Show 3.01 - July 31

Greg Campbell and friends kick of a new season of BBR. Greg gives lots of info about the show and what to expect for the year. The guys begin breaking down the Bills and talk about some of the hopes for 2007.

BIILSDUFFMAN says a lot of things...OOH YEAH!

A nice podcast to get the ball rolling on BBR. I've listened to this show a couple times way back in the day, but have forgotten completely about it. What was BillsDuffMan thinking?!

JP Losman will be a top ten QB this year.

Marshawn Lynch will gain 1,200 total yards.

Lee Evans will catch 12 TD's.

The Defense will have the most INT return TD's.

OOH YEAH!

BillsDuffMan, you must have a case of BBR Kool-Aid in your fridge. No?

Sounds more like a BBR Kool-Aid IV to me

It probably won't show it in where I think their win/loss record will be, but I think the Bills will be a better team this year.

Now if they could only get themselves a real head coach, they'd really be onto something.

Quote :

Now if they could only get themselves a real head coach, they'd really be onto something.

The coach they have is just fine. My god, what is it about Chicago sports fans. They just can't get over themselves when it comes to coaches or managers that don't win a championship in their city. Of course the latest rage in this city was on Dusty and rightfully so for the recent years. I think Dusty will still make a good coach elsewhere. Just as Jauron is getting things going in Buffalo. Maybe Jauron wasn't the right fir in Chicago, but that doesn't mean he can't be a good head coach. And I don't want to hear the Bears were better than the Eagles in 2001 because they weren't. They ran into a more mature, more schedule tested team in Philly.

Dick Jauron is just fine.

I don't blame Jauron for 2001, that wasn't his fault. Jim Miller got hurt and the Bears could not stop Donovan McNabb to save their lives in that one. If I blame anyone for that game I gotta go with John Shoop, Bears O-Coordinator at the time. He was the guy who had the Bears running 3 yard comebacks on 3 and 13 when we were down two scores in the 4th quarter.

Anyway,

I was never a fan of his from the moment he got hired. I knew the Bears would go nowhere with him as the coach and I was right. You're right he wasn't a good fit in Chicago and he was our consellation prize after the Bears screwed up hiring Dave McGinnis who I thought could have been huge for them.

The man has no presence and you can't have that in a football coach. Soft spoke as Lovie Smith may be, he has a real presence about him and he reacts to what is going on on the field. Unlike Jauron who always appeared to be at a funeral no matter what was going on. Same thing with Tony Dungy, soft spoken guy, larger than life presence.

I just don't think the Bills will succeed as long as Jauron is their coach, he's not a winner and never really has been either.

I guess I always play the role of Dick Jauron apologist in this town and I was going to let up until you said, "He's not a winner."

Some of Jauron's achievements:
Was an All-American in high school football
Held the all-time rushing record at Yale until 2000
The only Yale athlete in history to be a three-time All-Ivy League First Teamer
1974 NFL Pro-Bowler
Defensive Coordinator for Jacksonville in which they went to the playoffs three times including an AFC Title game apperance.
Led Bears to a 13-3 season in 2001
Named Coach of the Year for 2001

While there have been many failures in Jaurons football career, there have been plenty of highlights. The guy is a good guy and a winner in my book. I'm not going to let 2002 and 2003 get in the way of that. I think saying he's not a winner was a bit harsh. Just trying to put the Bears fan in you at bay for a second.

Unfortunately, most of those achievements were as a player, not a coach. As I've learned many a time, just because you can do something doesn't mean you can teach it. Dick LeBeau was absolutely horrid as the head coach of the Bengals. His tenure was a total failure. But he's amazing as the Defensive Coordinator for the Steelers. Even I can hand him that.

It's like career backup QBs vs. the elites; some guys just can't take it to the next level, and it seems, from the decisively mediocre seasons the Bills have been having, that Jauron might be one of those who can't. Or at least, hasn't figured out how yet.

A couple rebuttals on your post who dey...

First, I was trying to get past the comment of the "guy is not a winner." He's obviously accomplished quite a bit in his time in his career of football.

Second, Dick LeBeau never even sniffed at a 13-3 record or a coach of the Year award.

Third, Dick Jauron did that with James Allen as his running back and Jim Miller/Shane Matthews at QB. It's not like the Bears, personell wise, the next two years could put the fear of God in anyone. Even Lovie needed some help from the new management to get a better group of players.

In conclusion, the guy has been a winner once and I believe in time he can/could do it again.

Fair enough. Maybe I would say that the guy's not a consistent winner. He may be able to do it again, but I still doubt that he can string it together so that it doesn't look like a fluke. With the less than spectacular performances by the Bills, it almost makes Chicago look like an accident, right place at the right time with the right group of people.

Until he can perform consistently, I will continue to have my doubts.

BillsDuffMan Says:

Don't Drive Drunk!

Also, Coach Dick will do just fine. The team is headed in the right direction. Almost any coach in the NFL has obviously done something right in their careers to make it this far. BillsDuffMan says Coach Dick has been a winner once, twice, three times a winning Dick is on the way!

Where's the BBR guys in all of this?

Gooooooo Bills!

Yea, I'm not trying to annoint this guy a HOFer coach, but I think he gets waaaay too much crap around here all because people are bitter.

Bears running back in 2001 was a rookie Anthony Thomas, James Allen lost his job to A-Train.

Jauron got a pass on 2002 because that was the year the Soldier Field was being rebuilt and they had to play all 16 games on the road. But 2003, they were garbage as they were in his first two seasons 1999 and 2000.

I just never believed in the guy and he didn't do the little things that Lovie has been able to do like beat the Packers on a consistent basis. The one time Jauron beat Green Bay was the first game the Bears played after Walter Payton died. And Sweetness reached down from Heaven to help Big Cat Williams block the field goal that saved the game for the Bears.

And those years he was in Jacksonville as their D-Coordinator, they were average at best, I remember reading that in the paper when he got hired. Not one of his defenses ranked higher than 18th while he was in charge. The Jags were an offensive team back then with Brunell throwing passes to Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell and handing it off the Jimmy Stewart and Fred Taylor. Defense wasn't their calling card when Jauron was out there.

The guy looks like he should be selling me insurance or teaching me chemistry, not coaching a football team. I know that has nothing to do with how good he is, but it's something that always bothered me about him.

I didn't know going 7-9 was garbage.

C'Mon Simmons.

Is 7-9 garbage? Of course it is. 7-9 doesn't get you in the playoffs and it won't win you a division.

So, no playoffs + no division title = GARBAGE

After starting the year 3-7 the Bears finished on a 4-2 tear to reach 7-9 and almost saved Jauron's job. But a combination of things made that late run a non-factor.

1. Jerry Angelo wanted to hire his own coach
2. Jauron refused to fire John Shoop as his O-Coordinator although the Bears were one of the worst teams in football.
3. Fans wanted a change (not a big factor, but a factor none the less)

The Bears were an embarassment on the field for the enitre season and bringing him back for another season just wasn't an option.

No, I don't consider 7-9 "garbage."

Bad? ok. but you are throwing around a lot of exaggerated terms to get your point across on this guy. 4-12, 3-13, 5-11...that's garbage. I don't consider a 7-9 team "garbage."

i also don't have a clue what this has to do with an arguement of him being a loser...

Quote :

After starting the year 3-7 the Bears finished on a 4-2 tear to reach 7-9 and almost saved Jauron's job. But a combination of things made that late run a non-factor.

1. Jerry Angelo wanted to hire his own coach
2. Jauron refused to fire John Shoop as his O-Coordinator although the Bears were one of the worst teams in football.
3. Fans wanted a change (not a big factor, but a factor none the less)

These are just reasons why the Bears got rid of him, nothing more. If the bears started 4-2 and ended the season at 3-7, they'd still be 7-9. I'm not for sure what your point is with this part of the post other than here is why he got fired which I never said in any post that he should or should not have got fired.

Anyway, back to Greg's show...

Holy Moly
Ryan told me he started this forum, and I thought there may be a post or two about the show, but yikes... 17 replies! Sweet! I have a few responses to this discussion generated (supposedly....) by our first show of season three... :-)

BillsDuffMan wrote:

A nice podcast to get the ball rolling on BBR. I've listened to this show a couple times way back in the day, but have forgotten completely about it. What was BillsDuffMan thinking?!

I have no idea, BillsDuffMan! Stick with us here! Better yet, voice your opinion! E-mail, call, comment... join in the fun!

BillsDuffMan wrote:

JP Losman will be a top ten QB this year.

Couldn't agree more. Dave (former JP hater...) said on the show he'll be a top eight QB. Whole heartedly agree. He's got great talent (we knew that), and he's just a gamer. He's going to give everything on every play. And he's turning out to be a great team, leader sort of guy. It looks like Donahoe did make at least one good move. We got JP and Lee Evans in that same draft (2004), so I'll give him two...

BillsDuffMan wrote:

Marshawn Lynch will gain 1,200 total yards.

1200 might be a stretch, but I don't doubt (barring injury) that he can have up near (possibly over) a thousand yards as a rookie. This guy couldn't get more praise from the coaching staff. He seems to be the real deal. One thing that might keep him back is that the Bills repeatedly say they're going to do the RB by committee thing this year.

BillsDuffMan wrote:

Lee Evans will catch 12 TD's.

At least. With a confident JP, with a solid running game, with a much improved O-line, with a solid corp of receivers to complement him... Evans makes the Pro Bowl, and gets at least a dozen TDs.

And, the news from Bflo is that the O is going to be much more opened up this year. Look for some fireworks from the Bills O this season, with Evans being a BIG part of that!

Losman to Evans will be awesome this year!!

The Defense will have the most INT return TD's.


More later...

Oh, on Jauron, I'll just say he has been perfect for the Bills, and there are little to no Bills fans who are not very satisfied with what he has done in his short tenure as our coach.

whodeygal wrote:

It's like career backup QBs vs. the elites; some guys just can't take it to the next level, and it seems, from the decisively mediocre seasons the Bills have been having, that Jauron might be one of those who can't. Or at least, hasn't figured out how yet.

Who Dey? Who Dey? Who dey think they gonna bet them bengals!? Where do they play? In the jungle! 'Fraid o' noooobody!

I am a closet Bengals fan, originating from southwest ohio... but I must say, the Bills have had their way with the Bengals for quite some time now. So, we're looking forward to hosting them at The Ralph this year.

As for your comment, I just wanted to point out that Jauron can not be blamed (yet) for those mediocre seasons. He has only been here one year, and along with Marv Levy and the rest of his staff have gotten Buffalo (the area, not the team) back on board with the Bills. Yes, we had a losing season last year, but we gave up that last game. It was meaningless, and at that point the (greatly disappointed) players were looking forward to 2007 when they were CONFIDENT they could make a serious run at the playoffs.

Losing Clements, and then getting rid of McGahee, Spikes, Fletcher, Holcomb and others was not as detrimental as some might think. If you'll notice, we only "lost" one free agent that I can think of. The rest were definitely allowed to go, or traded proactively. Jauron is building his team, and should be judged more on how they do this season, and especially beyond.

So far he has definitely righted the ship (along with the much-loved Marv Levy) and Bills fans are very much in his corner as our head man. He has the players playing as a team again, and believing in each other. The previous management had done completely the opposite.

This is quite the discussion. I'm impressed.

Jouron might look like skeletor, talk at an almost inaudible level, not know where or when to throw the flag and go for it on fourth down when he has one of the better kickers in the league, but man he has it where it counts. The players seem to really respond well to him too. Plus after the parade of winning coaches we've had since Levy, it's hard to be down on the guy in comparison (I'm still convinced I've seen a bowl of salad coach better than Mularkey).

I'm excited about what the Bills are doing, look for them to be a team that comes out of nowhere this year. Granted I'm not sure Western New Yorkers will be lining up for Superbowl tickets, but we're going to at least do better than the Lions (and Doug if you're reading this, that $20 is as good as mine).

The BBR family making their way out here. I love. Don't be afraid to venture in STU episode and NFL discussions too guys. Here's to you having a great season on BBR and we are excited about our partnership with BBR!

Here, here!

Yuck, Bills love.

I'll be sure to check out this show though.

So what's the feel in Miami camp? I know people were not too happy about passing up on Quinn... but I said when they made the pick of John Beck that he was likely just as good or better. I'm not a big Quinn fan. And Beck was highly rated. Now you've got Trent Green, too... and Chris Chambers always kills us (even if we end up winning, like last year). Two years ago he single-handedly beat us in a what 18-21 point come back. Crazy!

yeah, plenty of Bills love on the BBR. No hiding that. :)

Thanks for checkin out the show.

first time i listened to your show greg. i think i will like it even though i am not a bills fan. any friend of ryan and larry's is fine by me. will you be on there show again like last year? did you leave rarn or are you two timing with both networks? nice to see hosts of these shows say hi to us common folk...well i mean me.

also do you guys do an nba show? i dont think ryan and larry have any plans for one but i want one.