Inside The Ralph

I’ve been deliberately silent during the coaching search.   The reason being because I am utterly embarrassed at what has taken place.  I’m not ripping the Bills in any way, simply the fact that 98% of the candidates that were asked to interview told the Bills ‘no thanks’.

As of today Brian Schottenheimer became the latest coach to decline to interview for the Bills head coaching vacancy adding further insult to injury.

Am I missing something here?  Are the Bills really that bad?  Head coaches are avoiding this place like the black plague.  At this point I’m not sure we could snag hot shot coach Goldie Hawn as head coach in the 80’s hit movie, Wildcats.  Are the Bills the worst head coaching vacancy in the history of the league?  Almost all vacancies are due to a team performing poorly and Buffalo doesn’t seem so different than any other opening in years past, except for the fact that they are located in Buffalo.

I hate to say it but the Bills generate less revenue, garner interest from less free agents and cannot ink any coaches of their choice.  I’m not saying the Bills days are numbered in Buffalo but it certainly is an uphill climb for them to remain competitive. The Bills have done their best to interview all the right people and it is unfortunate nobody is willing to join this team.

Rumor has it that if Bill Cowher signs with the Bills they will have to pay an extra $2 Mill a year for his chin

There are reports today that the Bills had a “stealth meeting” with Bill Cowher this week regarding their head coaching vacancy.  This by Chris Mortensen, who also called the meeting “very productive”.

I’m trying not to get too excited but bringing the Chin to Buffalo would be amazing.

There are also rumors out there that Cowher has begun to put calls out to potential assistants according to league sources.   Taking the Bills out of the picture, this act alone gets you thinking he is inclined to return to coaching next season as opposed to waiting another year.

I’m not saying the Bills will land Cowher but there are a few things in their favor.  Overall it appears there will be less coaching vacancies than in years past.  Also, if Dallas or Chicago doesn’t open up, the Bills are probably as desirable as any other vacancy.  John Fox still has a year left on his deal in Carolina and word has it that he is probably safe.  Tampa has supposedly reached out to Cowher but they are even worse than the Bills if that is possible.

We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks but I’d expect that the Bills find their next coach soon whether it be Cowher, one of the Schottenheimers or someone else.  Outside of Cowher I wouldn’t mind seeing Brian Billick (interviewing) or the scenario of Cowher to Carolina/Fox to Buffalo.

In just a few weeks we should know.

Lets get one thing straight right from the start here.  That is that 99% of Bills fans have no idea who a big name GM is and have no right to be disappointed in this move.  There is no debate here.

For anyone that heard Nix’s (can’t call him Buddy because I think of Buddy the Elf) press conference this week, the guy is a football guy.  I mean he  must have pajamas with little footballs on them that he wears every night and he probably has his home fitted with astro turf for god sakes.

Moving along, I believe tapping Nix as GM is a good pick.  He has been successful throughout his career and not to point out the obvious but he has clearly had a big impact on the San Diego Chargers.  When John Butler and A.J. Smith shuffled off to the west coast they took Nix with them and he had a big hand in their success.  And yes, he’s never been a GM but he was assistant GM in San Diego and was the Director of Player Personnel which is pretty much the titles A.J. Smith held before becoming GM of the Chargers. He was also under strong consideration for the Atlanta GM position a few years ago.

Bottom line is that this move can only help the Bills.  Russ Brandon should handle a lot of the administration responsibilities, leaving Nix to focus on football.  He is incredibly connected in this league and should be able to help the Bills make some strong personnel decisions.

Let’s give this move a little more time before we criticize it.

Looks like I finally found a jersey worth purchasing.

How many of you were a little PO’d a few weeks ago when George Wilson snagged the late game interception away from Jairus Byrd against the Chiefs?   No need to answer because I know all of you were.  It has been a while since the Bills had a player to root for that was statistically one of the best in the league at something (outside of the redheaded step child known as Special Teams of course).   Going a few layers down, Bills fans haven’t had something to be proud for in a long time.  For most of the season, the thing that got me most excited was when the ‘Byrd Man’ would make an interception.  Every time he made a play, someone around me screamed “Byrd Man!” or I received a similar text.  He deserved to be recognized and I’m thrilled the voters got it right.

This from a guy who missed most of training camp and only played in 13 games this season.  It’s also worth noting he came out as a junior, although he did red-shirt his freshman year.   He is the bright spot for the 2009 season.

Eric Wood patiently waits for someone to put their hands between his legs

Just a quick note here.  I wanted to let everyone know that I received an update on Eric Wood from one of my ’sources’ (I really only have one).

I’ve been concerned because the Bills staff has been reluctant to provide any updates at all and have left us only with the nauseating replay of Wood snapping his leg to evaluate.

I’m happy to say that it appears the injury is not career threatening and we can expect to see Wood back at some point next year.  This is really terrific news and the Bills will be far better with him on the field. It isn’t easy to evaluate O-line talent but Wood was probably the best guy on that line before getting injured.

Here’s to hoping the recovery continues to go well and that Wood is back on the field soon.  This is great news at a point where I could almost care less about the Bills.

Earlier this season I was evaluating our linebacking corps with a fellow Bills fan (when they were healthy of course) and really had a hard time deciding whether or not Paul Posluszny is actually a ‘good’ NFL linebacker.

Through three seasons he hadn’t made the big plays to make himself standout and had suffered two injuries that kept him out for a significant period of time.  That said, since returning from his injury earlier this season,  I believe we are seeing Poz come into his own.   If you watch his play as of late, the game seems to have slowed down a bit.  He is more aggressive overall and has been delivering punishing hits.   His pick yesterday was a good one too…even if Brady did throw behind Welker.

If you look at his stats he has put together a solid season and if he were able to play all 16 games I believe he would get some consideration for the Pro Bowl although playing on a terrible team doesn’t give him much of an opportunity.  Regardless, he is showing signs of why the Bills were so excited to draft him and if he can stay healthy for an extended period of time he is going to help this team a lot.

Poz has 92 combined tackles, 1 sack, 3 forced fumbles and 3 interceptions in 10 games this season.

The Bills signing of “the dirtiest player in the NFL” is a little questionable but at this point if he can play on the offensive line, the Bills need him.  I’ll probably be singing a different tune when he costs us 30 yards in personal foul penalties and gets ejected but for right now I’m not going to protest to0 much.

What was more interesting about this signing was Kawika Mitchell’s rant on his Twitter account saying that Incognito is a “bum” and that this was the “biggest disappointment of the year.”  Does anyone see a problem with this?  I mean it just doesn’t make sense to me that the Bills sign a player and the first instinct Mitchell has is to post his feelings on his Twitter page. This is a great example of my issue with Athletes and Twitter and exactly why back in August I proposed that all athletes must take a written exam prior to being issued an account.  Now I think we need to take that a step further and just eliminate all athletes from using it.

Imagine if everyone just went around updating their Facebook and Twitter pages to say how much they didn’t like specific individuals.  There would be chaos. Maybe I should tweet this week about how Mitchell is a very average linebacker who could be replaced in the very near future.  I’d have to type it like this though:

KM aint gt it nEmore. Tme to kik dat tu-tha currrrrrrb!

It was actually pretty difficult to write that out…

So the Bills play the Pats next weekend and if that isn’t enough, they’ll be playing what I anticipate to be an ultra-motivated/pissed off Randy moss.

Moss’ effort was directly called into question by Panthers DB Chris Gamble when he said “”We knew he was going to shut it down,” Gamble told the Boston Globe after the game. “That’s what we wanted him to do. That’s what we did … He’d just give up a lot. Slow down, he’s not going deep, not trying to run a route. You can tell, his body language.”

Gamble’s teammate, Chris Harris, added: “I don’t want to say he quits, but he kind of doesn’t run the routes the way they’re supposed to be run. If you get a jam on him, he’ll just ease up…”

Umm news flash here Chris….not running routes the way they are supposed to be run and easing up is the same as quitting.  For example, if I said…”I don’t want to say he farted, but this smell kind of came out of his butt and made a loud noise at the same time”…that is the same thing as saying he farted.  Make sense?

Anyway I’m not pleased about this extra motivation and expect Moss to kick it up a notch this week.  They ripped him even more so if you want to see the whole article you can see it  here on ESPN.  Has me a little nervous for Sunday….

Well folks this one lived up to all the hype.   It was a sloppy game with a heavy dose of punts and turnovers but the Bills prevailed. It’s nice to get a win but this one shouldn’t get anyone too excited.

Prior to the game I spent a lot of time trying to sort out my feelings.  Did I want the Bills to lose to secure a higher draft choice? If they won the rest of the way would I find myself full of hope, rooting for the Bills to lock up Perry Fewell?

Lets be clear, I would never root for the Bills to lose.  I may find solace in the fact that their draft status goes up, but I could never root for them to lose.  Sadly, that is probably the best thing for the franchise in the long term.   Clearly this 7-9 business just isn’t working for them and I know picking high doesn’t guarantee anything (see the Detroit Lions) but it sure as hell wouldn’t hurt.   They need a game-changer and picking at 5 or 6 instead of 11 helps.  I’d rather endure 3 more losses this season for the increased hope of enjoying winning seasons for the next several years.  One guy can absolutely do that.

Their three remaining games are against New England, Atlanta and Indy.  I’d say there is a good chance they lose all three but all the more reason to think they can eek out one or two.  You’d have to assume that just one time the Bills will have to beat the Patriots.  I’m not saying they will but mathematically speaking it probably has to happen sooner or later.  The other two could be interesting depending on if Atlanta is healthy and Indy has anything to play for (chances are the game will be meaningless).  If Atlanta is healthy and Indy does have a reason to play, the Bills should get trounced.

Miserable thought for you but if the season ended today the Bills would most likely pick 11th.

In what was already considered a strong QB draft class, Jimmy Clausen will forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft.

Among other things (several other things), most would agree that the Bills need to take a long hard look at a quarterback.  I have my own questions about Trent and whether he would be a strong QB if he actually had an offensive line (I really believe he would be but that is a different argument I am willing to have) but it is clear that if the Bills draft high enough and the right QB is there, they’d be idiots not to take him.

With St. Louis, Cleveland and Washington all hot for a QB I’d expect a handful of QBs to be gone by the time Bills pick.  Of course, a ton can and will happen between now and then but there certainly are some strong candidates with Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy, Jake Locker and now Clausen in the mix among others.  Looking at the list, within the top 10 or so there should be a strong and viable option for the Bills.

Notice I didn’t include Tim Tebow in there?  That is becuase he is not an NFL QB and anyone who thinks he should be drafted with the Bills first pick should get their eyes checked.  Jim Kelly I am talking to you.

Moving along…nobody knows where the Bills will pick just yet, and I’m not rooting for them to lose,  but it would be great to pick in the top 10 for once.  It would also then be great to NOT pick in the top 11 for a while as well.