What has Happened to this Franchise?

[DeeRay]

First of all, if Donahoe is doing what he’s supposed to be doing, then the Bills should have talent. Right? Well, if Donahoe believes we have talent then, why are the Bills 0-4? One of two things, or both, has happened here. Either the Bills lack talent or Donahoe whiffed again on hiring a coach… or as I said, both.

 

So, let’s do some bench marking. Let’s compare the 0-4 Bills to the 4-1 Giants.

 

After a dismal season, the Giants (like the Bills) canned their head coach. Unlike the Bills, the Giants decided to go with a tried and true experienced Head Coach, albeit a prick of a guy. On the other hand, Donahoe, after 3 years of rebuilding and re-tooling the team with a rookie head coach at the controls, decided that this team was ready for prime time and in his infinite wisdom decided that any schlep can coach the talent he’ provided. So, after 3 years of re-tooling, he decides to go with another career assistant coach that would have been fired anyway had he not been offered the job. Conventional wisdom would be thinking that you’ve got a lot of young and new players, so to meld this altogether the best thing would be to bring in an HC with some experience… not a rookie… unless he was at least a HC at the college level with some assistant experience in the NFL (ie. Kirk Ferenz, Ralph Friedgen).

 

Well, the Giants may have even less talent than the Bills… or best case scenario is that they’re even. The difference then must be at the Head Coaching level. How else can you explain it? Parcells takes a bad team and instantly makes it a good one. Now, Coughlin takes a miserable team and is now in a serious dog fight for supremacy in their division.

 

The problem seems to be with Donahoe. Never in his life has he ever hired a former Head coach. Why? Well, basically Donahoe is a prima dona. He didn’t like playing 2nd fiddle to Chuck Noll in Pittsburg so he hired a schmuck like Cowher tto take over when Noll retired. The only problem… Cowher had a mind of his own and challenged Donahoe. Eventually, in Pittsburg, that got Donahoe exposed, and eventually canned. But everyone bit on, myself included, on the “Donahoe-Modrak Myth”. Now it’s clear that this tandem was a creation of the media.

 

The only question now is does Ralph really care anymore. The reality is that he’s in the twilight of his life, owning a team that has a continually shrinking market. Maybe his agenda is to just ride this out and set the team up so that it is prepared for “market” when he eventually passes. If that’s his agenda, then he’s picked the right guy in Donahoe. He’s got a manageable salary cap, a new potential nucleus (Losman, McGahee, Evans), a sweet lease deal with an esxcape clause, NFL leadership that will bank roll a sale and move to LA as well as a possible move to Toronto, and a team that has no place to go but up. If I’m an entrepreneur with eyes on an NFL franchise, I’m salivating if I look at the Bills.

If Donald Trump had eyes for an NFL franchise, he’d get a good deal by buying the Bills and then moving it to a venue where he can reap the benefits of a new stadium filled with 75% luxury suites and all the other seats with PSL revenue. I’ll tell you, as a fan though, I’m not getting a good smell from this whole situation. This Bills team rivals some of the worst Bills teams ever… ala 68-72, and 83-86.

 

So, I think now we really need to get a feel for where Ralph is at with this team and it’s performance. He’s not been visable as of late, which is a little unusual given the team’s performance. We may find out what he’s thinking after next week’s game against the Dolphins… especially if the Bills lose.

[jad1]

Uh, we have heard from Ralph, and he's pissed. Like us, he's tired of the lackluster play, and believes the smashmouth football is boring the fans. He want's to see a change in the level of play.

 

Nice theory though.

[spidey]

Uh, we have heard from Ralph, and he's pissed.  Like us, he's tired of the lackluster play, and believes the smashmouth football is boring the fans.  He want's to see a change in the level of play.

 

Nice theory though.

64966[/snapback]

I saw Ralph Quotes but if he thinks that this core group can run a wide open offense he is really wearing those K-gun rose glasses. This OL sucks and with a yound Oline conventional wisdom says ya run the ball. Problem is that the creativity around the run isnnt there. I have seen littl or no play action, no running out of 4 wide set, no travis and willis together ( except on third down to pass protect), no fle flicker called to date. No real crossing routes by the receivers to force LBs/safties to mess up or get lost in coverage.

 

The blame is on the OC and play calling. Mularkey is very unanimated on sideline and with his headset always having microphone up in air how could he be discussiong game situations etc.