Comments on: The Real Biggest Reason The Bills Don’t Win

By: The Real

The Real — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:34:35 +0000

Good Job. Clearly, the draft problems have lead to where the bills are now. Sitting in a draft day every year is a miserable experience. Many forget that M. Williams played RIGHT TACKLE at Texas in front of left-handed QB Chris Simms. FO assumed it would translate to the other side in the pros. Poor Assumption. Evans was weak. Lynch looks weak.
Don’t even start on Haloti. Whitner is a complete bum, but he’s a “character guy” so its ok. Constantly trading up in the draft is also a sign of minimal preparation. Bottem line: get somebody in your front office who knows how to evaluate talent Buffalo!

By: Funkhouser

Funkhouser — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:15:05 +0000

If my grandmother had balls, she’d be my grandfather.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:07:05 +0000

None of the contemporary analysis of these drafts matters. It doesn’t matter what the experts think that year or if the guy is high on their draft board. All you can do is look back and reflect. Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but there are front offices in the league who operate nearly bust-free in free agency and the draft.

The clear point here is that the Bills are terrible in the personnel department. There are teams that hit on every draft pick, so much to the point of trading back out of coveted spots in exchange for picks. There are teams that are so well-run that you never hear of them making a big splash on draft day and their fans don’t really pay attention – they just know they will fill a need.

And there’s the Bills. We all watch our draft. It’s like an auto race and every time the Bills pick is an imminent 10-car pileup. You know who the experts pick. You know who you’d like to see picked. And you know that the Bills will hit you with a 3rd option.

By: Jesse Champagne

Jesse Champagne — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:19:52 +0000

By: Jesse Champagne

Jesse Champagne — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:15:02 +0000

It can be frustrating to look back at the draft picks that way for any team. That’s what the draft is all about, you never now. You’re right, some of those picks where flops and mistakes but that happens all the time. But here’s the deal with the Bills, the biggest problem in our demise. The O line. It’s the most important part (not position) of a football team. It makes a quarterback and running back look great. Keeps the D off the field, controls the momentum of a game, it’s everything. We HAVE NOT been successful in making this priority number 1. We’ve tried, but not hard enough. I thought when Marv came back he’d build the team around the O line and put together a great group. House Ballard, Kent Hull, Will Wolford, Jim Ritcher, Mitch Ferotte, etc. The most important part to those great years, our O line. I know it’s not easy to get together a group like that and I do realize we’ve tried. But I still don’t think we’ve picked/traded/acquired enough to address the most important part to a football team, THE BACKBONE, THE O LINE.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:44:18 +0000

One thing to point out….had we gotten some of the better early drafts, we might not have been in the running for some of the later draft picks. But we would have won some more games.

So dont look at this list like we could have all of these players….but we could have some.

By: kbills05

kbills05 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:44:59 +0000

this is a real good article. i didn’t know we selected chris kelsay ahead of Osi. it just goes to show you that management is terrible along w/ the low bargain coach…i think this is the year everyone will be surprised and we will do a complete overhaul to the front office as well as coaching staff to get better players n’ better coaching in here…

By: george

george — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:35:10 +0000

i agree to an extent. EVERY team would change some early picks if possible. You cant say ‘this guy turned out better so they should have taken him’ hindsight is 20/20. so some of the picks cant be too highly critizised like taking lynch, mike williams, chris kelsay ect. They were wrong picks, but justifiable. But its the bills impatience & head scratcher picks that are so frustrating for fans. Dumb moves like trading UP to take losman, taking a saftey in the top 8 picks, taking mcgahee when we had a great back at the time ect. are what seperates the bills from teams that can at least compete.

By: JP

JP — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:08:09 +0000

I was about to have a good weekend, thanks. Seriously though the Bills have some worst first round picks ever. because we weren’t taking top 5 picks all the time doesn’t magnify the problems like taking J. Russell or a T. Couch, but how awful are these picks. I think only Evans and McKelvin we top at their positions, Mike Williams was not thought to be the best LT, it was Mckinney, but he had attitude problems, so we took less risk with Williams (I think all Texas players are overrated btw) and allowed us begin a horrible spiral to the bottom of the NFL. I will also add a note which I feel is the biggest mistake Buffalo did was not resigning Pat Williams to an extension. in the draft you never know what you will get (JP 1st rounder or Tom Brady 6th), but we knew how great Pat was. the man continued to be a beast, he now holds down the best front line in the league for the past few years. he wasn’t asking for $100m like Haynesworth got, the man wanted at least $3m a year and our FO decided to move on. let’s hope our next GM and HC understands the concept of keeping players that add value to the organization and continue to draft positional needs rather than best player available (for the most part). I love my Bills but it’s hard to watch year after year and not understand how people who work in this industry have NO idea What The Duck they are doing. Ralph needs to go to Bill Polian’s house with a check for $25 million and ask for forgiveness.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:01:36 +0000

Troy is in Alabama, Guy….He is not talking about Troy, NY. COME ON MAN!

Article is dead on.

I agree that Williams was the right pick, no doubt. Williams/Reed were considered superstars in the making and most “experts” claimed the BIlls has an A+ draft.

But the rest are dead on. Every other pick mentioned left fans scratching their heads and experts panning the picks.

WHen whitner was picked I think Kiper’s jaw dropped.

By: Jeff1220

Jeff1220 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:43:54 +0000

@Ben: lol. Troy University isn’t in Troy, NY. It’s in Troy, Alabama.

By: Frank

Frank — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:39:24 +0000

Ultimately The buck stops at Ralph’s desk. Let’s call a spade a spade . He’s is the top dog and must bare the brunt of the blame. The people he hired got you in this mess. Just as DJ didn’t deserve a contract extension, Ralph doesn’t deserve to be in the HoF. He got in the league as an investment. In any other business , failure to produce are a call for termination. In Ralph’s case , he rewards failure.
Second on the list ,I blame the Bills fans themselves for settling for second rate. Buffalo as a whole has become a second rate city, so I guess it’s only logical they tolerate sub par performance.
I used to think our Canadian friends sometimes acted inferior to Americans, but I see People in WNY have sunk to even lower levels. The cries abound that Edwards, Jauron, and every other Bills member “grow a set” . It’s a little odd that the fans don’t do the same and stand up to the old fart who keeps bitch slapping everyone one like a girl girl.
Ralph is your problem . Start slapping back! Until then , don’t point the finger at anyone until you get it right. You all and Papa Wilson are your worst enemies!

By: A

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:39:18 +0000

Ben, the point of the article is that the Bills have had repeated misses on draft picks over the past several years which have continually set the franchise back. Every time the Bills have had a chance to get a player who can make a difference on the field, they have wiffed on the pick.

If you look at the draft history of a franchise like the Colts or Steelers, you’ll see they consistently draft players who are able to contribute. The Bills need a change at the top, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

By: K

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:53:56 +0000

Ben, building your team with key veteran free agents works for baseball (See NY Yankees recent win, the jerks) But in football, you need to build your team through the draft or you risk setting yourself back MULTIPLE years. It’s an asinine argument to say that Pat is wrong for calling out the Williams pick because he was widely thought of as the best player at that position and then turn around and say that their free agent signings have been the problem. Dockery and Walker were the best players available at their position and they were busts as well. The author is not saying that you can’t miss, he’s merely, illustrating just how badly REPEATED misses in the draft can multiply your problems down the road. And unfortunately I think it will be a recurring problem here until the team collapses, moves, or gains new ownership.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:52:39 +0000

Remember, one of the reasons the Bills picked Williams over McKinnie was that there was talk that McKinnie had some character issues and might have some troubles in the NFL.

By: Jan Reimers

Jan Reimers — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:41:00 +0000

While hindsight is always 20/20, this is an interesting article. So often, the Bills draft a decent player, but not at a position of need. And it’s almost uncanny how, when the they do manage to draft the right position, they take the wrong guy (e.g., Williams over McKinney).

Good job, Pat.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:16:59 +0000

This is a pretty weak article. While the players you highlighted are certainly bad picks, your “analysis” of what you are calling bad decisions is pretty ridiculous. Hind sight is 20/20. Mike Williams for example was heralded as the top tackle on the draft board by every draft expert, every coach etc. NO ONE thought that was a bad pick. In retrospect it was a bust, but there was not a soul out there in NFL world that thought the Bills should have picked someone else. Sometimes busts can’t be avoided. McGahee was a terrible pick, particularly since Henry was playing well at the time. Osi Umenyora was a player that the Giants had some inside knowledge on since they have training camp in Albany, right next to Troy. Its easy to look back with the knowledge of how the players will turn out and say a pick was bad, but I guarantee you will see a similar trend with just about every team. I also think your analysis of the last couple drafts is way off base. The veteran free agent signings have been awful, a much bigger problem than the draft, where the team has brought in players like Evans, Lynch, McKelvin, Corner, Byrd, Wood, Poz etc over the last few years. The team has also done well bringing in undrafted free agents where they have found numerous diamonds in the rough. But to be successful you need to sign key veteran free agents. thats where the team has failed. Seems like Hangartner is the only half decent signing on that front of late