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Don Banks at si.com has an article regarding the 2015 coaching carousel and suggests that some think Whaley is vulnerable because of overdrafting Manuel and the cost of moving up for Watkins with Beckham available. Interesting that Whaley is being blamed for EJ, I still have no idea whether that is fair or not.

Chan did a lot with very little. He makes Hackett look very bad.

What if the front office wants Hackett gone and Marrone will not agree to it? Seems like they are joined at the hip. What happens then? Do we have another Wade situation? Did the Bills protect against that in Marrone's contract after what happened with Wade?

Article in the NY Daily News today about the Jets hiring Casserly suggests that Polian and Accorsi were unavailable as consultants (Polian because of his ESPN contract and Accorsi because he serves on the NFL Advisory Committee). I think Wolf is also on the Advisory Committee. Not sure where that leaves the Bills if they want to hire a consultant.

Wolf, Accorsi or Parcells, please. We need a consultant.

!5 years of not making the playoffs is just too long. I want to be patient, but I am not sure what Marrone brings to the table. The defense is run by Schwartz, and the things that Marrone seems to have input on (the offense generally, including game planning and the o-line) have been terrible. Does he do other things well, such as leadership and other head coaching related skills? I have no idea. While I am very frustrated about the team's performance over the last number of years, I am extremely happy that ownership has been passed to the Pegulas. I cannot imagine how we would all be feeling if we had a frustrating team coupled with a new owner who planned to move the team at the end of the current lease. I am at least thankful that we have a chance to be successful in the future in Buffalo, and that we are not fans of the Chargers, the Rams or the Raiders. One last holiday wish. Please hire a consultant (Ron Wolf) to figure what is gonig on with the Bills and what needs to be done to fix things.

The QB thing is the big impediment to this team improving and having a realistic shot at competing for the playoffs and having success in the playoffs.

We need a new offensive coordinator and new coaches for the offense. I would be okay if we replaced Marrone, but what we need more than anything else is a quality starting QB. Same thing that we have been searching for since Jim Kelly retired.

The guard play this year was terrible, but I am not sure if Henderson or Wood was much better. Better o-line play would have helped with the running game, but neither Orton nor EJ are the answer at QB, and the offense will continue to have problems until we find a quality QB.

Bad

He really showed today that he is an excellent defensive coordinator. He out coached the Packers.

I still think the most important move for Pegula is to hire a consultant to assess the team, the coaches and the front office. A fresh look at the overall organization is needed, and now is the time to do it. It would have been helpful if this had started immediately after Pegula bought the Bills, so that the consultant would be in a position to recommend changes at season end, particularly since the competition for certain potential head coaching and GM candidates will be tough. Assuming that Pegula has not secretly hired a consultant who will have completed his review by the end of the season, you would have to think that coaching and GM changes are unlikely be made this year. I do not believe that Pegula would make these kind of moves without the assistance of a consultant/expert, and if he gets one after the season, it may be too late to hire the top coaching/GM candidates with certain teams ready to start their head coach/GM searches now.

The o-line needs an overhaul, and I hope that the front office does not try to convince us that CK and Richardson will improve the o-line next year. We need to sign at least one guard in free agency (a quality starter, not a Williams type) and possibly a right tackle as well.

Need to move on. Whether or not he could be a decent starter if healthy, he was not healthy this year, and the Bills cannot count on him being healthy next year.

Don't we also have some carryover capy money from the prior year or is that included? Also, since we do not have a first round draft pick, we should be spending less for signing our draft picks (a relatively small savings).

For some reason, I thought that we would not be on the hook for any of Williams' salary going forward if he was not on the team after this year. Buffalo News notes that if Williams is not picked up via waivers by another team, the Bills will have more than $5 million in dead cap money from Williams in 2015. That is ridiculous.

The Ebron thing scares me. How could he have been the pick if Watkins was gone? The one thing that is certainly true is that last year's group of WRs in the draft was outstanding. I have never seen a first year group of wide receivers perform so well so early. I remember many thought Moulds was a bust because it took a few years before he began to dominate.

Have to agree with Sully on this one, at least at this point. Of course we will need to see how Watkins develops (Kouandjio as well), but it does seem like some bad decision making and assessments were made, including the drafting of Kouandjio with our second round pick.

I may be in the minority on this, but during his time with the Bills, I thought Chan Gailey was very good at planning and structuring the offense, particularly considering the lack of offensive talent on the team at that time. I would welcome him back with Cowher.

I think many of us would agree that it may not be objectively "fair" to fire Whaley and Marrone after only two years, but there are many factors impacting this situation that are not typical. New ownership likely has the desire to take a fresh look at the organization and make whatever changes are needed. It is their team and they paid a lot of money for it. If the Pegulas bring in a respected football consultant and the consultant makes recommendations that include hiring a new GM and a new head coach, I am okay with that. Let an expert do the evaluation and make that determination.

I would not promote Schwartz to head coach. If the new head coach and GM think he is a quality defensive coordinator and they wish to keep him, so be it. Same with the other coaches on defense.

Some thoughts below: 1. Our offense play calling was poor against the Dolphins, but what I found more troubliing was that the offense seemed unprepared for a scenario where they had to throw the ball because they were behind. The formations used were ineffective in protecting Orton, and they seemed to continue to run the same routes from early in the game that could only result in short gains. 2. The o-line play is poor, and many predicted that this would be a signficant weakness this year because of the failure to address it in any meaningful way during the offseason. Signing Chris Williams was a bad move, and we knew it would not work out. Why the Bills thought otherwise is a mystery to me. I appreciate that they used some draft picks to try to improve the o-line, but if they thought any of them would be ready to contribute, then the scouting for these players was poor. They got lucky with Henderson, but I am not sure he is playing particulary well now. 3. I like Watkins, but I am not yet convinced he is so much better of a prospect than some of the other wide receivers taken later in the draft to justify trading away next year's first round pick. There was a graphic during last night's game showing the performance of four other first round wide receivers, and they all were playing at a high level as well. Other wide receivers taken after the first round last draft are also performing well. By the way, I have understood that the Bills were going to take Ebron if Watkins was unavailable. Not sure he is having such a good rookie year. 4. Still strongly believe that we need a consultant to review the coaching staff, GM, scouts and other footbal personnel. Hope this happens beginning at season end. 5. I would be okay with starting over with a new head coach and GM at this point. This is one of the few times over recent years where I have felt that the problem was coaching and not talent. 6. Tough to judge Whaley, because,I do not know what he is responsible for from prior years. Was he responsible for Manuel? What about Hughes? Whaley's performance this year has been inconsistent. The trade for Watkins and signing of Williams are negatives. Signing Graham and drafting Preston Brown were great moves. Not addressing the o-line, or at least not addressing it well, is a big negative. 7. I really enjoy watching the defensive line play. It will be great to have Alonso back next year. 8. I still have not figured out what expertise Marrone has. If he has been helping with the o-line, it is not working. If he is helping with the play calling, he is overmatched as well. What does he bring to the table? 9. If we interview and hire a new head coach and GM, I think it will be a bit easier this time to find strong candidates. While I understand we seem to do this every couple of years, which is a negative to any prospective candidates, we have new owners and it is not unreasonable for them to select their own "people" to manage and coach the team. Plus, candidates will know that ownership is new, stable and committed, with no possibility of relocation. Add to the mix a team with at least some talent, and I think there will be potentially more interest in these positions. Maybe the lack of a first round pick or a quality QB will hurt, but hopefully the other factors will out weigh these considerations.

We have a bunch of tough games left (Denver, Green Bay and New England) and we need to beat Miami on Thursday night to stay in the playoff picture, but no matter how things play out for the remainder of the season, I am thankful that the Bills will be staying in Buffalo. The offense has played poorly overall so far this season, but we still have a winning record, and that has made the season more enjoyable than many recent seasons, particularly without the black cloud of an ownership change and possible relocation of the team hanging over our heads. Clearly, it is always frustrating to lose the way that we seem to lose all too often and I do think we need to hire a new head coach and possibly a new GM, but at least I have some hope that things will improve over the long term.

The offensive play calling is awful. I agree that the Bills are winning in spite of poor coaching and play calling on offense. I really have had enough with the runs up the middle for little or no gain. The Jets are strong against the run and poor against the pass, and we ran up the middle time after time with little success. What is so hard about mixing things up with play action? With regard to the defense, it is good to see that half-time adjustments were made. Schwartz is doing a solid job with the defense.

Richardson and Henderson should not be starters at this point. No idea what to do at guard other than insert Urbik, but at tackle, move Pears or Hairston to RT.