San Jose Bills Fan

Don't interrupt him.

Bernie Kosar undergoing treatment for brain trauma: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/10/bernie-kosar-undergoing-treatment-for-brain-trauma/

Guilty.

Like everything in life, job promotion should be merit-based IMO. What form that takes is the hard thing to figure out. But some coaches are just long term placeholders. My hopeful thought about the Bills coordinators (particularly Hackett) is that their relative lack of playing experience (they both played collegiately) is somewhat offset by their impressive coaching pedigrees. Pettine's dad is one of the most legendary high school coaches in football-crazed Pennsylvania. Hackett's dad spent 40+ years as a coach including 23 years in the NFL. Both of these guys are football junkies.

Just saw the sitdown interview with Chris Brown. This guy is pretty mature for 32 years old. He seems very well grounded and extremely intelligent. The coaching staff might end up sucking but it's refreshing to me at least that the Bills coordinators are guys who can articulate thoughts in complete sentences without hemming and hawing and stammering. Wanny was a disaster in front of a microphone and I have no recollection of ever seeing Curtis Modkins or George Edwards in front of a microphone. Is there a correlation between intelligence, the ability to speak coherently, and the ability to coordinate an NFL team?

To springboard from your post, I've held some thoughts regarding the coaching record vs talent issue that you've touched on. Marrone went to Syracuse largely because he played collegiately there and it was his dream job to return to his alma mater and restore respectability to the football program. In the 4 seasons before Marrone took over, the Orange were 10-37. Contrast this to Chip Kelly who took over an Oregon program that was already established by legendary Ducks coach Mike Belloti (137-82, 6-6 in Bowl games). In fact, Oregon won the last two Bowl games coached by Belloti. In the 4 seasons before Kelly took over, the Ducks were 36-15. I've been wondering since his hire how Marrone would have done at Oregon and how Kelly would have done at Syracuse.

Ralph on being told by Russ Brandon that the Bills have hired Jim O'Neil to coach the defensive backs: "We hired who? Jim O'Neil? When I was growing up we had a neighbor named Jim O'Neil. Old Man O'Neil (chuckling to himself). I used to cut his lawn. He had a big lawn, corner lot, biggest yard in the neighborhood. I cut it with an old push mower. He'd sit on his lawn chair in the shade with a big glass of lemonade. If I missed a spot, he'd put down his drink on an end table, take off his straw hat, stand up slowly, smooth out the creases in his dungarees, and yell across the lawn at me, "Wilson, you missed a spot!" Those were the days you could yell at a neighbor's kids. And he could yell that old McNeil. Lungs like leather. And that wasn't all. I used to shovel McNeil's driveway during the winter. Truth is I didn't really want to work for McNeil. He was a bad tipper for one thing. But my Pappi made me. Said it builds character to work for peanuts. I saved every dime I made from that old man Neilson. Every summer and winter from the 4th grade on till my senior year in high school I worked for old man Neilson. He drove a Ford. I used to wash that Ford, a brand new Galaxy. Neilson liked Fords and I have to admit, every time I washed and waxed that car for him I dreamed about someday having a nice Ford of my own. Those were the days of my youth. I was so busy between school and working for old man Neely that I didn't have much time leftover. Homework at night and church on Sundays. Being as I was busy all the time, it ended up that I pretty much saved every dime I made from Neely. He was a cheap bastard though. In eight years I never got a raise. I remember the day he died. It was around Christmas of my senior year in high school. I came home from school one day knowing that I'd probably have to shovel his driveway and what do I see? An ambulance in old O'Neil's driveway. He musta been in his 90s by that time. When I first started working for him in the 4th grade his wife had already passed away. He outlived one of his daughters too. Apparently his other daughter came over to bring over some Christmas gifts and found O'Neil sitting in his recliner. She thought he was sleeping at first but came to realize that he'd kicked the bucket. When I found out he'd gone to meet his maker, I admit to having mixed feelings. That old rattlesnake taught me everything I know about hard work and thriftiness. I have to admit to having a fair amount of respect for the old guy. Later when they cleaned out his house they found a fortune in gold coins, silver coins, and stacks of currency stuffed in the mattress. No one could figure out how he could have saved that much money from his modest job of working at the mill for most of his life. They reckon he saved pretty much every cent he ever made. Anyways Russell my boy, pull up a seat. What have you come here to tell me?"

Yes. I think the tea and sandwiches is just a rumor at this point. Not to mention vulgar and uncouth. I hope they're not invited to the gala opening.

Promo's right. Besides the guy's name is Carlos Santayana.

Then they'll have cucumber sandwiches and tea with the media. The servers will wear white gloves. It's gonna be great! Whose execution? Edwards? Wanny? They should cancel the tea if there's gonna be blood. Yes we know. He's a dead ringer for Jimmy Spagnola. I've kinda been playing wacka mole with this point but if Wade Phillips, Dom Capers, and Mike Nolan can successfully transition a team from the 4-3 to the 3-4 in one offseason, why can't Pettine?

Except the fans in Philly.

Possibly. Possibly as atlbillsfan theorized, Kelly asked for a raise from Notre Dame and was declined. Possibly Kelly has a genuine interest in the Eagles job.

Apparently the consensus on this board is that we need a run-stuffing LB over a pass rushing LB. Whoops. Sorry. Back to the discussion.

Care to expand on your point? Are you saying that he didn't have CTE? Or perhaps that he did but it wasn't a factor in his behavior?

I'm not remembering much in the way of warm fuzzies when Gailey was hired. A few, but more negativity than optimism as I recall.

Apparently he pushed the surgery back to next week. He woke up this morning and decided he wasn't in the mood for surgery. I'm starting to become concerned.

Aaron Rodgers and Calvin Johnson.

Glad you liked it. Let's have a drink! It's early so I'll have what you're having.

It's just you. The rest of us hear Old Pulteney. Funny how you hear a kids drink and the rest of us hear a single malt scotch.

The information is only supposed to be available to subscribers. Be happy with what we got. It was a favor to us.

Ilegal Formation. The offense had too few syllables on the line of scrimmage. Five-yard penalty, replay down. Illegal substitution. The defense used a limerick instead of a haiku after having both in the huddle. Five yard penalty. Replay down.

Tajh Boyd didn't exactly shred LSU's defense? He had 368 total yards for 3 TDs and didn't turn the ball over in spite of being beaten to a pulp by a superior squad. Boyd's offense had 32 first downs. He led his team to a victory over one of the best defenses in college football. I have to disagree with you on this one.

I don't really care which scheme we use. As I've posted elsewhere Dom Capers, Wade Phillips, and Mike Nolan were all able to successfully implement the change from a 4-3 to a 3-4 in one offseason. So I think people voicing concern about switching schemes and how it relates to a supposed learning curve are needlessly worrying. Schematic changes in the past didn't work because the Bills didn't have the player talent or the coaching talent. If Pettine's a good coach, the defense will improve noticeably. As far as the players, I don't think the talent on the Bills lends itself any better one way or the other.

Have they announced the time for the press conference?