A tale of two teams!

[Sascha]

A tale of two teams!

Alright, let's go back in time. It is the offseason in 2001 and a couple of teams stuck in a rut are looking to go into a new direction. The Buffalo Bills hire a new team president and GM, Tom Donahoe, fresh off a long stint with the Steelers, a highly regarded official.

Meanwhile, in Detroit, Matt Millen, a former player and broadcaster is hired as the Lions team president and GM. He doesn't have the resume that Donahoe has, but he endeared himself to the Ford family, and he appears to have the drive and desire to finally take the Lions and make them a respectable NFL franchise.

Now, five mediocre seasons later, one of these GM's is hated and hoped to be run out of Detroit, while the other, besides a scattering of negative replies, seems to have job security. So let's take a look at these two, their roster decisions, coach hirings and ultimately, wins and losses.

The Head Coaches

After taking over the Bills, Donahoe hired Gregg Williams to be his first head coach, picking him over the likes of John Fox, who has taken the Carolina Panthers to a Super Bowl. After three unproductive seasons, Donahoe again goes to an unproven head coach, this time hiring Mike Mularkey. Last season, Mularkey led the Bills on a great run at the end of the season, finishing 9-7 but out of the playoffs. This season, the Bills, again, have taken three steps backward.

In Detroit, Millen's first act as GM was the hiring of Marty Mornhinweg, one of the many coaches to graduate from the 49ers sytem. After 5 wins in 32 tries, Millen released Mornhinweg, and appeared to hit his first home run, and hired Michigan native Steve Mariucci to coach this team into the playoffs. However, Mariucci didn't make it through his 3rd season, replaced in the interim by Dick Jauron, who certainly didn't garner any support to be kept around past this season. Millen's biggest decision will come this off-season, when a new coach will come in and will have to succeed nearly immediately.

The Draft

Let's look at the draft history of these two and see how they have fared. I will list all the players picked in the first three rounds, as these are the players expected to produce. I will also add any late round picks that turned out well for the team.

Buffalo Bills - 2001
Round 1 - Nate Clements (CB)
Round 2 - Aaron Schobel (DE)
Round 2 - Travis Henry (RB)
Round 3 - Ron Edwards (DT)
Round 3 - Jonas Jennings (T)

Detroit Lions - 2001
Round 1 - Jeff Backus (T)
Round 2 - Dominic Raiola (C)
Round 2 - Shaun Rogers (DT)
Round 5 - Mike McMahon (QB)

A solid foundation draft for both GM's. Clements and Rogers have turned into All-Pro's, Henry played excellent while in Buffalo and the Lions did find McMahon, a good QB, in the 5th round. The first rounder, Jeff Backus, is starter but the Lions are looking for a replacement.

Bills Grade - B+
Lions Grade - B

Buffalo Bills - 2002
Round 1 - Mike Williams (T)
Round 2 - Josh Reed (WR)
Round 2 - Ryan Denney (DE)
Round 3 - Coy Wire (SS)

Detroit Lions - 2002
Round 1 - Joey Harrington (QB)
Round 2 - Kalimba Edwards (DE)
Round 3 - Andre Goodman (CB)

A draft highlighted by the two busts, Williams and Harrington, but no bona-fide star was produced anywhere in this draft. Reed, Denney and Wire, as well as Goodman in Detroit, all hold backup roles with their teams, but none are making any highlights. Edwards is in the rotation in Detroit and leads the team with 7.5 sacks this year, but he still makes too many mistakes to be considered a real good player.

Bills Grade - D-
Lions Grade - D+

Buffalo Bills - 2003
Round 1 - Willis McGahee (RB)
Round 2 - Chris Kelsay (DE)
Round 3 - Angelo Crowell (OLB)
Round 4 - Terrence McGee (CB)

Detroit Lions - 2003
Round 1 - Charles Rogers (WR)
Round 2 - Boss Bailey (OLB)
Round 3 - Cory Redding (DT)
Round 4 - Artose Pinner (HB)
Round 5 - Terrence Holt (FS)
Round 5 - James Davis (OLB)

Aside from Rogers, this was a good draft for both teams. Buffalo took a huge risk that paid off for them in McGahee, and Kelsay, Crowell and McGee are all starters, the last two really god ones at that. Meanwhile, Detroit had a good draft but it may be highlighted by who they didn't pick. Bailey has shown to be a very good linebacker, but too many injuries have slowed his path to stardom. Redding is another player who is in the rotation, but certainly behind the likes of Rogers and Wilkinson, and Davis has played well when asked upon, which on this team is a lot. Pinner, a servicable back, was picked 2 slots ahead of Domanick Davis, and Holt, who is now a starter, was picked onw spot ahead of Colts sack machine Robert Mathis.

Bills Grade - A
Lions Grade - B

Buffalo Bills - 2004
Round 1 - Lee Evans (WR)
Round 1 - J.P.Losman (QB)
Round 3 - Tim Anderson (DT)

Detroit Lions - 2004
Round 1 - Roy Williams (WR)
Round 1 - Kevin Jones (RB)
Round 2 - Ted Lehman (MLB)
Round 3 - Keith Smith (CB)
Round 6 - Kelly Butler (T)

After their rookie seasons, Detroit looked to have hit the double jackpot with Williams and Jones, but both regressed this season, leaving them now as question marks, though I'm thinking both thes guys will be very good players for years to come. In Buffalo, they gambled again, this time on J.P. Losman, who was promoted, demoted than promoted again this season. Lee Evans has played well, but not necessarily first round good. Lehman is another oft injured linebacker, of which the Lions certainly have an abundance. Detroit did get Tackle Kelly Butler in the 6th round, he has started every game on the right side this year.

Bills grade - C+
Lions grade - B

I won't grade the 2005 draft yet, I belive you need at least two years before you can start drawing opinions on a draft class.

Free agents

Buffalo Bills
2001 - There were no meaningful signings by the Bills in this season.

2002 - London Fletcher (LB), Drew Bledsoe (QB) trade

2003 - Takeo Spikes (LB), Lawyer Milloy

2004-05 - There were no meaningfull signings by the Bills in this season.

Overview - The Bills have certainly mad improvements to the defense with Fletcher, Spikes, and Milloy, however, other than Bledsoe, the offense seems to be rather neglected. It can't all be done through the draft.
Grade - C+

Detroit Lions
2001 - There were no meaningful signings by the Lions in this season.

2002 - Az Zahir Hakim (WR), Eddie Drummond (KR) rookie free agent

2003 - Dre Bly (CB), Earl Holmes (LB), Dan Wilkinson (DT),

2004-05 - Damien Woody (G), Fernando Bryant (CB), Kenoy Kennedy (S)

Overview - Some recent signings have panned out, including Kennedy, Wilkinson, and most notably Bly. Like the Bills, the Lions are concentrating mostly on defense, but when your last 5 first round draft picks were offensive skill position players, it's understandable.
Grade - B

Results

Record by season - Buffalo Bills
2001: 3 - 13
2002: 8 - 8
2003: 6 - 10
2004: 9 - 7
2005: 4 - 10
Total: 30 - 48

Apparently, the Bills don't know how to put two seasons together. This looked to be the year they competed for the AFC, instead they fall back to 4 wins.
Grade - C-

Record by season - Detroit Lions
2001: 2-14
2002: 3-13
2003: 5-11
2004: 6-10
2005: 4-10
Total: 20-58
Unlike the Bills, the Lions were consistently bad, but at least seemed to improve a bit every year. Again, this was the season the Lions were supposed to become competitive, and they too, have taken a few steps backwards, stumbling to 4 wins of their own.

Grade - F

Final Verdict

Lions fans are rioting in Detroit demanding Millen's job. Meanwhile in Buffalo, Tom Donahoe's ten extra wins apparantly are enough to elude him the same status. I'm not saying wether or not either of these men should be fired, I'm only reporting what I think. I believe that if Millen has to go, than probably, so does Donahoe. Personally, I feel Millen has one more year, to hire a coach that will get the most out of what looks like a talented team. The problem now is, if a new coach and GM become successful in Detroit, it is Millen's moves that got them there. As far as Donahoe is concerned, he has made many good moves (McGahee, Terrence McGee, Milloy), he just haven't made enough of them.

So finally, remember, when you're bashing Matt Millen and the Lions, citing his lack of experience, all you need to do is look a couple hundred miles eastward to Buffalo, where a very experienced GM has come up with the same basic results.

[Blackmallard]

Great article, and I love the breakdown of how their decisions impacted their teams. I do not draw the same conclusion from reading it that you did in the final verdict.

To me it seems clear that Donahoe is getting better results than Millen. The Bills have three seasons that were as good or better than the Lion's best season in that span, including one winning season in which they showed real promise.

In the present the Bills seem to be one or two pieces away from contending for a playoff spot while the Lions appear to be in total dissaray. If the Bills can get good play from their QB position then I think they can be a winning team, the Lions are now going "back to the drawing board"

[Sascha]

I thought the Bills arrived last year, and this year they were going to compete for an AFC title, that didn't happen. In 5 seasons, Donahoe has 10 more wins than Millen, and that includes last years 9-7 season.

This is not intended to be a slam on Donahoe, I just think that the reaction in Detroit may be heading the wrong direction. It seems as if the team assembled looks like it can do some damage, but wether it's the coaching or the players not being motivated has to be considered.

Either way though, if neither team drastically improves next season, both GM's may be looking for work then.

[Blackmallard]

Either way though, if neither team drastically improves next season, both GM's may be looking for work then.

I agree that if the Bills have another dissapointing season that it will be time to question whether they are building into something or just spinning in circles.

I think that I feel like the 5 year 10 win difference is a bigger deal than you do. That is 2 wins a year which is a signifigant difference. Obviously there are more factors than just the GM going into that, but a team that gets 2 more wins a year than another team is doing a lot better in my book.

Maybe the Lions just need to find the right coach and they will start back on the right track.

[Sascha]

I agree that if the Bills have another dissapointing season that it will be time to question whether they are building into something or just spinning in circles.

I think that I feel like the 5 year 10 win difference is a bigger deal than you do. That is 2 wins a year which is a signifigant difference. Obviously there are more factors than just the GM going into that, but a team that gets 2 more wins a year than another team is doing a lot better in my book.

Maybe the Lions just need to find the right coach and they will start back on the right track.

I don't think it's a big difference when one's averaging 4 wins and the other 6. If it was 7 & 9, then maybe the difference is a liitle bigger, but not in this case.

[Blackmallard]

I don't think it's a big difference when one's averaging 4 wins and the other 6. If it was 7 & 9, then maybe the difference is a liitle bigger, but not in this case.

The big difference is that the Bills had two "average" seasons and the Lions have 5 straight bad ones. they won 8 more games than the Lions in 02 and 04 combined and have been very similar in the other years record wise. I think Millen would be in less trouble if he were not so consistent, that is if he threw up one 8-8 or 9-7 year to keep the fans guessing.

[Sascha]

Well exactly, that's kind of my point. The Bills seem to be up and down all the time, and that's not really a way to be either. Either be good or be bad, but teasing the city every other year is not that cool. Plus, even the two better years the Bills had didn't end in the playoffs.

[Blackmallard]

Well exactly, that's kind of my point. The Bills seem to be up and down all the time, and that's not really a way to be either. Either be good or be bad, but teasing the city every other year is not that cool. Plus, even the two better years the Bills had didn't end in the playoffs.

True I'd much rather be up and down like the Bucs or Ravens, win it all one year then take a few Januaries off while you get ready for the next run.

[Sascha]

[Blackmallard]

Breaking News: Tom Donahoe fired after ruuudiii successfully shows he has had a similar impact on the Bills as Mat Millen has had on the Lions.