Brandon

They still had talent, yes, but they were not the Cowboys team that had won the Super Bowl. They were much like the Bills of 1994-1996. They were still capable of competing for a playoff spot, but they were no longer close to the dominant team they once were.

I don't see what the big deal is. He wouldn't be the first player to endorse something in a national TV ad. So maybe you don't agree with his religious views. The easy solution? Ignore it. It'll last all of 30 seconds of your life.

I disagree with you there. The Cowboys were 6-10 in 1997, the year prior to Gailey being hired, followed by three straight 5-11 finishes beginning in 2000 after he was fired. They were a team in sharp decline by that point, yet Gailey had them playing competitive football when the other two couldn't.

They could do worse. I'm not thrilled about the possibility, but its no less underwhelming to me than Frazier or most of these other guys. The only one I'd definitely put higher on the list is Jason Garrett, but I think he'll reject the job. On the bright side, he'd be a far better choice than Dick Jauron ever was.

On the other hand, its not like the Bills could hire him right now even if they wanted. What does Frazier or anyone else expect the Bills to do in the meantime? They can't just sit on their hands. There's no guarantee that Frazier ever would have taken the Bills job when available, and in light of that, they have to continue exploring other options.

As do I. If I were an NFL head coach considering taking this job, I'd be wondering how long it'll be until they put a billboard up trying to run me out of town.

Frazier and Saunders.

For there to be no interest, the Bills sure are kicking this supposedly dead horse an awful lot. You'd think that they would tell Chris Brown to STFU about Cowher if he were off the table, as it just raises the fans' expectations every time someone connected with the team mentions him.

And my response is, so what? How many coaches in NFL history haven't won a Super Bowl? A few hundred. Maybe Bill Cowher wouldn't lead the Bills to the Super Bowl, but there's hardly any guarantee that some first time head coach could do it, either. Far from it. As I've said before, 'history' is irrelevant. It absolutely does not matter what someone else did once upon a time. Its a different coach with a different team under different circumstances. They need to hire the person that they feel is the best candidate for the job, whether that's Bill Cowher or some coordinator that they promote. That's all they can control.

Alabama 31 Texas 10

Based on what I've seen over the last decade plus, I have even less confidence in their ability to hire competent coordinators than I do in their ability to hire a competent head coach.

I suppose he's a solid pick if they want someone to maintain the status quo. We can keep the cover 2 and bring in this year's version of Steve Fairchild or Turk Schonert to coach the offense. I wonder what the result of that'll be? This front office needs to realize something: yeah, the run D sucked a** this year, but it has primarily been the inept offense that's been killing them for a decade. They'd better be damn sure that this new head coach can turn their offense around, either himself or by hiring top assistants who can, or they'll be looking at yet another coaching change two or three years from now.

I suppose its possible, but I think you're probably overestimating how much influence that Buddy Nix had. Almost everyone in that war room would have outranked him and had more influence on the pick than he did.

Yeah, I think that's pretty much what we're saying. Honestly, where does a 'national scout' rank among the guys present in the so-called 'war room' on draft day...assuming he was even present? That pick had Dick Jauron written all over it. In the absence of a true GM, he had a great deal of authority over the Bills' player personnel decisions, including the draft.

He probably thought he could get some kind of contribution out of Maybin as a rookie. On the other hand, I don't think Dick ever really had a clue how close to being fired that he actually was. I'm glad to hear that Buddy Nix realizes how risky a one year wonder at DE usually is. Aside from QB, DEs have the toughest transition to the NFL of any position. Maybin may defy the odds, but you're usually just asking for trouble picking a guy with only one year of production at the collegiate level. A quick look at the list of recent first round DEs proves that pretty decisively.

Agreed, and the thing I like most about taking him is that LBs seem to have one of the easiest transitions to the NFL of any position and can make an immediate impact. A big, instant upgrade would be a welcome addition on this team.

Its no contest. I'd select Rolando McClain. Drop him off the board and I'd probably select one of the two DEs or perhaps one of the two OTs.

For all we know, maybe they have contacted a few collegiate head coaches. Considering the list of retreads and second rate coordinators that we seem likely to be picking from, I wouldn't be opposed to it, that's for sure.

I definitely don't feel sorry for them. They should've thrown this bunch out the front door quite a while ago.

That's what happens when you put a marketing guy in charge. Its pretty obvious that they were all fired. The Bills' front office is just trying to put the best spin they can think of on the situation.

Well, let me re-phrase it. I suppose its not so much that I like Russ Grimm but that this group of coordinator candidates really sucks. IMO, he's the best of the bunch that's currently being connected to the Bills, but that isn't saying a whole lot.

He's the only coordinator I've seen mentioned so far that I like. The one thing that worries me is that most of the people they're interviewing have backgrounds on defense and I'm really concerned that a lot of them are going to have trouble putting together a competent staff of assistants to coach the offense.

Dick LeBeau is getting pretty old. I think he's over 70.

Now that is a shocker, certainly more so than the rest of these guys being fired.

In other words, he left himself an out and in essence, nothing has really changed. The Bills were, and are, a long shot to hire Cowher as their next head coach.