BenchBledsoe

I'm getting a sickening feeling in my stomach. The kind that would peak as the Bills name Dick head coach. It's the same sickening feeling I had when Greggie was named head coach over Marvin Lewis and John Fox. . . and the same as when MM was named head coach over Charlie Weiss. I still can't get over that one. Anybody with half a brain could see Weiss' offense was better than MM's. A third sickening head coach announcement would be about all I could take. That would about wrap it up for me regarding this team. What about you guys? Many tried to talk up the MM hiring once it was official. It was a joke. I double-dare you to try and talk up Jauron's hiring if/when it happens. You'd get ripped by 90% of this board, me thinks.

MM is currently in the outermost regions of Siberia. . .

Why are we thrilled? Because our own little Mike Tice has just shuffled out of town. OR . . . because we like to win, not lose.

Watching the recent press conferences, I couldn't help but notice the enormous size of RW's ears. I don't remember noticing them in the past. Can anyone post a picture of him from the recent press conferences to see what I'm talking about? He looked like a living cartoon charactature (spelling?)

Yes, a rookie coach. . . but at least he runs a good offense in Denver. . . not the 20-something ranked crap Pittsburgh had the season we hired MM away from them. I despised the MM hiring, and today have new found optimism.

Yes, yes, yes!! Gary Kubiak is the one. By the way, why are so few on this board high on Kubiak? It puzzles me.

Gary Kubiak has all but locked up the Houston job, NFL Network's Adam Schefter has reported. I don't think we could steal him from Houston as that is his hometown. . . but if they were ever to pass on him, we should sign him immediately. Consider: Denver ALWAYS runs the ball, and always runs the ball well. They had the second highest percentage of running plays this year next to Pittsburgh. Even with some stiffs they always run well. I mean, does anyone think Reuben Droughns, Mike Anderson and Olandis Gary were/are anything better than roster players? And when they do actually have a talented back, he puts up tremendous numbers, including average per carry. See Terrell Davis, Clinton Portis and Tatum Bell's avg. per carry. The "zone-blocking" of Kubiak's offense is what we need here. Atlanta now uses it too (their O-line coach Alex Gibbs used to be in Denver for many yrs.) And Atlanta even taking away Vick's numbers, runs the ball very well. And does anyone else think that Plummer would be a horrendous QB on another team with a lesser offensive scheme? I sure do. Look at his Arizona days rating wise, and compare to his Denver seasons. It's like night and day. If anyone could successfully tutor young Mr. Losman, Kubiak could. Bottom line is that Denver's skilled position players aren't that good. But the offense as a whole is very good. The offense scheme Kubiak runs is one of the very best in the league. They take average talent, put it in that scheme, and presto. . . they have a good offense. Let's sign Kubiak up if Houston passes.

I have no idea what to make of this post.

It's just a hypothetical showing that skilled positions are more important than O-linemen.

And this is why I wouldn't complain at all if we took Leinart, or the best WR in the draft. . . by the way, who would that be? I think tonight showed that Evans is a good #2 WR, but should never be confused with a #1.

With all the talk about how desperately we need to upgrade the o-line and we better not take skill position players I'd offer this hypothetical. . . Would our current team be better if we had Indy's entire o-line rather than our o-line and our current skill position players. . . OR would our current team be better with Peyton Manning at QB, Edge at RB, Harrison & Wayne at WR behind our CURRENT O-line? I have a feeling our O-line would look a heck of a lot better with those skilled people. Our team would clearly be better with Indy's skilled guys vs. Indy's O-Line. So, while we all howl for major upgrades on the O-line, let's not forget that our skill positions could stand an upgrade (especially when Moulds leaves) too!

I'm surprised there hasn't been more Wyche talk for head coach. He did take Cincy to the Superbowl, and always had Cincy competitive. It was after he left that the Bengals hit their decade long swoon. Sam worked wonders with Esiason and Montana, and both were only third round picks. He may be the best guy to develop JP. Besides, who out there has head coaching experience and a Superbowl on their resume that would come here?. . . Sam's already here, so he might as well move from his smaller office to the Head Coach's larger office in January. Hey, that'd save Ralph some money too. Seriously though, we could do a lot worse than Sam, (and have with our last two HC disasters).

That's IF JP plays. Now he's questionable. One thing we forgot in our analysis during this thread is that JP appears somewhat injury-prone.

I agree with the point about MM. Where there's smoke there's fire. He's now had multiple run ins with veteran players. Above and beyond the lack of coaching that we've seen on the field, he stinks in handling people, it appears. That is a sure fire way to lose a team for good. Remember Bill Callahan's last season with the Raiders? I see this happening here. How many times is going to call out Willis, Eric, Sam Adams and make them the weekly scapegoats? It appears MM doesn't have a thick enough skin for this job, and won't take much blame for this disaster.

Very true. His short and medium pass accuracy has really been awful. The bombs we've seen were thrown well, but if that is taken away by the style of a particular defense on a given day, we haven't seen any evidence that he could pick apart those defenses with the underneath stuff. In fact, thus far, we've seen he can't. At least not yet.

Okay folks, there's no question that the O-Line MUST be upgraded. But, behind the SAME O-Line (an upgraded one, we assume), would you rather have Leinart or JP? Here's my votes: 1) Behind this current O-line I'd take JP, because it won't make any difference anyway, and the line must be addressed. 2) Behind an average O-line It's almost a toss up: JPs mobility vs. Leinart being (allegedly) more polished and accurate 3) Behind a good O-Line (hopefully someday). . . I've got to take Leinart in that case. I'm thinking of Carson Palmer with Willie Anderson and Levi Jones at the bookends. So, assuming we eventually address the line and make it a good one, I'd prefer Leinart. However, taking Leinart would certainly slow down the process of making the line better. It is a catch-22 somewhat. But, the last time we took an O-lineman with the 4th pick . . . ummm, nevermind.

Van's premise was, however, no matter how acclimated JP gets, his accuracy won't really improve. Accuracy here being equated to something like speed: You either naturally have it or you don't, and you can't coach it.

Yes, the UCLA game was windy, and Leinart was very average that day. That is certainly a valid point. Keith Jackson was really pushing that point that day. Also, we all know that LA wind in Nov/Dec. isn't quite the same as Buffalo's.

I don't know if those two "over the top" throws say that JP has the necessary accuracy to start in this league. Van was talking more about the many balls "that JP has bounced in front of his receivers" and fitting the ball into tight spots. Van acknowledged that the weather was cold in the NE game, but went on to add that Brady wasn't affected by it on the same field.

Van Miller was on Denver's Rocky Mountain ESPN radio this morning. Van is a very nice guy, and chooses words carefully, but. . . He clearly made two main points: 1) The GMing and coaching have been less than anyone could have expected, anticipated. The fans of Buffalo deserve better. (Van didn't exactly say it, but the Denver radio hosts inferred from his comments: This team is horrible everywhere, and is so far away that we appear to be in an Arizona/Detroit type of situation for a long time.) 2) MOST IMPORTANTLY: Van said that JP's good throws have been "rare". He used the word "rare". His take was that JP DOES NOT have the accuracy to be a starting NFL QB. Good reads and decision making could come with time, but accuracy is more of a God-given thing, and according to Van, JP just simply doesn't possess the natural ability. The 2nd point really should concern all of us. The Denver hosts (after Van hung up) said that in the era of salary cap football, the Bills cannot go into next year with JP as their starting QB. I found that comment to be going a bit overboard. However, if the Bills have a shot at Leinart, these hosts think they should take it.

Yes, I agree. If you are going to hire a coordinator, at least get a good one. How MM got the job over Weiss and Crennell still blows my mind.

As a matter of fact, I didn't bother watching the Bills game yesterday, but I did see the score. . . getting closer and closer and closer. This board is amazing. You clowns deserve a team like this and a coach like this. Educated fans? Please.

Weiss not interested in the job? The guy almost lost his life getting his stomach stapled because he thought his appearance was the reason he'd never get an NFL head job offer. He'd have jumped at the chance.

The point is that TD hired a average/terrible coach (twice now) when he could have had some much better ones. . . I'm not understanding the board's response to what is an obvious fact.

I guess you guys are satisfied with the job MM is doing. Okay. . . fair enough.