You are my sunshine, my only sunshine Jerry

[Bill_with_it]

I stopped reading his column about 12 years ago....it became a New England comparison every time. Guess who else doesn't measure up to New England -- 31 other teams. The 22, 23 free agents was basically you had so many guys on one year deals many as injury replacements I'm sure Jerry granted that courtesy. To much about nothing he became GM is 2014 they write and article about the 2013 draft- which stunk league wide. Pick 5 teams out of a hat track their 2013 draft how many are with their club? onesies twosies again I'm sure they didnt mention that I just read the headline and moved on.

 

To Jerry's credit he rarely writes about hockey because he knows nothing about it. Football he knows a little not enough to form an opinion but that doesnt stop him.

 

as far as Kolb Whaley has been on record as staing Kolb was brought here to be the starter until the injuries forced EJ in

In case you didnt see it the first time, you nor Whaley have the ability to change what was said concerning starting what qb. Nice try though.

Another change in the history books.

This is directly from Whaley's mouth:

I think what we decided, and I think [Marrone] promotes it, is competition

throughout the whole team, Whaley said. And I will throw in those three guys in there and see the competition makes everybody rise to the occasion and whoever takes the bull by the horns and wins the job that will be our guy and we will rally behind him and go into the season and expect for the best.

Nowhere in the article did it state that the plan was to sit Manuel behind Kolb, never not once. Stop it.

https://www.google.com/amp/profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/31/manuel-will-have-to-earn-starting-job/amp/

And another

"We're excited to see [Manuel] grow, and we're excited to see him compete with Kevin Kolb," Whaley said. "May the best man win.

Sure sounds like a competition nothing like a sit an learn that you and Whaley are claiming 4 years later. The thing about quotes are they last forever now.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/trainingcamp13/story/_/id/9514038/buffalo-bills-ej-manuel-kevin-kolb-split-practice-snaps-qb

[Original Byrd Man]

 

So they should have kept Wrecks and fired Whaley because he didn't put together a winning 53 man roster? Whaley went out and hired all the Ex-jet coaches and brought in the ex-Jet players AND picked up Taylor, all on his own, because he though Wreck would like that?

Even though Buddy Nix said he would deliver a QB before he stepped down and did so, it falls on Whaley? Even though Nix was still in charge?

Marrone asked for the new owner clause in his contract because Whaley wanted him to have it?

I'm not buying any of it. You realize each new coach wanted players that fit their system and if the new coaches changes that system then that means the last group of players may not fit anymore?

Don't you know if you use logic on this board it will go over the heads of most of the posters. DW is blamed for 17 years of futility even though he was in Pittsburg for most of them. You have to be pretty stupid not to realize that isn't a valid assumption. And didn't you know it's also his fault that he is responsible for the failures of the coaches he didn't hire. You can only build a successful roster if you have CONTINUITY in your organization. Look back at the Bills coaching history and it is pretty sad. Three years is a dynasty here. I'm sure DW had a hand in all of it some how.

Sorry, you don't keep a GM, because he made some nice trades, drafted some pro bowlers, and signed some nice FA's

You keep him because he puts together a 53 person unit that wins 10 games plus, if not consistently, at least often

Or he has the potential to win 10 games plus consistantly

All the criticism towards DW is because we don't win, cos if we did, or had, none of these threads would exist

Sully would not by writing these kind of negative articles

Again tell me we;'re gonna win 10-11 games this year and I'll say DW is the guy for this team

Sully might too

And I'll stop critiquing DW's dreadful off season dumpster dive moves

But we look like a 7-8 win team again so there;s nothing to celebrate here, except continued mediocirty

For if we looked like a 10-11 team season Sully;s articles would likely be beaming and very positive

And perhaps less drama fueled and more factual

 

jc

Maybe you should go back and read some of jerry's columns in the early 90's when the Bills were winning. It was the same negative BS. He is a whiner. It's all he knows. Maybe he's bitter because he can't be a "real" journalist. He is just a guy who writes sports columns. Sad!

[Thurman#1]

In case you didnt see it the first time, you nor Whaley have the ability to change what was said concerning starting what qb. Nice try though.

 

And another

"We're excited to see [Manuel] grow, and we're excited to see him compete with Kevin Kolb," Whaley said. "May the best man win.

Sure sounds like a competition nothing like a sit an learn that you and Whaley are claiming 4 years later. The thing about quotes are they last forever now.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/trainingcamp13/story/_/id/9514038/buffalo-bills-ej-manuel-kevin-kolb-split-practice-snaps-qb

 

 

 

No, they didn't say at the beginning of the competition who they wanted to win it. No reason to do so in case things turned out differently than they'd expected.

 

But yes, they expected and planned for Kolb to win and let Manuel develop. Sure, if Manuel had made a miraculous Russell Wilson-style leap upwards, they'd have been thrilled and started him. But they absolutely expected Kolb to win. They've said as much since through sources to writers many times. This isn't worth arguing over, it really is what they expected.

Don't you know if you use logic on this board it will go over the heads of most of the posters. DW is blamed for 17 years of futility even though he was in Pittsburg for most of them. You have to be pretty stupid not to realize that isn't a valid assumption. And didn't you know it's also his fault that he is responsible for the failures of the coaches he didn't hire. You can only build a successful roster if you have CONTINUITY in your organization. Look back at the Bills coaching history and it is pretty sad. Three years is a dynasty here. I'm sure DW had a hand in all of it some how.

Maybe you should go back and read some of jerry's columns in the early 90's when the Bills were winning. It was the same negative BS. He is a whiner. It's all he knows. Maybe he's bitter because he can't be a "real" journalist. He is just a guy who writes sports columns. Sad!

 

 

 

That's not true. Sully in the '90s was a ton more positive than he is now.

 

He still irritated the folks who accepted only perfume and bouquets, but they were a good team and Sully knew it and wrote it. Yeah he had some bad things to say, which makes sense when you're writing about imperfect things, but it was much more positive than it is today. And he has consistently been positive when the Bills looked positive.

 

I remember in 2011 when the Bills went off to a great start and Jerry said Chan Gailey should be the early front-runner for coach of the year, at 5-2. When the Bills look good, Jerry comments on it. But the bunch that will only accept sunshine and roses only remember the bad things he says. And yeah, there have been a lot more of the bad things than the good for a long time, but there is very good reason for that. He's covered a bad Bills team for a very long time.

 

 

 

Sad, indeed.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Thurman#1

[Thurman#1]

Don't you know if you use logic on this board it will go over the heads of most of the posters. DW is blamed for 17 years of futility even though he was in Pittsburg for most of them. You have to be pretty stupid not to realize that isn't a valid assumption. And didn't you know it's also his fault that he is responsible for the failures of the coaches he didn't hire. You can only build a successful roster if you have CONTINUITY in your organization. Look back at the Bills coaching history and it is pretty sad. Three years is a dynasty here. I'm sure DW had a hand in all of it some how.

 

 

He's the GM. He gets credit or blame for hiring the coaches. They're on him. If he'd gone to the Pegulas early and said he couldn't work with Ryan, they would almost certainly have listened to him. Same as he doesn't get the blame from before his tenure, he absolutely DOES get the blame for what's happened since.

 

And no nobody blames Whaley for the failures before he was GM. But things haven't improved since. After four years on his watch the team has been consistently mediocre, has worked its way into salary cap trouble while not even being close to competing, has switched schemes consistently - the GM's responsibility - has kept extremely few draft picks and simply hasn't started winning at a higher rate. And that's the bottom line.

 

Cracks me up how people want to say Whaley isn't responsible for what happened before he got here and that also, after he got the GM position, Whaley isn't responsible for the coaches and Whaley isn't responsible for the salary cap problems we've had to deal with this year and Whaley isn't responsible for the problems he's had getting along with all three coaches and Whaley isn't responsible for the draft picks disappearing or the scheme switches ...

 

Christ the guy was the GM!! Wasn't he responsible for anything? (Byrd Man, I don't know if you're making all those arguments, but I see them on here all the time.) If he can't be responsible and make changes, bring in someone who can.

Did we go 0-48? Are we devoid of talent? No Pro Bowlers? No players leading the league in sacks and tackles? An offense dead last in every category? Yup, gotta fire him.

 

 

 

Agreed. Any GM taking over a team that went 6-10 the year before and brilliantly shepherding them to 6-10, 9-7, 8-8 and 7-9 records clearly has proven he knows how to move a team in the right direction.

 

I hear you that he's done some things right. But continued mediocrity shouldn't be the basis of a decision to keep the guy. Yeah, we didn't go 0-48, but Jeez, is anyone happy with what we have done? Or how many Pro Bowlers we have?

 

While I can see an argument asking for one more year, his record so far has showed a pretty remarkable lack of improvement.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Thurman#1

[billsfan714]

For pete' sake anybody who watched football with a functioning frontal lobe knew Kolb was done...shell shocked and made of glass. Other teams were openly saying he was playing scared in Arizona. If that was the plan it was pretty crappy, but what do I know he was taken out by a rubber mat shortly there after.

[wilcoam]

Well stated Thurman#1, I concur 100%

You know it's the same situation as the discussion this exact time last year about what if Rex could not deliver 10 wins + or the playoffs in 2016

Lots of folks continually argued for continuity regardless of his W-L record

I didn't, and I said, in the NFL if you can't deliver wins, and successful seasons, you don't stay employed

Rex didn't deliver, and he was rightfully terminated

The same applies to DW, enough of the same violenesque Rex-cuses, either deliver us winning football, or hopefully Pegs terminates you

Enough of the mediocrity

 

jc

[Fadingpain]

That was a great article.

 

>>>The roster is a monument to weak drafting and short-sighted personnel management. At the end of last season, the Bills had fewer of their own draft picks on the roster than any other team. They had 22 unrestricted free agents on March 1. They had precious few "value" players, young stars who are on their first contracts and help balance the roster.<<<

 

One of the reasons for the above quote is that Whaley keeps trading away our precious draft picks for little return.

 

Listen, I don't hate the man. The truth is that he is a lousy, undisciplined, short sighted GM. If he was watching his money he is set for life. Bills Fans deserve a GM who can get us into the playoffs. Whaley will never, ever land another job in this capacity. He needs to be fired.

This is true and Whaley knows it. That's why he is desperate to retain his gig while he has it.

 

We saw the same thing unfold with Darcy Regier at the Sabres.

[Niagara Bill]

Overdorf hasn't left and Ralph's trash is still running the team. Of course the Bills aren't winners.

Amen....he has had far too much say. according to TBN he was the guy who had Langston Walker cut days before the season started without telling Dick Jauron. He thought they were paying him too much and we went into week one without a starting right tackle. Overdorf has gained too much power over the years. Not that he is a bad guy just should not have the ability to shape a team.

[Jasovon]

If this is true i'm very dissapointed. We had a perfect chance to clean house when Rex went and the fans would have accepted it. This is why we don't win because as an organisation we are a mess. There is no plan or strategy we just seem to make decisions at the last minute.

[Punching Bag]

According to multiple sources Jerry Sullivan is not allowed to write his columns anymore but they are being written by children being punished for being truant. They should fire Sullivan right now and be done with it. Stop the charade that he's still writing. Put him out of our misery.

 

And take his fanboys with him. I'd not piss on them to put out fire on them.

[billsfan_34]

OP- Want to know why the media is negative? Because this team has been a disgrace for 17 years. Until this garbage gets turned around expect more of the same. Dont be so sensative when the media trashes a very inferior product that we have all witnesssed year after year. Denial is a difficult thing I know, the sooner you realize we suck the better life will become for you. I expect to lose and when we get a W its a bonus. The culture from the top down must change and that starts with Brandon and Waley- get rid of them or we will continue to bleed.

Edited March 27, 2017 by billsfan_34

[Punching Bag]

I admit YOU suck - I am half way there, correct?

[GunnerBill]

Let me say this, I am not sure I totally agree with Jerry's reading of the current situation - but, if he is right, then he is absolutely correct that is shambolic and raises further questions about whether Terry and Kim really know how to run a football team (or maybe an ice hockey team - but I am not NHL fan so will leave others to comment more properly on the Sabres.... I only have Bulldog's hot takes). He is also correct that resignation might be the best play for Whaley but if Whaley really wants to do it the dignified way he would stay through the draft and then resign rather than plunging things into chaos less than a month from the Bills going on the clock. Leaving right now would actually be a spiteful way out not a dignified exit.

Edited March 27, 2017 by GunnerBill

[dave mcbride]

. Actually I just checked dates. The Hughes trade occurred a few days after the draft.

Do you actually deny the fact - fact, not alternative fact or conjecture- that Buddy Nix was the GM during the 2013 draft?

It occurred one day after the draft (April 28; the draft was from April 25-27), and presumably it was in the works prior to the draft and its completion depended on how the draft went. The word "nominal" is key here.

[PromoTheRobot]

 

 

He's the GM. He gets credit or blame for hiring the coaches. They're on him. If he'd gone to the Pegulas early and said he couldn't work with Ryan, they would almost certainly have listened to him. Same as he doesn't get the blame from before his tenure, he absolutely DOES get the blame for what's happened since.

 

And no nobody blames Whaley for the failures before he was GM. But things haven't improved since. After four years on his watch the team has been consistently mediocre, has worked its way into salary cap trouble while not even being close to competing, has switched schemes consistently - the GM's responsibility - has kept extremely few draft picks and simply hasn't started winning at a higher rate. And that's the bottom line.

 

Cracks me up how people want to say Whaley isn't responsible for what happened before he got here and that also, after he got the GM position, Whaley isn't responsible for the coaches and Whaley isn't responsible for the salary cap problems we've had to deal with this year and Whaley isn't responsible for the problems he's had getting along with all three coaches and Whaley isn't responsible for the draft picks disappearing or the scheme switches ...

 

Christ the guy was the GM!! Wasn't he responsible for anything? (Byrd Man, I don't know if you're making all those arguments, but I see them on here all the time.) If he can't be responsible and make changes, bring in someone who can.

 

 

 

 

Agreed. Any GM taking over a team that went 6-10 the year before and brilliantly shepherding them to 6-10, 9-7, 8-8 and 7-9 records clearly has proven he knows how to move a team in the right direction.

 

I hear you that he's done some things right. But continued mediocrity shouldn't be the basis of a decision to keep the guy. Yeah, we didn't go 0-48, but Jeez, is anyone happy with what we have done? Or how many Pro Bowlers we have?

 

While I can see an argument asking for one more year, his record so far has showed a pretty remarkable lack of improvement.

Your argument might have some merit if Whaley did everything in a vacuum. Essentially you are saying the head coach he didn't hire was helpless.

[FireChan]

Your argument might have some merit if Whaley did everything in a vacuum. Essentially you are saying the head coach he didn't hire was helpless.

Every GM shares responsibility for the W-L record, dude.

[Riverboat Richie]

Change is not always a good thing.

 

If we only had a new owner. Everything would be golden. Ralph and his cronies are killing this team with their cheap ways. They didn't even know the names on the list of GM candidates.

 

It's all Buddy Nix. Message board GMs wanted Nix gone because he was too old and was stuck in the past. He was asleep during free agency. Let see the newcomer step in and take over he's younger and did a wonderful job with the Steelers. What was the young guys name everyone couldn't wait for to take over?

 

Let's give this Marrone guy a New Owner Clause in case Ralph passes while he's under contract. I think he'll like that. It'll give him an out without looking like a total failure as a coach if thing aren't going right.

 

Whaley Has to go. He's the one in the owners ear to hire Wrecks and "not let him leave the building" right? It's all Whaley.

 

I'm bringing the ex-Jet coaching staff, a bunch of ex-Jet players and as soon as his equally terrible brother is available I'll bring him in too. Oh and I'll get that Taylor kid as QB, I Hear Wrecks really likes him. I hope Wrecks likes these gifts.

 

All on Whaley........ I'm shocked the guy hasn't quit for being shoved around and not getting to actually be the GM. You want to bash him bash him for being a doormat. These guys walked all over him. This might be the first season he gets to have his stamp on and no one outside of OBD seems interested in seeing that.There is a reason why fans don't just up and become GMs. Thank God for that!.....

[Seasons1992]

Remind me, which team did you serve as GM, where they won multiple Super Bowls?

 

Easy now, new fish. Don't mess with Bill in NYC.

[Niagara Bill]

 

Easy now, new fish. Don't mess with Bill in NYC.

Careful now, but RodB has appointed himself as the new King Refugee of TSW.

[May Day 10]

Change is not always a good thing.

 

If we only had a new owner. Everything would be golden. Ralph and his cronies are killing this team with their cheap ways. They didn't even know the names on the list of GM candidates.

 

It's all Buddy Nix. Message board GMs wanted Nix gone because he was too old and was stuck in the past. He was asleep during free agency. Let see the newcomer step in and take over he's younger and did a wonderful job with the Steelers. What was the young guys name everyone couldn't wait for to take over?

 

Let's give this Marrone guy a New Owner Clause in case Ralph passes while he's under contract. I think he'll like that. It'll give him an out without looking like a total failure as a coach if thing aren't going right.

 

Whaley Has to go. He's the one in the owners ear to hire Wrecks and "not let him leave the building" right? It's all Whaley.

 

I'm bringing the ex-Jet coaching staff, a bunch of ex-Jet players and as soon as his equally terrible brother is available I'll bring him in too. Oh and I'll get that Taylor kid as QB, I Hear Wrecks really likes him. I hope Wrecks likes these gifts.

 

All on Whaley........ I'm shocked the guy hasn't quit for being shoved around and not getting to actually be the GM. You want to bash him bash him for being a doormat. These guys walked all over him. This might be the first season he gets to have his stamp on and no one outside of OBD seems interested in seeing that.There is a reason why fans don't just up and become GMs. Thank God for that!.....

 

To me, Whaley was/is just a continuation of Nix.

 

As mentioned here and another thread. The Bills have a collaborative model of making decisions. It seems often that this leads to rocky relationships and poor decisions without vision. This model was necessary during Mr. Wilson's final years because IMO he was mainly running out the clock. Levy was fine with it. Brandon is a major part of it so he was fine. Nix was comfortable with it... and I am certain the indoctrinated Whaley on how it works around here.

 

I was convinced Pegula was going to flush it out because preparing the franchise for the estate sale was no longer a function. It was time to get a leader in here and become a big boy club. This did not happen. This was the second time I was fooled, as the Sabres were in a similar pattern (instead of estate sale, Golisano had the goal of the team being financially self-sustainable).

 

I am starting to think that Pegula likes and admires the Bills model of murking up all the decision-making, so nobody can pin decisions on any person. Someone can be jettisoned and in many eyes all the bad decisions/blame go out the door with that person, while the good decisions and excuses remain in-house. This allows for management to remain. Pegula likes this structure as they like to make decisions too and this will keep them out of the firing line. They took a ton of heat for the Sabres.

 

 

So in short, Whaley being sent packing wouldn't make me happy or sad. Maybe a little concerned because they would be going all-in on McDermott who isnt too much of a known commodity. I think Whaley, or someone has been irresponsible with the cap... and has left too many gaping holes with a desert as far as depth goes at many positions. Whaley seems to be very good at pro-scouting though. They should either publicly give Whaley full control over the football operation and let him succeed or fail.... or get someone else to head it up. Instead, I just see more murk.