Casey D

You have an absolute right to be a pessimist and miserable about things and decisions over which you have absolutely no input or control. But most folks who are in the position where they have absolutely no input or control try to see the good parts of something, and hope for the best. No one is guaranteeing everything is going to work out fine, but this time at least we have a real name coach in his prime who has had some success in the past, not a total unknown or an over the hill guy. There is little sense in debating how this will all turn out, we will have to wait and see won't we. At least your expectations are very low, so you won't be disappointed if things go poorly and you can tell everyone you knew this was a mistake. And if it turns out well, then you will be pleasantly surprised, which is always nice, like when you get that Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.

Fair enough, I guess I just don't appreciate enough what the point is. Perhaps the playoff teams also should not be based on winning percentage, but style points as determined by a panel of judges...

Sure. The one sure thing at TBD is that players and coaches come and go for the Bills, and someone is unhappy if there are changes and some are unhappy if there are not changes. I like continuity too, but that went out the door with the Pegulas coming in and Marrone checking out. I liked JS, but I think it is hard to believe that his coaching skill had more to do with the success of the defense than the talent. Pettine's defense was good too. So as to defense, I think continuity is overated, and we need the best head coach we could get. On that scale, RR is viewed generally as being a much better head coach than JS. Maybe that's unfair, but it is reality. If we had made JS head coach, some people would have been happy, but lots more would have said we hired a failed retread. It's the way of TBD. Do you really believe this convoluted BS about losing his vision. Pure sophistry.

OK-- but then your implication is that when adjusting for these other factors, JS's record in Detroit was somehow better than RR's in NY, because the OP likes JS but not RR based on RR's performance in NY. If that is your suggestion, I don't agree. I don't think JS's record as a head coach is good even accounting for circumstances as you suggest. And Ryan went to two AFC championship games, and Schwartz had one one and done playoff exeperience. I agree record is not the only thing--but it is the main thing in pro sports--but that seems like a pimple on a dog's as@, not a very meaningful data point in comparing RR and JS.

I don't really understand your point then. If all you are saying is that a team's record is not the only reflection on how well a coach is doing, I think that is obviously true. If you are saying that JS's record in Detroit was not his fault completely, OK, so what. He was there five years and never did much-- the OP's point was that he'd rather have Schwartz than RR because RR did not do much in NY. That makes no sense.

Then how do you measure coaches-- by height? If Schwartz was so good, why not any HC interviews after a great year as DC. I guess there are no facts anymore, just spin. Add to that Ryan got Sanchez as his QB instead of Favre in his first year, and Schwartz went from Orlovsky to Stafford and still went 2-14.

Your logic does not make walking around sense. You don't like RR because he was not that good at NYJ as he was 46-48. But you'd like Schwartz whose record in Detroit was 29-52, a .358 winning percentage. Double standard? I mean it's OK not to like the RR hire, but your thinking is baffling.

That's funny. Jay Cutler is not a great QB, and is a horrible leader. To suggest he is anything close to any of the final four QBs is laughable-- no offense intended.

Spot on!

Doug Marrone's family has found the board...

My take is that they may be leaning towards Schwartz or Reich, but they want to canvass lots of people to make sure there is not something out there substantially better-- kissing the toads and all that. It seems to me they are seeing so many people that they are not truly interested in all-- how could you be-- but if you stay in-house (Schwartz) or go with an old hand (Reich)-- you want to make sure you did not miss anything. And of course if they meet the candidate of their dreams, they can go that route. But I think they are just "sowing their wild oats" until they settle into a long-term committed relationship with the two most likely candidates ( I don't think for a moment Shanahan is coming here, nor do I want him to). Just my opinion.

I agree with you and Bucky that Reich seems like the right guy at the right time. I am hopeful he could be our John Harbaugh.

Exactly. Good coaches like good QBs are hard to find and can come from most anywhere. Few of the very good head coaches were great when they were hired... you take a chance and hope for the best. Reich is the kind of human being that inspires confidence.

I guess it is how far you want to go back. From 2006-2013 his record was 48-64 with only one 10 win season-- the rest single digits. You are correct, he did fairly well from 2000-2005, but that is ten years ago since he had any real success. And I live in DC and he was an absolute disaster here-- a joke.

I generally agree. To equate the Watkins trade with somehow having something to do with lacking a quality QB is just specious. You can criticize the trade as giving up too much and you can complain that the Bills have had not had a quality QB in 20 years, but those are largely mutually exclusive and to conflate them is irrational.

Totally, he was a disaster and to blame everything on Snyder is just wrong. From a 2nd for an over the hill McNabb to ruining RG III, I don't get this idea. He was also mediocre for several years in Denver before being canned, he has been nothing since the century changed. No wonder Sully thinks this is a great idea. This will put the Bills back a decade.

Detroit DC

Amazing. It must be because Detroit hosted our home game. Why not just award the game to the Cowboys.

How about Sid Luckman-- great offensive mind.

Really good stuff and post. Thanks, this was quite enlightening... CD

So what do we have putting all the pieces together? Pegula inherits a bit of a mess when he buys the team in October. The coach and GM don't get along, and Brandon seems caught in the middle. I'm a nice guy, and don't believe that this much tension is good in any organization. We need to all be pulling on the same oar--what do I do. My first instinct is to find a reliable person with experience to figure this mess out for me. I'll get Polian--like I got Lafontaine. That's the ticket. But then I begin to understand that Polian was a divisive figure himself when at the Bills. And he really does not want to work that hard at this point. But stil, he is a legend and I really like legends. Then Marrone makes a power play, and that pis@es me off. Eff him. And I begin to understand further that maybe Marrone is a big factor is all the strife in the organization. Polian starts to get cold feet because somehow he likes Marrone. We mutually agree for our own reasons that this isn't working out. Lafontaine did not work out-- hmm, maybe I should not do the same thing Through all this, I come to the conclusion that I like Doug Whaley. He is solid and dependable, maybe I should trust him like that Murray guy who is doing a nice job as GM with the Sabres. I like Russ too, he's been with me for a while now. But I can't let these two go off on their own because I will be toast in the media and they were a part of the dysfunction, if not necessarily the cause. Let's work hand in hand to find a new coach together. In the foxhole together and all that. We will either bond or not. But at the end of the day if we don't bond, at least I will know I have a coach I can work with moving forward. And given I don't have a czar and the exigencies require me to find a coach ASAP, I have no better alternative than to do this myself with the help of the guys I trust the most. Kim, Russ Doug let's gas up the plane and find us a coach. Someone who will help calm the waters and get us a Super Bowl. Let's move.

Nix was GM in early 2013 when Marrone was picked. Whaley was still the AGM.

The idea was to make Polian-- or someone-- be the same thing on the football side as Brandon NOW is to the business side. Notwithstanding whether you agree with such a structure, that is what they have in mind. Pretty simple.

This is exactly right.

I agree, but it really does not make sense for him to feel that way. He was brought on by a coach who is now gone, and paid by owners who did not own the team when he was hired. He did extremely well last year as DC, but his 5 year record as a head coach is decidedly mixed. He deserves consideration for the job for sure, but I don't want a knee jerk give him the HC job just to keep the D on track approach. His performance last year is a factor, but short sighted to hire soley on that basis, in my opinion, if you think a better long term guy is out there.