hondo in seattle

Sully is off target as usual. Lynn is the new HC. Of course, he did a presser. Of course, he wasn't entirely smooth and natural in front of all those cameras. I imagine Brandon or someone asked if he felt up to a presser. Lynn is no coward and probably said he did. In any case, Lynn is a grown man and a professional. This is the kind of stuff that just goes with the territory. You do a presser. Life goes on.

And no other skill/quality comes close.

Reports are Rex told Terry on Tuesday, "If you're going to fire me, fire me now." If true, that explains the Tuesday firing, not the QB issue.

I'll say it again. The Bills are a .500 team. How do we win half our games? Either Rex is good and Whaley is bad - or Rex is bad and Whaley is good. Or - maybe - neither is particular good or bad. They're both just average. Too many say both Rex and Whaley suck. That flies in the face of reason. If they both suck as bad as their detractors say, we would be 2-13 right now. I'm not opposed to firing Whaley too (I tend to believe both are average and average doesn't get you to the Super Bowl). I just think the debate needs to make sense. It's just not rational to say both Rex and Whaley suck. Agreed!

As a Bills fan, you hold Whaley partially responsible for The Drought. That's not how the rest of the NFL sees him. There are only 32 HC jobs. Something like 8 of them are open each year. And few of those 8 will offer a roster as talented as the Bills. While coaches get all the blame, often the terminated head coach had little to work with. This roster is at least average. In other words, Whaley has not been an abysmal failure at acquiring talent. A new coach will have a chance - if he coaches well - to reach the playoffs his first year. Most coaches think they coach well. To sweeten the pot, the Bills have one of the wealthiest owners. Not only will the new HC command a healthy salary, he'll have enough money to hire the coordinators and position coaches he wants. You don't get that everywhere. I'm not saying DW is a good GM. I do think, though, that many/most coaches looking for a HC opportunity would consider the Bills.

If the roster is a good one - a playoff caliber one - but the coach couldn't coach them into the playoffs - you fire the coach. If the roster is poor, but the HC coached them up to roughly .500 - you fire the GM. We're winning about half our games. If Rex sucks, Whaley doesn't. If Whaley sucks, Rex doesn't. If Whaley is so horrible - and failed to put together a good roster - why are we firing Rex?

There are worse scenarios that going into 2017 with TT, EJ and Cardale. Though I don't actually think they'll all be on the roster.

No. Rex was fired because he's supposed to be a defensive guru and the defense was regressing. His entire body of work got him fired. The timing vis-a-vis TT is irrelevant.

Would he? That of course is the question. If his open market price is lower than the contract, the Bills might risk a game of chicken. Otherwise, we have zero leverage. I'm not opposed to looking at options but right now Tyrod is reasonably priced and better than the FAs likely available.

Agree with both statements.

I think this thread is funny. We're all experts on Terry's, Russ's and Whaley's faults even though most of us have never met them, let alone worked with them. The unbridled arrogance of fans is awe inspiring!

Man, I've been impressed by Lynn. Never an OC before. Promoted after the season began so wasn't able to develop or install his own playbook. Didn't have a franchise QB. Didn't have a real RT. Playing either the walking wounded or street FAs at the wideouts. And still got the Bills into the Top 10 in scoring. 589 total yards, 30 first downs, 31 points... most OCs wish they called a game this poorly.

It's just one man's opinion but he is a player and knows more than we do. It'll be interesting to hear/read what the other players have to say.

Multiple Bills have said Cardale has potential but just isn't ready for game play yet. The coaches may went to develop him intelligently instead of throwing him into a game he isn't ready for.

I'm not sure if this is arrogance, naivete, or something else. None of us know as much about coaching football as a NFL coach. How many coaching clinics have you attended? How long have you spent as a position coach or coordinator? What books have you studied? So you believe that these guys who have immersed themselves in coaching for 20, 30, 40 years have only learned the same material that you have learned watching the game? That's just crazy. I used to be an army officer and what the amateurs wrote about our missions - or the talking heads said on tv - was generally comically misinformed and ignorant. That's how professional football guys feel about us sometimes. I'm sure you're an expert in something. Do rank amateurs who have never done your job know as much as you? Rex could coach circles around anyone on this site. Unfortunately, he can't coach circles around the other highly experienced coaches that he actually coaches against.

Jeff Fisher spent 22 years as a head coach. While he did reach the playoffs a few times, he never built a perennial winner and probably never would. So, I agree, continuity can be overrated. But it can be underrated too. I think it's clear in hindsight that the Browns, for example, should have been more patient with Bill Belichick as their coach. Bill Walsh went 2-14 his first year and had another dismal season his second year. Bills fans would have demanded his head. In the end, you're making an educated guess. Is this a guy who will turn things around eventually? Or are we spinning wheels?

Doug Whaley is the best person within the organization to lead the HC search. Who would you want in that role? Russ? Kim? Typically, it's the GM's responsibility and the GM usually knows more coaches than anyone else in the organization. This suggests, though, that the Pegulas are buying into the purported Whaley narrative: we have a playoff quality roster but lack a playoff quality coach. I'm not sure I agree.

On the one hand, the Pegulas are infinitely better informed and resourced than the Monday Morning Quarterbacks who rant here on TBD. They're probably spending a lot of time and money doing their due diligence. I imagine they have a number of smart football guys as official and unofficial advisers. On the other hand, they're football neophytes with an unproven track record. So the answer is that I don't trust them. But I trust the BN writers and commentators here even less.

My issue with Whaley is pure speculation. But I think he thinks this is a good roster led by a poor HC. I think (with injuries and suspensions factored in) that this is an average roster that was led by an average coach. I'm guessing Whaley overrates his work.

Yes. So while Whaley might have preferred another candidate, it seems unlikely he was vociferously opposed to Rex.

If the Bills had beaten Miami, would Rex have been fired today? Certainly not. What if the Bills had lost in OT in a defensive struggle, 13-10? It shouldn't matter, he's the HC. But if his beloved D had showed some life, I wonder if the Pegulas might have thought differently.

I kind of thought our coaching was average-ish but so was our roster. I think Whaley and Rex share equal responsibility for our mediocrity. An average GM with an average coach winning roughly half their games working together. Seems right. Apparently, the Pegulas bought into a different narrative: we have a good roster that's poorly led. The coach is to blame, not the GM. Interesting that Rob was fired, too. Wonder who's idea that was.

Offensive guru, Doug Marrone, fielded a far better D than O. Defensive guru, Rex Ryan, fields a far better O than D. Maybe we ought to let Jim Schwartz run the D and ALynn run the O.

I'm really big on continuity. I think a HC needs enough time to implement his system and philosophy, acquire the players to make that system work, and acquire the right coaches. I also believe that the Bills will fail to attract good coaches if the organization is looked upon as a coaching carousel. We want Buffalo to be viewed as a place where coaches are given all the resources they need - including time - to be successful. Then again, our defense has regressed and Rex is supposed to be a defensive guru. If I'm the Pegulas, I'd ask Rex to explain to me his plans for the future. What will he do differently to make 2017 more successful. If I'm not satisfied with his answer, I ax him.

The vitriol for TT, Rex, DW and Russ amazes me. We're a middling team, not a bad one. Our statistics are average-ish. Our W-L under Rex is average-ish. We're not the Browns. Of course, our goal is not to be better than the Browns or even just average. It's to return to the playoffs, better yet the Super Bowl. But, as I see it, we have average coaching and an average roster. So maybe both Rex and DW need to go. But Russ? I'm not sure how Russ is contributing to the mediocrity in any way since he's neither the final authority on the coaching staff nor the roster. I think the Pegulas are in a far better position to judge Russ - since they actually know what they've asked him to do! - than any of us.