Cotton Fitzsimmons

reed83, my good friend, in honor of your suggestion, YE OLE humbly submits this parody of the Gilligan's Island theme song. Enjoy! Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, A tale of a woeful team It started around 2001 That this team was not THE WHIP. The GM was a guy named Donahoe, Gregg Williams brave and sure. Our fanbase set sail that day For a three year rebuild, a three year rebuild. Free agency started getting rough, Many draft picks were tossed, If we didn't make a trade for Drew The offense would be lost, the offense would be lost. The team embarked upon an unprecedented drought With Russ Brandon Marv Levy too, The billionaire and his wife, The Chanimal Buddy Nix and Dick Jauron, Here on the Buffalo Bills. So here's the tale of castways, They're here for a long, long time, They'll have to make the best of things, It's an uphill climb. Doug Whaley and Marrone's crew, Will do their very best, To make this team competitive, In the AFC East. No Byrd, no guards, no cornerbacks, Not a single luxury, Like a Dave Wannstedt gameplan, As primative as can be. So join us here each week my freinds, You're sure to get a smile, From this band of castways, Here on the Buffalo Bills.

This is a bad scene, gents. Lets all hope that SUPER MARIO holds it together. If all of this was going on off the field, it's easy to see how he didn't live up to expectations on the field.

ny, my good fellow, it is YE OLE's belief that the aforementioned Marv Levy analogy isn't a good parallel. Levy, while a coach for many years, had no real experience as a GM. It may not be that the game passed him by, it may simply be that he never would have been a successful GM. It's not a real apples to apples comparison. Now... before YE OLE proceeds, we must roll out a couple of disclaimers: 1. YE OLE does not endorse the return of BUFFALO BILL POLIAN at this juncture 2. YE OLE has a great deal of respect and adoration for Marv and the contributions he made to our beloved "FRANCHISE OF CHOICE" Now that that's out of the way, we must look at the overall resumes of Polian and Levy. If you take all of Levy's NFL head coaching experience outside of the remarkable run of the 4 straight Superbowl years, his overall record is 94-97. Granted, you could make the argument that YE OLE is selectively cherry picking stats to make a point. That's true, but one must also consider the possibility that Levy had an enormous amount of talent to work with in that period of time, and those 4 seasons put his bust in Canton. On the flip side of that, Polian as a GM has had undeniable success at every stop, with different casts of characters. Polian was a GM for just over 25 years in the NFL. 17 of those seasons Bill Polian led teams finished with 10+ wins. 13 of those seasons Polian's teams finished with 12+ wins. Granted... Jim Kelly and Peyton Manning were a big part of this, but Polian's unbelievable knack for consistently constructing contenders year in and year out is unbelievable. One terrible season in 2011 doesn't indicate that the game has passed him by. The overwhelming evidence is that Polian would be very successful if he came back. That said, he's 70 years old, and obviously at this point doesn't seem like a good fit here for a multitude of reasons.

Webster Guy, my good man, great point. They measured this on Sports Science and Manuel's release time was .333 seconds. Ironically they also put an "eye tracking" device on him to measure how quickly he locks on to a target. That took him .25 seconds. Ironic given the "slow eyes" commentary. Obviously, EJ's accuracy was also THE WHIP, gents! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOLEMyMkDdU

Graybeard, my good man, BRAVO! Good show! AI's practice rant is right up there with "Got dat WOOOOD" on YE OLE's Greatest Hits list:

Belichik cared about us when THE CHANIMAL milked the clock and set up Lindell's chip shot for the win. Old Billy was livid that day as those seconds ticked down. Watching Belichik have a meltdown knowing that THE CHANIMAL just got one over on him brought great joy to YE OLE's heart that day. Those were the days, gents... short lived as they were.

Major, my good man, YE OLE does not ever see that scenario playing out. In the 33 years since the comment you reference stadiums have gotten bigger and more expensive. The game day experience will continue to evolve, but the trend in stadium size and overall importance seems to be going in the other direction.

The true moral of this story, gents... you must go after the guys you are really jacked about. If one is really jacked about a 5th rd. running back, no price is too high. "I think [stacy] was one of probably the last guys on our board that we were really, really jacked about," Snead would explain to reporters after the draft. "The rest was just going to be people we liked, but not jacked about, so at that point in time we said, 'Hey, let's go get him.' "

With regard to the decision making at times... YE OLE agrees. There were a lot of head scratchers along the way, especially with regard to game management and everything on the defensive side of the ball. That said, it's unwise to completely write off what Gailey did for this offense. The Chanimal absolutely had a penchant to call some weird stuff at the wrong times, but he also made our offense watchable for the first time in many years. Gailey truly got more out of the offense than I think most would have. With regard to the QB situation... YE OLE is more confident by the day that EJ has the makings to be a special player. That said, Kolb is not, and EJ is a rookie. Maybe EJ steps in from day one and does great things. More likely, he takes a while to develop and frankly Kevin Kolb has done nothing in the league to make anyone believe he is better than Fitzpatrick. Kolb has thrown 28 TD's in his entire 6 years in the league. Fitz has been throwing 24 TD's a year as a Bill. Barring Manuel stepping in from day 1 and playing lights out, there's a good chance we'll have a drop off at the QB position in the short term. On the defensive side of the ball, however, last year's unit broke historical records for futility. There should be a significant bump on that side of the ball, no matter what.

Your 2013 Buffalo Bills: "THE FRANCHISE OF CHOICE"

This is how YE OLE felt after seeing HONEY BADGER's interview last night. YE OLE was disappointed when the Cards took him, thinking there might be an outside shot we'd take a chance on him, as opposed to Buddy pulling another TJ Graham on us in the 3rd. But then, after seeing his interview with Trey Wingo after the selection, YE was glad we steered clear.

The way YE OLE sees it, it all depends on EJ. If he steps in and is a stud, everyone is going to talk about how much talent we've acquired. If EJ turns out like every other character under center this last decade, everyone will talk about how badly Mario, Kyle, Dareus, CJ, Stevie, etc. are underperforming and how many holes Nix has left unfilled on this roster. It seems the QB position has become that important in today's game. Nix himself admitted as much during his prank call with TB's GM.

Jboys, my good friend, everytime the Bills run this package, YE OLE will get up an announce "WOOOOAH NELLIE! Here comes THE CAT!"

When you look at Kevin Kolb, you're looking at the QB of the Buffalo Bills.

Green Lightning, my good friend, get Russ on the line! YE OLE thinks you have just crafted the new 2013 motto. 2013 Buffalo Bills: The Franchise of Choice

YE OLE would take issue with putting the Big E on this list. After he left the Braves his scoring tailed off, but his 2 seasons with Buffalo he averaged right around 18 points a game, along with all those boards.

Click Clack!

This conversation begins and ends with: Sean Salisbury

KOK, my good friend, the way YE OLE sees it "bottoming out" wouldn't necessarily help this team. The Lions as you point out, at least, got some pieces to work with. However, that franchise QB, they got in Stafford threw fewer TD's and more INT's than Fitzcannon last year. After one 10-6 season that ended in them getting pounded by the Saints in a wildcard game, they went right back to 4-12. Some franchises, just can't seem to consistently put a winning product on the field to save their life, regardless of having top draft choices year in and year out. Sadly, our beloved organization is in that group... and whether we see a 2-14 or a 7-9 type season next year, YE OLE doesn't see much hope in that changing.

The WR currently on the roster: Stevie Johnson, TJ Graham, Chris Hogan, Kevin Elliot, and Marcus Easley. Aside from Stevie the entire remaining roster of WR's have a combined 41 catches in their illustrious NFL careers. In fairness, that doesn't include Brad Smith. YE OLE has to believe a guy like Gibson could've played some role in slots 2-5 behind Stevie.

Wooderson, my good fellow, Manny Lawson is THE WHIP. That is all we need know!

Captain, my good friend, bravo! Jolly good show!

YE OLE would like to present #69 in your program/#1 in our hearts: Marcus Spriggs

Replace "B-Lo" with "work" and "coaches" with "clients" and this is exactly what YE OLE told the Mrs. when he left the house this morning!