fridge

Who is going to trade for Marcel's contract? I'm under the impression that his next drug offense nets him 10 games at best, or a full year suspension at worst. Also, are there examples of teams tagging a CB to move them for a 1st round pick? We once got incredibly lucky doing that with Peerless Price, but it seems like a horrible game plan, no?

Wait...what?

My quick hits on Whaley, who I think is mostly alright as GM, but not without his faults: PROS Late Round Draft Talent Not Afraid to Trade (Kiko for Shady was a monster trade, but bum LSU MLB for Hughes was a steal) Willing to Let Bullsh*t Walk (see: Byrd, Jarius) Free Agent Acquisitions (Has a knack for getting guys ready to perform [this year: Z. Brown, L. Alexander]) CONS Public Speaking No Backbone (pretty sure he didn't want Rex Ryan as his hire, should have spoken up about this or put his job on the line with a different hire) Rex Ryan (even if he may not have wanted Rex Ryan, he's got him - no need to let him influence the draft as much as he has) QB Assessment (I don't hate the EJ pick at all, it happens. He has missed a lot of talent and hasn't taken many chances here) Overvalues HB (Keeps drafting HB's, but street HB's perform just as well [see: Gillislee], I love McCoy but he is a luxury) Lack of Foresight (Injuries are going to happen, but went into the season shockingly thin at WR) Percy Harvin, Reggie Bush (Deserve their own spot. Terrible moves. Could have had Boldin)

I applaud your very well written message, but I fear it will fall mostly on deaf ears. A lot of people think that we are crazy for simply wanting accountability and removing Russ Brandon from the organization. They assume that we're somehow blaming all of our years of futility on one guy. They think we're pinpointing him as a sacrificial lamb and a scapegoat for an organization that has had such turmoil it couldn't possibly be as simple as one guy's fault. The problem here is that I agree with these Brandon supporters on this. It's not all Brandon's fault, but at times he's been solely responsible for the team, and it's been largely inadequate during those times. Other times he simply hired the people who were responsible for the team on the field, and again we've been meddling at best. There have been several key players involved to help create our team's lack of success. Some of these people are past head coaches and GM's (many of which are Brandon hires). Others play a smaller role (Scott Berchtold is a great example as you pointed out). A lot of the hold overs from the Wilson era are not renowned league-wide. These are not top-dogs, just dogs. A lot of hype surrounding our team is often manufactured. Some of it's obvious (your T.O. point fits here), but there are other examples as well. For one, Doug Marrone was very likely touted most by his agent (many reports say that his agent made up a lot of Marrone's league-wide hype which leaked all over the media), and the Bills were reciting his agent's lies when presenting him as a hot head coaching candidate. I don't even know if it's gross incompetence at that point, or if they truly believed a middling Syracuse University coach was actually being considered by many teams as a guy to hire. There is a lot of misinformation about this, but I don't doubt for a second that Brandon was played by Marrone's agent - you have to remember that following a 9-7 campaign (I believe our first winning season in 10 years), he could only find himself as the Offensive Coordinator of the Jaguars. I hear that Brandon is tremendous at his job. Most of the examples of this are debatable (Did you hear that K9 - it's not written in stone, you can actually debate the degree to which Brandon is responsible for the team's unshared revenue during a league-wide spike in interest), but even if some are true, I see no reason to believe an ivy league business school grad could not do the same. Our ad campaigns are simple and unimpressive. Our Rochester training camp is simple and obvious regional marketing. We have little to no reach in the middle of the state. The Canadian expansion did not earn us many (if any) new fans. What we know involving Brandon is pretty simple. He's had at times an overarching role within a losing organization. He's been with the team during the NFL's largest rise in success. When faced with the prospect of a new owner, he was promoted and not released. I expect to see him in his current position for the next twenty years.

Pretty sure Ralph Wilson was legitimately senile at that point, and Russ Brandon's title was CEO at the Nix hire, operating as the teams effective owner.

This always sounds so personal for you. Why do I need to reconcile anything? I don't think for a second that he's not a permanent fixture. His recent promotions tell us this, and it's painfully obvious to anyone paying attention that Russ Brandon will be the President for a long, long time. I still despise the guy. I'd think the Buffalo Bills forum is a great place to discuss that, no? Help me understand how I can detest the Buddy Nix, Doug Marrone, and Rex Ryan hires, acknowledge that Russ Brandon was a significant contributor in those hires, and still be supportive of him as the President. Keep in mind that I am a fan that only cares about winning. Perhaps I'd rather someone else be having a critical say in those decisions?

For an unltra-conservative QB, this is even more damning.

The only thing absurd is that you keep bringing up 1997. He no longer holds the position he was hired for then.

You're better aquatinted with the revenue side of things? Other than an absolute ego trip, what does that even mean exactly? You think somehow I can't comprehend how the team makes money? I'm not the owner, you're right, I'm the fan. No idea why I would value marginally successful business ventures over success on the field. Also...you again absolved him of any responsibility for the team's recent ineptitude.

Are you telling me Russ was unique in increasing unshared revenue during the most prosperous time in the history of the league? Also, you know damn well the argument is that he's still involved in football decisions, and therefore it would be refreshing to see a systematic overhaul, starting from the top. Again, as a fan, the marketing means nothing to me. I have no allegiance to the man trying to shill me a jersey, and I certainly don't care that he snagged some state dough to paint the bathrooms. And why exactly is that impressive? No other man could do that? You want to praise the man for doing an absolutely mediocre job at the business level but absolve him of guilt for the on-the-field stuff (you know, the only bit I care about).

There have been 14 games without Sammy Watkins AND Robert Woods...that doesn't seem right at all.

Ah yes, the first week of December in Buffalo:

I forgot the Jets have an eight year old quarterback on their roster.

Of course no fan is going to effect what the team does. What a ridiculous thing to say. You're welcome to log off and never post again if you think you're so righteous that you get to dictate what can and can't be discussed. And I'm sorry that you don't know what" essentially" means. They're mathematically alive to start December again. If it makes you feel better the annual Brandon thread can resume in a week.

Fun thread. Offense: L. McCoy Defense: J. Hughes Honorable mentions: M. Gillislee, K. Williams, R. Woods, A. Williams

I would agree with you, if you just accept it as a regular old loss...but it's not. We essentially eliminated ourselves from the playoffs. We did it in classic fashion, blowing a lead and looking like a pee wee football team going away. It's now 17 years and counting. This is exactly the right time to sit back and go, "who is responsible for this mess again?".

This is a pretty level headed evaluation. My only issue is that now we are three years (counting the Orton season) with no playoffs that could have been used to start and develop EJ. When we inevitably ditch Tyrod (could be this offseason, could be 2019), we will at best be no better than we would have been sticking with our guy. Now we are nowhere, again. I see Taylor's ceiling as being reached in his first start with us. He doesn't play with the attitude of someone that's learning and improving. Hopefully Jones (I'm really not holding out much hope here) or a draft pick step in and play with this team like Big Ben's rookie year...ultra conservative BUT with the ability to grow into the position and take chances as they develop the pre-snap skills to really read NFL defenses.

I think he's here to stay as well. It seems pretty obvious that executives of his ilk dig their talons in to stick around. Promoting him to President of Sabres + Amerks pretty much solidifies that he's not going anywhere. I don't think it's a useless discussion though. Russ is the smoking gun, tower 7, and area 51. He's our moon landing.

As much as I would have rallied around this in the past, what's done is done. They hedged their bets on Taylor. It's time to move on. EJ may have had more upside, but it would never come to be with this organization. I'm not even sure at this point what would happen if we had drafted Carr. Would we suddenly have this great emerging star or would he turn out more like his brother?

That depends. Is hiring the head coach a football decision?

The offense fell apart yesterday? Nope, didn't notice it... ...are you serious? Edit: not to be too harsh, but dude this is being discussed in like ten threads right now.

You're the only one bringing up EJ, dude. Time to move on...

I'd rather have Kyle Williams because he is not 48 years old.

Like QB. If you simply swapped Taylor and Carr, but kept the teams otherwise constant, can you imagine us crumbling late in the game like that?