Nihilarian

I'm not sold on him either and for the life of me can't comprehend as to why this new owner is still sold on him after so many issues with the team this season and it wasn't on the offense. The Bills did well against Dallas QB Kellen Moore last week too. If Romo had played and the Jets had an actual NFL starting QB the Bills still lose those last two games despite the better play and coaching IMO. I love what Greg Roman has done with the offense this year!

Makes one wonder why the offense didn't attempt to throw to him more often in the first half of the season. He did miss three games, though. Week one INDY 3 targets 0 rec Week two NE 8 targets 6 rec, 60 yards Week three MIA 2 targets 1 rec, 39 yards Week four NYG--- Week five TENN--- Week six Cinn 5 targets 4 rec, 48 yards Week seven JAC--- Week eight MIA 8 rec 168 yards Dunno, perhaps Taylor just got better at throwing into coverage.

Why Bowles? They should have been cursing out Fitspasspick who in his first playoff game showed why he is better off as a backup.

The proof that you have that Russ Brandon isn't involved in the acquisition of player personnel is because of the way the Sammy Watkins trade went down? So nothing of what you say that are "facts" are actually facts because you have no more inside actual proof that Russ Brandon isn't involved then I have that he is. Now, I would think that any trade involving three draft picks from Buffalo and two of those to be first round picks for one player would need to be authorized from someone at the top. Since the owner stepped down from the team president's job and handed it to Brandon I would think that Whaley would have needed the OK or consent by the team president (Brandon) to allow a trade of that magnitude to happen. Whaley would have had to present it to him and Brandon would have had to have given his acceptance. So, he is involved. Just not to the extent that he makes all the draft choices or makes all the free agent choices. I don't think any Bills fan thinks that, but he has to accept some responsibility for the teams failure to make the playoffs the last seven years. He has been helping guide a ship that has done nothing but flounder his entire time as de facto GM, CEO, and team president. There really is no question about it. Russ Brandon is not without blame and according to some of the Buffalo Bills employees who post here stating that Brandon has been heavily involved in all forms of player acquisition. Then with him and Whaley both wanting these new owners to hire Rex Ryan shows me that nobody knows what they are doing in the FO. Now the defense is in basically full rebuild mode again to fit Ryan's 3-4. Here we go back to 2010-2011.

I can see where you are coming from with this in that if the Bills are embarrassed at home by the team that just fired Rex Ryan that perhaps the owner will wake up and make significant changes like the NY Jets did last year. The Jets had continuity for six years with Ryan, and it got worse as the years went by and, of course, the blame went to the GM who didn't get him the players he needed. Not that he could develop any players on his own, or find a way to find out what they do best and develop a scheme that best suited the players on the roster. The NY Jets fire Ryan after a 4-12 season and hire a new GM who hires a new HC. They add a few players into the mix and have a 10-5 winning team this year and they didn't need a rolling 5-year plan like Jauron, like Gailey, Like Marrone, like Ryan. It took the Jets ONE YEAR to 10-5, a record which is something this franchise hasn't seen 1999 Wade Phillips is currently the Broncos DC, and has that team #1 in total defense, and #1 in sacks this year. Hrmmmm.

The way I look at it, we all already know what next years result will be because we have been down that continuity road so many times over the last 15 years and it won't be good. We have seen pretty darn good teams, and we have all seen the bad and we know the difference. I doubt Rex Ryan will ever be able to beat the Patriots to take the division unless Brady retires, and even then doubtful. No matter what players you get him on defense Rex Ryan isn't going to be able to build a playoff winning team because first he needs to overcome the penalties, the lack of team discpline in all three aspects of the team. Here we are in week 14 of the season, and the team is still in disarray. Against the Eagles with a possible playoff berth on the line 15 penalties for 101 yards. Scroll back to the Washington game. https://twitter.com/YardsPerPass Things would be entirely different in my mind if the Bills were losing close games because of bad luck or bad calls. Just go back to that Washington game with a playoff or bust on the line and the Redskins have a 4th and one on the Bills 37. Sure enough "encroachment" on Buffalo giving the Redskins a first down. Washington went on to score on that drive. The clear and present lack of team discipline is poor coaching. http://www.nflpenalties.com/ Two years Rico? http://bills.buffalonews.com/2015/12/29/bucky-gleason-pegulas-may-be-in-over-their-heads/

It's not just people I want to believe because I was highly skeptical of this so-called insider and, at first, I didn't believe anything he posted about. Then he started to share things that turned out to be true. Besides that other posters here started to vouch for him. At this point, I have come to believe that he works with the team in some capacity. There are others who boast knowing about the inner workings and have shown to be wrong. More importantly though where is the proof that Russ Brandon isn't heavily involved in the football operations side? The job he performed for the last owner was far different and needed because of his failing health. This new owner doesn't need a finance / marketing guy telling him what head coach to hire. This new owner needs to do what the NY Jets owner did this past year and hire some experienced NFL consultants who actually know what they are doing to advise them properly. That sure looked like it was going to happen a little over a week ago and now the owner has backtracked. After Bill Polian didn't take the czar job last year this new owner should have sought the help from another source. Instead of the status quo which hasn't been able to build a playoff team the last three years. http://bills.buffalonews.com/2015/12/20/pegula-listening-to-outside-advice-on-bills-personnel-matters/

Care to elaborate about these so called "facts" in where exactly is the proof that Brandon isn't heavily involved in any aspect of the player acquisition process. Have any proof at all besides an opinion? You keep throwing out this propaganda that Brandon isn't involved, and yet other posters who have had inside information into the inner workings of the team that has been shared with us in this forum have come right out and stated Brandon has been involved in the draft, in all aspects of player acquisition since Marv Levy retired! The mere fact that Brandon was heavily involved in getting the Pegula's to hire Rex Ryan tells me the man is still involved in the football side of the team's operations. Telling the Pegula's to not let him leave the room is more than just throwing out an opinion.

Not if I put you on ignore. I've not been timid about posting my thoughts about this head coach since week two of this season and a whole lot more fans were defending him back then. http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/181760-carucci-disconnect-exists-between-dl-and-scheme/page-16 I've never seen anyone defend one of the very worst head coaches this team has had with so much energy and passion. Almost like you are being paid by the team or by one of the individuals employed by the team...almost.

more funny stuff, and again sad but true. He is still in the top of the flow chart of the team regardless that the GM & HC both report directly to the owners. I don't want him gone, just away from the football operations side of the team. One of the posters here who has said he has info into the inner workings of the team stated that Russ Brandon has been very involved in the draft, free agency and in all aspects of player personnel since Marv Levy retired as GM. So the guy behind the curtain pulling all the strings has had zero accountability in that time and still doesn't. Even now his shill's are spreading the disinformation saying he hasn't been involved in any of the football operations sides of things. Yet, He was clearly the one who said to the Pegula's "don't let him leave the room" during an interview with Rex Ryan. He also told the Pegula's that "they" would know who to hire after talking with all the head coaching candidates. Exactly how on earth would they know as a first time NFL team owners? Why the Pegula's are giving Ryan, Whaley, Brandon another year after this season's debacle is beyond me. All I know is that if no changes are made I won't be buying season tickets, and I know of many others that feel the same way. Gonna be interesting to see what blockbuster move the team makes to sell those tickets next year. New QB, a vet or rookie draft pick? Retooling the defense to fit Rex Ryan's scheme still won't help with the late defensive play calls, the bad special teams, the drive killing penalties, the game, red flag mismanagement. So many issues with the team besides the bad defense! I suppose this is the price Bills fans needed to pay to keep the team in Buffalo http://bills.buffalonews.com/2015/12/29/bucky-gleason-pegulas-may-be-in-over-their-heads/

funny stuff, if it weren't so sadly true.

Man, that should be fun. I wonder if he plans on bringing Nate Hackett with him to Philly?

It does explain quite a bit.

It really does come down to accountability and this GM now going into his fourth offseason. This year's defensive roster was supposedly the best Ryan has ever had to work with and yet to see the team regress because of the defense. Whaley could have pulled some slugs off the waiver wire at DE-DT on the cheap to play gap control all year and traded away those pass rushers not needed. If the GM & HC are in lockstep then why didn't the team obtain better linebackers to run Ryan's scheme? Bills fans hearing all the bravado, the big talk of playoffs before the season, during the season and here we are left with empty promises just like the NY Jets fans. A 4-12 HC took a playoff caliber team and made them mediocre. All I've got to say is I'm patiently waiting to see what these new owners do this offseason. They listened to Brandon-Whaley on hiring Ryan and allowed Brandon to sign the guy for 5 years at 5 mill per. Whaley giving LeSean McCoy 40 million over 5 years when RB's are supposedly a dime a dozen. Ryan was the one who vouched for Incognito and asked to sign Tyrod. Now do they keep Mario or dump the 100 million dollars DE? Do they keep a head coach that ruined a top defense because the players on the roster didn't fit his scheme, and now need to retool the entire front seven?

I agree with that in that even when Ryan has Mario play wide like in Schwartz's wide nine they failed in another area of the defense. This entire defense this year has been a cluster-fluck of various problems mostly because of the lack of discipline. It's not just the injuries or a few bad attitudes it's the entire defense in so many areas in different games. "Poor Rex, damn if he does call a blitz, damned if he doesn't. Next 3rd down, sends the house, nobody covers the out." "I don't mind the 3 man rush on 3rd and 16, what I mind is guys just not being aware of what is going on around them " "Preston Brown says even the slowest offenses have been hurrying to line this season because they know Bills defense has issues w/ play calls"... "They've been doing that since week 2!!!! Horrifying coaching."..."lol... that's all on coaching. Good job Rex" "You always see this... guys running around, not set, when the ball is snapped" This year's defense looks so much like last years Jets team in looking confused and out of sync with Rex Ryan on the sideline.

I agree and can't help escape the feeling that Ryan is laughing all the way to the bank with 25 million over five years. Cut the man and he just might bleed green and white while being ecstatic that he was able to ruin the defense that embarrassed him 2x in NY last year. I honestly can't figure out how a man that used to blitz 50% to 35% of the time and got a huge reputation for running his overload blitz scheme against everybody went to a scheme in which he blitzes less than 10% of the time. To quote Ryan, "I'll bring everybody known to man against you"! Except that he didn't blitz hardly at all this year with the team that led the league in sacks last year.

OK, I'll give ya that. What I should have said was that Mario was considered an underachiever with the Texan's and a lot of their fans were glad to see him gone. "Hard to believe now, but there was a time not too long ago when Texan fans openly debated the appropriate amount for the Texans to allocate this past offseason to re-sign defensive end/outside linebacker/chronic underachiever Mario Williams." http://www.houstonpress.com/news/buffalo-bills-fans-tweet-their-hatred-for-mario-williams-6715443 "However, nagging injuries and a coaching staff that acknowledged that his work ethic left something to be desired earned him a reputation as an underachiever in Houston." http://houston.cbslocal.com/2014/09/11/top-6-former-texans-wed-like-to-see-fail/

Exactly! Give the man a cigar! Going from #1 in sacks in 2014 to getting less than 10% pressure on Brady in that game showed Bills fans what they would need to endure the rest of the season. Opposing QB's having all day to throw along with an undisciplined team that looked confused and lost in some games. Kinda like their new HC. The Bills currently have 20 sacks on the season with one-quarter billion dollars invested in the defensive line, that's 250 million! A head coach with no clue how to best utilize them. Last year the Bills led the league with 54 sacks in 2014, and had 57 sacks in 2013. Man, do I love this post and 100% nailed it! I might add that in that week four game against the NY Giants Wrecks Ryan found a new way to lose a game by giving them 7 first downs on offense because of all the penalties from the Buffalo defense. Looking back, the Bills made that Giant team look like a SB contender instead of the 6-9 team they really are and the Bills are comparably bad.

Mario Williams when Wade Phillips took over in Houston as DC and asked Mario to play OLBer instead of a DE in a 4-3 scheme his play also dropped off badly. Texan fans were glad he was gone until Mike Pettine, Jim Schwartz figured out how to utilize a great pass rusher. There is a real reason the man was coveted by Bills fans and then given 100 million dollars to play DE in Buffalo. Then Dave Wannstedt proved it isn't always successful to just line him up over an OT and then not blitz. The Buffalo Bills have a quarter billion dollars invested in their defensive line and hired a head coach / DC who has no clue how to best utilize them. Welcome back Dave Wannstedt! Oh, Wait! At least ole Dave managed 37 sacks in his season as DC. Currently, the 2015 Buffalo Bills have only 20 sacks. ... ... ... So as bad as Wannstedt was he was 17 sacks better than Wrecks Ryan!! How anyone can keep defending this coach is beyond me

http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/181760-carucci-disconnect-exists-between-dl-and-scheme/page-14 This post was from after week two's game against the Patriots. The Buffalo Bills had no serious injuries at that time and were roasted by the Patriots for playing a prevent type defense from the start of the game. Meaning DB's 10 yards off the line, and safeties even further back. This with little or no blitzing all game long, and Ryan running his gap control scheme over rushing the passer. We Bills fans have seen this defense for most of this season, and in the one sole game that Rex Ryan decided to bring the heat he managed to get pressure on Tom Brady in 20 of his 40 drop backs in that second Patriots game in week 10 in New England. And had Brady so flustered he was literally screaming at his offensive line players.

The biggest problem with this team this years wasn't just the injuries, and it wasn't any single player's bad attitude. Just look at the stats from last year to this year to see the biggest failing in the entire team and it has NOTHING to do with the offense! In fact, the offense has been the bright spot of this year's team. The biggest difference was that sacks total in going from #1 last year and #2 the year before to number 31st now!!! To manage to do this with three pro bowlers on the line was quite a feat indeed! Not to mention Jerry Hughes is also an elite top pass rusher who was also neutered like the other three. From #4 overall to #20 is pretty bad too. One of the alternates to the pro bowl in Marcel Dareus this year has been complaining since training camp that the players are being improperly used in Rex Ryan's defensive scheme and he has been right all along. Threads like this keep popping up to defend the very worst head coach since Hank Bullough, and the very same fans keep popping up to defend him.

I have a different opinion and here it goes. It is my belief that Russ Brandon has had great influence over these new owners and because they knew the last owner trusted him to run the entire team, that they would also for a time. Brandon probably pitched that he and Whaley have a grand plan working and to please let them see it through. There was the initial contact between the Pegula's and Bill Polian and it was Polian who backed out so I'd have to think at that point they gave into Brandon"s-Whaley's grand plan. If you go back and read through this thread you would find that when interviewing Rex Ryan for the head coaching job Russ Brandon had stated to the Pegula's "don't let him leave the room" in referring to Rex Ryan. And another poster mentioned that Doug Whaley had a great influence in pushing hard for Ryan to be hired. In any event, I highly doubt these new owners thought that they themselves had the football acumen to hire a new head coach even though Russ Brandon told them they would know who to hire after they talked with him. Now after seeing their team fail with so much talent I have to believe that some major changes are going to happen in the Bills front office, and with the coaches. JMO

I agree with this and three good players on a line doesn't make it great by any means. I also want to add that the Bills receiver corps really isn't as great as the fans think it is. The Bills still lacking that big WR target like a Mike Evans, Brandon Marshall, and past the #1, the rest are not so good IMO. Tyrod did well in his first year of starting in an offense purposely limited by design in the passing game. I also feel the offense would have been helped greatly this year with even a top 15 defense and one that did better than 30th in sacks. A better defense gives the offense more opportunities / chances with the ball rather than the long drives from opponenets that ensued this year. .

I for one don't understand the criticism of the greatest GM this franchise has ever seen and he is arguably the best GM of the 80's-90's-2000's in building not one, not two, but three super bowl contending teams very quickly. In Buffalo after a 2-14 season Polian promoted to GM in Dec 30th 1985, fired HC Hank Bullough during the 86 season and replaced him with Marv Levy and went 4-12 the year he took over. 7-8 the next year, and went to the AFC Championship game with a 12-4 record in three short years. Fired after the 1993 season in Buffalo. Was hired in 1995 to be the GM of the Carolina Panthers expansion team. 7-9 their first season and went to the NFC conference Chamionship 12-4 their second year. He drafted Kerry Collins #5 overall who eventually went to a SB with the NY Giants. Two years to build a near chamionship team out of nothing. After a 3-13 in the 1997 season the Colts hired Polian to be GM and the Colts went 3-13 in his first year as GM, and then went 13-3 in his second year. Two years to make the playoffs and 11 of 13 years his Colts were in the playoffs. It is my belief he tanked the 2011 season by not obtaining a veteran QB until two weeks before the season started in an effort to obtain QB Andrew Luck in the draft. It cost him his job as team president. There is a real reason the man is one of the few FO people in the pro football hall of fame. There is no doubt in my mind Bill Polian would give these new owners some excellent advice on how to build a super bowl champion team in Buffalo and quickly. Dunno about the rest of you guys, but I'm ready for that!

True enough. The Bills won the game 16-6 mostly because they faced a total scrub in Dallas QB Kellen Moore and a guy who was playing in his second start of his NFL career. This after being promoted from the Dallas practice squad Dec 2nd, 2015. Compare the stats. Kellen Moore 13 of 31 for 186, 0 TD, one INT. vs Tyrod Taylor 13 of 18 for 179, 0 TD, one INT. The bigger difference in Moore rushing for 1 attempt for -1 yards vs Taylor with 14 attempts for 47 yards. The really ironically funny thing is Brandon Weeden is 2-0 as the Texans QB after the Cowboys dumped him. Then the Bills had nearly double the net rushing yards 121 vs 236 in this game. So, the real question is why did the Clownboys keep asking the inexperienced QB to throw it up 31 times and only run the ball 25 times? Jerry Jones should fire his head coach Jason Garrett and then fire his own arse as GM. Anyway, I'm a Tyrod Taylor fan, but I also realize this young man has a lot of developing to do before naming him the "franchise" QB. Taylor did well in his first year as an NFL starting QB. As others have put it Taylor still has a bunch of holes in his game he needs to correct, and there is still the issue of his size and durability. Fans that throw out QB ratings need to remember that Greg Roman has built a run first offense that limits the amount of passing the QB does and has him throw mostly the safer passes to the single covered receivers. Taylor has yet to throw for 300 yards this season or lead big comebacks by throwing more then 30 passes successfully in a game. I'm rooting for the guy to be the next Russell Wilson, and take the Bills to the playoffs.