In the wake of the widespread sadness left by the death of longtime owner and fan favorite Ralph Wilson, the arrival of a new family of owners was met with much fanfare in Buffalo - especially after the Pegulas' announced their intention to keep the Bills in upstate New York for now and always.
In fact, the only person who may not have been jumping with joy at the announcement of the new bosses is Buffalo head coach, Doug Marrone.
New owners could mean a new franchise direction. When you spend billions of dollars to purchase a business, the natural inclination has to be to hire your guy - not to ride it out with the leftovers from the previous regime.
After his Bills dropped to 5-5 on the season with a loss to AFC East foes, the Miami Dolphins, on Thursday night, Marrone did his best to dispel any notion that his job was on the line for the remainder of the season.
"No," Marrone told reporters, according to Mike Florio of NBCSports' ProFootballTalk.com. "I feel like our situation as coaches . . . the type of person I am, even the first day on the job, I think I'm working for my job all the time. I don't worry or concern myself with that. My concern is for the guys in this room and doing a good job being a good leader for the coaches and the players and just keep fighting our way and just keep playing and just keep trying to get better."
Terry and Kim Pegulas announced after their purchase of the team that they would be making no "immediate" changes to the organization, according to The Buffalo News.
"We recognize, A, that we're in the middle of a season, and, B, the season's not going too bad right now," Terry said. "So I think the smart thing right now is to just let everything be and let the season play out."
That's not exactly a ringing endorsement for Marrone or the team.
The future of every NFL coach is dependent almost entirely on wins and losses, but for someone like Marrone - a coach only in the second year of his attempt to build a program and develop a certain culture in Buffalo - if he is to keep his job beyond this season, the wins may need to start coming faster than he can realistically manage.
