2003Contenders

It would take elite (Shanahan) money to entice Garrett, who already makes $3 M per year as an OC in Dallas, to come here. I don't think that the Bills feel that a first-time head coach is worth that kind of money. Moore is in the autumn years of his life and had to be lured out of retirement to come back as OC for the Colts this year. Cameron may deserve another shot one of these days, but the stench is still in the air from the 1-15 season he lead the Dolphins to back in 2007. Of the guys listed, Schottenheimer really is the most attractive candidate, especially if Papa Marty comes along too. Remember, the Jets had the #1 rushing offense this season.

Not defending or advocating Clausen -- but it's not his fault that the defense at Notre Dame sucked while he was there. Would you disavow Aaron Rodgers because the Packers lost to the Cardinals on Sunday?

Well, he is making $3M in Dallas to be a coordinator, so it would take a considerable pay raise to get him to come to Buffalo to be a head coach. I'm just not so sure that a first-time HC would deserve to be paid like one of the elite head coaches in the NFL.

Clayton's motto: throw enough dung at the wall and it's bound to stick.

I know it sure looks like Trent Edwards has played his last down in Buffalo, but I think that he is a real wild card for what the Bills' plans are for the off-season. There are still some talking heads out there (like Mike Martz) that really like him. Depending which HC and OC come in, there is a chance that someone could view him as a reclamation project, believing that a new philosophy and improvements on the OL can help him thrive. It seems to me that Fitz and Brohm will probably both be with the team: Fitz as the journeyman backup and Brohm as the developmental 3rd string. Trent could be the odd man out -- replaced by a rookie or another veteran -- or he could be the starter.

Yep. And had a 700-page playbook. Can you imagine going from a 4X6 note card to a 700-page encyclopedia?

Basically said (in his opinion) that no news is good news on the Cowher front. That is, Cowher hasn't come out and said he DOESN'T want to go to Buffalo, and the Bills have NOT categorically denied going after him. But he had no news. He said none of his sources are willing to comment.

Agreed. He probably didn't bank on Maybin holding out virtually all of training camp either.

I think this one is legit -- and has nothing to do with the Rooney rule. Frazier oversaw a pretty good defense that has been lights out against the run (thanks in a lrge part to the Williams wall in the middle). Meanwhile, the head coach (Brad Childress) is an offensive guru, so Frazier deserves credit for what the defense has accomplished.

So the Byrd pick was pure luck -- and the Maybin pick (which may STILL pan out) was so bad he deserves to be fired? I suppose you were in the war room when Modrak demanded that they select Maybin with that #11 pick, too, right?

I suspect that Brohm will be moved up to the #2 QB position this week. Remember, TE was carted off the field; that means that he either has a significant ankle injury -- or he is a colossal coward. Either way, Brohm should see some reps this week in practice. If Fitz struggles against Atlanta, I think we just might see Brohm against Indy's backups in the season finale.

Like him or not, if he ever had a serious shot at winning the full time HC job, I think today's overall sloppy performance probably did him in.

Jauron also out-coached Shanhan in his second-to-last game with the Broncos, which quite probably led to his firing in Denver. (If the Broncos win that home game, they wrap up the division and Shanahan is likely back in 2009.)

Is it just me, or is the collection of Bills that love to tweet (TO, Whitner, and Mitchell) also a collection of disappointments?

2007 was the year that Chris Brown was in the War Room. After the draft he said that the 49ers suspected that the Bills were interested in Patrick Willis, so they tried to make a trade with the Bills to move down a single spot. When the Bills declined, the 49ers took Willis -- and when the 49ers' selection was made, Brown said everyone in the Bills' War Room started laughing. I have to wonder what all the laughing was about. Marv went onto say that they had Poz ranked AHEAD of Willis and strongly considered drafting Poz with the #12 pick. However, Modrak talked him out of it, as he explained to Marv that Poz would possibly still be there in the 2nd round while Marshawn wouldn't. That was also the draft where Ralph made overtures for drafting Wright in the 4th -- after the team had already invested a first rounder on Lynch AND had Fred Jackson on the team as well. And we wonder why the team's playoff drought continues...

Anyone worrying about draft positioning is a loser -- considering the Bills' last 3 top 10 draft picks netted Rob Johnson, Mike Williams and Donte Whitner.

Also, the resurgence of Schobel and the emergence of Kelsay this year have a thing or two to do with Maybin's limited opportunities.

The funny thing is that I always got the impression that it was Fewell himself who banged the drum for drafting Maybin, as he repeatedly made comments prior to the draft that he felt it was Ok to invest a top 15 pick to draft a player who may be a situational player only. I got the impression that Modrak wanted a more all-around DE (like Ayers).

I think his criticism is twofold. The Bills missed the boat on this guy because either he was not very talented and, thus, should not have wasted valuable time and resources on him. Or, supposing he was talented enough to warrant a PS spot, the team did a horrible job of developing him during those two years. The first is an indictment of the scouting team, while the second is an indictment of the coaching ranks. Either way, it is a jab at TD and MM rather than Marv and DJ. The point is silly. While, the Bengals dd a great job with the fromer PS linemen he refers to, the Jasen Espostio story is the norm for all 32 teams in the NFL, including the Bengals, whom Tucker suggests wold have never made the "mistake" the Bills made with Esposito.

If this happens, then I will consider it good news for the Bills that they didn't overpay to land a head coach who by this very choice of jobs shows that he is incapable of making sound decisions.

Don't know about Schaub so much, but Cutler and Romo are coach killers. Cutler, in fact, would be 2-2 in the last two years, and ironically enough Shanahan was his victim last year.

Just a few thoughts... 1. There IS a connection between Weiss and the Bills. Remember, after the 2003 season when Gregg was not retained (not fired, as his contract had run out), Weiss was one of the candidates that had interviewed for the head coaching gig in Buffalo. The word at the time was that if the Patriots had lost the AFC Championship game to the Colts, then Weiss would have been Buffalo's head coach. However, the victory coupled with an extra bye week of waiting and the Super Bowl, led the front office to decide that it was better to act quickly on Mularkey than to wait 2 more weeks for Weiss. 2. The NFL and College football are two completely different animals. The successful coaches in college (Pete Carrol, Steve Spurrier to name just two) are successful because of their ability to recruit. Their teams have the best players year after year. Weiss was not a great recruiter at Notre Dame -- and the scholastic requirements to even get into Notre Dame probably disqualified some of the more physically talented players that would have been able to get into places like Miami, Alabama, Florida, and USC. Weiss is, however, a good film study guy and a good professional coach. Honestly, I want to see more out of Fewell before I even think about who the next HC should be. I will say that this last game was probably the best coached game I have witnessed for a Bills coach in years. Was it just a day where everything fell into place -- or does Fewell really have the right feel and instincts for the game? We have 5 more games to see. If what we saw against Miami is a harbinger for things to come, I think it would be a disservice to both Fewell and the team not to seriously consider him for the head coaching job.

Since the Bills have traded away their 3rd round pick every other year since 2005, I guess they figured they would just waste it when they selected Ellis with it last year.

Like him or not, Martz does have a solid track record for bringing along QBs: Trent Green and Kurt Warner both cut their teeth playing for him. Marc Bulger, Jon Kitna and Shaun Hill were even viable starting QBs under his tutelage. Maybe he seems something in Trent that is salvagable. After all, Trent's problem is a mental one, rather than a physical one. I think he would also provide a decent evaluation of Brohm. And let's not forget that he is already very familiar with Fitzpatrick, whom he drafted and groomed back in St. Louis. Clearly a second tier choice, but I would rather have Martz than Haslett. Actually, if Fewell excels (and he IS starting to grow on me), I could live with him as HC and Martz as OC. If Martz is interested, maybe his buddy Mooch over at the NFL Network is also game.

The Wood injury overrides any positives, I am afraid.