Fadingpain

You're right. There is nothing out of the ordinary at work here. Everything at OBD seems to be absolutely normal and par for the NFL as a whole. After all, most organizations go on a good 15 or 20 year playoff drought run now and again, right?

It's not about the meetings; it's about the meetings being one of many red flags that suggest Brandon is involved in top level football operations in at least some capacity, and he shouldn't be. It's a smoking gun for a dysfunctional franchise and the dysfunctions of this franchise are old and many. I have already stated that Pegula certainly DOES belong in such a meeting. Brandon does not need to go over the details of a game in order to do his job, as it exists in theory. In practice, he certainly does need to be involved! That's how he can continue to influence Pegula on what football decisions to make. Get the guy out of here.

Why doesn't he say as much? Oh yes, he's given permission.

Yes, it educates you on the business and the business side of the operation is where Russ belongs. That doesn't involve the ins and outs of the game of football, despite the business being a football business. Do you understand that?

As DC Tom would say, "you're an idiot."

Get some new material. The conspiracy theory stuff is so 20 minutes ago.

He does. Which is how we ended up with Bozo as our HC. You wrote it, not me!

Thank you. That is all I'm trying to get at, but we have a lot of evidence suggesting Russ is indeed involved in football matters.

Oh Jesus. Do you think any GM in pro sports is going to fire his head coach without the approval of the owner first?

That's not what he's talking about. He thinks its odd that I don't like Brandon being in the meetings. Yolo is getting caught up in his business title and figures that means Russ belongs in the meetings. He doesn't, and the fact that he is is the odd part.

Are you kidding? Pegula, and no one else will be the guy who decides its time to fire Rex and hire Coach X. Those are football decisions. Why is "part of his job" and why do you think this common or normal? In my experience it is not.

Who are you and with what authority and certainty do you comment on this? Is that you Russ? Not sure of your point.

Ha ha. Not a smoking gun...just part of a theme spread across multiple threads lately...and directly hit upon in the Tim Graham article that generated a lot of interest. Continue with your smug douchebag routine though. You're excellent at it!

I agree with your latter point but not your first point. Unlike Brandon, Pegula certainly DOES belong in such a meeting. He is not an educated football observer as most fans are not, and he DOES MAKE FOOTBALL DECISIONS. He needs to stay informed and of course he should have a good talk with the coach after every game. Brandon? Debbie in the sales department? Betty in payroll? They don't need to be discussing football games in detail.

Not sure if you know what "Football department" means in a sports franchise. Sure, everything everyone in the building does relates to "Football" as that's the product they are selling. But the business side focuses on business things which do not related to Xs and Os and whether the offensive line suffered a lot of breakdowns in yesterday's game. They are doing their jobs which have nothing to do with Xs and Os and they do not need to know about that level of detail. Then you have Russ. He's sitting in the room doing Xs and Os football stuff. He's not a coach. He's not the GM. He's not an assistant. He's not a scout. He's the guy who bundles "game packs" for a discount and works with St. John Fisher College to make their facilities available for training camp. Why is he attending football game meetings on Monday mornings? My point very simply is that this guy is not qualified to be involved in anything to do with technical football matters but in this organization, he is! I'm not saying he is running the show and autonomously making critical decisions, but he should NOT be doing this stuff. Brandon wiggled his way into where he is during the authority vacuum created by Ralph Wilson's extreme old age. Now he's lodged in there where he has no business being, and Pegula hasn't figured this out yet. This should scare everyone on this board, if you like to see the Bills win football games.

No. Not what I'm talking about at all. Uh, watching it? What level of information do you think he needs? He is supposed to be the guy who has the seats painted red white and blue and arranges for Bruce Smith to lead the charge at the week 4 game next year. That sort of thing. Maybe bundle ticket deals with the Sabres...

I would imagine they do take his advice seriously, which is the problem. The theme here is dysfunction. I guess if you think this franchise is not dysfunctional, you won't buy what I'm selling here. We do not have a vertical command chain; it's a confused circle of differing voices including a marketing wonk. No one thinks that relates to 17 years huh?

Why in the world would he be watching football film at all? As DC Tom would say, you're an idiot.

No, you're missing the significance of this and it's part of a larger story that has been discussed in a variety of topics around here the last few days. I am tuning into the need for Brandon to go more than ever. If this team keeps everything as is but replaces the coach, expect more of the same in another couple of years.

Football meetings discussing the ins and outs of a weekly football game? He has no business being in the room. He's a marketer. See post #6 for the answer.

Football meetings discussing the ins and outs of the week's GAME. Why in the hell is he in there? Bulldog went on to mention he has known Russ a long time and Russ has told him a lot of things in confidence and he appreciates that. He stressed that Russ has said many times in private and publicly that he is not involved in football matters. Bulldog's point was that he is, in fact, involved in football matters. The significance of this is that this organization has a marketing wonk being involved in the inner football hierarchy. That's F-ed up.

During Rex Ryan's weekly 5pm segment with Schopp and Bulldog, he mentioned that he always talks to Terry Pegula on Sundays after the game. He then mentioned that he also has a Monday morning meeting with Doug, Terry, often Kim (in person or via phone) AND RUSS BRANDON. The purpose of the meetings is to discuss the game in detail. Fast forward to 5:50pm or so Buffalo time. Bulldog mentioned that in his opinion, Rex may well have mentioned Russ by name in reference to the meetings as a way of deflecting blame or letting the public know what he is up against on the inside. Not sure this is correct, but it was one of the more interesting moments today.

Who the hell wants that!?

Interesting take. I hope you are right.

I am a big Red Sox fan and have followed Theo Epstein's moves pretty closely going back a while. He has now brought a championship to the Cubs after doing it in Boston...which means the guy can basically walk on water. One thing I always noted about how the Red Sox did business during his tenure there was that they were huge wheeler dealers. In other words, they were constantly expecting excellence and the ability to win the World Series..and constantly making huge blockbuster deals, moving pieces around, to maintain a level of excellence. A guiding principle in all that was being married to absolutely NO ONE and not being afraid to undo this year's "huge move" next year when it became pretty obvious the move didn't work. Bill B. in New England is just the same. Look at the big name turnover they have had over the years, particularly on defense...and the machine just keeps running. Welker leaves, find 2 guys just like him and keep the machine running... Sorry to go off on a tangent relative to your main point, but I would argue "continuity" at least in terms of roster has nothing to do with being a well run franchise. Also, the idea for continuity with coaching and front office is to get high quality and then keep it. if you don't have it in the first place, continuity has no value.