hmsmystic

I also remember the decline in ST having something do with the wedge blocking rule changes. The wedge was an April specialty and the changes did not get adjusted too very well. (not to say the Bills didn't pass him up for the coaching jobs, just another factor)

"We have a lot of really good young tackles, like 6 or 7. Bringing in a veteran would cost them some valuable playtime, and we would eventually have to cut one of young tackles, brimming with potential, so we will just go ahead and pass"

Useless thread- Does not really matter who plays QB for us and who the backup is. Did anyone see the O-line? Did anyone see the backup O-lineman? Worse than I feared

Now I have another useless Jersey hanging in my closet- Should I tape another name over it like my #21 Jersey? This is not how you run a team- what about all the talk of continuity being a pre-cursor for success? What about players fans (i.e.- kids)who we point to the few NFL caliber players on the Bills roster and tell them that while the team is awful, you can watch how Lee Evans plays. Many of you are touting this as a wise move to develop younger players and create cap room. We aren't the Eagles or Patriots who very wisely move or don't overpay older veterans and replace them with younger players. The differences: We can't attract decent players here if we treat our own shabbily, and we can't seem to draft very well at all. Signed: Sick about it

Buffalo has got to be the only corner in world that thinks this brutal team can win 8 or 9 games. Don't tee off on media folks for ranking Buffalo low. The team has one of the worst offensive lines in the league, and is terrible agaisnt the run. We have a history of failing to draft well, and struggle to attract and sign useful free agents. I'll watch every week on the ticket and root like hell, pull for our rookies to be good (and play for once, see Troup, Carrington, et all) and celebrate the small things, but I'll clean up every week as usual betting against the Bills in my parley.

It's possible we are all overreacting to this OT situation that has helped cripple our team for years. All we need to do is run a no huddle offense! Yeah, that should work right? DJ

4 years 15 million Too much, feels like aKelsey deal

The show is also available in Itunes- I have subscribed to it and download it weekly (when available)

He is our best public relations ambassador. Kelly mentioned that he didn't know why the Bills have struggled to find his replacement (they posted a graph of all the guys that have started games since he left) He mentioned that he thought a lot of it was a lack of talent on the team- and that we have missed on too many 1-3 round draft choices. He is excited Buddy Nix is here and feels he will right the ship. He likes Fitzpatric and thought no QBs this year were worth a top 5 pick, and that we need to get players to pressure opposing QBs. Said Fitz looked great running players only workouts. Spoke at length about his camp for kids in Buffalo

These are great pics and the best views of the unis I have seen yet! Thanks for posting and keeping us former season tickets holders now living in the West Coast updated! It was nice to see the Ralph too!

Other than overpaying to resign a player (Kelsey), nothing would make me more nervous about the potential that team leadership is senile then spending some of our rare free agent dollars on a receiver

Not at all comfortable with the Bills continuing to try and plug journeymen and scrubs into the tackle spots, but this is a great clip and Wood should be a star center for us.

I kinda like em. Anything is an improvement over the last train wreck version.

I can't watch this team get run on again all year. We need some defense up the middle. I don't know if these guys will fit the bill, but my god we can't be gashed again by running backs- it's demoralizing. So fixing the run defense is job number one for me, so DT>QB is ok.

This is good stuff- a timely and relevant interview with our GM. Makes you wonder how nice it would be if we had some good sports radio around here, instead of those Hockey Schills in Buffalo, one of whom isn't even a Bills fan, and all of the terribad callers and minor league talk on the Rochester sports radio show.

I’ve decided to try and focus on the positives about the Bills situation, so I enjoy next season and beyond, and figured I’d share this mojo with my fellow Bills fans. There are two possible outcomes, one bad and one good, with all the changes. Before I get to the positives, let me first state the potential negatives: Buffalo has not had an effective team strategy or draft for years. Many of the bumbling key decision makers are still in place (Modrak, Wilson, Brandon). Our offensive line is potentially among the worst in the league and actually may be weaker than last year (no Butler, hurt Woods) Our QB situation is among the worst in league. We have only one proven pass catcher among our WRs and TEs We can’t stop the run, AT ALL. OK, that was easy, and anyone can recite those issues and more. Now, the positive side of things: Buffalo has too many holes to fix quickly. The team is likely to finish in the cellar of a very competitive AFC East. However, this new management team is making some good moves. They are focusing on building a competitive defense first. The secondary of the Bills has the potential to be great. Buffalo has taken steps to improve one of the worst run defenses in the league, shuffling to a 3-4 alignment and adding key pieces through free agency and the draft, including a NT. We HAVE to be better on defense now Buffalo’s line backing corps got some nice upgrades with adding Davis and moving Maybin to OLB. Buffalo may be looking to add a franchise QB next year. It is hard to discount how much less guaranteed money will need to be paid to a top draft choice if a rookie wage scale is put in place. While the Bills are rather weak in the line and passing game, they have a stable of big young lineman and 3 good backs. Buffalo looks to be implementing a strong power rushing game, with potential big plays coming from quick hits to CJ Spiller or Play action to Lee Evans.

Had to be done! How else can we establish hope

Let me preface this by giving some perspective on my opinion of our Bills. I love ‘em, but they are poorly run at nearly every level, and I have adopted a “wait and see” attitude over the new brain trust. Bear with me on this post, I’m on a vendor conference call and have some time! Now, there has been a lot of anger and frustration over the beginning of the new free agency period and the Bills lack of meaningful activity. I wanted to post a note about building a team from a non- emotion, Madden Football (video game) or strato-matic type perspective. I am older and don’t play anymore, but there are some lessons to be learned. Building a franchise thru Madden takes the emotion (read: ours) out of the equation and uses some (albeit abstract) math to rate players, teams etc. Consider- the Bills are a terrible franchise- out of the 32, we have got to be a bottom three destination. This really rules out most, if not all, big ticket free agents. Peppers, etc. are not coming here. Take the emotion out of it- there are 29 or 30 better options for them. Now, and this is where the math comes in, we still have to look at our roster. Madden players are rated on a scale of 1-100. As a benchmark, an elite LT (Joe Thomas) is probably about a 90. Let’s estimate our current tackles rankings, shall we? RT K. Chambers 60 J. Meredith 56 LT J. Scott 59 A. Ramsey 50 Awful. In fact hard to get worse (Again I’m estimating the rankings) So the Bills have to look at free agency and then the draft. No big names are coming here right now, so we look at the next group. Cornell Green is probably rated about a 71- not good, in fact marginal at best, and better suited for a backup. HOWEVER HE BECOMES AN INSTANT UPGRADE FOR US. Granted we overpaid for him. He’s probably worth only a bit more than the NFL minimum. But we have to get him, remember if he leaves and gets say a 2 year, 2 million dollar deal from say Houston, he’s gone. By grabbing these stop gap players the team has more flexibility to draft players. Consider that is the draft was today we would essentially have to draft an OT and a NT in the first three rounds. Signing these journeymen just gives us a little breathing room In other words, take the emotion out. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We have to overpay a bit for mediocre talent to sign with us.

I'd wager to say that most of us have never seen or heard of this guy before he visited Buffalo. He looks to be an average at best OT, which is a HUGE upgrade for us and an instant starter. It's probably safe to say that we can expect to see a few more journeyman type signings like this at DT, LB , OL and WR. While the moves aren't exciting and I am not drinking the new regime,s Koolaid, we need these players on the roster- they are starters as of right now! This gives us more flexibility in the draft, and allows us not to reach for players. (assuming we have different people making draft decisions for the Bills this year)

Awesome! That means Nix and Modrak will be there horrifying potential draftees.

Second round

This just can't be true. I don't post much, there is enough blaming and such going on, but dammit- after 10 years of shame and dysfunction wouldn't Martyball be the PERFECT solution? We know he can coach. We know he can fix franchises. We assume Ralph is a (the?) primary reason for the franchise failures but this is just too much if he blocked this hire.

The very existence of this thread is alarming in every way- god forbid anybody points this out to a candidate. In addition to our AIG and Fannie Mae style of fail leadership they would have to deal with Buffalo lawn abusers, during game home thieves and now stalkers!! ....that said go Cowher Power!

All- The Bills ability to recruit and hire a big name coach, imho, has little to do with the climate or market size in Buffalo. (The fact that we sold out every home game this year, again, for a miserable team underscores this) The reason Buffalo can not recruit a coach is organizational disfunction. If you are THE MAN, ala Cowher, you want to work directly for the boss. No big name, with options, will come here with this org chart: Ralph // Russ // Buddy // Coach This is the main reason why Shanny went to the skins- he is making the decisions (with Allen of course) You heard Parcells- if I am going to do the cooking, I want to buy the groceries.