JohnC

You may be over analyzing the Marv and Jauron era. Marv was simply ill-suited for his position as a GM and Dick Jauron's vision, along with Marv's, notion on how to build a roster was flawed to begin with. The light and quick defensive approach was never going to work against teams constructed with bigger and stronger units. The scouting department during the Donahoe and Marv era was headed by Tom Modrak. His work product during his decade long tenure was noted for its mediocrity. My central point is that the core problem plaguing this scelorotic organization was more due to inept staffing rather than any football philosophy. Bringing in an ill-equipped Marv for a position he really didn't want to salvage a failing organization is a testament to how out of touch and weird this organization had become. I'll never forget the comments one former GM made when describing the Bills. He stated:" I'm sure they have a plan but I haven't firgued what it is. I'm much more optimistic with the direction this franchise is taking because I believe that under Whaley the staffing within the organization is upgraded and modernized. For me Nix was part of the "outdated" old school approach. But I do give him a lot of credit for bringing in the more vibrant and forward thinking Whaley.

You make a good point that the risk of the Watkins deal is directly related to how the qb plays. But to be fair you have to extend your reasoning (as you appear to do) that how EJ performs has implications not only on how his receivers perform but also on how the OL and the running backs perform. You can even extend the EJ performance repercussions on to the defense. If he can't convert plays the defense will be on the field a disproportionate period of time. Doug Whaley gave up a lot to move up to draft arguably one of the top two or three rated players in this year's draft. It would not have made much sense to make that upward maneuver unless the player you were enthralled with was a playmaker who can impact a game. In other words it would have made little sense to give up next year's first round draft pick to select an OT or inside LB. The success of the Watkins deal is predicated on EJ. No one is disputing that. Whaley is banking on EJ taking a quantum leap forward in his second year. He is also counting on an upgraded OL and a dyamic rookie receiver to put EJ in a more favorable position that will make his draft day deal pay off. Whaley believes that next year the Bills will be in a lower drafting position in which he wouldn't be in a position to take a top three player like Watkins in the next draft. For me I am not going to criticize someone who is willing to take a risk on a potential elite talent when the opportunity arises. This staid organization has a history of being cautious and unimaginative. Taking a calcularted risk to improve the team's chances for immediate success is a refreshing change.

Let me add another twist to our seventh round selection of Seantrel Henderson: It was a fantastic pick at that point. The organization selected a player who clearly has physical abilities. He lacks discipline, motivation and maturity. Odds are that someone who has not capitalized on multiple opportunities after numerous slip-ups will not work out. On the other hand sometimes when a player is at the end of the line after multiple redemptions the light turns on. Chris Carter is an example of a player with talent who initially did not play up to his potential because of a bad attitude. When he finally decided to change his attitude he ended up actualizing his abundant potential. It is not going to take the Bills' staff very long to determine whether he is worth the selection. Maybe getting out of the Miami fast lane environment will be a factor in changing his attitude. If Henderson turns out to be a practice squad player working on his game then his selection will be a major bonus and a smart move by the front office.

Any scout, retired or not, who stated:" For Seatrel, he was my top rated offensive tackle behind Mathews" should be laughted out of his profession! I have no problem with the Bills' draft and maneuvers. I found it refreshing that Whaley was willing to take a major risk for such a high end talent as Watkins. But being enthusiastic about the team's draft in general shouldn't delude anyone into believeing that their seventh round selection was as good as the second best OT in this draft.

There is little mystery as to whether the Watkins trade up deal and its cost is worth it or not. It boils down to how EJ plays. If he struggles then the superlative talent that Watkins possesses will be squandered, as will the talents of Goodwin, Willians and Woods. Whaley and the coaching staff believe (hope) that Manuel will take a major step forward from his middling rookie season. The organization is taking a calculated gamble that the qb that they selected last year with their first round pick will develop into a legitimate franchise qb.

Bill, The issue isn't whether he will be a top shelf qb (your words), the issue is whether he can be a legitimate starting qb. Just because your qb is not an upper tier qb doesn't mean that your team can't compete at a high level. In my estimation EJ is never going to be a prolific passer like Brees or Peyton. That is not his game. What the Bills need from EJ is for him to play competently and give his team a chance. The Watkins deal makes sense if EJ can elevate his game to being an average starting caliber qb. If his accuracy and decision making continue to be at the rudimentary level then Watkins's talents will be squandered and the tradeup deal will turn out to be a mistake. Whatever criticisms anyone has with Whaley they can't say that he is a passive GM who is not willing to gamble to upgrade this team. I find it refreshing that a little creativity was brought to the table instead of the tiresome boring and sluggish approach that thislackluster organization has been noted for.

Regardless how you categorize Spiller as a player (specialist) what you can't deny is that since his addition to the team he has been the most impactful player on the offense, even includilng the qb. No player has had more big plays than he has had. There is a lot of acceptable different directions to take in this draft. My preference is to take one of the top four OTs and then take Niklas, the TE from ND. By upgrading the OL you are helping the qb and also helping the most dynamic player on the team (Spiller) be even more impactful. As many others have stated the ultimate issue as to whether this team can become a playoff contender is whether EJ can demonstrate that he is a legitimate franchise qb. I don't know the answer to that critical question. No one does----including his harsh critics. I'm not as down on him as you are. I don't believe that he is the type of qb who is going to be a prolfic passer. That doesn't mean that he can't be a competent starter for us.

My point was simply just because a rookie qb doesn't play well in his rookie year it doesn't mean that he is going to be an abject failure. Foles and Kaepernick weren't instant stars but after a year under their belts they played better. Russell Wilson struggled in the first half of his rookie year. After that he started to play well on a very good team. Wilson playing well in his first year doesn't automatically translate into the proposition that a rookie qb who struggles is not going to develop into a franchise qb.

If Russell Wilson was drafted in the first round instead of the third would anyone be complaining that he was an unworthy draft pick? If Kaepernick would have been drafted in the first round instead of the second round would anyone be complaining that he was drafted too high? Of course not. If EJ turns turns out to be a franchise qb then the argumment that he was drafted too high has little merit. The organization made a judgement that EJ was the best qb propsect for them in last year's draft. If they had a conviction on him then it would have been foolish to wait another round or two and risk losing him to another team. It seems to me that you are making a premature assumption that he is already a failed prospect. That makes little sense. Next year with an offseason to prepare and a rookie year behind him should be very telling about whether he has the talent to be a starter or just another flawed prospect. This year, Nick Foles made a dramatic leap forward as a qb from his rookie year. Can EJ have a similar level of advancement in his seoond year? These early declarations of failure are unreasonable and unfair. Let's just wait and see.

You are right he was drafted in 2012. He has been in the league two years. My point is the same that the expectation for EJ to immediately adapt to the pro game was too high of an expectation. It is still my view that it would be a mistake to draft a qb in the first round this year. With the rookie season behind him and an offseason to work on his game and hopefully a #1 receier added to the offense he should take a leap forward.

The Bills are not going to use a first round pick to draft a qb. What they are going to do is use this year's draft to acquire a physically big #1 receiver. That will take a first round pick. The organization is going to use this offseason to find players who will put EJ in a better position to succeed. I have no quarrel with your evaluations of Manziel's skill set. It is quite impressive. As you noted he sees the whole field very well. In many ways Manziel is a better prepared player for the pro game than EJ was when he came out of college. Manuel was a much more developmental qb prospect than the more ready Manziel. Just because a player isn't as ready to play right away doesn't necessarily mean that the rawer prospect in the end won't be the better player. Buddy Nix favored a drafting philosophy that gave a great deal of emphasis to a physical profile. His drafting preference usually leaned toward the bigger and stronger player over the less physically imposing propsect. That certainly was a factor in taking Manuel. Manziel is the most exciting and dynamic qb in this year's college game. There is a good chance that he could be taken before it gets to us. Cleveland should be very interested in him. The Bills organization is a very staid organization that usually doesn't act with a great deal of imagination. So I just don't see a Manziel selection, even if he is on the draft board when our turn comes up. Don't mistake what I am saying about this year's qb prospects compared to EJ. I do like Manuel as a qb prospect. I just think that he is going to take a little more time to develop. The developmental time should be similar to the time (3 years) it took Nick Foles to get a grasp of the offensive. The Bills are highly invested and committed to Manuel. The next step is to add pieces to put him in a better position to be successful.

Just because something is easier to do doesn't mean that it is easy to do. It was recognized when he was evaluated and drafted that Manuel was more of a developmental prospect with higher a upside than the more finished prospects with less upside, such as Barkley and Nassib. A factor in EJ's struggles this year had to do with injuries that kept him off the field during the preseason and during the season. Not having him practicing certainly set him back. This year was never going to be a playoff year not only because a rookie was at the helm but because this team was simply not good enough. Will the Bills have enoungh talent to be a playoff team next year? In my view no. This is an organizatiion that doesn't act with too much zeal in getting substantially better in an offseason. For this franchise the standard approach is addressing newly created needs due to departed players that they could have been retained. Just when our defensive backfield has started to play well as a unit next year it will have to be remodified with the probable departure of Byrd. In my view he is one of the top three free safeties in the league. When he leaves the replacement player will be a dramatic downgrade, as it was with the Levitre departure and his replacement. Sometimes success is more predicated on how you operate your franchise than on individually evaluating what you do. Will this franchise act outside of its normal pattern or will it show more urgency in getting better? I hope it is the latter.

As indicated by the original poster, BB, the approach to success is the same in the football business as it is in the world of business or any institution: everyone within the organizationworking towards the same goal and everyone made to feel a part of the mission. Instead of having a divided organization with separate layers of responsibility the best approach is breaking down the division and working in unison. Opening up the coaching side of the office to the scouting side is a departure from the "old school" approach to the more modern approach to structuring an organization. Contrast the approach described in the Caldwell article to the Donahoe authoritarian approach to running an organization. The strongman Al Davis type approach is an outdated approach that won't work in the more complicated world of running a franchise. What I found very interesting about the quotes by the original poster is that Polian was a very modern and innovative GM. Although he was the public face of the organization he was wise enough to staff his operation with smart young talent. I have high hopes for Whaley. He seems to be in-tune with structuring and staffing an organization the right way in order to compete. My fear is that Wilson's business model will crimp him too tightly to the point where he can't adequately do his job.

This was a terrific piece. It brought back a lot of memories of that era. The racial enviroment of division in the country was reflected in the pro ranks. Jack Kemp was an important figure in advancing racial justice in professional football. It has come a long way. Thank you for your work.

What I found most interesting about the article is the contrast between between the Dolphins, a Shula run team, and the Bills under Saban and the rest of the league. The Dolphins had such a higher level of organization, discipline and professional environment compared to the Bills under Saban, who was such a volatile and quixotic person. From an organizational standpoint Don Shula was ahead of his time in running a football operation. Lou Saban had a degree of success in Buffalo. But he had such a volcanic temperment and zaniness to his operation that made it difficult to have sustained success. I'm not uusally very sympathetic towards Ralph Wilson and the manner in which he ran the franchise . But I do understand why he would hold a grudge against Saban who for whatever reason walked away from the team. After witnessing all the different jobs and locations Saban worked during his career I have come to the conclusion that Lou Saban was simply an eccentric and unstable character who was incapable of staying anchored in anyplace.

Why are you already declaring Whaley a failure when he is in his first year of full authority? There is no doubt that there has been a continuum of ineptitude from the GM position. But making a determination on a first year GM is not only premature but it is also unfair. Is the selection of EJ a mistake? You may know the answer but I'm not willing to make any declarations about his chances for long term success based on his rookie year. I'm not saying you are right or wrong in your judgment. What I am saying is that you are not in a position to conclusively judge Whaley since he recently took over the position after last year's draft.

The retired players settled the suit against the league because many of them were in dire financial and medical situations and they were dying off at a rapid rate. They didn't have the luxury of letting the slow wheels of justice to run its course because they were falling by the wayside. The league preferred to settle sooner rather than later because a later settlement after the legal process ran its course could have been much grander. Teams send their players to specialists all the time. The reports go back to the team. There should be no need for the player (retired) to revisit the offices to acquire his medical records where all of them are filed at the facility. If there is a need for a release of the records the team should be able to handle that responsibility. Having the player go to each doctor to get a release for records is an unneccessary hurdle. I have had multiple back surgeries. The surgeon didn't have me acquire the records from the prior surgeon. His office handled that matter. If a release was to be arranged his office handled it. I would have to sign some documents authorizing it but his office would be handling the matter. With respect to the insurance company not being obligated to show their records to a client that is not fully accurate. If there is a dispute regarding coverage, billing and payment the client can resort to legal action to get their records if need be. Sometimes there is a dispute in the categorizing of an illness and the treatment. If in the legal challenge a subpoena is directed toward the insurance company they will comply with the the subpoena.

If RGIII got injured to the extent that his career was cut short and his potential earnings abruptly stopped due to decisions made by the medical staff representing the team it wouldn't be surprising if he got legal representation to investigate the murky matter. Does Dr. Andrews work for the team at the expense of the player's interest? Are there conflicting medical recommendations that the player was not aware of? If that type of career ending situation happened you can be sure that RGIII and his lawyers would demand to see all the medical records that pertained to him. They certainly wouldn't be chasing around to get the records from the various doctors involved. They would go directly to the franchise and get "all" the records housed at the team's facility. The league has worked out a protocol for concussions where independent medical staff make the determination as to whether a player is ready to return to action or not. There are obvious conflict of interests when dealing with injuries. A similar type of competing interests arose with the Jarius Byrd situation. Without a doubt the issue of player's safety is not a simple issue.

Why should he have to scramble around and go to all the differrent doctors he has seen when the team has all the accumulated records in one spot? In addition, while the outside doctors are turning in their results to the team the team medical staff is also making reports that might be contradictory to the reports made by the outside medical staff. It is very important to know what is in the in-house and outside medical reports. If the in-side staff is recommending a player should continue playing when the outside is recommending that the player not play, then that clearly is an important fact to know. There is no good ethical reason why the player's medical records from the organization shouldn't be given to the player. The organization is deliberately creating hurdles to keep informatiion away from the player and his legal representative because it might demonstrate a lack of good faith in the way they treated the player. The league settled a lawsuit with the retired players because they knew that they had medical information that they hid from the players that would damage their position and cost them a lot of money. The teams very often acted with purposeful obstruction to cover their unethical arses.

If I recall correctly Tom Donahoe wasn't technically fired, his contract was not renewed. (If someone can clarify that issue for me I would appreciate it.) I consider Ralph Wilson to be an incompetent owner. His franchise's record is a testament to his level of competency. On the letting Donahoe walk I agree with him. Some people are so insufferable that the repercussions of their release are irrelevant. When the working environment is suffused with the paralyzing and stifling attitude of his autocratic and condescending presence then it is time to cleanse the work place. What happened in Buffalo was the same thing that happened in Pittsburgh. His arrogance and inflexible manner became so toxic to others who had to share the workplace that they rebelled. Bill Cowher wasn't the only person in the organization who wanted to kick his boorish ass, but he was one of the top staff who demanded that he be out. Ralph is not an easy person to work for. TD knew that when he accepted the job. Tom Donahoe made a fatal job mistake with his condescending attitude toward the person who was paying his salary. If the boss calls, you immediately answer the phone. You don't put him on hold or tell him that I'll get back to him when I am less busy. If you feel that the owner is a nuisance, that is tough. He is still your boss. Tom Donahoe certainly didn't do a good enough job to warrant having an attitude of being indispensable to the organization. Since his departure from western NY Tom Donahoe hasn't had a high level job with any team. There is a good reason for that. He is a nasty diick who few people want to be around on an extended basis.

It's improbable that the Bills will franchise him again at an $8.2 M price. The organization had the opportunity to get a deal done last year, and they didn't. They held the line, and he stood his ground. Now he will be on the market and go where he wants to go. Even if the Bills give him the most lucratice offer that doesn't mean that he will decide to stay with a team that for a generation has been relegated to near the bottom of the heap. You don't think that playing on a team that has a legitimate chance to be in the playoffs isn't appealing to a player who has never played beyond the end of a regular season? You don't think that heading into the tail end of the season and still have meaningful games with playoff implications is appealing to a player whose fanbase turns their focus onto the upcoming draft in the second half of the season? Byrd is well suited to play FS in this new era of NFL mandated player safety rules. The era of being a headhunter is out. A player such as Byrd has more value in this era than a Troy P or Ronnie Lott would because although he is not as much of a tackling cruncher, he is an instinctive player that finds the ball and makes the interception when it is there to be made. It's not unfair to say that he has better hands than any receiver on the team. Losing Byrd and replacing him with a player such as Searcy is as bad as losing Levitre and replacing him with Brown/Legursky. The dropoff is so stark that it sets back a team that already inhabits the back of the bus. What this second-rate franchise doesn't understand or cared about is that winning the battle of the contracts has little to do with success on the field. Byrd took a stand that he was the best free safety in the game. Is he the best? Without a doubt he is one of the top three at his position. The end result is that a team that is not competitive and lacking in talent will lose one of their most talented players and get nothing in return. Oh I forgot to mention that the Bills are $20 M under the cap!

i.) Aaron Williams didn't stick out too much. Which is a good sign that he wasn't victimized by many plays. He is one of the few success stories on this roster. 2.) Frd Jackson always plays hard. Our OL was horrible. Can't fault the RBs when the defense is on them before they hit the hole. 3.) The quarterbacking has been dismal. Not many passes are going his way. The receiver who is really invisible is TJ Graham. He is one of the many wssted Nix picks.

The OL was simply over-matched by the Bucs' DL. It was embarrasing. EJ was in over his head. The organization has no choice but to ride him out this season and next. The Levitre departure in some respect was symbolic as to how this organization functions. It let an offensive lineman who was ranked in the top quarter of his position ranking go and replace him with a player who is out of the league. Good organizations would have locked up their best offensive lineman prior to entering their free agent year. I see the same scenario playing out with Byrd. Byrd is arguably one of the top 1-4 free safeties in the league. Instead of locking him up prior to his free agent year they were forced to franchise him in order to keep him. It is unlikely that the Bills will franchise him again and pay him at the high second franchise rate. So he will probably fly off with the Bills getting nothing in return other than another hole to fill. When you have a team that lacks upper tier talent and is not able to compete and you continue to lose your upper tier talent and not replace them with even mediocre talent then what direction do you think the franchise is moving? When Levitre left the team for a rich contract with the Titans what did the Bills do with his cap space? They pocketed the money instead of using some of it to shore up the many other weak points. The Ralph Wilson school of business is still in effect even when he is not involved.

Mike Pettine is a good coach. Dick LeBeau is a great coach. They are world's apart.

Very often the word "great" is too casually used. Hackett is not a great OC. The Bills have no "great" coaches on the staff, including the HC. If that is only what you are seeking then the Bills will not have any coaches working the sidelines. Hackett is a very young OC who is going to get better the more he coaches. As with players you are usually not instantly the best you can be. It is a process of growth, learning as you gain experience. I would prefer a young and open minded coach with new ideas and more importantly receptive to new ideas than having the same dullard retread coach who inflexibly clings to his "system" come hell or high water. As I have repeatedly stated Hackett is in a very challenging situation calling plays for a very raw qb. In general, I think he has done a good job considering the limited experience of his qb. In addition, I get the sense that he and EJ relate to one another. If you had an old-school tyrant coach you can end up retarding the development of a young qb. Ultimately the success of the coaches is more determined by the quality of the players being coached than by the coaching. The Bills are not at the point where they have a robust roster. It is a work in process with the trajectory moving upwards. At least that is how I see it.