Buftex

I hope we don't lose him, but you know, HC jobs in the NFL aren't a dime a dozen, even bad ones like Cleveland. One of the reasons, supposedly, that Pettine wanted to leave the Jets, was to get out under the perception that he was just running Rex's defense...Rex stated so, and so did Pettine, as I recall...Pettine, from the impression I got, feels he is more than ready to be a head coach. Going to Buffalo might have just been the stepping stone he needed. A friend of mine in Cleveland, just FB messaged me about Pettine....he says the local sports talk is making it sound like he is the guy they are honing in on, since they won't get Jim Tressell...fan reaction seems to vary from "who?" to "do it!"

Little dope couldn't get enough coconuts togehter in time for Professor to concoct a machine a primitive machine out tiki wood, bamboo, that ran on coconut milk, to save his own life. Too bad...RIP

Ha ha...I guess I am not sure what you mean. I will ask again, with no editorializing this time, what constitutes the media treating this season as "playoffs or bust?"

So, I gotta ask...what constitutes the media treating this season as "playoffs or bust?" When people like Jerry Sullivan, Bucky Gleason or Mike Schopp are critical of the Bills or Sabres, they are branded as clueless a-holes...I mean people (not necessarily you) are practically frothing at the mouth with so much hatred for them...then, we turn around and crticize the media for not taking Bills brass to task, like their job is to publically shame them. Would people only be content if our teams coaches, players and managment were having daily blow-ups with the media? It would seem fans, backers (whatever you want to call them) and ownership are the ones who have the power here...fans can choose not to support the team if they are disgusted with the direction they are headed (or stuck) in...ownership can fire employees.

I am glad the Bills are entertaing the notion of hiring a QB coach. I think it is important that it is somebody that Hackett gets on with, and knows...so AVP might not be a bad choice...Hackett and the QB coach have to be on the same page, or it isn't going to help the kid learn at all. We have seen that scenario play out quite often. I am not as down on Hackett as some...but he is young, and he seems to be pretty tightly wound. From what I have heard, he places a big value on the relationship he has with Manuel, like he wants to be that "voice inside EJ's head"...to throw a second voice in the mix (which I am for) is a tricky move, IMO. On a side note...it is really amazing to me how young some of the guys who are getting cooridinator jobs are. It seems to be the trend. The guy the Redskins hired as their OC is only 27!

Sadly, with all the losing year after year, some get more satisfaction, at this point, in the Bills failing...everyone wants to be the first to say "see, I told you so!" We have become a very imapatient bunch, in the sense that the current group of managment, coaches and players are responsible for the previous 13 years of bad football. Personally, I feel, for the first time in at least 7 or 8 years, that the Bills are headed in the right direction, or at least a markedly different direction than they have been. Baby steps... Everytime I see somebody throw this phrase into their criticism of the team (Marrone, Manuel, etc) i interprit it to mean the exact opposite.

Well, in all fairness, you can't really use the Bills as an accurate measuring stick for pretty much anything on the field football related...

Joe Gibbs won 3 rings, with three different squads, none of which featured a HOF calliber QB. Don't underetimate flat-out great coaching and over-estimate "innovation". I happen to agree with you that Jimmy Johnson is (was) an arrogant jerk, but how can you write off his accomplishments as "rode a great roster"...didn't Bill Walsh have a lot of talent to ride? Your reasoning is all over the place...

In all fairness, Jerry Jones was a frigging idiot for canning him after last season....all he did was go to New Orleans, and turn one of the historicaly worst defeneses into a top 5 unit...I am no fan of the Ryans (Buddy or Rex) but he would seem to warrent a look when guys like the Broncos OC are getting heat, for letting Payton Manning play like Payton Manning.

This is just dopey.... If BB is the best all-time, he is the best of the last 25 years (and I am not arguing that point). I would rank Joe Gibbs #2 all time, or at least in my 40+ years of following the NFL.

Yeah, was referring as much to the talent on hand as the city itself...but San Diego is pretty spectacular, especially if you pull a decent paycheck!

Any word around there about if they/he have any interest in eachother? When the Browns job first opened, I heard him mentioned, then it was "for sure" going to be the a-hole from New England...then he backed out...haven't heard much since. I truly empathize with Browns fans.

Given the choice, if I was Frank, and I had the choice to be the OC in San Diego or Tennessee...I would be happy to stay in San Diego.

I am kind of surprised, particularly since nobody seems to want to coach them, that the Browns aren't bendig over backwards to hire Tressell. Not sure if it would be a great hire for them, but he would, at the very least, be a popular choice amongst many Browns fans. Don't see how they are going to do any better at this point.

Well, just in case you said that...ESPN wrote almost the exact same article! http://espn.go.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/6503/chuck-driesbach-stunned-by-bills-firing Why on earth would you do that?

Quite honeslty, nobody really knows anything here...translating stats and statistical results don't tell the story when you are talking about human interaction. Dreisbach says that Marrone told him he wanted to "change the dynamic" of the coaching staff. It really could be that simple. Marrone put together his coaching staff last year, and is, possibly, working out the kinks. Some people work better together than others... not sure why everyone here is assuming that this move exposes some weakness, or character flaw, in Marrone. He obviously sees somethig he doesn't like, and is addressing it. Isn't that what everyone wants?

That elephant...

I will say, when Manuel had his really awful games (Jets #1, Steelers, Bucs) the O-line (left side primarily) had major difficulties with protection...to me, he played decently in all of his other starts. I know, it is not an earth-shaking revelation that a rookie QB will do better when he is not under pressure, but I think it was particularly eveident with EJ.

I think we would all enjoy it...I don't see anybody saying otherwise. I think there is just that deep seated fear, with the Bills (and we are Bills fans first and foremost) that if something has a possible downside, the Bills would find it. I also think you are kind of overstating things a bit...I love the show, don't get me wrong, and never miss it...but I think it is just as much a slice of life (one most of us will never experience) as it is some great education in "real football". There is that gossip/reality show aspect to it that I think, understandably, turn some off. The show has the potential to supply fans of the team (a pretty negative bunch a fair amount of time if you hadn't noticed) with plenty of fuel for their derision of the team, or certain players, if things don't go well that season. I remember hearing Herm Edwards speaking about it, and he was convinced, positively, that the constant putrescence of cameras interfered with the Chiefs training camp that year. Guys were very aware of the film crews, and were as concerned about getting some face time as they were learning assignments. Say, the Bills were on the show in 2014... if EJ Manuel doesn't come out of the gates looking like a franchise QB, you know there will be an element riding him for something he said/did on Hard Knocks....as if one thing necessarily had anything to do with the other...Stevie Johnson? The sky is the limit. From your post, it sounds almost like you love the pop-culture aspect of football as much as the game itself. All that said, this is the way we experience everything now...too much, no secrets (only lies!), a sort of deconstruction of everything we enjoy....that is not necessarily a good thing.

Well...then there is that elephant in the room...

This past off-season, Andre Reed did one of those sort of "coaching fellowship"/training type things with the Chiefs. I think every team has one or two during training camp. I remember hearing him in a phone interview on GR, and he was asked if he had tried to come to Buffalo for his position...he had an interesting answer. To paraphrase, he just said he wanted to do it somewhere other than Buffalo, because he wanted to learn, and he thought coming to Buffalo would just turn into a trip down memory lane, and sort of a novelty, given his ties with the organization. He just felt he would actually learn more elsewhere.

Years ago, when I lived in NYC, went to see "Dances With Wolves" the week it came out. It was "the" movie at the time, and the theater was packed. About halfway through the movie, we heard some woman yelling "is there a doctor in the house?" Then, an older man came stumbling up the middle isle, holding his stomach as blood was leaking out, pretty quickly... lights came up, ever so slightly, and there was lots of commotion...film kept rolling the whole time, even as cops and medics were in and out... ended up, this old guy had asked a bunch of unruly kids, who were talking a lot, to be quiet. One of the kids pulled a knife and stabbed him... the old guy ended up being Tim Zagat, he of the famous (now infamous) Zagat restaurant guides fame.

Maybe the old man had seen "Gran Torino" one too many times....

Yes...the NFL implemented this after last season...from the linked article, here are the specific rules: "If no team volunteers to be featured in the show, which provides a documentary-style look into a team's training camp, the league will require one team to be on the show if they meet certain parameters: 1. The team has a returning head coach. 2. The team hasn't made the playoffs in the last two seasons. 3. The team hasn't been on the show in the last 10 years." The Bills are one of 8 teams to meet the criterion. "

In theory, I want no part of the Bills on Hard Knocks...however, with the NFL mandating that every team will have to do it eventually, why not? I am going to watch it, no matter the team...the Bills taking their turn would only make it all the more interesting.