NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Two things tend to cover up a lot of stink: winning and deoderant.

The longer the Buffalo Bills have gone without winning, the worse the smell has gotten. And now, with the hiring of Chan Gailey as the head coach, the odor has become too overwhelming. Now we're all in need of gas masks and hazmat suits.

That smell comes directly from owner Ralph Wilson's office. They say the fish stinks from the head and well, let's face it, the esteemed Hall of Fame owner reeks. Wilson was once a man revered in Orchard Park. He surrounded himself with great guys like Bill Polian, John Butler and Marv Levy. Business was good.

For a span of nearly five years, the Bills were king of the mountain in the AFC. But sadly, like when a roller coaster reaches it's apex of incline, free fall was imminent. Buffalo used to bury teams underneath the mountain, making it bigger all the time. Now, that ride is out of order. It has been for a long time.

It's hard to have faith in the decision making of the Bills, which is why I never believed their search for a head coach would end with smashing, take-your-breath-away results. I knew better. We all did. What I'm about to say isn't newsworthy, expect maybe to Ralph Wilson. He's probably never had anyone say it straight to him because he doesn't want to hear the truth: The Bills are not attractive. Nobody believes in Wilson, Russ Brandon, Buddy Nix and now we can add Chan Gailey to that illustrious list.

The jury has deliberated and the verdict is in. I'm not going to talk right or wrong, guilt or innocence because that's neither my job nor my area of expertise. And frankly, I don't need to. The court of public opinion has done a beautiful job painting the Bills in an unflattering light.

Why else would Brian Schottenheimer not even take the chance and interview for the job? Why have Russ Grimm and Ron Rivera dodged and ducked interview opportunities? Why would Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden turn down the Bills and elect to return to broadcasting? There are 32 precious head coaching jobs in the NFL and normally anyone would jump at the chance to be a head coach. Other than Marty Schottenheimer, who according to ESPN's Tim Graham badly wanted the job, no one jumped.

The Bills have become a second-rate team incapable of making any signifcant noise or even a blip on the radar. They have the market cornered on irrelevant. Buffalo is buried at the bottom the AFC East and it doesn't appear likely that pecking order is going to change anytime soon. Both the Dolphins and the Jets have reemerged into playoff contenders. The Dolphins won the division last season and the Jets are playing in the AFC Championship this weekend. Then there's the Patriots, who currently own a 13-game winning streak over the Bills.

Essentially, the Bills are the East Coast Oakland Raiders. Their meddlesome owner is stubborn in his ways, refusing to change or go outside the norm. Wilson hates change. He wants to surround himself with 'yes men', guys who will won't rock the boat. Guys who will fall in line and tell him what he wants to hear, rather than what he needs to hear.

When Marv Levy left, who vacated the empty GM post? Not a real football man with real general manager experience. That would've meant relinquishing those comfortable reigns to an outsider. Instead Russ Brandon, whose specialty is marketing, was promoted to the job. The same song broke again when the Bills hired Buddy Nix, an inhouse hire, to be their new genernal manager with newly promoted CEO Russ Brandon overseeing the hire. It all adds up to familiarity with Wilson. When you're embrace that which is familiar, it pretty much shuts and locks the door that opens to what's new.

In the end, the negatives heavily outweighted the positives during what can be loosely described as the Bills' lately head coaching search. They have no leader, no franchise quarterback to lead them back to prominence. The offensive line is terrible. They can't compete, let alone beat, with New England and now they've fallen further behind Miami and New York. Let's not forget forfeitting one of their home games to play in Toronto. Do we even know if the Bills will be in Buffalo in five years?

The Bills have become dysfunctional and unstable, lacking direction and a willingness to change. Al Davis and the Raiders would be proud.

The Lions need to upgrade their D-line as they look to 2010, and MLive.com points out today that maybe the team may take a long look at former first round draft choice Glenn Dorsey over in KC, as DC Gunther Cunningham had high praise for Dorsey despite the fact he’s had little impact so far in the Pros:

Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham was on the Chiefs’ staff when Kansas City drafted him and Cunningham really likes the kid. Lions beat writer Tom Kowalski said. The reason he might be available is because the Chiefs drafted Dorsey as a 4-3 defensive tackle and they’ve now switched schemes and he’s playing a 3-4 end. Neither the Chiefs nor Dorsey is apparently happy with the results and that’s why I think the Lions might make a play for him in the off-season, it’s a longshot but it’s a shot worth taking.

As much as we love to throw a lot of the blame on Donovan McNabb, the Eagles offensive line deserves to see a good portion of the blame as well. It's no secret they played absolutely horrible the final two games of the season but there were a lot of inconsistencies throughout the entire course of the season. With all the debate of who will be quarterback next year, only one thing is certain. It's not going to matter who's back there if the offensive line can't perform.

If you look at the players on the roster, you would think the line would be pretty solid. However, we could see early last offseason that there were going to be some problems. Injuries, head cases, poor play, you name it, were all there last year and it was hard for the line to find any rhythm. The Eagles couldn't get the line they wanted together during the preseason games and there were no opportunities for any of the "gel" time we always hear about. All of this seemingly led to the two-week implosion that occurred in Dallas in the beginning of January. The question is why?

How excited were you when the Eagles made the Jason Peters deal? We lost Tra Thomas but it looked like we weren't going to miss a step with the addition of Peters. All seemed great, but when he actually arrived in Philly, a lot of that excitement diminished. He reminded me of Jevon Kearse in the sense that he was loaded with talent but seemed to be very fragile. Injuries seemed to be non-stop with him, not necessarily ones which would cause him to miss games but ones that seemed to always keep him from being 100%. He committed a lot of dumb penalties at the end of the season and looked like DeMarcus Ware's play toy. Although he earned a Pro Bowl spot (how?), he definitely had a down year. I definitely think he can bounce back but he needs to really work this offseason.

The Andrews brothers. Pretty much pisses you off immediately just hearing it doesn't it? Remember the glory days with Shawn before the depression issues set in? He's a monster and could be absolutely dominate on this team. However, it doesn't look like he'll ever be. Nobody knows if he'll ever play football again because maybe he just doesn't want to. The Eagles have a situation on their hands with him and will be interesting to see how they address it. Then there's big brother Stacy. Many people thought a big reason he was brought in was to try to straighten out his little brother. Well that backfired. Shawn missed the season and Stacy made about zero contribution due to injury. Who knows what happens with these two.

We saw the emergence of Winston Justice this year and that was a very pleasant surprise. Before this season, the only thing he was known for was his "revolving door" performance against the Giants. He earned himself a contract this season and rightfully so. Will he ever be an All-Pro stud right tackle? Maybe not, but I think he's the kind of guy that can anchor the right side for years to come.

So then there's the middle. You had Jamaal Jackson doing a great job until he went down against Denver and was lost for the season. Then you have guys like Nick Cole, Todd Herremans, and Max Jean-Gilles. Herremans was injured late in the season but came on to play strong. Cole and Jean-Gilles were great guys to have around this season due to all the injuries and their ability to fill in. However, Cole and Jean-Gilles will be free agents this year (the type depends on what happens with the CBA) and decisions will have to be made. I think Cole has the advantage there due to his ability to step in and play center.

So the Eagles have some decisions to make here. How can they fix this offensive line? What will they do with who they have and how will they address the other needs they have? Draft? Free agency?

There’s even more drama now about the Raiders and the coaching spot, as the SF Chronicle is reporting that Al Davis has already spoken to a couple possible replacements for Tom Cable, including former Raiders offensive coordinator Marc Trestman and former G-Men coach Jim Fassel.

The paper also says that a couple sources are saying that Davis may re-interview 2009 candidates Kevin Gilbride, the Giants’ offensive coordinator, and Winston Moss, a Packers assistant head coach. Of course this is funny since Cable has yet to be relieved of his duties as head coach.

If Davis has indeed made a decision on Cable, no one with the organization either knows or is talking about it. His inner circle is as small as it is airtight. If anyone knows Davis’ plans, they’re not saying.

Whoever the head coach is next season, Davis appears ready to assemble a supporting coaching staff. Former Giants defensive line coach Mike Waufle will interview for a similar position with the Raiders, according to NFL.com.

There was talk about Cable being let go on Monday or Tuesday, but that has come and gone. Now we’ll see if one of those on Davis’ list says he wants the job, meaning that he will allow Cable to walk after a 5-11 season.

Our friends at TMZ have sent us the following about Jets QB Mark Sanchez and some family drama:

NY Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez might have to get an extra ticket to the AFC Championship game this weekend — TMZ has learned his fire captain father will not be deployed to Haiti to aid in relief efforts.

Mark’s father, Nick, runs a fire department in Irvine, California that happens to be one of 28 urban search and rescue teams in the U.S — and last week the guys were told to prepare in case their services were needed in Haiti.

TMZ has learned an 80 member group composed of rescue personnel from Orange County was mobilized and sent to March Air Force Base over the weekend — but Nick was not selected to travel with that group.

Eventually, the 80-member task force was demobilized before they were shipped out to Haiti.

Now, Nick claims he’s going to Indianapolis to watch his son attack the Colts – but reminded us that his fire team is always preparing for “the opportunity to use our expertise.”

Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart is having surgery today on his left foot, the same foot that has given his problems and kept him out of practices throughout the 09 season. Stewart posted on his Twitter account early today that he was having surgery later in the day.

It comes after chronic pain in his toe and left Achilles' tendon. He tweaked the injury in the season finale against New Orleans and was knocked out of the game.

Stewart played all 16 games and rushed for a team-best 1,133 yards and 10 touchdowns. Stewart and DeAngelo Williams combined to become the first set of teammates since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger to each rush for over 1,100 yards.

The never ending saga of Tom Cable as coach of the Raiders continues, as there was talk of a decision being made early in the week on his status, but here it is Wednesday and nothing has happened. One thing seems to be happening in Raider land though, and that is Al Davis is talking to other coaches.

ESPN AFC West blogger Bill Williamson is reporting today that the Raiders have asked for and gotten permission to speak to Ravens QB coach Hue Jackson.

In the continuing odd world of the Oakland Raiders, the team asked for and received permission to interview Baltimore Ravens quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson for an unspecified position, a league source told ESPN.

As the report points out, this could be a deal where they just want to bring someone in to take over the floundering career of JaMarcus Russell, who has been a bust to this point in his NFL career. Or maybe could Jackson be the next coach of the Raiders? Only Al knows, and when that decision will come out is anyone’s guess.