No Shanny, No Holmgren....wanna bet it's Ralph?

[Ebenezer]

So, it appears that Shanny is all but destined to go to Washington. Holmgren wouldn't even talk with the Bills. There goes two from the "A" list.

Anybody want to bet the bottom line is ownership. They either don't want to deal with or be restricted by Ralph. The NFL is a really small community. RW hasn't exactly been the best owner in the last 50 years. His reputation far proceeds him. I am sure that Polian (the better part of the last 15 years), Butler and Smith (the better part of 10 years), Wade Philips (10 years) and others have pretty much spread the word about the meddler.

Again, this has RW written all over it. His own actions are going to lead this team to another unknown GM and less than stellar no-name "C" list coach unless they go young or somebody feels that this position is better than no position.

I will state again - RW is his own worst enemy. Enjoy your HOF [sic] owner.

[The Juice Is Loose]

I don't really dissagree that Ralph sucks.

But Cleveland and Washington are no better. Snyder meddles more than anybody. Cleveland flip flops what they want every other year, plus have little-to-no talent on the roster. NO QB, No RB, no line, no wr's...They suck.

Washington has a strong defense, probably not gonna have a QB, WR's suck...plus that owner fired Marty Shottenheimer, whose as good a coach as has been in the league over the last 20 years, after 1 year!

Zorn gone after 2. Gibbs gone after 3. Spurrier gone after 2.

I'm confident that all you gotta do is prove you can win and Ralph will probably trust you. If it was so bad, why would Marv come back?

Again, I'm not arguing that Ralph sucks, but the other owners suck too.

It literally all comes down to $ and ego. Snyder will probably just throw more money at them.

[Demon]

Bills contacted Holmgren to COACH.... he doesn't want to coach, he wants a front office position and the Bills, like probably everybody else besides Randy Lerner, doesn't want him in that spot. It's bad that Seattle has ZERO interest in even talking to Holmgren about it?

[SquishDaFish]

Im sorry but Homgren shouldnt be on noones A list.

[The Juice Is Loose]

Also, I don't want Shanahan or Holmgren. They've either quit or got fired in the last year, they're looking for another big payday.

No coach has duplicated Super Bowl success on a second team, ever.

Look at it through history:

Jimmy Johnson in Miami
Parcells in NE, NY, Dal...sure made it once but lost.
Vermeil in KC
Holmgren in Sea

We've talked it over, the best options are guys like Russ Grimm, Lezlie Frazier, and Zimmer from Cin.

Young, motivated, confident coordinators are what is going to be the formula in this era. Look at the playoff teams this year, no former or really ever Super Bowl winning coaches are going to do anything.

Indy, Balt, GB, Min, NO, Az, Cin, and Philly, all have head coaches that weren't head coaches before their current jobs.

Only NE and and maybe Dallas will push for the playoffs with a coach who was a head coach somewhere else first.

[trapezeus]

being a bills fan is like being stuck playing the slots hoping for a miracle while all your friends are playing poker where the odds are in your favor to win.

i guess we'll just sit here and keep pulling the level hoping for triple 7's. Although sadly, we've had 3 7-9 seasons but still no payday.

[Mudflap1]

The biggest reason the Bills have had any amount of success over the past 35 years is because of Bill Polian, and he brought in some good guys like A.J. Smith and John Butler that kept things going until Ralph fired them all. Great job Ralph.

We need to find the next Bill Polian. Only then will the Bills get back to where we want them to be.

[YardRat]

I'd like to thank Ralph for keeping the team in Buffalo all of these years, so that I have an opportunity to look forward to the changes this off-season instead of not having any interest at all in the NFL.

[tampabay25690]

Im sorry but Homgren shouldnt be on noones A list.

Y NOT?

[Demon]

Y NOT?

His drafts are not any good and he make good moves. He brings in bad free agents and over pays for many players. He turned the Seahawks into a mess. He's a great coach, GM.... not so much.

Look at his FA signings and his trades. Very poor. And his drafts have been awful.

[Night Train]

Don't follow the supposed conventional wisdom, as provided to you by ESPN ( the lemming network ).

Shanny and Holmgren have the names but not the recent success. Holmgren is a good coach but terrible GM. Shanny knows zip about D and ours stinks.

I'm open to many ideas and a call to Brian Billick to start.

[Patti120]

One thing that was interesting is that in an interview on NFLN tonight Holmgren was talking about how the challenge of rebuilding is very appealing to him (and I was thinking that is the same challenge in Buff., so why no interest there) and then he went on to say said that it was the ownership in Cleveland that really appealed to him.

[Demon]

Don't follow the supposed conventional wisdom, as provided to you by ESPN ( the lemming network ).

Shanny and Holmgren have the names but not the recent success. Holmgren is a good coach but terrible GM. Shanny knows zip about D and ours stinks.

I'm open to many ideas and a call to Brian Billick to start.

I want the Bills to call Billick, Zimmer, Grimm and Fox if he gets fired. One of those four would be my dream. Get a good GM and a good O.C. with them, and i'd take that over Shanahan.

The only problem i have with Billick, Zimmer or Fox is the last two coaches we've had were defensive. If they do go that route, they can't just promote some WR coach to do the job. They will need a proven NFL offensive coordinator, and i wouldn't mind Charlie Weis. Not exactly sure who else would be available.

[Ebenezer]

I want the Bills to call Billick, Zimmer, Grimm and Fox if he gets fired. One of those four would be my dream. Get a good GM and a good O.C. with them, and i'd take that over Shanahan.

The only problem i have with Billick, Zimmer or Fox is the last two coaches we've had were defensive. If they do go that route, they can't just promote some WR coach to do the job. They will need a proven NFL offensive coordinator, and i wouldn't mind Charlie Weis. Not exactly sure who else would be available.
Brian Billick was OC in Minnesota before getting the HC job in Baltimore.

[Demon]

All this time i've thought he was a DC in Minnesota. Thanks for correcting me.

[kernowboy]

I look it along this way.

A up and coming personnel guy like Eric de Costa would be superb as he has a proven track record in the draft. Also a guy from the North so maybe a better understanding of what type of player succeeds up here?

Russ Grimm as Head Coach - he is an OL and Running Game specialist which is exactly what we need. He'll either sort Lynch out or ship him out and upgrade him. He'll also develop our line into something not to be ashamed of.

Hue Jackson for OC, current QB coach at the Ravens. He's been an OC with the Redskins and the Falcons, developed Carson Palmer as a QB, turned Stephen Davis into a running back menace at the Redskins and turned Johnson and Houshmandzadeh into one of the best WR pairings in the league so he might be able to bring along Evans, Hardy and others.

At DC, it depends how we go. If its 3-4 then the defensive line coach at the Steelers, Kevin Butler looks like a decent option having learnt his trade under Dick LeBeau.

If we stay 4-3, I would consider Peter Giunta of the Giants who has previous DC experience at St Louis between 1998-2000 winning the SuperBowl in 2000. He would bring a more attacking 4-3 defence as practiced by the Giants.

DeCosta
Grimm
Jackson
Giunta

[Mike]

The biggest reason the Bills have had any amount of success over the past 35 years is because of Bill Polian, and he brought in some good guys like A.J. Smith and John Butler that kept things going until Ralph fired them all. Great job Ralph.

We need to find the next Bill Polian. Only then will the Bills get back to where we want them to be.

Only Problem is that we may have to wait another 35 years before this happens!
The way I see it, its almost a luck of the draw. In the 60's it was all about the Packers who won 2 SB's then sucked for... about 35 years before they got B. Farve and another SB in the mid 90's.

The 70's were about a team that really sucked, historically. They magically things came together to produce the 70's steelers. a dynasty... then, they waited about 30years before winnign another SB in the 2000's.

The 80's were about another ****ty team that took a turn for the better. The 80's 49ers were perenial loosers in their previos 30 years or so. Then like magic it all came together to create one of the best dynastieas.... since then they have 1SB in 1996.... and since then, they have been loosers again!

The 90s also had its team of the decade: the cowboys. eventhough the cowboys had won SB before, it was not to the same extent as the 90's team. they won 3 SB in 4 years.... since then they have sucked!

The 2000's featured yet another team that turned from looser to dynasty in the Pats. Historically, the Pats allways sucked, until this decade. The same can be said of the Colts, a team that prob. would have won more SB if it was not for the Pats dominance.

Now on the flip side, there were also teams that just could not get over the hump: Minnesota of 1970's, Denver of the 1980's, Buffalo of 1990's, Philladelphia of 2000's... these teams too, follow the trend.... from awful to good, except no SBs...

[Mike]

chances are, we will have to wait, and wait and wait until we catch lightening in a bottle again, and get the next Montana & Bill Walch, or Kelly & Polian, or Manning & Polian, or Brady & Belichekc, etc,,,, you get the picture....

[Bill Cody]

So, it appears that Shanny is all but destined to go to Washington. Holmgren wouldn't even talk with the Bills. There goes two from the "A" list.



Shanny may want to work with an owner who is willing to spend whatever it takes to win. That ain't Ralph so you're right about that one. Holmgren is a successful coach that doesn't want to coach and an unsuccessful GM that wants to run football operations. So I think that one's a poor example. But it doesn't really matter you're right anyway.