st pete gogolak

No, no, no. The Bills do not get Mike Evans at #9 last year. If the Bills not make the trade, Cleveland picks Watkins or Mack or they trade with another team. If they take Mack, Watkins isn't making it past the Raiders. If there was a legitimate chance that Evans would have fallen to #9, I don't believe the Bills would have made the trade. Simple fact of the matter was that he wasn't falling to #9.

Or to put it another way, will we actually use our analytics department? Other than when the Bills played the Jets, I didn't follow the Jets much and I honestly don't know how aggressive Ryan was in 4th and short situations. I wasn't a Marrone fan but the thing that I hated about him the most was the ultra-conservative decisions on fourth and short. It was like he was in a time warp from 1955 and field position was the only possible consideration, even when playing high powered offenses like the Pats. I'm not an analytics expert but my understanding is that the stats are overwhelming when it is 4th and short in your opponents territory you go for it. In addition to the pure stats approach, I believe that habitually going for it (1) gives your team a mindset that you're out to win the game (the Tuesday Morning QB Greg Easterbrook theory) and (2) gives you more options on play calling if you know you are going to go for it on fourth and short, meaning you can run the ball on 3rd and 3 or 3rd and 4. I would love for the Bills to be the honest to God first NFL team to employ Moneyball analysis to football. Someone's going to do it eventually. Might as well be us.

To me Chris Hairston is as big a mystery player as we have had in the last 50 years. He played really, really well at RT as a rookie and even played some LT well. Then he got hurt against the Giants and I don't think he played the rest of the season. I thought we at least got a starting OL out of the Lynch trade. Then second year he's shelved with the mystery illness. Career over? Nope. Comes back and makes the roster the next two years but hardly sees the field. When Henderson was struggling badly, why didn't Hairston get a start? Was Henderson that much better? Was Marrone being Marrone (i.e. stubborn)? Is he a restricted or unrestricted free agent (I've seen him listed as both)? If he restricted, bring him back and let him fight it out for a starting RT spot under a new regime and a new OL coach.

1) QB 2) OL 3) TE What I think is especially unique about this offseason (certainly for the Bills) is that the needs are fairly narrow and we can target free agents with laser like precision. Pick up a vet QB to challenge Manuel, pick up a quality guard and maybe another free agent OL, pick up a TE who is better than Chandler, resign your own FA's on defense and it gives you the luxury in the draft to go after a RB (assuming Spiller isn't resigned, which I don't believe he will), a developmental QB and some depth on D.

If the Bills had honest to God targeted Beckham for the 9th pick, then it's a dumb - even bizarre - trade. I simply don't believe that's true.

The revisionist thinking on this board is astounding. If Cleveland had made the trade and then used the 9th pick on OBJ (besides blowing the minds of everyone who posts on this board from now to doomsday) then you'd have to give Cleveland credit for making the trade and being able to spot an enormous talent. But they didn't. They picked a CB who looks to be as big a bust as anyone picked in the first round. Why didn't Minnesota, Detroit or Tennessee pick OBJ? The reason is NO ONE projected OBJ as a top ten pick and it's foolish to project backward that he was. Give the Giants credit. They spotted a unique talent and made a hell of a pick. I wasn't a fan of the trade when it was made (because of nightmares that Cleveland would wind up with #1 overall pick) but I can certainly live with it now. We got a true #1 receiver. We have specific needs that can be addressed in free agency and the draft. Yes, it will come down to QB play but I defy anyone from making an argument that the Watkins trade prevented us from obtaining a franchise QB. Be happy with the trade and move on!

The only position I would hire Rex Ryan for (at least for this football team) is consultant. As consultant, he would have one job and one job only. Watch every play the New England Patriots run and devise game plans to beat them. That's it.

The way it works these days, there are about a dozen kickers a year who "deserve" to be All-Pro. It's easier to pick the one or two kickers a year who screw up so badly they get fired mid-season (guy from the Lions for example). No disrespect to Dan Carpenter, who has been absolutely terrific, but like Jimmy Johnson said kickers are fungible.

On losing out on Polian. Biggest mistake the Bills ever made (and that's saying something!) was giving Polian the boot in 1993. Let that sink in a little. 1993!!! I'm a huge Bill Polian fan but twenty two years later, I'm perfectly ok with him not taking a job with the Bills.

Although nothing's guaranteed, I think this can work out tremendously in the Bills' favor. The biggest problem on the team was Marrone's offense (not Hackett's offense) implemented by Hackett. If Marrone stayed put, odds were overwhelming that Hackett would have stayed put as well. I'm in favor of promoting Schwartz to HC (he's smarter than Marrone for starters) and making Pepper Johnson DC. Terrific continuity on defense and an opportunity to revamp the offense. Go out and get an experienced OC (Trestman?) and an OL coach better than Morris and you've upgraded all-around. Granted the QB situation stinks but go out and get a veteran FA QB who is better than Orton (Matt Moore and Mark Sanchez aren't great but they're at least on a par with Orton), and let the vet compete with Manuel in camp. Upgrade OL and TE in free agency, add a RB and maybe another QB in the draft and at a minimum, the team is primed to make a playoff run in 2015.

Once again, this isn't Nate Hackett's offense. It's Doug Marrone's. Hackett's only job is to implement Doug Marrone's offense. If Marrone is still here, so will Hackett. I think the best we can hope for is the hiring of an offensive "consultant" (somebody with gray hair that won't be hired by anyone as an OC (e.g. Gailey, Martz) ) and/or a new OL coach.

If it happens, it's certainly not the end of the world. Make Jim Schwartz HC, Pepper Johnson DC and hire an experienced OC, a really good OL coach and a QB coach.

Baltimore's defense was arguably one of the greatest defenses of all time. Even that defense could be beat given the rule changes since 2000. If you mean put all of our eggs in the EJ Manuel basket, there's no reason to do that. Sign a veteran QB, if there is a prospect who merits a second or third round grade, draft him and let them duke it out in preseason.

So it's harder for a lineman to go outside in (from tackle to guard) than inside out? Did he finish the sentence, "for example, all you have to do is look at Erik Pears' play this year".

I've come around full circle on Hackett. Not that he knows what he's doing (he doesn't) but he shouldn't take the blame for this offense. Some OP posted an article laying out the argument that this is Doug Marrone's offense. All Hackett is doing is implementing it. It's like blaming Curtis Modkins for Chan Gailey's offense. I think the best we can hope for is to bring in an offensive "consultant" (similar to Dick LeBeau in 2004) to bring some different ideas and a fresh perspective. That and a new offensive line coach.

Hey, if he does retire, I think we just found our new offensive coordinator!

This is stats versus eyeball test. If you have watched his last few games, it really does appear that he is pretty close to being done. I think it's 50/50 at best that he comes back next year. If he doesn't and some really good veteran QB unexpectedly hits the market (Brees, Eli, etc.) that's just another team that will be hot and heavy in the QB market.

For those of you keeping track at home, the statistical probability of missing the NFL playoffs fifteen years in a row is 0.087%. If my math is right, that's about a 8 to 9 chance out of 10,000. Of course, that's "coin flip" probability. It doesn't take into account management, coaching, having a franchise QB, injuries, dumb luck or thousand other variables. It does, however, point to how staggering it is to miss the playoffs 15 years in a row!

I don't think the article is implying that Hackett is qualified. I think it's implying that Marrone is unqualified to run an NFL offense.

Just out of curiosity, went to Hackett's Wikipedia page. What a joke. He's 35 years old and four years ago (four years!) he was Syracuse's QB/TE coach. Two years as Syracuse's OC qualifies him to be an NFL OC? He is utterly unqualified to be an NFL OC. I'd take Gailey in a heartbeat. I'd take Mike Martz in a heartbeat. If for some bizarre reason, he stays as OC, bring in a Gailey or Martz or someone similar as an offensive "consultant" like they did with Dick LeBeau in 2004. If I remember, that was the year we fielded the #1 defense in the entire league with the immortal Jerry Gray as our DC.

If the Bills had their current team in 2012 and Peyton Manning was released by the Colts and shopping around for a team, I have to believe he would have seriously considered the Bills. Maybe that's what we hope for. It won't be as good a QB as Peyton but if a quality veteran is released for whatever reason (Eli?) and has his pick of teams, the Bills will definitely be in the running to secure his services.

Polian had nothing to do with drafting Jim Kelly. In fact, if you remember an ESPN special a few months ago about the '83 draft, the Bills front office came off as absolute idiots. They had the #12 and #14 picks and liked both Marino and Kelly. So instead of making a determination which one was better or which was more likely to sign with Buffalo (hello - both Kelly and Marino were Pittsburgh guys. Marino went to Pitt, Kelly to Miami. Again, hello!!) they figured one or the other would be there at #14 and picked Tony Hunter at #12. Morons.

Hairston's a free agent after this year. To me, Hairston is one of the biggest mysteries of any Bill ever. He looked great at RT as a rookie, even decent at LT as a rookie. Thought he was going to be our RT for 10 years. Then he missed the year with the mystery illness. I don't recall him ever even being on the field after that. I assume that they don't make an attempt to resign him and Kujo is our no. 3 tackle next year.

So Cincinnati gets a 15 yard taunting call when a player does the money sign in Manziel's face. Manziel flashes the money sign after scoring a touchdown against us. No call. I'm sure there's a reason why one is taunting and the other isn't but if someone knows I'd like to hear it.