GaryPinC

Hi John, I never saw any article/discussion about specific concerns raised by Mr. Wilson to DJ but would be very interested to hear them. Do you have a link or could you discuss them? Thanks, Gary P.S. Are you by any chance related to a Walt Wawrow here in Cleveland? I worked with him at a small biotech named Gliatech.

Really? How do you know that he was treated that badly by management? Certainly I agree with you in that they should have signed Peters before things got out-of-hand but management has shown the willingness to adjust the contracts of people like Schoebel and even Peters himself when he went from undrafted FA to RT. Russ Brandon even seemed to think they needed to give him a new contract. Maybe the way Peters handled the situation was completely unprofessional. Maybe multiple people in the front office had seen potential issues with Peter's dedication and effort to his job and worried that a fat new contract would turn him into a Mike Williams. ALso, seems to me JP was more concerned about the business of making the most money possible at the expense of his team, his contract, and his play on the field. I don't know how this situation all played out so how can you just blame management?

We can agree to disagree about this but I'd like to make a point or 2. I think most of us are pretty familiar with the definition of "work ethic" but since everyone likes internet references here's the definition from "free dictionary" work ethic n. A set of values based on the moral virtues of hard work and diligence. -------- Work ethic is a set of values, meaning they can change based on the situation, personal character, etc. Just because Dick Jauron runs a less physically demanding training camp doesn't mean that there is a lower work ethic on the Bills. It just means that DJ emphasizes other components of the game. But when Jason Peters comes out and says that there's a stronger work ethic in Philly because they make him run a bunch of sprints and/or is more physically demanding, that says to me that the more physical demands has led him to perceive a stronger work ethic which in turn has probably forced him to upgrade his own work ethic/values, and hence my correction to his statement. What happens to JP's work ethic over the next couple years knowing he now makes big money? I don't know, but certainly many around here have debated this issue and used it as justification why he wasn't re-signed by management.

QUOTE Mosley: How big is the difference between playing for the Bills and now playing for the Eagles? Peters: It's night and day. In Buffalo, not having a chance to get in the playoffs was pretty rough. You might get off to a strong start, but then you lose four or five in a row and you're out of it. And then I was trying to get a contract done. If you're human, that's going to affect you. Sometimes I'd be thinking about it too much. Now, I've got a chance to go to the Super Bowl. The work ethic is stronger here. There's a lot more running and conditioning. That first minicamp was a wakeup call for me. I think we ran something like 16 100-yard sprints. We didn't do that in Buffalo. I think he meant to say "MY work ethic is stronger here"

Hell yea TKO loved us. This was his quote after the San Fran/Buffalo game last year: "We actually did two days of red zone work, somewhat on Thursday and then a true red zone day on Friday," Spikes said. "He(edit: San Fran Def. Coord.) can tell us what they're going to run, but a lot of people don't tell you why they'll run it versus certain stuff. And for him to be able to put us in that position, that's the reason why we're going to be effective in the red zone. We saw that. Certain calls you're going to be able to see certain stuff." I figure he was trying to do us a huge favor by letting us know that our redzone offense was easily predictable by an opposing coach. Not that most semi-knowledgeable fans didn't strongly suspect/know that anyways. Here's the link to the story: http://www.buffalonews.com/467/story/509599.html It would be nice to have him here adding some personality on defense, I think he'd help keep those guys fired up. I agree that I'd rather have him than Ellison. TO on offense, TKO on defense would've been great.

I'd recommend following the link to the original article out of the Florida paper referenced in Chris Brown's piece. One of the more pertinent quotes: "Meanwhile, Nichols on Wednesday said a man identified as Eddie Dean Scott, 24, was arrested Tuesday after a witness told investigators Scott was walking around June 2 with his genitals exposed in the 2200 block of Southwest Monterrey Lane — the same general area where McIntyre had been accused of masturbating." I think this was more a case of mistaken identity but I do think this whole incident did happen to the lady (courtesy of Mr. Scott) so you can't charge her with filing a false report.

So, Jim Kelly's suggested a short time ago to have the team move up to Niagara Falls. He also seems confident there's enough local resources to keep the Bills in WNY. Then you have this PR out of Dallas about the Bills thinking of doing something with a new stadium, which current management strongly denies. Certainly moving the Bills up there makes it closer for the Rochester/Syracuse fans and fans in the city of Toronto. But, in thinking about it more, look at the casinos, hotels, and restaurants there. These would all have to be at drooling on some level at the prospect of having 70,000+ fans flock to the area every weekend in a slower part of the year. They could offer weekend packages, shuttles from the border, etc. Also, it would seem to me that any global business company in Toronto would already entertain overseas clients at the Falls, considering it is a world-known natural wonder. Might be able to sell them some corporate suites at the stadium, also. Anybody know/have any thoughts on whether there are deep enough pockets in Niagara Falls to help with buying the team and moving them up there? Could the stadium actually provide enough financial incentive that potential deep pockets would actually want to cough up $$$$? Do Toronto businesses/corps have enough presence in Niagara Falls to help financially support the move (both before and after)? Certainly playing a game or two a year in TO would help this scenario. Anybody know or have thoughts on whether there's any reality to this entire scenario? I'm in Cleveland and have little idea about the actual amount of $$$ there and who controls it. TIA

Here's where Rotoworld got their info from: http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2009/06/01/k...ffensive-staff/ My own take on it is that Kelly had a conversation with Van Pelt and Schonert and gave them some tips but is really not involved. I don't think Kelly is getting involved in any coaching capacity, I think he's busy enough, Drops by OBD enough to know what's going on with the team, and doesn't want to give up his life to be a coach. Also, he's smart enough not to get to involved with the current lame coaching staff, and I think the coaching staff is smart enough to know Kelly wouldn't stand for the current coaching style. He'd be screaming the skin of Jauron's face by the second play of the opening game. I would love to see him as a coach though. Seems like teams that run/have run the no-huddle have established, solid O-lines (cinci, buff, indy). Worst case with the current Bills is their offense still sucks... but differently this year.

The thing that I've always noticed about Parrish as a receiver is that once he catches a ball he starts busting all kinds of moves laterally instead of first trying to accelerate upfield. It seemed to me that he also tried to do too much of that early on as a punt returner then adjusted to running more vertically. I also agree that he doesn't seem to run the sharpest patterns either. I don't blame the Buffalo coaches for not playing him more, he really hasn't earned it IMO.

Definitely, and after getting Faneca and Woody last year they were just starting to come together. Could have a dominating year this year but you never know with new coaches. I just can't understand how Buffalo's coaches/FO let things go this way. 2 rookies, new center, couple project players that might help, only 2 returning starters are both changing positions. Seems insane especially considering coaching staff, possibly some FO jobs on the line this year. Only thing that gives me hope is the 2007 Browns when they drafted Thomas, brought in Steinbach, had a new offensive coordinator (Chudzinski) and put a hell of an O-line and offense on the field, though I think Buffalo's situation is much harder than that one. I expect Buff to lose the first 4 games and if they can keep TE and other skill players from being hurt than I'll be happy. I'd be ecstatic if they can win any of those and have any consistancy at the O-line. After that, I'm hoping they'll improve and finish strong. Hope I'm wrong and they exceed these expectations. I've read in the past that the no-huddle simplifies the O-line sets/playcalling so that may be our primary salvation for a competitive offense. Providing Walker can get his big *ss down the field.

"Replying to anyone else excited to see this new O-Line?!?!" No, I'm actually cringing. Success of an O-line hinges on their ability to perform as a unit and that typically takes 2-4 years of stable personnel and coaching to accomplish. So, if they don't succeed this season we most likely change coaching staffs and blow the whole thing up again. All that being said, Kugler seems to have a plan and I pray to God he pulls off the Hail Mary and succeeds this year with the O-line. Go Bills!

Pardon my ignorance Dean, but you write as though Marv practiced outdoors on the most inclement days. I haven't read any of Marv's books or anything so maybe you could help me out. Do you know this for sure and can you provide a reference/link? Maybe Marv would only practice outdoors when the weather would allow and took it inside when things were crappy outside? I can see both Tim and your points, but I lean towards Tim's arguments more. You never know what weather you'll get on Sunday, so do you try to struggle through practice trying to install a small portion of your gameplan or do you install your full gameplan during practice and adjust it to the weather on gameday? Biggest reason I could see for practicing outside would be adjusting the players to the outside temperature. Also, if the Bills played on natural grass maybe you could justify outdoors but that's irrelevant here. Wind and weather issues I think you try and address in the pregame warm ups on game day (run some patterns). JMHO.

I don't disagree with what you're saying, my original underlying assertion is that Leach's ability to coach the game of football isn't as important as his ability to adjust to the power structure of the NFL front office and the fact that the players are not a bunch of kids busting their butts for their school and the opportunity of the NFL. They've made it and they often earn more than the head coach, so relating to them is very different than in college. And since Leach gets floated as Jauron's replacement I am responding under that assumption, though I do respect your opinion also and agree he could probably be a pretty good offensive coordinator. As far as where I would want the plays called, that would depend on the QB. Some QB's have the ability to call their own game, some do not. Certainly the QB can pick up things on the field the offensive staff can't see/experience, but the offensive staff can see the entire field from the press box and pick up things the QB has difficulty seeing.

There are plenty of good/excellent college coaches who can't make it in the NFL (ex. Pete Carroll, Nick Saban, Butch Davis). Why this is so can be debated, some coaches just do better at the collegiate level because they are "the man" with total authority/recruiting over their program, and can appeal to the emotions of their players since it isn't all just about a fat paycheck. Mike Leach strikes me as a college coach who couldn't do it in the NFL. He's an emotional guy, and that's great in the college game. And given his unprofessional sniping and whining about the drafting of Crabtree and Harrell, I believe that even moreso. Certainly no one will know for sure until he gets an opportunity in the NFL, but personnally at this point I would cringe if Buffalo hired him to replace Jauron after this season. I think he would be something of a bad joke at this level.

As far as Jauron, I simply believe his entire coaching philosophy is based on not making mistakes and waiting for the other team to make them. In his mind, have a strong defense that doesn't make mistakes it will stop the other team and execute a basic mistake-free offense to score just enough to win. I'm sure he worships Brian Billick and the Ravens team the year they won the superbowl. I agree with the many others who have said he coaches not to lose instead of coaching to win. The entire point Jauron misses about that Ravens team is that they dictated the game with their aggressive defense whereas Dick simply tries to respond to what the other team is doing. And everybody likes him but look at Buffalo's offenses since he came here. He's had to separate coordinators, Fairchild and Schonert. Any difference in how the offense performs in terms of play calling? But somehow the players seem to blame the o-coordinators instead of the head coach. I have a personal theory that when the offense gets into the red zone Jauron starts to dictate how the play calling will go. I also think the minute the offense makes a mistake he clamps down on the playcalling also. I think a lot of their issues with clock management are because Jauron's debating/questioning Schonert. And I attribute the mental mistakes to players frustration about playing on a team with no real identity. Anyone here ever played on any team with a coach who was mostly concerned about stopping the other team and playing mistake free? That means the other team is always dictating the course of the game and your team is simply trying to respond and you end up losing most of the time. Even worse, it's a lack of faith by the coach in your team's ability to dominate and so your game day morale is crap also. Last season I got to watch the Buf/Cleveland game and that pretty much said it all. Even though Trent had a crappy game, the playcalling was decent outside the red zone, the faked punt (or was it a field goal?) was good timing. But near the end they were nursing a slim lead and DJ was in "milk the clock and pray for a long field goal" mode. Who DIDN'T know Cleveland would pull out that win? And in post game interviews Trent was quoted to the effect that Cleveland had completely changed their defense and he wasn't prepared what for what they threw at him. Right on DJ! My only hope is that RW/Brandon had a long talk with DJ about growing a pair and playing to win/dictate a game. Sadly, it's my only hope for this season.

One could also say that if he hadn't held out he would have gotten paid a lot more than he did last year, but I'm sure Jason wholeheartedly agrees with your statement.

I would agree with this. I would have to believe that if the Bills were offering 9 mil + a year and Peters would settle for 10 from them that they would have worked it out. Or maybe Buffalo was unwilling to committ that much guaranteed money. I can only hope Kugler knows his stuff as a coach cause he's got huge problems on his hands. What good is TO if TE is on his a$$ the whole time? Given the tenuous position of this head coach, Ralph's age, and if this team flops this year you're looking at regime change and blowing the whole thing up again, I have to believe the Bills would have caved to 10 mil a year but Peters wanted a good bit more and refused to budge in his demands. I definitely think this goes back to last winter and Peters/Parker were demanding top dollar from the FO and got told to F' off so nobody talked to each other and JP held out, etc. It's just depressing, I think JP has a good year this year to prove himself justified in his actions but after that I hope he gets fatter and lazy again. Now we need a miraculous OL draft pick from a FO that doesn't excel in this area. One other thing, if the OL and team sucks but Rogers signs on for another game in Toronto that would spell out the future of the Bills IMO.

Good for him, Winslow puts out max effort on the field even if he is a bit self-centered. Problem is his knee and shoulder bothered him constantly while he played with the Browns. He'll deserve all the credit in the world if he can play at a high level for 6 more years, but personally I doubt it.

All excellent points being made here and who knows how things will work out but I think what trumps everything is that this franchise/Jauron needs to win now. What good is TO if your OL is a mess? Bills coaches can talk all they want about how the OL is in decent shape, but they got rid of Dockery, Fowler, Preston, Whittle (and maybe I missed one). While I applaud the Bills for cutting these marginal guys, now you really have no depth and 2 OL positions up for grabs. Obviously Hangartner is in their plans but what if he doesn't pan out or takes some time to fit into the OL? And Bell? Even if he follows the "Peters plan" he still needs some time to develop. If they get rid of Peters that's 3 OL positions up for grabs. I think the chances of this team contending/winning with 3 changes on the OL is pretty poor. Even if you can plug those holes, what happens if somebody gets injured? I'm nervous enough about having 2 OL changes and how long it will take the new guys to gel? The Bills need to keep Peters for stability and hopefully some good play. They forced that situation by cutting Dockery. IMO you have to pay 1 of these 2 guys so it'll be Peters. Keep him this year, try to structure his contract with the underlying premise that he will be cut in the subsequent year(s) when the OL is more stable. You get Hangartner meshing this year, see how Chambers, Bell develop this year and give your drafted new talent time to develop. Next year also brings another crop of FA's.

Sometime last season TBD linked an Indiana news article talking with Hardy. (sorry, I don't feel like trying to dig up the link, it may not work anyways) He was saying that at Indiana the coaches just had them run basic routes and there was no adjustments by the receivers. Don't remember exact quotes, but it sounded like even in running an out or curl they were told to run it the same way regardless of the defense. Seems crazy considering that I was a backup TE at a podunk HS and they at least taught us to take it inside or out based on the defensive coverage. But Hardy was saying he had to learn the different nuances of adjusting each pattern to coverage while also trying to learn the offense. I'm hoping that's what he was referring to, not that he was trying to learn completely new routes.

Personnally, I don't think you can get rid of Peters. They've already flushed Dockery, if Peters goes too it would be too much shakeup on a marginal offensive line. I don't think the FO/coaching staff can afford a bunch of losses to start the season, the fans would probably burn down OBD! They need Peters on board and happy. Whether or not he gets lazy with a new contract is certainly debateable but this franchise doesn't have time to debate. I don't fault Peters asking for the new contracts over his career. His ascension to LT has been rapid and unique, to this point the Bills have gotten a good bargain out of him. IMO they should have tried to sign him right after he reported to the team and started playing. Him and the FO had their pissing match, if they had put max effort into signing him then (plus with his poor play to start the season) I think he would have been more willing to negotiate down. Bills stated they weren't going to change is 2008 salary, they could have kept it the same and compensated him with the signing bonus. Everyone would have been happy and I think they'd have gotten him at a better price. Now he's pissed and will hold out for as much money as possible. If they knew they were getting rid of Dockery I would have gotten Peters signed before doing that. That's just extra leverage for Peters. If the FO doubts Peters' committment to the game, sign a back-loaded contract with him and start trying to find his replacement. I'll always remember the Kellen Winslow situation the Browns had. He got drafted and wanted a huge amount of money (more than the guy drafted before him). The Browns gave him the $ he wanted but it was all incentive driven and non-guaranteed. After he went bike riding and f'ed up his knee the Browns owed him next to nothing. They owed him so little they actually overpaid him as a show of good faith. Certainly the agents have gotten smarter but the players haven't. If he wants the $, give it to him with incentive-laden, minimal guaranteed contract and see what he does.

I too am wondering about all the RB visits Would any of these RB's really want to come here as a #2 for a few weeks than a #3 the rest of the year? Logically, it would seem to me the Bills may be looking to move Lynch or Jackson. Maybe a trade to bolster the OL, I don't know but both would make good trade bait. The one I wonder about is Lynch. Sounds like he showed a lack of remorse from the hit and run accident, then he gets busted in a parked car with pot and a gun. Don't know if the cops ever tested him for pot (I wonder if they cut him a break because of his career), but what if the NFL did after hearing about all this? Haven't been impressed with his lack of character, but has anything else has been going on behind the scenes at OBD that never makes it to print? Maybe the front office has decided Lynch isn't worth the risk. I wouldn't be surprised if he's suspended for 8 games; 4 for behavior, 4 for drug violation. And all this is just my thoughts and probably won't come to fruition but on the other hand I certainly won't be surprised if they sign one of these RB's and ship Fred or Marshawn. Just seems like too much interest in an RB by this team. If Lynch gets a 4 game, I'd be comfortable with Jackson and Oman (or a rookie) picking up the slack till he gets back.

Just wanted to add that on top of all the other good reasons there's the fact that Jauron may not even make it through the season as HC.

Certainly the Bills could get Jackson very cheaply over the next 2 years, and on paper it would seem like a great way to go. But Jackson wouldn't be happy, and it would be a really classless move by this organization. On the other hand, what Bills fan doesn't like Fred Jackson on some level? If this organization signs Fred to a four year deal (and I tend to agree with Fred in that he hasn't played that much football for his age and has plenty left in the tank) it would at least demonstrate that this organization has the ability to act in the fans' and team's best interest. Jackson has certainly shown he can succeed and be an asset at the NFL level. He seems like a pretty reasonable guy so I'd bet his salary demands are not unreasonable. The only reason I think the Bills brought Taylor in is they're worried about Lynch suspension and a potential Jackson holdout? Other than one of them getting injured or flushing Lynch, what else could you tell Taylor? I can't see them giving up on Lynch. He's too young and too good. He does give back to the community so at this point he needs his momma to yank him by the ear and smack him around a bit. 4 game suspension also probably. What the hell are they doing with Peters? They've made their point already, it's 2009.

I think I'll have to take an extra pair of shoes with me to Ralph's next press conference (just a joke)