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.

[GG]

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.

 

Yeah too bad TD didn't have the foresight during the 2004 draft in how the 2005 draft would turn out.

 

Donahoe deserved to get fired for being a bad manager. But please stop making stuff up.

[auburnbillsbacker]

He did a good job a assembling a talented roster through free agency and the draft but missed on getting a franchise QB and his coaching hires did not work out. Since coaching and QB play go a long ways in the NFL the Bills missed the playoffs while he was the GM.

Edited December 12, 2013 by auburnbillsbacker

[Gerry]

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.

"Bolder picks?" Name one other GM in recent memory (or all time, for that matter) who drafted a running back in the 1st round with a completely tore up knee (and had to sit out a year) when he already had a solid back (Travis) on the roster. Ironically, the player drafted with the pick after McGahee was Dallas Clark (ouch!), who could have solved the Bills longstanding tight end problem.

[peterpan]

I blame Modrak. He was epically bad for a long long time here and ultimately, that was TDs call.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

I was one of the few, at the time, that really wanted us to stick with TD.

 

I loved the guy. He brought a real direction to the team. Got us out of "cap hell," had a plan, got us a vet QB, and put us in a position to succeed in basically a 4-year plan. That we blew the game in 2004 against the Steelers is on the players. If we won that game, the last 10 years would have been a lot different.

[Gordio]

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

 

I have to agree with this. TD's undoing was putting his faith & drafting Losman & not finding a capable head coach. The one thing with Donahoe was it always seemed that his moves were more of the purpose of showing how much smarter he was then everybody else. The thinking was draft Mckinney, he had show he knew more by drafting fat Mike even though he never played LT in college, when common sense said to resign Pat Williams, he had to show how smart he was by letting him go, when common sense said to draft Steinbach at guard, he had to draft a gimpy WM. Evenn the hire of Greg Williams came out of left field as noone besides TD had him on the radar. I will say this about TD though. He was connected in the league & he was respected in the league. He was proactive & that is what kept his time here interesting & entertaining. But in the end a lot of his undoing was because of his ego & the fact that he worked for one of the worst owners in the NFL.

[May Day 10]

Also John Guy was a stiff.

 

 

Donahoe failed, to a point, but they were more relevant during his tenure than now, and I would take my chances with him, if I knew that his successors would be Levy(Brandon), Brandon, Nix (Brandon), and Whaley (Brandon).

[Canadian Bills Fan]

I hated the McGahee pick and it all seemed to go downhill from there.

 

I remember shaking his hand when he came out of the Bills tunnel and I said I love what you have done with this team. He shook my hand and say wait 5 years and then you will really love it.

 

I have to admit that got me excited but then again that was before he drafted McGahee

 

CBF

[H2o]

I blame Modrak. He was epically bad for a long long time here and ultimately, that was TDs call.

 

Geez was Modrak terrible at evaluating players. Terrible. Donahoe made some decent trades, but our drafts were pretty crappy(see Modrak). Draft McGahee when you have Travis Henry. The Losman pick. The Mike Williams pick. Lee Evans was probably the best of the bunch. Got lucky with Jason Peters who then turned into turd over $. It was a mixed bag I would say.

[1B4IDie]

Yeah too bad TD didn't have the foresight during the 2004 draft in how the 2005 draft would turn out.

 

Donahoe deserved to get fired for being a bad manager. But please stop making stuff up.

How is that making anything up?

He traded the 2005 1st for JP freaking LOSSman???!!!

Don't tell me when that happened you were like "Oh Yeah that awesome College QB that everyone knows, JP LOSSman. From that football powerhouse of Tulane. Makes sense to trade up for this guy."

It was more like "Huh?! JP LOSSman?? Oh boy I hope he is good."

 

Then when he sucked and TD blew two years of first round picks. He gets fired. That is as big a mess-up as you can do as a GM.

 

Not to mention Araron Rodgers was sitting there when the Cowgirls used Buffalo's pick to draft Marcus Spears.

 

All of these are facts, nothing made up.

Edited December 12, 2013 by Why So Serious?

[GG]

How is that making anything up?

He traded the 2005 1st for JP freaking LOSSman???!!!

Don't tell me when that happened you were like "Oh Yeah that awesome College QB that everyone knows, JP LOSSman. From that football powerhouse of Tulane. Makes sense to trade up for this guy."

It was more like "Huh?! JP LOSSman?? Oh boy I hope he is good."

 

Then when he sucked and you blew two years of first round picks. You get fired. That is as big a mess up as you can do as a GM.

 

Not to mention Araron Rodgers was sitting there when the Cowgirls used Buffalo's pick to draft Marcus Spears.

 

All of these are facts, nothing made up.

 

Like it or not, JP Losman was the third rated QB in that draft. Donahoe knew that he needed to secure the QB position for the long term, and if you follow the EJ thread below, you will see the positive correlation between teams who put a high emphasis on QBs and winning records. I'd much rather have a GM strike out with a QB than ignoring the position for nearly a decade. But putting in Rogers in the same discussion as Losman is ridiculous because they were in different draft classes. Why aren't you blaming Donahoe for passing on Alex Smith while you're at it?

[1B4IDie]

Like it or not, JP Losman was the third rated QB in that draft. Donahoe knew that he needed to secure the QB position for the long term, and if you follow the EJ thread below, you will see the positive correlation between teams who put a high emphasis on QBs and winning records. I'd much rather have a GM strike out with a QB than ignoring the position for nearly a decade. But putting in Rogers in the same discussion as Losman is ridiculous because they were in different draft classes. Why aren't you blaming Donahoe for passing on Alex Smith while you're at it?

Its not ridiculous. It is logical.

 

Alex Smith wasn't available when the Bills would have picked so that makes no sense at all.

 

You'd rather trade future picks for some obviously dopey QB. Well good thing you're not a GM.

 

JP LOSSman was a "never-was" he had no shot to be a viable NFL QB. It didn't take a lot to see this, no matter where he Stack ranked."

[Buftex]

Its not ridiculous. It is logical.

 

Alex Smith wasn't available when the Bills would have picked so that makes no sense at all.

 

You'd rather trade future picks for some obviously dopey QB. Well good thing you're not a GM.

 

JP LOSSman was a "never-was" he had no shot to be a viable NFL QB. It didn't take a lot to see this, no matter where he Stack ranked."

 

Jeez...its' not even the "off-season" yet....

[auburnbillsbacker]

Like it or not, JP Losman was the third rated QB in that draft. Donahoe knew that he needed to secure the QB position for the long term, and if you follow the EJ thread below, you will see the positive correlation between teams who put a high emphasis on QBs and winning records. I'd much rather have a GM strike out with a QB than ignoring the position for nearly a decade. But putting in Rogers in the same discussion as Losman is ridiculous because they were in different draft classes. Why aren't you blaming Donahoe for passing on Alex Smith while you're at it?

 

Losman was rated the 4th or 5th best QB. Eli, Rivers, and Big Ben were clearly rated higher. Schuab had a similar draft grade. Donahoe knew that Big Ben would be a good QB and attempted to trade up with the Jaguars to get him. The Jaguars asked for the moon because the Browns gave up an early 2nd to move up from 7 to 6 so going from 13 to 9 must be worth a lot, so Donahoe backed off. The Jaguars pick was a bust and the bills did not secure a franchise QB. Common sense could have helped both franchises out. It stinks that the one year the bills were better than the Steelers it cost us a good QB. Luck definitely plays a role in how teams do. The colts for example were really bad the year before Manning and Luck entered the draft. I'm sure any Bills GM would have selected those guys. No they would not have taken Leaf over Manning.

[Buftex]

I was one of the few, at the time, that really wanted us to stick with TD.

 

I loved the guy. He brought a real direction to the team. Got us out of "cap hell," had a plan, got us a vet QB, and put us in a position to succeed in basically a 4-year plan. That we blew the game in 2004 against the Steelers is on the players. If we won that game, the last 10 years would have been a lot different.

 

I think Rico and I have been banging that drum for a while too.

 

That said, while it is early, I like Whaley. I think, possibly, because of his age, he is the first GM we have had since TD that kind of understands how the current league works. Marv, god-love him was not a real GM, nor was Brandon...and Buddy was more a scout than an administrator. I just don't know that any of these guys were really "connected". Donohoe, as was stated early, was pretty highly regarded around the league when he came to Buffalo... while not every move was genious (hiring Gregg Williams was not a good one- I happen to think Mularkey was alright), he is hardly the first NFL GM who was unable to land a "franchise QB". What I liked about TD, for the most part, he was willing to cut his losses, he made a lot of moves, but wasn't afraid to pull the plug on something that wasn't working.

[ganesh]

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.

Vow...What a revisionist history. Rico...I hope you were being sarcastic. TD was given full powers as President of this team. TD never built the OL and DL for this team. Focused on getting a QB (Bledsoe) and building a defense with DB/LBs. Unfortunately, that team had struggles to score points. TD was autocratic.

 

It is important to note that TD never got a Front Office Positiion with any of the 31 other teams after being fired by the Bills upto this point.

 

Ganesh

 

He did a good job a assembling a talented roster through free agency and the draft but missed on getting a franchise QB and his coaching hires did not work out. Since coaching and QB play go a long ways in the NFL the Bills missed the playoffs while he was the GM.

 

He never built the lines for the long term. He picked Roscoe Parrish with his 1st pick in that years draft.Enough said.

[Buftex]

Vow...What a revisionist history. Rico...I hope you were being sarcastic. TD was given full powers as President of this team. TD never built the OL and DL for this team. Focused on getting a QB (Bledsoe) and building a defense with DB/LBs. Unfortunately, that team had struggles to score points. TD was autocratic.

 

It is important to note that TD never got a Front Office Positiion with any of the 31 other teams after being fired by the Bills upto this point.

 

 

 

 

In the end, that is what got TD fired...it wasn't for the product on the field.

[GG]

Its not ridiculous. It is logical.

 

Alex Smith wasn't available when the Bills would have picked so that makes no sense at all.

 

You'd rather trade future picks for some obviously dopey QB. Well good thing you're not a GM.

 

JP LOSSman was a "never-was" he had no shot to be a viable NFL QB. It didn't take a lot to see this, no matter where he Stack ranked."

 

Cute, lossman. I bet that was a big hit in the third grade.

 

Alex Smith wasn't available in the 2004 draft and neither was Rogers, so I still fail to see how a generally weak 2005 QB draft class would sway a decision in the 2004 draft. This is a far different case than when the Bills elected not to draft QBs who were still on the board when they picked.

 

But I guess revisionist history is par for the course for this franchise.

Edited December 12, 2013 by GG

[Leelee Phoenix]

The Losman trade feels all too similar to the Bills reaching for Manuel... trading up instead of down, but the reach that they must get a QB that year.

 

And the Bills were strength of schedule or one meaningless win away from likely drafting Ben that year, I always remember that. Sigh.

[GG]

Losman was rated the 4th or 5th best QB. Eli, Rivers, and Big Ben were clearly rated higher. Schuab had a similar draft grade. Donahoe knew that Big Ben would be a good QB and attempted to trade up with the Jaguars to get him. The Jaguars asked for the moon because the Browns gave up an early 2nd to move up from 7 to 6 so going from 13 to 9 must be worth a lot, so Donahoe backed off. The Jaguars pick was a bust and the bills did not secure a franchise QB. Common sense could have helped both franchises out. It stinks that the one year the bills were better than the Steelers it cost us a good QB. Luck definitely plays a role in how teams do. The colts for example were really bad the year before Manning and Luck entered the draft. I'm sure any Bills GM would have selected those guys. No they would not have taken Leaf over Manning.

 

Few nits. Losman was rated higher than Schaub because he had a higher potential ceiling. That didn't work out, but Schaub is showing his exact limitations as well. Would the Bills be better off now had they drafted Schaub? I think they would have been marginally better. I also thought that Bills tried to trade with Texans to get Big Ben, but Capers was sold on Dunta Robisnon. Doesn't matter the team, at least TD knew he had to secure the QB position, but ultimately failed.