BillsVet

That was interesting, wasn't it? I'm of the belief that Brandon's involvement in the team isn't good for the organization, but my vote doesn't count. That said, I could live with him having zero to do with football ops and staying on for business development. In the interim, I hope the Pegulas hire a real football consultant to review the team who will make recommendations there. That area needs massive changes right now.

"Mom! The meatloaf! We want it now!" I can't remember anyone who ripped on Pinto. No one. You're the first...now crawl back into mom's basement.

Yep. There was enough tape on Fitz from Cincinnati (2008) and then Buffalo (2009-10) to know he couldn't be a franchise guy. Why Nix didn't draft a QB for the future in 2011 is beyond me. Actually, I think Nix and Gailey figured anyone could play QB in Gailey's system. Unfortunately they were dead wrong and it's still affecting this team. And that's what you get when senior management hires inferior football people just happy to be in the NFL.

Wait, I thought Buddy was a Top 5 talent evaluator? In all seriousness, Buddy's refusal to draft a QB in 2011-12 is what's setting this franchise back in 2014. The domino effect was it forced them to draft a guy in 2013 when Nix was being pushed out the door. After years of tape on Fitzpatrick, it should have been apparent he couldn't be a good enough starter. Buddy may have known a little about talent, but strategically he didn't know much about how to build a team in the 21st century NFL. Mainly because he badly underestimated the importance of the QB position.

Littmann must have been quite a hot-shot financial guy in the late 80s/early 90s to warrant being kept over a GM who got this team to the playoffs from 1988-1991 when RW made the decision to fire Polian (in the summer of '92). I recognize both were strong personalities and this is in the past, but I find it indicative of a problem RW always had. The Bills over the years seemingly always shaded too much to the financial side of the house than to football, to the point that financial people were given supervision over football people. Polian was good enough in personnel to overcome that, but when he left Butler only somewhat maintained the football side of the house. Successive GMs however were not good enough as the NFL became more competitive and we have what's looking like 15 years of no playoffs. To me, that says something was catastrophically wrong with senior management. And Littmann was the tallest hog in the trough there. I don't think anyone's arguing the Bills should have been losing money to ensure on-field success. But the Bills were operating behind the times and Littmann was part of that, though successful at squeezing more money (with Brandon's help) in these final years of RW's ownership. And no one was going to tell RW they needed more money to win, least of all someone like Brandon who won promotions making this franchise more profitable as the team stunk on field. Polian's departure was the moment this franchise started a long slow-ride into irrelevance. We didn't know it at the time, but the Bills haven't recovered from his firing. Fact is, if Littmann had been sent packing we wouldn't even know it on-field. And I find it noteworthy that Littmann was only in his mid to late 30s when he got the team treasurer job. At that time, Polian was a proven NFL GM with more than 5 years of playoff teams behind him. There may not be a lot of top financial types out there, but there are fewer outstanding NFL GM's (even in 92-93). Hopefully the Bills can find one and get this team on track more than 20 years after "Trader Bill" was unceremoniously let go.

When was the last time, in your humble opinion, that a coach/GM/other higher executive was responsible for those players who you light into for failing on the field. And BTW, Bryce Brown was a player Whaley had targeted for a long time according to what I read. So Whaley had to know the guy was prone to fumbling and still made the deal. Management may not be able to avoid all player failure, but they're responsible when a team continues to miss the playoffs. It can't always be the players. In the end, management is usually at fault, but most fans don't know of Doug Whaley or his personnel directors and fewer know what those guys do behind the scenes. Ergo, fans don't blame them, but only that which they see on the field. And that means players and to a lesser degree coaches. For the record, those players on the field weren't all inherited from the Jauron years, and I recall people here talking about how the roster had been made over so much the past few years by Nix and Whaley. Start with the team president and work your way down for a change.

Well, Jauron, Steve Fairchild, Turk Schonert, Alex Van Pelt, Gailey, Modkins, G. Edwards, and Wannstedt were each a little "cat" then. All defended, all inadequate.

Ordered the book already. I don't expect massive shots to be taken at Wilson, Littmann, or others, but it should be an illuminating read.

Well, I doubt the governor has much else going on these days. He should prioritize the programming of Buffalo Bills games above all other things right now.

Fendi Onobun is still the best name for a garbage bin TE pickup.

Who hired Marrone? Who hired Whaley? Did they just drop out of the sky over OBD and start as HC and GM? Or could it be that, as I suspect, Brandon is behind these moves. It's the same issue that's plagued OBD for years: inferior (and unqualified) senior management making bad decisions on football people, coaches, players, et al. It remains impossible for the Bills to keep hiring bad coaches without something pointing to management above the coaching level. And I get that someone will say no one wants to work here, or that they can't be perfect in their decision making, but at some point this organization needs to string together a few good decisions in a row. But with new and younger owners in charge, something at the highest level needs to change. Or else this cycle of failure will continue.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

When does Russ Brandon claim Nix hired Marrone? Or will Russ throw Whaley under the bus for the Marrone hire to save his team president job. Either way, same old Bills.

One of the big names in the player agent business. I remember him negotiating Mario's deal 2+ years ago to be the highest paid defensive player. Guy just lost some major money.

NFL HC's are definitely a select group, but if you don't win, you don't survive. And Marrone is a career 11-14 guy who's supposed to make the playoffs with this improved roster. I'm still not seeing what Marrone has proven in these 25 games besides being a conservative coach that isn't the innovative type promised to the fans. Said Marrone at his intro PC in January 2013: ""We want to be innovative," he said. "We want to be on the cutting edge." Buffalo is most assuredly neither of those things. It's a myth to think, with a new owner on board, that this HC deserves more than 2 seasons. Some coaches aren't even getting that anymore, especially when new owners and GM's enter the picture. If Marrone doesn't get this team to at least 9-7 he's probably getting the ax.

I love when you throw in the win emoticon. Because I know you're serious. There are teams in the NFL who've won, rebuilt, and now are winning again. Heck, Arizona (despite losing Palmer) has the best record in football. All of this after hiring a new HC (Arians) after the last one (Whisenhunt) began losing after Kurt Warner retired. And yet the Bills are still in the DMZ of the NFL: not really rebuilding but not winning either.

The problem in this era of the NFL is that teams aren't winning with dominating defense consistently enough to make the playoffs. This is a Bills defense, that while excellent, still yielded 24 points to New England in one half. So despite their defense, they've still got to average more than 21 points per they've had this season. Playoff teams have above average to excellent offenses and defense alone isn't going to win a game late in the season.

I don't think Pegula dropped 1.4B+ on this team to see them go .500 or less. When does Ernie Accorsi start again?

Hackett and Marrone are too attached at the hip for the former to be let go without the latter. You're still going to get the same predictable offense no matter who is OC under Marrone.

Marrone was advertised as as someone who'd be innovative and improve the offense. In addition, given his OL background, we were told he'd help that unit. Yet, after week 2, the offense has become stagnant, save for the gift NYJ gave Buffalo 2 weeks ago. Marrone hired Nate Hackett, who isn't qualified to be a NFL OC and undoubtedly this move was prompted by the fact that the two wanted to run a similar offense which features little imagination and predictable play-calling. The team is trending in the wrong direction with Marrone running things. Offensively they've averaging a shade below 20 points per in the last 7 games, which is a far cry from where we figured they'd be with more talent supposedly on the roster. EDIT: Buffalo is 23rd in the league in both yards per game (331.0) and points per game (21.2). Not the innovation and output you'd expect from how Brandon advertised Marrone.

There may well be more talent, but the result remains the same. What good is individual talent if the team as a whole can't finish games? For example, offensively, their weapons are much better than '08 or '11. Yet, Hackett is calling throws with 3 step drops so as to mitigate the poor block. The common denominator (regardless of talent) is that the coaches have so many issues to hide and opponents know how to attack those weaknesses. It's why in the second half Buffalo has a tendency to self-destruct. Like in 2008 when they went 3-8 after the bye or 2-8 in 2011.

You could have said this in 2002, 2006, 2008, 2011, and this season. Doesn't matter how much talent you've got if the coaches can't use it effectively.

Buffalo is averaging less than 20 points per game since beating Miami in week 2. And that includes the Geno Smith/Mike Vick turnover-fest in the Meadowlands 2 weeks ago. That'd be okay if the defense was elite AND this was before the passing game opened up. But even good defenses yield points and teams aren't winning the length of a season with strong defense and mediocre offense. That very offense has become anemic and I don't see it changing. With lesser talent and/or coaching, mediocre teams' true colors come out in the second half of the season. Doug Marrone has become the latest in a long line of offensively-challenged HC's.

Gotta disagree. Whaley didn't put together much on the surface. He's made some good moves, but the draft is still an issue for this organization. Outside the 1st and 2nd rounds, Buffalo doesn't find above average NFL starters. The OL is a mess. Neither Buddy or Doug recognized having a durable veteran QB is a requirement, the trade for Bryce Brown doesn't look good at all right now, and the coach Brandon hired is quickly becoming a running joke. The latest rebuild (number 3 since TD was fired for those counting at home) is in it's fifth year. I expect they'd have better talent than the DJ/Marv/Brandon years, and yet their record amazingly continues to be mediocre.

A reasoned, rational, thoughtful response. I'm betting you weren't paying much attention or weren't yet a fan in 2002, 2008, and 2011 when the team zoomed out to good starts and fell apart in the second half. Because if you were, a response such as this wouldn't be offered.