Which Bills Decision Infuriated You?

[BillsSbSoon]

1 hour ago, Buffalo30 said:

Least watchable?  Some fans don't just watch the games to see their team score.  I loved watching our defense last season.  I thought last year was easily the most exciting year over the last ten. You must like watching only offense if you thought last year wasn't watchable.  Do you only like watching teams that throw for 300 yards a game?  Serious question.  

I wouldnt say it was unwatchable, but he has a point. At times it was hard to watch. Clearly this was one of the least talented teams we had in a while, 2014 was more exciting to me even though that offense was hard to watch a lot of the time as well. That team was young and talented and physically beating people up. We would have been contenders had we had a qb

[LABILLBACKER]

No one had a crystal ball for this draft but it sure would've been nice to out deal the Jets and get that 3 spot. I still think Darnold will out shine the other guys in this qb heavy draft. 

[BillsSbSoon]

I think my most infuriating moment will be if allen doesnt pan out and rosen does. I was pounding on the table for rosen for months. I may never forgive this franchise if that happens

[WhoTom]

In addition to a few already mentioned:

 

1. Keeping Jauron for the sake of "continuity."

 

2. Releasing Bledsoe and handing over the keys to JP without a camp competition.

 

3. Releasing Fitz and handing over the keys to EJ without a camp competition.

 

4. Defensive Attention Deficit Disorder: 4-3 to 3-4 to 4-3 far too many times.

 

5. Letting Edwards throw a pass in the red zone when all we needed was a FG to seal the win against Dallas.

 

 

[MJS]

3 hours ago, Logic said:

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.

 

One day all of the excuses for Watkins will end.

[Buffalo86]

I don't know if this counts, but McLovin fighting for extra yards vs the Patriots in the '09 opener was terrible.  Two minutes left with an 11 point lead, and this guy coughs the ball up on the 31.  He tried to rationalize it with some "that's the way I play the game" nonsense, and Jauron even echoed his sentiment with "well that's the way he plays the game, and you wouldn't want him to change that."  Dick should've been canned before he stepped away from the podium.  

[Buffalo Barbarian]

CJ Spiller, Aaron Maybin

 

 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

3 hours ago, klos63 said:

Not firing Kay Stephenson after 2-14 season

How could you fire him?!  He always showed 'a lot of character'.  At least he trotted that line out in just about every post-game press conference during his tenure.

[Tyrod's friend]

I've been watching football since Ben Davidson thought it might be fun to see just how far Joe Namath could bend.

Between 1997 and 2014, we let ... in order ...
Wade Phillips

Dick LeBeau and
Jim Schwartz
leave Buffalo.

From an organizational failure perspective, you can't get a whole lot worse than that. That's some world class idiocy right there.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

52 minutes ago, Buffalo86 said:

...and the other will never be a GM again.

Judging from his stylish dressing and cool demeanour, I think Whaley's holding out for the role of Ricardo Tubbs in the next 'Miami Vice' revival.

[GreggTX]

Letting Lamonica go, then watching him take the Raiders to the SB. Even the decision to start Kemp over Lamonica was wrong.

[cage]

4 hours ago, Rock'em Sock'em said:

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

 

 

 

At the time Losman was well-thought of.... Maybe, I agree... everyone knew they wanted Sammy and he was also thought to be a can't miss stud.  Speaking of draft decisions, how about picking Willis Magahee in the first round for a team that had other needs

[Logic]

36 minutes ago, MJS said:

 

One day all of the excuses for Watkins will end.

Yeah. Probably when Mahomes gets him 1500 yards and he makes the All Pro team.

[The Now Moment]

1 hour ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Yes, really.

 

They were the 26th ranked defense in the NFL despite a very, very favorable and incredibly timely schedule.

 

Besides the 3 game stretch, they gave up 17.7 points per game as a defense.  The defense was the reason that they won so many games.  How pointless is it to say they were the 26 that ranked defense...that was for yards. Points are what matter.  They were a classic bend but don't break defense in most games.  

1 hour ago, BillsSbSoon said:

I wouldnt say it was unwatchable, but he has a point. At times it was hard to watch. Clearly this was one of the least talented teams we had in a while, 2014 was more exciting to me even though that offense was hard to watch a lot of the time as well. That team was young and talented and physically beating people up. We would have been contenders had we had a qb

We won close games last year.  I don't care about talent.  Talent didn't get us anywhere back then did it.  They won last year because they had the will to do so.  They scratched and crawled their way to victory.  It was incredibly entertaining to watch a team that didn't have a lot of talent go out and beat teams that were supposedly better than them.  I don't just watch because of talent and teams don't win just because of talent. 

[Paulus]

The Watkins trade to the Rams. It turned out is was wrong, considering.

 

Maybin over Orakpo.

 

Allowing Russ Brandon to be employed, despite the fact he obviously had/has something to do with the curse. I wouldn't be the bit suprised if we discovered he was a representative of Satan or a voodoo priest. The guy was an albatross who lived of the grease his sleeze produced.  He did most of his job with the competency a tiny monkey could, but was heralded as a wunderkind.

 

I mean, the guy was touted as not having anything to do with "football" decisions, but was regularly seen bickering with coaches and GMs, seen in the draft room, and was around during some of the lowest years in Buffalo sports. I also hate the fact that when I finally caved to peer pressure, and gave up my crusade again him, he was finally caught for the scum/albatross he was. It took me up until a month before he was fired before I "came around on him." His existence disappoints me on multiple levels. One of those people where I'd be a happier person had they never existed. And, I think the world would have been a happier place, too. 

Edited May 13, 2018 by Paulus

[BillsSbSoon]

7 minutes ago, Buffalo30 said:

Besides the 3 game stretch, they gave up 17.7 points per game as a defense.  The defense was the reason that they won so many games.  How pointless is it to say they were the 26 that ranked defense...that was for yards. Points are what matter.  They were a classic bend but don't break defense in most games.  

We won close games last year.  I don't care about talent.  Talent didn't get us anywhere back then did it.  They won last year because they had the will to do so.  They scratched and crawled their way to victory.  It was incredibly entertaining to watch a team that didn't have a lot of talent go out and beat teams that were supposedly better than them.  I don't just watch because of talent and teams don't win just because of talent. 

I dont either, im just saying we were loaded talent wise before it got wrecked. This team had a ton of heart last year and we were all proud of that, but we cant keep getting by on that. You have to have talent

[BillsVet]

Others have covered the front office leadership debacles from 2001 to present.  Those hirings (Levy, Brandon, Nix, Whaley) are the worst because they set in motion bad personnel decisions. 

 

During the playoff drought, it was insisting on one guy as the answer at QB and then adamantly refusing to draft another QB high. Levy/Jauron going with Losman in '06. They spent a 3rd on Edwards in '07, then didn't bring in any competition (Fitz was advertised as a backup) to Trentative.. Next, Nix/Gailey ignoring the QB position and thinking Fitz would be the man. They drafted no one in 2011-12, leaving them a huge problem in 2013 when the QB class was putrid. Then, Whaley insisting EJM was the guy, failing to draft anyone in '14 when the talk at OBD was EJM couldn't play. They went with TT in '15 and Whaley made sure Cassel was traded to get his boy EJM onto the field. They drafted no one of note (Cardale was a project) in '16 and only now with a competent (it seems) GM in Beane have they used a high pick on a QB. Either way, there wasn't much competition at QB for too many years while other teams relentlessly tried to improve the position until they got their guy. 

 

Cliff notes version: Not getting competition at QB for years, and when they made a move toward that way, it wasn't genuine or with a high resource. 

[H2o]

3 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

I excoriated that deal and the Marshawn Lynch deal the same way I have the Watkins deal............I suspect ALL THREE will look like horrendous deals for the Bills in retrospect.

I didn't like trading Lynch either, but I think he was headed for destruction around here. He narrowly escaped another strike in Seattle. Great player though. 

 

Watkins I think we got a good return for all in all. Would I have liked to keep him? Yes, but apparently he was a bad locker room presence as well as being a bit "off" mentally. 

[Your Brown Eye]

2 hours ago, NewEra said:

Before that, watching Big Ben slide and we stay put to draft lee Evans......AND THEN TRADE OUR 2nd AND NEXT YEARS FIRST FOR JP LOSS-MAN!!  JUST......WOW

 

I'm am pretty certain the narrative of that day was we had a trade in place with the Jaguars to leap frog Pittsburgh for Big Ben, then the Jags backed out last second to draft a bust of a WR. Bills did not purposely "stay put", they tried to move up. 

[nuklz2594]

rex ryan being coach and then his brother being signed.  trading for sammy watkins.etc...

[K-9]

Not paying Wade and forcing him to file a grievance. Did a lot to damage our reputation among the coaching community at the time. 

[BillsPride12]

The 2006 Draft stands out as a point where i knew the Bills had absolutely no clue what they were doing...as if taking Whitner at 8 when Ngata was still on the board was bad enough, then they went and traded up for John McCargo when Nick Mangold was still available.. I remember wanting to cry when that happened.  

[Johnny Hammersticks]

49 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

The 2006 Draft stands out as a point where i knew the Bills had absolutely no clue what they were doing...as if taking Whitner at 8 when Ngata was still on the board was bad enough, then they went and traded up for John McCargo when Nick Mangold was still available.. I remember wanting to cry when that happened.  

 

Amen, brotha ?

[1st&ten]

I'm old so there's tons of them---

 

Trading Daryl Lamonica to the Raiders

Not building the stadium in Lancaster

Cutting Fred Jackson

Hiring Rex Ryan

 

I could list about 50 more.

 

 

[BurpleBull]

Just seeing the Eagles get quality Bills' players again and again whether through trades or signings really got under my skin.

[Bing Bong]

CJ Spiller. I even thought he was a good runningback but we had all these holes and a stable of great RBs already

 

Maybin was the opposite, was pretty sure he was a super risky pick, but a position we desperately needed

3 minutes ago, BurpleBull said:

Just seeing the Eagles get quality Bills' players again and again whether through trades or signings really got under my skin.

Cept the Shady deal!

Edited May 13, 2018 by PetermanThrew5Picks

[The Frankish Reich]

6 hours ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

Getting rid of Lamonica.

 

Hiring Wrecks.

 

 

Those are my Top 2.

I started following football about 1971 or so. Lamonica's Raiders were always good and exciting to watch. I remember being astounded when my dad told me that he used to be on the Bills. I couldn't figure out how that could have possibly happened. You know what? I still can't.

[BurpleBull]

6 minutes ago, PetermanThrew5Picks said:

CJ Spiller. I even thought he was a good runningback but we had all these holes and a stable of great RBs already

 

Maybin was the opposite, was pretty sure he was a super risky pick, but a position we desperately needed

Cept the Shady deal!

 

I honestly was still in shock that they would trade Alonso after he showed so much promise as a rookie even with McCoy being the player they swapped for.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

12 minutes ago, PetermanThrew5Picks said:

CJ Spiller. I even thought he was a good runningback but we had all these holes and a stable of great RBs already

 

Maybin was the opposite, was pretty sure he was a super risky pick, but a position we desperately needed

 

That would have to rank as about my worst.  In addition to Orakpo, Clay Matthews was still on the board when we drafted Maybin.  The pain, it lingers.

 

Between about 2006 and 2010, I KNOW, KNOW, about 10 or 12 guys on this board could have crafted a better draft than the Bills did, either going off their own scouting or just consensus judgement of multiple "media experts"

 

I suppose in retrospect, I thought well of Nix (2011 on) and Whaley just because at least they were a marked improvement.

[Bing Bong]

11 minutes ago, BurpleBull said:

 

I honestly was still in shock that they would trade Alonso after he showed so much promise as a rookie even with McCoy being the player they swapped for.

But yeah.. their role players on defense are like half the bills Swchartz D. Bradham was very underrated disappointed we couldn't keep him

[Steve Billieve]

Russ Brandon to GM didn't feel good.

Cutting Andre Reed, Thurman Thomas, and Bruce Smith left a sinking feeling in my stomach as well.  Don't know that infuriated is really the right word though.

[Ralonzo]

2 hours ago, cage said:

At the time Losman was well-thought of.... Maybe, I agree...

 

A guy who wasn't well thought of that got traded up for in the first round: John McCargo.

[DriveFor1Outta5]

Allowing Leodis McKelvin to return kicks. The fumble game occurred in 2009, yet he was given the chance to fumble away a KC game in 2014. 

[Green Lightning]

7 hours 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.

And with just seconds left. 

 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

14 minutes ago, DriveFor1Outta5 said:

Allowing Leodis McKelvin to return kicks. The fumble game occurred in 2009, yet he was given the chance to fumble away a KC game in 2014. 

Never did see McKelvin at any autograph sessions...they were probably afraid he would drop the pen.

[gr8billsfan]

Changing the uniform colors from the good looking blue jerseys in the 90s to the uglier darker ones in 2002.

[BuffaloRush]

4 hours ago, WhoTom said:

In addition to a few already mentioned:

 

1. Keeping Jauron for the sake of "continuity."

 

2. Releasing Bledsoe and handing over the keys to JP without a camp competition.

 

3. Releasing Fitz and handing over the keys to EJ without a camp competition.

 

4. Defensive Attention Deficit Disorder: 4-3 to 3-4 to 4-3 far too many times.

 

5. Letting Edwards throw a pass in the red zone when all we needed was a FG to seal the win against Dallas.

 

 

 

These are great points.  I remember people actually defending the move for “continuity.”  That drove me crazy

[ProcessYaDigg]

Trading up for Losman (We could've waited on grabbed Aaron "freaking" Rodgers the following year)

Buffalo calling a pass play on first and goal on the 1 yard line against the Jags in our first playoff game since the Music City Miracle

[BobbyC81]

In no particular order:

 

Not keeping Ahmad Rashad

Firing Bill Polian

Drafting CJ Spiller

Not keeping Jason Peters happy and around

Trading a 1st rounder (and 4th) for Rob Johnson, a QB with limited experience

Letting Pat Williams and Antoine Winfield leave

[Alphadawg7]

Whitner over Ngata was a hard pill to swallow the moment it happened.  And while Whitner had a solid career, it was nothing compared to Ngata.

 

Trading up for McCargo pissed me off too

 

New contract for FitzCrapTrick sent me on a bender...How anyone thought he was worth that contract was beyond me.  Just good enough to keep you from having a good draft pick, and crappy enough to never go anywhere.  Terrible choice to extend him.

 

Trading Dareus for a sack of rocks I was not a fan of.  Had no issue trading him, but I hated dumping him far below his real value and would have preferred to keep him and move him in the offseason.  Not to mention, we sent him to an AFC team with a tough D on the rise to just help them stand in our way in the future.  

 

Lastly, pretty much every decision Hackett made pissed me off.  Never saw anyone call games so poorly.  I would add in, Chan Gaileys decision to always abandon a killer run game to let Fitz throws us OUT of games drove me nuts too.