Casey D

Leading candidates for the HC job seem to be Sherman, Haslett and Payton. Gee that sounds so much better than the relative unknowns of Williams and Mularkey back in the day. Marv does not seem to mind finding a real coach, not one that simply knows his place...CD

Of course it makes sense. TD has been running this show for 5 years. Many of these folks in "turmoil" were hired by him--he is the only "father" they know. This chaos could have been avoided by maintaining the status quo. That would be nice for the employees--and there were good things about TD--but the product on the field sucked. If you are going to try and get a better product on the field, you have to break a few eggs, to mix a metaphor. Chaos will pass. Levy is a good man. New stability will emerge at OBD. And maybe this time, in due time, we will also get a decent football team with some heart and character--something that we have not had in oh so long... CD

Closely, but not in close proximity?

It seems pretty clear that Ralph really turned everything over to TD. RW was more or less just a spectator--he wanted to retire. It went terribly wrong, and RW now thinks he can't--or won't--be totally uninvolved. So he wants to talk to people, maybe interview coordinator candidates, not to micromanage but to have an opinion, and to stop something that seems ridiculous from happening, e.g, hiring Kevin Gilbride. Being more involved does not mean heavily involved. It means more than nothing--that's all. I would not worry about this at all, in fact it's a good thing. TD had absolute power, now we have some checks and balances. If all opinions are considered, and then Marv makes decisions, I think this will work far better than the prior dictatorship of TD... just my opinion...Cd

Set aside who Levy is and his age and think about this: Imagine the Bills just went out and hired a 50 year old who had worked intimately with the Bill Belichick of GMs--Bill Polian. He also worked intimately with John Butler and A.J. Smith, and was intimately involved with building SB teams. We would all be fawning over a guy with such a pedigree, just like we drool at the thought of a head coach from the Parcells/Belichick tree, like Nick Saban and Charlie Weis. Coming from the Polian tree is the next best thing to Polian himself. Add that to Marv's commitment to character players. When you look at teams like NE, and I daresay the new Sabres, you see a selfless collection of players that play as a team. They weather injuries and other storms in amazing fashion--why, not because of talent or merely coaching, but character. A lack of character shows in folding when the pressure is on, finding a way to lose. I would submit that while the Bills need more talent--along the lines in particular--what they need even more is character and heart. Levy has those traits in abundance. If he can infuse that throughout the organization, I am confident we will have success. I see hiring Levy not as a blast of nostaglia, but finding the right man for the right job at the right time...CD

Indeed...

As emotionally gratifying as it might be to can MM now, it makes little sense. If everyone with intimate knowledge of the team is canned, i.e., Donahoe and MM, then the whole new management team comes in knowing just about nothing about the team's strengths and weaknesses. People like Levy, and others he will bring with him, need Mularkey to get them up to speed, to identify strengths and weaknesses. The learning curve for the new GM and others will be vastly shorter with MM there, than without him. To be sure, if by the end of next season MM is viewed as fatally flawed, he will go. But at least by then the new team will have had a year to learn, and reach their own judgments. And, it may turn out that the real MM is more the 2004 version than 2005, who knows. You should see how ga-ga the media is here in Washington over Gregg Williams. The team can't be changed on a dime. Keeping MM for now, while not satifying to us frustrated fans, will long term make rehabilitation come faster... CD

How do you know who was handling what..what direction was MM getting from TD. Perhaps none, perhaps TD was ordering MM what to do. How do you know? Quotes from the players have more or less been quite supportive of MM. It could be PR, but most of it seemed genuine, and not required. So we will see.

Given how Sullivan gushed all over the hiring of Donahoe five years ago, we can only hope his views now are as astute as they were then...CD

Yes, at the Bills website...CD

That's an interesting observation. I think there might be genuine concerns that JP may be permanently scarred as a potential QB playing behind that line. Once bad habits set in because of the pressure, they are hard to unlearn. It is tough enough for a young QB to get up to the speed of the NFL game, but it is absurdly hard when you OL can't get to one Mississippi before you are covered in opposing players. Just a thought...CD

I find some of the posts inconsistent on the JP subject. The consensus is that TD is a bad GM. He's done some good things, but way more bad than good and the record seems to support that. JP is TD's brainchild. If TD is a dud in most peoples' opinion, why is his judgment in selecting JP considered so solid--i.e., just let JP play and he will lead us to the SB one day. I personally thought JP was showing improvement during his second tour of duty, so I'd like to see him play. But it is ironic that some of the same people who adamantly are calling for TD's head, are equally incensed that his chosen one--JP--is not getting to play enough... CD

You can tag him for $5-6M. If we could get any kind of a pass rush, he'll bounce back. That's not that much for a top 10 CB, which he still is, IMO...Cd

I have not looked at the complete stats, but Losman got about the same amount of experience this year as Manning did last year. If Losman is improving--and I think he is-- and he is any good at all, he will be in same position as Manning.

They were 9-7 last year. This year has been horrible. But the team seems to have a reasonable level of talent--the Bengals game seems to indicate at least that much. The team clearly needs help on both lines. They especially must finally focus time effort and money on putting together at least a B quality line. But they have some cap room and all their draft choices plus the Henry pick and maybe some comp picks in which to do this. On the O-line, say you start with Peters, Preston and Gandy(at guard). They need to find at least two quality lineman(3 would be great but I'm at least trying to be somewhat realistic), a tackle and a guard. On defense, they need interior lineman--get some. Spikes will be back, hopefully fine by all forecasts. Crowell takes over for Posey. They tag Clements, they tweak the rest of the D, say replace Vincent. You do that, plus get Everett in as TE, why can't this team get a lot better faster. I know they have to make some good personnel decisions, and I know that mistakes might be made in that regard in the past, but maybe this isn't so hopeless after all. I mean, look at how teams like the Giants turned it around quickly.

The individual club seats--not the suites--sold out last spring. I think there is a waiting list. With the PSL, they start at just over $1000 seat, and go up from there as you move towards mid-field. The seats are great, much more comfortable than the rest of the stadium.

More than a little irony last night, with the Sabres showing everyone the kind of team we'd like the Bills to be. Up 4-1 after a period--sound familiar--the Sabres let the Aves roar back in Denver to tie it up 4-4 in the third. Did they curl up in the fetal position like the Bills did yesterday? Nope, they score late and win on the road 6-4 for the 6th straight time. That is all anyone wants in a team--some grit, effort and a little bit of success to enjoy. It's what we should get from the Bills if they had a clue on what they need to do. Seeing the Sabres do that last night was like a breath of fresh air after that game in Miami yesterday... CD

It really is. I am quite forgiving of this team because I love the Bills. But it is just embarassing to root for a team that lacks talent, and lacks guts, heart and brains. I have never been so sick of being a fan of this team, it's worse than 1985 in a lot of ways...CD

No kidding... 1st and goal at the two midway thorugh the 3rd quarter, Bills up 23-3. FG makes it likely a 4 possession game. So run three times, get a TD, it's over. If you don't, kick the FG, it's over. But Nooooooooooooooooo, let's throw and risk a pick--nice. Then Schobel makes a beautiful pick with 2 minutes left. Defense is reeling but we got the ball, we got the lead still, one first down and we win. What does MM do? Curls up into a fetal position and runs 3 times-- even on third and 10. Now's the time to throw A-ho*&, not on 1st and two on the goal line. I live in Maryland. I have two club seats to support this team. I cannot, and will not watch this anymore. It's is f%$#@!* nuts to waste time like this. I'd rather get my tooth drilled each Sunday than do something like this over and over and over and over. Since the pre-Kelly era, this is just the worst, the absolute worst... Bye

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH... I agree

Playmakers don't mean very much when you can't block...CD

Agreed, but the point was made in response to the observation that the loss was the Os fault, because the D only gave up 13 points. Both sides of the ball are bad, mostly because they have no offensive or defensive lines. It's pretty simple I think, that when you can't tackle at the point of attack or block at that same point, it's hard to be very successful...CD

Those are pretty good excuses, but they are excuses. Plain and simple this defense can't force a punt. Either the other teams scores or we get a turnover, otherwise they stay on the field. The 3rd down conversion rate against the defense must be astronomically high--and nothing is more demoralizing than continued 3rd down conversions by the other team.

I know the O-line stinks and is the major reason the offense is no good, but this #2 defense from the past two years has crashed and burned. I don't care if it only gave up 13 points, there is more to what happened than that. Not only did the D cave when it counted, it only gave the offense 8 drive starts and let Carolina hold the ball for 36 minutes. The O is obviously not that good to only get 8 chances if we expect it to score 14-24 points, especially with a first year QB. Unless they get a turnover, the D can't get off the field. They was to supposed to carry us like Chicago's defense does. This defense has taken us right to the lumber yard...CD

Actually, under this scenario, we would win the conference record tiebreaker. We would be 8-4 in the AFC to NE's 7-5. They already have two wins v. NFC(Atl and NO), the most we will get is one against Carolina. Also, if NE beats Tampa but loses one of the other three games to divisional rivals, under your scenario Bills would be 5-1 in Division to 4-2 for NE, so they would get that tiebreaker. For all practical purposes, NE has to lose to KC this week, and to Buffalo to get them to 6 loses and then hope for a loss to anyone else. Buffalo has to win its next four games. Otherwise, it is literally over.