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It necessarily doesn't have to be a STRONG coach....What he needed to do

was hire a coach and share his input and philosphies and ideas. Jauron is

not necessarily a STRONG coach, but Marv gives the coach the freedom to

talk and provide his input and respect his input. Marv believes in a team concept.

 

If TD had allowed Mularkey's input in all aspects of the team, may be we would have seen better results..

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I don't know... if the Rusty Jones decision was Mularkey's, it does not give me much faith in any input he might have had.

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The operative fact is that he appointed two exceptionally bad coaches and took a perennial playoff powerhouse and ran it into the ground. A couple of good picks? Yeah..but that is pretty basic, and I don't think anyone is touting JP, McGahee or Evans for the Hall of Fame as of this year. Donohue was a lousy GM based on what he did with the team. There is a bottom line in this business.

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Donahoe drafted both studs and duds. Overall, I'd give him a "C" for his drafting. The problem is he often did not address needs in his drafting. Josh Reed was a luxury pick who took too long to produce. Roscoe Parrish was a luxury pick. Ryan Denney took too long to produce. They are all becoming productive, finally. Marv Levy's draft was exceptional. The Bills got two safeties who are starting immediately and performing at a high level, two DTs who are getting plenty of playing time and other players who look like they may be productive players in a year or two. Levy drafted studs who also filled needs. If he can keep it up, the Bills will be a dominant team as soon as next year, and certainly by 2009.

 

I agree that Donahoe's worst blunders were his coaching hires. They set the team back at least three years.

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Here is what Lenny's P is about in a nutsell...

 

 

1. I'm fat

2. I'm from Pittsburgh

3. I love the Steelers

4. I'm a homer

5. I love TD

6. I love TD because he is from Pittsburgh

7. TD can change water into wine

8. The NFL should be only one team, the Pittsburgh Steelers

9. My sources are voices in my head at the buffet table

10. I am a fat man form Pittsburgh who loves the Steelers, TD and everything they stand for...

 

It gets old quick.

 

 

 

Did anyone notice the other league fat boy, Peter King left the Bills off his top 15 rating?

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Uh, whats so funny? That's all true...

 

Have we actually gotten to the point where anytime somebody says something positive about Donahoe our response is automatically to laugh, completely disregarding whether or not the statement is true?

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Donahoe drafted good players, then he hired the wrong coaches and ran the Bills like Captain Queeg. So does he deserve an atta-boy for doing one thing out of three right? B-)

 

PTR

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Donohoe also brought in Modrak, who was most responsible for this draft, and who wouldn't be here except for TD, as well as John Guy, who was responsible for the FA's brought in this year, like Fowler and Royal and Tripplett, etc. Just sayin'.

 

Guy did a terrific job this offseason. I posted a criticism about a year ago of Guy's failings in the pro personnel dept. He really redeemed himself thios year. So did Modrak with his input on the draft.

 

I just wonder how much of Modrak and Guy's failures can be attributed to TD overruling them or going for the flashier move, either in the draft or the pro personnel side.

 

Donahoe drafted both studs and duds. Overall, I'd give him a "C" for his drafting. The problem is he often did not address needs in his drafting. Josh Reed was a luxury pick who took too long to produce. Roscoe Parrish was a luxury pick. Ryan Denney took too long to produce. They are all becoming productive, finally.

 

And I wonder how much of the "it took so long to produce" was due to the inept coaching of the GW and Meathead eras? Making players fit your system instead of molding the system around the players you have?

 

TD had some good player drafts. No question. However he woefully failed in hiring coaches to best utilize those players. He also failed horribly in creating a successful, collaborative environment where success can happen.

 

Everyone talks about the culture of fear surrounding the Bills during his tenure. Now, with Marv, it is a more open, honest organization. No doubletalk and bs.

 

That doesn't even get into TD's complete Queegian meltdown at the end of last season.

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I like the fact our Bills are flying under the NFL radar. I would love to get Mike and Mike, Peter King, Mort and Lenny P in a padded room together. Take away their access to the outside world and they would still claim to have an inside scoop from a "league" source.

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In this world where there are no real absolutes, suffice to say that TD had good points as well as bad points. I do think that his drafts were mostly pretty good for this team. Even the 2002 draft, which we all point toward as his low point, is beginning to look better. Obviously, the miscalculation on Mike Williams hurt bad -- but sometimes those things just happen. (See Gallery in Oakland.) The Reed and Denney picks are starting to look better and better too. Maybe both were just late bloomers.

 

This 2006 draft reminds me a lot of our 2001 draft. The common denominator is that both years coincided with a new regime at the top. If you recall, we got a number of instant impact players in that draft: Nate, Schobel, Travis, Jennings... There were also guys like Spoon and Edwards that contributed early on, but failed to make long-term contributions. I wonder how many of the Class of 2006 guys will be around for years to come -- and how many are playing out of necessity...

 

Anyway... I'm starting to move off topic...

 

The point is that TD wasn't completely vile. He left this team in much better shape with his 2004 and 2005 drafts than Butler did with his 1999 and 2000 failures.

 

Of course, we all know about his shortcomings: head coach hires, single-mindedly overlooking some of the team's weaknesses, and disdain when dealing with our own free agents.

 

I've always felt that his head coaching weaknesses stemmed from the battle he lost with Cowher in Pittsburgh. At least on a subconscious level, he probably never wanted to hire a coach that would ever be a large enough personality to overpower him.

 

TD never did what he needed to do to fix the OL. Maybe he simply kept out hope that MW would amount to something. Even worse, each year he'd become so focused on the team's weak areas that he'd simply neglect the other areas. We remember the 2002 team as being an offensive juggernaut -- but with a horrible defense. TD did a great job during the 2003 free agent market addressing the defensive problems -- but in the process tore down the offense, as Price, Riemersma and Centers were all allowed to leave. We know what's happened to the offense since... After 2004, TD seemed to believe that the source of all of our problems was with Bledsoe, so he gave him his walking papers and threw JP to the wolves. In this case, the wolves were as much MM and his goon coaching staff as it was the opposing defenders.

 

Big Pat represents the perfect example of how TD dealt poorly with our free agents. The attitude was more surly than a simple "Take it or leave it" as TD served to alieniate and disrespect these guys. After that great 2003 free agent class, the word got around to the point where it was hard to attract top free agents to come here. Despite all of our mutterings about high-priced athletes, it isn't always about money. Marv and DJ's "we are family" approach means more than you can imagine, especially if this season ends on a positive note.

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I still wonder why, when every college broadcaster and college writer was proclaiming McKinne the next great OT, the draftniks ended up evaluating MW higher.  A case of overthinking perhaps?

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Because you can't measure heart and Mike Williams is the Tin Man.

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Donahoe drafted good players, then he hired the wrong coaches and ran the Bills like Captain Queeg.  So does he deserve an atta-boy for doing one thing out of three right?  0:)

 

PTR

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He drafted good and bad players. Just like nearly every other GM in the league. The draft is, believe it or not, rather a crap shoot. I think a better judgement of him would be: what did he do in free agency?

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Lenny claims that these players all were drafted by TD...However for players like Reed, Denney, Crowell, it has taken 4 seasons to develop...something that is eternally long in NFL today....May be the reason is those guys just did not fit the system that was being run here...If that were the case, then TD does not get credit for those picks, because he never could nurture these players into good players...

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I still wonder why, when every college broadcaster and college writer was proclaiming McKinne the next great OT, the draftniks ended up evaluating MW higher.  A case of overthinking perhaps?

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Recall that signabilty was also an issue. Some scouts felt that BM was the best player coming out of the draft and, thus, BM made it clear that he wanted to be paid as such. Let's not forget that he sat out most of the 2002 season with the Vikings threatening to go back into the 2003 draft. Truthfully, it wasn't until early last season that the worm turned and the experts started to agree that BM was a superior player to MW.

 

Did the front office screw up? Yes, in hindsight. But there was no real way of knowing that Big Mike would turn out to be such a wuss... Believe it or not, he was considered the "safe" pick at the time. Supposedly GW was begging for defensive help -- and especially liked Roy Williams. TD, who was working out the deal for Bledsoe at the time, wanted more OL help... Ironic, don't you think?

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