UConn James Posted December 4, 2005 Posted December 4, 2005 This whole thread has been great reading... Plenty of food for thought here...But on the Mularkey QB decision I think the best point made in this thread was the one concerning the faultering AFC East...Would MM stick with the Plan (like he said they did in 2004...remember?) if The Patsies were the Patsies of the past few Years and the AFC East was well...what the AFC East has been? I think the panic button was pushed early on Losman, and in the end I too wonder how it translated in the Locker Room... 518694[/snapback] How it translated was that it further exposed where the cracks are. The major one occurred directly in front of the "80 - MOULDS" locker. The defining moment of this offseason is where MM and TD can the people who worry about everyone else rather than focusing their own play.
Guest BackInDaDay Posted December 4, 2005 Posted December 4, 2005 You and I have had conversations about the relationships between Ralph, his Detroit people and the GM/Coaching hires. To summarize, Ralph has always been a nice guy and has given us a football team to watch for the last 46 seasons. But he IS a businessman first and not the blind loyal Buffalo guy many make him out to be. He did want this franchise in Miami, not Buffalo. He then threatened to move this team to Seattle during a stadium fight in the late 60's. The result was a football only stadium in Orchard Park, instead of an all sports stadium in Lancaster ( Cotrell project ) . That meant Major League Baseball gave a team to Montreal in 1969, instead of Buffalo as first planned. Football players were lucky to make 12-18K a year during the 1960's, causing them to immediately seek 2nd jobs during the off-season. As the 1970's finacial boom hit, with the merger of the NFL-AFL and huge TV deals, Ralph was one of the last owners to open up his snapper purse and spend money. Multiple top players left becuase Ralph refused to give then raises, amounting to a few hundred dollars. I was royally pissed when he let WR Ahmad Rashad walk for his refusal to bump his small salary. He went to Minny and was an all-pro for years. I could list multiple player examples like that. He finally spent some $$ after O.J. held out , prior to the 1976 season. About 16 months later, he was traded away. The result was a bonanza of draft picks and a smart coaching hire in Chuck Knox. Knox really turned this team around with sharp drafting and solid Vet aquisitions. After 2 strong playoff years in 1980-81, the Detroit people came in and started nixing raises. Knox was gone within a year. About 4 years later, Bill Polian was hired and brought in Marv Levy. Wilson never had it so good. A daring, bold, bright GM with a keen eye for talent. Plus a Coach he got along with perfectly. It worked well for several years but once again, the Detroit bean counters showed up ( Jeff Littman and Co. ). Polian can't stand Littman and is gone. Butler kept the ship floating for a while but the salary cap age emerged and Butler clearly didn't adapt well to this. He left and the cap was a mess. Can we forget the Wade Phillips fiasco, with Ralph wanting money refunded ? Enter TD with a half empty stadium, a bad cap situation and a bad team. He squares away the cap by basically eating the 2001 season. He makes a high profile aquisition in Drew Bledsoe and some other good FA's. Hopes rise...season tickets increase...stadium sellouts but the lack of talent in the trenches plus cheap inexperienced coaching hires keep this team in park. But...but.. Business is GOOD ! BackInDaDay has been around long enough to observe the history of this organization and feel the way that he does. He's a blind loyal fan but sees a pattern that many of us agree with. Multiple decisions by Ralph throughout the years have taken the business end of the team into consideration first over winning. Polians' hire may have been the case of a blind squirrel finding a nut but then the bean counters showed up and drove a good man away. Same happened with Knox in 1983. You need to pay a balanced roster well if your serious about winning. Not just a few marque names who will sell tickets in the short run... Then again..that's none of my Business... 518308[/snapback] I've got the next round, pal. Thanks for filling in the gaps.
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