Jump to content

Is Russ Brandon to Blame?


Dorkington

Recommended Posts

C'mon man, stop running your disinformation BS. I don't want the guy fired or removed from the business side of the org, just the football side. Despite what you and other super homers say, the man is and has been involved in the football side.

 

Doesn't the man have enough on his plate running both the Bills and Sabres that he needs to be in the Buffalo Bills team cut meetings?

 

Why though? What a slippery slope. Just axe him. Selfishly, you should want him gone. His business acumen (This is no slight on the degree, but the St. Johns Fisher alum is hardly the next Elon Musk, btw) is something I'm willing to part with to GUARANTEE that there's no football influence coming from Mr. Brandon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 405
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I get it. I really do. Sorry for giving you a hard time, but I wanted to demonstrate that a Czar does not guarantee success, no matter how many on this board think Czar is some new age miracle salve. Ultimately, any organization needs to attract, hire, and retain talented personnel. Hire the wrong Czar and you can try again in 5 years.

 

You have to hire the right Czar, definitely. You also have to give the consultants COMPLETE scope - you can't say, for example, that certain departments are off-limits for their review. That happens a lot and it's a top reason consultants fail.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Why though? What a slippery slope. Just axe him. Selfishly, you should want him gone. His business acumen (This is no slight on the degree, but the St. Johns Fisher alum is hardly the next Elon Musk, btw) is something I'm willing to part with to GUARANTEE that there's no football influence coming from Mr. Brandon.

Maybe Manish Mehta has a point. :doh: Fire highly respected and capable people because you are looking for a scapegoat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Okay, you do realize that you're over simplifying my point there, right? When asked who was there at final roster cut downs, Rex said it was Rex, Whaley and Russ.

 

According to your only approved dissenting opinion with a twist of salience, Coach Tuesday's post mentions the misleading operations as one of his main reasons.

 

This is that. It's misleading. One day, "Hi Russ Brandon has nothing to do with football operations", next day, "Russ was one of the final 3 people making cuts". The point, the only point or argument (I see you conveniently ignored my longer post in the thread where I really explain why it's nonsense for Bills fans to even want this guy around) is that it's not the best way to run the team. If he wants to let the football guys be football guys and mean it, then he has to just accept all of their decisions. You really think he's just sitting there silently waiting for his chance to call the guy and tell him he's on the team?

 

And don't mention the Seattle guy again, please. There's an exception to every rule. Sadly, Russ is not very exceptional, is he (See: Losses, 16 consecutive years of)?

I didn't ignore anything. When you start attributing failed UDFA signings to the guy, it undermines the point.

 

And yes, other organizations have team presidents that aren't personnel guys; they even (gasp) sit in on football discussions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So if Pegs finally wakes up and decides to place a "czar" over all football operations, then Brandon will be the one involved in lining up candidates and assisting on the final decision.

 

Bottom line, nothing changes until all Ralph's trash is gone. And for everyone who thinks that Russ is not a big reason for this sad state of affairs, this team is exactly what you deserve.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

C'mon man, stop running your disinformation BS. I don't want the guy fired or removed from the business side of the org, just the football side. Despite what you and other super homers say, the man is and has been involved in the football side.

 

Doesn't the man have enough on his plate running both the Bills and Sabres that he needs to be in the Buffalo Bills team cut meetings?

Simply put: if you think I'm a "super homer" then you either cannot read or simply choose not to; apologies if that seems mean.

 

The point was simple: he's either in on personnel decisions or he isn't; the owners aren't going to run 2 teams that differently.

 

So what this comes down to is what makes sense:

 

1) he's making both football and hockey personnel decisions

 

2) he's making one but not the other

 

3) he's making neither

 

Only 1 and 3 make sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The short answer is no.

 

The game evolved too fast for the Bills organization and the organization itself was slow to change.

 

They hired personnel in the 00s that were or would have been great in the 90s NFL like Donahoe or a Gregg Williams.

 

Jeff Fisher is another current guy caught in the time warp. He's never stopped coaching the 1998 Titans and that's why the Rams are terrible.

 

We were successful in the 90s because we were ahead of the curve at that point. Teams were still playing 80s football when Butler and Levy rolled out personnel and strategy that was ahead of its time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Simply put: if you think I'm a "super homer" then you either cannot read or simply choose not to; apologies if that seems mean.

 

The point was simple: he's either in on personnel decisions or he isn't; the owners aren't going to run 2 teams that differently.

 

So what this comes down to is what makes sense:

 

1) he's making both football and hockey personnel decisions

 

2) he's making one but not the other

 

3) he's making neither

 

Only 1 and 3 make sense.

Keep attempting to deflect away from the issue.

 

I never said the man was making hockey or football decisions. I did, however, say he has had and still does have tremendous influence over what happens on the football side of operations.

 

Was the man in or not in the Buffalo Bills team cut meetings?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Question:

 

If Russ has all of this influence, and the Pegulas run both the Bills and Sabres, does Russ get credit for things like drafting Jack Eichel, trading for Ryan O'Reilly, and signing Kyle Okposo?

 

No reason to suspect they'd run two teams in such a dramatically different fashion, so I have to assume Russ has that much control over personnel with the Sabres too...he's got that team turned in the right direction!

Not yet.

 

He fancies himself a football man. Just read that article/interview on page 2 or 3 of this thread from Syracuse. He says the disclaimer that he doesnt touch anything football... then goes on to list his biggest influences as Levy, Butler, Nix, etc who showed him the ropes and sent him on scouting trips and such.

 

 

Give it time with the Sabres. Before long he will be interviewing potential GMs and coaches and will start carving a bigger sphere of influence. As of now, the Sabres have that "czar" in Tim Murray

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

The irony is that while we are celebrating the Bills staying in Buffalo, they stayed in Buffalo by keeping costs low, selling home games to a foreign city to pad their profit numbers, and, football-wise, being run like a farm team for the rest of the NFL.

I've seen the idea that we are like a farm team thrown out by other posters in various places on this board. I couldn't bite my tongue any longer. If that's what we are, in actuality we are a very bad farm team. How many of our former have gone on to have success anywhere? Close to none. It shows me that our roster is constantly overrated by fans. In many ways I do think that Brandon may have a bit to do with that. It seems like we draft to make a splash for publicity as opposed to building a team.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When did this happen? The week between Regier and Murray?

No, when he was dictating player acquisitions to Regier, well before he was fired.

 

The whole Robyn Regehr/Ville Leino time frame.

Those were player personnel moves coming from the owner.

 

:doh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Changing out Fitzpatrick for EJ Manuel didn't work? Well yeah, Fitzpatrick sucking does not increase the statistical probability that Manuel would be good. So no, changing out the pieces does not guarantee success, and it is ridiculous to assume not changing out one piece is the cause for our turmoil. Especially when no one can point to anything specific that he has done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It didn't.

 

Russ wasn't put in charge of the hockey team until well after Murray was hired.

We were talking about Pegula, not Russ. Stay sharp.

If the Pegulas are picking GMs and coaches that you want fired how can you trust them to choose a Czar? Maybe we need a Czar to guide in the selection of a Czar? Or perhaps a 3rd Czar to assist in the selection of the Czar that selects the Czar? I estimate we need at least 30 Czars to get this thing done right. I hope they can all fit in a small "Czar Car" for the comedic effect of watching them all get out at OBD.

It worked out well enough with LaFontaine and the Sabres, if you like Tim Murray.

 

That may have been blind luck though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keep attempting to deflect away from the issue.

 

I never said the man was making hockey or football decisions. I did, however, say he has had and still does have tremendous influence over what happens on the football side of operations.

 

Was the man in or not in the Buffalo Bills team cut meetings?

 

I think you can make your point just fine without attacking Bandit or his motives. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These Brandon conversations always make me laugh. You have two sides: one who believes he has too much power over football decisions, and the other who believes he has no control over football decisions. The arguement seems so futile to me, because how do any of us really know what he does? What we read in the media doesn't allow us the luxury of really knowing what takes place in the front office. This renders the debate mute imo. With that being said I'd like to see him gone. I'm just sick of seeing his smiling used car salesman looking face constantly. Whether it's his fault or not, he is like a mascot for the Bills years of futility.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These Brandon conversations always make me laugh. You have two sides: one who believes he has too much power over football decisions, and the other who believes he has no control over football decisions. The arguement seems so futile to me, because how do any of us really know what he does? What we read in the media doesn't allow us the luxury of really knowing what takes place in the front office. This renders the debate mute imo. With that being said I'd like to see him gone. I'm just sick of seeing his smiling used car salesman looking face constantly. Whether it's his fault or not, he is like a mascot for the Bills years of futility.

 

B9317993548Z.1_20150723175721_000_GSCBDA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You think Russ is deciding which UDFAs to sign, as opposed to working the phones at Whaley's behest?

Really?

In what billion dollar corporate world does a president make phone calls for someone under him?

Was Monos, & Overdorf out on a donut run for the boys? NO,Brandon or any president should have way bigger tasks than calling baby gronk

And asking him if he wants to be a Bill IMO. Unless of course he has a say in who will be a signed UDFA?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...