Russ Brandon: "Marrone Has Changed the Bills' Culture"

[34-78-83]

The Bills had an unbalanced line against the Pack. But put two TEs on the line next to each other on the outside of Henderson. The Pack crowded the line and the Bills ran Fred right between the guard and tackle where he got smothered. It was Marronnic. :wallbash:

That's irrelevant to why I mentioned it though. I was explaining why the strategy was/is employed at times in football at all levels. If GB overloaded vs the formation you have to be able to make them pay by an audible check out of the run play to an outside throw. If Orton failed to make that judgement call shame on him.

[Kirby Jackson]

I posted it earlier but anyone that thinks that Russ has relinquished any power isn't paying attention. He has always deferred on football decisions but his fingerprints are all over this team. He hand picked Marrone and Whaley. 1 will receive votes for coach of the year and 1 for executive of the year. We beat them all up on here but they have had some success. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they still report to Russ (despite what we hear). Russ was (and maybe still is) the direct boss of both Whaley & Marrone.

 

The ONLY difference is that Russ now has to go to the Pegula's for final approval (not that many decisions are made in season). Brandon's reputation in sports is impeccable and he is not like a Ted Black type. The Pegula's have surely recognized this and have heard from other owners the same. That doesn't mean that they aren't ultimately in charge but he will remain in a position of high power. I suggested earlier that they may put him over the business of both teams like Dennis Laucha in New Orleans. They may not change a thing because despite what we want to believe here - IT'S WORKING!! This is the best place that this team has been in since the 90's.

[May Day 10]

I would probably kill myself if Brandon was in charge of the Bills and Sabres.

 

 

 

No way the Pegulas do that. Its laughable.

[YoloinOhio]

lol....and everyone knows when those meany sportswriters start coming in with their meany questions (which they always ask in the MEANEST ways!)...the last best refuge is the John Murphy show. State-run radio for Pollyannas!

no one said the questions were "mean."

[Kirby Jackson]

I would probably kill myself if Brandon was in charge of the Bills and Sabres.

 

 

 

No way the Pegulas do that. Its laughable.

Laugh if you will but the overwhelming majority of people on here have no idea how respected he is throughout sports.

 

There has been a paradigm shift in sports in the last 15 years that is why you see revenues skyrocketing. It's something that we were always told by the NBA. "We are a business that happens to be in basketball not a basketball team that happens to be a business. Heinz isn't a ketchup manufacturer that happens to be a business. They are a business that manufactures ketchup." I know a lot of people HATE hearing that but it's the way that teams operate. That is why you see high end business people running teams everywhere instead of old scouts, etc...

[eball]

@Kirby -- you're unfortunately wasting your breath around here, for what seem like a majority of fans anyway. There's a large (and vocal) contingent who believe Brandon is nothing more than a snake oil salesman whose decisions are only self-serving. They can't see the definitive changes made within the organization since Russ became CEO and understand he hasn't been involved in football (i.e., personnel) decisions for quite a while. There will be changes coming, but not the ones the "I hate Russ" contingent are hoping for.

[May Day 10]

So people don't understand that sports is a business? That all was hammered home about 25 years ago.

 

The Pegulas have plenty of high powered and successful business people all around their sports enterprises... and much more trusted and entrenched (with the Pegulas) than Brandon... Koelmel, Black, Sawyer, Batista, Greenburg, Kim Pegula herself etc...

 

Pegula also heard around the league about how well respected and revered Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff were.

 

Brandon has been acting as the owner the past few (maybe several) years as our owner was not capable or unwilling to manage an NFL team day to day. Now we have 2 relatively young and hungry owners who have a huge vision for this enterprise, want to be very involved, and have already sunk around $2 Billion into it. No way they don't diminish Brandon's role.

Edited December 18, 2014 by May Day 10

[Kirby Jackson]

@Kirby -- you're unfortunately wasting your breath around here, for what seem like a majority of fans anyway. There's a large (and vocal) contingent who believe Brandon is nothing more than a snake oil salesman whose decisions are only self-serving. They can't see the definitive changes made within the organization since Russ became CEO and understand he hasn't been involved in football (i.e., personnel) decisions for quite a while. There will be changes coming, but not the ones the "I hate Russ" contingent are hoping for.

That's probably true. I just feel an obligation to try to explain the "why" when I can.

[JohnC]

I posted it earlier but anyone that thinks that Russ has relinquished any power isn't paying attention. He has always deferred on football decisions but his fingerprints are all over this team. He hand picked Marrone and Whaley. 1 will receive votes for coach of the year and 1 for executive of the year. We beat them all up on here but they have had some success. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they still report to Russ (despite what we hear). Russ was (and maybe still is) the direct boss of both Whaley & Marrone.

 

The ONLY difference is that Russ now has to go to the Pegula's for final approval (not that many decisions are made in season). Brandon's reputation in sports is impeccable and he is not like a Ted Black type. The Pegula's have surely recognized this and have heard from other owners the same. That doesn't mean that they aren't ultimately in charge but he will remain in a position of high power. I suggested earlier that they may put him over the business of both teams like Dennis Laucha in New Orleans. They may not change a thing because despite what we want to believe here - IT'S WORKING!! This is the best place that this team has been in since the 90's.

 

The prior owner made many hires for the organization that were head scratchers. However, when he passed the mantel to Brandon because he was at a stage in his life where he couldn't handle the ownership responsibilities he empowered the person who started the process of bringing in this franchise into the modern era. He transformed a franchise run in an anachoristic manner and normalized the management of it.

 

Brandon's expertise isn't football. It is in management and organization. He rebalanced the franchise from steeply tilting from the financial side of the operation (Littman) to a more separate firewall beteeen the business and football sides of the operation.Make no mistake about what I'm suggesting here this is still a business. Whereas Littman was much more stern about cash/flow issues and profit margins Pegula will be more willing to lean the tilt towards the football operation.

 

The hiring of Marrone demonstrates the change from the old ways of doing business to a more collaborative professional approach. There was a process and there were consultations among the participants. The parties involved in the process (Nix, Whaley and Brandon) before they made a selection agreed on criteria and used it in assessing the applicants. They quickly targeted their prospects and they interviewed them. They wanted a younger and energetic HC and they didn't want to make a "retread HC" hire such as Gailey. There was nothing idiosyncratic or impulsive about the hire. The person they hired (Marrone) was seriously being considered by other teams so they needed to act with urgency.

 

I am an unabashed Brandon fan. He more than anyone else transitioned the organization from the past to the modern era. He handled the delicate changeover from Wilson era and his influential business advisors to the new ownership without creating any animosity between the parties. That takes a lot of talent and sophistication.

[Kirby Jackson]

 

 

The prior owner made many hires for the organization that were head scratchers. However, when he passed the mantel to Brandon because he was at a stage in his life where he couldn't handle the ownership responsibilities he empowered the person who started the process of bringing in this franchise into the modern era. He transformed a franchise run in an anachoristic manner and normalized the management of it.

 

Brandon's expertise isn't football. It is in management and organization. He rebalanced the franchise from steeply tilting from the financial side of the operation (Littman) to a more separate firewall beteeen the business and football sides of the operation.Make no mistake about what I'm suggesting here this is still a business. Whereas Littman was much more stern about cash/flow issues and profit margins Pegula will be more willing to lean the tilt towards the football operation.

 

The hiring of Marrone demonstrates the change from the old ways of doing business to a more collaborative professional approach. There was a process and there were consultations among the participants. The parties involved in the process (Nix, Whaley and Brandon) before they made a selection agreed on criteria and used it in assessing the applicants. They quickly targeted their prospects and they interviewed them. They wanted a younger and energetic HC and they didn't want to make a "retread HC" hire such as Gailey. There was nothing idiosyncratic or impulsive about the hire. The person they hired (Marrone) was seriously being considered by other teams so they needed to act with urgency.

 

I am an unabashed Brandon fan. He more than anyone else transitioned the organization from the past to the modern era. He handled the delicate changeover from Wilson era and his influential business advisors to the new ownership without creating any animosity between the parties. That takes a lot of talent and sophistication.

Really, really well said John.

 

So people don't understand that sports is a business? That all was hammered home about 25 years ago.

 

The Pegulas have plenty of high powered and successful business people all around their sports enterprises... and much more trusted and entrenched (with the Pegulas) than Brandon... Koelmel, Black, Sawyer, Batista, Greenburg, Kim Pegula herself etc...

 

Pegula also heard around the league about how well respected and revered Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff were.

 

Brandon has been acting as the owner the past few (maybe several) years as our owner was not capable or unwilling to manage an NFL team day to day. Now we have 2 relatively young and hungry owners who have a huge vision for this enterprise, want to be very involved, and have already sunk around $2 Billion into it. No way they don't diminish Brandon's role.

With all due respect if you were to tell people around sports that you were going to replace Russ Brandon with Ted Black they'd fall out of their chairs laughing. That's like saying we are going to replace Phillip Rivers with Charlie Whitehurst (to use a football analogy).

[eball]

That's probably true. I just feel an obligation to try to explain the "why" when I can.

 

Which is appreciated by those of us (like me) away from the inner workings and relying upon forums like these for our information.

[Campy]

no one said the questions were "mean."

 

Yep, they're not mean questions, they're just kinda stupid. What is a player going to do - throw his teammates under the bus?

 

Besides, an "us against the world" bunker mentality is a powerful motivator. If players rally around each other by believing media is trying to drive a wedge between them, I'm all for it.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Campy

[hondo in seattle]

The idea that business comes before football isn't new.

 

When Polian and Littman weren't getting along, who did Ralph fire?

[thewildrabbit]

Oh yeah, let's just grab one of those coaches who can consistently duel the best HoF HC and QB combo in history. They're around.

Really? This is your argument to keep Marrone because there are not many coaches out there that can beat Belichick?

 

 

Joe Philbin is on the coaching hot seat in Miami, and in his three years as HC there he has beaten Belichick 3 out of 6. Past Bills coaches against the Patriots, Gailey 1- 5, Jauron 0-7 Marrone, 0- 3 so far.

 

This is a huge reason as to why I think Marrone / Hackett suck so badly on offense. The Patriots are fielding one of the best offenses in the league, and the Bills are fielding one of the worst. Buffalo is still 31st in scoring red zone TD's vs #8 for NE.

I don't expect Schwartz to carry this win with mostly just with the defense, as he done almost all season. Then I don't expect the Patriots receivers to have 8 dropped passes like the Packers uncharacteristically had in the last game. The Bills offense is going to need to score TD's to keep up with Brady.

 

 

If Marrone can't field a team that can compete with the Patriots... well then, he is utterly useless.

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

 

 

 

If Marrone can't field a team that can compete with the Patriots... well then, he is utterly useless.

[simpleman]

When evaluating a HC you also have to look at how disiplined the players are about not taking bad penalties. The Bills are very undisciplined and take a lot of stupid penalties. I'm not talking about the ones where that are the result of being too agressive, the refs are always gonna call some as a reult of being too aggressive, it is the ones that are just pure bonehead. There are way too many of them. You have to blame the coaches when there are so many of them on numerous different individual players.

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

ive decided the local media has no idea how to react to a team with a winning record. It's like their world is out of order. Must. Stir. Up. Sh*t.

GOOD POINT!

 

When evaluating a HC you also have to look at how disiplined the players are about not taking bad penalties. The Bills are very undisciplined and take a lot of stupid penalties. I'm not talking about the ones where that are the result of being too agressive, the refs are always gonna call some as a reult of being too aggressive, it is the ones that are just pure bonehead. There are way too many of them. You have to blame the coaches when there are so many of them on numerous different individual players.

Fire Belichick and Carroll immediately. There teams are among the most penalized teams. Especially Carroll for all the false start penalties he can't seem to solve.

[thewildrabbit]

I posted it earlier but anyone that thinks that Russ has relinquished any power isn't paying attention. He has always deferred on football decisions but his fingerprints are all over this team. He hand picked Marrone and Whaley. 1 will receive votes for coach of the year and 1 for executive of the year. We beat them all up on here but they have had some success. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they still report to Russ (despite what we hear). Russ was (and maybe still is) the direct boss of both Whaley & Marrone.

 

The ONLY difference is that Russ now has to go to the Pegula's for final approval (not that many decisions are made in season). Brandon's reputation in sports is impeccable and he is not like a Ted Black type. The Pegula's have surely recognized this and have heard from other owners the same. That doesn't mean that they aren't ultimately in charge but he will remain in a position of high power. I suggested earlier that they may put him over the business of both teams like Dennis Laucha in New Orleans. They may not change a thing because despite what we want to believe here - IT'S WORKING!! This is the best place that this team has been in since the 90's.

It may be working for the defense, and at times for the special teams. It sure as hell isn't working for Marrone' supposed area of expertise on the offensive side of things except perhaps in field goals.

 

The entire reason for Russ Brandon being the CEO has done a 180, as this franchise no longer needs to primarily count coins over the winning of games. There is absolutely no reason to "moneyball" in any area of the team as these new owners can afford to spend to the cap. They can also afford to hire the most expensive people on the football side of operations. Team president, head coach, assistant coaches.

 

My thinking is that out of respect to the late Mr Wilson the new owners are waiting to see how this years team does, and won't make any changes unless warranted. Also my thinking that should the team make the playoffs then the Pegula's will not touch a thing. 10-6, and no playoffs would probably still mean hands off. A finish of 9-7, 8-8, and I would think an adviser will be hired, at least I'm hoping so.

 

The hiring of a senior NFL adviser would probably be the conclusion of Brandon's hands being in the football side of things...thankfully!

[The Big Cat]

That is Marrone philosophy i think. I am fine with that ideology but yet to see it.

It bucks the NFL trends and might be the next trend.

Now we have brought Spiller back.. and relieve Summers of his duty.

I dont think Bills are scheming a heavy run game under Coach.

Not sure what they want to be actually.

This offseason should be very interesting ! The 3rd year is the Year to prove out. I don care if he he keeps Hackett or not. It's not my plan , nor do i know what it really is. But i am fine with letting them get another year to get it right.

 

I had no expectations of playoffs this year. I just hoped the Bills would become worth watching again on Sundays. and make every game, a game worth watching till the end.

For me ? They have done that. more and more each game.

I am enjoying this year more than I have in a rather long time. Isn't that what being a fan is about ?

 

It is what being a fan is about, and I think this team absolutely wants to be a run-first, ground and pound, beat you up on defense type squad.

 

Run the ball, stop the run. There's nothing "trendy" about this philosophy. And while the gaudy numbers being posted by quarterbacks over the last four years have everyone convinced it's a "passing league," the teams that can run the ball when they want then shut down their opponent are always in a position to make a run in the playoffs. The majority of Super Bowl champions, throughout the history of the league, prove this.

 

Lose to Oakland and the love will dissappear....trust me

 

Yeah. No ****.

[K-9]

It is what being a fan is about, and I think this team absolutely wants to be a run-first, ground and pound, beat you up on defense type squad.

 

Run the ball, stop the run. There's nothing "trendy" about this philosophy. And while the gaudy numbers being posted by quarterbacks over the last four years have everyone convinced it's a "passing league," the teams that can run the ball when they want then shut down their opponent are always in a position to make a run in the playoffs. The majority of Super Bowl champions, throughout the history of the league, prove this.

 

Pass to score, run to win.

 

GO BILLS!!!