jahnyc

Agreed, but can't we please enjoy a victory against a favored AFC East rival?

1. Trent Edwards has not shown the ability to play well in poor weather. Today will be a good test. I really do think that a qb with an above average arm is a necessity in Buffalo. 2. Is the Tampa 2 defense a good poor weather defense? Seems to me that because of the weather in Buffalo, the team would want to have a run stuffing type defense, rather than the Tampa 2. I hope that the next head coach has a different defensive philosophy. 3. Not to state the obvious, but the o-line is in shambles. How could the front office believe that the team could have any success this season with this group? Bell is not the answer at LT, and I doubt the Bills will sign free agents at the tackle position because of cost. That means we will be going into next years draft needing a LT and a RT. Good luck fixing this problem soon. It can take years to find an above average LT. 4. If this were DJ's first season coaching the Bills, he would be getting a pass. The o-line is the worst in the NFL and the team has a poor group of LBs and TEs, plus little or no depth. DJ will be gone at the end of the season, but it is the front office that deserves much of the blame for this season. 5. I am starting to wonder if there are a lot of busts in our group of recent high draft picks, specifically Maybin, McKelvin, Ellis, and Hardy. Combine this with the injury problems of Whitner and Poz, and the play of McCargo (who is a bust), and there are enough reasons to clean house in the college football player evaulation department.

I think the near term issue will be what happens after RW. The Bills currently are profitable, but one of the reasons is that the team has little or no debt to service. If the Bills are sold, any purchaser will need to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars, and paying that debt service will make the Bills unprofitable with their current economics in terms of ticket sales, luxury boxes and other sources of income.

Tim, Is there any sense from your other sources (i.e., the NFL office) that RW may hire a real football GM after the end of the season (and, of course, a new head coach)? Do you think that the NFL office has any dialogue with RW about these things? If there is a team that could use an outside consultant, such as Ron Wolff, this is the team. Thanks for your insights.

The most important thing right now is for RW to start speaking to people outside of the organization about the possibilities for GM (and maybe head coach). Fresh perspectives are needed. What would make the most sense is for RW to hire a consultant, such as Ron Wolff, now, so that decisions can be made quickly at the end of the season.

1. Okay it was a terrible game, but I thought the defense played well. They may have given up too many rushing yards, but they made stops on third down and kept the Bills in the game. Considering all of the injuries on defense before and during the game, it was a good performance. 2. About the injuries, interesting how the two weakest positions overall (o-line and linebacker) have suffered the most in the way of injuries. How the front office went into the season with the current depth at both positions is unfathomable to me, and now we are paying the price. Is this a byproduct of cash to cap (the team can't afford to pay veterans to be back-ups)? 3. Edwards has regressed and cannot be salvaged. Sorry, he does not have it, and his play will get worse (if possible) as the weather gets worse. He does not function well in bad weather. 4. Jauron is paying the price for his choices at OC. Maybe this is not fair, because RW may have not have been willing to pay real money for an experienced OC. In any event, hiring two coordinators on offense with really no prior experience is a recipe for disaster. 5. I thought recently over the last number of years that the team's drafting was average. I was wrong. It really has been pretty bad. Maybin has made no contribution and he seems like a possible bust (I know this is not fair). I have doubts about McKelvin, Hardy and Ellis. Whitner has been okay, but instead of Ngata? Poz has injury issues and Lynch has had off field issues. 6. Finally, the thing that is most frustrating to me is that the experts (and fans) have been generally right about most things (and the front office wrong). The Peters fiasco, Whitner over Ngata, signing TO, cutting Walker, signing Dockery, letting Pat Williams and Winfield go (I know I am going back a little far), hiring Schonert, firing Schonert on the eve of the season, starting an inexperienced group of linemen, and the list goes on and on.

It really is the cumulative effect of 10 years without reaching the playoffs and watching other teams sucessfully rebuild within a relatively short period of time (sometimes more than once) during this period.

1. The obvious: Chambers and Scott should not be playing, and probably would not be playing for any other NFL team. Same with Buggs, Wilson and Ellison. 2. DJ has had years to improve the defense, and he has not. Sorry, but Gregg Williams has turned around a below average NO defense in one year. Even in DJ's area of expertise (the defense), he has not been able to make his mark with the Bills. 3. Why did the Bills draft Maybin? Sorry, I know this is unfair and premature, but I think he will be a bust. Bills should have used their first pick on an OT. To be really unfair, I also think McKelvin is a bust. I was not impressed with his play at corner before his injury. I hope I am wrong about both, because missing twice at this point in the draft will hurt the team for years. For the trifecta, I predict that Hardy will be a bust as well. 4. Why was McGee the only guy making tackles (10 years downfield)? I think I agree with those who believe that some of our injuries on defense at linebacker, safety and cornerback involve offensive players coming at them untouched and at full speed many yards downfield. 5. I think the Bills will draft a qb in the first round next year. 6. Why are our special teams playing poorly? 7. Freddy looks good. He made something out of nothing more than a few times. 8. Add DT to our needs. A run stuffing DT. 9. Injuries suck, but the front office's inability to find any depth at key positions is inexcusable. 10. The Bills should trade TO if they can. The team is going nowhere and TO will become more of a distraction as the season goes on.

Still not sure who is to blame for what happened with Peters, but it was extremely poor judgment by the front office to go into the season with this o-line. Two rookies playing new positions, a center who was a back-up for another team last year, a LT who had never started and had back problems before the season began, and a RT who had not played that position since college. Realizing every team experiences injuries, how could the front office expect the o-line to have success this year?

How can they explain trading Peters and going into the season with the current tackles on the roster (and this o-line in general)? I understand that there have been injuries, but Chambers and Scott are awful. Chambers barely made the Bills, and Scott was cut by the Lions last year. I have no idea if Bell can play, but he had a bad back going into the regular season and the Bills still cut Walker. Of course Walker was not a great player. but he would be an upgrade over any other offensive tackle on the roster (particularly at right tackle). If this was the plan, why didn't they draft a tackle in the draft? Maybin may turn out to be a good pick, but he will do nothing this year, and the Bills needed immediate help from their top picks. I don't think that Edwards will prove to be the answer at QB, but this o-line is a disaster, and that is on the front office. We all saw it coming. They all must go. Too many years with this group. A real GM with experience is needed. Badly.

Great post. Our OTs (Scott and Chambers), LBs (Buggs and Ellison) and Safeties (Byrd and Wendling/Wilson) for this weekend's game could be the worst starters at those positions in the NFL.

This team needed every break and opportunity to have any kind of success this season. I don't mean to sound too pessimistic, but the losses from injuries suffered so far this season are enough to sink the ship when combined with the o-line and coaching.

1. Poz breaking his arm is a big loss. We have no depth at linebacker. How can we go into the season with Palmer and Buggs as back-ups? I hope they can play. 2. Give the defense credit. Time of possession was ridiculously in favor of the Pats. They did their best and they must have been exhausted at the end of the game. I like the way McGee plays. 3. Sorry, Bell was awful, both in terms of critical penalties and his play. I do not blame him, he is not ready and the coaches should not have put him in that kind of a situation. I understand that the team may not have had a choice but to trade Peters at the end, but managment should have picked up an adequate LT for this season. 4. TE played okay, but he still needs to take some shots downfield. 5. The intererior line play exceeded my very low expectations. Hangartner was active and made some nice blocks down field. 6. Special teams were not special. What happened? Moorman was off, no return yards and coverage was poor. I will not mention McKelvin. 7. Freddie looked great. 8. Most importantly, please do not put the Bills on MNF, Sunday Night Football or Thursday Night Football ever again. I can't take it any more.

I thought he looked terrible and he made so many critical penalties. He is not ready and he should not be out there.

I don't think the Bills should cut Whitner, but with this team, anything is possible. Also, I believe that Whitner is scheduled to make close to $4 million, and if economics is part of the analysis as to who gets cut, then this could be more possible than any of us would otherwise think.

I also think it could be Whitner.

We should hire this guy, he would only help (in whatever role, assistant, consultant, OC). He has a lot of experience and has a very good reputation.

The most important thing I forgot to include in the original post is that the front office needs the leadership of a skilled football guy (GM or President) for free agent acquisitions and the draft. The approach over the last ten years or so has been poorly defined and feels very ad hoc from year to year. I think many of us would agree that a team with strong lines, the ability to run the ball (which is critical in poor weather) and a strong-armed quarterback would be a good start.

1. Right now, our o-line may be the worst in the NFL. Losing Peters (even the fat, out of shape and unmotivated Peters) has hurt the team significantly. 2. Turk is in over his head. He was never an OC before becoming the OC in Buffalo, and it shows. The offense is inept, and the inability to game plan against 3-4 defenses is telling. 3. The defense is average, and not good enough to win games on their own. 4. The so-called experts are right more than our front office. Whitner was a reach, it will be hard to replace Peters, and McCargo was not a first round talent. 5. Edwards will not thrive in Buffalo. Maybe it is the o-line or Turk's offense, but his unwillingness to throw down field exacerbates the problems. 6. The no-huddle will not work for the Bills because of the o-line and the play of Edwards. Also good strategy to announce the no huddle offense in preseason so that all of the teams that you play will prepare for it. 7. The Bills needed more than TO and Hangartner as free agent acquisitions. Having said that, I have no confidence in the front office's ability to identify talent, and I am concerned that Hangartner will not be an improvement over Fowler/Preston.

There is a lot of blame to go around, and I think Turk is part of the problem. What do you expect from an OC who had never been an OC before? The Bills do this all the time, and it never works out. Sprinkle in a terrible o-line and a qb who does not throw down the field and you have a disaster on offense.

The Bills searched for a quality LT for years after Will Wolford. Fina was okay at times, and so was Jennings, but Peters was the first real talent at that position in more than ten years. It is really hard to find a quality LT, and they do make a big difference on offense.

I think it is a fair point that trading Peters and releasing Dockery has had a very negative short term impact on the o-line. Wood seems like a player, but why does everyone expect the o-line to gel this season? That would assume that the front office acquired the right players to improve the o-line and the coaches have the ability to get two rookies and two holdovers (Walker and Butler) ready to play at a high level at new positions. Unfortunately, I have no confidence in the front office or the coaches that this will happen.

This is a bit depressing to me. The Bills lost Peters (we can argue, but at a minimum, a solid LT), so you would think that they would try to find a replacement for him at LT. Instead, they move Walker who was ok at RT, back to a position he could not handle when he played for the Raiders. Then the Bills draft Wood (a good move) and then Levitre (another guard, and they moved up to the second round to draft him). But Levitre has never played guard, and there may be issues about his size and ability to play guard. If playing Bell was a possibility, why did we draft Levitre? Picking up a LT in the draft or in free agency would have made a lot more sense. There would have been no need to draft Levitre, Butler could have stayed at guard, and Walker could have stayed at RT. Now we have a mess, and our LT will either be a project who may not be ready, or a veteran who does not want to play at that position and likely should not be playing at that position. Go Big Red!

Tim, Thanks for all of the great info. We very much appreciate it. Any insight into whether Trent Edwards and TO have developed any kind of a rapport (on the field and/or off the field)? Have not heard many comments about Trent from TO. It also seems that Lee Evans has been somewhat tepid in his comments about Trent recently. Any sense of that relationship, or Trent's relationship with the players on offense in general?

Yes, it is preseason, but... 1. It seems that Trent's confidence is not where it needs to be. I don't think TO's presence helps, because it doess not appear that they are building much of a rapport. Add in Lee Evan's tepid support and DJ's comments after the game, and I think there is a real problem brewing. One thing that is obvious is that while Trent can be very efficient, he is not making enough throws down the field. 2. The o-line is not jelling and there are many questions. Is Hangartner an upgrade? Can he handle nose takles in the 3-4? I guess I expect Hangartner to be a bust since our front office has not made one good free agent acquisition in five years (other than maybe Stroud, who the Bills received in a trade). Can Butler be an effective RT? Is Levitre a starting caliber guard at this point? Does he have the size to be an effective guard? Is Kugler a good coach? Has there been a drop off since Mouse retired. Not to be a pessimist, but I don't think the line will be ready for the Pats. 3. It hurts that Maybin signed late. I think it will be difficult for him to have a major role early in the season. Maybe it will not matter or maybe he would not have been ready in any event, but it sure would have helped to have in camp on time. I do not blame the Bills for this. 4. The team has not been developing any real superstars on offense or defense. There still seems to be some potential, but I am puzzled why no one other than Peters has been playing at a pro-bowl caliber level. I would have thought that Poz, Whitner and Evans would be at that level by now. I have a feeling that Whitner is in line to be replaced (by Byrd). Is it the coaching, the scheme or the drafting (i.e., the players)? I do not like the Tampa 2, and the defense is still not even close to playoff caliber. I miss the days of Pat Williams and Ted Washington. 5. The problems with the 3-4 defense are bizaare. Why is the offense still impotent when they face this defense? This makes no sense to me. 6. I guess the front office and the coaches were right about Crowell. I had read that he was in a fight to make the Bucs (before his injury). 7. I am somewhat optimistic about the draft class. Wood, Nelson, Harris, and Lankster have all showed ability.