Jerry Sullivan on WGR this morning

[Geno Smith's Arm]

Bits:

 

-Lee Evans being traded after our offense finally gets going again is ridiculous, and to not trade for another player is worse.

-Not signing Clabo for 5 years because you can't win now is a joke.

-Why are you drafting these gadget guys when you have true needs?

-Bell is the best tackle we have, and the best means he's being compared to bad offensive linemen, which is a joke.

-Depth at WR is not the same as numbers- New England has depth and we have numbers.

-Paying Brad Smith for only a handful of plays for a wildcat offense that is exposed is ridiculous.

-The Eagles' depth is so good at CB that they are cutting a $2 million CB because he's slotted as a dime back.

-The Buffalo Sabres want to win and the Buffalo Bills are existing.

 

It was a bomb fest...

 

 

Are you Jerry Sullivan?

 

None of these opinions are different than what we see here, and he (you?) has to fill the page a few times a week. No real insight, and not noteworthy on this board.

I think Jerry (you?) is about as good a sportswriter as the Bills are a football team, and that if they were successful he would certainly find new ways to complain. I know he (you?) did when the the 90's Bills were tearing up the NFL.

He (you?) is a real Debbie Downer. Maybe it appeals to the average Buffalo fan, some kind of masochistic self hatred. The Buffalo News could do better.

[ICanSleepWhenI'mDead]

And then there was last year's trade for Cornell Green... We all remember how well that turned out...

How Green turned out . . . . sure;

 

How he got here . . . . not so much:

 

http://www.insidearm.com/daily/debt-buying-topics/debt-buying/fair-debt-buyers-practice-act-stalls-in-california-senate/

 

The Buffalo Bills went into the offseason needing to address their offensive line problems. They hope they took a step in that direction with free agent tackle Cornell Green, who signed a three-year contract on Monday worth $9 million, according to league sources.

Edited August 22, 2011 by ICanSleepWhenI'mDead

[Ramius]

Fuhr "led" the Oilers to 4 cups in 5 years?

 

In the 4 cup wins, Fuhr tallied 16, 15, 14, and 11 wins. Obviously he was the benefit of the great Edmonton teams of the 80s, but to imply that he played no role is foolish. The fact remains that Fuhr won 4 Cups. If we get that from Miller, i'd say we're doing ok.

 

You're obviously a young buck, because I remember Grant Fuhr as a Sabre, and he sucked BIG time for us. THAT is the performance I am referring to.

 

He played in 1 playoff year for the sabres. He won the first 3 games of the boston series. After that, he was in net for the montreal series, where we were severely overmatched against the eventual Cup champions. He played good for us before giving way to Hasek. And don't even try to bring the stats argument to the table, because the NHL of the late 80s and early 90s (before the devils ruined it) was a completely different game.

[Lurker]

Too bad (for us) Sully didn't take the Snooze's buyout.

[BillsVet]

At some point people have to recognize that "build through the draft" is a smokescreen that the Bills are using to take the focus off a crappy product. A team can build through the draft if it devotes the resources to scouting and can be trusted to draft players who will be consistent producers. That team also needs to retain the players it drafted, and draft for other needs than to replace drafted players who have departed.

 

But since the Bills are batting under 500 with their drafts and an even worse record when it comes to the top picks, then Bills version of "build through the draft" just etches mediocrity in stone.

 

I've always felt the franchise was just buying time with most of their moves. And I too believe that this mantra of building through the draft is nothing more than a means of getting time on their side. Whether it was the intention or not, hiring Marv bought the team a few years. Signing Owens bought them another year re: ticket sales. And last season they brought on a new GM, AGM, and HC who will need time. At what point are they out of time?

 

As bad as TD was, his record from 01-05 was the same as the Levy/Brandon years with Nix's first season: 31-49. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

[spartacus]

There were rumors....that was it.

 

But to think that we didnt offer a competative offer to Clabo would be ridiculous as well....if we didnt offer competative money why would he even consider us?

why indeed?

 

 

could because it is typical OBD operating procedure to overstate their pursuit of talent to placate the fan base while having no intention of spending any serious money at all - especially on the OL.

 

 

[trigger]

I know Sullivan takes alot of crap around here about being bitter & such, but seriously look up his articles since Flutie was the QB & he hits the nail on the head probably 90% of the time. What do you guys want from him. To blow roses up everybody's ass in WNY telling everybody what a great run organization this is? I mean this team has not made the playoffs in the last 11 years. The way the NFL is setup, that is almost impossible to do. But here we are looking at year 12 with the strong probability that there will be no playoffs. I am tired of this crap & for god sakes covering this joke of a franchise for the last 15 years has got to wear a person down over time.

 

Amen. I live in Indy and don't listen to Sullivan on the radio, but I generally agree with his view of the Bills. I've been a fan of the Bills since the '60's and have seen every game since 1994, so I've seen my share of both good and bad Bills football. It pains me to watch the wretched football this organization has produced for the last decade and it has severely tested my sense of loyalty. Being a Bills fan in Colts country has been incredibly difficult for me, and the worst thing of all is that my two sons (who are both in their twenties and born and raised Hoosiers) are also diehard Bills fans because of their old man. They barely remember when the Bills weren't the punch line of the bad joke and Jimbo, Thurman, Bruce, and Andre are just pictures on the wall of Dad's rec room. Sullivan is not the enemy. He didn't pick Maybin at #11 overall or ignore an LT in the first round for a decade. He didn't let Pat Williams walk away with several years left in the tank. He didn't give the car keys to a journeyman with barely more than a Harvard degree on his resume. Some Bills fans may not like Sullivan but they have a hard time refuting his words a great deal of the time.

[K-9]

why indeed?

 

 

could because it is typical OBD operating procedure to overstate their pursuit of talent to placate the fan base while having no intention of spending any serious money at all - especially on the OL.

 

Was it the front office that overstated their pursuit or was it Clabo and other media? Got a link to the "official" OBD report on their pursuit of Clabo?

 

GO BILLS!!!

[spartacus]

Hell, I'd be happy if we could wait till the end of the second game ..in the regular season.. before passing judgment, let alone the end of the season.

 

The decade of futility has definitely taken its toll on the fan base.

 

by the 2nd game, the bills could be endorsing their rebuild plan by cutting their starting QB

 

Was it the front office that overstated their pursuit or was it Clabo and other media? Got a link to the "official" OBD report on their pursuit of Clabo?

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

nice straw man

 

 

The Bills never release any "official" word on anything, including contracts which are filed with the league and NFLPA, let alone offers to free agents.

 

Such is the case with the draft, where no one takes responsibility for any of the picks and no one is accountable.

 

 

[deep2evans]

Top 10? They sqeaked into the playoffs last year in the 7th seed in the East, (15th overall in the league, they wouldn't have made the playoffs if they were in the west)

 

How are they now a top 5 team trending upward? Cause they spent a ton of money on a new centre who has yet to play an NHL game at Centre? was it signing a defencemen most of his previous teams fans had no problem seeing leave to a contract that will make him the highest paid in the league at his position? i know, it was bringing back Kotalik

 

They did something different this offseason and spent a ton, but the results have yet to be seen if it was spending for the sake of spending, or if it was money well spent

 

you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. $4.5 mil/season is the going rate for talented, young forwards like Leino. Ehrhoff is getting paid $4 mil/year against the cap, one of the best bargains in the league. Don't give a flying !@#$ what the real money is - Pegula ***** money. And Regehr is the missing piece we've needed since McKee left and is the prototype d-man we need Myers to learn from.

 

Stick to football. You're clueless.

[jester43]

so a hack of a sports writer from the 52nd largest media market is bitter go figure .

here we go again....ok pollyanna, what did he say that you disagree with,..

[K-9]

by the 2nd game, the bills could be endorsing their rebuild plan by cutting their starting QB

 

 

 

nice straw man

 

 

The Bills never release any "official" word on anything, including contracts which are filed with the league and NFLPA, let alone offers to free agents.

 

Such is the case with the draft, where no one takes responsibility for any of the picks and no one is accountable.

 

Right. My argument is a straw man while you never cease to post your incessant conspiracy theories about the FO and their media manipulations. And yet, you can NEVER back it up with ANY type of link to support them.

 

"Well, ESPN reported that Ralph really wanted Tebow." Still waiting for that one.

 

And now you claim that the Bills DELIBERATELY embellished their pursuit of Clabo when they NEVER said a damn thing about it. And yet you seemingly refuse to acknowledge that it was the Clabo camp that did the very thing you accuse the Bills FO of doing.

 

Straw man indeed, scarecrow.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[Lurker]

You can't say that he didn't have much input in that draft and only 8 months later elevate that man to the top football operations job.

Sure you can, if you know what a national scout's role is. He's maybe the 3rd or 4th guy down the totum pole in the personnel department, where decisions are made by committee with the GM, head coach, director of college scouting (and most likely Ralph, unfortunately) having a bigger vote on which guy to take.

[spartacus]

Right. My argument is a straw man while you never cease to post your incessant conspiracy theories about the FO and their media manipulations. And yet, you can NEVER back it up with ANY type of link to support them.

 

"Well, ESPN reported that Ralph really wanted Tebow." Still waiting for that one.

 

And now you claim that the Bills DELIBERATELY embellished their pursuit of Clabo when they NEVER said a damn thing about it. And yet you seemingly refuse to acknowledge that it was the Clabo camp that did the very thing you accuse the Bills FO of doing.

 

Straw man indeed, scarecrow.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

bottom line is the Bills did not make a superior offer designed to sign Clabo

 

 

and they are riding the spin that they did

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[K-9]

bottom line is the Bills did not make a superior offer designed to sign Clabo

 

 

and they are riding the spin that they did

 

Stay away from the flames, scarecrow.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[Sisyphean Bills]

Sure you can, if you know what a national scout's role is. He's maybe the 3rd or 4th guy down the totum pole in the personnel department, where decisions are made by committee with the GM, head coach, director of college scouting (and most likely Ralph, unfortunately) having a bigger vote on which guy to take.

Realizing it is just conjecture, but what do you think Nix did? Did he sit there when they were talking about draft strategy and check over his investment portfolio, thankful that Ralph had given him more bullets? Did he sit there mute as a stump, having spent hours upon hours reviewing film, listening to everything that transpired, so he could later torpedo Jauron and the others to Ralph behind closed doors? Or was he banging on the table, saying what he saw in the film, and advising against moves that would set the team back years, and everyone else in the room selectively filtered him out as a crank? Or maybe it was somewhere in the middle, where he didn't really have much input, no real strong feelings, and offered up the occasional one-liner for comedic effect, which begs the question of why the Bills hired him as National Scout in the first place?

[GG]

Or maybe it was somewhere in the middle, where he didn't really have much input, no real strong feelings, and offered up the occasional one-liner for comedic effect, which begs the question of why the Bills hired him as National Scout in the first place?

 

And eight months later, you give him the most senior football job in the organization?

[Sisyphean Bills]

And eight months later, you give him the most senior football job in the organization?

That's Buffalo Bills dysfunction. (Yes, I realize that is redundant.)

 

It's a bit like hiring a second financial adviser, one who happily "goes with the flow" of your current adviser, investing your rubles in Enron stock, then quickly firing your current adviser and hiring the new one as Enron plummets. Why not giggle about it?

[nucci]

I've always felt the franchise was just buying time with most of their moves. And I too believe that this mantra of building through the draft is nothing more than a means of getting time on their side. Whether it was the intention or not, hiring Marv bought the team a few years. Signing Owens bought them another year re: ticket sales. And last season they brought on a new GM, AGM, and HC who will need time. At what point are they out of time?

 

As bad as TD was, his record from 01-05 was the same as the Levy/Brandon years with Nix's first season: 31-49. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Buying time for what? Not sure what you mean.

[mattsox]

they offered him more (apparently) then what Atlanta offered, but it was enough for him to be comfortable to stay where where he was and not have to uproot his young new family accross the country to Buffalo. its actually refreshing to see an athlete turn down a bigger deal and accept one to stay where they are instead of chasing the bigger deal for a couple more million.

 

Who should the Bills have thrown all of this extra money at to play tackle? Who is out there worth millions still available that doesn't have injury/weight/attitude issues?

 

And enough with the comparisons to Pegula, all he has done so far is come in and throw money around. So far we have not seen any changes in the team at this point because they haven't even played a game. The guy doesn't care if the team makes money or not, he just wants to win. He is a fan who is lucky enough to have the money to own the team. Weither this is a good or bad thing, its hard to say, but it hasn't worked out well for a similar kind of owner in the NFL Dan Snyder

 

Oh come on. Pegula has done waaaaay more than throw money around. The team came together last year and made it to the playoffs. He helped change about the whole organization. Pegula is not Dan Snyder. He's improving facilities and signing players to better the Sabres. He's done far more in a small period of Time, then Ralph Wilson has done in over 11 years. So don't give me that at all.

 

Pegula knows how to win and we will win a Stanley cup. He Is a fan. But he's educated and brought in good people to run his organization. Ted Black? He helped Pittsburgh win a Stanley Cup. Pegula isn't some dope who just decided to buy the Sabres, He's and educated business man who has a goal. Oh and there has been many changes made, I don't know if you been on vacation for the past 8 months, but alot has been done by the Sabres to make them better.

 

Could you please educate me on Ralph Wilson's Goal? What changes has he made to help the Bills not be 4-12 this season? I'd love to compare notes...