Kirby Jackson Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I some sense, does that matter? If the money guys in Detroit are still setting the overall operating plan of the business, can we really take it that Brandon getting to make the decisions to spend a little less on patching potholes in the parking lots and a little more on stadium security as evidence of a major shakeup in policy? The change is that he has final say on every expense Bills related. The Byrd thing is a perfect example. In the past Littman would have said that you have "x number of dollars." If his agent came back with a different number Littman would get a call and say yes or no. Now Russ makes that call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 The change is that he has final say on every expense Bills related. The Byrd thing is a perfect example. In the past Littman would have said that you have "x number of dollars." If his agent came back with a different number Littman would get a call and say yes or no. Now Russ makes that call. Well, he just screwed up then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOGNESS Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I like the job Russ has done. I was a bit skeptical when he got this job because hes a marketing guy but he has put football people in place to make the football decisions. Doug Whaley, IMO, is an excellent evaluator of talent (from what Ive seen so far) and has this team on the right path. He might be the best evaluator of talent since Polian. Im gonna wait till this season plays out to say that for sure but i think this team is poised to make a major jump this year. 10-6 and a possible playoff spot. Russ has done a great job so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphean Bills Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 The change is that he has final say on every expense Bills related. The Byrd thing is a perfect example. In the past Littman would have said that you have "x number of dollars." If his agent came back with a different number Littman would get a call and say yes or no. Now Russ makes that call. I'll have to ask the same question again using an analogy. Mom gives you $5 in lunch money. You get to make whatever decision you want about what to buy with the $5. As you shuffle along in line through the cafeteria, they have a special one-day-only deal on your favorite meal. The price is $6. The choice is entirely yours, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOGNESS Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Well, he just screwed up then. Not neccessarily. Cory Graham is getting a shot at the free safety spot and if he wins that job and is 90% the player Byrd is you just freed up 5 million to spend elsewhere. That scenario has yet to totally play out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordio Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) Russ Brandon is our best chance of keeping the Bills here long term. He's a local guy who wants nothing more than this franchise to get back to being a powerhouse. We are younger than we ever have been in a lot of key areas (head coach, president, GM) and that's a good thing. Russ Brandon is not going to have any say whether the Bills stay here or not. I am pretty sure that will be up to whoever buys them. He will also probably be out of a job once the new owner takes over although the new owner would be wise to keep him on of head of marketing. Dude could sell ice to an eskimo as evidence by all the support the Bills get even after missing the playoffs all these years. Edited March 31, 2014 by Gordio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuntheDamnBall Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Brandon is nothing but a PR man, period. Is that really necessary? Maybe in Buffalo it is given all of the soap opera like issues related to the team in recent years, but from a football perspective he has no role. Before Bill Polian was Bill Polian, he was an ad man working part time as a scout. People can grow into roles. I am not going to defend RB's first stint as GM but I'm not going to be dismissive as I think he has really tried to bring good football people into the operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Jackson Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I'll have to ask the same question again using an analogy. Mom gives you $5 in lunch money. You get to make whatever decision you want about what to buy with the $5. As you shuffle along in line through the cafeteria, they have a special one-day-only deal on your favorite meal. The price is $6. The choice is entirely yours, though. I am not sure that I follow the analogy? In the old days Russ (the kid) would have to call Littman (mom) and say can I have another dollar? Now Russ is mom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOGNESS Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 You've got some serious issue there Tasker. I suggest you seek counseling for those. Lots of hostility there. Lets start with last years draft class. Woods, Alonzo, Goodwin. All appear to be solid if not excellent picks. Nickel Robey. Undrafted free agent. Had a great year. looks like a solid addition to the defense. Ej Manuel. The juries out. Dont know that one way or another. As for who else is here I know Whaley brought in a couple of scouts from Pittsburgh. Probably why we had such a good draft. Ive been a fan of this team since 1973 when I used to sit on my fathers knee at the Ralph watching OJ do something other than murder people. In 1986 Bill Polian got the GM job. One of the things he was best at was talent evaluation. I see alot of similarities between him and Whaley. Primarily the ability to find players in the draft beyond round one. The second similairty is the ability to get quality talent on the cheap. Cory graham might be the perfect example of that. You remind me of a guy on the Sabres web chat. BTbird3 is his name. Hes always sarcastic. Always negative. I really dont even know why he bothers coming online. You cant ever have an intelligent debate with him. its just nonsense. If your that guy does us both a favor and just ignore me. Cause its pretty obvious from your posts that your just here to belittle other posters and mock their thoughts. I know alot about football. Ive been watching it passionately for 43 years. I like what Im seeing out of this administration. Are they perfect. No. Have they already made some mistakes. Yea. But I like the direction they are going in. I dont think its required that I be this angry bitter fan who just mocks everything they do because they haven't made the playoffs in 14 years. One of Ralphs biggest gifts at the end was the structure of the lease. Another might be Brandon. I think hes a very smart guy and I think he has put the right people in place. You dont agree. Fine. Leave the snippy little commentary out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillnutinHouston Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I can just see the fingerpointing going on the next few seasons. It's already begun with Marrone/Whaley criticizing the FO. Maybe you can stop laughing and provide a link tying Whaley to any criticism of the FO? And for that matter, who (other than you) considers a GM to not be a part of the FO? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuntheDamnBall Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Yes, obviously. I think Brandon will become every bit the football personnel manager that Polian was, and then some, even if that isn't his role, because that is obviously what I was getting at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
May Day 10 Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Brandon still has to operate within the framework of the Trust, which is likely very close to the framework under RW if not more restrictive. This team has been garbage for as long as Brandon has ascended the ranks. Maybe his fault, maybe not, maybe varies on many levels... who knows. who cares really at this point. It doesnt matter. We have no choice. The team (management) is locked in now and ironclad. We just have to get behind Brandon and hope that him and Whaley hit on some players. Brandon is probably desperate that this team succeeds as his clock is ticking. He could be looking for a job when new ownership comes in. He doesnt want to go back to figuring out which style of pom pom will be best for the gameday giveaways. I am curious what kind of role Brandon would get if he were to hit the "open market". I have a feeling he would be nowhere near his current position and far away from any football-related decisions. I have no choice though but to root for Brandon. Ultimately, I am really hoping that there is good progress on the stadium or renovations and that makes the team attractive enough for one or more of the "local interests" to buy the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) You've got some serious issue there Tasker. I suggest you seek counseling for those. Lots of hostility there. Lets start with last years draft class. Woods, Alonzo, Goodwin. All appear to be solid if not excellent picks. Nickel Robey. Undrafted free agent. Had a great year. looks like a solid addition to the defense. Ej Manuel. The juries out. Dont know that one way or another. As for who else is here I know Whaley brought in a couple of scouts from Pittsburgh. Probably why we had such a good draft. Ive been a fan of this team since 1973 when I used to sit on my fathers knee at the Ralph watching OJ do something other than murder people. In 1986 Bill Polian got the GM job. One of the things he was best at was talent evaluation. I see alot of similarities between him and Whaley. Primarily the ability to find players in the draft beyond round one. The second similairty is the ability to get quality talent on the cheap. Cory graham might be the perfect example of that. You remind me of a guy on the Sabres web chat. BTbird3 is his name. Hes always sarcastic. Always negative. I really dont even know why he bothers coming online. You cant ever have an intelligent debate with him. its just nonsense. If your that guy does us both a favor and just ignore me. Cause its pretty obvious from your posts that your just here to belittle other posters and mock their thoughts. I know alot about football. Ive been watching it passionately for 43 years. I like what Im seeing out of this administration. Are they perfect. No. Have they already made some mistakes. Yea. But I like the direction they are going in. I dont think its required that I be this angry bitter fan who just mocks everything they do because they haven't made the playoffs in 14 years. One of Ralphs biggest gifts at the end was the structure of the lease. Another might be Brandon. I think hes a very smart guy and I think he has put the right people in place. You dont agree. Fine. Leave the snippy little commentary out of it. Have you actually watched Corey Graham play? I've seen most Ravens games and I'm telling you, in addition to how he ranks all over the web, Graham is not that good, he's massively inconsistent. I'm not even going to argue that. If you'd seen him you'd know. As to "issues," the team's the one with the issues, not me. LOL Not sure what most of your statements even have to do with the topic at hand. Sounds more just like a personal perspective kumbaya piece. I'm not here to mock anyone, and if you perceive that I do I promise you that it's in response to a first volley and on like terms. Otherwise, I'll tell you what doesn't matter here, it's what any or all of us collectively think. It matters not a hill of beans. But there are facts. Do you really think that Mario's worth the most money of any defensive player in the league? Yeah, I didn't think so. I cannot believe that you're implicitly defending the personnel moves of the most futile team in NFL history and then challenging my opinions which explain why. You talk about me in a negative way, but your types come and go every season, and instead of being steady and rationale opiners, your types always talk about how things are improving, how dunces that we hire were actually good hires and "are starting to turn things around," etc., but then come November your types go psychotic leaning 100% in the other direction getting ready to drop nukes on OBD. Now, remind me again of my positions. I have to laugh, this just in, but the team sucks and has sucked for well over a decade. Talk isn't going to change it. Novice coaching that hasn't even proven that they belong in the league likely aren't going to change it. Now, the topic of the thread was how the team is run as it relates to how bad we are, generally speaking. You want intelligent debate? I've got all you can handle starting with a whole bunch of questions that you won't answer honestly if you're really intertested. But let's face it, you just want to BILL-ieve the fluff that they throw at you, and feel free. Just don't expect everyone else to buy the same nonsense. Some of us are more astute than that. Otherwise, this thread has seen numerous posts stating false premises regarding the sale of the team. Maybe start your criticism there? Brandon still has to operate within the framework of the Trust, which is likely very close to the framework under RW if not more restrictive. This team has been garbage for as long as Brandon has ascended the ranks. Maybe his fault, maybe not, maybe varies on many levels... who knows. who cares really at this point. It doesnt matter. We have no choice. The team (management) is locked in now and ironclad. We just have to get behind Brandon and hope that him and Whaley hit on some players. Brandon is probably desperate that this team succeeds as his clock is ticking. He could be looking for a job when new ownership comes in. He doesnt want to go back to figuring out which style of pom pom will be best for the gameday giveaways. I am curious what kind of role Brandon would get if he were to hit the "open market". I have a feeling he would be nowhere near his current position and far away from any football-related decisions. I have no choice though but to root for Brandon. Ultimately, I am really hoping that there is good progress on the stadium or renovations and that makes the team attractive enough for one or more of the "local interests" to buy the team. The bottom line is that until proven otherwise, there is not someone in charge that proves that they know how to build a team. For the last bunch of years Wilson resigned himself to allowing numerous people make key decisions, if not spanning far further back that that even. That does not appear to be on the cusp of changing anytime soon now. I suppose the singular hope is Whaley, but if we're going to be honest we've not seen anything particular from him thus far either. The best I'm willing to concede on Whaley is that he's largely unknown and this will be his second Draft/offseason. Having said that thus far his moves have been neutral at best on a poor team. What is ridiculous is to give him credit for every positive move and none of the responsibility for the negative ones while blaming those all on Nix over the last four years. The bottom line is that until this team posts 9 wins, nothing's really changing, is it. Dogness, here, I've done your homework for you. My statements regarding Graham have been based on my own observations, so here's a piece with a little more objectivity on Graham. http://articles.balt...webb-and-graham If after reading that anyone thinks that Byrd will not be missed I just don't know what to say. That's if Graham even takes his spot at all. If not he'll just be depth or a nickel CB at best, and even then only because we're short decent CBs. Edited March 31, 2014 by TaskersGhost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXBILLSFAN Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I've resisted posting on this thread because, I too, was happy Russ came to the tailgate and said a few words and hung around. I also think he has lost a friend in Ralph and is grieving personally as well as professionally. However, none of that changes the fact that he has been a failure when it comes to winning games in the NFL. I'm still amazed how little it takes to satisfy some fans when it comes to this team. The Bills haven't made the playoffs in 14 years and Brandon has been a significant part of the franchise during that time period. There is only ONE measure of success in the NFL and that is winning. Until Russ does that, he will be a likable (to some) LOSER. I suppose we can debate whether he is likable or not, to me, it doesn't matter but when it comes to the later, let's face it, there is no debate. The Bills have been losers for 14 years and counting, when that changes, we can have a debate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Jabber Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Wow, I try to say something decent, especially after just losing Ralph, and this is the response I get. I bashed the Bills & Brandon very heavily over the last couple of years, so by no means am I a kool-aid drinker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#89 Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I believe he is also matching all the funds from that tailgate going to Hunter's Hope out of his own pocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebandit27 Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I believe he is also matching all the funds from that tailgate going to Hunter's Hope out of his own pocket. Thank you for stopping by to bring this to us...always a pleasure to have you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill from NYC Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Brandon and the team can't win with certain posters. Anything they do is spun to the negative. This gesture will become "serving up the kool aid." Promo, please. Can you ever skip an opportunity to bash fellow Bills Fans? What do we know for sure than Brandon has done? He are a few things..... 1) He ruined tailgates in Lot 1. 2) He banned cigarette smoking in secluded outdoor areas of RWS. 3) He was in charge when they drafted Maybin. 4) He hired an unproven Syracuse crony for head coach. This admittedly can turn into a plus, but how confident are you? This isn't about fans being the problem. He will win over the fans when he does something to make this team win football games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMonkey Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) Promo, please. Can you ever skip an opportunity to bash fellow Bills Fans? What do we know for sure than Brandon has done? He are a few things..... 1) He ruined tailgates in Lot 1. 2) He banned cigarette smoking in secluded outdoor areas of RWS. 3) He was in charge when they drafted Maybin. 4) He hired an unproven Syracuse crony for head coach. This admittedly can turn into a plus, but how confident are you? This isn't about fans being the problem. He will win over the fans when he does something to make this team win football games. I generally agree with most of what you post, but not this time. 1) The power drinkers ruined tailgating in lot 1. It's been getting progressively worse for years with some people thinking you can't tailgate without being so drunk you puke in the lot, harass people including kids, or worse. I suspect a lot of the direction for this came from the NFL that wants a more "family friendly" environment. The power drinkers are not family friendly at all. In fact they are quite an embarrassment. 2) This is something that is happening everywhere. Many workplaces have gone from from smoking wherever, to smoking in a designated room, to outdoors only, to nowhere on campus. 3). Well there is no defense for this 4) Marrone was highly regarded at the time. And he was willing to take the job in Buffalo. You may have wanted someone else, but that someone else would have needed to accept the job. The jury is still out on Marrone as far as I am concerned as well. But blaming Brandon for this makes no sense to me (at least right now). Edited March 31, 2014 by CodeMonkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOGNESS Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) I've resisted posting on this thread because, I too, was happy Russ came to the tailgate and said a few words and hung around. I also think he has lost a friend in Ralph and is grieving personally as well as professionally. However, none of that changes the fact that he has been a failure when it comes to winning games in the NFL. I'm still amazed how little it takes to satisfy some fans when it comes to this team. The Bills haven't made the playoffs in 14 years and Brandon has been a significant part of the franchise during that time period. There is only ONE measure of success in the NFL and that is winning. Until Russ does that, he will be a likable (to some) LOSER. I suppose we can debate whether he is likable or not, to me, it doesn't matter but when it comes to the later, let's face it, there is no debate. The Bills have been losers for 14 years and counting, when that changes, we can have a debate. Actually it takes a lot to satisfy me. By the same token I don't think being inherently negative about everything is some sort of prerequisite to being a fan. I look at last years draft and the 'value' approach that the team is taking towards free agency and see a lot of positives. I think the most important aspect of building a successful football team is talent evaluation. That means two things. Nailing the draft. Signing free agents who bring the most value. In the short amount of time Whaley has been the GM hes done both. As for Cory Graham. Aaron Williams was an inconsistent corner also Tasker. He moved to strong safety and its a much better fit. I dont think the bills signed Graham to play corner. i think they signed him to play free safety. Marrone already came out and said they are going to give him a look at that spot. Maybe we have another Aaron Williams on our hands. When Williams was drafted many scouts thought he should be moved to safety from the get go. turns out they were right. The same could happen in grahams case. its called 'thinking outside the box'. Two things I can promise you Tasker. First, im not going anywhere. Second, Ill have plenty of negative things to say when the time comes. If EJ has 6 tds and 15 ints after eight games and Marrone is still defending him then Im gonna start wondering about Marrone. I have serious issues with him retaining Crossman. I think he is undermining his credibility when he holds other assistant coaches accountable, yet lets his buddy stay on after another miserable special teams performance under his(crossmans) direction. I can assure you the 'types of posters' your referring to don't include me. If your gonna debate. Just do it intelligently. Its simple. The other thing that an astute talent evaluator does is make smart trades. When the Bills traded for Jerry Hughes, Polian applauded the deal specifically pointing out that hughes was misused in Indy. Sure enough, Pettine brings him in in specialty situations and he gets us ten sacks. TEN SACKS. For Kelvin 'ive never made a relevant play in my life' Sheppard. They shouldnt get credit for that? That might have been THE trade of 2013. Sorry. But im not gonna withhold credit for what i think was an incredibly astute move because we missed the playoffs the past fourteen years. Ive seen a lot of smart football decisions in a very short period of time. Not gonna ignore that. Edited March 31, 2014 by DOGNESS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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