WellDressed Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Tim, Thanks for giving us the opportunity to interact with the media on a very personal level. When Eric Moulds left here on bad terms he went to houston and then tennessee, he was 5 yds. shy of 10,000 for his career. Do you have any idea if he made himself available to play last year. After typing this I googled him and found out he had a workout with TB in May of last year and was not signed. Were you with ESPN back in 2005?? If you were might you have any dirt about his end of the year fiasco?? Thanks, Chuck from Philly [proud owner of an eagle hunting licence]
jax bill backer Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Tim Do you know of anyone who might buy the bills. thanks
GG Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Tim, Can you settle the long running dilemma here - in the past four years, who's had the final say on personnel decisions - draft & FA? No one in the front office wants to take "credit" - as if each member was given an "I'm with Stupid" t-shirt by Ralph.
Lori Posted March 7, 2009 Author Posted March 7, 2009 Mr. Pants, FWIW, Tim was still in Buffalo covering the Sabres for The News in 2005. I'd love it if everybody prowled around my AFC East blog on ESPN.com. Leaving comments would be good, too. My bosses seem to notice comment counts more than anything else, and I interact with readers there, too. But don't go out of your way. They must really love that Cassel post, then. Still trying to figure out how it morphed into 2,700+ comments and a debate on the Steelers and steroids, but I'm sure not going to dive into that mess to find out. Oh, wait -- that was the one where we found out how many of your commenters have never read "Alice in Wonderland," too. Down the rabbit-hole we go. If I might toss in a couple of questions ... - Judging by the guys they've looked at, we can be reasonably sure the Bills seek an upgrade at weakside 'backer. But considering their paper-thin depth at all three LB positions last year, could you see them signing more than one free agent and/or drafting one on the first day? -This one's very, very important. Is the bleu cheese for the wings or the celery?
sandiegobillsfan Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 The blue cheese was for the celery in the beginning. But it tastes so much better on the wings. DUFFS #1 Mr. Pants,FWIW, Tim was still in Buffalo covering the Sabres for The News in 2005. They must really love that Cassel post, then. Still trying to figure out how it morphed into 2,700+ comments and a debate on the Steelers and steroids, but I'm sure not going to dive into that mess to find out. Oh, wait -- that was the one where we found out how many of your commenters have never read "Alice in Wonderland," too. Down the rabbit-hole we go. If I might toss in a couple of questions ... - Judging by the guys they've looked at, we can be reasonably sure the Bills seek an upgrade at weakside 'backer. But considering their paper-thin depth at all three LB positions last year, could you see them signing more than one free agent and/or drafting one on the first day? -This one's very, very important. Is the bleu cheese for the wings or the celery?
TimGraham Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Hey Tim. Appreciate what your doing here. My question is simple. After 3 consecutive 7-9 seasons, and not a whole lot of results in free agency, it appears the Buffalo Bills have somewhat thrown in the towel. Do you believe this is the case here? With what most consider a grueling schedule this coming year, do you think its to late as of this point too turn things around? And if we are going to loose a majority of our games, maybe we should trade a majority of our older players for draft picks and maybe try and make a run in a few years. Thanks much. I don't think they've consciously thrown in the towel, but they sure seem like an organization that has run out of ideas. When that happens, new blood is needed in the front office. They have declined to bring in new blood.
TimGraham Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Tim, Thanks for giving us the opportunity to interact with the media on a very personal level. When Eric Moulds left here on bad terms he went to houston and then tennessee, he was 5 yds. shy of 10,000 for his career. Do you have any idea if he made himself available to play last year. After typing this I googled him and found out he had a workout with TB in May of last year and was not signed. Were you with ESPN back in 2005?? If you were might you have any dirt about his end of the year fiasco?? Thanks, Chuck from Philly [proud owner of an eagle hunting licence] In 2005 I was covering the Sabres for the Buffalo News. Well, for the second half of 2005 I was. During the first half of 2005 I was looking for ways to justify my paycheck.
TimGraham Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Tim, Can you settle the long running dilemma here - in the past four years, who's had the final say on personnel decisions - draft & FA? No one in the front office wants to take "credit" - as if each member was given an "I'm with Stupid" t-shirt by Ralph. Nobody makes a decision without Ralph's blessing. But in general, Tom Modrak makes the draft decisions. John Guy makes the free agency recommendations and Jim Overdorf keeps them within the budget.
TimGraham Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Mr. Pants,FWIW, Tim was still in Buffalo covering the Sabres for The News in 2005. They must really love that Cassel post, then. Still trying to figure out how it morphed into 2,700+ comments and a debate on the Steelers and steroids, but I'm sure not going to dive into that mess to find out. Oh, wait -- that was the one where we found out how many of your commenters have never read "Alice in Wonderland," too. Down the rabbit-hole we go. If I might toss in a couple of questions ... - Judging by the guys they've looked at, we can be reasonably sure the Bills seek an upgrade at weakside 'backer. But considering their paper-thin depth at all three LB positions last year, could you see them signing more than one free agent and/or drafting one on the first day? -This one's very, very important. Is the bleu cheese for the wings or the celery? Bleu cheese (never ranch) is for the wings. And I prefer carrots to the celery ... I can see the Bills signing more than one linebacker, but their track record is to spend on the first-stringers and skimp on the backups. That's why it's easier to envision them signing a free agent and drafting another. At east to me, anyway. But I'm just guessing.
TimGraham Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Tim Do you know of anyone who might buy the bills. thanks The Jim Kelly/Jack Kemp group has been out there, but I'd like to hear where they're getting their money. And Jack Kemp is said to be quite ill. Ted Rogers was another serious possibility, but he passed away last fall. Ralph might outlive everybody.
BEeEassyy Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Tim, with everyone that has come in this past week! are the bills going to sign any of them? I mean there has been a lot of great players to visit OBD, but we haven't had any word on what's really going on....
Bill from NYC Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Nobody makes a decision without Ralph's blessing. But in general, Tom Modrak makes the draft decisions. John Guy makes the free agency recommendations and Jim Overdorf keeps them within the budget. Tim, I apologize if I appear to be splitting hairs, but there has been a lot of discussion about this very issue among posters for whom I have a great deal of respect. I am asking specifically about the war room. Are you telling us that Levy and Jauron had/have less say in terms of pulling the trigger on a specific draft choice than Modrak, and that it was Modrak who spurned trade down offers and drafted Whitner for example? I heard Levy say on Sirius that there were multiple trade offers for the #8. Do you see where I am going? Please understand that I am not speaking at all about talent evaluation. I am ONLY asking about the actual selection of a player on draft day. If you are saying this is the case, I would be stunned. I have never, ever heard of a situation such as this. Do you know of any other? With total respect, as well as appreciation for you spending time with us, I gotta tell ya that this is hard to believe.
2020 Our Year For Sure Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Nobody makes a decision without Ralph's blessing. But in general, Tom Modrak makes the draft decisions. John Guy makes the free agency recommendations and Jim Overdorf keeps them within the budget. As a follow-up to GG's question, can I ask if you know how involved Dick Jauron is in the process? Some here have suggested he was virtually a full-fledged Coach/GM through his first 3 seasons here. One would think he at least contributes in personnel discussions. Thanks, Tim.
GG Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Nobody makes a decision without Ralph's blessing. But in general, Tom Modrak makes the draft decisions. John Guy makes the free agency recommendations and Jim Overdorf keeps them within the budget. Cool, but as others have followed, who is the final decider? Ralph's cryptic comments that Modrak would now be part of the inner circle, and Guy telling Lori that he just makes player recommendations, not the actual decisions - still leave the ambiguity regarding who's actually in charge. Lori brought up a good point - when Bills were short of LBs, they brought in Mario Haggan & Tedy Lehman for workouts. Haggan played well in spot duty here and was great on ST, yet the Bills signed Lehman, who wasn't even healthy enough to dress. Leads me to conclude that Jauron had a lot more personnel power than your average 7-9 coach.
PromoTheRobot Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Tim, What's with the parade of players at One Bills Drive? Is it because no one wants to play in Buffalo or for the Bills? Do they keep bringing guys and and hearing "No Thanks."? Do they just come to Buffalo to see if the Bills will overpay them before heading to teams they'd rather play for? I'm getting concerned we will not make any key FA signings because no one wants to come here. PTR
Magox Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Hi Tim, As you know, there is a rumour swirling around about T.O I read your blog breaking down and analyzing which teams would be a fit if there is such a thing for T.O in the AFC east. I'd like to know if you have heard anything and what your thoughts are regarding this circus show.
TimGraham Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Tim, I apologize if I appear to be splitting hairs, but there has been a lot of discussion about this very issue among posters for whom I have a great deal of respect. I am asking specifically about the war room. Are you telling us that Levy and Jauron had/have less say in terms of pulling the trigger on a specific draft choice than Modrak, and that it was Modrak who spurned trade down offers and drafted Whitner for example? I heard Levy say on Sirius that there were multiple trade offers for the #8. Do you see where I am going? Please understand that I am not speaking at all about talent evaluation. I am ONLY asking about the actual selection of a player on draft day. If you are saying this is the case, I would be stunned. I have never, ever heard of a situation such as this. Do you know of any other? With total respect, as well as appreciation for you spending time with us, I gotta tell ya that this is hard to believe. If you want details on the dialogue before each pick, I'm sorry. I don't have that kind of inside-the-war room information. Dick Jauron signs off on every move, and everybody answers to Ralph. But based on what I've been told it's a consensus. Modrak pitches the guys he wants. Guy pitches the guys he wants. Jauron approves or disapproves. Overdorf decides who they can pay. Beyond that, I can't help you.
Bill from NYC Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 If you want details on the dialogue before each pick, I'm sorry. I don't have that kind of inside-the-war room information. Dick Jauron signs off on every move, and everybody answers to Ralph. But based on what I've been told it's a consensus. Modrak pitches the guys he wants. Guy pitches the guys he wants. Jauron approves or disapproves. Overdorf decides who they can pay. Beyond that, I can't help you. Got it, thanks. That's a lot different than Modrak pulling the trigger. Thanks for the clarification and the polite tone.
TimGraham Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Got it, thanks. That's a lot different than Modrak pulling the trigger. Thanks for the clarification and the polite tone. Gee, I didn't know you were owed this information. I'll try harder next time. I also didn't know I was here to serve you. Your genuine appreciation makes me want to keep coming back.
Bill from NYC Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 Gee, I didn't know you were owed this information. I'll try harder next time. Yeah....OK. If posts to you came off as if you owe me something, I am truly sorry. I thought that I was practically gushing with respect and appreciation, but one never does know for sure how their typewritten word will come off. In any event, thanks for being here. Lori is a great person and a great friend, so in that sense, have a nice day.
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