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Ralph set this team back with his trust issues

Jerry Jabber

By Jerry Jabber
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Jerry Jabber

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After John Butler and company left, and with Ralph getting up there in age (around 80) Ralph became more "hands off" and hired Tom Donahoe as the team's president (something that hasn't been done in team history at that point). After a disastrous 5-11 season and with the front office in turmoil, Ralph fired Donahoe and went to a trusted friend in Marv Levy to turn things around. While Marv was a great HC, he was a terrible GM. Marv hired a terrible choice in HC [Jauron], dismantled a great defense and made terrible FA moves and draft picks. Once Marv stepped down as GM, he was replaced by Russ Brandon who was even worse as a GM. While Brandon has been great on the business side of football, he's been absolutely horrible when it comes to the on-field product. As Ralph grew older, he conceded more power to Brandon and others and the end result showed up on the field. Basically, Ralph put this team on "Auto-Pilot" once he hired Donahoe and the team has been in a downward spiral ever since as he hired people to take care of the team for him as he was very hands off over those 15 years. Unfortunately, the effects of that are still lingering on as Russ Brandon still has a lot of authority and influence on the team. The latest was when Terry Pegula asked Brandon about hiring a new HC, Brandon said "you go into these searches with no preconceived notions and expectations, and when you have the right guy, you just know." That right there is absolutely pathetic! It doesn't matter what business you're in, you must have expectations and knowledge about the position(s) you are hiring for.

 

This post isn't mean to bash the dead. Without Ralph Wilson, there would be no Buffalo Bills in the first place and the team wouldn't have stayed in Buffalo after his death. I do appreciate everything he's done for the city and for us fans. But, with him putting this team on "autopilot," it's had a tremendous impact on the franchise for over 17 years now. It's a huge hole to dig out of and who knows how long it will take to dig out from.

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Jerry Jabber Veteran

Jerry Jabber

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Sometimes I wonder if it's still karma for starting Rob over Doug. Ralph wanted a return on his investment, imo it really hasn't been the same since

Could be. I believe Ralph wanted to win, but didn't know how to. He was known to have been a meddling owner on numerous occasions which is why guys like Chuck Knox and John Butler decided to leave instead of resigning with the team.

this. Pegula really is no different than an extremely dumb fan but with a couple billion dollars.

So far, he's proven to be exactly that. Edited by Jerry Jabber
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Utah John Veteran

Utah John

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I don't think it was karma for Flutie vs Johnson, I think it was Ralph's age catching up to him and a lot of disastrous personnel decisions at about the same time. Firing Polian because he told off one of his underlings (who happened to be Ralph's daughter) was the start. Firing Wade Phillips was another ridiculous move. Firing John Butler and AJ Smith was another. Hiring Donohoe was another. The entire franchise was adrift, with lousy personnel moves resulting from lousy FO moves.

 

Hiring Wrecks was a PR success and a system disaster. Ryan took an outstanding defense and turned it into a pathetic joke. He was a hands-off guy who succeeded for awhile in New Jersey because he inherited great personnel and had great team leaders in place. Here, he relied on Mario Williams, Marcel Dareus, and Jerry Hughes, all great talents and all boy-men who don't have the maturity to do what's right themselves let along straighten out anyone else. The strong internal culture of the SB teams is a generation ago -- now we have Dareus not even following rules and not playing in the most important preseason game.

 

I don't know whether the current regime can whip this team into shape, but I am looking at a disaster of a season. An 0-5 start is a distinct possibility.

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klos63 Veteran

klos63

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this. Pegula really is no different than an extremely dumb fan but with a couple billion dollars.

This was my concern when he bought the team. I sat next to many stupid fans over the years, he could have been one of them.

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klos63 Veteran

klos63

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Could be. I believe Ralph wanted to win, but didn't know how to. He was known to have been a meddling owner on numerous occasions which is why guys like Chuck Knox and John Butler decided to leave instead of resigning with the team.

So far, he's proven to be exactly that.

Losing Knox was just horrible.

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Utah John Veteran

Utah John

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I cancelled NFL Sunday Ticket today. Too much to pay to suffer like we're going to.

 

I feel sorry for Shady who could be somewhere putting a team over the top. I feel bad for Kyle Williams, another in a long line of Bills to spend their entire career without making the playoffs. I am sorry for Sammy Watkins, who went from the frying pan into the fire, but at least he won't spend his last year here with a Jarius Byrd mystery foot injury before signing a big FA contract somewhere else.

 

I am honestly happy for Chris Hogan, who put forth a great effort here and now has a ring. He left because the coaches didn't play him to his strengths, and it worked out. Good for him. I hate the Pats, but you can't hate a player for hitting it big IF he went all-out while here, which Hogan did.

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abc Practice Squad

abc

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Losing Knox was just horrible.

 

Revisionist history here. Knox was competent but so painfully conservative his teams could never win a championship, before, during, or after his Bills tenure. Never made the Super Bowl in 22 years of head coaching and had a 7-11 post season record.

Solid guy but after 5 seasons it was time to move on. (Of course it did get worse until Marv came onboard).

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OldTimeAFLGuy Hall of Famer

OldTimeAFLGuy

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I cancelled NFL Sunday Ticket today. Too much to pay to suffer like we're going to.

 

I feel sorry for Shady who could be somewhere putting a team over the top. I feel bad for Kyle Williams, another in a long line of Bills to spend their entire career without making the playoffs. I am sorry for Sammy Watkins, who went from the frying pan into the fire, but at least he won't spend his last year here with a Jarius Byrd mystery foot injury before signing a big FA contract somewhere else.

 

I am honestly happy for Chris Hogan, who put forth a great effort here and now has a ring. He left because the coaches didn't play him to his strengths, and it worked out. Good for him. I hate the Pats, but you can't hate a player for hitting it big IF he went all-out while here, which Hogan did.

 

...never understood the Hogan hate when the kid was here anyway......and now because BB signed 'em and the kid is doing exactly what the Pats thought he was capable of, the hate heat has ratcheted up....go figure.....

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BADOLBILZ Hall of Famer

BADOLBILZ

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Makes me happy that i can enjoy more time fishing..

 

 

We kid but this is what is happening.

 

The even heat has just lulled these fanbases to sleep and the fanbase is shrinking and Bills country is retracting as the Pegula's attempt to rebuild downtown Buffalo.

 

Three games on Corning network TV last night.......Giants/Jets, Steelers game and Chargers/Rams.

 

In recent years they went from broadcasting all Bills preseason games down to 1 or 2 and now none.

 

I live 70 miles from the stadium but had to drive to a nearby bar to watch the Rochester feed again last night......and had to turn the TV to the game when I got there because nobody cares.

 

People can point to the season ticket situation being decent.........but since the drought started I would say the average NFL fan spends as much as 10x as much time consuming NFL information.......so the Bills seemingly steady numbers wrt to attendance etc. don't reflect the ever growing indifference in what was once a much larger Bills territory.

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Jerry Jabber Veteran

Jerry Jabber

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Bad pre-season game and the Pegula bashers coming out I can understand. But Ralph Wilson bashing for stuff he did 15 years ago? Give me a break.

I first had this conversation over the summer with a friend of mine (before training camp started). While talking with another Bills fan last night at the Ravens stadium, I mentioned this to him and he agreed that Ralph set the Bills back by being an absentee owner.

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OldTimeAFLGuy Hall of Famer

OldTimeAFLGuy

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....Cliff Notes version......post Polian era from a FO & Administration perspective was a patchwork mess.....unqualified people put in positions solely based on trust after DonoHOLE violated the "Inner Circle of Trust"....football people well past their prime put in critical decision making positions that had no business doing so...again, based on trust....post Polian era was probably the most painful stretches for me in 55 years of following this gang......the Steelers come to mind as a model organization......6 Lombardis, 3 HC's in 48+ yrs and non-meddling ownership......today's model is the Pats.....5 Lombardis, 14 AFCE titles, etc....you know the rest.....BUT....Pegula has and is atoning for his mistakes.....his FO and Admin hirings says the checkbook is open...and it will take time.....think about the Pats era with Grogan or the Steelers post Bradshaw/Noll.....

Edited by OldTimeAFLGuy
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abc Practice Squad

abc

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I first had this conversation over the summer with a friend of mine (before training camp started). While talking with another Bills fan last night at the Ravens stadium, I mentioned this to him and he agreed that Ralph set the Bills back by being an absentee owner.

So Pegula is a meddling owner who won't hire a professional to run the team and Ralph was an absentee owner who sat back and let professionals run the team.

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Jerry Jabber Veteran

Jerry Jabber

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So Pegula is a meddling owner who won't hire a professional to run the team and Ralph was an absentee owner who sat back and let professionals run the team.

Hahaha, Ralph hired professionals to run the team?! Thanks for the laugh!

 

If you were brand new to an industry and just purchased a large company/organization, wouldn't it make sense to hire consultants that are experts in that industry to help guide you along so you make better, informed decisions? Something the Pegula's should have done instead of trusting Russ Brandon.

Edited by Jerry Jabber
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Gugny Hall of Famer

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this. Pegula really is no different than an extremely dumb fan but with a couple billion dollars.

 

I realize most won't get this analogy, but I lived it. This is a lot like when Sam Zell bought Tribune Company. It didn't take him long to destroy it.

 

My only hope is that he takes some of that money and pays football/hockey people to do what they do best.

 

The Pegulas' involvement in these teams should be limited to writing checks.

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cba fan Veteran

cba fan

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I first had this conversation over the summer with a friend of mine (before training camp started). While talking with another Bills fan last night at the Ravens stadium, I mentioned this to him and he agreed that Ralph set the Bills back by being an absentee owner.

This is very debatable because Ralph completely f'd up this franchise during the years he was a complete clueless meddler owner.

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Thurman#1 Hall of Famer

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After John Butler and company left, and with Ralph getting up there in age (around 80) Ralph became more "hands off" and hired Tom Donahoe as the team's president (something that hasn't been done in team history at that point). After a disastrous 5-11 season and with the front office in turmoil, Ralph fired Donahoe and went to a trusted friend in Marv Levy to turn things around. While Marv was a great HC, he was a terrible GM. Marv hired a terrible choice in HC [Jauron], dismantled a great defense and made terrible FA moves and draft picks. Once Marv stepped down as GM, he was replaced by Russ Brandon who was even worse as a GM. While Brandon has been great on the business side of football, he's been absolutely horrible when it comes to the on-field product. As Ralph grew older, he conceded more power to Brandon and others and the end result showed up on the field. Basically, Ralph put this team on "Auto-Pilot" once he hired Donahoe and the team has been in a downward spiral ever since as he hired people to take care of the team for him as he was very hands off over those 15 years. Unfortunately, the effects of that are still lingering on as Russ Brandon still has a lot of authority and influence on the team. The latest was when Terry Pegula asked Brandon about hiring a new HC, Brandon said "you go into these searches with no preconceived notions and expectations, and when you have the right guy, you just know." That right there is absolutely pathetic! It doesn't matter what business you're in, you must have expectations and knowledge about the position(s) you are hiring for.

 

This post isn't mean to bash the dead. Without Ralph Wilson, there would be no Buffalo Bills in the first place and the team wouldn't have stayed in Buffalo after his death. I do appreciate everything he's done for the city and for us fans. But, with him putting this team on "autopilot," it's had a tremendous impact on the franchise for over 17 years now. It's a huge hole to dig out of and who knows how long it will take to dig out from.

 

 

First, there's no evidence Russ has any power in the football side. Going to meetings isn't power. And having your remarks printed isn't either and that's all we know ... that he went to meetings and had some reactions reported.

 

Second, the quotation isn't bad at all. There's no particular reason to think that he meant that you have no expectations about the positions. He could easily have meant that you don't have any pre-suppositions about the candidates and you let what they say make your decisions about how good their interviews were.

 

And I agree with the guy who said the timing of this post is strange.

 

If Russ does have power on the football side I would totally agree that that would be awful, but I don't see any evidence.

Edited by Thurman#1
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nucci Hall of Famer

nucci

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this. Pegula really is no different than an extremely dumb fan but with a couple billion dollars.

well said

 

I realize most won't get this analogy, but I lived it. This is a lot like when Sam Zell bought Tribune Company. It didn't take him long to destroy it.

 

My only hope is that he takes some of that money and pays football/hockey people to do what they do best.

 

The Pegulas' involvement in these teams should be limited to writing checks.

Yet they hired LaFontaine who hired Nolan...Hired Ryan and destroyed this team and fired numerous people already..not the stabilizing rich owner we've always wanted

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abc Practice Squad

abc

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First, there's no evidence Russ has any power in the football side. Going to meetings isn't power. And having your remarks printed isn't either and that's all we know ... that he went to meetings and had some reactions reported.

 

Second, the quotation isn't bad at all. There's no particular reason to think that he meant that you have no expectations about the positions. He could easily have meant that you don't have any pre-suppositions about the candidates and you let what they say make your decisions about how good their interviews were.

 

And I agree with the guy who said the timing of this post is strange.

 

If Russ does have power on the football side I would totally agree that that would be awful, but I don't see any evidence.

Agreed but you're assuming the OP is interested in evidence...or even logic. Neither of those appear to be involved in his/her arguments. Mainly positing opinions as facts and then quoting his/her Ravens fan buddy as an expert!

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