Lenny P

[DeLuca1967]

well, we'll have to agree to disagree. the bills were 7-4 at one point in 2000, and would have won done better than 8-8 if 1/3 of the defense didn't get hurt against tampa.  in any event, the bills were under no financial pressure to get rid of many players who filled solid roles in 2000 -- holocek, jones, ted washington (who they didn't cut but wanted to come back at a reasonable rate), and flutie.  in fact, getting rid of many of those players made the cap situation look worse than it actually was. they chose to go in a different direction, and it didn't work out.

752369[/snapback]

 

Isn't that the same year Wiley left? The year they were $15 million over the cap with two scub QBs making $10 million and their best player, Eric Moulds, was a free agent?

 

Why let facts get in the way of a good story.

[dave mcbride]

Isn't that the same year Wiley left? The year they were $15 million over the cap with two scub QBs making $10 million and their best player, Eric Moulds, was a free agent?

 

Why let facts get in the way of a good story.

752445[/snapback]

facts? please. the bills had some dead space, but could easily have afforded washington at @$2 mill/year but weren't interested because of the "no fat guys" edict from upon high. all those other guys were under contract after june 1, and as for wiley, i never raised his name. they couldn't have afforded him.

[dave mcbride]

   

752416[/snapback]

 

are you suggesting that the bills were anything but one of the worst two or three teams in the league at the end of last season?

[Trip]

O.k. I agree that TD wasn't wholly evil.

 

He was, however, a disaster for the Bills - from undermining Gregg Williams to hiring Mularkey.

 

I hope you are right about the above players, but I think you may also be reading too much into limited performances.  We'll see how the Bills do this year, and I am hopeful that the Bills can be a surprise team this year - but the simple truth of the matter is that it is hard to believe that Donahoe could have stocked a team full of talent that went a combined 9 games below  .500 during his tenure.

 

I also question Donahoe's success in making 2nd-day draft picks.  Consider the following:

2001 - (Spoon, Sullivan, Driver, O'Leary, Jimmy Williams, Germany, Robertson)

2002 - (Bannan, Kevin Thomas, Pucillo, Rodney Wright, Jarret Ferguson, Stevenson)

2003 - (McGee, Aiken, Sobieski, Sape, Haggan)

2004 - (Euhus, McFarland, J. Smith)

2005 - (King, Geisenger, Gates)

 

Other than hitting on McGee and Aiken in 2003, there aren't any other obvious hits.  Indeed, 2001, when he had the most picks, is extraordinarily bad in this regard.  Other than that, there's a few guys who played - but again, played for bad teams, and played in spot roles. 

 

The non-development of the offensive line is, of course, another major criticism. 

 

Regardless of whether or not Losman works out - and the conclusion that Losman, in his third year is better than a 33-year old Kelly Holcomb is *not* vindication of this - there will still be plenty of other criticism of Donahoe to go around.

 

JDG

752221[/snapback]

 

Donohoe was a disaster, wholly evil in my opinion.

 

Donohoe defenders point to his drafts (I was one for awhile) but as you've pointed out, he had virtually no success in the later rounds, and he simply did what he should have been able to do in the early rounds, nothing more nothing less.

 

Terrence McGee was a nice draft choice in the 4th round, but there are few (any?) others that have exceeded production value for where they were chosen. The Mike Williams flop and wasted Josh Reed pick in the early second offset any success that Donohoe had early in the draft otherwise. When you have to point out Sam Aiken as 4th rounder that Donohoe hit on, that says it all.

 

Donohoe gets too much credit for Willis McGahee. Willis is what he's supposed to be at this point, a good RB selected in the late-middle first round.

 

Donohoe was able to acquire the pick by dealing Peerless Price but he gets too much credit for that one too, which leads me to my next point, lacking the foresight to sign young players to long term deals.

 

If Price would have been signed to a 3-4 year deal before his breakout season, and his production warranted it, Donohoe could have kept an explosive offense together. Pat Williams, Jonas Jennings, Nate Clements....

 

Factor in his complete inability to hire a functional coaching staff, and I can't see anything positive that came out of the Donohoe era.

 

The cap is good shape. It should be. The team hasn't won anything in about six years. The cap was in bad shape when Donohoe took over, and that's okay, too, the team was coming off a decade of success.

[dave mcbride]

Donohoe was a disaster, wholly evil in my opinion.

 

Donohoe defenders point to his drafts (I was one for awhile) but as you've pointed out, he had virtually no success in the later rounds, and he simply did what he should have been able to do in the early rounds, nothing more nothing less.

 

Terrence McGee was a nice draft choice in the 4th round, but there are few (any?) others that have exceeded production value for where they were chosen. The Mike Williams flop and wasted Josh Reed pick in the early second offset any success that Donohoe had early in the draft otherwise. When you have to point out Sam Aiken as 4th rounder that Donohoe hit on, that says it all. 

 

Donohoe gets too much credit for Willis McGahee. Willis is what he's supposed to be at this point, a good RB selected in the late-middle first round.

 

Donohoe was able to acquire the pick by dealing Peerless Price but he gets too much credit for that one too, which leads me to my next point, lacking the foresight to sign young players to long term deals.

 

If Price would have been signed to a 3-4 year deal before his breakout season, and his production warranted it, Donohoe could have kept an explosive offense together. Pat Williams, Jonas Jennings, Nate Clements....

 

Factor in his complete inability to hire a functional coaching staff, and I can't see anything positive that came out of the Donohoe era.

 

The cap is good shape. It should be. The team hasn't won anything in about six years. The cap was in bad shape when Donohoe took over, and that's okay, too, the team was coming off a decade of success.

752874[/snapback]

nice post.