May Day 10

They aren't that close though. The schedule this season parted for them. They had teams ranked probably #32, #31, #30, #29, and #28x2 on their schedule. Also add in a New England team with pretty much no QB option, and a somehow bad Arizona team with the 1PM EST start, and Cincinnati... who are both 5-8-1. Each time they played a team who mattered, they got their teeth kicked in (save the Seattle MNF game). They are 0-7 vs teams over .500 This team does enough to beat the dregs of the NFL most of the time... but when they play a team who matters, there is almost no contest. To me, that isn't close at all, and it has been the same pattern through a long period of time. They are also aging in a number of spots, have expiring contracts, and also now are against the cap. They have some holes are are about to be presented with even more problems. This isn't a team on the come. They are a pulled McCoy hammy from being a 3 or 4 win team.

Even with the pats, the bills still havent finished ahead of both miami and the jets with any regularity

The bills kind of make it necessary to have an "agenda", no? They cant even make it into december with a realistic shot at a playoff spot This isnt a young break-out roster either.

He kind of rambled on too much about the drafted players by team.... but i liked how he shined a light on the bills little outsourcing blame and magnifying credit shell game.

So its our fault

All the bills needs to do is win all their games next season

I think they had a window of a few years as well as cap money to spend and blew it. The window is actually closing now. Players are aging, contracts are unfavorable, and they dont have a glut of picks/assets.

"He is excellent on the business side" seems like a catch-all general cop-out. He has presided over the bills during a time where the nfl experienced unprecedented growth and prosperity. I can say from experience that there are thousands of Russ Brandons in the field. What he was good at, was executing ralph wilson's vision, which was keeping the decisions in the inner circle, while deflecting accountability to the outside. The same tricks still work. We are again about to outsource all the blame to Rex Ryan. Then we will be fed hope that anthony lynn was some highly coveted candidate. Next year will be again year 1. The team will stink but it will be because of new coaches, system, etc... year 2 continuity... year 3 the bottom falls out again and we are right back here, blaming lynn for everything, while the bills search for the next lackey. He has been at a senior executive role, on top of the organization for a long time, and the dysfunction continues.

The same organizational management is in place, save Littman... and Wilson, but Brandon has been a proxy of Wilson's leadership. I believe these folks work to preserve their positions and influence. Something was done to chase Polian away. When threats start to form, we see these games happen through 'leaks' in the media and blame. Marrone had documented spats with Bills management that was described as 'new' vs 'lifers'.

I will explain, but you will disagree. The Bills were moving in a direction to give Wilson's trusted money guys in Overdorf, Littman, and Brandon more say in football matters, as Donahoe was ejected. An agreeable Marv Levy was coming in, trusted by Wilson, but incapable of the GM position. One of his roles was going to be to continue showing Russ Brandon the ropes on the football side. Mularkey saw the writing on the wall and direction the Bills were going in and didnt want his career to be attached to this. The result was 2 mediocre seasons, followed by a 6-peat for last place finishes.

I am in the minority of people who do not 'hate' the prequels. I think they are unfairly panned. I really like how these new ones look though. Very well done.

I cant believe Bills fans here 'circle the wagons' and defend the team and organization whenever questioned

"Getting" a QB isn't like getting hit with a meteor. You need people in place who can identify and develop a young QB. You also need an organizational commitment... if not, desperation to find one. The Bills have failed across the board in those areas as an organization.

One of Marv Levy's functions when he was brought in as GM was to groom and further develop Russ Brandon as a football guy.

As a guy who likes star wars... it was excellent. However, IMO the movie could have been streamlined a bit better and it would have been the undisputed champ of star wars movies. Lots of unnecessary dialogue and actions that weakened the movie

Russ Whaley Rex Tyrod

Its all about the right management and organization. The right management, *hint, we do not have it right now*, will maximize the draft pick and the value. I recall not too long ago, at times, the Broncos, Seahawks, Ravens, Raiders, Chiefs, Cowboys, Cardinals, Vikings, etc... all picked ahead of the Bills... and they pulled themselves out just fine. As far as Sunday.... I don't really care. They aren't going to make the playoffs. I would rather they lose to be honest. It would be funny with the Dareus situation, draft pick position is very close, like 6 spots for 1 game... and a loss could inspire Pegula to hold a mirror to the entire organization. I am not going to worry on any lost 'glory' of the Bills being Cleveland's only win in 2016. Nobody will care or remember anyways. This organization is devoid of glory to lose anyway, save a 5-7 year aberration. In the NFL, it is fairly obvious that there are good organizations and bad ones. The Bills have always been a bad one, save those half dozen years, which was promptly destroyed by our owner. Pegula has chosen for continuity.

Ruben and Moorman

Not to mention, 4 games against the 4 wirst teams on the power rankings

Pegula's "style" is hogwash. Lindy ruff was hung onto through an offseason, a half season lockout, only to be fired early in the lockout shortened season. Crowd was becoming ugly at games. Bad timing and wasted 9 months a coach could have been in the fold and preparing. Regier was a similar thing. Crowd was getting belligerent, and was getting national attention and regier was fired in November, after another season was pretty much shot. Both moves reeked of indecision and seemed reactionary.

wow. This is so Bills. Is he going to waddle off the field with his index finger in the air?

We are saying "fans" wanted Ralph Wilson to sell the team to a winner, and to fire Polian during the Super Bowl runs.... but what percentage is that? <1% I am sure. I don't remember hearing that. I do remember a larger percentage calling for Reich to start over Kelly near the end... but again, that was like <2% and had the mouthpiece of calling WGR and WBEN, etc... At this point, fans, I would say a large majority... >90% are pretty fed up and would welcome a wholesale change with open arms and excitement, even if it meant taking an initial step back. Fans of other teams I know feel like major change is needed (and laughed about Rex Ryan initially). I think any neutral observer would see that the Bills and the Pegulas could use a large amount of guidance at this point.

The article is a bit cherry-pickey This season.... IF they win the final 3 games and finish 9-7 is held up as a success. I disagree. This schedule broke the Bills' way and was a cake-walk. They have the current consensus bottom 4 power ranked team on their schedule, as well as the #26 or #27 team on there twice (Jets). New England with a hurt 3rd string QB was a tomato can too. Yeah, I guess we should congratulate them for not being in that group. They have a total of 4 current playoff teams on their schedule, and outside of the Seattle game, they folded up against each other one (New England, Oakland, and Pittsburgh). Then you have the 'similar' non-playoff teams of Baltimore and Miami, and they got beat up there too. Every time things mattered, they folded badly. Out by late November/early December. Same identical pattern. It also says: "Look at it this way... if you took over a business that had failed for years (which is essentially what the Pegulas did), hired some of your own people to leadership positions but didn’t see profits crawl out of the negatives in the two years, would you start firing and re-hiring again?" l don't think they hired anyone for leadership positions.... at least on the side of the operation that matters to me. They kept everyone who was there for pre-Pegula. Nobody there involved on that side has proven to be worthy of continuing IMO, and an organizational rebuild is about 12 years overdue. I would be in support of giving everything 1 more year.... actually moreso than just replacing the coach and hoping for the best again and going through the cycle of "new coach, new system needs personnel" to "continuity" to "he sucks get him out of here it is all his fault"

While it will certainly be better than before because the resources are available... a potential hang-up is what kind of influence does the new HC have. Does he have control of his own destiny/career/legacy... or is he going to need to capitulate to Russ Brandon in cut meetings. The power structure here has been a turn-off as much as the $ aspect. We have had 2 coaches (our best 'drought' coaches) voluntarily walk the plank here in 10 years. That should ring alarms. To get a white whale coach, you need to offer influence/power as much as the $.

Thats where i am. If they want to give him the keys to the car and full authority to build us a football program, thats great. The one thing that puts me off though is how chemnelly says he is friendly with many in the organization. He has the qualities i would like to see instilled in the bills organization. Hard work, detail oriented, professional...