yungmack

I hope Mrs. Coach Ryan didn't get her toes wet in the snow.

Wha? The scouting department was vastly expanded and revamped when Brandon was GM. Since then, the drafts and the pro signings have been stellar. Or do you think guys like Woods & Alonso, Hughes & Spikes just showed up on their own?

Ryan's tenure with the Jets began very positively then went downhill. Why? I think he was undermined by an eccentric owner and an incompetent FO that did a terrible job with the cap and an even worse one of retaining or replacing key talent. There seems to have been no coherent sense of direction for the long term or to put it another way, no stable sense of organizational identity. Although Ryan wouldn't have been my first choice, I believe we will see "early Jets" Rex because I believe in the Bills organization's clarity of direction, and the emerging sense of a new identity that is strong and coherent in the style of the Steelers, in which the FO will be in sync with the HC and fully supportive of his plans. And, yes, that means I believe in Whaley being a keystone to this happening, and that the Pegulas are as thoughtful and intelligent as they appear to be.

Can't let this one slip past, sunshine: Buffalo very much wanted to keep him, but his heart was in Pittsburgh so HE chose to leave.

Except for this: If Sammy wasn't available, the Bills would have used their pick on Ebron, or so it was reported at the time. So, no rookie of the year candidate this year. But, yeah, they'd have the 19th pick.

Excellent! Good to start the day with a genuine laugh.

He certainly ham-strung Hackett with his bizarre experiments with the Oline, and with which players he chose to dress and start on Sundays.

He might just want to take out his bank statement and giver 'er a look. Seriously though, every year teams go looking for a HC, GM, OC, DC. It's part of the reality of life in pro sports. I doubt Sammy expected the Bills would be one big happy family where everybody stayed together for years and years and years. Plus with Marrone gone, so is Young Nathaniel most likely, along with Pat Morris, so if anything, life on the Bills should be looking rosy as all hell for Mr. Watkins.

My opinion is that WNY media has been, if anything, way too timid, at least at press conferences. When one of the local jabones screws up his courage to ask even an obvious question -"Why didn't you go for it on 4th down inside of three minutes?" - he sounds apologetic. But that would be enough to put Marrone into snit mode.

Quote box seems to be working fine today.

And you know this, right? Or maybe you are just passing gas in a hurricane. Time for you to head back to New Jersey. Really, Mrs. Marrone, it is time for you to stop posting here.

Excellent point. I guess Sullivan's right, the Pegula's are in over their heads

The Reply to Topic box is now teeny tiny and doesn't scroll. Then when I finish adding text, the Post Reply button is nowhere to be found. I am using Dolphin browser on a Kindle Fire.

No, this is not a serious question; this is a piece of pure troll bait.

Perfect summation of the situation. Add in that Daily News article about Marrone spending most of his time working with the line (and listening to talk radio blasting him) and his bittling of the "little people" with the Bills and the picture that's emerging is a guy the Bills were lucky to get rid of.

So you alternative is for the owner to only know what the GM wants him to know? To be blind-sided by a festering problem between the GM and the HC? Hmm.

This is the sub-headline in Graham's article: Source says head man will report to Pegula, calling Whaley’s status as GM into question I don't think Graham gets to write the headlines, but even if those aren't his sentiments, they are the "house POV" at TBN, which is all about creating controversy where there is none. Wasn't it just a few days ago that there were criticisms of the Bills because Marrone wasn't reporting directly to ownership (not sure, might have been somewhere else that I read/heard that)? Seems to me that all department heads should report to the owner directly and not just have everything filtered through one person.

The Mormon church was founded right in WNY and still has a strong presence so maybe he moves camp to Hill Camorrah.

Carruci is another old timer whose best days are in a different era. If he had any real understanding of the EJ deal, he would have taken into account the very real fact that the Bills TRADED DOWN to get EJ and in the process gained an additional pick that was used to select...Kiko. If that's reckless, give me more of that craziness. BTW, the trade that brought in Sammy was done to improve EJ's chances of success. It only appears a bit reckless (Carruci's term, not mine) because of the incompetence of Marrone/Hackett's handling of the QB situation. In fact, every aspect of the offense declined during their reign. I feel like the Bills received three belated Christmas presents with Orton "retiring," Marrone filling his pockets and vanishing into the night, and old-and-tired Polian opting for the TV equivalent of Wal-Mart greeter. I am overjoyed.

Did you watch Oregon's crushing of the Mighty Noles in yesterday's Rose Bowl? Give me Mark Helfrich.

I don't get why some people around here have this hate for Brandon. The turn-around in the Bills fortunes began with him taking the reins from Ralph. If you like how the business side has been going, including the regionalization of the team, that's Brandon. If you like Whaley, remember it was Brandon who befriend a young Whaley, kept in touch with him over the years, and brought him in as GM-in-Waiting behind Nix. If you like the improved drafting over the last few years, that's Brandon, whose first order of business with Nix was to enlarge and improve the Scouting Department. If you like the improved Cap situation, that too is Brandon. If you don't like Marrone, then I guess that's a knock on Brandon. But really, was Marrone horrible? No he wasn't. While I'm delighted he's gone, I hardly think he's the worst coach in Bills history. Far from it. As to his role going forward, the guy knows a hundred times more about the nuts and bolts of the NFL than the Pegulas do, he knows how the Bills work, and he knows the people you need to know around the league and around the game. Kim and Terry are learning and will certainly "get it" with time and experience. But for the moment, Brandon is indispensable in my opinion and I believe he will continue to be the key "consigliere" to the Pegulas. Be thankful the Bills have him and Whaley.

Lots of "thinks" in there. As my dear old daddy used to say, "Son, when you think, you weaken the team."

Do you actually care what's the national media's "perception" of the Bills? For my money, the Bills have just made a major upgrade by getting rid of Marrone, and dodged a bullet by having Polian refuse a job (if in fact he was ever offered said job).

Oh, dear lord in heaven, please stop with the Cowher nonsense. What's next? Bring back Levy?

I keep reading posts around here about "dysfunction" going forward. I see it just the opposite. To my mind, getting rid of Marrone lowers the level of dysfunction about 99%. And if it's true that Polian turned down a job (and it has never been confirmed that he was offered the job) based on Marrone bad-mouthing the team, then that shows evidence of grand stupidity on Polian's part, so thank you, St. Doug, for derailing that retro plan. I think the Bills are much better off today than they were last week.