Blame Runs Deep - Excellent Article By Tim Graham

[simpleman]

The problems start at the very top. And there is nothing anyone can do about it, anymore than we could during the Wilson era.

Owners can do whatever they want with their property. And it has been proven that we the sports entertainment consumers in the Buffalo area will do nothing to change that. We accept decades of habitual losing, futility and mediocrity. The only way change will occur is if the fans do not support a business that fails to deliver. And Buffalo fans have clearly signaled that we will accept pretty much any crap that is tossed our way.

Brandon is responsible for marketing and business financial success. That is his job. He is just doing it.

He has a long successful record of keeping the team successful business wise and marketing wise.

In a healthy sports organization there are suppose to be individuals to counterbalance his push for sound financial and marketing decisions. If ownership has not created an atmosphere and a structure where there is the proper balance available to promote the needs the sports side of the equation and being competitive, that is not his fault. If ownership gives too much emphasis on his side of the equation, that is on them, not him.

Considering Whaley, I don't know who actually determines clauses in the player contracts and the terms of player contracts in the Bills organization. Is it he as GM, or someone on the business side of the organization that deals with contract detail nitty gritty? The bad contracts are someone's fault.

Hiring Rex, and the even worse decision of retaining Rex after last season were definitely someones fault. Was it Whaley who made that bad decision? Or ownership? Hiring Rex knowing he wanted a 3-4, while Buffalo had a top rated defense based on 4-3 personnel, was a recipe for disaster. Not to mention it meant we would loose a winning D coach by hiring Rex, who wanted to put his personal mark on the Buffalo D. And retaining Rex meant we then had to rebuild our defense and use our draft on acquiring the pieces to build “Rex's” defense, while our suspect offense and right side of the O-line was a glaring concern. Our weaknesses at WR, were also glaring beyond Sammy. Safety, beyond AW, whose longevity was in doubt after his severe injury, was also glaring need. None of them were addressed in FA or the draft. Was it Whaley's choice to give Rex his choices in the draft, or was told to do so by his bosses?

Our gambles on FA the past few years had already put us in a precarious position where FA was not a viable option. Was it Whaley who negotiated those contract terms, or someone on the business side? He went after legitimate talent to build a winning team. He did his job there. The problem was the terms of those contracts. Who negotiated those terms?

Giving TT a huge new contract while he was still under contract was a huge gamble, considering he still had a lot of questions to answer, and needed to prove a lot to deserve it first. Although I do give Whaley credit for taking a gamble on Jones. I just hope we give him a shot to see what he has in a real game this season. We have had too much hesitancy on cutting bad QBs loose. Draft em, give em a shot and quickly move on till you find one. QBs are the toughest gamble to win. The more deals of the deck you get at QB, the faster you will finally get a winning hand at QB. Holding your cards too long just delays finding the winning hand.

We already know EJ & TT are what they are. Let's see what Jones has, and if it isn't enough, lets move on looking for our starting QB. Is Jones a potential starter, a potential backup, or just potential roadkill?

Sitting on the bench does not show you a QB's potential. You can only tell under live, real season conditions, playing against real NFL starters. Now is the time. Loses the rest of the season are actually wins when it comes to rebuilding the team through the draft, so it is a win either way. Jones shows he has potential, we win. Jones tanks, we have better draft position to draft the talent we need to rebuild in the spring. And if TT gets seriously injured in the last three games, doesn't his contract next year automatically get guaranteed, and our cap takes a big hit even if he never plays a game again for the Bills?

Edited December 13, 2016 by simpleman

[Malazan]

 

The Sabres IMO still do not seem even-keeled or well-oiled. Toronto did it the right way and appear to be surpassing the Sabres, even when they started the process well after. There is a whole lot more to what Pittsburgh, LA, and Chicago have done than "get a top pick".

 

umm..Toronto is in last place and not looking good doing it...

[hondo in seattle]

Not only are they not producing at the Superbowl level, they are not performing at the "make the playoffs" level.

 

In a weird year with a lot of luck, our absolute ceiling is that team that makes the playoffs as a wild card, and is beaten in that first game.

 

That's as good as it's going to get until this thing is stripped clean and rebuilt in the image of the best organizations in sports.

 

I'd try to copy the St. Louis Cardinals, Steelers, Patriots.

 

I've kind of been a 'continuity' guy for a while now. We'll never become a playoff team if we keep blowing the thing up and starting over again every 2 or 3 years.

 

But I've seen nothing from DW or Rex that tells me they can perform their jobs at the playoff level. Both strike me as frustratingly average. Not Cleveland Browns bad, certainly. But not guys who will get the Bills into the playoffs.

[May Day 10]

 

umm..Toronto is in last place and not looking good doing it...

 

The Sabres are last in the conference.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

 

The Sabres are last in the conference.

 

Not to use the injury excuse.. but missing 3 out of their top 4 d-men, as well as an extended stretch without eichel, and several games without O'reilly. Now not all of them are amazing, but they they're all pretty good. And much better than their replacements were.

[MAJBobby]

I fee for anyone that thinks Pegula is gonna fire Brandon. That is not going to happen.

 

Pegulas like him so much they made him the President of The Sabres as well

[CommonCents]

I fee for anyone that thinks Pegula is gonna fire Brandon. That is not going to happen.

 

Pegulas like him so much they made him the President of The Sabres as well

I don't think they will but I think they should.

[Livinginthepast]

He is absolutely right, blow up the whole thing and get rid of the pervasive ineptness of ALL of these guys, Rex, Brandon, Whaley, fire them all because as Alex Baldwin said in "Glengarry Glenross"....A LOSER IS A LOSER. 6-7 with such a soft schedule?? absolutely embarassing!!!

[Fadingpain]

Let's stay on target and not turn this into a Sabres discussion.

 

You can do that in the Off the Wall thread on that point.

 

Continuity is vitally important in any successful enterprise, but only once you have the right people in place.

 

Step 1 is to rip this thing down to the core.

Step 2 is to implement a process that will put outstanding people in the right positions within the organization.

Step 3 will then, and only then, be to try to keep it the way it is for a long time.

[All_Pro_Bills]

 

The Sabres are copying the exact format of Stanley Cup winners from the last several years...not sure what you're talking about there..

I get this at work a lot. Look at what other competitors and organizations are doing and adopt their business processes. The problem is it rarely works. There's a big difference between becoming an organization that lives and breathes by some set of business processes and principles and one that get along by imitating them. Most businesses imitate them or follow them to demonstrate they are doing things a certain way rather than believing in them. They pretty much fake it. The only way to make it work is get real commitment from the top to bottom of the organization. Develop commitment and trust. I don't see that with what I can understand of the Bills organization. Trust seems like a dirty word there with infighting and diverse agendas.

 

Until TP commits to changing the culture at OBD this futility will continue. Getting rid of Rex and admitting a mistake here would be a good first step but just the first of many needed. Whether or not he does it is up to him. Its his team he can pretty much do whatever he wants.

 

But even lifelong fans like me have a limit. I have other things I can do with my entertainment dollars and Sunday afternoons that watch a substandard product. Would my doing so hurt the team? Not likely but I wouldn't do it in an attempt to make a statement just for my own mental health and well-being.

Edited December 12, 2016 by All_Pro_Bills

[LabattBlue]

At the risk of repeating myself, the first step that has to be made is the one where the Pegula's never again have any input on anything related to football operations...short of hiring someone to run said operations, and even then, hopefully they would reach out to the most respected minds in the NFL to help them find this person.

 

After that is done...GET THE F*** OUT OF THE WAY!

[jms62]

I fee for anyone that thinks Pegula is gonna fire Brandon. That is not going to happen.

 

Pegulas like him so much they made him the President of The Sabres as well

 

 

Unfortunately I think you are correct... A Brandon must go chant at the next game may sway him though. He seems to have an ear for the wants of his customer base.

I get this at work a lot. Look at what other competitors and organizations are doing and adopt their business processes. The problem is it rarely works. There's a big difference between becoming an organization that lives and breathes by some set of business processes and principles and one that get along by imitating them. Most businesses imitate them or follow them to demonstrate they are doing things a certain way rather than believing in them. They pretty much fake it. The only way to make it work is get real commitment from the top to bottom of the organization. Develop commitment and trust. I don't see that with what I can understand of the Bills organization. Trust seems like a dirty word there with infighting and diverse agendas.

 

Until TP commits to changing the culture at OBD this futility will continue. Getting rid of Rex and admitting a mistake here would be a good first step but just the first of many needed. Whether or not he does it is up to him. Its his team he can pretty much do whatever he wants.

 

But even lifelong fans like me have a limit. I have other things I can do with my entertainment dollars and Sunday afternoons that watch a substandard product. Would my doing so hurt the team? Not likely but I wouldn't do it in an attempt to make a statement just for my own mental health and well-being.

 

Well thought out post but the sentiment is the same. BLOW IT UP.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

I fee for anyone that thinks Pegula is gonna fire Brandon. That is not going to happen.

 

Pegulas like him so much they made him the President of The Sabres as well

 

Thats the problem - hes on all the calls - in all the meetings... and he has no business being there.

[Helpmenow]

Pegula started off with the same errors. Throwing money at bad management. This didn't fix problems, but magnified them (sounds familiar). Did the same things like blaming injuries. Blew up into the need to completely 'tank'

 

They had the right idea with LaFontaine. His philosophy was right on. Also brought on Craig Patrick as a consultant. LaFontaine brought in who looks like a pretty good GM prospect in Murray. Meanwhile, there was apparently some sort of struggle between "Pegula's guys" and LaFontaine. LaFontaine left in what appeared to be a 1-day mysterious blowup. Batista eventually walks away. Ted Black (who was doing a great job from my view of a fan) has been removed for Russ Brandon (fan experience has been diminished). Craig Patrick was not retained.

So after the mess shakes out, we have Tim Murray standing alone as GM. Not sure how I feel about that. He seems like a good scout (even though we are yet to see any fruits of that)... but seems to lack interpersonal skills. Has made some trades that do not look so good and has burned through a lot of assets. The farm team stinks and is barren.

 

Things havent really stopped churning in management for almost 6 years now, and I suspect we aren't even at the "stopping point. I cannot fathom why someone who is in the process of buying a pro sports team would not have someone lined up to install directly underneath ownership. Especially in the case of the Bills and Sabres.

 

The Sabres IMO still do not seem even-keeled or well-oiled. Toronto did it the right way and appear to be surpassing the Sabres, even when they started the process well after. There is a whole lot more to what Pittsburgh, LA, and Chicago have done than "get a top pick".

 

The thing that really scares me, is if Murray doesnt pan out at GM... we are going to have Pegula and Brandon looking for a Sabres GM.

excellent post

[Greybeard]

Am I the only one that thought that article was revisionist garbage? Marrone left because he was sick of the dysfunction after two years, after three days of new ownership? Orton retired just to get away from the Bills? The Bills were done with Manuel after two years, but he's still on the team?

 

Graham's going to have to deal with the DC-Tom-bot.

 

 

I agree with you, revisionist is the perfect word to describe it.

 

It was Marrones' dream job. I guess Bill's fans didn't know the Syracuse job was also his dream job. It seems we are forgetting the pitiful offense and the vanilla play calling, although calling it vanilla is actually a complement in this case. He left because after two years he knew he only had what he had because of the defense.

[vorpma]

The problems start at the very top. And there is nothing anyone can do about it, anymore than we could during the Wilson era.

Owners can do whatever they want with their property. And it has been proven that we the sports entertainment consumers in the Buffalo area will do nothing to change that. We accept decades habitual losing, futility and mediocrity. The only way change will occur is if the fans do not support a business that fails to deliver. And Buffalo fans have clearly signaled that we will accept pretty much any crap that is tossed their way.

Brandon is responsible for marketing and business financial success. That is his job. He is just doing it.

He has a long successful record of keeping the team successful business wise and marketing wise.

In a healthy sports organization there are suppose to be individuals to counterbalance his push for sound financial and marketing decisions. If ownership has not created an atmosphere and a structure where there is the proper balance available to promote the needs the sports side of the equation and being competitive, that is not his fault. If ownership gives too much emphasis on his side of the equation, that is on them, not him.

Considering Whaley, I don't know who actually determines clauses in the player contracts and the terms of player contracts in the Bills organization. Is it he as GM, or someone on the business side of the organization that deals with contract detail nitty gritty? The bad contracts are someone's fault.

Hiring Rex, and the even worse decision of retaining Rex after last season were definitely someones fault. Was it Whaley who made that bad decision? Or ownership? Hiring Rex knowing he wanted a 3-4, while Buffalo had a top rated defense based on 4-3 personnel, was a recipe for disaster. Not to mention it meant we would loose a winning D coach by hiring Rex, who wanted to put his personal mark on the Buffalo D. And retaining Rex meant we then had to rebuild our defense and use our draft on acquiring the pieces to build “Rex's” defense, while our suspect offense and right side of the O-line was a glaring concern. Our weaknesses at WR were also glaring beyond Sammy. Beyond AW, whose longevity after his severe injury was also glaring at S. None of there were addressed in FA or the draft. Was it Whaley's choice to give Rex his choices in the draft, or was told to do so by his bosses?

Our gambles on FA the past few years had already put us in a precarious position where FA was not a viable option. Was it Whaley who negotiated those contract terms, or someone on the business side? He went after legitimate talent to build a winning team. He did is job there. The problem was the terms of those contracts. Who negotiated those terms?

Giving TT a huge contract while he was still under contract was a huge gamble, considering he had a lot of questions and needed to prove a lot to deserve it first. Although I do give Whaley credit for taking a gamble on Jones. I just hope we give him a shot to see what he has in a real game this season. We have had too much hesitancy on cutting bad QBs loose. Draft em, give em a shot and quickly move on till you find one. QBs are the toughest gamble to win. The more deals of the deck you get at QB, the faster you will finally get a winning hand at QB. Holding your cards too long just delays finding the winning hand.

We already know EJ & TT are what they are. Let's see what Jones has, and if it isn't enough, lets move on looking for our starting QB. Is Jones a potential starter, a potential backup, or just potential roadkill?

Sitting on the bench does not show you a QB's potential. You can only tell under live, real season conditions, playing against real NFL starters. Now is the time. Loses the rest of the season are actually wins when it comes to rebuilding the team through the draft, so it is a win either way. Jones show he has potential, we win. Jones tanks, we have better draft position to draft the talent we need to rebuild in the spring. And if TT gets seriously injured in the last three games, doesn't his contract next year automatically get guaranteed, and our cap takes a big hit even if he never plays a game again for the Bills?

My question is how could your hire Rex without knowing he planned to let Schwartz walk and reconstruct the 4th best Defense in the NFL 2014? Why would you do that? Then after last year let him continue! Insane!

[Malazan]

 

The Sabres are last in the conference.

 

I'm glad you figured out they played a game and got points so yes, they are now ahead of the Sabres who have played 1 less game than they have.

Edited December 13, 2016 by jeremy2020

[May Day 10]

They lost last night. Same games played.