Why it Is the Way it is

I seen and read many blog's and post's on this site and other's about reasons why The Team we all love is the way it is. After looking back at the last 10+ years of team I mapped out all the problems that have brought us to this.

#1 Unfortunately Ralph Wilson - John Butler was once quoted as saying "It's a tough Place to work" seems he may have been right. Being up against already with a smaller market team, Playing in a aging stadium, A 92 year old owner who refuses to sell or insure the Teams long term future in Buffalo leaves it as an even more unattractive destination for not only players but coaches and front office personnel who already uproot and move their families from city to city often enough so why go to a place where a team might not be in a few years?

#2 Too Many Hands in the Pot - The 2000's offered nothing but instability in Buffalo's coaching and front office ranks. The only true house cleaning came in '01' where Donahone brought in all his own people. Ever since we have had nothing but mix and match with coaching and front office personnel. This has made it obvious there is no clear vision where the organization wants to go personnel wise with players or in it's front office. Having had 4 to 5 different front office combinations and 5 H.C.'s if you want to count Perry Fewell stint last season

#3 DRAFTING
'00' John Butler left Buffalo with one of the worst draft classes in team history Erik Flowers, Travares Tillman & Corey Moore nuff Said! 
'01' Tom Donahone was next. He had a solid class in '01' Hitting on Nate Clements, Schobel, Travis Henry & Jonas Jennings. 
'02' The real fun begins, The Mike Williams draft UGH.. Then Josh Reed in the 2nd, Ryan Denney in the 3rd. Buffalo then traded the 1st in '03' for Drew Bledsoe. 
'03' The Bills got a 1st in a trade for Peerless Price. With an already productive RB on the roster and other glaring needs they use it on Willis McGahee who couldn't play till the following season due to his kne injury. Chris Kelsey was the 2nd pick but was followed by a couple of solid choices in Terrence McGee & Angelo Crowell
'04' Lee Evans who has been Buffalo's most note worthy 1st rd pick but then its followed by J.P. Losman which cost Buffalo it's 2nd rounder and it's 1st in '05'. 
'05' With no 1st rd pick all Buffalo got out of this class was Roscoe Parrish. we'll never know about Kevin Everett? no one else in the class produced. 
'06' I have heard Thurman Thomas state that this class was Tom Modrak's work. What I call "The Haloti Nagata draft". Buffalo Reaches for Donte Whitner with the 8th overall then jumps back into the 1st rd. via trade and reaches again with John McCargo who has been a healthy inactive for most of the last 2 seasons. The Best player out of the class was the 5th rd Kyle Williams. Note "Jim Leonard & George Wilson were on the roster at the time of the Whiner pick sighting the inability to spot talent already in place.
'07' Rumors abound Ralph had his hands all over the Marshawn Lynch pick. A player who came out of college with lots of character issues and showed every bit of them while in Buffalo. They then trade up to take Poz with the 1st pick in the 2nd round then take Trent Edwards in the 3rd. Fred Jackson was on the roster and was only pressed into action cause of Jauron favorite from Chicago Anthony Thomas being injured. Again not spotting talent already there! 
'08' Leodis McKelvin is taken with The Bills 1st to offset the lose of Jabari Greer in FA. He was a solid KO returner but has since been injured and shown inconsistency at CB. James Hardy & Chris Ellis followed, OUCH again Buffalo seems empty handed with a draft class only 2 seasons removed
'09' Us Bills Fans have since learned this was a Dick Jauron Special. Aaron Maybin a so called pass rush specialist who was drafted after only 1 good season at Penn St. and undersized with weights between 225-250. He has only played in spots with inability to play the run with both the Jauron & Gailey staff's. Eric Wood was next with the pick via the Jason Peters trade. Wood an All American Center who Buffalo plays at guard in favor of journey men Geoff Hangartner. Andy Levitre & Jarius Byrd were next both see to be Solid Picks.

#4 Free Agencey
This is an area filled with journey man, epic fails & most notably the organizations unwillingness to resign proven home grown players Pat Williams, Jason Peters, Antoine Winfield, Nate Clements, Jabari Greer, Jim Leonhard. Their FA signing have been less then stellar with London Fletcher Standing out as the Best of the decade. Nothing signifies Buffalo's Failure in FA then the '07' and '08' signings. '07' Derrick Dockery & Langston Walker are brought, Dockery signing the richest FA contract in Bills History both have since been cut only last 2 season's in Buff. '08' The Big Ticket picks up of Marcus Stroud via trade, Signing Spencer Johnson & Kawika Mitchell. Stroud seem to been on the downside of his career, Johnson has proven to be nothing more then a below avg backup and after a rash of injuries and a new staff Mitchell has since been released. The window dressing signing of Terrell Owens in '09' in order to sell tickets and soothe us Bills fans is also note worthy.

With yet other front office preaching change and telling us Bills fans to be patience has me fearful cause we have heard this before. We keep hearing the phrase's "Rebuilding" and "Bottoming out" all I am reminded of is '01' After a decade of Super Bowl's and playoff's in the 90's isn't 3-13 season bottoming out? But with Blown draft pick's, bad trades', poor FA signings. Turnover at G.M. & H.C. every 2 or 3 season's has turned this once proud franchise into a league wide laughing stock. The new regime hasn't won me over either I know it's early but I'm seeing nothing but the same ole B.S. or is a new regime? Tom Modrak is still employed by The Bills. Drafting a flashy new toy in C.J. Spiller seems fun for a min but haven't we been here before? Drafting a player at a position where their is already talent in place also having such big holes at other positions namely O-Line & Linebacker. Spiller maybe a special talent but there are far to many examples around the league even on the Bills own roster of lower level & undrafted RB's excelling in the league there is no need to use another 1st round pick on a RB. Having a fake QB competition where only one guy got all the snaps with the 1's on camp and in person. The '08' & '09' game tapes weren't enough to see Trent Edwards wasn't the guy like they said they needed to see it for themselves wasting a whole offseason and two regular season games in the process. Resigning Chris Kelsey as a so called core guy & leader. Kelsey more then any other player symbolizes the Bills in this decade. A nice guy, A hard worker, plays hard but most times seems over matched, undersized and a step to slow. Sounds like Coy Wire, Josh Reed and the list goes on.... Truth is this is a QB driven league. Good QB play can hide allot over weakness on your team till they can be addressed. The last time Buffalo tired to get a Franchise QB was in '04' with J.P. Losman. We since have been treated to Kelly Holcomb, Craig Nall, Trent Edwards, Gibran Hamden, Ryan Fitzpatrick now Levi Brown. Again I'm fearful Bills fans.

Can They Get anything right? to this point NO!