BillsVet

Buffalo's latest rebuild is now going into their 7th off-season and shows no signs of being over, i.e. making the playoffs. It's amazing that after rebuilding from 2010-2013 in 2014, the Bills needed their top 3 picks (including Kouandjio) to be starters. That trend continued in 2015 when their first and second picks needed to start and they'll again need at least the first rounder to produce out of the box. I don't see a vision to what they're doing. One year it's build through the draft and another it's spending big in UFA. That doesn't happen when teams frequently make good personnel decisions. For the record, the Bills drafted 3rd in 2011, preceded by Carolina, Denver, and followed by Cincinnati and Arizona. Those teams are pretty good while Buffalo languishes in NFL "purgatory" as Doug Whaley bemoans.

The Bills were fast and loose with resources in 2015 and it will hinder them this off-season. I've seen plenty of people talk about whom to release but don't provide an option on replacing them or seem to realize it'll cost them a 2016 resources. Cutting Mario, McKelvin, Graham perhaps to create space has to require finding another player. And once again, for about the 10th year in a row, the Bills enter the draft needing a 1st and 2nd rounder to contribute right away. So, if their roster building strategy is so elite, what can't they build a team which doesn't require rookies to perform out of the box? It's because the front office is still reckless with their limited resources. And that shows up every regular season.

Or he's taking one for the team as Whaley's former supervisor and is protecting the guy he hired. I highly doubt there was no transition plan in place to move from Nix to Whaley during the 2013 off-season. The Bills didn't just make Whaley GM in May after the draft and it's been widely reported that Whaley was deeply involved in scouting Manuel. Nix was a bad GM and set-up his successor for failure in a few ways.

Of course Buddy would back up those decisions. Reminds me of when Marv Levy said Dick Jauron was a good HC after DJ was fired. Buddy's big mouth and ego wrote checks his football acumen couldn't cash.

The feud's been simmering between the BN and Bills for a few years now and it has little to do with the Pegula's. Long before T/K Pegs bought the team, writers were critical of what we know/knew was a dysfunctional team that wasn't really competing under RW and Brandon. The relationship worsened because the Bills tend to freeze out local media of team news or given little notice because they don't like the coverage. So, if the local news types are shut-out, you can bet they'll be even more critical because they can't do their job. And now that team is 16 years running minus a playoff appearance so they're only going to be placed under the microscope even more. The BN's purpose isn't to cheer-lead, which is what a lot of fans here demand, because they're fans and totally intolerant of anyone daring criticize their favorite team. Other teams that can't seem to win are criticized by local media as much if not more than Buffalo, especially in larger markets. The Bills get nothing like what NYC teams receive. As Rico already noted, all this franchise has to do is win. But they repeatedly don't and are left trying to PR their way out of criticism. The local media doesn't buy it because they've seen it happen all too frequently. And the feud continues.

The Bills aren't going to be shopping in the UFA lane much this year and as JS said, need to hit on some rookies. So I'd expect the GM and HC to be scouting hard, including the Senior Bowl where talent is on display in real, albeit controlled, game action. Why wouldn't the HC be there? Unless Whaley knows Rex's defense in an out, doesn't it make sense for both to be there? Or, are they focusing on improving the defense via UFA with low cost options. The coaching staff needs to be attached at the hip with the personnel department. And when the head coach is not there it definitely sends the wrong message.

Continuity? Like late 2008 when keeping Dick Jauron was the answer to Buffalo's problems? You get continuity when enough decisions turn into good ones. You don't get continuity when the people running the team make a lot of bad decisions. Doug Whaley hasn't made enough good decisions during his tenure and Rex shares in the blame for 2015. This talk of continuity is just another recycled theme from the Russ GM/DJ as HC days to buy time.

And Jed went with one-and-done Tomsula for 2015, so it makes you wonder. The organizations with ownership who change coaches so frequently, SF, CLE, TB, and TEN bring much of their issues on themselves.

That loud thudding sound is Jed York slamming his head into a desk.

I could swore he majored in Rogue Studies with a minor in office politics.

The Buffalo Bills: Talking about showing fans the baby since 2010.

In a conventional world, the owner has given the GM and HC leeway to succeed or fail based on contract extensions and coaching staff hires respectively. What's unconventional about the Bills is if they aren't a playoff team it seems there'll be a ready excuse to give them another season. I think TPegs has delayed the inevitable from 2016 to 2017.

Rex will not simplify his defense and Buffalo will be looking for low cost options to fit his scheme as Dunne pointed out here. I'm just not sure they'll have the cap room without some maneuvering with a few other contracts. You hope Glenn and Incognito are re-signed, but even with Mario's impending release it's hard to see how they'll have room for 3-4 or more defensive free agents. Rookies are not coming in and running this scheme to the degree Rex needs it.

The question isn't whether Rex knows what he wants to do on defense, but whether his defenses are able to stop or at least slow down newer offenses. There are 14 HCs out of 26 currently in the NFL who come from the defensive side of the ball. All of them have a system they want to run, whatever variation of 4-3 or 3-4. But it doesn't take a full year for people to feature a good defense as demonstrated by like Mike Tomlin in 2007 or Mike Zimmer in 2014. Even Todd Bowles managed to have NYJ playing solid defense in his first year. It looks like Rex is going back to what he knows and I'm not sure it'll work in a quickly evolving NFL landscape where offenses change almost year to year.

Why not go for the trifecta and bring Buddy in as Senior Defensive Consultant? He's coached in Buffalo before and can punch Greg Roman if he gets too pass happy.

Whaley hired by OBD in 2010 and Bills fail to make playoffs 3 straight seasons. Many blame players, coaches, even GM after the fact. Whaley promoted to GM in 2013 and Bills fail to make playoffs 3 straight seasons. Many fans blame players, coaches. What's interesting is the phenomenon that certain fans cannot blame management. It's more common than I thought, particularly among teams where they never or rarely succeed. SF is a prime example right now. Jed York and Trent Baalke are a tire fire. I think Whaley got his contract purely to eliminate the contractual disparity between him and RR. My gut tells me he'll follow the same path that Darcy Regier did in 2013. Signed an extension and didn't last. The Pegulas, perhaps not in an ultimatum, have made it clear they need to win in 2016. And witha lack of cap space created by last years spending spree it'll be even harder to re-sign their own guys, stock RR's defense, improve the OL, and hopefully find another QB option.

Brandon had his hands all over the decision to hire Marrone. Perhaps not because St. Doug was down the road at SU, but because Brandon is pretty high on himself and had just been given the keys to the kingdom by RW a few days before. In January 2013 Nix had one foot out the door, Whaley was not officially GM, and Brandon was at the head of their front office football ops triumvirate. People think it's bad luck Buffalo doesn't crash the playoff party every year. In reality, it's senior management that makes bad HC and GM hires.

We both remember Marv promising Clements he wouldn't be franchised and the Bills having no intentions to re-sign him. They subsequently got nothing for him and he walked in UFA despite Buffalo having unused cap space galore. But now they don't have that space two work with and decisions on players are more difficult. I'd rather see Gilmore re-signed, but there are some undeniable circumstances now: -he's not super durable and gets nicked up every season -they've got Darby who was excellent this season and may be a #1 CB down the road -Gilmore will want a deal in line with the best and Buffalo doesn't have great cap space given their go for broke 2015 plan. Can the money spent on a Gilmore contract be used better elsewhere? Still a lot to happen before he hits UFA after the 2016 season. I would lean toward trading him for top picks and using those (that's a stretch with Whaley sometimes) efficiently.

If RR is still HC in 2016 I'm sure they'll re-sign Gilmore to a long term contract because the defensive scheme demands it. There are pros and cons to re-signing him to a big long term deal, and in reality too many to discuss here. But cap management is going to be a big issue with OBD unless they stop being go-for-broke each season.

The Bills put all their chips into 2015 to end the playoff drought...and didn't succeed. Reading the BN article of where they are relative to the cap ceiling and who they need to cut is disheartening. And as Bill from NYC has noted, they've been very loose with resources the last 12 months. Now there's a price to pay for that. People assume that the OBD wizards will figure it out, free up cap space, get the pieces for Rex's defense, keep Glenn and Incognito, then hit home runs in the draft. Based on previous years I'm not optimistic that'll happen. And it's occurred without having to pay a QB major money. Last year few if any teams invested less financially in their QB's. The 2015 Bills were like a government stimulus advertised as creating immediate results...that never did.

H8rs gonna hate. Seriously, sometimes people care about making the playoffs. Those people, of which I'm one, demand accountability and not excuses after the longest post-season drought in North American professional sports. I question whether people like you are more interested in just being a happy fan ignorant of results than actually having a great team. IMO, a fan should criticize a franchise when they continually are lapped by other average NFL teams. Specifically, you've got teams like Arizona, Washington, Minnesota, Carolina, Seattle that are now post-season bound. You know, the teams who've rebuilt to varying degrees and were stuck in the mud in 2010 when your last rebuild under the previous GM began? Although this may be a new rebuild now that RR is aboard, I don't know anymore. Sure there were silver linings this year. But there isn't a fan out there who, at the beginning of the season, would have been satisfied with being all but eliminated from the playoffs in week 14. No way.

He's not a top-10 guy right now and the jury is still out as to whether he'll improve from year 1 to 2 as starter. Hopefully Buffalo doesn't follow the same tired model of betting the farm on one guy without acquiring someone capable behind him. One other guy who once played well was Nick Foles in 2013. He had 27 TDs versus 2 INT that year, but was traded before 2015 by PHI to STL. Some guys have a solid year and then never produce that way again.

#Machiawhaleyian Dude's straight cash-money and even has Bills fans fooled.

I'm sure the Titans just wanted to go with stability in making their decision.

Good to know. I saw Maiorana and Benigni covering the team on WGRZ, which was something they've started in the past 2 years or so. Strange situation.