BillsVet

William Moore and Taylor Mays will be available at safety. And as we all know, you build a winner from the secondary in. Look at the results DJ has from drafting this way.

Ngata wasn't an option because this team never considered it. Rather, we were led to believe by OBD that he didn't have the requisite skills to succeed in our soon to come horrible defense. (Allowed 140 rypg in 06, 125 rypg in 07) before finally trading for a sizable DT. Ngata is a unique player, in that he has the footwork to succeed in any defense he play, whether as a 3-4NT or 4-3 1 gap. Unfortunately, many fans refuse to consider this and repeat the company line that he wasn't an option. Patently false. It's important to admit how many resources this team has poured into the DT position. They signed a moderate FA deal with Tripplett. (5 yrs 18.5M) traded a 2nd and 3rd for McCargo, and used a high 5th on Williams. When none of this worked, the front office was forced to trade for a high dollar player in Stroud (which has been a good deal so far) and gave up a 3rd and 5th. Meanwhile, they signed Spencer Johnson to a 5 yr 17.5M FA contract. All of this for their DT rotation. This team has proven that they over-allocate to cover up for problems they themselves started. Tripplett and McCargo were busts, Williams is average at best, Sp. Johnson isn't playing as much as I'd hope, and Stroud is very good IMHO. Whether Bunkley had a learning curve or not (the position usually does) it does excuse the fact that the Bills have been mediocre on both draft and game days.

Dropping down a few slots and acquiring extra picks is what most quality front offices do. Bill Parcells has advanced this strategy many times. It's not guaranteed, but having a mid first along with a 2nd in addition to your regular second and two thirds would really have given this team more options. It's like having a $5 lottery ticket or a $2 and 3 $1 versions. More chances to win. But DJ and ML couldn't help themselves. They got greedy, and it backfired. I could have seen taking Whitner without trading up for McCargo. But the Bills decided they needed both players in 06, which you do not do in a rebuilding year. The threat of losing out on Unmotivated McCargo scared them into trading for him. No matter how it's spun, that 06 draft was average at best. Whitner, McCargo, Youboty, Simpson, Butler, Williams, and Ellison. Nearly three full seasons into their NFL careers, you have one legit starter (Whitner), two average starters (Butler, Williams), one below average starter (Simpson), an oft-injured CB (Youboty), and a busted first rounder (Johnny Mac). Marv's first foray into the draft was not as great as many made it out to be.

What changed your mind?

We give them Jauron, they take his salary, and we get the ball boy, plus perhaps a cheerleader to be named later. If they get really greedy, we'll include Fewell in the deal. That's more than fair.

Preston must have stayed in the Rogers Centre last night.

Give it a few more posts and we'll be getting the "at least Whitner isn't a bust" excuse. SS was, is, and always will be a luxury pick. Buffalo hasn't been able to make a luxury pick since about 1993. You'd think after this season that a lack of pass rush would be shown as a greater priority than anything on defense. There are still some clingers-on who disagree. Also can't help but notice Ngata and Bunkley starting for their teams. And playing really well.

Nearly 17 years ago, Ralphie let the finest GM in modern NFL history go in favor of Jeff Littman. Unless Littman the bean counter has made RW a billionaire, which I don't believe, he's not even worthy of kissing Polian's shoes. You be the judge: Architect of the finest era in Bills history (1988-1996) or Chief Financial Officer for an elderly man who can't help but laugh about his perennial inept franchise.

Glad to know he really cares.

Listen to Jerry Sullivan's segment from this morning's Howard Simon show at the 10:15 mark: Sullivan: "I asked him if he was embarrassed." Ralph "I'm used to it." Of course this is paraphrased, but I doubt Sullivan is telling a boldface lie. I trust Sullivan knew if the guy, whether he's 90 or 50, was laughing as a joke or about him going to the bank with his 78M.

Ralph is a PR (hello Scott Berchtold) mans' worst nightmare. This reminds me of the reaction we all had about the press conference announcing the Toronto deal months ago. RW drew the ire of fans when he made comments about the struggling city which has propped up his team for years. He was more than flippant, he was gleeful when talking about going to Toronto, most likely because he was banking 10M per game. Either RW doesn't realize or doesn't care that his team is one of the worst in the NFL. He's forgotten that these past few years will be a part of his legacy, which isn't great these past 40 years anyway. I sick of people citing RW's work back in the 60s. Since that time, when he saved the AFL, he's done so very little. Without his affiliation with Polian, how much has this franchise done? The franchise record since 1970 (the merger) is 282-319-1.

Listened to WGR when Sullivan came on. I'm not making this crap up...RW was laughing about this thing. Listen to the audio vault when you get a chance.

I cannot even fathom the owner of a NFL team laughing after their team loses in their showcase moment. If there is any doubt where the problems start, it's with the owner. He no longer seriously is interested in making this team a winner. OTOH, Russ Brandon knows that he's been dealt a horrible hand, and must market this joke of a franchise next year. He's predictably upset, but I'm not sure he has the contacts or resources to do anything about it. But to think RW is joking around and assuming fans will return next year, well, his senility is getting in the way.

Brandon is not experienced in handling player personnel. He knows nothing about the subject and is not qualified to be a General Manager. If anyone thinks the Bills have a better front office than most teams, I'd love to hear why. The teams in the AFC East all have better executives. To think Miami went from 1-15 to 8-5 in one year should make fans wonder why we can't improve in three stinking years. Jerry Sullivan said Russ Brandon looked like he wanted to cry after the game yesterday. He's responsible to market this team next year and while Ralph can make stupid comments like he normally does, Russ has the job of getting people to buy tickets. He knows it's going to be an uphill climb to get ticket sales to normal levels.

Ralph can no longer get away with cosmetic changes, like hiring Levy, promoting people to VP's, promoting Brandon, and making a non-remarkable FA acquisitions. They have not seriously committed to building a winning football team. I've always said hiring Levy was a PR move which had short term benefits. He wasn't the guy to get this team into the playoffs as GM and Brandon isn't now. Firing DJ is only part of the solution. This requires a new coaching staff, new players at C, G, DE, TE and OLB. On this day, this team is living like their owner: day to day without any plan for next week or next year. People said Donahoe had no plan, and he probably didn't. But this franchise hasn't done anything differently from a planning perspective than Donahoe did.

You do realize APUS that Buffalo has won their games against KC, STL, SEA, OAK, SD, and JAC? Playing tough defense against those teams, in addition to SF and CLE, should not be difficult to do. Combined W-L for teams Buffalo has beated: 18-60. Talk about a great schedule, yet no matter what, Buffalo still can't get to the playoffs. It's time to demand more from this franchise.

Ralph should give his position as president to Brandon. In accepting this, RB must hire a new GM who has complete control in football operations. The GM can hire the new coach, and will be responsible for getting this team back to respectability. Do away with the COO position, and let Brandon have a hand in marketing this team. He won't have any say in how the team is assembled, either in UFA or the draft. RB can market like a SOB, but it won't matter after three inept years. They need to find someone who knows football right now.

That's avoids the issue. Polian never had to fire Marv, because BP had already stocked that team with more talent than at anytime in franchise history. Marv only had to keep the ship steady, which he did. The point here is that a GM needs to run football operations. All good owners find football people, and give them the leeway to run football operations. They don't meddle and inhibit their football people from making football decisions. Indianapolis has Polian NY Giants have Jerry Reese Atlanta has Dimitroff Miami has Parcells/Ireland New England has Pioli/Belichick If more fans looked league wide to see what works, they'd realize this team's 59-82 record is the result of a bad GM (TD) and two guys who had no clue what they were doing (Marv and Russell) I'd love to bestow praise on Marv, but his time as GM is quickly worsening despite having retired a year ago. The results of his decisions are being felt everyday, especially his uninspired pick of DJ and the joke coordinators he brought with him.

APUS, you may have heard of a guy named Thomas Dimitroff in Atlanta. Perhaps not. He's a first year GM in this league that has the Falcons very close to a playoff berth. Jeff Ireland is a new GM, although working for Parcells. It's not an excuse in this league to be new in your job. John Harbaugh can't say that in Baltimore as HC. Neither can Mike Smith in ATL. It's not an excuse, although it's people like RW who can't find it to spend money in an area that would give him a better team. Parcells was hired to make Miami a winner. He's done that. Dimitroff has done it in ATL. Polian continues to do it in Indy. Ozzie Newsome is a fine GM in Baltimore. Your excuse is so poor, especially considering that there are a host of new GM's in the league who win in their first season. Unfortunately, our GM is not experienced in anything but designing marketing campaigns and saying "yes" to RW.

I hope this season has made Brandon realize that he's not ready to be a GM in this league. Tannenbaum, Parcells, and Pioli/Belichick run circles around him. I'm just surprised Russell actually spoke to the press. IMO, Brandon can be elevated to President, taking the position from Ralphie. A condition of the title would be he must hire a real GM who handles all personnel moves. Brandon can play supervisor, but all football decisions are made by a GM with previous football executive experience. The GM then hires a new coach, and will not be hamstrung by unrealistic pay limitations on who to hire. The GM has final say on draft day and in UFA. He should get permission only to sign FA's and ensure to the owner that any players brought in to Buffalo are worth paying to play for the Bills.

Guy has been Pro Personnel director for about 8 years. Same as Modrak as Amateur Scouting director. Nothing's changed but their titles. Brandon is nothing more than a business/marketing manager whose department will have a hard time selling tickets this coming year. He has not worked in personnel one second before being unnecessarily promoted to a position he has no business handling. Levy may have brought Polian's science, but he left his textbooks at home. IMO, the personnel people made four picks in two years. Whitner (at 8th overall) Lynch, Poz, and Edwards. The rest are pedestrian, or bad. That includes Butler, Ellison, Simpson, Youboty, and McCargo. Miami also invested money in a real talent evaluator like Parcells, who brought with him from Dallas Jeff Ireland and Tony Sparano. I think you're waiting for something to happen that never will: success without real front office people who know talent. Modrak might be fine, but the guy who should be bringing it all together is not suited for the job. And I'm talking about Brandon.

Ralph should start by investing some money in hiring a legitimate GM. BTW-the front office has been together for about 8 years. That's Guy, Modrak, and Overdorf. Brandon is just a business guy they propped up into a job he has no idea how to do. People said Huizenga was crazy to pay Parcells all that money. Where are those people now? A team 1-15 last year is 8-5 this year. The Parcells investment has paid off in spades, but yet Ralph eschews common sense and does it his way. Well, his way has resulted in a team that's gone 59-82 since 2000. Marv ain't coming back either. He did nothing but answer fan letters and participate in photo ops anyway. He took the job because Ralph needed a big PR move to get fans in the seats after TD tried to censor them from complaining. SD-you of all people should admit that ML did very little, his hiring of DJ was a mistake, and that RW is one of the poorest owners in the league, above only Mike Brown, Al Davis, and the Ford Family.

Fine assessment there Dean. It's true that Ralph ensured the team remained in Buffalo, but he's not doing much lately with them. Since 2000, the team record is 59-82, which is better than places like Oakland. I go to home games, but each one feels like a punch in the stomach. The past few, (NYJ, CLE, and SF) have left me wondering if it's worth it to buy season's for next year. I'm a Bills fan, but it doesn't mean I have to accept the way this team is going. It would be one thing if the team had been poor for nine straight seasons. Unfortunately, we Bills fans must worry if the team will even be around A.R.-after Ralph. Those two elements have made for a very dissatisfied base, which I'm sure you know, is only becoming more vocal in their (edit) dissatisfaction.

You're brilliant, it's almost as if who went to an Ivy League caliber university or something. I'm sure at times you spoke to janitors you had pity for as well, right? Sorry Bill, this thread was spot-on. But this guy is destroying it. Kinda like what the OC doesn't want to do to his feature RB.

Great subject. It's readily apparent that Buffalo's coaching cannot beat decent teams. As of today, the combined record of teams Buffalo defeated stands at 18-60.