Sisyphean Bills

I'm not sure that CC's point was all 7 or nothing. I sort of took at his comment to mean that there is better talent in terms of scouting and a deep enough pool that there should be guys from this class that will have better NFL careers than Manuel. Is that really even a bold prediction? Even if you ignored the players abilities completely and were going to simply play the odds, 7 chances to be right is better than 1. Either way though, it's pretty safe to assume CC is off the EJ bandwagon.

Is the stud QB the guy you would get? Or would you be getting the guy who thinks his team owes it to him to make him the starter and isn't really interested otherwise? It's easy enough to lie when you know what people want to hear. It's a little harder to fake it full-time and the other players will pick-up on a guy that is just going through the motions. I get the strange sense from his rapid free-fall plummeting, that there is something more than the numbers would tell us.

Wasn't pass rush one of the strengths of last year's team?

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000307863/article/minnesota-vikings-players-rip-josh-freemans-behavior Sounds like another Vince Young.

With the team ownership question now on the clock, it's not hard to imagine a new sense of urgency is full throttle.

Maybe when they say "late founder and sole owner" they mean he's on vacation in Tuscany and sold off all his interest decades ago? OK, probably not. Seems rather unambiguous.

I think he made more mistakes than just the coaches. Obviously, not every decision he made backfired on him, but plenty did and there is no doubt he was very deeply involved in all the decisions being made during his run. But, on the coaches, he offered Gregg Williams an extension the year before he was fired and when the team was on the rise. It was Williams that declined the extension, stating that he'd rather ride out his contract and see where he was at the end of it. Gregg didn't make his reasons known, but a couple of guesses are that (1) he wasn't entirely happy with the setup [remember Donahoe was eyeball deep in decisions] and (2) he thought he might be able to push a better contract with a good season. After burning his #1 pick on a guy that would never play a down for him, the season came apart and the Bills made the decision that they couldn't offer Williams a second contract after that train wreck. I know the popular opinion around here is that Williams was a terrible coach, but to be Devil's advocate: his first season was a house cleaning and "cap jail" that left them with almost no talent and the 3-13 record was earned because of it. His second season was 8-8 and Bledsoe was very popular and hero of legend at that point. His third season was 6-10, with the McGahee non-factor, and the trade of one of Bledsoe's big targets to Atlanta rather than paying him. (6-10 is considered going in the right direction today in prior posts in this thread.) So, ignoring the first year, Williams was 2 games under .500 as a green head coach learning on the job. If Williams stays, does he argue to stick with Bledsoe rather than go down the Losman route? Does the continuity of the coaching staff let them develop into a better staff? Does it keep the same systems in place long enough to develop the right draft model and keep the talent pipeline flush? Maybe it was simply that WIlliams and Mularkey sucked. It's true that neither of them righted the ship in their brief stays.

Was that really Donahoe's biggest flaw? What was his football acumen record? 31-48. 3 elite players in 5 years. His QB situation was never settled, with Rob Johnson, Alex Van Pelt, Drew Bledsoe, JP Losman, and Kelly Holcomb spinning through the revolving door. Interesting his best draft was in 2001 and before he brought in Tom Modrak, etc. Mike Williams was a top 5 draft pick bust. JP Losman was THE bust at his position in a draft that became golden at his position. Willis McGahee was a luxury pick and never was the same guy he had been in college. Roscoe Parrish, who? Donahoe's "under siege" mentality was fully on display towards the end, and he wasn't getting along well with the media or fans. By the way, has Tom Donahoe's name been mentioned for another NFL position since the Bills? Before the Bills he was courted by Miami, New Orleans, Houston, Washington, and Philadelphia.

So, you think Russ is not only the President of the Bills but has unlimited access and authority over Ralph's estate. Color me dubious. (Nice try trying to slip around any inconvenient constraints on the hypothetical though.) The point is the Littmann card is being overplayed. "They used to have to run it by Littmann" means what exactly? Ralph was the team President up until a little over a year ago and obviously he's going to involve his #1 right-hand man and money manager in the money decisions. I suspect Russ Brandon also involves the money guy in his money decisions. Why wouldn't he? Is he nuts?

I'll have to ask the same question again using an analogy. Mom gives you $5 in lunch money. You get to make whatever decision you want about what to buy with the $5. As you shuffle along in line through the cafeteria, they have a special one-day-only deal on your favorite meal. The price is $6. The choice is entirely yours, though.

I some sense, does that matter? If the money guys in Detroit are still setting the overall operating plan of the business, can we really take it that Brandon getting to make the decisions to spend a little less on patching potholes in the parking lots and a little more on stadium security as evidence of a major shakeup in policy?

But, Littmann isn't going anywhere under the current assumptions. Brandon cannot operate the franchise outside or in opposition to the guidelines imposed by the trust/estate. (Besides, Littmann really never was the sort of attorney and money-manager that showed up at the combine to scout prospects, etc.)

It seems when Whaley was talking about Russ and Overdorf handling the negotiations with Byrd's people that that might be directly related to football. Now, I'm very confused. If he has no power, how is it he has too much power? FWIW, I don't believe he hasn't got any power. He's deeply involved in everything that is going on with respect to this football team. He may be driving consensus, but I have little doubt he has his input. Both the good and the bad fall on him these days; the buck stops at his desk.

I don't believe Ralph's death will change the internal power structure of the organization very much in the near term. I have very little doubt Littmann is the chief executor of the trust/estate and day to day operations of the Bills will be handled by Brandon. It remains to be seen if Mary Wilson jumps in like Georgia Fontiere here. Do you honestly think he has no role? He sits in daily meetings with Whaley and Marrone and has zero role?

Isn't the Trustee a guy named Jeffrey C. Littmann?

Aren't the words "sow" and "seed" synonyms in Canada? We never used "seeding" to mean reaping on our old farm...

Meanwhile, Vince Young is looking for a starter's job.

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The point is pretty simple. Things change. Since "the plan", if it exists, isn't a matter of public record, I'll take evaluation of it, both praise and condemnation, at face value: an opinion on the internet.

How will you discern the difference between Wilson not having a plan and someone else deciding his plan wasn't enough? You can blame whoever you want, obviously, but the approach seems to smack of blaming ex-coaches for all the failings of the team.

Not buying that. Wilson was good to his word to the fans in Buffalo. He kept the team here. Nobody's legacy should be held hostage to the decisions other people make (and make no mistake, whatever the plan is, it is now up to others to carry it out) after they are gone.

It was, in hindsight, a move that put Donahoe squarely on the slippery slope right out the door. Not only did they not need a RB, they had a head coach who was in the last year of his contract and needed to win right then and there. The Bills were coming off an 8-8 season, and seemed to have something going with Drew Bledsoe. They had Hall-of-Famer Dick LeBeau and Kevin Gilbride on staff, both of whom would go on to coach on Super Bowl winners elsewhere in the short term. But, Donahoe spent his premium draft capital on a kid who wouldn't play a single down of football for over a year, but who had a headline name. It was a big gamble, got a lot of buzz in the national media, and its legacy was little more than torpedoing his own ship.

Russ Brandon said himself on NFL Radio that he refused to renegotiation Peters contract because he felt it was Lee Evans turn in line. In retrospect, the Lee Evans deal was a mistake. He took the money and posted his two least productive seasons as a Bill before getting traded to Baltimore and bouncing out of the NFL. The real issue is where Russ Brandon stands in terms of the prioritization of the OL of his team. In 2009, he was the nominal GM when they completely gutted the entire OL. The track record with him at the helm in terms of re-signing homegrown elite players is very much open to debate. So, it's a fair question: if Glenn develops into a perennial All-Pro caliber player, do the Bills try to re-sign him? Even if he wants a little extra to stay?

Here's an answer: It's cheaper than trying to re-sign a stud LT.

If he would sign a minimum contract and compete for a backup job, what's to lose for the Bills? It's not like they are loaded with experienced winners with lifetime 80+ QB ratings at backup QB. Besides if Tuel beat him out in camp, cut him. (It was interesting to see the word mentor in your post, as I heard Manuel was himself serving as a mentor for Tajh Boyd.)