142 replies to this topic

[tgreg99]

It's an old subject, but the first time I've heard Wiley talk about it.

On Wiley's radio show here in LA they were discussing the Tebow vs Sanchez debate and whether starting Tebow would mean the end of Rex Ryan in New York. Wiley was asked by John Ireland what he would do if he was Rex Ryan and Woody Johnson walked into his office and told him to start Tebow over Sanchez.

This is what Wiley said (transcribed poorly):  

"Ralph Wilson did the same thing to us in Buffalo with Wade Philips. Wade Phillips walks into our locker room and says, 'Look, we're going to start Rob Johnson the last game of the season, in a meaningless game where we rest Doug Flutie.' We say 'fine.' Rob Johnson goes out there throws three touchdowns, three hundred yards and the owner says I want to see that money out there on the field in the playoffs.

Wade Philips next week says, 'Guys, we have a change at quarterback' and we looked at him -- I mean you should have heard this locker room. Everyone starts screaming, 'What the hell?! What are you talking about' ... chain of command. We were all with Fluite. We had won 10 games with him. But chain of command."

Every failure this team has had, and every success, starts and ends with one man. Karma is a bitch.


http://espn.go.com/e...geles/play?s=la
(In the noon block, somewhere around 12:07 mark)

[Rico]

Great find, thanks tgreg.

[Buftex]

Yes, I have heard Wiley say it a few times, the move from Flutie to Johnson came from the top.

[Heitz]

And we've been cursed ever since...

[C.Biscuit97]

He's still the reason a small, dying city like Buffalo has a team in the first place.  The Flutie-Johnson thing was beyond stupid.  But he deserves zero fault in this year's start.  He did pretty much what evey fan wanted him to do.  No person should be more disappointed than Ralph.  As much as some people hate him, I want them to give him a winning season before the unfortunate happens.

[mrags]

No wonder why no gm or coach wants to work here then.

[C.Biscuit97]

mrags, on 09 October 2012 - 02:31 PM, said:

No wonder why no gm or coach wants to work here then.

It's probably true after that but how can you say that now?  The dude went Dan Snyder this offseason and gives Nix and company all the freedom they want.

[LabattBlue]

C.Biscuit97, on 09 October 2012 - 02:35 PM, said:

It's probably true after that but how can you say that now?  The dude went Dan Snyder this offseason and gives Nix and company all the freedom they want.

The problem is he gave "freedom" to Nix & Gailey and his staff of GT assistants.  Enough said.

[Homey D. Clown]

You can't argue with history.

[Peter]

Let's put things in perspective.  Wiley was good friends with Flutie.  Rob Johnson is not the reason why we "lost" the game against the Titans.

People also seem to forget about Flutie's performance at the end of the playoff game in Miami against the Dolphins.

[nucci]

This is old news. We all knew Ralph did that. Phillips never would have benched Flutie.

[Rico]

nucci, on 09 October 2012 - 02:51 PM, said:

This is old news. We all knew Ralph did that. Phillips never would have benched Flutie.

Sure it is old news, but it just reinforces what a POS that Ralph is, and that's a good thing, especially when all the inevitable revisionist history will begin about him before too much longer.

[dwight in philly]

C.Biscuit97, on 09 October 2012 - 02:30 PM, said:

He's still the reason a small, dying city like Buffalo has a team in the first place.  The Flutie-Johnson thing was beyond stupid.  But he deserves zero fault in this year's start.  He did pretty much what evey fan wanted him to do.  No person should be more disappointed than Ralph.  As much as some people hate him, I want them to give him a winning season before the unfortunate happens.

that argument gets tiring , we all know that wilson could have moved the team.. yada yada, but for cri$$akes, he is the reason the franchise is in the state it is in, was always in, with 4 notable exceptions the past FIFTY years.. the 60's two championships, the knox era, kelly-levy era, and a toss-up between the wade phillips-saban-OJ era.. we are a laughingstock , but "at least we have the team" .. must be nice to just settle for that

[Buftex]

Peter, on 09 October 2012 - 02:48 PM, said:

Let's put things in perspective.  Wiley was good friends with Flutie.  Rob Johnson is not the reason why we "lost" the game against the Titans.

People also seem to forget about Flutie's performance at the end of the playoff game in Miami against the Dolphins.

I for one, was not a Flutie guy, but it was hard to argue with his record...but that season Flutie was playing dreadfully the last 6 or 7 games, and his arm appeared to be getting weaker by the week.  It almost seemed like it was getting to the point that they were winning in spite of him, rather than because of him.  I am not sure I would have made the move that Ralph (apparently) ordered right before the playoffs, but I won't say I wasn't kind of excited about  it at the time.

[All_Pro_Bills]

tgreg99, on 09 October 2012 - 02:26 PM, said:

It's an old subject, but the first time I've heard Wiley talk about it.

On Wiley's radio show here in LA they were discussing the Tebow vs Sanchez debate and whether starting Tebow would mean the end of Rex Ryan in New York. Wiley was asked by John Ireland what he would do if he was Rex Ryan and Woody Johnson walked into his office and told him to start Tebow over Sanchez.

This is what Wiley said (transcribed poorly):  

"Ralph Wilson did the same thing to us in Buffalo with Wade Philips. Wade Phillips walks into our locker room and says, 'Look, we're going to start Rob Johnson the last game of the season, in a meaningless game where we rest Doug Flutie.' We say 'fine.' Rob Johnson goes out there throws three touchdowns, three hundred yards and the owner says I want to see that money out there on the field in the playoffs.

Wade Philips next week says, 'Guys, we have a change at quarterback' and we looked at him -- I mean you should have heard this locker room. Everyone starts screaming, 'What the hell?! What are you talking about' ... chain of command. We were all with Fluite. We had won 10 games with him. But chain of command."

Every failure this team has had, and every success, starts and ends with one man. Karma is a bitch.


http://espn.go.com/e...geles/play?s=la
(In the noon block, somewhere around 12:07 mark)

The irony here is that Wade apparently caved in and started Johnson over his choice which was Flutie but then held his ground and refused to fire the special teams coach.  That's where he drew the line.  Not invoking principal and his authority as head coach when it came to making the decision on who to start at QB and protecting the team but rather when it came to protecting a personal friend from dismissal.

[sllib olaffub]

LabattBlue, on 09 October 2012 - 02:38 PM, said:

The problem is he gave "freedom" to Nix & Gailey and his staff of GT assistants.  Enough said.

I have to agree - the problem seems to be the coaching staff.  I'm not blaming Nix to the point where I'd like to see him gone; I think he's done a good job in the player department.  I think he's done a poor job managing the hiring of coaches.  And, of course, if Nix is responsible for Fitzpatrick - because I always thought it was Gailey who pushed for Fitz to stay - then I think that is a monumental blunder.  However, other than QB, I think Nix has done what he set out to do with players.

There's no doubt in my mind that other coaches - some four or five - could have come in here and we'd be seeing a winning team, a strong team, a tough team.  The players are going to be forced to adapt to the style a coach wants to see.  If our coaches do not find it important enough to make the players play with grit, toughness, relentless nastiness - then the players aren't going to.  I'd like to see some changes to the staff, I think.  I'd be willing to let Gailey stick with a new QB for one year, see how that pans out.  But, this defense is a real conundrum.  I can't blame anyone but Wannstedt.  If it doesn't shape up - quite a bit - then I think we'll have to see another new DC.

[Dawgg]

Buftex, on 09 October 2012 - 02:30 PM, said:

Yes, I have heard Wiley say it a few times, the move from Flutie to Johnson came from the top.

I have spoken to Wade himself. And yes, that wasn't his choice.

[Peter]

Buftex, on 09 October 2012 - 03:04 PM, said:

I for one, was not a Flutie guy, but it was hard to argue with his record...but that season Flutie was playing dreadfully the last 6 or 7 games, and his arm appeared to be getting weaker by the week.  It almost seemed like it was getting to the point that they were winning in spite of him, rather than because of him.  I am not sure I would have made the move that Ralph (apparently) ordered right before the playoffs, but I won't say I wasn't kind of excited about  it at the time.

As an aside, we had a fantastic defense then.  Over the past two games, I cannot help but miss that defense even more.  I really thought that our defense would be the strength of our team this year.  I really hope that we can turn this thing around.

[kas23]

That reaction sounds a bit over the top. The whole locker room started screaming? Geez, I wouldn't have wanted to be Rob Johnson at that point. Anyhow, ironically, he did enough to win that game. I always wonder what would have happened next if we did win that game.

[Peter]

kas23, on 09 October 2012 - 03:19 PM, said:

That reaction sounds a bit over the top. The whole locker room started screaming? Geez, I wouldn't have wanted to be Rob Johnson at that point. Anyhow, ironically, he did enough to win that game. I always wonder what would have happened next if we did win that game.

We had a great defense.  I think that we could have gone far and dare I say Super Bowl.