I was thinking about the debate I read yesterday of the possibility of Marty Schottenheimer coming in and hiring his son Brian to be the offensive coordinator.  First let me say that I am a huge fan of Marty Schottenheimer and I like the idea of seeing him in Buffalo.  I think the idea of him coaching 2 years and then easing in Brian as Head coach makes a lot of sense.  If this means that he would be a HC/GM and then become GM while his son takes over at HC, I like the concept.

Another possible father son combo could be Mike Shannahan and his son Kyle.  I really like Kyle Shannahan and believe him to be a much superior candidate than Brian Schottenheimer.  So I could see Shannahan come in as HC/GM and coach for two years while grooming his son to take over in Y3 and then becoming our GM only.

I don't necessarily agree with a HC also being a GM but in both those cases I think it could work.  My though is that there is too much work for one person to do both jobs but both those guys have enormous experience and could pull it off for the first two years.  What we need most in Buffalo is an identity and both these guys are known for exactly that.  Both guys are well known for their power running style.  Who wouldn't love to see a Bills brand of Marty-ball?  Shannahan would be perfect for our young O-Line, nobody does it better than him, getting fantastic zone-blocking schemes that basically can make any back into a 100+y back - just imagine what he could do with Lynch & Jackson?  with Wood & Levitre?  I can understand why he'd be interested in coming to talk to Ralph.

I think we need a strong GM & President.  Today's news is great because it indicates a willingness on Mr Wilson's part to rectify the ship.  It's unbelievable to me how many people think by hiring a new coach things will change.  I used to be one of the guys who thought bringing in a Cowher or Schottenheimer, a guy that would act as Head coach & GM would be a good thing but after many great discussions this off season I came to the conclusion that we need a great GM first and foremost. 

Two great names out there are:

1) Rod Graves with the Cardinals.  He is currently the GM only.  We could offer him a promotion (Executive VP of operations & GM).  He has been there since 1997 and in charge of personnel since 2002.  He's drafted:  Fitzgerald, Boldin, Dansby, Cromartie, Wilson, Rolle, Breaston, .  He brought in Warner and was man enough to bench Leinart even though he was drafted to be the franchise QB.  And more importantly, he brought in a great head coach in Ken Wisenhunt.  The Arizona Cardinal's are a very relevant team because of Rod Graves.

2) Scot McCloughan with the 49ers, same deal, I would hire him and promote him to executive VP of operations & GM.  In his two years as GM, he's hired a great Head Coach, drafted Willis, Staley, Smith, Davis, Lawson, Gore (4th round gem!!)

Once we have a great football guy in place he should be hiring the appropriate head coach.

The problem with hiring someone lower like a director of player personnel is the risk of them not working out.  These two guys have proven their worth and could turn things around.  Both have recently been involved with hiring great new coaches and both have a great record in recent drafts.

This is what I think Ralph Wilson should do.

We should have traded TO when we had the chance.  Now at this point our season is completely over and everyone knows it.  Unfortunately keeping Jauron until the end serves very little purpose.

At this point we need to evaluate some of our young talent.  There are a list of guys that will be UFAs at the end of then season and we need to get the young guys behind them some significant playing time to see what we have.  We need to give the next head coach some film to work with in order to make the right decisions

TO & Josh Reed:  Steve Johnson & James Hardy both need to get the bulk of the work over those two.  We need to know what we have with those two sophomores before any decisions can be made

Ryan Denney: Aaron Maybin needs to get significant reps from here on out.  I also would like to see Ellis get some significant playing time over Schobel & Kelsay.  Why risk you're two starters.  Giving these two good valuable experience now in meaningless games should pay huge dividends down the road.

Keith Ellison:  He's out and should stay that way.  I'd like to see both Nic Harris & Ashley Palmer get more reps

Ashton Youboty:  give Lankster some playing time.

Bryan Scott & George Wilson:  Should we keep Whitner?  Maybe we could trade him in the off season?  Give him playing time so that he can strut his stuff.  Either way, it makes sense to give him some time at SS.

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Unfortunately, Jauron won't start these guys over the incumbents because he is still grasping at straws to try and pull out a few more wins, which is why we need to fire him now.  Who cares who we promote to HC as long as we make it clear to them that these guys need playing time.  As for TO, I doubt he will like losing his job so we should simply cut him and save the $$ and aggravation.

As a fan I am completely discouraged and devoid of all hope.  I see no need to even watch anymore.  It's worse than humiliating.  At least if we fire Jauron & cut TO, it will provide hope.  It will show us that Mr Wilson cares and intends on rectifying the situation.  It also provides us a reason to watch the rest of the season because even if we know we won't win, at least we can watch out rookies develop.

So there you have it, another crazy idea from Keysh - blast away!

Is it just me or does anyone else find it strange that the week James Hardy is activated, TO goes out with a weird last minute injury?  There is definitely smoke here...

Could be that Jauron wants to get Hardy in a game and has asked TO to lay low with this last minute weird injury.  Really when you think of it, he'll get paid either way here and his job in Buffalo is done, he was the splash guy, the guy they brought in to appease the uproar and dissatisfied fans and to a certain extent it worked as planned.  He's been horrible on the field but then again that was never the primary reason for bringing him in anyways.

Another possibility is TO wanting to take a step down to leave Hardy get his chance either because he's a great mentor that wants his prodigy to get a shot or maybe he realized that he can only hurt his reputation to play out the season.  Let's face it his stats at the halfway point are horrible and unless a miracle happens at QB & Oline, they are not about to get better anytime soon.  If he gets injured (real or not) and then the rookie steps in and does well, then when he gets better there's an excuse for sharing time with Hardy and it skews the fact a bit.  If he stays in for a full season and has horrible stats, then his career is probably close to over, he can go watch Sunday games with Marvin Harrison.

It's probably nothing but it's funny how much of a coincidence it is that he gets hurt the same week Hardy is ready to come back...

I was looking at the standings this morning and realized just how horribly pathetic the NFL is this year.  There are so many bottom dwellers this year that it's not even funny.  I was trying to see if we had a chance to be picking in the top 3-5 picks in next years draft.  The main reason is because we need to get our franchise signal caller in the next draft, pure and simple. 

And my favorite candidate right now as we speak is by far Jimmy Clausen.  I've made and effort not to miss a game this year and he is really impressive.  He is accurate and has a big arm to get the ball downfield.  He also can throw darts into tight spots.  In recent weeks he's shown how smart and patient he could be.  The guy is a very gifted athlete than can also move around the pocket and beat you with his legs when required.  IMO he is the complete package.  He also has the most experience of the Juniors and can play well outdoors in the cold.

See analysis after the jump...

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Last night I posted something that got pulled this morning because I used a bad word.  So I am re-phrasing it because the points that I was making deserve to be published and discussed.

Last week TO said in his interview how he'd like to finish his career in Buffalo because he loves the way Jauron is easy on them and that the practices are easy and then the fact that Jauron give veterans like him days off, like the two past Fridays.  Lovely, just lovely.  Is it just me that thinks that TO & Fitz needed as many reps to get in synch as possible?  Is that not coaching brilliance at its best?  your backup QB is in the game and he has not thrown to your two star receivers much so far this year because he gets most of his reps with the 2nd stringers, so why not give your star receiver some time off?  It will be way more entertaining to see them learn on the fly, right?

Sidenote:  TO is as worthless as it comes.  When he did an out and Fitz thought he would be doing a go route, an error totally not related to giving TO some well deserved time off (??), TO saw the interception and turned and walked away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The camera angle showed his lower body pointed at the interception and then quickly turning and walking away.  The interceptor actually ran right through the spot freshly vacated by our super hero (the great Terrel Owens).  I can deal with a lot of crappy plays but I cannot deal with such a heartless and cowardly act.  We should have traded him when we could but now it's time to bench him. 

Back to our well managed football team.  Our defense once again played an awesome game for us yesterday, they really did.  We were down 17-10, absolutely no reason to panic.  So we run the ball 3 consecutive times to setup a beautiful Pop Warner"ish" trick punt play, which backfires in our face and we give them back the ball with great field position.

I hate the way I feel about this team right now.  I feel like the owner really doesn't care about me, his loyal fan.  He seems way more concerned with keeping costs down and hiring guys that he can control.  Well Mr. Wilson, I sincerely think that you are our main problem.  I mean no disrespect when I say this.  I am a loyal fan and I would like to continue to be a loyal fan but I need much more than what you've been giving us the past 5-7 years.  You are going to have to trust someone and you are going to have to let go and let them do their job.  Any self-respecting GM worth a dime will not accept a position where his authority will constantly be scrutinized by a 90 year old owner.  The Bills over their lifetime have not accomplished enough for you to think that you are able to manage them.  They had a lucky run during the Polian years but other than that, this team has been less than pedestrian.  My grandfather is 89 and my grandmother is 91, god bless both their soles, they are great but they certainly are well beyond the age of being swift enough to run a successful business.  Your business is now worth almost $1B and it's due in large part to loyal fans like me.  Please take a step back from all of this and realize that we need some serious changes around here, much more than just a new coach or QB, we need to completely reset the structure and mindset.  We need another Polian in here.  Mr. Wilson, I beg of you to acknowledge that this is beyond repair and requires drastic measures.  You need to step down and actually trust your ability to find a great football mind that can shape the next 10-15 years of Buffalo Football.  A man that has accomplished as much as you have, a man that has been in the business for so long, a man that knows and is respected by so many people in the business - please use all that knowledge, power & respect to find the right guy to steer this ship back onto a course that will bring prosperity back to Buffalo Nation.

WOW, anybody who thought they had seen it all must be really surprised by T.O.'s transformation.  I am amazes at the way T.O. is now admitting his shortcomings and how he defends his teammates in such trying times.  And he always comes back to the same lyrics, we practice hard, we play hard we just need to execute better, yadiyadiyada.

Unbelievable, he now sounds like Jauron.  This week was the icing on the cake when he said that he'd love to return to Buffalo because Jauron doesn't work his veterans too hard and it's great on his body...  Jauron has not only humbled hiim, he's turned T.O. into a wuss!!!  He's sucked the competitive edge out of him!

Now the three guys giving interviews all sound the same (Jauron, Edwards & TO)

Simply unbelievable!

Let me start by saying that I am a huge Buffalo Bills fan and I want them to win more than anything.  Leading up to the draft we as avid fans like to discuss the potential players and their value to our team, we discuss available free agents and which ones that could have an impact on our beloved team.  We talk and discuss for basically what amounts to 8 months of jibberrish because we have nothing else better to do while awaiting out favorite team to take the field in the first meaningful game of their new season.  At which point all we really have is positive hope on the up-coming season.

What I wanted to discuss today is the make-up of that hope.  What I mean by that is I'd like to discover what makes Rumblers tick, what most of you want out of this team.  In recent weeks I've been dumbfounded by the reactions to certain discussions and I figured it was high time to investigate what makes Rumblers tick, find out if we are all over the map or if we are united in our quest to conquer the NFL

Have you ever stopped and wondered what type of fan you are?

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I was listening to the Jauron press conference from yesterday and could not help but think that he's actually too much of a nice guy.  I mean he always praises his team both offense and defense even when they fail miserably, he always find something positive to say.  Don't get me wrong I think being positive is great but I also think that he over does it and it's probably detrimental to him.

I definitely understand why the players love him so much because no matter what happens not only does he stand up for them he goes out of his way to praise them.  Like the way he praised Byrd yesterday.  The kid is a rookie and needs to continue to develop (a lot) and he has the potential of being a real super star.  I fear that all this praise might go to his head and actually be detrimental in his development.  And then again with McGee, Jauron bent over backwards to make sure everyone understood just how special McGee is.  It's too much.  I listen to him and I really don't feel that anything is broken but yet we've barely won the last two weeks. 

Praise is fine but in moderation.  What Jauron lacks is the ability to convey his dissatisfaction but in a positive way, he needs to show the players of this team that he is not content with the way we are playing and that he expects better, that he expects improvement in certain areas.  If I'm a player the message that I get from my head coach is continue to work hard because that's all that matters and he is quite content with the way things are.

He made a comment:  "Anyway you get 20pts, anyway that you can get a win is fine".  I understand the statement but not week in and week out.  If your only chance of winning is to hope you find someway to win, then you have a problem.

I strongly believe that Jauron would be doing himself, the team and the rest of us a big favor if he could just learn to be able to convey some level of dissatisfaction when things are not perfect (which they rarely are in the Bills case).  I'm not suggesting to completely change his DNA but simply to make a few adjustments to it.  Tell them when things are not right and minimize the un-needed praising because it probably does more harm than not.