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I still say Brandon is going to end up commish someday. Used to think NFL obviously, but now that he's wriggled his way into the Sabres org also, it puts the NHL top job in play too.
YardRat Wall of Fame #56 DARRYL TALLEY #29 DERRICK BURROUGHS#22 FRED JACKSON #95 KYLE WILLIAMS
Every time a GM has left/been let go, Russ has gotten a promotion.
from coffee boy/salesman under Donahoe to director of non football operations in 2006;
to GM in 2009;
to CEO in 2010;
to SuperPresident/Head of Analytics Dept. in 2013..
What's left?
Supreme Commander of the European theater?
Chairman of the Join Chiefs?
Seraph?
Seraph is likely as it leaves room for additional career growth with adjectives.
I still say Brandon is going to end up commish someday. Used to think NFL obviously, but now that he's wriggled his way into the Sabres org also, it puts the NHL top job in play too.
Russ Brandon is the President of the Bills, Sabres, the Rochester Americans, and Pegula Sports and Enertainment .
The President.
Lots there on the plate.
People kill me when they say he has no football background, even though he has been employed by a football team for the past 20 years. Then again, they like to blame him for everything because he's been employed by THIS football team for the past 20 years. This makes zero sense to say both things in the same breathe.
They use him as a convenient scapegoat IMO, with no proof needed.
He's the President. The President of the Seattle Seahawks worked for freakin' Anheuser-Busch for 21 years before becoming president of that team. Brandon is tied into the business end on the organization. He is not responsible for everything that happens across FOUR gigantic independent entities...the Bills, Sabres, the Rochester Americans, and Pegula Sports and Entertainment... people who blame Brandon for these sports teams for losing aren't really thinking at all.
I don't think firing Brandon would have much of an impact on the win/loss records of these teams, as much as he as demonized.
Detractors can tell me I'm defending him, but this is merely an attempted exercise in logic...unless you can prove otherwise. Fire him, and it won't care, but I don't see things necessarily getting better because of that. We won't suddenly start to win.
I do wonder about the logic of trusting your player personnel department to put together your entire offseason program of player releases and re-signings, free agent acquisitions, and you draft board after you've already decided to can their behinds.
I've made up my mind. Don't confuse me with the facts.
I'm the most reasonable poster here. If you don't agree, I'll be forced to have a hissy fit.
Russ Brandon is the President of the Bills, Sabres, the Rochester Americans, and Pegula Sports and Enertainment .
The President.
Lots there on the plate.
People kill me when they say he has no football background, even though he has been employed by a football team for the past 20 years. Then again, they like to blame him for everything because he's been employed by THIS football team for the past 20 years. This makes zero sense to say both things in the same breathe.
They use him as a convenient scapegoat IMO, with no proof needed.
He's the President. The President of the Seattle Seahawks worked for freakin' Anheuser-Busch for 21 years before becoming president of that team. Brandon is tied into the business end on the organization. He is not responsible for everything that happens across FOUR gigantic independent entities...the Bills, Sabres, the Rochester Americans, and Pegula Sports and Entertainment... people who blame Brandon for these sports teams for losing aren't really thinking at all.
I don't think firing Brandon would have much of an impact on the win/loss records of these teams, as much as he as demonized.
Detractors can tell me I'm defending him, but this is merely an attempted exercise in logic...unless you can prove otherwise. Fire him, and it won't care, but I don't see things necessarily getting better because of that. We won't suddenly start to win.
Brandon never worked for Seattle Seahawks he worked in the front office of the Florida Marlins the year that they won the World Series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Brandon
Brandon never worked for Seattle Seahawks he worked in the front office of the Florida Marlins the year that they won the World Series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Brandon
Brandon never worked for Seattle Seahawks he worked in the front office of the Florida Marlins the year that they won the World Series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Brandon
Brandon is just behind anything negative you can think of?
How come he had nothing to do with Whaley's firing then? Did he not play a role hiring McDermott? How much of a role did he play in this year's Bills draft? Does he pull personnel strings with the Sabres, affecting the Bylsma and Murray firings too?
Explain.
Explain to me how it works. You seem to know, so I'd appreciate it if you let me in on it.
I'm not defending Brandon in any way here, either. Just asking a simple question...How does it work then?
I wasnt arguing with you .
I agree with you. But to some people, Russ is also at fault for global warming.
Some people here seem to even know more what went on in the background more than Russ himself
I think Russ has done a good job marketing the team.
Much depends on what happens now, as to how I view this. There are parts of the scouting/pro-personnel departments that have worked really well under Whaley, and he was the guy who set them up. If it's going to be a total house clearing, then I think it's a typical NFL mistake, in that like when a new HC gets appointed, it seems automatic that everything gets thrown out of the window, including the parts that were working, e.g. Schwartz after Ryan took over.
I'm also very wary about giving McDermott the amount of power it appears he's getting. He's done precisely nothing as a HC, to warrant the degree of control it seems he's getting. The likes of Reid, Belichick etc. had to earn that power, over a number of years, and they did earn it.
While the Pegulas might have made a good HC choice this time around, it looks like they might not have finished making mistakes in other areas. Aside from not getting a franchise QB, I don't think that Whaley and the personnel staff, have been anywhere near as bad as many would have it.
I see where you're coming from, and there is some validity to the points you're making.
But Doug Whaley clearly needed to go. Of that there is absolutely no question. Any time you have the fewest drafted players on your roster, out of any team in the league, it's hardly a ringing endorsement for the guy put in charge of drafting those players. And it's not like Whaley made up for lack of quantity with quality. None of his drafted players have (thus far) become star players, and very few could even be described as solid starters. There is absolutely no reason to trust Whaley on draft day.
As for salary cap management: the Bills let Gilmore walk, because we didn't have the salary cap space we needed to re-sign him. He was signed by the New England Patriots, instead. In theory, the more talent a team acquires, the closer to the salary cap limit it's expected to move. But that's only if both teams are equally good at managing the cap. The Patriots are clearly a more talented team than the Bills, and yet they somehow found the salary cap space to sign Gilmore that we lacked. They are getting much better mileage out of their player spending than Whaley was getting.
I agree that McDermott has not earned the authority he's been given. But that authority has to be given to someone, and it's not as though there was some other person in the Bills organization who'd earned it. Better to give the authority to someone whose GM abilities had not yet been tested, such as McDermott, than to a tried-and-failed GM like Whaley.
I agree with your point that, when you fire someone, you don't normally want to get rid of the good parts along with the bad. Had Marrone not left voluntarily, it would have made far more sense to fire him, than it did to fire Schwartz. But there isn't too much danger of getting rid of good elements with the Whaley firing, because there was so little worth keeping.
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