BillsVet

You've been backing up the front office for quite some time now. My point remains that the Bills traded Peters and intended to replace him with LW at almost the outset of the off-season. Now they're changing again. This is not merely about depth chart and making cosmetic changes. We're talking about starting a second guy at the most important OLine position in four months. How many teams change their starting LT out of camp? Not many teams do. Bumping a guy up at WR or LB is one thing. Potentially changing your LT to a guy who hasn't started an NFL game is another. This is, if it happens, major stuff. If Bell starts and Walker is benched or outright released, that's 14 failed FA's fro 2006-2007. That's how I know the front office is bad.

That's a lot of transition in four months. Potentially, Walker goes from RT to LT and back to RT. Butler from RG to RT and back. Bell becomes a starter and Wood from RG to LG. Sure this is speculation, but an OL cannot be forged by repeatedly shifting players to new positions. Granted these guys are bright, but asking them to move so often is not conducive to success. This line is still in transition.

Couldn't help but notice Bell played LT in GB for a series or two. Thing is, if he becomes the starter and displaces other players, how much does that speak of the front office for saying LW would be the starting LT? Makes me wonder who's judging the roster from the front office, especially considering they figured LW would be the starter and now that could be changing.

DJ is certainly trying to field a defense full of DB's. In four drafts with DJ as HC, they've used 2 1sts, 1 2nd, 1 3rd, and 2 4ths on DB's. The result is less spent in areas we still have question marks at: pass rushers and blockers.

Never mind that Dockery, Fowler, and Preston were sent packing after 08. Peters is directly responsible for their play as well.

I have a sinking suspicion that the defense will need to be better than hoped in 09. If the no-huddle offense can't sustain drives, it's the defense which will be spending a lot more time on the field. They've had issues holding up over the course of the season That DL is the most important part of the defense. They've been OK handling the run, but if teams see Buffalo demonstrating a distinct weakness generating a pass rush, they'll throw like GB did last week. All the DB's in the world do not make up for 2 or 3 guys who can rush the passer.

If I was criticizing a team like Pittsburgh, the Giants, or the Colts, that's one thing. Those teams more often than not make the right on and off field decisions. The Bills have defied logic, what with 30 other NFL teams having made the post-season since 2000. I go to the games to be with friends second and watch football first. Perhaps that's revolutionary, but I can't stand to lose. And lately all the team has done is find ways to lose. After 9 years, Bills fans deserve more than hope. They deserve results and doing things the same way may give hope before a season, but it won't produce results in-season. There is no substitute for victory. A wise man once said that.

Buffalo is 9 for 9 this decade in getting expectations up and dropping people by the end of the season. We should be able to go into at least one season expecting to win and not just hoping to win.

Look PTR, I hate to rain on your emotionally driven rant here, but ain't much different in 09 than there was in 08. Same coaching staff. Same starting defense. Same front office. Plenty of rookies, and a much harder schedule. I'd love to wax poetic that this season will be different, but let's be serious here. DJ still coaches this team. I go to the games on Sunday because I want to see the team win. But I don't have to stand idly by and mute my opinion when for the better part of the decade the same people in management are still running the show. Sorry.

If you don't know where this team is going, you're not paying attention. Rose colored glasses are to this board what Blublockers are to senior citizens. If a team regresses during the preseason when confronted with the very defense which decimated them last season, how can that be considered pessimistic? The offense is strong at the skill positions, but weak up front. Same with the defense, where they have the guys possibly in the secondary, but the front 7 isn't stellar. This will translate into serious problems, many of which were revelated in 2008. As the OP pointed out, the lines are the issue. Buffalo's spent 12 of their top 14 picks from 06-08 on skill positions. They tried to buy an OL and it didn't work. After three drafts, they finally admitted a need to draft linemen. Too little too late for DJ and the 09 Bills, but hopefully for the future.

IMO, Vince Lombardi is the greatest coach or manager in all of major professional sports. After losing his first playoff game with GB, he said that his teams would never lose a playoff game again. They didn't and GB won 9 straight on their way to 5 World Titles.

The Bills need an owner who will let football people make football decisions. He's had mixed results when he delegates this responsibility of running the franchise. Polian was outstanding and TD was horrible. Brandon cannot be considered a GM versed in personnel, nor could his predecessor. Still, even though RB has the title of GM, he can't hire and fire coaches. The TD experience is not reason enough to avoid having to hire someone who can handle personnel.

Consider the "GM" and then what his feelings were after the inner-circle met in Detroit at the end of December. I don't believe for a second that Brandon was crazy about having DJ shoved down his throat. No one can market that guy to a fan base starving for success. TO was released on 3/4. He signed with Buffalo on 3/7. Other teams may have been interested, but none were willing to match Buffalo's price, ergo he goes to Buffalo. That was a Brandon marketing move in the wake of keeping DJ, because he knew how season ticket sales were faring.

There are those who have disallowed any sort of criticism of the team on the basis of it being preseason. Last season many of these same fans refused to permit criticism when Buffalo went 0-3 in their first division action after a 5-1 start. After three years of football and four off-seasons to acquire more talent, we're still wondering if this team is good enough. That should be enough evidence to indicate the rebuild wasn't good enough. It's time for a complete re-structuring of this team. Much like their offense, the Bills front office personnel keeps doing the same thing and expects better results.

Drafted as a SS but has been switched to FS for this fourth full season. When top 10 picks change positions, it's not usually a good moment in their careers. That is, unless you think Bryan Scott is another Troy Polamalu.

RW may be a wealthy man, but his football acumen is dreadful. Go back and see how he signed OJ just before the regular season in 76. Unfortunately he failed to the notify his HC Lou Saban, who was planning an offense that would not have Simpson. Or how Chuck Knox was not re-signed after the 82 season and left for greener pastures. Knox and Saban were the big reasons behind Buffalo's only 3 playoff appearances (in the NFL) from 1970-1987. RW likes control and struggles with people like Saban, Knox, Polian, Butler, et al. who figure they'll handle football decisions. So why not hire a coach who'll suck but won't question ownership?

TD's drafts of 2004 and 05 hurt this team a great deal. When I see guys from the 04 and 05 draft class getting long term deals (Rivers, E. Manning) it makes the selections of Losman and other misses hurt more. Levy was set up to fail not only because he didn't know what he was doing, but partially because TD's 04-05 drafts stunk. Brandon never scouted a player, negotiated a player contract, or made a trade before January 2008. His being sold as a legitimate GM (with RW making the big moves) is an insult to the intelligence of serious football fans. Good teams have good GM's or personnel people: Polian, Jerry Reese, Andy Reid, Kevin Colbert, AJ Smith, Belichick, et al. Russ isn't even in their hemisphere, and worse, he can't make the big decisions when they must be made. No one can doubt that RW and Littman made the call to keep DJ.

Say it with me: zero TD's scored by the first team offense in more than a half of football. It's the pre-season, but we are allowed to draw conclusions when the starters are not as good as other team's starters. Regardless of whether you're willing to admit it, there are similarities between the post-season and regular season.

The Bills are quite adept at building a team with sufficient depth to avert disaster if one significant player goes down. They don't need Levi Brown nor Derrick Brooks simply because OT and LB are already very deep with late round draft picks, street free agents, and undrafted free agents.

With all the trouble they've had against 3-4 defenses, yesterday should have been a better opportunity than what they made it. If it's true they trotted out a vanilla game-plan on offense and defense, my question is why? It seems like they're more concerned with not showing anything than actually using pre-season to prepare for the regular season. We'll see if they change their tune when Pittsburgh hosts them next week. If we thought GB was rough, I've got a feeling Harrison and Woodley will be a much bigger challenge.

Even though the league can keep teams relatively equal in salary cap dollars, they can do nothing about the people who actually use that money. There's no question a chasm exists between the bottom feeders and those who regularly have post-season success. PIT, IND, and SD aren't big UFA users. NE hasn't signed a big UFA since Adalius Thomas in 2007. Yet all four win season after season. I chalk it up to talent evaluation in the draft, and they've all built long term successful organizations this way. I recall when Jerry Jones was spending big in the mid 90s and pushing cap jail off one more season. It didn't work. Now, teams realize success does not lie with spending more in UFA, but remaining far beneath the cap max and doing the due diligence before draft day. It is possible to rebuild quickly, so long as a team has the right people upstairs who can identify and draft talent. Atlanta and Miami did it, but not without their ownership looking in the mirror and realizing there was a huge problem. My problem with the Bills is on two fronts: coaching and management. There's no question talent exists on both sides of the ball, although not as much as I'd like in the trenches. 2009 should be interesting, but if they have a bad season, I'm interested to see how management beyond the coaching staff is addressed.

How many teams open the season 0-3 and make the playoffs? Starting 0-3 You'd better jump to conclusions after Week 3. Do the research first.

I was not at RWS during the final days of TD's tenure. But I've read and spoke with season ticket holders from 2005 that it was got ugly. It's still August and opening day isn't for another 3 weeks, but if this team starts off slow, I anticipate big problems at RWS. You can only hype a team so much before fans demand results. For three years the team has talked about the good things without really changing anything. Promising everything and delivering nothing is wearing thin among Bills fans.

DJ's biggest issue in nearly 9 seasons as a NFL HC is an inability to find good coordinators. No one he's hired as a DC or OC has ever been considered for a NFL HC job. Thus far, he's gone through six coordinators in 8 seasons of being a full time HC. None of them (Gary Crowton, John Shoop, Greg Blache, Steve Fairchild, Perry Fewell, and Turk Schonert) should be considered innovative or up and coming coordinators. If the man can't pick a coordinator, then I can't see him knowing his own players.

The front office has been essentially in place for the better part of the decade. They have not earned the benefit of the doubt, and waiting for them to deliver in personnel is worthless. In the last five season of AFC play, 4 teams (PIT, NE, IND, and SD) account for 17 of the 30 playoff appearances. Obviously the executives in those franchises, Kevin Colbert, Belichick/Pioli, Polian, and AJ Smith have it figured out. Another five teams (NYJ, DEN, BAL, TEN, and JAC) have been in the post-season twice. That means 9 out of the 16 AFC teams account for 90% of the playoff berths. Just four teams have not made the playoffs in the past five seasons of AFC play: BUF, OAK, CIN, and HOU. This front office is being schooled, especially the owner who isn't a Mike Brown, but still has his hands all over this failure. After three seasons, I expect more. This teams is 3 seasons removed from an almost total rebuild. They need to win now, not 2-3 years from now. And that means nuking the organization if they don't win in 2009.