Where is The Fan Confidence Level in This Staff ?

[reddogblitz]

What veteran QB should they have picked up? What would have been a better strategy in getting Byrd signed at an appropriate amount?

After Kolb went down in the 3rd pre season game, we could have picked up David Carr or Vince Young. Neither are great, but they are vets and could have come in and managed the game Thursday and got us a win perhpaps. Either would have been way better than Tuel Time.

 

Your backup needs to be a vet who has seen NFL defenses before, not some snot nose rookie who has never played in a real game. Especially not one that wasn't even good in college.

Edited October 8, 2013 by reddogblitz

[3rdnlng]

When Kolb got hurt their choices were limited. He was a bad choice to begin with. At that point you needed to make a trade for someone, Rex Grossman perhaps? He is third on the depth chart and probably available. There are probably similar situations around the league. Was laughable to hear Marrone explain how they were afraid of losing a guy like Tuel. The Byrd thing has been handled just fine, though. He's not a Polamalu or Reed in their primes. Their offer was fair. Tag him again next year if need be or trade him in the offseason when he has some value.

 

My first choice would not have been Kolb, but it was what it was. (I would have liked Payton Manning) Tuel was no slouch in TC or preseason. Threw a pretty good long ball. I think that they like him long term. Regardless, they know he needs work. Their fear was cutting him to get him to the PS and then losing him. None of us know what the offer to Byrd was but I would think 7-7.5 x 5 with a guarantee of the first three years would be fair.

 

Go Bills

[mart]

 

The first thing you have to understand is that Brandon&Whaley evidently are very smart guys to get where they are; but they are not football people, and there has not been any football people running the organization since you know when. Then it comes to there hire of Marrone and his crony from the college game. All he has done is talk a good game, but if you analyze the talk, a lot of it is nonsense.

1. During pre season he said Manuel had a small surgical knee procedure. He said he knew what it was but he would!nt say. Does anyone (and please help me here) know what the problem with the knee was? Did it ocurr before the draft? Did it have anything to do with this knee situation?

2. If I remember correctly, last weekend he said the starting QB would come from outside the Bills.

3. Yesterday he would not give a straight answer to the Freeman story.

4. Would he really say why they added a player who could not make one of the worse teams in the

league!s roster?

5. How many months have gone by that he still does not have a clue as to who is better-Brown or

Legursky? Thats pathetic don!t you think?

6. He would not give a straight answer to the future of Byrd who does not want to be here.

7. do you want to give him the benefit of the doubt in saying the injury to Hopkins is bad enough

for him to go on IR, or do you think if Carpenter had not worked out so well, Hopkins would now

be kicking?

8. He may be starting the best QB they have, but what does that say about a organization that picked

up a QB that has faild with 3 other teams that needed a QB.

9. Why has!nt Hackett been made available to the media? The DC has answered questions?

10.I may be wrong on this, but I believe Marrone does not have full control of the football

operation, and if I am right I can see why.

 

As a lifelong Bills fan I hate to say this, but if you saw the Jets game last night, you can!t deny

how terrific their OC was; how good the Jets were on the road, and how great (16-20) Geno Smith

was. I guess thats show biz.

 

[8-8 Forever?]

OK Where is the fans confidence level at with this group ? Never mind that from an outside standpoint it seems as though chaos reigns at the highest coaching levels for the Bills & that yet another young QB's confidence could be trashed by recent actions by our Bills coaching staff .

 

Let me first point out a few things that have got my confidence level dropping & questioning some of their moves .

 

Earlier in the season our coach has said he doesn't believe that continuity in the offensive line is all that important or something along those lines. That is the first time i ever heard that from a HC or O line coach & He is the only coach that i have ever heard make that statement !

 

He has also said in his most recent interview on BB.com that they will be playing both Legursky & Brown at the LG position but they haven't come up with a plan on the amount of reps per player but will do it until one possibly shows deserving of being the guy ??

 

Any other coach i have ever heard has always said that that is one thing on the O line that is VERY important ! Continuity & Playing together as a unit !! And from last year to this year huge change !

 

I know the Tuel thing is being covered already but i need to talk about this to get to my point so i apologize to those of you that this may bore .

 

With regards to keeping Tuel on the roster rather than putting him on the PS . I get it OK at first his explanation sounds valid, but if you look into it , he says"Tuel was playing at a high level in the preseason & they didn't want to take the chance of some one taking him because of his good play" great !

 

So what has happened between then & now ? They along with other coaching staffs put rookies in early all the time but the difference is they are prepped for that situation, that's what they did with EJ . So why the change of heart ?

 

Then there is the Thad situation ! First it was going to be a outside QB brought in then realizing after stating such a foolish thing that the talent that they have is good enough they did just the exact opposite, Thad very professionally said on BB.com even he was surprised with the call by the coach ?

 

So if he's surprised with all of what went on why aren't the fans ? Then again from the outside looking in with the recent move of putting Hopkins on IR this entire thing could have been avoided with a decisive coaching decision weeks ago but wasn't .

 

So here's a question even though we have heard the explanation from the coach. Was the Hopkins move now made so the coach could cover his a** ? After looking back (b/c hind sight is indeed 20/20) did he now realize & do what he should have done weeks ago which would have been the better move for the team or was it a rookie head coaching mistake ?

 

I for one don't see the Pats HC doing some of these things we've seen here, and if i'm wrong i'm sure you all will tell me because you ain't scared !!

 

But & i hope i am wrong BUT at first i didn't like the way this hire went down with the talk of the exhaustive search conducted when guys like Trestman weren't even talked to but that's history now & i'm in with this guy hoping he is what they thought he was & proves me to be wrong.

 

But i will say with all that has happened with Qb's & releasing kickers adding kickers then putting them on IR , keeping Easley after putting up the best WR numbers in pre season then not using him in games as a WR even with the injuries ? Then the Byrd thing we aren't going to trade him now we are going to trade him ??

 

All of this has got me not so sure where these guys are headed , yet i hope there is a method to their madness cause to me it kind of resembles madness & my confidence is not what it was in this staff ...

 

But where is yours as a Fan

they are new guys coming up from college.. they are learning on the fly how to build an NFL franchise. you all wanted Chan and crew gone, so you got your way and this is what you get in a franchise that cannot attract top talent.. a bunch of college guys. no one should be complaining . i thing they are doing fine on the current goal of building a team and trying to win a few while doing it. that is all that can be expected right now. playoffs? no way. this team is staring over again. should be better second half of the season unless they have completely lost the locker room by then... tough business this NFL

[thewildrabbit]

First off every Bills fan needs to consider how this GM & coaching staff are being handcuffed just like previous staffs under this very frugal owner.

 

My fan confidence in this coaching staff is far greater then it has been the last 7 years with Gailey / Jauron. Those two morons had their excuses in Jauron being his own GM and Gailey having Buddy Nix. There still has to be a reason as to why this team went into the season without an experienced QB, a better CB, a better LG. I'm thinking its the bean counters.

 

 

Any Bills fan who doesn't downright love DC Mike Pettine and what he is doing with years defense considering all the injuries, simply isn't watching the games. The defense has flawed players and is still doing pretty good despite those players.

 

Starting to think Doug Marrone isn't what everyone said he was when he was hired. I expected better play at the LG position thru the first five games, and if they had kept LG Andy Levitre i would think they might even be better the 2-3, and even better offensively at protecting the QB and running the ball.

Still, that LG player is the absolute worst player on the team by far. How bad you ask? Well, CB Justin Rodgers allowed 75% of the Jets passing along with 2 TD's and LG Colin Brown graded even worse in the game.

 

Now you would think that this GM could make three moves in those first 5 games to secure better players at back up QB, LG, CB. Is it really that difficult to find 3 players? Even "Mr Fossil" Buddy Nix found scrubs off the waiver wire in 2010 G Urbik, G Rinehart, RT Pears, and two of those players have been decent starters. The Bills should have kept LG Chad Rinehart, but that is another story.

 

QB Tim Tebow is still out there and would probably play for nothing if given the chance to start. The Bills are running a variation of a read option offense, why not let Tebow run like he did for the Bronco's. Perhaps after Thad falls on his face. New pickup G Antoine McClain from the Raiders may prove to be better then both Brown - Legursky. The Bills should be getting CB Gilmore & Byrd back for the secondary soon. The Bills need to find a legit QB asap.

 

 

The Bills currently possess the #3 rushing attack in the NFL, and have actually rushed more then they have thrown 178 vs 170. The fact is back up RB Fred Jackson is doing far better then the guy this OC stated he would play until he threw up. The Bills could easily have that #1 rushing attack if this OC found a way to get more production out of Spiller. The inadequate replacement at LG might have something to do with why the Bills offense is ranked #19 in points and 16th in yards.

 

Bottom line: This coaching staff is still handcuffed by the bean counters, and it makes me wonder if they are intentionally trying to lose games this season by not replacing bad players.

Edited October 8, 2013 by FeartheLosing

[OldTimer1960]

I think that they have handled things very well so far. I can't remember a team that has been decimated by injuries so badly so early in the season - and yet, the team has remained competitive and playing hard. The list of injuries includes: 1st and 2nd string QBs, 4 of top 5 DBs, top 2 RBs playing hobbled....

 

I haven't heard ANY excuses from either the coaching staff or the players.

 

I think true bad luck has hit the team and they are persevering. For those that think the Bills "blew" the backup QB position, I argue - who should they have signed once Kevin Kolb was injured? I think the list of available "veteran backups" then was as bad or worse than it is now. Unfortunately, there are no good answers out there. If you are among those that wanted Matt Flynn instead of Kolb - you can see where he is now.

 

First off every Bills fan needs to consider how this GM & coaching staff are being handcuffed just like previous staffs under this very frugal owner.

 

 

Now you would think that this GM could make three moves in those first 5 games to secure better players at back up QB, LG, CB. Is it really that difficult to find 3 players? Even "Mr Fossil" Buddy Nix found scrubs off the waiver wire in 2010 G Urbik, G Rinehart, RT Pears, and two of those players have been decent starters. The Bills should have kept LG Chad Rinehart, but that is another story.

 

QB Tim Tebow is still out there and would probably play for nothing if given the chance to start.

 

The Bills need to find a legit QB asap.

 

Bottom line: This coaching staff is still handcuffed by the bean counters, and it makes me wonder if they are intentionally trying to lose games this season by not replacing bad players.

 

So, what great backup CB, QB and LGs did you see that they should have signed?

 

I sort of agree that Tebow (while not a good QB), might be able to allow the Bills to win a game or two with leadership and his unorthodox play.

 

Yes, the Bills need a legit QB to play until EJ is healthy - who is available that the "bean counters" are preventing them from signing? Yes, Minnesota won the competition for Josh Freeman - but I don't think you can say it was because the Bills would not pay what the Vikings were willing to - nobody knows that at all.

[CSBill]

two things:

 

1 - Who/When did they say Byrd was being traded?

2 - Tebow, baggage and all, would be a good fit for this team right now: He would certainly provided some energy/buzz and hope. Is he the longterm answer? No! But as was pointed out, his leadership and awkwardness would probably get a few wins in the short term.

[Pirate Angel]

I give Marrone one thing....He has Balls....hes making moves that he feels put the team in the best position to win regardless of anybodies opinion or how many wtf faces he has to deal with.

[OldTimer1960]

So far I am okay with Marrone and very happy with Pettine. Not okay with Hackett unless he finds a way to get more offensive production. The Bills offense looks pretty bad to me and appears to be hanging on by a thread because of exceptional talent at running back. They struggle an awful lot just to get first downs. To me it looks as bad as last year’s defense and how Wannstedt got so little production out of that talented front four. Hackett should be getting a lot more production from his offensive roster.

 

Not happy with Danny Crossman (special teams) thus far either, at least in the kick return, punt return game. Maybe that improves with a new punter?

If the Bills offense doesn’t get much better this year, then a good part of the blame also has to be placed on Marrone also for not getting more involved personally.

 

As far as Whaley goes, I will reserve that judgment until I see whether E.J. turns out to be for real or not. If he is a bust, then you can squarely blame Whaley for that. I know they will try to make Buddy Nix the scapegoat for that, but fans know better. If E.J. pans out, then I would say that this year’s draft was excellent for sure.

 

After this season is over we should have a much better idea. It is still a bit early to know for sure how things are going to turn out.

 

Regarding the offense: they have a rookie QB, 1 experienced WR and a bunch of rookies/very inexperienced guys beyond them. Do you think that could have something to do with the offense's performance?

 

Special Teams: they have addressed the problem at punter. I feel bad for Crossman as the number of injuries - esp to DBS and losing Marquise Goodwin can't be helping him. New guys (brand new to the roster) have been playing STs each week due to injuries.

Edited October 8, 2013 by OldTimer1960

[mead107]

Happy, happy, happy happy

[BuffaloBill]

We are not winning, so I am not happy.

 

In reality, we are not as bad as some other teams. Our staff is professional and not just folding. We are always working. Bringing new guys in and such. I'm cool with it.

 

This.

 

In my book this staff gets a little bit of a mulligan this season. The most important outcomes from the season are a greatly improved D and the development of a rookie QB. There are positive signs with the D and bumpiness with EJ. Let's see how the season closes out.

 

[DE Bills Fan]

OK Where is the fans confidence level at with this group ? Never mind that from an outside standpoint it seems as though chaos reigns at the highest coaching levels for the Bills & that yet another young QB's confidence could be trashed by recent actions by our Bills coaching staff .

 

Let me first point out a few things that have got my confidence level dropping & questioning some of their moves .

 

Earlier in the season our coach has said he doesn't believe that continuity in the offensive line is all that important or something along those lines. That is the first time i ever heard that from a HC or O line coach & He is the only coach that i have ever heard make that statement !

 

He has also said in his most recent interview on BB.com that they will be playing both Legursky & Brown at the LG position but they haven't come up with a plan on the amount of reps per player but will do it until one possibly shows deserving of being the guy ??

 

Any other coach i have ever heard has always said that that is one thing on the O line that is VERY important ! Continuity & Playing together as a unit !! And from last year to this year huge change !

 

I know the Tuel thing is being covered already but i need to talk about this to get to my point so i apologize to those of you that this may bore .

 

With regards to keeping Tuel on the roster rather than putting him on the PS . I get it OK at first his explanation sounds valid, but if you look into it , he says"Tuel was playing at a high level in the preseason & they didn't want to take the chance of some one taking him because of his good play" great !

 

So what has happened between then & now ? They along with other coaching staffs put rookies in early all the time but the difference is they are prepped for that situation, that's what they did with EJ . So why the change of heart ?

 

Then there is the Thad situation ! First it was going to be a outside QB brought in then realizing after stating such a foolish thing that the talent that they have is good enough they did just the exact opposite, Thad very professionally said on BB.com even he was surprised with the call by the coach ?

 

So if he's surprised with all of what went on why aren't the fans ? Then again from the outside looking in with the recent move of putting Hopkins on IR this entire thing could have been avoided with a decisive coaching decision weeks ago but wasn't .

 

So here's a question even though we have heard the explanation from the coach. Was the Hopkins move now made so the coach could cover his a** ? After looking back (b/c hind sight is indeed 20/20) did he now realize & do what he should have done weeks ago which would have been the better move for the team or was it a rookie head coaching mistake ?

 

I for one don't see the Pats HC doing some of these things we've seen here, and if i'm wrong i'm sure you all will tell me because you ain't scared !!

 

But & i hope i am wrong BUT at first i didn't like the way this hire went down with the talk of the exhaustive search conducted when guys like Trestman weren't even talked to but that's history now & i'm in with this guy hoping he is what they thought he was & proves me to be wrong.

 

But i will say with all that has happened with Qb's & releasing kickers adding kickers then putting them on IR , keeping Easley after putting up the best WR numbers in pre season then not using him in games as a WR even with the injuries ? Then the Byrd thing we aren't going to trade him now we are going to trade him ??

 

All of this has got me not so sure where these guys are headed , yet i hope there is a method to their madness cause to me it kind of resembles madness & my confidence is not what it was in this staff ...

 

But where is yours as a Fan

Totally agree with all of your points. I too questioned the Marrone hire, and he is actually coming off worse than I even thought. PATHETIC!. My interest in this team is at an all time low. I still don't understand Marrone's logic with the QB situation (not sure if he has any). I just don't see this current group being able to turn the team around. I think you will see a new coaching staff in either 2015 or 2016 as this team has no chance to win when the coach can't even properly evaluate his own team..........

[BADOLBILZ]

I see no panic from the staff. I have very high confidence

 

They have no reason to "panic".....it is just year one. If they went 2-14 they wouldn't have reason to "panic". They have a license to lose this year. That's not right considering they took over a team with enough talent to be very competitive, but that is the nature of first year Bills coaching staffs. The bar is set very low here and excuses are easily accepted.

[JohnnyBuffalo]

I am a bit concerned. Hopkins was just placed on IR to make room for Lewis....Sully's article indicates that Tuel was on the roster and Lewis on the practice squad to possibly keep Tuel from being picked up by another team. So basically they were holding a spot for Hopkins (2 kickers one injured) and only having 2 active QB's to keep a "work in progress" from being picked up away from them? Those are the type of decisions that make me question any of the thinking going on over there. The in game decisions haven't been too bad, but this has me questioning much more.

 

Go Bills!

[xsoldier54]

I have every confidence in the FO and coaching staff with the exception of ST. They have played poorly and the ST coach, although experienced, does not exactly have a stellar track record. The rest I am fine with. It will be tough to continue to improve without EJ, but I also have confidence in the players. They will play hard for this coaching staff and continue to be competitive IMHO.

[T master]

I think that they have handled things very well so far. I can't remember a team that has been decimated by injuries so badly so early in the season - and yet, the team has remained competitive and playing hard. The list of injuries includes: 1st and 2nd string QBs, 4 of top 5 DBs, top 2 RBs playing hobbled....

 

I haven't heard ANY excuses from either the coaching staff or the players.

 

I think true bad luck has hit the team and they are persevering. For those that think the Bills "blew" the backup QB position, I argue - who should they have signed once Kevin Kolb was injured? I think the list of available "veteran backups" then was as bad or worse than it is now. Unfortunately, there are no good answers out there. If you are among those that wanted Matt Flynn instead of Kolb - you can see where he is now.

 

 

 

So, what great backup CB, QB and LGs did you see that they should have signed?

 

I sort of agree that Tebow (while not a good QB), might be able to allow the Bills to win a game or two with leadership and his unorthodox play.

 

Yes, the Bills need a legit QB to play until EJ is healthy - who is available that the "bean counters" are preventing them from signing? Yes, Minnesota won the competition for Josh Freeman - but I don't think you can say it was because the Bills would not pay what the Vikings were willing to - nobody knows that at all.

 

Like the Tuel situation i think if V. Young was given a legitimate chance to learn the offense in it's entirety that he would be a great QB in this system . The guy doesn't have a winning record for nothing .

 

This year in GB he showed he still had something but was released & the chance he was given here last year was a joke to say the least almost as bad in comparison as bringing Leinhart in this year !! But that goes with the territory i guess ??

[BuffaloBillsForever]

I have GREAT confidence in Mike Pettine but the rest of the coaching staff are in over their head.

[bmur66]

My confidence depends on how much of this 20 million in cap space I keep hearing about can be rolled into next year and what they do with it next year.

[Captain Hindsight]

After Kolb went down in the 3rd pre season game, we could have picked up David Carr or Vince Young. Neither are great, but they are vets and could have come in and managed the game Thursday and got us a win perhpaps. Either would have been way better than Tuel Time.

 

Your backup needs to be a vet who has seen NFL defenses before, not some snot nose rookie who has never played in a real game. Especially not one that wasn't even good in college.

That would have been difficult as both were on NFL rosters at that point

[Cash]

My confidence was never super-high to begin with, and has dropped a bit, but I would still put it more towards medium than low. I've seen some good things and some bad things, pretty much across the board. I think my confidence level in the organization as a whole is lower than the coaching staff on its own. I think the roster-building is still very suspect, particularly with respect to depth/backups, and that's only partially the fault of the coaching staff. How much of it is their fault is a whole different post. In terms of game-planning, schemes, game-day management, player motivation, etc., I still feel like this youngish staff will have its ups and downs, but I'm willing to be patient for now.

 

Regarding the QB thing, here's my take: The current explanation is a spin-job, but Marrone probably believes it in hindsight. (Usually people talk themselves into their own narrative rather than lie outright.) I think what happened is that when Kolb got hurt, they thought they could get by with Manuel. (Definite mistake in hindsight.) Maybe if TJax hadn't been picked up by the Seahawks they would've re-signed him at that point, but maybe not. Anyway, once Manuel got hurt, then they got desperate. Brought in Lewis & Leinart and gave them playbook cram sessions. Remember our timeline here -- L&L played in the 4th preseason game about 4 days after joining the team.

 

As we all know, Leinart was garbage in that 4th preseason game, and Lewis showed some promise but was generally bad. The Bills didn't play Tuel at all because they wouldn't have been comfortable starting either new guy with so little practice time in any case. So Tuel had to be on the active roster because he was your week 1 starter if Manuel couldn't go. Remember that it was a bit of a surprise when Manuel was activated for that first game -- most people expected Tuel Time. I'm sure the Bills thought about keeping Lewis on the active roster, but ultimately decided that given Manuel's improving health, they could skate by with him on the practice squad. Given how many inactive players we had to start the year (Gilmore, Byrd, Legursky, Hopkins), it makes sense that they'd feel they couldn't afford to keep a 3rd QB.

 

IMO, the 2 real mistakes they made were:

1.) Thinking EJ wouldn't get hurt. (Hope is not a plan -- what if he DOES get hurt?)

2.) Thinking that Tuel wasn't that bad.

 

To their credit, once Tuel was forced into a real game, they quickly realized their mistake on #2, and tried the best possible option available -- sign Josh Freeman. Reading Marrone's comments with the benefit of hindsight, I think they definitely wanted to sign Freeman and have him start until EJ came back. They maybe hoped that White or Dixon would impress them enough to be a backup plan if Freeman turned them down, but didn't see much in either workout. Once Freeman went to the Vikings, they decided to go with Lewis. They may well have thought Lewis was a better QB than Tuel right from the start, but since he was acquired so close to the first game, they didn't have the option of playing Lewis over Tuel.