bills are? Last night wasn't about talent, and most NFL games are not decided on talent because there is too much parity in the league. Go position by position - the pats are clear cut winners at QB, nose tackle, and probably LT. On the flip side, the Bills have better "talent" at RB and DB. A lot of the other positions are pretty much even.

 

The difference is coaching and players playing smart football. The Pats players are COACHED to do things like rip the ball out if you're the second guy in on a tackle, and they also happen to have the presence of mind to actually do it in important situations. Likewise, Mckelvin wasn't COACHED to do the smart thing, or atleast he didn't have the football smarts to do it. He's clearly a superior athlete to the Pats return men, but his decision making was bad and it cost the Bills the game.

 

Take the 3 close games this past weekend: Denver/Cinci, Buffalo/NE, and San Diego/Oakland. The perennial winners won and the bumbling Bills, Bengals, and Raiders lost. Coincidence? I think not. All the winning teams have superior coaching and players that play smart football.

 

Sorry for rambling, and again I really hope the great performances of the young guys is evidence of things to come this season. But honestly, I don't think their culture of losing will change until superior coaching is brought in. It's been said before, but this past weekend really exemplified that theory.

 

 

Sad but true. For Mckelvin to say he would run it out again if had an another chance really ticks me off. Selfish & product of bad coaching.

 

Like you said, this losing starts from the top down...and Jauron needs to go ASAP.

[Jerry Jabber]

The reality is, the Bills looked better than advertised. Majority of the country, including Bills fans expected us to get blown out. The last time we played the Brady led Patriots, we got destroyed 56-10. We're winning the game for the majority of it. The loss sucks big time, but we have reason to believe that we will be a better team. I do agree that coaching is a big reason why we haven't won as many games as should have. Jauron usually costs us 2 to 3 games a year. But I put this one on McKelvin. Mckelvin tried being a hero and it cost us the game.

[Clippers of Nfl]

Sad but true. For Mckelvin to say he would run it out again if had an another chance really ticks me off. Selfish & product of bad coaching.

 

Like you said, this losing starts from the top down...and Jauron needs to go ASAP.

 

 

these kind of posts get on my nerves sometimes. i agree mckelvins fumble at the wrong place and time cost us the game, but get rid of jauron???? what does jauron have to do with THIS PLAY? what if mckelvin ran it all the way back for a score? game would be pretty much over even in a prevent defense. anyway i am mad like everyone else.

 

go (great effort) bills!

[GrudginglyOptimistic]

Like you said, this losing starts from the top down...and Jauron needs to go ASAP.

Last I checked the top was not the HC but is an involved owner (which Mr. Ralph clearly is) or perhaps you want to recognize that the top of the modern NFL team is the GM if the owner delegates authority to them.

 

Certainly, the HC bears primary responsibility for the onfield issues of a given week (for example when Joe Gibbs made a stupid mistake last year which allowed even the lowly Bills and Jauron to beat them it was on Gibbs rather than Snider who is quite the active owner).

 

However, it strikes me as flat out ignorant to think that merely by replacing Jauron you are gonna make The or even A big difference for a Bills team which is 0 for the decade in terms of playoff appearances.

 

Jauron deserves complete blame for being a mediocre HC who has reeled off three straight 7-9 seasons (and after surprisingly efficient performance for 55 or so minutes last night and 5 minutes of the most horrible football I have seen in a while) he seems well on his way to another mediocre season.

 

However, it is beyond me how you want to blame Jauron for the first seven years of their 0 for the decade performance when clearly it is THE PROBLEM this team needs to address.

 

Firing Jauron is not even a good start on this task and smacks completely of rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic.

 

The starting point seems to be to be loudly and consistently calling for Mr. Ralph to hire a demonstrated great W/L guy as the GM and then that football guru being given the latitude which Polian was given to build a winner is a far more intelligent step than merely shipping oit Jauron so we can hire the next Mile Mularkey or GW on the cheap.

[Hsp08]

these kind of posts get on my nerves sometimes. i agree mckelvins fumble at the wrong place and time cost us the game, but get rid of jauron???? what does jauron have to do with THIS PLAY? what if mckelvin ran it all the way back for a score? game would be pretty much over even in a prevent defense. anyway i am mad like everyone else.

 

go (great effort) bills!

 

 

You think Jauron is the right coach to take us to the promised land? Nice guy and all but don't think so. I was talking more about WINNING attitude which the Bills currently lack. And yes, I blame a whole lot of it on coaching.

 

Stupid mistakes at critical times time after time...lack of good coaching.

 

What are the odds of McKelvin taking it all the way? Play the percentages and let the offense do it's thing eating up the clock and hopefully taking it in for a minimum field goal. Basic football to me.

[Hsp08]

Last I checked the top was not the HC but is an involved owner (which Mr. Ralph clearly is) or perhaps you want to recognize that the top of the modern NFL team is the GM if the owner delegates authority to them.

 

Certainly, the HC bears primary responsibility for the onfield issues of a given week (for example when Joe Gibbs made a stupid mistake last year which allowed even the lowly Bills and Jauron to beat them it was on Gibbs rather than Snider who is quite the active owner).

 

However, it strikes me as flat out ignorant to think that merely by replacing Jauron you are gonna make The or even A big difference for a Bills team which is 0 for the decade in terms of playoff appearances.

 

Jauron deserves complete blame for being a mediocre HC who has reeled off three straight 7-9 seasons (and after surprisingly efficient performance for 55 or so minutes last night and 5 minutes of the most horrible football I have seen in a while) he seems well on his way to another mediocre season.

 

However, it is beyond me how you want to blame Jauron for the first seven years of their 0 for the decade performance when clearly it is THE PROBLEM this team needs to address.

 

Firing Jauron is not even a good start on this task and smacks completely of rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic.

 

The starting point seems to be to be loudly and consistently calling for Mr. Ralph to hire a demonstrated great W/L guy as the GM and then that football guru being given the latitude which Polian was given to build a winner is a far more intelligent step than merely shipping oit Jauron so we can hire the next Mile Mularkey or GW on the cheap.

 

Like I said from Top down...and INCLUDES Jauron. I agree just changing the HC is not the answer.

[odon59]

Yes we've had a decade of mediocrity and Jauron is only responsible for the last 3 years. However, the common thread is bad coaching which we've gotten out of Williams, Mularkey and now Jauron. The front office is responsible for putting talent on the field, which I honestly think we have. What we need is better coaching. Just my thoughts...

[MattF2000]

I really can't fault Jauron at all on this one. Do you people honestly think the Bills coaches are so stupid that we don't teach our guys to strip the ball late in the game or fall down instead of fighting for an extra yard in this type of situation? This stuff is taught at the Pop Warner level.. Lets be serious. Jauron having the team prepared to win a game at New England in the first game with Brady back. Although I do wonder what took so long to get rid of Turk and Walker, I have to commend him for finally making some bold moves. Regardless of what you think of the no-huddle, I commend Jauron for trying something new as well. He's shaking things up and atleast trying to change things from being status quo.. Whether it works or not we'll find out.

 

I am by no means a huge fan of Jauron. I would like Cowher, Shanahan, or Gruden as our coach as well. But I can't blame Jauron on this one. Now what he needs to do is get this team ready for a win at home against Tampa.. It is the coaches job to make sure a team forgets about this game and is prepared for the next.

 

Go Bills

[deep2evans]

I think that's a pretty good post. While all of us do not watch EVERY single regular season game throughout the league, the Denver and Dallas games from '07, the Cleveland and NYJ games from '08, and last night, were 5 of the worst losses I've ever seen. Someone tell me what the common denominator is. There HAS to be something to it...

[stuckincincy]

"Never give up! Never surrender!"

 

[GrudginglyOptimistic]

You think Jauron is the right coach to take us to the promised land? Nice guy and all but don't think so. I was talking more about WINNING attitude which the Bills currently lack. And yes, I blame a whole lot of it on coaching.

 

Stupid mistakes at critical times time after time...lack of good coaching.

 

What are the odds of McKelvin taking it all the way? Play the percentages and let the offense do it's thing eating up the clock and hopefully taking it in for a minimum field goal. Basic football to me.

Agreed Jauron is not the right coach for us, but again why is firing Jauron more than simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

 

I do not think anyone can credibly argue that Jauron is anything more than 7-9 mediocre. However, it seems equally silly to call for his canning as though this would change anything when the problem is why this team is 0 for the decade and Jauron bears blame for only 3 years of this decade of disaster.

 

If folks want to argue that Jauron should be fired because we need a fruitless act that does little to address the real issues, then fine. On the other hand if someone wants to advocate a real step toward changing the problems that have made even the mediocrity of Jauron an improvement over what we had before then I am all eyes and ears.

[BillsVet]

Jauron is the common denominator in some of the most humiliating regular season losses in franchise history. DJ's teams have lost 3 times on MNF in three tries, and there are other losses which make one wonder what DJ is doing.

 

A HC supervises the gameplan, as well as adapting that to what the other team does. I've never seen DJ adapt to his opponent, primarily because he believes in out-executing the other team.

 

Furthermore, DJ insists on running the T2. Anyone who knows a shred about that defense knows where the soft-spots are in it. Anyone who remembers the Indy game in 06 can see the similarities to what Manning did in that game and Brady did last night. Neither one tried to go deep, even though they're both good at it, but rather took the 5-10 yard gains all night long.

 

The players may have changed, but the results have not. DJ coached teams, despite the fact the HC doesn't play, end up with the same result. It is no coincidence bad teams lose close games.