BillsVet

Fine post. Ralph decides how much money is enough, with input from CFO Jeff Littman. They've no doubt looked league wide and watched as the big markets made more. I'm sure they wanted more, and saw Toronto as an opportunity. RW explicitly said the new revenue would not translate into more spent on players. Buffalo already is in the lower eighth of the league in money spent on players, so it would seem RW's padding his bottom line. As the NFL becomes more corporate minded, it's the real fans who will suffer. Until something like perhaps a lockout occurs because the current CBA is terrible. At that point, the fans will go mad.

The NFL has become a stadium building organization. 25 of the 32 NFL clubs have built or refurbished a stadium by the end of 2010. Building stadiums increases debt to value ratios, but raise team values as well. With the NFL becoming more corporate than blue collar these past 10 years, franchises will be pushed to build a new field, either publicly or privately finanaced. Not all stadiums go in that range. Jerry Jones' palace going for 1B doesn't mean all new parks are as well.

Of course it was a huge mistake to fire Polian. I'll always maintain he is the finest GM in the modern era, because he was excellent before and after the salary cap. His departure stings even more when you consider Ralph favored his CFO over an unreplaceable BP. It's time though to move on. We can blame RW for getting rid of Saban, Knox, pushing Butler/Smith out the door, and other bad choices. But it's not going to make our current situation any better. Buffalo needs to find a guy like Polian was back around 1985. That is, someone who flies under the radar and knows the NFL well enough to find players. I'm very interested to see if RW will give Russ Brandon the leeway to do just that and rebuild this team into a winner. If that doesn't happen, nothing will change.

Forbes Bills Value 2008 That's patently false. Buffalo isn't the biggest market, but I'm tired of people throwing in the towel simply because of it. What Ralph did in Toronto was a money grab, although they sold it as something absolutely necessary to preserving the future of the team. This was a pathetic effort at soothing fans' concerns about losing a home game. Meanwhile, RW said it would not result in extra monies being devoted to players. If they're not using the new revenue on players or operating the team, how does it keep the team there? Everything this team is doing suggests they're making the team more attractive to a buyer. Their debt to value ratio is extremely low (11%) and expenses have been kept to a minimum. Having Toronto signed, sealed, and delivered makes the team even more attractive as the buyer will have a high debt to value ratio. Ralph's team increased in value last year 8% to an estimated 885M. Even in these uncertain economic times, that team will go for a minimum of 900M+ when it's put up. I'll be interested in how much the Rams get when they're sold. The final line of the text tells it all: "But when you're 90 years old and have no plans of selling the team, you probably don't give a damn." And after RW's reaction to the Miami game, I don't think RW cares about anything but ensuring his family gets the most they can.

DH67, You've started several topics of late. I appreciate your optimism, but these statements are as vanilla as DJ's gameplans. The team has several holes to fill, most notably at C, G, RT, DE, OLB, FS (EDIT: assuming Whitner does not move) TE, DT, and certainly coaching. The situation is much worse than most realize. For example, the Bills went 7-9 in 2006 with one of the hardest schedules in the league. This season with one of the easiest, they're 6-7. That's not good, no matter how you spin it. Coaching and players are part of it. But the people who find those parts are woefully inept. A complete house cleaning is in order, no matter how optimistic an opinion one has.

Awesome SB. In my text message from the Bills, he had 1 sack and 32 tackles in those 4+ games. If that's a legitimate excuse, then so is losing Reed for a few weeks.

Please do not make that statement. Jauron's got his guys so inspired that they might go out and lay an ofer. As in 0-5 the last five games of the season. 5-1 to potentially 6-10...amazing. The Bills have a habit of leading you up the mountain and dropping you off. Whether it's 04 and winning 8 of 9 in a row and then losing to Pittsburgh's 3rd stringers or this year starting 5-1 and still missing the playoffs. Buffalo finds new ways each season to lose games and blow chances at the playoffs.

Wade was the beneficiary of the last Polian remnants and a few John Butler hits (R. Brown, Moulds, Wiley) and of course the play of Flutie. His performance in Dallas should demonstrate his teams win in spite of and not because of his coaching. Although I'd freely admit he's the best coach since Levy. It's not saying much, but he's at least a better defensive coach than Williams and Jauron. Marv's tenure as GM was something that never should have happened. He was not, nor is he, suited for the position and it speaks to RW's lack of understanding about how a front office operates that he was hired. Ralph has no long term plans, and he's content to sit at the top and collect the cash. He no longer cares. The difference between now and right after Donahoe was that at that point, RW was just looking to retain the fan base with a PR move in hiring Marv.

Press Twenty-Eight for Leodis McKelvin The kid seems like someone who could be a playmaker. His english leaves me looking like Dick Jauron on a challenge though.

You think DJ made that move?

Both franchises are led by woefully inept front offices, with terrible owners. Both have gone without a playoff appearance since 1999. I will say the Lions record of futility is even worse, considering they haven't won a playoff game since 1958. However, the complaints fans in most NFL cities are lodging aren't like ours. They're referring to a player or coach. We're talking about everything from owner to front office to coach to players. Nothing is excluded.

Relax. Take a deep breath. Walker is only doing the professional thing here, not that I care for DJ. Their coach has never thrown the players under the bus, and they won't reciprocate. Langston Walker has been here less than two seasons, and shouldn't get a bullseye on his chest for being upset and not having a way to express it. The problems on this team are higher up than a moderately paid OT.

It's funny, the people who make Ralph seem like a normal owner like Polian and Butler/Smith are sent packing or choose to leave because the situation is bizarre and untenable. Brandon can market with the best of them. But even he has to be wondering if it's worth working for a man who's not serious about helping him make this franchise work.

The salary cap will rise to about 123M next year. And Ralph is on record as saying the money received from Toronto isn't going toward players. So I have to believe Buffalo will be 25M beneath the cap in 09, similar to 08. I'm certain the Bills have already began or even finalized the budget for 2009. When you spend 20-23M beneath the cap, refuse to spend on coaching, and won't hire a GM, it tells me they're just making this franchise more sellable. Jeff Littman, team CFO is all about saving money, and if the Polian firing has shown us anything, it's that Ralph values money over success. I'm not saying BP is a saint, but he knows football. Still, RW chose Littman over Polian and the franchise has suffered greatly since then. Let's be honest, bright people aren't flocking to Buffalo for jobs. At least not well-recognized people. Brandon will read the writing on the wall, but it may be another year.

Last season, many of us thought Fairchild was the reason the offense was held back. Now that we're seeing the same thing happen with Turk, I have to believe it's not just an OC thing. It's the HC deciding to do just what you're referring to. DJ's last three OC's (Crowton, Fairchild, Schonert) were all poor. Is the poor offense related to OC's, or DJ's influence? I tend to think it's a combination of both.

Unforunately, working for Ralph places him into an impossible situation in which he may not have any chance for success. At some point, any intelligent executive realizes when they aren't given the resources to suceed.

Take note of Ko Simpson coming over late in coverage as well on that play. I'm not covering entirely for DW, but Simpson's anticipation is consistently poor. I believe the Bills will find a way to have Whitner revert to playing FS next year, regardless of who is the HC.

When Russ Brandon was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, many fans wondered how much clout he had in football operations. It's clear, by virtue of this past season's ticket numbers, that he's more than adept at marketing this team. But now that he'll be charged with guiding a new marketing campaign which depends on the moves off the field, we'll see how much pull he has and what kind of money he can spend. Either way, he's got an impossible task considering the owner. I suspect Jauron is gone at the end of the season, but that alone will not sell tickets. Real football improvements obviously must come before fans will buy tickets from a franchise whose owner is, "used to it" and laughs at seeing his team play poorly. It's also clear that Ralph has a certain degree of faith in Russ. But if RB isn't given the lattitude to find a legitimate personnel guy for GM who can hire a real HC, I see the COO leaving. This is pure speculation, but Brandon is a bright guy who could work in many places. It doesn't seem that Ralph is all that concerned with maintaining a ticket base by improving the product. If, and only if, that is the case, RB has done all that he's going to do for this franchise. And that would be one more step to the franchise leaving.

Easy. Ralph looks at Russ and says, "do your job." And now we know why Russ was livid Sunday and Ralph could sit back and laugh.

Mays is a great athlete, and may be a fine safety. But you don't use 3 first rounders out of 5 on DB's. You just don't. It will be early for Alex Mack or the top center, but there should be pass rushers available. If not, perhaps someone will be looking to move into the 11-15 range so Buffalo can add another pick. This franchise has traded up three times in the past five years. The results: Losman, McCargo, and Posluszny, with only the latter being someone who might help this team down the road. Trading down should be the option this team explores.

I haven't been on this board as long as some, but I can honestly say I've learned quite a bit from the more knowledgeable posters. There's a whole bunch more to understand, but I can't get over the fans who convince themselves that the situation here was fine until this season. There were underlying issues during the 5-1 start which were masked by inferior opponents, who I might add are all dreadful this season. The problems of this franchise have been identified by many posters on this board, yet the front office believes they know better. That's not to say a good poster from TBD can be GM, but the example to build a team should be more obvious this season. With all due respect to Marv, his track record as GM has proven that he was not capable of handling the job. Some knew after the first draft, but it's taken the most stubborn until now to realize it.

What, he more than 35K? Al Davis won't answer his letters. Last I heard, he was looking to get into the CFL. Probably Ralph's kind, but not someone to make this team better.

Mays is a tremendous athlete. 6'3 230 with 4.4 speed (reportedly). He may go before the Bills pick, and I hope so, because there has to be someone deep at OBD who loves DB's. As excellent as Mays is, they've got to get someone who plays either: 1. OL 2. DL

The combined record the Bills have had since 2000 against teams that finished with a winning record. Scary...and it doesn't look to improve in the final three weeks. Just know it'll be 14-61 or a .187 winning percentage.

This is what's it has come to. DJ arguing semantics in a monotone voice with reporters who are moving in for the kill. I'm not asking for him to throw the owner, organization, and team under the bus. I'm just thinking it's time to finally say they've failed. Just once, I wish DJ would go Jim Mora Sr. and go out in a blaze of glory.