Russ Brandon - keep him or fire him?

[YoloinOhio]

Ohhhhh, I know where it's coming from, and what will be on it. There IS a Pizza Plan in place!

 

(Unfortunately, there is no pizza in Atlanta as good as Bufflao pizza, but I'll do my best.)

lol I know the feeling. It's good... but it's not the same!

[oldmanfan]

Brandon is the most over rated marketing person in human history. This is his strategy for filling sits in Buffalo,

 

Lowest ticket prices in the league

Move 1/8 of the inventory to Toronto ( where he 100% completely failed)

Threaten fans with moving the team if they don't buy tickets

NFL blackout rules keeping the games off of tv on frequent basis.

 

Literally any person who has ever sold a bag of popcorn could achieve the same level of "success" using that strategy.

 

Operations off the field, stadiums conditions etc. have been a disaster since he has been at the helm, and the on field results couldn't be worse.

 

Not sure what people think has done that is so impressive.

 

 

It starts with one reason to be angry

If you look at the Buffalo Bills website it will tell you what the job titles are of the executives. Brent Rossi is the Executive VP for Marketing for the Buffalo Bills.

 

If you don't even understand what Russ Brandon's actual job is, it 's a bit absurd to be critical of the job he does.

[Augie]

lol I know the feeling. It's good... but it's not the same!

Sarasota, FL has several WNY transplants who make great pizza! Burnt edges on the small, thick pepperoni, little grease puddles, more cheese than a typical place around here, crust not too thick and not too thin..... I almost wish I could get my wife on an earlier flight!

[Figster]

i'm not saying this to even defend russ, because at this point i wouldn't bat an eyelash if he was fired, but...

 

this entire thing is a little hypocritical. if someone on the bills staff doesn't produce...they're terrible, a cancer to this team, and need to be fired.

 

if someone on the bills staff does his actual job, (in this case russ)...it's an easy job, anyone could do it, his accomplishments don't matter.

 

with someone posters, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. i get that people don't want russ to make any football decisions, and i completely agree, but to say that his isn't good at what he does in terms of marketing is just simple.

If all R Brandon ever did was strictly marketing I could go along with what your saying here teef, but Brandon sticks his nose in football operations to promote marketing and thats not the way its supposed to work in my humble opinion.

 

Guy has probably been the cause of more knee jerk reactions from the Bills organization then we will ever know,

 

talk about cancer to the team...

Edited May 8, 2017 by Figster

[oldmanfan]

Sarasota, FL has several WNY transplants who make great pizza! Burnt edges on the small, thick pepperoni, little grease puddles, more cheese than a typical place around here, crust not too thick and not too thin..... I almost wish I could get my wife on an earlier flight!

There is not an eatable pizza in the entire state of Indiana.

If all R Brandon ever did was strictly marketing I could go along with what your saying here teef, but Brandon sticks his nose in football operations to promote marketing and thats not the way its supposed to work in my humble opinion.

 

Guy has probably been the cause of more knee jerk reactions from the Bills organization then we will ever know,

 

talk about cancer to the team...

He should not stick his nose into football and the optics now indicate he's not. See above for corrections on him being strictly a marketing guy.

[YoloinOhio]

There is not an eatable pizza in the entire state of Indiana.

 

He should not stick his nose into football and the optics now indicate he's not. See above for corrections on him being strictly a marketing guy.

ha - I hear you about Indiana pizza. Same in Ohio .

[Rico]

This really needed to be a public poll, I can't appropriately label all the keep him voters.

[Augie]

ha - I hear you about Indiana pizza. Same in Ohio .

Bocce's delivers out of state, but it's still not the same.... I know, I've done it. Brought back good memories, but.....

 

Casa di Pizza in Sarasota is very good. It's a must do when I get back. Best wings in town, too. And they have Labatts.

Edited May 8, 2017 by Augie

[YoloinOhio]

Bocce's delivers out of state, but it's still not the same.... I know, I've done it. Brought back good memories, but.....

 

Casa di Pizza in Sarasota is very good. It's a must do when I get back. Best wings in town, too. And they have Labatts.

i have ordered Bocce nationwide delivery esp during football season. Totally worth it!

[oldmanfan]

i have ordered Bocce nationwide delivery esp during football season. Totally worth it!

You guys may have talked me into it.

[Augie]

i have ordered Bocce nationwide delivery esp during football season. Totally worth it!

We used to have open pool nights where I grew up in Williamsville, and people would make a Bocce run. Honestly some of the most treasured memories of my life. Much easier now with a location across from Williamsville North. Last game I attended up there I had leftovers in my hotel room for breakfast, and it was glorious! My wife is asleep already, and if there was a Bocce's nearby....

 

 

You guys may have talked me into it.

It's not 100% the same, but it's definitely worth it! I've saved it for game days in the past, and now i wonder why!

[JM2009]

Boneheads ... Russ is business operations, and he does a good job. Your woes as a Bills fan have zero to do with the business end.

 

Sure, in the past he had a failed stint at football ops. But that is past, by several years.

He's in charge of the new GM hire for the Sabres.

[Rochesterfan]

I understand what his official job title is. But look around OBD right now.... Brandon has more experience as a GM than anyone else in the building right now. I don't think it's realistic to think he won't have any say in football decisions going forward. Here's a portion from an article written by John Kryk just last week:

 

Whaley’s worst personnel decision, by far, came during his first draft as GM in 2014.

With the enthusiastic backing, if not the forceful urging, of recently appointed team president Brandon -- only one month after the death of founding Bills owner Ralph Wilson -- Whaley traded away Buffalo’s first- and fourth-round 2015 draft picks, merely to move up from No. 9 overall to No. 4.

This, to select a player Whaley and his scouts believed to be a rare NFL talent: wide receiver Sammy Watkins. This, even though for months every draftnik and his brother had been touting the 2014 wide-receiver class as the deepest and perhaps most talented yet.

“We thought it was a calculated risk, and a risk we were willing to take,” Whaley said of the Watkins trade-up at the time. “The high cost of not making the playoffs is something we weighed in, and we thought this guy was going to get us to the playoffs.”

It wasn’t Whaley’s unwise gamble alone. In his defence, it must be pointed out that Brandon -- in his second year as final decision-maker on all matters involving the Bills franchise -- had been hard-selling a new club mindset that the Bills, under his vision and leadership, had to become a “forward-thinking, progressive and attacking organization.”

Said an ecstatic Brandon moments after the Watkins trade-up: “We went into this draft saying we were going to be bold, and we made a bold move.”

Yet however much Brandon might have urged that trade-up -- and print and video reports from that day clearly suggest he was deeply involved -- it’s Whaley’s now to wear.

 

I understand the decision was ultimately Whaley's and not Brandon's. But if Brandon had no part in the decision making process AT ALL can you really say there's no chance we wouldn't have wound up with OBJ (or any of the other very talented players still on the board at #9) and an extra 1st instead of a WR we spent 2 1sts and a 4th on that may not even be a Bill this time next year? Can you say for sure without Brandon's advice that Rex Ryan would have still been our head coach the last two years? And more importantly who over at OBD now has enough knowledge/experience that they won't need to lean on Brandon's opinion going forward? The rookie head coach? The new owner? Their senior capologist? It only makes sense they'll lean on Brandon's experience the next time a big decision needs to be made. I realize NONE of this is fair to Brandon who I'm sure is a really nice guy and is very talented at the job he's actually being paid to do. But I would feel better about the Bills' chances going forward if he were no longer a part of the organization. I don't believe it's possible to keep Brandon at OBD and keep him fully separated from all football decisions. They've been saying for years now he has no say in football operations anymore when he clearly does and likely will going forward. Not having the final say is different than not having any say at all.

 

 

 

See it is stuff like this that causes issues. The key statement in the entire thing is when did this occur. This supposed example occurred just months after Ralph's passing when Russ was the de facto owner in charge. I am pretty sure that Whaley would of needed his approval to make that trade - just as he would of needed Ralph's in the past or Terry's now.

 

I think Russ had little impact on the decision, but when Whaley came to him and it was Whaley's guy - Russ in his typical manner was very gang ho and very team oriented. If you watch Russ at all - once a decision is made - he gets behind it 100% and tries to sell it to the entire organization.

 

In any regards - that is no longer part of his job - so people point to things like that as if he should not have been involved - even as acting owner of the team and an active part of the sales/transition of the team to the Pegulas.

 

As to the Rex Ryan fiasco - did he have some input - Yes. The Pegulas have repeatedly stated they did not have enough contacts to ask the right questions and requested that Russ reach out around the league for candidates. Russ did not have the final say, but was requested for input and once the Pegulas decided on Rex - he did not want him to leave because he knew Atlanta at the time was looking at the hire also.

[oldmanfan]

He's in charge of the new GM hire for the Sabres.

"It sounds like it's Russ Brandon, who is the President of the Buffalo Bills and the President Buffalo Sabres," Friedman said. "But, I think the league would have a lot of input on this one."

 

If this is what you're using as proof of your comment it's pretty weak.

[Dorkington]

Fire him, only because I'm tired him being blamed for everything, let's see if it's actually his fault or not.

[BarleyNY]

If all R Brandon ever did was strictly marketing I could go along with what your saying here teef, but Brandon sticks his nose in football operations to promote marketing and thats not the way its supposed to work in my humble opinion.

 

Guy has probably been the cause of more knee jerk reactions from the Bills organization then we will ever know,

 

talk about cancer to the team...

 

And that's the crux of the matter. It's why he needs to go.

 

He should not stick his nose into football and the optics now indicate he's not. See above for corrections on him being strictly a marketing guy.

Except that's not true. He has continued to attempt to influence things on the football side and has succeeded to some degree until very recently. Only with the sacking of Whaley did he lose his last avenue to exert his influence. There's no way that's acceptable to me - and his current impotence in influencing football operations is not a defense.

 

There are a lot of people that can do his job and stay out of things they shouldn't be involved in. Hire one of them.

[oldmanfan]

 

 

And that's the crux of the matter. It's why he needs to go.

 

 

Except that's not true. He has continued to attempt to influence things on the football side and has succeeded to some degree until very recently. Only with the sacking of Whaley did he lose his last avenue to exert his influence. There's no way that's acceptable to me - and his current impotence in influencing football operations is not a defense.

 

There are a lot of people that can do his job and stay out of things they shouldn't be involved in. Hire one of them.

So what you're saying is he no longer is involved with football. Which is what I said. which I what the owners have said. And which is what Russ has said.

 

There are not a lot of people with the expertise to run a large sports enterprise and oversee four different teams. And I'll say again, if the Pegulas see him failing in his actual job (and not what people around here want to continue to insist is his job), then they'll make a change. Recall that Terry's hand picked guy he brought in with him when they bought the Sabres was Ted Black. And when Terry decided he had to go, he let him go. And for whom? Russ Brandon.

[DefenseWins]

https://youtu.be/cNX_wGyKhmM

 

Except the Bills (however awful they have been over the last 17 seasons) are NOT the WWE...

[billsfan_34]

As I suspected. You have nothing.

I would of got a warning for much less- I wonder if he did?

[DefenseWins]

He's in charge of the new GM hire for the Sabres.

 

I highly doubt that Russ is going to decide who the next GM of the Sabres or The Bills is going to be... Nor did he hire Rex (Pegs did that) and Whaley was brought on board as Buddy Nix's assistant GM presumably by Buddy himself... And it was Whaley's stupid decision to trade for Watkins... Brandon is a marketing guy NOT a football guy NOR a hockey guy... And he has done a pretty good job at the marketing side IMHO...