Only one person to blame for the Bills Multi-decade mess

[Cinga]

Your Host... wow... memories...

 

There was one within walking distance of Hamburg High, used to go there a lot.... Senile I guess, can't remember the shopping plaza it was in, but I think there was a Tops and Red Barn there as well...

 

to the youngsters... yeah... reminiscing... cause those were the good ole days...

[HOUSE]

Ralph is sorry

[FitzShowUsYourTitz]

I think even the diehards know this fact

 

Yes, which is why I firmly believe my favorite quote in the world.......“Winning is not a sometime thing, it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time.

Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”

- Vince Lombardi

 

We have the blueprint for losing at least for the last decade plus....and most of Ralph's time owning the team. Some people don't want to look at the facts. Virtually the only time we were good: The Bill Polian Era and some time under Butler, was mostly luck that Ralph found/hired Polian. Then he managed to screw that one up too. Sad Really.

 

Go Bills

Edited October 4, 2012 by Cville Bills

[Buffalo Barbarian]

The Bills are not going to get better while Ralph is the owner, he didn't hire a good enough crew to manage the team. It's sorta of like going to the old "Your Host" restaurant, you walked in and knew that this isn't the Ritz, especially with those horrible drapes that had 30 years of food stains. This team is run by a 3rd class / underpaid outfit without the ability to form a cognitive plan, nor will they ever attract a real GM like Polian to run the team. Ralph needed to be the bigger man & sure showed Polian who is in charge, it got the Colts on a decade long playoff run with a championship. We got a bag of burning dog-s()it left on our door, see Ralph's in charge.

 

if we got a real QB this past decade Ralph would be a genius.

 

While I like your post in general, I disagree with your statement that we need another Polian. Bill Polian got lucky in drafting Manning, who probably is the best QB to ever play the game. We all saw what happened last year when Peyton went down.

 

It's two games. Two games in which we had our asses handed to us by divisional rivals. However, we are still @ .500, and get the opportunity to redeem ourselves this Sunday in San Fran. I still Billieve.

 

GO BILLS!

 

I agree and don't forget Jimbo and he would have had Luck or RG3 if he stayed. That said San Fran is going to run right over us until we get that QB star receivers and someone who can call a defense.

 

The one thing I can say that I think Ralph did wrong was to not look at guys he didn't know. As an owner its your job to leave no stone unturned and bring the best people in. I do think Ralph has wanted to win but he has been too stubborn to change his ways, which has cost us all.

[Captain Hindsight]

We have an owner?

[Garion]

The Bills will not exist without RW as owner

 

This at least historically speaking and maybe in the future as well. Be careful what you wish for.

[Marv's Neighbor]

Your Host near Bills grill was a young drunks paradise back in the day. Most of us were broke and waiting for our letter from big Dick to serve. Fries with gravy after a full shift at the bar were like 50 cents.

There was a Your Host on Seneca St, just West of Casenovia. Nothing like rolling in there late at night for breakfast and the "morning" Courier to read up on; how cheap Ralph is and the various other the latest BILLS problems of the day.

 

As for waiting for "our letter," the induction center used to be on Main at North. They used to give out vouchers for lunch at the Anchor Bar. Of course, nobody knew wtf Wings were in the mid 60's. It was a dump then too! Surprised nobody mentioned Decco? The working man's Starbucks!

[All_Pro_Bills]

I'll play along and disagree.

 

You want someone to blame. It's us, the emotionally addicted fans.

 

We still bought the tickets, jerseys, tv packages and show up for the games. No matter how bad the product we still place reltaively unhealthy importance on the team in our lives. I thought about that today as I was surrounded by all my Bills "stuff" I've got in my office.

 

We haven't been to the playoffs in over a decade. Yet, we're. all. still. here. In our normal lives we make an effort to distnce ourselves from lousy products, but not with football. We all seem hopelessly magnetized, spending money it takes all of us a long time to make on a fleeting, underperforming product.

 

The thing is...turning it off, not watching, not commenting, divorcing the team completely...just seems so painful, doesn't it?

Got to say that Russ Brandon is an absolute marketing genius. Year after year this team creates the message of 'hope' among the fans and keeps the faithful coming back for more. Only to disappoint us time and time again. Heck, its been dragging me back in year after year. Sign a free agent here and there, bring in a new regime, have a 'great' offseason. Blue skies and winning are always just around the corner with the latest change but never do seem to appear.

 

This guy could sell a glass of water to a drowning man or one step better the idea of a playoff berth to Bills fans.

[Ronin]

The Bills are not going to get better while Ralph is the owner, he didn't hire a good enough crew to manage the team. It's sorta of like going to the old "Your Host" restaurant, you walked in and knew that this isn't the Ritz, especially with those horrible drapes that had 30 years of food stains. This team is run by a 3rd class / underpaid outfit without the ability to form a cognitive plan, nor will they ever attract a real GM like Polian to run the team. Ralph needed to be the bigger man & sure showed Polian who is in charge, it got the Colts on a decade long playoff run with a championship. We got a bag of burning dog-s()it left on our door, see Ralph's in charge.

 

The problem is, who even wants to come coach in Buffalo anymore? It's going to take a premium, and any good coach, take Gruden for example, if he even wants to return to coaching given his nice "9-5" job w/ zero responsibility, why would he even considering coming here other than for a few 10s of millions more than he could get elsewhere?

 

And why would he come here without insisting that the entire FO be replaced? Would you as a candidate? It's almost like screwing your entire career over and all but guaranteeing that it will end on a sour note if you do otherwise.

 

And what does this team do for an encore? I for one didn't expect Mario to meet the ridiculous superman "gonna help the team win 4+ more games expectations placed on him, but honestly, he'll have to have a sack/game with the team going 8-4 the rest of the way in order for his ridiculous contract to be validated. Hell, they'll likely lose four games within the next five games, maybe the next four.

 

I mean how can they "show anyone that they're serious" now? How do they avoid everyone thinking, except for Bills fans of course, many of whom will clearly buy anything, that even with a fantastic move, that it'll amount to anything?

 

What ah horribly pathetic organization.

 

And who really still thinks that by going to games and paying for tickets to this slop, that they are really influencing whether or not the team stays in the region? ... really!

[Ronin]

Got to say that Russ Brandon is an absolute marketing genius. Year after year this team creates the message of 'hope' among the fans and keeps the faithful coming back for more. Only to disappoint us time and time again. Heck, its been dragging me back in year after year. Sign a free agent here and there, bring in a new regime, have a 'great' offseason. Blue skies and winning are always just around the corner with the latest change but never do seem to appear.

 

This guy could sell a glass of water to a drowning man or one step better the idea of a playoff berth to Bills fans.

 

The guy you're responding to is absolutely right! If the stadium were only half full on Sundays, it might, might mind you, give Wilson pause to do something real for a change.

 

Brandon is no marketing genius. The fans are gullible. They don't do their own due diligence and vetting of acquisitions, whether they be players, coaches, or GMs.

 

They buy the lipservice, usually mostly if not all nonsense and lies, and actually believe it without validating it.

 

Take Mario for example. What's he done, besides all of the NFL talking heads telling us how great he is, from a performance standpoint? He has ranked among the top-10 leading sackers only two times in six seasons. Once 7th, very unimpressive, and only once 3rd.

 

So what, what everyone believed was that he was going to come to Buffalo of all places and cement himself as what, the league's top sacker? Top-3? Top-5? Why? There was no basis behind it.

 

Same thing with the string of coaches and GMs. Nix has no particular credentials, and GM'ing is so much different than scouting anyway.

 

Levy had no clue much less any credentials. That was just a fun-loving exercise in nostalgia.

 

Mularkey made his team worse, but for some reason many here thought that he was going to make the Bills better. Again, why? Why, because Brandon and the FO told you so?

 

What if they told you that if you could manage to dive down 50' in Lake Erie without the assistance of SCUBA gear or buoyancy devices or garb in mid-January, and under the ice, that you'd find a leprechaun's pot of gold and make it up alive with it, would anyone dive down to try to find it?

 

Why does anyone listen to these losers? They're losers, they can't and don't win.

 

But here's the funny part, and massively frustrating to those that see it coming, is that they'll do the same thing next season and the same people will bite.

 

Those of us that are skeptical, an increasing group, will be lectured on how the "experts" and those that "know the NFL better than we do," namely the same people everyone's presently complaining about, know more than those that point out the past history of the same people they hire, and their massive failures and certainly voids of success.

 

Then of course we'll get into the season and nothing will be different, then we'll be told by the same people, some of whom have already folded their hands on this season we can clearly see, how "it's just one game" and how "everyone's overreacting," etc.

 

You know who you are! (and I'm not necessarily talking to you APBt)

 

You keep telling the rest of us to quit complaining, but apparently it's OK for you to complain after x number of games every season despite what should have been the obvious.

 

What the worst thing is are people that support this nonsense perennially, pay money and support it financially, give the organization what it wants so that no real reason for change is necessary, complain about people that complain based on history and the facts and data before the season is played, again, usually despite the obvious, and then who turn into whiners themselves after the fact and well after it's too late to do anything about it, ... but here's the kicker, ... who will be lined up to wash/rinse/repeat next season.

 

If it's all about supporting the team, than sorry, but STFU and go to the games, support the team financially, and be happy that you're supporting the team for whatever your reasons are. But don't give the organization all that they can ask of you, then gripe that you got ripped off.

 

IMHO those are the absolutel worst kind of fans on the planet.

 

Sorry, but things are ONLY going to change when the stadium sits half-empty for two straight seasons, just as it did in the mid-80s. Not before.

Edited October 4, 2012 by TaskersGhost

[Ronin]

I'll play along and disagree.

 

You want someone to blame. It's us, the emotionally addicted fans.

 

We still bought the tickets, jerseys, tv packages and show up for the games. No matter how bad the product we still place reltaively unhealthy importance on the team in our lives. I thought about that today as I was surrounded by all my Bills "stuff" I've got in my office.

 

We haven't been to the playoffs in over a decade. Yet, we're. all. still. here. In our normal lives we make an effort to distnce ourselves from lousy products, but not with football. We all seem hopelessly magnetized, spending money it takes all of us a long time to make on a fleeting, underperforming product.

 

The thing is...turning it off, not watching, not commenting, divorcing the team completely...just seems so painful, doesn't it?

 

BTW, correct you are. It's like discipling a child. You can delay or even ignore it and do nothing, but the longer that it goes on, the more of a brat you raise, due to your own lack of effort and caring.

 

It sounds antithetical, that if you really care as a fan, then you'd boycott the team for a few seasons, doesn't it.

 

The organization wants something, namely eveyrone's money and support, primarily the former. I suppose they'd rather have eight sold out games and no one in attendance at those games (empty stadiums), than to have 8 games with 30,000 tickets sold and fannies in those seats.

 

But if fans want anything to change, it's going to have to be because they send this organization a message. I along with others have been preaching this for over a decade though and it falls on deaf ears.

 

At least you're not bitching about how all the things that you supported are not going well. Those fans really grind at me. It's either shut up and support the team and be happy with whatever results come, or show your support by understanding what's going on ahead of time, as is always ascertainable, and by reacting to their idiotic and lacking decisions immediately after they make them.

 

It's stunning how so many people expect a GM or Head Coach, or even assistant like Wannstache, with no credentials in being superlative in their respective areas, or anything even close, and in the case of some, even dragging a huge record of failure behind them along with a media laundry list of excuses (something that this organization if notorious for), or who ignorantly inflate what limited successes that players or coaches actually have, to then do what they've never ever done before.

 

I mean let's buy a pig and tell everyone that it's going to fly over the stadium before the game.

 

If the fans want change, then don't buy a thing next season or the one after it. I guarantee that something will change.

 

And we all know, BOO f'ing HOO, if we don't pay for this slop then the team will move. Yeah right. It's looked like it's going to move every since Ralph proved that he's entirely unwilling to work with a group that wants to keep the team in the region.

 

Here's a clue, if the team sells and moves once Wilson kicks the bucket, then guess what, he'll have as a legacy being the only owner of the Buffalo Bills.

 

Who here, besides me, thinks that's more than enough of an incentive to want the team to move after he croaks! ... and spare me the respect Wilson stuff. I have nothing against Ralph, great guy in fact as people go is my understanding since like 99.999% of you I've never even seen or heard the guy personally outside of high level Bills related stuff, but he's no friend of Bills fans as the media's desperately tried to make out over the years. If the team stays, it will be half a miracle, mostly because he's done nothing to try to make it stay.

 

... and as if his family won't have enough money one way or the other after it sells.

Edited October 4, 2012 by TaskersGhost

[SouthernMan]

Conversely, teams like The Giants, Steelers, Ravens, Patriots, et al., seem to have bad seasons when attrition and age deplete their winning teams, but always seem to find a way to rebuild and get back into superbowl contention, even with a total change of the roster.

 

Yep, it all starts at the top with the decisions made in the front office. The difference is that those winning teams find ways develop top notch personnel departments who recognize prospects that have the mentality and temperament to contribute to a championship team.

 

Since Polian's departure (and to some extent John Butler's), the Bill's personnel decisions have been average Their W-L record over the past 11 years is a perfect reflection of that.

 

They've somehow managed to find some good FA prospects and low to mid round players, but have been incredibly bad with how they've utilized their high draft picks. Those are the picks that should be the catalysts and game changers helping to win those close games. It can mean the difference between 7-9 and 11-4.

 

Ralph deserves credit for keeping the team in Buffalo, but as an owner who has the skill to build a winning franchise, he's inept. His record is laughable. He ran off the best football minds to ever wear Bills colors - Lou Saban (twice), Chuck Knox, Wade Phillips, Polian, Butler, with replacements like John Rausch, Jim Ringo, Hank Bullough, Kay Stephenson, Gregg Williams. Their post-Bills records speak for themselves.

 

Ralph and his beancounters were instrumental in jettisoning great players like Cookie Gilchrist, Ahmad Rashad, Daryl Lamonica - who wanted to be paid according to their skill level. It wouldn't be so ridiculous if he hadn't overpaid 2nd tier or washed up free agents, as he did recently with some of the offensive lineman from a couple of years ago. I can hardly remember their names.

 

I always maintained that If Ralph were truly smart, he'd open the checkbook for top personnel people who could find great players, and Ralph and Co would still save millions by not wasting time and money on Aaron Maybin, Mike Williams, JP Losman, Rob Johnson, etc. etc.

 

Ralph Wilson is respected by most in the NFL club and certainly by the Kelly-era players, but I still think it's an accepted fact that he doesn't make the best choices for his front office. Nix and Gailey are typical examples of people who know football and are very experienced, but they're not superbowl caliber employees.

 

The Rooneys have won superbowls with 3 different coaches. Unlike RCW, they know how to assess a front office staff.

[MARCELL DAREUS POWER]

why is it so hard to get a qb? i understand it might take a few years, and you hit and miss, but 16 years????

Edited October 4, 2012 by MARCELL DAREUS POWER

[T master]

The Bills are not going to get better while Ralph is the owner, he didn't hire a good enough crew to manage the team. It's sorta of like going to the old "Your Host" restaurant, you walked in and knew that this isn't the Ritz, especially with those horrible drapes that had 30 years of food stains. This team is run by a 3rd class / underpaid outfit without the ability to form a cognitive plan, nor will they ever attract a real GM like Polian to run the team. Ralph needed to be the bigger man & sure showed Polian who is in charge, it got the Colts on a decade long playoff run with a championship. We got a bag of burning dog-s()it left on our door, see Ralph's in charge.

 

So by bringing in a SB winning D coordinator , a play off winning head coach/ offensive coordinator , Doug Whaley from a recent SB winning team , & paying out this year in contracts including Stevie J , K. Williams (last year) Mario W ,& Anderson , Fitz , rookie contracts Dareus & Gilmore - about $200 million thats not enough for you ???????

 

Rome wasn't built in a day !!!

Edited October 4, 2012 by T master

[Best Player Available]

So by bringing in a SB winning D coordinator , a play off winning head coach/ offensive coordinator , Doug Whaley from a recent SB winning team , & paying out this year in contracts including Stevie J , K. Williams (last year) Mario W ,& Anderson , Fitz , rookie contracts Dareus & Gilmore - about $200 million thats not enough for you ???????

 

Rome wasn't built in a day !!!

 

Seriously, at what point do some sober up from the kool-aid?

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

I loved Your Host. The one on Delaware was my first real memories of going out to breakfast with my dad. I miss that.

 

There was one in Hamburg, too. Loved it as well.

[mitchmurraydowntown]

So by bringing in a SB winning D coordinator , a play off winning head coach/ offensive coordinator , Doug Whaley from a recent SB winning team , & paying out this year in contracts including Stevie J , K. Williams (last year) Mario W ,& Anderson , Fitz , rookie contracts Dareus & Gilmore - about $200 million thats not enough for you ???????

 

Rome wasn't built in a day !!!

 

Money spent doesn't have to be money well spent.

[Just in Atlanta]

No matter what anyone says, I will always blame it on Billy Joe Hobert.

[Tcali]

The Bills are not going to get better while Ralph is the owner, he didn't hire a good enough crew to manage the team. It's sorta of like going to the old "Your Host" restaurant, you walked in and knew that this isn't the Ritz, especially with those horrible drapes that had 30 years of food stains. This team is run by a 3rd class / underpaid outfit without the ability to form a cognitive plan, nor will they ever attract a real GM like Polian to run the team. Ralph needed to be the bigger man & sure showed Polian who is in charge, it got the Colts on a decade long playoff run with a championship. We got a bag of burning dog-s()it left on our door, see Ralph's in charge.

 

I used to go to YOUR HOST at Sheridan and Harlem...Loved the little juke boxes at the tables---and the french fries were great!

[boyst]

Why do we keep feeding trolls? Get this loser out of here.