LGB

Why would Marrone hire anyone with more experience than he has and be a threat to take his job. No, expect similiar hires accross the board where Bills players will think they just regressed back to a college program. The excuses will be: 1) Well this is a staff with limited NFL game day experience (they need more time to learn on the job/transition to the NFL) 2) They need to put their own players in place (like has been done every three years) 3) They need more time to develop their players or learn the new system (can't make lemonade out of lemons) 4) "This mess didn't happen overnight and we are going to need more time to fix it". (throw in an apology or two from the last coaching hire)

Thanks for the information...guess we will have to wait and see if an agreement gets signed or not...and if an "agreement in principal" was Sully's editorializing or Brandon speaking. Also, "dynamic" might mean that Brandon thinks Marrone is a dynamic person/coach or that signing him to a deal is (like the deal is up in the air).

Is there a link to where Brandon says there is an agreement in principal or anything along those lines after 10:30 because that is when Brandon tells Sal that Marrone is still a candidate elsewhere. Sorry if my facts are dated...or wasn't paying attention as someone suggested.

There is a screen shot of the tweet from Sal on the second page of that article...10:30 Jan 6...

For most of the morning, the story was how Marrone was the new coach, now it is a different story: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20130106/SPORTS03/130106006/Russ-Brandon-Doug-Marrone-not-our-coach-yet

There is a difference between a deal being signed and someone saying they would like to coach the Bills. If Brandon was worth his salt as president, he would have corrected the story about Marrone being the next Bills coach earlier than he did today, but as a PR guy, he let the story take some legs and now the so called "league sources" and reporters are left hanging in the wind with egg on their faces as Marrone is out fielding other offers.

It wouldn't be a surprise if they played at least an exhibition game there - but that might expand the television blackout area.

Right, Dwight Freeney and Marvin Harrison would have also looked good in a Bills uniform.

Haven't used ingore in while, but it still works well.

...this story is no different than Chip Kelly and the Browns...deal is mostly done, but not really because there are other offers still pending?

...this is starting to look like Chip Kelly and the Browns - nothing official yet.

Who are the "league sources" that leak this information anyway? Now you have this news item that the Bills have a new coach - BUT not really? So it could be they agreed in principal and now it is up to the details like money and control - which likely won't be much coming from the Bills and could blow this thing up.

Its on NFL.com and appears to fit the Bills criteria: someone that does not demand much money and will not be allowed to have much control. Brandon must think he can market this guy, but at best, he seems like a poor man's Chip Kelly.

Seriously, is he being considered as an NFL coordinator (how is he magically an NFL caliber coach - unless this is the cheapest option) ??

In a nutshell: W L Playoffs Avg, 10 22 0 .313 NFL = Not For Long -- if you are not getting it done (yeah that means you CHINX) Another 3 yrs and out ride on the coaching carousel?

Drew Brees is still unsigned...

Not sure about how much better the Pats are, but the Bills should be forming a team that can take on anything that NE tries to develop. Historically, this has meant that we need to put some pressure on Brady, but with NE TEs and underneath patterns (Welker), watch for the Bills to try to shore up the weak areas that have netted multiple first downs with short passes from Brady (hopefully better pressure on the QB with Mario along with better LB and CB from the bills in 2012). As important as anything will be the ability to stay healthy - which the Bills have experienced somewhat bad results during the CHINX years.

i agree that there is probably an all-in mentality that was rolled into the glaring DE need. This also smells of a little of desperation in that CHIX will be pressured this year to show some improvement - or will face the same consequences as previous staffs that have not been able to produce a winning product over the course of three years. here's hoping that Williams contributes and $100 million pays off for the Bills in the form of some post-season appearances.

Just because Nix flew down to pick up Williams does not mean he is a great GM. The ability to actually improve the team as a whole should be the measure of a good GM. Reality check: this will likely be the last year of CHIX - if there are no signs of improvement. Just look at the last few Bills staffs that are shown the exit after three years. Mario might be a great addition to the Bills, but at what cost when there are so many other needs. This might turn out to be a big PR move that was made - because the bottom line is if nobody is signed: that is not "gittin' it done Buddy".

We need a punishing back to wear out the defense move the chains and punch it in to the end zone from a few yards out, but Jacobs is almost 30 yrs old and while punishing opposing defenses, it has taken a toll on him as well.

- sounds like the hawks coaching staff must have done something right - as well as Lynch finally showing some maturity: "Lynch rushed for 1,204 yards and 12 touchdowns last season and embodied the attitude head coach Pete Carroll wanted the rest of his roster to emulate. Lynch also showed a maturity this season that might have been absent in the past. He sat down with assistant head coach Tom Cable to ask what he could do as a back to become more productive. The result was six 100-yard games over the final nine weeks. In the three games during which Lynch failed to top 100 yards, he rushed for more than 80 twice and had two touchdowns rushing the other time as the Seahawks won five of their final eight games and made a late surge for playoff spot."

For the first 7 games Fitz passer rating was 98.4 and the Bills had a record of 5-2 - but Fitz was just terrible down the stretch – throwing 17 ints to 10 TDs with a passer rating of 65.2. Yep his pass attempts were high because the Bills were usually playing from behind - as they lost 8 out of their last 9 games. There are many things that CHIX needs to fix and the Bills player personnel department did not do their job because all NFL teams experience injuries and the Bills had no depth. Don't worry though because the Bills staff historically only gets a maximum of three years (since Marv) to turn things around and we will likely get to see a whole new cast of characters soon enough. If you cannot improve on Jauron's record (and actually perform worse), too many fans will leave and the staff will likely be gone to stop the bleeding.

The real story here is that Marv Levy was contacted as a possible replacement to Caldwell, but since Marv did not have his hearing aids in, he did not hear the call. ...in other news, offensive line coach Pete Metzelaars and wide receivers coach Frank Reich were released today a source with knowledge of the situation said. Those moves are likely to be followed by others on the coaching staffafter head coach Jim Caldwell was fired on Tuesday.

It is more wrong than right to think that in general a successful football team does not need a QB with first round qualities. Losing 7 games straight with a passer rating of 65% (after the skins game) does not seem very helpful (17 ints to 10 TDs). Fitz might be okay next year, but the Bills would be smart to bring in someone in with at least the same (hopefully better) skills to provide competition, continuity (if an injury occurs) or just plain help if Fitz becomes inept again. Also: If Fitz was not affected by that hit, then he has shown himself to be a half-season QB with not much upside. It is not like he is that football smart or has a rocket arm – or is all that accurate - throwing 16 ints in the last 9 games. How important is having a competent backup QB? Just ask GM Bill Polian (recently fired by the Colts) who said in an interview after his exit that his biggest mistake was not having someone to replace Payton Manning.

Seems like OT is a whole new game, but if you did suckerpunch the ref, you would be kicked out of the game and the other team might be allowed to move closer to the kicking team - after they were backed up.