Can the Bills Win if Only Have High Character Guys

[Pyrite Gal]

Another thread got me thinking about this question.

 

I think it seems clear from Marv's comments that what he is talking about maintaing a standard of getting guys with high "football" character rather than setting a standard of high moral character in terms of their interactions with the outside world)

 

[i think the choice of the lighter standard lets folks like Willis McGahee off the hook in terms of the Bills looking to cut him for some less than high character perspectives he articulated about dealing with the two "baby momma" he interacts with who were women he was not married to who gave birth to his 15 month old and 5 month old children- regadless of the stance you take on moral issues I do not think anyone is claiming his articulated perspectives represent high character, but unless they impact his play on the field they do not appear to be relevant to the Bills's character standard.]

 

Nevertheless using even the lower standard of high football character, it seems to me that many of the great players on the early 90s Bills team would need to be cut if one enforced a high football character standard.

 

For example. even ignoring his arrest and beating the rap with the sleep apnea claim, there were repeated accusations of Bruce Smith showing low football character by being a teammate who repeatedly missed even mandatory practices an games in pre-season with various medical claims, Fortunately, these maladies miraculously were cured and never effected his play when regular season started.

 

However, i think his flaunting of the rules made it clear that there was one set of rules for teammates and another set for other teammates. Perhaps the lack of discipline which always seemed linked to our repeated SB losses in part came from the reported lack of discipline as players went partying during SB week (this likely only really had an effect in the 1st loss as we smply got beat by better teams in the 2nd and 3rd losses and if a few of the guys did not have hangovers at the games we would have lost by 4-14 instead of 14 or more.

 

Likewise, I don't think anyone expects HOF player Jim Kelly to pass a high character moral test as a young player (back in the days of reports of him throwing drinks in woman faces or even later leading up to his post-pro days when his restaurantt left msny Buffalo small businesses hold the tab when his resaturant closed up or his odd trip to Alaska to shoot bambi where his plane crash story simply made no sense).

 

But even ignoring a standard of high moral character, his behavior as a teammate of on the field involved glorious play (that deserves an HOF berth IMHO) which was also accompanied by questionable low character behavior as one of the mainstays of the Bickering Bills where he called out (unfairly as I recollect) temmates like Howard the House Ballard publicly with thinly veiled comments rather than confronting them privately or even semi-publicly only in the lockerroom. but instead brought this catfight to the press.

 

Its interesting that though the Bills piblicly said they wanted Moulds to be a Bills they really traded him for peanuts to the Texans.

 

I'm happy that we got seemingly higher character football players like Whitner, but i do wonder if the Bills actually avoid low football players whether this will nake for easier management but a less successful team.

[The Dean]

If the high character guys are very good NFL football players, why not?

[Pyrite Gal]

If the high character guys are very good NFL football players, why not?

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The question is whether are enough high character guys under the constraints of team building with the salary cap.

 

My sense is that if you used a tougher standard for character that you only want players of high moral character and players like WM are likely gone.

 

Alternately, you might want to restrict the test to merely football character (good acts on the field but unless he gets arrested and goes to jail so he cannot play its fine), However, even this test would mean getting of Jim Kelly during his Bills day and opens you up to legit questioning about the meaning of taking a guy who pulled a cheapshot after the play on a fellow athlete (re: Butler, I think thee are good responses to any questions about the Bills character standard and Butler as he has already been punished and apologized owes no explanation though the Bills should explain their standard and why Butler fits it as I think he does).

 

I think it is probably possible to build a winner with the relatively loose standard of high football character, but some tough decisions are gonna probably have to be made as these great athletes are really pampered little boys for the most part despite being beyond the age of majority.

[ajzepp]

I really don't think there's any reason to assume Willis has a character issue. I think it's more of a maturity issue. I also think that it's pretty hard for any of us to imagine what it must have been like to have your knee explode in the last college game of your career, and then try and get the confidence back to be a solid back in the NFL. The guy wants to be paid? And? They all want that. If I were in the NFL, I'd want it too. I think Willis has yet to do anything that would label him as a poor character guy.

[BB2004]

I think you can but when you go up against talent that is better than you, your team has to get it together and bring it. The one time where I can remember a team that was not as talented as some of the other baseball teams, but had a lot of good characters were the 2003 Florida Marlins.

[cantankerous]

I really don't think there's any reason to assume Willis has a character issue. I think it's more of a maturity issue. I also think that it's pretty hard for any of us to imagine what it must have been like to have your knee explode in the last college game of your career, and then try and get the confidence back to be a solid back in the NFL. The guy wants to be paid? And? They all want that. If I were in the NFL, I'd want it too. I think Willis has yet to do anything that would label him as a poor character guy.

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Exactly. Willis hasn't done jack but say some stupid things and people blow it wayyyy out of proportion. Bottom line is people shouldn't be drama queens and follow everything a player says or does off the field but follow what they do on the FOOTBALL FIELD!