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As many have noted, the one constant in the unswerving 16 year span of failure has been Russ Brandon. He has become the trademark of the fiasco that is the Buffalo Bills franchise. Players, coaches and GMs come and go and still through it all, the supposed chief executive of the organization not only endures but is repeatedly promoted. The old joke that the only two things that will survive nuclear war are cockroaches and Russ Brandon, never seems more true than it does today.
Some have said that Brandon needs to go because he is secretly an agent for other NFL teams, working behind the scenes to guarantee the incompetence of the football team. Others have said that he carries a curse that contaminates the teams. Still others have said he is just a symbol to individuals in the Bills organization, telling them its ok to be really bad at your job because nothing will happen to you other than getting promoted. Even some have suggested that he embodies that notion that the organization is run by people who value self-glorification, self-importance and self-survive more than the team’s success. Indeed, in this perverse way of thinking, the worse the team does on the field, the more important Brandon becomes because he is “saving the franchise” for Western New York through his supposed virtuoso marketing skills.
All, some or none of this might be true. Nonetheless, the reason I believe that Brandon has to go is that he has failed to stop first Ralph and now Terry and Kim from making obvious mistakes when hiring coaches and GMs. In the NFL, there is no secret formula for success. Everyone knows your team wins if you hire a competent coach and your GM finds a franchise QB, everything else the team needs can easily be filled in. Conversely, until your team has a good coach and QB nothing else the team does really matters, the team in all likelihood is going to lose.
The job of the owner (and his and or her principal adviser) is to hire a competent coach and a competent GM to find a franchise QB. The role of the owner’s principal advisor (Brandon) is most often to save the owner from himself. That is, convince the owner don’t hire a GM simply because he is someone the owner’s knows (as in the case of Wilson with Levy and Nix) or don’t hire a coach with a palpably dubious record and questionable personality traits just because the hire would be sexy (as in Rex’s case). It appears that no one told the owner in these instances “before we do this, let’s make sure there is no one better for the job.” It was not like the Bills were going to lose Levy, Nix or Rex to another team. Wilson, Terry and Kim are all smart people and if given just a little guidance would have made better choices. Instead what they got a yes man telling them “that’s a great idea boss.” In that sense, Brandon is the club’s (and the fans) last line of defense against fundamentally bad football decisions, and in each instance Brandon has failed miserably. Before the next coach and GM search starts, Terry and Kim need someone other than Brandon advising them or the mistakes of the past will only repeat themselves.
Some have said that Brandon needs to go because he is secretly an agent for other NFL teams, working behind the scenes to guarantee the incompetence of the football team. Others have said that he carries a curse that contaminates the teams. Still others have said he is just a symbol to individuals in the Bills organization, telling them its ok to be really bad at your job because nothing will happen to you other than getting promoted. Even some have suggested that he embodies that notion that the organization is run by people who value self-glorification, self-importance and self-survive more than the team’s success. Indeed, in this perverse way of thinking, the worse the team does on the field, the more important Brandon becomes because he is “saving the franchise” for Western New York through his supposed virtuoso marketing skills.
All, some or none of this might be true. Nonetheless, the reason I believe that Brandon has to go is that he has failed to stop first Ralph and now Terry and Kim from making obvious mistakes when hiring coaches and GMs. In the NFL, there is no secret formula for success. Everyone knows your team wins if you hire a competent coach and your GM finds a franchise QB, everything else the team needs can easily be filled in. Conversely, until your team has a good coach and QB nothing else the team does really matters, the team in all likelihood is going to lose.
The job of the owner (and his and or her principal adviser) is to hire a competent coach and a competent GM to find a franchise QB. The role of the owner’s principal advisor (Brandon) is most often to save the owner from himself. That is, convince the owner don’t hire a GM simply because he is someone the owner’s knows (as in the case of Wilson with Levy and Nix) or don’t hire a coach with a palpably dubious record and questionable personality traits just because the hire would be sexy (as in Rex’s case). It appears that no one told the owner in these instances “before we do this, let’s make sure there is no one better for the job.” It was not like the Bills were going to lose Levy, Nix or Rex to another team. Wilson, Terry and Kim are all smart people and if given just a little guidance would have made better choices. Instead what they got a yes man telling them “that’s a great idea boss.” In that sense, Brandon is the club’s (and the fans) last line of defense against fundamentally bad football decisions, and in each instance Brandon has failed miserably. Before the next coach and GM search starts, Terry and Kim need someone other than Brandon advising them or the mistakes of the past will only repeat themselves.
"Expect rejection, but expect more to overcome it." 
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