Assessing TD as GM

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Sorry no cliffnotes here. I was thinking in print to prepare myself for watching the game with some buds tomorrow and I have a meeting to go to on St. afternoon so there is no time to summarize. Sorry

 

There has been a lot of chatter about this point (which spikes after a loss bouyed by folks saying git rid of him).

 

Folks are entitled certainly, but i think a lot of this chatter misses the point that the criteria for whether he has done well in the important aspects of being a GM for us fans (W/L %, making the playoffs, and ultimately getting to at least or winning the SB) are actually quite different from the criteria Ralph probably uses for judging whether TD has done a good job or not.

 

By my criteria as a fan, there is a pretty good case that TD should be gone (I'm a little bit more charitable than many on TSW that I think he gets one mulligan and a little time to right the ship of state). However, it is easy for me to see why Ralph has given him an extension because overall he has been outstanding at meeting the criteria Ralph or most rational folks who own a team would use in assessing his work.

 

This is my assessment if TD:

 

Overall: C- (or a D on my nasty days)

 

W/L- The game is about winning games and even if you throw out the 3-13 clinker when his job was to deal with the cap hell left by Butler he only has a W/L of 27-20 in his 4 years minus the throw-away season. If C is average (there should be at least some credit for putting a compeitive team on the field) then his performance is disgustingly slightly below average. I'm a spoiled fan due to the success of the early 90s but his overall W/L is below .500 in his time.

 

Playoffs made- Zero. This is a direct outcome of the W/L but worth noting because playoff games simply mean more product and this failure is a big failure. I had to admit it, but I prefer a great/horrible team which makes the playoffs one year and sucks badly other years than a team which has the exact same record but which is consistently mediocre (my ultimate preference is consistenly good and making the playoffs each year- can't a fan dream).

 

SBs appeared in and won- Zero. This worth mentioning because this is the ultimate goal. I consider making the conference championships to be a successful year (simply making the playoffs does not equal success in my mind particularly in the current National Football Lotto where not very good teams do luck into the playoffs each year). However, being one of the last 4 is success in my mind and merely making it to the SB is a real achievement even if you lose. It is this calculation that leads me to assess the early 90s Bills as one of the best team's ever because making it to the final game 4 straight years is a tremendous achievement and actually is one which I think is more than comparable to a team making it once like TB and winning and showing no signs of going back.

 

However, winning is winning and losing 4 straight does not compare at all to winning a couple (or more if you are NE) SBs in the same time period.

 

Team management- Here TD sounds like Charles Dickens in that his work reflects the best of times (draft management like picking McGahee, tagging Peerless and stealing a #1 to reolace the one acquiring Bledsoe, attracting good FAs like TKO, Fletcher and Adams here, good cap management signing these players to cap friendly contracts- those who pooh-pooh the speed with which he escaped cap hell as being a rote activity he was simply forced to do ignore the fact that teams like AZ or even SF somehow have found a way to deal with caphell badly and are not even competitive most years for a while) and other details of work.

 

However, his hiring of GW who simply was not ready for prime time and passing on Fox and Lewis whom he interviewed and have gone on to successful HC work elsewhere is TDs biggest mistake IMHO. It is understanable and quite human that he hired a man who would have been a great administrative assistant whom he could beat unlike Cowher who ran him out of his last job. However, though this is understanable it is not condonable and TD simply sucked with this decision.

 

The irony here is that I wish he were more directly controlling and that if he was going to hire this A-A with great lists and contacts, he had simply forced him to make good decisions rather than allowing GW to make bad ones like his inability to hire assistants who knew more than he did about offense (the Sheppard debacle) or when he finally hired a former HC who might replace him (Kevin Killdrive) he refused to discipline him to make him abandon the Killdrive style when it was uneffective. TD finally brought in his guy to revive the D (LeBeau) and he should have forced GW to use Pendry or something to force Killdrive to diversify his attack.

 

He would discipline and override GW when he strayed into GM territory) the cut of Centers soon after GW announced he would be a Bills as long as he wanted to be) but he should have been invasive forcing GW to hire Clements instead of Kevin Killdrive (even if you hate TC now he would have been better than Killdrive) and really taken over this team even if it meant he might get blamed.

 

Overall, he has done some great work on the draft where the MW foul-up is something that was bad but happens to all GMs who cannot produce a perfect record of picks. This is easily compensated by him doing some fabulous work getting WM (and managing the cap well to boot with his contract), reading the market well still getting Kelsay and stealing Denney off the phone from Pitts. Even the rap on TD which was initially reasonable that he did not do well on the second day of the draft has now been undercut by the reality of second day choice McGee making the Pro Bowl and some fine work by him identifying and signing some good UDFA.

 

I also see the Bledsoe acqusition complaints as mostly folks getting their panties all up in a wad about a middlin pick-up rather than a bad one. Bledsoe was simply a wash for us with the intial pick-up as hiS Pro Bowl reserve first year for us was great and needed as we had to replace RJ. it was his second year meltdown which made his work for us a wash. The mistake was to extend him and the Bills paid for this by having to cut him and absorb a cap hit after last season. If we had smply cut and said goodbye to Bledsoe after his horrednous 2003 then having replaced the lost 1st with the PP steal from AT, I would have judged us as being ahead of the game even with his wash record of 2002 and 2003. In total his on field team building work has been beset with some problematic choices which weigh against some outstanding work. When you add in a bad HC hire you end up with a mediocre result slightly below average.

 

Bits and pieces- This is my label for the details of the GMs work such as attracting good folks, cap management, drafting, hiring, and the business side like ticket availabilty, interface with Business Backs the Bills and training camp locale. With the gross exception of his making a horrible first HC hire he has done an extremely good job with the non-play side of the business and this to me is why he rightfully got extended by Ralph. i care about these things because a poorly run team is not sustainable and eventually these failings are reflected in the W/L. However, though i am aware of an care about these side issues, they are not a key for me so I am pissed that we do not make the playoffs and do not care about this stuff that Ralph does or must care about.

 

In the end, its RWS who makes the decisions and not me. I think TD has served him well. I just wich as a fan he served me just as well.

[JoeF]

FFS--I agree in concept here...but the biggest thing keeping TD around for another year or two may not be TD's performance or even Ralph's evaluation but may be Ralph's advanced age.

 

Bringing in a new staff would probably take 3 or 4 years of adjustment and Ralph may not have 3 or 4 years to wait to see if another GM can put together a personnel strategy and coaching staff that can lead this team to the Super Bowl. He's kind of stuck with TD and Mularkey as probably the last GM and coach of his ownership and so are we...You may say he should bring in someone to prepare the franchise for sale and increase its value--but my sense is the extra $50 or $100M in value that may create means nothing to Ralph (he will already net 20,000 times what he paid for the franchise fee ($25,000))--another shot at the Lombardi is what he wants and he may have convinced himself that status quo is the best way to get there.

 

At the post season meeting in Palm Beach -- TD better have a plan that upgrades both lines through a mix of Free Agency and draft and revitalizes the defense and also begins to weed out some of the aging veterans without a drop in quality. If Ralph doesn't see that -- TD should be gone.

 

Right now we may be looking at Posey, Adams and Big Mike getting the axe outright. Moulds, Milloy, Vincent or Fletcher (one year left on his deal--so extend at a cap friendly deal) being asked to take pay cuts/restructures or getting the axe at some point in the off-season. You have to retain Clements either through franchise or extension. You have a solid edge with McGee and Clements--you don't want to kill that--so many teams struggle with this. McGee signed an extension that still pays him like a #2 corner--you should pay Clements stopper money and move on. Bottom line, this may be a radically different team next year.

 

One correction -- probably a keying error ---but TD's record sans the 3-13 year is 27-30... I am probably one of the few that is still a TD apologist. I really like the guy--but 27-30 is not acceptable..hopefully tomorrow starts a turnaround that leads to the division title and playoffs but I am not holding my breath.

[Adam]

hmmm, lets see-

Lossman looks promising, as does Jason Peters and Angelo Crowell.

 

He got us MaGahee, London Fletcher, Schobel, Sam Adams, Lee Evans, Nate Clements, etc........

 

I think he has brought a good amount of talent in here.

Complain all you want- fans should have NO input, and the Bills aparently recognize this.

 

Say all you want that you wont buy tickets- somebody else will if you don't

[Frez]

hmmm, lets see-

Lossman looks promising, as does Jason Peters and Angelo Crowell.

 

He got us MaGahee, London Fletcher, Schobel, Sam Adams, Lee Evans, Nate Clements, etc........

 

I think he has brought a good amount of talent in here.

Complain all you want- fans should have NO input, and the Bills aparently recognize this.

 

Say all you want that you wont buy tickets- somebody else will if you don't

507472[/snapback]

 

 

Maybe it's the coaches TD is picking? I agree that there is talent on this team. But it seems they are always losing games when they should be winning. This team has lacked mental toughness for some time now.

 

When does it change?

 

 

A win on the road this week would be nice.

[jester43]

Sorry no cliffnotes here. I was thinking in print to prepare myself for watching the game with some buds tomorrow and I have a meeting to go to on St. afternoon so there is no time to summarize.  Sorry.

507178[/snapback]

 

so what you're saying is....

 

you can't produce shorter posts because it takes too much time?

 

 

[DeeRay]

Fair analysis Sunny. However, if GW wasn't the "smoking gun", Teflon Tom's next decision after letting GW go, was.

 

I've tried to rationalize this but can't. Why would a GM, after hiring a rookie coach and giving the team a total makeover for those three years, hire another rookie coach? Here you have a situation in which you've re-built your team and are now going to entrust your hard work to a rookie coach, who is, sure as hell, going to have his own learning curve and want to tweak things too. If you're going to fire a coach after 3 seasons of rebuilding, I would have thought that you'd want to bring in someone who has HC experience. Some say, TD is a power/control freak that can't handle a HC that would be able to upstage him or show more FB knowledge than him. A coach that he can basically control and micro manage when he sees fit. Others say Ralph wasn't about to spend $3-4M on a HC. I seriously doubt that, because, TD, who 5 years ago was recognized as one of the pre-emininant football GM Gods, could have had a job with at least 4 other teams that had him on the radar. When you're held in that high of regard and Ralph is offering you the GM and VP positions with total control, you don't take that job if it has strings attached or limitations that can ultimately scar a very good reputation. At that point, TD could not afford failure. TD saw an opportunity to put his own signature on a SB team that he built himself. I don't blame Ralph for hiring him at the time because he had very impressive credentials. However, after 4.5 seasons and only 30 wins and no playoffs... not to mention an unsettled situation at QB, he has proven to not be the answer to bringing the Bills a SB. I will state that under his management the Bills are a much more profitable team than they've ever been.. however, a lot of credit has to go to Russ Brandon, as well.

[Tortured Soul]

Appreciate the irony that - from a business perspective - the best thingthat ever happened to the Bills was a John Butler move. He brought in Doug Flutie which spurred the Bills to hit their luxury seat sales target, keeping the team in Buffalo.

 

This is better seen in baseball than in football, but the best way to sell tickets and merchandise is to win. Winning will creat more demand - ticket prices will go up, jerseys will sell, etc. Just imagine the added revenue frim ine hime layoff game! It begins and ends with winning, and TD simply hasn't done enough of that.

[Kelly the Dog]

Fair analysis Sunny.  However, if GW wasn't the "smoking gun", Teflon Tom's next decision after letting GW go, was.

 

I've tried to rationalize this but can't.  Why would a GM, after hiring a rookie coach and giving the team a total makeover for those three years, hire another rookie coach?  Here you have a situation in which you've re-built your team and are now going to entrust your hard work to a rookie coach, who is, sure as hell, going to have his own learning curve and want to tweak things too.  If you're going to fire a coach after 3 seasons of rebuilding, I would have thought that you'd want to bring in someone who has HC experience.  Some say, TD is a power/control freak that can't handle a HC that would be able to upstage him or show more FB knowledge than him.  A coach that he can basically control and micro manage when he sees fit.  Others say Ralph wasn't about to spend $3-4M on a HC.  I seriously doubt that, because, TD, who 5 years ago was recognized as one of the pre-emininant football GM Gods, could have had a job with at least 4 other teams that had him on the radar.  When you're held in that high of regard and Ralph is offering you the GM and VP positions with total control, you don't take that job if it has strings attached or limitations that can ultimately scar a very good reputation.  At that point, TD could not afford failure.  TD saw an opportunity to put his own signature on a SB team that he built himself.  I don't blame Ralph for hiring him at the time because he had very impressive credentials.  However, after 4.5 seasons and only 30 wins and no playoffs... not to mention an unsettled situation at QB, he has proven to not be the answer to bringing the Bills a SB.  I will state that under his management the Bills are a much more profitable team than they've ever been.. however, a lot of credit has to go to Russ Brandon, as well.

507532[/snapback]

Fair enough. My read on it was that at neither head coaching hiring process was he looking at a specific kind of coach. There may, may, be some credence that he didn't want a Cowher clone but I really don't think he shied away from a strong willed coach. All coaches are like that. And they only gain enough power within the organization through wins on that team, like Cowher did. He didn't always have the clout. I can't think of a lot of coaches that were excellent of even obvious coaches available that TD didn't interview. I think he probably did want Marvin Lewis but Lewis didnt necessarily convince TD that he wanted the Buffalo job and I don't think you hire someone that isn't 100% behind it.

 

I don't think he was looking for a specific kind of coach the second time either, but that Mularkey seemed like the one for the job. That has yet to be determined, and while I thought he would have a better year coaching, to me he has gone backwards. The rest of the season will likely determine that. It may just have been TD's second bad choice, and he may have to pay with his job for that. But what were the choices the second time? Jim Fassel? Yeah, Coughlin looks pretty good now but he's the kind of guy that people sour on in 15 minutes. My point is that I think TD had a lot of confidence in himself, a lot of confidence in Ralph's opinion of him, and a lot of confidence that he was going to have the job for a long time. So he didn't need to pick an experienced coach. He just went for the guy he thinks is going to be the best overall. That choice to him was Mularkey. That may or may not be true but we aren't certain yet. And again, like you said, the business half of TD's tenure has been mostly exemplary.

[Ray]

He has brought in good talent. I have no real problem with the players. His decisions on coaching have been poor. No question about it. I liked either Cottrell or Fox originally because I thought they would fit in best with this team/city...etc We'll never know about Cottrell but Fox has certainly turned into a great coach. I know everyone says Marvin Lewis should have been named coach but he didn't want to come here and was very happy to stay at Baltimore over coming to Buffalo.

[Tcali]

hmmm, lets see-

Lossman looks promising, as does Jason Peters and Angelo Crowell.

 

He got us MaGahee, London Fletcher, Schobel, Sam Adams, Lee Evans, Nate Clements, etc........

 

I think he has brought a good amount of talent in here.

Complain all you want- fans should have NO input, and the Bills aparently recognize this.

 

Say all you want that you wont buy tickets- somebody else will if you don't

507472[/snapback]

Would you people pleeeeease stop mentioning Schobel as a good pick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!&$#%^#$^*%$*&%

Ever wonder why we cant even get to the QB?? (unless we are playing BAD teams at home) Schobel is the definition of mediocrity.

[Tcali]

He has brought in good talent.  I have no real problem with the players.  His decisions on coaching have been poor.  No question about it.  I liked either Cottrell or Fox originally because I thought they would fit in best with this team/city...etc  We'll never know about Cottrell but Fox has certainly turned into a great coach.  I know everyone says Marvin Lewis should have been named coach but he didn't want to come here and was very happy to stay at Baltimore over coming to Buffalo.

507974[/snapback]

RAY---he HAS brought in good talent---around the fringes unfortunately.You win with trench talent first.

[Ray]

I agree! In the trenches is where you win. Do you know the Pats OL salary cap total is about 7M---but you can do that when you have the best QB in the league. But I agree. Ted Washington, Pat Williams---there is your all-star defense. You can fill in with capable LBs and safeties if you have a great defensive line. Also the same with the Oline. Unfortunately our one chance a t a stud OL in the draft has blown up in our face.

[Sound_n_Fury]

If the Bills can dump DB because "he's taken us as far as he can," the same reasoning should apply to TD. Time to head in a new direction....

[BillnutinHouston]

Sorry no cliffnotes here. I was thinking in print to prepare myself for watching the game with some buds tomorrow and I have a meeting to go to on St. afternoon so there is no time to summarize.  Sorry

 

There has been a lot of chatter about this point (which spikes after a loss bouyed by folks saying git rid of him).

 

Folks are entitled certainly, but i think a lot of this chatter misses the point that the criteria for whether he has done well in the important aspects of being a GM for us fans (W/L %, making the playoffs, and ultimately getting to at least or winning the SB) are actually quite different from the criteria Ralph probably uses for judging whether TD has done a good job or not.

 

By my criteria as a fan, there is a pretty good case that TD should be gone (I'm a little bit more charitable than many on TSW that I think he gets one mulligan and a little time to right the ship of state). However, it is easy for me to see why Ralph has given him an extension because overall he has been outstanding at meeting the criteria Ralph or most rational folks who own a team would use in assessing his work.

 

This is my assessment if TD:

 

Overall: C- (or a D on my nasty days)

 

W/L- The game is about winning games and even if you throw out the 3-13 clinker when his job was to deal with the cap hell left by Butler he only has a W/L of 27-20 in his 4 years minus the throw-away season. If C is average (there should be at least some credit for putting a compeitive team on the field) then his performance is disgustingly slightly below average. I'm a spoiled fan due to the success of the early 90s but his overall W/L is below .500 in his time.

 

Playoffs made- Zero.  This is a direct outcome of the W/L but worth noting because playoff games simply mean more product and this failure is a big failure.  I had to admit it, but I prefer a great/horrible team which makes the playoffs one year and sucks badly other years than a team which has  the exact same record but which is consistently mediocre (my ultimate preference is consistenly good and making the playoffs each year- can't a fan dream).

 

SBs appeared in and won- Zero. This worth mentioning because this is the ultimate goal. I consider making the conference championships to be a successful year (simply making the playoffs does not equal success in my mind particularly in the current National Football Lotto where not very good teams do luck into the playoffs each year). However, being one of the last 4 is success in my mind and merely making it to the SB is a real achievement even if you lose.  It is this calculation that leads me to assess the early 90s Bills as one of the best team's ever because making it to the final game 4 straight years is a tremendous achievement and actually is one which I think is more than comparable to a team making it once like TB and winning and showing no signs of going back.

 

However, winning is winning and losing 4 straight does not compare at all to winning a couple (or more if you are NE) SBs in the same time period.

 

Team management- Here TD sounds like Charles Dickens in that his work reflects the best of times (draft management like picking McGahee, tagging Peerless and stealing a #1 to reolace the one acquiring Bledsoe, attracting good FAs like TKO, Fletcher and Adams here, good cap management signing these players to cap friendly contracts- those who pooh-pooh the speed with which he escaped cap hell as being a rote activity he was simply forced to do ignore the fact that teams like AZ or even SF somehow have found a way to deal with caphell badly and are not even competitive most years for a while) and other details of work.

 

However, his hiring of GW who simply was not ready for prime time and passing on Fox and Lewis whom he interviewed and have gone on to successful HC work elsewhere is TDs biggest mistake IMHO. It is understanable and quite human that he hired a man who would have been a great administrative assistant whom he could beat unlike Cowher who ran him out of his last job.  However, though this is understanable it is not condonable and TD simply sucked with this decision.

 

The irony here is that I wish he were more directly controlling and that if he was going to hire this A-A with great lists and contacts, he had simply forced him to make good decisions rather than allowing GW to make bad ones like his inability to hire assistants who knew more than he did about offense (the Sheppard debacle) or when he finally hired a former HC who might replace him (Kevin Killdrive) he refused to discipline him to make him abandon the Killdrive style when it was uneffective.  TD finally brought in his guy to revive the D (LeBeau) and he should have forced GW to use Pendry or something to force Killdrive to diversify his attack.

 

He would discipline and override GW when he strayed into GM territory) the cut of Centers soon after GW announced he would be a Bills as long as he wanted to be) but he should have been invasive forcing GW to hire Clements instead of Kevin  Killdrive (even if you hate TC now he would have been better than Killdrive) and really taken over this team even if it meant he might get blamed.

 

Overall, he has done some great work on the draft where the MW foul-up is something that was bad but happens to all GMs who cannot produce a perfect record of picks. This is easily compensated by him doing some fabulous work getting WM (and managing the cap well to boot with his contract), reading the market well still getting Kelsay and stealing Denney off the phone from Pitts.  Even the rap on TD which was initially reasonable that he did not do well on the second day of the draft has now been undercut by the reality of second day choice McGee making the Pro Bowl and some fine work by him identifying and signing some good UDFA.

 

I also see the Bledsoe acqusition complaints as mostly folks getting their panties all up in a wad about a middlin pick-up rather than a bad one.  Bledsoe was simply a wash for us with the intial pick-up as hiS Pro Bowl reserve first year for us was great and needed as we had to replace RJ. it was his second year meltdown which made his work for us a wash. The mistake was to extend him and the Bills paid for this by having to cut him and absorb a cap hit after last season.  If we had smply cut and said goodbye to Bledsoe after his horrednous 2003 then having replaced the lost 1st with the PP steal from AT, I would have judged us as being ahead of the game even with his wash record of 2002 and 2003.  In total his on field team building work has been beset with some problematic choices which weigh against some outstanding work. When you add in a bad HC hire you end up with a mediocre result slightly below average.

 

Bits and pieces- This is my label for the details of the GMs work such as attracting good folks, cap management, drafting, hiring, and the business side like ticket availabilty, interface with Business Backs the Bills and training camp locale.  With the gross exception of his making a horrible first HC hire he has done an extremely good job with the non-play side of the business and this to me is why he rightfully got extended by Ralph. i care about these things because a poorly run team is not sustainable and eventually these failings are reflected in the W/L. However, though i am aware of an care about these side issues, they are not a key for me so I am pissed that we do not make the playoffs and do not care about this stuff that Ralph does or must care about.

 

In the end, its RWS who makes the decisions and not me.  I think TD has served him well. I just wich as a fan he served me just as well.

507178[/snapback]

 

There may be some good points in here but it's so poorly written I just can't tell. I might actually pay for the Cliff's Notes.

[loadofmularkey]

hmmm, lets see-

Lossman looks promising, as does Jason Peters and Angelo Crowell.

 

He got us MaGahee, London Fletcher, Schobel, Sam Adams, Lee Evans, Nate Clements, etc........

 

I think he has brought a good amount of talent in here.

Complain all you want- fans should have NO input, and the Bills aparently recognize this.

 

Say all you want that you wont buy tickets- somebody else will if you don't

507472[/snapback]

 

 

He also interviewed Marvin Lewis, John Fox, Tom Coughlin and Charlie Weis and decided that Gregg Williams and Mike Mularkey were better.

 

He also brought in studs like Teague, Villarrial, Gandy and Anderson to help out with the offensive line.

 

He also decided that Jeff Posey was such an incredible necessity that he signed him to a multi-year deal at 12:01am on Day 1 of the 2003 free agency period.

 

He also snowed you and everyone else in this town to the extent that season-ticket sales reached the level at which they had been during the Super Bowl years.

 

Also, you might not have picked the right day to include Adams, Fletcher, Clements and Schobel in your argument for the man.

 

I refuse to lump players like M. Williams, Reed, Milloy and Bledsoe in here...at the time that said players were acquired I don't think many Bills fans disagreed.

 

All I know is that this team is an absolute disaster. An embarassment. Garbage. A mess. They have not won a single meaningful road game since Donahoe has been here and their record since his arrival is 30-44.

 

Do the math.

[Frez]

This team plays like a bunch of little girls.

[JoeF]

This team plays like a bunch of little girls.

508340[/snapback]

 

Don't insult my 6 year old daughther like that Frez....she's tough as nails...

[loadofmularkey]

This team plays like a bunch of little girls.

508340[/snapback]

 

How dare you. Didn't you see Posey display his toughness by shoving that SD lineman in the back after the play?? Yeah sure, Buffalo was hit with a 15 yard unsportsmanlike but come on!! That was tough!!!

[Sisyphean Bills]

The problem with the Bills is the same as it has been for a loooooooooooong time now.

 

The Bills simply do not have the talent in the trenches, neither on offense nor on defense, to be a top-tier team. The Bills offensive line has been a sieve since the last couple years of Jim Kelly's career, but now it is an absolute disgrace. The defensive line, once anchored by the greatest DE that ever played, is now a wreck. (I like Schobel's hustle, but know that he would be a backup on many rosters in the NFL.)

 

In a nutshell: the Bills offensive line woes are that organizationally they place a higher value on bulk than brains. Look no further than them cutting an Ivy League guy that helped gel the line in favor of a fat tub of goo that can't block the sun on a pass play.

 

The Bills defensive line woes are that organizationally they place a higher value on "high motor" in their ends and blubber in their tackles. They don't seem to give a rat's ass if the player has any ability to get off blocks at all or get up the field and stay on his feet.

 

The Bills will never be a true contender until they fix the talent gaps in the trenches.

 

PS: JP Losman actually looked pretty good when he actually had time to take a drop, read the defense, and fire. Unfortunately for him, most of the game he had a defensive guy hitting him before or as he finished his drop. Unreal.

[loadofmularkey]

The problem with the Bills is the same as it has been for a loooooooooooong time now.

 

The Bills simply do not have the talent in the trenches, neither on offense nor on defense, to be a top-tier team.  The Bills offensive line has been a sieve since the last couple years of Jim Kelly's career, but now it is an absolute disgrace.  The defensive line, once anchored by the greatest DE that ever played, is now a wreck.  (I like Schobel's hustle, but know that he would be a backup on many rosters in the NFL.)

508461[/snapback]

 

Hey don't worry, Schobel is locked up for the next few years. Thank God. BTW, I wonder how many other 53-man rosters Tim Anderson would make it on.

[nfreeman]

He also interviewed Marvin Lewis, John Fox, Tom Coughlin and Charlie Weis and decided that Gregg Williams and Mike Mularkey were better. 

 

He also brought in studs like Teague, Villarrial, Gandy and Anderson to help out with the offensive line. 

 

He also decided that Jeff Posey was such an incredible necessity that he signed him to a multi-year deal at 12:01am on Day 1 of the 2003 free agency period.

 

He also snowed you and everyone else in this town to the extent that season-ticket sales reached the level at which they had been during the Super Bowl years. 

 

Also, you might not have picked the right day to include Adams, Fletcher, Clements and Schobel in your argument for the man.

 

I refuse to lump players like M. Williams, Reed, Milloy and Bledsoe in here...at the time that said players were acquired I don't think many Bills fans disagreed. 

 

All I know is that this team is an absolute disaster.  An embarassment.  Garbage.  A mess.  They have not won a single meaningful road game since Donahoe has been here and their record since his arrival is 30-44.

 

Do the math.

508336[/snapback]

 

 

 

right on. 0 and 5 on the road. the 4th pick in the draft, BENCHED for an undrafted free agent. heading for 5-11 or 6-10 at best in year FIVE of the TD project. A defense that is utterly helpless against a good offense -- can't stop a run on 3rd down to save its life.

 

It's not just the front office -- it's coaching too. Our best players on offense don't get the ball. WM gets 10 carries, even though we're starting a young QB on the road against a playoff team. How many times are we going to thow it to Daimon Shelton? How many chances is Josh Reed going to get? Would he still be on a Bill Parcells team? Too many GD trick plays that go nowhere, instead of lining up and pounding the run.

 

TD must go, and although I admit to liking him last year, Mularkey should go with him. This team has no guts.

[Albany,n.y.]

When the D lets the other team score at will, your RB doesn't get many carries, especially when you blink & it's 21-3.

[Alexander Hamilton]

How are Polian's and the late-Butler's teams doing?

 

Ralph can't escape some of this blame.

[Koobie]

I refuse to lump players like M. Williams, Reed, Milloy and Bledsoe in here...at the time that said players were acquired I don't think many Bills fans disagreed. 

508336[/snapback]

 

It doesn't matter what the fans think about the players that are drafted/brought in via free agency. Tom Donahoe has to see the talent and work ethic in the players he brings in. It's his job to bring in capable players, not players that the fans like or dislike.

 

Mike Williams is a bust, thats TD's fault. Josh Reed is WR with stonehands, TD's fault. Milloy is older and slower, TD has to know that when he signs him.

 

It's not the fan's job to evaluate the talent before it is brought in, it's TD's. But it is the fan's job to voice displeasre when the talent that is brought in just plain sucks. What makes everything much worse is the way this team just gives up! It is terrible, Gregg Williams was fired because of lack of mental toughness in his teams, it hasn't gotten any better, maybe it's not the coaches, maybe it goes all the way to the person who evaluates and picks the players. TD has to go, he is the reason this organization is a friggin' mess!

[Sisyphean Bills]

It doesn't matter what the fans think about the players that are drafted/brought in via free agency.  Tom Donahoe has to see the talent and work ethic in the players he brings in.  It's his job to bring in capable players, not players that the fans like or dislike.

 

Mike Williams is a bust, thats TD's fault.  Josh Reed is WR with stonehands, TD's fault.  Milloy is older and slower, TD has to know that when he signs him.

 

It's not the fan's job to evaluate the talent before it is brought in, it's TD's.  But it is the fan's job to voice displeasre when the talent that is brought in just plain sucks.  What makes everything much worse is the way this team just gives up!  It is terrible, Gregg Williams was fired because of lack of mental toughness in his teams, it hasn't gotten any better, maybe it's not the coaches, maybe it goes all the way to the person who evaluates and picks the players.  TD has to go, he is the reason this organization is a friggin' mess!

508716[/snapback]

 

To be fair though, part of TD's job is to sell a product. Big name splashes help one sell tickets.

 

Still, it is better if the big name guys also bring some wins and playoff appearances along with the name.