RJ (not THAT RJ) Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Maybe one reason he hasn't signed anyone yet is that free agency period hasn't started? PTR Ralph is too cheap to buy a time machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartacus Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 'We have a clear need at (insert need here...) But won't reach'. Why not? Great teams take chances. We will be active in free agency...but we usually wait till the big time guys are gone and get mid tier crap. Anyone else of this chicken poop way of running this team? And fans, I am sick of these guys drinking the Nix/Ralph cheap ass koolaid. Look spend on some top guys, reach some in the draft and take a damn chance. What has all this mid tier crap and stupid draft picks gotten us? We are now in the 3rd year of the '3 year plan' that we were told was the deal when Nix took over and we really aren't any closer to being in the playoffs than with the previous regime. We have not seen a great return on two drafts already so I don't have a ton of faith in Nix and his drafting. What are we taking at 10, another RB or a CB saying 'best value' or 'was tops on our board' when ignoring clear needs? We are now the only NFL teams in the new century not to make the playoffs, Houston and Detroit have even made it. I am sick of the lip service from OBD, its WAY past time to start putting a winner on the damn football field. Nix got burned when he took a chance and OK'd the Maybin selection- one year wonder with upside not going to happen again for a while of course being able to identify talent would help - but that qualtiy will not inmproe in your 70's -so expect more of the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphean Bills Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Buddy, when hired, mentioned it would "take time" and "we're not that far away", but the 3 years or bust sentiment wasn't coming out of One Bills Drive. More recently, he's come around and admitted that this next year is crunch time. We can speculate that facts like 10-22 and firing your incompetent DC to replace him with someone already on staff may be starting to wear a little thin with the guys that call the shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 (edited) Buddy, when hired, mentioned it would "take time" and "we're not that far away", but the 3 years or bust sentiment wasn't coming out of One Bills Drive. More recently, he's come around and admitted that this next year is crunch time. We can speculate that facts like 10-22 and firing your incompetent DC to replace him with someone already on staff may be starting to wear a little thin with the guys that call the shots. When Buddy Nix took over he was taking over an expansion caliber team. Nix's upbeat comments about the franchise need to be severly discounted. No matter what optimistic PR comments he made when he took over the roster needed to be drastically reworked. Even our clueless owner made a comment that he could only promise the fans "pain and patience" before his hollow franchise gets straightened out. Ralph Wilson has owned this franchise for more than a half century. His business model is well established and firmly entrenched. Buddy Nix is not going to significantly change the organizational ethos established by Wilson and enforced by Littman/Oberdorf. What I expect of Buddy is for him to make sound football decisions regardless of the limitations he has to contend with. If he does that then I will be more than satisfied. So far, in general, he is conducting the football business in a reasonably sound way. There is nothing special or innovative in the way Buddy conducts business. But isn't that better than the Levy/Jauron/Modrak/Guy/Brandon incompetent and chaotic way of operating? Isn't being a competitive team better than being irrelevant and ignored? Edited March 3, 2012 by JohnC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThurmasThoman Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 I have no opinion on the original post, however, the above statement shows how low we have sunk as a fan base and how any nugget thrown our way is clung to with the hope it leads us to the promised land. My question for you is this: what about how Nix has run the team since taking over do you like? Can you be more specific? I don't see how switching to a 3 - 4 without the necessary personnel on the roster, then drafting to fill the glaring 3 - 4 needs we have, then ditching that idea after year two and moving back to a 4 - 3, thus rendering some of the previous draft picks useless has earned the right to be praised. We keep stating how brutal our defense is, with good reason. Who is the reason for that? Look at the stats from 2009 vs. 2011. Rather sobering. All stats are "allowed by defense." 2009 2011 First Downs 310 340 3rd down conversions 40.4% 39.7% Yards 5449 5624 Rush yds / Avg 2501/4.7 2224/4.8 Sacks by the Bills 46 23 TD against Bills 37 53 Time of Possession by opponent 32:34 29:49 Turnover ratio by Bills +3 +1 Keep in mind 10 of those sacks came vs. the Redskins. Our overall stats are far worse, despite the opponents having the ball almost 3 minutes less in 2011! How is that progress? Sorry, I cannot defend the regime. We are far worse on defense despite being defensive minded in drafts. We can look at the drafted Maybin fiasco all we want, but the numbers are what they are. We are locked in mediocrity and I hope to hell we can find our way out before I die. well, we fired the defensive coordinator responsible for the last 2 seasons. what draft picks do you not like on that side of the ball? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kemp Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 I'm as negative as they come, but I believe that if they can come up with one good LB and one good DE before next season, the are playoff-bound. I'm not saying it will be easy to do that, but I do believe the offense is already good enough, and the D is closer than some think. This also assumes that Williams will be healthy (which I have no reason not to believe). If true, they will be much tougher to run against. Two people who can put pressure on a QB is all that's missing from a playoff appearance. Easy? No. Possible? Very. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphean Bills Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 When Buddy Nix took over he was taking over an expansion caliber team. Nix's upbeat comments about the franchise need to be severly discounted. No matter what optimistic PR comments he made when he took over the roster needed to be drastically reworked. Even our clueless owner made a comment that he could only promise the fans "pain and patience" before his hollow franchise gets straightened out. Ralph Wilson has owned this franchise for more than a half century. His business model is well established and firmly entrenched. Buddy Nix is not going to significantly change the organizational ethos established by Wilson and enforced by Littman/Oberdorf. What I expect of Buddy is for him to make sound football decisions regardless of the limitations he has to contend with. If he does that then I will be more than satisfied. So far, in general, he is conducting the football business in a reasonably sound way. There is nothing special or innovative in the way Buddy conducts business. But isn't that better than the Levy/Jauron/Modrak/Guy/Brandon incompetent and chaotic way of operating? Isn't being a competitive team better than being irrelevant and ignored? It was merely a comment on the OP's point that it was said it would take 3 years. Nobody of significance promised that specifically originally. The promise was more open ended, that it would "take time". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 It was merely a comment on the OP's point that it was said it would take 3 years. Nobody of significance promised that specifically originally. The promise was more open ended, that it would "take time". Our clueless owner set the franchise back by almost a decade when he hired Levy, who in very short order proceeded to set this franchise back by years. When Nix took over he and his new staff had to disassemble the roster and then start the rebuilding process. Giving Jauron an extension and more authority on personnel was simply a franchise killer. If the out of touch owner would have made a reasonble hire (such as Nix) after the departure of Donahoe this franchise would be in so much better shape. How does one explain an owner hiring someone such as Levy, who was out of the game for four years, and expect him to handle the complex and challenging job of being a GM over a nearly one billion $$$ organization? Even with the Nix hire, as with the Levy hire, there were few job interviews, if any, for the position. The owner's behavior was not only very inept, it was outright odd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BADOLBILZ Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 (edited) 'We have a clear need at (insert need here...) But won't reach'. Why not? Great teams take chances. We will be active in free agency...but we usually wait till the big time guys are gone and get mid tier crap. Anyone else of this chicken poop way of running this team? And fans, I am sick of these guys drinking the Nix/Ralph cheap ass koolaid. Look spend on some top guys, reach some in the draft and take a damn chance. What has all this mid tier crap and stupid draft picks gotten us? We are now in the 3rd year of the '3 year plan' that we were told was the deal when Nix took over and we really aren't any closer to being in the playoffs than with the previous regime. We have not seen a great return on two drafts already so I don't have a ton of faith in Nix and his drafting. What are we taking at 10, another RB or a CB saying 'best value' or 'was tops on our board' when ignoring clear needs? We are now the only NFL teams in the new century not to make the playoffs, Houston and Detroit have even made it. I am sick of the lip service from OBD, its WAY past time to start putting a winner on the damn football field. Nix sounds concerned to me. He flapped his gums for a year and a half and then when the team sh*t the bed at mid-season he disappeared. Things aren't going as planned and he is now fortifying his predictions that the team was "not that far away" with assurances that they will be a winner next year. My feeling is that they WILL make the playoffs next season. I think the timing should be right and if they get some of the IR'd players back and contributing they will have a veteran team that should be poised to finish second in the division and sneak into a wildcard. They aren't set up for long term success though. Nix has done a very good job with street free agents but they still don't have a franchise QB, they are weak at LT because Bell hasn't been healthy and they have no pass rush at all. The cornerstones are not in place for a long run. They'd be better off making their move for RG3 this year and shooting for a long term turnaround, IMO but when you turn over your front office every 3-4 years it's to be expected that they will be shortsighted. Edited March 4, 2012 by Dick Drawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benderbender Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 I'm starting to lose the concept of what is/isn't sarcasm Yes, more people should invest in emoticons. Way to spearhead that initiative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggieScooby Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 12 years of no playoffs I can't blame you for your thinking. We need to resign our key FA's, draft well, and stay healthy. IF we can do all 3 we have a shot at ending our streak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T master Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 'We have a clear need at (insert need here...) But won't reach'. Why not? Great teams take chances. We will be active in free agency...but we usually wait till the big time guys are gone and get mid tier crap. Anyone else of this chicken poop way of running this team? And fans, I am sick of these guys drinking the Nix/Ralph cheap ass koolaid. Look spend on some top guys, reach some in the draft and take a damn chance. What has all this mid tier crap and stupid draft picks gotten us? We are now in the 3rd year of the '3 year plan' that we were told was the deal when Nix took over and we really aren't any closer to being in the playoffs than with the previous regime. We have not seen a great return on two drafts already so I don't have a ton of faith in Nix and his drafting. What are we taking at 10, another RB or a CB saying 'best value' or 'was tops on our board' when ignoring clear needs? We are now the only NFL teams in the new century not to make the playoffs, Houston and Detroit have even made it. I am sick of the lip service from OBD, its WAY past time to start putting a winner on the damn football field. Ya Let's mortgage the farm so that we will be like the Steelers in 4 yrs & can't keep any one because they all are stars . Or we could be like JJ in Dallas & spend over the cap & still have a team that doesn't make the play offs !! No thanks i'll let Nix & company keep doing what they are doing . Hey i got a suggestion if you don't like it become a Jet fan !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammie65 Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 I think Nix\Gailey have done well so far considering what they inherited, except for the attempted 3-4 switch (definite mistake). The hybrid 3-4, 4-3 defense is probably the best approach for the current roster. If we can re-sign key guys, get a couple of key FA's and then draft for future depth we should have a brighter future than most expect. Left Tackle, Defensive End, and possibly (as I suspect they are considering) a wide receiver to play across from Stevie are weak spots that free agency should be used to address immediately (at least two of these spots). I do agree that now is the time to go after serious free agents to try to fill these holes if the deals are possible (player wants to play here, money is right for both sides, etc). As with all things, time will tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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