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Dear Buddy,

I’m sure you saw that pathetic excuse for a team get romped on Friday. Didn’t you? Sure I know it’s just preseason, but doesn’t it worry you a bit?

I’ve seen the seen the same thing year in and year out over the last decade. Decade. Yes the Bills haven’t reached the playoffs in a decade. You know that, right? Are you doing everything you can to change that? Are you!?

Listen. I know your predecessors were arrogant enough to think they could sit on their hands all offseason and magically get more production out of the below average players on the team already. You don’t think that too, do you? If the first preseason game is any indication, it looks like you do.

Are you listening? Good. How in the world could you think that the WR position was ok after losing both TO and Josh Reed. Last years #1 WR and #3 WR. Only to have them replaced by one or two from a group of neverwillbes.

Look around the league. Half of the backups on other teams are better than the 3 scrubs you have competing for the starting QB role this year. Don’t you think something’s wrong with that picture? Hopefully Levi Brown can rise above the rest of them.

The offense, if at all possible, is LESS TALENTED than last season. What were you thinking!!!

Last I checked, the Bills were one of the top teams in teams with cap space. Why not spend some of that money and bring in some quality free agents? What the heck are you saving that money for?

Hopefully you’ll learn real soon. Hopefully you’ll change your approach to next offseason, which I’m sad to say I’m already thinking about (IN AUGUST!!!).

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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