Bills plan is apparent

[X-Era]

I just went through the available FA's list.

What is left is vets who are beyond there youth and expect to be paid by what they have done, not what they will do.

-That plan is exactly why we ended up 5 and 11 last year. We signed a bunch of overpaid vets who's play was headed south. We took major cap hits on players like:

Milloy
Bledsoe
Vincent
Adams
Teague
Villarial

TD spent loads of money on players who arent worth it anymore. Basically THIS regime is spending less money on younger players who at the least will play the same as these vets, and at best will develop and be much much better...and for cheaper.

The rest of whats left is young players who havent done squat yet.

-We have inevsted in a few of these type of players so far:

Gibson
Fowler

These guys have a chance to earn spots and develop. But at the very least, they are young vets who could be adequate backups.

Short of Vincent, I applaud the Bills for releasing the overpaid vets and starting over with the right type of players still here. Overachievers like Spikes, Fletcher. We have drafted tough, smart, fast players. We have signed guys who have lots of upside, and we have kept players who are valuable like Clements, McGee, Peters.

No, we didnt get Hutch. No, we didnt get Bentley. We DID get Tripplett. We DID get a 16 game starter at LG, Reyes. We DID get a youngster with upside at C in Fowler. We DID resign Peerless who had his best years right here in BUff and should be a solid WR as a #3 and may be a solid #2.

No, this team wont battle for the playoffs next year. But IMO, no matter WHO we signed with what we had in cap cash, that wasnt happening anyways.

I bet we suprise alot of people with a hard nosed, fly to the ball, group of young overachievers, led by JP.

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

Good, optimistic post, jp. I love the kind of bright, young, hungry, motivated players we have brought in. They will give us a solid foundation on which to rebuild this team after Donahoe's fiascos.

[Goobylal]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

If anything, this off-season seems more like how the Pats built their team, and the opposite of how TD tried to acquire several big name players every year. I'd also say it's very Sabres-like.

[BillsFever21]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

I bet this is almost the exact same things fans of teams like Arizona and Cinci said for almost a decade till they started to turn things around.

We signed a bunch of cheap scrubs. The same thing them teams did for years.

Some homers can call them "up and coming" stars if they want. You will always have them types of people.

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

I bet this is almost the exact same things fans of teams like Arizona and Cinci said for almost a decade till they started to turn things around.

We signed a bunch of cheap scrubs. The same thing them teams did for years.

Some homers can call them "up and coming" stars if they want. You will always have them types of people.

No, we actually signed young, motivated players with upside, rather than old, declining players with big names and contracts, as was Donahoe's style. They won't all be superstars, but they will give us a good nucleus of hardworking, team-oriented players similar to the New England model.

[Dozerdog]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

But signing the big superstars is what placates the whiners.


Boo Hoo we didn't sugn Damien Woody a few years ago for $30 MILLION
WWWWwaaahh! We didn't spend $38 million on LeCharles Bentley
I never heard of these guys so they MUST suck!

[BillsFever21]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

The New England team wouldn't have been anything without the coaching staff they had. I guess you are labeling are coaching staff in the same class as New England had.

Every young player has upside. It doesn't make them good players though. They were junk from other teams.

When we got rid of our young dead weight like Pucillio, Bannan and others, I wonder if they are considered with that same label.

We don't miss them. It would be funny if the teams who picked them up were thinking that.

It wouldn't have mattered what cheap younger scrubs we brought in. The same people would be saying the same thing about them.

Do these people even know anything about these players? I doubt it. That's what they wanna believe and it's the Kool-Aid OBD is serving the homers this season.

[The_Philster]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

I guess you are labeling are coaching staff in the same class as New England had.

actually, no one knows what this coaching staff will be like. Do you think that Bob Kraft knew that Belichek would turn out as well as he did when he hired him? Considering Belichek was a bit of a flop in Cleveland, I highly doubt it

When we got rid of our young dead weight like Pucillio, Bannan and others, I wonder if they are considered with that same label.

Honestly, a change of scenery could work wonders for a lot of players. After all, John Parrella and Tom Nutten, to name a few, weren't worth much of anything here in Buffalo

[BillsFever21]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

No. Signing good productive players keeps people happy. Not a bunch of scrubs and castoffs who wasn't wanted by their other teams.

I hear the same thing year after year. The homers will always follow the company line and say crap to the ones who don't follow it. For the last 6 years we have been losers and the ones who didn't follow it have been right. This is just the new company line and flavor of Kool-Aid for the homers this year.

No we didn't sign Bentley for 38 million. With that 38 million we spent it on a 3rd-4th option WR in Josh Reed(10 million), a 3rd string QB(10 million), a 2nd string TE Royal(10 million), and another 3rd option WR who hasn't done anything in 3 years in Peerless Price(10 million)

All of which are dime a dozen players and will be lucky to be on the team in a few years and are averaging 2.5 million a season. Their production could've been filled much cheaper.

I wasn't crying for Bentley. But his 38 million would've given us more production then them guys will.

I hear crap every year but every year I've been correct about our team. From Mularkey and Clements and others. Everyone supported all this stuff because they were Bills(so they must be good) but they are always wrong. A new coaching staff and set of players come in and it's the same old stuff.

You guys can live in denial if you want. Some of us aren't willing to do so.

[BillsFever21]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

actually, no one knows what this coaching staff will be like. Do you think that Bob Kraft knew that Belichek would turn out as well as he did when he hired him? Considering Belichek was a bit of a flop in Cleveland, I highly doubt it
Honestly, a change of scenery could work wonders for a lot of players. After all, John Parrella and Tom Nutten, to name a few, weren't worth much of anything here in Buffalo

He must've highly regarded Belicheck. He gave up draft picks to get him as the HC.

So now we're labeling Dick Jauron in the same class as Bill Belicheck. Now that's funny.

And why are they being labeled in the same class? Just because they both had a losing record their first time around as a HC. That doesn't mean jack.

I guess Mike Mularkey, Marty Morinweg, and all the other failed coaches in the league can be labeled in that same class.

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

actually, no one knows what this coaching staff will be like. Do you think that Bob Kraft knew that Belichek would turn out as well as he did when he hired him? Considering Belichek was a bit of a flop in Cleveland, I highly doubt it
Honestly, a change of scenery could work wonders for a lot of players. After all, John Parrella and Tom Nutten, to name a few, weren't worth much of anything here in Buffalo

Good points, Philster. I think that Levy and Jauron are way ahead of any GM/Head Coach combination we've had here since the Polian/Levy days, and they seem to be bringing in their type of players - despite media and fan criticism over the lack of "big names."

I'm cautiously optimistic that the Bills will be good again, although it may take a few years to undo the Donahoe/Mularkey damage.

[BillsFever21]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

Wilson was brilliant in bringing in an old geezer like the famous Marv Levy as GM. No matter what moves he makes there will be fans who will think they are great moves just because it's Marv Levy.

You can bring in a group of scrubs along with a career losing coach who wasn't really wanted by anyone else and all of a sudden things are looking bright just because they were hired by Marv Levy.

All of you said the same thing when Mularkey was hired as the HC. That it was a great improvement over Williams and things were gonna turn around now.

[The_Philster]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

No one's labelled Jauron in any class except for the people who have given up on him and his staff before even training camp, Feve...but don't let facts stop you from making ridiculous posts I enjoy the humor in them

[The_Philster]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

Good points, Philster. I think that Levy and Jauron are way ahead of any GM/Head Coach combination we've had here since the Polian/Levy days, and they seem to be bringing in their type of players - despite media and fan criticism over the lack of "big names."

I'm cautiously optimistic that the Bills will be good again, although it may take a few years to undo the Donahoe/Mularkey damage.

Big key word to that is bolded. It's too hard to predict what kind of contribution any player will have with a new team. Like you, I'm cautiously optimistic..I just find it difficult to understand why people seem to want to find the bad in everything

[patmoran2006]

Re: Bills plan is apparent

Big key word to that is bolded. It's too hard to predict what kind of contribution any player will have with a new team. Like you, I'm cautiously optimistic..I just find it difficult to understand why people seem to want to find the bad in everything

Cautiously optimistic is the operative word, as I feel the same way.

I also see both sides of the fence.

Singing a bunch of "name" players like TD did never got us into a playoff game, so I see that side.

At the same rate, IMO people who say Bentley shouldnt be signed because he isnt worth $38 million to me is ridiculous... Given our recent history of our OL if he's a Pro Bowler compared to what we had/have he's a BARGAIN.

So in those regards, I agree with Bills Fever that I'd rather have Bently at $38 million that Reed, Royal, Price combined.. THose are a dime a dozen players who can easily be refurnished. There are few if any Bentley's in the league at center.

I love our draft, although I dont think people will see the fruits of it until 2007.. I like SOME of our FA moves (Reyes, A-Train, Tripplett, A Davis), absolutely despise some of the other moves (Royal, Reed, Price, Denney) and I'm puzzled to this day about Nall.

"Homers" have reason to be optimistic as its a new regime, a new system and a lot of new players. We only won 5 games last year, how much WORSE can it get with a bunch of new, younger guys?

"Whiners" also have a reason to be pessimistic as it's a story we've all seen before, and on paper this team is SIGNIFICANTLY worse than it was last year, and last year wasn't pretty.