Changes coming to Bills front office?

[Augie]

Before I go on, what do you make of this?

 

http://www.buffalobills.com/video/videos/Terry-Pegula-Going-to-Work-Harder-Day-by-Day/0a23734d-723f-42c9-a819-296e50fcb575

Well Jeff, there's no magic in that. Well done by Mr Pegs, and after spending almost 8 minutes, I have no idea what your point is. Some people just want to complain to make them feel smarter. I'm pretty sure the billionaire is far smarter than most of us. Not perfect, but no one is perfect.

[jeffismagic]

Well Jeff, there's no magic in that. Well done by Mr Pegs, and after spending almost 8 minutes, I have no idea what your point is. Some people just want to complain to make them feel smarter. I'm pretty sure the billionaire is far smarter than most of us. Not perfect, but no one is perfect.

 

We were told all day that Whaley was in control of the 53 and Whaley would run the draft from posters on this board. Terry Pegula just destroyed that idea right there!

[PromoTheRobot]

Jeff is NOT magic, despite any thoughts you may have. Again, are you (happily) married? Have you had any serious success in the business world? Collaboration is critical to success.

Jeff is a member of the Freedom Caucus.

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

Are you claiming to know the selection process of all Superbowl winning teams ?

I sure have no clue about any other team's internal workings. All I know is that there are few organizations which are consistently successful due to one person making all strategic, marketing and execution decisions. Most major decisions are made with collaboration, though it still needs a leader to guide the process and make sure it is a balanced decision. I dont know if you are claiming otherwise.

Everything is done with collaboration. Listen to Bill Polian, he'll take any opportunity to talk about how important collaboration is in the front office. But at the end of the day, when the debate has raged, everyone has said their piece and the smoke has cleared, Bill considered all that input and made the call. And it WORKED, and the Buffalo Bills played in championship games.

 

In NE* its Belichick. Seattle, its Executive Vice President Pete Carroll. Baltimore its Newsome. Jersey Giants its Reese. I can't think of a title winner who didn't identify an "at the end of the day" trigger man. Maybe the Bills will revolutionize the game?

[jeffismagic]

Jeff is NOT magic, despite any thoughts you may have. Again, are you (happily) married? Have you had any serious success in the business world? Collaboration is critical to success.

 

I run my own company and collaborate with teams all the time.

Everything is done with collaboration. Listen to Bill Polian, he'll take any opportunity to talk about how important collaboration is in the front office. But at the end of the day, when the debate has raged, everyone has said their piece and the smoke has cleared, Bill considered all that input and made the call. And it WORKED, and the Buffalo Bills played in championship games.

 

In NE* its Belichick. Seattle, its Executive Vice President Pete Carroll. Baltimore its Newsome. Jersey Giants its Reese. I can't think of a title winner who didn't identify an "at the end of the day" trigger man. Maybe the Bills will revolutionize the game?

 

[Augie]

I run my own company and collaborate with teams all the time.

I honestly hope it's great for you. However, you seem to be lacking on some comprehension. Running a company is great, but at the NFL level, with BILLIONS at stake.......? Hardly a lawn care business, office machine sales or some such thing, even if that's great.

[jeffismagic]

I honestly hope it's great for you. However, you seem to be lacking on some comprehension. Running a company is great, but at the NFL level, with BILLIONS at stake.......? Hardly a lawn care business, office machine sales or some such thing, even if that's great.

 

I am launching a business application software company, in addition to the company I already run. But guess what, it doesn't take an entrepreneur to understand that the Bills organizational chart is messed up.

[mead107]

They have owned the team 20 years they are bad owners. Move the team sell it.

Off season is way too long

 

Just nuts In the off season.

 

Buy the team and run it your way.

[Augie]

I am launching a business application software company, in addition to the company I already run. But guess what, it doesn't take an entrepreneur to understand that the Bills organizational chart is messed up.

I seriously hope it all goes GREAT for you, but I'm not down with the negativity. Just two different points of view, I guess. I wouldn't want to be part of an organization that didn't have serious discussion and collaboration. Who has the final call? They are first to get the axe.

 

Good luck with the launch. (But you're wrong on the Bills .)

[jeffismagic]

I seriously hope it all goes GREAT for you, but I'm not down with the negativity. Just two different points of view, I guess. I wouldn't want to be part of an organization that didn't have serious discussion and collaboration. Who has the final call? They are first to get the axe.

 

Good luck with the launch. (But you're wrong on the Bills .)

 

I have never stated I was against discussion and collaboration. That's great and should happen. But someone has to make the final call. The fact that the owner of the Buffalo Bills couldn't answer that question is a huge red flag that this team is not being managed properly.

 

Oh, and thanks for the well wishes. I need to get this puppy to market first!

Edited March 29, 2017 by jeffismagic

[Augie]

I have never stated I was against discussion and collaboration. That's great and should happen. But someone has to make the final call. The fact that the owner of the Buffalo Bills couldn't answer that question is a huge red flag that this team is not being managed properly.

 

Oh, and thanks for the well wishes. I need to get this puppy to market first!

Best wishes remain, but not seeing the red flag. They can have varying opinions, and the guy who prevails may not be the same guy every time.

[Nihilarian]

Previous Bills group efforts:

 

Levy-Jauron

 

Brandon-Modrak-Jauron

 

Nix-Whaley

 

Whaley-Rex Ryan

I only hope that changes are indeed coming to the Bills FO.

 

What many fans fail to understand is that the one constant at the top of the org chart has been Russ Brandon who was hired by the first owner and has become more prominent in the org since the new owner bought the team.

 

I look back at the years Marv Levy was GM of the Buffalo Bills (2006-2007 seasons) and he stated it was a consensus as to who had the final say in the draft. After reading what he said about the draft it looked like he allowed Jauron to have the final say.

 

After Marv retired as GM it was Russ Brandon who took over as de facto GM of the team. It wasn't that Brandon was making all the wrong decisions for the team and running the football side of the team into the ground on his own. It was that he was acting like Marv in that he stood back and allowed others to make the choices. Modrak, Jauron making the final decisions and what's wrong with this philosophy is that because there was no "top football man" at the top of the org the asylum was run by the inmates.

 

Because the team had no top talent evaluator who could make the proper final calls the team drafted some questionable players for questionable positions over the years. In 2008 after the team drafted McKelvin at #11 there were 24 pro bowl players drafted after him that year. That year the Bills did manage to find Stevie Johnson in the 7th round. The 2009 draft saw Aaron Maybin who was a one year wonder on college and the Bills were desperate for a pass rusher since Schobel retired at the end of the 2007 season. While the team did find three starters with the next three picks the fact remains that the scouts / GM / HC all failed to see the talent in Brian Orakpo, Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews.

 

The point of this is to show that even after all this time the team still doesn't have that top football man in the Org and is still making bad choices for the wrong positions. Look at the drafts since 2000 to see that since the late John Butler left for San Diego the team has been a mess in the FO. And has been lacking that knowledgeable experienced football man that actually knows what he is doing in building a winning NFL team. Buddy Nix might have been 70 years old when he took over as GM. Alas, when he was hired he had never been an actual NFL GM before the Buffalo Job.

 

After four seasons of no playoffs with a record of 30-34 and with a team filled with holes on the roster, no franchise QB yet. Doug Whaley has already proven he doesn't have what it takes!

 

This new owner was in talks with Bill Polian to be the Buffalo Bills czar and it was rumored that the current people in the Bills FO were badmouthing him in order to retain the status quo. Also, recently the team was talking to Tom Coughlin for a senior NFL adviser to have the final say in the football side of the team. Instead, he took a similar job with the Jacksonville Jaguars and now has the final call on all "football" decisions.

 

Now, many Bills fans posting here will tell you that Russ Brandon has had no say in the personnel side of football operations since 2007. And yet we see the man chest bumping Sammy Watkins on the sidelines, read about Brandon dancing on Pegula's yacht when they learned that the team had signed LeSean McCoy. That Brandon was working on the phone in the Bills cut room with Rex Ryan as HC. That after interviewing Rex Ryan for the HCing job Russ told Terry Pegula to not let Ryan leave the building.

 

Even if Brandon has had no say or influence on anything related to the football side of the team (which is something I don't believe). The fact remains that as long as Russ Brandon has been with the team there has been no senior football man at the top of the Org. Until this owner hires that top football man this franchise will be like a rudderless ship going endlessly in circles.

 

With the owner stating that decisions will be made by a consensus tells me that nothing has really changed over the years.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Nihilarian

[GunnerBill]

 

His defenses have become less aggressive every year. He hired Tampa 2 Leslie Frazier to run the defense. He retained the veteran QB for another couple of years.

We are not running a Tampa 2. It is not all that Frazier has coached.

[Jasovon]

 

I am launching a business application software company, in addition to the company I already run. But guess what, it doesn't take an entrepreneur to understand that the Bills organizational chart is messed up.

 

Agreed, we can't seem to make it two months without stories of dysfunction coming out of OBD. How well founded they are i don't know but there never seems to be a clear answer on anything. Hopefully that changes with McDermott.

[Nihilarian]

After watching that team video interview with Terry Pegula he looked to be sincerely remorseful that the team hasn't won since he bought it.

 

I can only wonder how long it will take this new owner to figure out that just changing the head coach isn't going to change much with his team...that is unless that HC is Bill Belichick or a Pete Carroll who are both in a class all by themselves.

 

Sean McDermott might just eventually become one of those men. The thing is, the NFL is known to have an unforgiving learning curve that few men manage to survive much less become great in their first job as head coach. Then looking at who he has in helping him find the proper player talent in his first years as an NFL head coach leads me to think he is going to have a very tough time in Buffalo.

[GunnerBill]

After watching that team video interview with Terry Pegula he looked to be sincerely remorseful that the team hasn't won since he bought it.

 

 

Terry cares. Not a single doubt about that. I just don't think he knows what he is doing running this organisation. I hope I am wrong.

[May Day 10]

They have already relegated him to be their Reek. Why fire him? They could save that and play the card after the season when they go 4-12

[papazoid]

Did You Know?

Erroneous basically means "containing errors", and, since most of us are constantly suffering from mistaken notions, the word is often used in front of words such as "assumption" and "idea". It's also used to describe the kind of mistaken information that can lead to erroneous theories, erroneous conclusions, and erroneous decisions.

 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/erroneous

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/19027304/buffalo-bills-owner-terry-pegula-disputes-reported-friction-sean-mcdermott-gm-doug-whaley

 

"We just spent the afternoon working together, the three of us," Pegula said Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings. "Those guys get along great. They've been making some key decisions, and they work well together."

 

Asked specifically about possible additions to the personnel department, Pegula said Tuesday, "I don't know where that report came from. It's erroneous."

 

"It's a lot simpler to have one spokesperson for the organization," Pegula said Tuesday. "When we sat in the coaching interviews this last go-round, we talked to all of the candidates, and one of the things we were interested in -- and Doug was in those meetings -- was we wanted a coach who could be the face of our organization and could step into that role."

 

 

Sorry if already posted

and now I see it has

Really who better than the HC to be the spokesman who can talk players and game strategy, well other than the blustery Ryan?

[Fan in Chicago]

 

In NE* its Belichick. Seattle, its Executive Vice President Pete Carroll. Baltimore its Newsome. Jersey Giants its Reese. I can't think of a title winner who didn't identify an "at the end of the day" trigger man. Maybe the Bills will revolutionize the game?

 

That is a fair point and well argued. I don't think the Bills should attempt to revolutionize anything. For much of the past decade and especially these past few years, the Bills have left themselves with little margin for error. They should make safe picks esp with the top 2-3 picks and not go for boom-or-bust and 'project' prospects.