JohnC Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 yes there is no doubt he has put together some good teams however he has 1 championship which is more the result of Payton Manning then Bill Polian. No one has ever doubted that Peyton Manning is the most instrumental player and reason for the Colts' success, as is Brady for the Patriots. But in the era of the salary cap and rapid player movement through free agency and cap reasons Bill Polian and also the front office for the Pats have done a masterful job in reconstructing teams that continue to succeed. The Pats ranked #1 and the Colts ranked #2 over the past decade. The Bills ranked #28 with a winning % of .417. The caliber of ownership and front office have a lot to do with how a team performs over the long hall. There is nothing wrong with recognizing excellence and ineptitude where they exist, even if it is embarrassing to the partisan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 prior to this past decade they had the #1 overall pick in the draft coincedently Payton Manning was available during the draft, It was one in your face no questions asked player that was available at that #1 spot. Anyone with an IQ score of 15 or higher could have made that selection. This is the reason for the Colts success, call it luck or whatever you want but to pin some kind of label on Polian as some kind of mastermind for assembling the colts is rediculous, it fell into there laps. Go back and do the research in the 98 Draft because it wasn't the slam dunk you make it out to be. Sure, it's simple to look back now and conclude lazily that Manning was much better than Leaf. But peel back a few layers, and you'll find that Manning had his weaknesses as well. Polian is the greatest NFL GM of the past 25 years hands down and there is no one better. He was let go by the Bills and that era is over, but taking him down a notch in self-righteous rants is the result of Bills fans being bitter they're team isn't half as good as the team BP has had since leaving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTW2012 Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Over the past decade the Colts ranked 2 compared to the Bills ranking 28.Over the past decade the Colts had a winning % of .701 compared to the Bills winning % of .417 Over the past decade the Colts won 101 games compared to the Bills winning 60 Over the past decade the Colts have been in the playoffs 8 times compared to 0 for the Bills. It is evident that Bill Polian and his staff with the Colts make a lot less personnel mistakes than the front office staff of the Bills do. From 2000-2009, the Colts have 115 wins, the Bills have 66. Also, the Colts have 9 playoff seasons in that time, missing only 2001. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob in STL Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Under Polian the Bills went to the SB four consecutive years and drafted Kelly. During his short stint with Carolina he got an expansion team into the playoffs. Over the past decade his Colts' team is ranked #2 (New England #1) while the Bills are ranked 28. When Polian's career is over he will be inducted into the HOF as a GM. Maybe it is better to acknowledge excellence instead of tolerating mediocrtiy? I am not going to dispute Polian's greatness but to set the record straight, Jim Kelly was drafted before Polian was GM. Credit Polian for signing him a few years later but the Bills had exclusive rights to him when the USFL folded. Also, Polian was GM for the first 3 Super Bowls. He left prior to the fourth. During his stint in Carolina he did a great job getting Carolina into the playoff ... he also benefitted from a system that gave them many more draft choices than the other NFL teams. Carolina and Jax both had the luxury of this system that was never used before for stocking expansion teams. Both franchises built strong teams in a short time. Prior to his job in Carolina, Polian also did great work for the commisioner, Paul Tagliabue, to set up the Free Agency system with salary cap. True, he is a certain Hall of Famer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trolls_r_us Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Reading this makes me laugh. Complete LOSER mentality in this thread. A HALL OF FAME GM makes a couple of mistakes and all of a sudden the low budget circus of nobodies who have run the Bills are somehow not as bad as everyone thinks because "the draft is a crapshoot." Give me a freaking break already. This reminds me of the guy who fails at life but his consolation is that success is all about LUCK, and he's just not LUCKY like the ones who are successful. That way, it isn't his fault. The thing is, certain people seem to be "lucky" wherever they go (Polian) and others can't seem to ever get it right, or of they do they screw it up (Bills). But yeah, the draft is just a total crapshoot. All luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I am not going to dispute Polian's greatness but to set the record straight, Jim Kelly was drafted before Polian was GM. Credit Polian for signing him a few years later but the Bills had exclusive rights to him when the USFL folded. Also, Polian was GM for the first 3 Super Bowls. He left prior to the fourth. During his stint in Carolina he did a great job getting Carolina into the playoff ... he also benefitted from a system that gave them many more draft choices than the other NFL teams. Carolina and Jax both had the luxury of this system that was never used before for stocking expansion teams. Both franchises built strong teams in a short time. Prior to his job in Carolina, Polian also did great work for the commisioner, Paul Tagliabue, to set up the Free Agency system with salary cap. True, he is a certain Hall of Famer. When Carolina got into the playoffs shortly after coming into the league it was accomplished mostly with stocked free agent players made available for the expansion teams. When Jim Kelly was drafted Polian was prominently involved in the personnel department of the team. Whether Polian left prior to the fourth SB (I'm not sure). I'm sure you would agree that many of those players were selected by him. In general, you and I are in accord that Bill Polian was an excellent GM for the Bills, Carolina and still is for the Colts. The pivotal point for the Bills slide was at the Polian departure. I do believe that if John Butler and A.J. Smith would have stayed on longer and been allowed to do their jobs without nuisance interference by the owner the Bills would have continued to be a relevant team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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