JDG

1) Modrak left the Eagles a *long* time ago. And McNabb was personally hand-picked by Andy Reid. Reid even drove up to Syracuse to check out McNabb. I'm not saying that Modrak was not involved in the Eagles' fabulous run of the past few years, but I think that his role should not be overstated. 2) Strongly disagree that Marv told Ralph that there is noone better than Mularkey available. The most I will grant you is that Marv is reluctant to fire any HC, having been a HC a couple of times himself, and that Marv felt that this was a lost year due to the failed JP Losman experiment. My gut, however, tells me that keeping Mularkey is 100% about 3 years remaining on the contract. There's no way that you can tell me that there's "no one better available" with guys like Kirk Ferentz, Jim Fassell, Mike Sherman, Steve Mariucci, Ron Rivera, and Jim Bates out there..... all of whom are arguably better than Mularkey. JDG

Except that the guy who drafted Eric Moulds is now apparently the GM. Maybe Marv will have him return kicks again..... JDG

We have a winner! Ralph Wilson says that he doesn't fire Asst. Coaches - but can anyone seriously believe that the timing of all this is a coincidence? JDG

Texas 34 USC 17

2:30pm - Ralph Wilson announces that: -Tom Donahoe has been fired as President and GM -Ralph Wilson is reassuming the title of President -Tom Modrak is staying in his current position, will be required to spend more time in Buffalo, and will not be the next GM -No GM has been hired, and Ralph Wilson is not in negotiations with Marv Levy -Mike Mularkey's status will be determined after further discussion -The HC hires and fires Asst. Coaches - the Team Owner does not. 3:00pm- Towards the end of above Press Conference, Ralph Wilson tells reporters that while an announcement on the GM or Mularkey's status could happen within hours or within days, that reporters can "go home" and should not wait around OBD. 4:20pm- ESPN.com announces that Tom Clements has been fired 5:15pm- Ralph Wilson announces that Mike Mularkey will be the Bills HC next year and "hopefully for a long time to come". The next GM of the Bills will apparently not have the power to fire Mularkey (presumably because.....) 6:30pm- Buffalo TV stations report that Marv Levy has been hired as the next GM. JDG

And a prominent sportwriter referring to one of the Offensive Line Coaches we ran out here on a rail a few years back as "one of the best." JDG

The surprise info is Jerry Gray tendering his resignation - what a scoop, if true, and what an honorable move. It does make sense since Gray was basically imposed upon Mularkey when he came in because we thought we had such a good defense at the time. Kind of how people want to impose Bobby April on a putative Mularkey successor. Some of the other stuff is no surprise. Losman shows no signs of being a cancer, and every sign of just plain not being good enough at this stage. Ralph Wilson wanting to win now (and Holcomb did give us a chance to win now) is also no surprise. We'll see how hurt Losman really is, I guess - but am still not sure I buy it. Why would Mularkey risk a fine by forging an NFL injury report for a meaningless game? And finally, I don't believe that we passed up John Fox and Charlie Weis because we couldn't meet their salary demands - not for a minute. JDG

I know that I wasn't around much this year, but I saw a *lot* of Bills fans predicting a +.500 finish or a playoff appearance. Q: More importantly, why do so many fans want Donahoe fired: A: The Bills not make the playoffs this year (or even finishing above .500. Let's not kid ourselves - Donahoe is being fired today because the Bills went 5-11 this year, and the Bills went 5-11 this year because Losman was not ready to be an NFL QB in his second year, and was one of the worst QB's in the League this year. JDG

1. Houston - A lot of bits and pieces in place, the option to take Reggie Bush or a bundle of draft picks for the rights to Bush, and just posting a winning record could make you the toast of the town. 2 (tie). Green Bay - Team's poor showing this year likely a result of injury, and one of the NFL's marquee franchises. Might fall back into the pack if Favre retires. 2 (tie). NY Jets (based on Herm Edwards likely leaving for KC) - A team that was devastated by injuries, and if Chad Pennington can play, should become better almost immediately. 4. (tie) St. Louis, Buffalo, Minnesota, Oakland - All decent teams in transition. All with questions swirling around the QB. Not a lot to distinguish any of them. 8. Kansas City - An old team that had clearly been built to try and put together one last run for a coach that could retire at any time. The city is used to winning, but a serious rebuilding effort might be needed either next year, or the year after next. 9. New Orleans - You might not want to buy a house here - even if you could. 10. Detroit - No job security in being hired by Millen

A number of people here have suggested that Mularkey was hamstrung by our woeful OLine and the terrible play of Losman. O.k., sure, maybe those things kept us from being a Playoff team this year, particularly with our schedule. But can those things really excused being the *worst* offense in the modern era of the Buffalo Bills (16 game schedule) - worse than 2-14 years, worse than Todd Collins, worse than the 3-13 RJ year???? If Mularkey was good, he would have taken bad talent and at least managed below average - if not maybe even reasonably competent. In the end, in Mularkey's second year, our offense was the worst in team history and our defense ranked dead last in the NFL in the critical departments of 3rd Down and in the Red Zone. Even conceding that the Bills are relatively talent-poor, I don't think I am being knee-jerk in saying that plumbing those depths reflects very badly on Mularkey. We weren't just bad this year - we were superlatively bad. JDG

O.k. Losman was not running an effective NFL offense this year.... hitting less than 50% of his passes. JDG

I have no problem with settling for a FG. I have a problem with settling for a 40+ yard FG, which even in the NFL is only about a 75% proposition. In the college game with the wide hashes - and in this case a freshman kicker who had already missed once.... its even lower. And while the QB draw is a regular part of the offense - two in a row is not. JoePa clearly did not want to let Robinson throw the football and get a first down - he wanted all conservative runs and was happy with the low percentage FG. JDG

When Bowden got into 4th and 23 in the 1st OT, I thought that he should have gone for the Hail Mary instead of the FG. If they complete it - great. If not, PSU would be tempted to play for the Field Goal with their freshman kicker who just might miss it again. As it is, the FSU kicker obliged by missing his kick - thus suckering Joe Paterno into one of the most ultra-conservative displays of offense I have ever witnessed. Why on Earth Paterno thought that a 40yd FG in the college game with a freshman kicker was worth settling for is absolutely beyond me. PSU so deserves this game, but that set of playcalling was just putrid. JDG

Didn't they say that about some DE from Syracuse when we were drafting Mike Williams? Just wonderin' ;-) JDG

Fred Smoot, who has played defensive back for the past year with the Minnesota Vikings, and whose defensive coordinator has interviewed for the Vikings' HC position, was asked if he had any suggestions for Wilf. "Gregg Williams," Smoot said. "Gregg Williams. Gregg Williams. Gregg Williams. That one year I had with him, he did a lot and he taught me a lot about football." Fred Smoot played for Gregg Williams last year in Washington. JDG

Actually, I am starting to get more and more worried that Donahoe just might have gotten one of his coaching searches right..... no offense to the man in question, but that would really be a bummer..... JDG

I found a nugget in this article on the USC Offensive Line, that has lead them to their second consecutive National Championship Game: SI.com Article "Every one of those guys will play in the NFL," Trojans coach Pete Carroll said of the Longhorns' starting line. "They don't have a weakness, they only have strengths." "They're the most physical and athletic line that we've seen," Brown said of his counterparts. It wasn't always this way. A year ago, USC's Kalil, Lutui and Baker were first-year starters in a mostly finesse, pass-oriented line. Justice, a freshman All-America in 2003, was suspended for the season for pulling a replica gun on a fellow student in an incident he claimed was a practical joke. The line performed well enough to help the Trojans win a national championship, but this year they've taken things to a whole other level. Much of the credit goes to first-year position coach Pat Ruel, a former Miami offensive lineman and 31-year coaching veteran who Carroll hired away from the New York Giants. Under Ruel's direction, the Trojans have become noticeably more physical, as evidenced by the dramatic upgrade in their running game, which improved from 177.4 yards per game to a staggering 264.2. JDG

Unfortunately, in the NFL you don't get to fire the head guy and then keep the asisstants to impose on the new guy. If we're going to fire Mularkey, which we should, then we have to be willing to let all of the asisstants go - including Bobby April. JDG

And the site has been wrong about a lot of stuff too..... .... the problem is, if you read something on that site, you don't have any idea if it was one of the right ones or the wrong ones..... Best to just leave it alone..... JDG

What a surprise, another error from TMQ! "In three games before Week 17, Buffalo failed at the goal line by trying to throw to Shelton in the flat on third-and-goal; each time the defense appeared to have been notified by mail where the ball was going." Uhhh... except that the play worked for a TD in the first half against San Diego to make the score 28-10. (i.e. still a ballgame.) Easterbrook really, really, needs to employ a fact-checker. JDG - who didn't need a cite or a link to recognize the arrogant writing style.....

Obviously Marv isn't the only such Coach, there are what, 10 or so coaches in the HOF? So, there's a short list of other candidates right there. But do I think that Mike Mularkey would have taken that team to four straight Super Bowls? Heck no. Or guys like Mike Tice, Jack Del Rio, Norv Turner, or Jim Haslett? Uh uh. I'll even go so far as to say that I don't think that even a coach like Tom Coughlin would have done it either. I think this is a bit like the Indianapolis Colts this year. You could look at the Colts' schedule and say that they benefited from a really easy cupcake schedule. On the other hand, its also very hard to be a "weak" 13-0 and clinching the #1 seed. With a different schedule, the Colts would not have been 13-0, but they did have to be very, very, good to get to 13-0 no matter what the schedule. Thus, you could argue that Marv Levy benefited from a highly talented team that carried him to his gaudy won-loss record. On the other hand, I think that it is very hard to be a "weak" four-time AFC Champion. No matter how much talent Levy had, he had to be very, very, good to win four straight Conference Championships. JDG

My problem with Tressel is that he has absolutely ZERO NFL Coaching experience of any kind. The guy bounced around the college ranks for a bit, without establishing any obvious NFL connections, before taking the Youngstown State job in 1985. He was at that Division I-AA school for 15 years before joining OSU four years ago. This is in contrast with many of the other "hot" coaching names from college football: Kirk Ferentz coached under Bill Belichick, as did Pat Hill of Fresno State; Bobby Petrino was with Tom Coughlin in Jacksonville. NFL Experience is important because it *is* a different game than the college game - I think the Sugar Bowl last night was a great example of this. That game at times looked almost like it was a different sport from NFL football. More importantly, NFL Experience is where you build up connections that help you assemble an NFL Staff. If the Bills were to hire Tressel, its hard to envision what sort of staff he might assemble - either he brings his college staff wholesale to the pro game; or he's taking a lot of shots in the dark with people who doesn't really know or have strong recommendations about. Either way, it seems like a less-than-desirable situation. So, while I can't argue with Tressel's accomplishments at what he has done, the lack of any NFL Experience puts him a notch below other candidates like Kirk Ferentz and Ron Rivera in my book. JDG

You make a great point. As anyone who plays Fantasy Football knows, the Colts and Broncos are famous for going to guys like the 3rd TE in the red zone, or throwing the occasional scoring pass to a rarely-used WR. The Patriots, of course, have even been known to give defensive players carries and receptions on the Goal Line. When things are going good, this is called "spreading the ball around" and is praiseworthy. When things are going bad, you naturally get criticized for it. JDG

I feel your pain man. It looks like a lot of NFL teams are moving quickly, with Minnesota already scheduling interviews, and KC contacting the Jets about possibly securing the services of Herman Edwards. It makes me a bit disappointed that the Donahoe announcement didn't come today, especially if the plan is to keep Mularkey long enough for the new GM to make the determination on his future. And as others have noted, Kirk Ferentz may be available this year - so this could be a great year to be looking for a HC if we can secure Ferentz. JDG

Or Marvin Lewis for that matter.....