All_Pro_Bills Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 I think it's a great improvement to have a guy in charge that will be on site and on the job 24/7. Whether this means Brandon is going to come through and change the organization for the better or if we'll continue to whallow in mediocrity is unknown. IMO, it's best to wait a few weeks to see what transpires with the HC and coaching staff hires and for anything else organizationally that might be done to support the final product on the field.
filthymcnasty08 Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 From Anonymous NFL executive on profootballweekly.com insider: "(Cardinals head coach) Ken Whisenhunt is a great coach. His biggest problem is they didn’t solve the quarterback issue. I think they thought they had it figured out with (Kevin) Kolb. They should have known better.” familiar.
Dr. Fong Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 If not worse? Does anyone think before they say something? He took the Cards to the superbowl and arguably should have won it. He can thank Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald for that run.
Canadian Bills Fan Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 I will reserve my judgement until the season starts. However, I believe that FA will play a key role in the Bills success this year. I honestly do feel that Brandon will hire the best coach for the job, If it is Whisenhunt, I wont be that upset. It will be nice to see a fired up coach on the sidelines that we have been missing for years. CBF
San Jose Bills Fan Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 This is a sad end to another rebuilding project End? They haven't even hired a head coach yet. Until we get a QB...any coach we get will be in and out This has been said a lot. Too much actually. The new coach will likely have a lot of input as to which QB the Bills will take. He will then be entrusted to develop this quarterback. The head coaching hire will have a huge bearing on who the Bills new QB is and how he performs. From Anonymous NFL executive on profootballweekly.com insider: "(Cardinals head coach) Ken Whisenhunt is a great coach. His biggest problem is they didn’t solve the quarterback issue. I think they thought they had it figured out with (Kevin) Kolb. They should have known better.” Whisenhunt has to be held somewhat culpable for the selection and performance of Kolb. So does fired Cards GM Rod Graves. One thing that hasn't been spoken about a lot is how much input the Bills solicited from their coaching staff on player decisions. Did Gailey not care and totally entrust Nix? Did he have a lot of input? Will the new coach have more or less input than Gailey did?
Big Turk Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 Word is that Whisenhunt is a very good X's and O's guy but had too much personnel decision making in Arizona and that he would have done better if he just focused on coaching...
ColdBlueNorth Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 1. The hiring of Marv Levy. 2. The hiring of Dick Jauron I agree that Brandon is a marketing guy first and has always done what Ralph wanted, but I have to see this step towards Ralph moving on and getting a succession plan in place as a good thing. The only thing worse than the questions around ownership and the team moving is the constant threat of the team moving and the uncertainty surrounding the ownership. It would be nice if this is the first step towards a more long-term arrangement regarding those open succession questions. The other thing about Brandon's leadership abilities that comes to mind is that although Brandon has towed the Wilson line, he has often reflected what the fans wanted. I have never been a big believer in bringing in high-priced free agents because I think they cause more problems in the locker room than they solve on the field (QB is probably the exception to that rule), but there were more than a few fans saying the Bills needed to attract a top notch pass rusher. They went out and got Mario - so the Bills organization listened and did what a majority of the fans asked for and it backfired. I was one of the folks on the band wagon thinking that Wannestedt and some solid pass-rushing talent would turn the "D" around. I had hope this past season as well, but it was not a polyanna hope brought on by an obvious marketing move by Brandon like the hype when T. O. signed on; I knew that would solve nothing. I felt that if our defense could improve to 10th or even 14th in the league then Fitz could manage games and that was a good enough recipe for the wins needed to get this team on the doorstep of the playoffs. At least it would be a step forward till we could draft a QB with the consistency and arm to challenge opposing defenses the way Fitz cannot. Well, Wannestedt completely failed in his role and Fitz being...Fitz could not carry the team and win games so that put Chan in the hot seat. As the seat got hotter Chan's game day decisions seemed to be less and less decisive and the team's execution as a whole seemed a lot less crisp than it did during Chan's first year. I understand Nix's criticism surrounding the cycle of staff changes at OBD, but to any objective outsider it was apparent that Chan's hold on the team was slipping and the team appeared to be losing confidence in his game management. That should not be the direction in a team's 3rd year under a coach. To quote the Tommy Boy movie, "you're either grow'n or you're die'n there ain't no third direction". It is unfortunate because with the right QB (one that could run and pass accurately) I think that Chan would light up most defenses in the league, but I will always shake my head at his insistence on using that empty backfield spread. If he would have been realistic about the number of times that led to 3 and outs, turnovers, and/or sacks there is a chance he could have saved his job, but he insisted on putting the game in Fitz's hands. It was like he could not accept the fact that there was no more Fitzmagic left in the tank. I still think that this team is only a few pieces away from being pretty competitive and the right QB that inspires hope rather than despair when the game it on the line would do miracles for the franchise.
BuffBill Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 (edited) Yeah, he really screwed up that Spiller pick, the Gilmore pick, the Glenn pick, the Carrington pick, the Dareus pick, the Bradham pick...if anything we should want him here because he is 3 for 3 in the first round... Spiller turned out to be a good pick, although you can't argue it was a luxury pick that bad teams shouldn't make. The jury is out on Gilmore, he had good moments and bad moments, Carrington has blocked kicks but what else? Dareus' play took a big drop in 2012 and it can't all be because of what happened to his brother, because it wasn't great before that. Bradham has emerged over 4 or 5 games, hope but no guarantee. What about Troup? Easley? Ed Wang (remember him and the jokes?)? Danny Batten? LEVI BROWN? Kyle Calloway? John Potter what a great move that was? Tank Carder? Jasper? Chris and Johnny White? I can go on and on, but you can pick any GM in league history that over 3 years didn't fall into at least one good pick. Aaron Williams has been a disaster. T.J. Graham has hands of stone-not to mention he failed to get a QB on the roster that cold use Graham's speed. Where is Zebrie Sanders? Where is Marshawn Lynch? Oh that is right he is in Seattle with over 1500 yards and double digits headed to the playoffs, while we got a backup offensive lineman for him? Enough said. Edited January 2, 2013 by BuffBill
Mr. WEO Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 End? They haven't even hired a head coach yet. This has been said a lot. Too much actually. The new coach will likely have a lot of input as to which QB the Bills will take. He will then be entrusted to develop this quarterback. The head coaching hire will have a huge bearing on who the Bills new QB is and how he performs. Whisenhunt has to be held somewhat culpable for the selection and performance of Kolb. So does fired Cards GM Rod Graves. One thing that hasn't been spoken about a lot is how much input the Bills solicited from their coaching staff on player decisions. Did Gailey not care and totally entrust Nix? Did he have a lot of input? Will the new coach have more or less input than Gailey did? After Ralph and Nix, Brandon was formerly known as "the third input".
San Jose Bills Fan Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 After Ralph and Nix, Brandon was formerly known as "the third input". That one went over my head, WEO.
SKRAAPY Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 As per Arizona Cardinal's Linebacker, Quentin Groves. Random indeed. https://twitter.com/QuentinGroves/status/286505408355500033
Phil Hansen Forever Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 Russ gave us the Toronto series so from my perspective he is 0-1 and that ain't looking good.
BillsCelticsAngelsBama Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 Don't worry Russ will convince us otherwise hate to sound negative but the more he talked the less comfortable I was with him running the show. And it sure looked like Buddy wanted to be anywhere but at the presser yesterday. He seemed lika a lame duck in waiting. Hope I'm wrong
Hammered a Lot Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 Over/Under When this thread will be locked Skrappy a little slow
thewildrabbit Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 At first glance this change only looked like a change of a job title for one guy. They did however fire one of the most inept coaching staffs ever,which was good news to most fans Buddy Nix still with the team is a concern because this is the man who didn't draft Andy Dalton, Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson, Christian Ponder because they didn't FALL to him in the draft. All 4 are in the playoffs and all 4 should have the been a better choice over Fitz. Thinking about it, its probably a good thing that Gailey, and his staff didn't have a chance to ruin those young men. I mean look at that BB offense, Fitz doesn't have the first clue on how to run a 2 min drill, thats bad coaching. The one great thing about Ralph Wilson stepping away. It means that he will no longer be meddling in day to day affairs of the team. Which now means that options are now open for some of the better coaches to come to the Buffalo Bills who had reservations about joining a club with a notoriously cranky meddling owner. So, before we all jump off the " cliff" howabout we wait until the Bills hire a new HC. I'm still holding out hope its Bill Cowher or even Marty S. who wanted the job, but Wilson didn't feel "comfortable" with hiring.
ColdBlueNorth Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 Spiller turned out to be a good pick, although you can't argue it was a luxury pick that bad teams shouldn't make. The jury is out on Gilmore, he had good moments and bad moments, Carrington has blocked kicks but what else? Dareus' play took a big drop in 2012 and it can't all be because of what happened to his brother, because it wasn't great before that. Bradham has emerged over 4 or 5 games, hope but no guarantee. What about Troup? Easley? Ed Wang (remember him and the jokes?)? Danny Batten? LEVI BROWN? Kyle Calloway? John Potter what a great move that was? Tank Carder? Jasper? Chris and Johnny White? I can go on and on, but you can pick any GM in league history that over 3 years didn't fall into at least one good pick. Aaron Williams has been a disaster. T.J. Graham has hands of stone-not to mention he failed to get a QB on the roster that cold use Graham's speed. Where is Zebrie Sanders? Where is Marshawn Lynch? Oh that is right he is in Seattle with over 1500 yards and double digits headed to the playoffs, while we got a backup offensive lineman for him? Enough said. No one will argue that Buffalo does not have an issue assessing, drafting, and developing talent. Personally, I think Nix started to turn our drafting around. Buddy and AJ Smith have been in the talent search game too long not to know how to evaluate players, but it takes time to transform a scouting department from the joke of the league into something respectable. Granted they missed on Troup, and Easley had the health issue that was missed. The jury is still out on Aaron Williams, but I think that our secondary coaching in general is suspect and that is a contributing factor. Regarding Gilmore, I am getting pretty tired of hearing negative things about a rookie that came in and has already gotten opposing QBs to look elsewhere - he is and was the only real bright spot on the defense this year in regards to consistency. He is a very good defensive back with the capability of being a great one. Just looking at the draft picks NE piled on - especially how many 2nd round picks they were able to pick up in 2009 and 2010 it is amazing. What is worse for the Bills is that they hit on so many of those picks, but Nix and the talent staff was getting better and Whaley is no slouch at finding talent. The last two drafts have been the most solid the Bills have had in about a decade - outside of Jauron's last year where he landed Wood and Levitre and a few other keepers. The Bills have got to do a better job at landing good players in the draft, especially rounds 1-2 where their track record of failure mirrors the franchises track record of failure making the post season. The organization also has to create the kind of environment with the kind of staff that develops the players you pick up; The kind of organization where you can plug young players in as veteran players exit and stay competitive. Rather than point solely at the GM position that is where folks need to look more closely when considering the success of organizations like New England. Look at Pioli. He was considered a genius GM in NE and after a few seasons with KC they are a disaster. Not only are they league cellar-dwellers, their top players are not performing on the field, they had a murder-suicide with one of their players, and the carousel of offensive and defensive coordinators they have gone through is dizzying.
Optometric Insight Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 He's going to get the best coach here because he promised. Everyone knows you can't break promises!
JPS Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 He can thank Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald for that run. Well, any successful coach can thank their star players for a successful playoff run. Who is the last coach to win a lot without players to thank? Back to the thread premise.....Brandon must be a good sales guy as he's been selling a crappy product for 16 years and interest in the Bills still remains high. I hope you are right. Whom ever it is, I guarantee half of this board says "NOOOOOOOO!!!!". Who knows, I might be one of them...especially if we land on Hue Jackson.
Buffalo Barbarian Posted January 2, 2013 Author Posted January 2, 2013 (edited) You don't "sell" anyone if your first move is bringing in one of the only coaches that has performed equally as badly, if not worse, as yours has in the same time span. just checking the stones. Just like he's gotten us the best players to sell tickets? TO? Mario? How have they worked out? Yeah, great. Let's get a name, and continue to suck. Lets not forget that Nix was making all the calls then and now it's Brandon's turn and you can bet he wants to change things for the better that now it's all on him. 1. The hiring of Marv Levy. 2. The hiring of Dick Jauron 3. implementing an analytics program. I have to be honest, I don't have alot of faith in this organization anymore. Years and years of believing and years and years of being made a fool of have taken it's toll. The fact that they kept Buddy Nix around to screw up a 4th draft, kinda dampers any hope that changes in the organization may have had. I'm not a big Nix fan either but each of his drafts have been slightly better an Brandon can overrule him now. Also the one year when Russ did make the picks with out Nix or Marv he drafted Wood, Levitre and Byrd and if it wasn't for DJ we probably don't draft Maybin. I'm not totally sold on the Bills right now either after years of empty promises but with Ralph stepping aside and Brandon's Talents I am cautiously optimistic. Really? Then why did Brandon, as "GM", convince coaching salary tightwad Ralph to re-sign Jauron before his contract was expired? “What is (Bills chief operating officer) Russ Brandon doing on the road, trying to parade around as a football guy and pretend he knows what he is looking at? Look at his contracts — he can’t even take care of business in his own field. What makes him think he can evaluate? He’s a bean counter. He has no business pretending he knows talent.” http://www.profootba....dibles2324.htm Before Nix was "hired" as GM, this is the decision proccess went down, per Ralph: "Russ and I scanned a list of possible candidates. We didn't know them. I didn't know them. I don't think Russ did. We narrowed it down to two candidates for the job of general manager of football, two in-house candidates." And why, as CEO for 3 years, wasn't Brandon able to convince a 94 year old man who is completely detatched from the game (OK, maybe he has Dish network) that we needed a "very robust football analytics operation", as he is claiming hw will now bring? I couldn't find anything regarding Brandon's dispeasure with the Levy hire. Seems to me Russ's rep has been as a "Yes" man to Ralph. And now we are all to be excited that our "new" CEO/President is....Russ Brandon! And now Ralph is gone and it was obvious he was the one pushing for those things mentioned above. From Anonymous NFL executive on profootballweekly.com insider: "(Cardinals head coach) Ken Whisenhunt is a great coach. His biggest problem is they didn’t solve the quarterback issue. I think they thought they had it figured out with (Kevin) Kolb. They should have known better.” or that there O-line was horrendous (hey maybe now I can get Skelton without trading Mario ) Word is that Whisenhunt is a very good X's and O's guy but had too much personnel decision making in Arizona and that he would have done better if he just focused on coaching... he should be all set here then. Edited January 2, 2013 by Buffalo Barbarian
Recommended Posts