Big media mystery.....why did Ryan get fired?

[BaaadThingsMan]

I've never seen a GM so comfortable with being KEPT OUT OF THE LOOP in my life!!!

 

-How can he possibly be OK with not being "privy" to the details of a major team decision???

 

If that's true, (and I'm not saying it is) Whaley comes off as being a bit of a p*ssy... Not what I'd want from a guy charged with fixing my team.

didn't Nix bring in Whaley as his hand picked replacement? Maybe Nix knew back then that Brandon was a schill who worked to keep Ralph in the black so Ralph could in turn....

keep an NFL franchise in small market Buffalo so than many of their rabid passionate fans could go to games on Sundays and fill up parking lots as soon in advance as legally allowed to drink and eat and talk about their favorite team?....maybe Nix brought in Whaley to challenge Brandon on football related things and Brandon in a last gasp desperate and misguided...since the Pegulas don't need the money like Ralph so desperately did....saw Wrecks and $$$ signs, a marketing wizard above all else and couldn't help himself so he convinced Terry to hire him at the behest of Whaley? Who ,now that it has played out the Pegulas will finally give a shot at picking a coach to coach the players he drafts?

 

Meanwhile Brandon has been moved into a more prominent role at PSE and away from football operations. Coincidence?

[Captain_Quint]

Man, the apologists are in overdrive. Lol.

 

The MEDIA- comic book super villains responsible for all the worlds ills. They've replaced the Jews as defacto scapegoats apparently.

No, I still blame the Jews.

[4merper4mer]

Could some of this be damage control for Rex from certain members of the media? Rex always gave the media a lot to write about and probably

upped the views of their work (for the local guys) nationally. Plus, as we saw with Marrone and others, certain members of the media tout certain

people based on shared agents, or because of where they get some of their inside info (be it an agent or team or league source), etc. Rex is

possibly looking to land a TV job or maybe he still wants to coach, so the Bills FO being completely dysfunctional takes some of the heat off of

Rex for not working out. Plus, nationally, I think a lot of media members just like him.

 

Now, I'm not saying the Bills haven't screwed some things up and of course, Rex would have been much better without all the injuries, etc. But the media really does seem to be going way over the top with this tire fire "narrative."

 

Just a theory.

Close. It is a hazing of Pegula by puppet reporters that are useful idiots for scorned owners that wanted Toronto.

Love this. All of this drama is ridiculous. As they stated from the beginning since they hired Rex Ryan. Both he and Whaley report directly to the owner. The owner fired the coach. The GM now has to replace him. What's all the fuss about? Seems like they are just creating news these days when there is none.

 

It's so crazy. Imagine if Whaley said he fired Rex. They'd go crazy about the supposed reporting structure and rightfully so. What if Rex fired Whaley? Under the structure those two things were equally implausible.

[billsfan714]

One thing about Ralph and money I never quite grasped was that he needed money. He made a 25-50,000 dollar investment in 59 and it turned into a billion dollar plus asset. All he had to do each year was field a team and the value kept going up. Oh Buffalo is a rustbelt city, you people are lucky to have a NFL franchise. He could move.

 

Well I'm in my 50s and have been following the NFL since the early 70s and Ive seen 2 teams leave the the 2nd largest city in America where they have great weather. Ralph could of broke even every year and his net worth would of still climbed steadily each year. Buffalo has been pretty good to the Wilson family and we haven't asked for a whole lot in return. Maybe there should be a Buffalo statue at Ralph's home.

[Zulu Cthulhu]

It's not about who fired who. Everyone knew the leadership structure and knew that ultimately Terry/Kim fired Rex. What the bills media was trying to get at were the reasons why. Sure, "Rex sucks brah, isn't obvious" is a reason. But you can't fault the media for trying to go a little deeper than that. And if it wasn't for JW pressing and actually getting Pegula on the phone, no one would've known the details, i.e. the benching of TT being a factor and so forth.

 

I just don't get the transferred hatred towards the media doing their jobs when the hatred (or frustration, or whatever you want to call it) should be directed squarely towards the people in charge. Stop scapegoating.

[Manther]

Rico, I give you full marks for your posts re: Whaley. I agree with you on all accounts 100%. Whaley must be held responsible. Keep up the good work Sir!!

Whaley must be held responsible? Sounds like you would prefer Whaley to be fired and your opinion be correct instead of the Bills doing well!?

 

That's messed up

[PromoTheRobot]

One thing about Ralph and money I never quite grasped was that he needed money. He made a 25-50,000 dollar investment in 59 and it turned into a billion dollar plus asset. All he had to do each year was field a team and the value kept going up. Oh Buffalo is a rustbelt city, you people are lucky to have a NFL franchise. He could move.

 

Well I'm in my 50s and have been following the NFL since the early 70s and Ive seen 2 teams leave the the 2nd largest city in America where they have great weather. Ralph could of broke even every year and his net worth would of still climbed steadily each year. Buffalo has been pretty good to the Wilson family and we haven't asked for a whole lot in return. Maybe there should be a Buffalo statue at Ralph's home.

My friend had a theory as to why. He said Ralph mortgaged the Bills to draw the equity out while he was alive. Didn't tell the NFL. He had to make interest payments on hundreds of millions borrowed, to be paid back on his death. Luckily the Pegulas paid so much he had money leftover for the Ralph Wilson Foundation. Like I said it's just a theory.

[Zulu Cthulhu]

Whaley must be held responsible? Sounds like you would prefer Whaley to be fired and your opinion be correct instead of the Bills doing well!?

 

That's messed up

 

Why are the two opinions mutually exclusive?

[folz]

It's not about who fired who. Everyone knew the leadership structure and knew that ultimately Terry/Kim fired Rex. What the bills media was trying to get at were the reasons why. Sure, "Rex sucks brah, isn't obvious" is a reason. But you can't fault the media for trying to go a little deeper than that. And if it wasn't for JW pressing and actually getting Pegula on the phone, no one would've known the details, i.e. the benching of TT being a factor and so forth.

 

I just don't get the transferred hatred towards the media doing their jobs when the hatred (or frustration, or whatever you want to call it) should be directed squarely towards the people in charge. Stop scapegoating.

 

It's one thing to ask questions and to try to get to the bottom of issues (even if they are already painfully obvious to us as fans), but to call it a tire fire, totally dysfunctional, no coach would want to work here, or to ask the GM in the meanest/snarkiest way possible (not sure which reporter it was), "What do you even do?" as if to say you are just a body in a seat doing nothing, seems like personal attacks, not news reporting/investigating.

[Zulu Cthulhu]

 

It's one thing to ask questions and to try to get to the bottom of issues (even if they are already painfully obvious to us as fans), but to call it a tire fire, totally dysfunctional, no coach would want to work here, or to ask the GM in the meanest/snarkiest way possible (not sure which reporter it was), "What do you even do?" as if to say you are just a body in a seat doing nothing, seems like personal attacks, not news reporting/investigating.

 

Sure the "tire fire" comments and so forth - those are commentary, not reporting. There are plenty local (and national) sports media that engage in mostly commentary, Sullivan being one of the most prominent locally. But you can't lump them all together and say "Bills media is out to get the team." Some of them (like Wawrow, that I mentioned) are just trying to find out what's going on with the team. Because WE are trying to figure out what is going on with the team. Wouldn't you want a clearer picture of who is calling the shots over there, given the utter lack of success in the last 10+ years? I would.

 

No one needs to be snarky like Gleason was to Rex a couple weeks back, or whomever you are referencing. But if the powers that be would provide a little more access and clarity to these guys doing their jobs, I bet dollars to donuts you would see the snark decrease substantially.

[ndirish1978]

Guys, it's obvious they simply DONT CARE about public perception. They're incompetently run from top to bottom. I truly believe they think they're smarter than everyone else and will "prove everyone wrong". The thing is whaleys pressed, while hilarious in its distinction, was a disservice to the fans. I don't understand how they don't see that. Whaley was a jerk to the media and they were jerks to him, but he should have at least had some sort of hopeful message for the fans that things will get better, he did not. The organization has no respect for the fans.

 

Bb.com is kind of a joke. I feel bad for the people who have to try and generate content in the hope people will actually care about this team anymore.

[Zulu Cthulhu]

Guys, it's obvious they simply DONT CARE about public perception. They're incompetently run from top to bottom. I truly believe they think they're smarter than everyone else and will "prove everyone wrong". The thing is whaleys pressed, while hilarious in its distinction, was a disservice to the fans. I don't understand how they don't see that. Whaley was a jerk to the media and they were jerks to him, but he should have at least had some sort of hopeful message for the fans that things will get better, he did not. The organization has no respect for the fans.

 

Bb.com is kind of a joke. I feel bad for the people who have to try and generate content in the hope people will actually care about this team anymore.

 

This is it Can't fault media for coming up with their own narrative when you're not providing any alternative (other than "we ain't good enough.") Fans want to know why. Even more, they want to know why they should keep paying attention going foward.

 

One note - I don't think Whaley was necessarily trying to be jerk, I just think he's so unprepared to speak about things that he has to improvise (poorly.)

[billsfan714]

My friend had a theory as to why. He said Ralph mortgaged the Bills to draw the equity out while he was alive. Didn't tell the NFL. He had to make interest payments on hundreds of millions borrowed, to be paid back on his death. Luckily the Pegulas paid so much he had money leftover for the Ralph Wilson Foundation. Like I said it's just a theory.

I dont buy that one iota. Ralph was never living and borrowing beyond his means. He was making money 2 ways on the Bills, yearly revenue and the increase in the value of the franchise every year, NFL revenue rising damn near year after every year, by larger percentages. Graph it and its a line chart going steadly up and to the right. He was no playboy throwing around money and making it rain. How people can twist logic and a billionaire was some mortgaged pauper is beyond ridiculous.

[folz]

 

Sure the "tire fire" comments and so forth - those are commentary, not reporting. There are plenty local (and national) sports media that engage in mostly commentary, Sullivan being one of the most prominent locally. But you can't lump them all together and say "Bills media is out to get the team." Some of them (like Wawrow, that I mentioned) are just trying to find out what's going on with the team. Because WE are trying to figure out what is going on with the team. Wouldn't you want a clearer picture of who is calling the shots over there, given the utter lack of success in the last 10+ years? I would.

 

No one needs to be snarky like Gleason was to Rex a couple weeks back, or whomever you are referencing. But if the powers that be would provide a little more access and clarity to these guys doing their jobs, I bet dollars to donuts you would see the snark decrease substantially.

 

I agree with you and yes we all want to know more of what is going on (whether it matters if we know or not) and I also agree about JW. But that is exactly why Terry talked to him and not some of the others, because JW is always professional. Many of these other reporters (on up to the national level) are just throwing chit out there without digging deeper. Or stoking fires. Or attacking because of some personal agenda. Well, it is a two-way street. If you're negative on the team all of the time, why would they want to answer your questions openly (why give them more ammo)? I'm not saying the media shouldn't be critical if warranted or just be a cheerleading mouthpiece for the team, but some of those reporters were ready to pounce on Whaley (in an antagonizing way---not just to get answers). And there was no way Whaley could answer what they were asking without throwing either Rex or his bosses under the bus. Most teams do not like to badmouth or accuse someone they just fired. It doesn't look good. And we all know why you don't speak out against your boss.

 

As you pointed out, this of course does not go for everyone in the media. I was just trying to answer your original question of why some fans are angry with the media. I doubt they have too much influence in coaching circles, but it's just not good for the team going forward to be painted as a tire fire---when the reality is that the new owners probably made a mistake with the structure of the organization due to a coach who had been burned in a previous relationship with a GM and by not giving their GM full authority. But now they are trying to correct it. That would be an objective take rather than just saying everyone at OBD is incompetent.

Edited January 5, 2017 by folz

[somnus00]

Apparently this is the conversation with which some on this board would have been satisfied.

 

Reporter: Doug, why was Rex fired?

Doug: Well, Pegs the boss, the billionaire who owns the company, f%*$ed up. He called me after the phone call with Rex and said, "Dougie, I f#$%ed up bro. You were right. I was wrong. But if you tell anyone in the media, your ass is grass." But you know what guys? I believe in honesty more than my high paying job running one of only 32 NFL teams in the world. And I don't care if I never work in this business again. Rex was Terry's guy. Blame his ass.

 

I think the logic of a person not wanting to blame his boss in public is just too much for some people to handle.

[Zulu Cthulhu]

Apparently this is the conversation with which some on this board would have been satisfied.

 

Reporter: Doug, why was Rex fired?

 

Doug: Well, Pegs the boss, the billionaire who owns the company, f%*$ed up. He called me after the phone call with Rex and said, "Dougie, I f#$%ed up bro. You were right. I was wrong. But if you tell anyone in the media, your ass is grass." But you know what guys? I believe in honesty more than my high paying job running one of only 32 NFL teams in the world. And I don't care if I never work in this business again. Rex was Terry's guy. Blame his ass.

 

I think the logic of a person not wanting to blame his boss in public is just too much for some people to handle.

 

I'm not quite sure which people commenting here you're referring to, because your scenario is so hyperbolic it makes almost no sense.

 

Are you saying "of course Doug's gonna lie, so the media shouldn't even bother trying to do their jobs"? Honest question I have no idea what point you have, if any.

[somnus00]

I'm not quite sure which people commenting here you're referring to, because your scenario is so hyperbolic it makes almost no sense.

 

Are you saying "of course Doug's gonna lie, so the media shouldn't even bother trying to do their jobs"? Honest question I have no idea what point you have, if any.

 

I'm referring to the people criticizing Whaley for not being forthcoming. How do they expect Whaley to respond to these Rex questions? Is Whaley supposed to throw Pegula under the bus?

 

It's my opinion that these fans, and the media, are just bitter because they want complete transparency. Now they're throwing a tantrum by calling for everyone to be fired.

[Prickly Pete]

Whaley explained what happened, and now it is up to the Pegulas to explain why Wrex Wyan was fired.

 

Whaley is just doing what the Pegulas want him to do. It's obvious why Wrex was fired, he blew as a coach particularly on defense (his specialty), and the team appeared disorganized. What do you want to hear from Whaley?

[Zulu Cthulhu]

 

I'm referring to the people criticizing Whaley for not being forthcoming. How do they expect Whaley to respond to these Rex questions? Is Whaley supposed to throw Pegula under the bus?

 

It's my opinion that these fans, and the media, are just bitter because they want complete transparency. Now they're throwing a tantrum by calling for everyone to be fired.

Thanks and yes I totally get that. I'm not mad at Whaley for trying his best to save his own job. Not at all. But I'm also not faulting the media for pressing the issue and doing their job. Some around here seem so cynical as to say, "well, press, Whaley ain't gonna give you a straight answer so why even try. And by the way, don't get all upset when the team is being obstructionist and making your job harder. Sit there and take it!"