2003Contenders

To a certain extent, I see where you are coming from because there are some similarities. Namely, their record last season was somewhat inflated by an easy schedule, just like ours was in 2004. However, unlike the MM and TD idiocy, they seem to understand that they weren't quite good enough and have done some things to make their team better. Remember, heading into last season TD and MM seemed to think that our defense was so good and our running game sound enough that we could get by with essentially a rookie QB. That isn't a knock on JP -- just that the defense and running game were't strong enough that we could win just by having the QB make minimal mistakes. Of course, TD made the same mistake after 2002, thinking that the Bledsoe-led offense was so good that with an improved defense we'd be Super Bowl bound. Well, he did improve the defense, but the offense fell apart.

They say that preseason games are not important, but I feel much more confident in JP heading into this season than last season based on what I saw in the preseason games this year versus the preseason games last year. The kid definitely has a gun -- and the athletic abillty to make some great plays. I hate to say it, but I really am glad that the expectations are so low heading into the season. Everyone is expecting us to finish 4-12 or 5-11. That will take pressure off JP, as the season is now being billed as his developmental season, rather than as one in which everything else seems to be in place provided that JP doesn't screw it up. That's what the caches were saying last year if you remember. Of course, there many reasons beyond JP for why we stunk so bad last season. JP is a big-play QB. That means that we will see him make some great plays that should help us win some games -- but he is also going to make some serious mistakes that will single-handedly cause us to lose games. I expect tons of excitement in that regard... both good and bad. I'm glad to see that the coaching staff is mindful of this already. Let's give the kid 16 starts with what looks so far to be a decent offensive coaching staff. If he is God awful -- and not showing signs of improvement down the stretch, then we'll know he's not the answer. But I just can't help but think that we may have the next Brett Favre on our hands, if the stars and moon align the right way. Bottom line: the onus is on all of us (fans and media alike) to be patient and not call for his benching early in the season. With two tough road games against NE and Miami to start the year, the chances are pretty good that he will struggle early on. It will be interesting to see how he rides the storm without a self-serving QB-killer like Moulds waiting in the wings. Remember, in Jim Kelly's first season as a starter, the team went 4-12. But we were all optimistic heading into the following year. I can live with a 4-12 season if it points us in a positive direction heading forward. Of course, winning 8 or more games wouldn't be bad either...

This site has free cheatsheets and a free Draft Kit available via download: AskTheCommish.com

I'd take him over Holcomb.

Primarily because there are plenty of items to analyze and coach the team on once they review the tape. Meanwhile, it did NOT seem that the team was physically dominated. For the most part they executed well -- with the exception of the major mistakes that occurred. Fortunatley, those mistakes were primarily mental, which means that they are correctable (as JP pointed out). Better to have these things happen in the preseason, where the coaches have time to harp on them prior to when the games really count. . From that perespective, when it's all said and done, as a coach you'd almost rather have an outing like that rather than a "mistake-free" one, which may give a false sense of security

Collins is what he is. A fairy bright guy with less than average physical tools, who serves well as a clipboard holder -- and is capable of coming in for a game or two (provided that the defense is decent enough to keep the opponents' scoring down) if the starter gets hurt. You know, kinda like Kelly Holcomb.

Could be... It is preseason after all.

No problem. Let Kelly get beaten to a pulp by that tough first-string Carolina defense, while JP comes out and lights up the Carolina backups. Good for the kid's confidence.

One does have to wonder what would have happened if we had kept him instead of signing RJ. I'm guessing that the Flutie magic still would have happened -- and that Collins would have been released the following year. But who knows?

Obviously it remains to be seen, whether this pick was a good one or a bad one. Also, we're only a week into training camp, so it's not the end of the world, as long as DW reports soon. As for the pick itself, I've always been of the opinion that DW was something of a consesus pick. There were probably coaches/scouts in the war room calling for Bunkley, others calling for Ngata, and still others wishing for a trade down. I think DW was a pick that everyone felt that they could live with. I think it was more Marv trying to build a consensus, than getting into a panic, as Mort suggested at the time. Of course, I wasn't there when the decision was made -- just like Mort wasn't.

1. Anyone who watched all 16 games last year knows that Holcomb and JP did NOT play in the same offense. The coaches went with a more conservative style passing game that well suited Kelly's skills, when he was in there. Converesley, they NEVER put JP in such a low-risk situation. I'm not beating up on Holcomb, but there is a major difference in completing a high percentage of dink-and-dunk passes versus the downfield variety. Does JP need to improve his completion percentage? Absolutely. But let's not compare apples to oranges here. 2. I actually would be encouraged to see JP "slightly" better than Kelly Holcomb at this juncture of his career. Holcomb is a veteran who has been around for quite some time. At this point in Troy Aikman's career, he wasn't even as good as some of the other QBs that the Cowboys had on the roster. Lucky for the 'Boys that they road through those first two bad years with Aikman, rather than make the knee-jerk move to, say, Steve Walsh. Considering what we have invested in JP -- and the liklihood that this is going to be a non-contender year for the Bills anyway -- the team should use the season to determine for once and for all whether or not JP has "it". If he hasn't made dramatic strides to improve by year's end, then at least we know.

He knows very little about any NFL team outside of his beloved 'Skins.

Source... He's really HogBoy.

Good and fair points. When the hamburger deal first came out 2 years ago, many of us saw that as a positive for MM. After all, he had made the effort to reach out to another, more seasoned and successful head coach (in this case Andy Reid). Recall that this happened right before the Seattle road trip at a time, when we had not been successful winning on the road in quite some time. Now, the burger bit became a poster child for changing things up and probably had little to do with the team's sudden ability to play well on the road. (Recall that the Bills won all of their road games for the remainder of the season.) It didn't become a joke until last year, when MM and his entire staff seemingly became retarded overnight.

That really is a very good question, SuperBills12. And it is very hard to pin down directly. After all, MM didn't become stupid overnight. He's the same guy that had weathered plenty of adversity in 2004 to keep the ship sailing. And, the same Jerry Gray that was canned after the 2005 season, was the same Jerry Gray who had been the DC for a top 2 defense the previous two seasons. I also don't think that this was entirely lost on Marv and Ralph either, as both wanted MM back for 2006. I really think that much of it boiled down to MM's inability to see the reality of what was going on right before his eyes. And that starts with the 2004 season, where we started off 0-4 and 1-5 before getting hot and winning 8 of the last 10 games. I think MM saw our strong finish -- the Pittsburgh game not withstanding -- and thought that we would come out of the gates rolling in 2005. The reality is that the ridiculously favorable schedule that we played late in the season played a significant role in what was probably a somewhat inflated record. And chinks in the defense's ability to stop the run were quite apparant in that Pittsburgh fiasco, just as it had been weeks earlier when Corey Dillon ran the ball down the throat of the defense. Moreover, MM and TD seriously underestimated the importance of Pat Williams to the defense and Drew Bledsoe to the offense. Yes, Drew had his shortcomings, but he was also a calm veteran in whom the rest of the team had great faith. MM probably lost the lockerroom with his decision to hand JP the job without any competition. Realizing this, that's why MM insisted on riding the tail end of the season with Kelly, even though it was in the team's long-term best interests to give JP more playing time. By then it was too late, as MM had essentially already castrated himself. Moulds and Adams made sure of that. God knows that we have had inferior teams on the field in terms of talent in the history of our franchise, but the more I hear about what all went on last year both on the field and off, the more I think THAT team was the MOST dysfunctional. From that perspective, I think the fatherly Marv/Dick combo will serve as a nice change of pace.

Don't forget about Frostee Rucker and AJ Nicholson either.

I find it interetsing that neither mentions Holcomb, who is still "officially" the starter heading in. I also find it interesting that Vic says nice things about JP, but believes that Nall will be the starter. Is he saying that he believes that Marv/Jauron will impose Nall because he was the only one they hand-selected? Or is he saying that he thinks Nall will shine once training camp opens?

I know you're kidding, but if we picked him up for the league minimum with no guaranteed money, what could it hurt... even if he proves to just be camp fodder?

That's one of the reasons why I actually did like our draft. We may not have come away with the "big names". But I think we landed a number of guys that will manage to contribute right away. It was a common theme that Marv used in free agency -- not many big splashes, but potentially solid, young performers who may be on the verge of breaking through. As for Jauron, I think his style meshes well with Marv's. So, if nothing else, they seem to be on the same page. I see that as a bit of a variation on what TD di with his head coaches -- he looked for guys that he felt he could control.

For me it was two games during Jim Kelly's last season in 1996. The first was Kelly's first game back after the hammy injury -- and it was against Miami. The offense had sputtered badly in the first half -- but was starting to come on in the second. WIth seconds to go, Kelly hooked up with Reed on a crossing route that looked to go the distance for the tying score. However, Reed inexplicably slowed down just before the goal line -- and was tackled at the 1-yard line, while trying to stiff arm the DB that caught him from behind. The offense went with a play-fake on first down, but the defense sniffed it out, so Kelly did the smart thing and threw the ball away. An official throws the flag for inetentional grounding! With 2 more unsuccessful tries to punch it in, Kelly tries to force the ball on 4th down -- and it's picked off and run the other way for a TD. I think the part of this game that still makes me want to vomit is the sight of Jimmy Johnson jumping for joy on the sidelines. The other game from that year was an ESPN Sunday night game against New England. The Bills had rallied to go ahead with only about 3 minutes left to go. Ahead by 4, all the defense needed to do was keep the Patriots out of the endzone. Well, Bledsoe drove the Pats down there quickly and scored the go ahead TD on a screen pass to Curtis Martin. The Bills got the ball back with only about a minute to go -- but with decent field position and just needing to gain 20-30 yards to get in field goal position to tie the game. Willie McGinist (Has he really been around that long?) fakes the pass rush -- and drops back in coverage to pick off Kelly's pass and return it for a TD... icing the game. But not so fast. On the next play after the kickoff, Kelly hits Reed for the TD on a Hail Mary. The Bills fail to recover the on sides kick, and the Patriots win. As a result of that single game, the Pats win the division (and a 1st round playoff bye) -- and the Bills have to settle for a Wild Card spot. The Pats go onto the Super Bowl -- and Buffalo gets bounced in the first round of the playoffs.

I still maintain that Drew may be one of the few QBs with the right temperment to deal with TO. As annoyed as we always got with Drew's perceived laid back attitude, it is this attitude that will allow him to view any of TO's tirades as water off a duck's back. I've always felt that Andy Reid deserved some of the blame for not nipping the situation in the bud in Philly -- and allowing it to get out of hand. One of the great things about Parcells is that he chooses what he is willing to live with. While Tuna won't put up with TO crossing the line, he will be willing to let him mouth off here and there, so long as he shows up ready to play on Sundays.

That's a good point -- and I think it may point toward Marv's flexibility as a coach. That is, he was willing to tolerate "some" level of misbehavior with his star players (i.e. Kelly and Bruce), since he knew that they were ultimately self motivated enough to show up ready to play each and every Sunday. That's a point that may have been lost on Andy Redi, for example, last year when he decided to take TO to task, rather than just ignore him and let him do his thing on Sundays.

I think that by the time the season unfolds, we'll see that we may not have great individual receiving weapons (aside from Evans who has potential) -- but we have a pretty darn good collection. Think in terms of the whole being better than the sum of parts.

I can't say Namath because he was as much an icon as he was a football player. He was probably second only to Ali in terms of that generation helping to make the Sports industry what it is today. Yes, I know that his stats (i.e. more career interceptions than TDs) are underwhelming for a figure of his stature. For me, the all time most overrated has to be Dan Marino. He may boast all time career stats in virtually every passing category, but he was a far from complete quarterback -- and a terrible teammate. Marino apologists whine that he never had a running game. Well, that's true, but it was Marino's fault that they never had one. He always pouted at the notion of trying to establish one -- and when push came to shove he was willing to (at least on a subconscious level) give away the running plays at the line of scrimmage. Currently, I'll go with Vick too, although he is so despised that maybe he can no longer be considered overrated.

It's interesting that he chose to go all the way back to 2001, which was the only draft that TD had which has turned out to be good. 2002 was bad, 2003 was a mixed bag, and we still don't know enough about 2004 and 2005. Looking closer, that was the one draft that TD had WITHOUT Modrak at his side. That raises a bit of concern for me, as Modrak is still around calling some shots. Who knows... King's article was probably also a subtle jab at Marv, comparing his first draft to TD's. Maybe King will eat his words when Whitner is named Defensive Rookie of the Year.