GunnerBill
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Posts posted by GunnerBill
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He'll have to take a lower-level job and then he'll either work his way up to potential candidate again, or he won't. Can't see him getting a GM position right now, though. Not based on his current C.V.
Even after re-establishing himself as a good personnel guy (which he definitely is) it is hard to see a team hiring him from another team to be a GM to my mind. The chances are a team that already has him in house and has a vacancy is more inclined to give him that shot.
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I'm still confused why everyone hates the buffalo news.
Because they bash a ****ty franchise? It's their job to write about the team. The team blows year in and year out.
Because they are not very good at their jobs. I am an ex journalist. A lot of their content is poorly written, poorly structured and lacking in original thought. They are right as much as they are wrong in my opinion, but the standard of journalism sucks.
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I am confused by the re-writing of DW performance history as GM of our Bills, true under his guidance we didn't have successful years, however he did take a 6 win team and took us to a 9 win season, our only .500 plus season in a decade, nothing embarrassing there whatsoever, unless you're just being a drama queen
Next, he oversaw a rather dramatic upgrade in on field talent, sure it still wasn't good enough, but he did oversee both the creation of a #2 DVOA D, and two successive top #12 DVOA O, note none of that occurred before he arrived, I think some fans here forget how awful our O was pre DW, and for many successive years, we watched terminally boring football, and awful D's
Like any NFL GM, he has some draft success, and some draft failures, I will be forever critical of him for trading away too many picks, and moving up when I felt we were better served long term by moving back, I don't think any of his pre 2017 draft day trade up's were successful, Ragland a work in progress
Unlike many NFL GM's his trades were mostly successful, the exception being anytime he traded away draft picks, he found some nice off season FA's, though at the same time he was a poor manager of both QB and WR depth, which hurt us tremendously
I'm glad Pegs replaced him, I think it was time to go, and give someone else a chance to build our team, but he was neither a horrific GM, or embarrassing, I wish he would have been better, but I've also seen alot worse, he was classy, unlike Rex, Roman, and a whole bunch of other Bills executive management over the years
jc
Very fair in my opinion. Dough Whaley was better than what came before, the team's record in the 3 years where he was in total control was exactly .500. That is an improvement.... just not enough of one. I think he will regret the 2014/15 offseason. He didn't fight for his choice as Head Coach and he took what was a pretty good cap situation and made a bit of a mess of it with some unwise / unnecessary spending - the ridiculous Clay contract and the pointless Harvin signing in particular.
I generally quite liked him, but the Bills needed to start acting and speaking with a unified purpose and the decision to move on once the Pegulas decided they had found the man to be a real leader in this franchise - McDermott - was a sensible one.
We have had some classless idiots in this franchise one way or another during the drought - TD, Greggo, Marrone, Rex...... Whaley joins Chan on the list of guys who ultimately weren't quite good enough but were easy to root for in my book.
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Doug Whaley... still waiting.
Pegula.... still paying him. Doug can wait and take the right job. He will go as a VP Player Personnel or Director Pro Personnel somewhere with an established GM who is up there in age I suspect and try and carve a niche as the "in house candidate" to succeed that guy. I think that is his only chance to ever get another GM shot. Nobody is ever gonna hire Doug Whaley to be GM if they are looking outside the building in my opinion.
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I don't doubt that Whaley initially wanted Hue, but the story went that Rex (who wasn't anyone's first choice) blew away everyone in the room. Whaley was in that room, and I have no reason to believe he didn't buy in like the rest of them.
Here's the story directly from buffalobills.com; Whaley's words on Rex went a bit beyond just keeping the company line:
Whaley was asked to rank the candidates after the first round of interviews and Hue Jackson was still very much his number 1. I don't know where he ranked Rex - it is certainly possible that he ranked him number 2 and that is why he got on board with the hire. Regardless people shouldn't forget where Whaley had the Bills at the end of 2014 - top 4 defense, a winning record and still a very healthy dose of cap space to improve his offense. Obviously he had no Quarterback and that hurt, but his mistake was not fighting the corner for his 1st choice an offensive Head Coach who had had success working with Quarterbacks and who wanted to keep the top 4 defense in place and untouched.
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Let's see a link with Whaley stating that.
Whaley definitely wanted Hue. I know that for a fact... I know someone who was in Jackson's "camp" if that is the right word and Doug had pretty much told that Hue was the guy to the extent that Hue and Schwartz had spoken and believed they could come to an agreement to keep JS on. Michael Silver reported that Jackson went to bed that Friday night believing he was going to be the Bills next Head Coach and then Jackson himself corroborated much of that later that year.
I'm less sure Brandon wanted Rex. I don't believe that has ever been reported by any creditable source. What has been reported is that Russ told Terry "don't let him out of the room" but people use that quote out of its context so often. The advice Russ actually gave is "when you have your guy don't let him out of the room." Terry and Kim thought they'd found their guy before Russ uttered those immortal words. Can I believe Russ gave Rex advice on how to charm the Pegulas? Sure. But I don't believe Russ Brandon was in that room banging the table for Rex Ryan... not when his good buddy Doug wanted Jackson.
Ultimately it will be the moment of regret Whaley lives with if he never gets another shot as a GM. He played the company line he thought he could work with Rex and he should have put his foot down and just said "NO".
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Shut this down. A page of football talk and 4 pages of..... well, I don't know what actually..... but it has been messy.
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This seems to me to be an alternative to scrapping the 4th pre-season game. The teams want it gone, the league doesn't. So then team say "well at least let us keep the bottom of our roster so we don't need to put anyone we think might make our team out there." Who can forget the Bills running wishbone with Gronk in the 4th pre-season game last year to make sure they got out of the game with no injuries?
I'm not sure scrapping the 4th pre-season game would completely solve the problem either to be honest though.... if you do that the 3rd pre-season game becomes the game before the season where nobody wants to lose a guy and the 2nd pre-season game becomes the proper "tune up".
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Good man, good talent evaluator. Will get an opportunity to work in this league again as a pro personnel guy. Long road back to a GM position (teams seem to go for retread GMs much less frequently than retreat HCs) but I will always appreciate his efforts here.
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Lots of people liked Fred and he made his contributions but he wasn't even a starter most of his career. Only one 1000yd season.
But the Bills 3rd highest rusher all time. He should go on the wall.
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Tolbert is a running back not a fullback
Nah he is a full back who is a decent ball carrier. Other than last year in Carolina when he started at running back a couple of times he has lined up at full back his whole career and the Bills official roster page lists him as a FB.
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Kyle and Freddie should be locks for me.
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Looks like it has been hacked. Might be caught up in the international ransomware attack.
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As far as this season goes by itself? I want to see how the defense performs under McDermott's and Frazier's tutelage. I want to see them get back to a top 5 unit to make the whole world see Rex for the clown he is. I want him to have to answer questions about why the Bills defense looks so much better now that he's gone.
That would be awesome, not least because I think we'd win double digit games.
One thing is for sure... Rex, as ever, would be clear on whose fault it wasn't. One day he will take some responsibility.
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My point exactly. A lot of times last season, rushers were in on Taylor before he could even set up to pass, and he had to run. That's on the pass blockers not on the QB. Moreover, a good pass blocking OL will give their QB more than 2-3 seconds to throw with some regularity. That's what was missing last season. If Taylor didn't run, he'd have been sacked for big losses a lot more.
You have selective memory. Yes there were plays where the pass rushers blew past Mills in particular and were on Tyrod before he set his feet, but the stats are there above. He had the longest average time to throw of 50 qualifying Quarterbacks last year - the only one averaging over 3 seconds per dropback. He bailed clean pockets plenty too.... it wasn't just him scrambling from pressure (which we all agree he does excellently).
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Very debatable that a WCO fits Tyrods talents.
We shall see come TC.
Couldn't it also be said the both Roman and Lynn tried to design a system catering to Tyrods talents? I think they somewhat tried but in the end it wasn't the greatest fit. IMO
Taylor does what Taylor does and no system might fit all that well with what he does well.
Lynn never designed a scheme. It was still Roman's scheme but with Lynn game planning and play calling differently.
We know Roman's scheme is one that often priortises the outside throws and the safe play, but he also had a lot of success with Alex Smith and Kaep in using the tight ends (Davis and Walker) down the seam. That never happened here bar that game winner when Houston blew a coverage in 2015.
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Still kind of seems to me like McDermott is betting against Tyrod being his future QB. I don't think they cut 3 years off the guy's contract just because Tyrod said he was open to a restructure and because they felt obligated to save money. Sure, they saved money This Year, but his salary cap hit next year is already higher than it was under his previous 5 year contract, and if he establishes himself as a true franchise QB his cap hit in 2019 and beyond is likely going to be much higher than it was under his previous 5 year deal (whether that's on a new deal, or using the franchise tag).
IMO, if McDermott was truly betting on Tyrod being The Guy, he'd have picked up his option that essentially only tied Tyrod to the Bills for 2-3 years anyway (hen his dead cap would be palatable). But now he's only essentially tied to the Bills for this year only. Cutting him next year costs $8M to save $10M. I'm not saying that he will be cut, just that he can be.
If he truly believes Tyrod is likely the franchise QB, he made a poor, short sighted move IMO.
But personally, I think he's betting against Tyrod being the guy.
Edit - maybe I shouldn't say betting against. But I think they're betting more against him being the guy than betting for...
If you remember me from BBMB, you know I am a Tyrod fan. I argued for him to start over EJ. I argued to keep him, and I've argued that he has ran this (top 10 scoring) offense much better than he gets credit for by some. I also don't think he's as easily replaceable as some think, otherwise we'd have had a QB as good as him in these last 12+ years. I am excited to see what Tyrod does this year, and I still think he has a chance to be our long term solution at QB.
I am just trying to look at the situation as realistically as I can. I'd love it if TT proves to be our future QB, though.
Excellent post. You can be pro-Tyrod and accept the reality that teams do not slash the contracts of guys they think are their QB of the future.
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I tend to agree with you. I think YPA is the single most meaningful stat, and I don't really care how far the ball travels in the air. Yards are yards.
Especially in the modern NFL which is all about getting the ball out quick and getting it into hands of playmakers.
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I'm wondering what it will look like if Dawkins isn't able to transition to RT
LT Cordy Glenn
LG Ritchie Incognito
OC Eric Wood
RG Dion Dawkins
RT Ryan Groy
OG John Miller, RT Jordan Mills backing up.
He isn't transitioning to tackle.... he played tackle at Temple. He would be transitioning if he moved to guard.
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I forgot all about JWill's suspension. Have we heard any more on that?
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The time he holds the ball for me is the biggest thing that has to change and it is the thing to watch for early in the season.
He killed our linemen as many times as they killed him last year. Standing back there for 5 and 6 seconds at times with a ball not out and no decision made.
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To add to my earlier post I am not saying take credit off Tyrod for his deep balls. I am saying I don't agree with the methodology because devaluing perfectly thrown balls because they are not thrown far is nonsensical to me.
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You're making definitive statements as though Taylor "is" or "is not" the QB of the future... like the absolute decision is now.
The only definitive statement I have made is on how the Bills currently view Tyrod.... which is not as their QB of the future. Are they leaving the option open that he might still become that? Sure. But they don't believe he is now. That has been my argument since I entered this thread.
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I don't buy the methodology I am afraid. Why shouldn't a Quarterback who throws a perfect 2 or 3 or 4 yard pass to a guy who can catch it in running without breaking stride and take advantage of a hole in the defence to go the distance get credit for that. Brady and Matt Ryan in particular do that an awful lot and it is the absolute perfect placement on those shallow crossers etc that often creates the YAC.
Whaley goes out with class. Buffalo Media...not so much.
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted · Edited by GunnerBill
Correct. People see criticism of the BN and assume we are all butt hurt because they are critical. Often we just wish they'd do their jobs a bit better. I don't hate Sully's articles because he is negative.... I hate his articles / columns because they are amateurish in the way they are written.