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All: The new Billszone site with the updated software is scheduled to be turned on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The company that built it, Dynascale, estimates a FOUR HOUR shut down, from 8pm Pacific, (5pm Eastern) while they get it up and running. Nobody will be able to post in any forum until they are done. Afterwards, you may need to do a web search for the site, as old links will not work, because the site is getting a new IP address. Please be patient. If there are bugs, we will tackle them one at a time. Remember the goal is to be up and running with no glitches by camp. Doing this now assures us of that, because it gives us all summer to get our ducks in a row. Thank you!
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Donahoe lost a power struggle with Cowher in Pittsburgh. Bledsoe lost his job to Brady in New England. The Steelers are doing relatively well. The Patriots are the best football team on the planet.
The Bills? We're 17-34 under our genius GM, due at least in part to a QB who appears too immobile to play effectively in today's NFL.
Be careful what you wish for.
Should have known, way back in 1960 when we drafted Richie Lucas Number 1, that this would be a long, hard ride. But who could have known it would be THIS bad?
Slowly but surely, the tide is turning against Donahoe. This is year 4 and we've seen very little from the Bills. It's pretty upsetting. I'd just like to see some kind of sign from the Bills that they haven't given up and that there is a reason to believe they'll get things turned around.
Donahoe lost a power struggle with Cowher in Pittsburgh. Bledsoe lost his job to Brady in New England. The Steelers are doing relatively well. The Patriots are the best football team on the planet.
The Bills? We're 17-34 under our genius GM, due at least in part to a QB who appears too immobile to play effectively in today's NFL.
Be careful what you wish for.
OK, but what does any of that mean? Who isn't a castoff? Other than a team's draftees who hasn't been cut lose in one way or another. One man's junk is another man's GM?
OK, but what does any of that mean? Who isn't a castoff? Other than a team's draftees who hasn't been cut lose in one way or another. One man's junk is another man's GM?
Agreed. If someone is available, it means someone has cast him off. Oh, you say, you can hire someone who worked in a different capacity. You can hire a ddirector of pro personnel to be your GM or an offensive coordinator as a head coach. Of course, Tom Donahoe has done that twice, with Gregg Williams and now Mike Mularkey. Well, we ran Gregg Williams out of town (and deservedly so) and now Mike Mularkey is under the gun. Too early to say whether he deserves that or not, which means he doesn't deserve it yet. The bottom line is that when the team is losing, fans are angry and virtually anyone and everyone can be a target. That's what's happening now.
Is Tom Donahoe a bad GM? When he was hired we were telling an entirely different story. It was a power struggle with Bill Cowher, the coach that Tom Donahoe hired, and Donahoe lost. He had gotten credit for keeping the Steelers competitive for years while managing the cap very well, dropping overpriced veterans and showing a great eye for young talent. I think we know it's stupid to suggest Tom Donahoe suddenly turned stupid, so we look somewhere else. He was always stupid, but benefitted from his association with Bill Cowher. Well, I don't buy that either. GMs have to make some huge bets because A. they are dealing with large amounts of money and B. contracts can run five, six, seven years and longer.
Tom Donahoe has made some good decisions and some bad ones. Our entire linebacking corps is Donahoe's creation. Most league observers agree it is one of the best. We can't blame the fact that London Fletcher suddenly decided to start taking stupid penalties the last two weeks on the decision Donahoe made three years ago to sign him. Donahoe has made two huge bets that look like they are bad ones. First was the hiring of Gregg Williams, who talked a good game but really did not have the wisdom needed to be a good head coach (at least yet, though that could change in the future). The second was the trade for Bledsoe. As long as Bledsoe is with the team there remains the possibility that he could turn things around, but he's three years into a now renegotiated deal that ends after the 2006 season. That means half his potential time has largely been wasted already. That pretty much qualifies as a bust.
My contention is that whatever decisions and moves Donahoe has made have been overshadowed by those two mistakes. He's paying the price now. People are calling the hiring of Mularkey a mistake, but it is entirely too early to be making that judgement. Without the history of the Gregg Williams in people's minds no way would they be making that judgement yet. People are saying Donahoe is leading the Bills down the road to perpetual mediocrity. With Gregg Williams that was probably the case, but can we disprove the possibility that the Bills hit bottom at the end of the GW era and just need a little more time to start making the climb back to respectabililty and to being a winner? Yes, Bledsoe is still on the team, but we also have his apparent successor. Mularkey was probably obligated to make an effort to fix Bledsoe if he could. Should that effort fail. I don't think Mularkey is obligated to stay with him. I for one feel that Tom Donahoe needs to begiven time for the Mularkey era to play out, though I admit I feel like a lonely voice in the crowd right now.
Donahoe has made alot of mistakes, too many to list. But I wouldn't consider Mularky one of them...yet.
But his "smarter than thou" flying in the face of convential wisdom moves are getting old. McGahee when we had other needs. Totally ignoring improving the Oline for two years - while allowing the most sacks in the NFL over that time.
When your the GM of a team that sucks, how smart are you really? Can you be considered one of the top front office guys in the NFL with a 17-34 record? I know we had cap problems, but so have alot of other teams. What has he done lately. Not much good.
But his "smarter than thou" flying in the face of convential wisdom moves are getting old.
That stuff makes him look like an idiot.
I remember distinctly after he traded for Bledsoe his commenting on how he would have given the Patriots more than a 1st if they had demanded it.
I also remember after being questioned on NE being worried about Milloy's declining production in 2002, his saying "they were saying the same thing about Bledsoe and that worked out well for us...".
Agreed. If someone is available, it means someone has cast him off. Oh, you say, you can hire someone who worked in a different capacity. You can hire a ddirector of pro personnel to be your GM or an offensive coordinator as a head coach. Of course, Tom Donahoe has done that twice, with Gregg Williams and now Mike Mularkey. Well, we ran Gregg Williams out of town (and deservedly so) and now Mike Mularkey is under the gun. Too early to say whether he deserves that or not, which means he doesn't deserve it yet. The bottom line is that when the team is losing, fans are angry and virtually anyone and everyone can be a target. That's what's happening now.
Is Tom Donahoe a bad GM? When he was hired we were telling an entirely different story. It was a power struggle with Bill Cowher, the coach that Tom Donahoe hired, and Donahoe lost. He had gotten credit for keeping the Steelers competitive for years while managing the cap very well, dropping overpriced veterans and showing a great eye for young talent. I think we know it's stupid to suggest Tom Donahoe suddenly turned stupid, so we look somewhere else. He was always stupid, but benefitted from his association with Bill Cowher. Well, I don't buy that either. GMs have to make some huge bets because A. they are dealing with large amounts of money and B. contracts can run five, six, seven years and longer.
Tom Donahoe has made some good decisions and some bad ones. Our entire linebacking corps is Donahoe's creation. Most league observers agree it is one of the best. We can't blame the fact that London Fletcher suddenly decided to start taking stupid penalties the last two weeks on the decision Donahoe made three years ago to sign him. Donahoe has made two huge bets that look like they are bad ones. First was the hiring of Gregg Williams, who talked a good game but really did not have the wisdom needed to be a good head coach (at least yet, though that could change in the future). The second was the trade for Bledsoe. As long as Bledsoe is with the team there remains the possibility that he could turn things around, but he's three years into a now renegotiated deal that ends after the 2006 season. That means half his potential time has largely been wasted already. That pretty much qualifies as a bust.
My contention is that whatever decisions and moves Donahoe has made have been overshadowed by those two mistakes. He's paying the price now. People are calling the hiring of Mularkey a mistake, but it is entirely too early to be making that judgement. Without the history of the Gregg Williams in people's minds no way would they be making that judgement yet. People are saying Donahoe is leading the Bills down the road to perpetual mediocrity. With Gregg Williams that was probably the case, but can we disprove the possibility that the Bills hit bottom at the end of the GW era and just need a little more time to start making the climb back to respectabililty and to being a winner? Yes, Bledsoe is still on the team, but we also have his apparent successor. Mularkey was probably obligated to make an effort to fix Bledsoe if he could. Should that effort fail. I don't think Mularkey is obligated to stay with him. I for one feel that Tom Donahoe needs to begiven time for the Mularkey era to play out, though I admit I feel like a lonely voice in the crowd right now.
Always a pleasure to read your posts Tiger. No agenda or axe to grind, just good, solid analysis and common sense.
I also wonder about the 2-14 season people lump in there. It had to happen or we would still be cutting loose our draftees after their first contracts (Wiley, Schobel, Winfield, Jennings) Granted, that leaves TD's record since 2001 as 14-20- less than stellar.
But our long term cap status isn't a shambles.....and the team is in good financial shape (for now- so we won't be playing in LA in the near future).
Donahoe lost a power struggle with Cowher in Pittsburgh. Bledsoe lost his job to Brady in New England. The Steelers are doing relatively well. The Patriots are the best football team on the planet.
The Bills? We're 17-34 under our genius GM, due at least in part to a QB who appears too immobile to play effectively in today's NFL.
I remember distinctly after he traded for Bledsoe his commenting on how he would have given the Patriots more than a 1st if they had demanded it.
I also remember after being questioned on NE being worried about Milloy's declining production in 2002, his saying "they were saying the same thing about Bledsoe and that worked out well for us...".
You know what they say, "he who laughs last" ...
I think this is the biggest problem with TD. His tremendous ego is his downfall.
I also wonder about the 2-14 season people lump in there. It had to happen or we would still be cutting loose our draftees after their first contracts (Wiley, Schobel, Winfield, Jennings) Granted, that leaves TD's record since 2001 as 14-20- less than stellar.
But our long term cap status isn't a shambles.....and the team is in good financial shape (for now- so we won't be playing in LA in the near future).
Nitpicking ... but it was 3-13, not 2-14, and we're 14-21, not 14-20.
What's worse than 14-21 is what we have in common with Houston, Detroit, San Diego, and Arizona - we're the only teams to finish with the worst record in our division each of those 2 years (San Diego and Detroit are the only ones like us that have done it 3 years in a row). We're the only team in the NFL that had the worst record in their division in 2001, 2002, 2003, and so far in 2004.
I beg to differ about our long-term cap situation. If we were a competitive, talented team right now, we'd be in good situation. However, we're a team that is still multiple pieces away, and we don't have the flexibilty to drop/replace some of those players (Bledsoe and Mike Williams are two such examples). Long-term cap flexibility only means something if you're a competitive team ... Arizona has tons of cap room every offseason, but I wouldn't say they've done a good job managing the cap. Not playing the salary game is different than playing it well.
Donahoe lost a power struggle with Cowher in Pittsburgh. Bledsoe lost his job to Brady in New England. The Steelers are doing relatively well. The Patriots are the best football team on the planet.
The Bills? We're 17-34 under our genius GM, due at least in part to a QB who appears too immobile to play effectively in today's NFL.
Be careful what you wish for.
Yea tell me about it, at least Rob Johnson played 1 playoff game for us and started....AND WE SHOULD have won!!!
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