Cynical

The Dick should have been kicked to the curb last year. But he wasn't. So we fans will probably sit through another miserable year. However, on a positive side, I look forward to competent coach taking over this team next year, and achieving something the Dick never has been able to do: a playoff victory. Yes, the Bills do have the talent to make the playoffs. They have had the talent. Except the douche bag in charge is so incompetent, the only thing saving his azz is how much of nice guy he is.

Answer: YES Reason: Good head coaches do not need the team to be completely rebuilt to achieve positive results or direction. A bigger question needs to be asked: Why did the team need to be COMPLETELY rebuilt? Assuming the talent was that bad, other questions come to mind. How good was Mularkey as a HC if he was able to take the majority of the same sad sack of bad talent and coach them to a 9-7 record (the only winning record this decade)? If Jauron is a better coach than Mularkey, why was Jauron incapable of achieving the same or better result? Why can other coaches on other teams take existing players, blend in some of their own, and achieve positive results in 2-3 years? Why does Jauron need the entire team to be his hand selected players? If Jauron "needs" the entire team to be players he has selected, does that not bring question Jauron's ability to adapt and coach to the teams strength? Why is this relevant, other than to provide you with another convenient excuse of why Jauron was unable to produce a winning record again. You might as well uncross those players. The kicker and punter are not going anywhere. Unless somebody needs a PR, Parrish is not going anywhere. Denney and Kelsay are not going anywhere. The Bills did not draft any DE except Maybin, and Maybin will take Ellis' place on the roster. Even if Ellis grows a sack, you can expect that no name DE who played in Schobel's place to be cut instead. But look on the bright side. The seeds for next year's excuse is already planted.

Then Dick Jauron must be a Jauron hater. According to Matt Bowen, who actually played with the guy, said this: "Dick always used to say “we are judged by wins and loses” in the NFL. And isn’t that true? Of course. Good coaching is one thing, relationships are another, but winning — that’s all that counts at this level." You can argue what you want, but even the Dick knows: no wins = you suck. Here's where we disagree on. The problems of the team are systematic errors. The blunders and the screw ups are not the root cause of the team problems. They are the result of failures in the system. I have said it now for years. Get rid of Jauron, bring in a competent coach, and watch how miraculously all the little BS problems disappear.

Can't see the whole article, because you have to pay for it. Again, IIRC, the stink was there was not going to be a designated official "GM", a guy with the full power of that one position. They were dividing the power up. Apparently, they decided to keep the label.

IIRC, when the Bills originally promoted Brandon, didn't they say there would be no designated GM?

I love it when people refer to Brandon as the "GM". The Bills have no such designation on their team. Brandon is nothing more than the face of the "inner circle". With that, I have no opinion of the guy, one way or the other.

This is akin to walking into a dying forest, and trying to figure out the exact cause of why each tree is dying. If one would step back and take a bigger view, they would see the stream feeding the forest is polluted. I see you never had to deal with a well intentioned likable but incompetent manager/supervisor before. Until you do, you will never grasp the concept of why Jauron is a terrible head coach.

You forgot this part: The above part says it all. Dick Jauron: nice guy, perennial loser. Even by Dick's own standards.

DB's are the universal player. They can play any position. Next year, just draft DB's. Then people can argue how the Bills did NOT draft DB's because this one is going to be the LT, that one is going to be the DT, the third one is going to be the freaking water boy ....

That's an interesting statement you make. IIRC, on this very message board, in one of the Cutler threads, a certain poster said Shanahan had the ability to make average players perform better. You know who said that? You did. You made that statement trying to prove Cutler was overrated. If QB's make the coach, then how does BB take a QB that has not started a game since HS, plug said QB into his team, and produce a winning record? How does BB, as HC of the Browns, take Vinny Testaverde (considered a bad QB at the time), plug him into his team, and not only reaches the playoffs, but the Vinny led Browns actually won a playoff game? How does Dan Reeves, Bill Parcels, Don Shula, and Mike Holmgren lead more than 1 team to the SB? How does Brian Billick win a SB with Trent Dilfer as a QB? How did Joe Gibbs win three SB with 3 different QB's, two of them being Doug Williams and Mark Rypien? How do coaches like Shanahan, Fisher, etc ... make the playoffs with different QB's? How did Bill Cowher get to 2 SB with 2 different QB's? Why did Coughlin admit he had to change, and not his QB, when the Giants won the SB two years ago? Explain your Shanahan/Cutler statement. (I can provide many more examples if you want.) I believe a HC has a far bigger impact than you want to admit. No deal. I have said before on this board that one winning season proves nothing, and will not change my opinion about him. Prior to the 2008 season, I listed 3 things Dick Jauron needed to accomplish before I would consider changing my opinion of him. 1. His team needs to beat the better teams (teams over .500 at the end of the year) consistently. 2. He needs to win a playoff game. 3. He needs to accomplish 1 and 2 for more than 1 year. I am still waiting for him to accomplish #1. I firmly believe Dick Jauron is terrible HC. We Bills fans have seen incompetent coaching for so long, we have forgotten what good coaching looks like. I am sorry if my overly pessimistic view bothers you. But like many others on here, that view will change once the Bills start winning.

2008 Falcons: new GM, new HC, new QB > throwing out what did not work, and trying something new = hope 2009 Bills: sticking with a proven failure of a HC > trying the same thing, and hoping for a different result = ?

Well said!!

I never denied the Bills need for a viable #2. But if you think the TO signing was not done with a heavy emphasis on potential ticket sales, you are kidding yourself. Was it a coincidence the Bills announced "extended" ticket office hours soon after his signing? They knew the kind of buzz his kind of signing would produce. Hell, they were banking on it. To put it another way, if season ticket renewals were happening at an acceptable rate, and Coles still said no, do you honestly think the Bills pull the trigger on the TO deal? IMHO, I do not. I believe they would have continued to look at other options, and may have gone into training camp hoping one of last years rookies steps up. The Bills need to sell every regular season ticket they can before the season starts. That's their "insurance" money. If Jauron tanks another season, and fans stop showing up, the Bills have the prepaid tickets money in their pocket. They will still lose out on parking, concessions, etc ..., but they have the ticket money.

That's why they initially targeted Coles. He was supposed to be the guy. He basically told the Bills to off. It was not about selling jerseys. It was about stopping the bleeding. Season ticket renewals were tanking. The Bills needed a marquee signing to stem the tide. It was fortunate TO just happened to be that player.

And the peanut gallery speaks ... 1. If you do not want to read what I have to say, feel free not to. 2. The message board does contain a feature called "ignore". Feel free to use it on the posters you find offensive and do not agree with your personal beliefs. 3. If you still find it impossible in removing all the "negativity", feel free to start your own message board with the other poster. In between the Bills can do no wrong posts, the both of you can argue about who is more optimistic. Yeah, kind of like reading how Edwards is cool, collected, and a true warrior, Whitner has so much talent he can play any position, Jauron is a victim of venomous fate, Brandon knows exactly what he is doing, and Poz is the second coming of Dick Butkus. Those kind of posts accomplish a whole lot, too. Especially when team generates another losing record. Must be because Wilson is such a great owner ... .

Guess what, until you figure out the concept of when and how July 2008, August 2008, and September 2008 fall into a time line, we cannot go any further.

You mean this piece: Oh, yeah there's proof the Bills would have redone Peters contract in 2008.

Jesus ... I even quoted this statement in my reply. Did you even bother to read past the first line of my reply? Once again. Notice how Brandon does NOT give a time frame in that quote. Look at the date of your article: July 25th. As I stated in my initial reply (if you had bothered to read all of it), later in year, as in AFTER JULY 25th, it was reported and even discussed on this board, the Bills never had any intentions of redoing Peters contract in 2008. They would be open to the possibility of redoing his contract in 2009. Read all of it before you hit reply.

Feel free to start your own message board where you can dictate only "positive" people are allowed to post. Should be a blast to read.

There is nothing in those stories that disputes what I said. Notice there is no time frame given in Brandon's quotes. It was reported later in the year (and even discussed on this board) the Bills had no intention of redoing his contract last year. They would, however, be willing to discuss a new contract next (this) year.

Peters is not making it "uncomfortable", he's forcing their hand. It's not like the Bills have a plethora of talented Off lineman to choose from to fill in the different holes. If that was the case, then the Peters hold out would be "uncomfortable". Keeping your fantasies aside, whoever Peters gets traded to will redo his contract. Just do not be surprised if it ends up being somewhat close to what the Bills are offering.

I would say having played the second easiest schedule in the NFL may have more to do with the ranking, more than the Stroud signing. So did the 2006 draft after the 2006 season. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. By fumbling the situation? The Bills organization admitted they had no intention of redoing Peters contract last year regardless if he showed up for OTAs, etc .... Hitting the kool aid pretty hard this morning I see. Bills have two choices: overpay for Peters or move him. And the Bills have expressed a desire to do neither one if they can help it. Explain to me again who has the leverage? Because from my POV, it sure looks like Peters is forcing the Bills hand.

I agree. At least Royal could block, he just never developed into the pass catcher they hoped he would. The other two a** clowns ... <shudder>

Lonnie (*^*%&*%)*&%)*^(&+)(&(^*&^*&%^^)*+(*)*%@#$@(&*)+(*)U(*^*&^*)T*)&(*&B_(B_(^B&_*^!!!!!!!! Johnson I think the only other TE to even come close to that bad would be Reuben "Can't"