Nihilarian

Nobody is blaming Brandon for 16 years of futility. The man was in fact, the de facto GM after Marv Levy retired after the 2007 season and has been involved in the football operations side of the team since that time. All I'm doing is noting that the man has been involved in the football side of operations and when Doug Whaley wanted input into allowing him to use three picks to draft Sammy Watkins "he told him to be bold" is involvement. Telling the new owners to not let Rex Ryan out of the building is involvement! I have no agenda to see Brandon gone from the Buffalo Bills as I realize he is a huge asset to the business / financial / marketing side of the team. I would just like to see an experienced senior NFL man in charge of the football operations of the team as this would take both Brandon and the owners out of the football side of hiring / personnel / player acquisitions.

and exactly how am I "attacking" him? All I see that I'm doing is quoting others as to his involvement. I'm not the only one that garners his direct interest. To some, any talk of Brandon being involved in anything other than the business side of things is a "witch hunt". http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/182332-when-will-russ-brandon-be-held-accountable/

Yeah sure, and when GM Doug Whaley wanted to use two first round draft picks and a fourth pick on a WR when the team didn't have an already established franchise QB he ran it by the Buffalo Bills ball boys.... Of course Russ Brandon has never made the actual choice on a pick. However, he gave his nod of approval which is being directly involved. Just like using his considerable influence to sway the owners as to which head coach to choose is also being directly involved. Russ Brandon has been at the top of the football org chart since Marv Levy retired as GM and while not actually on the road scouting players and making the actual picks. I'm 100% positive that he has read the scouting reports and given his consent unto whom the team acquires in the draft and free agency in all those years. Confirmed sources state that he did! On another note, allow me to provide a link as to what happened when Doug Marrone walked away from the team while retaining four million in doing so, http://bills.buffalonews.com/2015/01/04/pegulas-are-learning-the-hard-way/ "It was Brandon who gave Marrone that outrageous $4 million exit clause when he hired him as coach two years ago this week. The Bills knew the Browns were interested in Marrone and, as a second-rate destination, were desperate not to lose him. Marrone wanted protection in the event of an ownership change." (Now, does this mean that Russ Brandon was the person who actually presented Doug Marrone with the contract for him to sign, perhaps not! But the man was involved! What this infers is that Brandon hired Marrone and allowed that contract as the team president as of Jan 1st, 2013) "Brandon and Whaley are spending the weekend in a desperate search for a head coach to replace Doug Marrone. Terry and Kim Pegula are expected to lend their limited football experience to the interview process." I can’t say what’s more troubling: The idea of the Pegulas quizzing top young football coaches; or the thought of respected NFL football men looking at Brandon and Whaley and wondering, “Weren’t they about to lose power and influence to Bill Polian?” "As Tim Graham reported, Marrone ripped the Bills to Polian as he walked out the door, telling the former Bills GM that people inside the building were trashing Polian because they felt threatened by his possible return." Those darn ball boys were at it again! The reality of the situation is that "IF" Russ Brandon was 100% only involved in the business / financial side of the team. Then why wouldn't he allow his GM Buddy Nix alone to make the choice on who to hire as head coach and even before the Pegula's bought the team! The simple fact is that Brandon has been heavily involved in the football side and until the team hires that football czar / team president of football operations Brandon will still be involved. "Brandon on Monday said the Bills conducted a "thorough, exhaustive and exhilarating search" for their new coach." http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8820882/doug-marrone-hired-buffalo-bills After hiring Doug Marrone it was reported that both Doug Whaley and Russ Brandon flew to NYC to interview Jets DC Mike Pettine for the DC job in Buffalo. Why would the marketing / finance man do that if he is not involved in the football side of the team? He was involved and still is! For the life of me, I still don't get that why anytime someone mentions Russ Brandon's name in regards to the football side of things then thebandit27 jumps in to defend him. If you have no connection to Brandon or the team then why do you so ardently attempt to defend the man continuously, constantly?

You can't expect anyone to get draft pick predictions correct all the time and the more important thing here is the guy in known to work inside OBD while letting slip a bit of what's going in inside the org now and then. So, when the guy says that Brandon was in fact, the GM and "Russ has a big part in scouting and the draft process. He is definetly involved." I'd pretty much say you could take that bit of info to the bank! Another item that is pretty much irrefutable is that ESPN reporter Mike Rodak wrote: Team president Russ Brandon was so impressed that he told owner Terry Pegula not to let Ryan out of the building." This isn't sorcery by Rodak or anyone else as it's right there in black and white direct from ESPN that Russ Brandon used his considerable influence to sway the new owners to hire Rex Ryan!! For years and years, you have been jumping on anyone who says that Brandon has been involved in football decisions and I have two sources right here that aren't fictional or imaginary like yours! When I get more time I'll also delve into what happened with Bill Polian and why the team didn't hire that football czar.

The biggest problem I noticed (save the NY Giants game) was that the Bills were so beaten up with injuries by playing the AFC playoff teams that by the time they got to the SB that half the team was on crutches. I still can't believe that Bruce Smith had hold of Hostetler's wrist in the end zone and the football was in his hand...with no turn over! Not to mention that the guy was the backup QB to Phil Simms who was out with an injury. Another interesting thing was the Bills beat the NY Giants that year in week 15, 17-13 at Giants stadium with Frank Reich at QB after Jim kelly left the game due to a leg injury.

That isn't the point and the fact is the offense faltered quite a bit last year at different times and against different teams. That second game against the Patriots comes to mind as the Bills with 30 rushes for 94yards only averaged 3.1 yards per rushing play and were tackled for a loss 6 times for 18 yards. Tyrod Taylor was only sacked 2x in this game vs the 8x in that first game. The closest this team has been to having a somewhat solid offensive line was in 2012 with Glenn, Levitre, Wood, Urbik, Pears. While last year's line graded better, that was because Incognito graded so much higher as he was the top rated OG in the league and his stellar play help elevated the two players on either side of him. The point is that the RT position could be a real disaster this year and RG isn't far behind...much less depth!! Urbik is gone this year.

What I think escapes you with your close ties to the people at OBD is the very fact that for 44+ years (not including the AFL years) this franchise has had one of the most meddling owners in the league. A man who named himself team president and hired and fired most of the top people in the org. This has only worked well in two particular instances throughout all that time and once was when he hired Chuck Knox out of desperation and the other when he promoted Bill Polian to GM. Clearly, having a nonfootball person at the top of the org chart hasn't resulted in winning a super bowl after all those years. Now, we Bills fans have this same crap starting all over again so Russ Brandon can keep his fingers in the proverbial football operations side of the cookie jar. Brandon has used his considerable influence in persuading these new owners to make the choice of hiring the head coach themselves rather the allowing the GM to do it. You say he isn't involved in any football operations from your sources and yet a known source that posts here at TBD and made mention that he is and has been heavily involved and not in just influencing the choice for the head coach! "Leroi Posted 26 October 2015 - 08:12 PM Russ has a big part in scouting and the draft process. He is definetly involved. The guy is a sports genius, we are lucky to have him as the president of Buffalo sports. Remember he was our GM not that long ago. Imo " If it wasn't Russ Brandon, then who was it who prompted these new owners to make the head coach hire themselves? The choice for the new head coach should have been Doug Whaley's and not the owners. This franchise needs a man at the top of the football side of operations who is an actual NFL experienced football man who can be held accountable. A team president of football operations so there is no longer any questions as to who to blame for more losing or given the credit should the team win a super bowl.

Hey man, I want to believe, I really do! If Ryan can fix a lot of the problems this season that he was supposed to fix last season then the team has an actual chance to do something this year. We shall see! It didn't take long last year before we saw the major problems manifest themselves in that week two Patriots game. We should know by week four this year as the team faces the @ Ravens, Jets, Cards, @ Patriots. The Cardinals won't be a pushover at home and even the Pats in NE with Garpoopalo won't be an easy win. You should know me by now that I don't take losing lightly.

Please explain to me how you can possibly know any different than what was reported by ESPN? "It was almost a year ago, in early January, when the Buffalo Bills called Rex Ryan back for a second interview for their head-coaching vacancy. Team president Russ Brandon was so impressed that he told owner Terry Pegula not to let Ryan out of the building." http://espn.go.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/22828/playoff-promise-among-rex-ryan-statements-that-will-likely-prove-false If it wasn't Russ Brandon who manipulated these new owners into thinking that they had the necessary football acumen to know who to hire as the team's next head coach...then who did? Do you actually have inside the org knowledge of what transpired?

Leading the league in rushing or attempts doesn't mean much if the team isn't winning a bunch more games. Let's look at last year. While the team led the league in big plays which equates to pass players over 25 yards and run plays over 10 yards they were still very much like that 2013 team in that they were 31st in three and out percentage. Now, you would think that a team that runs the ball as much as Buffalo did in 2013 and 2015 that they would be able to maintain possession of the football longer instead of quickly punting the ball away. That stat tells me that the Bills had great difficulty in maintaining a sustained offense!! This is a big reason I was hoping the Bills FO would fix the problems at RT & RG like they attempted to do in the 2014 offseason by making offers to Bryan Bulaga and Jahri Evans. It takes five quality players on the offensive like to make a competent unit and three out of five isn't going to cut it and never will as opposing teams will just load up their pass rushers at the weakest point on the line.

Good stuff, I really like the fact that Ryan is having the players that mess up by going offsides or are involved in pre-snap penalties will now run laps and the coaches actually had IK run some. So it's more than just a threat. Last year the threat was push ups and this year it looks like Ryan really wants to reign in the mistakes the players can control. Fans seemed to be sparse at TC and so were the sponsors which was a little disappointing. What happened to the NFL experience and the big sponsors like Verizon? The Bills news flyers used to be free. I really like TC at St John Fisher. I'm really hoping that this year Ryan lets his actions and players actions speak for the team as i really want to like the guy and am hoping that he can get this team into the playoffs...this year.

Simply writing a name on a chart doesn't equate to actual talent. Look back over the last few years to see what kind players the team attempted to replace Andy Levitre with and then look at some recent draft picks for the line. I come away thinking the Bills scouting dept isn't very good in judging line talent. EVERY team does deal with injuries every year and just looking at the Patriots last season and how beat up their offensive line was at one point and yet those players had enough talent to help the team get to the AFC Championship game. They also lost their starting WR, RB among others and they had like a total of five players who played in all 16 games. The good teams have decent backups at most every position. The 2013 Buffalo Bills under Marrone were also the #2 team in the NFL in rushing and they had some scrubs on that year's line too. RT is still a big question mark for this year's team as is RG and what kind of quality depth can be behind players that wouldn't even be starting for most of the playoff teams? Also, like I mentioned the Bills have two quality starters at WR and some real unknowns for the remaining three positions so what kind of quality talent will we see if a rash of injuries hit the WR corps?

My take is the new Buffalo Bills owners looked at what's involved in running and operating a successful NFL team and must have concluded that it was in their best interest to keep the FO intact until they could get a handle on what it takes to run a franchise. Hence the reason not much was changed and since the team was profitable before they bought it they listened to the man in charge and that was Russ Brandon. There is no question in my view that Brandon swayed the new owners into thinking that they had the football acumen to listen to the head coaching candidates and then make the proper selection themselves. What was it that Brandon told them, you will know who to hire once you listen to the right guy. This and obviously Brandon pushing them to hire Ryan for various reasons Russ probably looked at all the high draft pick talent on the Bills defense with the 100 million dollar pass rusher in Mario and thought here is Mike Pettine's tutor and with Ryan taking his new Jets team the AFC championship 2x, who would be better. This is the very same idea that plagues so many Bills fans in thinking we all should have expected the 2015 Buffalo Bills to morph into 2009 NY Jets and easily get into the playoffs with the #1 defense in the league. After all, Rex Ryan stated that he had never had this much talent on a defense before. Even this year Bills fans keep bringing up that 2009 & 2010 Jets season and keep thinking the Bills will be in the Super bowl soon. With the Sabres I think the thought process was to have the team tank for a few years in order to build a team with some solid young talent and they did just that. Recently they hired a top head coach who should have them contending very soon.

I disagree as the Bills don't even have competent starters at some positions much less depth behind them. Most teams have some competent depth that came come in and the team keeps going all season long. The Patriots come to mind along with most playoff teams as every year they have loads of injuries to starters and yet still make the playoffs and contend for a SB. Buffalo doesn't even have a competent RT much less a backup and should any player on the line Wood, Glenn or Incognito go out with a serious injury then the offense is in serious trouble. Same with the WR's as they have two and the rest are scrubs. The Bills entire team lacks quality depth at almost every position IMO

The fact that it's been reported from people inside the org that both the GM and HC are on a short leash this year leads me to believe that anything said by the owners at this point about what happens next offseason is meaningless. This HC didn't take a bad team and make them better. He took what many believed a playoff caliber team and got them to a very middling record. As Doug Whaley stated he was building the team to win now. Rex Ryan also took a playoff caliber defense and managed to ruin it because the players didn't fit his scheme and this was his supposed area of expertise. The fact that the Pegula's are so successful in every business venture they own tells me that they won't put up with losing or with someone who is bad at their respective job for long. Just my opinion.

Exactly where did she say that "I'm wrong"? By stating that there will be no changes to the HC or GM after the season at this point in time? I can't tell you how many times I've read where an NFL owner pats a HC / GM on the back and states your job is safe... only to fire them later when things go badly. Even Bill Belichick admits that being an NFL head coach is a year by year process and nothing is etched in stone

I look at this as the proverbial pat on the back in saying "your job is safe"...

Really Russ Brandon has been involved as the de facto GM since Marv levy retired as GM at the end of 2007 and as much as I love Marv as the Bills HC...he wasn't a good GM for the football side either. Previous to that the only men who had any real power and say over the Bills player personnel were Tom Donahoe 2001 to 2005 as the owner stepped away from the team. Bill Polian as GM and Chuck Knox as HC during their time in Buffalo. The rest of the time the owner had his hands all over everything to do with his team and is why he named himself team president for all those years. I was so elated when I read that these new owners were in conversations with Bill Polian to hire him as temporary team president to advise them and equally crestfallen when I read he had backed out of that process. These new owners initially wanted to do the right thing and then didn't....

Nobody is hating the man for his business / marketing decisions that I can see (Save Toronto) and all Bills fans want is to see is Brandon removed from the football side of operations which will be a good great thing! Do you really want to see Terry and Kim making the final decisions on the more important football hirings for the team? I know I'd rather see the new team president of football operations or GM hire the next head coach. From Leroi posted Oct 2015, Russ has a big part in scouting and the draft process. He is definetly involved. The guy is a sports genius, we are lucky to have him as the president of Buffalo sports. Remember he was our GM not that long ago. Imo

Due to all the other businesses that they are involved in and didn't want to be overwhelmed by taking on the enormous task of running an NFL team it looks like the new owners kept the entire staff that ran the team under the first owner. At first, it was reported in the media that these new owners were going to hire a "football czar" / senior adviser to help run the football side of things. Clearly, that didn't happen and we can only surmise that CEO Russ Brandon wanted to keep the status quo and lobbied to do so. I can only think that out of respect for what he has done in the past that the new owners did what Brandon wanted as he helped advise them in choosing a new head coach as he did with the first owner for quite a few years. "It was almost a year ago, in early January, when the Buffalo Bills called Rex Ryan back for a second interview for their head-coaching vacancy. Team president Russ Brandon was so impressed that he told owner Terry Pegula not to let Ryan out of the building." http://espn.go.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/22828/playoff-promise-among-rex-ryan-statements-that-will-likely-prove-false More than anyone else I think we all have Russ Brandon to thank for these new owners making the decision to take part in the hiring of the next head coach after Doug Marrone walked away. While Brandon might not have made the actual hiring of Rex Ryan, it sure looks like he used his considerable influence to have the Pegula's be involved in the interview process and do the hiring. According to Bill Polian, who had been in contact with Terry Pegula as he was almost hired to be the Buffalo Bills senior adviser / team president of football operations before Marrone walked away. Then after Marrone was no longer the Bills head coach and QB Kyle Orton retired Polian then stated it would be far too much of a daunting task to take on as senior adviser / team president, so he backed out of the job. (I dunno about Whaley wanting anyone other than Rex Ryan as I haven't seen any actual proof in the media of him stating that afaik.) Anyway, what I'm hoping for is that if Rex Ryan fails to get this team to a winning record this season, and shows that all the problems he had last season are not corrected this season. That the Pegula's take themselves and Russ Brandon out of the football decision process by hiring a president of football operations and allow whomever that is to hire the next Buffalo Bills head coach and run the football side of things.

This and the lack of quality depth all over the team. The reality of the situation is that this head coach needs some specific players to run the defensive scheme that he likes to employ the majority of the time. The problem as I see it is that the defensive roster still has a few holes needing to be filled by a few of those specific players. Some Bills fans think that somehow magical unicorns will spray rainbow dust over the defense and it will become a top five unit. It won't unless Rex Ryan starts calling more of a 3-4 one gap scheme with some effective blitzing or otherwise it's the same as we saw for most of the past year and even then the teams best pass rusher now plays for the Dolphins. Ryan has a lot to prove this year with a tougher schedule.

I think so. My take is she is a winner in everything she does and wants the Buffalo Bills to win. If I'm not mistaken Terry told Kim he wouldn't buy the team unless she became heavily involved in the team as he has so many other interests (Sabres & Amerks) Kim wanted to buy the Bills Buffalo Bills to keep them in Buffalo due to her growing up in the Fairport NY area, so she said yes. From what I've read and have seen in interviews with her is that she passes the final yay or nay on any investment opportunities that come the Pegula's way. As smart as she is I'm thinking that there soon should be change at the top of the org if things don't go well this season in terms of wins as the two have a solid track record of business success.

Yet, 50% of his catches were for first downs in Buffalo. What I caught from what I read is that Hogan wasn't going to see as many chances in Buffalo. I can only think that is mostly because the Patriots are a throw first offense with the starters always injured and Buffalo is a run first offense with much less chance with Woods and Watkins in front of him. I didn't read where the guy said anything close to derogatory about the Bills. What offensive player on this earth wouldn't want a chance to play with future hall of fame QB Tom Brady or be part of the winningest org in the league since 2000 and he is getting almost double the $$$ what the Bills offered him. You would think. But Kirby was saying from the start of signing him that he was a waste of a roster spot in Buffalo and he has proven otherwise. Now he has a chance to really shine right behind Amendola as the #2 WR on the right side. The guy has managed to stay in the league six years now and that is better than a lot of players.

In 2014 I watched that week 8 Bills -Jets game with great interest as the Jets were 1-7 and the Bills 4-3 at that point in the season. Rex Ryan had started his yapping to the media on how his Jets team would manhandle the Buffalo Bills only to lose 43-23 and Ryan looked lost on the sidelines. That Jets team had 6 turnovers and Geno Smith went 2 of 8 for 5 yards and 3 INT's ! Then four weeks later the Bills faced the Jets again in Buffalo and Ryan boasting to the NY media that his team would play 1000% better in their second game, no question. The final score of that second game was 38-3 and this game Mike Vick started and as mobile as he is he was sacked 5x and Geno came in after Vick got hurt and was sacked 2x. It was just total domination by Buffalo and I really enjoyed seeing the Bills shut that blowhard up. When Rex Ryan was hired after a 4-12 season with the Jets I asked myself what are the jamokes in the Bills FO thinking? I later found out that the team president (Brandon) persuaded the new owner to make the choice on the hire and he also pushed to hire Ryan for some reason. "It was almost a year ago, in early January, when the Buffalo Bills called Rex Ryan back for a second interview for their head-coaching vacancy. Team president Russ Brandon was so impressed that he told owner Terry Pegula not to let Ryan out of the building." Anyway, after taking a closer look at that 2009-2010 NY Jets team I gotta think that Rex Ryan stepped into an almost perfect situation with those 2009 NY Jets in that he inherited a defense from Eric Mangini and a team that was already loaded with defensive talent that went 9-7 in 2008. Then Mangini being a Bill Belichick disciple who runs a varied schemed 3-4 two-gap D-line system and all Ryan needed to do was bring in a few players familiar with his nomenclature. Hence the reason for that league-leading defense for two seasons and once opponents learned how to play against it then it didn't go so well as time went on. This despite the fact that the Jets spent every first round pick on defense in Ryan's six years there. Look at what happened last year as it wasn't just the complete reversal in sacks from being a league leader 2x years in a row under Schwartz and Pettine to 31st under Ryan and dead last in QB pressures. If I'm not mistaken isn't that getting pressure on the QB the entire reason in giving Mario 100 million dollars and then giving Dareus- Hughes big paydays. There were many issues with the entire team from the #2 team in the league in penalties. Bad clock management in some games and after being asked why he failed to throw a red flag Ryan stated because he didn't see it on the big screen. Massive miss-communications issues with defensive player substitutions coming in late. Defensive play calls coming in late. Defensive players jumping around on the line and not set when the ball was snapped so they were out of position. Then, the defense hardly blitzed at all last year and even when they did blitz it was usually a bad call which resulted in a good play for the offense. If this wasn't enough, the defense kept asking the Bills pro bowl pass rushers to keep dropping into pass coverage and when they asked Dareus to drop 2x times against KC, QB Alex Smith threw two TD's passes on those drop backs. Even Bills HoF QB Jim Kelly was questioning why the Bills defensive linemen were dropping into pass coverage so often. In all my days of watching the Bills, I haven't ever seen a Buffalo Bills coach ruin an aspect of a team like Rex Ryan did to that all pro defensive line last year. And then miss-use those pro bowlers in the wrong scheme so badly that they go to the media to complain about it. http://espn.go.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/22828/playoff-promise-among-rex-ryan-statements-that-will-likely-prove-false Buffalo Bills fans have a head coach in the hall of fame named Marv Levy so most of us older fans can see the difference between someone who lets their actions to their talking and a big mouth blowhard who constantly makes promises he can't keep. I choose the former over the latter. I have started to think that Rex Ryan is a below average head coach and a great con man. Good thing the 2016 Buffalo Bills won the offseason because I don't see the team winning many regular season games!

This bolded statement is more accurate than most realize. A 28th ranked O-line. a stinky WR corps and an OC who is also smelly. Foles was decent in Philly with a good OC, behind a good O-line and good WR corps and I doubt he would have much success in Buffalo. I'd rather have Tyrod and EJ.