Tom Donahoe- was he really that bad???!

[major]

Look back on tom donahoe's tenure (as painful as that may be). The rosters we had were decent back then. I still don't understand why we didn't win more during 2001-2005. Was tom to blame or were the coaches to blame? Seems like we made bolder picks and moves under donahoe compared to the past few years. I'm still puzzled by that period in bills history.

[4merper4mer]

Yes

[Rico]

Look back on tom donahoe's tenure (as painful as that may be). The rosters we had were decent back then. I still don't understand why we didn't win more during 2001-2005. Was tom to blame or were the coaches to blame? Seems like we made bolder picks and moves under donahoe compared to the past few years. I'm still puzzled by that period in bills history.

As always, Ralph was to blame. TD was well-respected throughout the league until Ralph's non-stop meddling ruined him. No doubt in my mind that TD would've had this team in the playoffs if his boss would've left him alone & given him the resources he needed.

[Leelee Phoenix]

Donahoe gets too much hate, but the guy was a jerk and asked for it, along with Ralph obviously hating that situation.

 

His drafts were decent overall, and that 2004 team was really unlucky to not make the playoffs.

 

But, he made the fatal flaw with Losman.

Edited December 12, 2013 by Leelee Phoenix

[1B4IDie]

He played fantasy football in actual NFL.

 

He traded Aaron Rodgers for JP Lossman.

 

If he didn't make that stupid trade, Aaron Rodgers might be the QB of the Bills today. Just think about that for a minute.

 

If that is even remotely possible than he is the worst GM ever for any team in any sport in all of history.

[Buftex]

TD had his flaws, but complacency wasn't one of them...I think the Bills playoff drought would have ended years ago, had he been kept on.

 

He played fantasy football in actual NFL.

 

He traded Aaron Rodgers for JP Lossman.

 

If he didn't make that stupid trade, Aaron Rodgers might be the QB of the Bills today. Just think about that for a minute.

 

If that is even remotely possible than he is the worst GM ever for any team in any sport in all of history.

 

Hindsight is always 20/20... a lot of teams passed on Aaron Rodgers.

[Santana]

I don't think he was that bad either, I put most of the blame on RW.

[PromoTheRobot]

I guess no one remembers Ol' Whitey banning signs critical of him or the team in the stadium. Good times.

 

PTR

[Mark Vader]

Donahoe was great when it came to free agency, yet his drafting of players was highly questionable.

 

The coaching did not help either.

[thewildrabbit]

As always, Ralph was to blame. TD was well-respected throughout the league until Ralph's non-stop meddling ruined him. No doubt in my mind that TD would've had this team in the playoffs if his boss would've left him alone & given him the resources he needed.

I think you hit the nail directly on the head with this one. Although, Wilson supposedly stepped back and gave up the presidency to Donahoe. I have my doubts about how much power this owner actually relinquished. Also, I think he simply couldn't take a back seat for very long.

 

Anyway, Donahoe made some very brilliant trades like the one to NE for QB Drew Bledsoe, and to Atlanta to trade away WR Peerless Price. Bringing in S Lawyer Milloy from the Patriots.

 

That 2002-2003 staff was pretty darn good, the offense with OC Kevin Gilbride would have been better if not for all the injuries to that O line. Speaking of the O line, as I think that is where really Donahoe failed in providing adequate protection for statuesque Bledsoe.

 

That 2003 team was a bit of an enigma to Donahoe in that Travis Henry rushed for over 1300 yards, Bledsoe threw for 2600, 11 TD's, 17 INT's. The offense ranked 30th in both points and yards while the defense was ranked #5 in points & #2 in yards. Had they given Bledsoe better protection and run it more that team would have been a playoff team for certain. HC Gregg Williams was fired and replaced by Mike Mularkey.

 

Another series of GM's & coaching staffs trying to get by with some scrubs on the O line. It takes 5 good players to make a strong line....the weakest link in the chain and all that.

 

He played fantasy football in actual NFL.

 

He traded Aaron Rodgers for JP Lossman.

 

If he didn't make that stupid trade, Aaron Rodgers might be the QB of the Bills today. Just think about that for a minute.

 

If that is even remotely possible than he is the worst GM ever for any team in any sport in all of history.

Would the Bills have let Rodgers ride the bench for four years? And where is Brett Farve for him to understudy? Along with the learning of the west coast offense under Mike McCarthy.

 

Rodgers would have been ruined under the coaching tools in Buffalo, Jauron the known moron, and his OC Turk Schonert would have seen to that. Trying to run a version of the Mike Martz offense

Edited December 12, 2013 by FeartheLosing

[Boludo]

the teams that tom donahoe put out there were SO much better than anything the bills have rolled out SINCE

 

bledsoe throwing tds to eric moulds and peerless price

reuben brown blocking for travis henry and mcgahee

 

pat williams and schobel on the dline

fletcher in the middle

nate williams and antoine winfield an amazing cb tandem

 

there was a lot of talent on those teams

[Niagara Bill]

Donahoe was terrible. His drafts were average at best, anyone on this board could be average over 5 years with a staff of 10 people recommending picks. His biggest 2 issues were picking bad coaches, and hating the fans. We were called idiots by him on the radio. We were refused entry into the stadium for what we were wearing. He stopped entry into the parking lots until 8 am and tried to make it 9am. He came as the silver fox and left as the silver jerk

[Beerball]

Tom Donahoe is the son of Satan and he drinks the blood of babies.

 

http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/23265-donahoe-is-the-son-of-satan/

[plenzmd1]

Tom Donahoe is the son of Satan and he drinks the blood of babies.

 

http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/23265-donahoe-is-the-son-of-satan/

 

Thank you sir...IMHO best thread ever on TBD. I miss so many of the old posters on there.

[billsfan714]

I agree he was average at best. The Price trade was a great trade. You could maybe argue he overpaid for Bledsoe. You can question drafting McGahee when you had Henry, especially knowing you were getting basically nothing his rookie year. The really horrible part is Mike Williams and JP Losman. You cant whiff that bad with a 1st round projected LT, and a QB and not set a franchise back 3 years.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

The biggest problem was how much he alienated fan's, the press and others. As was mentioned no signs, his rants. Seems I recall initally he was fine but some incident happened that he took alot of heat for in the press and after that things went downhill. I seem to recall early on he even went out of his way to be well liked, had these off the record lunches with the press, he'd give his famious "stay tuned" quote and was very accessable the first couple of years. He was often seen around town, NCAA 1st round basketball at HSBC, Sabres games, etc. Around year 3 or 4 was went things went south in the area of "getting along" and communications.

[dave mcbride]

He never came close to solving the qb issue and his first head coach choice was an idiot. He was good about certain things, but the qb and coach supersede everything else.

[May Day 10]

Heck, If I were under the age of 20 I would consider those the golden years of the franchise

[Homey D. Clown]

to the OP: a resounding yes.

[silvermike]

It's not like Aaron Rodgers was sitting there and we traded out of the spot and grabbed Losman. He was a juco transfer with a good first season at Cal who would come out a year later. Drafting Losman at all was the botch job, failing to see that the team would be in position to draft Aaron Rodgers a year later was not.