Cash

I'll say it. And all his tackles are 5 yards past the line of scrimmage.

Buddy Nix has repeatedly and specifically identified a need for a long-term starter at quarterback, sometimes even while endorsing Fitx as the current starter. (Something along the lines of, "we love Fitz, but he's not young. We want a guy who can step in when he's gone and start for 10, 12 years.") None of your above examples should be considered an attempt to address Nix's own stated need. He didn't bring in Brohm. 7th-rounders are drafted as camp fodder, and it's a pleasant surprise when they make the team. There's no sane way to claim that Levi Brown was a legit attempt to find a franchise guy, any more than buying a Powerball ticket could be considered responsible retirement planning. Thigpen and Young were brought in as veteran backups in case Fitz got hurt. There was no thought of either challenging Fitz for the starting job or being handed the reins once Fitz got old. This was made abundantly clear by the team when each was signed. T-Jack is just weird, because the team wasn't as clear about why they traded for him, and I don't think I've ever heard of a guy being traded for and then being a healthy scratch for all 16 games. If you want proof of the Bills' dysfunction, there you have it. In any case, T-Jack was never given an opportunity to compete for playing time this year, and at 29 years old, couldn't be considered a long-term option. I would put this acquisition into the same category as Thigpen and Young So while Nix has made a few attempts to address the Bills' backup QB situation, he has made only one move to address the Bills' starting QB situation in the short or long term: Namely, giving Ryan Fitzpatrick a contract extension. Other than that, he has completely ignored the starting QB position. He's payed a lot of lip service to addressing that position, but hasn't actually made any acquisitions.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Nix has specifically stressed the need to draft a franchise QB before each of his 3 drafts. And yet he's only drafted a 7th-round prospect who was cut in camp and not offered a spot on the practice squad. And in those 3 drafts, numerous quality starters have emerged. It's not very fair to count Bradford, Newton, Luck, or RG3 against Nix, because he would've had to trade up for them (and Luck essentially couldn't have been acquired at any price), but it is *extremely* fair to count Dalton, Kaepernick, and Wilson against him, particularly since the players he drafted immediately in front of those three have been abject busts so far. So Nix has been a failure in this respect. By his own standards, even. If he says he needs to get a QB in the draft, then doesn't get one because "there wasn't one that we liked at that spot", but it turns out that 2 good starters were available at that spot, he failed at his job. Beyond that, his job is to build a team that wins football games, so he's failed at the overall object of his job.

This is also the scenario that scares me. That's why I'd kinda prefer a QB taken in the 2nd round this year. (Unless Geno Smith drops? I think Geno's pretty good. Nowhere near Luck or RG3 as a prospect, though.) Because if a 2nd-rounder flops, it's not tough to come back and draft a QB in the first the following year. (See Jimmy Claussen/Cam Newton.) NFL teams are extremely conservative and extremely risk averse, and there no way that a team is going to draft a QB at #8 overall, then draft another QB in the 1st round the following year. (Unless the first QB's career was ended by injury or illness or something.) Maybe the NFL's culture will eventually change to a point that that could happen, but we're not close to that now. So if we draft QB at #8, he'd better be good, because he'll get at least 2 and probably 3 years to show that he is.

Interesting. Certainly an impressive highlight reel (the "knee didn't touch" punt return was SICK), he's got ideal size, and he definitely looks like a natural receiver. Physically very reminiscent of Dez Bryant. The concerns: 1.) He's college fast, but not NFL fast. Don't really care about this one. Megatron & AJ Green are probably the 2 best WRs and also the 2 best deep threats in the league right now, and neither has elite NFL speed. Patterson looks fast enough, especially at his size. 2.) He only played 1 season that I can tell, putting up 46 catches for 778 yards and 5 TDs. Those are unimpressive numbers, and not a lot of experience. Anyone who follows college football care to weigh in on why? College WRs numbers don't necessarily translate well to pro success, but to draft a guy in the top 10, you'd like a little more experience at least. Can this guy run routes? Can he learn a playbook? Can he beat press coverage?

Finally, the authoritative word on this story: http://www.nma.tv/manti-teo-notre-dame-football-star-hoaxed-hoaxster/

Well said, as were SJBF's posts upthread. I would add that even beyond the overt lies (we caught each other's eye after the Stanford game, vacationed in Hawaii, etc.), Te'o still comes across poorly in the scenario where he's the victim. His family thought he was going to marry this girl, Te'o talked about her as the love of his life, etc. Now the story is that this was an online-only (and also telephone) relationship. Those two accounts don't jibe well with one other, even though they could technically both be true. If Te'o's the victim, here's what he needs to do: First, provide the type of evidence SJBF is talking about. There should be mounds of it, since Te'o alleged that they would have 8-hour phone conversations and talk on the phone every night. Second, he needs to produce the female hoaxer who was talking on the phone with him every night. Deadspin has given us Tuiasasopo, who seems to be the principle hoaxer, but if Te'o's story is to be believed, there must've been a woman who was just as deeply involved. I'm guessing a mastermind hoaxer of this magnitude would've made all calls on a burner phone, but she would have to have some significant connection to Tuiasasopo. Maybe ND's private investigators already found this woman, and that's why ND is so willing to stand by Te'o? Maybe. But if that's the case, the info will be leaked sooner or later, or the press will find her on their own. Either way, if the female hoaxer exists, she can be found, and if Te'o wants to clear his name, she must be found. Those things would be enough to convince me that his current story is true, and that what he's guilty of is being an idiot and an embellisher. (I.e., embellishing the significance of his online-only relationship by lying about how often they talked on the phone and met in person.) EDIT: A couple people have mentioned this, but it bears repeating: If Te'o was so in love with this girl to the point his family thought they would marry, why didn't he ever visit her grave or her family? I get the reason he never went to the fake funeral, and it's possible that the hoaxers set up a fake address for him to send flowers to, but she fake died in September. He then went 3 months without paying a visit to the "love of [his] life"'s final resting place or family? ND even went to USC after the fake death, right? That's a pretty quick trip up the coast up to NoCal -- why didn't he take it? This doesn't prove anything -- everyone grieves in their own way -- but it seems odd to me, and it doesn't pass the smell test.

I didn't think of the gay angle until people brought it up here. It's the only non-sociopathic explanation I can think of so far. Raymond Burr and his publicist apparently made up a fake wife and child who fake died in a fake plane crash to explain why he could never marry again and would stay single forever. Bingo. Bingo. And claimed to have vacationed in Hawaii. The Dad angle is interesting to me. He claimed to have talked to her over the phone after she got released from Imaginary Hospital. Was Dad lying, or was there a female hoaxer? If so, who is she? If Dad was lying, this makes the twitter necro-beard angle pretty suspect. However, if Dad was duped, that's still very much in play. Obvious troll is obvious. Two ways: 1.) Having a known sociopath on your roster is not good for team chemistry. 2.) The argument in favor of Te'o is that his physical skills aren't the best, but he's such an amazing leader and will definitely be the heart & soul of your defense, that'll make up for it. Te'o boosters frequently refer to the grandma/girlfriend death story to point out his strength of character. But if he made up the girlfriend, that shows not only an extreme lack of character, but the presence of some extremely unpleasant personality traits. And since it's public now, all of his other teammates will know this as well. It'll be very hard for him to be the team leader at that point. Bolded part is key. No acknowledgement of his prior claims to have met her in person at the Stanford game, or to have brought her with him to Hawaii. Te'o either lied in his earlier interviews or he's lying here.

Crossman's ranks: 2005 (CAR): 5th overall/10th weighted 2006 (CAR): 24th/23rd 2007 (CAR): 30th/28th 2008 (CAR): 10th/8th 2009 (CAR): 29th/25th 2010 (DET): 11th/15th 2011 (DET): 29th/31st 2012 (DET): 30th/23rd Pros: Has real NFL experience in the job he's doing for us. Has had some success in his position. Cons: Has had more failure than success. Has presided over some really awful units.. All in all, I have no problems with replacing DeHaven -- our coverage units were bad last year, the punters and kickers didn't seem to be handled well, and I don't give the ST coach much credit for a dynamic returner like McKelvin. McKelvin was an awesome KR/PR in college and very good with the Bills prior to DeHaven. I don't know that Crossman will do any better, but at least he's had a couple good seasons. Maybe he's just been laden with really bad talent on the special teams units? Don't like this hire, but I don't hate it either. Assuming Bobby April's still pissed at the Bills, I don't know who's available who would be a better candidate. I'd also like to point out that Marrone's SU teams were consistently awful on special teams. Just terrible. Won't necessarily translate to the NFL, but it is relevant.

Haven't listened to the interview yet, but read most of the quotes. Very enthused by what I've seen. My reservations about Pettine were 1.) How much of the D was run by Rex Ryan, and 2.) Is he a 3-4 guy? Because if so, that sets us back. #1 won't be answered until we see the D in games, so I won't worry about it till then. But I'm definitely not worried about #2 after Pettine's comments. I feel pretty good about this hire. Pettine has been able to learn from a lot of greats, and hopefully he's ready to come into his own.

Drafted 9th overall. 2nd round, 38th overall 5th round, 154th overall Undrafted in 241 selections 15th overall 9th overall, and isn't it a little early to start calling him a premium player? Carolina's defense wasn't exactly setting the world on fire last year. My point is not that Kuechly sucks. It's that either A.) He hasn't become a premium player yet, or B.) Even having a premium player at MLB doesn't do much for your defense. Obviously having a good MLB, especially in terms of the defensive quarterbacking, is good. But I disagree that it's critical. I'll take Aldon Smith over Patrick Willis 100 times out of 100. Who was the Giants' premium MLB in either of their 2 recent Super Bowl runs? Here's a quick summary of my argument: 1.) I disagree that it's critical to have a premium MLB, but do acknowledge that it's good to have one. 2.) I don't think drafting an interior LB in the top 10 is smart, because most of them don't become premium players (more on that later). I will concede that if your MLB winds up becoming an elite player/defensive quarterback, then that's worth a top 10 pick. 3.) I don't see much evidence that suggests that Manti Te'o will be a transformative player on the level of Ray Lewis, Urlacher, Junior Seau, Singletary, etc. 4.) Therefore, I do not want the Bills to draft Manti Te'o at #8 overall. No prediction on whether they will or not. Lastly, here are the ILB/MLBs drafted in the top half of the first round since 2000. I don't find the list very impressive, but some may disagree. Luke Kuechly Rolando McLain Aaron Curry Brian Cushing Keith Rivers Jerrod Mayo Patrick Willis Lawrence Timmons A.J. Hawk Ernie Sims Derrick Johnson Jonathan Vilma Dan Morgan LaVar Arrington Brian Urlacher

Any QB metric that fails to account for the QB's ability to complete passes is probably going to be very limited. Granted, winning games will tend to correlate somewhat with completing passes, but it's pretty far removed.

And yet, somehow, multiple trades happen in the first round every year. I think I would enjoy watching the draft with you: "Another trade?! Inconceivable!" "You keep using that word. I don't think that word means what you think it means." Good breakdown; I agree with just about all of this. I'm not going to crucify Te'o on one game, but I definitely don't want him at #8, even in a weak draft.

Pretty good breakdown. The counter to the pros would be: 1.) In B-more, was first assistant D-line coach, then promoted to OLB coach. Not even LB coach, just OLBs. Not a ton of responsibility. 2.) How much work did he actually do as the Jets' nominal D-coordinator? If a team with a defensive-minded head coach tried to hire Curtis Modkins as their OC, we would laugh at them for days on end. I've been under the impression that Rex was his own DC up until I clicked on this thread. Still, his resume beats out George Edwards', so that's something I guess. EDIT: Hit "post" too soon. I should also mention that even if he wasn't really coordinating the D for the Jets the last 4 years, he was presumably learning on the job from Rex Ryan, who is one of the best in the biz. So even in the worst case, there's some hope. I really really don't want to switch back to a 3-4, though.

Very good hypothetical. I would prefer the proven guy who's almost certainly a short-timer, whether that's a fired HC or not. (Monte Kiffen was mentioned in another thread as a possible DC, as an example.) Because even if the up-and-comer is really good, he'll still be a candidate for vacancies in the next couple years. Any successful coordinator usually gets HC interviews. And with a relatively inexperienced HC, I want more experience and a track record of NFL success for the coordinators.

I like the fact that he specifically said he wanted the coordinators to have NFL experience... hopefully that means experience in that job in the NFL, not just a QB coach and a D-line coach.

I'll take your word for it on the departures -- I do remember that the one year had way more than the other year, but don't remember which year it was. Careful what you wish for -- Gregg Williams was a tough disciplinarian as well. I think most fans put way too much stock into things like how tough a guy is or how animated he gets on the sidelines. Tony Dungy and Bill Cowher have won the same number of Super Bowls.

I very much see Glennon as a Locker/Ponder/Gabbert type. I'd rather have no one than one of those 3. Honestly, unless someone jumps out at me (I don't watch much college football till draft time, except for SU), I think I'd rather have us take someone in round 2. That way, if he busts (and probably will), we can come back and draft QB at the top next year. But you can't draft a guy in the first round and give him only 1 year. I could live with Nassib in the 2nd or 3rd round. It'll be interesting to see where he winds up being slotted. He's definitely not worth a first-round pick, though.

Actually they went 4-7 his first year, then 8-5 the next year. Then 5-7 in year three, and another 8-5 to round it out. And I don't think only 6 scholarship players left the first year, but I'm not sure. I know the number is around 22 for the first 2 years combined.

Yeah, I'd have no problem with Marrone bringing a couple of his Cuse staffers along with him, especially at the position coach level. I'm sure I could live with exactly 1 of his coordinators if it came down to it, but I'd really much prefer coordinators with NFL experience. Apparently one of the reasons Marrone was wiling/looking to leave his "dream job" (his words) was because SU wasn't able to pay his assistants enough, so I'm hoping Marrone agrees with me. In addition, SU's special teams were awful all 4 years under Marrone, and he kept switching up the coaching responsibilities for special teams. I don't think he ever actually had a dedicated special teams coach, but if he did, that guy didn't last long. I think Marrone coached special teams himself a couple of years, and had one of the position coaches do it the other years. I think it was the TE coach doubling as special teams coach this past year? Not sure. Anyway, I'm kind of hoping that this was one of the "SU cheaps out their coaching assistants" things, and that Marrone is capable of hiring a real special teams coach and devoting enough practice time to making it work. I can live without the elite special teams we enjoyed under April, but SU's were terrible. Think about how bad our kick/punt coverage was this year, but imagine that our return game was even worse. That was SU's special teams the last 4 years.

Good point, I didn't even think about the money. Taking a demotion would earn him the same money as not working at all, assuming his Bears contract had offsets in it. If I'm Lovie (or his agent), I tell people that a Super Bowl (losing) coach with over 80 career wins is a head coach and head coach only. As for whom I'd want, a lot of people have tossed around Marrone's Cuse coordinators, but count me out. Again, I did like the job Marrone did at SU, but bringing along both his coordinators is kind of ridiculous. This is the big leagues; lets try to act like it. Besides, I'm very sick of having the new HC's staff be primarily nobodies from the college ranks who are billed as "teachers". I know both Gailey and Jauron raved about how their crews of chumps were such great teachers, and I think at least one of Greggggo and Meathead did as well. "Teachers" is code for "no NFL experience at this job." Marrone has 4 years of HC experience -- none in the NFL -- and 3 years of NFL O-coordinator experience, but somewhat analogous to Curtis Modkins' position the last 3 years. I think his success his much more likely if he can surround himself with guys with some NFL experience and particularly NFL success. I'm afraid I don't know many coordinators or position coaches around the league, so I don't have any specific names in mind, but that's the profile I'm looking for. Out of the 6 other fired coaches, there's probably a couple decent coordinators. I'd be more encouraged to see our coordinators be making lateral moves than getting promoted. I.e., our OC should ideally be a fired HC or OC, and likewise with our DC. Of course, the all-time terrible promotion was hiring a fired Offensive Coordinator, who then spent a year out of football, to be your Head Coach. We said it was a terrible hire at the time, and we were proven right. This hire is a lot more defensible; let's hope it goes well. Go Bills!

Guys, seriously? Lovie Smith has been an NFL head coach for 9 seasons, with a total record of 84-66 (3-3 playoffs), with 3 playoff appearances, 1 Super Bowl appearance (with Rex Grossman at QB, no less), and went 10-6 this past year. He's going to accept a D-coordinator job? And even if he would, do you really think he'd take that job with the Bills? He flew out to Arizona so the Bills could interview him. By all accounts, he really wanted the Bills job, possibly the most out of any of the 6 non-Bears coaching vacancies. He's clearly the #2 most qualified and accomplished candidate on the market behind Andy Reid, and clearly #1 out of candidates the Bills interviewed. But they spurned him and went with a relatively unknown/untested college coach whose resume is questionable*. That's their prerogative, and let's hope it works out. But if you were Lovie, with his resume, and you threw yourself at a crap team like the Bills only to be beat out by a less-qualified candidate, would you accept a career stepdown to work for that less-qualified candidate? I say hell no. I think at the end of the day, he gets a HC job, but if he doesn't, I think it's more likely he takes a year off than steps down to DC. *Homers, relax. Questionable does not mean bad. It means there's legit questions. I liked the job he did at SU, but the bottom line is that his best season (twice) was 8-5 and a Pinstripe Bowl win. There's nothing there that says he's a lock for NFL success. Remember, SU was a very disappointing 5-7 in 2011, and Marrone was pretty much on the hot seat after the weak start this year.

Fun watch, thanks for posting! Although it would've been more fun if there weren't so many games with only 1 clip.

We did give Jauron an additional season. It was terrible. Ham Shandy keeps ignoring this, while avoiding every question/argument that's at the core of this discussion, and only arguing ridiculous peripherals like, "could anyone have predicted Jim Harbaugh would be a good coach or Steve Spurrier would be a bad coach?" or "how do we know the players have lost confidence?" I certainly don't know for sure, but after 8 pages of this thread, it seems to me that our friend Hambone Calrissian is either very young or a troll. If it's the former, free pass. I was probably worse at that age. If it's the latter, it's frankly one of the more annoying trolls I've seen. But that's just my preference; I much prefer the over-the-top comedic trolling of a crayonz or a Jimmy Spaghetti, Boastful Jets Fan. (I know he didn't/doesn't call himself Jimmy Spaghetti, but I'm not looking it up. Close enough.) I mean, I give credit for getting me to bite so many times, but it's pretty weak bait. Start arguing that losing to Seattle gives us a playoff tiebreaker and have people take that bait, now that's what impresses me.

Totally agree, and that's one of the reasons I don't want us to sign Smith (unless we also draft a QB, at which point why not just keep Fitz and draft a QB?). But the one valid point Ham Sando has made in this thread is that you can't predict how good a new hire will be, and certainly can't expect him to be as good as Harbaugh. I don't see that as a good enough argument on its own, because even a 1% chance of the new guy being good is better than the 0% chance (as I see it) of Chan becoming a good coach. I think the point I'm trying to make is that there's value in keeping a guy with talent around, even if he doesn't show it as often as you'd like, because the problem may be as much coaching as anything else. When you finally find that good coach, he'll be successful a lot sooner if he's got some talent to work with when he arrives. This doesn't mean that every high draft pick gets to stay on the team forever: Cutting Aaron Maybin when they did was absolutely the right move, and if Aaron Williams stays this bad over the next couple years, there's no way you could bring him back. EDIT: Just want to say that I guess part of my point is that one of the reasons we've continued to suck these 13 years is that we haven't been keeping our players around. Cut Fletcher, draft Poz. Let Poz walk, sign Barnett. Trade McGahee for a pair of 3rd rounders, draft Lynch at #12 instead of bolstering the O-line. Trade Lynch for a pair of 4th rounders, draft Spiller at #9 instead of getting a pass rusher. Winfield, Clements, and Jabari Greer all left as free agents in their primes and were at least okay starters elsewhere. Now, I don't think that Gregggggg or Meathead or Dick "Walking Dead" Jauron would have done very well if we had retained all those guys or even most of them. But maybe Jauron goes 9-7 one year instead of his standard 7-9. Maybe we would've even snuck into the playoffs as a #6 seed one year.