Archives for January 2004

‘Gilbride, 53, was Coughlin’s first offensive coordinator in Jacksonville. “He works extremely well with quarterbacks,” Coughlin said in a statement.’

‘”Before I hired Kevin in Jacksonville,” Coughlin said, “I talked to Warren Moon about him and Warren was emphatic about how much Kevin meant to his career and development. He is a determined, strong personality who really excels in game planning and on game day.”‘

‘The hiring of Gilbride could make for an interesting mix with Kerry Collins. Gilbride was formerly a major proponent of the old “Run and Shoot” offense, a trend that emphasized quarterback mobility. Collins is a stationary pocket-passer who has proven mostly ineffective when on the run.’

‘The third finalist, former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, was offered the job by athletic director Andy Noel late Friday night. Gilbride, however, declined the job after being offered the position of quarterbacks coach of the New York Giants. “Kevin was offered a job by Coach [Tom] Coughlin with the Giants,” Noel said. “He wasn’t able to tell me that yet on Saturday because it wasn’t official, but to say I was surprised is a big understatement. We had fully expected that he would be on campus for our football banquet on Saturday night.”‘

‘Some players – and teams – don’t understand that until it’s too late. When he returned to the Super Bowl with the Falcons in 1999, former Bills linebacker Cornelius Bennett said excessive partying was a key reason Buffalo went 0-4 in the big game. ”Let’s just say we thought we were THE party team of the 1990s,” Bennett said. ”What we did was cheat ourselves and get caught up with the Super Bowl hype. … It’s the biggest party in world, and we were world-class party people. Everyone tried to outdo everyone. I look back now and think of it as wasted opportunities.”’

‘Tolbert comes to Buffalo with just one year of NFL experience under his belt. It came last year, where he coached receivers with the Arizona Cardinals.’

‘Tolbert replaces Fred Graves, who was hired by Cleveland last week.’

‘Tolbert comes to Buffalo after spending last season coaching the same position with the Arizona Cardinals. Prior to that, he coached for nine seasons at the college level including stops at Louisiana-Monroe (1994-97), Auburn (1998), Louisiana-Lafayette (1999-01) and Florida (2002). A native of Conroe, TX, Tolbert was a three-year letter-winner as a receiver at LSU from 1988-90.’

Kevin Gilbride has landed on his feet again. Fired as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator in the Gregg Williams purge, Gilbride has been reunited with Tom Coughlin with the Giants. Gilbride accepted Coughlin’s offer rather than become the head coach at Cornell. When Coughlin was Jacksonville’s coach, he hired Gilbride as OC after the Oilers fired him. Coughlin and Gilbride did so well with the Jaguars, helping them reach the AFC Championship Game in 1996, their second season, that Gilbride was hired as San Diego’s head coach.

‘After making 18 of 29 attempts the following season, Norwood left the Bills – run out of town, some said. No other NFL team picked him up despite his impressive lifetime record. Rightly or wrongly, his association with failure made him a pariah.’

‘In Nick Daschel’s profile of Buffalo Bills kicker Rian Lindell, Lindell talked about how intense Bills fans are about their team. It appears the Mountain View High School grad was prophetic, because that profile became the most-requested story from the newspaper last week, thanks to links from several Bills websites.’

‘I was on the Buffalo sideline for the first half. After one play, Gregg Williams, the Buffalo coach, yelled to one of his players, “Catch the ball, you trout-mouth rookie.” During a timeout a few plays later, I walked over to him and said, “Coach, what the heck is a trout-mouth rookie?” He laughed and said when someone looks confused and has his mouth open like a fish, he calls him trout mouth.’

‘In Buffalo, though, putting the Eagles in the Bills’ elite league is considered not only inaccurate, but a little insulting. If you’re going to keep reminding Buffalo of its bumbles, at least find a team that bumbles on the biggest stage.’

‘Krumrie, 43, was pursued by Washington earlier this month to serve on the new staff of Joe Gibbs, but the Bills did not give the Redskins permission to speak with him.’

‘Why did Mularkey outpoint Weis on the Bills’ scorecard? Here’s my opinion…’.