What was TDs worst move as Bills GM

[BoondckCL]

I would say that his worst move was getting JP Losman, not because Losman is a bust, i actually think he will be fine. At the time when Losman was drafted, Donahoe was on thin ice and should not have drafted a qb that would take time to develop. He should have drafted an impact player rather than drafting someone that would not make an impact until his third or fourth year.

[Tortured Soul]

I went with Pat Williams factoring in the two failed 3rd round replacements. The greater situation of watching two Probowl DT's age without getting anyone to replace them is TD's worst move in my book.

 

If we're counting moves he didn't make, then I'd throw Charlie Weiss right to the top.

 

And also failing to find two starting DE's out of three #2 picks should be on the list.

[Orton's Arm]

If we're counting moves he didn't make, then I'd throw Charlie Weiss right to the top. 

Maybe he didn't interview as well as Gregg.

[BobbyC81]

Definitely extending Bledsoe. He had other moves that may have arguably been worse like hiring MM + GW/drafting MW & giving him that contract, but they were moves that may have looked good on paper at the time but ended up falling apart. With Bledsoe, TD had a get-out-of-jail free card... he could've and should've let that gutless quitter walk after his 2003 atrocity of a season. It ended up costing the Bills a playoff spot, and if they would've made the playoffs in 2004, TD would probably still have his job despite all his other mistakes. Stupid, stupid move.

698436[/snapback]

 

 

Yes, the Bledsoe move has set the Bills back. I'd say failure to sign Pat Williams as 2nd. His loss led to major drop of the defense in 2005 but can be corrected with the offseason moves and change of defense. Quarterback position is still a mess.

[Dibs]

It's a little harder to break into the Patriots' starting offensive line, than it is to start on TD's line.  Tucker was a solid starter in 2004, and he was making peanuts.  TD should have placed him on injured reserve for 2005.  If he comes back in 2006, we'd never have to hear the words "Bennie Anderson" and "starter" again in the same sentence.  If he doesn't, all you've lost is a tiny amount of salary cap space.  Considering how difficult it was for TD to find quality offensive linemen, he should have been a little less cavalier in getting rid of the ones he did find.

699279[/snapback]

And there I was assuming you were a pessimist.

That has to be one of the most optimistic things I've seen you post.

Unfortunately very optimistic for the Patriots, but optimistic non the less.

[Orton's Arm]

And there I was assuming you were a pessimist.

Me? A pessimist? Well . . . maybe just a little. But I blame it on external circumstances. In his fifth year of the rebuilding project, TD led the Bills to just five wins. Moreover, those five wins were achieved largely through the efforts of aging veterans such as Lawyer Milloy, London Fletcher, and Eric Moulds. There were no obvious replacements ready to step in when it came time for those guys to hang up their cleats. Under those circumstances, asking for at least five wins in 2006 would have been unrealistic.

 

I really did start off with high hopes for TD; both because of the good things I'd heard about his Pittsburgh work, and because he seemed to impose the salary cap discipline Butler lacked. These high hopes were slowly, methodically ground into dust, leaving me a bitter, broken man. Pessimism is all that remains to me.

 

But even if I'm guilty of pessimism in general, I pride myself on the fact that I've never once allowed such pessimism to taint my opinion of Losman. Nobody could ask for a more objective evaluation of Losman's strengths and weaknesses than my own.

 

(Just for the record, the above post is mostly tongue in cheek.)

[Dibs]

Nobody could ask for a more objective evaluation of Losman's strengths and weaknesses than my own. 

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I would have thought you would be expecting at least better than last years 5 wins.

To my eyes there was an obvious (TD induced)pallor hanging over the entire team....and the term team might be stretching things a little.

Perhaps the worst move TD did was to orchestrate things so that in the end, there was no team unity, drive, motivation, effort or even hope.

With that malaise lifted, I can't see us not doing better.

[Adam]

How can you judge Williams with the terrible teams he had to work with- 1st team=nothing. 2nd team=no defense, 3rd team=no protection for Bledsoe/Bledsoe himself.

 

Marv Levy probably couldnt win with those teams!

[#1TN Bills Fan]

do you mean moving back into the first round to take Losman because Willis was picked with the Atlanta pick obtained from trading Peerless Price to them

698495[/snapback]

Yeah for real! TD was HORRENDOUS at making draft day moves. Look at what we had to give up for Losman. Now, I happen to think that Losman can still be a good QB if given the chance, but we gave up way too much for the 23rd pick. Levy on the other hand made a great move this year for the 26th. I still don't know if I like the choice, but at least he kept his entire draft next year intact!

[Pyrite Gal]

How can you judge Williams with the terrible teams he had to work with- 1st team=nothing. 2nd team=no defense, 3rd team=no protection for Bledsoe/Bledsoe himself.

 

Marv Levy probably couldnt win with those teams!

699519[/snapback]

 

Qutie easily actually. GW took bad teams and made them worse.

 

1. He demonstrated a horrible feel for the actual game which could be seen in his poor clock managements, a horrible record on ref challlenges, and play calls like the punt when the Bills had moved the bakk well into enemy territory (the difference in the resulting yardage between a missed FG and a touhcback was not huge and even if you assumed we would miss theFG, the team probably does better running a 4th down and turning it over on dowbs than the resultingsilly punt.

 

2. He had a horrendous sense of hiring lieutenants. Hi first OC choice was so bad even GW canned him with time left on his contract. The defensive genius that he was and is thought he could add value merely through scheme but he tried to run his scheme with acquring a Jevon Kears or Blaine Cishop type which made his sche,e work. The D and his DC gray improved dramtaically as soon as LeNeau was hired and installed his scheme.

 

Also on O he finally got a former HC in when he hiired Kevin Killdrive, but the result of this hire is legendary as this group prospered when oppnents did not have film and until BB drew a roadmap of Bledsoe weakenesses. GW's falure to make his OC diversify his apporach was a killer for us in 2003 as the O went something like 9 straight quarters with no TD yet the HC did not force a change.

 

3. He hd a sophomoric sense of team development and management with is stupid airhorn and initial attempt to call out vets who did not show up for voluntary practices and his own guy whom he brought in Larry Centers put him in his place and he backed down.

 

4. He and Gray kiiled the D in 2002, wasting a good offensive effort leading to TD attracting his buddy LeBeau here. GW abd Gray knew Robinson ans Jenkins as well as anyone yet they attmpted to make starters out of two players who were sumply done.

 

His lomgtime buddy Roony Vinl;arek was hired as OL position coach when he had never done the job before. probably his best hire and management of a group hring Ronie Jones to coordinate ST and if this is the best of our three you gootta be bad at hiring. As soon as April came in the team skyrocketed to far better performance.

 

You can't blame the players as he simply took bad players and made them worse.

[Orton's Arm]

I would have thought you would be expecting at least better than last years 5 wins.

Now that TD's gone, I'm expecting six wins for 2006. Hope springs eternal, I suppose.

[***PetrinoInAlbany***]

My "other" was for neglecting the ofensive line, and entrenching (or even merely enabling) a mentality at One Bills Drive that seemed to say, "The offensive line? Big deal ... we can address that in free agency. Offensive linemen are a dime a dozen. You can pretty much toss anyone in there with less than a year in our offense, and they should do just fine."

[Tux of Borg]

Save the postage.

[colin]

the coaching and qb mistakes are the biggest.

 

he went for two rook HCs, and in hindsight GW is better than MM so he went from bad to worse.

 

the QB situation was bad when he came in, it got a bunch better when we had bledsoe and all those weapons, and it went worse when we lost those weapons, and got even worse when we let drew go and made jp the starter.

 

overall we could have done a few things to have a better qb situation. keeping drew (particulary at a more reasonable cap number, even tho we could afford him now) and keeping pat williams would have kept us competative last year

[WhitnerIsAGod]

  probably his best hire and management of a group hring Ronie Jones to coordinate ST and if this is the best of our three you gootta be bad at hiring.  As soon as April came in the team skyrocketed to far better performance.

699546[/snapback]

 

OK. It's obvious you hate Williams, but blaming him for Wade Phillips monumental !@#$ ups takes the cake.

 

Williams wasn't as bad as you think. He actually won a game that first year when the team was nothing but a steaming pile on the carpet and yet you say he made players worse.