transient

Can't speak for the masses, but personally I was all ready to drink the Kool-Aid. Preseason is preseason, and I still feel it is pretty meaningless as to how the team fares in season. I wanted to believe that the offense's ineptitude was because they were using the preseason to get their overhauled O-line to gel, were concentrating on the things that they needed work on, and that they were holding something back for the season. There I was, standing in the desert with a nice cold glass of Kool-Aid. Then along comes DJ and swats the glass right outta my hand. No possum, we really were sucking that hard. On top of it, he makes the move that the owner asked him to make at the end of last season 10 days before this one starts. If I'm the owner and the first couple of games look like the season is again lost, I pull the plug. I like AVP. Loved listening to him on Shred and Regan on 103.3 the Monday after games. He was funny, inciteful, seemed like a good guy. Word on the street is that he has a good football mind. I just don't know if he'll have time to prove himself before Wilson pulls the plug. I just feel like the season that I was looking forward to has the potential to be over before it even starts, and the whole painful process will start all over. And I, like you and any other Bills fan, am just SO sick of that letdown. I hope that I'm wrong and that the season is a success, but it's not starting off with alot of promise.

Or the subconscious realization that Ralph is 90+, and this may be the last chance they'll get to see football at the Ralph, because attendance or not, odds are once "he's" gone, "they're" gone.

Did the Bills make a mistake in shelling out the money they did for Dockery? Obviously, 'cause he's not on the team anymore. As far as bringing in Walker, he was a right tackle in Oakland in '06 as I recall, and I assume we were bringing him in to fill a hole at right tackle, not compete at left tackle. Maybe I'm wrong. Regardless, they were free agents at the time, unlike Peters, and that was the money it took to get them here. It has no bearing on Peters contract IMO, as he had three years left on it. Regardless, you're right, he deserved to have it renegotiated after his pro bowl season. For that to happen, you have to engage in negotiations. Peters never showed up for OTAs or minicamp and as it was reported the Bills never heard a word from his agent. Pretty petulant negotiating technique. When he does report he's horribly out of shape and it takes half of the season for him to play his way into shape. On top of that he admits to letting his contract negotiations affect his game IN GAME. Sounds like something a professional who claims to be the best left tackle in the game would do, right? You can tout that pro bowl nod from last season all you want, but it was a joke. Finally, the whole thing starts anew this season, culminating with what essentially equates to the ultimatum trade me now or lose me in two years for nothing, which was the original point to my post. I have no problem with athletes getting their money, relatively speaking (I do feel it's a bit out of whack with their overall value to society, but hey, the game makes billions, so again, relatively speaking,) but the hostage tactics turned my stomach right from the start, and if Edwards is in the same position and handles it the same way I will feel exactly the same, and will probably wish him some horrible injury as well (not flattering, I know, but honest, and facetious.) To your point regarding the Eagles, I don't recall at any point insinuating that the deal wouldn't work out for them. If they keep him happy, it has the potential to give them their franchise left tackle. More power to them. That looks like a big IF, though. Poor preseason notwithstanding, someone is always going to get a bigger contract. Its the nature of inflation. And every year that happens I expect he will be standing there with this hand out giving their front office a headache, that is if he chooses to show up at all. If not him, then Eugene Parker will be there to do it for him. As a side note, I find it interesting that Jim McNally made it a point to stick around long enough to see him make it to the pro bowl and then retire, only to have Peters look nowhere near as good the next season (granted after missing all of camp.) I wonder how much of that first pro bowl season he owes to being McNally's last pet project.

Now that you have defended Peters, allow me to defend both myself and the organization. I'll start with myself. Nowhere in my original post did I question his talent. Of course he was the best left tackle on this team, if he wasn't he wouldn't have been starting. As for the timing of the thread, the article I read on TwoBillsDrive was posted this morning. I read it and reacted to it. If it had been written a month ago, I would have posted it then. Maybe you should ask the folks at TBD not to post links to articles that you feel are outside of the acceptable timeframe for discussion of the topic. Barring that, if the topic of the thread does not interest you, you should refrain from reading it, let alone posting in its regard. It baffles me when people complain about the topic of one thread on a message board instead of ignoring it when it p!sses them off. With regard to the organization, and more to the point of my original post, when an insolent, insubordinate prima donna who has already proven in actions AND words that he is willing to dog it on the field comes to you and says he is done at the end of his contract you are left with no choice. If he takes the field do you think he would have given a sh-- if Edwards had gotten smeared. Talented, yes. A good teammate, hardly. A pouting liability, definitely. I give them credit for having the guts to make the move.

True. It was meant as a heads up that I was well aware that the topic was discussed ad nauseum, and despite that I was willing to "poke a skunk" if you will.

On the point of complexity, as some have alluded to, is the fact that we have an entirely new offensive line with 2 rookies. If the players aren't grasping the complex nature of the offense, then of course you have to simplify it. It speaks to Schonert being a systems coach, instead of being able to adapt his style to players. If you want to build a complex offense around young players, you better have a stellar defense and some time to implement it incrementally, NEITHER of which he had, as is turns out.

Happened to be posted on TwoBillsDrive this morning, so I read it. Thought it was an interesting insight into his line of thinking, and a reasonable explanation for why he was traded so I posted it.

There was no way Schouman was getting cut, as its been widely publicized that he is the TE that TE is the most comfortable with at this point. Fine is still young, and would have been picked up by someone else if cut. Nelson is obvious. Stupar will more than likely end up on the practice squad. Voila, we didn't even have to choose, because we still have all four (most likely.)

"Andy Reid didn't need to call me the best left tackle in the league because I've been proving that for the last 4-5 years." The best part of that is the genius ought to check his math, since he's only been a starting left tackle since 2006!

Thought this quote from Peters in this morning's Philadelphia Inquirer was somewhat telling: "I was shocked," Peters said. "I had no clue. I had just told Buffalo I was going to play two more years there and I was done with them. And then my agent [Eugene Parker] called." http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/57578607.html Can't imagine why we got rid of him when he was so enthused to be here and would grace us with his presence for the life of his contract and no more. Between this and his comments about pondering his contract in the middle of games, I hope he blows out his knee on the Eagles first offensive play from scrimmage. Not that I hold a grudge, or anything.

Firing Schonert 10 days before the season was a desperation move by a coach who knows he's in real danger of losing his job. He has no time to let another OC teach a very young offense an entirely new system. He would be fired before they ever learned it. The only chance he has is to work with what's already in place and get rid of the desenting voice (based on the interview Schonert gave after his firing.) In addition, who from the outside is going to want to come in for 4 games before the coaching housecleaning that is likely on the horizon?

They're now stating that it was Victoria Jackson of SNL in an effort to entertain the fans, and that she is bringing Toonces the driving cat in as the OC.

You got your record messed up. The wins go on the left.

I agree with bills44, I'm fairly certain even the rats have abandoned this garbage barge by now.

Probably looking to keep some younger guys with promise as opposed to older stop-gap players. May also mean that both Ellis and Bryan make it, and we rely more on our defense than an offense that is unlikely to get much help from a few fringe players. Looking long term season, instead of short term first 3 games.

To those who have said they feel blase' about the start of the season, I envy you the lack of interest. Personally, I'm P*SS#D. Count me among those who were hoping the offense looked so bad because they were using preseason to work on the things they did poorly and running a base scheme. While I agree the move needed to be made, and is likely a harbinger of a mid-season coaching change, I'm DISGUSTED with the fact that this SHOULD have been avoided by not retaining this staff in the first place. This, to me, is an admission that this is a wasted season BEFORE IT EVEN STARTS!!! If this is the case, they should write off the season RIGHT NOW, clean house, and start anew, before other teams start the same process and the coaching pool thins. They've already sold a record number of season tickets, so it won't hurt them at the gate. Write it off now, and it gives a new staff essentially an entire season of evaluation because there will be no expectations. We'd rejoice with the 2-3 wins, and get drunk during the losses, but there might be optimism for next season. I feel like the moves are inevitable... why drive that point home further with a lame duck staff and waste more time in the process!

This is not meant as an excuse for our offensive futility. There are clearly problems. Magnifying these problems, however, is the fact that the Bills have played some pretty good defenses thus far. In 12 games, the defenses we've faced have given up a total of 10 points in the first quarter of those games. The Bills ineptitude has certainly padded that, but those are only four of the 12 quarters. The Steelers, Packers, and Bears combined have given up a total of 25 points in the first halves that they've played. That averages out to just over 6 points a game for those defenses if they were to keep that pace. I'm only using the first halves, as that likely covers first and second string for the preseason games. Hopefully seeing some stout defenses up front wake them up and allow them to find a way of fixing things early on. I know it's not much, but it is something to consider before stepping off of the ledge.

Personally, I think the reason they didn't draft a LT this year was because they felt they had potential on the roster already in Bell (and honestly, all you get from the draft is potential) and he would be manning the blind side at some point in the future. I think the Walker move was meant to be temporary, as he did an adequate job filling in last year. When the time is right, Walker moves back to RT and they figure out the rest of the pieces by how they're playing at the time. I don't think he was ever meant to be the long term solution at LT, and his apparent ambivalence about the move to me makes this scenario more likely.

Somehow I doubt a better feed would make this game look better...

Edwards numbers for the games you initially referred to add up to an average QB rating of 102.5 with 8 TDs vs 2 INTs, and an average completion percentage of 70.2. He had two fumbles recovered by the opponent. This was admittedly against what turned out to be poor teams, but hardly sloppy. I would take those numbers averaged out for an entire season.