Bob in STL

Some of you people amaze me. You want an experienced HC, well we got one. Ryan had success until his dopey GM depleted the team. If he brings in Roman, or Kubiak, or Trestmann then we are light years years beyond Marrone and his kids from Syracuse. Two things that are blown out of proportion: 1. Offensive minded vs. Defensive minded. Every head coach starts somewhere. Do you think Bellichek is a defensive coach still? 2. Developed a QB - very few star qbs are developed by one coach. This idea is a myth. Getting an elite QB is more luck than any coach will admit. Look at the 11 other candidates we interviewed. Take away Shanahan Sr and you have no other NFL HC experience except Swartz. Swartz can hopefully stay and run his D. If not defensive talent is the least of our problems. I think Ryan deserves a chance. His work with the jets was overall pretty good. Also, kudos to the Pegula's for getting out there. 12 interviews!!!!! Contrast to Ralph and his coaching/ GM searches. We should be happy.

I remember the Bergman call, the fumble, the Toomay penalty. It was bad. There are many stories like this from the Miami winless streak of the 70s. Unfortunately we have had worse since then. The Pats* game, "just give it to them", followed by the unconscious guy that was still in play. Then there is "homerun throwback"… nothing could top that.

Agree. I actually do not see the need for a Czar at all. A "consultant" on the other hand would have been useful for newbie owners like the Pegula's. The "consultant" would provide an independent assessment of the football operations directly to Pegula as well as advice on implementation. Pegula can decide what advice, if any, to take and then go from there. The best time to do that was right away. Given that Pegs had is mind made up on Polian, that did not happen. Somehow the original thought of bringing in a "consultant" to advise grew into hiring Bill Polian as the fulltime football operations man. If Polian was looking to advise and step away, then you can see why he backed off when Marrone bailed and the job turned into a coaching search. So to me the consultant/advisor role and "Czar" are not the same thing. The best reason I see to have a position of Football Operations President (i.e.Czar) is to limit the football people reporting to Pegula to just 1.

I think Whaley' s work is still in progress. It is way to soon to judge him, his drafts, or his trades. It does appear to me that he has done more good things, especially with picking up veterans to fill holes. Whaley is ready to be the man and be judged. Right now he has had more grooming than any GM I can recall the Bills have ever had accept for maybe John Butler. Whaley has had more time to from than Polian, who was an unknown at the time of his hiring. It's time for Whaley to find a coach he can work with, keep the valuable pieces together, find a QB, and fill as few holes. Not gonna happen overnight no matter who you bring in.

I prefer we let this go. Williams history is not the greatest either. Lesson learned is to bring in players the new coach wants.

Oh, the good old Sabres strategy. Give the inmates another full year to destroy your assets, then fire them and still have no knowledge on how to replace them.

If the Jets pass on him I can see him sitting out the season and then ending up in a less significant college program.

Where is your validity? Sloppy with facts? Buddy Ryan, LMAO!

Sounds like just about any corporate office in America that is going through change. The eye of the storm always seems to be St.Doug. Why would he say anything to Polian or Pegula about what he heard other than to cause a problem? Good riddance Dougie.

If Whaley is on a "short leash" why would Pegula by asking him to hire the next coach? Your argument makes no sense in this regard. Polian's point was that the GM and coach should be linked together. When Marrone quit Polian assumed he had to be part of a longer rebuild, and not just an advisory role to the current staff. So by Pegula authorizing Whaley to find a coach he is giving him a large vote of support.

My take on all of this: 1. Pegula has seen Whaley in action long enough to form his opinion. 2. Pegula has already talked to Polian, Cohwer, and others and has other insights into Whaley. 3. Pegula is doing the smart thing letting Whaley hire the next coach. Make him accountable. 4. Brandon involvement is necessary given his position in the organization. This is not a problem. 5. Brandon is smart and respected, even if not a pure "football guy". 6. Whaley has been an assistant long enough, he has been running this show for two years. He will hire someone he can work with, unlike the committee that hired Marrone. 7. The circumstances of Marrone quitting and then Polian balking mean the consultant/advisor role may not be filled. Therefore, it's time to move forward. I am ok with Whaley moving out on the coach search. Go Bills!!

You are correct. I should have said dislike, not hate. I just hope we don't lose Schwartz and his defensive staff in all this. Let's hire a coach, retool the offense, and move forward.

As someone who watched the Bills games with TC, I can confirm that he hated Doug, and Hackett, and Orton with all of his might.

I was all for keeping him around. Too many coaching changes have been a big part of the problem with the Bills. Can't say I liked his game management, or his OC, or the state of the OL .... BUT, I felt the team was improving. I was surprised by the opt out clause. I expected Polian to come in and consult/ advise, especially after reading that he likes Marrone. Doug left due to greed, thin skin, uncertainty, greener grass in NYC, and a bad relationship with the GM and possibly others. Polian is not coming because the Bills now need more than consulting and he is not up for it. Don't believe the crap about him listening to Doug trash the team. This could be a great opportunity to improve our coaching staff, or not. Never a dull moment with this team. Someday maybe the excitement will actually be on the playing field. Go Bills! .

What? Nothing on the running game? Running the ball had to be a key component for success. Keep Brady off the field. Right? A few more thoughts in no particular order: With FJ hurting Spiller was a no show. The OL has regressed badly.

Yes, the officiating was very bad today. The calls in particular (Hughes, Watkins, Moore) were horrendous. The worst part is that the officials are NOT why we lost. Buffalo was poorly prepared right from the start and even worse in the second half. The players and coaches have done soul searching to do after that performance.

Woods seems like a character guy so I am not getting these accusations about his "body language". If Woods is really acting like that then he better be careful and spend more time with his own preparation. So far,I am not seeing him get any separation this year. I expect more opportunities for Woods with Watkins on the team. Once upon a time the Bills had a talented WR that that whined and moaned and pointed fingers. His name was Chris Burkett. Kelly got so sick of him he stopped throwing to him and he was eventually released. Burkett was talented guy that got to wallow on the Jets while Kelly and Reed went to Pro Bowls and Super Bowls. The Bills make average teams look good because they themselves are not an average team. Not yet anyway. They have some talent but most of the time they do not make enough plays to win the game. Today was more proof of that. Bad passes, dropped passes, poor blocking, failure to capaitalize on turnovers, and dumb penalties.

I am being fair. Re-read my post and you will see that I said he did not play well. Now you be fair, because the drops started early in the first quarter, they were not because of EJ's poor throws of which there were many. I am merely pointing out that others on this team missed plays too. Many others. Mike Williams dropped two passes last week as well. I am not seeing Woods getting open either. Let's also consider the putrid play of the OL ... EJ got hit 16 times and was running for his life on almost every play. He has 14 games under his belt. He lost on the road, in a dome, to a team with the best defensive player in the league running wild and unchecked. EJ looks as eratic Brett Farve did at this stage and slightly better than Troy Aikman did.

Running, catching, blocking and leading .. yup, FJ is the best player on the team.

I disagree, there is no evidence to support the OP's claim. I counted five dropped passed, four that would have been first downs, all by the WRs. Not to say that EJ played good, he clearly did not. Football is a game of big plays. If he throws another TD, rather than that pick at the end, then everyone is talking him up for hanging in there and stealing one. I think this season will be filled with ups and down as EJ develops (or not).

Short memories. I recall people calling for Ted's head, then he turned the no huddle k gun to Jim Kelly. After that Ted got smarter. Best play caller was Kelly, followed by Jack Kemp. No OC we ever had consistently managed a game as well.

Kiper says we didn't address needs? ? ? Question: What was the worst part of our game? Answer: The passing game. Response: We drafted a WR, the best one on the board. in the draft. I think that addresses a need. OL - We drafted a stud RT in round 2 (potential 1st rounder) and a great prospect for OG in round 5. Then a project OT in round 7. Value: RB - we traded a 4th rounder for a 22 year old veteran RB that already has played in the NFL and looks pretty damm good. Reminder: Next year Freddy and CJ's contracts are up. Value and need: DB - We pick up a corner in round 4. Value and need: LB- we picked up an ILB to back up Spikes in round 3. TE - Well we missed this position. Ok Mel.

I watched the local news in St Louis last night and the drafting of Sam was the top story for the night. The channel I saw had a video of Sam on the phone taking the call from the Rams. They showed him and his friends celebrate, then he and his partner embraced and kissed. No mention of the other draft picks. I supposed they had more on the rest of the Rams draft when they got to the actual sports segment the news. The Rams better be ready for a lot of publicity, at least for awhile.

Grades mean nothing at this time, lets see in how these players it looks in 2017. I think the front did a great job in free agency and in the draft. You can see movements in place too improve the team on al fronts. So far I am impressed with Whaley. Much more action than Donahoe/Williams/Mularky, Levy/Brandon/Jauron, Nix/Gailey. Whaley atttempts to address all areas with proactive moves. The others settled for what they had at times. How the Bills do in 2014-15 will depend on two things: 1. EJ 2. Will the veterans rally for their coach and come up big when needed

There are lots of players on their board with the exact same grade. I seriously doubt teams do very much to differentiate rounds 5, 6 and 7. He traded one pick for two, with a bigger benfit next year. No drama here, nothing wrong with the trade either.