2003Contenders

Funny enough, the best QB Parcells ever drafted (Bledsoe) didn't fit that criteria.

Alright. So DJ isn't going anywhere until the end of the year. If Ralph didn't fire him after this Cleveland fiasco, he simply is not going to fire him -- at least until the season is over. Based on how the other teams in the division look, it is clear that the Bills aren't winning anything this year. So instead of stressing over every game, how about if we take a step back and realize that this is indeed ground zero -- and that the goal for the rest of the season should be to see progressive development. This is a young team, and in my opinion the season isn't completely lost if the following happens: 1. Trent regains his confidence and begins to progress rather than continue to regress. Let's just all shut up about throwing the ball downfield. Right now, the OL is such a mess that he doesn't have time to make those throws -- and when he does, he gets jittery. AVP and the other coaches need to come up with some plays that are DESIGNED for the ball to come out of Trent's hand very quickly: quick slants, intermediate passes, etc. They also need to remember that the Bills have two very good RBs in Lynch and Jackson. The Dolphins are smart enough to figure ways to get both RBs involved, why can't the Bills? 2. The young OL begins to gel. This will be hard considering what we have at OT. But if Bell comes along and Scott is at least not too much of a liability, that would be a plus. If that happens -- with very little maneuvering in the off-season (a decent OT in the draft and QUALITY depth via the draft and free agency), we could have the makings of a very good OL for a long time. 3. The special teams are reinvigorated. They have been historically the team's best unit for the past 4 or 5 years, but they have been a weak point this year as we all know. In fact, competent play here could have resulted in 2 more victories -- in which case, the Bills would be tied for 1st place in the division. 4. The defense is so depleted that it is hard to know where to start. Palmer looked decent on Sunday, and Ellison has actually played surprisingly well this year. The good news is that Poz should be coming back in a couple of weeks, so that should help the run D right away. Meanwhile, Fewell and Sanders need to come up with some way of getting Maybin more involved. For as little as he has actually done, I can't believe that Ellis wouldn't be an improvement at this point. Honest to God, if I were Ralph I would bring in a real football guy like Mike Holmgren, and put him in a sort of overseer role for the rest of the year. Then when the season is over, he would have the insight necessary to make the necessary moves in the off-season.

All good ideas. I would actually probably cut Roscoe at this point. It may be moot, because he SHOULD be the odd man out when Hardy is cleared to play anyway. In addition I would also do the following: 1. AVP is clearly in over his head. Bring in a well respected former OC (like Mike Martz) to perform in a consulting role. 2. Move Terence McGee back to kickoff returns. 3. Find some veteran LBs as well.

I have been thinking a lot about this lately. Part of the problem that the team has run into the last decade has been brought about by the people whose power it is to make decisions, making the WRONG decisions based on warped perceptions -- in many cases from their own past history. Lets start with Ralph. He had every right to fire John Butler, who was clearly going to go to San Diego no matter what Ralph offered him to stay. Butler had also left the team in horrible cap shape and recent drafts had also left the team deplete of talent. Ralph made what was at the time as astute decision to hire Tom Donahoe, a real football guy -- and gave him unprecedented control of the team. When TD failed (which I'll get to in a minute) and Ralph was forced to fire him 5 years later, Ralph came to a faulty conclusion: that the reason that the team had failed was because he (Ralph) had divorced himself of making any real football decisions and had in essence given a GM too much power. Thus, he decided not to do this again and has been keen (in both the case of Marv and Brandon) to hire guys that are not true "football" guys and did not have total control. The correct conclusion should have instead been that, perhaps, TD was not the RIGHT guy. And the correct solution to the team's existing problems would be to hire someone else that is a "real" football guy to run the day-to-day operations of the team. Going back to TD... I do not feel that his time in Buffalo was a TOTAL failure. He certainly did clean up the cap mess and brought in some decent players via free agency and the draft. But the team failed to make the playoffs in his five years here, so he had to go. I believe that the biggest reason that the team stumbled so badly is because of his poor coaching hires . Both Gregg Williams and Mike Mularkey were inexperienced, smaller-than-life figures. When you understand that the whole reason why TD was available in the first place was because he had recently lost a power struggle with the larger-than-life Bill Cowher, it makes more sense. TD had probably promised himself that he would NEVER hire another coach again that would have the stones to usurp his power. So, by clinging to this paranoid fear, he was essentially spelling his own eventual doom, as his own fate would be intertwined with that of whatever coach he hired. If we want to extend this even further, we can talk about Jauron, who knew heading into the season that he was on the hot seat. So what does he do? Surrounds himself with an inept group of assistants, so that there is no viable interim head coaching candidate, which of course makes it hard for Ralph to fire him in-season. Now, maybe if he had fired Turk sooner rather than later and hired a competent, experienced replacement, he wouldn't even be on the hot seat!

How about Trent missing a wide open Lee Evans for what would have possibly been a 99 yard TD? Of course, Lee didn't exactly lay out for it either.

Actually, this is more of an indictment as to how STUPID the Browns were in that situation. It actually started on the previous play with Jamal Lewis taking it outside. It worked for the Browns because the Bills defenders were too foolish/inept to shove him out of bounds before he reached the first down marker. However, that effectively gave the Bills another timeout. Once they had it first down at the 5-6 yard line, they should have just milked the clock and taken a knee on the next three downs -- and then kicked their field goal. The Browns then compounded this by kicking it out of bounds on the ensuing kickoff. A team with a real QB and and better than half wit OC would have at least had a chance from the 40 yard line with 23 seconds left to get into scoring range.

Actually, this is the most positive thing I have heard all year. It tells me that Ralph is at least considering a replacement -- possibly outside the organization, given the time it is taking. To be honest, firing DJ and replacing him with one of his assistants doesn't really help anything.

If they MUST promote from within, the only possible candidate would have to be Fewell, given that his defense did actually play fairly well today -- especially considering all the injuries.

IIRC, last year Ryan's Raiders did have Trent's number through 3 quarters, when he was sending a lot of blitzers. When he inexplicably backed off, Trent rallied the team. I would expect heavy blitzing on Sunday. The OL and RBs had better be ready.

Actually he turned Billy Joe Holbert on the Titans -- and Jeff Fisher cut him a year or so later when he showed up to camp having not read the revised playbook. That's when he landed with the Chargers.

M Sherman J Lofton B April J Caldwell And I don't recall the last one. I do know that they WANTED to talk to Sean Payton (whom TD had interviewed back in 2001), but the Saints refused to let him leave without a deal.

I don't know. Polian had success in Carolina and now Indy without Butler and the gang. Besides, Butler drafts (especially his last couple) were nothing to write home about and played a significant role in the struggles earlier in this decade.

In watching the Monday night game it struck me that both Favre and Rodgers would take 3-5 steps -- and the ball would come out of their hand and hit an open receiver. The Bills NEVER seem to have this happen. When Trent drops back, he rarely lets the ball go right away. I will say that it does seem like Trent is getting worse and worse about sitting in the pocket and holding onto the ball -- which makes it a real recipe for disaster given the weak OL. I don't know that this is simply a QB issue, as we have seen this for the past several years with various QBs. Is it the play calling? The receivers' routes?

One thing about Marv is that he hired good assistants and let them do their jobs. Jauron hasn't hired a decent assistant yet. (I am rooting for AVP, but the opposing DCs kicked his butt and took his lunch money the past couple of weeks.) I think some of that is by design. Jauron feels a sense of job security because he KNOWS that it will be hard to fire him and replace him internally. I seriously doubt that Bobby April is head coaching material either.

I remember Mike Sherman, Bobby April, and James Lofton getting interviews the year that Jauron was hired. Marv said that they interviewed 6. Anyone know who the other 2/3 were?

These Bills commit the cardinal sin: not just that they are losing -- but they are losing in unwatchable fashion. I could almost live with the losing if the team was at least entertaining. This team sucks -- and they are just so nauseating to watch!

In reading the article, I didn't take it that way. I took it more as Payton complimenting Gregg for the game planning he did against the Bills -- and the way that the Saints' defense really seemed to have the Bills number ON THAT PARTICULAR day.

For all the Oher lovers, there was a guy named Mike Williams that looked pretty good during most of his rookie season back in 2002... Not saying that Oher wont be a stud, but 3 games does not a career make. Oher was universally ranked as the 4th best tackle in the draft. Having him probably would have helped, but who knows how Maybin's career will go? If he develops into a stud pass rusher, then I think the front office made the right move. Meanwhile, they picked up a good, young center in free agency, landed arguably the two best OGs in the draft -- and just picked up a guy from Green Bay that was ranked by most experts as the 5th-8th best OT in the draft. So you can't say that the FO didn't do their best to address the OL this year. Prior to this year, most certainly... but not this year.

Maybe if he was in there from the beginning yesterday instead of McKelvin, the Saints don't score on the opening drive?

Heck, at this point, considering his total lack of worth thus far this season, I wouldn't be too upset if they outright released him if they couldn't get something for him in a trade. As for McKelvin, maybe sometime for him to sit awhile may not be such a bad thing. He's been a week point through the first three games -- and when Florence came in the defense as a whole got better.

Note also that, in addition to the comments about how it took Brees 3-4 years to finally develop, I seem to remember concerns about his being undersized and not having the necessary arm strength to play in somewhat cold climates. That fear appeared to have seen fruition in the one game that he played in Buffalo back in 2002, when he clearly did NOT have enough arm to get the ball downfield and was benched in favor of Flutie. I don't know whether his arm is stronger these days -- or if that limitation has been downplayed because he plays more than half of his games indoors.

A few well executed screen passes to Fred Jackson should slow them down.

I know no one wants to hear this, but the pass rush really did cease once Kelsay went out. He doesn't gte many sacks, but he does apply consistent pressure.

Didn't he used to work alongside Steve Tasker?

Hmmm. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it possible that our very own Dick Jauron played a role in Shanahan being unemployed? After all, it was a Week 16 quasi meaningless game for the Bills IN Denver, when Dick's team beat a Bronco team that would have sealed a playoff spot with a victory. If the Broncos make it into they playoffs, then Shanny is probably still coaching there. I understand the anti-Jauron sentiments, but pass on Shanny.