BADOLBILZ
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Posts posted by BADOLBILZ
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Kudos to Felser for writing an article that dumbs down this blatantly obvious point so the average talk-show-calling fan can at least try to understand it. Which, sadly, is the level that about 90% of the people who post here are at. If you are somehow trying to defend the Bills front office on this, you are probably in that group because the numbers don't lie. Bad personnel moves = losing. And personnel does include coaches.
But what nobody has pointed out is the last part of the article, the adage about hanging on to a player until someone better comes along.
That is a big part of personnel management at most SUCCESSFUL companies, not just a football team. Sometimes you have to stick with a pain-in-the-asss employee, and even overpay them or coddle them if you have to in order to ensure the success of your company. I would venture a guess that some of you are that type of employee. You might not even realize it. Maybe you spend half your time online surfing at work or you complain about the people you have to work with or the equipment you have to use, but the company puts up with you because you provide some service that they have a hard time replacing or takes a lot of training to do. Then, out of the blue one day you are surprisingly fired when the company feels they have a replacement or no longer need that service. That's how it has to be done sometimes to ensure success. The Bills..........hell, they would just fire you, let the company take big losses and then try to rationalize it to stockholders. Something tells me if wins were dollars, and fans were stockholders, things might be different.
I have a small company with about 20 full time people and half of them think the company can't go on without them and are utter pains in the asss like Jason Peters and don't seem to realize it, but it is mostly tolerated because the goal is company success(winning?), not employee domination. If you want to succeed, you learn to handle people like that and minimize the damage they do. If I had a nickel for everytime some outsider asked me why I put up with such and such employee seeming totally oblivious to the fact that it's working. The Bills aren't truly a win-first organization, and ultimately that keeps setting them back.
I mean, seriously, in the long run who cares if you have to swallow your pride once in a while or be "miffed". Winning makes you forget less important things. Hopefully, one day the Bills will learn that.
On a related note, perhaps Russ would be better served if he did just two things, final "yes and no" on personnel moves and dealing with season ticket holders, suite holders etc.. Then, he would understand what it's really like to run a business and perhaps show a little more common sense and restraint when dealing with players. Customer relations is high maintenance work and might give him more perspective on the business of dealing with people and their different personalities. Simplistic, but that's the point.
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Except that TO can go across the middle with the best of them, as well as long.
You still need protection to make use of the receivers lined up wide for over the middle work. And if TO is receiving the ball 5 yards or less from the LOS on hot routes, his game is being wasted and his tendency toward the dropsies will be magnified.
Right now, if you are putting a game plan together against this team, you run the ball and take the underneath stuff against the defense because they guard heavily against the big play at the expense of yardage, field position and clock. Defensively, you stack the box and blitz Edwards. Allows you to kill the running game, hit the QB and force him to dump the ball short to RB's, the slot receiver(Reed) and the TE's which is not where Buffalo has the big bucks invested or the real matchup advantage. Basically the same defense that derailed the Bledsoe/Moulds/Price/Henry offense in the second half of Bledsoe's first season in Buffalo.....and it was made much easier to do because the Bills defense did not stop the run and put pressure on the offense to score. And that offense had better dump off options with Centers and Riemersma.
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The Bills last had an organizational identity when Ted Washington was the NT for their 3-4 defense. That team lacked QB play but they were still a playoff contender for half a decade because of that defense. The closest they've been to that since(and the closest to the playoffs they've been) was when Pat Williams and Sam Adams were lined up next to each other.
Knowing that history, if they could get Henderson it would be a real reason for some optimism.
Right now, the Bills defense is shaping up as very average and yardage permissive. That puts a lot of pressure on a VERY dubious starting offensive line. If they could turn into a 3 and out type defense that forces teams to throw the ball and doesn't allow them to burn clock, it would take a world of pressure off that offensive line and allow them to stick with the run.
Having good downfield receivers isn't going to make a difference if they cant give Edwards time to get the ball 20 yards downfield by keeping defenses honest. Imagining teams running off 10-12 play drives all day against our defense like they have in recent seasons, and then having the *new* Bills offense come out and no huddle their way off the field in 30 seconds........eeeh. That's actually not going to happen for long though because Jauron will then re-institute his ultra-conservative offensive football approach.....which means wasting the talents of Evans and TO in hopes of keeping a game close and hoping for that opportunity to kick a field goal to win the game.
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You do realize that there's a significant possibility that not one of his 6-7 offensive lineman will be the same guy in the same spot as last year.
Like it or not, that will create some issues.
And there could be two rookies AND Demetrius Bell starting on the OL AND a rookie TE. Realistically, that's a bad setup for a QB.
That said, Nelson is a nice prospect. He is a far better football player coming out than Kevin Everett. He's one dimensional, but Nelson is the most talented TE they've had since McKellar/Metzelaars.
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This can't be accurate, though. I mean, McShay might spend his entire waking hours looking at film and talking to scouts and interviewing players, but he's only one guy. And on the Stadium Wall, there are at least twenty-eight guys on their couches with a bag of chips in their lap and they all say that our draft was a joke and our front office is an embarrassment for their selections.
And twenty-eight is more than one. Therefore....
Therefore..........you are better than them?
Let's clarify one thing, Nodnarb is/was a Dick Jauron fan who regularly attacked posters for their criticism of his work the past 3 years.
Until the end of the season, when he jumped off that ship.
In other words, his opinion on the subject was wrong.
Point is, take it all with a grain folks. Everybody has the right to an opinion here. Attacking other posters just because they have a strong opinion is asssholish. It's not the fans fault that the team hasn't made the playoffs this decade, or that Dick Jauron has such a terrible coaching record, or that the team has struggled to acquire or then keep blue chip talent. If you think any of those statements are wrong, by all means, let's debate. Otherwise try to treat your fellow posters with the courtesy you would if you were having the discussion with them in person.
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Overdrafted: probably, but at this point, I could care less; it's over and done with. I'm surprised you even care, incidentally; what he makes is peanuts compared to the overall cap numbers at this point. I agree he's not a Pro Bowler, and that's because he doesn't make game-turning plays. But in comparison to past years, I don't see regular catastrophic breakdowns in the secondary (2002 comes most immediately to mind) anymore because apparently there's a guy back there who can diagnose plays. And I see him in position on a constant basis. He can run.
I couldn't give a flying f**k about the talking, and I'm surprised you do (plus it's a weak arguing point). As for the arrest, yeah, dumb, but since I think most NFL guys' aggressive tendencies make them borderline criminals, I'm not going to get too flustered by a 3 am bar squabble in which no one got hurt. If memory serves, a certain Badolbilz came to the defense of Bryant McKinnie after he two-by-foured some guy with a velvet-rope pole and pointed to how we don't understand how terrible bouncers truly are. But he was a Cane; I get it.
In all seriousness, what is up with the Canes? I hear that only one guy might get drafted (a CB), and he'll be a late pick. What happened???
The Canes hired a mediocre head coach to follow a bullsh*t coach who got handed the steering wheel of a dominant program on cruise control and almost immediately ran it off the road. They've had two very good recruiting classes in a row, but will continue to be hamstrung by poor coaching. But, when you are in the middle of such a great talent pool like South Florida, you are always one good coaching hire away from national contention. It's like having Polian or Ozzie Newsome as your GM. Just a matter of time before Shannon gets himself fired and a decent coach comes in and the swagger returns. I wish it were so easy for the Bills.
As for comparing Whitner to McKinnie. Thank you. That's part of the point. QB's, LT's, DE's........these are key positions. Safety is a great place to stick a 35 year old corner and extend his career. Face it, the Bills got cute with that pick. They were going to outsmart the league and find the next Bob Sanders. Because apparently, what teams should look for in a safety is a guy who doesn't have the measurables, doesn't produce much and talks a lot of smack. Unfortunately, they missed the fact that Bob Sanders produced like a pinball machine in college and warranted early round consideration. Even in round 2, Whitner would have been a projection who benefited from Sanders success, not clearly worthy of such early selection.
Sh*t, they don't even know which safety position Whitner belongs at because he hasn't distinguished himself in the box or in space.
He's just a guy, Dave. It's good that your past that, though. Happy for you. I'm actually past winning and losing altogether, but I can still point out the obvious. Tailgating/following the team/NFL/NCAA: awesome. Results/actually watching the poor quality football: not as fun.
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Well, draft wise, we aren't in the bottom 5 front offices/personnel men. Granted we are no where near the top 5, but perhaps we aren't as bad (in drafting) as people would have everyone believe.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/pgStory?conte...p;photo=9486136
Agreed. They are much worse at keeping their own good players, coaching, and just playing football in general than they are drafting. They are actually about average or close to it at drafting. It may be their strength as an organization. I think that's why they have like a 9 game winning streak against the Bengals.
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If he played so poorly, then how did a team with such an abysmal pass rush have the 14th ranked defense overall, allow the 4th fewest TD passes, and finish 13th in passing yards allowed despite both starting CBs as well as their nickel CB (Youbouty) missing significant chunks of time? Please break down Whitner's game for me in a way that accounts for this, and please don't rely on anecdotal examples like "but he was knocked silly by Sammy Morris." From my perch, the Bills very rarely looked out of position in red zone pass defense outside of the Arizona game. Sure, they did poorly on the INT front. There's no disputing that. But that's as much a function of pass rush than anything else. Whitner was the only constant in that secondary last year.
Dave, I'm glad you like you some Whitner. I like him too. He's awright. Reminds me of a young Pierson Prioleau.
The issues however:
He was clearly overdrafted, which hurt the organization because it was a precious very early draft pick, the 2nd highest pick they'd had in two decades and an opportunity to draft a cornerstone of the franchise.
He is overpaid(richest contract in Bills history when signed).
He doesn't make plays. Almost no pics, forced fumbles, TFL's.
He doesn't match up well in coverage with anybody, not even TE's or backs, let alone WR.
He talks too much sh*t and doesn't back it up, which makes him look stupid.
And he seems to think he's maybe just a bit above the law. Which also makes him look stupid as well as hypocritical because he talks so much sh*t about what a great man he is.
That's all.
Otherwise he's good. How else could we have a 14th rated pass defense, right?
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That's what I'm saying!
He did not play well last season by any measure. He's young, but after 3 years of watching his lackluster play, I am not optimistic.
Dawgg, it's like this:
You can't criticize a draft pick 3 years after the fact, and you can't criticize a draft pick until 3 years after the draft. Got it?
However, you must criticize that pick after they leave as a free agent or are traded. Then they are TRASH!
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Let's see where we are at the bye week before we get all pessimistic and "bottomed out."
Whooooa, slow down man. To be safe, why don't we wait until after the season is over and we've had a few months to reflect. I mean, where were we last season at the bye week and how did that season end up? You shouldn't rush to judgement.
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... we drafted Willis McGahee in the first round of the 2003 draft.
That was a bad pick. The current malaise may have begun there. That was the point where they started treading water by dumping good personnel then using high picks to replace them. The Bills have basically spent the last 4 offseasons dumping good players, then using premium picks to replace them and it has contributed greatly to their inability to get better.
Draft McGahee then feel they have to trade Henry as a result
Let Pat Williams walk for no return
Dump Milloy.....draft Whitner #1 and trade pick acquired for Henry to move into round 1 to draft McCargo to replace Williams
Dump McGahee and let Fletcher and Clements walk for nothing....draft Lynch #1, Poz #2 then McKelvin #1 the next offseason!
They did get Trent Edwards with one of the picks acquired for McGahee, but in essence that is all they have to show for losing Henry, Pat Williams, Milloy, McGahee, Flether and Clements. Not f'in good.
They were mediocre when they started this cycle and they've stayed that way because they can never get ahead. The system is set up to promote parity and the Bills continue to defy it with self inflicted wounds.
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Good to see you back, BADOL. I was beginning to worry that T.O. was the final straw ...
No, I actually liked the TO signing. The best chance the Bills had at righting the ship this season was to go all in to protect Trent Edwards' and maximize his potential. TO was a positive step. The rest has been sh*t. 3 new starters on the OL, Walker at LT, no starting NFL TE on the roster.......Trent is a dead man.
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Doesn't that logic apply to railing against it as well? Maybe more so, in fact...
Not at all. I'm simply expressing an opinion, not attacking other posters for expressing theirs.
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Nobody in the SB era has missed the playoffs 7 out of their first 8 seasons as a head coach. Nobody.
My bad. Except Coslet. And apparently Belichick. I remember 3 years ago when people were comparing Belichick's 6 year record to Jauron......now we are in year 8 of the comparison to Belichick's first 6 seasons. Sweet.
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Sadly, they will likely not get a football man who has an idea on how to build a team, so this year wont be bottoming out.
This may not be the year where their record bottoms out, but there is no lower point than when you realize half way through the season that a major roster overhaul has to be done and that the foundation of the future is not even on the roster yet. Watching 16 games of football by a bunch of crap players and coaches who won't be there when the day comes that the mess is turned around? Priceless.
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Your post makes many valid points,but most of them are arguable. I know you won't agree,but if somebody had the time and patience,a good argument stating the other side of most of your points can be made. For whatever reason you CHOOSE to see the glass as half empty in every point. You see a LB corp that's very slow and unathletic,I see a LB group that's 1 player away from being damn good. You see the worst OL in the NFL,I see an OL that's definitely in transition but with a good chance to be solid by the season opener. I could go on,but I've made my point. My question to you is,Why do you put yourself thru the agony of rooting with your heart and soul for a team when you have such a downer attitude about the whole situation? Obviously,you have a right to feel and do as you wish. I just don't get it.
A lot of teams don't see the precipitous drop coming. They think they have some good players. But in reality they just have too many players who could go either way, and sometimes a lot of them go the wrong way all at once and things spiral out of control. The Bills show all the signs. As for all the people who think the Bills aren't going to drop because they've been 7-9 forever....the old saying applies, "if you aren't getting better, you are getting worse". That's what's happening.
As for why I stay a Bills fan. I guess I have it in a different perspective? I follow the team closely, go to all the homegames follow all of college football and the NFL etc.., but it's just a hobby. I am an otherwise very busy person with a lot of responsibilities and assume most others are as well so I guess the question I have is how is it that so many people can't deal with the reality that the team they cheer for sucks because it is being mismanaged. It's just a game folks.
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Fair enough and I respect your opinion. But this negative energy has just been killing the Bills fan in me.
I for one have no idea what you are talking about. Negative energy? What the hell is your life like if you are so wired into this hobby that you can't even be honest with yourself about the state of the football team you follow. What's it going to take? 20 years and no playoffs? Seriously, it's one thing to be a fan, it's another thing to pointlessly defend ineptitude so vehemently. You are so concerned about the productivity of my posts, but wtf good does hating on me every time I post something do? Get a life for chrissake.
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I'm not asking this because I know...I'm just asking...Are there Head Coaches with 8 or more Years of experience with worse records than Jauron?
Nobody in the SB era has missed the playoffs 7 out of their first 8 seasons as a head coach. Nobody.
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Overall, I see much more potential for a poor record than the Bills vying for a playoff spot. Having to pick in the top five next year will be devastating to this team with all of the guaranteed money that will be required to sign that pick.
A lot of people don't realize that picking in the top 5 of the draft is not a good thing. It's as sure a way to keep your team awful as it is to make it any better at all. What is frustrating is that the Bills have actually been in a good drafting position for so many years and not managed to translate that into a better team on the field. They are poised to drop out of mediocrity and into the crapper at this point.
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An epic post from my favorite glass-is-half-empty poster (seriously). Re TO, he played quite well last year, and if not for the Brad Johnson interregnum, he probably would have ended up with his usual 75-80 catches/1200 yards. As it is, he still put up excellent numbers -- 70 catches/1052 yards and 10 TDs in one of the best divisions in football. And he had one of the best seasons of his career the year before. As for the drops, you're better than that, Badol. He's been droppin' balls since 1996, and in any event, Braylon Edwards led the league in drops last year. (Edwards is an elite receiver, of course.) Reading your post, one would think the Bills weren't at 7-9 three years running. You're basically equating them with an 0-16 team, and you're relying on truly specious claims like "the hands go first" (I always thought it was the legs, but what do I know?) because James Lofton played like crap in 1992 (which he truly did) and definitively stating that Edwards will get hurt early on based on nothing but your own gut instinct and your seeming view that he won't ever complete a season. Lofton is a bad comparison with TO -- Lofton was a deep threat guy who did NOT like going over the middle and taking a pounding; TO has always been fearless in that regard. Methinks Lofton saw the end coming and thought that perhaps it wasn't worth getting clobbered. As for Edwards, Chris Chandler made it through a bunch of seasons; I suspect Edwards will make it through a couple too. Whether that will be next year or not is anyone's guess, but to state so definitively that he will go down for the count strikes me as the talk of a person embracing negativity for its own sake instead of reasonably taking a wait-and-see approach. I'm also not sure how you see Ryan Fitzpatrick as a downgrade from Losman, who may not even make a roster this year.
Also, I haven't seen a enthusiastic post about June 1 cuts in at least a year. I'm not sure where that's coming from.
Lofton didn't retire after the Bills, he went on to drop a lot of balls the next year in Oakland. Guy could still get over the top of a defense though. As for the drops, the Owens leading the league in drops thing came from an article after the TO acquisition, but I believe it was actually most drops in the second half of the season. In any event, he used to drop some easy balls, now he's a drop machine. And yeah, he's old. He's from the same class as Keyshawn and Moulds. He's old. And yeah, he had production, but check out the end of Jerry Rice's career. His game dropped out overnight.
Good reference to Chris Chandelier. That is the kind of player Edwards reminds me of. He's not good enough to make a difference for a bad team. He's not an elite talent. He is a guy who could one day be a good fit for a good team that is just a QB away from doing something in the playoffs. As for my assumption that he will get hurt........he has always gotten hurt so I would say I more embrace reality than negativity. Making his line worse isn't going to lead to more durability, IMO.
And I never said anything about Losman. Fitzpatrick sucks though. He was awful in relief of Palmer last year, despite having Housh and Ocho Cinco, so why do you think so highly of him?
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First of all, they are guided by the lame duck Dick Jauron, arguably the worst long tenured head coach in the Super Bowl era. This alone would be cause for concern because everyone knows that he can't continue to do what he has been doing and keep his job. Unfortunately for him and us, he has been doing his best and it isn't even close to enough. Expect Jauron to try to be more aggressive and for the results to be worse because he isn't capable of coaching that brand of football.
Second, they have a fragile, physically limited starting QB, a very bad backup situation and nobody in development. Edwards will be hurt early in the season.
He will be hurt early because he has arguably the worst OL in the NFL in front of him. Seriously, look around the league and find a worse collection of OL. When Langston Walker is your best OL you have a serious concern.
Age:
The 4 best DL are all well on the backsides of their careers. Stroud, Schobel, Kelsay and Denney.....this unit was poor last year and is really poised for a big fallout. They all really are at the point in their careers where they should be backups or at best in a rotation with players of comparable or better talent. There is not a lot in the cupboard behind these guys either.
TO. I saw Dave McBride here talking about Owens as the best player on this team. That's not saying much, but even so, he's not. He's very old for a wr and has had declining production. I fully expect him to be nicked up in or before camp and nagged by injuries like you would expect from a player who is that old. Perhaps the key point though is that his hands are failing him. Anyone who remembers James Lofton as a Bill should remember that when the Bills let Lofton go he could still do everything he always could.......except catch the football consistently. The hands go first and TO lead the NFL in dropped passes last year.
The linebacker position is very slow and unathletic. Mitchell makes big plays, but he's not a very good all around player. Poz is a the opposite, he's solid but makes no plays. Who even knows who the other starter will be, but chances are it's not going to be a game changer and the backups are little more than special teamers.
The back of the secondary. There is no capable free safety on this roster. Unless you count Whitner as a free safety......which is a position he is worse suited for than SS.......holyshitt what a mess is brewing back there.
Perhaps the biggest sign of an implosion is the radical moves being made by and attributed to Russ Brandon. There appears to be an effort to add by subtraction as if the reason the organization has failed to win is because of a few guys who just aren't buying into the wonderful system in place. This situation is very reminiscent of what the Lions did last offseason.
I know a lot of you are counting on the draft and the June 1st releases to bolster this roster. Unfortunately the draft never supplies the kind of immediate help that a roster like this needs to get better now. Even the top picks will not lead this team. Not that this will keep the Bills from drafting for need instead of taking the best available player......that's what they do and it's the main reason they are so lacking in difference makers. Also, there won't be any June 1st cuts. I just mentioned this because for some reason people don't realize that June 1st ceased to be a key date about a decade ago and isn't even relevant at all since the last cba.
Lastly, a tough schedule in a tough division filled with teams run by instinctive, successful career football men.
I'd love to be wrong about this, but a year from now people will be wondering how any of us could have thought this team could be anything more than horrible. If Edwards goes down, and he will, this team is headed for 2-4 wins. The days of the team winning a handful of games by playing ultra conservative Jauron ball and taking advantage of young teams who are trying to get better are gone.
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My buddy is a Cheifs fan and he just text me that we are LB Pat Thomas. Don't know if it is true or not... we will see.
The Marv era is coming full circle, complete with a dozen insignificant free agent signings. No doubt in the name of creating competition on the roster.
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Looking at the other FA signings, if the Bills sign June and Coles will you look favorably on this free agency period?
Oh hell no. Florence will be out of here next offseason, as would June and Coles. Veritable band-aids. Hangartner might be as well, depending on the size and structure of his deal. He's a quality backup, but he's going to look like crap going face up against the NT's in the AFC East. How can I say these things? Check out the results from the past three ventures into free agency. They aren't doing anything differently.
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Quinn is more of a thicker body QB, like Jim Kelly, who might be better suited not only for our climate but also in the kind of offense that Jauron likes to run. I don't think that either QB has a big arm but physically Quinn looks to be a better fit for our type football that we are trying to employ. While Edwards might an intelligent QB I'm still not sold on his durability, he seems a bit frail to me and picturing him wearing that glove still makes me shudder. I know that Quinn landed up injured (against Buffalo) last year but that was just a finger smacking a helmet and that could have happen to any QB.
Does any of this seem reasonable? Comments welcomed.
I can easily see Trent not in the plans next offseason. The deck is stacked against this guy having success. His fragility is concern enough, but coupled with bad coaching a climate that is unfavorable to his weak arm and a receiving corps that does not mesh with his strengths he's really not a good fit here and now. I think he will end up having a career like Chris Chandler. He'll bounce around because of injuries and physical limitations(arm/mobility). But eventually, some team with a lot of talent and a favorable climate will pick him up and he'll see some success in the playoffs because I think he does have some special qualities. But overall, the guy is not cutout to carry a franchise long term. I don't know if Quinn is the guy, but I do know that I'd take Cutler in a heartbeat over Edwards, but who wouldn't?
Felser on being miffed
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
An All star team? Perhaps not. But it doesn't take 22 All stars to win a Super Bowl. While we were enduring some dreadful offensive line play last year, Buffalo cast-off Mike Gandy was starting at LT for a Super Bowl team. Great? No. Good enough to be playing here providing real insurance for Jason Peters or maybe even starting at guard for the disappointing Dockery or the injury prone Butler? Yeah. Remember when the Bills in essence traded Ruben Brown for Chris Vilarrial? Ruben was a good starter on their SB team, Villarial was a POS.
There are a number of instances like that, where guys who were plenty good enough to play well here were let go because of rigid schemes and bad money and strategic decisions. That is besides losing high quality durable starters like Pat Williams, Antoine Winfield, London Fletcher, Nate Clements, even Lawyer Milloy. Then using first day picks, and in the case of Williams a pick on McCargo and then multiple pics on Stroud just to replace them(then waiting for those guys to develop with mixed results). Then when the roster isn't good enough, it gives management an excuse to stick with the abysmal Dick Jauron.
It's an utterly ridiculous situation. That is beside using #1 and #2 picks on Henry and McGahee to later trade them for lesser picks in their primes. Face it, the likelihood is Marshawn Lynch will be the next to go for cheap if anything and his career stat line won't read much better, if even as good as McGahee's.
People are always rationalizing why it was a good idea to get rid of a player. The standings don't lie. It's no mistake this team can't get ahead, they do an awful job of handling their personnel. AWFUL.