RochBillsFan Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Per the audio interview, Overdorf was mentioned as the guy that ran the football side. Also, Modrak came up to Ralph and mentioned that he saw a great QB in the draft (Cutler) and the reason they didn't take him is because "they had Losman already". That goes into the end of the quote, in which he says, 'In the report, Wilson is said to be giving a bigger role to Tom Modrak, adding the chief scout to his "inner circle." “You have to read some tea leaves when you talk to Ralph some times. He references Tom several times as someone he’d have to ‘lean on,’” Wawrow said. Wilson told Wawrow that Modrak loved Jay Cutler, but that the Bills already had J.P. Losman. “Ralph said that he believes that Tom Modrak has identified some of their best players,” Wawrow said.' One more thing from the interview - Ralph is still mad about losing Pat Williams. He said that he never wants to see that happen again (a good Bill leaving the team because of haggling). So that should be hope for a Peters extension... disconnect. Losman was taken after Cutler.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 disconnect.Losman was taken after Cutler.... You mean by minus two years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fewell733 Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 what does this mean exactly? Does Ralph just call him more now or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurman#1 Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Let me get this straight. The Bills are losing, and it is Jauron's fault. But no wait, it is Modrak's fault! But no wait, it is Ralph's fault! By all accounts, he's got a good eye for talent. I'm sick and tired of idiots bitching about EVERYTHING without having a clue that Modrak is the actual problem. Exactly. Someone on this thread actually gave Modrak a win - lost record. As if the guy had not only been on the field, but had also played all 22 positions and coached. All the guy does is give draft recommendations. And Ralph has a lot better handle than all the "experts" on this board on what Modrak has recommended and how many of his recommendations have been acted on and how many have been overruled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozymandius Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 What a ridiculous farce. The decision is already made. If Dick Jauron isn't the coach next year, I'll give all of you $10 through PayPal. Jauron is the final coach the Buffalo Bills will ever have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billnutinphoenix Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Does anyone remember the Irsays? When the son was in complete control, they were a complete disaster! Then, they hired Bill Polian and well............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartacus Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 Per the audio interview, Overdorf was mentioned as the guy that ran the football side. Also, Modrak came up to Ralph and mentioned that he saw a great QB in the draft (Cutler) and the reason they didn't take him is because "they had Losman already". That goes into the end of the quote, in which he says, 'In the report, Wilson is said to be giving a bigger role to Tom Modrak, adding the chief scout to his "inner circle." “You have to read some tea leaves when you talk to Ralph some times. He references Tom several times as someone he’d have to ‘lean on,’” Wawrow said. Wilson told Wawrow that Modrak loved Jay Cutler, but that the Bills already had J.P. Losman. “Ralph said that he believes that Tom Modrak has identified some of their best players,” Wawrow said.' One more thing from the interview - Ralph is still mad about losing Pat Williams. He said that he never wants to see that happen again (a good Bill leaving the team because of haggling). So that should be hope for a Peters extension... hogwash If Ralph was serious, he would have slapped Brandon up side the head as soon as it became apparent that Peterzs was holding out and demanded a new deal be done immediately. Just more lip service from Ralph to placate the masses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keepthefaith Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 Per the audio interview, Overdorf was mentioned as the guy that ran the football side. Also, Modrak came up to Ralph and mentioned that he saw a great QB in the draft (Cutler) and the reason they didn't take him is because "they had Losman already". That goes into the end of the quote, in which he says, 'In the report, Wilson is said to be giving a bigger role to Tom Modrak, adding the chief scout to his "inner circle." “You have to read some tea leaves when you talk to Ralph some times. He references Tom several times as someone he’d have to ‘lean on,’” Wawrow said. Wilson told Wawrow that Modrak loved Jay Cutler, but that the Bills already had J.P. Losman. “Ralph said that he believes that Tom Modrak has identified some of their best players,” Wawrow said.' One more thing from the interview - Ralph is still mad about losing Pat Williams. He said that he never wants to see that happen again (a good Bill leaving the team because of haggling). So that should be hope for a Peters extension... He doesn't have much risk in losing too many good players because of haggling. Ralph himself said the Bills don't have much talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooklynBills Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 I think everyone is trying to read into this a little too much. They have been trying to get Modrak, who is a real good football man, more involved ever since Donahoe left. He has been reluctant because he does not want the day-to-day reponsibilities. If they are giving him more power and he is accepting that role, I would have to think this is not a good sign for Dick Jauron. If you can remember to last offseason, when Marv left, the talk was that Jauron would be more involved with the football personell operations. If his non-coaching roles are being diminished, Jauron is more likely to be let go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 I think everyone is trying to read into this a little too much. They have been trying to get Modrak, who is a real good football man, more involved ever since Donahoe left. He has been reluctant because he does not want the day-to-day reponsibilities. If they are giving him more power and he is accepting that role, I would have to think this is not a good sign for Dick Jauron. If you can remember to last offseason, when Marv left, the talk was that Jauron would be more involved with the football personell operations. If his non-coaching roles are being diminished, Jauron is more likely to be let go. Even if Modrak becomes GM without the title (which I doubt) the likelihood that DJ is fired is zero. I cannot see RW elevating a guy who's been with the team since 2001 getting rid of their hand-picked coach. Levy came in and kept things the same. Overdorf, Guy, and Modrak all stayed which indicated to me that Levy was a short timer, especially with him being over 80. There are no major changes coming. No GM, no new HC, and the same collection of decision makers. EDIT: This is similar to 2000 when Jerry Angelo arrived after DJ's second season in Chicago. Angelo took control over personnel from DJ, who never saw eye to eye with the former. I'm sure much of it had to do with DJ's lackluster record in 99 and 00. The Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOKBILLS Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 EDIT: This is similar to 2000 when Jerry Angelo arrived after DJ's second season in Chicago. Angelo took control over personnel from DJ, who never saw eye to eye with the former. I'm sure much of it had to do with DJ's lackluster record in 99 and 00. And we all know what eventually happened there... If this Modrak thing is true I'm getting a clearer idea of what Ralph may be thinking...Unfortunately, if I'm right, Ralph is only half right... Going back to a time before DJ even arrived Marv had set up an ideal that the HC was going to grab a heck of a lot of power in this Bills Organization...Levy told all of us in his 1st Press Conference as the GM and after all, he's an ex Head Coach...Why would we expect any different from an old Ball Coach?...So Levy goes out and hires Jauron...A guy who was wondering if He would be able to find a Job as a DB Coach before The Bills called...And on top of it Marv empowers Jauron beyond what anyone could possibly imagine...Jauron would have the final say on all Personnel decisions, he would hand pick the style of Offense and Defense the Bills would play...Not bad for a Coach who, at the time, had 4 losing Seasons in 5 as a Head Coach...Not bad at all... The Bills gut it, go young and have consecutive 7-9 Season...Levy leaves and Jauron gets MORE power over Personnel decisions...The Bills collapse after a 1-5 start and Ralph thinks most of the problems are Personnel related...Maybe he has not been paying attention on Game Days the past 3 Years...but I digress...Anyway...Ralph still has a decent memory...He sees this Kid Gunslinger in Denver and remembers The Bills passed on Him in favor of staying with JP Losman at QB and Drafting an undersized SS who is a good, but certainly not great Player...let alone a Pro Bowl QB...Ralph remembers Modrak REALLY wanted to draft Cutler...Ralph starts coming to the realization that Jauron has too much control over the Personnel side of The Bills, but He does not want to Fire Him because A) He just gave DJ a 3 Year extention...and B) He still has a tremendous amount of respect for Jauron as a Man, along with Levy and Marv's vision for this Team...Remember though that Marv is an EX HEAD COACH and never met a Head Coach He did not like...He wanted to bring Mularkey back after all...He would be in favor of keeping My 9 Year Old Nephew at Head Coach if that was the case...But again I digress... So Ralph figures the safe, easy thing to do is keep Jauron as HC and give Modrak Veto power over all Personnel decisions...Everybody's happy right? We'll see...I know this is all pure speculation...But IF Jauron stays I'm thinking this may have been the thought process behind what direction the Bills go in the future...And like I said, IMHO, Ralph is only half right and keeping Dead Dick will prove to be a HUGE mistake both on the Field and in overall Fan interest...I hope I'm wrong though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphean Bills Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 And we all know what eventually happened there... If this Modrak thing is true I'm getting a clearer idea of what Ralph may be thinking...Unfortunately, if I'm right, Ralph is only half right... Going back to a time before DJ even arrived Marv had set up an ideal that the HC was going to grab a heck of a lot of power in this Bills Organization...Levy told all of us in his 1st Press Conference as the GM and after all, he's an ex Head Coach...Why would we expect any different from an old Ball Coach?...So Levy goes out and hires Jauron...A guy who was wondering if He would be able to find a Job as a DB Coach before The Bills called...And on top of it Marv empowers Jauron beyond what anyone could possibly imagine...Jauron would have the final say on all Personnel decisions, he would hand pick the style of Offense and Defense the Bills would play...Not bad for a Coach who, at the time, had 4 losing Seasons in 5 as a Head Coach...Not bad at all... The Bills gut it, go young and have consecutive 7-9 Season...Levy leaves and Jauron gets MORE power over Personnel decisions...The Bills collapse after a 1-5 start and Ralph thinks most of the problems are Personnel related...Maybe he has not been paying attention on Game Days the past 3 Years...but I digress...Anyway...Ralph still has a decent memory...He sees this Kid Gunslinger in Denver and remembers The Bills passed on Him in favor of staying with JP Losman at QB and Drafting an undersized SS who is a good, but certainly not great Player...let alone a Pro Bowl QB...Ralph remembers Modrak REALLY wanted to draft Cutler...Ralph starts coming to the realization that Jauron has too much control over the Personnel side of The Bills, but He does not want to Fire Him because A) He just gave DJ a 3 Year extention...and B) He still has a tremendous amount of respect for Jauron as a Man, along with Levy and Marv's vision for this Team...Remember though that Marv is an EX HEAD COACH and never met a Head Coach He did not like...He wanted to bring Mularkey back after all...He would be in favor of keeping My 9 Year Old Nephew at Head Coach if that was the case...But again I digress... So Ralph figures the safe, easy thing to do is keep Jauron as HC and give Modrak Veto power over all Personnel decisions...Everybody's happy right? We'll see...I know this is all pure speculation...But IF Jauron stays I'm thinking this may have been the thought process behind what direction the Bills go in the future...And like I said, IMHO, Ralph is only half right and keeping Dead Dick will prove to be a HUGE mistake both on the Field and in overall Fan interest...I hope I'm wrong though... A fair guess, I think. The power seems to be with the business bean counters (Brandon, Overdorf) and the coach (Jauron). Jauron failed to meet his own publicly announced expectations this year, and in order to save his job he very well might have to relinquish some responsibility. Hopefully, the bean counters will be told to give up their new found scouting and personnel responsibilities (this never made any sense at all, Brandon apologists notwithstanding) and return those to the scouting department as well. The monkey in this wrench is that Modrak has shown to be pretty aloof and more of a sounding board than decision maker; it was reported last year that he turned down the offer to succeed Levy. At the time, people felt Modrak would still have a big influence in the direction of the franchise, but we find out now that Modrak is still not a member of the brain trust from Ralph's own lips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 So Ralph figures the safe, easy thing to do is keep Jauron as HC and give Modrak Veto power over all Personnel decisions...Everybody's happy right? We'll see...I know this is all pure speculation...But IF Jauron stays I'm thinking this may have been the thought process behind what direction the Bills go in the future...And like I said, IMHO, Ralph is only half right and keeping Dead Dick will prove to be a HUGE mistake both on the Field and in overall Fan interest...I hope I'm wrong though... A likely scenario. Wilson's 90, doesn't want to make radical changes at this late juncture in his life and therefore ownership of the franchise. Even if Modrak is on par with Parcells, Pioli, and other good front office execs, it can never make up for the inept gameday decisions this coach has made in his career. Have to agree with SB here about the power residing in the hands of the marketing and finance guys. Along with the PR guys, those areas seem to be the most important and carry the most weight in all decisions. When personnel (amateur scouting and pro) are on-par with counting the money and propagandizing the team, this team will move forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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