BillsVet

To quote Bill Lumbergh, "I'm going to go ahead and disagree." It's always been the responsibility of the GM to select a HC, although teams are developing a different organizational format, like Cleveland, who want their new GM and HC to report to the team president. It appears the Bills may move toward that model. And I am aware personnel includes both the Pro Personnel and College Scouting sides of the personnel house. Typically a GM oversees both with input from the HC who will utilize the players they select.

Pure speculation, but it sounds like Detroit compromised with Brandon knowing that the latter would demand sweeping changes. Agree that it's not good enough given that Nix remains temporarily. If anything, GM's are more responsible for failure than the HC's they choose. It just so happens that HC's get the blame first.

I am aware. So if he can't look for the next HC, what good is it to hang on to him. There only needs to be one cook in the kitchen. This is, in essence, a straw-man argument. But let's say that Nix is on the golf course and merely scouting for the next few months. Who's making the call on free agents and draft picks? Is it Nix or Whaley, the current and future GM respectively? If you're the College Scouting or Pro Personnel director, who do you take direction and guidance from? Most businesses and military units I've been with aren't a clean top-down organizational structure. But reducing the leadership and management structure helps to optimize efficiency. I don't see a need for hanging on to the outgoing guy if he's a lame duck.

I would certainly hope given Whaley's 14+ years in a NFL front office that he can handle the role now. But with the heir apparent and outgoing GM simultaneously working on pro and amateur personnel issues it makes for a muddled situation. And keeping the latter around just doesn't seem proactive. The coaching search should tell us a lot about how the front office shakes out.

If Nix is being transitioned out with an undetermined timetable, what's the sense in hanging on to him? If Whaley is the heir apparent then go with it and don't look back. Rip the bandaid off all at once.

Nothing like having a disgruntled former starter remaining on your team. It's a Buddy type move, similar to when the Bills held onto Losman for 2008 when Edwards took his job. I would never have the demoted guy working in the same department. Regardless of whether the guy is good, it makes for an awkward situation.

But now he's apparently reporting to Brandon, so that makes everything better. Problem solved.

Marvez reporting a minor re-structuring with Brandon overseeing Nix. Awesome.

+1

Maybe the Bills could follow Syracuse into the ACC next season. I think they'll handle GT, NCST, and UNC. Clemson and Florida State will be a whole other story. JMO.

Kyle Shanahan is another coach who, while perhaps very forward thinking, suffered in years the Redskins didn't have a QB, 2010-11. Now that they took one and he and his dad built an offense around him, the coaching staff look geniuses. Same can be said for John Fox going from Carolina to Denver and getting Peyton Manning. It's a credit to them they didn't try to fit Griffin III into a more traditional NFL offense. FWIW, Ed Kilgore made the point about Fox and a few others in a recent article. Get the QB and many (not all) things fall into place. If you don't have one, it's mighty hard to succeed. It's this simple concept that Nix apparently decided to eschew and while I understand he wanted to build lines first, that mentality is out of the 1980s/early 1990s. There are too many pass/QB friendly rules that facilitate success for a QB out of the gate. This is why Nix must go. He never devised a plan and if he did, I'm struggling to understand what it was. There is little depth across the roster, the QB position remains a disaster, drafts weren't "top 5 talent evaluator" worthy, defensively they're about as bad as they were in 2010, and he's going on to his second coach if he gets to stay. That's a lot of bad in only 3 seasons.

Brandon's tenure began in '98 after he worked for the (World Series champion) Florida Marlins previously. I'm not a big fan of Mr. Smithers, but he's not the main issue at OBD. The "coincidence" is the personnel department never maintained the level of production coming off the Butler era and the GM did not identify good HC's.

Fletcher was said to make too too many tackles downfield around here. The current LB's don't make tackles. Advantage LF(B).

Finding good offensive minded HC's is proving to be more difficult that defensive guys. Offense is the name of the NFL game in this era.

After this performance, I don't see Gailey getting another coordinator or above position in the NFL. And he may not work in the NFL again at his age. BTW, what the heck happens with Modkins? Maybe he'll move on to South Central Louisiana State University as assistant running backs coach.

Chan is a good guy. But it makes no sense for a fired HC to address the media. What's he going to say? He's sorry it didn't work out?

That easy schedule was supposed to provide the highway to the playoffs for this team. And, they were playing 5 games against rookie QB's. Next year's schedule definitely looks harder on paper.

Rinehart simply does not have the agility to play LG. He's a plodding type who would be best served in a reserve role IMO.

Pioli's father in-law picked a franchise LT in 2008 and that hasn't worked as well as the team who picked a QB 2 spots later.

Not at all. And it would easily trump the retaining of Jauron at the end of 2008 or hiring Nix/Gailey at the end of 2009. Both huge letdowns and nothing would surprise me now

Nix is the highest guy on the football side of the house and hired Gailey, permitted the hiring of Wannstedt, has drafted poorly, and not been good in UFA aside from Williams. To allow a guy like that back, who, as Don Banks pointed out, is desperate for a QB is not a good strategy. They need an infusion of new management, but all it seems the Bills is re-arrange the deck chairs. The last 3 GM's demonstrate that. Per Schopp yesterday, Nix was re-scheduled for Wednesday. Presumably this was to allow time for the after-season review, but it's anyone's guess at this point. Even Don Banks admitted no one in league circles knows just what RW thinks. Nix will never learn to shut his mouth and project more subterfuge than talk about what he's going to do. Had he taken a QB in 2011 when the options were good (yeah that's hindsight) he wouldn't be in the precarious position of needing one for 2013. No one ever said Nix has to tell the whole truth about his intentions, even in the wake of another disaster of a season.

Very possible scenario. I do not, for one minute, believe Chan gets the ax on Monday as some believe. The Bills inner-circle conducts a post-season meeting that will determine the course they chart for 2013 with regard to team management. It could last a day or more. I also don't see anyone from outside OBD stepping up to the GM job if Nix is let go. For all this talk about David Caldwell, I don't think the idea was anything other than to make Whaley GM. Despite all this, a new GM doesn't necessarily mean Gailey departs either. Littmann and Brandon could make the case Nix has wasted RW's money and he is the culprit to the team failing to reach the playoffs.

Was that all Chan or could it have been a decision made with Nix. Pure speculation, but I've often wondered why the Bills used so many resources, both in the draft and in free agency, toward trying to stock a 3-4 and then 4-3 defense. Perhaps one or both thought this was more important and Gailey being the offensive minded HC, they agreed to work around their QB. Regardless, whatever plan was made between the GM and HC was inherently flawed, not forward looking, and unsuccessful.

Banks report reminds me of the story Peter King wrote in advance of the 2011 draft when he could not report on anything he'd heard out of OBD. Other teams were putting out info, whether true or not, about their intentions. The Bills meanwhile, remained a black hole of information. I guess no team goes under the radar like the Bills, which ironically or not, resembles their ownership situation. Hopefully Brandon gets his way to clean house, because otherwise if he's not who's running the show beside the treasurer?

Tell me who wanted Aaron Williams? The Steelers presumably had a need at CB late in the 2011 first round and skipped over him in favor of a 5 Tech DE. The Patriots chose Ras-I Dowling the pick before who is a huge bust. I'd say those teams draft well over the long haul and went away from A. Williams so what does that tell you? And what does it tell you that the scouting report on him was a lack of hip flexibility and better suited to safety? That was widely known, but apparently Nix was smarter. Furthermore, I focused on only 2nd and 3rd round picks given that guys after about round 5 are bonuses if they work out. And if the Bills were developing the talent you say they are, why do their backups struggle playing other team's versions during pre-season play? They haven't done much of anything in the pre-season in the 3 years Gailey and Nix have been there. They have not built depth in many places on this team. An old HC once said that potential means you ain't done anything yet. I'm not judging the 2012 draft yet, only 2010 and 2011 given that those players have 3 and 2 years in the league respectively. Typically major progression is made by those years, which I don't see.