Poll: Rate the NFL's weirdest off-season decision
by Brian Galliford on Jan 17, 2009 8:45 AM EST
in Buffalo Bills News
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PrintWe haven't yet played the conference championship round of the NFL's playoffs - in fact, we're just three weeks removed from the close of the 2008 regular season - and already, this has been one of the strangest off-seasons in recent memory. I thought it'd be fun on a Saturday morning to have a little poll of this community ranking the NFL's weirdest off-season decisions to date; sadly, our Buffalo Bills rank among six contestants. Let the games begin!
Candidate One: Bills retain HC Dick Jauron
- In Jauron's first two seasons in Buffalo, the Bills finished 7-9. In his third season, the team roared out to a 5-1 start, and with the AFC East looking weaker than ever, Bills fans and experts everywhere had tagged the Bills as favorites in the division. The team was on the cusp of the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade. Then, immediately after being handed a three-year contract extension, the Bills lost 8 of their final 10 games to finish - you guessed it - 7-9. Despite the epic collapse, Jauron was retained for a fourth season in Buffalo. Unprecedented amounts of consternation from the fan base ensued.
Candidate Two: Browns hire HC Eric Mangini before hiring GM
- Browns fans had it made a few weeks ago - their GM and head coach had just been fired after a miserable season, and Bill Cowher was on the radar. Once Cowher removed himself from the radar, things went downhill pretty quickly for Cleveland faithful. Owner Randy Lerner decided that hiring a head coach was more important than hiring a GM, so he handed the keys of his franchise to Eric Mangini, he of just-fired-by-the-Jets fame. Now he's trying to fit a GM into the front office that won't row with Mangini on a consistent basis. You're doing things bass ackwards, Mr. Lerner.
Candidate Three: Broncos fire HC Mike Shanahan
- A strong argument can be made - and obviously has been made to Broncos owner Pat Bowlen - that a time for change was ripe in Denver. Still, it's not every day that you hear about a two-time Super Bowl winning head coach getting the axe, especially considering that coach had been carefully molding QB Jay Cutler into a superstar for three years. Shanahan was more than a coach in Denver; he was an institution for a decade and a half.
Candidate Four: Lions promote Mayhew, Lewand in front office
- I'm going to go ahead and say that if I were a fan of the Detroit Lions, my stomach would have vaulted out of my mouth and onto the floor if I'd heard that anyone from the staff of Matt Millen - the single worst GM in NFL history - had been promoted to take over in his stead. That's exactly what happened when the duo of Martin Mayhew and Tom Lewand took over in Detroit. Their first move - hiring Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz as head coach - was a good one. But these guys will be on the hot seat from the get-go by the mere fact of who their former boss is.
Candidate Five: Raiders conducting "conversations", not "interviews"
- The Raiders finished the '08 season 4-8 under interim head coach Tom Cable. Since the season ended, the Raiders have had a "conversation" with Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, and they've reportedly talked to Cable a few times as well. As far as we can tell publicly, the Raiders have not actually interviewed anyone other than Cable for the head coaching position. It's one thing to remove the interim tag from Cable's title - for the record, he actually did a pretty good job in his twelve games coached - but it's another thing entirely to leave the man hanging while you have "conversations" with one other candidate.
Candidate Six: Bucs fire Allen/Gruden, hire Dominik/Morris hours later
- When Jon Gruden didn't get fired in the first week after the regular season ended, it was assumed that he would get at least one more season at the helm despite the Buccaneers' slide from contending for a first-round bye to out of the playoffs over the final four weeks of the season. Then, two weeks later, both Gruden and GM Bruce Allen are fired - only to be replaced by two in-house promotions, GM Mark Dominik and HC Raheem Morris, seemingly moments later.
So let's hear it. Rank the moves by "weird factor", vote in the poll, and discuss all of this strangeness in the comments section.
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I wish we could rank these from 1-6
I voted the Mike S. firing. Granted he has not been to the SB in a while, but dam….a lot of teams have not been there in a while. Denver has been hurt by the same thing the Bills have, not being able to replace a HOF QB. They seem to have their man in Cutler and have weapons around him. Fix the defense and you have a contender. I am not sure why you fired a guy like Mike S.
"The Bills have no playoff aspirations"
I voted for Mike S also
Even though a very close second was DJ being retained. With the comments being said by Wilson & Brandon in the final games it seemed obvious that they had to make a change. I guess it’s not so much that DJ got retained as much as the fact that they really did not do anything, anything at all! No GM, they will remain with the ineffective inner circle, kept DJ & kept all coordinators – that to me was extremely surprizing!
The next weirdest would be Mangini, I would have thought that Tannenbaum would have been cut first. As much as I don’t like Mangini, he did a much better job than Tannenbaum and the whole Favre fiasco was Tannebaum’s fault.
The Lions promoting Mayhew was weird but considering how much flack they took for the whole Millen Fiasco and the lenght of time they endured it, I am not that surprised. It really is painfully obvious that the Fords & Wilson are close buddies!
I am not that surprised of the Gruden firing, he is a little egotistical freak. I have never liked him as a coach. He took credit for their SB when in fact a Monkey could have coached because they had a terrific team and they were going to be a contender regardless who was coaching. Their draft record since Allen has been GM is lousy. And the way he treats his players, it’s quite clear that his players did not like him much. Amazing how many players threw him under the bus
Nothing surprises me when it concerns the Raiders. Actually when they do something smart then I’ll be surprised!
BEAST MODE, During the week plan on it & on game day thrive on it!
GO BILLS!
Section 336 Row 13
Once we heard that Jauron signed the extension,
I knew in my heart that he would be back. As disappointed as I was, I can’t say I was surprised.
"The Bills have no playoff aspirations"
When is the last time that Wilson has done something exciting about the Bills? So I agree with you, as much as I hated that Jauron & his misfit coordinators kept their jobs, I wasn’t surprised. I would have been surprised if Wilson actually would have done something good, like name Modrak the GM and hire a real coach!
BEAST MODE, During the week plan on it & on game day thrive on it!
GO BILLS!
Section 336 Row 13
I think Toronto is exciting....
maybe not in the way we want but exciting nonetheless. The whole NFL was talking about us, albeit briefly.
Playing Eternal Optimist at Buffalo Rumblings since 2008.
by MattRichWarren on Jan 17, 2009 2:55 PM EST up reply actions
It was? They were?
Sure it was noted that we were in Canada but it still wasn’t the lead story on ESPN.com or SportsCenter. It was mentioned basically in passing on the major blogs. And I’m positive that Toronto wasn’t too excited for it. Unless everyone came dressed as empty seats.
by twoeightnine on Jan 17, 2009 3:57 PM EST up reply actions
Unless everyone came dressed as empty seats.
Great one!
BEAST MODE, During the week plan on it & on game day thrive on it!
GO BILLS!
Section 336 Row 13
They were in line getting beer all game. Right?
~K
"I’m Kurupt with Buffalo Rumblings. I am worth hundreds!"
The game did suck pretty bad....
Playing Eternal Optimist at Buffalo Rumblings since 2008.
by MattRichWarren on Jan 18, 2009 9:05 PM EST up reply actions
Not exactly what I meant
I was talking about something exiting to make the team dramatically better, now that would be surprising! Wilson trying to line him the next owner is not what I call exiting
BEAST MODE, During the week plan on it & on game day thrive on it!
GO BILLS!
Section 336 Row 13
Marcus Stroud? How many bigger offseason additions were there last year than Stroud?
Brett Favre, Chad Pennington, Michael Turner, Bernard Berrian, Jacob Bell, Alan Faneca, Jeff Faine, Justin Smith, Jared Allen, Antwan Odom, Corey Williams, Kris Jenkins, DeWayne Robertson, Calvin Pace, Zach Thomas, Asante Samuel, DeAngelo Hall, PacMan Jones and Gibril Wilson were the big names to end up on different teams last year. What kind off “exciting” splash are you really looking for the Bills to make?
Jenkins was the prize NT last season. I’d say that Rogers was a close second and Stroud was a distant third. I will say that I was pleasantly surprised and I am happy we got Stroud but Jenkins was the real prize catch.
They went for the lesser of the three and it turned out pretty good but both others are way more dominant at their position. Teams were not lining up for Stroud because there were serious questions about his ability to regain some of his dominance. We took a chance and it worked out but I don’t call that a splash.
A splash for me would be getting a real pass rusher a guy like Suggs and a safety like Sean Jones or a Linebacker like Dansby or Scott. I would like them to show us that they are able to targhet the best guy at the position we need and not just settle for the cheapest alternative.
BEAST MODE, During the week plan on it & on game day thrive on it!
GO BILLS!
Section 336 Row 13
Agreed
There were some teams whose doctors’ felt that Stroud’s knee/ankle injuries would not allow him to return to ProBowl form, which is why the Jaguars let him go.
"The Bills have no playoff aspirations"
Kris Jenkins is in the probowl and Stroud is watching from his sofa!
Your ability to control the LOS is directly linked to your ability to win football games!
FEED the BEAST!
Section 336 Row 13
Who gives a rip about the Pro Bowl? Yeah, Jenkins was good, but that doesn’t mean Stroud was bad. That’s like saying Marion Barber is better than Marshawn Lynch – who cares who gets the accolades?
Buffalo Rumblings - all you care to know about the Buffalo Bills and more
by Brian Galliford on Jan 19, 2009 10:30 AM EST up reply actions
I believe I’ve used the word franchise left tackle.
Buffalo Rumblings - all you care to know about the Buffalo Bills and more
by Brian Galliford on Jan 19, 2009 4:56 PM EST up reply actions
Well, they were right, and wrong.
Right in the idea that he didn’t return to Pro Bowl form. Wrong in that he was still impactful for our D….
~K
"I’m Kurupt with Buffalo Rumblings. I am worth hundreds!"
I didn’t say that I was unhappy with Stroud, I said they went cheap and got lucky! The real player was Jenkins and we all know it.
This year the real FA for our needs is Suggs, will they pull the trigger? Probably not.
Your ability to control the LOS is directly linked to your ability to win football games!
FEED the BEAST!
Section 336 Row 13
Actually, you’re wrong. Jenkins was considered risky business because of his work ethic and injury concerns. The Jets got lucky.
The REAL catch at DT last off-season was Shaun Rogers, and if you recall, the Bills had a deal in place to nab Rogers last off-season. They had already negotiated with the Jags for Stroud at that point. They knew Stroud wouldn’t command a new deal, just a re-tooling for more money up front. Rogers wanted a fat new deal that would make him one of football’s highest-paid linemen. The Bills weren’t willing to do that, so took Stroud – whom they viewed as not much of a drop-off from Rogers – and the more economical contract.
So to say that the Bills didn’t make a play for the best DT available is factually incorrect.
Buffalo Rumblings - all you care to know about the Buffalo Bills and more
by Brian Galliford on Jan 20, 2009 12:41 PM EST up reply actions
The Lions keeping anybody from their 0-16 season is deplorable....
Why would you promote guys who failed as miserably as they did? Did they have no say in the personnel or something? Geez louise.
Playing Eternal Optimist at Buffalo Rumblings since 2008.
That's why I voted for the Lions
Detroit needed to completely clean house. Everyone in that front office needed to be canned. The roster needs to be heavily trimmed with only guys like Calvin Johnson (talented, hard working) being retained.
by Ron From NM on Jan 17, 2009 12:57 PM EST up reply actions
I am sure the Lions are trying to emulate the success the Bills have had
by copying their management style :-)
"The Bills have no playoff aspirations"
In my totally unbiased opinion I voted the retaining of DJ. Wierd
Number 2 would probably be the Raiders. Almost everything Al does is wierd. His glasses have been wierd for a long time. And his do is wierdly 50’s.
Number 3 would be Cleveland. Bass ackwards is right.
Number 4 is Gruden because the Bucs inner circle took longer to make a decision than ours! BUt look at his overall record at Tampa – not too shiny.
Number 5 the Lions. But the new team did make a good first decision.
Number 6 is Denver. I could see that one coming. By all accounts Shanahan has a monster ego that overshadowed the team. But his biggest failure is his declining lack of defensive awareness. How long has the Denver D been puky? Look at his D draft choices recently and they are not very good. He let the D slide too much. Since 2002-2003 his D’s rank 6, 5, 5, 19, 14, 19, 29. Ouch. But, hey, they have a tab on their homepage for their cheerleaders and a calendar. The poor Jills are all but forgotten.
everything goes better with a BIG MACK
I dont care about how other teams do their business......so i voted for Bills keeping DJ.
12/19/08 - Thank you KLJ for coming into my life.
by norcaliangelsfan on Jan 17, 2009 1:34 PM EST reply actions
What?
Not comparing FOs is like not comparing QBs. And, the FO is probably the single most important factor in the success of a franchise. It is no accident that some teams make the playoffs on a regular basis and some do not. Players change. Coaches change. But, the owners stay the same!
"The Bills have no playoff aspirations"
And our owner is about as exciting as watching paint dry!
BEAST MODE, During the week plan on it & on game day thrive on it!
GO BILLS!
Section 336 Row 13
yeah but in the end what the other teams do dont mean much for me.......its hard enough keeping up with all the non-moves/moves the Bills make then trying to keep up with 31 other teams.
12/19/08 - Thank you KLJ for coming into my life.
by norcaliangelsfan on Jan 17, 2009 3:07 PM EST up reply actions
I went with the Bucs just because it was out of nowhere
But I think the Bucs made a smart move. Gruden had worn out his welcome with the players and owners from all reports, and Morris was getting ALOT of attention from other teams, so it was wise to lock him up long term as the coach and put the player personnal guy in chrage, but this should have been done right after the season, not 3 weeks in.
I think the Mike S firing was a very very close thing for me as well. But he hadn’t do much and in the N(ot)F(or)L(ong) its all about what have you done for me lately, Landry anyone?
Now if only this gopher could play DE, we would be doing better, I mean, who couldn't play better than the corpse brothers Kelsay and Denney?
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