Alphadawg7
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Posts posted by Alphadawg7
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Huh. Every year Ralph opens up his checkbook for FAs this board applauds signing. By extension, are you saying SDS should go out and get some talented TSW posters to replace the ones we've got now?
Exactly
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Ralph thinks we don't have enough talent on the field to win games. He needs to look in the mirror. RALPH is the one that lacks talent at his job. It starts at the top. He is in control of every major move of this organization. If he doesn't think we have enough talent on the field, then he needs to go out and buy the big name players every time free agency comes around. The truth is, he's not going to do that. He'll just keep firing coaches and laying blame at the players feet. For once, I'd like to hear him come out and say he's responsible for this mess we have had since the late 90's.
These posts always humor me...he DID spend money. He spent top dollar on Dockery and Walker when we needed help on our Oline. He spent money on Schobel, Kelsay, Denney (not saying wise money, but he SPENT money none the less), went out and got Stroud who doesn't have a small contract, signed Mitchell, Re-Signed Evans to a huge contract, etc, etc.
You can argue some of those were not wise moves (kelsay and Denney) but he is SPENDING more money the last few years than he is given credit for. And for the most part, most of those moves were good moves that improved our team.
Before the O-line additions, we had one of the worst O Lines in football. Before Stroud, we had one of the worst D Lines in football. The point is, the guy wants to win and is mad we are not winning. He is spending money and not just holding onto it.
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4th round pick? That's nuts. At least a first day draft pick for him (probably 2nd rounder). I think a lot of people expect a lot more production out of him since he signed a 7 year, $50.5 million dollar contract extension. For that kind of money, people expect results.
I didnt say I said 4th round pick, I said I have seen posters in various threads saying trade him for a 3rd or 4th round pick...
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I think you have a solid argument based on the numbers. But, it is important to note that just bc Schobel had 9 more tackles, does not mean those tackles were meaningful. Tackles are always a dubious statistic too and never tell the full story. I think you are right in saying that Schobel is a better player than most of us give him credit for. However, I think you are wrong in thinking that Schobel extensively disrupts an opposing offense's gameplan. He is a finesse DE, end of story. He is good in his own right, but he doesn't make anyone around him a better player. He is not a physical specimen that can completely run over the OT he faces. He is an above average defensive end on a below average defense. He is a hard worker and never gives up. I give him all the credit in the world for those things. But he is not the defensive presence on the field that the Bills desperately need. I'm not saying we should get rid of him at all, I am just saying we need more at DE.
If you feel confident with a Schobel/Kelsay/Denney rotation you are one of the few. If you do not feel confident about that rotation, it either says really bad things about Kelsay and Denney, or it says Schobel's play does not impress you as much as his statistics do.
I agree with you, and yes tackles are not telling the whole story either. My only point is that the guy is pretty good football player. I never said great, but he is pretty darn good.
I am in NO WAY confident with a Schobel/kelsay/denney rotation and think we need another DE on the other end. I said cut denney and make kelsay the back up and bring in through FA or a draft another DE.
I was only illustrating how this guy gets so much flack yet is a really good all around player who makes our D noticeably better when he is on the field. He would benefit greatly from another threat (which we definitely need) on the other end. But even without that threat he has still managed to be one of the statistically better DE in the NFL over his career, but for some reason it seems like the fans want to dump on him and run him out of town. Some even saying to trade him for a lousy 4th round pick...
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Schobel had 1 sack in 5 games (even with Stroud). So, at that rate, he would of had 3 sacks to finish the year. Yes, Schobel has been good at forced fumbles & good against the run, but most of the time he barely gets a whiff of the QB.
Peppers had 3 sacks in the first 5 games this year and 11 tackles...
Schobel 1 sack and 19 tackles...so yeah, he had 2 less sacks, but made 9 more plays elsewhere...not a terrible trade off.
He still DEMANDS the attention of opposing teams and that showed as he made STROUD better when he was on the field.
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And in case it is still not clear...I am NOT saying Schobel is better than Peppers, I am saying even the great Peppers had a WAY WORSE year than Schobel and that just PROVES the point that sacks DONT tell the whole story, because IF the did you would have to say Schobel is better, which I am NOT.
Point is, Schobel is a pretty good DE, like it or not, and there isnt a single team in the NFL that he wouldnt be a starter on. He may not be Elite, but he is pretty good.
He is considered a better DE in the run game than most, including Peppers.
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So by your logic you are concluding that Schobel is as good if not better than Peppers. Correct?
NO, I wrote SACKS DONT TELL THE WHOLE STORY and talent DOES matter around a player. You think its a coincidence that Schobels worst year statistically is also the same year we had our worst D unit in decades on the field? And yet, he still tripled Peppers sack production who DIDNT lose a ton of players to injury.
Everyone wants to rip Schobel over sacks, but he is one of the better run stopping DE's in the league, still had 6.5 sacks last year which is solid considering all the injuries, was 2nd in the league in forced fumbles and was all around effective.
And to FURTHER illustrate this is look at our D this year with him on the field and off the field...we were a much better team with him on it. And someone pointed out the AZ game...that had NOTHING to do with schobel. Warner would do a quick 3 step drop (the fabled Peppers couldnt reach Warner in that game) and immediately shoot the ball out to a WR crossing over the middle wide open because our D Backs were told to play 10 yards off the most dangerous WR corp in the NFL. That was defensive coaching that lost us that game, not Schobels inadequacies...
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That might be so regarding his respect around the league. And I agree stats don't tell the full story. My point is solely this. In my opinion, he is a great Defensive End that gets dragged down by the poor talent of his teammates and thus the extra attention he gets makes him less effective. WHAT I WANT, is an EVEN BETTER Defensive End, that is good enough to make everyone around him better because of how effective he can be, even when he is given the extra attention.
I don't buy this, "well everyone else is around him sucks so his talent is negated", great players always beat out the extra attention they get. This is especially true of players on the Defensive Line.
I will say, to the credit of Schobel, the play of the Bills went down drastically without him in the game.
Julius Peppers 2007 stat line
14 games, 2.5 SACKS
We all have an off year, and Schobels off year had TRIPLE the sack output of Peppers and Schobel had LESS talent on the D...heck, peppers had Kris Jenkins last year...What did Schobel have? We also a band aid D with all the injuries and he STILL tripled Peppers output.
Sacks dont tell the whole story about a player...
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Osrry but the bills ranked 27 with 22 sacks and 26th with only 9 interceptions. NO pressure to the qbs leading to Ints Maybe incomplete passes but you would have to go throgh each individual game to see if the Dl was the cause of that. Sorry to bust up your theory
You are talking about team stats which dont reflect on him as an individual...Our starting safety was our 5th string WR for crying out loud. We had very little talent on our D due to injuries last year, so that is not a fair assesment. He still had SIX forced fumbles (#2 in the league) and 96 tackles for a DE...
Lets play a game of who am I:
14 games played, 2.5 sacks, 38 tackles....
Give up? Julius Peppers last year...Schobel tripled his out put last year, but you wanna throw big money at him? You think Peppers didnt still scare D Coordinators last year?
Peppers only had more than 60 tackles in a season once (64 in 2004) and Schobel had 96 last year as a DE...
So say what you want about his only 6.5 sacks...but he still had a pretty good season overall and it was one of his worst statistically in terms of sacks.
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I agree, I feel Schobel would be a great complimentary DE like Hansen & Paup were to Bruce.
FYI too...Schobel had 6 Forced Fumbles and 96 tackles to go with his 6.5 sacks last year to show his overll effectiveness...make no mistake, we are a better team with him on the field and the other teams have to account for him. If we had another guy equal to him or better on the other side we would have a pretty dominant D Line...
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I promise you that Schobel would get 8-10 sacks a year if we had a pro-bowl DE on the other side of him. But, he is not good enough to be the best Defensive End on a good team. He would be a great partner to a good Defensive End as he clearly has talent, but he cannot take over a game like the best DE's in the league can.
Last year when he had 6 sacks, our coaches and opposing coaches all said the same thing...he may not get the sacks, but he disrupts the passing game. He is putting pressure, drawing double teams, etc.
A DE's performance isnt just about sacks...in fact, sacks are the most overrated stat in the game of football. Think about it, lets say he has 12 sacks instead of 6...that is 6 more sacks and he is viewed as dominant right. Well what does that really say...it means on 6, yes just 6 plays in an ENTIRE season of plays, he got to a QB a fraction of a second faster. Never mind, that in those 6 plays he didnt get the sack that he still hit the QB, pressured the QB, maybe forced the QB into a bad pass that resulted in an INT for our defense, etc. (I will take a INT over a sack always, and a lot of INT's happen on bad passes from pressure from our pass rush).
Sacks are such a small part of how effective a pass rusher is. There is so much Schobel does that doesnt show up on the stat sheet, including being pretty good against the run. And when you are the only dangerous player on the line, then you get extra attention, making it harder to get the fabled sack, but he may still have gotten pressure, which he did and its why he was chosen by his PEERS to play in the Pro Bowl with opposing coaches saying it was an easy choice because he gave them fits on game day and they had to gameplan for him each week.
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I agree 100%. I've said in other posts we need 2 DE's. It would be great if we could get Julius Peppers or another good DE in FA. If not then we need an impact DE out of the draft. I think Schobel is overpaid & overrated. Schobel is good against the run, but can't put pressure on the QB consistently. I don't know how many times we've seen him run 10 yards up the field and try to swing around the O-lineman, he takes himself out of the play when that happens. At $8+ million a year, he's not worth it. If we can trade him, dump his salary & get something in return for him (ie- 1st day draft pick(s)) then that would be great.
Say what you want about Schobel, but the guy gets extra attention regularly and frequently double teamed and is still one of the most productive DE's in the league in terms of sacks during his span in the NFL. Most important aspect of what I just said is that he STILL gets extra attention when he is in the game, which then in turn makes life easier for players like Stroud. In fact Stroud was more effective before Schobel got hurt. We are a better team with this guy on the field.
We definitely need another DE for sure and the contracts of Kelsay and Denney are dead weight. I would say we have about a 1% chance at best of getting Peppers and I will be shocked if he doesnt spend most of his career in Carolina...he wants to stay and they want him to stay.
But that doesnt mean there are not other options in FA or the draft to upgrade from Kelsay/Denney combo. I would love to see us dump Denney and keep Kelsay as a back up (assuming we only dump one) as he does play hard out there and not all that bad, just not quite worth his contract. But I can live with his contract when it isnt including Denneys dead weight and he is rotating in and not starting.
Ultimately, if we can pick up a nice DE and dump both and add depth through the draft, then even better. But a more realistic idea is to dump one, and if I have to choose then I say keep Kelsay.
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I think Mack is going to be great and would love to have him. But at 12 we need DE, DT, OLB, impact player in the front seven is a must.
Why do people keep saying we need to use a high round pick on DT? Our interior D Line is good and will be better when they arent getting extra attention because we have no DE's penetrating. In fact, Stroud was much more effective before Schobel got hurt. An upgrade at LB and DE will make our interior D Line much better, and its actually pretty good now.
So looking at our needs, this would be one of the last positons we need to spend any first day picks on.
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Looks like some people outside of Buffalo don't ride the "JP out of football" bandwagon.
I can say this, GM's and scouts around the NFL do not see JP the same way the Bills fans do. Anyone who truly KNOWS football and what it takes to develop a QB know that JP got put in a real bad situation and understand it would be tough for any QB to succeed. They also see a kid that MANY scouts were high on coming out of college becuase of his raw talent, and those tangibles are still there. So he is going to get a "benefit of the doubt" type review based on how awful he was developed as it was almost an impossible situation.
He's a competitor, athletic, can scramble and has a cannon of an arm. A lot of his flaws are viewed as correctable (I mean heck, Warner is a fumbling machine himself), and he is seen as a YOUNG QB with lots of upside in the right system and coaching with time to develop in that system, something he has NEVER had in Buffalo.
In the famous words of all the annoying topic titles....Mark My Words, he will be brought in at min a #2 QB, and he likely finds himself a chance to come in and play for a starting spot. Here are some potential suitors...
Seattle (If hasselbeck doesnt come back)
San Francisco
Philly (if they move McNabb)
Oakland
Denver (just as a back up)
Tampa Bay (Gruden loves QB's)
NY Jets (Farve is short term and they are not sold on their backup from what I hear)
Detroit
St. Louis (Bulger is on life support there from what I hear)
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Let's be fair here. I agree with you said in the other post that JP tried his best.
That said, are you really gonna criticize Trent for coming from behind and winning? If JP would have not thrown the jest game away, this board would be flooded by those calling to re-sign him and make him the starter. I think that we both know this to be true.
JP did try hard, but he lost more than 2/3 of the games he started.
It's over with JP. We should all try to turn the page.
I wasnt knocking Trent for winning us the games, my point was he was not exactly lighting the field up. In fact, 2 wins came as a result of Lynch making amazing plays on 3rd and long and 4th and long to scrap for the first down. Trent got over hyped for the comebacks is all I was saying, he didnt exactly play well against bad defenses the majority of the time in those games as we had to come back and win.
My only real point was that he was over hyped as a result because he had been efficient in the 4th quarter, but he had help. In other words, we didnt win those games BECAUSE of Trent, and one could argue with better QB play the first 3 quarters by our QB against those awful teams, then we wouldnt have had to come back in the 4th.
And I didnt mean it to defend JP who has clearly made classic JP mistakes during this run. He has been hampered by TERRIBLE drops by his recievers and Lynch and bad o line protection at times, but then there were plenty of times he just flat out blew it.
And I agree...he leads us to a win against the Jets then this board blows up with QB controversy.
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1. Edwards' concussion early against Arizona
2a. Ginn's 60+ Yard pass reception (off McGee) Immediately after Buffalo 'took control' at Miami.
2b. Edwards fumbling @ Miami on an already successful sneak (whistle should have gone)
3. Elam's pick 6 for the Jets
4. Lindell's missed FG against Cleveland Monday night
5. Losman's SEVERELY underthrown fade pass on first down and goal
6. Losman not being able to hold onto the ball with 2:00 left on the play action against the Jets.
Considering the doom and gloom... these 6 plays could have been the difference of us being in the state we are in now... Or scrambling for playoff tickets.
with the exception of #1, most are a combination of coaching creating an optimal situation for failure, along with a severe failure on the Bills' part of executing.
Lindell missed a key FG the next week too...
#5 above is too early in the game and proved meaningless as we had the lead still with 2:00 to go.
#6 You could also say Peters missed assignment caused JP to fumble or the idiot call by the coaches...
And we lose #1 no matter what as Warner just picked us all day...at least thats my view on that one...
Truth is, we had lots of winnable games...including several key drops by Lynch, Hardy, and Royal...Royal also had key fumbles, and Trent had more than his share of turnovers to lose us games...
You can also say we got lucky on the Jax game where hardy caught a poorly thrown ball to win the game and came within an inch of being out of bounds...it is lucky because he caught it for one since he drops so many other easier catches and two because it wasnt the best throw...
This is a round and round merri go round topic....
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after the dust has settled. My anger seems to be gravitation towards JP. 2 1/2 horrible, uninspired, very winnable games. He wanted out 'to start', and didnt get his way. He was forced to play out his string here and has looked completely like he could care less what the result of the game is.
Hate JP all you want, but this is a stupid statement. He wants to win, hes playing for a contract and opportunity next year. Quite honestly, he showed more passion on the field than most of our team when he's out there. Has he struggled...sure...can you pick him apart for mistakes...sure...but you cant say he didnt play his heart out, thats just absurd. The kid plays hard, he may not have the success you want, but he plays hard...thats all you can ask of him, to play to the best of his ability...
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Looking back at what might have been ... the Bills were nothing more than idiots for keeping JP on the roster this year. They had opportunities to grab a more experienced and proven number two QB. One could argue that with a change up or relief QB we could have pulled the Cleveland game out and maybe have won against SF. I know that it gets ugly switching QB's back and forth but the Bills made a stupid gamble. They gambled that TE would take consistent strides forward and not get injured. In reality they left themselves with no fallback. Imagine that TE would have been hurt and out in game #1. Imagine how putrid the season would have been with a year of JP under center.
If Buffalo was to be hit with a terrorist attack, the posters on this board would find a way to blame JP. lmao...last I checked TE lost us the Cle game, not JP...yet you found a creative way to pin it on him...we have lost 6 of the last 7 games...how many did JP play again?
Seriously, our offense was not doing very well with Trent at the helm, and you can all stay in love with the 5-1 start to justify Trent, but he struggled in most those games for the first 3 quarters, didnt put on a real wow game, and they were all against terrible teams that we should have blown out. Trent got a lot of hype for fourth quarter comebacks during the span...whats that tell you...it tells you did very little the rest of the game against terrible defenses and had to pull out some wins last minute when we should have handled those teams easy.
Honestly, I think we still win most of those games TE won during the 5-1 run because those teams are that bad if TE gets knocked out early, so what a mute point...
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Yeah we may have finished last in the division and out of the playoffs. Good thing TE didn't get hurt in week 1.
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I'd love to see us sign Haynesworth & Peppers. That would be a monster line: Peppers, Stroud, Haynesworth & Schobel. Doubt it would happen, but would be great if it did.
lol...man, talk about giving opposing coaches nightmares the week leading up to the game...they would chit themselves. Too bad the odds of this happening are about the same as the Oakland Raiders becoming the best place to coach in the NFL.
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We have 2 young wr's and a young qb who will improve this years output. I do agree that we need help on offense but if we're picking around #10, I think a RT, G or QB would be a better value to our team than TE.
Not really sure how you can confidently say our young QB will improve...he showed great regression and a lack of confidence during his struggles to the point he was afraid to let the ball go downfield, even when WR's were open. Not good signs for a young QB...
As far as our #1 pick goes...I have said this before on other posts...the FO and coaching staff is high on Derek Fine. So unless he shows something these last two weeks to change their mind (like play like Robert Royal), I highly doubt they use a high pick on another TE when they feel they have a young guy on the roster that can develop and fill this need. Personally, I would love to see us grab Coffman, but its just not gonna happen unless they change their opinnion on Fine.
If a stud QB is there when we pick, I dont think they go that route in the first round, but they may consider it. Every year it seems a Top QB prospect falls just because teams he is falling too dont need a QB, so one could fall to us, and who knows, maybe they bite.
I just dont see them grabbing a center that high up, but then again, maybe they trade down and grab one.
I think they consider going DE, but truth is, with so MUCH money wrapped up in Kelsay, Denney and Schobel, are they gonna wanna pay for another High priced DE because of his high draft slot? Could factor into their decision.
I dont know why people talk about DT being a big need...this is one area that really isnt a pressing need. Help at DE and LB would vastly improve our interior DL play as we have a stud and some nice complimentary players on the inside.
No way they go WR...not with Johnson and Hardy on the roster.
So, I think the most likely scenario is they go best LB or OL available or try and trade back and take a Center. If we go DE, they gotta do something with Denney or Kelsay...
This is not taking into account FA signings or possible trade scenarios for a player like say McNabb if he is available.
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One, this topic is already started and its right at the top of all the threads...
Two, everyone, including the Titans will be back the Brinks trucks right up to this dudes house...so, we need to be willing to first give him the money he will command, then two, he needs to choose us over all the other teams willing to give him the same amount of money...
This is a long shot at best...only thing in our favor is the appeal for him to get to play next to Stroud where he can no longer be double and tripled team as much because of Stroud and even Schobel.
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Nice thoughts but pipe dreams for us landing these Free Agents:
Warner
Peppers
Haynesworth
Boldin
Houshmanzadeh
Warner will not leave AZ to play any where else and has already pubicly said this. Its AZ or bust for him, so as much as I would love to see him in Buffalo, its just not gonna happen. Might as well wish for a Manning or Brady too...
Peppers most likely resigns with Carolina. If not it will be because he gets some obscene contract some where else, but so far everything points to Carolina wanting to resign him and Peppers preferring to stay in Carolina.
Haynesworth is going to be the MOST sought after FA on the market, with teams willing to throw an abusrd amount of money at him. I dont know if we will break the bank on this guy considering our interior D Line isnt considered to be a major need for us. Stroud and Co. have done a pretty good job and would be helped tremendously with some DE help and better LB play. Add that to the fact he will have his pick of several places to play over Buffalo, and I just dont see this as a realistic scenario. I will say though that our best bargaining chip here is that he would get to play next to a stud in Stroud and could be attracted to that which will make his life even easier as teams cant just simply triple team him with Stroud and Schobel on the line.
Boldin and Housh - Boldin will be playing for AZ or Philly next year. If Philly keeps McNabb then they will go after Boldin as they already tried to trade for him. If Boldin reups in AZ they move on to Housh. If Philly lands Boldin, then I think that opens up the window for us on Housh.
Of the 5, I think we may have the best shot at Haynesworth or Housh but its still a long shot.
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Much like Rucker, he was never really asked to be an inline blocker at Mizzou. The dude is an absolute throwback though....he's got a Chuck Norris like reputation around Missouri for his toughness..... broke his finger in a morning spring practice, had it operated on later in the day and then tried to convince the coaches to let him practice the next day. He's been playing with a SEVERE turf toe over the last few weeks and he's still been catching TDs left and right. He might be a question mark as a blocking TE but he would be a major threat in the passing game, something we've been lacking for over a decade.
I would love to see us take Coffman, definitely love it, but word out of Buffalo is that the staff is real high oh Derek Fine. He has shown some potential, so who knows. But with the staff pretty high on this guy, I have a hard time seeing them drafting Coffman, even if Coffman looks like another Witten out there. If Coffman is available to us in the 2nd round (which I dont really believe he will be) and we pass on him, it will be a shame.
I hope they move Fine into the starting lineup these last 2 weeks and give him extensive playing time to see what the kid can show.
I was praying for Dustin Keller this past draft, and he is showing some serious potential in NY. So, I will again hope for Coffman this year, I am just not getting my hopes up because if they are high on Fine they will probably use their high picks on either areas they see as a more pressing need.
Ralph says the Bills don't have enough talent
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
Nice post...I totally agree. It frustrates me when Ralph gets accused of not spending money, because he clearly is. The lacking area right now is our FO. Part of that has to do with the sour taste in his mouth left by you know who.
It also frustrates me on Ralph catching flack on the coaches. Mularkey and Williams were hot items when they were hired, and most the posters saying Ralph is cheap based on him hiring inexperiecned coaches (which is why they were cheap) are also yelling for him to hire other UNPROVEN corrdinators to replace DJ, which coincidentally would be cheaper than say a Billick or Cowher.
The most frustrating argument is when he gets flack for being cheap because he hired DJ...he DID NOT hire DJ, MARV LEVY chose DJ and Ralph trusted his GM to do what he was hired to do...find talent and coaches. So, you can fault him for not having a stong enough front office, and its true. But be fair on where blame is assigned...
1. He spends money, so people need to get over the "he is cheap stuff"
2. Blame Marv for DJ, not Wilson
3. Dont accuse him of being cheap on his coaches because he went out and got a young up and coming coach then scream for him to make the same MISTAKE again this year. He brought in Williams because he was supposed to be tough and could help shore up a defense which was the weakest part of the team. Then he brought in Mularkey who was supposed to also be tough and able to spark our offense with creativity (which was the weakest part of our team then). At the times of their hires, they looked like promising choices. They didnt work out, it happens, doesnt mean he is cheap.