AFC EAST Special Report - What Is Buffalo Thinking?

You know how it is.  Everyone has that cousin, or mutual acquaintance of a friend of a friend, who just always seems to be in trouble or has problems they never seem to be able to pull themselves out of.  In my family there are at least 2 dozen cousins, and only about 3 of us have never been to jail or in a serious crash or in Juvie or in some kind of 'program'.  Hell, I even have a cousin who's a correctional officer who's dating one of the prisoners!  I can't make that stuff up.  Of the several hundred people who read this Blog every day, I'd be willing to bet at least 10% of them are currently in trouble with the law or are constantly having problems paying their bills.  It happens.  Everyone takes their eyes off the road from time to time and hits a speed bump.  And at that point, it's up to the family, friends, and co-workers to help guide that person back onto the road.

Now, I'm in no way suggesting that the Buffalo Bills (yes this is an article about Buffalo, hence the title) are our friends or co-workers, but they are the neighbors who you constantly complain about behind closed doors, but ultimately you don't want them to stop mowing the lawn or park the lime green pinto on the lawn.  

The AFC East is the Miami Dolphins' neighborhood.  The Patriots are the snobby folk who live in the middle of the cul-de-sac and have the pool/jacuzzi combo and have the landscapers out twice a week.  The Jets are the loud, obnoxious party crowd who are constantly upgrading their subwoofers and squealing their tires.  The Dolphins are the laid back folk who have been re-tiling the roof for 2 years, with a cooler on the wrap-around porch.  The most noise they make is the occasional hammering and the once a month debris removal truck.  And then there's Buffalo.  Buffalo is the neighbor who's constantly looking through the blinds in case they have to bolt and move on at a moment's notice.  They don't bother with the grass, and eventually cover it up with artificial lawn.  Instead of investing in a long-term fix for the broken back door, they board it up with plywood.  They don't pay for cable, but spend $250 on cat food every month.

The Bills had some serious woes on their Offensive Line at this point last year.  Rather than try to develop a line that included some of the good ingredients they had in stock, they decided to just replace everyone, including their best player, Jason Peters.  They then drafted Eric Wood and Andy Levitre.  They added a couple of free agents, including aging vet and constant distraction, Terrell Owens.  They had a couple of head coaches, now on their 3rd in a year, and they had more injuries than can be counted on all your fingers and toes.  On top of these most recent issues, they have not been able to replace a head coach who retired over a decade ago.  They have drafted only two quarterbacks in the 1st round in the last 40 years.  The first was Jim Kelly in 1983.  The second was in 2004 and his name was JP Losman. 

This is a team that doesn't make good decisions, at least they haven't since the glory days of the mid 90s when we as Dolfans suspended our collective hatred of the Jets and focused all our distaste on the Buffalo Bills.  Are they moving to Canada?  Are they looking for a franchise QB (last I heard they were thinking of trading for Donovan McNabb who will be 34 this season) or did they have a plan to replace Peters?  They got 3 draft picks for him and did not pick up a single starting-caliber tackle after the trade or in the draft.  They drafted 2 cornerbacks and 2 safeties, a 3-4 rush linebacker (despite playing a 4-3) and a tight-end in addition to two interior linemen.  Ironically, they traded 2 draft picks to Dallas in order to draft Levitre, and Dallas used one of the two to draft a Tackle.

Buffalo also hired from Dolphin linebacker coach, George Edwards, and he immediately announced that Buffalo was switching to a 3-4 defensive scheme.  Then he looked at the roster and immediately backtracked.  As it stands now, Buffalo is planning on using a hybrid 4-3 with some standing up DEs sprinkled in, at least until they have the personnel to do a more traditional 3-4.

There's been a lot of back-tracking, shaky decisions, and bad luck around this team recently.  Not much one can do about the luck, but maybe getting a new training staff is the best place to start.  And here's some advice for Chan Gailey and friends from his neighbors in the AFC East:

1. When you don't have a replacement in place, you shouldn't trade the best player on the team away, especially if he is the only Pro-Bowler on the team.
2. Don't draft 4 players in the secondary when you already have 3 or 4 starters.  Use those picks on hard to find positions, like Offensive Tackle, especially when you haven't followed suggestion # 1 above.
3. If your team has a hole on the roster or on the staff, fill that hole with conviction.  Don't jump to get a stop-gap player when you could have the same hole again next year, or halfway through the season. 
4. Don't make decisions that you may have to back out of.  Figure it all out before you make the call.
5. Do not start the 2010 season with Edwards, Fitzpatrick or Brohm as your starter.  Or even McNabb.  Make a trade for a legitimate mid to late 20s QB who can start immediately and can manage the game.  You have too many things to coordinate and improve without having to worry about gunslinging your way through games.  Take a look at Jason Campbell, or wait until after the draft to see who may become available in trade.  Bottom line is you gotta spend the picks and money on QBs and Tackles, not on cornerbacks.

Now, I open up the forum for suggestions and criticisms for the Bills.  Whereas the Dolphins went 1-15 and have spent the past two years trying to rebuild and improve, the Bills seem unwilling to take the leap of faith, or worse yet, have put their faith in the wrong place.  This is easily where the Dolphins could have been had we not brought the Trifecta in when we did.  So, please, let them know what they should be doing, or what they shouldn't be doing, but by all means, don't go as far as to instruct them how to win the Division!