The Big Cat
-
Posts
17,855 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Gallery
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by The Big Cat
-
-
Seriously?
This teams not a cluster !@#$?
Dont tell me you have more heat maps to dispute this **** show at OBD?
Heat maps jokes still huh? Still clinging to all the old material.
**** got old like a year ago.
Cluster !@#$? How? They fired the coach you hated. They did exactly what you wanted. And now it's a cluster !@#$? You really have just one note, don't you?
-
My favorite part about these last 10 days is watching the regular NNN's who go to great lengths to criticize this team are now suddenly completely incapable of being in anyway critical when it comes to the amateur **** show that has been the local news.
-
This reminds me of PFW's report that Aaron Maybin was godawful in early practices, but the team (and the fan base, truth be told) went into damage control mode and blamed the media. Anyway, this looks like good news for Bills fans going forward.
As much as I've debated these last few days insisting that sports media is--by and large--sensationalists hacks, more often than not, where's there's smoke, there's fire.
-
I think that Sullen and Bucky have taken him under their wing.
I actually just has a pretty lengthy and direct back and forth with Skurski on Twitter.
-
Maybe you make an exception for the guy who walks in the interview flashing 2 SB rings over your division rival you've beat only a few times over the lady 20 years?
May be. Or may be you don't since he's only coached one 10-win season since 2009.
-
Me too, but that doesnt mean he's clueless. It means the Bills FO hates the press as much as we think they do, and therefore were simply going through the motions yesterday to piss off the local TBN idiots.
And frankly, Im fine with that. Unlike seemingly most other fans who are outraged, I've seen/heard press conferences before and know that teams NEVER give inside information or real answers. Call it what you want, "disrespect for media", "coach-speak", it's all going to be a lot of hot air one way or another.
Anyone who expects something else from a press conference is naive. Any member of the media who expects more from a press conference is incompetent.
A Buff News article by Skurski entitled "10 head-scratching moments from Doug Whaley's press conference."
https://buffalonews.com/2017/01/02/10-head-scratching-moments-doug-whaleys-press-conference/
Only one of the ten was head scratching to me. #2. Why he said he never thought about Ryan being fired. The other nine were obvious.
Skurski has really taken a turn for the crotchety. But he's not very good at it.
-
They definitely ask.
BuffNewsReporter: "Hey, Doug, what do you think of Anthony Lynn as a potential HC candidate?"
Doug Whaley: "I'm really excited about him."
BuffNewsReporter, turning to other BuffNewsReporter: "What is he talking about? He's not excited about him."
I just need some clarity. First you said you were excited to have Rex as your coach, but now you're saying you're excited to have Anthony Lynn? So were you excited about Anthony Lynn first? Have you always been excited about Anthony Lynn> Or did you decide to feel excitement while Rex was still here? I guess I'm just not following. Can you help me understand?
-
Nobody said it "publicity only mattered." There's the usual strawman I missed from you.
If you say so.
Sorry. It I have to disagree with this.
No one knows what conversation was had between DW and TP. It was reported that DW wanted Hue Jackson who wanted to keep Schwartz. Hello continuity?
But he was overridden. So what's he supposed to do, go into the media and tell everyone " See, I told TP Not to hire Ryan and he didn't listen to me. Now look where we are?" Not only would he be fired, but no owner or Team President would touch DW with a 10 foot poll.
No, you tote the company line. That's what DW is doing. It's called being professional.
I've been in upper management and the number one rule is regardless whether you agree with a decision or not, we are all united about that decision when we face our line employees or public. There are no rogue " I didn't want that" managers. They wouldn't be managing long.
Last time I checked TP still signs DWs checks. Thus he is going to tote the company line and say it was a united decision. Now, I can bet my paycheck that if Whaley separated from Buffalo then, like The Chip Kelly fiasco, "rumors" would come out saying that Whaley didn't want Rex and was overridden.
Until that happens, your not going to have DW tell what really happened. Not if he still wants to be GM of the Bills.
I think it's telling for him to come out and say "only he" is running the coaching search and not Russ Brandon. His parting shot was "Russ does a lot , and I don't even know what he does". That's a pissed off GM taking a shot at an executive that stuck his nose somewhere it didn't belong and sold Ryan to TP and now Whaley is the only one taking heat for it while Brandon hides in the shadows.
Good post.
It was obvious what Whaley was doing yesterday, and you nailed it. Why others can't understand this, I don't know.
Now, granted, Whaley didn't do it well, but I get the sense that he's uncomfortable with the media enough as it is that to expect him to go all Martin Skirelli on everybody's asses (which he should have done) would have been too much to ask.
All he had to say was "on matters of football, Terry and I decide things as a team."
And just say that over and over and over and over again.
So who decided to fire Rex? "We decide things as a team."
So you fired Rex? "We decide things as a team."
So Terry fired Rex? "We decide things as a team."
So who fired Rex? "Rex and Terry had a private conversation."
And it was during that conversation that he fired Rex? "I wasn't in on that conversation."
Did you tell Terry to fire Rex? "We decide things as a team."
So you told Terry to fire Rex? "We decide things as a team."
Yes or no, did you tell Terry to fire Rex? "We decide things as a team."
How does this team work? "He asks me questions, I answer them. Sometimes I ask him questions and he answers them. Then we decide things as a team."
So did he ask you questions about firing Rex? "I won't talk about the private conversations I have with our owner."
And around and around we go.
This is basically what he did, he was just sloppy. Could have been much much cleaner.
Which gives the indication why Whaley is still employed by the Pegula's. If Rex was his guy and they fired Rex there would be no reason to keep Whaley.
Michael Silver has said Hue Jackson was in the running w/Rex but Rex won out. People are connecting dots these days connect those dots...
We'll see!!
-
Speculative hyperbole? You mean you could think of a worse owner motivation than positive press over on the field results?
Oh wait, you can't. You just result to the ludicrous "he could hire a 12 year old Swahili boy as head coach."
It's embarrassing. I realize it must have been tough when the Rexit finally hit, but frankly, pull it together.
Yes, I think I believe it is both speculative and hyperbolic to assume that publicity and only publicity mattered. There were plenty of things about Rex Ryan to suggest he enticed them from a competitive standpoint too. Nobody here is questioning the clarity of your hindsight.
When you get brought back for a second interview it usually means you have the job. That was the case with Rex. Whaley may have been ok with the Rex hire because it had already passed the point of no return. This video is proof that pegula wanted Rex and just wanted Whaley to OK it, which he did. That does NOT mean Rex was whaleys preferred choice if he conducted the whole process
Interesting take and completely plausible. I also happen to believe this is how it went down. But I don't know that for sure.
-
The part about the organizational structure and who reports to whom and being shcoked, I'll just say that blows my mind. I remember the very first press conference when Rex was hired, without looking it up, that it was discussed.
I wouldn't have structured as so, and thought so at the time, but it is no surprise!
The reporting structure has been widely known/understood since early 2015. It boggles my mind that the reporters spent the bulk of the presser doing circles around it when there was PLENTY of non-worn material to discuss.
That's why the pre manufactured outrage is so obvious. The hacks in the room assume their reading audience is ignorant. They bank on it.
The Rodak tweet tells you everything you need to know!! It's so painfully obvious what was going on in that room yesterday.
-
Think about what Rodak is actually admitting here. The stream of consciousness reporting that Twitter engenders really exposes how stupid, yes STUPID, these people are. If I were Rodak's editor, I'd be ripping him a new one right now.
Jesus. Season Five of The Wire is alive and well at OBD!
Won't give us the story? No story exists? No problemo, we'll just make one up!
That part is bad enough. That he goes on to then BLAME Whaley/OBD for this leap is just beyond phenomenal.
It was laid out very clear, and exactly as they discussed it yesterday.
YEAH BUT IT'S CONFUSING BECAUSE THE REPORTERS KEEP SAYING SO
-
In that video clip, Pegula said something like "Doug asked Rex all those football questions that frankly put me to sleep" and that's when we started thinking Rex could be our guy. The inference is that Whaley professed himself satisfied with Rex's answer.
Whaley also said explicitly yesterday that he agreed with (eg approved) Rex's hire
Q: But you not taking ownership of the previous thing, you know part of that committee – you said you don’t want to get into it. If you agreed with the hire –
A: I did.
Q: You agreed with it?
A: I did. It’s a Bills hire. Correct.
The inverse, of course, being that when you're speaking at a press conference you're on script and part of the script (for what reason, I'm not sure) seemed to be that Whaley is in charge and the owners (in spite of what Whaley keeps alluding to) aren't making important decisions, and neither is Russ Brandon.
It's convenient to call him a liar, I thought it was pretty classless when Sully did, but 95% of what's said at press conferences is 100% BS. Which is why good reporters (Wawrow) get their reporting elsewhere.
That's perhaps the most absurd and pathetic argument you've ever made. You're a shell of yourself.
If you say so. I'm not sure why can of reasonable response you expected to speculative hyperbole.
-
Could you think of a worse decision they could've made as new owners that would make you question their judgement?
Given that there are 7.4 billion people on the planet, less than 200 of whom have what it takes to coach in the NFL, yes, I can think of about 7.4 billion worse decisions they could have made.
-
I don't have faith in any owner that would make a decision that bad. Not saying they couldn't change, but that's about the worst thing they could've possibly down.
If you say so.
-
Is it still Rex's fault?
-
Well besides having K-9 basically confirm it, you're welcome to believe we have such horrific owners that they would veto their GM's concerns on how well their new football coach can coach football and overrule him in order to gain positive press.
That's a much sadder scenario. And it pretty much indicates doom until the Pegulas sell.
Some owners run teams more closely than others. Some have had more success doing so than others. Some of that success comes and goes. If you want to foresee decades of doom and futility based on their first 24 months, go for it.
Just because Terry and Kim set out to make a splash the first time around doesn't mean they'll run the team like that moving forward. It could mean that. But I'm not as certain as you that it does.
-
I think a QB, in this offense, who is asked only to stand and deliver and get the ball out accurately on time and to a spot while the rushing attack keeps you ahead of the sticks and off balance is a perfect scenario for a QB like Bradford.
A guy further up said that he gets sacked a lot while glossing over the fact that the Bills o-line had a damn near historic year in run blocking while the Vikings pulled the opposite. Obviously run and pass blocking are different, but they were so diametrically opposed in the run, one could surmise that he'd get better pass blocking in buffalo.
-
If someone is successfully vetted, they get approval. Simple as that. Whaley approved Rex on the football side and is culpable.
Whaley said in his presser yesterday that he supported the Rex hire. I think when he questioned Rex, Rex didn't say anything that he could point to as a "red flag" or a deal-breaker, so he saw which way the wind was blowing with Russ and the Pegulas and said "I'm good".
Often disagree with you, but have to agree here. Whaley questioned Rex, by inference accepted or professed himself satisfied with Rex's answers, thus he approved Rex's hire.
Moreover, he sat in front of a microphone yesterday and said that he approved the hire.
Unless he didn't approve, and the new owner wanted to show the world that things in Buffalo are different now, that we can get and pay the biggest coaching name out there, and when Whaley sat in front of a microphone, he did everything to conceal that motivation so as to not throw his boss under the bus.
All of this could just as easily be inferred.
-
The video is proof that Whaley, if involved in Rex's hire at all, only gave the thumbs up. But it does not mean Rex was Whaleys preferred choice. It sounds like Rex was a Pegula/Brandon decision. Whaley has basically had his hands tied as GM and has never had 100% authority to run the football operation. If anything good has come from Rex's failure, it's that he now does have 100% control and he will either live or die with the next coach HE hires.
What--exactly--makes you say this?
-
That's exactly how I interpreted it
And I can't see how anyone could interpret it differently unless they're attempting to support their own pre-conceived agendas.
Everything else: Whaley approved/Whaley didn't approve, can only be inferred, though.
-
Whaley vetted Rex on the football side
and he gave the thumbs up. He is culpable.Strikethrough = inference. There's nothing hear to suggest he did anything more than vet him.
-
Right. After the owner made up his mind the underlings took care of the details.
And if that was the case, then he would have flatly ignored input from Whaley. I don't see anything in here to suggest that Whaley came out of the details chat pro or against Rex.
Seriously, am I missing something?
-
The video is from when they announced Rex's hiring. It basically contrdicts a lot of the finger blaming the media is directing towards Whaley. Perhaps he IS telling the truth and he has no say in Rex's firing.
My guess is that the vision for the team was controlled. Y Rex who reported to pegula. Whaley was tasked with finding players Rex liked. It's no secret Rex and Whaley had a strained relationship. Sounds like Whaley didn't agree with all of Rex's decisions, but he went with it because Terry had given Rex a lot of pull within the organization
Yeah, and perhaps now Whaley will have his shot. That Rex proved to be the wrong guy to give leeway to, doesn't necessarily mean Whaley will be the right one. But, he gets his chance now. He'll live or die by the team's success if it is, in fact, his direction they take.
-
Glad to see something go their way for a change.
SVP of Communications Scott Berchtold should be accountable
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
That's a hilariously accurate reference.
There has been plenty to critique over the last few weeks. His inability to get his public messengers on the same page is at the top of the list.