Red

Was kokinis any good as Director of Pro Personnel while with Baltimore? If so, he should be an improvement over John Guy (providing he stays in his former capacity).

You are correct. If I recall, the reason used for Butler and Smith being pushed out was because Ralph was unhappy with the contract situations paid to players. There were alot of contracts paid to players that were no longer with the team, that the Bills were still paying for all in the name of quality. If that is true, you can't operate a business that way. However, Butler and Smith have had a tremendous amount of success in San Diego. Similar to Polian in Indy. And isn't that something when compared to the Bills? Those 2 teams (chargers and colts), are good despite who plays QB and who the head coach is. The Bills, are terrible no matter who the head coach is or who the QB is. That my friends, reflects on the front office.

Yeah, and I thought Ralph would have learned his lesson during those Super Bowl years. It takes money to make money. You invest in Kelly, Reed, Smith, Bennett, Thomas, Hull, Tasker, Talley and get out of the way!

Correction: Billboard?!!? Are you kidding me? A Billboard is going to cause change? Lerner got the message because fans, united, en masse, decided to stage a boycott of the opening. This is a direct threat to the bottom line (ie: would cost Lerner money). Posting 20 billboards outside of the Ralph would have no effect at OBD. The only thing that would cause change is boycotting portions or entire games out of disgust. Until the bottom line is threatened, Ralph will do nothing. Ralph wants to talk about how the fans deserve a Super Bowl? Prove it. Fire Modrak, Guy, and Jauron. Move Brandon back to the business side of things. Bring in a real football man at GM who KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING. Promote Nix to head of college scouting. Hire real scouts. And get a real coach.

I would have to disagree with this post. After the Cleveland defeat, and in an effort to place the blame squarely on Jauron's shoulders (and rather cowardly), claimed that the front office "really did everything in its power to improve the talent of the team in the offseason". The Bills front office had no role in bringing in Dockery and Walker? Lets not talk about letting them go, because the coaches were right that those 2 (along with Fowler and Preston) play like pansies. More importantly, you should be waking up to the fact that it is mostly on the front office for trading Peters because of his constant hold outs over his salary demands and how that offset the salary structure of the team. You can also look at the front office (and Brandon) for why they felt comfortable fielding an offensive line of rookies. And wasn't it Brandon who was lighting up Bills texts with Edwards and Jauron to sign TO?

Woah! Anyone who blasts me for stating that the Bills should fire Modrak, Guy, and Jauron and hire a real football GM (Reese, Wolf, Casserly, anybody who knows how to win) and an experienced, winning head coach (Gruden, Holmgren, Schottenheimer), should read this post before anything else. There is no way, no way, Ralphie fires the person he believes to be a "genius" of marketing- Russ Brandon. I personally don't see his brilliance. The Bills, in an effort to expand their fan base, are expanding to Rochester, Southern Ontario, and now Toronto. Not exactly mind-blowing, huh?

That is really a beautiful thing to say. I have read a book by Parcells, back when he was coach of the Giants. What book is this that you speak of where is so kind to my beloved City of Buffalo?

Not as per the football stations down here in DC. They see this article as Holmgren stating that he does NOT want to be involved with the Redskins. HE accurately sees Vinny Cerrato and Daniel Snyder as responsible for hiring the offensive consultant/ turned coordinator. The same stations are stating that Cowher is also out as a potential coach of the 'Skins because of comments he made after the Zorn issue. His statements also came as a shot at Zorn, for why he would still want to coach for someone who clearly is trying to unseat him. DC stations see Shanahan as the only solution.

Yes, it is indeed sad. The GM-by-committee is truly the cause of the entire lack of centralized direction the Bills have been suffering from since AJ Smith and Butler left. Donahoe may have scared the panties off of Ralph with 1 person with absolute power, but truly he has to now see that 5 years of the same result with GM-by-committee does not work, either. This is a huge offseason for the Bills. And I hope for the fans. There are a plethora (ha! I said it!) of quality HC's available. GM's are available. John Butler has since passed away. AJ Smith would never leave the beautiful confines of San Diego for Buffalo, and only if Ralph passes would Polian ever return. But Nix is back. And if Modrak and Guy are fired, along with Jauron, the room will be swept clear of iniquity and a real GM like Floyd Reese, Ron Wolf, or former Bucs GM Allen can be brought in. Coaches like Holmgren, Shanahan, Gruden, Fisher, and Shottenheimer will be available. Tony Dungy is in retirement. Herm Edwards is out there, as well. Either one of these men would restore order and help create a culture of winning at OBD. A real GM and scouting staff and PROFESSIONAL PLAYER SCOUT would fix our decade of ills with poor drafting and poor free agent signings. Its time for a change.

Sing it brother, sing it!

All of you guys are right in why Polian was let go. And isn't it sad to see the success that all of those personnel men have had since they left Buffalo? Clearly, our success is related to Polian, the late John Butler, AJ Smith, Buddy Nix (who is back with the Bills) and the scouting staff at the time of all those Super Bowl greats. They squeezed the draft and obtained maximum value. Looking at the Bills draft on drafthistory.com, the Bills retained all of 6 players out of 50 drafted from the years 2000-2005. You simply cannot succeed with that record of failure. Would the Bills ever bring back Polian? I fear it would only be after Ralph's demise, and a Jim Kelly-led takeover of the team would Polian become involved again. It sucks to have to sit here in limbo waiting for something to be done about this.

Will Wolford went to the Colts? All this time, I thought that he went to the Steelers.

Note that this occurred precisely after the fans publicly stated that they would arrive late to the game in protest of the cheap owner. The owner, then went public and said something to the effect that "he must take his medicine" as he is responsible for it. This week, the GM is fired. Why can't the people of Buffalo unite like that, call for Jauron, Modrak, and Guy's heads, and publicly unite to convince Ralph to hire a real football man? On a side note- the DC area sports shows are stating that Holmgren was speaking to a Chicago paper today, basically slammed the Redskins for handling Zorn the way that they have, and hinting that he would like to coach on the east coast. The radio station- not me by any means- suggested that Buffalo is his destination.

there is some part of me that somehow feels that Ralph still thinks its 1997 and Kelly just retired. Where have ya been the past 12 years, Ralph?

Hey bud- I already covered this in another post. Between 2000-2005, the Bills have retained all of 6 out of 50 draft picks.

I'll give Jauron his due respect for his willingness to take it all on the chin. But the problems are both above and below Jauron, that it would be tremendously assinine to pin it all on him. I'm getting tired of writing Modrak and Guy. Is there anyone left who thinks that Modrak and Guy deserve their jobs any longer?

There is no way the wagons are circled for an 8-8 run, friend-O. These aren't our Kelly-led Bills. They'll be lucky to reach 5-11. Question: Does Ralph cling so much to continuity that we will have to pry it from his cold, dead hand?

The truly scary thing that you said was that the defense is getting older. Our only true pass rushing threat- Schobel- is on the wrong side of 30 and injuries are starting to be his bane. Kelsay is overpaid, but Stroud I would not worry too much about as interior defensive lineman seem to last a bit longer. This team is heading towards a crises yet again, as it always is playing catch-up with itself with this front office. It does not help that the defense is also the strength of the team, either. The time for further dawdling by Modrak and Co. needs to come to a swift close. A real football GM, a real scouting department, and a real coaching staff needs to be brought in to get this team on the right track towards building a winner. Looking through the drafts of 2000-2005, the Bills have only 6 out of 50 players still playing on the team. 6!!! Out of 50!! No team can build with a 12% rate of success on draft picks. How does Modrak keep his job?

another case in point: If one should travel to www.drafthistory.com, and look up the Buffalo Bills, one should look at years 2000-2005 to further my point of how the Bills have been hurt by their extreme inability to draft. In the years 2000-2005, the Bills currently have 6 players out of 50 players the Bills drafted, still playing with the team. The names are: Schobel, Kelsay, Denney, Reed, Parrish, and McGee. That is all rounds, 1-12 (later rounds in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003). Can't win by drafting so poorly. Modrak should be gone.

Proving my point again...looking at years 2000-2005...only 6 players out of 50 drafted are still with the team. McGee, Schobel, Kelsay, Denney, Parrish, and Josh Reed. How do you build a team with such a horrible success rate as that (12%)? Not only that, how does Modrak keep his job?

Does he play QB? Can he coach?

...sure is a shame we can't say the same for Wilson...

Which leads me to believe that Ralph may be playing somewhat a Jekyl and Hyde impersonation of Al Davis here. He wants to be involved enough that he wants to strip away a true GM position in favor of GM-by-committee because he does not want someone to be in charge of it all. Then, when his committee of "trust" can't seem to find a common goal or strategy with which to build a team (as is common with ruling by committee), he does not want to remove anyone out of fear of losing the siren song that is "continuity". He is afraid of being involved, as his "trust" knows best. Ralph needs to get out of his own way, hire a proven GM to run football operations, and leave it alone.

huh?

Well, there is no Jauron replacement currently on the coaching roster. And this, I will now submit to a diatribe over why the Bills should not hire an unproven coordinator to be the next head coach. Whichever side of the ball the coordinator hails from (offense, defense), that is where the overall focus of the team in its drafting seems to be. Jauron, as a former defensive player and coordinator, like Williams before him, amass talented defenses, but horrible offenses. Likewise, I think that offensive coordinators often fall into the same trap of focusing on offensive talent while letting the defense float on with meager accomodations. I don't have statistics to support this contention, only a gut feeling (or perhaps that is gas?) and some observations.