BillsVet

This strategy kept Chris Kelsay in the house. What more should a Bills fan desire than a hard-working, high motor, blue collar type of player? Of course, the Bills felt they were paying CK market rate, but his contract seemed awfully high when compared to his counterparts with similar metrics.

The BiT series is Brandon's baby and I suspect won't be going away given his involvement in setting it up. Perhaps he's serious about undoing the Toronto games, but I seriously doubt it. Buffalo needs added revenue and simply walking away, even if mutually, seems out of the question. And considering that Brandon's background is on the business side of the house, I find it hard to believe they won't work on re-vamping it. As far as Jairus Byrd, well, it's time for the team to put their money where their mouth is. Not retaining key free agents when there are no other players imminently up for contract extensions is inexcusable and not what a team committed to winning does. Where else are they going to spend the money?

And Hafley just sign on with Buffalo? Fleury was a veteran with 1 year in the NFL.

It's ironic Cunningham could come to Buffalo to work on the defensive staff. He was HC of the Chiefs in 2008 when DJ and the Trent Edwards led Bills beat KC 54-31. Cunningham said he'd get back at DJ and now he might be the LB coach. LOL

This is what you do if you want to ruin your reputation and not be in the running down the road for HC's and assistants. There will be a time again, hopefully not soon, when Buffalo needs another assistant or perhaps HC. You don't win the coaching community over by telling current assistants they can't leave when they want to. It's not like it should be hard for Schwartz to find a LB coach.

Because he has 2 seasons experience coaching in the NFL. I want a coordinator with a little more than that and expecting Weaver to succeed because he's worked already here is not rational.

In 3 years, Nix's personnel group selected zero Pro Bowl or All-Pro caliber players. That may very well change, but the fact that Whaley made changes to the personnel evaluation people tells me Nix wasn't capable of putting people into positions to find talent. He also spent an inordinate time on the road scouting as opposed to other GM's. And yet the Bills needed significant upgrades when Whaley ascended to the job in May.

People say Jauron left the team in shambles which lead to the 4-12 in 2010. But isn't that what took place in 2013? The Nix rebuild from 2010-12 led to a team that was 6-10 this past season. The Bills are a lot closer now to being a top pick caliber team than one on the verge of making the playoffs.

It's better than Nix saying he'd be asleep when UFA began.

Didn't Indianapolis acquire Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, Reggie Wayne, find Jeff Saturday, Dallas Clark, Bob Sanders, Edgerrin James, or another players? Personnel wise things started going downhill when Chris Polian assumed more responsibility, but Bill put a lot of talent around Peyton. I love in society how when someone or a company is successful that luck is cited as the main reason. No one ever has skill, but chalking it up to luck remains one of the greatest ways of minimizing another success.

It's amazing how, year after year, the Bills have so many needs. It's almost as if they're building a team whack-a-mole style. Keeping Byrd will be the sign they're committed to winning and If not, it'll be hard to convince fans that self-created holes won't continue to be opened. Because the Bills have mastered the ability to win 4-7 games. Taking a step to the playoffs means filling these holes long term and not using the draft to replace departed free agents.

No I don't. I think his instincts are poor on the football field, hence the propensity for throws to stationary targets and check-downs. When a receiver isn't open, he's not making the throw. That'll work in the college game, but it's not in the NFL. And while I don't expect him to be elite right now, he doesn't make the throws a NFL QB should make nor does he seem inclined to throw receivers open. And then there's the mechanics and touch on throws which need a lot of work. I'm not sure the team has the time to wait for him to improve from raw young QB to being consistent to make this team a 10 win plus club.

Manuel made a habit of throwing primarily to open receivers and stationary targets. He's not throwing receivers open the way you see the top QB's do. It's part of the reason why he maintains a low yards per attempt with a low completion percentage. I can't think of a worse pair of bad metrics to demonstrate future ability. One other thing was he lacked touch on throws. I saw short throws that he rifled to the receiver and then medium throws without enough behind them.

Which begs the question: When was the last time the Bills found an excellent, i.e. Pro Bowl caliber player after round 2? It's probably Kyle Williams all the way back in 2006. Or perhaps Stevie Johnson in 2008. No wonder the team can't build a deeper team. Drafting well in rounds 1 and 2 are what any team should be able to do. Finding talent after that point is what outstanding personnel departments are doing.

I doubt external interviews will be held. They'll look for someone from within and given the paucity of options, it probably won't be ideal. I'm not thinking the Bills are breaking the bank for a DC. I realize they got Pettine, but Buffalo isn't exactly big spenders on coaches.

A team searching for a HC or GM opens itself up to the public given the reporting of everything NFL these days. These searches are not quiet and the quantity and caliber of candidates illustrates how much of a reputation a franchise is operating with. When Gailey was hired, we knew he was the emergency guy seeing as how Buffalo was outright turned down so many times.

The new president was the previous CEO and has been around for years in senior management positions. The new GM was the previous assistant GM and with the team since 2010. New personnel people came in after the draft, including Monos. New Coach. Yes, Chan needed to go and thus we needed another one. The previous hire, as with DJ, necessitated the following one. New coaching staff. It's already getting changed around and could be more before the season if Pettine leaves. New quarterback. Yep. But yes, I'd agree that 2014 needs to be playoffs or bust. Nothing less is acceptable, though I'm not sure the Bills are in it to win it as much as most of the NFL.

Wannstedt and Crossman can do it.

Comparing apples to oranges. Bennett in 1987 has nothing to do with the NFL landscape of 2010. Besides, a former 1st for a 4th and 5th is far less significant that trading the recent 2nd overall pick in a three team swap featuring other 1s. I've always loved to see the debating style of bringing down someone else to make the Bills look better. Getting harder to do, especially when lamenting the #1 seed in the NFC for making a mistake along the way is cited. Carroll has a great GM who has the financial backing of the wealthiest owner in the NFL. It's little wonder they've succeeded. Dick Jauron was fired from his first NFL gig. You remember, the guy who was as good as Belichick save for the latter's time with Tom Brady QB'ing the Patsies? You did make that point once before, no?

I would argue the Bills are not keen on outsiders coming into the organization, thus the hiring of Nix (when John Guy was the only other considered) and now with Whaley. Most people realized he was the heir apparent to Buddy, but he was also part of the regime that Nix started and that failed miserably. Whaley's got to wash that smell off. But it should be noted the Bills do not like finding GM's from outside the organization, having done so once in the past 30+ years. That wreaks of people trying to hide something. TD may have failed, but failing to consider outside people as most NFL teams do is a sign something's off about their way of doing business.

I was merely asking. He's not a model citizen, that's for sure. At the same time we evaluate decisions over the long-haul, not for half a season from 3 years ago. And using your desire to prove everything definitively on statistics alone, he's rushed for 4k yards and 35 TD's from 2011-13. Not to mention being a 3 time Pro-Bowler and 2 time All-Pro. Pretty good deal if you're John Schneider. Not a good deal for Buddy Nix. There's a reason why Seattle is a contender every year and Buffalo remains mired in mediocrity. You can't give talent away and expect o be competitive.

Has Lynch had any run-ins with the law since his trade to Seattle? I repeatedly see fans excuse Buffalo's trade of ML, yet they had no plans to do so until deep into the 2010 season. By that point, they should have known what Jackson offered and clearly they liked Spiller. So it begs the question, if it was the off-field stuff that threatened them, why did they wait so long to deal him for a song?

Highly doubt that Seattle will not be able to re-sign Earl Thomas when his contract comes due. And that's a team with talent all over the field who'll find the cash to keep their top players under contract. Agree with GG. Who else are the Bills going to re-sign in 2014?

Decisions have to be analyzed in the long term and the 2010-12 Bills will go down as a lesson in how not to build a football team.

Unless of course your name is Brandon or Wilson. Everyone else can be sent packing.