transient

The thing is, Henry was only 26. What they're describing is normally a longterm consequence of repeated head trauma. Think Mohammed Ali who has what was previously referred to as dementia pugilistica. The onset was while he was boxing, but the full effects were long after his career was over. Makes me wonder if Henry didn't experience repeated head trauma as a child or have some early form of underlying genetic or other neurodegenerative disease.

The most telling thing for me for both Losman and Edwards is the fact that they had a modest degree of early success followed by a precipitous downturn with the common denominator being coaching. Neither one may have the talent to be a ProBowl QB, but we were certainly never going to find out with DJ at the helm.

I have a little gray terrorist that I love... wait... no, that's a terrier. My mistake. Just what do these terrorists look like? Are there any girls in this gaggle of terrorists, and if so are we talking physical love, or emotional love?

I'm thinking in the 6-8 win range, realistically, with the wins backloaded as this team gains some experience and the schemes start to make sense to them. The OL looked bad last year... everyone knows that, but come on, the offense looked like it was designed by Rainman. "No, no, no. I don't want anything complicated... definitely not anything complicated. There are five offensive linemen. Six if you count the tight end. Seven if you go double tight. Yeah, definitely seven offensive linemen. Let's make the quarterback coach the offensive coordinator. Uh-oh, only six offensive linemen cuz I cut the left tackle. Uh-oh, now we gotta use Karl Malone's son who's only played organized football for three weeks. I'm going to Kmart to buy underwear, then watch Wapner." How can the offense NOT be better. And even if they're not statistically better, nothing could be more painful than watching that ill conceived atrocity from last year. NOTHING. EVER. And even if the defense gives up an average of 150 yards rushing per game, it will still be an improvement over last season. This season will be entertaining to me if there are signs of life by mid season and some of the young guys start to produce. Better yet, the current coaching staff is not wedded to old regime players so the best should play. As Gailey's been saying, the roster will sort itself out. As long as the trajectory is clearly upward, things are better.

Modrak may ultimately end up getting the ax. Firing him this offseason would have been difficult considering Nix had to get a coaching staff together, and then sit down and evaluate the team's needs with Gailey after he was hired, leaving little time to reorganize the scouting department and comprehensively plan for the draft. At this juncture I'm willing to give Nix the benefit of the doubt as a talent evaluator. I'm sure he trusts his own instincts, thereby reducing the weight of Modrak's input already. Based on their recent approach, I and numerous others on TSW are of the belief that Nix thinks there is more talent on this team than what the woeful coaching staff was able to showcase. If this is true AND your argument is correct (which, for the record I do not believe to be the case), then Nix firing Modrak makes even less sense, since he would have been the person responsible for acquiring that talent. Wouldn't it make more sense to wait and see if the young players develop with better coaching or are actual busts before firing the person responsible for bringing them in?

Fox's article is speculative, at best. Just because they assign responsibility of prior drafts to him doesn't mean they're right. No one from the Bill's organization is even quoted in that article. The remaining articles you tagged feature him talking about the characteristics of players in the draft, albeit with less colorful language than what Dwight Adams used to ("He plays the game like his hair's on fire"). His role is presumably similar to Dwight's, unfortunately for him he's filled it during one of the most painful times in Bills recent history in terms of front office leadership and vision. Dwight scouted players, he didn't pick them. Organizing a draft board is different from deviating from it in the end. I'm not a Modrak apologist, I just don't know how much responsibility is directly his. If he is ranking positions based on characteristics that his GM (during the years he had one) or coach are searching for, then Maybin (undersized and supposedly fast... ring any god awful Tampa-2 bells) would likely be graded higher than other DEs such as Orakpo, as an example. If he was putting together the board purely on talent regardless of system, then the responsibilty rests with him. Also, if the team is drafting for need and reaching instead of taking the best player available or trading down for value, you can't blame him if the team selects their highest ranked prospect at said position and bypasses players he had ranked higher. If he happens to, again, have the position rank order skewed that compounds the problem and is his fault (and not the player's... can anybody say... DONTE). Unless he is the person pushing the player at that spot or ultimately making the final decision, the drafts are not "his" as FOX would indicate.

They were both hyped, no doubt. The fact of the matter was, picking either at four shouldn't have raised eyebrows as they were both projected as possible top 10 picks. Williams was an undeniably HUGE bust. Personally, though, I don't think McKinnie has played like what you would expect of a top 10 either, certainly not early on in his career, anyway.

I don't think there was a concensus top LT that year. Both were very hyped. Williams was the media darling, so ESPN was all over him. McKinnie was painted as a bit of a malcontent, and only furthered that impression with his holdout. While it is no contest as to which one of them was the better pick in hindsight, neither one of them has realistically lived up to their pre-draft billing or thier draft position.

He hadn't gotten to that chapter in "NFL offenses for Dummies" when Schonert spilled coffee on it, prompting his firing.

Is that so he doesn't break your nose/cheek when he tries to punch you in the face, or is it only his own teammates that have to worry about that? Personally, I don't care if players hurt themselves tripping over their dogs or break their necks base-jumping, it's their life. The circumstances are immaterial. If they violate their contract by hurting themselves, they don't get paid and/or they get fined, it's their risk. As a fan, it sucks if it's an important player, but whatever. I think I'd tend to ignore it if my boss told me I couldn't play a pick-up game with the boys during my free time, too. If I happened to do it and messed myself up to the point I couldn't perform my job, then it's a risk I took. Accidents happen. Now if you'll excuse me, it's off the soapbox and back to the bubble wrapped cocoon of safety.

I'm of the opinion that Nix knows value, and that holding on to Lynch and putting him in a position to showcase his talents to potentially trade him for a higher round pick next offseason is more what he is going for. Let him be on his best behavior this season to let some of the character issue talk die down, and let's see how this year pans out. Maybe even put a bug in his agent's ear that this would be in both of their best interest. If he gets suspended, or if he sits and pouts, the Bills have already put themselves in a position to deal with life without him, so right now it is about getting value. And if he turns it around and looks good in this offense, you can always trade Jackson next year.

Way to ignore the part in the first post about how he felt they were both nice people, and the part in the second post about how she seemed nice and smart. Keep flexing those beer muscles from behind the keyboard, there, tough guy.

I dated a girl whose younger brother's tee-ball team was coached by Joe Devlin... you'd have thought he was coaching inmates instead of little kids. Couldn't have acted like a bigger ass if he tried. Who intimidates opposing players and coaches in a tee-ball league?

Didn't they sing a song about a bullfrog?

...and the right coaching staff, cuz you can also draft the next HOF QB first overall and destroy him by surrounding him with ineptitude and getting him killed. (Before we get out the torches, I'm in NO WAY suggesting anyone currently on the roster is headed to the HOF)

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! Have fun storming the castle! Do you think they have a chance? It would take a miracle.

I agree with the reasoning behind this post. I just wanted to point out the irony of stating we should replace our QBs with someone who make take 1-3 years to be good enough, given that all of our current QBs (save Fitz) essentially fall into this category. With a few exceptions, QB is a position that needs time to develop... and this development is contingent on having the coaching in place to facilitate it. For the first time in ? 5 years ? we might have the coaching in place to get the most out of our QBs, and now because of this 1-3 year clock, it's time to move on... and the cycle continues. As far as this past draft, Bradford aside, I think the remaining QBs were as much of a gamble as what we have on the team already, therefore why waste the pick. If there was someone they thought had more potential than what we already have, they would have picked him.

After reading through this thread, this is the point that seems to have been cast aside til now. I don't think the WCO as it is known develops the way it did if it didn't start with a QB and coach on the same page. Walsh recognizes Montana's incredible ability to anticipate the game and designs an offense around a player's instincts. As a hockey fan, it's like listening to an elite goal scorer or goalie talk about knowing where everyone is on the ice, and anticipating what will happen three steps ahead. Montana, more than anything, had a composure on the field that was unrivaled, and knew where to put the ball by the flow of the play, seemingly without looking. His head for the game is what makes him stand out, and it never seemed forced. The creation of that offense was as much a product of Montana's intangibles as it was Walsh's game planning. IMO, the Bills' current QB situation is this: despite the last few seasons, who knows what you have in Edwards. Maybe with a legitimate NFL offensive scheme he can grow as a player, maybe not. Brohm and Brown are unknowns with potential. Fitz is Fitz. I'd rather see them cut Fitz and keep the other three. If Edwards can't cut it, handing the reins to Fitz proves nothing, cuz, and I think the consensus supports this, he's not going to be your franchise QB. Who cares if you win 1-2 more games this year, it won't help you in the long run. If neither Edwards nor Brohm turns out to be the man, then you draft him next year and hopefully more of the pieces are in place at that time to allow him to grow as the franchise QB ala Flacco, Ryan, Roethlisberger, etc. (I deliberately left out the Sanchize, cuz I just don't see it)

I'd love to see Bell be productive in training camp and pre-season so they could inactivate Lynch for the season opener. Let him be the 4th best, inactive back on the team. And let him languish until he realizes careers are short and people's memories for this type of s*&t are long. And he still has, what, 3 years left on his rookie deal. Potential for a lot of pine riding.

My point was that he hasn't exactly kept his thoughts on retirement a secret for the last two years, so to suggest his announcement today is somehow surprising is misguided. Also, it's not as though the Bills haven't been acquiring LBs to fill out the roster. Taking his time, as he said he would, has in no way hurt the team. There's no telling if he would even succeed in the 3-4. None of this is surprising. Also, the protestation of fans suggesting that taking his time to consider all the ramifications of making a life altering decision to retire is somehow inconsiderate and should be done to meet their arbitrarily imposed timeframe is ludicrous. There are 60 and 70 year olds that struggle with this decision. He's telling management where he's at in the process, and that's all you can ask of him. He's even stated he understands if they need to move on before he makes any final decision. What more do you feel you or the Bills are owed? He owes it to himself to make sure he is comfortable with whatever decision he makes.

One of my favorites was Robert Smith. Prove to yourself you can do it, play out your contract, and leave on your terms to pursue loftier goals. Can't blame Brad Butler, either, for pursuing a lifelong career when he had the chance.

?? Really?? He's stated since last season that he's contemplating retirement, and has alluded to it since he got hurt in '08.

You have to hand it to Ricky, not many have the strength to be their own man in the stereotype that is the NFL, especially when their beliefs are so far left of commonly held social norms. I applaud TG for having the intestinal fortitude to write the piece in a way that could open him up to ridicule as well, instead of taking a cheap shot at William's "eccentricities."

I'm with you on that. I think it is the general negativity surrounding most disingenuous athletes that makes people look for ulterior motives. I'm not getting that from him. I think this was a heads up from a decent guy who's been saying for months that he's considering retirement that while he's not ready to make it official, his employer should probably move on, and if they do he's ready to accept the consequences. If he's true to his word, he's not looking to play elsewhere. Thing is, if he was looking to play elsewhere it would benefit him to say so, cuz he's more value to the team disgruntled and tradeable than retired.

IMO this says if you really, really need me to and can talk me in to it, I'll consider coming back. If not, I'm retiring, but I'm only 32 and it's really hard to make this official at this point, so let me ponder it as long as I can before I have to look myself in the mirror and officially say I'm done. Essentially he is letting the Bills move forward without having to make anything official this minute, which is considerate on his part. I don't think he's looking to play elsewhere based on his comments, but who knows. I take the "it's in the Bills' hands" to mean they should find someone to replace him or somehow convince him otherwise that they really need him to be a part of the team, and their actions will ultimately dictate the outcome. While it's waffling, I can't imaging retiring from something that I love because I knew I couldn't perform the job at the level I wanted to... let alone at the age of 32. He's one of the few athletes in this day and age to give all he had on the field and for the most part keep his complaints out of the media, despite this disastrous Bills' decade. He's been a true professional, and I wish him well.