Lenny from Indy

I reckon the “firing the coach thing” didn’t rally the troops to circle the wagons and get the win?

Hmmm.  This leaves me perplexed.

Now what Mr. Wilson?

In my own tiny opinion I believe that Ralph Wilson not only fired the wrong guy, he missed a few people.  This misfire exposes some other major glaring flaws within the team’s infrastructure.

Basic statement #1:  You are only as good as the players that you acquire through the draft and free agency.

Basic statement #2:  Proper coaching and a solid organized game plan is essential to at the very least being competitive in the NFL.

The Bills are so far behind the curve they make the Cleveland Browns look like Super Bowl Champions.  In case you didn’t know, Cleveland beat Buffalo in week 5 by the score of 6 to 3.  I’m not kidding with the score.  9 points all game.  This wasn’t a defensive battle type of game.  This has been referred to by some as, “The Game No One Wanted To Win”.  I think of that game as the game that set the NFL back 20 years.  Regardless of how it is remembered, it might be time for the Buffalo Bills to get back to basics.

It’s always odd when you look at the inner workings of a football team and see how they become accustomed to not only doing business, but how they are structured.

For instance… let’s take the current general manager Russ Brandon.  Russ, while involved in sports isn’t what you would call a “football general manager”.    Let’s look over Russ’ resume shall we…

Russ Brandon’s Resume

Class of 1989, St. John Fisher College

- Four-year letter winner as a wide receiver.

- .367 batting average on the baseball team.

- Inducted into the Fisher Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004.

Work Experience

Rochester Red Wings, Triple-A team – Started as a intern and by the time he left in 1993 he was the co-general manager along with Dan Mason, who is currently is still the Red Wings’ GM.

New York Yankees – Was apart of the Sports Advertising Network division.

Florida Marlins – Start at the spring training facility, then the Director of Corporate Sales in Miami two years later.

Buffalo Bills – Nov. 1, 1997 – Executive Director of Business Development and Marketing.

13 months later – promoted to the Vice President of Business Development and Marketing.  In 1999, as part of a way to expand the Bills’ market area, Brandon helped bring the Bills training camp from SUNY Fredonia to his Alma mater St. John Fisher College.

Jan. 12, 2007, after spending two years as the Executive Vice President of Business Operations, Brandon was named the new Bills COO (Chief Operating Officer) and took control over both business and football operations.  That’s quite a jump for anyone in any business.

Here is what you are telling me when I see this resume.  A marketing/sales guy is now involved in the draft, free agency, and everything in-between???

This is a catastrophic error on the part of Ralph Wilson.  This team has been in disarray for a decade.  There hasn’t been any improvement on this team, no team chemistry and poor decisions made at every level.

Firing the coach wasn’t the issue.  It might have been one of the issues.  A very minor issue compared to the inner workings of the Buffalo Bills front office.  Your structure of management and choice of people might be the issue.  This goes beyond “time to clean the house”.  You need to set off a nuke and start again.

Don’t waste your time finding the “big name coach”.  The “big name coach” in the current management structure is doomed to fail.

So I predicted some games yesterday.  Let’s see how I did…. yesterday’s predictions are in the red text.

Upset of the week… Oklahoma beats Texas. – WRONG!  I BOTCHED THIS ONE BIG TIME.  MY BAD!

The obvious… Ohio State kills Purdue and I die a little on the inside. - WRONG!  I’M HAPPY I GOT THIS ONE WRONG.  IT HURT ME TO PREDICT THIS GAME THE WAY I DID.  F U OHIO STATE!  MY APOLOGIES TO THE GREAT PURDUE TEAM!

Expected… USC beats up on Notre Dame and the Catholic in me gets angry. – CORRECT!  SURE THE CATHOLIC IN ME WAS A TAD ANGRY BUT USC WON!  EPIC WIN!

More Expected… Florida rolls over Arkansas.  Tim Tebow after the game proclaims, “I don’t want to get drafted by Buffalo in the 2010 NFL Draft!  Can someone suck more than them this season please?” – CORRECT!  WELL I WOULDN’T SAY THEY ROLLED OVER ARKANSAS BUT THE TEBOW MACHINE KEEPS ON ROLLING.

2-2 for the day.  Meh.

Let’s start with a few quick facts on the Buffalo Bills in no order…

1. 9 seasons since the teams last playoff appearance.

2. Owner Ralph Wilson is a bit tight with the funds. Some would call him cheap.

3. A front office of novices.

4. The drafting skills of a you pick’em league at a elementary school yard football game.

5. The flashback uniform and logo is so much better than what is currently in place now.

6. New stadium deal not done in Buffalo.

7. No one in town is a big fan of head coach Dick Jauron.

8. A choice was made to play 8 games in Toronto, Canada over the next 5 years.

9. Fans deface players property when they make a bonehead play.

10. A failed Terrell Owens experiment can’t even be salvaged because why would another team want to waste money and picks on a guy that can walk to a new team in January.

11. You have the honor of playing the worst NFL game of the decade last week as you grappled with the Cleveland Browns, only to lose in the final seconds 6 to 3. You can’t even say that it was a defensive battle as the offenses on both teams generated so little heat that this was the most passive football has ever been.

12. It seems like when a player spends time in Buffalo and then moves to a new team, either through trade or free agency they seem to become better players.

13. A culture of losing is firmly in place.

14. An unemployed 18-year old has been collecting money through an internet campaign to buy a billboard that contains the message, “It’s time to clean house, Ralph.”

Make no mistake Buffalo, this is really sad.  I’d love to make a wise ass comment but these are facts.  This team is cooked.  The organization is rotten from top to bottom.

Many Bills fans talk of the past, the late 80’s and early 90’s had high flying teams and great players.  The end result was sadness.  It was sadness then and it is sadness now.

However, now you have a generation of fans that either do not remember or were too young to remember that you had a competitive team in Buffalo.

It doesn’t look like it’s lack of participation on the fans part would be a reason for moving the team away.  55,000 people have season tickets to Buffalo Bills games.  Kudos to the people for believing in the Bills.  Jeers on the ownership and management structure for engineering a monumental amount of sadness for paying fans to swallow.

Yeah I said moving.  It’s no secret that there is a group aggressively looking to bring one NFL team to California and Buffalo is on a short list of teams to try and woo with the dreams of a new stadium, new land, new fans, new outlook, and sunshine all year round.  But, I have to think that the Minnesota Vikings, San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, and even the Jacksonville Jaguars are higher on the list of teams to steal away than the hapless Bills.

Jacksonville?  An expansion team quite possibly is desired more than the Buffalo Bills.

Do you feel the sting?

The sting of shame as it hits you in your mouth.

Feel the shame Buffalo.

I see you already do.  Courage.

In Buffalo T.O. was walking off the field last Sunday after the Bills lost to the Saints.

A fan dumped a bag of popcorn on his head.

Pathetic.  Buffalo’s fans as of late have been showing a very “no class” demeanor towards its players.  Leodis McKelvin’s lawn was defiled by two bottom feeder Buffalo Bills fans and now this “popcorn” incident.

I reckon it wasn’t only his streak of at least one reception a game that started in 1996 and ended last Sunday that put him in a poo mood when he faced the Buffalo press.

He seems angry.

This picture was taken on Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium.  Are the fans of Buffalo this crass that a message has to be spray painted on the wall?  Here is a good rule of thumb for NFL franchises.  If you have to paint this message on the walls of the bathroom, graffitti style, move your franchise.  The people of that city no longer deserve the team.

You know full well that when a drunk guy see that on the wall, he must achieve the unachievable.

Shame on you Buffalo.

The Buffalo Bills have not beat the New England Patriots since September 2003.  That’s quite a long time in football years.  The Patriots have won the last 11 games they have played against the Bills.  Tonight, with 5 minutes and 30 seconds left on the clock, the Bills were up 11 points.  In what only can be described as history repeating itself, the Bills let the Patriots score 12 points on them for a twelfth consecutive win.  The Buffalo Bills yet again let another win fall into the loss column.

Patriots 25 – Bills 24.

Here’s what we learned.

1.  The Patriots with all of the change that has happened to the team this off-season are not the same team we have come to hate since Feb 2002.

2. The Bills are a pretty good team but this now legendary loss has already killed the teams mojo for the season.  I predict a top 5 pick in next years draft.

3. Tom Brady still has some rust on him.  He is not Super Tom right now.  The Bills for 55 minutes rushed him and harassed him, leaving him little options down field.  A better team with with superior coaching will rush for 60 minutes and Tom might not be able to answer the call like what we will now refer to as, “the old days”.

4. The Bills need Lynch back ASAP.  If Lynch played, this game might not of been a loss for Buffalo.  The running game was alright but the Bills need the thug back in the lineup.  October cannot come fast enough for the Buffalo Bills.

5. The Patriots defense is average.  Plus they took an awful lot of silly penalties yesterday.

Did anyone see Suzy Kolber getting the stiff arm from Tom Brady when she was trying to snag a post game interview?  That was kind of odd.  Funny but odd.