OCinBuffalo

That depends on whether we throw to RBs and TEs(rather than the mickey mouse plays from last year) to beat the blitzes I am sure we are gonna see. Once again, Troy Aikman quote: "I would retire from this game if I couldn't throw to Novacheck anymore." That was an experienced(i'd say) guy talking about the need for an outlet to his tight end. And before you start saying "Yeah but Novacheck was pro-bowler", how do you think he got there? Because plays were designed for him? Yeah, that's it. They had Micheal Irvin but they designed plays whose first look was Novacheck, BRAY!. And also, if a HOF QB says this is important why the hell didn't we see it as important last year, when we were starting a rookie? How many designed outlets to the TE did JP have last year again? I think I saw 3. That kid was set up to fail because the coaches didn't have the stones to design and call plays that were about players making plays. Instead, JP inherited a system designed for Deadslow. They chose to call conservative(read: silly) plays that were beneath JP and WM's ability(and just right for Holcomb's, btw)in an effort to "control the ball" - hard to do when you throw, designed because the System says so, 8-yard passes on 3rd and 9. No wonder KH threw that infamous pass last year on forth down, he has the creative ability of a treestump - I am not saying he doesn't know how(so don't start with that again Holcomb's Arm), I am saying he doesn't have the physical ability to be creative. However, I am sure the System was pleased with that play. And oh yeah - I almost forgot "WM don't you dare bounce an occasional play outside so that you can stiff arm little DBs! No, No, run up the middle so that your knee can take another shot from a linebacker". Another poster that nailed this one down definitevly. So we proceeded with our ridiculous plan. When that didn't work they got out the Statue of Liberty play from my family reunion game. When that didn't work they largely blamed JP, and spent two minutes talking about the need for improved OL play. We have the people we need to be competitive. There are OL questions but we have plenty of ability at the skill positions to make up for that. We must rely on the coaches to do their job this year and get a plan that works based on who we have and letting their ability win games(especially WM on third downs - exceedingly hard to "control the ball" from the bench), not on "the System is all knowing, we must please the System so that it favors us", Frankenstein football.

LMAO What a headline - something for Lenno. Oh yeah and they follow up with: "The team doesn't divulge length or monetary details"

What no Joe Ferguson and Joe Cribbs? They were playing the first time we made the playoffs, in '80, and actually won a playoff game, in '81, in my lifetime. Of course I was only six. My mom was so happy I thought she was gonna pee herself, cause that's what I did when I was...wait, nevermind.

Good post. I agree on the well thought through commet. However, and this has to be done - What about the Pats looking past us on week one? That team has no shortage of cockiness(if they did the press took care of that real quick - see Tedy Brushci), and most of our defenese has seen them for years now. McGuinest is gone... I dunno, but I say we beat them game 1. Our guys have a lot to prove, the Pats do not. If DJ can keep everyone believing, we may just out hustle them. That also depends on no one becoming a head case during the game, which depends on DJ as well. We'll get to see if he can lead during this game as well. Don't forget we owned them the first game last year, we just found a way to lose... I also don't agree with the Lions pick because - they are the Lions. I think we can beat Baltimore last game of the season, if I am right about the two above then we will have something to play for as well, which could push us. Lastly, I really like your analysis of the second Jets game. That will tell us a ton about what kind of team we have. If we let down like you suggest, that's when I will stop being optomistic about DJ.

It would a riot if that sticks!!!

OntheRocks: It'a a message board similar to this one for the Sout Carolina Gamecocks. Pretty funny name though. Lurker: I'll grant the floater but hey what about after the catch? For my money that guy can move. Those were close to 5 yard strides....

OntheRocks: Just to expand on EC-Bills - s/he is right btw - (I do this for a living but I will try to make this as un-pyrite as possible) when it talks about activex it may also be because you browser settings are set up to block active x controls(especially if you are at work). You can change (in IE) this by going to Tools/Internet Options/Security Tab/Custom Level... Button. Once there chose medium. MarkVaderr50: Yes. Seeing Michigan lose is always fun....

While I'm at it I figured I would post the other video I have found... Looks like Whitner can close on a ball...bit of a floater but it was an out route... Whitner Pick Youboty isn't till the very end...pretty athletic catch... Youboty Pick BTW, you have to have quick time(it's video player that you can install) to play these. You can download it here. These guys all(see my last post for Ko) look quick as hell. Maybe Marv knows what he is doing after all... GO BILLS!!!

I found this on another site. You gotta love it when a guy comes from outside the TV screen to make a play... Ko Owning Georgia If we see this from him here we will be pissing off non-Buffalo fans again soon. GO BILLS!!!

And Dan Marino Three reasons: 1. When I lived in Pittsburgh the local paper did an interview and when asked about Buffalo he said something to the effect of "It's a town full of losers, I hate the city, the people blah, blah, blah." I was howling laughing. 2. He hates Buffalo so much he won't say Buffalo Wings(he only says wings) - on a radio interview in Pittsburgh they were purposely trying to get him to say the word Buffalo - and he wouldn't. 3. We are the primary reason he doesn't have a super bowl ring - my favorite!!!! GO BILLS!!!

Greg Cool idea for those of us who travel. I sent you an email regarding the Philadelphia club.

I can't speak to TD with regard to belief, none of us can because we don't know what was in his head at the time. Also, his decisions and the process used to arrive at them, the same as Marv's, will never be known to us unless we are in the room at the time. All we have to go on is press statements, which can be screwed up of course, and results. My post has more to do with observing MM decisions both on and off the field. What I saw last year about half the time was a tired, lazy, mouthy, confused and therefore undisciplined team(read: bad coaching). I did not see a talentless team(read: bad GM). This means that, imho, most of our problems had to do with MM - but more likely the assistants - stepping on their cranks when it came to conditioning(bigger issue last year than people realize), game planning, and most importantly LEADING during the game. All you had to do was watch the players faces during the game to see that they were being driven, not led. I have been saying right along that we have the people, we just didn't have the plan that fits the people we had/have. To make matters worse, when things got tough, the creators of the plan started blaming everyone else, instead of fixing the plan and/or execution of the plan. Now we have new leadership and by definition a new plan. We know that Marv will lead from the top and that there will be zero doubt, at least in my mind, that when he says we are ready to win, we will win. As far as DJ goes, anything will be better than a guy who blames his players for his own bad plan/spins to cover his ass. So, I suggest we come at this from an expectation that at the very least DJ will be honest with us - until he isn't. From what I have seen so far, we have a very good chance to surprise a lot of the "experts", on this board as well as the pros because we have effectively changed our personnel and our plan finally matches our personnel. From what I have seen, players that are: smart, humble, under-sized but strong and fast(read: The new Bills) beat dull, cocky, massive but fat and slow(read: Last year) players every time. We can only get better than last year with regard to coaching because it seems that DJ will be honest with the players and us, and more importantly himself. GO BILLS!!!

Dwelling on the negative simply contributes to its power. I might even take it a step further and question how many of the consistently negative posters even played team sports at a respectable level, i.e. high school varsity(I played D1 Lacrosse). What those of us who have know is that winning comes down to two main values: 1. Attitude 2. Hustle Clearly ML/DJ have committed to systems that stress, and players whose main attribute is, hustle(which is also why we need JP). It also appears that the attitude on the team is significantly improved over last year. Nonsense, media-friendly quotes from players aside, it seems clear that the players, while I'm sure maintain some skeptical thoughts, are genuinely encouraged by the changes that have been made. The key is believing you can win. I have played on teams where the coaches convinced us(the #1 job of a coach) that we could win. As soon as we started truly believing, we beat teams that, on paper, we had no business beating. How many here think that MM convinced the team that they could win last year? How much confidence did he spread by using JP as boot blocker for his own behind? Speaking to the original post, how did TD's year in and year out bs expectations - "coat of paint" - give the players, and us for that matter, any confidence? I leave with this: during the 90's we as fans truly believed we could win, no matter who was on the other side of the ball. The last game I was at, when the other team was near the endzones, it was like being at a baseball game, instead of the ear-drum shattering terror-drome RW(Rich) Stadium used to be. How about we take a look at our own attitude as fans, especially in the stands this year(I plan to fly up for at least two games), before we start criticizing others? A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. - Herm Albright Wouldn't it be interesting if we really got it going this year in the stands regardless of the situation? It may not solve our problems but it would certainly annoy ESPN(minus Berman), SI, etc. just like we used to... GO BILLS!!!!

There is no way we were watching the same games last year, or you have a severe case of selective memory. The coaching staff never used JP's mobility unless you count running from the opponent's defense because of bad line excution, even worse play calling, and worse still a gameplan that was designed for deadslow. I think the "roll outs" and "draws" you may be thinking of were JP's attempts to improvise something since the coaches offered him no outlet help from the tight ends or running backs - which a good mobile quarterback offense uses extensively. Holcomb is a pocket passer like deadslow, so he fits into a one dimesional look much better than JP. Asking JP to be a pure pocket passer is like asking Derek Jeter to be a DH. Tell me that wouldn't be frustrating=messed with JP's head. On the other hand, KH has only ever been a pocket passer so it's hardly a wonder that he would fit into a "throw the ball 8 1/2 yards at the most-especially when we need 9 for a first down" offense. This is a straw agrument at best. This leads me to your second point. What deep ball? How many deep ball plays were called again? You have to call it to utilize it. Last year it was blatantly obvious that they had zero commitment to deep ball plays. This was a miserable attempt at a west coast/trick play offense. (Even if they did, it seems to be generally accepted by everyone that Holcomb can't get it deep on a line.) I never saw him throw a ball that was catchable past 25-30 yards last year. It's not because KH can or can't do it(I'm no parrot and I honestly have no idea whether he can throw deep or not), but because we weren't calling those kind of plays. Neither guy threw deep balls. If you don't consistently take those chances and make the defense respect you, that is when they begin to stack the box. The running game has nothing to do with making sure defensive backs don't jump routes. Keeping them honest, with a commitment to throw it over their heads if they cheat, opens up the short passing game that Mularkey(apparently the best offensive coach in the league by your standards) wanted to run. The running game keeps the linebackers honest, not the defensive backs. Your logic is backward here. Please explain??? So, having beat this to death, how did they "reasonably" utilize JP's mobility and deep ball again? You have made some marginal to good points above but I think I've demonstrated that you are off base here, or perhaps you need to explain further. JP should start and will be fine. This team will win or lose as a team - not blaming one player, like we used to - thanks to Marv. And that is no homer statement, unless you weren't a Bills fan in/can't remember 1986. (if that is the case you are clearly not alone on TBD) GO BILLS!

Finally someone laying blame where it belongs. Not on JP but on nonsense game plans and retarded offensive play calling.

I don't understand why no one has brought up the ridiculous game plans/offensive play book we had last year. They clearly weren't designed for the players we had. I am not saying I want the Atlanta Falcons offense(read: Sandlot) in Buffalo but I sure don't want to lose 14 games this year either. QB - We had a guy in JP who has similar characteristics at least athetically to a Brett Favre, yet we hadly ever rolled him out or used his mobility as part of the plan. Favre made a whole career out of rolling out. Instead we made him play Bledsoe's game??? We all saw what that was like in 2004. No wonder Holcomb did better - he can't run so standing in the pocket is all he can focus on. IMHO I saw a very frustrated player in JP last year because the playbook only allowed him to use half of his ability at best. RB - There were at least 3 close games last year as I recall that we only handed the ball to McGahee 20 times or less. One in particular he got 16 touches the whole game. If we were trying to play ball control offense, wouldn't it have made sense to give it to the guy who runs for 3.8 yards a carry? WR - We never ever let the WRs run last year. We never simply let them beat their man - despite the fact that a guy like Moulds made his name doing precisely that with Flutie. All you had to do was see the look on our WR's faces and you could tell that they were trying to think about 25 things rather than simply running the route. TE - What about it. We didn't use them at all. I saw three designed tight end plays last year. Aikman said he would retire if he couldn't use his tight ends anymore. Perhaps we should have thought about that with what amounted to a rookie QB starting. The stats belie the so-called plan. While watching with the Philly Backers club we used to laugh and sadly agreed that our playcalling was patently awful every game. It was so bad because it was so predictable. If a bunch of bolos in a bar can call the next play we are gonna run 90% of the time it's more than likely that the professionals on the other team can figure it out. Bottom Line: It appeared to me that we had a Houston Oilers(run and shoot)type team in terms of talent/type of player on offense last year and instead of running with that we tried to play 80's Giants Football. Moulds said it best - throw me the ball. It doesn't have to be perfect. We pay these guys crazy money because of their talent->ability to make plays on gameday, not because of their ability to perform drills at practice->ability to be automatons. This isn't JV football. You can't play ball possesion offense if no one is afraid of your deep threat(how can they be if you don't consistently throw it deep?), you only run 18 times a game, and especially if nobody knows who you are/what you are capable of = no respect and get blitzed every down. Last year the Steelers used a ton of trick plays and strange sets to maximize the potential of all of their players( Randel El, etc.) and they did pretty well as I recall. Even Rothesberger with a 6-something forty ran a couple draw plays for big yards. I think this year we will see what all of our players are truly capable of if the game plan is built based on the players we have and not on some strange abstraction that might have worked at another team with different players. I can say this because our coordinator is (finally!)an attacking offense guy. The only issue is whether he and DJ will have philosophical conflicts. If you don't agree simply think back to Flutie and remember how he won - making plays in real time not looking the best at practice. In contrast, I bet RJ was the best practice player in the NFL. If you still don't agree then think about the K-Gun. Tell me that wasn't primarily based on players playing as opposed to coaches' tinkering. Both examples are clearly superior in terms of results - which is all that truly matters - compared to what we have seen the last 5 years. It is far too early to determine if JP is our guy or not. When Kelly first showed up he had problems and my Dad hated him immediately and he went on hating through 4 Super Bowls? He still hates him. I don't understand that, one of many things I don't get about my Dad:) Even if it is eventually proven that JP can't get it done, it does not mean that he is the only reason the team loses. Reverse the logic: If JP plays well is he the only reason the team will win? Of course not. We truly have no idea what the guy can do because we have yet to see a solid plan that has been developed for this team since Levy was coaching. Finally, personally attacking coaches solves nothing. It is possible for a good coach to simply come up with a bad plan. Whether or not a coach succeeds has less to do with who he is than what he teaches/plans. I think MM realized his plan was crap midway through the season, chucked it, and we ended up limping along in an effort to create job security for TD and MM. With the damage control firmly in place - fans were passively encouraged to place blame elsewhere. JP is an easy target so that is what everyone was/is shooting at. It's a pretty raw deal and a gigantic cop out for a GM and a Head Coach to allow the total success/failure of the team to be dumped on a rookie quarterback, and every time people say JP stinks they are enabling that cop out to continue. I would love nothing more that for a plan that uses the players' skills effectively be put forward and, of course, the player execute it. This will leave us all with nothing but smiles for this Schein guy and Salisbury as well. Go Bills!