hondo in seattle

Rex has a better resume and gets paid the same as Marrone.

My wish list, as stated elsewhere: * We fire Danny Crossman and replace him with someone better. * We hire an experienced QB Coach - someone who will not only mentor our young QBs, but also assist our young OC with game planning. * Better O Linemen

Great list, lousy season.

I have to say, I don't understand the Russ Brandon bashing. The guy is a Bills fan. He wants the Bills to win. Whether or not he's capable of running a winning organization is still an open question. But he's pretty remote from the product on the field. As the President/CEO, his main contribution to the W-L record is hiring the GM. He hired Doug Whaley. Doug Whaley's ability is also still unproven but Peter King and others praised the choice. Whaley was well regarded in Pittsburgh and was a valid pick. We'll see how it goes. Russ's biggest mistake thus far was setting up the TO series. Players and fans alike hate it. But even his biggest blunder had some logic behind it. I'm glad Russ is trying to regionalize the fan base in order to solidify the Bills place in WNY. It's better to swing and miss than to not swing at all. Championship teams aren't built over night. Wooden was in his 16th year at UCLA when he won his first NCAA title. He then won 11 in 13 years. Brandon needs more time before we can judge him. I don't want to play the role of the Brandon apologist because I hardly have an opinion about the guy. It just seems to me that a lot of collective anger about the Bills long streak of uncompetitiveness is being directed at a guy who has little to do with it.

It's hard to judge position coaches as a fan. I see the Bills one day a week. I don't know what goes on the other days in the locker room or on the practice field. I do know that our WRs were not very productive this season. Was that Ike's fault? Hackett's? The play of our young QBs? Or do our WRs simply lack talent. Hard to say but without evidence to the contrary, I have to trust Marrone on this one. Marrone made an interesting comment that may hint at more moves, "We've already made one change. Ike Hilliard is no longer with us." I'm really hoping Danny Crossman is next. Marrone talks about accountability. Great. Hold Crossman accountable for crappy special teams.

Random thoughts. * Fire Danny Crossman. * Hire a good QB coach. A really good one. Someone who can not only help our young QBs but also our young OC. * Sign Byrd. * Draft another QB (in case, EJ doesn't develop), more WRs and both a Guard and Tackle. Our O Line needs to get better at opening holes for our RBs.

I'd be surprised if Pettine got a HC offer based on just one reasonably good season as both de facto and de jure DC. So the worst thing I fear is Danny Crossman not getting fired.

Once the draft is over, I don't care what round a player was picked. I don't care what the draft gurus said. I only care about what I see on the field. If a first-rounder ends up being a reliable, but unexceptional, starter while our 5th and 6th rounders end up All-Pro, that's a great draft. And I'll be a fan of all three players. I'm a fan of any player who plays in Bills colors. The thing with draft gurus is they're just guys who know a little more than us fans. NFL franchises have entire scouting departments spending thousands of man-hours visiting campuses, analyzing game video, talking to college coaches, attending workouts, interviewing players. Neither Kiper, nor McShay, nor any other talking head spends invests the same amount of time & effort that a team does. Not even close.

PTR, it's all about production. The Eagles are producing more wins this year than last. And are you really knocking Kelly about Foles? Foles was a nobody until Kelly transformed him into a star. Apparently that process took a while because, by all accounts, Vick outplayed Foles in camp & preseason. Eventually, though, Kelly taught Foles to run his offense at a high level. I'm not a Chip Kelly fan by any means. But - if you're an Iggles fan - you've got to be awfully encouraged by his first year. The Eagles had the 15th ranked offense in 2013 but are currently 2nd. Chip is an offensive guy and he's delivering. Marrone is also an offensive guy but his impact has been less impressive. We'll probably finish the season with the same number of wins as last year. Our offense was ranked 17th last year but has slipped to 23rd this year despite running more plays. We averaged 5.6 yards per play last year. This year, we're gaining a paltry 4.8! And you can't blame it all on QB play. Spiller gained 6.0 yard per carry last year. Running in the Marrone/Hackett scheme, he's averaging only 4.5. Marrone was smart enough to hire Pettine as his DC but he hasn't done crap with the offense - his specialty. Marrone may turn out to be a great NFL head coach some day but the naysayers have room to talk based on current production - especially when compared to Kelly's (or Andy Reid's).

I confess that a few years ago I was thinking that maybe the Bills ought to hire Leslie Frazier. He hasn't done much in Minny. I suppose this is another thread, but I wonder who might get axed from Marrone's staff. Danny Crossman would be my first - and only - pick. I think Hackett deserve another year. Besides the axing, I'm in favor of the Bills hiring a QB coach.

Thad has a 2-2 record as a Bills starter and his passer rating is nearly identical to EJ's (.1 higher, in fact). As for our chances against the Pats, I don't really care who starts. Right now, Thad's about as good as EJ. But when I think about next year, I want EJ to start for the game time experience.

It's not all about stats. You don't think Fred would have had better stats if he had played on better teams? What would Freddy's career have looked like if he lined up in the backfield with Jim Kelly back in the 90s? His numbers may not say it emphatically enough but he's one of the best Bills I can remember. And a class act and a loyal Bill.

The Bills sucked last year under Wanny. This year they're 6th in yards per play allowed, 1st in sacks, 2nd in INTs. How is that terrible? They're on the field a lot because (1) the offense isn't very good, and (2) they offense is uptempo. The yardage allowed totals aren't what we want nor are they indicative of the Pettine's qualitative improvements. 6th in yards per play is very good and a huge improvement over 2012 (22nd). What Pettine's accomplished in just one year has been impressive and people will notice.

Even after we did all that, I didn't have high hopes for the season. Our HC, DC, OC and QB are all rookies. That's not a formula for immediate success. But if we chose the right ones, it may be a formula for long term success.

Big plays are part of the game. In a typical game, a big chunk of the total yards will be produced by big plays. Though it is impressive to think that half of Miami's meager total came on that long pass to Hartline. When you hold a team to 100 yards and 0 points, it's hard to say anyone on defense had a bad game. Incidentally, Hartline only caught 2 of the 10 passes thrown his way. The other completion was for something like 3 yards. He made one play. He didn't have a big game. Not only is this defense producing better stats - it's just plain more fun to watch than Wanny's defense.

I got worried when Hackett said he would run CJ until he pukes. I'm not knocking CJ, I just wanted Freddy to get his touches. Interestingly, Freddy now has more touches this year than CJ - something I wouldn't have expected given the way Nate was talking in preseason.

EJ has had a fairly typical rookie campaign. I haven't seen enough to say he's a franchise QB. I haven't seen enough to say he isn't. Both Kelly and Marrone seem to retain hope in him. I think they know NFL QBs better than most of us. I'm keeping an open mind.

I've always been a FredEx fan. It's why I didn't cry when we traded Lynch for a 4th rounder. It's still a crappy trade but it made room for Freddy to get more playing time. Fred got a lot of something out of nothing in years 2009 to 2011. He may be past his prime but he's still an effective back (800 yards at 4.3 ypc as a back up behind a questionable line). And he's a warrior - gaining over 100 yards against the fins with broken ribs. One of my favorite all-time Bills.

We outgained a playoff contender roughly 400 yards to 100 yards with our backup QB and backup WRs. And notched a win. I wish every game plan was as productive as today's.

Why would you ever release a cap-friendly asset??? I could maybe see the Bills spending a late round draft pick on a RB because Freddy is aging. But he still looks good out there. You don't release guys who are helping your team just because the calendar says they're getting older.

That was a one-off. In 1991, the Bills set the (then) all-time NFL season attendance record. Fans supported the team well through the early/mid 90s. Too many years of losing, however, make ticket prices harder to bear. As someone who lives elsewhere, I'm always impressed by the amount of Bills gear for sale in the grocery and department stores in WNY. Buffalo fans take their team more seriously than most cities. Field a winner, and the stadium will sell out every time.

33% chance he's our starting QB 3 years from now. But I'm rooting for that 1 in 3 shot. He seems like a really good kid.

Years ago when the Bills hired Nix, Peter King lamented that the Bills didn't choose a younger, up-and-coming personnel star like Doug Whaley of Pittsburg to be the GM. He noted Whaley had an outstanding reputation in the NFL. Whether or not Whaley's capable remains to be seen as you say. But he was a valid choice. As for Brandon, he's done well keeping the Bills financially healthy - which is his job. He now also gets to choose the GM and hopefully Whaley pans out.

Russ is the de facto owner of the Bills. Decisions usually reserved for owners are now made by Brandon. How many owners have football pedigrees? Your coach and GM need to be football guys. Owners and Presidents need to be businessmen. I don't see the problem - unless the business guys start meddling in areas where they have no expertize like Jerry Jones does. I may worry about Whaley's ability to run a football organization and Marrone's ability to coach a football team. I don't worry about Brandon. Not yet, anyway.

Ken, great stuff as usual. But where is he now?