A Window into the Drought

[ganesh]

On 7/7/2022 at 3:36 AM, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

You can sum up the difference between your perspective and mine by the fact that the lowest point of my Bills fandom was when they HIRED Dick Jauron.

 

I knew EXACTLY what was coming...........I didn't need to see him bottom out in his Bills gear to realize there would be no hope at all until he was gone. 

 

Even if he wasn't tragically given full control over personnel,  the psychological impact of his tenure alone was going to take years for the locker room to overcome.

 

But the end of the Cowboys game was the most bemused I have ever been in the hole that Ralph dug.    The height of Jauron's comic genius.

For me it was really the hiring of piss poor GMs..  those really held this team back....

Tom Donahoe

Marv Levy

Russ Brandon

Buddy Nix

Doug Whaley

 

 

[BuffaloBill]

On 7/6/2022 at 2:22 PM, mushypeaches said:

I actively try to forget how soul-sucking the Jauron era truly was.  

 

Pretty sure that I literally was rooting for him to get fired from the moment he was announced to replace Mularkey (who was no prize either)

 

That game was the most “”soul sucking” of many.  Oddly, it still hurts to think the Bills stole defeat from the jaws of victory that night.  

[DocLawless]

On 7/6/2022 at 5:00 PM, TheCockSportif said:

I admit that I didn't read the whole thing, but I was curious, so I started to read.

 

Thank goodness that times have changed is all I can say.

 

Here are the QBs that started for this team since I (remember) watching in the 1970s, my family being from Buffalo after having emigrated from eastern Europe in the late 1800s.  In no specific order:

• Fergie
• Joe Dufek
• Gary Marangi
• Ferragamo
• Bruce Mathison (sp?)
• Kelly (alongside a cast of others that I forget)
• Legend Frank Reich
• Flutie
• The Robosackmaster (Rob Johnson)
• Todd Collins
• The guy who didn't read the playbook (or maybe he didn't start, but tried to finish, but regardless)
• Alex Van Pelt
• Drew Bledsoe
• Losman
• Kelly Holcomb
• Trentative
• Fitz
• Travis Brown (that's his name, right?)
• Brian Brohm (maybe I'm wrong, but ***** it, don't care, too old, too long ago)
• Manuel (barfing out loud)
• Tyrod Taylor
• Barkley
• Allen
• Tad Lewis
• Orton

I'm sure that I've left some out, because when you have a formerly moribund franchise -- you tend to forget the ***** that isn't right.  You watch the games, and you kinda *blah* most of the time.

 

Plus the FO was ***** for most of my life.  So, yeah, it's a partnership between ownership, the FO (GM in particular), HC, and QB.  For most of my life that wasn't a thing.  Glad that it's a thing now, and here's to hoping for 2022-2023.

You forgot Jeff Tuel lol

[Buffalo Super Fan]

What held the Buffalo Bills back was the same for drought as past Bills teams past Ralph Wilson. But by than Ralph Wilson was frail and even older so if his judgement was bad when he was younger it certainly wasn’t going to get better in his late 80’s and early 90’s years of age. Ralph Wilson was the problem for a long time for the Buffalo Bills he hired all these people to run his football team no one else the blame is on him the Bills owner in my opinion. Go Bills! Let’s Go Buffalo 

[Beerball]

[WotAGuy]

That 2007 Cowboys game had the most amazing atmosphere.  It was the long-awaited night game at home, a beautiful late afternoon and sunset, there was literally electricity in the air hours before the game. Then when the game started and so many big plays were happening, it was an exhilarating ride.  Until it ended with a crash. But what I remember most about that game was the atmosphere. It’s what makes great sporting events great. 

[stevewin]

On 7/6/2022 at 12:33 PM, DanDrasticHill said:

(***When we hired Jauron someone made a song about him for a local radio station. The melancholy but predictable melody – which just repeated his name endlessly – may have expressed an understanding of Dick Jauron truly profound, prophetic and unmatched to this day. How could something be so vanilla and yet so awful at the same time? Never play not to lose, kids. If you play, play to win.)
 

Nice read - well done.

 

I remember this song - IIRC it was a station in Chicago that created it "Dick... Jauron Jauron Jauron Jauron..."   I think when they first hired Jauron, some fans rationalized it represent Jauron's cool demeanor - then of course it eventually became a perfect anthem for the ghostly dead-eyed specter that we all remember.  I actually went searching for it recently (for some reason) and found a couple references but couldn't find the actual song anywhere.  It probably exists somewhere in The Upside Down 

 

Edit:  OK - looked again - still didn't find the original, but found this live version - kind of a bizarro-world happy version of the melancholy original

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by stevewin

[benderbender]

The Drought is why we took the Pittsburgh loss "too hard" last season. We've had that feeling before. 

[Doc]

2 minutes ago, benderbender said:

The Drought is why we took the Pittsburgh loss "too hard" last season. We've had that feeling before. 

 

No, it's because we knew our team was so much better than they showed.

[benderbender]

2 hours ago, Doc said:

 

No, it's because we knew our team was so much better than they showed.

Yes, and 

 

To me, it was so reminiscent of the Rex Ryan swagger (with no dagger) years. It took me back in the worst way. Particularly in the hyped-up offseason that "we won." The only difference was that we didn't have a blowhard coach to give opponents bulletin board material. The letdown felt like familiar old times. It's so awesome that now we have a team that a loss like that was a wake up call and got their butts in gear. 

[Talley56]

For anyone who follows baseball, the longest active playoff drought in North American sports ever since Dalton hit Boyd with that incredible TD pass has been the Seattle Mariners.  They are still behind in the WC race but surging hard.  Next in line would be the Sacramento Kings.

[Rigby]

2 hours ago, Talley56 said:

For anyone who follows baseball, the longest active playoff drought in North American sports ever since Dalton hit Boyd with that incredible TD pass has been the Seattle Mariners.  They are still behind in the WC race but surging hard.  Next in line would be the Sacramento Kings.

If the Mariners couldn't win the World Series that season when they won the most games in MLB regular season history and everyone was juicing...I don't think they ever will.

[corta765]

On 7/8/2022 at 11:53 AM, ganesh said:

For me it was really the hiring of piss poor GMs..  those really held this team back....

Tom Donahoe

Marv Levy

Russ Brandon

Buddy Nix

Doug Whaley

 

 

 

At least with these two hires they were considered prototypical or with the times on what to do. Donahoe especially was considered a good move at the time as PIT had been quite good and the Bills needed a true Czar. Whaley was what many teams did promoting a good scout with a decent reputation. Donahoe and Whaley kinda flamed out but their teams had talent and they were just misses in terms of outcome. The middle three are the true errors as they were over their heads from day 1 and I fully blame for the worst of the drought. It should also be said that the Donahoe experience soured Ralph on outside hires basically the rest of his time which to me caused the worst elements of the drought as no one objective was around to say "we shouldn't be doing this". Even Buddy Nix had ties to the Bills going back to his scouting days.

Edited July 11, 2022 by corta765

[TheCockSportif]

On 7/10/2022 at 1:43 AM, DocLawless said:

You forgot Jeff Tuel lol

How could one forget the magnificent rein of Jeff Tuel?!  MY BAD!

[HereComesTheReignAgain]

On 7/10/2022 at 10:45 AM, WotAGuy said:

That 2007 Cowboys game had the most amazing atmosphere.  It was the long-awaited night game at home, a beautiful late afternoon and sunset, there was literally electricity in the air hours before the game. Then when the game started and so many big plays were happening, it was an exhilarating ride.  Until it ended with a crash. But what I remember most about that game was the atmosphere. It’s what makes great sporting events great. 

Of the approximately 75 games I've been to, That game was the loudest.  It was amazing.

[DanDrasticHill]

On 7/10/2022 at 11:23 AM, stevewin said:

Nice read - well done.

 

I remember this song - IIRC it was a station in Chicago that created it "Dick... Jauron Jauron Jauron Jauron..."   I think when they first hired Jauron, some fans rationalized it represent Jauron's cool demeanor - then of course it eventually became a perfect anthem for the ghostly dead-eyed specter that we all remember.  I actually went searching for it recently (for some reason) and found a couple references but couldn't find the actual song anywhere.  It probably exists somewhere in The Upside Down 

 

Edit:  OK - looked again - still didn't find the original, but found this live version - kind of a bizarro-world happy version of the melancholy original

 

Haha that is excellent - thanks for sharing!