hondo in seattle

Great Job!

If Wanny is such a defensive genius, then why didn't Edwards make better use of him and take his advice? If Edwards was utilizing Wanny's advice and experience, why should we expect anything better with Wanny as DC? If Wanny is qualified to run a D, why couldn't he do it through Edwards? (Remember, as Assistant Head Coach, Wanny outranked Edwards). I'm happy to see Edwards get replaced. His results over the past two years have been abysmal. It makes me wonder what Gailey saw in him to give him the gig in the first place. And I wish I knew more about the decision to understand why Gailey thinks Wanny will do better without Edwards around. One optimistic note: Wannstedt was out of the NFL for a while and had this year to reacquaint himself. Theoretically, he'll be more on top of current trends, schemes and personnel next year.

The Bills collapse was driven by key injuries on both offense and defense. The short off-season didn't allow the Bills superior S&C coaches do their magic. Next year we won't have this problem. The injuries have allowed a lot of second-stringers to get valuable playing time. Depth will be better next year because of it. The collapse has dramatically improved our draft position and we'll be able to fill important needs now. The Defense has played so poorly that Gailey will be forced to shake up the coaching staff. We'll have better coaches on that side of the ball next year.

I like Fitz. But he can't make all the throws that Brees or Brady can make. He can't carry a team on his shoulders the way Manning can. He's a good QB. He's not elite.

K-9, I poured a shot a tequila, drank half, and left half for the gods of football in penance for gloating too soon. Armchair, optimists tend to get beat up by the pessimists here. I wonder if that's just a Buffalo thing or more universal. Metz, good call about the O line. That was something I was worried about. Things I was wrong about: * I expected more from Parrish and Spiller. * I'm not sure what I expected from Merriman but I was hoping for much more than this. * I expected the D to give up less yards but take the ball away less. Didn't forsee this high-risk, high reward style.

I'm not right about many things in life - just ask my daughter. But I was - along with some others here - right about a few things this past preseason. Since I'm so infrequently accurate about anything, forgive my gloating... There were some on this board who thought Nix/Gailey would doom us to perpetual years in the AFC basement. Some suggested Nix was too old and just didn't care. And some thought we ended up with Gailey as a coach because Nix and the Bills couldn't attract a competent one. Not only the national media, but some of our own fans predicted we'd be leading the Suck-for-Luck sweepstakes. There was a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth here on TSW about Nix and Gailey. But some us had more faith and it's looking like we were right. Some thought our failure to resign Poz showed a lack of commitment to winning and a sign that the Bills were a sinking ship. Others of us thought Barnett would be a more-than-adequate replacement. I think again we were right. Some thought the Pats were geniuses for signing Haynesworth and Ochocinco. When I (amongst others) questioned the move, my football acumen was questioned rather rudely by the Belicheck-is-infallable crowd. Well Haynesworth was just released and Chad has been a big disappointment. We were right again. (Ganesh, btw, made some good observations about past Belicheck FA misfires).

I recall that DeHaven was an excellent ST coach during the Super Bowl years. I remember Levy tended to treat ST equal with Offense and Defense. I do worry, however, that maybe the game has passed DeHaven by. April is currently the better ST coach.

A QB that can lead a team to 30 points per game against quality opponents can lead a team to a Super Bowl. Suggesting otherwise is lunacy.

I don't know if Chucky's dishonest. I do know I'm glad we didn't hire him. After winning the Super Bowl with the team that Tony Dungy built, Gruden went 45-51 in the following 6 seasons with Tampa Bay. He's an insightful commentator sometimes but only a mediocre coach.

I agree. It's hard to beat Revis, mano-a-mano. But the Bills like to bunch receivers, run (legal) pick plays, and otherwise create traffic where a receiver can lose a DB. Stevie will get some catches. Also, if the Bills send 4-5 receivers out, Revis can only cover 1 of them as good as he is. I think the Bills will be able to pass against the Jets.

In 1900, Buffalo was something like the 10th biggest city in the US. By 2000, we had become something like the 40th biggest metro area in the country. That demographic trajectory will be scary to anyone investing close to a billion dollars for a NFL franchise. There are only 32 teams, you'd expect them to be in the top 32 biggest markets. Buffalo has fallen out of the top 32 and will only fall further in the future. So regionalization is the only hope. I'm all for a game per year in TO and hopefully our Canadian friends will warm up to the Bills.

J-E-T-S, I won't argue about Revis's DB skills because I respect the guy's talent. But he's just one guy. Gailey likes to send 4 or 5 guys out on patterns figuring there has to be a mismatch somewhere. Fitz won't force passes to Stevie if Revis is covering him tightly. Instead, Fitz will just find the open man. If the Jets try to put a bunch of DBs in the game to effectively cover all those WRs, the Bills will just run Freddy. The Jets will have to pick their poison: try to cover wideouts and RBs with LBs or try to tackle Freddy with DBs. In any case, it's hard for the DBs to think pass first when the Bills have a back averaging over 100 yards a game rushing. They'll need to give run support and thus sometimes they may bite on play-action or otherwise falter in their coverage responsibilities because they're thinking about the run. Let me tell you, if the Jets secondary is not thinking they have to help stop Freddy, the Jets will have a long day. Finally, the Bills don't always necessarily rely on the speed and athletic ability of their WRs to get open. It's not just simple mano-a-mano battles: Revis versus Stevie. The Bills will sometimes for example run legal versions of pick plays. They will also bunch their receivers on the line of scrimmage to create chaos. Even Revis could have trouble staying with Stevie if he has to fight through the traffic of other WRs and DBs. No team has yet figured out how to hold the Bills offense under 20 points and I don't foresee the Jets being the first to do so. The Bills are averaging about 30 pts per game and the Jets are giving about 22. Let's split the difference and expect the Bill to score 26 pts. Can the Jets score 26 points against a Bills D that looked stout in its first and most recent games and horribly porous in the others? I think probably no. While the Bills Defense has given up miles of yards this year, they have not given up tons of points thanks to all the take-aways.

#9. Stevie was drafted in the 7th Round. The other WRs currently active were UDFAs. We do have 2 WRs on IR that were drafted (Roscoe, Easley). Digging deeper at the skilled positions: Fitz was drafted in the 7th round, Freddy was undrafted and Chandler, though drafted, was waived more than once before the Bills picked him up. It's a no-name offense.

You can't judge Namath by his numbers. He developed bad knees early in his career. And the NFL was different in those days - passing numbers weren't the same. In his prime, Namath was good. Sanchez has yet to prove he's good.

Bills 27 Skins 17 The Skins are more beat-up than the Bills. Add 3 to the Bills total if you consider this a home game.

Yep, Buddy is an idiot. Never coached football. Never spent any time as a scout. Has no idea how to break down film. The Bills are his very first NFL gig. Maybe the Bills can hire you to teach him the importance of edge rushers, amongst other things. I'm sure there's much you know that he's clueless about.

Every defense needs a few star impact players. My hopes for this year revolved around Williams, Dareus, Merriman and McGee. Kyle's been hurt all year and the prognosis going forward doesn't sound encouraging. Dareus is still a rookie, still learning. Merriman played hurt when he played and won't play anymore this season at all. McGee has been hurt but is thankfully back. Our offense has created some stars that the national media didn't expect. I'm hoping the defense will create some unexpected stars in the games ahead. It seems to have already produced one - George Wilson - but that's not enough.

Mark ~ must be nice to have your name on her lips! Dehlia - ignore the haters. You're cute as a kitten and I love your good-natured spunk (even if wasted on the Eagles).

Thanks for sharing. Good stuff. The Bills offense has been exciting this year! One stat I don't like: the Defense is giving up 24.5 points per game. I'm happy now. I'll be happier when that's fixed.

So much of this is speculation and imagination that it's hard to know where to begin. First of all, let's begin with the mind-reading. How do you know that Nix wanted to cut Jackson, for example? You and Buddy hang out a lot? Why wouldn't Nix want Jackson to be the Pro Bowl caliber back he is right now? If Nix wanted to cut Freddy, he would have. It's ludicrous to say a GM wants to cut his most productive player. And it's incredibly self-obvious to say Nix wanted Spiller to succeed. Of course he does. Don't you? Is there a problem with that? But the suggestion that the only reason Nix doesn't promote Spiller to first string is because it would "cause a problem" is just silly. Firstly, it's Gailey's decision, not Nix's. Second, I think Gailey's tickled pink by Freddy's amazing year. He constantly sings his praises. Do you ever bother to watch Gailey's pressers? We would hope for more production from a 1st round draft pick but calling Spiller a "bust" is probably a little harsh. He is averaging 7 yards a carry. And he'd get more carries if he wasn't playing behind one of the best RBs in the NFL this year. And Nix wanted to give the job to Edwards? Hmmm. It seems like that was Gailey's call and he DID give the job to Edwards - for about 2 games. Suggesting that they didn't look at tape is just bizarre. Obviously, they studied tape and liked something the saw in TE. Let's remember TE did outplay Fitz in preseason last year and Edwards is an accurate QB. My guess is that what didn't show up on tape were the intangibles: courage, leadership, attitude. When Gailey got a first-had taste of those, TE was cut. I say "guess" because despite your failed efforts at telepathy, I don't really know what's in Nix's or Gailey's minds. I only know what they say and do - and what they've done is get Buffalo in the playoff hunt and created some excitement in Buffalo. Where do you get the impression that Nix needs to ask for "daddy's permission." From what I've read, Nix has full authority to draft, sign and cut who he wants. And that certainly seems to be the case - all of Nix's moves seem in accordance with his philosophy regarding the type of players he wants. Maybe the most dubious statement in the whole post is "Bills love mediocrity and Fitz fits that mold." Huh? You really think people at One Bills Drive want the Bills to be mediocre??? And can you really say Fitz's year has been mediocre so far? Are you from Planet Earth? Have you watched any of the games at all? I'm not "weary of the future" but I am weary of wasting my time on your post.

Nicely said!

I'm a big supporter of the IDEA of regionalization. A large fan base encompassing Buffalo, Rochester and Toronto could help keep the Bills in WNY for decades to come. Unfortunately, the REALITY of regionalization isn't everything we might hope for. The lukewarm love the Bills receive in TO is disappointing. A shame the players feel it. Maybe more love will come as years go by.

It took a little persistence, but I finally got my vote in for the Bills game. Glad to help a serviceman!

I agree!

We have to think of the future. Would new owners (whoever they may be) be willing to bet close to $1 billion on a small Buffalo market that's only getting smaller? But if we redefine the market as Buffalo-Rochester-Toronto, we have a chance of keeping the Bills in Buffalo for the long term. I'm all in favor of regionalization and playing one game a year in TO. Better that than eventually playing 8 games per year in LA.