BoondckCL Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 I have been thinking about this and i was just wondering, what do you think was the key to Buffalo's destruction over the past few years? Don't just say something like Donahoe or any of those cop outs. I was thinking of something like draft classes by the Bills, free agent acquisitions, so on and so forth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ans4e64 Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 I have been thinking about this and i was just wondering, what do you think was the key to Buffalo's destruction over the past few years? Don't just say something like Donahoe or any of those cop outs. I was thinking of something like draft classes by the Bills, free agent acquisitions, so on and so forth. 610182[/snapback] Donahoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Bledsoe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoondckCL Posted February 24, 2006 Author Share Posted February 24, 2006 What about the 2000 draft class. If you think about it, it was Butler's last year and all of those players that should've been developed and acting as team leaders as of right now are not there. Instead we drafted Erik Flowers with the first pick, Travares Tillman with the second, and so on. I think that this was a big contributor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Chipper Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 I have been thinking about this and i was just wondering, what do you think was the key to Buffalo's destruction over the past few years? Don't just say something like Donahoe or any of those cop outs. I was thinking of something like draft classes by the Bills, free agent acquisitions, so on and so forth. 610182[/snapback] I dont think blaming TD is a cop out at all. He hired Williams and MM. He made the draft picks. We did not make the playoffs and were 31-49 with him running the show at One Bills Drive. We never finished higher than 3rd in the division either. All of the things you mentioned, free agents, draft classes all are go back to TD and ultimately make him the reason we have not won consistantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneonta Buffalo Fan Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Bledsoe. 610191[/snapback] No way! He was a good Qb but we had no offensive line to protect him. Look at Dallas now. They HAVE a decent offensive line. The key with Beldsoe is that you have to protect him well. Look at what happes when you give him time to throw he is very accurate and he a very strong throw. Many blamed Bledsoe for the collapse of the Bills, but in fact it was that he had terrible coaches and we had no offensive line that could block well enough to give him time to throw. Period! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoondckCL Posted February 24, 2006 Author Share Posted February 24, 2006 I dont think blaming TD is a cop out at all. He hired Williams and MM. He made the draft picks. We did not make the playoffs and were 31-49 with him running the show at One Bills Drive. We never finished higher than 3rd in the division either. All of the things you mentioned, free agents, draft classes all are go back to TD and ultimately make him the reason we have not won consistantly. 610198[/snapback] I would have to agree with you on the whole not a cop out thing, i think i chose the wrong words. What i was really trying for was that TD + MM are on everybodies tongues right now and i think it is just your regular answer now. Other than that i would have to agree with you. I read an interesting stat somewhere that only the Bills, Texans, and i think the Browns are the only teams in the AFC not to make the playoffs since the turn of the millenium. Or it was something along those lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoondckCL Posted February 24, 2006 Author Share Posted February 24, 2006 Bledsoe. 610191[/snapback] I think Bledsoe was/is good, but he's predictable. The only thing you had to do to stop Bledsoe was bring pressure up the middle to prevent him from stepping up in the pocket and patting the ball. If he could do those two things, he was one of the most dangerous deep ball throwers in the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyrite Gal Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 What about the 2000 draft class. If you think about it, it was Butler's last year and all of those players that should've been developed and acting as team leaders as of right now are not there. Instead we drafted Erik Flowers with the first pick, Travares Tillman with the second, and so on. I think that this was a big contributor 610195[/snapback] I think if you ask a cop-out question you will get a cop-out answer. To attempt to pin one single event or decision as the biggest contributor is a cop-out in that it simply does not work that way. Its an inter-relationship between many factors which is the true cause or explanation of the problem. The difficult reality is that no one here is totally bad or totally good in terms of the job they did. If one is going to try to pin it down to a single person or action (which is certainly useful to spur or focus the entertaining activity of internet argument) then the ultimate cop-out is the most real answer in that it is Ealph's fault primarily. If one traces it back even to the last Butler draft, it was Ralph or misread what he was doing and failed to oversee his horrible last draft. It was in fact Ralph or fairly directly participated in the RJ/Flutie debacle as it was his pronouncement which led to the final playoff lost QB'ed by RJ, but ultimately lost becaise we had to go cheap for ST guys and they did not stay in their lanes as we compensated for the huge cap hit at QB for RJ or DF to sit and watch the other play. Ultimately, all these QB debacles go back to RWS making a handshake agreement to compensate Jimbo in his next FA contract which was a proof positive showing of a total miscalculation by Ralph of how much football Jimbo had left. The biggest contributor was Ralph, but screwing up the team is his right in our society because he is the owner and we live by the Golden Rule. He who has the most gold rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Flutie. Yeah, I said it, beotch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneonta Buffalo Fan Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Bledsoe. 610191[/snapback] No way! He was a good Qb but we had no offensive line to protect him. Look at Dallas now. They HAVE a decent offensive line. The key with Beldsoe is that you have to protect him well. Look at what happes when you give him time to throw he is very accurate and he a very strong throw. Many blamed Bledsoe for the collapse of the Bills, but in fact it was that he had terrible coaches and we had no offensive line that could block well enough to give him time to throw. Period! 610200[/snapback] Also some to blame goes to Donahoe for letting him go and to us fans. YES, WE are also contributors. After Bledsoe's terrible season in 04 everyone in Buffalo wanted him to leave because we thought he was washed up. We in a sence persuaded Donahoe and Ralph to get rid of Bledsoe. Now look at our mistake. If we only thought a little back then then maybe we would have had a playoff season last year and we wouldn't have this Qb controversy that were having now. Maybe instead of blaming the qb we should have thought about the people who are trying to protect the Qb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan III Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Ralph Wilson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 No way! He was a good Qb but we had no offensive line to protect him. Look at Dallas now. They HAVE a decent offensive line. The key with Beldsoe is that you have to protect him well. Look at what happes when you give him time to throw he is very accurate and he a very strong throw. Many blamed Bledsoe for the collapse of the Bills, but in fact it was that he had terrible coaches and we had no offensive line that could block well enough to give him time to throw. Period! 610200[/snapback] We shall just have to agree to disagree. Also some to blame goes to Donahoe for letting him go and to us fans. YES, WE are also contributors. After Bledsoe's terrible season in 04 everyone in Buffalo wanted him to leave because we thought he was washed up. We in a sence persuaded Donahoe and Ralph to get rid of Bledsoe. Now look at our mistake. If we only thought a little back then then maybe we would have had a playoff season last year and we wouldn't have this Qb controversy that were having now. Maybe instead of blaming the qb we should have thought about the people who are trying to protect the Qb. 610215[/snapback] The mistake was not cutting his sorry ass after 2003. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo_Stampede Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Ralph Wilson. The Bills began to fall to the level of the Arizona's and Detroits when he made Wade Phillips start Rob Johnson in the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoondckCL Posted February 24, 2006 Author Share Posted February 24, 2006 The thing that really gets me about Donahoe is the fact that his specialty was supposed to be the draft but his picks were eeehhhh. 1st Round Picks 2001: Nate Clements 2002: Mike Williams 2003: Willis McGahee 2004: Lee Evans JP Losman 2005: Traded for Losman pick in 2004 2nd Round Picks 2001: Aaron Schobel Travis Henry 2002: Josh Reed Ryan Denney 2003: Chris Kelsay 2004: Traded for JP Losman 2005: Roscoe Parrish 3rd Round Picks 2001: Ron Edwards 2002: Jonas Jennings 2003: Angelo Crowell 2004: Tim Anderson 2005: Kevin Everett He did a good job of drafting in the first few rounds but after that, the only real value player that he picked was Terrence McGee. In order to have success in this league you need to draft intelligently and well in the later rounds. The other problem that one might notice with the drafting is that in Donahoe's drafts is that he only took one offensive lineman in the first round, and with all of our second round picks we have a whole bunch of white defensive ends. The rest of the picks are skill positions, which only proves that Donahoe does not know offensive linemen when he sees them. We had a shot at LeCharles Bentley in 2002 in the second round of the draft. Did we make the right move? i don't know i am neither judge, nor jury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoondckCL Posted February 24, 2006 Author Share Posted February 24, 2006 The thing that really gets me about Donahoe is the fact that his specialty was supposed to be the draft but his picks were eeehhhh. 1st Round Picks 2001: Nate Clements 2002: Mike Williams 2003: Willis McGahee 2004: Lee Evans JP Losman 2005: Traded for Losman pick in 2004 2nd Round Picks 2001: Aaron Schobel Travis Henry 2002: Josh Reed Ryan Denney 2003: Chris Kelsay 2004: Traded for JP Losman 2005: Roscoe Parrish 3rd Round Picks 2001: Ron Edwards 2002: Jonas Jennings 2003: Angelo Crowell 2004: Tim Anderson 2005: Kevin Everett He did a good job of drafting in the first few rounds but after that, the only real value player that he picked was Terrence McGee. In order to have success in this league you need to draft intelligently and well in the later rounds. The other problem that one might notice with the drafting is that in Donahoe's drafts is that he only took one offensive lineman in the first round, and with all of our second round picks we have a whole bunch of white defensive ends. The rest of the picks are skill positions, which only proves that Donahoe does not know offensive linemen when he sees them. We had a shot at LeCharles Bentley in 2002 in the second round of the draft. Did we make the right move? i don't know i am neither judge, nor jury. 610235[/snapback] And to add one more thing, most of the guys on the list, the jury is still out on them too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 You forgot a #1: The thing that really gets me about Donahoe is the fact that his specialty was supposed to be the draft but his picks were eeehhhh. 1st Round Picks 2001: Nate Clements 2002: Mike Williams 2003: Traded for Bledsoe Willis McGahee 2004: Lee Evans JP Losman 2005: Traded for Losman pick in 2004 2nd Round Picks 2001: Aaron Schobel Travis Henry 2002: Josh Reed Ryan Denney 2003: Chris Kelsay 2004: Traded for JP Losman 2005: Roscoe Parrish 3rd Round Picks 2001: Ron Edwards 2002: Jonas Jennings 2003: Angelo Crowell 2004: Tim Anderson 2005: Kevin Everett 610235[/snapback] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoondckCL Posted February 24, 2006 Author Share Posted February 24, 2006 You forgot a #1: 610241[/snapback] That's right! SOB, my bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC-Bills Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 What about the 2000 draft class. If you think about it, it was Butler's last year and all of those players that should've been developed and acting as team leaders as of right now are not there. Instead we drafted Erik Flowers with the first pick, Travares Tillman with the second, and so on. I think that this was a big contributor 610195[/snapback] One thing to keep in mind about the 2000 draft class is that those players were drafted for a different system (i.e. Wade's system, not GW's). Not saying they would have developed under Wade, truth is no one knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WVUFootball29 Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Hah, blaming Bledsoe for the current state of the Bills is probably the dumbest reason I've heard yet...and I've heard some pretty stupid ones. Had we never cut peerless price loose I think the bills wouldnt have taken a step backwards after an 8-8 season. I know Price wanted big money, but we could have at least kept him around for another season with the tag instead of trading him for WM who contributed nothing to the following season. I still think wasting a number one pick on WM knowing that he wasnt going to play was a big mistake. I'll retract that statement though should WM decide to get his ass in gear on the field this year and finish in the top 5 rushers. You have to blame Ralph wilson and Tom Donahoe for the current state of the Bills. Its not a cop out. Its called poor management. TD neglected the lines and spent more time and money on skill position players and luxury picks, i.e. McGahee and Parrish. I also think that it was a huge mistake to not wait until the 2nd round for Losman. Now, I'm a Losman supporter, but I still didnt see him as a 1st rounder, and even if we didnt get him, we would have had a shot at Matt Schaub, who I still think would have been the better choice to backup Bledsoe. My beef with Wilson is letting TD talk him into another inexperienced HC after the Gregg Williams bust, but I can understand it...TD is pretty persuasive and Ralph isnt as sharp as he used to be (Is it Monday?). Poor management yields poor results in any business and football is no exception. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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