Dear Coach Gailey,

As you are well aware, the Bills haven’t made the playoffs in a decade. As you are aware too, you predecessor was soft. So soft that he’d adhere to the monkey see monkey do rules of preseason football that less innovative teams have all adopted. This meant having to watch the first team offense fail to gain a first down during most pre-season games, only to have them substituted for the 2nd string. This also meant having to watch the same futile offense take the field during the regular season, and watch helplessly as they continued their meager ways.

This letter is simple. It’s to ask, or better yet DEMAND, that if the first team offense or defense fails to produce anything of quality during the pre-season, DO NOT rest them. Make them stay on the field until they show some semblance of success.

Thank you,

Matt Soreco

PS. If you are a Bills fan, and you reference the super bowl Bills (of 18 years ago!!) as evidence that the “pre-season doesn’t matter”, well then WAKE UP!

Well, well, well. Who could have predicted this? Me actually. And other “realist” fans. On message boards there is always headed debate between fans that fall into two camps. Homers who always seem to think the team is a Super Bowl contender. And realists who have a more pessimistic outlook. I have never been as pessimistic as I was during this offseason. And it’s gotten worse and worse ever since. I won’t recap, it’s all written in previous posts.

The Bills finally fired Jauron last week. It needed to be done. But that’s not it. The entire front office needs to go. The scouts. The GM. Everyone responsible for the personnel blunders. Draft reaches. Draft busts. Draft “projects” that they don’t have the luxury of trying. Horrible free agent pickups. More horrible free agent losses. And an unyielding cycle of redundant mediocrity.

The fine mess now is they are in such a deep hole that I’m not sure any of the top tier coaches available would want to touch the team with a ten foot pole.

I lost track what part this is.

It’s no surprise to me that the Bills stink again this season. That’s what happens when you take a 7-9 team, downgrade significantly on the offensive line, and other than the addition of Terrell Owens, all other things stay the same—including the coaches (except for the offensive coordinator fired within a week of the season’s start).

I’ve broken down position by position in previous posts. A light bulb went off over the last few weeks. When I check out other games, I almost always see former Bills playing well for other teams. When considering the positions those players play, I realized something. The Bills constantly turn over good talent, while also trying to patch holes. What ends up happening is that it becomes a constant state of catch-up. At some point, the Bills are going to have to open up their wallet and pay for some of the proven talent to stay. Even it means “overpaying.”

“Overpaying” has been a theme as to the excuse the Bills use when players aren’t re-signed. It seems to have some validity when looking at it from one perspective. But the alternative to overpaying has a greater consequence. The focus should be to keep these guys, and cut the waste of spaces on the roster. And there are plenty of players that are a waste of space. They are perpetually injured even when barely stepping foot on the field during games, or utterly useless on offense or defense but are kept on for special teams (meaning they are a depth liability). I’m not going to name names, but the Bills are loaded with this kind of dead weight.

The draft is always a gamble. I think the Bills should try to build depth through the draft. Not replace proven talent. Major holes should be filled in FA, not just the draft.

The last game against Miami was a disaster. The only positive thing about Jauron I’ve noticed the last three years is that the players play hard for him. But they completely laid down last Saturday. I think the rest of the season is going to be ugly. I hope Ralph guts the entire football operation and brings in real talent evaluators and coaches. There are some premium coaches available. They better get one of them.

The Bills surprised me tonight. They played hard for the most part.

In case you couldn’t tell from my previous posts, I am not a big fan of Jauron. That’s putting it mildly.

I heard several commentators this week talk about preparation, especially situational preparation. I think the Bills break down like this all the time because they are not well coached. I think Jauron is respected by the players. They play hard for him, but they fail in critical times all the time. Most likely because of a failure to prepare for specific situations. They failed tonight in a big way. Again. Plus they were more penalized.

The Buffalo Bills released their starting left offensive tackle today. For anyone who does not know football well, that is the most important spot on the offensive line.

This is someone who played 2 years on the right side fairly well. He was moved to the left side in the beginning of the offseason. Now he did look bad in his preseason games, but surely his talent could have been salvaged.

What’s embarrassing is that this comes less than a week before their first game. Moves like this should be long solidified. They had an entire offseason to judge, and they get rid of him now?

This season is going to be a disaster. The only good that can come out of it is if the entire football operations staff is let go. And a more qualified staff takes over.

Hey Ralph. You have to pay for a top notch (aka winning) staff.

I think the Bills will be lucky to win 3 games. Jauron lost the team. He sounded defeated during his last press conference. They could not have looked more pathetic last game.

I get angry when I hear “it’s only preseason.” Yeah, if 53 yards passing in preseason sits well with you, then I have a bridge to sell you.

Let me be clear. A win or loss does not matter in preseason. But production does. If you look completely flat, well that is a sign of things to come.

I’ve noticed that in sports, everyone wants to point the finger one way. In football, probably more than any other sport, problems can be systemic.

Here is my rank of causes of the Bills trouble. All feed into eachother:
1) OL – This unit was not good last year. They lose 2 vets and bring in 2 rooks, plus shuffle the entire deck. Pass protection is spotty and run blocking is almost nonexistent. They have been bullied all over the field this pre-season. Constantly getting mauled and pushed back. The offensive woes start here.
2) DL – This unit does not get pressure at all. Which then highlights weaknesses with the LBs.
3) QB – Trent plays scared. He can’t be scared of making mistakes. You can’t dink and dunk all day. But, the OL doesn’t help one bit.
4) LBs – Poz is overrated. Mitchell is meh. Ellison isn’t good. Front 7 are very weak.
5) SS and FS – Whitner is below average. Not worth a 1st round pick. Scott is average.
6) TE – Maybe, just maybe Shawn Nelson will become a threat they haven’t had in ages.

Combine the above with the fact that Dick Jauron has only one winning season under his belt:
Bears 1999: 6-10
Bears 2000: 5-11
Bears 2001: 13-3
Bears 2002: 4-12
Bears 2003: 7-9
Lions 2005: 1-4
Bills 2006: 7-9
Bills 2007: 7-9
Bills 2008: 7-9
Total: 57-76 (.429)

Then combine that with a defense that doesn’t fit the personnel. And then mix in some no huddle stupidity. And what you’ve got is… Puke.

Our strong points are limited by the weak points above:
- The WRs are only as good as the QB getting them the ball.
- The RBs are only as good as the blocking.
- The CBs are only as good as the pass rush and the measly LBs.

Throw my lunch up and puke!

Ok to the uninformed, that’s me mocking the Bills’ Shout song, which is played after every score. I’ve had to sing my version for almost 10 years. It’s therapeutic.

And I think I’ll be singing it a lot more this year.

I wrote a post about the Bills’ futility in February. Now free agency has passed, the draft has passed, and 3 preseason games has passed, I think the Bills have dug themselves deeper. Their performance Saturday against the Packers was utterly embarrassing.

To sum up why I don’t expect even as good as another 7-9 season:

• The defensive unit is almost entirely the same, except one CB. I like McKelvin, but he’s not that much better than Greer.
• Paul Pozluszny is overrated. And it doesn’t look like he’s improved much–based on the 3 PS games.
• Aaron Schobel was never that good. I used to joke and call him “garbage time” because of his signature sacks at the point in games when it didn’t really matter. Now, he doesn’t even get good pressure or even any garbage time sacks.
• The defensive scheme is grossly too conservative (bend but don’t break).
• Everyone on the offensive line is playing a new position this year. And 2 veterans were replaced by rookies.
• The two rookies on the OL look, well like rookies in their first 2 PS games. I won’t call them out like I did Poz and Schobel yet. But development time is surely going to hurt this season.
• This no-huddle that they are running is an absolute joke. It seems that it takes them just as long to get off a play. So much for catching the defense off guard. Sure it helps prevent defensive substitution, but what does it matter when the offense is so lack-luster to begin with. It’s like a huddle without the actual huddle.
• Trent Edwards (this hurts me to say it because I really like him and want him to succeed) plays scared. Trent, you can’t check down to 2 yard passes every time. 9 for 9 for 9 yards is not good. Ok that was an exaggeration, but not too much of one.
• Aaron Maybin is a question mark. He needs to really step up to make a difference. From what I hear, he’ll be a situational pass rusher. That’s not good enough, in my opinion–for this season anyway.
• Jauron has only coached one winning season his entire career. It’s pretty clear why.
• Package all of the above up, then add in Terrell Owens, and what I think you’ll have is a disaster.

So there you have it. I predict 3 wins from the Bills this year.