Maybe we aren't rebuilding

[Mitchy moo]

I was just replying to another thread and I started kinda ranting. Well, during the rant I came to a realization that the Buffalo Bills organization is not in a "rebuilding" mode. I decided that the information probably wouldn't be seen by many in that thread, so I am starting this one. The rant starts as follows:

I do not have high "expectations" for this season, because most Bills fans realize that, for the most part, every season is a crap-shoot. However, I do have have a great deal of approval for the job that Levy and Jauron have done thus far. As stated in a recent artical, since Marv got the position of GM (in January), the team has added 40 new players to the roster. Some posters on here say that we are "rebuilding", I disagree completely. For the most part, we have been rebuilt, in my opinion.

As a starting three QBs, no matter what the depth chart will look like by the start of the season, we actually have more "potential" than most teams do. Will they live up to that potential? Who knows what the future will hold for Losman and Nall. They're both young and have strong arms.

At running back, we have a great 1-2 punch possibility (McGahee/A-train or even McGahee/Gates), even though they will not be used as such this season. We've picked up some strong FB prospects in Ming and Goldsberry.

At Wide Receiver, we have one of the fastest cores in the league. We picked up one of the most surprising players to become a rookie free agent in Martin Nance, who we read about from Chris Brown almost daily. We have three free agent receivers who are veterans looking for one more chance to prove themselves in Andre Davis, Josh Reed and Pearless Price.

Our Offensive Line has much more depth than it has had in QUITE a while. Not to mention that we FINALLY got rid of Anderson.

Tight ends, we're good to go. One great blocker, one great athlete. Whomever is #1 won't matter much in this offensive system.

I'm sure we can all agree that the defense was upgraded BIG time over this offseason, so I will not beat a dead horse and rehash all the other posts about them.

Basically, it may be this year, next year, or even the year after that; but very soon we will have a very good team that will actually be able to compete with the rest of the NFL. All we have to do is keep this massive core of young talent together. We may still have a few positions that we may be able to upgrade, for the most part, we've got what we need to build a solid TEAM.

[billsburgh]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

I am of the opinion that this team is not really as bad as it seemed last year or as bad as some of the media are making us out to be this year. Mularkey was lost and in over his head as a head coach and half the team quit on him. There are still some talented players on this team. A better O-line and a slimmer Willis will help to take the pressure off whoever the qb is. The biggest question mark to me is the D-line.

[ddaryl]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

skooby =

or he's on Ectasy and everything is just groovy tonight.

but I agree, we may not make the playoffs but there is reason for optimism.

[jamze132]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

I am not sure if I completely agree that we aren't "rebuilding". I guess it's a loose word that gets thrown around alot. I guess you could say it's more of a "retooling" phase. One thing I am impressed by is the fact that in another year, we will have a very good cap situation. With Levy not throwing money at eveyones face, it is helping is immensly when he is ready to just that when the time is right. "Retooling" this team with FA who aren't yet stars is a very smart and cost effective way to manage. I am sure that in a couple of years if not next year, one or two of them will turn out to be pretty damn good and great bargains.

[John Doe]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

I was just replying to another thread and I started kinda ranting. Well, during the rant I came to a realization that the Buffalo Bills organization is not in a "rebuilding" mode. I decided that the information probably wouldn't be seen by many in that thread, so I am starting this one. The rant starts as follows:

I do not have high "expectations" for this season, because most Bills fans realize that, for the most part, every season is a crap-shoot. However, I do have have a great deal of approval for the job that Levy and Jauron have done thus far. As stated in a recent artical, since Marv got the position of GM (in January), the team has added 40 new players to the roster. Some posters on here say that we are "rebuilding", I disagree completely. For the most part, we have been rebuilt, in my opinion.

As a starting three QBs, no matter what the depth chart will look like by the start of the season, we actually have more "potential" than most teams do. Will they live up to that potential? Who knows what the future will hold for Losman and Nall. They're both young and have strong arms.

At running back, we have a great 1-2 punch possibility (McGahee/A-train or even McGahee/Gates), even though they will not be used as such this season. We've picked up some strong FB prospects in Ming and Goldsberry.

At Wide Receiver, we have one of the fastest cores in the league. We picked up one of the most surprising players to become a rookie free agent in Martin Nance, who we read about from Chris Brown almost daily. We have three free agent receivers who are veterans looking for one more chance to prove themselves in Andre Davis, Josh Reed and Pearless Price.

Our Offensive Line has much more depth than it has had in QUITE a while. Not to mention that we FINALLY got rid of Anderson.

Tight ends, we're good to go. One great blocker, one great athlete. Whomever is #1 won't matter much in this offensive system.

I'm sure we can all agree that the defense was upgraded BIG time over this offseason, so I will not beat a dead horse and rehash all the other posts about them.

Basically, it may be this year, next year, or even the year after that; but very soon we will have a very good team that will actually be able to compete with the rest of the NFL. All we have to do is keep this massive core of young talent together. We may still have a few positions that we may be able to upgrade, for the most part, we've got what we need to build a solid TEAM.

Superb post. The only thing that was not mentioned was the fact that the Bills have the best special teams in the league, but then we all know that anyway.

I am sure that the players and coaches feel that there are possibilities for success this year as well.

Marv has done a remarkable job in retooling the team for completely new offensive and defensive systems in such a short time. The biggest benificiary on offense will be McGahee.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

I don't entirely disagree with you, even though I just wrote an article for the BZ front page about the team rebuilding and still think that that is what the team is doing.

Personally, I see a lot of room for optimism: I do believe that you will see a better Bills team on the field at the end of this season than at the end of the last one. And, I think that overall the team will be a lot more interesting to watch.

But, where I disagree with you is in thinking that because the Bills have brought in all of these younger players, they will immediately be able to turn things around. When you bring a lot of new players together, they are not all going to be able to gel together quickly and it will take some time for them to get used to playing with one another. Also, the rookies and lesser experienced guys who play are going to make mistakes--they all do, no matter how good they are, until they get enough experience. So, you are going to get that and it will cost the team some games. But, they will play hard and you should see improvement as the season goes on and that will worth watching and rooting for.

Additionally, there are some question-marks, which have been touched on in this thread, and, while you are right in pointing out how they have been addressed, not all of those question-marks are going to be answered positively--that too is something that nearly always is the case and that you have to take into consideration. Some will, some won't. Those question-marks that turn out to still be negatives will cost some games, too. And, while there may be some improvement in these areas as the season progresses, it will probably not be until next off-season that they can all be adequately addressed. But, for every question-mark that turns out to be a negative, there should be one that ends up being a positive as well. And, that should also help to produce a better team as the season goes on than last year's squad as well.

Because I can't see every move working out perfectly, I do see this as a rebuilding rather than retooling season. But, even if there are negatives and every move doesn't work out right, I do see the team moving in the right direction--I see sense in what is being done, even if I don't always agree with a particular move. And, I do see a reason for optimism. If certain moves work out right and certain players at key positions step up, this team could be turned around fairly quickly--as in able to compete for a playoff berth next season.

Retooling vs rebuilding? Semantics. But, even if everything doesn't work out right, I do think that this team will be more worth watching and rooting for than the team that the Bills had on the field last year, especially at the end of the season. And, they could surprise us and even be a lot better than we have reason to expect. So, yes, IMHO that is a reason to be optimistic.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

Front office change + coaching change + philosophy change + player change (high percentage) = rebuilding.

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

Front office change + coaching change + philosophy change + player change (high percentage) = rebuilding.

I think you're right. We're not purposely rebuilding, but in trying to undue the damage of the Donahoe/Williams/Mularkey years, we are making enough changes that it is inevitable that the "rebuilding" label will be hung on us.

Rebuilding doesn't mean that the team or its fans should give up on this season, however, because we still may win a number of games. But we need to have more patience than we would have with a more experienced and established team.

I think we're at least headed in the right direction.

[ublinkwescore]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

But, they will play hard and you should see improvement as the season goes on and that will worth watching and rooting for.



, this team could be turned around fairly quickly--as in able to compete for a playoff berth next season.

You said it all right there - last season, after the 3rd straight loss (I can't remember who it was that we lost to), I realized that watching Bills games was going to be torture for me. This season, we don't have quite the high expectations that we did for last season after finishing the prior season at 9-7, but because there are so many new faces, it's gonna be amusing to watch them grow together as a team on the field, and eventually, the W's will start coming.

In today's NFL, teams can still suck hard one year, and then wow everyone the next. We can't count our team out so easily. I'll bet anyone here the browns are competing for a wild card spot this year at the very least (I don't expect them to do much more, yet, but in today's NFL, who knows).

[justasportsfan]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

We got rid of Moulds ,Adams and Milloy and replaced them with players with upsides but not proven. The qb position is not solved and even if it is, none of the qb's we have are proven either. The OL is getting a new look with new players. We're installing new systems on both sides of the ball. We're rebuilding.

We retooled when Mularkey was hired only to find out, he was the tool.

[HHURRICANE]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

We retooled when Mularkey was hired only to find out, he was the tool.

Awesome.


R E B U I L D I N G!!!!!!

Skooby, we are rebuilding. As Justasportsfan so intelligently put it, many new players, new schemes, new coaches. This team had 5 wins. However, I do think that things are starting to look better and I agree that Marv has done an excellent job so far. Even though he got criticized for the way he handled Moulds by not getting a better draft pick, he handled it with class and that will come back to us with players wanting to be here.

[ublinkwescore]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

I don't know if I'd quite call it rebuilding - we've got a great deal of talent - we're just waiting to see if it assimilates or not - unfortunately, that can take a full season - but who knows.

[PcA125]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

We just need the Qb situation to be settled and have 1 starter for the whole year and we will be fine.,.. I mean anything can happen, Look at the bears last year.

[BigGabes23]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

I agree, it is rebuliding. But I believe that with all of this change, there is both optimisim for this year, but more importanly, realistic play-off hope in 2007.

[HHURRICANE]

Re: Maybe we aren't rebuilding

I agree, it is rebuliding. But I believe that with all of this change, there is both optimisim for this year, but more importanly, realistic play-off hope in 2007.

Well said!