Don't understand all the fuss about Whaley and Pegs

[FireChan]

Well lookie here. Another bitter little person weighs in. Won't feel good about yourself till The Bills win a Super Bowl now will ya? You've got such a zen of inner peace about you. Thanks for the personal attack.

 

Read the TOS.

Calling someone else bitter after posting that nonsense? Very ironic.

[Fan in Chicago]

I think the media people are all incredibly upset that Whaley gave them NOTHING, nada, zilch which smells like a controversy. He answered to the extent that he can, maintained composure despite constant repeated questions and did not get baited into letting any inside knowledge slip. The media is just not used to being so skillfully stonewalled. I think this was a highly competent and professional performance by Whaley similar to a public company's CEO's year-end financial report to Wall Street. Statement of as much fact as is required and nothing else. As there was nothing he said which could be spun into a controversy, these guys are now creating their own by professing outrage.

[Nanker]

All the "dysfunction" noise means nothing to me. The Buffalo media has an unusual amount of reporters whose job is to give their opinion. Too many (in my opinion!). It's obvious that Pegs fired Rex because his defense stunk and they were a loosey goosey club with no discipline. Pegs and the rest of the front office don't feel the need to explain every nuance of the firing to the media. They also don't want to explain all the behind the scenes dealings with Tyrod's contract.

 

I'm ok with this. Just get the next coaching hire right and please keep Tyrod here until you have someone better.

 

One thing to keep in mind is you have two people (Terry and Whaley) who aren't very good at off the cuff answers and speaking to the media. That makes it seem like they don't know what they're doing or don't have a plan.

Seriously. Terry comes off as not being very articulate and many people take that as a sign of lack of intelligence. If I were him, I'd hire a public speech tutor or firm to learn how to make his public appearances less cringe worthy. That, or because it's so uncomfortable to be in public, I'd be very reclusive. But that would be a mistake, and frankly one that I think he's already making.

[4merper4mer]

This is the sane thread?

 

So, everything is OK at OBD then? It's just a nasty local media-driven vendetta? All of the dysfunction that is playing out right in front of us isn't really dysfunction - it's just the media telling us it's dysfunction. OBD didn't do this, Sully did. wow.

 

We hired a big personality HC that draws attention no matter where he goes...and we fired him in 2 years with an obviously divided FO 1 game before the season ends, benching our starting QB and installing an interim. We play an abysmal game including a bizarre special teams disaster. The locals get the same old Bills feeling watching the coaching carousel fire up yet again. No sign that there is a tight process for managing the transition into another regime, just the opposite. Then we get mad when anyone in the media dares to wonder (skeptically) who is running this thing? So they appropriately go to the General freaking Manager and he lies and plays politics while looking ridiculous and treating the media like it's not their place to ask. That level of sh-t show, as it should, draws in the national media.

 

The FO did that all by themselves. It's not just picking on poor little Buffalo.

 

People here are faulting the local media (that has been covering failure after failure for the entire stretch of our drought) for calling what's walking and quacking like a duck in front of the entire country....a duck.

 

 

A gaffe on a kickoff in a meaningless game is now a sign of organizational dysfunction?

 

The media knew the answers to every question they asked, outside of the dramatic real housewives type questions, before they asked in the PC. The organizational structure had been disclosed for two years. They had the general answers and asked for largely irrelevant specific answers.

 

Whaley could have shown them recordings of every conversation at OBD for the last two years, or he could have sat silently and not uttered a word. Either of those or anything in between would have been met with harsh criticism. The reason is that the local reporters feel frozen out. They should because they are. But they also earned it, and like children are stomping their feet and holding their breath to get their way instead of using a little introspection.

 

The Bills deserve some tough questions to be sure. But needing to know the specifics of how a coach was let go is just dumb. Can you imagine if Bellichick fired a coordinator and was asked questions on the specifics of the conversation that took place at the firing? Would anyone even ask? We all know the answer he'd give which is the answer Whaley should have given: "Next question". What the local press is really harping on, whether they even know it or not, is Whaley's public speaking skills. If he fixes those and becomes the world's greatest orator, does that mean the Bills will be champs? If not, does it mean the Bills are doomed?

 

These reporters are not good at their jobs and are not mature individuals. This left them with poorly thought out questions and a lacking ability to communicate them. Of course they are relegated to whining on twitter about all of it.

 

You correctly point out that the Bills have been out of the playoffs for a long time and that several of the reporters have been calling them failures during that time. Fine. But if as you state the Bills are a duck, why wouldn't the questions about their "duckishness" be focused on the future, like the coach search, a roster needs evaluation or other topics, rather than who said what about Rex being fired when? Those are the real questions. If the Bills find the next Knute Rockne and win 10 straight Superbowls or if they don't win a game in the next 10 years will depend far more on questions like that than whether Pegula told Whaley the intricate details of his firing conversation with Rex.

[The Crowing Rooster]

It's all a bunch of bs to sell newspapers and to get broadcast ratings and who better to pick on than Buffalo.

[Mr. WEO]

 

The media is full of petty people who have a vendetta against the Bills and the Pegula's and use every opportunity to show it. Then they wonder why true professional's like John Wawrow are the one's getting the interviews and the breaking stories. Is it not strange to anyone else that local beat reporters are almost NEVER the ones to break a Bills story? How the hell does Maneesh Mehta, a New York Jets beat reporter break a story about Sammy being out for an extended period of tim and not one of the people surrounding the team??

 

Maybe if they'd stop looking for things to dig up and make up they'd actually see what was really happening and report on it instead of giving their one sided conjecture that is laughably wrong most times and obviously bitter...

 

 

So Manish Mehta writes "Rex Ryan was kicked to the curb by a clueless owner of a lost franchise in a bitter place"---and the Bills give him the inside info because the Buffalo press is "bitter"?

 

Solid point.

[Nanker]

Calling someone else bitter after posting that nonsense? Very ironic.

You called me out personally sport. And you're still doing it. I was very generic with my comments till you mouthed off. I'm not at all bitter, but people like you are turning this site into a cesspool.

[hondo in seattle]

Meanwhile in SD, the HC did report to the GM. The GM recommended to the owner that the HC not be fired, and the owner fired him anyway. Then the GM held the press conference with the owners son and pretended he wasn't just railroaded out of his decision making power.

 

This can't be true. Buffalo has a monopoly on dysfunction. Just ask the BN.

[filthymcnasty08]

There isn't ONE answer that they wanted. No matter what he said, he was going to get ripped. If Whaley was flawless in the pc they wouldn't have anything to cry about. It was going to happen no matter what he said. He wasn't that bad imo. Not sure what a guy is supposed to say.

 

Regarding the firing of Rex. I'm sure he and pegs talked and were on the same page of firing Rex after the season. Then Rex demanded that tyrod would start vs the jets in his private meeting with pegs and he was fired. Whaley didn't know Rex was going to be fired during the meeting. Is he going to tell the world that? No. There's a chance tyrod is still a part of this team next year. His name shouldn't have been mentioned and it wasn't.

 

The media can go **** themselves. They're ruining sports.

 

Please explain how the front office is obviously divided?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Please explain how the front office is in any way cohesive and non-dysfunctional.

 

Thanks in advance

[zow2]

Seriously. Terry comes off as not being very articulate and many people take that as a sign of lack of intelligence. If I were him, I'd hire a public speech tutor or firm to learn how to make his public appearances less cringe worthy. That, or because it's so uncomfortable to be in public, I'd be very reclusive. But that would be a mistake, and frankly one that I think he's already making.

 

That would be a good idea but the man is 65. Let's face it, people don't change at that age. They are what they are. Terry is doing best by issuing public statements in writing. Unless he is announcing a new building project or buying a team, he's better served by not standing in public having to answer difficult questions off the cuff. And I respect him for understanding this because he is an awful public speaker.

[filthymcnasty08]

 

 

A gaffe on a kickoff in a meaningless game is now a sign of organizational dysfunction?

 

The media knew the answers to every question they asked, outside of the dramatic real housewives type questions, before they asked in the PC. The organizational structure had been disclosed for two years. They had the general answers and asked for largely irrelevant specific answers.

 

Whaley could have shown them recordings of every conversation at OBD for the last two years, or he could have sat silently and not uttered a word. Either of those or anything in between would have been met with harsh criticism. The reason is that the local reporters feel frozen out. They should because they are. But they also earned it, and like children are stomping their feet and holding their breath to get their way instead of using a little introspection.

 

The Bills deserve some tough questions to be sure. But needing to know the specifics of how a coach was let go is just dumb. Can you imagine if Bellichick fired a coordinator and was asked questions on the specifics of the conversation that took place at the firing? Would anyone even ask? We all know the answer he'd give which is the answer Whaley should have given: "Next question". What the local press is really harping on, whether they even know it or not, is Whaley's public speaking skills. If he fixes those and becomes the world's greatest orator, does that mean the Bills will be champs? If not, does it mean the Bills are doomed?

 

These reporters are not good at their jobs and are not mature individuals. This left them with poorly thought out questions and a lacking ability to communicate them. Of course they are relegated to whining on twitter about all of it.

 

You correctly point out that the Bills have been out of the playoffs for a long time and that several of the reporters have been calling them failures during that time. Fine. But if as you state the Bills are a duck, why wouldn't the questions about their "duckishness" be focused on the future, like the coach search, a roster needs evaluation or other topics, rather than who said what about Rex being fired when? Those are the real questions. If the Bills find the next Knute Rockne and win 10 straight Superbowls or if they don't win a game in the next 10 years will depend far more on questions like that than whether Pegula told Whaley the intricate details of his firing conversation with Rex.

 

No - a gaffe on a kickoff was the perfect cherry on top of a complete yard sale.

 

I cannot help but to completely disagree with you. I live in the NYC area and have had the *pleasure* of watching the NY media take coach, player, GM and even owners to the woodshed for such matters for decades. If a front office is not coming correct on a benching, firing, management decision, play call, player gaffe, etc. you bet it's going to be dissected with lasers until the next news matter knocks it off the back pages as they say. The media coverage of the Jets during the Rex/Idzik/Woody/horrible record/pathetic QBing couple of years puts this matter to shame.

 

This wasn't the firing of a coordinator. It was an unorthodox firing of a very public HC and an extremely poor (and also unorthodox) method of explanation of the events leading to it.

 

It's not the Buffalo media.

[FireChan]

You called me out personally sport. And you're still doing it. I was very generic with my comments till you mouthed off. I'm not at all bitter, but people like you are turning this site into a cesspool.

Very generic about a large group of posters on the board.

 

I'm gonna clue you in on a little secret. You know what wrecks the board? Making sweeping generalizations about folks who disagree with you. "All the Pegula haters," "All the OBD apologists," etc etc are stupid, immature, dumb, blind in zeal what have you, which constitutes an attack on anyone who holds that view point.

 

People like me turning this place into a cesspool? What's your ratio of football posts to posts shitting on the board or posters? Has to be at least 1:3. Here's a tip. If you are just going to post about how much you hate posters on the board and how it sucks, maybe try to cut it out of your life. You're clearly unhappy and maybe you need a change.

Edited January 4, 2017 by FireChan

[NewEra]

Please explain how the front office is in any way cohesive and non-dysfunctional.

 

Thanks in advance

Thought so. I ask a question. You don't answer, but ask another question. You made a statement that they are "obviously dysfunctional". I asked you why are they dysfunctional

 

I'll answer your question because I can. Whaley knew Rex was going to be fired. There's no question about it. He didn't know the impromptu meeting Rex asked for would lead to his firing due to him not agreeing to bench tyrod. The FO decided that tyrod would sit and Rex wouldn't sit him. So he was fired. Is whaley going to say that in his PC? Only an idiot would. There's still a possibilty of tyrod being our qb next year. Only an idiot gym would tell the media that.

 

What else is so "dysfunctional"? That they hired Rex? Or maybe that's just a bad decision? I'll wait

Edited January 4, 2017 by NewEra

[dave mcbride]

Rex reported directly to the owner. Whaley was not in full command of the organization. Is this really any different than in many places in some for or another? Do people really think the GM just sits back and signs and drafts whatever players he feels like without the input of the HC? How many owners just sit back and let the GM pick the HC without final say?

Organizations almost never have a purely vertical structure any more. They are blends of horizontal and vertical reporting often with dyads forming a team for decision making. There are few if any decisions that can and should be made by one person.

The Bills are far from dysfunctional when in comes to organizational structure. The media is just using an antiquated lens to look at the organization. You can argue/debate that the people in the organization may not be qualified to make these decisions but there is nothing wrong with have a GM/HC dyad structure of management. There really are very few decisions from player personnel, the draft, free agency, or final roster make-up that can't be made by consensus.

All this media huff will blow over. This is more about them living in the past than it is about the Bills.

Take Polian for instance. He had all the power in Indianapolis and year after year he let the talent get worse propped up only by Peyton Manning. He should be the last guy telling people how to run a modern organization.

 

This just isn't true. The greatest myth about those Colts teams was that they were low-talent after Manning. They had tons of talent: Edgerrin James, Wayne, Harrison, Freeney, Mathis, Bob Sanders, Dallas Clark, and a bunch of good o-linemen. James, Wayne, Harrison, Freeney, and Mathis are all viable HOF candidates. Manning was great, but it takes more than one guy for a team to go 138-54 over 12 seasons. In those 12 seasons, they had 5 top ten seasons in defensive points allowed and finished #1 overall in one of those seasons.

 

Polian did a PHENOMENAL job in Indy. It didn't end well, but a dozen years of sustained success is great.

Edited January 4, 2017 by dave mcbride

[quinnearlysghost88]

Whoever heard of getting so riled up over press conferences and reporting structures. Everyone knew Rex had to go. Everyone knew that Tyrod was sitting a meaningless game due to injury risk. I don't understand the ire over any of this. Just a lot of sound and fury.

it's how it was handled. and it's about all of the confusion about roles and who's making what decisions. everyone is shirking responsibility. i didn't hire him i didnt fire him i didn't make the call to sit Tyrod, i wasn't aware we were firing the HC. What?

[dave mcbride]

I think the media people are all incredibly upset that Whaley gave them NOTHING, nada, zilch which smells like a controversy. He answered to the extent that he can, maintained composure despite constant repeated questions and did not get baited into letting any inside knowledge slip. The media is just not used to being so skillfully stonewalled. I think this was a highly competent and professional performance by Whaley similar to a public company's CEO's year-end financial report to Wall Street. Statement of as much fact as is required and nothing else. As there was nothing he said which could be spun into a controversy, these guys are now creating their own by professing outrage.

Whaley went up there and flat-out lied about being in the dark about Rex. Even those reporters who are sympathetic to Pegula (they exist, although not at the news) know this. There's a reason Pegs gave an interview afterward to one of those reporters.

Edited January 4, 2017 by dave mcbride

[wakingfane]

I agree

[NewEra]

it's how it was handled. and it's about all of the confusion about roles and who's making what decisions. everyone is shirking responsibility. i didn't hire him i didnt fire him i didn't make the call to sit Tyrod, i wasn't aware we were firing the HC. What?

 

Whaley knew Rex was getting fired. He didn't know Rex would refuse to sit tyrod and that that would lead to extra getting fired during a meeting he had requested. The Rex/Pegs meeting was scheduled. He refused to do as the FO asked. He was fired. Whaley didn't know Rex was going to get fired during the meeting that wasn't scheduled by the FO. What's he going to say? Anything truthful answer would have to include the benching of tyrod. Why would he mention tyrod when there's a chance he's our QB next season? Can you imagine what the media would say if tyrod said name was brought up? Geez. It's common sense people.

[4merper4mer]

 

No - a gaffe on a kickoff was the perfect cherry on top of a complete yard sale.

 

I cannot help but to completely disagree with you. I live in the NYC area and have had the *pleasure* of watching the NY media take coach, player, GM and even owners to the woodshed for such matters for decades. If a front office is not coming correct on a benching, firing, management decision, play call, player gaffe, etc. you bet it's going to be dissected with lasers until the next news matter knocks it off the back pages as they say. The media coverage of the Jets during the Rex/Idzik/Woody/horrible record/pathetic QBing couple of years puts this matter to shame.

 

This wasn't the firing of a coordinator. It was an unorthodox firing of a very public HC and an extremely poor (and also unorthodox) method of explanation of the events leading to it.

 

It's not the Buffalo media.

 

 

Well Bellicihick can't really fire his head coach now can he? That's why I used coordinator as an example.

 

How was the firing unorthodox in any way shape manner or form. Rex asked where he stood, was told by his boss, and it was agreed that coaching another week was not useful to either party. Sounds about as orthodox as a firing can get really.

 

I would agree that the method of explanation was unorthodox. It would have been fine to say "it was mutually agreed that it would be better to terminate the relationship a week early" and have that be the end of it. Whaley would have been better off simply not addressing the specific questions at all because no matter how he answered, the media would have ripped it apart. He could have told the story of the Angel Gabriel descending into the room and telling Rex, Whaley and Pegula to move on, shown a film of it and that would not have been enough.

 

The media is Buffalo are not the cause of the Bills being 7-9 and they aren't the cause of the playoff drought. They are the cause of this dust up and it is because they are not good at their job. They have shown no ability to:

 

Use the facts that are already established to filter their questions ahead of time

Pick a goal of getting a specific set of information and craft their questions to meet that goal

Developing a long term relationship with OBD that lends itself to relatively open communication

[Nanker]

 

That would be a good idea but the man is 65. Let's face it, people don't change at that age. They are what they are. Terry is doing best by issuing public statements in writing. Unless he is announcing a new building project or buying a team, he's better served by not standing in public having to answer difficult questions off the cuff. And I respect him for understanding this because he is an awful public speaker.

Not necessarily true. There are public relations companies that specialize in coaching public speaking for CEOs and other corporate executives.

 

Very generic about a large group of posters on the board.

 

I'm gonna clue you in on a little secret. You know what wrecks the board? Making sweeping generalizations about folks who disagree with you. "All the Pegula haters," "All the OBD apologists," etc etc are stupid, immature, dumb, blind in zeal what have you, which constitutes an attack on anyone who holds that view point.

 

People like me turning this place into a cesspool? What's your ratio of football posts to posts shitting on the board or posters? Has to be at least 1:3. Here's a tip. If you are just going to post about how much you hate posters on the board and how it sucks, maybe try to cut it out of your life. You're clearly unhappy and maybe you need a change.

Wow man. Just wow. You are deranged. It's crap like what you just spewed that made me trim my football posts long ago. Take a chill pill, and WRT your "quotes", don't generalize about my posts either. I'm not Promo, and you're not God.