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Based on that, Danny Crossman was a horrible hire. Going back further, you'd have to question the hiring of Marv Levy too. He went 2-5 in his first partial year with the Bills, after going 3-6 in his last (partial) year with KC. Maybe you need more than a year?

I agree but I'll add that Roman is supposed to be a mad scientist at designing running planes that create lanes for the backs. In other words, he doesn't necessarily need offensive linemen who can maul people.

This is a great post. Ideally, you look at what the position coach achieved with the hand he was dealt. But this is hard for a couple reasons. First, we Bills fans are usually not great talent evaluators when it comes to other teams. I know I'm not. Second, position coaches work for coordinators who devise/implement schemes that might make the position coaches look better - or worse - than they really are. To get past these two problems, I try to look at the coach's achievements over the years with different teams. When a guy is successful where ever he goes, you start to believe it's not the players beneath him or the coaches above him. It's him. I also tend to get encouraged when a position coach keeps getting hired by top-flight coordinators and HCs. It suggests he's got a good reputation in the coaching community. If a guy has a long tenure as a position coach, but always works for losers, it gives me pause.

"Kromer, per Biggs' report, denied saying anything to Rapoport about the remorse part of the report but did tell the assembled players — including Cutler — that he did express frustration with the quarterback to the reporter. Cutler, Biggs wrote, just shook his head. Reached by Biggs, Kromer said: 'I said what I had to say to the players.' Read more: http://www.nationalledger.com/pop-culture-news/aaron-kromer-tearful-apology-201921.shtml#ixzz3P38sBi3B “I made a very poor decision talking about things outside the building,” Kromer said. “I admit that and can’t take that back. But I recognize I made a mistake and when I did, I instantly went right to the offensive unit, our group, and apologized to the offense, as well as apologized to Jay in front of the offense that he was singled out in the situation. I wish I wouldn’t have made that mistake.” http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/12/12/aaron-kromer-i-made-a-mistake/

I agree. The best was either him or Jim Brown. I don't think anyone else deserves to be in the conversation. But it's hard to vote for OJ when he committed such vile acts later on. Brian - good luck with you film.

If Defenses truly win games, then we need a good Offense to defeat the opponent's Defense. If Offenses truly win games, then we need a good Defense to defeat the opponent's Offense.

And Latin is the language of the Romans and Greg Roman is our new offensive coordinator. This all can't just be a coincidence, can it?

Yep. When I was an army officer, I was told to simply implement the decisions made by the chain of command, never add my own personal take. If my commander and I argued and I lost, I simply got done whatever he wanted me to do. Likewise, I run my current business the same way. We disagree sometimes when the leadership team meets. But once the final decision has been made, we all go out and execute as if it was our idea. When you share the disagreements with subordinates, they start to questions and doubt the decision and execution becomes poor. Even bad decisions can work when executed with passion. So our business leaders always present a united, enthusiastic front. We don't lie to anyone - we simply don't advertise the details of the disagreement and hit the plan hard.

Rex's defensive scheme is not "predicated on disguised blitzes." Disguised blitzes are part of his repertoire but hardly the whole package. The more tools in the woodshed, the better off you are - and Rex has a big woodshed. I'm too lazy to look it up, but I think that in Rex's 10 or so years as a DC for the Ravens and HC for the Jets, his defense has never ranked lower than 6th despite a variety of personnel coming and going. I'm confident Rex's defensive ideas will work here as well.

If Spiller wanted to go to NY to work with Chan, it would be hard to blame him. Chan used CJ intelligently and got 6.0 yards per carry and 1244 yard from CJ in 2012 behind a questionable offensive line. It was a whole season of high productivity - not just "moments." But I hope CJ stays and finds out what Roman can do for his career.

Yeah, me too. I hear the criticisms of Spiller's vision, etc. But I can't help but think that the 2012 Spiller is the real Spiller. You have to know how to use him. Remember OJ was more-or-less considered a bust his first couple seasons - because he was misused - until Lou Saban turned the Juice loose. I hope Rex and Ryan do something similar for CJ. Why? It's not the 70s anymore. It's not the golden age of the running back when teams were built around their halfbacks. Teams tend to have committees of backs now - specialists for different situations.

C2C was a different philosophy - never an inferior one. The great positive is it saved the team from having years with huge amounts of dead money. Dead money was one of the reasons the Raiders have sucked so bad recently. If I'm not mistaken, they had something like $30 or $40 million of dead money in 2013. Hard to sign the FAs you need when you're still paying millions for ex-players.

The thing I dislike about Brady is that he keeps beating the Bills. If he wore a Bills uniform, though, I'd have a very high opinion of him.

I worry about losing Hughes. Despite what some others say, I think he would continue to do well in a Rex Ryan defense. And I worry about losing Spikes. Is Ryan the best defensive mind in the game or Pete Carroll? In any case, I agree the D will be very strong again next year. It will be great to have Kiko back and I think the players will buy into Rex's schemes. I believe the O will be better next year because I think the coaches and FO will move Heaven & Earth to build up a better OL.

While I'd love for the Bills to upgrade every position, I really didn't see our backs as the main culprit in our putrid running game. In 40 years of watching football, I can't remember an OL so inept at opening running lanes as this one. Was zone blocking part of the problem? I'm no expert and can't say. All I know is this OL sucked. The statistical gurus at PFF rated our OL 32nd in the league at run blocking. I remember watching Willie Ellison run for 247 yards on 26 carries for the LA Rams back in 1971. Don't remember Willie Elliison? At the time, his effort was the greatest single game rushing total in pro football history topping Gilchrist's best game of 243 and Jim Brown's NFL record of 237 yards. Everybody knows Jim Brown, Rex Ryan remembers Cookie, but few people remember Willie because he wasn't actually all that talented. Instead, he piled up yards running behind a very good offensive line that opened up gaping holes for him. An OL like that would put our backs into the Pro Bowl.

T. Pegula is a surprisingly poor public speaker. I still like the guy but I'd never pay to hear him speak. Rex, on the other hand, had me pumped up. He's not actually a polished speaker either, but he comes across as genuine, knowledgeable, passionate, and driven to win. I loved the "Lookie, Lookie, Here Comes Cookie" line. He knows his Bills history.

Very weird. And apparently they didn't want Roman as HC either. Both coordinators passed over for a position coach.

In some other thread somewhere, I predicted that Marrone's next gig would be as an OL coach. Marrone may or may not be qualified to be a HC, depending on your point of view, but what GM wants a barely qualified HC who couldn't get along with his last GM and FO? No GM wants those kinds of problems. Marrone is not qualified to be an OC. With the Saints, he simply implemented Payton's ideas and didn't even call plays. Despite the OC title, he was more a glorified OL Coach there. In Buffalo, he presided over an offense that was impotent. Who would want him as an OC? So that leaves OL Coach. They say he was good at it in The Big Easy, though our OL seemed to regress under his leadership. A lot of people say Marrone was smart for leaving Buffalo when he did. Maybe I'm wrong, but I disagree. I think his career will suffer.

John Fox was a .500 coach until he hooked up with Manning. Rex was a .500 coach was Sanchez, Geno and Vick - and a terrible FO. I'm not saying Fox is a bad coach. I just don't think the record is clear that he's a better coach.

I would have preferred a classy coach like Marv Levy. But if Rex gets us into the playoffs, he'll have my support. Players seem to love him, despite his occasional buffoonery.

It's exciting to dream that Roman would push up EJ's QB rating 10 to 20 points. But what did Roman accomplish with Kaep this year?

I hope Chan isn't hired by the Jets. I like Chan and want to root for him but I can't root for an AFCE rival.

Unfortunately, I behave like the casual fan and tend to watch the ball. But when I did watch the OL, I saw both missed assignments and blockers lose 1-on-1 battles. I'm tempted to blame the blown assignments on poor coaching. But when you see a determined OG get shoved aside by a stronger/better DT, that's just lack of talent. But we had 3 rookies on our roster last year. It will be interesting to see if any of them get better - particularly with better coaching. Better designed blocking schemes might make our OL look better as well.

The Cowboys OL made their backs and QB look better than ever. PFF had them ranked #1 overall.

And this was designed acoustically to be the loudest stadium in the NFL. Buffalo should also consider acoustics as well as sight lines. The noise of the 12th Man does indeed contribute to the Seahawks' success.