Which Bills Decision Infuriated You?

[corta765]

2 hours ago, Dr. K said:

Hiring Rex, which necessarily meant getting rid of Schwartz. Moronic move, and I put it on the Pegulas. 

 

Tend to agree. I didn't hate the Rex hire but at the expense of Schwartz just felt wrong. They finally had an established defense that could do things and the ownership messed with it because they wanted a "rock star" head coach. They fixed that with McBeane who are doing a nice job rebuilding the defense quickly, but I hated that Rex forced scheme change and forced a lot of talent out because he was Rex.

[TheElectricCompany]

Jason Peters

[BillsMafia13]

23 hours ago, Commonsense said:

Drafting EJ

This right here.  I never did much research on qbs that year but I knew I hated it the moment it happened.  

[row_33]

On 5/13/2018 at 10:17 AM, Epstein's Mother said:

 

Not sure I understand this one.  Maybe you meant starting Johnson over Flutie in general but in this instance when Rob Johnson walked off the field for the last time that day he was ahead.

 

The Bills decided that Flutie was not the best option present for the playoff start.  (He biffed on every playoff game he started.)

 

And that was that.

 

 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

On 5/13/2018 at 7:17 AM, Epstein's Mother said:

 

Not sure I understand this one.  Maybe you meant starting Johnson over Flutie in general but in this instance when Rob Johnson walked off the field for the last time that day he was ahead.

 

We could of won the game by two TDs with Johnson. I still wouldn't have agreed with the decision though. Now, had Johnson actually gone on to be a decent QB for us then I would have to eat crow as not being  a fan of the decision at the time.

Edited May 14, 2018 by Sammy Watkins' Rib

[dpberr]

Cutting Fred Jackson.  The timing of that decision infuriated me.  

 

 

Edited May 14, 2018 by dpberr

[Epstein's Mother]

22 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

We could of won the game by two TDs with Johnson. I still wouldn't have agreed with the decision though. Now, had Johnson actually gone on to be a decent QB for us then I would have to eat crow as not being  a fan of the decision at the time.

 

Or if Flutie had gone on to do great things I would have to eat crow too.

[Saxum]

1 hour ago, TheElectricCompany said:

Jason Peters

 

Blame his agent on that one. He had just negotiated a contract with several years left and then threatened to have his client sit out until he got a new contract.    He pulled the same stunt a few years later (personally I'd never sign one of his clients) refusing to negotiate on one client when another wanted an extension.  He should have been barred in last case using one client to force bargain on another.

 

Fortunately now he is in hell on Devil's fantasy football team (and cheating him too).

[FrankoElTanko]

This is a fun one and the options are many however, I'll take a stab at some of the first to come to mind immediately.

- Not paying Jason Peters... We were a terrible OL team who tried hard to obtain talent with FA acquisitions like Derrick Dockery, Langston Walker and Duke Preston/Melvin Fowler. Instead of paying JP we decided he was not worth it and threw more money at the rest in FA, barf.

 

- Rex over Shwartz... After Shwartz built this young and talented defense and took an underwhelming Lions team back to the postseason we opted for NYJ flame-out Rex Ryan, who came in and 'rebuilt' our top 5 defense into back to back >15 defense and wiped out an entire personnel base, causing an additional year of dead money, realignment of draft strategy and roster building to even consider a proper rebuild... Which until last year had NEVER actually been done yet. There had always been some remnant of a former regime that the Bills have used to cut corners on a proper rebuild. Bonus Points: Shwartz was 21-27 as a HC from 2011-13 and Rex was 22-26 as a HC from 2011-13. I guess that one win was more important than keeping the entire defense together...

 

- Drafting Willis McGahee at 23... **I liked Willis (as a RB) however, drafting a 1rd RB when your 25yo (making llike $750k v. Willis' $3.5+mill (old salary cap)) is coming off of back to back 1350+yd seasons... Why? 

 

- ^ Repeat this one for all of our 'farm team' players that we seem to draft to replace consistently (RB, CB, DT, DE)... I.E., Nate Clements, Marshawn Lynch, Antoine Winfield, etc.

 

- Pat Williams... Pat Williams went on to play another full 6yrs as an efficient DL in Minnesota when we thought he was done and chose the FA route with Marcus Stroud. Pat Williams was a star in Buffalo and fixture for the community here. He did an excellent job in either defense he played in and validated that with his play next to Kevin WIlliams for the back of the early 2000's.

 

- Maybin over Orakpo... We switched to a 4-3 defense and to base our edge we chose Aaron Maybin at 11 instead of Brian Orakpo. Maybin had like 15/16 sacks ever and Orakpo had like 25 and was something like 35lbs heavier with a WAY higher draft grade. It was the type of pick that the NYJ are notorious for (a la Vernon Gholston 1.0). Bonus Points: Aaron Maybin is an accredited racial artist in Baltimore who has not played since 2012 and Brian Orakpo is still playing football at a very high level, and has done so in both (4-3/3-4) fronts.

 

- The worthless coaching carousel of terrible candidates... Amazingly out of all these years of top prospects in the FA coaching ranks, in addition to the multitude of college coaches making the jump, we were NEVER able to land a big name. Or at least anyone exciting enough to give the fans hope we would come out of it. Our biggest 'name' was Rex Ryan and we all know how that went.  I am not saying that a big name would have righted the ship but after willing to spend money and make moves, it's nuts to me that we were unable to hire ANY of the names that were higher profile. I just figured after Wade Phillips we could do better than, Dick Jauron (2x), Chan Gaily and Doug Marrone when it was rumored that Cowher might come back, Shannahan, Ron Rivera, Adam Gase and Bill O'Brian (sp*) were all realistic candidates at one point and time. It seems to have worked out so far as the 'new guy' we got has done a good job in season one. However, us not landing any of those guys when we seemed so close to all of them there for a while, was almost like we were the pariahs of Erie (Go Dawg Pound!). 

 

- Never Taking a QB... Easily my number one. We have never taken a QB in the top 5, never in the top 10 (until this year) and only once in the top 15 (Jim Kelly)... Its nuts that a team in permanent purgatory never decided to take a QB higher than midway through the first, ever. It really is mind blowing to think that after all of these, almosts and could have beens that resulted in trades and FA acquisitions, we never once decided to move up for our QB. Bonus Points: We actually did have a deal in place in 2004 to move up for Ben Roethlesberger and WE decided to pull out last minute, which resulted in the hasty trade up to appease fans with JP Losman and the electric, DT John McCargo two yrs later (once we were able to return to the first rd. JP cost us extra in fact).

 

In hindsight, maybe I am showing my age (30) or maybe I am showing the organizations's ineptitude but looking at my list of 'top 5', I am starting to see a trend in the correlation of us winning and whatever (main) front office decisions were made from 2002-2014.

Edited May 14, 2018 by FrankoElTanko

[Matt_In_NH]

Hiring Rob Ryan as "Assistant HC" after he seriously flunked out as DC in multiple places.

[Saxum]

4 minutes ago, mattynh said:

Hiring Rob Ryan as "Assistant HC" after he seriously flunked out as DC in multiple places.

That a coach's decision just like signing of all of the coaches signed by coach McD which were fired less than one year later.  Unless you have a very strong GM who controls hiring of staff as strongly as hiring of head coach that will happen.  You can call it old boys network or feather dusting but NO head coach is immune to this and having an owner with an open wallet makes it happen more often.

[BuffaloRush]

2 hours ago, Dr. K said:

I spoke out about the Rex Ryan hire at the time. You could look it up. I thought it was a mistake from day one.

 

Yeah I don’t doubt it

11 minutes ago, mattynh said:

Hiring Rob Ryan as "Assistant HC" after he seriously flunked out as DC in multiple places.

 

Again though with Rob, I don’t think fans were infuriated with the move.  We just hoped he’d help Rex get back on track 

[blacklabel]

There are a few...

 

Refusing to run the ball against what was essentially a two-man front vs. the Giants in Super Bowl XXV. Thurman Thomas had 15 carries for 135 yards and a touchdown. That's 9 yards a carry. If they would've kept feeding Thurm, they win that game without question. The minute NYG would've adjusted to stop the run, they could've went back to letting Kelly sling it and he would've picked them apart. Instead, they were too stubborn to come away from the K-Gun and we know the rest.

 

Handing the keys to JP Losman in 2005 instead of trying to get one more year out of Bledsoe. And then refusing to fully commit to Losman by constantly benching him for Kelly friggin' Holcomb.

 

Allowing the "brain trust" of Dick Jauron, Marv Levy, and Russ Brandon to make the most important football decisions for the team during the late 2000's. 

 

Forking over a $50 million dollar contract to Ryan Fitzpatrick after he had a few hot games against some slack teams.

 

Consistently refusing to pony up the dough for players that were worth it who then walked and found success with other teams. Many of the names I have in mind have already been mentioned.

 

Hiring Rex Ryan. I see a lot of people listing this as a bummer of a decision with the addition of not promoting Jimmy Schwartz... something to keep in mind, Schwartz was not a very good head coach. He was 2-14 in his first year, 6-10 in his second, he did make the playoffs in his third year but was handed a swift first-round exit. In 2012 he started 4-4 and then went 0-8 for the second half of the season. Started 6-3 in 2013 but then went 1-6 the rest of the way. He couldn't really sustain any consistency or long-term success. Definitely one of those "better coordinator than coach" type of guys. Keeping him on with Rex never would've flown. Those two have completely conflicting ideologies on how to run a defense. 

 

Consistently refusing to pull the trigger on a first-round QB draft after draft for years. 

 

Trading picks to get back into the first round of the 2006 draft to pick John motherfricking McCargo. I still remember the talking heads on ESPN saying, "Well, he could be a good one, but was his success a result of having both Manny Lawson and Mario Williams on his left and right all through his college career?" Answer: Yes, yes it was. Lawson and Williams were beasts that year at NC State and both went in the first round. Someone with the Bills thought, "Heck, NC State's whole DL must be first-round worthy, let's get back into the first and grab that McCargo kid!"

 

Their constant inability to identify and hire the types of coaches that would best fit with the rosters they had, as well as drafting/signing players that would fit with the coaching staff. "Nobody wants to play in Buffalo" was the mantra of many a player during the drought. The team DID pay up for free agents when they could... that wasn't always the main issue... it was the dysfunction and disconnect between players and coaches and then between coaches and the front office and then (probably) the front office and ownership. All that discord between the departments that make the franchise was the primary reason for the drought. There was just no cohesion, despite them always saying, "We're in lock-step!" they weren't. Behind the scenes it wasn't really a secret that it was a giant crap-fest. It's nice to see some harmony strung together from the top down with this current regime.

[Elite Poster]

14 hours ago, K-9 said:

Spending those two years in the USFL was the best thing that could have happened for Kelly’s development. He came to us knowing how to read defenses and I doubt he would have learned as much under Kay Stephenson and Co. vs. what he learned with Mouse Davis.

 

It still pissed me off man

[TheElectricCompany]

17 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

 

Blame his agent on that one. He had just negotiated a contract with several years left and then threatened to have his client sit out until he got a new contract.    He pulled the same stunt a few years later (personally I'd never sign one of his clients) refusing to negotiate on one client when another wanted an extension.  He should have been barred in last case using one client to force bargain on another.

 

Fortunately now he is in hell on Devil's fantasy football team (and cheating him too).

I get your point, but the Bills should have took it on the chin, payed the man and secured that position for the next decade. 

He's a HOFer at arguably the second most important position on offense. That stings. 

 

[The Jokeman]

1 hour ago, TheElectricCompany said:

Jason Peters

Yeah this is another one I could have mentioned as hate we let him go because we didn't want to give him Left Tackle money. 

[Kirby Jackson]

7 minutes ago, BuffaloRush said:

 

Yeah I don’t doubt it

 

Again though with Rob, I don’t think fans were infuriated with the move.  We just hoped he’d help Rex get back on track 

Anyone that was paying attention was furious. Rob had just finished destroying the Saints defense and his reputation was as low as it ever had been.

[Elite Poster]

16 hours ago, THE SLAMMER said:

 

A good business doesn't take a 3 year in a row pro bowler and ask for a pay cut now do they?.  How do you know he lied about his injuries?

You do realize that agents have the power to ok a deal without having the player present, right? The players don't hop a jet for buffalo, this is why you hire an agent...most likely the reason for firing

Completed deals are electronically sent for approval sometimes without the player completely understanding the terms....it happens

Geeez, glad I don't work for you....90 % of this is hear say your honor....lol

 

If he was 25 signing his first FA contract, I would agree with everything you just said.

 

Funny enough, I just signed a contract this week. I read the whole thing, had a colleague read it, and had my lawyer read it. We all met together and went over our notes. Attention to detail, especially when it's the details from the person who is writing your checks.

 

You would love working for me, I wouldn't be as harsh on Richie as the Bills were, but as a capitalist in America, survival of the wittiest. We live in a country where you get the opportunity and time necessary to know what you are getting into before you sign the dotted line. No sympathy for the people who have more resources than 95% of the rest of us. 

Edited May 14, 2018 by Elite Poster

[Saxum]

2 minutes ago, TheElectricCompany said:

I get your point, but the Bills should have took it on the chin, payed the man and secured that position for the next decade. 

He's a HOFer at arguably the second most important position on offense. That stings. 

 

 

He was not at the time, he was a player the Bills spent a lot of work on to just get him to be able to play OT.

[The Jokeman]

21 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

 

Blame his agent on that one. He had just negotiated a contract with several years left and then threatened to have his client sit out until he got a new contract.    He pulled the same stunt a few years later (personally I'd never sign one of his clients) refusing to negotiate on one client when another wanted an extension.  He should have been barred in last case using one client to force bargain on another.

 

Fortunately now he is in hell on Devil's fantasy football team (and cheating him too).

His agent negotiated a contract based on Peters playing Right Tackle, we then shifted him to Left and as result Peters wanted more because of the position change. In retrospect we got Eric Wood who had a great career but ironically enough Peters is having a longer one and at a more important position.