OC Zed
Footballguy
Toronto was a big financial success for the Bills - which was primary the point. Obviously it never worked out in terms of galvanizing hard core support for the team in that city, but there are other factors that weren't necessarily in Brandon's immediate control for that (poor on-field play, high ticket prices set by the Rogers group, etc.). And let's give some credit to Brandon for helping unwind the series before the terms of the deal expired.And seriously, Brandon has to be made of Teflon or something. He gets credit for "regionalizing" the team and yet the Toronto series was an epic disaster. What else did he really do beyond that? Seems more like the popularity of the NFL in general coupled with no other competition in the area is as much responsible as anything Brandon did. Do Brandon supporters even have anything he specifically did?
And it's hilarious that he gets a pass on any football operations decisions he made. Ralph didn't just have him around as a figurehead. He had a lot more influence than people want to give him credit for on that side.
And what football decisions was Brandon really involved in? He hired two GMs - the guys that actually makes the football decisions (not Brandon himself). While neither Nix and Whaley have been perfect, they've also significantly upgraded the talent level of the team in the last 5 years. I don't see how you can criticize him for keeping a few Wilson favorites (likely by Wilson's request) in positions that don't have any real say in football personnel. Overdorf managed the cap and negotiated the contracts - at the direction of the GM. The media relations guy has no effect on personnel. The strength and conditioning coach can be a nice asset to an organization, but I wouldn't really say that's been the lynch pin behind this team's failures for 15 years.