Yoli Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 The Bills are in full meltdown mode at the moment, but perhaps a different spin on well-known facts will put some of the chaos into perspective. As we all know, but for the Pegula's, we would certainly be experiencing what San Diego, Oakland, and St. Louis are now experiencing -- the very real threat that our team would relocate to LA (it appears San Diego may even be a done deal). Prior to finalizing of the sale of the team to the Pegulas (and for a short while after), Roger Goodell made it very clear that Buffalo must have a new stadium if it wanted to keep the franchise beyond the lease that our local leaders so successfully negotiated. Had an extremely wealthy owner with local ties not bought the team, Goodell's demand would have hung like a sword over the city until the first reasonable opt out date on the lease. Goodell has no loyalty to WNY; instead, we would have been exactly where St. Louis is now with the Rams, even though we are much more loyal and committed fan base. So Bills fans dodged a bullet only to be hit with another nasty, but not lethal one. The Pegula's took over the team at mid-season last year. Realistically, it's not as though they could have done much of anything except learn their way around the building and meet the staff between mid-October and the end of the season. By rights, this year should have been the learning and evaluation year, during which the Pegulas took a long, hard look at every phase of the operation and made changes going forward into 2016. Unfortunately, the second bullet -- Doug Marrone -- single-handedly derailed any reasonable post-purchase due diligence the Pegulas might have contemplated when he opted out. Marrone's exit nixed any possibility of bringing in a Polian or any football operations person because all attention immediately had to be focused on the need to hire a new coach. Worse, realistically, the Pegulas, as newcomers, had no choice but to rely on the football people they inherited - Whaley and Brandon during the coaching search. Given the situation and especially the PR nightmare that a winning coach opting out created, the Bills could not hire an unknown coordinator to right the ship. Marrone's opt out probably sent a strong signal that there was something terribly wrong in Buffalo. So to give the franchise credibility and, as a result, to have any hope of attracting any free agents, the Bills had almost no choice but to sign a "name" like Rex Ryan. Clearly, that plan has gone horribly wrong, mostly because expectations were grossly oversold and we bought in. The reasons for that big lie should be central to any organizational evaluation process going forward. But now, unless the Pegulas have been seriously and deeply engaged with outside consultants throughout the past year, the Bills are stuck with what we have for another year while a real evaluation takes place. That's not something that could have happened quickly, even under the best circumtances. The Bills are big business, and I would have to think that there are lots of Wilson's people (e.g.,Scott Bercthold whatever he does) deeply embedded at OBD. It takes more than a couple of months to figure all of that out, but the Pegulas never had that time because on Dec. 31 of last year, they had to go into full panic mode to plug the hole at coach and fix the PR nightmare of a coach simply walking away upon their arrival. That event is what has set us back at least two years and gave us the nightmare that is Rex Ryan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real Buffalo Joe Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 (edited) If you look right next to your apostrophe key, there's a button that says "Enter," or "Return" if it's a Mac. What you do there, is you press it, so that way you don't have one large block of text. It makes what are called "paragraphs" which makes it easier for us, the reader. Also, Russ Brandon is not a football guy. He admits to this. Edited December 23, 2015 by The Real Buffalo Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackFergy Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 If you look right next to your apostrophe key, there's a button that says "Enter," or "Return" if it's a Mac. What you do there, is you press it, so that way you don't have one large block of text. It makes what are called "paragraphs" which makes it easier for us, the reader. Also, Russ Brandon is not a football guy. He admits to this. ^^^^ Troll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 If you look right next to your apostrophe key, there's a button that says "Enter," or "Return" if it's a Mac. What you do there, is you press it, so that way you don't have one large block of text. It makes what are called "paragraphs" which makes it easier for us, the reader. Also, Russ Brandon is not a football guy. He admits to this. Oh no, no I appreciate when people write like that. It says "Bills, blah, blah, blah. Bills yadda, yadda, yadda" and let's me know not to waste my time. reading it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real Buffalo Joe Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Oh no, no I appreciate when people write like that. It says "Bills, blah, blah, blah. Bills yadda, yadda, yadda" and let's me know not to waste my time. reading it. TL;DR : Pegula sucks, so give him a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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