Nice Ron

My only requirement would be to have that HC in place before they fire DJ.

Let the rebuilding begin (again). I agree with everyone who feels the move needs to address both Coach and GM

so I would say let Jauron finish this year and then ton a BUTTLOAD of cash at Stanford HC Jim Harbaugh……

Thats the guy we need!

He would instill the blue-collar work ethic that Bills fan would love……plus he can motivate like no other.

I mean come on Stanford was a laughing stock for many years…..and now in 3 years he has them on the verge of their first bowl game since before Trent was even playing there.

But of course that makes much much too much sense to happen.

I don’t hate the idea of firing DJ at the bye and giving April a shot. My biggest problem with it is actually that I’m afraid it would work too well. The last thing I’d want is no change whatsoever except April is the HC and he’s promoted his ST asst. That just sounds terrible to me, so I agree that an in season promotion isn’t a good idea.

Cowher isn’t coming to Buffalo. He won’t take this job if Carolina is a possibility, Buffalo’s defensive players aren’t a great fit in the scheme he would want to run here and in general, Buffalo isn’t appealing enough to get him. And no way does Ralph pay him 8 mil per year or whatever he is going to get.

I’ll pass on Schottenheimer, Billick, Fassel, Sherman or anybody that the Bills can realistically hire mid season. I can’t imagine Holmgren coming out of retirement after less than a year to coach the Bills in the middle of a lost cause of a season. I don’t think Gruden could be persuaded into taking the job midseason, nor do I really want him as a head coach. And one major problem with hiring a coach before you hire a GM is that you end up with the coach having much more authority over the draft and FA than the GM does. I’d never give Gruden that much control over things like that.

Mike Shanahan would be a longshot, but he’s the one name that really intrigues me. It’s possible, very unlikely, but possible that he could be hired in the next month or two. It’s also stretching it to believe that Ralph would pay him the 5+ mil or whatever he would demand (and I think negotiating with somebody like Shanahan mid season actually gives him and not the Bills the leverage). But Shanahan is one guy who I would be comfortable giving full control of the organization to.

I voted for hold onto DJ and scramble for a coordinator, but I think the best plan is actually to scramble for the best GM candidate out there and then let him hire whoever he wants. I’d prefer the final say on the draft and FA goes to somebody whose full time job is the draft and FA and not a HC.

I like how you skew the results Ron with putting ‘scramble’ in the first two options :P
I would love it if DJ was ‘released’ and we could get someone – i just don’t see it happening…

I see no one other than Shanahan being available if Jauron is fired during the season. I see no way the team finds more on-field success with him gone during this year. The players will be lost with a comletely different playbook (I know, they look lost now).

I want to continue thinking the problems are all related to the OL. They’re not, I know. I just don’t know if in-season firing is the right move…yet.

just one time, the poll question could be placed above the article. Rather than the self-serving herding of sheep into the desired result. It’s like “I gave you the answer that I want, now here’s the question”.

and well written, Ron.

I’m just having a hard time jumping on either bandwagon right now. If we lose to Cleveland, I think I’ll know my answer.

I rec’d it because it’s a solid argument, I’m just not sure it’s possible at this point.

please, OBD, hire a qualified GM first! Of course, the first thing he will do is show Jauron the door.

Can we fire Brandon and then hire a real GM midseason to aid in evaluating talent? Would said GM have to be out of work or can one be lured midseason, depending on the job they currently hold (head of college scouting, etc.)?

I agree with you ron, but I am convinced that Dick Jauron WILL NOT be fired until after the season. It is nearly impossible to replace him mid-season. Much like it is nearly impossible to fire an offensive coordinator a week before the season, or release your starting left tackle before the first regular season game… But I digress. Suffice it to say, we are stuck with Jauron whether we like it or not.

Having said that, the question is SHOULD Jauron be let go? I will fervently support this. I have never been a "Jauron-hater" and still don’t consider myself one. But here are a couple of my points.

Bottom Line – Jauron simply has not won in Buffalo, two subpar seasons, and a current 3-11 streak is not getting it done. He also has not won against divisional opponents and has not shown the ability to beat "good" NFL teams. Furthermore, by his own admission this is the most talented team he had has in his tenure. If the most talented team he has had is capable of losing horrendously to a 0-3 team, that speaks volumes

He has been given his opportunity – Jauron has "his" players, his coordinators, and little mettling from upper management. He has made his bed and he deserves to lie in it.

Lame Duck – What does keeping Jauron around for the rest of the year accomplish? The ONLY reason I can come up with is that it saves the Bills financially. Obviously Jauron’s contract is guaranteed, so they would have to "double-up" to bring somebody else in. But let’s be honest, Jauron’s derrier is just keeping the seat warm for the next guy, whomever that may be.

Audition – Why not let a coordinator sell his wares? Let Bobby April show what he can do. It cannot be much worse than Jauron. It allows OBD to evaluate potential in a coordinator whom has shown potential. If anything, it rewards April for his hard work on Special Teams the last few years.

Motivation – Most importantly. By letting Jauron go OBD has stated, if you don’t produce you are gone. This is why Walker is no longer with the team, same goes for Schonert (although slightly different circumstances). If these guys were made to pay for their poor performance, why shouldn’t Jauron fall the same fate. If ANY of us in our jobs (other than government or union jobs – there is my jab) does not perform up to a reasonable expectation level, we get let go. Now add onto that, he has been give multiple opportunities to redeem himself, but to no avail. I really think keeping him around speaks to the fact that OBD is accepting of poor behavior. And yes, I truly mean that, if nothing else it could easily be construed as such. If anything letting him go, sends a message to the current players… Produce or else.

Fan Appeasement - OK, placating the fans does mean "something", after all, the Bills exist because of us.

Again, I am not arguing that replacing Jauron currently is practical. Just that keeping a lame duck around doesn’t work towards solving the problem. And no, I don’t think replacing him "solves" the problem, it just shifts the paradigm a lttle. Bringing in a GM would really be the step in the right direction, I can’t argue that.

I was really hoping that this post wouldn’t degenerate into personal bashing of Jauron and it hasn’t. Thank you all.

Does anyone here seriously think Wilson will cough up the dough for a proven NFL head coach? Where is the history of him being willing to do that?

.. but I’m having second thoughts. Brian brought up the name of Eric DeCosta, which got me thinking about the answer to this question:

What’s more important, the head coach or the general manager?

I think the Polian-Levy argument has some merit. Polian put together the great team… and the argument could be made that when Polian left, that the team eventually floundered (after 1999) without his guidance and ability to restock the team. Not that John Butler was bad- but it could be argued that he just couldn’t live up to the greatness of Polian.

How about now?

Indianapolis. They lose Tony Dungy, and are in a coaching disarray almost all off-season with Howard Mudd and Tom Moore leaving (and then coming back). And? Polian keeps restocking the team and it does well, as he’s done for a decade. No matter who leaves, the team restocks and does well.

Baltimore. Ozzie Newsome just keeps restocking that team with talent. Since Kyle Boller (who Newsome didn’t want to draft) who has he really missed on high in the draft? Baltimore has been up and down, winning 9, 6, 13, 5, and 11 games the past five years… but how many of those loses were tight and lost because Boller couldn’t deliver? Has the team’s identity ever changed? Even with a coaching change, the team’s talent pipeline still allows the team to win, even when a large part of the team leaves in the off-season.

New England is a different type of team, being run by Belichick, but we can’t count out Pioli. Sure, Tom Brady always gives you a chance. But Brady didn’t draft the OL, DL, or the young talent they have now. Pioli had a large part in it.

Kevin Colbert keeps restocking the shelves in Pittsburgh. Despite losing Bill Cowher, Joey Porter, Randle-El, Hartings, Faneca, and Bettis after the 2006 Super Bowl, they don’t miss a beat. They restock, get a new head coach, and win. Those loses would cripple most other teams.

On the flip side, I can’t find one recent situation where the HC stayed, the GM went, and things got better. When Donahoe left Pittsburgh, they weren’t bad, and other than adding Roethlisberger, their roster didn’t drastically improve that quick. They had talent already.

Admittedly, a potential hole in my argument: most of the teams listed have great QB’s. It could be said that having a Manning or Brady makes keeping a team good easier. I’d use Newsome and Baltimore as the counter-argument, as Flacco was the last piece added.

I agree with all of you that Jauron isn’t that answer- I said so after the MNF loss and my fanpost on leadership. In that same vein, changing the HC isn’t going high enough on the leadership ladder. We need to add a GM first, then think head coach. The identity of the team and overall leadership outweight the timing arguments that I made last night and the current argument in this post.

IMO, we need to be talking about the merits of the young guns in the league waiting for their shot at being a GM.

The guy that I really, really, really would like to see as our GM is – as Der Jaeger mentioned – Kevin Colbert from Pittsburgh, who has done the best job of anybody in this league of building a championship football team with the Steelers. A lot of people will say that Cowher and the current HC, Mike Tomlin, have a lot to do with all the success they have had, which is certainly true, but they wouldn’t have had half the success, if Colbert hadn’t found diamonds in the rough via the draft.

However, I disagree with you on several points. I think that bringing in a coach to change the scheme at this point in the season not only has a 0% chance of actually happening, seems to be a big stretch. I don’t think any coach would want to come in mid-season and try to install an entirely new system.
I agree that firing Jauron and not bringing in an outside replacement is useless. By promoting AVP, Bobby April, or Fewell (I would think April has the best shot in that scenario) would only serve to complicate the process of finding a coach at season’s end. What if (and I know it’s a big IF) April were to start after this Sunday, and go 8-3 down the stretch. Not enough to make the playoffs, but very impressive in 11 games. He would make himself a viable candidate for the job. That’s not good because, let’s face it nobody here thinks April could be a good HC.
I think the only way we land one of these proven commodity coaches (Shanahan, Holmgren, etc.) is if they are the type like you mentioned that would want GM duties as well. Let’s face it, we need a GM as bad as we need a coach, and killing 2 birds with one stone (or as my JV coach would say kill 1 bird with 2 stones) seems to me to be the best option for finding a GM and HC that are on the same page. In this GM/HC person, we could have them take over mid-season, but only as GM for the rest of this campaign. They could make decisions on personnel and coaches by watching them first-hand (like Parcells did in Miami) and be very prepared for the off-season to begin.
I agree with you that we need to grab one of these guys before January when we have no shot to compete with other teams, especially the big market teams (Dallas, Washington) that appear are going to be looking for coaches come season’s end. I think my idea, though sounds possible, also will not happen. Therefore, I think the best course of action is to fire Jauron in early December. An interim coach would not have enough time to fool us into thinking he could be a viable replacement, and we would have a head start on the interviewing frenzy with available candidates. One thing is for certain, when the Bills fire Jauron, which I’m certain will happen at some point, must act before other teams do.
A comment on the Rooney Rule: It is a farce because, like you said, teams will just hire who they want anyways. If they want a white guy they have already interviewed, they will simply interview an ethnic candidate with no intentions of signing him, no matter how impressive he may be.

…is because the black community is going to look down on Buffalo for doing that. Regardless of our intentions, the effect will be that Buffalo didn’t want to even make an effort to talk to a black coach, so much that they went to court to fight the rule. It’s a lose-lose. It looks better to interview a person of color for the wrong reasons than to wage war on the rule for the right reasons. And it will be seen that way. Racism is too hot-button an issue in America, and the media outlets feast on controversy. Just look at the jerk journalists who misreport the Bills every chance they get. Slim to none that the media reports this from Buffalo’s actual intentions, when they can bring up the race card.

So let’s find a black man who we could honestly see taking the job. It’s not amoral to interview him knowing that he has little chance to land the job, because that happens any time someone is hired. You have frontrunners, people you’d prefer win the job, and people who you’d be surprised if they impressed you, but you’re not counting on it, so you’ll give them a chance. It can’t be that hard to find a black man we could see coaching our team.

1. The Bills did not lose against the Patriots because of Dick Jauron.

The Bills lost this game because Leodis McKelvin fumbled.

2. The Bills did not lose against the Saints because of Dick Jauron

The Bills lost this game because Trent Edwards missed two long passes to T.O

3. The Bills did not lose to the Dolphins because of Dick Jauron

The Bills lost this game because the two offensive tackles (Johnathan Scott and Kirk Chambers) did not block well enough to allow Trent to through the ball.

It’s amazing how such a large amount of Bills fans use Jauron as a scape goat.

Keep in mind the amount of injuries the Bills have endured this season.

 Poz, Mckelivin, Hardy, Steve Johnson, Donte Whitner, Brad Butler, D Bell, Marshawn out for three games, Bryan Scott, and John McCargo.

When the entire team is dropping passes—and continues to drop passes—it’s on the coaches.

Are you serious? You want to blame the head coach because players are dropping passes? That is simply ridiculous.

inability of the offense to take advantage of the Saints defense.

The blame would go on AVP here. Sure Jauron hired him, so I guess you could indirectly put the blame on Jauron.

How can you say that Scott and Chambers are to blame when Jauron is the guy who decided they were good enough to be on the field?

What other options did he have? Who would you have put in Ron? You think you or any other coach in the NFL could have put in two better players on the Bills roster? I mean c’mon, your arguments are not validated.

He didn’t break Poz’s arm or tweak Bell’s groin. He is, however, the man who must be held accountable

This doesn’t make sense at all. I think you are trying to say that he should be held accountable because he is the head coach. I disagree. It’s just not fair to him.

Clock management. Going for it on 4th and 1 or not going for it. Not having the support of his players. Players are not playing hard. Not bringing in the right players.

I very rarely delete comments on my stories/posts. I have deleted a couple which featured personal slams on this person or that. By and large, though, everyone did a great job keeping the conversation on topic and remarkably civil.