How to Know Things Have Changed

[Adam]

Yep, that was the problem, we just need to tweak a few x's and o's. Same thing the year before and the year before and the year before..... One of these days we will stumble on the right tweak and win a few of those "winnable" games.

 

We talk about the technical side often enough around here, its usually my favorite subject but there is more to football than that and in my opinion, this team doesn't have enough players whose heart and soul hangs on the outcome of every play.

 

Jauron isn't bad on the technical end, a bit conservative for sure but he isn't incompetent. But he is about as inspirational as wet paper and demonstrates all the urgency of a cashier at a DMV. I think that makes a difference on the field and on the scoreboard. Sure we have talent problems and sure we have some pretty questionable game plans but in addition, we lack the passion I think the game requires of winners.

Who on this team is hall of fame caliber? We need guys who can make plays in big situations and don't have them. These guys play their butts off, but aren't good enough.

 

We keep letting go of players- Fletcher, Bledsoe, Winfield, Clements, etc...... and using our draft picks to replace them instead of supplement them. We need to build on each year, not start over every year.

[The Big Cat]

Yep, that was the problem, we just need to tweak a few x's and o's. Same thing the year before and the year before and the year before..... One of these days we will stumble on the right tweak and win a few of those "winnable" games.

 

We talk about the technical side often enough around here, its usually my favorite subject but there is more to football than that and in my opinion, this team doesn't have enough players whose heart and soul hangs on the outcome of every play.

 

Jauron isn't bad on the technical end, a bit conservative for sure but he isn't incompetent. But he is about as inspirational as wet paper and demonstrates all the urgency of a cashier at a DMV. I think that makes a difference on the field and on the scoreboard. Sure we have talent problems and sure we have some pretty questionable game plans but in addition, we lack the passion I think the game requires of winners.

 

What authority do you have to speak to what Jauron does or doesn't do to motivate his players? Please provide us this insight because as fans we're all dying to know.

 

EDIT: Seriously I don't mean to sound desperate, but this information you have will be earth shattering given the fact it will run contrary to what players have been saying about Jauron for years.

[Mickey]

Yes, I have. I've also seen a team get motivated because they respect the hell out of the guy that they're playing for, and that's the case with Jauron and the Bills. Say what you want about his game strategy, but you can't deny that the Bills play hard for him. That's the way it always was with Tony Dungy. Did you ever see him scream?

Fair enough, we just see two different things. You look at a team annually at 7-9 and see a highly motivated squad of overachievers. I see a team that has become used to mediocrity and is long overdue for a kick in the pants. Besides, its not as if I am the only one who thinks Jauron is and should be concerned about his job or the only one wondering if maybe the most liked guy in the lockeroom is not what this team needs at Head Coach.

[NewHampshireBillsFan]

Apart from all the x's and o's and how we do on the filed and on the scoreboard, what I am looking for is a sign that this team has changed. When they lose a game, I want to see some locker room rage, helmets bashing in to walls, angry men yelling at eachother, etc. I want nasty, bitter post game press conferences after a loss, not all this gracious loser, corporate PR stuff about how "we need to play better" and "we need to work harder" I want to see Jauron curse out an official. I want to see some personal fouls, maybe even an ejection or two. Some cheap shots, some fines, some sign that this team has some fire.

 

We have been the Boy Scouts of the NFL for too long. I want a sign from this team that they hate losing, deep in their guts flat out hate, hate, hate, hate losing. I hope TO gets in peoples faces from the start, including the coaches.

 

Man, the NE* Patsies* sure are thankful we take losing with such ease and grace. Donahoe was always talking about how much he respected the cheaters* and DJ also follows suit. In the 70's at least everyone in Miami knew the Bills hated their guts and knew they would be in for 2 tough and brutal games each year. If we don't learn to stop being so polite to NE* we will NEVER win this division again. We need players of character that will go after Brady's head. Character means first and foremost that you will not allow your team and city to be humiliated by a bunch of cheaters*.

[Adam]

Fair enough, we just see two different things. You look at a team annually at 7-9 and see a highly motivated squad of overachievers. I see a team that has become used to mediocrity and is long overdue for a kick in the pants. Besides, its not as if I am the only one who thinks Jauron is and should be concerned about his job or the only one wondering if maybe the most liked guy in the lockeroom is not what this team needs at Head Coach.

It may be a little of both- getting used to mediocrity with overachievers. We need a few hall of fame type players to turn things around. I think Peria Jerry could have been a start, but we blew the draft horribly.

[The Big Cat]

Fair enough, we just see two different things. You look at a team annually at 7-9 and see a highly motivated squad of overachievers. I see a team that has become used to mediocrity and is long overdue for a kick in the pants. Besides, its not as if I am the only one who thinks Jauron is and should be concerned about his job or the only one wondering if maybe the most liked guy in the lockeroom is not what this team needs at Head Coach.

 

And I see a team that's been completely rebuilt in only three years.

 

Face it, Bill Polian left town YEARS ago, and there was good reason why the speed at which the Panthers reached the NFC Championship was record breaking for an expansion team. We blew up the roster so bad in 2006, that I basically consider this team an expansion team founded in 2006.

[The Big Cat]

It may be a little of both- getting used to mediocrity with overachievers. We need a few hall of fame type players to turn things around. I think Peria Jerry could have been a start, but we blew the draft horribly.

 

Okay now YOU'RE the doom and gloomer. Talk to me when the guys drafted this year actually suit up on a game day, then provide all the draft analysis you like.

[Adam]

Okay now YOU'RE the doom and gloomer. Talk to me when the guys drafted this year actually suit up on a game day, then provide all the draft analysis you like.

I was terrified we would draft Maybin.......I think less of him that I did of Vernon Gholston last year.....good college player in a weak league. Peria Jerry faced top competition week in and week out and has rare explosiveness off the ball for a DT. I think putting him next to Stroud could have a ripple effect for our whole defense. We just don't focus enough on either line. Wood and Levitre play with attitude, but tend to get pushed around quite a bit. We let our best OL leave without being able to add a suitable replacement- and Walker isn't a suitable replacement at any spot on the line.

[The Big Cat]

Wood and Levitre play with attitude, but tend to get pushed around quite a bit.

 

This is the first I've heard of this. Do you have a link/evidence to support this?

 

We let our best OL demanded he be allowed to leave without being able to add a suitable replacemententertaining any of our offers that clearly indicated a desire for him to stay- and Walker isn't a suitable replacement at any spot on the line.

 

Walker did just fine last year. He also did just fine filling in for Peters. Again, we'll just have to wait and see.

[Mickey]

What authority do you have to speak to what Jauron does or doesn't do to motivate his players? Please provide us this insight because as fans we're all dying to know.

 

EDIT: Seriously I don't mean to sound desperate, but this information you have will be earth shattering given the fact it will run contrary to what players have been saying about Jauron for years.

Ummm.....players, with few exceptions such as guys so good they can get away with anything, are rarely publicly critical of their head coach. So the fact that in public players feed us all the same cliches about Jauron we always hear is not exactly revealing.

 

It is pretty easy to determine if a team is playing with fire and emotion. If they have to tell you they are, they aren't. If you can't see it and hear it right in front of you, if its not obvious, it is not there. Maybe its a QB so frustrated with losing he runs his mouth about an OT missing a block and everyone has a fit but the next week they go out there and destroy their opponent. Maybe a coach cans a player in midseason and the next week the team plays out of its mind because they are so afraid of what the crazy SOB will do next. There are lots of ways to get an idea of how much passion a team really has apart from what they say in a PR schooled post game wrap up.

 

I have watched these guys play and I was a season ticket holder for 17 years and apart from a rare incident here and there, I have not seen anyone lose his cool or go over the line. Now maybe that is because this is one team that has mastered self control like no team in history or maybe its easy to stay cool if you are never hot. That doesn't mean that they should deliberately take a penalty or plan on a cheap shot. I am just saying that if they are playing with reckless abandon and wild passion we should expect a penalty now and then or a controversial hit. You have to have some control but you have to have the passion too. I think DJ is a master at getting them to play very controlled but that only gets you 7-9.

[Adam]

This is the first I've heard of this. Do you have a link/evidence to support this?

 

 

 

Walker did just fine last year. He also did just fine filling in for Peters. Again, we'll just have to wait and see.

I don't go based on what other people say.....I got to see quite a few Oregon State games after getting home fairly late. Also so a bit of Louisville. They have tough guy mentalities but don't seem to back it up.

 

I can't stand Walker- he does very little in the run game and can't handle speed. Bad combination with a young QB with concussion problems

[The Big Cat]

Ummm.....players, with few exceptions such as guys so good they can get away with anything, are rarely publicly critical of their head coach. So the fact that in public players feed us all the same cliches about Jauron we always hear is not exactly revealing.

 

It is pretty easy to determine if a team is playing with fire and emotion. If they have to tell you they are, they aren't. If you can't see it and hear it right in front of you, if its not obvious, it is not there. Maybe its a QB so frustrated with losing he runs his mouth about an OT missing a block and everyone has a fit but the next week they go out there and destroy their opponent. Maybe a coach cans a player in midseason and the next week the team plays out of its mind because they are so afraid of what the crazy SOB will do next. There are lots of ways to get an idea of how much passion a team really has apart from what they say in a PR schooled post game wrap up.

 

I have watched these guys play and I was a season ticket holder for 17 years and apart from a rare incident here and there, I have not seen anyone lose his cool or go over the line. Now maybe that is because this is one team that has mastered self control like no team in history or maybe its easy to stay cool if you are never hot. That doesn't mean that they should deliberately take a penalty or plan on a cheap shot. I am just saying that if they are playing with reckless abandon and wild passion we should expect a penalty now and then or a controversial hit. You have to have some control but you have to have the passion too. I think DJ is a master at getting them to play very controlled but that only gets you 7-9.

 

Good! I'm glad! I'd rather our players be in control.

 

Because when it comes to those close games (which, btw 99% of close losses under Jauron have been determined by player error and not x's and o's tweaks, I can name four we dropped last year alone that had NOTHING to do with coaching), our team will be the one with the cool head, the team that maintains their intelligence, poise, concentration, and aggression.

 

They won't take costly penalties, and if they make a bone-head play it won't be because they're playing like a juiced up idiot.

[San Jose Bills Fan]

Maybe the Bills should hire Vince McMahon as HC...

Agreed. While we're at it why not hire Rod Marinelli (10-38). He's a fire and brimstone coach who demands accountability from his players. Surely if we hired him he would instill an aggressive and winning attitude within the players. Let's also hire Les Steckel (3-13), the former marine and Vietnam vet and Frank Gansz (8-22-1) who used to regale his players with stories of flying combat missions in Vietnam. We could then borrow Gregg Williams' (17-31) idea of early wakeup calls with a bullhorn.

 

Bring these men aboard and there's no doubt that the Bills would be transformed into a kick ass, take no prisoners, football team. We probably wouldn't win any games but our opponents would surely know that they'd been in a fight.

[jester43]

A master at stating the obvious.

thanks. everything i say is obvious to me. i'm glad someone's catching on!

[IndyJay1234]

Well then you will get most of what you want, not the wins of course but you won't have to worry about them ever getting angry over a loss. You see, you actually have to give a damn to lose your temper. Apathetic players simply cashing their checks won't lose their temper, not even in the immediate aftermath of a heart breaking loss.

 

All that focus will be great come Tuesday morning but if you can lose a big game one minute and sip tea with the queen the next, then you just don't care.

 

Of course I want them to win dipstick. But if they lose with such aplomb, such grace, such indifference, then they aren't going to win much. In the glory years, when they lost, you didn't want to be in that lockeroom. These guys, losing is just how they roll now isn't it? No need for anyone to get upset and offend your sensibilities. Heaven fofend that we appear to be immature.

 

You must really enjoy 7-9 and watching them get their a$$e$ handed to them by the Patriots every year.

 

One question, have you never seen a guy go over the line, even draw a flag, a foul, a technical, whatever, and have it motivate a team that appeared to be sleepwalking? Exactly and that's all I'm saying.

 

It is amazing you were never a pro athete...

 

I have to ask have you ever coached? I am asking. I wont assume you havent.

 

I do coach. Not football. But I coach a very sucessful high school team that is ranked in the top 5 in our state. At no point would I want any of my players to lose their temper and go off the way that you describe.

 

I want them to care and play with passion. But what you are describing is pure lunacy... Would the team in the 90s accept losing. I dont remember them turning into idiots after losing 4 superbowls. And take a long look at the two rosters. The difference wasnt heart. It was talent. That team in the 90s was so superior it is ridiculous.

 

But hey if you want to coach lunatics go right ahead. Go into coaching and teach em cheap shots and throwing chairs and then let me know how sucessful you are. And when they dont win question their hearts because it has nothing to do with ability or coaching...

 

Which players in particular are sipping tea with the queen or dont care. You should confront them and question them on their toughness. See what they say. If you care so much as a fan throw a damn chair at them. See if you survive..

 

Good Luck.

[TheChimp]

Someone absolutely SHOULD have ripped Wilfork's helmet off and broken his nose with their fist. Even if it meant suspensions and fines, that guy needed a beat down and I'm STILL pissed off he didn't get it.

 

I like the general gist of the thread starter's post a whole lot, and I applaud his bravery to post it in such a throng of passive-aggressive schoolgirls, who (hypocritically) verbally attack one another with wild abandon, while simultaneously advocating NFLers doing nothing while their starting QB gets bulldozed in the collateral ligaments.

 

Poo.