yungmack

It's been a whole day since marrone took the money and ran and Pegula doesn't have a new head coach in place? Oh My God! Where's Bon Jovi when we need him?

Yeah, that Bledsoe worked out well...for 8 games.

Not sure if your post is supposed to be funny, is supposed to be serious, or a reaction to egg nog gone bad.

The first question that needs to be answered before bringing in any OC is who is responsible for the Offense? You could be the greatest offensive mind ever, but if Marrone makes all the crucial decisions - who the line starters are, which position they play, which receivers are dressed, which QB starts, what the game plan is, etc. - then you are hamstrung.

We have the example of the Dolphins who essentially blew up their Oline after last year and created a new one . The results were pretty darn good, all things considered. Then we have the example of the Bills Oline, a unit with continuity and only one glaringly bad slot to fill, who somehow managed to decline into one of the worst units in the league. How is it possible one unit with a bunch of newbies is able to play at a very decent level and one with supposed talent and stability becomes an example of inept futility? I believe the blame has to be on the coaches, and ultimately on Marrone for the mess. If that is so, how can we expect the line to be any better if Marrone returns?

If it is a Chip Kelly type you want, why not the guy who replaced him at Oregon(and seems to be doing even better), Mark Helfrich?

He's actually from Oakland, which is most assuredly in northern California.

All your points are salient. And I know that the general consensus around here is that the QBs stink and so does Hackett. But the real problem might very well be Marrone. I can't seem to find out who actually is running the offense, and our intrepid team reporters don't seem interested in reporting anything other than what the team issues. I wonder, for example, if Hackett gets to decide on the make-up of the offensive line, and if he gets to determine who his active receivers are for a particular game. As the OC, with the responsibility for the quality of the offense, that he would get to make those decisions. But if it's Marrone, then he has to take responsibility for blowing up last year's mediocre line and reconstructing it as the joke it was earlier in the year. And he has to take responsibility for the misuse of Mike Williams as well. From there, I wonder if Marrone is active in the offensive game plan and in the play-calling. If Hackett is just his butt-boy, without authority, then replacing him will change nothing so long as Marrone continues with his limited and boring and stubborn approach to the offense. BTW, as a counter example to the Bills O struggles, look at Arizona. Somehow or other, Arians manages to get respectable production out of his Offense, including decent QB play from Palmer, Stanton and now from a guy he snatched off of SD's practice squad (shades of Jeff Tuel-Time). I'll be paying attention to how this latest change turns out but I'm expecting, once again, at least decent performance, unlike Buffalo's offense, which hit new depths of incompetence against GB. While I'm spewing here, I was wondering what you all think about Mark Helfrich as a replacement for Marrone?

From the All 22, it's apparent Williams is going to intersect with him in about two steps and clobber him. On the in-game close up replay, it's clear Nelson sees Williams coming just before the ball gets there. The Bills D was hitting those guys all game long, and I believe Nelson's drop had as much to do with his peek at Williams as anything else. Of course, I meant the deep ball play to Nelson, not this one.

The difficulty I have with all this "fire Hackett" talk is that I'm not at all certain he's the problem. He was saddled with three jamokes at QB last year, now has a dreadful QB who seems to be checking down on every play, has had to work with an inept O-line for two years, and must work around Marrone's personnel decisions about "the best 5 players," and who's getting the start or is not even in uniform on game day. I also suspect that Marrone does a whole lot of interfering in offensive planning and in the play-calling. I would love to see some in-depth, investigative reporting by one the crack reporters who follow this team about just how much authority Hackett has, and how much of the God-awful performances week after week are the responsibility/blame of Marrone.

Off the top of my head: Tom Brady, Drew Brees & Russell Wilson.

The Niners are going to get rid of CK and Harbaugh? Sounds nuts to me. BTW, if a team gets rid of a young franchise QB without having his replacement already on the squad, don't you think there has to be something seriously wrong with the kid besides "Incompatibility" with Harbaugh?

As far as I can remember, the "best" defenses and top defenders - the ones we continue to remember over the decades - played precisely like that. Bednarik? Butkus? LT? Deacon? All the legendary Steeler and Raiders defenses? They played to hurt you, to put you out of the game. And to get into your head for the rest of your career whenever you played them.

This. And maybe '66 as well.

Isn't that pretty much a description of the internet, Twitter, Facebook and all the rest?

I believe the overwhelming opinion around here is in agreement with the bolded portion of your statement. We can see that nearly all the pieces are in place to be at least in the upper third of the league. That we're not in that situation seems clearer by the week to be the result of poor coaching decisions, such as the uber conservative play-calling, the pettiness (or ignorance) that seems to have put Mike Williams and Kraig Urbik in Marrone's doghouse, among any number of other head-scratching moves. That's why we're all so angry/depressed/half-nuts. We can see where we should be and it's demoralizing to watch this collection of talent misused.

This is absolutely one of those times the GM should make the decision. He is responsible for the future of the team and if DW believes the development of EJ is more important than pretending the Bills are going to somehow, someway make the playoffs with Orton, then he should order Marrone to play him. If Marrone gives him some shite about it, then begin the search for a new HC immediately. This might also be the time to try some of the younger guys out, as others have suggested.

I think the NE game decided that, yep, these are the "same old Bills." For anyone who thought otherwise, there was KC on Sunday.

No, it's not. Those days are as over as this season. The "must win" horse left the barn with that putrid performance against KC. All that's left to play for from here on out is the team's fraying dignity. I hope they win enough to give Cleveland a middling pick but a complete collapse isn't out of the question if the players throw in the towel.

Mark Kelso had an interesting thought about CJ's struggles, that he is so fast that he hits the line before the blocking opens a hole . He said Jamal Charles was having a similar problem until they had him setup farther back from the line. Don't have a clue if that's the real problem but if it is, you think a sharp OC would have fixed much like they did in KC.

K-Dog, thanks for an excellent post. You shame the pro reporters and pretty much most of us around here. Most info-packed report in years.

It seems to me that if you're going to be held responsible for the success or failure of the offense, you should have total control over the offense, including who is going to start on the O-line, so my question to anyone around here who might know the answer, is this the case with Hackett? Is he the guy who's sitting Urbik? Is he the one who's stubbornly insisting on continuing the zone blocking scheme that's clearly not working? Is it Hackett who decides that Hogan starts over Williams?

I looked at the Orton fumble several times and it's still not clear to me that he did fumble. Running the video slowly, it seems his arm was going forward (not much but enough to qualify) and could as easily have been called an incomplete pass. It's borderline, a bang-bang play, but if you watch the whole game, anytime there was a borderline call, it went against the Bills. Like that Wright catch on, I think, the 24. If you have the video, look at it in slo-mo. He does have both feet down but he doesn't have control of the ball. By the time he pulls the pass in, his right foot is clearly off the ground. Again, a borderline call and again it goes against the Bills.

I believe Glenn is the victim of having a raw rookie next to him. It's affecting both his play and Wood's play.

The greatest coach in Bills history and arguably the greatest all around player ever in pro football? It's a no brainer. "Now that was have a new owner"? Did your dog type this?