Cynical

Nice examples. Notice how each team fared against the better competition, something a Jauron coached team has been incapable of doing. If you expect the Bills to just make the playoffs, and nothing more, Jauron can 'probably' do that (just hope he has lots of crappy teams to play against) But if you want the Bills to actually win some playoff games, and hopefully the SB, then the Bills are going to have to beat the better teams in the league. If a Jauron coached team cannot beat the better teams during the regular season, what in the world makes people believe Jauron will be able to do it in the playoffs?

Here's a tip: Despite last year, there are still a lot of people who think Jauron has some serious question marks regarding his ability to be a HC. Yeah, cause Levy and Modrak were so high on Edwards ability they had him ranked somewhere in the second round, IIRC. (What a coincidence, Shaun King was drafted in the second round.) As for Bill Walsh - roll out that tired argument once again. Bill Walsh also called Jake Plummer the next Joe Montana. It has also been reported Bill Walsh highly regarded Joey Harrington. Bill Walsh has not been right about a QB since the 80's. I think the time has come to view Walsh's recommendations with some skepticism. And if you still truly think the 'great QB guru Bill Walsh' cannot be questioned, chew on this tidbit: Joe Montana was NOT Bill Walsh's choice for QB. Somebody else in the 49ers organization had to convince Walsh to take Montana. I want to know who that guy was.

Prior to the Cowboys job, Garrett was considered a coach on the way up, with a good head on his shoulders. Funny, I never heard that about The Turk. Oh, you got me there [/sarcasm]. You keep waving around Jauron's COTY award like it actually means something. Other posters besides myself have posted past COTY winners, some of dubious distinction. If you had bothered to actually look at Jauron's 2001 year (and I know you haven't), you probably will not like what you see. Teflon Dick went 13-3. But let's break that down: the number of teams Dick faced that ended up > .500? 6 the numbers of teams Dick faced that ended up <= .500? 10 Dicks W/L against the 6 better than .500 teams: 3-3 Dicks W/L against the 10 .500 or less teams: 10-0 I could go on, but I would be wasting bandwidth as you seem to be blind to actual facts regarding Teflon Dick. And do tell what year was Jauron a 'runner up' for COTY? So I take it you think Edwards looked 'brilliant' when he was telegraphing the plays to the defense? Or, is that not his fault? No more silly than others in here stating how 'unprecedented' Edwards rookie performance was. The reality, it wasn't. You are right. King did lead Tampa Bay to the NFC title game, in the 1999 season. In the 2000 season, King was the full time starter. By the start of the 2001 season, King was riding the bench, after reality kicked in, and it became obvious he did not have the tools to be a full time starter. I am glad to hear you would 'personally take that'. Nothing like settling for 'second' or 'third' best. But then again, you think Jauron is a "great" head coach, so I am not surprised.

Only 'partly' responsible? What was the rest? Coaching? Surrounding talent? Edward's ability? And just so I understand part of your position, are you saying the Bills coaches 'scaled back' the offense to accommodate Edwards? If so, and you now think Edwards will so greatly improve in one off season that he will lead the Bills to the playoffs. Edwards should improve, no doubt, but I just do not see it to the extent you see it. Your are right, one game does not tell the whole story. While he may have looked good in the Dallas game, Edwards looked befuddled in the second Jets game. He had no clue on how to deal with CB blitz the Jets were running against him. At this point, teams are still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't work against Edwards. As more game film is generated, Edwards habits and tendencies will become more pronounced, forcing the Bills coaches to work on correcting or minimizing the negative ones. And that's why I expect another year of growing pains for Edwards, and not some great leap in improvement.

Against some of the crappiest teams in the league. Is it any coincidence 6 of those wins came against teams that were below .500? Historically speaking, no. Jauron coached teams typically can only beat the crappier teams. And when one looks at the 2007 results, 4 of those wins came against the Jets and the Dolphins. Luckily for us, the Dolphins ended being the worst team in the league, and the Jets were just as bad, if not worse, than the Bills. I agree, the offense was so bad last year we really have no idea what kind of talent we do have. It will take watching this offense playing under a real game plan just to asses the strengths and weaknesses. And you can count me among those that think the Tight End situation is not nearly as bad as others may claim. Better play calling (hopefully) will allow us to see better utilization of the TE. Does that mean Royal will become the next Crumpler? No. But I will settle for a Pete Metzelaars type. A guy that can exploit the seams underneath, has decent hands, and is more of a complement to the WRs than a primary/secondary focal point of the passing game. And yes, Edwards is the key. And that is part of my issue. Everybody seems to be counting banking on Edwards making a 'quantum' improvement over last year. I can see him improving, but enough to carry this team to the playoffs? That may be to much to ask of a second year QB being directed by a 'rookie' OC.

Wow. I wish I had your optimism, but I just do not see it. The facts are, this team was putrid last year, in literally every aspect of the game. At this point, I see no real improvement from that abortion the Bills called an offense. Yes, we go rid of Fairchild, but we replaced him with The Turk, a coach who has never been an OC before until now. And he has to answer to one of the more incompetent head coaches in the league. We can only hope Edwards turns out to be everything we hope to be. But the reality is, he got worse as the year progressed, and 2008 will be only his second year in the league. Does that mean he will suck next year? Of course not. But combing a second year QB with a 'rookie' OC does not have me jumping for joy. And maybe it is just me, but I cannot shake the feeling we Bills fans are not looking at the next 'Joe Montana', but we are looking at Shaun King v2.0.

He was an Orchestra Conductor in a previous life.

When he wasn't suing the NFL for 'protection' from the same fans he was hell bent on pissing off, yeah he probably was a 'great' guy.

Yeesh! I gotta get my eyes checked. That looks nas-teee.

What is so hard to understand? It is not the civil aspect, it is the criminal aspect. IF Walsh has stuff that belongs to the Pats they did NOT authorize him to take, they have grounds for pressing criminal charges. If Walsh has the evidence, the Pats convince a judge to issue an injunction stating the evidence cannot be exposed to the public because it will be used in a criminal case. Once the charges are brought against Walsh, the Pats, claiming something stupid like IP rights, convince the judge to seal the evidence from the public eye. As long as the case goes the entire way, the Pats 'win'. The evidence will remained sealed by court order, never to see the light of day. And with no evidence to look at, there is no reason to pursue Spygate. That's why the Pats will not cough up immunity and/or indemnity.

Cosby is the master of comedic storytelling. It is hard to believe that his material is 20, 30, and even 40 years old, and still funny as hell. One of my all time favorite bits is "My Father Confused Me". "... from the age of 1 to 7, I thought my name was Jesus Christ ...."

Actually, I am to a point. I may not be bust out side splitting funny (and I never claimed I was), but I have been called funny, humorous and easy going. I have also been told I have a great sense of humor.

Yep. Including you. I have listened to this one, more than once. This is supposed to be one of his best (if not the best) jokes. I have never laughed at it. Maybe it's just me. I have seen "Out of Order" signs on escalators before. And I have watched people crowd the stairs next to the escalator so they would not have to use the 'broken' escalator. To me, the absurdity was not someone bothered to put an out of order sign on the escalator, but the fact people would not use the escalator because the sign was on it. Maybe if he had focused on that aspect .... Another stupid joke. One has to assume Mitch was funny to be begin with, which he was not. So the joke just dies. That seems to be the 'problem' I have with Mitch. All of his material had this 'out of synch' feel to it. The focus of the joke was off, the delivery was wrong, etc.. Maybe I need to be wasted on Heroin to get it.

Talk about overrated: Mitch Hedberg. I do not get this guy at all. His material is not funny, his delivery is not funny, ... I would rather listen to Steven Wright. At least his deadpan delivery was humorous and tolerable for a period of time.

Jauron apologists are great at that. 7-9 win /loss record? Average/good A team that finished near the bottom in nearly every offense and defense statistical category? One or two players away from dominating. It is only a matter of time before they start latching onto this 'below average' defense is actually 'above average'.

Finishing 30th in yards and 18th in points is NOT above average, no matter how you spin it. I do not know what defense you saw, but the one I saw played opportunistic ball. As long as the competition was willing to make mistakes, the Bills D generally took advantage of them. However, when the opportunities did NOT present themselves, the D got pushed around like a rag doll. Hopefully, the addition of Stroud and Mitchell will stop that, but until we see the defense in action, that's all we have: we hope it will work.

And bring peace to the middle east.

A turnover is a turnover. The end result is the same thing: zero points scored by the offense. Moulds had 1 turnover, Flutie had 3. In terms of negative impact, "If Moulds did not fumble ..." is surpassed by "If Flutie stopped giving the damn ball away ..." Can I then assume you think a 1 touchdown / 3 turnover playoff performance is "amazing"?

Those two statements describe Flutie's playing ability, and his entire Bills career. He had a kind of Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde persona. In one drive, Flutie could scamper 15 yards on an amazing run to keep the chains moving, and then three plays later throw a pick into triple coverage while Reed (or another WR) was standing along the left side of the field WIDE OPEN.

What about non-players? IIRC, Modrak lives in NJ, and it was one of the reasons why he was not interested in the Bills GM job.

I have no idea of when you left, because I distinctly remember there being Taco Bells in the WNY area back in the mid 90's (and they are still there).

Contention will not cut it. The Bills were contending for the playoffs last season, two seasons ago, and 4 seasons ago. Jauron has drawn the line in the sand: Playoffs or bust. It will be interesting to see the Jauron apologists reactions if the Bills underachieve again in 2008, and do nothing more than "contend" for a playoff spot.

Interesting. That's one of things I do NOT miss about Buffalo. That crap was nasty. I would rather have Taco Bell, and Taco Bell is something I can only eat once in a while.

Bills turned the ball over, what ..5 times? Moulds is responsible for one, Flutie is responsible for three, but it was Moulds fault? Moulds commits his 'mistake' on the very first Bills offensive play (clue: games are 60 minutes long), and Flutie commits his most serious 'mistake' as the Bills last offensive play, yet it was Moulds fault? 5 turnovers, and only 2 touchdowns. I would venture to say turnovers had a real big impact on that game. Not just the amount of picks, but the timing of them as well. The reason people still talk about Flutie is because people like you are continually looking back at 'those days', and coming to the conclusion Flutie's didn't stink. I hate to break it to you, but Flutie and his both STUNK!!

Yeah, that was it. After that play, why did the Bills even bother to play out the game? It's not like Flutie's 1 Touchdown / 3 Turnover performance had anything to do with it, right?