Pass the Pipe

Exactly my point!

I disagree with the parachute reference as they are for job displacement resulting from a new management team or compensation for the owners of the business being sold. What I don't like is Marrone's ability to double dip, a new salary from his new team and the Bills paying for absolutely nothing, actually causing disruption to the organization, which leads me to my bad job by Brandon claim. I could see some pro-rated number or a payout if he is fired by the new owner or doesn't land a new job post exercising the option. Marrone is being compensated for leaving a $4 mil. job based on his own decision, which is poor business to me. How do the Bills benefit from this, where is the value of this option to the Bills organization? I can see a proven commodity ask for this clause, but not a guy like Marrone doing marginal work at Syracuse, not exactly a household name in college football.

As I have emphatically stated before, this moron, tumor, jack*ss, *ss kisser, yes man etc, has to go. What business person would negotiate a contract where the contractee, Marrone in this case, is compensated to break a contract? In any basic contract negotiation providing somebody with options or flexibility typically costs something to the contractee, see stock options, call features on bonds, real estate transactions, obviously a concept not understand by our "business man." Marrone exercises an option to terminate his employment with the Bills and still gets compensated, unheard of; completely played by the agent! The Bills will continue to be laughingstock as long as people like Brandon are still around! By the way, buyer beware on Mariota, he is not NFL ready; runs too much and his coach makes all the calls and the guy hasn't fit any throws into tight spaces and has missed many wide open targets!

As you both retreat to the privacy of your Gulfstream for the 2.5 hour jaunt back to Boca Raton, rest assured that you have emulated today, using your terms, the “Great Ralph Wilson” in more ways then you like: returning home after another sound a** kicking at the hands of the Patriots or “fill in the blank” using any team with a competent coaching staff and quarterback. At least Mr. Wilson, RIP, took his lumps from the S-Class version of the Patriots and not today’s rather pedestrian C-Class model, which was missing a host of starters and let’s not even think of comparing Brady’s current supporting cast to the likes of Hernandez, Randy Moss, Crystal Meth Head, etc. If I can digress a minute, can you please tell me why all the Wilson Family love? You made that family wealthier beyond their wildest dreams! He made a $25k investment on a pro football franchise based in the 11th largest MSA at the time, not exactly investing in Nigerian Commodity Futures, and you monetized this past week that trade into $1.4 billion! Believe me a more competent and well-heeled Bon Jovi Group or anybody other than that buffoon Trump and you would have received a handshake and parting best wishes from the Wilson Trustee; maybe a cheap cigar knowing Ralph! Let’s be honest, the Bills were and are one of the worst managed organizations in professional sports; the current 14 yr.+ playoff drought in today’s parity driven league is beyond statistical comprehension! If it was a business, using your parlance, it would have filed for Chapter 7 BK many moons ago, the product is simply that bad! Which brings me to the central theme of this post, fully understanding your need to be PC at the Thursday presser, but please address Jerry Sullivan’s pointed and direct question, paraphrasing, “are/when will you review the football operations of this organization?” Me and about any other Bills fan can save you consulting fees by recommending the firing of Russ Brandon, a quintessential Wilson “yes” man, or at least remove him from any input into Football Operations and flat out fire Doug Whalay, a guy that is in way over his head (see story about emailing porn during his Steeler days as the office gopher). Only in Wilson’s world can a joke like Brandon even get close to the Football Operations wheelhouse and Whalay is simply too ordinary to move the dial. The string of coaching hires, busted early round picks, over priced free agents, inability to sign draft winners, and basically BSing Bills Nation has gone on for too long and unlike politics you have a clear cut score board and record to point to in the case of these two criminals. To see them talk about EJ Manual last year as having the “it” thing, even when the FSU head coach said otherwise, and seeing these two maroons celebrate the extremely over priced Watkins trade this past May and then seeing results like today, the Charger Game, the Texans game and hopefully you start getting the picture! I am sure behind close doors these two poorly dressed individuals (their suits look like they came off the sales rack at Syms (didn’t that place close years ago?)) will blame Nix, Levy, Modrak or even Wilson, but the truth is they have been too close to “control central” at One Bills Drive for too long. But go ahead and do the due diligence thing and hire your consultant and you can buy me a drink later when he concludes in a similar fashion. Frankly, I would take an autographed picture from Kim instead; man all that money and a beautiful girl, things really aren’t fair! Best of Luck and a sincere thank you from the Pipe!

Totally worn-out by playoff teams acquiring selective pieces, garbage teams with huge cap space, and quality flowing from high to low. I find it very interesting and, I largely agree with Polian, on his B- grade to Byrd; a deep center field safety with no physical presence. The Bills will never to see the playoffs until they resolve the ownership and front office short comings!

Kiper's Hair and Pass the Pipe make a rare appearance in the Queen City and we can't seem to find women in general or, more importantly, women that are fit and wear clothes that resemble 2012? We have a big suite at the Mansion and we are not going to be able to populate it at this pace; lastly, the place doesn't even have porn to hedge this very real possibility! What limo service did McGahee use to go to Toronto? I apologize for all the asks, but this is crisis mode!

I am sure we will earn it the old fashion way, the worst record in the NFL!

Thanks for destroying my sleep tonight, what a house of horrors, Tim Anderson, Ko Simpson (wasn't he quoted as saying I am rich, I play for the Buffalo Bills as he was getting arrested for some non-sensical charge?), Chris Ellis, James Hardy, these people haven't even reached their late twenties and they are all out of football.

Excellent analysis, I couldn't agree more; by the way who are the running backs in Green Bay and New England anyways? What I would really like to understand is how much money does Buffalo put into collegiate scouting and player personnel in general. All we see are bargin basement efforts around player contracts and free agents, I can just imagine what kind of money is being spent of football operations including fitness facilities; it has to be next to nothing?

I forgot the sack count, remove the Redskins game and what do you have, 4 or 5 sacks in total? Usually the opposing quarterbacks trip over themselves 5 to 10 times over a 16 game season; real progress, I can hardly wait for next year!

They are horrible, they have to be in the bottom third in every meaningful category that measures defensive performance. You are calling what you see out there as progress over last year? This management team has had a full offseason together and plenty of money under the cap and a full assortment of draft picks and the defense still stinks! Look at the surge on any running play, the front seven is usually getting blown off the ball and the linebackers engulfed by the opponents oline, they have to be the worst unit in the league! What are you suggesting, a healthy Kyle Williams and Merriman will resolve this mess, you must be kidding? McFadden ran roughshod in week two like Johnson did yesterday; I think the score was 21-0 in the first three possessions Brady had in week three, let's forgot about the outcome in those aberrations otherwise called Oakland and NE. Have you had a Troupe and Carrington sighting lately, maybe this should help, Carrington 45 to 50 snaps yesterday for zero tackles and zero assist!

Much like the Canadian Geese every fall infiltrate the skyways of the Eastern seaboard on their trip South, the Bills have plummeted out of playoff contention, I will admit slightly later than normal, but even the geese need to reprogram for anomalies like global warming. Once again, this fabulous forum has shifted focus to the draft and free agency, with a diatribe every now and then on the front office and coaching changes. Ladies and gentlemen, we are simply fooling ourselves if things are going to change with the Bills Organization. As I stated before, the wrong Wilson past away this past week (RIP, Allen, quality human being and kudos to Peter King for giving national recognition to this man). I have followed this website for many years and, believe me, there is collectively better football knowledge on this forum then there is in the front office at One Bills Drive (should change the name to “Last” Bills Drive as we seem to perpetually occupy that space in the AFC East). The annual cycle goes something like this: they interview interesting front office candidates only to settle on some internal up and comer, might as well be from the janitorial staff, free agency begins and they sign “has-beens” looking for a new start, reclamation projects to sell tickets, and/or gadget players, then the collegiate draft comes and with a single digit first round selection “Joe” head scratcher, and finally, they pump out news clips during training camp about how some game day bust has come out of off-season workouts quicker, faster, and stronger only to revert to prior form once the season kicks off. In line with this Bills annual ecosystem, this board’s initial reaction, usually the correct one, is here we go again with this nonsense only to gradually embrace these annual gaffes as time passes and optimist on the website start persuading with the glass is half full view points. Respectively, do yourselves a favor and hark back to the day Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey were each signed to contracts; honestly recall your individual reactions. If I recall, visions of grandeur (e.g. Cowher, Shanahan, Shottenheimer etc.) only to come crashing back to earth with Nix and Gailey, frankly Gailey is the Ying to Jauron’s Yang! Gradually and collectively the TBD warmed up to these C grade actors and we certainly have been fooled again for this stupidity. Can any genius point to progress made during this latest two year regime? First they draft a running back, arguably the deepest roster position they inherited, then they sign a bunch of clowns during FA, Gailey determines that Edwards beats out Fitzpatrick during camp only to reverse course 4 games into the season, and finally they proceed to go 4 & 12 earning the 3rd pick in the draft. Basically more of the same in year two, Dareus will be okay, but I do recall Nix stating Von Miller was not high on the Bills draft chart, only the most urgent need on the roster; we are talking about a GM whose rolodex consists basically of San Diego Charger cast offs and free agents from Georgia Tech, that tremendous ACC football powerhouse. Injuries continue to rack up (believe me, a sure sign that this team is getting physically pounded each and every time they take the field (basically undersized and/or inferior athletes), draft picks continue to disappoint, what free agents?, the defense has regressed and that was priority one in Nix’s first offseason, and they continue to loss (okay, they will win one more game this year over last; let me buy Gailey and Nix Cohebas and Johnny Walker Blue for that tremendous accomplishment). So continue to entertain me with interesting off season dreams and logical visions on what the team needs to do, but be prepared for more of the same!

At a minimum he should have an opinion

Dr. he has used this comment on two straight weeks; he doesn't seem to need tape for recalling bad throws and a receiver's inability to separate, but when it comes to opponent receivers running roughshod over McKelvin or Florence he is asking for tape. My concern is that he is completely clueless when it comes to defense, I can understand areas of specialization, but a good head man needs to have attention to detail and familarity with all aspects of the operation, at least in my opinion. I believe Jauron had similar problems, but in a reverse order to Gailey.

After listening to Gailey’s pressers during this November death march, am I the only one that is concerned with his coined response regarding defensive breakdowns: “I have to check the film as I was too busy going over offensive stuff?” This guy is the chief executive officer on game days and only appears to be overseeing half of the operation; I am all for delegation, but he doesn’t seem to have a clue, nor does he care to have a glue about defensive football and we all know the adage that defense wins championships!

T, what exactly are you a master of? I love how you have embraced the transparency that Nix & Gailey have provided to the fan base, the lack of depth is a problem so let's draft CJ Spiller when we have Jackson & Lynch on the roster, let's trade Lee Evans when we have a bunch of misfits at the wide out position, let's throw huge sums of money at a steroid using women beater that hasn't played 10 games in the last 4 seasons, let's sign the "wildcat" artist formally known as Kordal oh I mean Brad Smith for who knows what position/reason, let Poz walk away because we didn't want to pay him a little of the money spent on "lights on" and come hell or high water we need to be $40 million under the cap, and even you see the lack of vision in the Hangartner cut! Master T, isn't part of the depth problem Nix's pathetic 2010 draft; boy didn't we find a lot of starters in that vintage and that was trying to plug a roster that one commentator mentioned would have trouble competing in the old USFL, by the way how is Ed Wang doing? Maybe you can help me with last year's overwhelming free agent class, Andre Davis, Drayton Florence, Mansfield Rotto, Cornel Green, the only depth these guys would plug is cart collectors at Wegmans! What can I expect next from Nix & Gailey that the Lendel injury aborted the playoff run? Lack of patience, what are we going on 12+ years of futility and there is a generation of Bills fans that have never seen a playoff game played in Buffalo? Master T your blind faith and low expectations have me concerned so go back to your Occupy Wall Street tent or Sandusky/Joe Pa support rally and put your energy to real use!

You're both right, when I think about it I never waste money in a whore house or topless bar, typically very fair exchanges, it is more like Direct TV, Hotel rooms at the Mansion, rental cars in Buffalo, and last and certainly not least Bills tickets! KH, what I actually left off was the mystery of Jason Peters, young pro-bowl left tackle, like there is one of those on every street corner, was let go a draft pick and the Bills want to win football games???? For once I am agreeing with Donte Whitner!

1.) Is Ralph Wilson Satan because the first game he actually attended was the home blow out to the NY Jets and we all know the rest? 2.) In all sincerity, the only thing that will allow this team to improve is Mr. Wilson ending up on the permanent injured reserve list; harsh, but reality! 3.) I certainly have to take my hat off to Mr. Mortensen and Mr. Clayton both from ESPN, even I thought the Bills were better than a preseason 27th Power Ranking; Clayton’s line about getting ready for the Luck sweepstakes was prophetic! 4.) For a cheap guy, Mr. Wilson spends his money like a drunken sailor in a whore house: Merriman, Fitzpatrick, Mayben, Jauron, Brad Smith, Dockery, Langston Walker, Spiller, and the list goes on with high draft pick busts, free agent busts, and coaching busts. 5.) Word of advice always wait for a full body of work before handing out pay raises and bonuses; corporate American calls it the “annual review.” Freddie Jackson, if Fitzpatrick was an honest man he would give you half of his pay increase because he certainly cost you yours. 6.) Chris Kelsey actually looks like he is worth 24 million next to guys like Batten and Moats; good guy, average player, wasted career, but certainly not his fault. 7.) How do we like the “pop” pistol offense now? Spread offense with a quarterback that has a dish rag for an arm and a bunch of low or free agent wide receiver draft picks with no size, strength, and probably averaging 4.7 speed as a unit, give me a break. Hypothetically, how much better would this team be with a power running game featuring Lynch and Jackson, signed one or two free agent tight-ends like Kevin Boss and/or Greg Olson, Chicago gave him away for next to nothing, drafted Bryan Bulaga instead of CJ Spiller, kept Lee Evans and maybe signed TO for a possession guy to move the chains? I might add an offense much more suited for the abilities of Fitzpatrick (see Tim Tebow). Granted the defense still sucks, but a grind it out offense would help manage the clock and keep the league’s worst unit off of the field for the benefit of good paying customers. 8.) Does anybody else feel Indianapolis would be favored if playing Buffalo next week? 9.) Given the NFL’s much ballyhooed system of parity, it leads me to speculate that the Buffalo Bills might just be the most pathetic professional sports franchise in North America. 10.) Is it me or do players regress when coming to Buffalo? It seems like the learning curve is negatively sloped for the Bills; Dareus appears to have hit a wall, Brad Smith looked way more potent with the Jets last year, and Gruden thought Spiller was once a lock for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year? Also, it looks like Maybin learned a thing or two since leaving. 11.) Lastly, I sympathize for the hard working journalist from the Buffalo News and Rochester D&C that actually have to cover this joke of an organization for a living. Being home town papers they are certainly emotionally invested in this bunch and having to sit through this non-sense game in and game out has to be brutal, because, unlike me, they can’t turn the TV off and simply walk away!

I don't understand how the coaching staff can go any futher without giving Battan, Shepperd, and Moats an opportunity to start? Outside of Barnnet, the other three are liabilities against the rush and below average pass rushers at best, there supposed speciality. It appeared to me, ironically on Merriman's first official sack (chasing Dalton out of bounds), he has no speed left, more importantly, it looks like he is running with a limp. The guy was average against the run in his heyday, but could obvious rush the passer, now he is below average in both, time to demote him to the second team. And for a team that has spent so many high draft picks on defensive backs,it is amazing how our best ones are playing for other teams (i.e. Cincinnati and Minnesota). The "playmaker" is a hell of a lot better tackler than the two stiffs we had playing today and he was available for nothing this offseason, you would figure just the type of free agent signing the garbage picking Bills like? Buddy still has a long ways to go fix our college drafting operations as I am not happy with what I am seeing out of last year's class and outside of Darius, not much help from this year's crop. Hopefully the firing of Modrak is a big part of the answer.

Nervous Guy, from the bottom of my heart I salute you and the other true “billievers” for the unwavering commitment and receiving your justly deserved reward! As stated, I didn’t believe the team was ready to compete at this level and, clearly, I under estimated the determination and character of this team. I really owe an apology to Donald Jones as he has clearly exceeded expectations. I am still not enamored by the defense and Fitz missed a couple of wide open receivers that killed drives and he was completely bailed out on the errant pass endzone pass into double coverage that had game killing potential written over it, but I’ll take his gun slinging ways and attitude any day over the rifle arm Jay Cutler/Mark Sanchez types beloved by the football media. In the meantime I’ll have another serving of crow and, for a change, all my showers will be golden!

I am not trying to pull a fast one on old 1959 or be cryptic or afraid of an intellectual battle with you; you're making some assumptions above so go ahead and continue to do so. My response on utility was 100% accurate, it is a fungible concept and its true definition resides within the economic unit/individual, the science is applied through indifference curves and the measurement of opportunity costs. Back to the genesis of my original post as it was only about my candid observation on this Bills team and now it has digressed as a result of individuals, such as you, believing I am making a personal attack on the team and its fans. Did you ever think it is a personal attack on my senses and football acumen when numerous people on this website post garbage like no respect from ESPN, 12-4, going to kill the Pats, Brady sucks, hidden agendas led by Adam Schafter/Chris Mortensen & Co.etc.? As the *2Evans gentleman so accurately stated, there is only so far a team built on cast offs, URFAs, and late rounders can go; somebody, maybe even you, point to a SuperBowl team built on such a roster? Have we sunken to such a level where mere competitiveness in a diluted league has become the ultimate goal? It sure isn't for me!

Your approach has merit and I respect it; I think we can both agree we would love to see the franchise return to the glory of the early '90s, we just have different ways of expressing it! Cheers.

Not the purpose of this forum; but a hint is a concept in economics known as utility.

Dailar, look at the original post, I am stating what I believe is sound analysis on the current state of the team; of course I might be wrong and we all end up enjoying a big victory on Sunday night, but I am concerned with what I saw this past Sunday. I do admit to throwing a dig at the true "billievers" with their reckless treads about 12-4 and senseless obession with power rankings and what ESPN or other media centers think about a franchise that, in reality, has been futile for over a decade now (who should really be furious are the wonderful people of Indianapolis, I saw a statistic last night on MNF records, Peyton 11-2 vs. Eli 7-2, how in hell is Eli that close to Peyton in MNF appearances???)! I am prepared to eat crow if I am wrong, but truth be told, I have been dining on surf and turf for quite some time now when it comes to betting on the Bills and that includes washing down the protein with a top vintage Bordeaux!

Again, review my history of prospective analysis regarding the direction of the team, coaching hires, critique of players including free agents and draft picks. I think your attempt of being cerebral is cute and probably shows some economic potential, but I am probably not far off in assuming that you have not fully maximized this crude intellect into anything one would consider productive from the standpoint of wealth creation, which doesn't necessarily mean the accumulation of money or material assets.