Sisyphean Bills

To put it grossly simplified terms, we're speculating on who's list they're working from. Is the candidate list the one that Brandon put together or does Nix put together his own? On the other hand and in the end, what really counts is who they get and not the how. (For me, speculation on the process has to do with Tom Donahoe's comments that fans didn't understand all the limitations and restrictions that he had to contend with when he was doing his HC searches -- was he referring to the "I know him" factor, some bean counter's spreadsheet, or ??)

My point is precisely that this "shake up" did not change the power structure of Wilson and Brandon (Burns and Smithers) -- it was a mere titular change. Brandon is and was Ralph's right-hand man. Some people are speculating that the introduction of a new GM as "proof" that the "meddling" and "cheap decisions" of Burns and Smithers will suddenly cease and desist. I don't think so, nor does it look like a big change other than to solidify that Brandon will be THE man that everyone at OBD reports to. Ralph did say Nix was in charge of all "the football stuff" and not the business side of things. The obvious question there: which side do contracts fall under, the bean counter or football? So, Nix does not hold the same position Donahoe held as President/GM.

The bigger thing to fear is that the majority of the "meddling/cheap owner" decisions have been decisions that Brandon has framed and presented to Ralph as "what we should do here". Brandon is now, both in title as well as in effect, overseeing the entire billion dollar company for Ralph, who sits on the other end of a phone line in Detroit waiting to hear good news.

I'm not insinuating anything. I presented what Nix said on the process of hiring the next coach and asked a question if it sounded like a "big change" or not. Are you asking for my opinion? All I can infer for myself is if Nix is going to do the interviews and then recommend a slate of options to the old man for final approval, then it is patently obvious who is making the final thumbs up or down decision. Now some will probably try to construe that as "being negative", but it isn't. It's fairly typical of big management hirings that the entire management team sign off all the way up to the top. I really have zero problem with it, myself. But, to the original question, I don't think it is a huge change from how things have worked at OBD in the past.

Brandon was COO/GM. Ralph was Owner/President. Together they made a lot of decisions. It's not clear to me that hard lines of distinction should be drawn between the two as some posters try to paint it: Ralph taking the heat and Brandon smelling like a rose because he's only doing Ralph's bidding and really has marketing superpowers. It looks like Ralph is stepping back to being just Owner. Brandon's new title being CEO. Looks can be deceptive though. Does this change the relationship between these members of the inner circle? My guess is, no way in hell. They've installed a GM to be the point man of football decisions, whatever that means. At best, Wilson and Smithers will turn over the power and let Nix have a fairly free hand in building the football team including the ability to push-back when the accountants would hamstring the product on the field. At worst, it is nothing but putting a human shield and puppet out in front of the organization and cutting him off at the knees in terms of resources and authority. One interesting point directly from Nix' mouth on the coaching hire was (paraphrasing), "We'll narrow the list down. No more than 3 candidates, that we'd then take to Mr. Wilson." Does that sound like a huge shake-up in the power structure?

Sort of comical if the selection process is done like some of the FA posts on this board, "I've heard of him! Get'r done!" Well, comical may be a relative term here. Sad and pathetic may be apt adjectives as well.

The Ron Meyer "clean program"?

Speaking of ESPN and the Leach interview: that piece with Rece Davis was obviously heavily edited. Just saying.

Spell what out? Are you saying they had to have the post of GM filled in order to interview someone during their bye week of the playoffs for the head coaching job? Even if that is a rule, they already had someone with the GM title, Russ Brandon. Edit: The only true "necessity" is from Smithers' perspective in that having someone else in the GM seat take the credit for the next head coaching hire puts a nice insulating layer in place between himself and any fall-out that might happen.

Not really a necessity. Smithers might have hired Shanahan and let Shanahan hire his own boss.

Well, it might dip below 80 degrees. That's cold, don't you know?

How much of this 3-4 talk is really dreaming up "solutions" to make Aaron Maybin a better player? Changing the entire defense to fit it around Maybin, given what we have seen to date, would most likely result in some people getting fired down the road.

Illegal? Is it a misdemeanor or a felony?

Not saying this happened. Suppose an injured player comes to practice wearing shades and is generally clowning around, texting people with his cell phone, and just generally being a disruption. As the coach, is asking him to go sit in a room away from the other players cruel and unusual punishment? The real question here is intent. Leach is an egomaniac, but was he intending to haze the kid? And, if the kid didn't have any sort of agenda then why was he alone in a closet making videos?

Maybe it is because Fitzpatpatsack knows the offense, such as it is. Or maybe it is because they view him as a bloody sack of meat to feed to the rabid animals.

Think about it this way. If Nix had said "No, I'm not interested," the Bills process would have led to either Modrak or Guy being named GM.

The most optimistic view is that Nix was bull rushed into the GM office before the end of the season because the Bills management (Burns and Smithers) have some detailed plan and this was just the first phase. The optimist assumes it will just go like clockwork at this point: a solid head coach, great OC, great DC, an excellent SAC, ... But, if you listen to the press conference, it belies this blind optimism. Nix, up until yesterday, wasn't part of the process of evaluating the organization. He wasn't part of the process of finding the next coach. He knows there was a list made by Russ and he's going to get started on things. In fact, the timing and "search" suggest more of a process by accident. About a week ago, Russ Wilson asks Buddy if he has any interest in becoming GM. After "a whirlwind" and some "building excitement", a surprised Nix accepts the GM-ship and is thrust out in front of the media. After sitting on their thumbs and making no press conferences since Jauron was unpersoned, the Bills hastily announce their in-house "search" is concluded, the evaluation of the entire operation led to a couple of promotions, and before other franchises jump on the merry-go-round looking for front office execs, the Bills jump off. Hmm.

Does anybody seriously think Russ Brandon would recommend promoting Modrak or Guy (or any other of Donahoe's old cronies) as an intelligent marketing move?

The fact that Buddy raised Aaron Maybin's name himself tells me that there is some internal questions about that pick. It would obviously be dumb to throw Maybin under the bus at this point, but it is obvious that Maybin needs to get much better as a football player. Nix discussed 'not being built like the Colts' in his Chris Brown interview, and some of his other comments suggest he has a solid grasp on the 'what not to do'.

Be shocked if Nix doesn't bring in serious competition at the position.

Why not? He's very good at his job. You don't fire good people (see: Rusty Jones) just because they've been employed longer than others.

The conundrum with this is that it is a business. He will have limits placed on him by the business and by his bosses. The question will be if these will be the same sort of limits that the Bills have imposed the last decade or not. For example, will they spend the going rate to get a good, complete, and competent coaching staff? Will they pay market values to keep their own players? Will they continue to stack the deck against themselves with cash to cap? Any idiot can say, "We need to get players like Peyton Manning." The rubber has to meet the road somewhere though. Hopefully, Ralph is serious and the bean counters will not be cutting solid football players out from underneath the football operation based on nothing more than their latest spreadsheet numbers.

Thanks for the link.

If he can bring that sort of scouting talent through his connections to Buffalo, then he will get this thing turned around in the other direction. We'll see what happens, but we definitely need better scouting.

There is more than one way to build a successful football team. The Dick Levy approach gives every indication that they were trying to recreate the Indianapolis Colts in Buffalo. Not a bad model, Levy is friends with Polian and the Colts are the winningest team of the decade. Unfortunately, it ignored that the Bills are not a dome team and the likelihood of having a QB with a football mind equal to the best coaches in the game, the throwing ability of Dan Marino, and the leadership and charisma of Roger Staubach fall out of the sky was nil.