BillsVet Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 An emerging trend in football is a franchise's reliance on four individuals: a GM, HC, QB, and of course owner. If a team is above average in these ares, the franchise will be successful. The question remains how to qualify what works as good for the management positions which do not have statistics to demonstrate their effectiveness. Everything in a franchise begins with the GM. Teams like Pittsburgh (Kevin Colbert), Indianapolis (Polian) NY Giants (Jerry Reese) Miami (Parcells/Ireland) New England (Belichick) Green Bay (Ted Thompson) and a few others regularly win. Teams without proven talent evaluators at GM do not. It's my belief that a GM is the single most important position, front office or on the field, in any franchise. EDIT: Their importance not only comes in selecting a coach, but in repeatedly finding talent through the draft and being smart in UFA. Second most important is the QB. There is no more important position on the field, and a good one can make great things happen. I won't forget seeing Roethlisberger hanging on in the SB or guys like Drew Brees make unknown receivers look like All-Pros. To me, the QB is the second most important asset a team can have, so much so that team's continue to gamble in the draft by taking players who they hope can develop into stars. Third is the HC. We've seen enough instances (Sparano in Miami, Mike Smith with Atlanta) where a HC can gameplan and out-fox opponents with lesser talent. They game-plan to highlight their strengths and minimize weaknesses. Lastly is an owner. The best owners seem to take a back seat to their management and empower their front office people rather than dictate. Former Dolphins majority owner Wayne Huizenga, the Mara's and Tisch's with the Giants, Bob Kraft in NE, and the Rooney's in Pittsbugh epitomize what good owners do: let football people make football decisions. All in all, the Bills don't seem to have the decision makers at these key management positions. Edwards may well develop into a solid QB. But the other three positions are all below average and if (a huge if) the team does not find themselves in the post-season, the GM and HC should be replaced. Out of the worst 12 teams in the NFL in 08, 8 (DET, STL, KC, SEA, CLE, JAC, SF and DEN) made significant changes to their front office or at HC. Only Buffalo, Oakland, Cincinnati, and Green Bay did not. I can understand GB, but those other three are perennial doormats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 It's been like you describe forever. GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sen. John Blutarsky Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Well, building on the New England model. HGH dealer, video tape guru, exceedingly wealthy owner, QB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobDVA Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 An emerging trend in football is a franchise's reliance on four individuals: a GM, HC, QB, and of course owner. If a team is above average in these ares, the franchise will be successful. The question remains how to qualify what works as good for the management positions which do not have statistics to demonstrate their effectiveness. Everything in a franchise begins with the GM. Teams like Pittsburgh (Kevin Colbert), Indianapolis (Polian) NY Giants (Jerry Reese) Miami (Parcells/Ireland) New England (Belichick) Green Bay (Ted Thompson) and a few others regularly win. Teams without proven talent evaluators at GM do not. It's my belief that a GM is the single most important position, front office or on the field, in any franchise. EDIT: Their importance not only comes in selecting a coach, but in repeatedly finding talent through the draft and being smart in UFA. Second most important is the QB. There is no more important position on the field, and a good one can make great things happen. I won't forget seeing Roethlisberger hanging on in the SB or guys like Drew Brees make unknown receivers look like All-Pros. To me, the QB is the second most important asset a team can have, so much so that team's continue to gamble in the draft by taking players who they hope can develop into stars. Third is the HC. We've seen enough instances (Sparano in Miami, Mike Smith with Atlanta) where a HC can gameplan and out-fox opponents with lesser talent. They game-plan to highlight their strengths and minimize weaknesses. Lastly is an owner. The best owners seem to take a back seat to their management and empower their front office people rather than dictate. Former Dolphins majority owner Wayne Huizenga, the Mara's and Tisch's with the Giants, Bob Kraft in NE, and the Rooney's in Pittsbugh epitomize what good owners do: let football people make football decisions. All in all, the Bills don't seem to have the decision makers at these key management positions. Edwards may well develop into a solid QB. But the other three positions are all below average and if (a huge if) the team does not find themselves in the post-season, the GM and HC should be replaced. Out of the worst 12 teams in the NFL in 08, 8 (DET, STL, KC, SEA, CLE, JAC, SF and DEN) made significant changes to their front office or at HC. Only Buffalo, Oakland, Cincinnati, and Green Bay did not. I can understand GB, but those other three are perennial doormats. It is clear that Ralph has kept all running the show just to torque the jaws of the disgruntled bandwagon clingers, whiners and malcontents! Yet, when we win it all, and it will happen some day, we the true bloods, will know who you are with your fake I knew it all along, getting in the way of our real celebration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 So, you dislike Brandon, DJ, Trent and Ralph most of all. What else is new... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted May 19, 2009 Author Share Posted May 19, 2009 So, you dislike Brandon, DJ, Trent and Ralph most of all. What else is new... As long as Trent remains healthy, I think he'll be a good QB. DJ has proven he's not capable of winning against playoff caliber competition. Brandon was elevated to a position he had no experience in, and RW is RW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramius Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Wow. What a refreshing take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Only Buffalo, Oakland, Cincinnati, and Green Bay did not. I can understand GB, but those other three are perennial doormats. And yet, sell out their stadiums most years. Hmm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted May 19, 2009 Author Share Posted May 19, 2009 And yet, sell out their stadiums most years. Hmm... Cincinnati does a wonderful job of getting taxpayer money and continuing to put a inferior product on the field. Mike Brown knows that winning is good, but being profitable is more important. The NFL is too popular and the threat of leaving too great for a city to let a team leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 As long as Trent remains healthy, I think he'll be a good QB. DJ has proven he's not capable of winning against playoff caliber competition. Brandon was elevated to a position he had no experience in, and RW is RW. As I said...what else is new? Water is still wet, last I heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartacus Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 As I said...what else is new? Water is still wet, last I heard. and the Bills still have not made the playoffs this century Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted May 19, 2009 Author Share Posted May 19, 2009 and the Bills still have not made the playoffs this century Let him have fun pretending the Bills are the standard for successful NFL franchises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magox Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 As long as Trent remains healthy, I think he'll be a good QB. DJ has proven he's not capable of winning against playoff caliber competition. Brandon was elevated to a position he had no experience in, and RW is RW. It's a little premature to judge Brandon don't you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 It's a little premature to judge Brandon don't you think? He hasn't traded for John Henderson yet. Ergo, he's not good. Brandon has spent all of one year working the personnel end of the house. No one learns the intricacies of this highly complex subject in that amount of time. Every successful team in the league has a GM well-versed in the increasingly challenging aspect of evaluating talent. Buffalo does not have the guy to bring together the college scouting and pro personnel departments. He has no experience building a team, and for a franchise reeling, having a guy learn on the job is the absolute wrong answer. Buffalo does not want to make large changes to the front office and coaching staff because they simply don't know about the owner. It's the reason no one has been brought in from the outside at GM or HC in more than three years, despite consistently mediocre teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 He hasn't traded for John Henderson yet. Ergo, he's not good. Brandon has spent all of one year working the personnel end of the house. No one learns the intricacies of this highly complex subject in that amount of time. Every successful team in the league has a GM well-versed in the increasingly challenging aspect of evaluating talent. Buffalo does not have the guy to bring together the college scouting and pro personnel departments. He has no experience building a team, and for a franchise reeling, having a guy learn on the job is the absolute wrong answer. Buffalo does not want to make large changes to the front office and coaching staff because they simply don't know about the owner. It's the reason no one has been brought in from the outside at GM or HC in more than three years, despite consistently mediocre teams. True with much of all you're saying. But, don't you think he's had a pretty good year? I'll give him one rather glaring backstep - not replacing Jauron. However, maybe that was a decision made for him if you know what I mean. Otherwise, I'd say he's done a pretty good job of at least addressing all of the team's weaknesses. Will all the moves work? Who knows yet. Could he have gotten Henderson? Perhaps, but Henderson doesn't seem to be going anywhere. So maybe the reports of him being on the trade block were about as serious as Roscoe being on the trade block. But, for the most part, this team had several huge problems at the end of last season. Brandon has addressed most of them with what should be solid upgrades. Experienced or not, that's all you can reasonably expect. In a year or 2 we'll see how good his judgment is, i.e did he bring in the right players. Until then, I'd say the lack of experience argument is weak at best. It's like saying a guy that just graduated college can't do the job because he has no experience. But he can't prove he can do the job until you hire him and give him some experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts