JohnC Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 I always thought Tom Cousineau hated Buffalo and went to Canada just to get some autonomy in where in the NFL he would play. According to him its a little more complex and, again according to him, Buffalo's front office didn't handle negotiations very well. http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/04/21/tom-cou...en-one-in-1979/ On the positive side, in a complex set of transactions, this fiasco gave us the draft choice to get Jim Kelly. Thanks for the link. It reinforces the well known characterization of our historically dismal franchise: for the most part the franchise is managed in a very second-rate manner. The segment about Chuck Know was interesting. It is very understandable that he couldn't get away fast enough from this low budget and chaotic organization. The biggest fault with our inept owner and a constant theme in the history of this losing franchise is the owner not hiring quality people to manage the football side of the organization. It seems when he finally does get some quality people involved with the football operation they eventually get forced out or out of frustration want out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K Gun Special Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 i agree the front office has been bad. But the article says he was offered exactly what he should have expected ?? sooo isnt a lot of that really on him? he said he thought other were paid more but the article doesnt say that was the case. Im not one to defend the front office, but a guy refusing to sign for what he should expect doesnt mean the front office blew it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 i agree the front office has been bad. But the article says he was offered exactly what he should have expected ?? sooo isnt a lot of that really on him? he said he thought other were paid more but the article doesnt say that was the case. Im not one to defend the front office, but a guy refusing to sign for what he should expect doesnt mean the front office blew it. You might be right that the full account about Tom C's situation is somewhat murky. What isn't murky is that for half a century the franchise has been run in a very haphazard manner. The totality of the history of the operation of the franchise is inescapable. At least it is to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 i agree the front office has been bad. But the article says he was offered exactly what he should have expected ?? sooo isnt a lot of that really on him? he said he thought other were paid more but the article doesnt say that was the case. Im not one to defend the front office, but a guy refusing to sign for what he should expect doesnt mean the front office blew it. As you mentioned, Cousineau stated that players drafted after him signed for more. He also stated that he and his agent said to the Bills, "you don't have to match Montreal's offer but you have to do better than your initial offer." The problem is that the writer, while putting together a nice article, didn't or wasn't able to get contract figures for that year. However in view of the history of the franchise up till that time, you will find very few people who would be skeptical that the Bills played hardball with Cousineau and lowballed him. Chuck Knox was famously annoyed with the team's cheapness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewildrabbit Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Stew Barber, Ralph Wilson... This story could go right next to the thread about how Wilson isn't cheap. They invite a guy to dinner and then don't show up or even call, real class. From what I can recall the difference between the team and TC was only 20k, the bigger problem was that Stew Barber had no business being a GM and was a total jerk to players as he thought he was better then them, he was an ex player himself. The thing is... I think the guy would have been a much better LB had he come to Buffalo and learned the pro's from Knox and his staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typical TBD Guy Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Stew Barber, Ralph Wilson... This story could go right next to the thread about how Wilson isn't cheap. They invite a guy to dinner and then don't show up or even call, real class. From what I can recall the difference between the team and TC was only 20k, the bigger problem was that Stew Barber had no business being a GM and was a total jerk to players as he thought he was better then them, he was an ex player himself. The thing is... I think the guy would have been a much better LB had he come to Buffalo and learned the pro's from Knox and his staff. I took care of that. I'm curious to see how the "Ralph isn't cheap" brigade will spin this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewildrabbit Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 As you mentioned, Cousineau stated that players drafted after him signed for more. He also stated that he and his agent said to the Bills, "you don't have to match Montreal's offer but you have to do better than your initial offer." The problem is that the writer, while putting together a nice article, didn't or wasn't able to get contract figures for that year. However in view of the history of the franchise up till that time, you will find very few people who would be skeptical that the Bills played hardball with Cousineau and lowballed him. Chuck Knox was famously annoyed with the team's cheapness. I'll say, even after taking the team outta the toilet and building them into a playoff team they lowballed Knox also...so he left. When Knox first arrived in Buffalo they were so horribly bad they couldn't host pre season games because nobody would buy tickets, the man completely turned around the franchise and got treated like crap for his effort. Is it any wonder why Jim Kelly didn't want to play in Buffalo. After he left Buffalo he called it a coaches graveyard, and people wonder why us old time fans call RW cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob in STL Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 I took care of that. I'm curious to see how the "Ralph isn't cheap" brigade will spin this one. Ralph was indeed very cheap in the 70's. The Ahmad Rashad situation after the 1976 season was proof of that. He wanted a $20,000 raise. OJ was upset as Rashad was one of his best friends on the team. That was a few years before Knox and Cousineau. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBill Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Cousineau sucked. Good thing the Bills didn't ink him. Drafting him was bad enough. +100 In the long run the Bills ended up better off with Kelly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipster19 Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Based on that article I thought Cousineau sounded extremely intelligent. I totally agree with his perception on God and his timing, one never knows how things will unfold. We can always logicly reason situations out but it doesn't always go the way we expect it to. The guy sounds like he has a healthy, happy marriage and two beautiful kids that he appears to adore. He sounds like he made the right choice and became a success to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurman#1 Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 I always thought Tom Cousineau hated Buffalo and went to Canada just to get some autonomy in where in the NFL he would play. According to him its a little more complex and, again according to him, Buffalo's front office didn't handle negotiations very well. http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/04/21/tom-cou...en-one-in-1979/ On the positive side, in a complex set of transactions, this fiasco gave us the draft choice to get Jim Kelly. Thanks for posting this. I always hated Cousineau. Now he looks like a very reasonable guy. In his place, I wouldn't have gone to Buffalo either. Stew Barber comes across as a compete jerk. I can't believe he got a higher offer per year to go to the Canadian League. Weird. Again, thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurman#1 Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 So I guess that points to the single common thread in everything.... Ralph Wilson Who also brought in Polian and Lou Saban. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennesseeboy Posted August 2, 2010 Author Share Posted August 2, 2010 I'm not sure he was a number one overall caliber player, especially looking at some of the hall of famers who were drafted after him. However he was the MVP of the CFL for a number of years and seems to have played well in an unfortunate situation in Cleveland. We had any number of notoriously bad drafts in those years and were less than stellar in keeping good players (or coaches, apparently). Some of the problem with this franchise may very well have been at the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jester43 Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Ralph sucks. The sooner he doesn't own this team, the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Long Beach Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Ralph sucks. The sooner he doesn't own this team, the better. Blah Blah Blah. Go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Blah Blah Blah. Go away. Argue the point with logic, I dare you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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