Seems strange right? In a league with the likes of Oakland, St. Louis, Detroit, and Cleveland, that Buffalo could be the single worst organization in the NFL.
I’m a diehard Bills fan, but I’m just broken. I was bent when Miami beat us 38-10 in an abysmal performance last week. But after watching Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Browns at home, I am just broken. As hard as it is, one must ponder, are the Bills the league’s worst franchise?
Where do I start? Where do we go from here? What hasn’t been discussed over this decade long period of complete failure? We have exhausted every possible conversation. The coach, the quarterback, the running backs, lines, defense, scouting department, ownership, strength and conditioning, the stadium, the division, Toronto, being a small market…anything that could have been discussed to figure out this team has been reviewed, in great detail, for far too long.
I write this on a Wednesday afternoon. The Bills are 1-4 and head to the Meadowlands to play the Jets Sunday. I think we’ll be 1-5.
"It makes my eyes rain."
We have a head coach, who just defines failure in every possible way. A coach who was given a contract extension prematurely after a hot start last year and is now due $9 million over the next three seasons. Dick Jauron is a noble man of intelligence and integrity, but the man is simply a terrible, terrible head football coach. Nothing in his career has been good except for a fluke year with Chicago. He’s 58-81 with only one winning season. With Buffalo, he is something like 2-24 against teams with a winning record. His teams are consistently one of the most injured in the entire league because he doesn’t have any contact in training camp. And he doesn’t provide any kind of strategic success or emotional motivation for a team he is supposed to be leading. Somewhere Turk Schonert is laughing. He really looked like Monday at his press conference that he couldn’t believe he still had a job. He was genuinely surprised that he wasn’t fired. He has lost the team and long ago lost the fanbase. I look at the likes of Josh McDaniels, Mike Tomlin, Mike Singletary… coaches that “get it”. The Buffalo Bills and Dick Jauron just don’t get it. Some say Jauron should resign- would you walk away from ~$8 million?
The quarterback is the first place fans usually look for blame. Luckily for Trent Edwards, Jauron is so bad that his punishment hasn’t been as bad as what it could be. I like Trent Edwards, I’ve discussed this many times. And I think he can be a winning quarterback in the NFL. He isn’t going to put up huge fantasy numbers but he can manage a game and lead a successful football team. He has been bad so far, more like terrible, but I really believe Buffalo has a lot more problems to address than quarterback.
Our interior offensive line is fine with me. The problems are that our two tackles are the worst in football. They are all hurt, they were cut by us at one point, have almost zero NFL experience, and are giving Trent about 3 seconds before he is forced to scramble or is sacked. They traded Peters, I didn’t have a problem with it. They cut Langston Walker, I didn’t have a problem with it, but when you realize you are overmatched, you better do something about it. The Bills have done nothing. And that echoes of larger organizational problems.
High school teams have better athletes playing linebacker than the Buffalo Bills have. I know, their starters are hurt, so you go out and get new players! Keith Ellison couldn’t even make another team playing special teams and he is going to be our starting middle linebacker this week. It is really amazing. It is epic how bad we are.
Shawn Nelson could be a future star in the NFL, a 50 catch type tight end, and we have him running special teams! A place where he will probably break a leg and doom his potential success. Another example of how poor Buffalo talent evaluation is.
But back to my original point about being the league’s worst organization.
Detroit? Gorgeous new stadium, not afraid to spend money on a gun-slinging quarterback, a freak talent at wide receiver, and a new head coach that relates to the team and city and shows a pulse on the sideline.
Cleveland? Yeah they suck, but they just beat us didn’t they?
St. Louis and Oakland are probably a step below the Bills. Oakland is run by a ludicrous owner who doesn’t understand the NFL. He drafted a fast player who has more names than catches this year. St. Louis has lost like 15 straight games and is allegedly up for sale, possibly to Rush Limbaugh. They’re worse, but how much worse? We have an owner calling the shots who simply shouldn’t be at this point (Oakland) and a team that will probably be up for sale within a few years (St. Louis). We also have no willingness to spend money, show no dedication to the fans who consistently sell out games, when a 4-1 Cincinatti team faces a blackout this week, while the Bills have lost 8 of 9 at home…all sellouts of course.
The Buffalo Bills are real content to lay low and cash Mr. Wilson’s checks. Same goes for the players who praise Jauron because he doesn’t bench anyone, fine anyone, criticize anyone, or make anyone actually work hard in training camp. And from top-to-bottom, no one stands up to Ralph because he is the “decider”, the fickle owner who could change his mind at any point. I love the man. His commitment to football in Buffalo is an accomplishment that deserves the highest of praise.
But let me point something out. When Yankee’s owner George Steinbrenner began showing signs of the aging process, the organization didn’t let him linger with their on-field product. Cashman, Levine, and his sons sprang to action quickly and respectfully for a power shift within the organization that ensured a continued competitive product and a quiet shift that dignified “The Boss”.
There was a really great article in the Buffalo News that compared the Buffalo Bills to General Motors. Everyone says that GM went bad because their cars sucked right? Well the article brilliantly argues the cars were simply a byproduct of GM management. So as fans look at the on-field Bills product, we complain that the players are the problem. Maybe we should look at management that brought them here instead?
Here is how this is going to play out. The Bills will either fire Jauron soon and replace him with Bobby April in the interim basis. I think they will keep Dick, just because the season is a wash anyway, and he might as well go down with the ship, and all the games are basically sold out anyway. So Buffalo will fire him in the offseason and try to bring in a new coach. Cowher won’t come because he will have a cushy job waiting for him in Carolina. Shanahan is a longshot but the Bills could be the type of team he takes on in a challenge if the money is right (It won’t be). Gruden is a logical replacement because the fans here would love him and with his huge ego he would own this town, plus his asking price would be doable for Ralph. Then the Bills will use their high draft pick on an extremely marketable college player that will sell tickets. So Bills fans will come back for another year and sell out every game based on the prospects of a new coach and new star rookie (Tebow?).
Here’s how it should play out. The Bills should fire Jauron yesterday. Trade Terrell Owens and someone like Roscoe Parrish and you have already covered Jauron’s salary over the next three years while acquiring a couple draft picks for those players. How about that ~$70 million from the Toronto deal? FORBES indicates an operating income of ~$40 million… we really can’t part with 8 mil to get rid of an inept head coach? Next, immediately promote Bobby April to interim head coach. Fans will rejoice Jauron being gone and maybe we can even string a few wins together to make Buffalo fans at least feel a little better. Fans like April’s enthusiasm and will give us something to watch for the rest of the year. There is no way the Bills don’t have a top-10 pick. If the Bills play great under April, consider making him the full-time head coach, at least let him interview for the position. Fire all scouting personnel (You suck Modrak), fire all strength and conditioning coaches, fire all defensive and offensive coaches, and branch out to a Mike Shanahan or Bill Cowher or Mike Holmgren to run football operations, and actually coach if they want to. Make Russ Brandon the organizational director in charge of the business side (completely replacing Ralph). Get that big name coach to bring in his own staff. Spend that high draft pick on the best offensive tackle available. Spend some money on free agents and try to at least bring back some vitality to the organization.
2009 is a failure. 2010 is an uncapped year, and Buffalo probably won’t spend the money to be able to compete, and then in 2011 the NFL is looking at the very real possibility of a lengthy lockout. Jerry Jones has already said publicly revenue sharing will be decreased or phased out as bigger markets want to improve their organizations without carrying the likes of the Bills and co. Ralph Wilson is 91 this week, human mortality can’t guarantee his ownership forever. His family intends to sell the team when his time comes, and then it is up to some brave soul to pony up the ~$1 billion to keep the team local. Jim Kelly claims he has a group, I think that’s him trying to stay relevant and optimistic. I can’t see him having a group with a billion ready to go. Tom Golisano probably would be an option but he would have to sell the Sabres (which would be next to impossible to do) and bring in additional investors because even he can’t afford the $1B tag an NFL franchise goes for. Of course there will be others willing to spend the money with the intention of moving the team but I don’t even want to consider that possibility at this point.
All I know is that the Buffalo Bills, a once-proud organization, have turned into a pathetic excuse of a relevant franchise. They have no direction or plan, unlimited questions, shaky financial foundations, and increasingly hostile fan relations. For the first time, I am not optimistic on the franchise’s future. And for the first time, I view the Buffalo Bills among the worst organizations in the entire league.
Final Season Awards
Last week: 9 – 6 – 1
Picking NFL games against the spread is just plain frustrating. I started this year so well, and coupled with relative success in my two fantasy leagues, I was able to enjoy football to a degree despite being a Bills fan (Jauron firing post coming soon). Well, that early picks success has completely eroded and the last few weeks have become a tire-fire of fail. Hopefully I can get back on the winning track today.
A couple points:
Last week: 9-7
Having used Twitter for a few months now, I have some preliminary opinions and analysis of the site.
