Brandon and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, GoBills808 said:

I think if you asked him he'd agree

 

Exactly my point. If you asked Beane he'd say "man, that was not a good week."

 

One of his greatest qualities is his self awareness and his willingness to say "I screwed that up." 

[Locomark]

A terrible week is when your football team is massively hindered from winning games. This didn’t do that. This was a terrible PR week only. The next ugly story will replace it and there is always one right around the corner in the NFL. 

[Alphadawg7]

1 hour ago, eball said:

Apparently Bills' GM Brandon Beane just had the "worst week of his tenure" as the Bills' GM.  Let's recap:

 

- traded former 2nd round pick Cody Ford to the Cardinals for a 5th rounder after coming to the conclusion Ford would not start on this OL

- released 6th round pick Matt Araiza after sexual assault allegations were revealed in a civil lawsuit

- released FA TE OJ Howard, costing the Bills just under 3M against this year's salary cap

 

As far as I am aware, Beane's dog did not pee on his shoes and his wife did not leave him.  He is still the GM of the team with the best Vegas odds to win the next Super Bowl.  He also just came off an offseason in which he signed future HOF edge rusher Von Miller and orchestrated a draft that is likely to yield several key contributors.  He also beefed up a defensive line that while statistically sound, could never finish the deal against Mahomes and the Chiefs.  He added multiple pieces to the offensive line for both starter and depth options.

 

If only our worst-ever weeks in our jobs could look like this.

 

 

Exactly...

 

Also, I have seen people around here getting on Beane over trading Ford and releasing OJ as if its not completely normal.  Every GM, 100% of all GM's in the league now, the past, and forever in the future cut or trade guys they brought in through draft/signing/trade every single preseason that did not work out.  

 

The insistence on some peoples obsession to remain in the negative lane at all times is utterly mind blowing.  Beane took a perennial loser team, got rid of 100% of the roster, and had them as a SB contender after 2 years of actually rebuilding, and now heading into their 4th year under him recognized as the most talented roster in the NFL by most and the consensus odds on favorite for both the SB and MVP.  

 

But Beane's overall record is clearly better than most, if not all, considering he flipped 100% of the roster over and turned into the consensus best roster in football in a few short years.

 

But hey, you negative minded people go right ahead and keep micro nit picking at the fact OJ Howard or Ford didn't work out, the rest of us are enjoying the ride to not only relevancy, but a perennial winning team and powerhouse contending for Super Bowls instead of watching 7 win teams every year.   

[Captain Caveman]

I think it's fair to recognize that this has indeed been a terrible week for Beane (primarily for how they stuck their heads in the sand over Araiza, also the signing of Howard definitely has backfired) and also recognize he has positioned us as Super Bowl favorites, and is one of the top GMs in the league.  Both of those things can be (and I would say are) true.

 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

1 hour ago, eball said:

Apparently Bills' GM Brandon Beane just had the "worst week of his tenure" as the Bills' GM.  Let's recap:

 

- traded former 2nd round pick Cody Ford to the Cardinals for a 5th rounder after coming to the conclusion Ford would not start on this OL

- released 6th round pick Matt Araiza after sexual assault allegations were revealed in a civil lawsuit

- released FA TE OJ Howard, costing the Bills just under 3M against this year's salary cap

 

As far as I am aware, Beane's dog did not pee on his shoes and his wife did not leave him.  He is still the GM of the team with the best Vegas odds to win the next Super Bowl.  He also just came off an offseason in which he signed future HOF edge rusher Von Miller and orchestrated a draft that is likely to yield several key contributors.  He also beefed up a defensive line that while statistically sound, could never finish the deal against Mahomes and the Chiefs.  He added multiple pieces to the offensive line for both starter and depth options.

 

If only our worst-ever weeks in our jobs could look like this.

 

The other reason I don’t hate these turn of events is it’s absolutely clear, these guys are aren’t clinging to prior decisions to save face. That’s takes moxie.
 

yep- effed that one up, time to move on… very mature and rational decision making processes at work.  

[Whites Bay]

26 minutes ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

The other reason I don’t hate these turn of events is it’s absolutely clear, these guys are aren’t clinging to prior decisions to save face. That’s takes moxie.
 

yep- effed that one up, time to move on… very mature and rational decision making processes at work.  

On a far smaller scale, it reminds me of the Kelvin Benjamin "experiment".  That didn't take very long, either.

[BillsfaninSB]

Good teams fix their mistakes and move on.  Bad teams double down.

 

Waiving Howard was a bummer but just like Star, I would rather save a roster spot for someone who is motivated and can help the team then worry about dead cap. 

 

Brandon and the Bills will be fine.

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by BillsfaninSB

[GunnerBill]

49 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

Exactly...

 

Also, I have seen people around here getting on Beane over trading Ford and releasing OJ as if its not completely normal.  Every GM, 100% of all GM's in the league now, the past, and forever in the future cut or trade guys they brought in through draft/signing/trade every single preseason that did not work out.  

 

The insistence on some peoples obsession to remain in the negative lane at all times is utterly mind blowing.  Beane took a perennial loser team, got rid of 100% of the roster, and had them as a SB contender after 2 years of actually rebuilding, and now heading into their 4th year under him recognized as the most talented roster in the NFL by most and the consensus odds on favorite for both the SB and MVP.  

 

But Beane's overall record is clearly better than most, if not all, considering he flipped 100% of the roster over and turned into the consensus best roster in football in a few short years.

 

But hey, you negative minded people go right ahead and keep micro nit picking at the fact OJ Howard or Ford didn't work out, the rest of us are enjoying the ride to not only relevancy, but a perennial winning team and powerhouse contending for Super Bowls instead of watching 7 win teams every year.   

 

Nobody was criticising Beane at the macro scale. But him having to admit he screwed the pooch on the person evaluation as much as the talent evaluation on Ford, then the Araiza situation, then having to cut a guy he gave a pretty guaranteed FA deal to 5 months ago (including a dummy year to kick some cap dollars) is a bad week by anyone's standards. It is arguably his worst week as a Bills GM. 

 

He has had more than enough good weeks to compensate it and many very good weeks, but nobody is nitpicking here. People were just pointing out a fact - the last week has been a bad one for Brandon Beane - he himself would acknowledge that, I guarantee you - and some fans are too sensitive to hear that. 

 

Nobody is saying Beane sucks or Beane should be on the hotseat or Beane is a disaster. It started in the cuts thread as a very simple statement "Beane has taken a few Ls recently." That should not be a controversial statement. It is a matter of fact that he would agree with. I still don't want to swap him for someone else. 

[I'm Spartacus]

1 hour ago, HOUSE said:

I wanted to keep Doug Whaley but nobody would listen

Whaley was the GM God.

[CountDorkula]

10 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Nobody was criticising Beane at the macro scale. But him having to admit he screwed the pooch on the person evaluation as much as the talent evaluation on Ford, then the Araiza situation, then having to cut a guy he gave a pretty guaranteed FA deal to 5 months ago (including a dummy year to kick some cap dollars) is a bad week by anyone's standards. It is arguably his worst week as a Bills GM. 

 

He has had more than enough good weeks to compensate it and many very good weeks, but nobody is nitpicking here. People were just pointing out a fact - the last week has been a bad one for Brandon Beane - he himself would acknowledge that, I guarantee you - and some fans are too sensitive to hear that. 

 

Nobody is saying Beane sucks or Beane should be on the hotseat or Beane is a disaster. It started in the cuts thread as a very simple statement "Beane has taken a few Ls recently." That should not be a controversial statement. It is a matter of fact that he would agree with. I still don't want to swap him for someone else. 

Yea but you know this board. Any criticism is not allowed.

Or if you do criticize people turn it into threads/posts like this.

 

I guarantee you if you asked Beane describe your last week, he'd probably say one he'd like to forget. 

[BullBuchanan]

All you can really do at this point is stand behind him and show your support with a LET'S GO BRANDON!

[Alphadawg7]

30 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Nobody was criticising Beane at the macro scale. But him having to admit he screwed the pooch on the person evaluation as much as the talent evaluation on Ford, then the Araiza situation, then having to cut a guy he gave a pretty guaranteed FA deal to 5 months ago (including a dummy year to kick some cap dollars) is a bad week by anyone's standards. It is arguably his worst week as a Bills GM. 

 

He has had more than enough good weeks to compensate it and many very good weeks, but nobody is nitpicking here. People were just pointing out a fact - the last week has been a bad one for Brandon Beane - he himself would acknowledge that, I guarantee you - and some fans are too sensitive to hear that. 

 

Nobody is saying Beane sucks or Beane should be on the hotseat or Beane is a disaster. It started in the cuts thread as a very simple statement "Beane has taken a few Ls recently." That should not be a controversial statement. It is a matter of fact that he would agree with. I still don't want to swap him for someone else. 

 

But some are saying that and they say it all the time.  Do you forget the fire beane threads from this past season?  The threads criticizing his draft history?  The rants how everything he has ever said is a lie now with culture?  

 

Sorry, it's just over the top and has been long before this week for some of these people.  

 

And again, 100% of all GMs cut players they drafted, signed or traded for right now.  That doesn't make it a bad week for a GM, it makes it standard NFL football 9 days before the season starts.  Nothing about cutting OJ or trading Ford is a "bad week" for Beane because no GM bats a thousand.  In fact, I would argue that it indicates more than anything he is a great GM who isn't afraid to make the best choice of the team even if it means its contradictory to a previous decision he made.  And has a proven track record of recouping some value in these situations like getting draft picks back.  Lots of teams end up having to cut those players without any compensation back.  

 

As far as the the Araiza thing, of course that does make for a bad week...but more a bad week that he and the team had to go through it in the first place.  Its not Beane's fault that something like this came out after they drafted him and doesn't change the tremendous job he (and McD) have done to rebuild the culture, the roster and tun this losing franchise into a perennial powerhouse.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Alphadawg7

[GoBills808]

29 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Nobody was criticising Beane at the macro scale. But him having to admit he screwed the pooch on the person evaluation as much as the talent evaluation on Ford, then the Araiza situation, then having to cut a guy he gave a pretty guaranteed FA deal to 5 months ago (including a dummy year to kick some cap dollars) is a bad week by anyone's standards. It is arguably his worst week as a Bills GM. 

 

He has had more than enough good weeks to compensate it and many very good weeks, but nobody is nitpicking here. People were just pointing out a fact - the last week has been a bad one for Brandon Beane - he himself would acknowledge that, I guarantee you - and some fans are too sensitive to hear that. 

 

Nobody is saying Beane sucks or Beane should be on the hotseat or Beane is a disaster. It started in the cuts thread as a very simple statement "Beane has taken a few Ls recently." That should not be a controversial statement. It is a matter of fact that he would agree with. I still don't want to swap him for someone else. 

They're easily one of the best front offices in the league. 

[RobbRiddick]

"You call this my worst week in a dream, you better wake up and apologize" 

 

 

 

[FireChans]

38 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Nobody was criticising Beane at the macro scale. But him having to admit he screwed the pooch on the person evaluation as much as the talent evaluation on Ford, then the Araiza situation, then having to cut a guy he gave a pretty guaranteed FA deal to 5 months ago (including a dummy year to kick some cap dollars) is a bad week by anyone's standards. It is arguably his worst week as a Bills GM. 

 

He has had more than enough good weeks to compensate it and many very good weeks, but nobody is nitpicking here. People were just pointing out a fact - the last week has been a bad one for Brandon Beane - he himself would acknowledge that, I guarantee you - and some fans are too sensitive to hear that. 

 

Nobody is saying Beane sucks or Beane should be on the hotseat or Beane is a disaster. It started in the cuts thread as a very simple statement "Beane has taken a few Ls recently." That should not be a controversial statement. It is a matter of fact that he would agree with. I still don't want to swap him for someone else. 

The Araiza situation on its own would have been a bad week.

 

But ultimately, who cares?  I am fine with the way everything went down. 

 

Cody Ford has sucked forever. Getting a fifth was great. 

 

OJ Howard was a lotto ticket former first rounder with great physical attributes who took a prove-it deal and ultimately did not "prove-it."  It happens.

 

Araiza as a situation was tough IMO.  There was no winning. They did their own evaluation after the story came out, and cut bait. I'm okay with that too.

Edited August 30, 2022 by FireChans

[todzilla]

2 hours ago, TH3 said:

No kidding...how long do you think they can drag it out

That dude from the Olean times said something like " This is only the beginning of this story" 

That whole article was bad. He made a ton of assumptions and twice mentioned how this will haunt them all season. I think it’s about over. Sign a new punter and don’t look back. 

[ngbills]

A few people saying things does not mean anything. Ask 100 people and there will be different opinions. If 5 of 100 say something that should not qualify as everyone, so many or even why are people saying this. Its 5 of 100 peoples opinions.

 

Opinions are allowed. If you think some of the Bills moves are bad this weak that is allowed. It does not mean you think Beane sucks or prefer Whaley. The OJ Howard move kind of blows. Oh well, it happened. Would be nice to have that one back. Hopefully Saffold and Crowder turn out top be good moves.

 

Araiza situation is a mess. Its a national story that spun out of control and the Bills got roped in. Something you normally wont to avoid and many out there think the Bills handled it poorly. It will blow over soon enough. 

[eball]

41 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Nobody was criticising Beane at the macro scale. But him having to admit he screwed the pooch on the person evaluation as much as the talent evaluation on Ford, then the Araiza situation, then having to cut a guy he gave a pretty guaranteed FA deal to 5 months ago (including a dummy year to kick some cap dollars) is a bad week by anyone's standards. It is arguably his worst week as a Bills GM. 

 

He has had more than enough good weeks to compensate it and many very good weeks, but nobody is nitpicking here. People were just pointing out a fact - the last week has been a bad one for Brandon Beane - he himself would acknowledge that, I guarantee you - and some fans are too sensitive to hear that. 

 

Nobody is saying Beane sucks or Beane should be on the hotseat or Beane is a disaster. It started in the cuts thread as a very simple statement "Beane has taken a few Ls recently." That should not be a controversial statement. It is a matter of fact that he would agree with. I still don't want to swap him for someone else. 

 

Gunner, what you say is how you feel, but it's not how a pretty vocal contingent of fans on this board feel.  You know it's true.

 

I'm not thin skinned and Beane's record stands for itself.  My goal is to make light of the negative ninnies who cry wolf every time things don't go perfectly, and those who harp on the same things again and again and again.

 

I guarantee you Beane felt worse after January's playoff loss then he does this week.

 

[Scott7975]

3 hours ago, eball said:

Apparently Bills' GM Brandon Beane just had the "worst week of his tenure" as the Bills' GM.  Let's recap:

 

- traded former 2nd round pick Cody Ford to the Cardinals for a 5th rounder after coming to the conclusion Ford would not start on this OL

- released 6th round pick Matt Araiza after sexual assault allegations were revealed in a civil lawsuit

- released FA TE OJ Howard, costing the Bills just under 3M against this year's salary cap

 

As far as I am aware, Beane's dog did not pee on his shoes and his wife did not leave him.  He is still the GM of the team with the best Vegas odds to win the next Super Bowl.  He also just came off an offseason in which he signed future HOF edge rusher Von Miller and orchestrated a draft that is likely to yield several key contributors.  He also beefed up a defensive line that while statistically sound, could never finish the deal against Mahomes and the Chiefs.  He added multiple pieces to the offensive line for both starter and depth options.

 

If only our worst-ever weeks in our jobs could look like this.

 

 

Im not too worried about his "bad" week.  ***** happens.  I think Beane is one of the best GMs in the league.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Scott7975

[PJBrown7]

3 hours ago, yall said:

A good portion of the press (Buffalo News, WGR, Rochester papers) have been nothing short of full-on jackasses with their takes on how the Bills handled the Araiza situation.

The Twitter idiots are even worse.

[ColoradoBills]

50 minutes ago, BillsfaninSB said:

Good teams fix their mistakes and move on.  Bad teams double down.

 

Waiving Howard was a bummer but just like Star, I would rather save a roster spot for someone who is motivated and can help the team then worry about dead cap. 

 

Brandon and the Bills will be fine.

 

 

Agree.  I will say I'm sure Beane did not think he would be going into the season with almost $22M in dead cap.

What happened is over with but I'm sure he will want to have a much better 2023 in regard to that and I think he will.

[badassgixxer05]

ohhhhh. That Brandon.....

[Florida Bills Fanatic]

A horrible or terrible week would be 17 in a walking boot holding a clip board on the sideline for week 1.  The "sky is falling" crowd needs to chill and look at the big picture.  Three million in dead cap money is small beans (unless it's your money), shipping away a drafted player because you found better linemen (some as free agents), and cutting a punter (6th round pick) when many other good options are available; are not big deals for any NFL team.

[mjt328]

None of these situations will have an affect on the Bills winning games.

 

Cody Ford wasn't going to play much (if any) this season anyway.  Everyone already knew the pick was a bust.  They have been moving him around since his rookie year.  He's was always the weakest link on our O-Line, and our blocking improved massively when Ryan Bates finally took his job at the end of last year.  Getting something in return was a positive, not a negative.

 

OJ Howard was a busted free agent signing.  But it wasn't like he was extremely expensive, and he was only signed as a backup.  And one of the main reasons for his release was the surprisingly strong play out of Quinton Morris.  We are out $2.6 million in dead-cap, but seemingly have a better/younger option ready to step up in his place.  Oh well.

 

The Matt Araiza situation was tough, because the team was put into a very difficult position involving a serious off-field situation.  The only critics of the Bills organization are those who agreed with Araiza being cut, but just felt the team should have done it 48 hours earlier.  They will voice their opinions, and then we can all move on.  Later this week, the Bills will sign a different punter (who may end up being better) and it will be like Araiza was never on the team.

 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

Whew 😅! And here by the title I was worried this was another RJR special thread today! 

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, GoBills808 said:

They're easily one of the best front offices in the league. 

 

I agree. But they had a bad week. That is all that was being said and it got objected to. 

[ControllerOfPlanetX]

And we lost to Carolina in an all-important exhibition game…or what the NFL likes to call it…preseason game.

[Codyny13]

3 hours ago, Allen2Diggs said:

It looks ugly on paper, but all three were the right moves.

 

It's hard to admit when you're wrong, but sometimes you need to cut your losses and move forward 

We're saving them for next year to commemorate our Superbowl victory.

Getting a 5th round pick for an underwhelming backup guard in a contract year I thought was one of the better moves. Not all draft picks work out as we know, so to get that worth for a player we were not going to re-sign was terrific

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, eball said:

 

Gunner, what you say is how you feel, but it's not how a pretty vocal contingent of fans on this board feel.  You know it's true.

 

I'm not thin skinned and Beane's record stands for itself.  My goal is to make light of the negative ninnies who cry wolf every time things don't go perfectly, and those who harp on the same things again and again and again.

 

I guarantee you Beane felt worse after January's playoff loss then he does this week.

 

 

I guarantee it is how Beane feels too. Vocal contingent be damned. 

[offyourocker]

3 hours ago, TH3 said:

No kidding...how long do you think they can drag it out

That dude from the Olean times said something like " This is only the beginning of this story" 

Then again that dude works at the Olean Times

[Mr. WEO]

Beane really needed another thread telling what a great to job he did this week.  
 

he thanks you because he really didn’t get the lift he was hoping for from the one thread.

[offyourocker]

I would say he did pretty good getting a 5th for Ford considering what he has done his first 3 years

[BuffaloMatt]

Optics . . . . I hate how people are using this word now. 

[HiMark]

3 hours ago, OldTimer1960 said:

This is a tricky situation.  Bills hired an employee (drafted) with no knowledge of the allegations.  No charges have been filed against that employee (yet).  They were informed of a civil lawsuit against this employee about a month ago (according to their statement).

 

Now, I’m not saying that the allegations are true or that they are false.  At this point they are allegations.  What is the employer to do in that situation?  If they fire the employee based purely on an allegation, that doesn’t seem fair to the employee (who may or may not be guilty).  If they don’t fire him, some (many) will argue that they are enabling a criminal or that they are only concerned with winning and not about social issues.

 

It is very easy to sit back and criticize the Bills in this case, but it is not cut and dry what they *should* have done.

 

Again, no judgement from me whether the accusations are true or not.  We must let the DA decide whether to prosecute or not and wait for the civil case to make it through court (if it isn’t settled first).

Agree.  Exception: when the lawsuit was filed it WAS cut and dried.  And they acted.

I'm not mad at Beane for drafting a guy that--as he says--he didn't know was an alleged rapist.

I AM mad at Matt Araiza for being an alleged rapist.

[Da webster guy]

getting any kind of pick for Cody Ford was a win.   

 

Araiza was a bad gamble but not many 6th round picks make the team anyway.  I respect them for making the right decision despite no criminal charges being filed in a 9 month investigation, it seems like they felt he was guilty of lying to the team in saying that he did nothing wrong.

 

OJ Howard, now THAT was a real blunder.   I guess they saw enough tape on him last year to give the dude a shot at redemption, he sure looks the part and was dominant in college, but the stone hands and the mediocre play just wasn't enough and Beaner couldn't rig a trade because the rest of the league seemingly felt his contract was way too much.   and they'd be right.

[Success]

There is literally no GM in the league I'd rather have. And that's not a homer take.

 

I have homer takes - but that isn't one of 'em.

 

[KHAN]

After a 17 year playoff drought, Beane has one bad week in 5 years as as the GM of the current super bowl favorite.

 

Sign me up.

[nosejob]

7 hours ago, HOUSE said:

I wanted to keep Doug Whaley but nobody would listen

That ain't even funny....

[oldmanfan]

Beane is doing fine.  As for the Araiza incident, he and McD said they could have done things better but that they are not lawyers and such.  And he’s right.  They will take what lessons they can from this and use them to improve the organization

[nosejob]

 Don't know if this has been posted, but here's a statement from his parents. I can't imagine being in this situation. As a parent, I would obviously believe in my son and this would kill me.

 

"The rule of law is innocent until proven guilty. That is not our experience. There has been war waged on our son. He has been tried and convicted in the media based on information released solely from the alleged victim and her attorney, much of it through social media. People have taken his information as factual, when it is not. We do not wish this experience on anyone, but question why our son is the only one receiving this kind of treatment by social media and national news media. The vitriol has been on him alone. He has been extorted, discriminated against, harassed and the subject of multiple and continuous threats of violence and death. He has been released from his job and our entire family continues to receive horrific threats of violence and death. We have all been canceled. Every member of our family."

Arazia's parents later wrote in the statement:

 

"Salacious rumors grew as fact. There are multiple witness reports to deny the claims that are made against him. The legal system is designed to find the facts and make decisions. They should be allowed to do that."

On Saturday, the Bills released the 22-year-old following allegations that he raped a then 17-year-old girl in San Diego back in 2021.

Arazia has now been named in a civil lawsuit.