Is Whaley going into the off-season trying to save his job?

[PromoTheRobot]

I'm worried that history will repeat itself with DW. Forcing project QB's on whomever takes the HC job and making block-headed draft day trades like he did with Sammy.

Worse yet I'm concerned Lynn will become the HC with no experience.

The offseason and draft weekend could be worse than a tire fire.

Isn't every NFL GM, if not coaches and players, playing for their jobs?

 

It's unclear how much say Whaley had with Rex but he will have it with this hire. So yeah, if it fails, it's his azz.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Obviously.

 

Today was a complete disaster for the Bills. Lynn said Jones would start when he meant EJ, then he got all tangled up about who decided to sit TT. He is not ready for the podium that is for sure and going from RB coach to OC to HC in four months would be a huge mistake.

 

Even worse than all this is making Lynn face the media to handle questions about TT and Rex and so forth when Whaley and Russ should have been there to answer these questions as well as just being supportive of Lynn. Today showed all of the dysfunction of this franchise in one glorious press conference!! good job Bills you are certainly starting off on the right foot and are inspiring confidence in this organization league wide, GO BILLS

 

I disagree.

 

Not clear if Lynn was nervous and misspoke, or was having on the press with the Cardale Jones thing, I'll give him a mulligan there.

 

If you read the transcript of his presser, its clear he wasn't tangled up at all about who decided to sit TT, despite the best efforts of the press to tangle him. He said from the start it was a business decision, and he was OK with it because he viewed it as the same as having TT taken off the table by injury and having to work with the next man up, and he understood wanting to evaluate depth. He never said anything inconsistant or contradictory, despite the efforts of the press to draw blood and make him do so or spin it that way.

 

Russ and Whaley should not have been there trying to "support" Lynn. First, they are not the ones who had fate control over Rex and Rex's firing/Lynn interim HC was duly announced in a press release from Pegula the previous day. Second, it's the routine HC press conference, Lynn is a grown-ass man who aspires to be a HC, he needs to handle it. Anyone who thinks that Lynn wouldn't have faced the same questions from the press regardless of who else had a presser before him is air-dreaming.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Hapless Bills Fan

[PromoTheRobot]

Obviously.

 

Today was a complete disaster for the Bills. Lynn said Jones would start when he meant EJ, then he got all tangled up about who decided to sit TT. He is not ready for the podium that is for sure and going from RB coach to OC to HC in four months would be a huge mistake.

 

Even worse than all this is making Lynn face the media to handle questions about TT and Rex and so forth when Whaley and Russ should have been there to answer these questions as well as just being supportive of Lynn. Today showed all of the dysfunction of this franchise in one glorious press conference!! good job Bills you are certainly starting off on the right foot and are inspiring confidence in this organization league wide, GO BILLS

You know how long this will be a thing? Saturday.

[yungmack]

How about a little perspective around here. Whaley has had input on TWO head coaches, not three, and no one around here knows for certain just how much authority he actually had.

 

The first one, Marrone, was secure with management, seemed to be on a successful path and was in no danger of being fired. But he had an inflated opinion of himself and QUIT. Had he stuck with the team, who knows but things might be much better and we would all be praising the very FO that is being criticised as they prepare for the playoffs.

 

As to the second one, Ryan, he was failing epically in the area in which he was supposed to be supreme and showed no signs that he was going to change a single thing about his outdated scheme. I thought he should have been fired after year one as it was clear he was over his head.

 

So, of the two coaches he has had, one looked to be a good hire, sabotaged by his own ego, and the second one, hired in a rush, was a flop and he bears some responsibility for that fail. However, once it was clear Rex was a mistake, he was let go which Whaley likely knew would make him the target of criticism. Still he did it, because it was the right thing to do in spite of what the zhadrules in the media are saying.

[BmarvB]

Obviously.

 

Today was a complete disaster for the Bills. Lynn said Jones would start when he meant EJ, then he got all tangled up about who decided to sit TT. He is not ready for the podium that is for sure and going from RB coach to OC to HC in four months would be a huge mistake.

 

Even worse than all this is making Lynn face the media to handle questions about TT and Rex and so forth when Whaley and Russ should have been there to answer these questions as well as just being supportive of Lynn. Today showed all of the dysfunction of this franchise in one glorious press conference!! good job Bills you are certainly starting off on the right foot and are inspiring confidence in this organization league wide, GO BILLS

 

Lynn has been put in a hell of a tough situation since the end of week 2 and made all he could make of it under the circumstances. If he does get the HC job and hires the right OC and DC, he'll be an upgrade. But they're really asking a lot out of him at this stage.

[Captain_Quint]

 

Lynn has been put in a hell of a tough situation since the end of week 2 and made all he could make of it under the circumstances. If he does get the HC job and hires the right OC and DC, he'll be an upgrade. But they're really asking a lot out of him at this stage.

This is why I think the pressure will be on Whaley. Not only will he be heavily involved in the HC choice, if he goes with the easy choice (Lynn) he will be heavily invested in the rest of the staff. He has to be, because you cant trust those decisions to a RB coach and expect real results.

 

Conversely, if you get a Tom Coughlin type, Whaley can sit back and hang his hat on him, because someone that tenured will choose his own staff. But if he fails, Whaley fails, too.

 

He has to choose: alot of work or alot of trust.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Well maybe they are planning on tanking. Will let Gilmore and the other 22 FA's go and try and start building the team through the draft. Who knows? But I can tell you one thing, Anthony Lynn is a disaster as a HC. I'm all for giving a guy a chance, but this guy needs to be throughly scrutinized.

 

Do people even read what they write?

 

If you believe he's a disaster as a HC, having never been a HC, then how can you be "all for giving a guy a chance"?

Having no data on his performance as a HC, either you believe (based on some factor in his behavior or performance in other roles) that he would be a disaster as HC, OR you're all for giving a him a chance.

 

Either or. Not both.

So, of the two coaches he has had, one looked to be a good hire, sabotaged by his own ego, and the second one, hired in a rush, was a flop and he bears some responsibility for that fail. However, once it was clear Rex was a mistake, he was let go which Whaley likely knew would make him the target of criticism. Still he did it, because it was the right thing to do in spite of what the zhadrules in the media are saying.

 

Whaley had no authority to let Rex go

This is why I think the pressure will be on Whaley. Not only will he be heavily involved in the HC choice, if he goes with the easy choice (Lynn) he will be heavily invested in the rest of the staff. He has to be, because you cant trust those decisions to a RB coach and expect real results.

 

Conversely, if you get a Tom Coughlin type, Whaley can sit back and hang his hat on him, because someone that tenured will choose his own staff. But if he fails, Whaley fails, too.

 

He has to choose: alot of work or alot of trust.

 

Good post. First off, I think the Bills current organizational structure, where Brandon, Whaley, and the HC all report in parallel to the owners and each owns a piece of an interlocking puzzle, is proven untenable.

For example, fans eternally complain about "Whaley's contract decisions", but it's quite clear in the Bills org structure that Overdorf (reporting to Brandon through Littman) controls the contract negotiations, using some form of "player valuation" provided by BOTH the coach and the GM. This can lead to situations where the coach and the GM differ in the importance/valuation they put on players, but then the GM has to live with the consequence for further personnel decisions and the coach gets to sit there and complain he's not getting the players he needs.

 

At this point, I don't see the Bills changing the way player contracts are done, but I would see it as a step in the right direction if the next coach reports to Whaley, as Chan did to Nix, and if Whaley controls the player valuations.

Put in place a situation where "the buck stops here" and let that guy take the praise and the blame.

[BmarvB]

This is why I think the pressure will be on Whaley. Not only will he be heavily involved in the HC choice, if he goes with the easy choice (Lynn) he will be heavily invested in the rest of the staff. He has to be, because you cant trust those decisions to a RB coach and expect real results.

 

Conversely, if you get a Tom Coughlin type, Whaley can sit back and hang his hat on him, because someone that tenured will choose his own staff. But if he fails, Whaley fails, too.

 

He has to choose: alot of work or alot of trust.

 

Oh without a doubt Whaley just took over Rex's spot in the hot seat. The next HC should be HIS call (without Brandon involved), and HIS @$$ on the line. He'd better make the right choice and give that coach everything he can give him to be successful.

[PromoTheRobot]

 

Oh without a doubt Whaley just took over Rex's spot in the hot seat. The next HC should be HIS call (without Brandon involved), and HIS @$$ on the line. He'd better make the right choice and give that coach everything he can give him to be successful.

 

Which is not a bad thing. If your azz is in the frying pan, don't you want to control the temperature setting?