Deep2Moulds46 Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 I know this point has been beaten to death, but as a guy who loves the NFL draft, one thing I like to do after the draft when the rest of the world is trying to grade it is look back on the past few and really see how things set up. When you look at the era from Marv Levy/Dick Jauron/ Brandon.....it really put this team in a hole. I think fans sometimes look at picks and think if the guy doesnt end up being a star, it was a waste. But in my opinion, if the guy can find a role for himself on the roster and stick around, I think it is a good pick. FOr example, Reggie Corner. 4th round pick from 2008, never been a starter, but a solid contributor in nickel and dime packages. I think thats a good pick when you consider the point they got him. But when you look at the list of guys taken from 2006-2009, the amount of them who are no longer on this roster, and the guys who were taken REAL early who have yet to be better than marginal starters, its really obvious why this team is in the positon its in. People want to get on Tom Donahoe, but Donahoe took over a team in cap jail, made 2 aggressive moves to acquire franchise QB's, made some key FA acquisitions, and got this team to 8-8 and 9-7, which no a days seems like we would have a parade if we hit 9 wins. The Levy, Jauron, Brandon era has just put us in a hole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCinBuffalo Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Uhhhh.....Who hired all of them? And, you have to be kidding me if you are going to compare Donahoe to Levy, et al. Donahoe drafted F'ing McGahee and Losman, and then signed and released Drew Bledsoe. How you can compare anything Levy, etc. did, to the nuking Donahoe did to the franchise with those moves.... just think of the wasted resources alone. The best Donahoe did was trading away Price, only to completely f up the next step in that process ...there is no comparison. Most of the reason Levy, etc. did what they did was an effort to control the damage Donahoe created. And, whenever I hear the word "aggressive" used in NFL, I think Dan Snyder, therefore, I think stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv Levy Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Uhhhh.....Who hired all of them? And, you have to be kidding me if you are going to compare Donahoe to Levy, et al. Donahoe drafted F'ing McGahee and Losman, and then signed and released Drew Bledsoe. How you can compare anything Levy, etc. did, to the nuking Donahoe did to the franchise with those moves.... just think of the wasted resources alone. The best Donahoe did was trading away Price, only to completely f up the next step in that process ...there is no comparison. Most of the reason Levy, etc. did what they did was an effort to control the damage Donahoe created. And, whenever I hear the word "aggressive" used in NFL, I think Dan Snyder, therefore, I think stupid. Thanks for sticking up for me, OC! I really tried to improve this team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOKBILLS Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 The Levy, Jauron, Brandon era has just put us in a hole Well only if you consider The Grand Canyon a hole... You're 100% correct... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Uhhhh.....Who hired all of them? And, you have to be kidding me if you are going to compare Donahoe to Levy, et al. Donahoe drafted F'ing McGahee and Losman, and then signed and released Drew Bledsoe. How you can compare anything Levy, etc. did, to the nuking Donahoe did to the franchise with those moves.... just think of the wasted resources alone. The best Donahoe did was trading away Price, only to completely f up the next step in that process ...there is no comparison. Most of the reason Levy, etc. did what they did was an effort to control the damage Donahoe created. And, whenever I hear the word "aggressive" used in NFL, I think Dan Snyder, therefore, I think stupid. I still think, TD had this franchise in much better shape than the mess that ensued afterward. Had he not been canned when he was, I am pretty sure we wouldn't be talking about an 11 year playoff drought. TD was aggressive, but he was fiscally responsible too. One thing people forget, TD, while he made blunders, always kept the team salary cap in good shape, and, never overpaid free-agents. When Levy/Brandon "took charge" they not only oversaw some of the most worthless drafts in franchise history, they over-payed really mediocre to awful, free agents. Donohoe left the franchise in good financial condition. You can criticize him all you want for some draft picks that didn't pan out (nobody thought Mike Williams was a bad pick on draft day that year), but TD did have a way of making you get excited about this franchise. Excitement is something that has been missing since he left. It is no disrespect for Marv Levy...the blame for his ineffectiveness rests at Ralph Wilson's feet. He never should have hired him to begin with. I give Levy a lot of credit for realizing it was a bad fit, and stepping down when he did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deep2Moulds46 Posted May 1, 2011 Author Share Posted May 1, 2011 Donahoe brought in... Nate Clements (Pro Bowler) Travis Henry (Pro Bowler) Aaron Schobel (Pro Bowler) Takeo Spikes (Pro Bowler) Sam Adams (Pro Bowler) London Fletcher Lawyer Milloy traded for Drew Bledsoe (Had a pro bowl season year 1) So yes, he missed on JP Losman...... But show me the pro bowlers brought in by Levy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San-O Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Donahoe was bad, Marv was brutal. It takes a LOT of bad decisions to have 1 winning season on 10 years, no playoff appearances and no D-line, no O-line, no QB.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Uhhhh.....Who hired all of them? And, you have to be kidding me if you are going to compare Donahoe to Levy, et al. Donahoe drafted F'ing McGahee and Losman, and then signed and released Drew Bledsoe. How you can compare anything Levy, etc. did, to the nuking Donahoe did to the franchise with those moves.... just think of the wasted resources alone. The best Donahoe did was trading away Price, only to completely f up the next step in that process ...there is no comparison. Most of the reason Levy, etc. did what they did was an effort to control the damage Donahoe created. And, whenever I hear the word "aggressive" used in NFL, I think Dan Snyder, therefore, I think stupid. TD's been gone now for 5 regular seasons and hasn't made personnel moves for the franchise in 6 years. His time here was bad, but I agree that the Marv/DJ/Brandon years are why we're re-building a second time in 6 off-seasons. If the the reason Marv et al. did what they did was to correct the TD era, then Buddy Nix and company are trying to correct the Levy/Brandon era. Sense a trend here? No one, not TD, Marv, or Brandon could put it all together. As bad as TD was, Marv and Brandon were worse. From 2006-2008 (the year before Nix arrived) the Bills had 8 picks in rounds 1-3. Should Whitner leave (and I suspect he's gone) that leaves just Posluszny and McKelvin on the roster provided Poz is re-signed. That's not how you build a franchise. I think the thing with Marv is, he was the HC during the glory years and people tend to look kindly on his time as reluctant GM. He was pretty brutal, especially when you factor in the free agents signed during his time: Tripplett, Royal, Reyes, Dockery, and Walker to name a few. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beerme1 Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 I keep hearing from a Bills representitive that Buddy and Chan have a plan. After drafting Dareus I'm buying it. After the rest of the draft I'm still buying it. They do have a plan and I suspect next years draft is 80% offense. I'm not sure that I can agree with it but it is without a doubt better than what we are used to getting on draft day. So I will go along and pay for another year of hope. I really want to and expect to see improvement in the team this year. p.s. if some a hole wants to challenge the use of the word "representitive" step up loser. GO BILLS Make the Ralph a rockin place again. Our first pick is expecting it lets give it to him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benbillsfan Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 GO BILLS Make the Ralph a rockin place again. Our first pick is expecting it lets give it to him! a fu**ing men......get loud help this team win....where has the 12th man been...besides in the bathroom throwing up or screwing in the stands.....root this team on and build their confidence...this is the one thing that is not overrated in the nfl.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACor58 Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 (edited) Donahoe brought in... Nate Clements (Pro Bowler) Travis Henry (Pro Bowler) Aaron Schobel (Pro Bowler) Takeo Spikes (Pro Bowler) Sam Adams (Pro Bowler) London Fletcher Lawyer Milloy traded for Drew Bledsoe (Had a pro bowl season year 1) So yes, he missed on JP Losman...... But show me the pro bowlers brought in by Levy London Fletcher was a Pro Bowler last season. While I think that Donahoe being fired was probably justified, Levy has gotten off way too easy. Not only did he really fail at the draft - he failed at hiring a coach...er...teacher, and then he just up and quit. Football is pretty hard without guys like Bill Polian and John Butler stocking your team with players every year Marv. Anyone could have coached his teams to 4 Super Bowls and a really good coach would have won at least one of them. Edited May 1, 2011 by ACor58 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfreak Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 You must be a relatively new Bills fan, because it was buried before they got here. We are still recovering from the Donahue era, he dismantled a competitive team in no time at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGB Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 I keep hearing from a Bills representitive that Buddy and Chan have a plan. After drafting Dareus I'm buying it. After the rest of the draft I'm still buying it. They do have a plan and I suspect next years draft is 80% offense. I'm not sure that I can agree with it but it is without a doubt better than what we are used to getting on draft day. So I will go along and pay for another year of hope. I really want to and expect to see improvement in the team this year. p.s. if some a hole wants to challenge the use of the word "representitive" step up loser. GO BILLS Make the Ralph a rockin place again. Our first pick is expecting it lets give it to him! I like the idea that Buddy and Chan have a plan. It seems as though the Bills have been changing their coaching staff every three years. Just when one regime has “their” players in place, another staff comes an starts the process over again. If we now have football savvy people running the Bills (instead of a marketing guy who is good at marketing), then let’s try to give this staff more than three years to get this thing headed in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincec Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Donahoe was the last real GM the Bills had until Nix. He may have been marginal, but he was way better than no GM. The Bills got worked by the rest of the league between him and Nix and cemented the culture of losing that permeates the franchise. The only reason that Donahoe is gone is because he couldn't get along with Wilson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Donahoe brought in... Nate Clements (Pro Bowler) Travis Henry (Pro Bowler) Aaron Schobel (Pro Bowler) Takeo Spikes (Pro Bowler) Sam Adams (Pro Bowler) London Fletcher Lawyer Milloy traded for Drew Bledsoe (Had a pro bowl season year 1) So yes, he missed on JP Losman...... But show me the pro bowlers brought in by Levy I don't want to debate Levy vs Donahoe as GM. It's kinda like debating Limburger cheese vs Lutefisk. Call me nuts, I do think some of our QB "busts" like Losman and Rob Johnson might have been servicable with a better OL and better coaching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvermike Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Donahoe was head and shoulders above Levy. He was a mediocre GM, sure, but Levy was probably the worst in the league. While Williams and Mularkey didn't work out as HCs, both remain highly respected coordiantors around the league who will likely get a second chance. Jauron will never be an HC again. Bledsoe is the best QB the team has had since Kelly retired. Lynch, Jackson, and Spiller never lived up to the seasons Henry and McGahee had. Lee Evans is only now being passed by a post-TD player. Donahoe gave us our best offensive lineman of the decade in Jason Peters, and two of our best DLs - Schobel and Sam Adams. Spikes and Fletcher. Clements, McGee, Vincent, and Milloy. The only players Marv/Brandon acquired that could beat out their Donahoe counterparts are Kyle Williams and Stevie Johnson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UConn James Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 At the time, I thought Mike Mularky was a chickenshit quitter. But as more time passed, it reveals just how smart and lucky was his move to get the !@#$ away from this backward franchise and its aimless owner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NastyNateSoldiers Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 (edited) Uhhhh.....Who hired all of them? And, you have to be kidding me if you are going to compare Donahoe to Levy, et al. Donahoe drafted F'ing McGahee and Losman, and then signed and released Drew Bledsoe. How you can compare anything Levy, etc. did, to the nuking Donahoe did to the franchise with those moves.... just think of the wasted resources alone. The best Donahoe did was trading away Price, only to completely f up the next step in that process ...there is no comparison. Most of the reason Levy, etc. did what they did was an effort to control the damage Donahoe created. Marv Levy is a bum GM he set us back 10yrs with his decisions. He hired the worst coach of all time=DICK JUARON.... That led to some of the worst draft picks of all time. Whitner over Ngata, Maybin over Orakpo, Lynch over Revis, McCargo over Mangold, Poz over D Harris. I mean C`MON MAN u call this damage control? It`s not even close Juaron also brought us the cover 2 Defense which makes no sense at all for Buffalo considering the weather conditions at the Ralph. The Windy conditions at the Ralph is our cover 2. We didn`t need to put our MLB and safetys 25yds down the field to cover the spots on the field that no one will throw to in our stadium for half the year.. Dude u got to be kidding me. Stop protecting that over rated bum Levy he got out coached in all our SB`s didn`t police his players during the SB weeks. Marv is the reason why we lost all those SB`s. He in my opinion is the most over rated coach of all time and the worst gm in recent memory. Edited May 1, 2011 by DontCrossDaMoats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewildrabbit Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 (edited) Your right, this point has been beaten to death...and you can blame one set of coaches, one GM, one scout, the only real constant though the last decade has been the lead scout Tom Modrak, and owner RW who has hired all the GM's, HC's, scouts ETC. First of all, understand that the team sucked before Marv Levy got there, it sucked during the time he was there, and it sucked after he left.... it still sucks....it actually got worse after Jauron left. If you want to talk black holes for the past decade, lets look at who was doing the scouting and directing the GM-HC to whatever particular players they brought in, free agents- draftees-walk-ons. When a GM or HC is hired, and the scouting staff is already in place he basically has to go by what his scouts tell him is a good player. The GM's and coaches don't go out in the field and judge the talent, they go by what the highly paid professional scouts tell them. Ya know what, I look at last years draft and don't see one freaking player who became a starter on a horridly bad 4-12 team with one of the worst defenses in Buffalo Bills history Not only that, what happened to the #1 pick RB who was supposed to make the O line block better and instead he became a liability on the field because he couldn't block at all. The Bills went into last years draft with the O line as a "priority" and came away with a 5th and 7th rounder. The 7th was cut in preseason and the 5th rounder (Wang) never saw the field despite the Bills being desperate for stability at RT all last season. This year both Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey declare they need a right tackle, and yet draft another project in the 4th round. What does that have to say about whats changed in the scouting department, HC, GM? This years draft "might" have been different, and here is why I hope that, for starters I believe that GM Buddy Nix trusted his scouts last year(the same crappy scouts that have been with the Bills for 10 years) when they told him that RT Cornell Green was a good player who could fill that role as a starter. So Buddy went and got him and signed him for 3 million dollars... much to his chagrin. Stating that, I highly doubt Buddy Nix trusts any of the scouting reports he gets from the Bills scouts anymore, and does his own research, watches film, and grades the players himself. The only thing that scares me tho is that after reading what Nix stated about Cam Newton and also what Nevergiveup posted about Newton is that the Bills were ready to draft him in that #3 spot if Carolina passed on him. Ngu stated the Bills have both Newton and Darius at the top of their boards The Bills boneheaded draft move was taken away from them when Carolina drafted Cam Newton, and Denver selected Von Miller. Marcel Darius being there at #3 was about the best thing that could have happened to the Buffalo Bills this past decade. So lets wait and see what players actually make the team and become starters before we glow to much about the future. Edited May 2, 2011 by Harvey lives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Marv took over a team and franchise at its lowest in 20 years including right now. The fan base was criticized by Donahoe, he was adversarial to the media (more than others) and it was horrendous. Marv's problem was hiring Jauron....although Mike Sherman I do not think would have been much better. He did two drafts and two of his picks made the Pro Bowl so he could not have been "brutal" like some said. Also, every regime looks bad b/c they are gone after a few years and someone with another philosphy takes over making prior players expendable in a new system. This year looks good in terms of the draft but who knows. If you get 2-3 solid players from each draft you are doing well. Last years draft was suspect, the conversion to a 3-4 when obviously dumb with the personnel we had so before anointing te new regime "awesome" let us give it time to play out. People love to re-write history here but nobody goes back to see what was going on at the time, who else was on the team etc.... Keep in mind John Butler's last draft was the worst draft in the past 15 years for the franchise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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