Which Bills Decision Infuriated You?

[BuffaloRush]

As a Bills fans there’s many decisions that likely have made you pull out your hair, or slam your fist down in anger....or at least shake your head.  With the Josh Allen over Josh Rosen debate fresh on our minds, this is thread is dedicated to those times when the Bills have disappointed you with a key decision.

 

Heres a few from me and most have to do with coaches.

 

I remember really being sketical when Ralph Wilson made a statement by firing Tom Donahue, only to bring Marv on board as GM.  But like many, I said I’d give it a chance.  Then they hired Dick Jauron as HC.  I remember complaining on the BBMB that Ralph was being a “cheapskate” with his hires.  Of course I got banned from a mod named “nuebs”. I remember reading the old emails a few months ago.

 

Again I was really mad a few years later for almost the same reason.  Buddy Nix was named GM and again there was a coaching vacancy.  Names like Shannahan and Cowher were tossed around.  And then I was sitting in an auto shop getting my car fixed and a bunch of salesman were talking.  I heard one of them say “they are saying the Bills will hire Chan Gailey” who at the time was out of football.  It was almost like in Star Trek, but instead of saying “Kahhhhhhhhhhhn,” I dropped to my knees and said “Nooooooooooooooo.”  In the end, I think things could have worked out with Chan if a few things were different.

 

Those are my choices - let’s hear your’s......

 

[HOUSE]

Right now its the entire Richie Incognito situation

 

This can be worked out. placing all the blame on Richie is a big mistake.

 

Like I always say, if the situation makes no sense there is always more to the story.

 

The Bills are not completely blameless

Edited May 13, 2018 by THE SLAMMER

[napmaster]

Starting Rob Johnson over Doug Flutie for the Tennessee playoff game.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

Rex ruining a great defense 

[Epstein's Mother]

2 minutes ago, napmaster said:

Starting Rob Johnson over Doug Flutie for the Tennessee playoff game.

 

Not sure I understand this one.  Maybe you meant starting Johnson over Flutie in general but in this instance when Rob Johnson walked off the field for the last time that day he was ahead.

[qwksilver]

Ralph Wilson's decision to make money vs fielding a winning organization.

Edited May 13, 2018 by qwksilver

[BuffaloMatt]

5 minutes ago, Epstein's Mother said:

 

Not sure I understand this one.  Maybe you meant starting Johnson over Flutie in general but in this instance when Rob Johnson walked off the field for the last time that day he was ahead.

With Flutie I think the game would have been in hand and the illegal forward pass TD would have never been a posibility.

[Kirby Jackson]

17 minutes ago, napmaster said:

Starting Rob Johnson over Doug Flutie for the Tennessee playoff game.

 

16 minutes ago, ShadyBillsFan said:

Rex ruining a great defense 

These are both good ones because they didn’t make sense at the time. These weren’t bad decisions in hindsight; they were bad decisions immediately. 

 

I’ll throw another one out there, not paying Jason Peters. He was a young star at a premium position. That’s the exact kind of guy that you throw money at. It was a stupid decision to play hardball with him.

Edited May 13, 2018 by Kirby Jackson

[Domdab99]

3 minutes ago, BuffaloMatt said:

With Flutie I think the game would have been in hand and the illegal forward pass TD would have never been a posibility.

 

lol you don't know that

[Logic]

At the time, I was INFURIATED that they traded away Sammy Watkins.

I was always a big fan of his and felt that the Bills had misused him and saddled him with awful QB and awful offensive playcalling from day one. In my opinion, he had -- and still has -- the talent and work ethic to be the best receiver in the league. Aside from his health, he keeps being the victim of terrible situations. Even in LA last year, he arrived late enough that Woods and Kupp had already established a rapport with Goff. Watkins never seemed to be more than the third option or deep threat decoy in their passing game. I still feel that he's one of the most physically talented WRs I've ever seen.

That being said, I've gotten over it. Watkins probably would've walked anyway, so getting a 2nd round pick and a year of Gaines was a win. Also, seeing Sammy's daily lunatic rantings on Twitter about being a solar reptilian being make me feel better about the whole thing.

1 minute ago, Domdab99 said:

 

lol you don't know that

I mean...he DID say "I think", not "I know for a fact!".

[Rock'em Sock'em]

Three "Gahh!!, what are they doing???" moments:

2004 - Trading up for JP Losman

2009 - Drafting Aaron Mabin instead of Brian Orakpo

2014 - Trading up for Sammy Watkins

 

 

 

[Fixxxer]

Getting rid of Pat Williams

 

Whitner over Ngata

 

Aaron Maybin over Orapko.

 

Overpaying for Kelsay

 

Drafting McGahee

 

Rex over anyone. 

[2ForMacAdoo]

Without question letting Jason Peters get away, yet another bungled job by Russ Brandon. Yes, I know we received a 1st and a 3rd from the Eagles which turned into Eric Wood. But no great organization lets a future Hall of Fame get away. Pay the man and get on with it. 

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

Russ Brandon and Doug Whaley, two guys I knew would be horrid. Russ should've been fired after Wilson passed and Whaley should've been let go after his 1st contract expired. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Getting rid of Lamonica.

 

Hiring Wrecks.

 

 

[Epstein's Mother]

17 minutes ago, BuffaloMatt said:

With Flutie I think the game would have been in hand and the illegal forward pass TD would have never been a posibility.

 

Opinion stated as fact is still opinion.

[May Day 10]

I lost it when Brandon got "fired" as gm, everyone took a half step to the left, and they "hired" buddy nix.

 

That was when I knew the bills would never again be respectable while Ralph Wilson was the owner... but also knew that him not being the owner would likely mean the Toronto Bills.  Just a miserable existence 

[Maine-iac]

I'm going to go over the heads of any individual.  Over the players, over the coaches, even owners and just say as a group or team it infuriates me that they just don't ever recognize and collectively just fix what's wrong.  By that I mean each year you can pretty much put a finger on one area or part that isn't working and seemingly every year instead of just fixing the part that wasn't working they completely retool or tear apart what was working.  The last time we had an offense that could outscore you and a defense that would sack you, cause turnovers, and keep you from scoring at the same time was back in the 90's.  Now I know that everyone is trying to do that and I get it that it can't happen every year but it's been 20 years. When Chan was here they just needed a DC.  When Rex was here oddly enough they just needed a DC.  Seemingly now they need an OC hopefully Daboll is that OC but that remains to be seen, he wouldn't have been my pick.  Marrone might have actually been building in the right direction with Hacket and Scwhartz, if you look at the Jags, but he wanted out.  I just can't believe in 20 years they can't get it collectively together.

[uticaclub]

In No Order:

 

Trading Dareus in the middle of the year

Giving up what we did for Watkins

Drafting McGahee

Hiring Chan Gailey

Drafting Spiller

Developing Jason Peters and not retaining him

Multiple extensions to Chris Kelsey

 

 

[BillsfaninChicago]

I remember being particularly mad about the Whitner pick. It seriously came out of left field taking him at 8 when Ngata was on the board.

[Maine-iac]

Just now, uticaclub said:

In No Order:

 

Trading Dareus in the middle of the year

Giving up what we did for Watkins

Drafting McGahee

Hiring Chan Gailey

Drafting Spiller

Developing Jason Peters and not retaining him

Multiple extensions to Chris Kelsey

 

 

That Kelsey time frame, they were in love with small defensive players.  We were getting killed with our run defense and they kept drafting LB's sized DL players and safety sized LB's.  I think Maybin happened then as well.  Peters was talented and we developed him from nothing but he was a turd.  He also gave up a ton of sacks and it seemed almost  completely because he gave up on plays.

[BillsfaninChicago]

I also remember being bummed about the Jauron hire. For me he was the face of the drought era.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

27 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

I’ll throw another one out there, not paying Jason Peters. He was a young star at a premium position. That’s the exact kind of guy that you throw money at. It was a stupid decision to play hardball with him.

Not paying Peters was a bad move.  

[YoloinOhio]

I’ll own it. It was the kiko trade. Also, I’m an idiot.

[nucci]

Not re-signing Chuck Knox. We were close to a Superbowl team

[Utah John]

Giving up a home game to Toronto. 

Trading Lamonica for Flores.  Lamonica obviously had years of great play ahead of him, and Flores was washed up.  (If you don't know who these guys are, you missed some great Bills teams.)

Trading Cookie Gilchrist to the Broncos.

Trading Ron McDole to the Redskins.

Hiring John Rauch. Hiring Wrecks and letting him destroy Schwartz's great defense.  Hiring Marv Levy as GM. 

 

Most important, letting Littman call too many shots.  The cheapskate Bills would not compete for talent with the deep-pocket teams. 

 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

31 minutes ago, Domdab99 said:

 

lol you don't know that

 

Exactly. ANYONE with honest memories of that season knows WHY johnson started that game over flutie:

 

He was hot garbage for the second half of that year.

 

[/dev/null]

When the Bills cut Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas, and Andre Reed on the same day
Hiring Rex Ryan

[NastyNateSoldiers]

Were should i start and where should i end.  Let's just say from 2000 to 2017 wasn't a joy ride. 

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

losing the first superbowl...then the second, third and fourth. have to say it pissed me off and even to this day I'm pissed that marv was inept (poor decision making on his part) to the importance of discipline and did not restrict the players from boozing it up for two weeks leading up to the game(s).

 

hopefully, although I believe, McD wont have any of that and since he was the coach who broke the streak, maybe he can also beak the sb loss streak and keep them disciplined enough to be able to hoist up the lombardi in the near future?

Edited May 13, 2018 by DaBillsFanSince1973

[folz]

When Whaley released Fred Jackson!

[Utah John]

Here are more:

Firing Bill Polian because he wouldn't be pushed around by Ralph's daughter.

Firing John Butler for no apparent reason.

Bad drafts are too easy a target, but some were so stupid they stand out.  Drafting Al Cowlings in the first round so OJ would have his buddy to hang out with.  Aaron Maybin -- seriously, what were they thinking?  Trading two firsts and a fourth for Sammy Watkins, when we didn't have a QB to throw to him. 

Treating Lou Saban like crap, twice.

2 minutes ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

losing the first superbowl...then the second, third and fourth. have to say it pissed me off and even to this day I'm pissed that marv was inept (poor decision making on his part) to the importance of discipline and did not restrict the players from boozing it up for two weeks leading up to the game(s).

 

hopefully, although I believe, McD wont have any of that and since he was the coach who broke the streak, maybe he can also beak the sb loss streak and keep them disciplined enough to be able to hoist up the lombardi in the near future?

There was only one week between the playoffs and the SB against the Giants.  Maybe if there had been two weeks like there had been before, the Bills would have gotten the partying out of their system and buckled down.

[klos63]

Trading Rashad

Not keeping Chuck Knox

Not firing Kay Stephenson after 2-14 season

Firing Polian

Firing Butler

[Joe Bones]

Letting all- pro guard Rueben Brown get away to Chicago. 

[H2o]

Whitner over Ngata

 

Maybin over Orakpo

 

Not trying to kick it out of the endzone against Tennessee

 

Trading instead of paying Jason Peters

 

Not hiring Jim Schwartz in favor of Rex

[Infinitum]

47 minutes ago, BuffaloMatt said:

With Flutie I think the game would have been in hand and the illegal forward pass TD would have never been a posibility.

 

No way, they would have outright lost the game if Flutie had started.

[BADOLBILZ]

 

Watkins trade was the most recent of many.

 

Just an awful decision and a garbage return...........he and Tyrod were clicking.

 

With the possible exception of OBJ,  Watkins is the best deep ball tracking WR in the NFL.....he catches them with the same ease as a short throw......no slowing down or leaving his feet to simply catch the ball.     Basically the ideal WR to matchup with young QB's Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen.    IDEAL.

 

Got extremely lucky in 2017 and broke the drought without him but it was one of the least watchable seasons of that time period......mostly due to the worst WR corps in team history.    It was ghastly and looks no better on paper right now despite trading similar draft capital to acquire Kelvin Benjamin........whose November arrival proved too little/too late for helping the pass game.

 

People who say "they weren't going to re-sign Watkins" are likely wrong........they likely would have.......and had the franchise tag at their disposal.     He liked Buffalo he had just gotten soured a bit by the environment and they should have let Bolden work with him for more than 2 days before trading him.

 

The incoming WR talent has dried up since the 2014 draft and the Bills are feeling that crunch.  

 

The upside is,  as Belichick would say,  you almost have to be constantly making mistakes in the NFL to remain uncompetitive.

 

Even 50% bad decisions shouldn't keep you from still being in contention for a wildcard in December.    

[Utah John]

Here's another:  Letting Jim Kelly take a call from the USFL in the Bills office, when he was ready to sign as a rookie.  He ended up spending a couple of years in the USFL instead of with the Bills.

[Original Byrd Man]

17 minutes ago, ShadyBillsFan said:

Not paying Peters was a bad move.  

Absolutely the worst move in recent history. After performing at a probowl level at LT he should have been given a new deal.

[Peace Frog]

My personal favorite: letting a not fully healed Jim Kelly start in the AFC Championship game at Miami over Frank Reich back in Jan of 1993.  Yes, we won the game and went on to our 3rd Super Bowl but Kelly threw a couple of INTs and looked rusty.  Frank was on a roll after the Oilers comeback and winning on the road at Pittsburgh.  Not only would Frank have beaten Miami, I think he would've done good against Dallas.