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You're a bad man, Lesfunk. I guess Brady only sucks cock against the Giants...
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I drove by Ralph Wilson Stadium today and can still smell the massive turd they laid yesterday...Comment
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This just in: the Buffalo Bills really, really SUCK big, stinky donkey balls! We have a GM no one else would hire as a GM, a coach promoted to his level of incompetence, a defensive coordinator who's comatose. And an owner that is ancient and meddling. Bill Polian, wherefore art thou?Comment
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Praise JESUS!!
Bills appear set to dismiss Gailey and Nix this week
BY: Mark Gaughan / The Buffalo News | @gggaughan
Rumors were swirling in NFL circles Saturday that the Buffalo Bills would clean house and fire not only head coach Chan Gailey but General Manager Buddy Nix as well.
However, high ranking Bills sources insisted the decision on the team's top two football men remained, as always, with owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. and that Wilson had yet to tell any of his employees in Western New York of his verdict.
Nix, contacted Saturday night, told The News he had not been given any indication of any change in his job status.
There is widespread expectation among the organization that Gailey will be ousted due to the Bills' disappointing season, which concludes today against the New York Jets at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The Bills (5-10) have clinched last place in the AFC East.
Wilson was in town for the team's holiday party Friday night. He returned afterward to his Detroit-area home.
Bills officials say their expectation is Wilson will hold a meeting of his top executives, including Nix, at some point this week to assess the season. That has been standard operating procedure for Wilson for decades.
Wilson, 94, remains very much in charge of charting the team's course.
An executive on another team and another league source both said Saturday they were hearing of a full house-cleaning by the Bills.
Nevertheless, the removal of Nix would be a surprise. He has maintained a strong relationship with Wilson, and the owner has stated that he handed Nix a long-term building job when he put him atop the football operation in 2010. Nix has been given full authority to hand-pick his football department and put his scouts in place on the college and pro sides of the organization.
The Bills will miss the playoffs for a 13th straight season, the longest drought in the NFL and the longest in franchise history.
Gailey has received strong vocal support from Nix through much of this season, but the general manager cancelled his radio show Friday, thereby avoiding discussing Gailey's job security.
The Bills stood 3-3 in mid-October, but they have lost seven of their last nine and repeatedly have looked ugly in losing.
Gailey's three-year record is 15-32, and few NFL coaches have survived such futility to start a tenure. Over the past 25 years, only 11 NFL head coaches have survived after starting their tenures with three losing seasons. Dick Jauron did it in Buffalo in 2009, but his three-year record with the Bills was 21-27.
Over the past 25 years, 72 coaches have lost their jobs after three or fewer seasons on the job. The last coach to have as few as 15 wins in three seasons and survive to see a fourth year was Bruce Coslet in Cincinnati. He won 14 games through 1999, then got fired during the next season.
email: mgaughan@buffnews.comComment
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News sports reporters talk about it all...
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Doug Marrone formerly of Syracuse U is the new Bills Coach...
Brandon makes bold play on Bills' new coach
BY: Jerry Sullivan / News Senior Sports Columnist | @TBNSully
Newly empowered as president of the Bills, Russ Brandon sat on the dais Tuesday and promised to take the franchise in a new direction. As it turned out, the direction was 140 miles due east, to his hometown of Syracuse.
Brandon is sure to take heat for hiring Doug Marrone as his new head coach. Some will dismiss it as a parochial, small-time move. They'll say he reached for a .500 college coach because he couldn't attract the top names in the market and wouldn't surrender total control of the operation.
Some of that might be true. Still, this doesn't feel the way it did when the Bills hired Dick Jauron, Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey. For once, I'm resisting the impulse to trot out my favorite Bills adjective and label it uninspired.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not doing handstands over Marrone, either. He wouldn't have been my first choice. I would have preferred Jon Gruden or Chip Kelly, who is probably heading back to Oregon. But at least they're not making the safe choice, the one least likely to get them buried by the critics later.
Above all, I was hoping they would surprise me this time, that they wouldn't bring out some tired retread and tell me it was progress. They succeeded.
This is a bold pick, a risky pick. Brandon, a fine baseball player in his day, is swinging for the fences here. Give him credit for that. It would have been easier to settle for the stand-up double, a former NFL head coach with an established record for being average.
Yes, Ken Whisenhunt and Lovie Smith are proven head coaches who reached the Super Bowl. They're old ideas to me. Whisenhunt is too conservative. Smith won more than he lost, but his teams were consistently bad on offense. He's not the guy for a team desperate to find and develop a franchise quarterback.
I don't know if Marrone will be a great NFL head man. Most coaches fail when they reach that level, whether they come from college or the assistant coaching ranks. Who knew that Sean Payton would be a success in his first NFL head job, or Mike Tomlin, or Mike McCarthy?
Jim Harbaugh was a risk when he took over the Niners two years ago. Harbaugh had engineered a remarkable turnaround at Stanford. Critics wondered if his methods could work in the pros. He has been a rousing success in the NFL.
So if you're looking to put a positive spin on it, Marrone could be the Bills' Jim Harbaugh. They're roughly the same age. Both are hard-nosed disciplinarians who are open-minded enough to evolve with the times.
Marrone completely changed the culture of a staggering Syracuse program when he took over in 2009. The Orange had gone 10-37 under Greg Robinson and suffered through seven consecutive nonwinning seasons. They were the joke of the Big East, one of the worst major-college programs in the country, a team with inferior personnel and a disaffected fan base.
Sound familiar, Bills fans?
The program quickly returned to respectability. Syracuse won two bowls in his four seasons. His overall record was 25-25. That's not quite earth-shaking, but seasoned observers of the Orange called it a miraculous turnaround. It's not as if he had blue-chip recruits or great facilities.
Brandon is putting his reputation on the line here. It would be easy to dismiss him as a salesman who is out of his depth on football matters. But for an organization that is always trying to keep up in the NFL, this hire represents a fresh idea, a refusal to simply reach for the tried-and-true.
It's not as if Chip Kelly and Nick Saban are the only college coaches worthy of being NFL head men. Marrone was seen as one of the top half dozen or so who might be ready for the jump. He has a lot of the qualities the Bills were looking for, including a dynamic personality and a tireless work ethic.
Marrone once told a Syracuse reporter he had worked every day but one during his first year as coach. He took Christmas off for his family. That's a little scary, I must admit. But he sounds like a coach who will actually know what yard line he's on when it's time to kick a field goal.
Dave Rahme, who covered SU for the Post-Standard, said Marrone had charts and graphs for every eventuality. Rahme described Marrone as “very analytical,” a coach who would point out on a film when an opposing offensive lineman moved his foot 2 inches, and what it signified.
That was surely a selling point with Brandon. He intends to create a new department of analytics, which will bring a more sophisticated and scientific approach to the football operation. It's cutting-edge stuff, which hasn't been Ralph Wilson's trademark, to say the least.
That doesn't mean they'll win. In the end, you need players. You need a franchise quarterback. McCarthy, Payton and Tomlin won the Super Bowl in their first NFL head job. It's no coincidence that they had Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger playing quarterback.
The decision on the next quarterback could determine the success of the Bills for the next decade. It's probably more important than the coach. It'll be good to have Marrone helping evaluate the college talent. The less input Nix has on the next quarterback, the better.
Marrone worked with Brees as offensive coordinator with the Saints, though he didn't call the plays. He developed Ryan Nassib from a raw prospect to a star at SU. He knows what a great quarterback looks like, and what sort of transition is required from the college game to the pros.
It's not all about the head coach, either. The Bills need to hire a staff of top assistant coaches. That means going to other NFL teams and plucking some of their rising talent, not grabbing eager college coaches on the cheap. Marrone has an NFL pedigree. He should get the best staff available.
This is on Brandon now. He was fully empowered by the owner to hire the right guy. He came back with Marrone, a daring and unconventional choice. He could be a flop. He could be great. The odds say he'll wind up like most NFL coaches, in that vast, unremarkable area in between.
No one knows right now. But it's usually the people who reach high, refusing to settle for the safe choice, who find their way to great.
email: jsullivan@buffnews.comComment
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Star Receiver: Imagine if I actually put in the work?
Stevie Johnson, foot-in-mouth disease on Jim Rome's show:
Link @ buffalorumblings.comStevie Johnson On Jim Rome: "I'm Actually Going To Work Out"
By Brian Galliford on Feb 1,
Buffalo Bills receiver Stevie Johnson ruffled a few feathers on Friday in discussing his off-season workout plans in a radio interview with Jim Rome.
Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson raised some eyebrows in Western New York on Friday with comments made from Super Bowl XLVII's radio row in New Orleans on The Jim Rome Show. You should listen here if you're interested in breaking down the controversial remarks yourself; we've also got a transcript to follow.
Jim Rome: "What are you doing this off-season? Are you still getting caught up in some local runs? Are you changing up your basketball routine? What are you doing to stay in shape and get ready for the new season?"
Stevie Johnson: "I'm actually - it's funny - I'm actually going to work out."
JR: "No way, really? You mean actually lift weights?"
SJ: "I usually never work out. I just, like, play basketball and run around the block."
JR: "How does that work? You don't hit the weights out of season at all?"
SJ: "The only time I worked out was my rookie year from after (the) combine, just to get in the league. I went down to L.A. and worked with Travelle Gaines, and ever since then, I've only did work with my wife running around the block and playing basketball. That was all I did."
JR: "Why? Do they not insist you have some kind of off-season conditioning program? Throw the weights around?"
SJ: "I probably shouldn't be saying this. Yeah, they give us the booklet and stuff, but I get it and I put it in a drawer. I really don't do it."
JR: "Stevie, you made it through an entire interview without getting into trouble man, until right there, I think."
SJ: "I'm sorry, I'm just being honest, man. This year we've got a new staff, and you know, I've had three seasons with a thousand yards, and that's like without doing, like, real football work. So you know, who knows what happens if I really put in work? Maybe I can eclipse a thousand and go into twelve hundred, you know, maybe thirteen. Maybe I'll be even more energized to finish out games, and we'll get things done, you know. So I'm going to be working hard from next Sunday to April 1st when we go back."
Rome and Johnson did an awful lot of laughing during this particular portion of the interview, with Rome speaking sarcastically at times and Johnson making light of his previous off-season habits while admitting that he plans to do more on that front than he's done before. Seriously: it would behoove you to listen to the interview.
The immediate reaction to the remarks was largely negative; talk radio stations were practically aghast that Johnson would admit that he didn't follow the team's off-season program in years past, and that he'd statistically project where he might end up if he does start working out. Some stated that Johnson was admitting that he's "coasted" over the last two years, and that he doesn't have the ambition to be the best player he can be.
Those people, in our opinion, weren't listening to enough of the exchange. Maybe it bothers you that Johnson hasn't seemingly done all that's been asked of him as a professional athlete; that's fine, but it's also where the criticism logically should stop. Johnson says he'll be working out this off-season - probably because there's a new coaching staff in place - and we'll see if he's right about a potential statistical jump that might result from the extra work. Until then, it's probably overreacting if anyone's opinion changes on the man from one light-hearted interview.Last edited by Nickdfresh; 02-02-2013, 02:50 PM.Comment
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LOL The Bills just signed Matt Leinart after Kevin Kolb got kneed in the head and EJ Manuel had a "minor" knee procedure. WHHHEEEEEWWWW!! Superbowl, here we come!Comment
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Holy shit! We traded for Thaddeus Lewis! The Bills now have incredible depth at QB! If any other teams have QB's they don't want, the Bills are entertaining all offers. Send us your meek and unwanted...
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Not to make light of this, because it looks like Kevin Kolbs career might be over. The hit he took didn't "look" that bad, and he got up slow but played four more downs after that. Now they're the concussion was serious enough to jeopardize his career...Comment
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Bills' Coach, GM Express Frustration At Meddling, Business as Usual (at failing)
Bills coaches want to change training staff
By Tim Graham | News Sports Reporter | @ByTimGraham | Google+
on Sunday, February 23, 2014 11:24 PM, updated: 9:38 PM
"Now sit still while I put these leeches on ya' to bleed out your choleric spleen!"
INDIANAPOLIS — Buffalo Bills coaches want to change the organization’s old-school culture, but they seem to be encountering internal resistance.
Key members of the staff have told The News they want to update the training staff by replacing long-time head athletic trainer Bud Carpenter, but the front office is reluctant to support a switch.
Within the past few days at the NFL Scouting Combine, coach Doug Marrone and General Manager Doug Whaley have stressed player health is a top priority for the organization in 2014.
Marrone and Whaley also are said to be highly interested in changing the Bills’ this-is-the-way-we’ve-always-done-it culture.
Carpenter has been a fixture with the Bills. He’s entering his 30th season with the team and his 19th as its head trainer.
But the Bills’ coaching staff is much younger than Carpenter is. When Carpenter was getting his start with the Bills, most of the current coaches were teenagers.
Sources said at the combine that the coaching staff is weary of Carpenter’s old-school methodology. These sources believe Carpenter’s “stim and ice” therapy is too outdated for today’s athlete.
“Stim and ice” refers to electrical stimulation to the injured area and ice treatments.
The Bills have struggled with injuries previously, although last year was a relatively healthy one.
Still, rookie quarterback EJ Manuel missed eight games (two preseason, six regular season) with three knee injuries.
Marrone declared after the third knee injury that Manuel would start the season finale against the New England Patriots and stated the medical staff told him Manuel would not require surgery.
Manuel did not play against the Patriots and revealed three weeks ago he had another knee surgery.
Marrone and Whaley have indicated the Bills want to make sure Manuel has all the tools he’ll need. The Bills have hired additional coaches and have spoken about bolstering his supporting cast.
Running back C.J. Spiller, safety Jairus Byrd and cornerback Stephon Gilmore also dealt with nagging injuries throughout the season.
The Pro Football Athletic Trainers Society honored Carpenter’s staff with its annual award in 2007 for its response to tight end Kevin Everett’s catastrophic injury, although team orthopedist Andrew Cappuccino and rehab specialists largely were responsible for Everett’s recovery.
Prior to joining the Bills in 1985, Carpenter worked for one year with the Boston Bruins and served eight years as Fredonia State’s trainer and intramurals director.
The Buffalo News
email: tgraham@buffnews.comLast edited by Nickdfresh; 02-25-2014, 10:47 PM.Comment
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YOu must be posting all this just for me.
Oh dear.
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You and the other guy from Buffalo, Golden Boy.
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Hey did you see Von?
Oh dear.
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There was actually a follow up article posting "unnamed sources" as saying the new Bills' coaches and GM are sick of not being able to make decisions that are common place in other organizations that do things like --well, make the playoffs once in a while-- and that they cede responsibilities to guys that were hired in the mid to late 1980's for contract negotiations and personnel decisions. It sounds like a total clusterfuck at One Bills Dr. down the street...
And Von now drinks in Buffalo sports bars
Last edited by Nickdfresh; 02-27-2014, 09:37 AM.Comment
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