GA BILLS FAN

When did I say anything negative about any one of our draft picks ? At the core of the pro-RB argument seems to be that he wasn't ever completely in charge of the things that went wrong or was powerless to do it, we can all agree that he has the power and control now ?

Good post, I understand your perspective, I don't agree with it, but understand how you could look at the situation from that POV. In my mind, there comes a point when a lot of little things, and a lot of non-direct control negatives leads to needing to make a change. I'm disappointed you chose to end your post with "witch hunt" and "half truths", I thought that was an unnecessary low blow. Unless you work for the Bills, all our information is based on partial information. As for witch hunt, I am simply stating my opinion, defending it and asking others to do the same. Turned down the job.

Thanks Bandit. I know my original post was very one sided and I intended it that way to draw out the pro RB crowd, because I do want to know the logic and thinking on that side of the argument. I am also interested in what ya'll think will happen to RB once the new owner is in place.

I NEVER said I was objective, NEVER. In fact, if you took the time to read my posts, I said I was being SUBJECTIVE, just like EVERYONE on this board is subjective. So, spare me the ill-informed lecture.

I wouldn't fire him because of the Jills suit or the text message crap. From my POV, I see a lot more negatives than positives and I look at him as a common denominator to what's been wrong the past 15 years. I have same feeling about Littman and Overdorf. I find it hard, if not impossible, to change the culture of losing, if you leave these common denominators in place. I get that RB, wants to rebrand the Bills and in turn rebrand himself. I think, unfortunately, that he taints Whaley and Marrone in the process. I would also be SHOCKED if a new owner kept him in the same position, because of the need to start new, and clean house. Again, sometimes an organization needs a culture change to shock it out of the perpetual losing. I respect your POV. I'm sorry you don't respect mine.

Neither are a big deal to me. But, at some point, I'm trying to figure out what RB is accountable for, it seems to me that he isn't being held accountable for anything. Those are small issues, having $20M in dead money isn't. W/L isn't. Toronto series isn't.

I know he wasn't responsible for personnel for most of the 17 years he's been here. But, he was for a couple of years and performed miserably, right ? Whether he left the decisions during that time to Modrak or Guy, he was the guy with the GM title, wasn't he, and should be held accountable ? You seem anxious to dismiss that in your assessment. I only point out the other smaller issues (Jills, website leak) to try and view him in totality and if you don't hold him accountable for the performance on the field, do you hold him for PR issues, or do we blame Berchtold ? Do we hold him accountable for dead money, or is that Littman ? --- it just seems that as much as you pro-RB folks think Im only pointing out the negatives, you guys, to me, seem like you are taking him off the hook on everything, whether it's personnel, W/L, PR, finances etc.

Don't use the word crusade, it implies I have a baseless agenda, which I do not have. I am honestly in disbelief that so many fans have such a high opinion of RB's performance and feel that he is doing a good job. I guess most of you have separated in your minds the team's W/L performance, which we know is an F (over the last 15 years) and RB.

I don't think any of us are being OBJECTIVE, let's start there -- but I want to be clear, I have absolutely no personal relationship with RB or any other FO, my subjective (I admit) assessment is solely based on being a frustrated fan. I also want to ask, respectfully to all of you who defend RB a couple of questions: 1- If you were owner of the Bills are you telling me you would not hold him accountable for any of the things I listed and would let him continue to run the franchise and make all the decisions ? 2- If RB is not accountable to what I listed, what do you hold him accountable for ?

So is your pro-Brandon argument that he created a successful P/L for an NFL team that is a perennial loser ? I'm not trying to belittle your position or be overly argumentative, but ask a serious question. Is Brandon a successful executive because he's run an NFL team and made a profit in a small market ? Which, by the way is a significant achievement. To me, the measure I use is whether he can run a team that wins. Again, I am not trying to belittle or be argumentative, we can agree to disagree, but should start with a common understanding of how you measure him. I for one give tremendous weight to success on the field, but realize you need more than that.

On #3 - we lead league in DEAD money, that's an indication that we've done worse than the other 31 teams, isn't it ? On #4 - I don't know, I give him credit for the 10 year lease and locking the team up while we look for a new owner. To me, that's his crowning achievement. When lease was signed, I was adamant that the team needed a new stadium to remain here long term, everyone feels that way, so, there should have been more foresight, we had a 90+ year old owner, if not Russ, who should be doing that ? On #5 -- Someone is to blame, or is it blameless ? RB was GM for a few years, hired/fired GM's/HC's in others -- he's the only common denominator, I guess you can blame RW On #6 -- none of these on their own is a big deal, I get that, but, when you say he's blameless for performance on the field, and not responsible for new stadium etc. etc. What is he responsible for, so, don't blame him for the Jills ? the website leak ? the text messages ? -- what will you hold him accountable for ?

That's just my opinion, the POST was intended to ask all of you yours and see what type of consensus we have on this forum about RB and what we think will happen with him with a new owner. Feel free to disagree, but I am not going to hide my opinion and I would certainly NEVER ask you to hide yours.

Are you sure on his reputation ? I only have a couple of sources, friends who are involved in other teams and they've told me the exact opposite, that Brandon is not viewed in that manner. One friend, said the Bills are "laughing stock of the league". Another friend told me that he isolates himself and has few allies and friends in the NFL circle. Again, I will admit, I only have a couple sources on two different teams, so, if you know more, can you share ?

What would be the best way to do that, comparing W/L records ?

I thought it time to reassess our self-proclaimed "marketing genius" and GRADE his performance as a key executive with the Buffalo Bills and what we think will happen to him once there is a new owner ? My first issue with Brandon is this, he joined the Bills in 1997, approximately 17 years ago and has been with the franchise for the entire 15 year playoff drought. He has been a high level executive the past 8+ years (since 2006), yet, in the last couple of press conferences he seems hell bent on pointing out to people that he has been in charge since January 2013, implying no culpability for the franchise's poor performance for the decade prior, it's an old marketing trick to try and rebrand a failing product, in this case, the failing product is Russ himself. Nice try Russ, but I'm not buying it, grade: D. 2- The Toronto series was his idea and it has failed miserably and the games themselves have been an embarrassment. I don't buy the notion that the series enabled the Bills to expand into the Southern Ontario market, they could have done that with effective marketing and promotion without sending a game north of the border, grade: D. 3- Cap management. This might be the worst area of performance. First, under spending the cap over the past few years and signing contracts that have been colossal failures. Second, how can a team that hasn't made the playoffs in 15 years have the MOST DEAD MONEY of any NFL team in 2014 ? Bad financial management, grade: F. 4- Stadium. While I love the fact that the lease prevents the team from moving for 10 years, why wasn't there any foresight 5 years ago that this franchise needed a new stadium ? We should be in the process of building a new stadium as we search for a new owner instead of scrambling to get our ducks in a row to prove that we'll be able to do it to ensure a new owner keeps the team, an A for short term an F for long term. 5- Performance on the field, grade: D-. 6- PR (Jills lawsuit, website leak and text message lawsuit), I know they are all trivial, but all blemishes nonetheless, grade: D.

+1

A few things: 1- Belittling Polian on a Bills board borders on blasphemy if not just plain ignorance. In the 50+ year history of this franchise, there were only TWO sustained periods of excellence, Polian was responsible for one of those. In addition, the guy has been NFL executive of the year 6 times and has had success with 3 different franchises. 2- The Watkins trade, comes down to Watkins play, but more importantly whether EJ is the guy or not. MOST outsiders believe he has yet to prove he is the guy, thereby concluding the Bills are not "close"; if EJ turns out to be the guy, than the trade might work and might be worth the cost, however, even in that scenario, staying at 9 and selecting Beckham might in the end prove to be the better move. In other words, the deck is stacked against this trade being a good one and I think that's what the vast majority of analysts are voicing. Love the player, hate the trade.

I want to jump back in -- you ALWAYS are looking to acquire talent, always. The BIG difference is when do you depart from your annual allotment of draft picks to mortgage some of your future --- I would much prefer to be in the situation the Pats were in for several years and the Niners are in now --- where you have more picks and more rolls of the dice, cause let's face it, every prospect has a certain degree of certainty. However, unlike others, I do think there are times when mortgaging the future makes sense to acquire that talent NOW and pay for it with your future. I would ONLY do it, when I thought I had all the other pieces and needed a player or two to put me over the top. The Bills are not anywhere close to that point, because they don't have a proven franchise QB, without one of those, they would need to have a Top 5 defense and a Top 5 Oline/running game -- they don't have either of those. So, most teams, probably 28 out of 32, would continue to build those other areas through the draft without trading away their future. At that point, maybe it's next year or the year after, where you think you need another player or two, THEN you do a trade like this. This type of trade makes sense for a team like Denver or New England or maybe Green Bay -- but not Buffalo --- not now

Yep -- we can move on. I really hope I'm wrong about this trade.

Same here --- I don't recall any significant backlash -- I just remember the excitement that first game Biscuit played ---- IDK --- maybe my circle of buddies in college were more positive or maybe my memory faded --- I also don't remember anyone wanting to run Polian out of town -- especially at that point -- he just signed Kelly, drafted Bruce, Conlan --- come on K-9, you gotta be kidding to get a rise out of us ??

Agree on Watkins, but paid too much for a WR prospect --- I'd rather have my 1st in 2015 and Beckham (or Evans or Ebron) --- sure, if Beckham, Ebron are both busts, and Watkins is an all-pro, it'll feel better ---

Can you tell me who you've been listening to, I'm still searching for someone other than a kool aid drinking Bills fan that likes it. Every analyst on every network is saying we over paid, I know, damn the analysts --- I get it --- but when they love our moves, you all will be first to post that as well ---

I'm all for taking risks, especially calculated risks and I'm also for helping out EJ -- but trading next year's 1st is way too risky on so many levels -- (1) difference between Watkins and next best WR (according to Whaley, "not much") (2) Deep WR draft, Beckham there at 9 as was Top TE (Bills knew they'd have Beckham, Evans or Ebron) at 9 (3) No guarantee EJ is the guy, so why go all in now and handcuff yourself in 2015 draft if you do indeed need QB ---- Build team with the picks --- upgrade OL, TE on offense to help EJ --- add pieces on defense --- if this plan is working after 2014, i.e. EJ is progressing, then go BOLD --- now, it's reckless ---- I'm damming the trade because based on historical assessment the Bills paid too much to move up 4 spots --- only way they don't is if next year's pick is very low 1st rounder and Watkins is perennial all-pro

I love these posts that say we suck at drafting so it isn't a big deal to give up future picks -- so, if we suck at drafting, why don't we get people who can draft ? Look, I think Whaley had a good first draft, why not have a good second draft upgrade RT, LB, TE and DE and play out the year and see if EJ is the guy. If he isn't the guy, you need next year's one for QB -- if he is the guy, then go bold --- I just hate the idea of going all in on EJ, he hasn't proven to me that he is the guy --- and we all know, until you get the guy, you ain't winning a SuperBowl and last time I checked, that was the objective.

There are several BIG differences between the two situations, Bennett trade and Watkins trade -- (1) Bills knew back then that they had a franchise QB, their were NO QUESTIONS about that. There are still tons of questons about EJ. That is my biggest problem with this trade. If EJ had played like Russell Wilson, or Kaepernick or Luck -- I'd say, roll the dice, we are close --- there is more evidence to suggest EJ is NOT the guy, than he is the guy. So, why not build the rest of the team -- see that EJ proves he's the guy and then go BOLD next draft ?