hondo in seattle

Looking at the past six years, the Jets D is first in pass yards, completion percentage, first downs, and yards per play. It's second in total yards. This all despite a poor GM. Chris Simms called Rex the best defensive mind in the NFL in the past 10 or 15 years. With those stats, it's hard to disagree. While I appreciate what Schwartz did last year, and the loyalty the players feel toward him, it's hard not to view him as expendable.

You won the lottery but you want to trade your winning lottery ticket for a new ticket that may or may not win - and probably won't?

You've gotta give Leroi the benefit of the doubt. If I'm not mistaken, he was the first to report a 2nd interview for Rex, the first to report Rex was hired, and the first to report Rex is bringing Roman (still unconfirmed but now widely repeated). If Leroi says the plan for the QB situation, free agency and draft will "blow your mind," I'm guessing the plan for the draft involves a trade. Either we're trading away players for picks or trading picks for players. Otherwise, how could any draft plan be "amazing" before the fact? Either that, or Leroi has developed a lot of faith in Whaley and his scouts and expects them to make good picks, whoever those picks might be.

I voted "Approve" but am decidedly undecided. First, I want to see what kind of coaching staff he puts together. Then, more importantly, I want to see how many games we win. But I am happy about one thing. Although I was not a Ralph-Is-Cheap guy, you couldn't help but notice that we typically didn't pay top dollar for coaches. The Pegulas, on the other hand, paid a lot of money for a big name coach. I think that in itself sends a good message.

Here's a sample of responses for those too lazy to check it out for yourselves. Nothing like texts from all your friends at 8 AM on a Sunday mocking you because your team handed a division rival a huge coaching upgrade. If that happens, I might be a little bit of a Bills fan. Reading the bills message board, it's funny how they're mostly thrilled, yet when I checked their board when Marrone was fired, they were all screaming no to Rex. I guess all fans do this, but still funny Don't know what to tell you if you don't think the Bills are in better position now than they were yesterday. And that position was already better than the Jets. We got big problems here fellas. I don't know what to tell you if you think Rex is anything to write home about as a HC. It's funny, because he's quickly become one of the more overrated head coaches in all of professional sports. I never liked his ability to hire an offensive staff ,that would worry me if I'm a Bills fan ex Ryan has signed a 5 Year contract with the Bills. My worst dream has come true again.... (Revis to Pats was my 1st)

If we do indeed hire Rex and Roman and retain Schwartz, it means we end up with three of our HC candidates on our staff. I only expected that in a Shanahan/Shanaha/Schwartz scenario. As I try to be optimistic about this, I reason that three HC candidates on the same staff ought to be a good thing.

According to some reports, Rex wants to bring David Lee in as the QB coach. We all may remember Lee, the guy who introduced the wildcat to the NFL, as the coach who Gailey hired to help Fitz with his mechanics. Thoughts? http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2325799-rex-ryan-to-buffalo-bills-latest-contract-details-comments-and-reaction?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

The defensive players might be worried because they seem to like and respect Jim Schwartz. Didn't Kyle Williams previously tweet something about "continuity" regarding the desire to keep Schwartz? The offensive players are probably waiting to hear about an OC hiring if Rex indeed signs the offered contract to be HC. I'm not on twitter but I'm guessing it's mostly wait-and-see with the players now.

I wonder what Hackett's next job will be. OC at some middling college maybe?

Considering our QB situation, I guess it's good we're getting a guy who knows how to coordinate a running game.

What does this mean? Did Rex say these things about Jerry? Crap, that's not good.

That's certainly one way to look at it. And I hope you're right. It also could mean Roman has no talent coordinating a passing attack which is how many fans & media-types in the Bay Area think.

Good find. I feel a little better now. But is Kaep really solely to blame for the 49ers lack of productivity throwing the ball?

I never hated Rex when he was at New York. In fact I liked the way he believed in his players and admired the defense he built. But I didn't want him to come here because (1) he's a bit of a buffoon, and (2) he's had little success on offense. But when you look at the other dozen coaches we interviewed, you could find reasons not to like them as well. Either their success was a long time ago, or their resumes were thin, or whatever. In each case, you can find reasons why they aren't head coaches right now already. I don't know if Rex was the best choice but he certainly wasn't the worst choice. My dream scenario was Tony Dungy or Bill Cowher coming out of retirement to coach the Bills but that was never going to happen and posters here would criticize even that ('Too long out of football.' 'Don't want the Cover 2.' 'The Chin is overrated.'). There was no candidate close to being a consensus perfect choice. Every candidate has their warts (or foot fetish as the case may be). As you say, we can only get behind Rex now and hope for the best. Combining Rex with a good OC could do wonders for this team.

So we fired a coach who was 2 games below .500 to hire a coach who's 2 games (including playoffs) below .500? Curiously, the internet is saying Schwartz is out and Schwartz is in. In fact, FanSided is reporting both. http://fansided.com/2015/01/11/rex-ryan-wants-keep-jim-schwartz-bills-defensive-coordinator/ http://fansided.com/2015/01/11/buffalo-bills-replace-jim-schwartz-defensive-coordinator/?utm_source=FanSided&utm_medium=Network&utm_campaign=RelatedCategory (Yeah, I know, FanSided doesn't have 'real' sportswriters). Why so much faith in Roman?

Let me jump on the bandwagon noting how unloved Roman is in the Bay Area where they're surprised Roman's getting HC and OC consideration. http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Go-figure-49ers-Roman-hot-candidate-5997808.php GM Trent Baalke's daughter tweeted this about Roman after the 9ers lost to Seattle 19-3 on Thanksgiving, “The 49ers don’t want you no more.” As a curious counterpoint to the stats FeartheLosing shared, in 2014 SF was the #30 passing team in 2013 SF was the #30 passing team in 2012 SF was the #23 passing team in 2011 SF was the #29 passing team

It's not revisionist. Lots of us felt at the time that Chan was doing an awesome job with the offense given the poor OL, QB, and WR talent he had on the roster. If (1) Chan had better players, and (2) found a good DC, he would still be the head coach. Of course, those are two huge ifs. Marrone outperformed Gailey because he had better talent and hired better DCs. The better talent is thanks to the FO. The better DCs may also be due to the FO. For example, when Schwartz was offered the job, I doubt he thought, "Great! I have a chance to work with the legendary Doug Marrone!" More likely, he looked at the loaded Bills defensive roster and couldn't resist the opportunity to coach those great players. Marrone didn't excel in his supposed area of expertise: offense. Both Marrone and Gailey had offenses bereft of OL and QB talent. But Gailey did a much better job with the cards he was dealt.

EJ is the best QB on the roster right now and Whaley is up-talking him. Why is this either surprising or controversial?

I was surprised when some posters were unhappy to learn that the Pegulas were involved in the interview process. I guess they were worried about a Jerry Jones type scenario with an amateur owner making football decisions. But I think the Pegulas need to be involved in the process. They are the owners and as I learned in the army, "The leader is in the critical place at the critical time." Would we instead want the Pegulas to hang out in Boca Raton when a new HC is being chosen? This has got to be a great learning experience for them - talking to a dozen smart NFL insiders with very different perspectives. The smarter the Pegulas become, the better owners they'll be.

I've read people calling this situation "a circus" and saying the Pegulas are "in over their heads." I doubt that's how they feel. I think they feel excitement as they think about - and work for - a bright future for the Bills. This is their first opportunity to make their mark on the team and start leading the team forward. It would be foolish of us to think that all their initial decisions will be good ones, but hopefully they get the big decisions right. Like this HC. Good luck to them.

You don't have to look outside Buffalo to find coaches worse than DM. We've already had 'way worse' and I worry every day that we'll get a new coach who will be as bad as Harvey Johnson, Jim Ringo, Kay Stephenson, Hank Bullough or Gregg Williams. Then again, I hope every day that we get someone much better than DM. Worry and hope, always in some kind of balance. Isn't that the life of a Bills fan?

I think this is a very cogent argument. I also disagree. If any of the victims' friends or families saw the Simpson name up there, I think they would be hurt to know we were glorifying a man who did so much evil in their lives. Sports franchises shouldn't be in the business of hurting innocent people, or glorifying monsters. But I don't think it's a good idea to un-retire #32 because I'd hate to have it assigned to some rookie. Yeah, eventually it would become 'just another number' but the first kid to wear that number would have the number of our greatest player and worst villain on his back. That's too much to carry.

Of course Rex, and any potential HC, would worry about the unsettled QB situation here. HC candidates always worry about how much talent a team has. Especially when HCs these days typically get only about 3 years to turn a team around. Let's be honest, just as many coaches get canned because they don't have enough player talent as get canned for their own ineptitude. Probably more. (As an aside, maybe that's why it may be a bad idea to the have the HC work for the GM - GMs use HCs as scapegoats for their own failures). The problem for HC candidates is that there are only 32 HC jobs and maybe only 6 HC openings each year. Getting one of those 6 openings is highly competitive. And of the 6 openings, maybe only 1 of them is on a team that can compete right now. The other 5 are devoid of high performing stars - that's why the previous HC was fired. It seems to me, QB problem or not, the Bills are this year's can-compete-right-now team. I don't want Rex, and if he's a little more sensitive about QBs than the average coach, I get it - but if he doesn't want to coach here, he's a fool.

I'll limit myself to these two guesses: The Bills hire Frank Reich. Marrone doesn't land a HC position.

I'm ambivalent about this. Nothing in my history of Bills fandom gave me greater joy, and quickened my pulse, like watching OJ breaking into the open field. His name on the Wall of Fame conjures up images of his miraculous grace, power and vision when he wore number 32 for the Bills. His feats of gridiron magic are indelibly stamped in our collective memories and that's why his name is there. On the other hand, post-Buffalo OJ is a scumbag murderer. I wonder what the relatives of his victims think when they see his name still on the Wall. Why do we glorify a monster? For me it would be a tough call but if I were Terry Pegula, the name would come down.