Other three-quarters of division make Bills look even worse

By Anthony Bialy  |   Tuesday, January 06, 2009  |  Comments( 77 )

Buffalo Bills
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The Miami Dolphins’ 2008 division title was as improbable as the Buffalo Bills’ miss was probable. Despite their subsequent first-round playoff trouncing at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens, the Dolphins still proved that there’s one consistent fact in the AFC East: It ends up as a maximum three-team race, as Buffalo has watched its three loathed foes each enjoy at least a small taste of success since its last make. The pen mates have ultimately not had to fear a Bills’ challenge, a fact that’s been true even when it comes to competing for the second-chance playoff spots.

Specifically, five fellow AFC East teams have won wild cards since Buffalo’s last postseason appearance. The non-Bills run started with the Indianapolis Colts, who, look it up, used to be a division member, going in 2000. The Dolphins and New York Jets took both at-large spots the next season, while the Jets also returned in 2004 and 2006. Meanwhile, the Bills maintained their steadiness, and this is one of those cases where reliability just might not quite actually be a positive virtue.

Of course, each wild carder was joined by a division champion, meaning that in total 14 teams from the AFC East alone have made it to January football since the last time the Bills did. And it’s not as if the New England Patriots swept those division titles, even if they monopolized them: The Dolphins have now clinched the championship twice in that span, while the Jets nabbed it in 2002. Three total championships among the two non-juggernauts prove that the Bills are the division’s Ringo.

Even the fellow also-rans from the junior conference's East division, both of which have experienced diverse respective woes, have managed to occasionally break New England’s stranglehold and get to the tournament. The presence of this decade’s dynasty team among the foursome hasn’t kept either of the pair from mustering a competitive effort at least for a season or two, and yet the Bills can’t even stumble into success.

Of course, Buffalo isn’t about to win the division when it can’t win a game in the division. The Bills lost all six contests within the group this season when a triumph would have helped their early positioning, then playoff hopes, then pride; not one of those variously significant factors was enough to inspire this team to pick up a two-game swing victory.

That’s especially appalling in today’s NFL. The system is jury-rigged to allow teams to recover from poor showings as close to instantly as possible, and for a franchise to fall short with unwavering regularity indicates fundamental problems. They’ve experienced vast turnover in personnel, management and coaching over that time, and obviously the only consistent factor is an owner who hasn’t gone anywhere.

Mr. Ralph Wilson might want to consider that, say, hiring an actual general manager is a step that just about every other team in the history of paid athletics has taken. Or take a team like the Dolphins that went beyond that move: The hiring of Bill Parcells to an executive spot led to him in turn bringing aboard general manager Randy Ireland, and the tag team partners helped lead their team to this year’s aforementioned remarkable triumph.

Meanwhile, Wilson wouldn’t have paid for a nameplate for Parcells’ desk, much less for Parcells himself. After all, Buffalo’s owner still hasn’t really gotten around to replacing GM Marv Levy, unless quasi-GM Russ Brandon -- the chief operating officer -- counts. And he doesn’t. Bringing in a pure football guy to be a clear-cut general manager is an obvious necessity. The only hurdle is for Wilson to figure out how he’ll save money on the hire’s salary, but the alternative is spending time contemplating how his steady presence corresponds with Buffalo’s steady nothingness in terms of even backing into the playoffs.
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CommentsComments: 77  |  Sign Up  View all comments
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No.1
Steve in VA		10:38 AM
01/06/2009
There reason why the Bills have not made the playoffs in 9 years is because Ralph Wilson Sucks!!! He goes the cheap rout with...
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No.2
ddd		11:01 AM
01/06/2009
I'm as critical as anyone of the Bills but I think Russ Brandon did a good job his first year: Our run defense was terrible...
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No.3
Goose		11:43 AM
01/06/2009
3d--as much as I would like a Pioli or a AJ Smith style GM running the team, Brandon did a good job for his 1st year. The Stroud...
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