BillsVet

Miami and the Jets to a lesser extent are what happens when proven football people are permitted to make football decisions. In the case of Miami, the former owner delegated the building of a team to an experienced football guy who had rebuilt multiple teams (cue the diminishing returns crowd). Nix has never done that as the head of football for any team and Gailey hasn't started from the ground floor as a HC either. That's not to say it can't be done, but with a 92 year old owner and an expiring stadium lease, the likelihood of even having another 3 years to rebuild is not there.

It should be stated that SF drafted Davis and Iupati to upgrade their OL at RT and OG. Buffalo drafted Wood and Levitre last year because they absolutely NEEDED new guards after cutting the overpaid Dockery and having nothing at RG. EW and AL should be fine players, but it's not the same scenario. There's a difference in drafting to upgrade or drafting to fill huge needs. Buffalo either drafts for need or makes a luxury pick. And it should be noted that Buffalo hasn't selected an OT in the first or second round since Mike Williams. And fans wonder why they have serious issues at OT. Guards from the first or second round should be good players.

It's amazing that some, merely to discredit a player, will determine the success or failure of a players career based on their rookie season or where they play in camp. The Packers are a proven organization and believe Bulaga is a able to play LG now. I highly doubt they think he can't play OT down the road, especially considering their other options are Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton. Jairus Byrd had a statistically fine season with those 9 INT's. But it's the 2nd year and beyond that tell the story. Will Byrd be exposed for his poor run defense and tackling or improve? Will he be fortunate to play Jake Delhomme and a mistake prone Mark Sanchez every season or learn from experience? Let's see what players do when teams have film on them. Then, we can declare them outstanding players.

No, I'm not missing the OP's point. The situation at OT is bad and there's no other way to describe it. Cornell Green has struggled in pass protection which was his main issue in Oakland along with taking too many penalties. Meanwhile, Bell hasn't practiced fully and Meredith also has issues with pass rushers. And as far as compairing Gailey to Jauron, yes he's better but there are probably D-II assistants who know more offensively than DJ did. Gailey alone will not turn around an offense that has ranked in the bottom quarter for quite a few years. They need players, particularly at LT, RT, and QB for that to happen. I don't think those guys are on the roster. While I like some of the things Gailey is doing, if he were such a commodity like you say he is, wouldn't some other team have pounced on him this off-season to be an OC? He has a lot to prove after his last HC job didn't go so well.

I should have said reclamation projects. Bell was a huge unknown who's not even 100% yet and Meredith, if reports are to be believed, is struggling mightily against pass rushing stalwarts like Aaron Maybin. For some unknown reason, there are homers on the board who think these guys' potential will come out. But yeah, the options now are few and far between for help at OT. Seriously? Chambers isn't even close to being a NFL OT, and remains their principal backup at guard which is alarming as well. It makes absolutely no sense that someone can play LT and have issues at RT. Chambers, Meredith, and Green all have problems handling outside pass rushers, which is what Buffalo will see plenty of. LT's see better pass rushers than RT's normally do.

I fail to see how Sullivan's perceived negativity is wrong considering the many years of non-playoff seasons this teams fanbase has endured. Hope is nice, but it should be tempered with a dose of reality. And until the team proves they're better than being a top-5 pick team with a weak foundation people like Sullivan won't write puff pieces hiding that fact.

I can't assume they'll put more pressure on the QB this season. There isn't one proven pass rusher on the roster right now and I don't see them getting sacks from their ILB's. McKelvin was healed earlier this year if I recall so using the injury shouldn't hamper his performance. And yes, it's alarming when the 11th overall pick from the 2008 draft can't win a starting CB job. Heck, there are 6 first rounders from 06-09 and only Wood is a definite starter with Whitner probable. That's not good.

It's evident from practice that Green struggles in pass protection, as does Meredith. That being the case, Gailey eventually will need to utilize more 2 TE sets to hide those OT's thereby removing another option or 2 in the passing game. Both Bell and Meredith need to show they're starting material or it's time to end the experiments.

I've never had to run away when the Bills play well, because they haven't in quite some time. You've accused me of going underground before when Buffalo signed Dwan Edwards and Andra Davis. It wasn't true then, and I'll be here if the Bills are successful in 2010. But go on making things up. Optimism for optimism's sake is worthless. Give me the real picture or don't give me anything at all. Frankly, I'm encouraged by a few things, but 2010 will be a rebuilding year. If more fans studied the league and how it works, they'd understand that Buffalo's method remains in stark contrast to the successful teams.

I don't see how it's pessimistic to keep trusing Ralph to put a winner on the field these past 10 years. The track record is what it is.

Size alone isn't the only requirement. Heck, they can find 3 Lonnie Harvey's and stick them on the front line. Edwards isn't a pass rushing threat, and A. Davis is a 2 down run defender who suffers in pass defense. Where does the pass rush come from? Buffalo has a plan, but whether or not it's correct is another matter yet to be determined. Either way, not having a pass rush will hurt them significantly. Also think you'd have a tough time selling the team with all the, "in 2 years they could be..." messages.

A fine secondary with little to no pass rush is of little benefit when defending the pass. This is especially true when run defense is your greater problem, and there's no certainty that has been improved despite switching from T2 4-3 to a 3-4. Haven't we been over this in the past few years?

Fixed. In a season minus a salary cap (the only thing forcing RW to spend a given amount) the team has cut salary quite considerably. Last year, it was trading Peters for essentially 3 draft picks over 2 years. Now they've released Schobel, so his 8.28M is off the books. If the team made 40M last season, they're probably close to doing that again despite the ticket sales going south. EDIT: Football Outsiders on Bills Payroll does an analysis here, and without Schobel's contract, the Bills are paying out 101.1M in salary this season, or about 15M less than the TV contract provides them.

I'll yield that there was little available in free agency to select from at QB and LT. However, I get the sense they refused to seriously enter the trade market as well. It seems like they're unwilling to let go of draft picks no matter which round. At the same time, reportedly Buffalo made a play for Donovan McNabb, who wanted to go to a contender with a proven HC. I did not hear what they were offering in trade to Philly, but I'm sure it wasn't more than a 2nd. It seems they'd rather hang onto all of their picks. That's admirable, but it'll be a slower process. Still, I'd rather have had Jammal Brown and lost 2011's 4th than the group they're going with at OT this season. It's frightening that Bell, Green, and Meredith are the top 3 OT's on this team.

This was the same thing said when Buffalo chose to franchise Clements with no intention of re-signing him. It was wrong now and it was wrong then. They just look bad. Money and winning are the only thing free agents look for in a new team.

In all seriousness, do you believe RW is looking 2-3 years down the road? Because if they're not winning now (after 10 non-playoff seasons) then what's the point? The stadium lease is up after the 2012 season.

Bingo. Clements, Peters, and now Schobel. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

How about "wait til our next owner"-if we're still here.

Every player in the draft is therefore a risk because they haven't taken a snap in the NFL. You don't simply eschew those positions like OT that are risks because they could fail. The 49ers thought enough of Anthony Davis to take him 11th. GB chose Bulaga 23rd. Both of those organizations are not in rebuild mode, but chose OT's. You'd be hard-pressed to find an organization that hasn't used a 1st or 2nd on an OT in the past 5 seasons. Some teams are able to find guys later, but Buffalo isn't one of them. And so they select project players who they hope develop. Just once I'd like a guy with the measureables to begin from day 1. But that'd be too much of a risk. I'm quite certain that teams will key in on the run and force Buffalo to pass. When that happens, those OT's are going to need a lot of help, minimizing the options in the passing game for whomever is still upright to play QB. I see a lot of 8 in the box treatment until they can overcome the pressure. Bell and Green will be tested early and often. As for the team being "8th in rushing average" that tells only the slice of the story you'd like. They were 16th in yards and 29th in rushing TD's too. Rushing average is simply a misleading stat. Personally, I'd love to know how they fared in short yardage, how they fared on 1st and 10, and how they fared in situations where running would be harder, like say 3rd and 6. That's what tells me if they can run the ball effectively, not a cherry-picked stat which isn't specific.

46 sacks allowed last season says the OL was worse to begin with. If they're the same, I expect more of the same bad pass protection and an inability to convert in short yardage. Chalk it up to injuries, inexperience, lack of talent, whatever. They were not good and never adequately developed a plan to stock the position with talent post-Peters. Go ahead and say they couldn't do everything in one year, but rebuilding teams don't take RB's when their OT's are among the league's worst. There's a theory on TBD that says RB's can make a bad line look better which is patently false Aside from Barry Sanders and Walter Payton, there aren't many who can do this. Aside from Steven Jackson, I don't know of a good running back having success behind a bad to mediocre OL in today's NFL. IMO, Gailey attempts to build a run-first offense. How he does that with little talent at OT is beyond me. And forbid them having an injury on the interior, where no one has more than a handful of games experience at C or G.

Once Donahoe burned him by failing after having the president title, I think RW went into protect mode and has hired only known commodities for GM's as a result. Levy, Brandon, Nix. Still, I don't think Buffalo's respected enough league-wide for anyone with a lot of NFL success as a GM or HC who'll come to Buffalo. And it's the result of hiring guys like Levy, DJ, and promoting Brandon into a role he not surprisingly couldn't handle.

I'm not trying to be a smart aleck, but did you expect them to say sales were poor? Most of the stories are anecdotal, but indications from people I work with and on this board are that sales are low. The economy was very bad last year and yet they sold 55k season tickets. I don't buy that as a reason sales are down and merely a distraction from the obvious: people are no longer buying the hype from OBD. If the NFL is wildly popular and the Bills aren't selling 50k season tickets a year, something's wrong. I dare say that the NFL is a much more popular sport than it was when Buffalo was having their best ticket selling years during the SB years.

I don't think serious NFL fans are fine with their team rebuilding, but they'd admit it needs to happen when players get older and the core groups fade. Some rebuilds aren't as hard or last as long, but it's clear the Bills are entering their third rebuild in a decade. And this season reminds me a lot of 2001, though there are some differences. But the Bills are very different than a lot of teams that have rebuilt. There's a decade long playoff drought, they haven't won a playoff game since 1995, have a nonagenarian owner that will not discuss the team's future, and struggle with difficult player situations. Their PR department has a disconnect and information is tightly guarded for fear of anything bad coming out. And now, they can't release the total season ticket sales because they're probably far down from 2008 and 2009. Buffalo is very different than the other 31 NFL teams. They draft differently, make front office decisions differently, and have been able to remain merely mediocre over a long period of time. We've learned an awful lot about them just in this off-season, and not much of it is good. What we need to learn is how committed they are to winnning.

IIRC, Schobel said something about the direction of the team just before DJ was fired last November. After 9 seasons of losing, just about anyone wants to get out of that situation.

An outstanding post. Ralph is a polarizing figure, probably the most of any sports personality Buffalo has ever seen. I suppose it's impossible to ever succeed in today's NFL with RW owning the club. It's clear he spends a certain level on players because the NFL CBA mandates it. Meanwhile, spending on coaches and front office personnel is not required, and not surprisingly it's where he skimps. Amazing to think with a guy who's worth some money that he will not pay the people who are charged with finding the players that make the money.