TXBILLSFAN

Structure is important, but competence is significantly more. I don't care so much who reports to whom. If Pegula hires the right people, that are competent at their jobs, sets the right goals for them, provides them the resources to be effective, the Bills will become a winning organization. Something that hasn't been the case in 15+ years on the field, and some would argue never under Wilson as owner. Competent includes the ability to communicate, collaborate, make good decisions consistently and operate with a high degree of integrity. To win in the NFL, the Bills need to start with creating a highly functioning front office, all of us have to remember that there are 31 other teams with the same objective, to win the Super Bowl. The Bills have to build the best team to be the best team.

First, I thought the PC went as I expected for the most part. Rex is an impressive individual, very charismatic and great talker. Hard to pull much out of what he said, but the things I really liked: 1- Strong emphasis on team and mindset that everyone is pulling in same direction. While this could be typical coach pabulum, I think in this case it served multiple purposes -- 1- it's an area of emphasis in his philosophy; 2-it wasn't what he had in NY and 3-it wasn't the way Marrone acted when he was here 2- Offensively, while the PC lacked many specifics, he glistened when describing the offense as "aggressive"; I don't think this means airing it out, I think he met, the O Line and developing an attitude that we will pound you and punch you in the face. Anxious to here more from Roman. 3- Clear that Rex is in a wait and see mode on EJ, as it should be, however, they need a plan !!! In the end, this team will sink or swim from getting good play from the QB position. BTW, Sanchez is not the answer!!

Right, I'm sure Rex will poach a few that he likes to use situationally as well.

Hardly a surprise and largely irrelevant in grand scheme. Defense will be or would have been Top 5 with Schwartz and / or Ryan or combo. Ryan's defense will be very similar to Pettine's and most of the personnel on D-side are familiar with it. As for personnel fit, the defense actually fits Ryan's scheme better than Schwartz's scheme, since we were still lacking depth at DE.

Quarterback. Offensive Line. Offensive Coordinator. Stay focused on what is important and what will get this team to playoffs.

The defense will be fine with or without Schwartz. Despite change to 4-3, the personnel actually still fits the 3-4 scheme as well as it did with Pettine. So, no worries on the D-side of the ball. This comes down to building an effective offense and for that we need significant improvement at QB and with O Line. That should be the focus of the discussion and what Rex will bring to Buffalo to address.

NFL draft comparison is a good one, just like the amount of knowledge NFL teams have on college players has exploded, the same goes for college programs and high school students. Technology has made the process of gathering information on recruits and analyzing it, so much easier and more efficient. Granted you'll still get the high school kid that blossoms in college while at a lower level program, but those will be fewer and fewer. The recent litigation from the Northwester students might also change the landscape, as Power 5 conferences, Notre Dame and a handful of others will be the only programs financially equipped to pay athletes. You could very well see a Power 5 + ND + 6 or so teams separating into a new division where athletes are compensated in some significant way. In that world, teams might not be permitted to play outside their division due to liability issues or legal concerns. Not sure how much of this will improve the game on the field, however. I know the game is better today than it was 10 years ago, but I'm not confident the changes I mention will continue that trend.

I also agree with your observations on the college game being the proving ground for new trends and the better source for new ideas than the NFL. A lot of that I believe stems from college HC's having so much control of the program as well as colleges having more "soft" games to try out things on their schedules without fearing a loss. It'll be interesting to see if that trend changes as the college game evolves with more $$, the playoffs, the shift of talent into the power 5 conferences etc.

College coaches from Top 25 programs have always had better job security, more control over program and players and a stacked deck (i.e. no limitations of salary cap or one pick per round in the draft; recruit your way to whatever talent you can convince to come). The downsides historically were pay, prestige (vs. NFL), rigors of the recruiting cycle and nasty alumni. A couple of the downsides have been eliminated, i.e. pay and prestige vs. NFL. Pay is now comparable and in some cases better, but non Top 25 it's still worse. Prestige has taken significant jump with the amount of TV and the popularity spreading. I still think a lot of college coaches aspire to be NFL coaches to prove they can win at the pro level, but that attraction is significantly less now than in years past

QB options are very limited and Whaley knows it. He is trying to talk up EJ, but bottom line, the HC that you planned to retain played a below average vet that was struggling ahead of him to prop up his own resume. Not saying much. This FO has completely blown the QB position and the entire league knows it. He can talk up EJ, but HC candidates know they'll come in and have potential for great defense and do their best to get by with below average QB.

Agree 100%. Brandon looks the part of a fool for giving Marrone that type of out clause. The self proclaimed marketing genius should have taken a few classes in finance and accounting.

Yeah, I don't recognize him as a poster. As for Marrone, I'm not a big fan, while the team was successful, it's in the area that he doesn't have the main responsibilities. While he gets some credit for the defense, he literally OWNS the offense.

"those that won't be happy until we win 10 SB's in a row" ????? Really ? On a Buffalo Bills message board you make that statement ? To think I often complain about the low expectations the Bills FO sets for this franchise, i.e. "make the playoffs" -- and here you complain about the fan base not being happy unless we win 10 in a row. Dude, take a look at the last 15 years, no, the last 50+ years. As for Marrone, I'd feel better defending him if the O Line and OC performed better. This team's limited success over his 2-year tenure has been about defense, and while he gets credit for Pettine/Schwartz it's a far cry from being something to put on his own resume

Welcome to the land of "Lack of Accountability". Your tour guide is PTR. Whaley's not responsible. Brandon's not responsible. Nix's not responsible. Oh wait, it must be the fans that are responsible. After all, we expect to be in the playoffs once a decade.

You need to WATCH the games and watch Bradford, like a scout would. The guy is a good QB. He might never be great, but could easily be in the 2nd quartile of NFL starting QB's. That alone would give Bills 11-wins and playoffs.

Bradford's issue is being injured, not his play, take a look at the games he played in 2013 and 2014. I'm with you if you mean injury prone, not with you if you are talking about his play on the field.

This board amazes me sometimes. We got more people defending Brandon (a 15-year LOSER) and Orton (a BELOW AVERAGE journeymen QB that hasn't won squat) than we have people defending the greatest GM in Buffalo Bill history and perhaps one of the 5 best GM's in NFL history. What a joke.

We should hire a head coach that was an offensive lineman and specializes in coaching that unit, too. Oh wait, didn't we already do that ?

I'd love to see Bill Polian back as VP, Football Operations with Whaley reporting to him. I think Whaley would benefit from having a mentor like Polian. I think overall, Whaley is a decent talent evaluator but clearly panicked with the Watkins trade.

BELOW average NFL starter. I'd say he's an above average NFL backup.

I agree we got exactly what we should have expected from Orton, but he's not an average NFL QB. He's BELOW average. I'd put him in the middle of the 3rd quartile, probably 20 better than him and 10-11 worse.

You can't be serious. Tell me your trolling. Just take a look at the skill positions on some of those teams. Pats WR's and RB's, Seattle WR's, Panthers WR's and RB's, I could go on Are you seriously arguing that QB isn't as important as I stated or you just a fan of Orton's QB play ?

QB is the MOST important and impactful position in TEAM SPORTS, by far. The only one that comes close is a goalie in hockey, and a decent goalie is much easier to find than a decent QB. If you are unclear about that, take a look at the last 25 SuperBowl champions and the teams they beat and you'll find something close to 95% had franchise caliber QB's under center. Ask yourself who was the Bills QB's for their only championship seasons and only Super Bowl appearances. Take a look at the 12 QB's on the 12 playoff teams this year. Brady, Roethlisberger, Dalton, Flacco, Luck, Manning, Romo, Stafford, Rodgers, Wilson, Newton, Lindley -- 11 out of 12. There is no I in TEAM but their should be a competent "QB" in it.

+1 Indictment of EJ and where this coaching staff thought he was in his development.

I think those of you adamantly defending RB are missing an important distinction between a normal corporation and an NFL franchise. For an NFL franchise, FOOTBALL and what happens on the field is the business. You are all going to great pains to draw this black and white line between the "business side" and the "football side". The two are so comingled with each other it's next to impossible to do that. That's like saying a 5 star general isn't involved in a war or that an owner of a restaurant isn't involved in the food that is served. I don't fault RB one bit for being involved in the Marrone hire, the Whaley promotion, the Watkins trade. In fact, I expect him to be involved and to be heavily involved, discussing pros and cons. For crying out loud, he was the CEO of the team, if he wasn't involved he ought to be fired for negligence.