Grade Ralph Wilson...

[Luisito23]

:drama:

[Ebenezer]

Overall? His meddling and treatment and disrespect and disregard for the fans would give him an F. The things he has done for the league(s) gives him an A. I would give him a B but far from Hall worthy.

[PECKERWOOD]

1.) I respect him for the funding that he put into injury prevention, i.e. Kevin Everett. 2&3.) I respect that he has kept the team here for 40+ years and for being one of founding fathers of the NFL.

My criticisms of him are: 1.) Over spends money on players who are subpar when other talent is available. (See Steve Hutchinson & Steinbach yet paying the same size contract to Dockery) 2.) He refuses to bring in quality coaches. He often brings in 1st timers and past see losers. (See Gregg Williams, Mike Mularkey and Dick Jauron) 3.) He let arguably one of the best GM's in the history of the NFL go who helped him build 4 superbowl teams in Bill Polian.


I give him a B with a chance to move to an A if he wins the superbowl before he dies.

[yordad]

What have you done for me lately? F+

[Ebenezer]

1.) I respect him for the funding that he put into injury prevention, i.e. Kevin Everett. 2&3.) I respect that he has kept the team here for 40+ years and for being one of founding fathers of the NFL.

My criticisms of him are: 1.) Over spends money on players who are subpar when other talent is available. (See Steve Hutchinson & Steinbach yet paying the same size contract to Dockery) 2.) He refuses to bring in quality coaches. He often brings in 1st timers and past see losers. (See Gregg Williams, Mike Mularkey and Dick Jauron) 3.) He let arguably one of the best GM's in the history of the NFL go who helped him build 4 superbowl teams in Bill Polian.


I give him a B with a chance to move to an A if he wins the superbowl before he dies.
He didn't "let Polian go". That makes it sound as if Polian walked on his own accord. Polian was fired for being insubordinate - as he should have been. You also can't blame an owner for the poor player decisions - they really aren't talent appraisers.

[yordad]

He didn't "let Polian go". That makes it sound as if Polian walked on his own accord. Polian was fired for being insubordinate - as he should have been. You also can't blame an owner for the poor player decisions - they really aren't talent appraisers.Can you blame him for hiring the talent appraisers?

[chernobylwraiths]

Overall? His meddling and treatment and disrespect and disregard for the fans would give him an F. The things he has done for the league(s) gives him an A. I would give him a B but far from Hall worthy.

disregard for the fans? The team wouldn't be here if not for him and definitely not if he was only interested in money. He would have moved it a long time ago.

[Ebenezer]

Can you blame him for hiring the talent appraisers?
yes.

[Ebenezer]

disregard for the fans? The team wouldn't be here if not for him and definitely not if he was only interested in money. He would have moved it a long time ago.
if he cared that much he would have done something already to ensure that they were going to be here well after his death.

[chernobylwraiths]

if he cared that much he would have done something already to ensure that they were going to be here well after his death.

I just don't buy that. He knows how hard the hit is on the death tax. I don't like the fact that he doesn't try to make some provisions to keep the team here, but I don't think that he doesn't care about the fans or about the area.

[Ebenezer]

I just don't buy that. He knows how hard the hit is on the death tax. I don't like the fact that he doesn't try to make some provisions to keep the team here, but I don't think that he doesn't care about the fans or about the area.
We will have to agree to disagree. Death Tax is death tax. It will be there regardless who buys the team and where it plays. It is irrelevant to securing its future here in Buffalo.

[Luisito23]

It comes down to doing whatever it takes to succeed, and I'm sorry but Ralph fails miserably.

[YardRat]

The man's kept the team here for 50 years.

He's forgotten more about business, football, and the football business than all of the other current owners put together.

The NFL wouldn't be what it is without men like Ralph and Lamar Hunt, etc, and WNY itself would be even worse if you can imagine that being possible.

He's aces in my book.

[DrGraves]

Is commitment to mediocrity really worthy of Hall of Fame status?

[Michael82]

You gotta look at what Ralph did back in the AFL to really appreciate him. He kept several teams afloat and kept the league intact until the merger. He also has kept the team in Buffalo, no matter how many times other people have tempted him to move them, with big cash offers. I ***** about Ralph a lot, and I still hate that he hasn't done what Lamar Hunt and even the Steelers owner have done, to set the team's future up for when he dies. But I appreciate the good that he has done. Don't forget that he also saw the flaws in the new CBA that no one else realized.

[Historian]

The franchise isn't even close to .500 for it's history.

Low C, high D range.

[PECKERWOOD]

He didn't "let Polian go". That makes it sound as if Polian walked on his own accord. Polian was fired for being insubordinate - as he should have been. You also can't blame an owner for the poor player decisions - they really aren't talent appraisers.

Insubordinate, depends what your definition of the word is. Insubordinate as in, somebody who is willing to challenge Ralph on personnel decisions? Is Russ Brandon more "subordinate" in your opinion? If insubordination means more superbowl appearances then sign me up for that bandwagon. Polian should have NEVER of been fired. Ralph has done nothing without him, but kudos to Ralph for hiring Polian in the first place, that was his only wise decision on that matter.

[OpIv37]

He's forgotten more about business, football, and the football business than all of the other current owners put together.


Yeah, that's why his franchise has been so successful compared to all the other franchises :rolleyes:

20 or 30 years ago this statement may have been accurate. But the game changed, the business model behind the game changed, and Ralph didn't change with it.

[lukabrossi]

who the **** keeps giving Ralph an "A"?

[OpIv37]

who the **** keeps giving Ralph an "A"?

BILLSROCK1212, casdhf, Joe Fo Sho, joecharb, njsue, TacklingDummy

aka people who have accepted the loser mentality that just having a team is enough to give Ralph credit and that we shouldn't hold this franchise's dismal history against him.

[justasportsfan]

For keeping the bills here A

For quality of product D. If it wasn't for the 4 sb's F.

[Jan Reimers]

We will have to agree to disagree. Death Tax is death tax. It will be there regardless who buys the team and where it plays. It is irrelevant to securing its future here in Buffalo.
The death tax would not hit if he left the team to his wife. I don't believe for a minute that she doesn't want it, knowing that she could hire a competent football man to run the operation for her.

She has even expressed her desire to move to Buffalo so she could be more involved in charitable activities in the community.

[Luisito23]

For keeping the bills here A

For quality of product D. If it wasn't for the 4 sb's F.


:bf1:

[chernobylwraiths]

We will have to agree to disagree. Death Tax is death tax. It will be there regardless who buys the team and where it plays. It is irrelevant to securing its future here in Buffalo.

How very profound of you.

That tax should be repealed, it is ridiculous.