Mike Francesca's 10 minute rant about the Bills, Ryan and the Pegulas

[Cleve]

LOL! Guy calls up Mike Francesa, asks him "What's wrong with the Bills?" and gets 10 minutes of Francesa's excoriating commentary on the sad state of affairs at OBD, and the fact he believes the Pegulas are naive and clueless and should have never been meeting with the players without the coaches' knowledge.

http://bills.buffalonews.com/2016/09/22/listen-mike-francesa-obliterates-bills-rex-ryan-pegulas-10-straight-minutes/

[Night Train]

In other news, it's light outside at noon.

[Luisito23]

he believes the Pegulas are naive and clueless

I believe the same thing...

[trapezeus]

pegulas picked a guy who said all the right things but never has the plans. you should try and avoid these know it all people who have no track record to stand on and promise big things without any real details to back it up.

[sahlensguy]

pegulas picked a guy who said all the right things but never has the plans. you should try and avoid these know it all people who have no track record to stand on and promise big things without any real details to back it up.

And if you need to explain that to a non-football owner guy with a bank account the size of Niagara, the club is in trouble for a long, long time.

[Jry44]

Yet, the Pegulas are held in VERY high regards around the NHL. The media has been all over the damn place on their sources and reports coming out of OBD.

What I do know is the when the Pegulas bought the Sabres, GM Darcy Reiger got a blank check for signing players and scouting. They gave him a chance to prove his worth, and fired him after he fell on his face. I firmly believe that we are seeing the same thing with Whaley and the rest of the front office personal that the Pegulas kept around when they won the bid for the team.

Unfortunately, they hired Rex and have inherited his problems, and they know it. Any great manager talks to their first line employees in an attempt to identify problems within their organization. You don't build a billion dollar business by being incompetent and not listening to your employees. The Sabres have a bright future and are doing things right. They will fix this mess after they fire Rex.

[ckg927]

I'm sorry...Mike Francesca was last relevant WHEN, exactly?

ANY good poster in the Bills Zone could have told you this in much less time that it took Mike to vent.

[Turf]

Listening to his hearty laugh about how stupid the Bills look to everyone outside of Buffalo makes me know I've been right all along. How comically sad it is.

[Cleve]

Listening to his hearty laugh about how stupid the Bills look to everyone outside of Buffalo makes me know I've been right all along. How comically sad it is.

That's the only useful thing about this sound clip - we get an outside perspective on the Bills, and to the rest of America, they seem ridiculous.

[YardRat]

Yet, the Pegulas are held in VERY high regards around the NHL. The media has been all over the damn place on their sources and reports coming out of OBD.

What I do know is the when the Pegulas bought the Sabres, GM Darcy Reiger got a blank check for signing players and scouting. They gave him a chance to prove his worth, and fired him after he fell on his face. I firmly believe that we are seeing the same thing with Whaley and the rest of the front office personal that the Pegulas kept around when they won the bid for the team.

Unfortunately, they hired Rex and have inherited his problems, and they know it. Any great manager talks to their first line employees in an attempt to identify problems within their organization. You don't build a billion dollar business by being incompetent and not listening to your employees. The Sabres have a bright future and are doing things right. They will fix this mess after they fire Rex.


There's nothing wrong with making a mistake, unless you don't learn from it and make the same mistake again. Giving Reiger a 'chance to prove his worth' was a mistake. If they did the same with the Bills, that's just ignorance.

[swiper]

I don't know where Jry44 gets that the whole NHL hold the Pegulas in VERY high regards. They like their money. Evander Kane has been a nightmare. ROR gets arrested after taking their money. They aren't in the play-offs. So to date you've got exactly nothing from it all. And to throw out 2 and a half years to rebuild is and always will be lame. Pegulas haven't proven anything yet anywhere other than that they seem to be incredibly naive billionaires.

Arguing that they should talk to their "first line employees" and not recognizing that is our pal Russ Brandon is half-sited. If they go by that there will be more of the same.

The facts are this The Bills need a real head coach and a real QB. We've had 17 years of pretenders. Mike Mularkey & Doug Marrone walked out on OBD. See the other thread about the Eagles. If you think the Pegulas are good owners you are blind.

[sahlensguy]

I don't know where Jry44 gets that the whole NHL hold the Pegulas in VERY high regards. They like their money. Evander Kane has been a nightmare. ROR gets arrested after taking their money. They aren't in the play-offs. So to date you've got exactly nothing from it all. And to throw out 2 and a half years to rebuild is and always will be lame. Pegulas haven't proven anything yet anywhere other than that they seem to be incredibly naive billionaires.

Arguing that they should talk to their "first line employees" and not recognizing that is our pal Russ Brandon is half-sited. If they go by that there will be more of the same.

The facts are this The Bills need a real head coach and a real QB. We've had 17 years of pretenders. Mike Mularkey & Doug Marrone walked out on OBD. See the other thread about the Eagles. If you think the Pegulas are good owners you are blind.

I think I'd prefer a 20 younger and breathing Ralph to lead us out of the woods.

[Historian]

This is all the Bills are about anymore: PR.

https://s.yimg.com/fz/api/res/1.2/_ID.fXHtKhaCVwpvD3sqTw--/YXBwaWQ9c3JjaGRkO2g9NTAwO3E9OTU7dz03NTA-/http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2759360.1471738123%21/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/billshistoryweb21s-1-web.jpg

[Jry44]

I don't know where Jry44 gets that the whole NHL hold the Pegulas in VERY high regards. They like their money. Evander Kane has been a nightmare. ROR gets arrested after taking their money. They aren't in the play-offs. So to date you've got exactly nothing from it all. And to throw out 2 and a half years to rebuild is and always will be lame. Pegulas haven't proven anything yet anywhere other than that they seem to be incredibly naive billionaires.

Arguing that they should talk to their "first line employees" and not recognizing that is our pal Russ Brandon is half-sited. If they go by that there will be more of the same.

The facts are this The Bills need a real head coach and a real QB. We've had 17 years of pretenders. Mike Mularkey & Doug Marrone walked out on OBD. See the other thread about the Eagles. If you think the Pegulas are good owners you are blind.

You're one of the, if not thee, most cynical posters on this board so you generally aren't worth responding to because it's like responding to a wall, but here it goes...

Evander Kane, in hindsight, has been a disaster. However it was a move that was made to help strengthen the team.

Ryan O'Reilly has had ONE incident, and since has been an all star and is currently playing in the world cup for team Canada.

The team is LOADED with young talent, and along with the resources that the Pegulas have poured into the team for player development, such as the building of harborside, has made the Sabres a destination for top free agents. We were #1 on Okposos list, and at the top of Stamkos list prior to staying in Tampa. Additionally, agents are now steering their clients towards buffalo because of the Pegulas instead of away, like they did when cheap Golisano owned the team. And with the combine being held in Buffalo, it has made the Sabres a destination for players because of the reputation the Sabres have built with agents.

Your mind is made up, so you're going to thrive on the dark cloud that's hanging over head instead of looking at what is being built within the Pegulas other team because you get your rocks off on those things. So go ahead and lean on the bad Evander Kane decision to project doom and gloom after Rex. I hated hiring Rex too, however I know that the Pegulas will get this right. Not that you will because you hate signs of hope, but attached is an article from last month that rated the NHL's owners. I would say to have a nice day, but you would absolutely hate that too...

nhl/news/1064620-ranking-the-31-nhl-owners

[Jry44]

I think I'd prefer a 20 younger and breathing Ralph to lead us out of the woods.

Or watching Bon Jovi and Robert craft rock out with his **** out in Bon Jovis owners booth at a Bills home game in Toronto?

[Jry44]

There's nothing wrong with making a mistake, unless you don't learn from it and make the same mistake again. Giving Reiger a 'chance to prove his worth' was a mistake. If they did the same with the Bills, that's just ignorance.

Was it though? Reiger built winners before, and was greatly held back by Golisano being cheap. He gave him a chance, and it unfortunately didn't work. I like patience more than making radical decisions. Paying a GM to be fired without giving him a chance while paying a new GM at the same time is a bigger mistake.

My point here is to just give it time. These last two years have been evaluation periods for the entire organization. Not it's apparent that it's time to start over. Rex is a terrible coach, and Whaley now needs to be held accountable for choosing him. Now the tge Pegulas have been in tbe NFL and know the league better, I have faith that they will fix things.

[sudzy]

I'm sorry...Mike Francesca was last relevant WHEN, exactly?



IDK. Has it been long then the last time the Bills were relevant?

[trapezeus]

jry44, I agree on the sabres. darcy was hamstrung and had some success to at least be given a second chance. russ has done nothing but broker the deal. you don't make friends with the deal maker. you make the deal and move on with your vision. I am fine they tried with rex. I thought rex was stuck with a bad GM and left with no tools. I was wrong. it was a good PR move and was the first time we got a name coach in a long time. but the word is out on the street and it has been for a long time. you go to buffalo, you will be meddled with and your career will stall. and it happens because they keep too many non-football guys worrying that eventually the fans will see that they are the problem. it seems like more and more fans are turning on russ, but the one or two fans that need to change are Kim and Terry.

[Mace]

They will fix this mess after they fire Rex.

Maybe, depends on if they find their football LaFontaine to find their football Murray while realizing football development doesn't work in the same pace as hockey. NHL players develop slower for example. Hockey is on the 5th year of the plan and it will take another still before the plan matures, where in football 6 years is 2 organizational recycles of a plan in most cases.

Very much agree about the Pegulas being held in high regard. Terry loves hockey. NFL will hold them in high regard eventually as well. they're well intentioned, enthusiastic, decent folks. I even hold them in high regard when I'm unhappy with them.

Football learning curve though. They need better football voices in their ear. A great manager does talk with his line people to troubleshoot. But a great owner hires a great manager to talk to his line people in pro sports, imho.