Doug Whaley joined L.A. Bills Backers to watch games this morning

[Kelly the Dog]

Was lucky enough to watch the early games in LA with Doug Whaley this morning where we watch the games every Sunday. It was great. Thanks to AKC and Matt for setting it up. He didn't really say all that much that was controversial. We got to spend a few hours with him though. Had some wings and some drinks at 10 am. Was there with his wife and brother who were terrific, too.

 

First of all, what a great guy. Just as you would imagine. He just introduced himself to anyone who walked up to him as "Hi, I'm Doug." No pretension whatsoever. Really impressive guy.

 

He didn't say anything I was really surprised by. The most interesting thing was he said Orton at practice is yelling at the receivers, and told them if they weren't trying and open in practice he wasn't throwing to them in the game. And they all smartened up quick. That was great. Which led him to say that EJ tries to please everyone and is too nice, and any leader in any business has to be a dick sometimes, and EJ isn't at that point yet.

 

Other tidbits:

 

Loves Robert Woods, couldn't stop talking about him.

 

Thinks it will be hard to re-sign Spikes. Really wants to re-sign Hughes but has no idea how it will go. Agreed that if they look at it as paying the front seven instead of four, it can be rationalized.

 

Loves Aaron Williams and that was the reason they didn't try harder to re-sign Byrd.

 

Said Mike Williams trade thing really was all his agent but he's not happy he's not playing. He wouldn't bite when I challenged him about Williams, Watkins and Woods are better than Hogan. I couldn't read him on that. But we talked about him getting the four guys Watkins, Williams, Woods and Goodwin who all do different things well and it hasn't worked out that way. He also said that they didn't know they would be able to get Watkins when they got Williams so he went from being thought of as a #1 guy to kind of 2a.

 

Loves Preston Brown. That's why they won't overpay for Spikes, who will probably want a good contract and to play three downs.

 

Wants to upgrade TE but like everyone, knows they aren't a lot of good ones.

 

He does not particularly like New England or any of Massachusetts. Ha. That was pretty funny.

 

He loves living in Buffalo and said it's a known fact around the league that players hate coming to Buffalo and then hate leaving it.

 

Definitely building the Bills after the Steeler teams that he grew up with. Then said they couldn't take the next step until they got Big Ben.

 

He spends four to five days a week on the road scouting, he's visiting five different schools in five days this week. Talk about how college coaches will let him know when a player of theirs is trouble, without ever saying it. Mostly because they have to do the same thing with high school coaches about players they are recruiting.

 

He doesn't like Jameis Winston as the face of a franchise at all.

 

Loves Kiko obviously, who he says is healing fast.

 

Said when they were looking for a coach, him and Buddy and Overdorf and Russ got together and came up with an idea of what kind of guy they wanted, before they started talking about any specific guy. And they started with didn't want a retread, wanted a young guy who could be there 20 years, wanted someone out of the box, wanted a tough guy, and they liked Marrone because he fit every one of their criterion. Which would also explain them wanting Chip Kelly who also fit all of them.

 

Said the only time he was ever nervous at a game was visiting Oakland because he was scared walking through the parking lot. Ha.

 

He wanted the Dolphins to lose but understood both sides of the argument.

 

Great day and just a great guy. Perfect ambassador for the Bills. His brother watches the games with us on Sunday in LA. Nothing earth-shattering, and he was diplomatic as you'd expect when I asked him hard questions but he answered them well. Couldn't have been more impressed with him.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Kelly the Dog

[NDBUFFCUSEFAN]

Thanks for sharing, sounds like a great time and I am definitely jealous.

[Captain Hindsight]

Wow. Thanks for this, very cool story and great quotes

[Big C]

Thanks for sharing!

[Fixxxer]

That must have been awesome, thanks for sharing Dog.

[GunnerBill]

Whaley is a keeper. This organisation has lacked coherent planning for too long.... Whaley has a plan and I hope it is going to deliver success long term.

[YoloinOhio]

interesting stuff! i gather Orton is not a fan of Mike Williams.

[K-9]

Great stuff, Kelly.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[l< j]

Nice story, thanks!

[The Underdog]

Huge Whaley fan... We need to keep him for the long haul. He comes off as very impressive and intelligent.

[Kelly the Dog]

interesting stuff! i gather Orton is not a fan of Mike Williams.

I couldn't read him on that at all. He did say that Williams has never been a problem, and loves being on the Bills and in Buffalo. He just wants to play.

[Kellyto83TD]

Definitely building the Bills after the Steeler teams that he grew up with. Then said they couldn't take the next step until they got Big Ben.

 

Well EJ is not Big Ben nor will ever be. So we will be looking in round 2 for a Big ben?

[Kelly the Dog]

Definitely building the Bills after the Steeler teams that he grew up with. Then said they couldn't take the next step until they got Big Ben.

 

Well EJ is not Big Ben nor will ever be. So we will be looking in round 2 for a Big ben?

Sorry to break this to you but he still really likes EJ.

[26CornerBlitz]

Was lucky enough to watch the early games in LA with Doug Whaley this morning where we watch the games every Sunday. It was great. Thanks to AKC and Matt for setting it up. He didn't really say all that much that was controversial. We got to spend a few hours with him though. Had some wings and some drinks at 10 am. Was there with his wife and brother who were terrific, too.

 

First of all, what a great guy. Just as you would imagine. He just introduced himself to anyone who walked up to him as "Hi, I'm Doug." No pretension whatsoever. Really impressive guy.

 

He didn't say anything I was really surprised by. The most interesting thing was he said Orton at practice is yelling at the receivers, and told them if they weren't trying and open in practice he wasn't throwing to them in the game. And they all smartened up quick. That was great. Which led him to say that EJ tries to please everyone and is too nice, and any leader in any business has to be a dick sometimes, and EJ isn't at that point yet.

 

Other tidbits:

 

Loves Robert Woods, couldn't stop talking about him.

 

Thinks it will be hard to re-sign Spikes. Really wants to re-sign Hughes but has no idea how it will go. Agreed that if they look at it as paying the front seven instead of four, it can be rationalized.

 

Loves Aaron Williams and that was the reason they didn't try harder to re-sign Byrd.

 

Said Mike Williams trade thing really was all his agent but he's not happy he's not playing. He wouldn't bite when I challenged him about Williams, Watkins and Woods are better than Hogan. I couldn't read him on that. But we talked about him getting the four guys Watkins, Williams, Woods and Goodwin who all do different things well and it hasn't worked out that way. He also said that they didn't know they would be able to get Watkins when they got Williams so he went from being thought of as a #1 guy to kind of 2a.

 

Loves Preston Brown. That's why they won't overpay for Spikes, who will probably want a good contract and to play three downs.

 

Wants to upgrade TE but like everyone, knows they aren't a lot of good ones.

 

He does not particularly like New England or any of Massachusetts. Ha. That was pretty funny.

 

He loves living in Buffalo and said it's a known fact around the league that players hate coming to Buffalo and then hate leaving it.

 

Definitely building the Bills after the Steeler teams that he grew up with. Then said they couldn't take the next step until they got Big Ben.

 

He spends four to five days a week on the road scouting, he's visiting five different schools in five days this week. Talk about how college coaches will let him know when a player of theirs is trouble, without ever saying it. Mostly because they have to do the same thing with high school coaches about players they are recruiting.

 

He doesn't like Jameis Winston as the face of a franchise at all.

 

Loves Kiko obviously, who he says is healing fast.

 

Said when they were looking for a coach, him and Buddy and Overdorf and Russ got together and came up with an idea of what kind of guy they wanted, before they started talking about any specific guy. And they started with didn't want a retread, wanted a young guy who could be there 20 years, wanted someone out of the box, wanted a tough guy, and they liked Marrone because he fit every one of their criterion. Which would also explain them wanting Chip Kelly who also fit all of them.

 

Said the only time he was ever nervous at a game was visiting Oakland because he was scared walking through the parking lot. Ha.

 

He wanted the Dolphins to lose but understood both sides of the argument.

 

Great day and just a great guy. Perfect ambassador for the Bills. His brother watches the games with us on Sunday in LA. Nothing earth-shattering, and he was diplomatic as you'd expect when I asked him hard questions but he answered them well. Couldn't have been more impressed with him.

 

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[Kelly the Dog]

Oh, and when TEs were brought up, he did say Ebron was going to be their pick unless something unforeseen happened if they didn't make the Watkins trade.

[aristocrat]

did he really make a comment about winston?

[Mr. WEO]

Did he say how Marrone, like Kelly, was an "out of the box" type HC?

[Augie]

That's reallty great stuff and I'm a little surprised he was as candid as it sounds. I think he's the guy for the job and hope he's here for the long run. Nice to hear he's likeable too.

[Kelly the Dog]

did he really make a comment about winston?

Yep.

 

Then he said it's just a fact of life these days that it's really easy to get a rep, and once it is out there really hard to live it down. But he sounded to me like Winston was trouble, and that it does matter.

[Augie]

Oh, and when TEs were brought up, he did say Ebron was going to be their pick unless something unforeseen happened if they didn't make the Watkins trade.

Wow! More insight. I thought that was punishable by death in the NFL. How much could it hurt to say we liked Ebron and would have taken him? I love the openess.