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How did we get worse?


Dorkington

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Switch out TO for Spiller, and a couple other lower level players. Our line is now set and consistent. We apparently got better coaching.

 

How did we get so much worse?

Did you forget that we have a much harder schedule and the other AFC East teams have all gotten better.

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Switch out TO for Spiller, and a couple other lower level players. Our line is now set and consistent. We apparently got better coaching.

 

How did we get so much worse?

 

We gutted the two units that were keeping us in games (defense/ST) while making only marginal gains in last year's liability unit (offense).

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Why do some people assume we have better coaching? There's no evidence that Gailey & his staff are better than what we had. Think about this-If Fewell had stayed instead of Gailey replacing him do you really think Trent Edwards would have had any chance of starting the 1st 2 games? Fewell was a big Fitzpatrick guy. When all is said & done, Fewell & his staff will be looking pretty darn good. Also, Jauron wasn't nearly as bad as some of you think. Gailey has done nothing since his arrival to make me believe he can get more victories out of the same players as either Jauron or Fewell. With the exception of OC, last year's staff was better.

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The answer lies on the other side of the ball: the pathetic, and worsening, defense.

 

As porous as our 4-3 D was last year, it's even lamer this year because of Gailey & company's decision to switch to the 3-4. That may pay dividends in the long run. But given the personnel they inherited, it is baffling that they did so little to make the transition. A 3-4 needs LBs who can rush the passer and cover and a space-eating NT. We had none of the above, and the Bills' (evidently-lobotomized) Brain Trust did almost nothing in FA or the draft to address those needs.

 

So, as angry as we all get watching Kelsay flounder 8-yards behind the opposing team's TEs and RBs, it's not his fault that the coaches put him in a position he is biologically and temperamentally unsuited for. It's like entering a bloodhound in a greyhound race and expecting him to compete. Ain't gonna happen.

 

That's also why Ralph's pleas for "patience" ring so hollow. We've already endured a 10-year playoff drought, yet the people we're supposed to put our faith in don't seem to have a plan - unless you're one of the conspiracy theorists who believe they intentionally tried to engineer a winless season to nab the top pick in the draft.

 

Personally, I fear that the problem isn't that the folks in the Bills front office don't have a plan; it's that they - like their owner - don't seem to have a clue.

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Why do some people assume we have better coaching? There's no evidence that Gailey & his staff are better than what we had. Think about this-If Fewell had stayed instead of Gailey replacing him do you really think Trent Edwards would have had any chance of starting the 1st 2 games? Fewell was a big Fitzpatrick guy. When all is said & done, Fewell & his staff will be looking pretty darn good. Also, Jauron wasn't nearly as bad as some of you think. Gailey has done nothing since his arrival to make me believe he can get more victories out of the same players as either Jauron or Fewell. With the exception of OC, last year's staff was better.

 

 

I wish Fewell had retained the job and they instead had brought in Gailey as OC. Fewell was the perfect fit as our head coach. Young, smart, passionate about the game and he wanted the job. Gailey has out and out fubared the defense.

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I think the difference lies in the two coaches' philosophies. Jauron's goal was seemingly to put a team on the field that would not be embarrassed, and if wins come as a result that's a bonus. Not exactly the way to build a championship contender. Gailey's goal is to win. Unfortunately, as they say, you have to break some eggs to make an omelet. What we are seeing this year, and probably next, is the breaking of a lot of eggs.

 

The true test of the Nix/Gailey "plan" will come in 2012. We'll either have a tasty omelet, or egg on our faces.

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We gutted the two units that were keeping us in games (defense/ST) while making only marginal gains in last year's liability unit (offense).

 

Exactly - that's how we got worse this year.

 

From a big picture perspective, how the organization has gotten worse over the years is that Wilson is getting older and has been making worse decisions year after year in terms of the draft, hiring coaches and management. He still makes these decisions, which he clearly is not capable of.

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Inaction in the offseason and bad drafting. Everyone else has gotten better. We have not. You're switching 4-3 to 3-4. They didn't purge of the old 4-3 players and bring in 3-4 players. We didn't go after big time free agents (I don't care if they have to break the bank) It's not our money. Get Dansby, Get Julius Peppers here. It's all about bad talent evaluation by this current coaching staff. Yes they inherited it. But their inaction this offseason has killed it even more. And Yes Perry Fewell is prob the best coach we had here in a decade. I wish we did keep him.

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I think the difference lies in the two coaches' philosophies. Jauron's goal was seemingly to put a team on the field that would not be embarrassed, and if wins come as a result that's a bonus. Not exactly the way to build a championship contender. Gailey's goal is to win. Unfortunately, as they say, you have to break some eggs to make an omelet. What we are seeing this year, and probably next, is the breaking of a lot of eggs.

 

The true test of the Nix/Gailey "plan" will come in 2012. We'll either have a tasty omelet, or egg on our faces.

That seems to be the prevailing wisdom around here, but I just don't see any evidence of it. I think you're just telling yourself that to make yourself feel better and don't even want to consider the fact that maybe Gailey is worse than Jauron. I certainly don't think he's 'cracking eggs' as you say. If so, he'd be going for it on 4th down more often, playing the younger players to see what he's got and just generally taking more chances. Sorry, but he looks just as lost as Jauron out there. Just because he talks more and is a little more animated doesn't mean anything.

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Guest dog14787

No Schobel. The team was 3-8 without Schobel in 2008.

 

 

 

Losing Schobel cost us our only decent pass rusher, losing TO cost us our best WR, our TE position up until now was being manned by a very inexperienced player,Jonathan Stupar (and I like Stupar) a new defense and offense is being installed, new coaching and we could go on and on,

 

The sales pitch at the beginning of the season had us believing we would have better results, but you can't really blame the organization for trying to sell tickets.

 

Now that the initial sting of losing one of my favorite players is fading, I'm trying to look at the season the way we should have been looking at the season, the way some of the more logical posters were telling us to look at this season. (rebuilding/poor record)

 

 

Myself personally, I've been an A-hole lately, but I'm going to try to lose the bad attitude for everyone's sake...

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Everyone has gotten better through FA, trades, coaching changes, and impact players found in the draft while we have not gotten better with any of those things. Factor in the schedule we have this year and you have your answer.

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Why do some people assume we have better coaching? There's no evidence that Gailey & his staff are better than what we had. Think about this-If Fewell had stayed instead of Gailey replacing him do you really think Trent Edwards would have had any chance of starting the 1st 2 games? Fewell was a big Fitzpatrick guy. When all is said & done, Fewell & his staff will be looking pretty darn good. Also, Jauron wasn't nearly as bad as some of you think. Gailey has done nothing since his arrival to make me believe he can get more victories out of the same players as either Jauron or Fewell. With the exception of OC, last year's staff was better.

I have no idea!

 

5 games in and we still haven't seen a decent game plan. The players look slow, out of place, and unmotivated. While I could entertain discussion that Gailey is a better HC than Jauron, there's no doubt that Modkins and Edwards are not qualified coordinators. Gailey, himself, may not be a bad coach. He could possibly be a decent HC. But, name the last HC that was also the OC and found success. That's what Gailey's trying to do and it's not working. And Edwards... well.. damn.

 

With all the parity in the league now, coaching has become one of the larger factors in determining who wins and who doesn't. It appears Nix totally blew it on his coaching staff.

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Guest dog14787

I have no idea!

 

5 games in and we still haven't seen a decent game plan. The players look slow, out of place, and unmotivated. While I could entertain discussion that Gailey is a better HC than Jauron, there's no doubt that Modkins and Edwards are not qualified coordinators. Gailey, himself, may not be a bad coach. He could possibly be a decent HC. But, name the last HC that was also the OC and found success. That's what Gailey's trying to do and it's not working. And Edwards... well.. damn.

 

With all the parity in the league now, coaching has become one of the larger factors in determining who wins and who doesn't. It appears Nix totally blew it on his coaching staff.

 

 

Most teams would cringe at the Bills schedule and the thought of playing the Jets, Pats and Fish each twice a season.

 

We were expecting way to much to begin with, at least I was anyway,

 

next up, the Ravens...

Edited by dog14787
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Most teams would cringe at the Bills schedule and the thought of playing the Jets, Pats and Fish each twice a season.

 

We were expecting way to much to begin with, at least I was anyway,

 

next up, the Ravens...

I picked us to go 3-13 at the beginning of the season & even that looks unattainable. :oops:

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Guest dog14787

Didn't we play the lowly Jags and got killed???

 

 

killed? and the Jags just beat the not so lowly Colts a week earlier.

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Most teams would cringe at the Bills schedule and the thought of playing the Jets, Pats and Fish each twice a season.

 

We were expecting way to much to begin with, at least I was anyway,

 

next up, the Ravens...

 

Yes they are going to be bad during this process but i can understand some of your frustrations when you see a guy like Kelsey trying to cover ANYONE. Like the other posts have said, that isn't his fault, I am sure he would rather be rushing the QB. I have been telling people from day one this is a rebuilding year but at the same time I was there at the Fins game hoping against hope that Gailey would catch lightning in a bottle and somehow magically fixed Trent Edwards and that the three headed monster of our backfield was going to be a nightmare for opposing defenses. Deep down you know the truth, you just wanted to be optimistic during the only time of the season when you can be as a Bills fan lately. We are all a bit delusional from time to time. It's only human.

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Most teams would cringe at the Bills schedule and the thought of playing the Jets, Pats and Fish each twice a season.

 

We were expecting way to much to begin with, at least I was anyway,

 

next up, the Ravens...

 

 

Yeah the scedule is rediculous-

 

Jets, pats, phins 2x, Ravens, Packers, Steelers That is brutal right there.

 

On the stat sheet the offense is dramatically better, the run defense is dramatically worse. I can only guess the scheme switch and Schoebel factor into the degradation in the run D as other than that there were few changes (Troup, Edwards and Davis were all improvement in my book). However if you have to rip the band aid off and 3-4 will be better for the team long term then this seems like as good a time as any to get on with it.

Edited by over 20 years of fanhood
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The answer lies on the other side of the ball: the pathetic, and worsening, defense.

 

As porous as our 4-3 D was last year, it's even lamer this year because of Gailey & company's decision to switch to the 3-4. That may pay dividends in the long run. But given the personnel they inherited, it is baffling that they did so little to make the transition. A 3-4 needs LBs who can rush the passer and cover and a space-eating NT. We had none of the above, and the Bills' (evidently-lobotomized) Brain Trust did almost nothing in FA or the draft to address those needs.

 

So, as angry as we all get watching Kelsay flounder 8-yards behind the opposing team's TEs and RBs, it's not his fault that the coaches put him in a position he is biologically and temperamentally unsuited for. It's like entering a bloodhound in a greyhound race and expecting him to compete. Ain't gonna happen.

 

That's also why Ralph's pleas for "patience" ring so hollow. We've already endured a 10-year playoff drought, yet the people we're supposed to put our faith in don't seem to have a plan - unless you're one of the conspiracy theorists who believe they intentionally tried to engineer a winless season to nab the top pick in the draft.

 

Personally, I fear that the problem isn't that the folks in the Bills front office don't have a plan; it's that they - like their owner - don't seem to have a clue.

 

Nailed it. Nice post. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

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I know when I first looked at our schedule there were what I thought to be 3 or 4 guaranteed wins in; chiefs, Jags, Lions, and the Browns. At this point I don't know who we can beat.

 

If we can stay within 8 points of the Pats and 5 of the Fins (with TE and NO offense) then I am sure at some point this season (against the Browns i would think at this point) a few lucky things will go our way and we will get a win. Even a broken clock is right twice a day right?

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Most teams would cringe at the Bills schedule and the thought of playing the Jets, Pats and Fish each twice a season.

 

We were expecting way to much to begin with, at least I was anyway,

 

next up, the Ravens...

I'm not expecting much... just field a competitive team. Gailey and company are having significant trouble doing that. Many posters, here, chose to blame the players and say we don't have any NFL caliber starters. I disagree. I think we're lacking NFL caliber coaches, as evidenced by many players complete drop off in performance from last year to this year.

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Everyone has gotten better through FA, trades, coaching changes, and impact players found in the draft while we have not gotten better with any of those things. Factor in the schedule we have this year and you have your answer.

 

Playing better teams brought out the real truth about the Bills: They simply lack talent to compete with the serious teams. The Jets game was an outright embarrassment. You can fool yourself into believing that in the prior years the wins against the lower teams were meaningful. They were not. The mediocre record the past few years only disguised how really bad the Bills were.

 

The Bills didn't address many needs in the offseason. Most new GMs are involved in a flurry of activity when taking over a dismal team. For the most part Buddy Nix was passive. The strategy to turn things around is to rely on the draft. That means the Bills are years around from even being competitive. If you expect things to be significantly different next year then you are deluding yourself. The 92 owner said the fans will have to endure pain and have a lot of patience. That is what you are going to get.

 

Most outsiders were well aware that our owner and his organization were a joke. Now the reality is starting to hit the locals. Being ridiculed is not very much fun. You need to get used to it because there is more to come.

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If we can stay within 8 points of the Pats and 5 of the Fins (with TE and NO offense) then I am sure at some point this season (against the Browns i would think at this point) a few lucky things will go our way and we will get a win. Even a broken clock is right twice a day right?

 

Haha that is a good one. I was hoping this to be the year we finally beat Cleveland. To me it just seems the bottom dwellers of old that I used to pity have all improved.

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Guest dog14787

The team does not BILLIEVE in themselves. Pretty obvious

 

 

Regardless of how folks feel about players like Mitchell,Edwards or Marshawn Lynch, when removed from the roster for various reasons in such a short time span the team is going to take a hit on team chemistry.

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This isn't about other teams and what they did to get better, its all about the Buffalo Bills and how they failed to get better... same owner and most front office is the first reason.

 

The owner promotes a director of college scouting to GM in hopes of finding another cheaper version of Bill Polian, he didn't. He found just what he hired, someone not really qualified to be a GM and he has already proven that fact in the draft and free agency, plus the HC he hired.

 

Speaking of the head coach, everyone seems to forget that this guy was FIRED in his last job as an Offensive coordinator as his team went 2-14.... that number look familiar, because that is around what the Bills record will be this year. Only the Buffalo Bills would dig up a guy who was fired in his last job because he sucked and then promote him to a position above the position he just failed miserably in. For crying out loud take off the freaking rose colored glasses and see what the guy really is, a bad choice and realize this head coach is way worse then Dick Jauron.... Even AVP would have made a better head coach this then has-been... both Nix and Gailey might be good guys and good ole boys, but both are bums at their current jobs and not fit to run an NFL team.

 

The Bills fired the guy who could have taken this team to a winning season this year, his name was Perry Fewell,,,, as usual the owner doesn't realize what he has until after he fires him

Edited by Harvey lives
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The answer lies on the other side of the ball: the pathetic, and worsening, defense.

 

As porous as our 4-3 D was last year, it's even lamer this year because of Gailey & company's decision to switch to the 3-4. That may pay dividends in the long run. But given the personnel they inherited, it is baffling that they did so little to make the transition. A 3-4 needs LBs who can rush the passer and cover and a space-eating NT. We had none of the above, and the Bills' (evidently-lobotomized) Brain Trust did almost nothing in FA or the draft to address those needs.

 

So, as angry as we all get watching Kelsay flounder 8-yards behind the opposing team's TEs and RBs, it's not his fault that the coaches put him in a position he is biologically and temperamentally unsuited for. It's like entering a bloodhound in a greyhound race and expecting him to compete. Ain't gonna happen.

 

That's also why Ralph's pleas for "patience" ring so hollow. We've already endured a 10-year playoff drought, yet the people we're supposed to put our faith in don't seem to have a plan - unless you're one of the conspiracy theorists who believe they intentionally tried to engineer a winless season to nab the top pick in the draft.

 

Personally, I fear that the problem isn't that the folks in the Bills front office don't have a plan; it's that they - like their owner - don't seem to have a clue.

 

Well said.

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Switch out TO for Spiller, and a couple other lower level players. Our line is now set and consistent. We apparently got better coaching.

 

How did we get so much worse?

 

the sked has been brutal, not sure how many of the first 5 last years team would have one. My guess is zero

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Switch out TO for Spiller, and a couple other lower level players. Our line is now set and consistent. We apparently got better coaching.

 

How did we get so much worse?

 

 

1. Spiller rarely plays and he is RB, not a WR.

 

2. We lost TO and Josh Reed and in place we have Stevie Johnson.

 

3. Lee Evans is invisable.

 

4. We did nothing to improve the OL

 

5. Better coaching? Not on defense or Special Teams

 

6. Defensive front 7 is horrendous and not capable of the playing the defense that was installed.

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1. Spiller rarely plays and he is RB, not a WR.

 

2. We lost TO and Josh Reed and in place we have Stevie Johnson.

 

3. Lee Evans is invisable.

 

4. We did nothing to improve the OL

 

5. Better coaching? Not on defense or Special Teams or offense

 

6. Defensive front 7 is horrendous and not capable of the playing the defense that was installed.

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We gutted the two units that were keeping us in games (defense/ST) while making only marginal gains in last year's liability unit (offense).

Doesn't gutted usually mean "got rid of the worst" or "got rid of everybody", at least? Other than Schobel, the defense is has been "gutted" of talent since last year? An special teams bears no resemblence to the roster from last year?

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Switch out TO for Spiller, and a couple other lower level players. Our line is now set and consistent. We apparently got better coaching.

 

How did we get so much worse?

Who ever told you we have better coaching was lying to your face. Gailey has screwed up everything he has done so far and Edwards is so far over his head as D-Coordinator he is drowning. That is why we are worse.

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The biggest reason we got worse is, we have a MUCH tougher schedule. Much much tougher. We really only won 4 games at best last year. I mean, we played the colts backups in our last games. It is sad that we lose to a team like clevland last year.

 

 

People keeping thinking this team is new at sucking. The team didn't get worse. The bar was raised and the bills failed.

 

None of this is really surprising. The defense is to a certain degree.... I knew there would be trouble with the 3-4 but I thought it would have worked out better than it did. But the offense, now with fitz, looks as expected. Anyone who is surprised didn't watch this team last season. There just weren't enough changes to the roster to warrent a huge improvement.

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