All_Pro_Bills

It is absolutely pure conjecture but its being talked about because Beckham had an amazing rookie season while the numbers Watkins put up while good, paled in comparison. There's no question Beckham had a better rookie campaign and looks like the best receiver of the draft class after one season. So the debate is would the Bills have been better off taking Beckham at #9 and keeping this years 1st round choice? After one season the raw numbers imply the answer is 'yes'. But one season does not a career make. You can argue that circumstances and situations being different there's absolutely no possibility that Beckham would have put up anything close to what he did if he was playing in the Bills 2014 offense. And inversely, you could argue that putting Watkins in an offensive system that focused on getting the ball to the wideouts run by a two-time Super Bowl QB would have generated much better stats than Sammy was able to under the Bills offensive system with Manuel and Orton running the offense with play calling from Hackett. And playing a schedule where you faced of 7 of the top 10 pass defenses in the league where the Giants faced 2 of the 10 and lost both games.

This story about Marrone being displeased with the Watkins pick and storming out of the draft room is revisionist history created and communicated by the Marrone ‘camp’ with a purpose of portraying Doug as a sort of victim here. Highlighting the 'poor hand' he was dealt by the GM and at the same time showing what an amazing job he did this season. Imagine what he could have done if he had a front office that could actually get him the players he wanted? 9-7 with the completely untalented team the GM assembled (like 3 pro bowl defensive lineman) was nothing short of a miracle. Pure drama.

I suspect if the Jets don't take the bait and jump on hiring Marrone quickly he may sit for a while here.

A few days ago I watch the top 10 single rushing seasons on the NFL Network. OJ's 2003 yard performance was rated #1. They didn't say the guy had the greatest single season of any running back that ever played in the NFL but since he got in trouble with the law after his retirement we're not going to make him #1. Same thing with the Wall. He was put up there for what he did as a Bill and nothing else. Sure guy turned out to be a dirtbag but that doesn't diminish what he did on the field and he's never going to be a candidate for sainthood.

Translated - what Polian says is that Whaley didn't listen to Marrone and he did the best he could with the cast of misfits Whaley gave him and what happened wasn't Marrone's fault. In most places I think it works the other way. The GM calls the shots and the HC works with the players provided. This isn't college where coaches do the recuiting, its the pro's. This is a lame excuse by Marrone delivered by Polian. Funny we didn't see any impact on the performance of the defense or special teams, just the offense. His area of expertise. A good coach works with what he has and adapts to the constaints and conditions including the players around him and its a head scratcher why people think Marrone is some kind of amazing coach when his lifetime record Syracuse/Buffalo is below .500.

I see the glass half-full here not half empty. The circumstances of the off season to date do not require a rebuild. This is a reload at most. The defense and FG's carried this team all season. With the exception of the status of Jerry Hughes returning this group should return pretty much in tact. In his two seasons Marrone had Pettine and Schwartz, two very good DC's so this freed up his time to focus on the other aspects of his job. The offense was terrible and regressed in 2014, 26th in total yards, 25th in rushing, and 18th in passing. Hackett was in way over his head and lacks the experience and competency to be an NFL level OC at this point in his career. And Marrone let his personal relationship with Hackett cloud his judgment. In my view losing Hackett is a plus. I'm confident any new HC is going to bring in somebody better and my expectation is significant improvement. Polian was supposed to be brought in as an advisor but as information trickles in it sounds like he already had his mind made up with talk of bringing AJ Smith back. So much for taking the time to sit down and gather information, interview people in the organization, understand the current philosophy. This is a disaster averted, another plus. Also expect to see Ralph's cronnies gone too along with the dysfunction and conflict they generate. That has got to be a plus. The organization will emerge this off season with one goal, one mind, one plan. The big question is QB and that would have been whether or not Marrone stay, whether or not Polian came on boards. Did they have some secret plan that Whaley, Pegula, and the new HC could not have come up with? Not likely. Marrone leaving and Polian not coming has been the best thing to happen so far this off season for the Bills. Addition by substraction. Now if TP would get rid of Ralph's cronnies it would be 3 for 3..

Whaley's done a credible job to this point and he's only been calling the shots as GM for a short time. And I don't understand all the love for Polian. Sure, he built the team of the 90's but that was more than 20 years ago. As an older fan I enjoyed those best of times for the Bills but as far as I'm concerned he's yesterday's news. As for Whaley, with the exception of Manuel, and its a big exception which I never understood the choice, he's done a good job. And Marrone opting out and allegedly shooting his mouth off - looking at the big picture no great loss. If true, I suspect this type of behavior is going to raise some red flags with a lot of perspective teams owners. You pay a guy $4M in severence the least he can do is use a little common sense and leave with a little grace and dignity.

I support this as one good option with the exception of considering Donnie Henderson as DC because he's had some experience at the coordinator job. The defense carried this team and the stat show it. This team needs a sharp OC that can game plan and design plays specific to the ability of the players and not some elementary college offensive system that Marrone and Hackett were too stuborn to dump. I'm for keeping Whaley too. I don't think his performance is a problem here. In 2 games the offense scored no TD's In 5 games the offense scored 1 TD In 5 games the offense scored 2 TD's In 4 games the offense scored 3 or more TD's and 2 of those were against the Jets. The other 2, NE, and Denver were losses.

You have to view this as an opportunity rather than a disaster. You had a meglomaniac coach try to leverage and squeeze consessions from a new owner. The owner said no, so the coach had no choice but t exercise his exit clause. Now a 72 year old former GM sees the job as too challenging and declines the offer. Who can blame him? If anything I wonder why Pegula should have considered Polian in the first place. In the end the Bills will end up better and stronger this off season. Because the position in attractive to most of the top candidates for HC openings. The big reason, is the same reason Marrone left, money. You've got the 3rd or 4th wealthiest owner in the league that is not afraid to spend and will give a new coach more or less unlimited resources to get the job done. What HC candidate could ask for more?

The Bills would have to give him permission to speak to other teams. If Marrone wants him he could offer him an assistant HC job and that promotion would generally allow him to move elsewhere. If I was the Bills I'd try to squeeze a 6th or 7th rounder out of the Jets for the fun of it. Just to mess with Marrone if he wants Hackett so badly. But on the other hand, letting him go more or less guarantees the Jets offense will be horrible. The other option is for Pegula to just eat the contract, let him sit at home, and hire another OC. One thing for sure, we don't want Hackett here in 2015 no matter what.

He has several interview scheduled. His agent is doing a fantastic job of selling his client. I can't wait to see which team takes the bait. You have to assume any part of the package Doug demands will include bringing Hackett along. It might be the Jets. Woody Johnson is being advised by Charley Casserly, someone I consider to be a failure as a GM with a series of failed drafts in Washington and Houston and a guy that carried his predessors work to a SB. But Charlie just loves Marrone. Go figure! In a sadistic way I hope he does get the Jet job. It will be fun to watch a guy that had trouble with the Bills press corps explain his stupid in-game decision making to the NYC press. That along with seeing the Bills defense throw around Hacketts high school offense like a ragdoll 2 times a year. I can't think of anything better.

The home team wins..

This is a lot of drama generated by the press. So Marrone might have talked to Polian. Big deal. And if the discussion convinced Polian not to take the Bills gig so what? If so, he was never the right guy for the job because to evaluate a situation you need to come into it with an unbiased view. If he 'took' Marrone's side then he isn't suited for the job, period. So if this is the case he did the Bills a favor. Fact is Polian wasn't the right guy for the job anyway, you need somebody with expertise that doesn't have any connection or allegence to anyone involved. A person that will be completely loyal to the owner. Pegula needs to look forward like he finally did with the Sabres by hiring Murray, not back to the past. And if Marrone was truly bad-mouthing his previous employer, whom he just left while pocketing $4M in severence, he isn't so smart. Bad mouthing a previous employer is a serious no-no issue when it comes to interviewing for a new job. IIn addition, if his contract had non-disclosure and non-defamation clauses he could be putting his severence in jeopardy by shooting off his mouth and making negative comments about the organization. Pegula's statement on Marrone leaving was polite and professional. Translated - "Thanks and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out". In the end I think we'll come out smelling like roses here with a better HC and higher quality staff with some positive changes in the front office along with a clearer organization structure.

I wanted a totally unbiased outsider to come into the job so Pollan not accepting the position doesn't bother me. In fact I'm glad he declined. Bringing in Polian was exactly like TP's yesterday's hero's approach with the Sabres. It forces ownership to go outside their comfort zone and do something else, something that might be more effective. There's also talk that Marrone 'convinced' Polian not to take the job which is neither confirmed or denied. If Bill needs Doug to tell him that then strike two I don't want him. Most likely after looking at the position he just wasn't interested in coming back and putting in the time. You don't need to be a genius to see some obvious issues with the Bills. You have a coach and GM that aren't on the same page with personnel or systems. You have an OC that is not NFL competent at calling and game planning at this level and a HC that has a personal relationship clouding his judgment here. You have an offense that has regressed in the two years under Marrone, an alledged offensive guy. You have a defense that is playing at a championship level pretty much on auto-pilot with two different DC's in 2 years. (an observation and not a problem) You don't have an identified starter at QB going into 2015. You have Ralph's old guard cronies still embedded in the organization after 3 months of new ownership. You have a new owner who should have brought in his advisors the Monday after the NFL approved his bid so they could observe the workings of the organization during the course of the season, not after it is over.. The hard part isn't figuring out what's wrong but rather what to do to fix it but Marrone leaving makes solving the first 3 easier. Polian was not the guy I wanted doing this.

His interaction with the NYC media could become a new source of entertainment..

Marrone did Pegula a favor by opting out. He saved the new owner from future second guessing about the decision to axe a head coach that just went 9-7. Now its a decision he doesn't have to make and he won't make the same mistake of waiting and hoping that he made with the Sabres. As for Marrrone, his business aptitude appears to be higher than his coaching ability. He leveraged improving a terrible Syracuse squad to competitiveness into an NFL HQ position and has now leveraged that position into coaching free agency where he will command a much higher salary. And while I'll give him credit for starting the turnaround of the Bills losing culture the shortcomings on offense, QB problems aside, were unacceptable and with the same crew in charge of the offense next year I couldn't see much hope for improvement. I think we can do better and will do better with an owner committed to spending and bringing in competent professional people to run the football side of the operation. For me, Doug opting out yesterday was a late Christmas gift. Happy New Year to all.

I'll wager you can find somebody better than Hackett even under the conditions you cite. For one, we have an owner who doesn't appear to be concerned or afraid to spend money to get what he wants. And Marrone will never fire Hackett no matter how putrid the Bills offense is because of his personal relationship. Its inhibiting his ability to evaluate the performance of his OC and to perform one of the functions of the HC. In business, that's a problem where there are clear performance issues and I think we can all agree the Bills offense has performed poorly for many reasons. One is the lack of an experienced and NFL competent OC...

If he leaves it might not be the worst thing. The Bills have 3 problems on the offensive side of the ball, QB, offensive line, and offensive coordinator. DM opting out is the only way there's a chance to improve the last. If Marrone opts out Hackett would go with him to his next destination as part of the package. I hope fans of the new team are going to be happy scoring around 17 points per game My first inclination afterwards would be to promote Schwartz to HC, Pepper Johnson to DC, and bring an NFL competent OC in while dumping most of the offensive coaches and retaining the DC and ST staffs. For the most part, the resurection of the defense has more to do with Pettine and Schwartz than it does with Marrone and lets not say the Bills didn't address the offensive line. They signed C. Williams and spent 3 picks on lineman while retaining most of the other offensive lineman. To me the problem is on the HQ, OC, and o-line coach not the GM.

Mike Glennon from Tampa might be available for the right price assuming the Buc's pick Mariota with the 1st overall choice. He's put up decent numbers with a lousy team and has the physical tools for the position. Something like a condtional 3rd or 4th in '16 that improves based on his performance might do it. Unlike most of the other QB options I don't see a lot of baggage or issues and the cap number is very low.

I think Mariota is the better prospect particularly because of WInston's behavioral issues and I'm looking forward to #2 Oregon vs. #3 Florida State at 5PM New Years Day. But I wouldn't do Joe B's deal proposal for either..

We need to acknowledge the Bills did attempt to address the offensive line last off season. They drafted 3 lineman, retained most of their players from '13, and signed free agent guard Chris Williams, a guy nobody else had at the top of their list. The problem is their effort, with the exception of Henderson, was a failure. But let's suppose the Bills 'fix' the offensive line this off season, sign a couple of prominet free agent lineman and draft a couple players too. And they have a good/great offensive line. We can agree they don't need an all-pro QB but the problem is whomever they go into the 2015 season with has got to display a minimum level of NFL competency. EJ has not shown that competency with any consistency and unless the team believes he can or has improved to that level no option at QB should be off the table. Its not a choice of fixing one or the other but rather both the line and the QB need to be addressed together this off season and the best possible option at QB needs to be found. If that's EJ then that's what we need to do.

Have to disagree concerning Mike Glennon. My view is he's put up decent numbers and has shown poise and command while playing for a crummy Tampa team. If the Buc's pick Mariota with the #1 they might be willing to part with Glennon for something like a conditional 4th rounder in 2016. But that's just one option the Bills should pursue and while a lot of the available QB's won't meet the cut nothing should be dismissed without the team doing some homework, all options should be on the table at this point. Even the CFL might be a place to look. While I'm not ready to give up on EJ and I believe its possible to learn to read defenses and progressions I'm not sure you can 'learn' accuracy. That and pocket pressence, appear to be his biggest flaws that might not be correctable. And they are serious problems if you want to play QB in the NFL. Will he come into training camp next year significantly better? Bradford and RG3 would be the other two QB's I'd evaluate first and right now I don't think veteran retreads like Cutler are going to be the answer. But a thorough analysis and evaluation process should tell the team what they need to know about each option. Other than that the team needs to consider the draft and I think we need to wait until after the draft combine to see what prospects emerge.

Culter signed a multi-year deal last off season and isn't a free agent. The Bears could release him or trade him but his contract is prohibitive. I just don't see Culter as a realistic option for the Bills for many reasons. With the Buc's likely choosing Mariota with the 1st pick I'd like to see the Bills make a fair offer for Mike Glennon. While he's not the most mobile QB, he's got prototypical size and arm strength and has had some decent success with a crummy Tampa team. Watching his play I can see a lot of poise and ability to diagnose and read the defense and go through progressions with the ability to deliver the ball with some accuracy. Maybe a conditional 4th round pick would get him? Other than Glennon, they might want to look at Mallet, Bradford or RG3. That's where I would start but my list is certainly not complete and who knows what the Bills are thinking...

I gotta agree with you here. For being an offensive guy I would have expected him (and the OC) to get more out of this group. QB issues aside, you have a pretty diverse group of receivers and running backs with specific talents but I didn't see any obvious customization of the offensive scheme to design and run plays specific to the talents of players like Watkins or Spiller or Goodwin to name three. And innovation? Its hard to use that word in the same sentence when describing the Bills offense. And the offensive line? Frankly, I don't want to hear the excuse there isn't enough talent here at this point. You've had a couple drafts and off seasons to correct the problem and I don't see any real improvement beyond lucking out with Henderson at RT this season. I just have to figure you don't know how to solve the problem. And if the problem is the front office and the head coach are not on the same page then that's item #1 for new ownership to resolve. Numbers don't lie. The Bills scored 343 points this season for an average of 21.4 points per game. You subtract out those two big games against the Jets and return TD's (3) and the average for the non-Jet 14 games is 18.7. That isn't going to cut it against teams that regularly score in the 30 point range. You can't expect the defense to play a perfect game every week. The offense has got to bail them out once or twice during the season. Overall, I've got mixed feelings about Marrone. I think he's done some good and has changed the culture surrounding the team and has things headed in the right direction. But can he take it to the next level in season 3 with the same offensive system and an overmatched OC? If he stays or goes I have a sense of confidence that ownership is going to bring in some top tier candidates rather than the bargain level choices we've had to settle for in the Wilson years. Whatever happens I trust ownership will do whatever it takes. I'm more concerned about what happens with Spiller and Hughes situations, what the approach is to the QB problem. and which free agents the team will pursue than I am about Marrone's status.

This seems to indicate the Front Office and the Head Coach & his staff are not on the same page here. An organization cannot function at a high level this way. This gets reflected by the product on the field. Clearly in order to resolve this situation one or the other, or both need to go. Internal debate and differences are a normal part of any business but once a course of action or a plan is determined then everybody has got to get behind it and the time for disagreement is over. Big priority for ownership to resolve..