10 Worst Buffalo Bills moves of the decade

by Steve

Today's date December 15, 2009. Holy shit only 16 more days till the end of a decade. A decade of Buffalo Bills futility, failure, embarrassment, heart ache and break. Basically an abomination. This season is about 99.59825% over (in regards to playoff chances) and interest is waning. So to spice things up we're going to make lists of the worst (and maybe some best if there are any) for the Bills and Buffalo in the worst decade in Buffalo sports history.

Today worst front office decisions from 2000-2009

10. Drafting Willis McGahee

The year was 2003. Travis Henry coming off a strong sophomore season with 1,438 yards and 13 touchdowns, seemingly a star on the rise in the National Football League. Willis McGahee, a rare talent, had one of the worst looking injuries in a National Championship game anyone had ever withnessed. It was a fact that he would miss an entire season and would be questionable as to whether he would ever fully recover. Tom eff'n Donahoe was our GM. Looking to make a splash and (maybe take the best player available) decided to waste our first round pick @ 23 and take McGahee.

Everyone knows the rest. He played decent to pretty good for three full seasons. Then he threw Buffalo and the fans under the bus, wanted money and was traded to Baltimore. He has had an average career. The worst part about the whole thing is we didn't need a running back. He didn't contribute to the team for another year and even when he did he barely distinguished himself. Not to mention the attitude, the super agent and the Buffalo bashing. I hated the pick and still do.

9. Trading Jason Peters

Could rise on this list in the future as the trade commenced just this season. Peters was a malcontent since 2008. He received a contract extension in '06 and was generously paid after playing his first season at LT. Less than two years later Peters believed, and rightly so, that he deserved yet another raise after being selected to the all pro team and Pro Bowl. He held out all of the '08 training camp and missed the first game before returning.

In 2008 to the shock of some he was reselected to both pro teams after an up and down season which statistically bore out a poor season in terms of sacks allowed. Rumblings of another lengthy hold out and contract demands started immediately after the season. The Bills played chicken, lost much of their bargaining power and folded like a tv dinner table. He was dealt for a late first and fourth in the 2009 draft and 6th in 2010. The Bills left side has been a major question mark all season and Philly is poised for a Super Bowl run partly due to Peters stellar play. Awful awful trade that will haunt this team for years.

8. Gregg Williams hired as head coach

The year, 2001, the GM Tom Donahoe, first decision? Greggggg Williams. Stellar career, 17-31 record in three seasons. True his teams weren't the most talented but they certainly weren't the best coached team around.

Donahoe completely whiffed. The guy was over matched and completely lost for nearly a third of the decade. Anyone will give him a pass in '01 as it was a rebuilding period, but what is the excuse for '02 and '03 with Bledsoe at QB, Henry piling up stats, Clements, Fletcher, P Williams, Schobel and Winfield on defense. The defensive mastermind was ranked in the bottom half of the league in 01 and 02 and a top 3 defense in 03 he wasted with offensive mismanagement and blunder after blunder.

7. Drafting JP Losman

The year 2004, 22nd overall. The Bills were desperate for a QB. Blowdsoe was deteriorating quickly and Donahoe was desperate. Roethlisberger was just taken at 11 and the Bills were hand tied. They took Evans at 13 and foaming at the mouth for anything that could throw the football. They hyper reached, traded Dallas their '05 pick and grabbed Losman, a Tulane mediocrity looked at as a project at best.

Things started out great and got better. In his first training camp he got his leg broken by Troy Vincent basically ending his rookie season (great lesson putting a rookie in his place Troy thanks). He was subsequently put into and taken out of just about every game for the next two years fighting Kelly Holcomb for playing time. Offensive coordinator after offensive coordinator continued to erode Losman's confidence and skill. '06 seemed like a revelation leading many to beleive Losman had turned the corner. That was all dashed with a cheap shot by Wilfork in '07 basically ending his tenure as a starting QB for the Bills. He was let go after '08 and went to the UFL.

6. Drafting Mike Williams

Gregg's second draft. #4 overall. A can't miss OT out of Texas. Too bad he got paid too much, got too fat, unmotivated and couldn't care less. The only real debate for this draft was him or UM tackle Bryant McKinnie. Who knows, may it was just a blunder most teams would have made at that spot, or with some better due diligence this pick would never have been made. 2002 was a bust city draft though. Regardless it set back the franchise til um what year is it now?

5. Hiring Mike Mularkey

The second bust of a head coach Gregg hand picked. An ol' buddy offensive 'genius' from Pittsburgh who never had it as a head coach in the National Football League. He didn't last past his second season. Things started out pretty solid in '04 rattling off 6 straight wins before collapsing at home in week 17 to the hated Steelers' backups. The team never bounced back from that loss under Mularchuck. The devastating L kept the Bills from making the playoffs for the only time this decade. "ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) -- Willie Parker, Brian St. Pierre and James Harrison -- who are these guys, you might ask?" That is from the ESPN.com recap of the game January 2, 2005.

The guy was ushered out of town along with Donachuck by an irate fan base and some shit talking too his kids at school. He resigned in disgrace after the '05 season in which the Bills went 5-11 and the Bills dropped 8 of their last 10.

4. Rehiring Marv Levy as GM

Donahoe was gone but the shipwreck remained. Wilson vowing never to relinquish as much power as he had done back in 2001 went calling to his ol' buddy Marv. The guy had no credentials as a GM and thought he could still coach at the ripe old age of 81. Great as a coach awful as a general manager. His two years (06-07) were crucial to the rest of the decade. He blew it at nearly every turn.

Drafted Whitner @ 8, traded up for McCargo @ 26 Lynch @ 12 (running back was a terrible decision here), seemed to only sign players from Detroit and Chicago, gave Langston Walker $25 mil, Derrick Dockery $49 million, $10 mil to Bob 'can't catch' Royal, hand picked Trent Edwards as quarterback out of Stanford in the third round, oh and hired Dick Jauron as head coach

3. Not Resigning Pat Williams and Antoine Winfield

I'm lumping these two together even though Winfield went to Minny in 03 and Williams went in 04. They were one of the top free agents those two years and were irreplaceable. It is impossible to disagree with the blunderous blunder it was not resigning these two studs. They have been anchors on one of the best defenses the last 5 years.

For some reason Donahoe thought Pat Williams was finished and didn't bat an eye when he immediately got scooped up by the Vikings. He was never replaced by Donahoe on a terrible defensive line that still misses him today. Winfield got paid no doubt about it, but the battle between the Vikings and Jets to sign this stud CB didn't teach Donahoe a god damn lesson it should have about retaining talent. He just resigned with the Vikings for even more money.

2. Hiring Dick Jauron and resigning him

One awful head coach hiring will happen, two is trouble some but three blunders in a row? Can't happen right? Well, it did. The guy was a career loser from the get go. He was the god damn interim head coach of the Lions for Christ sake. What the fuck did Levy and co see in this guy that could have tricked them into thinking he was a winner?

His record for 3+ seasons weren't that bad, it was the way he lost that was so infuriating. The guy was a total incompetent. He lost heart breaking defeat after heart breaking defeat. That could be a list in itself. I would say he had enough talent to make the playoffs one of the last three years so that isn't an excuse. The guy was catatonic on the sidelines, had no idea how to use time outs, challenges, what to call where, how to defend the middle of the field, when to kick when to punt etc etc. The guy took years off every Bills fan's life. AND HE GOT A CONTRACT EXTENSION

1. Hiring Tom Donahoe
This listed is blooded with missteps and mistakes by this absolute bum. He had complete control of the franchise for half the decade. He wasted draft picks hired incompetents, he signed bums, he didn't sign or resign studs. He was in over his head, didn't know when to relinquish control and took the wrong move at nearly every turn. The guy will go down as one of the most hated villains in this franchise's 50 year history. He makes me sick.