BillsfaninFl

I don't think the Bills are 2 - 3 years away from being competitive. They have already been "rebuilding" for eleven years and have done nothing in the last four months to inspire hope that they will ever be good again. They will be competitive, but not under this ownership. So my answer to your question is... The team could be good next season IF a new owner takes over and plows a lot of money into trading for half a dozen very good players. The trouble with the "Snyder Syndrome" is if you want to load the team with stars now, you would have to mortgage away its future competitiveness (draft picks). It is a very risky strategy. But if a new owner acquires the team and is dedicated to building a consistent winner in a reasonable manner, then the clock starts ticking and in 2 - 3 years the Bills would be competitive. Here's the scenario: Ralph Wilson is visited by three ghosts during the night. They convince him that he must sell the team now. A group of "white knights" buys the Bills and vows to keep them in Buffalo and get a Super Bowl. Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas give several "I told you so" speeches and there is pandemonium in western New York. The local version of the movie Groundhog Day finally ends as the fans wake up and notice something different is happening at one Bills Drive. It's fun to root for the team again (win or lose) because there is hope for the future.

A little help, please. Some of you seem to be satisfied with the direction the team is going. Please explain why. All I have seen in staff changes and player acquisitions has been underwhelming. Am I missing something?

True. The Bills defense was frequently gassed by the fourth quarter of their games, and gave up a lot of rushing yards and scores during those last 15 minutes on the clock. The blame for this rests with the offense's inability to generate more than one or two sustained drives during the game. As so many of us have said here, the O-line has to be the top priority if the team is to improve in the won/lost record. If Ralph really wants to put his money where his mouth is, fill the stands every game and win more often, he needs to trade up to get Okung. That would truly be a move in the right direction.

I agree. If Jim Kelly joined the Bills in any of the last ten years, he would not have had a hall of fame career.

I hope Davis, Edwards and our other new Bills players surprise us, but I keep getting this feeling that this is nothing more than the same procedure we have seen for a decade+. Modest free agent signings hyped up so the fans think they dramatically improve the team, then the usual excitement over whatever players are drafted, then the excuses of September and October, followed by the sad reality of November and December. I know several of you are trying to be as positive as possible about the club's offseason moves, but I am having difficulty buying into it. Minimum wage GM and coaching hires, no spending spree in free agency and no trades. But hey, give the new guys a chance to prove that they do the job. Isn't that what you told yourself several times since the late 1990s when new GMs, coaches and players came and went?

The Bills DO have their eyes on someone better than Kennedy. Unfortunately, they define better as someone less expensive.

Trading down in the first round is a good idea, with the strategy to gain more picks on the first day. The Bills have been in a youth movement for years now, and have lost some games because of too many stupid mistakes made by young players, compounded by having too many of them in the game. With a draft class that has very few potential superstars but several very good players (according to the experts), we should forego the #9 spot and trade away some of our second day draft picks to get more in the second or third round. We do not need 10 new draftees on the team. We need four or five that will actually be contributors, along with the several young guys already on the squad. Assuming the team drafts well, they will be better served with around #20 in the first and two each in the second and third rounds. After that its throwing darts hoping to get lucky. There's never any guaranteed picks, but five on the first day would be a chance to dramtically improve the roster.

Nothing is as simple as it sounds. There are many factors to consider when comparing people in trouble. I'm sure race is involved at times, along with so many other reasons people have for treating others in a variety of ways. What do you hope to accomplish by throwing out accusations that cannot be proven?

Interesting dream. To make it come true, Schobel has to decide to continue playing, Maybin would have to learn how to play linebacker, Stroud and Kennedy would have to get younger to play end and the fat NT would have to be a really good one. But hey, dreams sometimes come true. If yours does, I'll be really happy and believe everything you say in the future.

Williams is Pat Kirwin's latest mock draft selection by the Bills. He's not a reach at all.

Good point. Unfortunately, "better use" in Wilson's vocabulary means not spending it on the Bills.

If we keep lowering our expectations much further, we may actually get down to the level where we accept the Bills b.s. for another season. Some of you are already doing that. This just in: When Ralph talked about paying ten million dollars, he meant as a team budget. So he no longer should be considered a liar - just an old man who is getting senile.

Really? A fixed cap? Think about francs and lira. Some day it could cost a thousand for a loaf of bread. Rookie cap = good. A position cap or a fixed cap = bad.

Before we get too excited, let's remind ourselves that this is a right tackle that the Raiders no longer wanted. Langston Walker was a right tackle that the Raiders no longer wanted. Considering how bad their team is, how can you get revved up over raiding the Raiders?

Overdorf has the easiest job in the NFL. Spending money is Wilson's least favorite thing. So J.O. doesn't have to play games to make their payroll fit into the league guidelines. Any of us could do that job for the Bills.

Like your avatar. It made me think: what if Wilson and Davis are the same person in different diguises? I mean, has anyone seen them together? Then I answered my own question when I thought about how much Davis got when he let Gruden go to Tampa. You can say they won the Super Bowl, but they were ripped good to get a coach to stay the course for Dungy's team. On the other hand, I've got to stop drinking this cheap booze. It's making my nightmares into daymares.

Fair enough. Let's have your opinion in a couple of weeks.

Yep. Tough to do any job without the ability to make the final decision. Wow! Not a single guy from 2000, 2001 or 2002 on the roster going into next season. That's saying something when the team is as bad as the Bills. And how many of the free agents have stuck? This isn't an honest effort that didn't go well, it's stealing money from the folks in western N.Y. and pocketing the cash by not hiring good coaching and management personnel. And while some of you cling to hope that lightning will strike and a miracle will happen, we just experienced more of the same. We start each regime by saying "let's be patient - let's give these guys a chance." Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me for decades.............

I agree. I haven't seen anything that makes me think they may go after top talent. I hope I'm wrong, but I have this feeling that it will be "same old, same old." They pick up a few players who they hype as improvements, then the players play like benchwarmers. Why would an owner hire inexpensive staff if he was serious about paying for quality players? It's just Wilson, asking us to bend over again.

Three years from now there may no longer be a Buffalo Bills team. But if there is one, it will have a new GM and coach. They have been "rebuilding" for at least ten years and the team is no better than it was. In fact, there were not many years during the last decade that they looked as bad as they did in 2009. Lowering our expectations is what every new staff attempts to do, but I'm not buying it. Raising ticket prices is fine. But I expect a commensurate improvement in the entertainment to go along with it.

I offered no opinion on Buddy Nix's qualifications. My point was that all the GMs since Donahoe have had the job in name only. Ralph Wilson clearly stated that he was never going to relinquish such power to a GM again. Ralph is a meddling owner who has dragged his organization down to the NFL basement. I made the point in response to the statment that Marv did a terrible job. In other words, I'm saying that you can't judge the job that any of the three guys did/are doing because they do not have the full power that other GMs have. It's comparable to being the head coach in Oakland. Al Davis does not allow them to do well because he meddles. In my opinion, the best GM in the game right now (whomever you think that is) would not be able to do their job well in Buffalo because of Wilson.

Such venom for a hall of fame guy? Let's look at the other side of the coin. Levy was approached by Wilson after the Donahoe disaster. Wilson (if you consider his comments at the time) made himself the defacto GM. Marv was brought on to quiet the volatile situation (including fan unrest) and bring back a congenial working arrangement among the staff. Therefore, he did his job. (Actually, Levy wanted to coach, but Wilson refused.) As it became apparent later, the deal between them was that Marv do this for two seasons, then leave, which he did. Levy never really was a working GM. He was a coach wearing the GM hat. Next, we had a marketing guy wearing the GM hat and now we have a scout making believe. Ralph Wilson was and is the GM for the Buffalo Bills.

The players' startegy would be to disenfranchise the union and seek to disable the NFL's sweet deal with the government. This threat of legal recourse is their main source of power in the negotiations. So a strike is highly unlikely.

I have seen so many comments that we have hashed and rehashed the same subjects ad nauseum, that I thought I would try something different. For bragging rights, vote for the avatar you like best among your fellow posters. Use the author's name instead of describing the avatar.