Is Russ Brandon to Blame?

[TheFunPolice]

This entire argument shows what a fine line there is between being great and being so-so

 

Belichick was a defensive genius (gameplan for the Giants/Bills SB is in the HOF) with a so-so record as a HC.

 

Then, while he was coaching his second team (technically his third I guess given his Jets fiasco) his starting QB gets hurt and the backup turns out to be a HOFer.

 

Now he's the greatest HC of all-time and notice how his defenses haven't really been great for many, many years in NE but it just doesn't matter.

 

If Belichick doesn't sign the napkin and has a few 8-8 seasons in NJ OR Bledsoe stays healthy he's probably not even a HC anymore in 2016.

 

If the next Jim Kelly walks in the doors of OBD everyone is going to be a "genius"

Edited September 15, 2016 by TheFunPolice

[GA BILLS FAN]

 

I dont give Pegula much credit for that. He botched the Sabres. It wasnt intentional.

 

Lindy Ruff's firing was forced at a terrible time. It was early in a season, after an offseason AND a half season lockout. Would have been nice to go in a new direction earlier. The move was made because the crowd in the arena was turning very ugly and reached a crescendo the night before.

 

Darcy's firing was similar. Early in a season when again, this type of thing is best executed in the offseason. Similarly, the home crowds were getting pretty unruly to the point of an embarrassment for the franchise. It started getting National press.

 

Then you have the quick, sudden, and mysterious LaFontaine firing/resignation.

 

 

 

I love Pegula and all.... very appreciative.... but I dont have much faith in his ownership decisions and structure.

 

I don't want to turn this into SabreSpace, but, I think it was logical and rational to give Darby/Lindy more time and the benefit of Pegula's money (i.e. signing Regher, Ehrhoff, Leino) to see if that tandem could make it work. Once it was obvious it wasn't working, he got rid of both of them. Setting aside the LaF exit drama, there were 2 main pieces to the blueprint:

1- Put an established hockey expert in control of the roster

2- Commit to the rebuild by completely tearing down the roster and rebuilding it based on a mixture of draft picks and young players

 

Bills can and should do the same.

 

(one edit: DON'T LET THE COACH MESS WITH THE ROSTER !!, the coach, coaches the GM controls the roster!!)

(Rex has his filthy hands too deep into this roster and he's screwing it up)

Edited September 15, 2016 by TXBILLSFAN

[K-9]

(one edit: DON'T LET THE COACH MESS WITH THE ROSTER !!, the coach, coaches the GM controls the roster!!)

(Rex has his filthy hands too deep into this roster and he's screwing it up)

I'd like to know where one draws the line between input and messing with the roster. The coaching staff is part and parcel in deciding who on that roster getrs pared from 90 to 53, after all.

[GA BILLS FAN]

I'd like to know where one draws the line between input and messing with the roster. The coaching staff is part and parcel in deciding who on that roster getrs pared from 90 to 53, after all.

 

One example, selecting an injured Shaq Lawson in first round.

[Jauronimo]

Your right, I am.

 

I don't get it. Defend, defend, defend for what reason?

Attack, attach, attack, with only the most circumstantial of arguments, for what reason?

[Coach Tuesday]

 

One example, selecting an injured Shaq Lawson in first round.

 

And then lying about his injury.

[Gordio]

 

Passion is not the same thing as having torches, nooses and rocks ready at a moment notice. Do not see same thing in Green Bay fan base even when they were at low point and they never had trouble selling out.

 

 

That ius a tough comparison man. Green Bay has had several periods(including the current one) where they have been very successful. Yes there were years in 80's where they were dor mat for the league, but keep in mind they played in a baseball stadium for half their games that only held 50K. Big difference then selling out Rich Stadium in those lean 80 years at 80K +

[Fadingpain]

[Freddie's Dead]

Russ Brandon is a great businessman who has kept the Bills afloat and in Buffalo. The Pegula style is evolution, not revolution, like we saw with the Sabres. Since Brandon does his job and does it well, he's not going anywhere. Does anyone have anything other than uninformed speculation and innuendo that Brandon has any say at all in football operations?

[TSOL]

Russ Brandon is a great businessman who has kept the Bills afloat and in Buffalo. The Pegula style is evolution, not revolution, like we saw with the Sabres. Since Brandon does his job and does it well, he's not going anywhere. Does anyone have anything other than uninformed speculation and innuendo that Brandon has any say at all in football operations?

Other than us having a run of bad coaches and an impotent GM?

 

And the fans have kept the Bills here, not Brandon

Edited September 15, 2016 by mastershake

[PromoTheRobot]

But at least the Sabres have a plan, it was obvious the plan was to tank....Do the Bills have a plan?

Yes they do. Why do you think they spent $91MM on free agents in 2015? (Or as some folks call it "do nothing.")

 

One example, selecting an injured Shaq Lawson in first round.

But some people wanted to roll the dice on Myles Jack.

[Coach Tuesday]

But some people wanted to roll the dice on Myles Jack.

 

That would be me, and I stand by it. You can look me up in a year or two when he's dominating.

[thebandit27]

Other than us having a run of bad coaches and an impotent GM?

 

And the fans have kept the Bills here, not Brandon

The GM is not impotent in any way, shape, or form.

 

If he was adamantly opposed to Rex he'd have said so, and there's no doubt Pegula would've taken that into account. Read the linked piece--Whaley had his fair go at Rex in the interview process.

 

Also, I was unaware that the fans were the ones that sold all the luxury boxes back in '98 when that was the roadblock to keeping them here. You may not like Russ, but he was the driving force in getting it done.

 

http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2001/11/20011105/Forty-Under-40/Russ-Brandon.aspx?

Edited September 15, 2016 by thebandit27

[May Day 10]

 

 

That ius a tough comparison man. Green Bay has had several periods(including the current one) where they have been very successful. Yes there were years in 80's where they were dor mat for the league, but keep in mind they played in a baseball stadium for half their games that only held 50K. Big difference then selling out Rich Stadium in those lean 80 years at 80K +

 

Outside the heart of the Jim Kelly time period ('88-'95): 1 playoff win in the Superbowl Era

 

Outside those years: 42 seasons, 8 playoff games. 1 win, 8 losses. 2 Home Playoff Games.

 

Not a very good comparison to Green Bay and their "patient" fans

 

 

I feel like Ralph's "vision" for this team should have been re-vamped quite a bit more.

Edited September 15, 2016 by May Day 10

[jms62]

This argument started 10 years ago. I am not inclined to keep repeating myself on this issue. Anyone who still asks what good Brandon has done has little working knowledge of how things were before he arrived in '97. He turned things around immediately. Long before he had anything to do with the football side of things; about 10 years before actually. Yet he still takes crap for being the "one constant"? Shortsighted, uninformed crap. He had nothing to with anything on the football related side while Butler and Donahoe were here and next to nothing when Levy and Jauron were running things.

 

I suppose we can ding him for his "de-facto" GM duties after Marv left, but there were so many others actually running football ops at the time who deserve it more.

 

So that brings us to the hiring of Buddy who had final say on all personnel. Brandon had input, was informed, but left it to the scouts and Buddy to get it right. An indicator of Brandon's level of deference to Buddy is found in that article linked above. Brandon was just named president, was given unprecedented autonomous reign from Detroit, and he mentioned Buddy how many times in that article? A cycnic could say he was just passing the buck, but bucks are passed after the fact, not before.

 

If we really want to be accurate, we can hold Brandon accountable for the time he actually held the reigns, which in reality is a fraction of the last 16 years. A far cry from the tired "one constant" crap.

 

Just don't tell me he hasn't done anything when, in his first 6 years here especially, he had dramatic impact on the bottom line at a time when other things couldn't have gotten done otherwise.

 

I'm gonna laugh when everybody's head explodes after learning Russ Brandon actually made the decision on hiring the football czar.

 

Yes things were awful when he arrived in 97... Playoffs nearly every year, long string of sell out games.. Things were just freakin awful...

[thebandit27]

 

Yes things were awful when he arrived in 97... Playoffs nearly every year, long string of sell out games.. Things were just freakin awful...

So how far are we willing to take this? Did Russ fire John Butler too?

[Nihilarian]

There are not many people I think fit that bill.

 

Personally I don't mind a czar helping conduct a search for a new GM and / or HC and advise on reporting structures but I do not want a czar in a permanent role. It is just another level of unneccessary management.

 

The way the Jets used Casserly and Wolf (I think it was that duo) in their last search I am okay with.

 

There are not many people I think fit that bill.

I'm also okay with this idea in Casserly and Wolf recommending as to who to hire as GM / HC like they did with the NY Jets and 10-6 in the first year after a 4-12 season is solid a reinforcement that they did a good job.

 

Or, perhaps recommending a team president of football operations as this will take the decision completely away from the owners and allow one senior NFL "football" man to have accountability.

 

Ralph Wilson had the right idea with Tom Donahoe as team president of football operations and just hired the wrong man for the job. He then gave up attempting to find another man to replace him.

[May Day 10]

Ralph Wilson had the right idea with Tom Donahoe as team president of football operations and just hired the wrong man for the job. He then gave up attempting to find another man to replace him.

 

I don't think he 'gave up' as much as he didn't want that structure again and to surrender control. At that point the circled the wagons and successfully isolated the organization from the outside world.

[Nihilarian]

I think Russ being president of Pegula's entire sports empire is a move toward getting him out of any type of football decision and having him focus on the business part of things. \

 

We can only hope!

 

However, the story about him calling UDFA was a bit unsettling.

 

I agree

 

All that said, I bet Russ would be a lot better at whatever he does if Tom Brady played here the past 15 seasons.

The thing is players like Tom Brady don't just walk in the door and if a 6th round draft pick like Tyrod Taylor evolves into another Brady it would happen because he has a solid team around him!

 

Not the mess we see today on offense with a half built O-line and with sub-par players as backups. With overpriced singular stars at WR, TE & RB because the scouting dept / GM lacks the ability to find quality talent in the draft with one draft pick. Poor players and depth beyond those three, star players. Not to mention the coaching staff's lack of ability to get the offense working when one area of the team stalls in a game.

[jms62]

I think we have beaten this to death.. You have those that work for the PR company hired by the Bills front office that has done quite a good job of deflection. For chrissakes if this wasn't the case why the hell would they spend 15 pages defending the marketing guy instead of talking football... Go Bills. I expect a strong effort tonight as they have a way of bouncing back when 90% of the fans base seems to be throwing in the towel.