hondo in seattle

I know and it doesn't matter. Sadly, whether we think the coaches are to blame or the players (or both), there is no quick fix. But the apparent lack of accountability really bothers me. Chan needs to send a strong message to the team. I began my post with "If I were Chan." Maybe firing Nix and Chan are the solutions. But I decided to ignore that and look at this frpm the Head Coach perspective. And I can't see how Wanny keeps his job. I'm not knocking Wanny's resume or football IQ. But results this disastrous require strong, decisive, immediate action. Maybe the really big solutions need to happen after the season. But right now we can fire Wanny, lose his passive/lackluster defense, and demonstrate to the players we're dead serious about winning and failure simply isn't tolerable.

I had to laugh because we did try something like this and we only got worse. But... Thanks because this time it will be different: It won't be Edwards and Wanny. It will be Sanders (who cannot possibly be worse and might actually be better) and then someone better yet. Who you put on your coaching staff matters as much as who you put on the field. Both players and coaches need to be held accountable. Failures this historic ought to cost somebody a job.

I haven't really thought through how to fix the offense but I think most of the work needs to be done after the season signing and drafting better players. We're pretty much stuck with what we have. In any case, the O isn't nearly as pathetic as the D.

If I were Chan I would: 1. Fire Wanny. We all know how bad the D is, but is it all Wanny's fault? Well, think of all the bad Bills teams over the years. None gave up as many yards in a game as we did against SF. Even in the Montana/Young/Rice/Roger Craig years, the 49ers never had that many yards. Not since the 1950 New York Yankees football team has a NFL club given up 550+ yards in consecutive games. We've allowed 15 points per quarter for the past 6 quarters - that's on pace for 60 points per game. Wanny's performance isn't just bad, it's historically bad. It's epic bad. If we don't fire Wanny, Chan is effectively telling everyone in the organization that there's no accountability and horrible performance is tolerable. 2. Promote Bob Sanders to interim DC. Sanders had ups and downs in his last stint as a DC but his downs were never this darkly extreme. It would be hard for an outsider to come in as DC in midseason. They wouldn't know the schemes, terminology or players and wouldn't be able to teach a new system overnight. Really, what outsider would want the job/title under these dire conditions with such minimal chance for success? Sanders is the only viable choice. 3. Hire the best unemployeed defensive mind(s) out there to assist Sanders. Sign this person to a 2 year contract with a good salary and the possibility that they become the DC next year. This person would sit in the box, diagnosing X's and O's and familiarizing himself with the team while communicating with Sanders via headset. Sanders would be on the sideline providing leadership and coaching to his subordinate coaches and players. 4. Instruct Sanders and the defensive coaching staff to attack. As an offensive HC, I wouldn't micromanage the defensive coaching staff but I would be very clear that I want my defense to be tough, aggressive, and sound in the fundamentals. I would observe the defensive practices and demand these things from everyone everyday and demote anyone who didn't deliver. These four steps wouldn't solve all our problems, but they would go a long way.

I once found one of his old (Dallas?) playbooks online. I was surprised by the grammar and spelling mistakes. It just didn't seem like the author - who I assume to be Wanny - was very bright. I'm not sure how important intellect is to a DC but I assume it's a big advantage to have discerning, analytical mind to dissect what your team may be doing wrong and the opponent may be doing right.

You get a better view from the booth. If you are a good X's and O's diagnostician, the booth is a good place. But Wanny, sadly, doesn't seem to have a talent for identifying tactical mistakes and then solving them. So there's really no point for him being in the booth. I think Wanny should be on the sideline, coaching technique and firing up the players.

There's no question that Ralph isn't the best of owners. I think the Bills have won something like 46% of their games all-time. Not impressive. But that doesn't mean things are hopeless under Ralph. The Jack Kemp/Cookie Gilchrist teams won two AFL Championships (did Cookie play in both?) back before there was a Super Bowl. We had some good years under Chuck Knox. And, obviously, we won four consecutive AFC Championships. Ralph's best accomplishment is that he's never moved the Bills out of Buffalo nor sold them to someone who would. And every now and then Ralph gets lucky with his GM, coaches and players. Although there are growing reasons for concern, I'm still hoping that Nix/Gailey bring about a new Bills renaissance.

Yep, I've considered this too and really hope it's not true that Gailey just doesn't have enough fire in the belly. I wonder about Wanny too, especially being in the booth. One thing I learned in the army is that the leader needs to be in the critical place at the critical time. Game time is critical and to lead the critical place is with the players you lead. You can't lead people when you distance yourself from them. The booth is a good place for dissecting the tactical aspects of the game but Wanny doesn't seem to be good at that anyway. He might as well be on sidelines, talking to the players, hearing their POV, learning from their observations and firing them up. Thanks Most people (including players) are poor leaders. Player-leaders have to lead by example (play & practice with intensity), know how to connect, say the right word at the right time (not just rah rah speeches), eliminate dissension and create unity, etc. It's not easy and only a few are really good at it.

I'm going to date myself with this one... didn't Chuck Knox sign LB Phil Vilapiano and someone else who was past their prime mostly for their warrior attitudes and locker room presence? Obviously, coaches should cast a strong leadership shadow that promotes "mental toughness." But a team needs player leaders, too. I wouldn't mind if Merriman had a roster spot for this purpose.

What a miserable attitude! - though generally true in recent memory.

If you take out the INTs, then I'd say I'm happy with Fitz. He's missed a couple easy throws but he's made some hard ones too. His stats - other than the INTS - look good. As mentioned, he's thrown a bunch of TDs. But we don't get to take out those INTs. Including them tells a different story. The D sucks and the O will have trouble bailing out the D with Fitz throwing to the wrong colored jersey.

The Bills are 2-2. In the big scheme things, they're pretty much where I expected them to be at this point. However, our D was so incredibly inept in the Pats game, it makes me wonder about (1) Wanny's competence (has the game passed him by?), and (2) the talent of our defensive players (I expected better than this). After the debacle in RWS, it's really hard for me to imagine Wanny as a good DC. I know that even good DC have bad games - but this bad???? I also worry about our ability to win down 2 OL. Our wins are largely attributable to our offense. If our offense stalls because injuries on the OL, we won't pick up any more wins soon. So is the sky really falling? Maybe it's too soon to tell - but there are warning signs.

The Pats have a good Run D and a poor Pass D so, yeah, you let Fitz throw the ball 40 times and hope for the best. I'll actually defend that part of the game plan. But there's no way to defend the defensive game plan. As we saw in the Jets game, Wanny has a knack for doing less with more.

Sanders didn't have a great tenure as the Packers DC but he wouldn't/couldn't be worse than Wanny.

Moorman was fired after 3 games.

This is certainly what it sounds like. So, counting Smith, it looks like we'll keep 4 QBs this season which is excessive and takes away from other positions. This is definitely less than ideal. I expected Coach Lee to work overtime to get TJax ready. But I guess without reps on the practice field, playbook and film study ust isn't enough.

I'm not criticizing anyone for the comparison. I actually had a friend who, when at West Point, wrote a paper comparing combat to football. Both talk about attack and defense, capturing territory, weapons, etc. Needless to say, Winslow is hardly to first to use warrior/military terminology when talking football. It's used all the time. My point was only that experientially they are very different.

Three games is a really small sample. Sacks tend to happen in streaks. Bruce Smith had consecutive games with no sacks and then consecutive games with multiple sacks. If you judged Bruce on a sub-par three game streak, he wouldn't be in the HOF. I'm not worried about Mario, yet. Mario isn't getting double-teamed either because (1) teams don't have that much respect for him, or (2) teams are forced to double-team other players. I suspect, given Mario's history, it's more #2 than #1.

Noticed in the sidebar that 30% of Boston Herald readers who took the online survey are predicting the Bills to win. Pat confidence seems to have hit a low.

Tony is smart, articulate, and won the Super Bowl.

PTR, I don't necessarily disagree with any of your points but for sentimental reasons I just can't agree with your conclusion that realignment would be good for Buffalo. There's just too much history with the Jets, Pats and Fins.

12 tackles in 3 games isn't that impressive. Somebody has to get credit for the tackles. How many were behind the LOS? One sack puts him on pace for 5 for the season. Two forced fumbles is good but probably more luck (right place/right time) than anything else.

Or trying to prove he's not a homer.

Yeah. As a former soldier, I don't see many similarities between being football and combat. Going to an away game is not quite like going to a foreign land and wondering if you'll bleed out in the sands and never see your loved ones again.

Geographically, PTR's suggestion makes sense and no doubt we would develop new rivalries. But I have to agree with K-9, there's a lot of tradition in these old AFCE rivalries. In this case, for me, tradition trumps reasoned argument.