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Trader Bill Polian and son available


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Without knowing anything about the inner workings but just reading a little about the situation, Bill, the brains of the operation, has had his mind on retirement and one foot out the door for a few years, and has been, as he should and everyone should, grooming his son to take over. If the idiot Irsay saw that Chris does not seem to have the brains and acumen of his dad, this is a smart move, not a dumb one. Of course, Irsay could be wrong about Chris, too. Only time will tell if he is going to approach his dad. Chances are, he will be nowhere near as good. But it's possible.

Edited by Kelly the Dog
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Polian 32 years in the NFL one super bowl with two hall of fame quarterbacks- the guy can't draft. One fell in his lap (Manning) the other was in Buffalo before he became GM (Kelly)

Yeah, you should probably bring that up in a few years when he gets a gold sportcoat...

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Why is this such a surprise? Losing 1 player should not spiral a team down to rock bottom. And if it does, then it means that the GM was inept at or ignoring the rest of the team. Polian didn't build this team right, plain and simple.

 

 

Actually, the hiring of Caldwell is what did him in. Caldwell should be fired. There was more than enough talent left on the team for them to be competitive. (Donald Brown, Freeny, MAthis, etc.)

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Polian 32 years in the NFL one super bowl with two hall of fame quarterbacks- the guy can't draft. One fell in his lap (Manning) the other was in Buffalo before he became GM (Kelly)

 

He got the Carolina Panthers to the NFC Championship game a year after expansion.

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Impressed at all the Bill Polian love. I'm not surprised Irsay fired them. Indy is an old team in cap hell that can't play defense, with a thick layer of consecutive poor drafts on top. You add in that the team is significantly leveraged and you don't have a lot of money to play with either in the market. Screwed from pretty much every direction.

 

It's going to take the post-Polian GM team to get out from under all that.

 

Bills fans remember Polian as a GM before the dawn of free agency.

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If you look at what made the Colts so successful the last decade it was all based around Payton Manning. That quick strike offense would score first, get the lead and that small, fast undersized quick D players would pin their ears back and attack.

 

They didn't need a power running game, they had Payton. They didn't need a big powerful defense, they usually always had the lead. So look at what happened when they lost Payton to an injury, the Colts went 2-14 this year with several different QB's.

 

 

OTOH, The Patriots lose Tom Brady for a year on the first game of the season. Then the only QB they have as backup hasn't been a starting QB since high school, as he was a backup at USC his entire 4 years. Matt Cassel. The 2008 NE patriots went 11-5 with Cassel at QB but missed the playoffs.

 

So what style / scheme would you rather see the Buffalo Bills run?

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How about bringing Polian back as Director of Football Operations? Yes Polian has had some misses in the past few years, but who has missed on more draft picks the past decade the Colts or the Bills?

Probably a better shot at bringing back Wade. If memory serves me, Polian used the C word directed at Ralph's daughter. Ralph, is not one to bury the hatchet. Although he did with Gilchrist. However, the man was on his death bed. Speaking of which, why isn't Cookie on the wall?

Edited by Best Player Available
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Polian 32 years in the NFL one super bowl with two hall of fame quarterbacks- the guy can't draft. One fell in his lap (Manning) the other was in Buffalo before he became GM (Kelly)

The manning draft pick was also on that was heavily debated in the draft room. Up until the day of the draft Polian and his staff were going back and forth on manning and leaf.

Just think how Polian would be regarded if he had drafted Leaf?

All you have to do is look at Indy this year with out Manning to see how well of a GM the Polians are.

The GM is also in charge of FA, Indy is horrible with out Manning, no way one player should make that much of a difference. Just look at NE when Brady went down. It is also why you see guys from the NE tree being hired elsewhere and not the Indy tree.

Edited by atlbillsfan1975
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Good GM but completely overrated here. He built a 1 man team. The Bills won 6 to 7 games starting Trent Edwards and JP Losman.

 

He inherited Jim Kelly and got the #1 pick and took Bruce. He got multiple 10 top picks with the Panthers. He got the #1 overall and got Manning. He was going to get another #1 pick by a guy everyone has loved for 3 years and then his son could coast.

 

Ballsy move by Irsay but IMO, if these QBs are as good as people think they are, another GM will have it made. Great Qbs make teams more than "great" GMs. Polian was a good GM who picked great spots.

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Why is this such a surprise? Losing 1 player should not spiral a team down to rock bottom. And if it does, then it means that the GM was inept at or ignoring the rest of the team. Polian didn't build this team right, plain and simple.

Or it could be that the spoiled brat owner, who would probably be a pizza boy were it not for his daddy, had wood for Caldwell who can't coach for ****.

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Are you talking about Irsay or the Colts GM Chris Polian?

I was referring to Irsay, who comes off as having missed a clinical diagnosis of mild mental retardation by the skin of his teeth. I don't know much about Polian's kid.

Edited by Rob's House
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Bill Polian built a bad football team. Without Manning they are the worst team in football. Without Brady the Patriots were 11-5. Now consider the fact that the Colts are right up on the cap limit and are the worst team in football. Polian at this point in time is more legend than legitimate. Take away the Manning pick and how great exactly is his drafting.

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DUUUUDE! :thumbsup:

you'll have to change your signature now that we are going 43.

 

Impressed at all the Bill Polian love. I'm not surprised Irsay fired them. Indy is an old team in cap hell that can't play defense, with a thick layer of consecutive poor drafts on top. You add in that the team is significantly leveraged and you don't have a lot of money to play with either in the market. Screwed from pretty much every direction.

 

It's going to take the post-Polian GM team to get out from under all that.

 

Bills fans remember Polian as a GM before the dawn of free agency.

He built Carolina and Indy in the free agency period :oops:

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Polian was a good GM who picked great spots.

In a mediocre world where a three-decade .550 to .600 winning percentage and a few championships gets you in the HOF, that's a pretty weak argument, IMO.

 

0.727 winning percentage over the 11 years prior to this season.

 

I suspect Paul Brown, George Halas, Art Rooney or current GMs like Ozzie Newsome, Micky Loomis, etc. would be considered "good but not great" by a large swath of TSW because they picked their spots...

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In a mediocre world where a three-decade .550 to .600 winning percentage and a few championships gets you in the HOF, that's a pretty weak argument, IMO.

 

0.727 winning percentage over the 11 years prior to this season.

 

I suspect Paul Brown, George Halas, Art Rooney or current GMs like Ozzie Newsome, Micky Loomis, etc. would be considered "good but not great" by a large swath of TSW because they picked their spots...

 

I think he is good but he was handed a HOF Qb in Kelly (plus one of the greatest pass rushers ever) and another one in Manning. Those QBs are far more responsible for those teams winning than Polian.

 

Again, the Bills could win 6 and 7 games with Losman and Edwards. The Colts struggled to win 2 without Manning. That is a badly constructed team.

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I think he is good but he was handed a HOF Qb in Kelly (plus one of the greatest pass rushers ever) and another one in Manning. Those QBs are far more responsible for those teams winning than Polian.

If it were that simple, every GM with a HOF QB would be a genius. So, which GMs with these modern era QBs would be head and shoulders above Polian?

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Actually, the hiring of Caldwell is what did him in.  Caldwell should be fired.  There was more than enough talent left on the team for them to be competitive.  (Donald Brown, Freeny, MAthis, etc.)

That's my thoguht as well. Why is Polian getting all the blame in Indy? Shouldn't the HC shoulder a large portion of the blame? Yeah, with Painter as your QB, you don't expect the playoffs maybe. But the complete and total collapse of the entire team, IMO, has to be on the HC as much or more than anyone.

 

Irsay is nuts.

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If it were that simple, every GM with a HOF QB would be a genius. So, which GMs with these modern era QBs would be head and shoulders above Polian?

 

IMO, I'd put Newsome, Ted Thompson, The Saints' GM, Pittsburgh' GM, AJ Smith, Belichick all over Polian. Additionally, there is little question Cincy Gm's did a much better job this year.

 

I'm not saying Polian isn't good. I just think he is extremely overrated. Kelly and Manning both were essentially OCs. A truly great GM doesn't build a team that relies on one player. The Pats went 11-5 without their HOF QB. The Ravens are contenders without a stud QB. Pittsburgh always goes to the playoffs no matter who is coaching or playing QB.

 

Peyton Manning made Bill Polian's tenure in Indy. IF the Bills wrere lucky enough to suck that year of the draft and got the #1 pick, fans would think John Butler (if that was our GM at the time) was some god GM.

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Wacky for sure. I can't believe the Colts did this. Wow. Nobody has 'success' every year. For obvious reasons, the Colts tanked this year. Everything (Offensively and Defensively) they did was predicated on Manning putting up points. Bill Polian has had way above average success in running franchises. There just aren't a lot of guys with his track record out there. This is nuts.

Thanks to Bill Polian, the Bills were able to reach four consecutive Super Bowls, and the Colts were able to earn a Super Bowl ring. He was the best GM the Bills have ever had.

 

But for at least the last decade, he has quietly been promoting his son Chris to ever-greater levels of responsibility. It has been argued--convincingly--that these promotions were based on nepotism, not performance. The last several years in particular have seen Bill take a step backward in order to let Chris have the limelight.

 

About five or seven years ago, the Colts had enough overall talent--a complete enough team--that they won the Super Bowl. More recently their team was good enough that they made it to the Super Bowl, and put up a good fight before finally succumbing to the Saints. Yes, those teams had Peyton Manning. But they needed more than just him to get to, let alone win, the Super Bowl.

 

This past season the Colts were a 2-14 team. As devastating as the Manning injury was, the reasons for that 2-14 record go beyond just that. The Colts have acquired very little new talent during the last three or four years. As Chris's role in the organization has become progressively larger, the rate of talent acquisition has tapered off.

 

The case has been made that this is no coincidence. Over the last decade or so, the Colts' front office has lost a number of key people--key people who were asked to leave because of personality conflicts with Chris. My sense is that those people have not been replaced, and that the better front office people in the league would be loath to serve under Chris. Also, I have seen nothing which might suggest that Chris is himself a particularly able talent evaluator.

 

Would I want Bill Polian to return to the Bills' GM spot? Absolutely! Provided, of course, that he still had the same or similar fire he had back in the '90s, and also provided that his son Chris wasn't allowed within 100 miles of Orchard Park. My sense is that Bill Polian has lost most of his fire, and that he envisions making Chris an integral part of whichever football operation he runs. My sense is that no matter where Bill goes, he will continue relinquishing control of day-to-day operations, making room for Chris to wield even more power. I see nothing which would suggest a team should consider hiring Chris, even as a scout. Ralph Wilson should not even consider any arrangement which involves making Chris a part of the Bills' football operations.

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