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Tom Donohoe


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I disagree. Look at his first round picks:

 

Nate Clements. Result: played well for the Bills, especially in his contract year. Left a year after his rookie contract ended. Didn't set the world on fire after the 49ers overpaid for him.

 

Mike Williams. Result: Bust.

 

Drew Bledsoe (trade). Result: had eight spectacular games as a Bill. During his remaining 2.5 years, he failed to match the numbers Trent Edwards would later put up. (Which is really sad.) Was released at the end of his third year.

 

Willis McGahee. Result: Was a reasonably good RB for the Bills. Was traded away for two third round picks.

 

Lee Evans (13th overall). Result: a good #2 WR/deep burner, who didn't have what it took to be a #1 guy.

 

J.P. Losman. Result: Bust.

 

None of his first round picks turned into solid, long-term answers at their respective positions. The same could also be said about any player he drafted in rounds 2 - 7 not named Aaron Schobel.

 

Not to sidetrack anything, but it makes the Sammy trade look a little (or a lot) better.

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Agreed.

 

Marv, Brandon, and Nix is about as rough of an era as I can recall. Here are the low-lights:

 

1) Coaching Hires-- Jauron, Fewell, Gailey

2) 1st Round Picks-- Whitner, McCargo, Maybin

3) Wins in each season-- 7, 7, 7, 4, 6, 6, 6

4) Other-- Toronto series

Nix was a much better GM than Donahoe. He took over a team that was much worse than the one Donahoe got and left a team that was better than the one Donahoe left. I don't see how you can say he was worse. In fact, I would say that Donahoe was the one that destroyed the team and sent it back to the stone age after many good seasons. He got rid of many good players and never replaced them.

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Yeah. I agree. And it's a lot easier to agree in retrospect. I remember thinking it's not going to be easy for the Losman, or Bledsoe, or the team, if they just hand the team to Losman and Bledsoe is just sitting there stewing. But Losman was clearly not ready. And he may not have endeared himself to the team as a rookie. But Vincent was the ass for taking him out and injuring him.

Does anyone have a shred of evidence indicating that Vincent deliberately hurt Losman, or is that simply a TBD urban myth?

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Does anyone have a shred of evidence indicating that Vincent deliberately hurt Losman, or is that simply a TBD urban myth?

 

It wasn't just TBD - that rumor sprouted up in multiple places, although none of them (TBD, talk radio, the inter-web looney sphere) are all too reliable... but the rumor persists that Vincent was trying to "teach him a lesson" in practice. Not to injure him, per se, but simply to give him a wake-up call to stop acting like a cocky vet when he's just a rookie.

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It wasn't just TBD - that rumor sprouted up in multiple places, although none of them (TBD, talk radio, the inter-web looney sphere) are all too reliable... but the rumor persists that Vincent was trying to "teach him a lesson" in practice. Not to injure him, per se, but simply to give him a wake-up call to stop acting like a cocky vet when he's just a rookie.

I'm sorry, but I fail to see how that's a mark of a real leader. A real leader works like Fred Jackson, not like some kind of frat-house cop playing the seniority card. And the hint of injuring a teammate on purpose should cement your status as a douchebag, even if the new kid is being douchy.

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I'm sorry, but I fail to see how that's a mark of a real leader. A real leader works like Fred Jackson, not like some kind of frat-house cop playing the seniority card. And the hint of injuring a teammate on purpose should cement your status as a douchebag, even if the new kid is being douchy.

 

No argument there.

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Nix was a much better GM than Donahoe. He took over a team that was much worse than the one Donahoe got and left a team that was better than the one Donahoe left. I don't see how you can say he was worse. In fact, I would say that Donahoe was the one that destroyed the team and sent it back to the stone age after many good seasons. He got rid of many good players and never replaced them.

 

I don't know. Donahoe got a team that was in "cap hell," had to gut the entire roster, and in one year had that roster rebuilt to contend. The 2003 team should have been a playoff team with the talent assembled-- and the coaching kind of did that team in. Even then, they won 8 games in 2002 and 9 in 2004.

 

 

 

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Yeh, Vincent definitely took the shot at Losman......and I always refused to believe the "quality" guy image he was portrayed with. Getting rid of Bledsoe and turning the reins over to Losman was a BIG mistake....as Losman was a bust happening. At least in Dallas, Bledsoe lost out to a player...tony romo.

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I liked what he did for the fans. He created Bills Backers weekend and my wife and I took advantage of it. We drove over from Minneapolis and enjoyed the personal tour of the facilities (with other Bills Backers), the BBQ on Saturday, the buffet before the game and good tickets. Now as far as being a GM, not so much. Still, that weekend will always be a fond memory for me. The Bills eeked out a win against the fish, so all in all it was a great weekend.

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I don't know he struck out twice with Losman and Bledsoe. Maybe he gets it right with the qb eventually. Also his winning% was below 40. You have to work at it pretty hard to be that bad.

 

Should have drafted Brees. What a fool!!!

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I liked what he did for the fans. He created Bills Backers weekend and my wife and I took advantage of it. We drove over from Minneapolis and enjoyed the personal tour of the facilities (with other Bills Backers), the BBQ on Saturday, the buffet before the game and good tickets. Now as far as being a GM, not so much. Still, that weekend will always be a fond memory for me. The Bills eeked out a win against the fish, so all in all it was a great weekend.

 

In a similar vein, he used to have that q and a on bb.com. He was very open; both him and mularkey answered two of my questions.

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For the record, Donahoe was bad. His teams in 5 seasons went 31-49, or winning about 39% of their games. His successors I split into two eras; Levy/Brandon, who went 27-37 from 2006-09, or about 42% of their games, followed by Nix, who was 16-32 (33%) and arguably is more responsible (from a team building perspective) for the 2013 season, which puts him at 22-42 or 34%.

 

Hard to believe the high-water mark for the franchise post Donahoe was the DJ seasons from 2006-08.

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