Don't understand all the fuss about Whaley and Pegs

[Dan]

This contradiction just blew up right in your face.

 

You can't say Whaley did a great job by using scripted answers designed to get through a press conference without doing any damage as your example when Whaley's scripted answers set off a dumpster fire as big as anything we've seen in recent years!

You forgot one key word that I said. ....usually.

 

Public Relations people develop these say nothing answers and talking points, then instruct you to go back to them at every possible opportunity. The end result is nothing new is let out and nothing bad is said. And..usually..the media peoples will walk away thinking what a waste. For a variety of reasons, this time, they circled the wagons and went for Whaley's head afterward.

 

But if you listen to what he said... He gave no indication of dysfunction, as others have said... Rex did not report to Whaley; he reported to Pegs. So why is it dysfunctional for Whaley to not know what Pegs and Rex talked about? He gave no indication that Russ was in any way involved or would be in the new search. Yet, people are still bringing his name up as being involved. And so on.

 

I'm not saying Whaley did a great job because he answered all the questions and clarified the machinations at OBD. I'm suggesting that he said exactly what was instructed by the PR dept, which is his job in this situation. The fact that it has blowed up into all this dumpster fire talk, IMO, is people projecting the past onto the present and being stirred by a media core that are loving the added interest by it all.

[Fan in Chicago]

You forgot one key word that I said. ....usually.

 

Public Relations people develop these say nothing answers and talking points, then instruct you to go back to them at every possible opportunity. The end result is nothing new is let out and nothing bad is said. And..usually..the media peoples will walk away thinking what a waste. For a variety of reasons, this time, they circled the wagons and went for Whaley's head afterward.

 

But if you listen to what he said... He gave no indication of dysfunction, as others have said... Rex did not report to Whaley; he reported to Pegs. So why is it dysfunctional for Whaley to not know what Pegs and Rex talked about? He gave no indication that Russ was in any way involved or would be in the new search. Yet, people are still bringing his name up as being involved. And so on.

 

I'm not saying Whaley did a great job because he answered all the questions and clarified the machinations at OBD. I'm suggesting that he said exactly what was instructed by the PR dept, which is his job in this situation. The fact that it has blowed up into all this dumpster fire talk, IMO, is people projecting the past onto the present and being stirred by a media core that are loving the added interest by it all.

 

Excellent post.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

You forgot one key word that I said. ....usually.

 

Public Relations people develop these say nothing answers and talking points, then instruct you to go back to them at every possible opportunity. The end result is nothing new is let out and nothing bad is said. And..usually..the media peoples will walk away thinking what a waste. For a variety of reasons, this time, they circled the wagons and went for Whaley's head afterward.

 

But if you listen to what he said... He gave no indication of dysfunction, as others have said... Rex did not report to Whaley; he reported to Pegs. So why is it dysfunctional for Whaley to not know what Pegs and Rex talked about? He gave no indication that Russ was in any way involved or would be in the new search. Yet, people are still bringing his name up as being involved. And so on.

 

I'm not saying Whaley did a great job because he answered all the questions and clarified the machinations at OBD. I'm suggesting that he said exactly what was instructed by the PR dept, which is his job in this situation. The fact that it has blowed up into all this dumpster fire talk, IMO, is people projecting the past onto the present and being stirred by a media core that are loving the added interest by it all.

 

If Whaley's presser was scripted by the PR department, then the scriptwriter needs to be fired because it was bad, and it would still be bad if the press corps as a whole had behaved in a more professional fashion.

 

While the reporters are sh**s for acting like it's news Rex reported to Pegula, not Whaley, and that Pegula was the only person with firing authority over Rex, the way Whaley responded to follow up questions made him look dumb or powerless. He may have responded with the literal truth - that he didn't know Pegula was about to fire Rex (that week), that he and Pegula may never have discussed firing Rex (because he expected to discuss it in a week, at the end of the season), that he wasn't specifically told why Pegula fired Rex and didn't ask or think about it (at the time of the call). But the literal truth made him look out of the loop with ownership, peon-like, or dishonest.

 

There's no way around it: for a non-football owner to fire the coach who reports to him without consulting the GM beforehand and telling him why, makes the GM look weak and low in the owner's regard. I think that's not the case at all. I think the reason Pegula didn't consult Whaley or explain is that Pegula has had plenty of input from Whaley into Rex's coaching and the team's performance through weekly Monday calls and real-time reactions during the game (whether this constitutes "throwing the coach under the bus" or open and candid two-way feedback about performance with Pegula receiving the same about Whaley from Rex, one really can't know without being in the room). Whaley didn't ask Pegula "why?", if we take him at his word, because he most likely already knew how Pegula felt; the timing, not the firing, was a surprise. Pegula didn't ask Whaley "should I?" because he felt he already had enough input to know Whaley's take. It may be true that no actual decision had been made or communicated and no actual discussion "should we fire the coach" took place. But to issue that script without caveats or explanations, as Whaley did, strains everyone's belief.

 

Bottom line, if Whaley followed a script (which he probably did, question is who wrote it - did he, or did a PR guy?) the script made Pegula look meddling and/or inappropriately incommunicative to his football subordinates and made Whaley look out of the loop, relatively powerless, and/or dishonest. All of those choices are dysfunctional, and most are probably not true (Whaley IS relatively powerless for an NFL GM, but that's not at all unique). Relatively small changes to the script could have influenced that look - for example, if Whaley acknowledged while he may not have known Rex was in imminent danger of being fired, he did know Pegula was seriously unhappy with the football team's performance and the coaching through weekly calls and game-time reactions.

 

All this said, I'm not absolving the press for their behavior during that press conference. There were many fair questions, asked politely, but there were also rude questions, a real or pretend lack of knowledge about publicly-disclosed Bills org structure, and statements (based on leaks, but assumed as true) in place of questions. Whaley (unintentionally, I assume) made himself look like prey, the lame caribou at the back of the herd. The reporters didn't have to embrace the wolf-pack look in response.

 

The result of all this is, the Pegulas basically HAVE to be in the room for all the coaching interviews now, because any candidate worth his salt is going to want to hear directly from them their thoughts on the power structure and lines of communication and he's going to want that info pretty much up front.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Hapless Bills Fan

[eliteqb]

Unfortunately, there is a dumpster fire and its at The Buffalo News and their mud slinging sports journalists. What a bunch of crybabies they are. They have an agenda and its not pro Bills.

[Dan]

If Whaley's presser was scripted by the PR department, then the scriptwriter needs to be fired because it was bad, and it would still be bad if the press corps as a whole had behaved in a more professional fashion.

 

While the reporters are sh**s for acting like it's news Rex reported to Pegula, not Whaley, and that Pegula was the only person with firing authority over Rex, the way Whaley responded to follow up questions made him look dumb or powerless. He may have responded with the literal truth - that he didn't know Pegula was about to fire Rex (that week), that he and Pegula may never have discussed firing Rex (because he expected to discuss it in a week, at the end of the season), that he wasn't specifically told why Pegula fired Rex and didn't ask or think about it (at the time of the call). But the literal truth made him look out of the loop with ownership, peon-like, or dishonest.

 

There's no way around it: for a non-football owner to fire the coach who reports to him without consulting the GM beforehand and telling him why, makes the GM look weak and low in the owner's regard. I think that's not the case at all. I think the reason Pegula didn't consult Whaley or explain is that Pegula has had plenty of input from Whaley into Rex's coaching and the team's performance through weekly Monday calls and real-time reactions during the game (whether this constitutes "throwing the coach under the bus" or open and candid two-way feedback about performance with Pegula receiving the same about Whaley from Rex, one really can't know without being in the room). Whaley didn't ask Pegula "why?", if we take him at his word, because he most likely already knew how Pegula felt; the timing, not the firing, was a surprise. Pegula didn't ask Whaley "should I?" because he felt he already had enough input to know Whaley's take. It may be true that no actual decision had been made or communicated and no actual discussion "should we fire the coach" took place. But to issue that script without caveats or explanations, as Whaley did, strains everyone's belief.

 

Bottom line, if Whaley followed a script (which he probably did, question is who wrote it - did he, or did a PR guy?) the script made Pegula look meddling and/or inappropriately incommunicative to his football subordinates and made Whaley look out of the loop, relatively powerless, and/or dishonest. All of those choices are dysfunctional, and most are probably not true (Whaley IS relatively powerless for an NFL GM, but that's not at all unique). Relatively small changes to the script could have influenced that look - for example, if Whaley acknowledged while he may not have known Rex was in imminent danger of being fired, he did know Pegula was seriously unhappy with the football team's performance and the coaching through weekly calls and game-time reactions.

 

All this said, I'm not absolving the press for their behavior during that press conference. There were many fair questions, asked politely, but there were also rude questions, a real or pretend lack of knowledge about publicly-disclosed Bills org structure, and statements (based on leaks, but assumed as true) in place of questions. Whaley (unintentionally, I assume) made himself look like prey, the lame caribou at the back of the herd. The reporters didn't have to embrace the wolf-pack look in response.

 

The result of all this is, the Pegulas basically HAVE to be in the room for all the coaching interviews now, because any candidate worth his salt is going to want to hear directly from them their thoughts on the power structure and lines of communication and he's going to want that info pretty much up front.

I don't diagree with most of what you've said. The person(s) prepping Whaley didn't do a good job. As an organization, they all under estimated the degree to which the press and public were going to jump on this firing. I think they started to realize that and had to have the owners actually come out and respond. And it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn in a month that there's new PR people in place within the organization.

 

With all that, though, I still just don't see how this all makes Whaley look so diminutive. In the interview, it would be extremely easy to say... That is how our organizational structure was; because of A, B, C. This is how it will be going forward. And you have team Pegs there to say, yep that's right. End of discussion as far as the HC candidate is concerned. Of course, the media will ask the new guy all sorts of questions about who he reports to and if there's any issues with the owner and they probably won't like his canned answers either... But we can all argue over that in another month

[TheFunPolice]

Maybe Pegula is just letting Whaley hang out for the 3-13 season that is to come if they have no QB and let some guys walk. Then next year he will have a top 3 pick and can go get someone he really wants as GM.

 

He did something similar with Darcy. Darcy was dead man walking here for what seemed like forever, while Pegula was planning his replacement.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

I don't diagree with most of what you've said. The person(s) prepping Whaley didn't do a good job. As an organization, they all under estimated the degree to which the press and public were going to jump on this firing. I think they started to realize that and had to have the owners actually come out and respond. And it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn in a month that there's new PR people in place within the organization.

 

With all that, though, I still just don't see how this all makes Whaley look so diminutive. In the interview, it would be extremely easy to say... That is how our organizational structure was; because of A, B, C. This is how it will be going forward. And you have team Pegs there to say, yep that's right. End of discussion as far as the HC candidate is concerned. Of course, the media will ask the new guy all sorts of questions about who he reports to and if there's any issues with the owner and they probably won't like his canned answers either... But we can all argue over that in another month

 

You don't see that if you're the GM and running the football operations, even if the HC reports in parallel to you to the owner, stating that you had no prior knowledge of major football decision (firing the HC) makes it look as though your input was not sought, and stating that you didn't ask why, you just took your marching orders and marched, makes you look like a peon, working for an owner who expects that behavior instead of expecting understanding and buy-in?

 

I don't disagree that it's a situation that can be managed through the interview process, but managing it requires the Pegulas to be in the room, because Whaley made it clear he doesn't stop the buck. And it may put some HC candidates off. I once interviewed for a position where it became clear that many decisions were made, not by the guy who would be my boss or by my bosses' boss, but 2 levels up, and that my boss had regularly bypassed his boss to make his case directly two levels up on several occasions (these weren't huge decisions, but decisions that would have been made at a lower level in many organizations). It was an interesting job, but I decided the lines of decision-making authority were too muddled for me to be comfortable, so I passed.

Maybe Pegula is just letting Whaley hang out for the 3-13 season that is to come if they have no QB and let some guys walk. Then next year he will have a top 3 pick and can go get someone he really wants as GM.

 

He did something similar with Darcy. Darcy was dead man walking here for what seemed like forever, while Pegula was planning his replacement.

 

That might be so, but if it is, Pegula should learn from experience and would be much better served to just get rid of Whaley and get on with the double replacement. Cutting Taylor without a replacement online would be sufficient to tank, as would potential retirements or loss of a few key replacements on the other side of the ball who might not be happy at things being blown up, and it would give the new guys a chance to thoroughly evaluate who's left and a year to have their scouts build their draft board instead of doing it in a scramble next January.

 

Despite the relative lack of national media furor, it really isn't a good look for the 49ers to fire 2 HC and now the GM in a year.

[Dan]

You don't see that if you're the GM and running the football operations, even if the HC reports in parallel to you to the owner, stating that you had no prior knowledge of major football decision (firing the HC) makes it look as though your input was not sought, and stating that you didn't ask why, you just took your marching orders and marched, makes you look like a peon, working for an owner who expects that behavior instead of expecting understanding and buy-in?

 

I don't disagree that it's a situation that can be managed through the interview process, but managing it requires the Pegulas to be in the room, because Whaley made it clear he doesn't stop the buck. And it may put some HC candidates off. I once interviewed for a position where it became clear that many decisions were made, not by the guy who would be my boss or by my bosses' boss, but 2 levels up, and that my boss had regularly bypassed his boss to make his case directly two levels up on several occasions (these weren't huge decisions, but decisions that would have been made at a lower level in many organizations). It was an interesting job, but I decided the lines of decision-making authority were too muddled for me to be comfortable, so I passed.

 

That might be so, but if it is, Pegula should learn from experience and would be much better served to just get rid of Whaley and get on with the double replacement. Cutting Taylor without a replacement online would be sufficient to tank, as would potential retirements or loss of a few key replacements on the other side of the ball who might not be happy at things being blown up, and it would give the new guys a chance to thoroughly evaluate who's left and a year to have their scouts build their draft board instead of doing it in a scramble next January.

 

Despite the relative lack of national media furor, it really isn't a good look for the 49ers to fire 2 HC and now the GM in a year.

Did he report in parallel to Whaley and the owner? Honestly, I don't know. Nor do I think it matters in the end. If one of the people under me, went and talked directly to the owner of the company ans walked out of that meeting fired, I don't see it as a reflection on me. And even if I did talk to my boss and find out why he fired them, I wouldn't tell anyone else. Its none of their business. Maybe I'd have a better line than Whaley used. But either way... To focus on the what they did or didn't know, when they knew it, whatever... Is all sideshow blather. I totally agree with Whaley... Let's focus on finding a new HC and winning.

 

People can say the press doesn't impact the decisions or the process, but they do. Like I said, I deal with the press and public opinion all the time. And when you have to spend the majority of your time and energy answering periphery questions and accustations and trying to refute completely made up claims... All because a realtively small number of people are shouting at you. It does affect your work, what you're doing, and how successful you can be. This is all a distraction. That's all it is. And if a HC candidate buys into this distraction, then I wouldn't want to hire him any way.

[Tenhigh]

 

If Whaley's presser was scripted by the PR department, then the scriptwriter needs to be fired because it was bad, and it would still be bad if the press corps as a whole had behaved in a more professional fashion.

 

While the reporters are sh**s for acting like it's news Rex reported to Pegula, not Whaley, and that Pegula was the only person with firing authority over Rex, the way Whaley responded to follow up questions made him look dumb or powerless. He may have responded with the literal truth - that he didn't know Pegula was about to fire Rex (that week), that he and Pegula may never have discussed firing Rex (because he expected to discuss it in a week, at the end of the season), that he wasn't specifically told why Pegula fired Rex and didn't ask or think about it (at the time of the call). But the literal truth made him look out of the loop with ownership, peon-like, or dishonest.

For me its the parts in parentheses above that are the key to this whole thing. People that are too lazy to infer them are "outraged by the tire fire". Those that did infer them are not. Its that simple imho.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Tenhigh

[Wayne Arnold]

You forgot one key word that I said. ....usually.

 

Public Relations people develop these say nothing answers and talking points, then instruct you to go back to them at every possible opportunity. The end result is nothing new is let out and nothing bad is said. And..usually..the media peoples will walk away thinking what a waste. For a variety of reasons, this time, they circled the wagons and went for Whaley's head afterward.

 

But if you listen to what he said... He gave no indication of dysfunction, as others have said... Rex did not report to Whaley; he reported to Pegs. So why is it dysfunctional for Whaley to not know what Pegs and Rex talked about? He gave no indication that Russ was in any way involved or would be in the new search. Yet, people are still bringing his name up as being involved. And so on.

 

I'm not saying Whaley did a great job because he answered all the questions and clarified the machinations at OBD. I'm suggesting that he said exactly what was instructed by the PR dept, which is his job in this situation. The fact that it has blowed up into all this dumpster fire talk, IMO, is people projecting the past onto the present and being stirred by a media core that are loving the added interest by it all.

 

I agree with you that the "dysfunction" reports are overblown and a result of emotionally-charged rants from the frustrated Buffalo News sports reporters.

 

However, that doesn't mean Whaley did a "great job." Far from it. You don't want to use those "say nothing answers" when all they do is ignite flames. "Ownership issued a statement." "I wasn't privy to that information." Those answers may have seemed like "say nothing answers" to Whaley and the Bills before the press conference, but they were far from that. They helped build a perception of incompetence.

 

And that's not even mentioning Whaley's passive aggressive "media narrative" takes.

[bklnpete]

Whaley in his presser on Tyrod decison:

 

"You got to understand it’s going to be a decision by myself and ownership along with the new head coach, so we have to finalize that part of the script before we can write the end of it," Whaley said. "So it’s going to be part of the evaluation process along with everybody else on the team. Our new coaching staff’s going to come in and evaluate every single player on this roster."

 

TBN just a couple hours ago:

 

"Buffalo is instead planning to move on from Taylor, despite the fact that their scoring has increased dramatically since he arrived," Schefter wrote on ESPN.com.

The Bills would also be doing this despite Whaley saying on Monday the Bills wouldn't make a decision on Taylor's future without the input of their new coach.

Damn Buffalo media...always focusing on the negative! They have a vendetta against One Bills Drive!

[Meathead]

 

where have you been brother?

 

like i said, just spending time elsewhere. ive been lurking all this time, i really like the convos here and especially the sense of humor you guys have

 

ive moved on from the other places so i should be here more often now

You forgot one key word that I said. ....usually.

 

Public Relations people develop these say nothing answers and talking points, then instruct you to go back to them at every possible opportunity. The end result is nothing new is let out and nothing bad is said. And..usually..the media peoples will walk away thinking what a waste. For a variety of reasons, this time, they circled the wagons and went for Whaley's head afterward.

 

But if you listen to what he said... He gave no indication of dysfunction, as others have said... Rex did not report to Whaley; he reported to Pegs. So why is it dysfunctional for Whaley to not know what Pegs and Rex talked about? He gave no indication that Russ was in any way involved or would be in the new search. Yet, people are still bringing his name up as being involved. And so on.

 

I'm not saying Whaley did a great job because he answered all the questions and clarified the machinations at OBD. I'm suggesting that he said exactly what was instructed by the PR dept, which is his job in this situation. The fact that it has blowed up into all this dumpster fire talk, IMO, is people projecting the past onto the present and being stirred by a media core that are loving the added interest by it all.

 

excellent

 

this is what i said before terry gave that last short interview:

 

if you filter out all the cloak and dagger bullcrap it doesnt seem all that hard to figure out what really happened

 

the pegulas came in and immediately had to hire a head coach. they interviewed a bunch of candidates and when they got to rex the pegulas became infatuated. against the advice of whaley they decided to go with kim's 'gut feel'

 

two years later they realize their mistake and set to correct it. whaley cant say much bc hes in a no win situation - if he says he didnt want rex he makes his bosses look bad, and if he says it was his call then hes setting him and his bosses up to be called liars if/when the truth comes out. so he basically just tries to keep his head down, reveal minimal details, and hope to get through it without worsening an already ticklish situation. hence his totally sheepish look through this whole thing

 

having made the mistake themselves, the pegulas tell whaley they will take care of rex and they dont want doug falling on his sword for them. this is why doug isnt involved in the discussions with rex recently and since he doesnt know exactly whats going on he doesnt want to speculate or risk mucking things up worse. they plan to wait until after the season but rex gets pissed after they overrule him on starting tyrod, so rex asks to speak privately to terry to ask am i or am i not the coach? terry says hes grown uncomfortable with the direction the team is heading and rex says well you might as well do it now, so he does

 

no dysfunction, no fued between the hc and gm, no russ brandon manipulating an altzheimers suffering terry. just a new owner making a mistake and them trying to fix the natural fallout that results

[ndirish1978]

Whaley in his presser on Tyrod decison:

 

"You got to understand it’s going to be a decision by myself and ownership along with the new head coach, so we have to finalize that part of the script before we can write the end of it," Whaley said. "So it’s going to be part of the evaluation process along with everybody else on the team. Our new coaching staff’s going to come in and evaluate every single player on this roster."

 

TBN just a couple hours ago:

 

"Buffalo is instead planning to move on from Taylor, despite the fact that their scoring has increased dramatically since he arrived," Schefter wrote on ESPN.com.

The Bills would also be doing this despite Whaley saying on Monday the Bills wouldn't make a decision on Taylor's future without the input of their new coach.

Damn Buffalo media...always focusing on the negative! They have a vendetta against One Bills Drive!

 

Have we cut TT and I didn't notice?

[Fixxxer]

 

like i said, just spending time elsewhere. ive been lurking all this time, i really like the convos here and especially the sense of humor you guys have

 

ive moved on from the other places so i should be here more often now

 

 

Good to hear.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Did he report in parallel to Whaley and the owner? Honestly, I don't know. Nor do I think it matters in the end. If one of the people under me, went and talked directly to the owner of the company ans walked out of that meeting fired, I don't see it as a reflection on me. And even if I did talk to my boss and find out why he fired them, I wouldn't tell anyone else. Its none of their business. Maybe I'd have a better line than Whaley used. But either way... To focus on the what they did or didn't know, when they knew it, whatever... Is all sideshow blather. I totally agree with Whaley... Let's focus on finding a new HC and winning.

 

People can say the press doesn't impact the decisions or the process, but they do. Like I said, I deal with the press and public opinion all the time. And when you have to spend the majority of your time and energy answering periphery questions and accustations and trying to refute completely made up claims... All because a realtively small number of people are shouting at you. It does affect your work, what you're doing, and how successful you can be. This is all a distraction. That's all it is. And if a HC candidate buys into this distraction, then I wouldn't want to hire him any way.

 

Dan: yes, Rex both reported to Pegula, as do Whaley and Rex Brandon (all three nominally same level, though Brandon has clearly been given more hats and responsibilities). I can't quarrel with the "wouldn't tell anyone else, it's non of their business", and I agree it's largely sideshow blather and a distraction/energy drain.

 

The part where rubber hits road for a HC coming in is, they want to know what will be their reporting structure, how the lines of authority run, how disagreements are handled and resolved, and so forth. If I were a HC candidate for one of 32 jobs in the world, it certainly wouldn't stop me from coming in and talking to folks, but it would raise a flag and cause me to question and listen more carefully, and sometimes when a candidate is in that "raised flag" mindset, they spook more easily. That's my point, really.

[PromoTheRobot]

 

Dan: yes, Rex both reported to Pegula, as do Whaley and Rex Brandon (all three nominally same level, though Brandon has clearly been given more hats and responsibilities). I can't quarrel with the "wouldn't tell anyone else, it's non of their business", and I agree it's largely sideshow blather and a distraction/energy drain.

 

The part where rubber hits road for a HC coming in is, they want to know what will be their reporting structure, how the lines of authority run, how disagreements are handled and resolved, and so forth. If I were a HC candidate for one of 32 jobs in the world, it certainly wouldn't stop me from coming in and talking to folks, but it would raise a flag and cause me to question and listen more carefully, and sometimes when a candidate is in that "raised flag" mindset, they spook more easily. That's my point, really.

So if Whaley says you answer to him, does the rest matter?

Whaley in his presser on Tyrod decison:

 

"You got to understand it’s going to be a decision by myself and ownership along with the new head coach, so we have to finalize that part of the script before we can write the end of it," Whaley said. "So it’s going to be part of the evaluation process along with everybody else on the team. Our new coaching staff’s going to come in and evaluate every single player on this roster."

 

TBN just a couple hours ago:

 

"Buffalo is instead planning to move on from Taylor, despite the fact that their scoring has increased dramatically since he arrived," Schefter wrote on ESPN.com.

The Bills would also be doing this despite Whaley saying on Monday the Bills wouldn't make a decision on Taylor's future without the input of their new coach.

Damn Buffalo media...always focusing on the negative! They have a vendetta against One Bills Drive!

 

The Buffalo News gives more credence to a reporter citing an unnamed source than the team's general manager. They should just come right out and say Doug Whaley is a liar, because that is what they are dancing around. The team doesn't have to decide anything until March 11. They are certainly not going to decide anything without a head coach in place. But the unnamed source trumps all that, doesn't it? For all we know that source is Rex Ryan.

Edited January 7, 2017 by PromoTheRobot

[What a Tuel]

So if Whaley says you answer to him, does the rest matter?

 

The Buffalo News gives more credence to a reporter citing an unnamed source than the team's general manager. They should just come right out and say Doug Whaley is a liar, because that is what they are dancing around. The team doesn't have to decide anything until March 11. They are certainly not going to decide anything without a head coach in place. But the unnamed source trumps all that, doesn't it? For all we know that source is Rex Ryan.

 

Not to mention, they will just as likely go the other direction if we pick up the option with stories like "Are the Bills making another ridiculous investment?" and "Is Tyrod Taylor really a franchise QB like the Bills think they are?"

[CardinalScotts]

a lot to do about nothing, WAY overblown- TBN was so caught up in the Rex Ryan exit they never discussed anything on 2017 including Tyrod Taylor. That group is brutal Jerry, Vic, Nick, Jay and King Idiot Bucky. Tyler Dunne is somebody who knows how to cover a team as a professional- not afraid to be critical but also has the working knowledge of the game to work with. The forgetful five are in basic terms "football stupid" so they rarely write about the games and why this or that happens they are more interested in the drama off the field. When the access was cut back and they freaked out TBN never got over it to this day has an axe to grind and Pegula refuses to admit he needs them essentially working around them. We deserve better as a fan base- but with twitter accounts from cover 1 and rob quinn and especially Chris Trapaso and others we get it.

Edited January 7, 2017 by CardinalScotts

[Wayne Arnold]

 

Have we cut TT and I didn't notice?

 

Yes apparently we have already let Taylor walk and already hired Anthony Lynn a week ago and the coaching "search" was fake.

 

I'm informed because I read the Buffalo News.

[BobbyC81]

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.

 

Great post! I watched the Niners' owner press conference after he fired the GM & coach. He said he wants 2 guys (coach & GM) to work together and doesn't care what the org structure is. He hinted that they had a GM doing one thing and head coach wanting something else. Apparently Harbaugh and the GM didn't get along and the owner sided with the GM. Now that it happened again, he canned the GM even before canning Kelly as coach.

 

This is what the Bills should do. Having a Yes man as GM and him expecting to have a Yes man as head coach will not provide the Bills with the best head coaching candidates, as many of you have mentioned.