jahnyc

This time the Bills will really lose significant fan support if they hire Haslett or Nolan and fail to hire a real football GM. Enough is enough. This front office is not competent and needs to understand that Bills fans want a GM and coach with proven track records or at least the potential for success.

The one area that is somewhat of an exception has been the secondary. The Bills have developed talent at the CB and safety positions. Greer is an excellent example (even if he is no longer with the team). Byrd has produced as a rookie and Wilson has made a successful conversion to safety, which is highly unusual. Florence and Scott have played well as free agent acquisitions. McKelvin is a big question mark, and Whitner and Youboty have been disappointing. Overall, talent has been developed in the secondary. George Catavolos must be doing something right.

Many mistakes by the FO going into this season, but the biggest was thinking that Bell could handle LT (and then cutting Walker). They should have known that the team would not have success with two rookies playing new positions (Wood and Levitre) and a LT who had never played a down before (Bell).

This makes no sense to me. Does this mean the Bills will not be bringing in a GM? That is what they need, and this person should be the one selecting a new coach, not the current "braintrust."

I think there is talent and some depth in the secondary, but the statistics for pass defense may be a bit misleading since teams have had so much success running the ball against the Bills.

What are the Bills doing? They fire Jauron, but what kind of movement has there been to find a coach and a GM? One interview with Shanny is not enough. The Bills had a head start, and they need to capitalize. Clevelend has hired Holmgren, Washington has hired Allen and Seattle is looking at numerous GM candidates. If the Bills hire Haslett, Martz or Billick, the team will never get better. We need a football GM and then a head coach.

I don't mean to be pessimistic, but I do think that the Bills have a major rebuilding job in front of them to bring the franchise back to a playoff level. Yes, things may be worse than you think. The reality is that the Bills need a strarting QB, two offensive tackles and upgrades at linebacker. Add in the uncertainty of Schobel's return (with Denney a free agent, Ellis a bust and Maybin a potential bust), Owens' return (with Reed a free agent and Hardy a potential bust), and the severity of some of the in season injuries (Butler, Wood, Mitchell and McGee), and the Bills may be facing, at a minimum, the need to replace talent at DE and WR as well, and possibly other positions. Even if the Bills find a talented QB in the draft, it will likely take a couple of years before he is playing at a high level. With the defense, although the pass defense was decent, it is unclear to me whether this is because of their strong play or because the rush defense was so poor. Clearly, the team may need upgrades at DT (in addition to the need at LB and DE). I may be in the minority, but I think that this team, particularly later in the season, played above their talent level. Going into this season, our o-line was a mess, and with the injuries, was worse as the season progressed. The talent at LB was weak, and declined further with the injuries to Mitchell and Ellison. The only area with depth has been the secondary. McKelvin's injury allowed Florence to start, and he played very well. Wilson seemed to play well as a replacement and Byrd was awesome as a rookie. How Whitner fits in for the future, I am not sure. I usually disagree with other posters when they suggest that players should be cut if they have big salaries and may not be full time starters, but with regard to Whitner, it may be okay. I have not been impressed with his play at all this year and it seems that the Bills have a decent replacement in Wilson. One potential positive is that the team must have significant cap space. Much of the higher priced "talent" is no longer with the team (Dockery, Walker and Peters) and we may lose some free agents (Denney and Reed). It will become a question as to whether the team will spend money, assuming there are free agents available. All of this underscores the need for a real football GM to revive the franchise. This will be a big job, and the Bills will need the right person to fix the mess. A band-aid at this point will mean a further decline (if that is possible) and no playoffs for years to come.

Sorry, but Jackson, an undrafted free agent, has outplayed Lynch behind the same o-line. I agree that it is way too early to call Maybin and McKelvin busts, but Maybin has done nothing this year (versus Orakpo who has contributed) and the secondary has looked better with Florence than it did with McKelvin. Regarding the Giants, Smith played well as a rookie and Manningham is only in his second year.

Agreed. When they did draft o-line and d-line, they made two of the worst picks in the last 10 years: Mike Williams and John McCargo.

Thanks for the link. Very helpful. So from the 2005 and 2004 drafts, only Parrish and Evans are still with Bills. In fact, those drafts are so bad that the only other player still in the NFL is Eric King (I think he plays for the Titans).

Maybe, and I don't recall all of our picks going back further, but I would argue that Winfield, Schobel, Kelsay, Denney, Reed, Clements, McGee and Travis Henry were more productive players, at least for some period of time. Of course the drafts featuring Parrish and Flowers as our top picks were total disasters. Of course there is also the Mike Williams pick ...

The biggest mystery to me is whether some of our recent high draft picks have failed to develop because they do not have the ability or because of poor coaching (or a combination of both). I also wonder whether a new head coach, coaching staff and schemes will result in significant improvement in the play of these players. Clearly, Whitner, McCargo, Lynch, Ellis, Poz, Hardy, Maybin, Edwards, McKelvin have underachieved, in part, for some, because of injuries. That would be a lot of misses for high picks, and I must assume that at least part of the problem is coaching or scheme. If not, then we have one of the worst track records for drafting over the last five years, because the Bills are receiving virtually no producion from any of their recent top picks in the draft.

I think the most of the posts are way too optimistc about the prospects for our o-line. Our o-line is a mess and has played terribly this year. Injuries are only part of the reason. Bell is the most penalized OL in the league and did not show that he is a competent LT at this point of his career. Whether he can develop is an open issue. Levitre seemed to play okay, but I was troubled that the offense was unable to run up the middle when Levitre, Hangartner and Wood were in the lineup. I have no idea whether Hangartner has played well or poorly. Hard to tell when the overall line play is so poor. Wood seemed to play well as a rookie, but he will be coming back from a severe injury and may not be ready for training camp (or at all). Butler seemed okay until he was injured. His ability to come back from a serious injury in time for training camp is also questionnable. Scott and Meredith are not starting caliber NFL players. Scott did not make it with the Lions and Meredith was signed off of the Packers practice squad. The Packers have one of the worst o-lines in the NFL, particularly at tackle, and Meredith could not even make the playing roster. Can he develop? Who knows. Chambers is a poor back-up and has played badly this year. The o-line needs major upgrades at the tackle position. If Wood cannot return to play next season, guard will also be a very large hole.

According to Chris Brown, Wood has a broken tibia and fibula. Surgery in Jacksonville tonight.

Wood's injury is devastating. He seemed to be playing well and was a building block for the future. Can he recover and play after this injury? Early, but it seems to be a legitimate question. How bad were Mitchell's and Butler's injuries? Will they be back for training camp and the pre-season next year? This team will have a lot of holes to fill in the offseason, and the injury situation will make it that much more difficult. I have never seen so many injuries at this point in a season. Very depressing.

1. I find it shocking that the Bills are going into Sunday's game with two healthy DTs (in Jacksonville, Florida). Who are they going to move to DT for the game, Denney? I can't believe that will be enough to get through the game. At linebacker, I assume that Scott will be the starter again in place of Ellison. How can you have an effective defense in these circumstances? What is weird is that they activate a cb from the practice squad to fill Ellison's place (I do understand that Youboty and McGee are injured). On offense, it looks like Levitre will be starting at LT. Seems that management has completely given up on this season by not filling roster spots after injuries with available veterans. How can the current team even compete? 2. As others have stated, seems that management has also given up on Edwards. Releasing Hamden makes sense to me. He was never going to be an adequate #2, and he was not likely to develop any further. I like that the Bills went after a young QB with potential, but none of us should get too excited about this move, since it is unlikely that Brohm will be the answer at QB. Jauron must have been protective of Hamden (or maybe Edwards, or both), so with Jauron gone, others made a move that they probably had wanted to make for some time. Starting over at QB will be painful and have many ramifications, unless a decent veteran QB becomes available, particularly since the only way to potentially find a decent LT will be to use our first round pick in the next draft. Unlike JP, I think Edwards will get a shot with another team, but I can't fault the team for moving on. It may not be all his fault, but big play potential with Edwards was limited, and his injury history would be a big concern for the future. 3. I really hope that Fewell is just an interim coach. I also hope that the next coach hires experienced coordinators on both defense and offense. For the last number of years, we have suffered with coordinators who got their first shot at being a coordinator with the Bills (Schonert, Fewell, Van Pelt, Gray, Fairchild, etc.). We may not have liked them when they were here, but some of the older, more experienced coordinators have done well elsewhere (e.g., Gilbride and Henning). I don't think Chan Gailey would be a bad choice for OC, if he were interested. 4. Seems like there a lot of busts and potential busts in our recent high draft picks, with Maybin at the top of the list. 5. With all of the injuries this year, it will be difficult to figure out who will be healthy for training camp (and the season)next year (with a new offense, defense, and new coach, it will be critical to be healthy enough to participate). Will Butler and Mitchell be ready? Two important players and two important positions. 6. I hope that Bobby April is retained. I know that special teams have been a bit off this year, but we have been spoiled with excellent special teams over the recent past seasons, and I hope this continues under his leadership in the future. I also think that the coach for the defensive backs (Catavolos) has done an excellent job. He has helped develop players like McGee, Greer and Corner.

It is a legitimate worry, based on past history. I don't like reading that Fewell is getting an audition and will be interviewed at the end of the season. Maybe the team needs to say this to make sure that the team and coaches do not fold now, but there is no way that Fewell is the right guy for the head coaching job. The team needs a real football GM, a real coach, new player personnel head and better scouts. Not sure I like Brandon leading the efforts on all of these fronts.

What exactly was Butler's injury? Was is it an ACL? I don't remember seeing any reports specifying the injury. The Bills will need two new starting tackles next year.

1. I almost expected C. Johnson to have more yards and touchdowns today. Scott at LB? Spencer Johnson starting at DT? A rotation at DT that includes McCargo? Which leads to the next point... 2. Cap to cash has killed our depth. I agree with the many other posters that at least 1/3 of our roster could be cut/waived/replaced without making much of a difference. 3. What is with Bell and all of the illegal procedure calls? He has not played well, nothwithstanding that some think he potential. Bills need to acquire two new tackles for next season. A team cannot win with Bell/Scott/Meredith/Chambers at tackle. 4. WR will be a problem next year, unless Stevie Johnson is the real deal. I doubt that TO is back in Buffalo, same with Parrish, Reed is a free agent, and Hardy is a complete unknown. 5. Linebacker and defensive tackle are huge needs next year as well. 6. Why is it looking like Maybin, McKelvin, Ellis, Hardy, Lynch, McCargo and Whitner are all busts to some degree? I think that Maybin is the biggest bust of all, potentially. He has done nothing when he has played. This does not represent good drafting for a team that needs to draft well in order to be competitive (because of cash to cap). 7. Byrd has been a revelation. How does Whitner fit into this team? Will he be the best option at strong safety? 8. I like Edwards, but he is not the guy. I guess it will be QB in the first round next year, which is unfortunate for so many reasons, including all of the needs at other positions (i.e., tackle and linebacker).

Sounds about right to me, except for the use of the word "potentially." The real question will be how does the line get fixed this offseason. I have no hopes that it will. I don't know if there are any quality LTs or RTs availabe this offseason, I doubt that the Bills will spend the money necessary to sign one or two quality tackles. That leaves the draft, and if the Bills believe that they need a qb, then we are looking at using a second or third round pick on a tackle that needs to be a quality starter next year. The chances of that, particluarly for a rookie left tackle, are not promising. Losing Peters, for whatever the reason, has been devastating for this team and will continue to be for at least the next couple of years.

Our tackles are terrible. Worst in the NFL. Who knows if Bell really has the talent to eventually develop, but he is a huge liability right now. Our RT tackle position is a revolving door of players with little or no talent since Butler was injured. It was insane for the front office to go into the season with this group of o-lineman, and it is not only the offense that is suffering, but the defense as well. I believe some of the injuries on defense are a direct result of exhausted defenders who are on the field for 2/3 of the game.

I remember when some thought that Pennington and Hicks were going to be great tackles. The play of the o-line has been horrible. We will need significant upgrades at one or both tackles next year to have an effective offense.

This is actually a serious question. If this concussion is as bad as the one last year, assuming he recovers, it may be that one more serious concussion could end his career.

Unbelievable number of injuries. Any word on how serious? Whitner has no luck. Williams, Freddie and McGee were playing really well. Maybe my three favorite players along with Stroud and Poz.

I watched the game at a sports bar without the sound. I thought I heard that Williams hurt a shoulder. I noticed Corner playing at cb. Did he replace an injured player? I saw Wilson playing, did he replace Whitner? Is Whitner injured again or did they pull him out of the game? Looked like Freddie hurt his ankle at the end of the game. Any update? I thought that the defensive players purposefully twisted TE's head and neck on the play he was injured. Should have been a penalty and should be sent to the League office.