Marv Levy on Dick Jauron

[Tcali]

Marv is right and wrong. Jauron was great at most of the stuff required of a head coach - the team played hard for him, we were almost always competitive, there was very little dissension in the ranks. Those are pretty big deals.

 

Unfoturnately Jauron was totally clueless on offense and assembling an offensive staff. His teams weren't physically or mentally tough enough. In personnel he seemed to always prefer the sleaker player rather than the more rugged one when presented a choice. He was also bad with the media, which is huge. In short, it was time for a change.

 

I think Marv is just being loyal to a guy that he likes personally and who he hired.

well said

[Ozymandius]

Marv just trying to save face. Hopefully Buddy Nix can fix the mess that Marv left behind.

[Billsfansince72]

its amazing how people get the whole Marv as GM thing totally wrong

 

Marv wasnt a traditional GM. everybody knew the whole time that he was only staying two seasons, he said that up front. therefore, his job by default becomes that of a consultant - someone to come in and tell you how to run your business but does not make decisions regarding your business. thus he is judged by a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT (almost) standard than a traditional GM. he was an architect and orchestrator of the business, NOT a decision maker

 

the exception was the Jauron hire, which was mostly his decision. that was really the only actual decision that Ralph put in Marvs hands

 

that means Marv was NOT responsible for and should not be held accountable for:

- the draft selections

- the free agent signings

- the marketing decisions (ie. toronto)

 

for everything except the Jauron hire I give Marv an A for his work here as consultant/fake GM

 

for the Jauron hire i give him an F

 

thus his overall grade for the consulting work is at least a C+/B-

 

the only other thing i could fault him on is the 'network management' they put in place under him, but thats only because i used to work in mgmt and i hated that structure because you spend too much time negotiating instead of making decisions and moving. but a lot of people like that kind of mgmt by committee approach and it CAN work if done properly. so really i dont even count that criticism because its not his fault that style collapsed after he left

 

which brings me to his defense of Jauron:

 

i love Marv but i just flat out disagree that dick could have turned it around here. i would love to sit down with Marv and talk details about Jaurons tenure to see exactly what Marv saw that makes him think dick could have turned out to be a good HC cuz i sure as hell cant see it. saying Marv is just defending his decision is too simplistic an answer, Marv is not that type and he must believe what hes saying, i just dont understand what that could be

 

Jauron might have been a good coach Mon-Sat but from what i saw, Jaurons gameday decision were just atrocious way too often. he had an incredible knack for choosing exactly the wrong times to either go for it or punt. he also didnt hold players accountable for mistakes and thus they just kept repeating. the crowning glory was actually defending (!!) mcknumbnuts for not protecting the ball on an absolutely crucial kickoff return. Dick should have went up to mckdipshet and told him 'if you fumble i will rip your gonads out with my teeth', but instead he says 'i dont have a problem with him trying to make a play'

 

omfg. if thats his attitude he will NEVER EVER EVER be a good hc. i like the guy personally, hes also probably the smartest guy in the room, but if he doesnt know to hold pampered primadonnas accountable for making the stupidest mistakes inhumanly possible then he should just forget about being in charge of a team full of them

 

so to sum up:

 

- people who say Marv sucked as a GM are just completely ignorant of the reality of what that situation was

- Marv did a great job on everything except the Jauron hire, which was a failure

- Dick should never be a HC again and im glad as hell hes gone

 

 

Marv, you say, as the GM didn't have a say in draft selections or free agent signings, what makes you think he made the decision in picking the coach then? He had a say in all, and he blew it.

 

Marv sucked as a GM. There, I said it.

[DarthICE]

Marv just trying to save face. Hopefully Buddy Nix can fix the mess that Marv left behind.

 

God knows it is going to take lots of work wasting about 5 years of first rounders

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

So are you telling me when it came to players. Marv just put his feet up and told DJ, JG, TM, and RB, pick whomever you guys want? I agree the picks were not all on him and I'm certain he would never have selected anyone that the rest of the front office didn't agree with. But I do think he was on board with the picks, agreed with them, and felt they were solid. To think anything else that Marv had no involvment is rather naive. I also will agree with you that he had little input towards marketing, that was likely all on RB (which was pretty good) So I guess I'd give Marv an A for being smart enough to stay out of the marketing part of it. I'll also give you that the selections weren't totally his choice. TM is a scout, most likely he gave scouting reports on all the players, gave the good and bad points. Someone if it wasn't Marv, was then making the final choice. I'm 100% certain it wasn't RB, so that leaves three guys not inculding Marv. But Marv still needed to sign off on them.

 

IF and this is a big if as none of us know for certain, lets just say DJ wanted to select a player, and TM thought he wasn't worth selecting that high, but Marv went along with it, then I'd give Marv an F. If all three guys felt the selection was solid at best I'd give him a C as he still needed to be on board and agree it was a good selection or not.

 

I would say since Marv left with RB being the "GM" your comments about the GM role is more true so if you're going to give Marv and A, then RB desirves a AAA

 

RB was NOT responsible for and should not be held accountable for:

- the draft selections

- the free agent signings

- the marketing decisions (ie. toronto)

 

As far as Marv's comments about continual change isn't helpful, I'll totally agree with that. To that I'd say, well Marv, kind of hard to have no changes when you quit after two years. (not that I'm conplaining) That forced another GM into the role, maybe not immediately, but two years later we have a new one. Cetainly it's expected that a new GM would want a new coach.

 

that means Marv was NOT responsible for and should not be held accountable for:

- the draft selections

- the free agent signings

- the marketing decisions (ie. toronto)

 

for everything except the Jauron hire I give Marv an A for his work here as consultant/fake GM

[San-O]

- people who say Marv sucked as a GM are just completely ignorant of the reality of what that situation was

- Marv did a great job on everything except the Jauron hire, which was a failure

- Dick should never be a HC again and im glad as hell hes gone

 

 

Please never post on this topic again.

 

Marv was a train wreck as G.M., what ever form you put it in.

 

[San-O]

I was done with Jauron's incompetence by october of the 2007 season. Took a lot of heat for constantly ripping him. Laughed at guys like Carruci who would talk about the need for "continuity" year after dismal year. Meanwhile the Jets are firing guys who have 9-7 records and took their team to the playoffs like Mangini did. For Marv to even suggest that the Bills should have still given Jauron more years is absolutely insulting to me as a Bills fan. I can't respect a guy who has the nerve to say something as foolish as what he said. He should send Polian a thank you note for his HOF bust.

 

+ 1

 

Don't pee on my leg and telling me it's raining!

[thewildrabbit]

Jauron was a really good coach and well respected throughout the NFL, just not a good head coach.

 

Jauron basically took apart everything Marv did as GM, even to the point of getting himself fired. The OC Steve Fairchild left, he promotes the QB coach to OC, fires him and promotes the QB coach again. The O line coach retires and Jauron promotes an assistant.

 

Either he was afraid that any decent OC he hired would take his job, or he was afraid they wouldn't do their job well enough to get the team wins. I just don't buy the continuity crap he was shoveling simply because the one area on the team that needs continuity the most, Jauron changed it around every year he was in Buffalo. This last year he changed every position and then expects a 2nd year line coach to get them to play great, not to mention another OC / rookie play caller to make that offense work with a completely overhauled line.

 

If anything, Jauron showed in his last year, it was a classic example of what not to do. If I'm RW I would Al Davis his azz and refuse to pay him what he is owed in his contract.

[Dan]

the more time passes and seeing how Marv did post-Bills versus Polian, the more i realize the early 90's team was all Polian. if we'd had a more capable coach like a Dungy we could have run the table.

Polian is certainly THE individual most responsible for putting that Super Bowl caliber team together. But, Marv is THE individual most responsible for getting those players to 4 consecutive Super Bowls. A feat no other coach, GM, or player has ever accomplished for a reason.

[Adam]

As I have stated before- the biggest debacle is the Bills fans themselves. About 1/10 of you know about what it takes to be a head coach at any level, aside from just playing Madden. The problem has never been about coaching, nor has it been about building through the secondary. The personnel department has been what has let them down.

 

Jauron has gotten the most out of his talent, and while some think a core built around Aaron Schobel and Lee Evans should get us to the superbowl and that Roscoe Parrish is a viable 3rd WR......I will tell you this. Pick up a book and stop listening to talk radio. Reality is not built around your delusional outlook.

 

Our offensive line stinks- its presence is an abberration. The only returners that should start are Levitre and Wood. Incognito has the skills of a backup and the brainpower of a toaster. So he didn't take a dumb penalty in 2 games- who cares.

 

Our defensive line is putrescence itself, whether we stay 4-3 or go 3-4. Schobel should be a third down pas rusher, not a full time guy. We have wasted his pass rushing skills for years, because our scouts can't find real linemen.

[GG]

Ralph's major mistake was hiring Jauron and his usual pride won't let him see the reality of the horrible choice. But for the other things, he was not the one making the ultimate decision, as the roster choices basically came down to Jauron, Overdorf & Wilson.

 

Why do yo guys think nothing in the way the team was run changed when Brandon replaced Levy? Usually when there's a new GM you see some changes, but the only noticeable thing that happened was in the winter of 2009 when Buddy came on board and Wilson recognized that perhaps Modrak needed to have a bigger voice in the war room.

[Chalkie Gerzowski]

marv levy is a FAKE. i will say this till i am blue in the face...he got lucky! He had Bill Polian and top notch scouting hand him about 50 future Hall of Fame players. They won in spite of levy and could not win the most important game against the best coaches.

 

This

 

 

and if Marv wants to continue to sully his reputation with another defense of Jauron, well by all means, have at it old man.

 

[Steve O]

Marv sucked as a GM. There, I said it.

Let's face it. He wasn't that good as a head coach. We made it to four super bowls in spite of him, not because of him. Out coached in every one of them.

 

There, I said it.

[KOKBILLS]

Marv sucked as a GM. There, I said it.

 

And You would be correct in saying it...

 

There's nothing wrong with saying it either...It is what it is...Marv was a Hall Of Fame HC who was a terrible GM...That's all...I still respect and admire the Ol' Guy...I just want him away from My Football Team...That's all...

[Endless Ike]

You know, you are right, he did leave rather abruptly, did Marv.

 

He's a million years old...he should have never come back to work as GM anyway

[Adam]

Let's face it. He wasn't that good as a head coach. We made it to four super bowls in spite of him, not because of him. Out coached in every one of them.

 

There, I said it.

Because you obviously have a grasp of what a head football coach does. The head football coach doesn't make the players better, nor does he find good football players. That lies with the position coaches and the scouting staff. The head caoch decides what to delegate and to who. Levy was a GREAT delegator, but some of the assistants could not get the job done.

 

The middle of the defense on our superbowl teams wasn't very good. Jeff Wright was asked to do things he physically couldn't do. At linebacker, we were never great on the inside until after the superbowl era, and while Kelso was underrated, we were not great at safety. If your defense isn't strong in the middle, it isn't much of anything.

 

Marv, you say, as the GM didn't have a say in draft selections or free agent signings, what makes you think he made the decision in picking the coach then? He had a say in all, and he blew it.

 

Marv sucked as a GM. There, I said it.

A GM prioritizes team and position needs and has to go by the information on available players given to him by scouts. While Levy did make a few mistakes, the personnel department has been subpar, coming up with guys like Kelsay, Denney, Poz, Parrish, etc.......

[Mr_Blizzard]

the more time passes and seeing how Marv did post-Bills versus Polian, the more i realize the early 90's team was all Polian. if we'd had a more capable coach like a Dungy we could have run the table.

 

Whatever... It's been 16 years. Time to leave the past in the past . . .

[Adam]

Whatever... It's been 16 years. Time to leave the past in the past . . .

Not to mention that Polian had AJ Smith and John Butler getting him his information- he did not do everything himself!

[Mr_Blizzard]

Not to mention that Polian had AJ Smith and John Butler getting him his information- he did not do everything himself!

 

Very true Adam. And the core players that were on the team in the early 90's were a special group of men.

[DaGimp]

does not the success of Indy and even what he did in Carolina prove it was all Polian!!!!????? Marv was flat out lucky he was picked by Polian.