The Bills don't need a 5-card pud.Originally Posted by SpikedLemonade
The Bills don't need a 5-card pud.
YardRat (09-24-2016)
I'm not sure anyone said he's in absolute complete control of everything, or makes absolute complete final decisions in everything on the football side. Even looking to assert or criticize the thought based on the absolutes some people seek to embrace is overly simplistic. I mean, you know that, come on.
Influence on the organization, and input on major decisions such as coaching or GM hires and fires are not micro management and no one has yet come up with who in the world could be influential crunch time football voice in Pegula's ear besides him.
This is because atm, there is no one, and if Whaley or Ryan are booted, you're going to see his name again as a part of the search process, and you know that too.
Ask a dumb **** of a question, get a dumb **** of an answer. You get the trifecta for being a dumb ****.
The use of obscenities is unbecoming Fo Sho. I mean you expect Coastal to spout verbal filth for his heathen, if intoxicatingly beastly barbarianism , but is this kind of ****ing dynamic discourse really necessary for those of us who have small children reading over their shoulder ?
I mean I don't have small children reading over my shoulder and if I did they'd be mean savage little bastards anyway, but can we have some sense of propriety here ?
Don't use the excuse that he did it first, if all your friends jumped off Niagara Falls first, would you follow ?
How uncouth.
****
Mace (09-22-2016)
The U.S. President is expected to serve as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In addition, that president is expected to be actively involved in decisions involving diplomacy, immigration policy, the environment, economic policy, healthcare, fundraising for reelection, and a host of other issues. If the president can do all that, then surely a guy like Russ Brandon can find time to do the three things you mentioned. Especially if he uses some of the same techniques the president uses.
To exert this much power, the president hires a number of competent advisors. Those advisors present a menu of options to the president; along with a briefing on each menu choice. The president chooses from the menu, while leaving it to others to write actual legislation.
It would be very surprising if Brandon was responsible for the actual implementation of the business plans his department formulates. In most cases, the vast majority of that implementation is almost certainly carried out by subordinates. For a lot of this stuff, Brandon's job will be to provide big picture guidance, keep tabs on his subordinates, and ensure they are implementing effectively. It is not necessarily the case that he micromanages every little detail.
We know that he's had considerable input into the football side of things over the years, including his stint as GM and his involvement in the hiring of Whaley. Assuming Night Train's post is accurate, as I believe it to be, Brandon was also involved in the decision to draft Manuel. Thinking back a few years, I recall Marv describing the "consensus" approach to drafting the Bills had during his tenure as GM. One wonders how much role Brandon's input played in that "consensus."
What we have is a track record of a guy who's been giving football-related input for years. Input which, presumably, directly and significantly contributed to the longest active playoff drought in the NFL. We are told that it's possible to keep the guy, while getting rid of his bad football input, and his harmful, behind-the-scenes, football-related lobbying. Keeping a guy like that does not seem like the type of decision a Super Bowl-bound organization would make.
Last edited by Arm of Harm; 09-23-2016 at 09:48 AM.
Ok.
Who owned the Bills back then?
Which decision did Russ make that has caused us to miss the playoffs since Pegula was hired and moved him to the non-football aspect of the team?
Did Russ make the decision to hire Rex? Would Pegula have hired Rex by himself? Was Whaley completely against Rex? Would Pegula hire Rex if he didn't want him to be the coach? Why is Russ getting all of the crap for this hire when the Pegulas and Whaley are also to blame? Is it because he's the easy fall man? Do you like questions? Do you want more hypothetical questions that no one can really answer? What's the best number?
No one knows the inner workings of the organization so no one knows specifically how much input Brandon had into any specific decision. What we do know is this:
1. Brandon has created an organizational culture where a healthy bottom line is more important than winning. Marketable decisions are valued over ones that help the team.
2. Players, coaches, GM's and even ownership have changed over the last decade. The only thing that has remained constant over that time period is Russ Brandon having a leadership role in the organization.
Yes, the Pegulas and Whaley have blood on their hands, but given #2, defense of Russ Brandon is unfathomable to me. As long as he is here, the possibility remains that he could be involved in- or at least influencing- football decisions, and that is inexcusable.
Pegula made the same mistake he did with the Sabres. He should have had a "scorched earth" policy from day 1 and ****-canned anyone with blood on their hands for any part of the 14 years or so before he took over. He's going to end up doing that anyway, and we will start rebuilding again next year or the year after when we should have started 2 years ago.
Arm of Harm (09-27-2016),coastal (09-23-2016),Historian (09-23-2016),Slick (09-24-2016)
You would hope he will end up doing it anyway but with the Bills WTH knows? Three random guys from this board could have run this team from a basement better than the last decade and a half, not joking.
I'd be all for getting rid of Russ if he were still in the position he was in over the last bunch of years when Ralph was owner. That's not the case anymore, at least I believe Pegula when he says that. A lot of people don't, which is fine, but can you answer my question?
Which decision did Russ make that has caused us to miss the playoffs since Pegula was hired and moved him to the non-football aspect of the team?
Again, no one knows the inner workings of the team. There are probably only 10 people in the world close enough to the situation to answer that question, and none of them post here, and if they did, they wouldn't answer as long as they value their jobs.
Just because Brandon's position is technically "non-football" doesn't automatically preclude him from influencing football decisions. The only way to ensure that he doesn't is to get rid of him.
"We don't know what he does, but we want him fired."
That's just ridiculous.
Well one way to ensure that is to reduce his responsibilities to only non-football related tasks, which is what Pegula said he did.
I didn't say we don't know what he does. What I said was that we don't know how much influence he had over specific decisions. You complain that people aren't answering your question, then as soon as someone does, you spin their words.
Yes, technically he does not have "football related" tasks. But you don't know if he has Pegula's ear on football issues (Rex is much more marketable than any of the other coaches available at the time). You don't know if he pressures Whaley on football issues. Hell, you don't know if Whaley asks him for advice.
As long as Russ is here, a marketable product will be valued over a quality one. As long as Russ is here, there is no guarantee that he isn't interfering on football issues. That's why he needs to go.
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I didn't say we don't know what he does. What I said was that we don't know how much influence he had over specific decisions. You complain that people aren't answering your question, then as soon as someone does, you spin their words.
Yes, technically he does not have "football related" tasks. But you don't know if he has Pegula's ear on football issues (Rex is much more marketable than any of the other coaches available at the time). You don't know if he pressures Whaley on football issues. Hell, you don't know if Whaley asks him for advice.
As long as Russ is here, a marketable product will be valued over a quality one. As long as Russ is here, there is no guarantee that he isn't interfering on football issues. That's why he needs to go.
joe fo sho is russ fo sho. one guy defending a leech.
I must have missed the part where you answered my question.
You don't know either, yet you want him fired. Sounds irrational.
Are you saying a winning organization isn't marketable?
Eh, I just don't like getting my pitchfork out when I'm not certain there's a need for it.
But whatever, if that's what you want to do. Go ahead and start your GoFundMe page for the billboard.
Well you can keep doing the same thing while expecting different results. That usually works well.
Is Russ' job the same with Pegula as it was with Ralph? If not, then it's not really doing the same thing is it? That's my point, I already said that I'd want Russ gone if he was in the same role he was in under Ralph.
Russ isn't coming up with terrible game plans. He isn't drafting injured players. He isn't trading future draft picks for flashy receivers. He isn't forcing players into 10 personal foul penalties every game. He isn't refusing to throw to wide open receivers.
He's making deals with New Era for naming rights for the stadium. He's making deals with business for advertising in the stadium. He's determining prices of season tickets. He's doing all of the behind the scenes crap that I don't care about, and he's actually good at it from what I gather.
But go ahead and act like firing him will solve all of our problems.
Like I said... oh never mind.
You think he's the only one who can set ticket prices and sell naming rights? Please.
He's the one constant over the last decade of suckage. We know he's bad at football. As long as he's here, we have no idea if he does or doesn't influence football decisions. And he's the one who created the culture where a marketable move trumps a winning move, which is the most damning thing of all.
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