EasternOHBillsFan Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 There are two things I take from this morning's events: 1. Ralph Wilson has rewarded loyalty by retaining his team, giving Brandon full control, and allowed Nix to fade away without being cast into the street for being a professional. 2. The rep for the Bills has just exponentially increased. It is obvious to me that top nme coaches want to come here and they are actually wanted and not given lip service to soothe the fans. The ONLY negative IMO is Nix still being involved, but the more I think about it the more Thurman was right- this IS exciting!
McBeane Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 And yet it appears to be exactly what is happening? Don't you get it? This is clearly only a move to sell more tickets. No one at OBD is interested in winning.
Wayne Cubed Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 By changing scheme twice, yup. I can't say we needed a LB more than cb or LT in the draft though, or that a better LB than either of those was passed on. Short of redirecting Anderson's money towards lofton I can't say there was even a quick fix in FA. Sometimes, it just takes time when you make big scheme shifts repeatedly. Not to mention, with Wannstedt's scheme, I still think we as fans have no idea what the talent level is at LB. Consider that Sheppard and Bradham came off the field, a lot. I'd guess the Bills where in base defence maybe 25-30% of the time. Meaning Bryan Scott was on the field a ton.
LabattBlue Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 He's not running the football side, he is the de facto head honcho, and will defer to Nix/Whaley for football matters. From that perspective, he's pretty much the acting owner, and at that post, I DO want a business man. Why? Because in 50+ years of owning the Bills, Ralph has always controlled the purse strings. IMO...someone(being Ralph, Littman or other), will still be setting a budget for Brandon/Nix/Whaley.
Hambone Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 I am not from the Buffalo area. Where can I see or listen to the press conference?
thebandit27 Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 Because in 50+ years of owning the Bills, Ralph has always controlled the purse strings. IMO...someone(being Ralph, Littman or other), will still be setting a budget for Brandon/Nix/Whaley. I understand that it may be hard to believe, but is there no possibility, in your mind, that Ralph realizes he's out of touch and that Brandon isn't? A guy like Ralph doesn't throw $100M at Mario unless he wants to win before he leaves this earth, and he trusts Brandon. So he hands him the keys to the car and the checkbook. Littman, Overdorf, Nix, & Whaley all report to Russ...in Ralph's words to Russ: "it's your show now"
McBeane Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 Because in 50+ years of owning the Bills, Ralph has always controlled the purse strings. IMO...someone(being Ralph, Littman or other), will still be setting a budget for Brandon/Nix/Whaley. Well we had a $150+ million dollar budget last offseason. Sure seems to me that the budget must have been pretty high, and there's no logical reason to assume that's going to change now.
papazoid Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) I am not from the Buffalo area. Where can I see or listen to the press conference? http://www.wgr550.com/ http://www.buffalobills.com/ Edited January 1, 2013 by papazoid
thebandit27 Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 I am not from the Buffalo area. Where can I see or listen to the press conference? WGR has an iPhone or Android ap
BillsVet Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 One would think that Whaley has everything he needs to move out on his own - what else would he have been doing the past 3 years? However, it is quite conceivable they asked Nix what HE wanted to do and he just said, "Let me lend a hand through this last draft and I'll call it a day..." I would certainly hope given Whaley's 14+ years in a NFL front office that he can handle the role now. But with the heir apparent and outgoing GM simultaneously working on pro and amateur personnel issues it makes for a muddled situation. And keeping the latter around just doesn't seem proactive. The coaching search should tell us a lot about how the front office shakes out.
NoSaint Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 Because in 50+ years of owning the Bills, Ralph has always controlled the purse strings. IMO...someone(being Ralph, Littman or other), will still be setting a budget for Brandon/Nix/Whaley. Ralph likely has a veto power still but it sounds like RB will have pretty free reign. I don't think this wildly switches philosophies though, even still. RB was the number 1 shaper of the team in my opinion already. When was the last time "Ralph is cheap" was fair to say? 3 years ago? With the push for shanahan, maybe longer than that?
SDS Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 Because in 50+ years of owning the Bills, Ralph has always controlled the purse strings. IMO...someone(being Ralph, Littman or other), will still be setting a budget for Brandon/Nix/Whaley. Why can't you even wait for the PC to occur before declaring how it is going to be? Nothing ever changes? Ever?
LabattBlue Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 If Brandon is top of the food chain, and littman reports to him...... Has anyone seen any indication we are refusing to spend these days? Old paranoia dies slow I think. Go look at the coaching staff for the last 3 years(or any period of time over 50 years), and show me where the Bills were big spenders on the coaching staff.
NoSaint Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 I would certainly hope given Whaley's 14+ years in a NFL front office that he can handle the role now. But with the heir apparent and outgoing GM simultaneously working on pro and amateur personnel issues it makes for a muddled situation. And keeping the latter around just doesn't seem proactive. The coaching search should tell us a lot about how the front office shakes out. I think your mistaking that what we are getting as fans is the same info being doled out behind closed doors.
LabattBlue Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) Why can't you even wait for the PC to occur before declaring how it is going to be? Nothing ever changes? Ever? Not with Ralph as the owner. I've witnessed this act for 45 years of so. I think history agrees with me. Edited January 1, 2013 by LabattBlue
mannc Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 In every exchange, eventually someone has to resort to slinging insults...well done...hope the New Year treats you well. Gilmore played well, the guy allowed 4 TD passes after his disasterous week 1. Go back and watch his man-on-man performance against Fitzgerald in week 6. Dareus had a rough year, and he needs to be better, but there's no doubt the ability is there. Yes, absolutely. The deficiency at LB absolutely killed this team, and Nix bears responsibility for that. I'm sorry, but I can't believe it's all on the linebackers. I did not see every game this year and I did not break down the tape of the games I did watch, so I can't categorically state that Gilmore or Dareus, or any other player is particularly at fault. I can say that there was very little pass rush and an awful lot of the other teams' receivers were wide open down field at critical times. I can also say that Dareus for the most part seemed to make little impact. Given where he was picked and the players picked after him, that makes me think he was another Buddy miss. I hope he proves me wrong next year and thereafter.
McBeane Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 I would certainly hope given Whaley's 14+ years in a NFL front office that he can handle the role now. But with the heir apparent and outgoing GM simultaneously working on pro and amateur personnel issues it makes for a muddled situation. And keeping the latter around just doesn't seem proactive. The coaching search should tell us a lot about how the front office shakes out. It has been reported that Whaley and Brandon are handling the hiring process and Nix is not.
thebandit27 Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 Not with Ralph as the owner. Unless he gives control of the team to someone else
NoSaint Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 Go look at the coaching staff for the last 3 years(or any period of time over 50 years), and show me where the Bills were big spenders on the coaching staff. 50 years ago, not relevant. It's like jumping on buddy for mistakes made by gms a decade back. Last search it appeared we were willing to spend but other issues prevented us. Since then we've spent with the best of them. All this in the RB is Ralph's most trusted advisor era.
SDS Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 I would certainly hope given Whaley's 14+ years in a NFL front office that he can handle the role now. But with the heir apparent and outgoing GM simultaneously working on pro and amateur personnel issues it makes for a muddled situation. And keeping the latter around just doesn't seem proactive. The coaching search should tell us a lot about how the front office shakes out. You don't have an idea how the dynamic is going to work out. Nix might be at the golf range every day and taking 3 hour lunches. Give these guys some credit for being professionals, even if they have made mistakes in the past. Clearly they have talked and arranged something agreeable to all.
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