Scrappy Posted April 16, 2011 Author Posted April 16, 2011 This has happened though as best as I can tell from Mr. Ralph foolishly having his team do stupid non-football moves in a continuing effort to replace the once in a football lifetime find of Jim Kelly. These events are: 1. Mr. Ralph made a handshake deal only he could make to promise Jimbo to reward him contractually in his next contract because the salary cap made it impossible for the Bills to up his payment before he hit FA, This was a stupid non-football intelligent move as even this uniformed outside observer could see that in his final football season Jimbo was done. He got concussed in the playoffs (he was good enough to lead a good team to the playoffs even though his own play was clearly ravaged by time and a lot of hits on a very tough man) and Mr. Ralph should have had the team move in the draft a year earlier or acquired an heir apparent in FA but the Bills waited and did not in a foolish thought that Jimbo would last forever. Mo one gets out of this time alive and Mr. Ralph made bad football judgments (that only he could make as it was his handshake promising his money which he apparently paid in a million $ walking away money to Jimbo which I think totally violated the cap). 2. Made a bad non-football mistake in not acquiring an heir apparent to Jimbo in what I think was 1995 so that instead they had to reach for TC as the best QB available to them in the 2nd round of the draft that year. TC was likely worth a third highest on most draft boards from what I could tell, If the Bills had drafted a potential heir QB the year before or gotten one through FA. This move of going for the next QB would have been a tough move which perhaps just is the obvious thing to do in 20/20 hindsight. However, even this uninformed fool was surprised when they did not pick a developmental QB late in the draft the year before they got TC and I simply assumed that we had an FA deal in the works or there was something about Jimbo I did not know as he looked done to this outsider. The sad truth is he was done and Mr. Ralph made a stupid football move in assuming he had another contract coming when it turned out thanks to playoff hits he was done. 3. They rushed TC to start when Jimbo was forced out even though he had clearly demonstrated that though he was incredibly accurate he had happy feet and bailed out to fast when he got pressured. Perhaps one could never train him out of this, but the Bills put themselves in a position where they did not have the time to try because Mr. Ralph made a bad football judgment that Jimbo had more time left than he had. Perhaps this was understandable even though this not fully informed outsider could see it in Jimbos final two years, but what is unforgiveable is that mr. Ralph made a decision only he could make to violate the salary cap by promising to reward Jimbo in his next contract which never happened. 4. I think the next step in the sad tale was the Billy Joe Hobert mess where out of desperation they sent a third to Oakland for a player whose mental make-up was so bad he not only let his teammates down by failing to do even basic preparation as a back-up but then stuck it to his teammates even further by publicly admitting his neglect. He got fired saving himself from being rightfully lynched by his teammates and the loyal fans. If Mr. Ralph was not involved in pulling the trigger on this mess it was malfeasance for him not be involved, 5. The coaching staff made a bold move which righted the ship of football state after this by risking signing Doug Flutie to a make good contract. The FO then made a critical error in that they not only traded for RJ, but then simply gave him a guaranteed contract which made it impossible for the team to honor its commitment to DF that he would win or lose the starter job on the field. Again Mr. Ralph was likely involved or it was malfeasance if he was not since so much of the team and his money was guaranteed to RJ. 6. Nr. Ralph was publicly all over the decision to start RJ in the playoffs after he shredded an Indy team that clearly was not playing hard after it became clear from the scoreboard that a win against the Bills would do them no good in playoff standing as their main opponent for seeding was winning by a lot, Seeing their starting OLB go down early in the Bills game with what proved to be a season ending injury simply set RJ up to shred Indy. In the what proved to be fruitless search for a new Jimbo RJ got the start in the last Bills playoff game and the team lost. 7. Etx, etc with ill-fated efforts with Bledsoe, JP and Edwards where the Bills made stupid fatal QB mistake after stupid mistake as they attempted to find the next Jim Kelly (even Bledsoe proved to be a demonstrably good sign where he proved to be Comeback player of the year in his first season as a Bill- if you disagree then simply name the QB who had a season you deem better than Bledsoe's who should have been on the Pro Bowl squad instead of him). However, the Bills grasped defeat from the jaws of simply cutting our loses when they extended Bledsoe after a horrible second year here. This was the fatal QB mistake which I lodge in Mr. Ralph's foolish efforts to find another Jimbo, I cannot do anymore details because it simply hurts too much, Why this is relevant is that I think what the Bills should have done (and this is 20/20 hindsight) is actually build a team instead of making dumb big moves to attempt to get a franchise QB. To reach for Newton or Gabbert in the 1st round or Mallett in the 2nd instead of focusing on building a team with need picks of a DE, OLB, and RT to be merely adequate would be a mistake in my book. The same mistake we have made time and again for a decade in a fruitless search for the next Jimbo. Pretty powerful arguements here, I feel smarter just being on the same board as you. Thank you for your incredible / intelligent post.
Doc Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 This has happened though as best as I can tell from Mr. Ralph foolishly having his team do stupid non-football moves in a continuing effort to replace the once in a football lifetime find of Jim Kelly. These events are: 1. Mr. Ralph made a handshake deal only he could make to promise Jimbo to reward him contractually in his next contract because the salary cap made it impossible for the Bills to up his payment before he hit FA, This was a stupid non-football intelligent move as even this uniformed outside observer could see that in his final football season Jimbo was done. He got concussed in the playoffs (he was good enough to lead a good team to the playoffs even though his own play was clearly ravaged by time and a lot of hits on a very tough man) and Mr. Ralph should have had the team move in the draft a year earlier or acquired an heir apparent in FA but the Bills waited and did not in a foolish thought that Jimbo would last forever. Mo one gets out of this time alive and Mr. Ralph made bad football judgments (that only he could make as it was his handshake promising his money which he apparently paid in a million $ walking away money to Jimbo which I think totally violated the cap). 2. Made a bad non-football mistake in not acquiring an heir apparent to Jimbo in what I think was 1995 so that instead they had to reach for TC as the best QB available to them in the 2nd round of the draft that year. TC was likely worth a third highest on most draft boards from what I could tell, If the Bills had drafted a potential heir QB the year before or gotten one through FA. This move of going for the next QB would have been a tough move which perhaps just is the obvious thing to do in 20/20 hindsight. However, even this uninformed fool was surprised when they did not pick a developmental QB late in the draft the year before they got TC and I simply assumed that we had an FA deal in the works or there was something about Jimbo I did not know as he looked done to this outsider. The sad truth is he was done and Mr. Ralph made a stupid football move in assuming he had another contract coming when it turned out thanks to playoff hits he was done. 3. They rushed TC to start when Jimbo was forced out even though he had clearly demonstrated that though he was incredibly accurate he had happy feet and bailed out to fast when he got pressured. Perhaps one could never train him out of this, but the Bills put themselves in a position where they did not have the time to try because Mr. Ralph made a bad football judgment that Jimbo had more time left than he had. Perhaps this was understandable even though this not fully informed outsider could see it in Jimbos final two years, but what is unforgiveable is that mr. Ralph made a decision only he could make to violate the salary cap by promising to reward Jimbo in his next contract which never happened. 4. I think the next step in the sad tale was the Billy Joe Hobert mess where out of desperation they sent a third to Oakland for a player whose mental make-up was so bad he not only let his teammates down by failing to do even basic preparation as a back-up but then stuck it to his teammates even further by publicly admitting his neglect. He got fired saving himself from being rightfully lynched by his teammates and the loyal fans. If Mr. Ralph was not involved in pulling the trigger on this mess it was malfeasance for him not be involved, 5. The coaching staff made a bold move which righted the ship of football state after this by risking signing Doug Flutie to a make good contract. The FO then made a critical error in that they not only traded for RJ, but then simply gave him a guaranteed contract which made it impossible for the team to honor its commitment to DF that he would win or lose the starter job on the field. Again Mr. Ralph was likely involved or it was malfeasance if he was not since so much of the team and his money was guaranteed to RJ. 6. Nr. Ralph was publicly all over the decision to start RJ in the playoffs after he shredded an Indy team that clearly was not playing hard after it became clear from the scoreboard that a win against the Bills would do them no good in playoff standing as their main opponent for seeding was winning by a lot, Seeing their starting OLB go down early in the Bills game with what proved to be a season ending injury simply set RJ up to shred Indy. In the what proved to be fruitless search for a new Jimbo RJ got the start in the last Bills playoff game and the team lost. 7. Etx, etc with ill-fated efforts with Bledsoe, JP and Edwards where the Bills made stupid fatal QB mistake after stupid mistake as they attempted to find the next Jim Kelly (even Bledsoe proved to be a demonstrably good sign where he proved to be Comeback player of the year in his first season as a Bill- if you disagree then simply name the QB who had a season you deem better than Bledsoe's who should have been on the Pro Bowl squad instead of him). However, the Bills grasped defeat from the jaws of simply cutting our loses when they extended Bledsoe after a horrible second year here. This was the fatal QB mistake which I lodge in Mr. Ralph's foolish efforts to find another Jimbo, I cannot do anymore details because it simply hurts too much, Why this is relevant is that I think what the Bills should have done (and this is 20/20 hindsight) is actually build a team instead of making dumb big moves to attempt to get a franchise QB. To reach for Newton or Gabbert in the 1st round or Mallett in the 2nd instead of focusing on building a team with need picks of a DE, OLB, and RT to be merely adequate would be a mistake in my book. The same mistake we have made time and again for a decade in a fruitless search for the next Jimbo. What does Ralph have to do with any of this?
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