Ralph Wilson’s front office plans are a joke

It really seems to me that by pulling Jauron into the meeting on his own future it is pretty apparent that I’m going to get my wish and keep Jauron while dropping Schonert.

This just sounds like the kind of meeting in which they tell Jauron that he only stays if he ditches Turk and that he is going to lose some decision making power.

What other team has this kind of organization?…no one. The only other team that doesn’t have a GM title (maybe the Jags too?) is the Pats, but we all know who is in charge.

I’m not as excited about Modrak though. He has been the one common factor from Donahoe on which has been defined by historically bad drafts (debatable recently).

What this organization really needs is an outside voice with some power in the organization. Maybe someone to offer a dissenting opinion to this Brain Trust fart.

What a joke

As if we weren’t doomed to mediocrity with the players and coaches we have….Thanks Ralphie

Seriously, does this type of approach work anywhere in anything?

It’s too bad there is nobody there that can tell Ralph how dumb this whole idea is. I doubt any of the “inner circle” wants to disrupt that and lose power, and I can’t imagine Ralph would bother listening to any of the other minions if they voiced their opinion. Maybe we need Marv or Jimbo or someone not involved in the day to day operations telling Ralph to wisen up. Yeah, I doubt that would happen….

he meetings will take place between Wilson, Vice President of College Scouting Tom Modrak and COO Russ Brandon. Oh, and a fourth party will be present at the meetings – Jauron himself. Yes, you read that correctly – as bizarre as it sounds, Jauron will be an active participant in the meetings that conceivably will determine his immediate future with this franchise.

If that doesn’t scream “Jauron is staying!”, I don’t know what does. Ralph has given hints all along that he’s leaning toward retaining Jauron, but this development in itself is our biggest clue yet. No, we still haven’t heard anything about his supposed contract extension. But if Jauron is part of the meetings that will shape the club’s future, you have to imagine that he’s a part of said future.

As a Ravens fan, I disagree. This is exactly what was said about Brian Billick last year with the minor change that owner Steve Bisciotti explicitly said Brian was going to be our coach this year. We have the same end of year committee with (I believe) Ozzie Newsome, Steve Bisciotti, Dick Cass, and the HC. It’s essentially the same positions, with the exception that we have a GM, so our director of scouting (Eric DaCosta), isn’t present in this highest of high circles.

“I don’t know why he hasn’t had a better record,” Wilson said. “He’s a heck of a good guy. And the players, I haven’t seen them not play hard for him. They have played hard in the wins and the losses. I’m optimistic about our future.”

Really Ralph? You don’t know why he doesn’t have a better record? Have you seen his typical game day coaching and overall management and preparation for said games?

Jauron is going nowhere……

Honestly, this week was looking SO great for Bills fans. We got a surprise X-Mas gift from the team on Sun, were looking OK against a Pats team whose D is looking old, so we have hope for an upset just before New Years, AND I SOMEHOW BEAT MARV FOR THE RL3 league title! But, lo and behold Wilson opens his freaking mouth and RUINS it all for us. Thanks a whole freaking bunch Ralphie.

ARGH! Thats all I have to say after reading that article. Ralph really just needs to do one of two things: Make SOMEONE in the “Inner (cough cough HACK) Circle” the GM, OR go outside the organization and find someone with solid football smarts and good scouting skills to be our GM (Scott Pioli would be my choice, but doubt he would come here due to his friendship with Billy Boy). If Ralph had done either of those things, I could accept it with an open willingness to give it time to work. But as you said Brian, this is just a continuation of the mess till he dies, YE FOOTBALL GODS!

As for DJs fate, I think that might be a different discussion at this time till these “Meetings” take place. My guess is he gets a year to year deal with the understanding that Turk goes.

you need to chillax a little man. It’s a pretty ridiculous assertion to say that because we don’t have an autocratic GM our team’s on-field performance is suffering. Because before every snap, our players are thinking “man, we don’t have a GM… how am I supposed to sack the QB without a GM?”

I think we all agree around here that the Bills have some pretty decent personnel on their roster with a few weaknesses (what team doesn’t have some holes?). So, how is giving Modrak a little more say in those decisions “absurd?”

Everybody knows this team is underachieving, but what on God’s earth does that have to do with the front office structure? GMs don’t come up with the game plan or the playbook or teach technique… coaches do. As long as the Bills keep bringing in talented players who work their tails off I don’t give a damn who or whom is running the front office. “Detroit Lions mediocrity?” Are you kidding me? You’re really going to compare what our front office is doing to what Matt Millen has done?

You think an inner circle causes a power struggle…. OK. Well, how many power struggles can you think of between coaches/GMs/owners? I can think of half a dozen in under 10 seconds. Look at poor Romeo Crenell, he was forced to bench his QB IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK. Can you blame Ralph Wilson for wanting to have his thumb on things?

I’m not really arguing that one way is better than the other… but it’s too early to call our rearranged front office a bust…. seeing it has not even manifested itself yet. You’re usually pretty good at NOT jumping to conclusions or making premature judgments, but you whiffed on levelheadedness this time.

The Bills have done a good job of accumulating talented and hard working players… the responsibility to produce a winning product is now in the coaches hands, not this “inner circle.”

For anyone who cares to spend some time on a lengthy but interesting read: How to build a franchise (Chiefs flavor, but applicable here), by BigBlueShoe from StampedeBlue.com.

If Ralph is speaking the truth, or if he remembers what he said this week when this meeting of the inner circle occurs at the end of the season, we are in trouble.

He may not remember, given that he said we lacked talent not long ago, and all of a sudden he’s not sure why his team hasn’t performed better this year. So, we can hope that in two weeks he cleans house, hires Pioli as GM, McDaniel as head coach…okay, okay, I’ll get serious now.

I reluctantly have to agree with Brian. If this is the way it’s going to be in our front office, we would do best by keeping Jauron. No one better qualified than him would be willing to work for this cluster#@*! of an organization. Honestly, who would? And we may as well keep Turk, but make him call games like he did at the beginning of the season. No one talks about Fewell for some reason. Why is he not on the hot seat as well? We have not been able to pressure the passer with four rushers in this millenium, yet we blitz about as often as we sack the QB, or less. And when we do blitz, why does it look like our rushers are always looking for blockers to run into? I like our DBs overall, but they need a little help up front.

I don’t necessarily believe it is the smartest, it’s the safest at the very least.

we feel like our hands are tied, and Ralph won’t bring in anyone OUTSIDE THE organization. I know everyone thinks Jauron is a terribly gameday coach, but honestly I don’t see it. It’s just blunders that get magnified. The only 2 moves I’ve been skeptical of this year were in the Cle and NYJ2 games. But i’m not going to get anyone fired up about that here.

I had no idea modrak “turned down” GM duties? we need him. He’s all we’ve got for a football guy. The more power he gets, the better off we are IMO. And understand that is given the way Ralph operates. He won’t go outside, so why not have our BEST FOOTBALL MAN, have more power? How can anyone argue with this?

The only thing that makes any sense after reading this is that Ralph Wilson wants to be the GM. He will have final say and that is most unfortunate. He loves his football team and cannot bear to let anyone else run it. How sad. For all his gifts to the city of Buffalo, he is now an amateur playing in a professional league. It is probably the same model as he uses to run his business organizations. This, however, is different. It is as if what many of us suspected is actually true. No meaningful change will come until we have a new owner. Just remember Ralph, this approach runs the risk of devaluing the franchise for your heirs.

I like Modrak and giving him more power is a good thing. But letting DJ sit in on these “meetings” is letting the fox guard the hen house. Bad managerial decision.

A long time ago Brock Yates (an upstate New Yorker and one of the best automobile writers ever, and a founder of the cannonball car race) wrote a humorous piece for Playboy mag where he made up different fictitious airplanes that participated in WW2. One was an Italian plane with two front ends and a swivel pilot’s seat so the pilot could instantly fly the plane in the opposite direction if Italy changed sides while he was in the air. Another was a French bomber with 5 bombadiers so they could decide where to drop the bombs by committee! Naturally, they never hit their target.

Just as an aside, Brock Yates drove a Ferrari Daytona with Dan Gurney in the Cannonball race once. For those who don’t remember, the race went from NYC to LA and had to be in a stock street car. Yate’s description of watching Dan Gurney (arguably the best race car driver this country has had) negotiating the back roads of Pennsylvania at night doing over 140mph in the Ferrari with one hand on the wheel and having a discussion with Brock is, for me, one of the all time best pieces of journalism.

One other question for y’all to ponder: if Ralph is committed to this “inner circle” approach, why can’t we bring in a guy from outside the organization to be part of said circle? Why not bring in a Ron Wolf or a Floyd Reese (just examples, not advocating either one) as a “consultant”, just to be a fresh set of eyes? Thoughts?

Not many people are going to want to leave their jobs where they would have similar power (Pioli) to come here or a former GM (Wolf or Reese) take a “demotion” to this role. I think they would only be sold if they were given the authoritative role or having the final say, which Ralph has said he doesn’t want an outsider to do. Also, what guy is going to want to come into that role with a head coach already in place for three more years, without having any say in the matter?

I think if you bring in an outsider for football decisions, Jauron goes, but if Jauron stays, not much is going to change with this comittee leadership b.s.

and a new gm

Under the current structure, we are seen as inferior. That’s exactly the point I was making. We will never attract anyone better than Jauron, because:

A) Ralph won’t be willing to pay enough
B) No one will be willing to work with or under the mess that is our front office
C) Both A and B