What Bills fans can learn from the Miami Dolphins

I commend the effort, Der Jaeger, but if a fan wants to mope, they’ll mope. That’s a hard truth to swallow, and I’ve given up fighting the good fight of rationality.

Someone should post this over at the buffalobills forums. I don’t know if any of you guys do, but I still occasionally lurk around there and it’s chaos right now!

I agree with the sentiment that you don’t necessarily win by adding the flashiest free agents. I understand the patient approach you are preaching, etc. I don’t, however, agree with comparing OBD to Bill Parcells. Bill Parcells gets the benefit of doubt because he has proven he’s a winner and knows what he’s doing. OBD has proven time and time again that they are losers and they don’t know what they are doing. Patience has not paid off for Bills fans in a decade so healthy skepticism from Bills’ supporters is more than warranted and doesn’t deserve to be chastised. As long as Trent Edwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick are at the top of the depth chart at QB, our patience will continue to be fruitless no matter what approach OBD takes in this rebuilding effort. I’m hoping that Nix and company will get this right, but my experience with this team has taught me to expect nothing but failure from OBD and it’s their job to change that before fans can be mocked for being impatient.

It’s been 48 hours since free agency opened why haven’t we signed peppers and dansby, traded for vick and troy smith (a backup plan for the backup plan), put an offer out to marcus mcneil, offer sheet for marshall, already announce what we will be doing at #9, trade our entire 2011 draft for the #1 pick this year tpo draft clausen (you know, in case vick and smith and brohm dont work out) and printed our playoff tickets?!!!?!!! SLACKERS!!!!

People need to settle down

Abosolutely nothing about the Wild Cat. You did mention Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown but before I go to far. How far would Parcells and the Dolphins have gotten with out the wild cat.

Der Jeager, your posts are always grand slams or mimimum solo shots, but this one is like a Trent Edwards Pass hitting the ground first. Please comment on how the Wild Cat has helped Parcells time in Miami. Other than that you touched everything else. Unless your suggesting that Chix may have something up their sleeve in form of a surprise scheme set up. If that’s the case, I can wait not to see it.

Early free agents signings over the past couple of years
Dockery
Walker
Hangartner
Fitzpatrick

I am a fan of Hang, but doing nothing is a vast improvement over the other three

I think there’s a lot of logic in this article. Real good points were made. Good read Der Jaeger. Also, I’m pretty sure they added Davon Bess that summer. He was an undrafted rookie out of Hawaii or something and he is now their #1 Wideout and Henne’s favourite target. I would certainly take that kind of rebuild as opposed to “only having to give up a 3rd and a 4th for Boldin”

Great points made.

Miami is a perfect example to learn from.

YES, sir they are. They are run by the premier football man in the game, Parcells is a genius.

Although I 100% agree with you Der Jaeger , I also understand why many fans are dispointed. Last year was one of the lowest point in the past 30years – Fans actually paid for billboards to get a coach fired! Fans need something to get exited about and unfortunately Nix & Gailey are not that exiting and the moves they’ve made to date are well, non-existant.

What’s good about Nix is that he is older and really doesn’t seem to care what other people think, he’s got a plan and intends to see it through. I definitely think your comparison to how Parcells fixed the Dolphins is accurate.

and Starks remain with the team as reserves

And he turned out to be an excellent 3-4 DE

Parcells is a football person and so is Nix. Nix as worked under some of the most successful front office personnel in the NFL which includes arguably one of the best ever in Polian. He has a plan and is going to follow through with it no matter who is disappointed.

Can’t teams rescind their offers on the RFA’s tenders? I believe that is the case but I’m not 100% sure. Teams right now are fishing when tendering players to see if they can get a team to give them draft picks. Some of the tendered players will be released in the near future. Nix & company might be waiting to see who becomes available to make a move.

maybe they just don’t want Incognito… and perhaps Wade Smith thinks in his mind he has a better chance of starting elsewhere, before committing to BUffalo… its been three days… there is a long time before the season starts, when we as a team will have all the players to fill out a roster… 5 teams or so did some things… that leaves 25-28 teams that have sat back and let the landscape fall into place going into the draft. I am not worried at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro

Maybe the Buffalo winters are too depressing or something… but I think what y’all need to realize is that the team cannot get worse from here on out (unless Schobel decides to retire). The draft will add talent and free agency will add depth at some point. Guys get cut, guys are released for financial reasons… etc. Buffalo has a lot of young talent under contract and they’re not going anywhere. We don’t know how many players we’ll add just by giving young guys a shot at playing time. All of the whining probably has more to do with the individual than the reality of the situation. You don’t build a house overnight, and you don’t put the shingles on before the trusses.

And echoing everything rational people are saying. People just need to chill. Those saying they will jump ship without “so and so” singing need to go take fandom 101 and relearn how to be a real fan.

I remember when they signed Wilford. I really thought he would have been a good Orr the middle complement to Evans. I guess I was wrong cuz he didn’t exactly pan out. I think a vet wr should be a higher priority (after oline depth) because if the loss if reed and to. I’m really hoping against hope that #84 pika it up this year to the tune of 60 catches and 800 yds.

Does anybody know if we’ll be in the running for any compensatory picks?

Uhhh, Smiley was signed on the first day or so of FA for the Dolphins that year – 5 years for 25 million. They also grabbed Ferguson very early on and 1 or 2 other bodies in FA were grabbed in the opening day/s.

Nice attempt at comparison – but my memory tells me you have your timing details wrong.

For the record – I only want us to sign whoever we want / need. Whether that takes a day or a month.

lol

The Fins also had the number one pick that year in the draft which certainly helps when you are trying to rebuild seeing as you can either get who you want no matter what or you trade it away for more picks which always good when rebuilding. The point could also be made that although the Fins made improvements in 08 that most of that is largely attributed to them utilizing the WildCat as the offense du jour and the Pats losing Brady during week one.

I like the article though because it puts things in perspective. I know a lot of people dont want to hear about having to wait another 3-4 years to even think about the playoffs but the harsh reality is what it is. Hopefully they do it right this time and things turn around.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

I think you meant Ernest Wilford.