BillsVet

You have to love that players get 100% of the blame when the team doesn't win. It's a nuanced discussion, but right now more than 50% of the problem does their work from the sideline. The offense is anemic, unimaginative, and boring to be brutally honest. I thought Marrone was going to be an innovative coach, and he's a really more of the same: annoyingly conservative when there's a calculated risk to take. They're wasting good players and I hope the Pegulas are watching. Time to clean out everyone. This is more of the same.

Which is what NE's OL usually are. I don't even know their interior 3 OL right now, but Buffalo got very little pressure up the middle in the 2nd half a few weeks ago against NE. Brady's only been sacked 14 times this year, which while not all either QB or OL, is not much. And pretty good considering the Pats have had multiple OL injuries this year. I don't think the personnel group is aligned with the coaching staff. It happened with Nix and Gailey when the former wanted the biggest OL and then they drafted a waterbug back. And I sense it happening again. A guy like Urbik has been benched in favor of a RT who's among the worst RG's in the game. Judging OL talent and using it appropriately is something just about every personnel/coaching tandem has been wrong about since the mid nineties.

The 2004 Steelers come to mind when people bank on a team being in the playoffs and resting their top guys. Opponents have 8 games of film on Buffalo, just like the Bills have on their opponents. It's the most innovative teams that keep winning from now until the end of the season. If you're predictable and keep trying to do the same thing and/or don't have the horses, you get exposed quickly. And that's what happened in 2008 and 2011. How well the Bills do in adapting is what will decide whether they finish with a mediocre record or go to the playoffs.

For the record, Donahoe was bad. His teams in 5 seasons went 31-49, or winning about 39% of their games. His successors I split into two eras; Levy/Brandon, who went 27-37 from 2006-09, or about 42% of their games, followed by Nix, who was 16-32 (33%) and arguably is more responsible (from a team building perspective) for the 2013 season, which puts him at 22-42 or 34%. Hard to believe the high-water mark for the franchise post Donahoe was the DJ seasons from 2006-08.

Fair enough. Whaley had few options and there's no two ways about it in 2013. I just wish he'd have added (or kept T. Jackson) a better veteran than an injury prone Kevin Kolb. At least then they'd have had a better insurance policy if the rookie got hurt or was inconsistent. One bad decision made it harder to make a good one to address the QB position. We don't know much about Manziel and Bortles is playing on a bad Jacksonville team. The latter wasn't available and the I don't think former wasn't on their radar given the offensive scheme they want to run.

There's a clear cause and effect here. The departed GM created a situation which required his successor to take a QB. I fault Nix for prioritizing positions other than QB in 2011-12 and Whaley for thinking Manuel was the guy. In the latter point, I slightly understand the initiative but ultimately bad judgement: Whaley had few options. If they were that enamored of Manuel, why add a brittle Kevin Kolb when you knew the former wasn't ready to play? As others have pointed out, that strategy backfiring was a reasonable possibility. And lo and behold it did.

The waters have been muddied about which GM was running the 2013 draft. What we know is that the then-current guy and heir were in the room. I would think they knew Nix would be eased out after that draft, so was the decision to take Manuel mutual or one-sided? I suspect that Whaley made the call, seeing as how he'd be running the team with that QB starting for him despite not being a de-facto GM. No way would the outgoing guy get to make a decision that would so influence the future GM's job. And I do fault Nix, who left Whaley with little in terms of talent after 3 years. His approach, to go with the previous regime's backup QB to start in 2011-12 is what set the stage for them to have to take a QB early in 2013 and hope he could play right away. Not surprisingly it didn't work. The bottom line is you don't go 4-12, 6-10, 6-10, and 6-10 from 2010-2013 unless your front office stinks. Which is what's happened. It's not as though it's 4 straight years of bad luck, but rather a case of too many bad decisions. One of which was having to take a QB in 2013.

One example of a successful QB someone traded down for still doesn't illustrate that it's a trend. The trend is, teams identify their guy and don't wait to take him. No one's arguing that hitting on 2nd round picks obtained in trades isn't a good thing. But hitting on that pick is not a sufficient consolation for missing on the first round pick. I know deflecting away from the first round pick has become a common narrative here as people see EJ isn't going to cut it in the pros. But if you prioritize the position, as you noted Buddy didn't do, then you're not backed into a corner having to take a raw rookie. No team makes good decisions when they're desperate, which Buffalo was in the 2013 draft for a QB.

Who trades down to get their franchise QB? But didn't Russ say that 2014 was Whaley's first draft?

Or maybe this report, with Foles probably wanting a new contract, is all about the Eagles trying to obtain some sort of leverage in negotiations? Foles is entering the final year of his rookie contract next year. But if this is reality, then yeah I blame the few rookies who are relatively successful out of the gate for amping up expectations for your signal callers.

Donahoe had major faults and made several poor decisions. But at least the organization had a legitimate sense as if they were competing. Hiring Marv, promoting a guy with no personnel experience in Brandon, and promoting Nix from within came off as amateur hour at OBD. None of those guys were worthy of being NFL GM's.

Completely new job? He was made COO in 2006 of non-football ops. Two years later he added the GM title and in 2010 when Nix was hired, he became CEO. His most recent promotion was to team president in 2013. I'd say the last 3 positions placed him as overseeing football ops, either as GM or overseeing that individual with that title. The fact that the Pegula's removed Brandon from overseeing football ops tells me they know that relationship wasn't good for the team from an on-field perspective. One would think if RB was thought to be good at that function they'd delay that move until after the consultant made their report. But they didn't.

To say the organizational structure is the same today under TPegs as it was under RB is like saying red apples are the same as red peppers because they're both red. You've conflated the situation into being the same when in fact it's not. Brandon less likely to make changes incumbent on his GM? If the organizational structure was so efficient, wouldn't the new owners have ensured it remained in place? Yet, they didn't wait for a consultant to tell them that a GM under Russ Brandon wasn't a solid move. Russ is still president, but he's not overseeing football, so someone advised them to take football operations away from him. That speaks volumes.

I wonder how Whaley feels now that the Pegulas have made him report to them alone. I doubt you'd get a straight answer, but the reality is that move needed to happen for years. That move illustrates to me that the new owners acknowledge the previous organizational structure was dysfunctional.

Buddy Nix: the gift that keeps on giving.

After 8 games Buffalo's outscoring opponents by a cumulative 13 points. And that's after the thumping they put on NYJ yesterday.

Not seeing how beating teams with a combined 4-12 record the last two weeks makes them mentally tough now.

Playing the way Buffalo did today won't get you into the playoffs. There's 12 teams in the AFC playoff picture, and while some will not be there in a month, the Bills are going to need to pick up their play and win at least 5 more games. I don't view this game as just "this game." I see it as a measuring stick for how they'll play the rest of the season. No one back-doors their way into the playoffs.

Rex: "And Idzik's going to make me take the fall for this mess. No way man!" Marrone: "Yeah I know the feeling Rex. Do you know who Russ Brandon is?"

Every single employee at OBD knows their jobs are on the line with a TBD consultant coming on board at some point. I get the impression the mindset is now coach not to lose. Don't be too innovative, i.e. risky. Eke out games and hopefully finish with a good enough record to not be fired. And then counter that with the move on draft day to get Watkins, which was the antithesis of their game planning right now. For the life of me I don't understand this franchise. Nothing seems coordinated, and as a previous poster mentioned, they attacked NYJ's strength and held back on their weakness. Some game plan.

Great post. Thanks and sounds like you've got some knowledge about the inner workings at OBD. Seems like the major changes won't occur until after the season and a consultant TBD has made their recommendations. Brandon has already been making statements which essentially separate himself from certain decisions the past couple of years. I would certainly agree with the premise that it's hard to move forward with RB remaining in the building and his role is being scaled back.

Jason LaCanfora has reported that the Pegulas will hire a consultant to review the organization. I'm expecting they won't do that and then ignore the consultant's recommendations. Contrast that with TPegs not doing that when he bought the Sabres, allowing Regier to remain in place until it was obvious he couldn't get the job done. Changes are coming and I don't think TPegs is soft. They already admitted that the financial people had too much sway in the front office, hence the move to separate football from finance.

If you're going to make the playoffs, you've got to win against division opponents on the road. The margin for error is too slight, particularly if you are fighting for a wild card berth. Only 2 teams get them in the conference, so winning the division remains the best opportunity for post-season play. They've got to beat the Jets. Going into the bye week 4-4 will feel, after everything they've done so far, very underwhelming.

First, Denver had to attract Peyton Manning. And they took a big risk by giving him the first year guaranteed. How did Denver sell the Broncos to Manning? Well, I'd imagine he wanted to know how they would support him and build a winner. Because when he showed up they didn't have all the pieces they did in 2013. Being an attractive destination to elite players tells a lot of the story. Only winning and dollars do that. PR blitzes don't work on career minded pros, coaches, and front office types like they do fans who aren't investing as much.

Yep. Buffalo hasn't even begun to sustain a winning team, because they've never truly rebuilt. The example of what Denver did replacing Decker with Sanders illustrates why they're a winner: they know where and how to keep talent and at a reasonable cost. The Broncos pay a lot of money to a select group of players (P. Manning, Ware, Talib, et al.) but still keep enough talent on the field to support their premier players. And they spend/draft where it's needed most: QB, pass rush, and secondary. Someone may chime in by saying the Broncos haven't won a SB and lost last year big time. But the point remains they've played at a high level for 3 years and this off-season improved their roster off that 2013 season. Although, Demaryius and Julius Thomas will be looking for get big contracts as well, so it'll be interesting to see what they do in the 2015 off-season. The Bills have jettisoned several players and either insert a much lesser player (Colin Brown, Chris Williams) or use a high draft pick (Lynch, Poslsuzny, et al.) to replace a departed veteran. This happened because they had a habit of letting players hit the final year (the walk year) of their contract, which made it more expensive and thus more difficult to re-sign them. I would expect a real front office to know they want to re-sign a player (and get them under contract) before their final year. Buffalo didn't do that for a long time. I suspect this won't continue under the Pegulas.