The Big Cat

That's a hilariously accurate reference. There has been plenty to critique over the last few weeks. His inability to get his public messengers on the same page is at the top of the list.

Heat maps jokes still huh? Still clinging to all the old material. **** got old like a year ago. Cluster !@#$? How? They fired the coach you hated. They did exactly what you wanted. And now it's a cluster !@#$? You really have just one note, don't you?

My favorite part about these last 10 days is watching the regular NNN's who go to great lengths to criticize this team are now suddenly completely incapable of being in anyway critical when it comes to the amateur **** show that has been the local news.

As much as I've debated these last few days insisting that sports media is--by and large--sensationalists hacks, more often than not, where's there's smoke, there's fire.

I actually just has a pretty lengthy and direct back and forth with Skurski on Twitter.

May be. Or may be you don't since he's only coached one 10-win season since 2009.

Anyone who expects something else from a press conference is naive. Any member of the media who expects more from a press conference is incompetent. Skurski has really taken a turn for the crotchety. But he's not very good at it.

I just need some clarity. First you said you were excited to have Rex as your coach, but now you're saying you're excited to have Anthony Lynn? So were you excited about Anthony Lynn first? Have you always been excited about Anthony Lynn> Or did you decide to feel excitement while Rex was still here? I guess I'm just not following. Can you help me understand?

If you say so. Good post. It was obvious what Whaley was doing yesterday, and you nailed it. Why others can't understand this, I don't know. Now, granted, Whaley didn't do it well, but I get the sense that he's uncomfortable with the media enough as it is that to expect him to go all Martin Skirelli on everybody's asses (which he should have done) would have been too much to ask. All he had to say was "on matters of football, Terry and I decide things as a team." And just say that over and over and over and over again. So who decided to fire Rex? "We decide things as a team." So you fired Rex? "We decide things as a team." So Terry fired Rex? "We decide things as a team." So who fired Rex? "Rex and Terry had a private conversation." And it was during that conversation that he fired Rex? "I wasn't in on that conversation." Did you tell Terry to fire Rex? "We decide things as a team." So you told Terry to fire Rex? "We decide things as a team." Yes or no, did you tell Terry to fire Rex? "We decide things as a team." How does this team work? "He asks me questions, I answer them. Sometimes I ask him questions and he answers them. Then we decide things as a team." So did he ask you questions about firing Rex? "I won't talk about the private conversations I have with our owner." And around and around we go. This is basically what he did, he was just sloppy. Could have been much much cleaner. We'll see!!

Yes, I think I believe it is both speculative and hyperbolic to assume that publicity and only publicity mattered. There were plenty of things about Rex Ryan to suggest he enticed them from a competitive standpoint too. Nobody here is questioning the clarity of your hindsight. Interesting take and completely plausible. I also happen to believe this is how it went down. But I don't know that for sure.

The reporting structure has been widely known/understood since early 2015. It boggles my mind that the reporters spent the bulk of the presser doing circles around it when there was PLENTY of non-worn material to discuss. The Rodak tweet tells you everything you need to know!! It's so painfully obvious what was going on in that room yesterday.

Jesus. Season Five of The Wire is alive and well at OBD! Won't give us the story? No story exists? No problemo, we'll just make one up! That part is bad enough. That he goes on to then BLAME Whaley/OBD for this leap is just beyond phenomenal. YEAH BUT IT'S CONFUSING BECAUSE THE REPORTERS KEEP SAYING SO

The inverse, of course, being that when you're speaking at a press conference you're on script and part of the script (for what reason, I'm not sure) seemed to be that Whaley is in charge and the owners (in spite of what Whaley keeps alluding to) aren't making important decisions, and neither is Russ Brandon. It's convenient to call him a liar, I thought it was pretty classless when Sully did, but 95% of what's said at press conferences is 100% BS. Which is why good reporters (Wawrow) get their reporting elsewhere. If you say so. I'm not sure why can of reasonable response you expected to speculative hyperbole.

Given that there are 7.4 billion people on the planet, less than 200 of whom have what it takes to coach in the NFL, yes, I can think of about 7.4 billion worse decisions they could have made.

If you say so.

Is it still Rex's fault?

Some owners run teams more closely than others. Some have had more success doing so than others. Some of that success comes and goes. If you want to foresee decades of doom and futility based on their first 24 months, go for it. Just because Terry and Kim set out to make a splash the first time around doesn't mean they'll run the team like that moving forward. It could mean that. But I'm not as certain as you that it does.

I think a QB, in this offense, who is asked only to stand and deliver and get the ball out accurately on time and to a spot while the rushing attack keeps you ahead of the sticks and off balance is a perfect scenario for a QB like Bradford. A guy further up said that he gets sacked a lot while glossing over the fact that the Bills o-line had a damn near historic year in run blocking while the Vikings pulled the opposite. Obviously run and pass blocking are different, but they were so diametrically opposed in the run, one could surmise that he'd get better pass blocking in buffalo.

Unless he didn't approve, and the new owner wanted to show the world that things in Buffalo are different now, that we can get and pay the biggest coaching name out there, and when Whaley sat in front of a microphone, he did everything to conceal that motivation so as to not throw his boss under the bus. All of this could just as easily be inferred.

What--exactly--makes you say this?

Everything else: Whaley approved/Whaley didn't approve, can only be inferred, though.

Strikethrough = inference. There's nothing hear to suggest he did anything more than vet him.

And if that was the case, then he would have flatly ignored input from Whaley. I don't see anything in here to suggest that Whaley came out of the details chat pro or against Rex. Seriously, am I missing something?

Yeah, and perhaps now Whaley will have his shot. That Rex proved to be the wrong guy to give leeway to, doesn't necessarily mean Whaley will be the right one. But, he gets his chance now. He'll live or die by the team's success if it is, in fact, his direction they take.

Glad to see something go their way for a change.