hondo in seattle

Thanks, John

More than once source says Marrone was Cleveland's 2nd choice and with us hiring Marrone, they are now in "Kelly or bust mode." Apparently, they don't consider their #3 option nearly as attractive as Kelly or Marrone. We aren't the only ones who think highly of Marrone.

Good observation, Dr. Tooth. On NFL.com, Brian Billick made this comment on the Bills hiring Marrone.... "I think that's a great hire. He brings that pedigree that's kind of popular now, a substantial pro background with that mix of college."

Brandon and Nix didn't hire Marrone because (1) Marrone was cheap, (2) Russ wanted a SU buddy as coach, or even (3) Marrone interviewed well. I think it's a little arrogant to suggest the Bills think-tank (Brandon, Nix, Whaley) are so much more stupid, shallow and careless than we fans are. They might not be the best leadership team in the NFL, but they are far from idiots and they put a lot of thought and effort into this decision. I assume the Bills began their due diligence a month or more ago and knew a lot about each candidate before the interview process began. Presumably they saw a lot of good and Marrone and perhaps discovered some problems with the other candidates. I'm not saying Marrone was the right choice. But two or three other teams interviewed him. Cleveland reportedly interviewed him twice, despite supposedly already deciding Kelly was their man. While Marrone's record at Syracuse wasn't stellar, let's remember that the Orange had only won 10 games in the previous four seasons and no self-respecting athlete wanted to play there. But, yeah, I understand 25-25 isn't the record you want to see in your HC hire. And I admit that the combination of successes, blemishes and questions make it hard to predict Marrone's NFL success. Lovie Smith on the other hand, is a very well known commodity. He spent 9 seasons as the Bears head coach so we know what he can do once he builds a team up. And Lovie had just three winning season in the last six. Overall, he won 56% of his games. The guy's no Bill Belichick. He's no Marv Levy. He's just a somewhat better than average HC. Back to Marrone, Joe Buscaglia says, "Does anyone know whether or not Marrone will be a success? Absolutely not. You'd be a fool to sit there and say with 100-percent certainty and conviction because, quite frankly, it's guesswork at this point." Personally, I'd rather gamble on the unproven commodity (Marrone) than go with the guy who has proven himself to be mediocre (Lovie).

Yeah, I agree. The more I read about Whisenhunt, the less I hate him as an option. There are some successes on his resume. Those who want to credit those successes to the good players he had at the time need then to attribute his failures to the bad players he had. There don't seem to be any sure-fire candidates available and I'm glad the Bills are doing their due diligence. Let's not forget Levy and Belichick had mediocre first stints at head coach too.

What's the "gimmick"? He runs an up-tempo spread offense. There's nothing gimmicky about it. Levey had success with the no-huddle K-Gun. Gailey tried to find success with the spread. Others use the spread more successfully. Chip Kelly's offense is a clever amalgam of old, good ideas. But what probably sets Oregon apart is that they execute it really, really well because of the way Kelly prepares his teams. I'm not sure how well his offense would work in the NFL but it's not a gimmick. Kelly's just a good college coach. He's good at X's and O's and good at getting his players to execute with speed and precision.

I would love to read, "Bills short-list down to Dungy, Gruden and Cowher, leaning heavily toward Dungy. Decision expected soon." Unfortunately, none of the actual candidates give me an unqualified sense of excitement. The guys with HC experience have so-so records. If you want, you can make excuses for them but I'm tired of making excuses for my HC. Amongst the coordinators, none strike me as remotely anything like a sure thing. And college guys like Chip Kelly are always a huge gamble - so many don't adapt well to the NFL. (But I do think Kelly would immediately make Buffalo a favorable destination for FAs). Smith and Whisenhunt are probably the two I would most oppose. I'm not convinced they can't succeed as head coaches. Some of their players seem to really respect them and they've put up some winning seasons. But neither boasts a really strong overall resume. Though, of course, Marv's resume had blemishes too when he came onboard and he provided me with my best years as a fan. I'll reserve judgment on the next coach until I see the product they put on the field at Ralph Wilson stadium.

This is a good OP. Here's the little I've gleaned from a variety of sources - hopefully credible. * Many, if not most, NFL teams use some sort of sabremetric-type analytics when evaluating player performance. These might be used by scouts and/or by coaches, depending on the team and circumstance. * For example, I've read that some teams use their own in-house analytical metrics to measure QB performance (instead of using passer efficiency or QBR). * I've also read that no NFL franchise is as devoted to sabremetrics as some baseball clubs are. The use in the NFL is far more limited. * Sabremetrics in football is difficult because, as mentioned, it's a team sport. If the players around you are untalented or confused, your performance will suffer. If you're coached poorly, your performance will suffer. * Sabremetrics is also logistically difficult. Ideally, each play would be broken down 22 times - once for each player on the field. * Breaking down each player's performance on each play involves a lot of subjectivity. * NFL teams are secretive and it's hard to really know what they're actually doing behind closed doors. Like the OP, I'd like to know more what Russ intends.

The announcement says Ralph Wilson is being replaced by Russ Brandon as team president. Not sure why this is bad news. Brandon was a failure as a GM but that has little to do with this. Anyone who was worried that a senile Ralph was helping to screw things up should be happy. The rumors say that Whaley will replace Nix as GM after the draft, with Nix perhaps staying on in an advisory role. Not sure why anyone would consider this bad news either. I like Nix but he's not done spectacularly well as GM. It's time to let someone else try. I remember when Nix was hired, Peter King lamented that we gave the job to a retiree instead of giving an up-and-coming hotshot like Whaley an opportunity. Whaley - whatever he did or didn't do with the Bills - is highly regarded around the NFL. All in all, I'm happy with today's news.

There are only 32 NFL Head Coaching positions in the world. For someone who loves to coach - the Bills possess a rare & precious commodity: on open HC job. Obviously, there are a few big names out there (e.g. Cowher, Gruden) who can afford to be very picky. Most coaches, though, I think would jump at the opportunity to coach for the Bills. My big worry is that if we keep Nix, he might be on thin ice. If Nix gets fired next year, his new HC would probably go with him. If I was a HC candidate, I would want to work for a good, secure GM.

I can't celebrate the downfall of any man. I can only wish Chan well. I will celebrate loudly when - and if - the Bills hire someone better.

I was actually one of the few who was immediately pleased with the Gailey hiring. I really thought he would do well. But you are right. DJ at least went 7-9 with comparable talent - maybe less talent. I don't see any progress in 3 years of Nix/Gailey. I'm not sure if Gailey and his coaches are poor at dissecting film, poor at running practices, poor at building teamwork, poor at inspiring peak performance, or poor at something else. But this team is underperforming unacceptably. I find the talk from Gailey and Fitz about progress is ludicrous. Football is about winning and we're winning fewer games now than we did in the DJ era. I get what Nix says about the insanity of changing coaches every three years. If there had been some progress made, I'd be willing to be patient with Gailey. But we may actually be regressing. If I were Nix, I'd fire Gailey. If I were Brandon, I'd be very tempted to fire Nix too.

Everyone seems to hate It's-hard-to-win-in-the-NFL Jauron but as you say... DJ - & Perry Fewell - were good defensive coaches April was fantastic with ST. We only lacked a good OC to have a solid coaching staff in those days. DJ's 7-9 records were not abysmal accomplishments considering the paucity of player talent. I think Chan has done okay with limited talent on offense. But Wanny's D is underperforming incredibly, and Chan, as HC, deserves some of that blame. I remember some bad defenses in the past when our poor starters weren't on the field because of injury and our pathetic backups replaced them. Even in these scenarios, our D wasn't this hopeless.

I was deep in the desert in Saudi Arabia for Desert Storm when the Bills destroyed the Raiders 51-3. When I read about the game days later, I was convinced we would win the Super Bowl. My soldiers knew I was a Bills fanatic. So the day of the Super Bowl, which I was unable to watch or listen to, one of my soldiers woke me up at something like 3am to tell me the Bills won on a last second field goal. I was so ecstatic that instead of going back to sleep I grabbed a short wave radio and listened to the Voice of America for the next few hours to hear confirmation. And then I got the sad truth...

I know and it doesn't matter. Sadly, whether we think the coaches are to blame or the players (or both), there is no quick fix. But the apparent lack of accountability really bothers me. Chan needs to send a strong message to the team. I began my post with "If I were Chan." Maybe firing Nix and Chan are the solutions. But I decided to ignore that and look at this frpm the Head Coach perspective. And I can't see how Wanny keeps his job. I'm not knocking Wanny's resume or football IQ. But results this disastrous require strong, decisive, immediate action. Maybe the really big solutions need to happen after the season. But right now we can fire Wanny, lose his passive/lackluster defense, and demonstrate to the players we're dead serious about winning and failure simply isn't tolerable.

I had to laugh because we did try something like this and we only got worse. But... Thanks because this time it will be different: It won't be Edwards and Wanny. It will be Sanders (who cannot possibly be worse and might actually be better) and then someone better yet. Who you put on your coaching staff matters as much as who you put on the field. Both players and coaches need to be held accountable. Failures this historic ought to cost somebody a job.

I haven't really thought through how to fix the offense but I think most of the work needs to be done after the season signing and drafting better players. We're pretty much stuck with what we have. In any case, the O isn't nearly as pathetic as the D.

If I were Chan I would: 1. Fire Wanny. We all know how bad the D is, but is it all Wanny's fault? Well, think of all the bad Bills teams over the years. None gave up as many yards in a game as we did against SF. Even in the Montana/Young/Rice/Roger Craig years, the 49ers never had that many yards. Not since the 1950 New York Yankees football team has a NFL club given up 550+ yards in consecutive games. We've allowed 15 points per quarter for the past 6 quarters - that's on pace for 60 points per game. Wanny's performance isn't just bad, it's historically bad. It's epic bad. If we don't fire Wanny, Chan is effectively telling everyone in the organization that there's no accountability and horrible performance is tolerable. 2. Promote Bob Sanders to interim DC. Sanders had ups and downs in his last stint as a DC but his downs were never this darkly extreme. It would be hard for an outsider to come in as DC in midseason. They wouldn't know the schemes, terminology or players and wouldn't be able to teach a new system overnight. Really, what outsider would want the job/title under these dire conditions with such minimal chance for success? Sanders is the only viable choice. 3. Hire the best unemployeed defensive mind(s) out there to assist Sanders. Sign this person to a 2 year contract with a good salary and the possibility that they become the DC next year. This person would sit in the box, diagnosing X's and O's and familiarizing himself with the team while communicating with Sanders via headset. Sanders would be on the sideline providing leadership and coaching to his subordinate coaches and players. 4. Instruct Sanders and the defensive coaching staff to attack. As an offensive HC, I wouldn't micromanage the defensive coaching staff but I would be very clear that I want my defense to be tough, aggressive, and sound in the fundamentals. I would observe the defensive practices and demand these things from everyone everyday and demote anyone who didn't deliver. These four steps wouldn't solve all our problems, but they would go a long way.

I once found one of his old (Dallas?) playbooks online. I was surprised by the grammar and spelling mistakes. It just didn't seem like the author - who I assume to be Wanny - was very bright. I'm not sure how important intellect is to a DC but I assume it's a big advantage to have discerning, analytical mind to dissect what your team may be doing wrong and the opponent may be doing right.

You get a better view from the booth. If you are a good X's and O's diagnostician, the booth is a good place. But Wanny, sadly, doesn't seem to have a talent for identifying tactical mistakes and then solving them. So there's really no point for him being in the booth. I think Wanny should be on the sideline, coaching technique and firing up the players.

There's no question that Ralph isn't the best of owners. I think the Bills have won something like 46% of their games all-time. Not impressive. But that doesn't mean things are hopeless under Ralph. The Jack Kemp/Cookie Gilchrist teams won two AFL Championships (did Cookie play in both?) back before there was a Super Bowl. We had some good years under Chuck Knox. And, obviously, we won four consecutive AFC Championships. Ralph's best accomplishment is that he's never moved the Bills out of Buffalo nor sold them to someone who would. And every now and then Ralph gets lucky with his GM, coaches and players. Although there are growing reasons for concern, I'm still hoping that Nix/Gailey bring about a new Bills renaissance.

Yep, I've considered this too and really hope it's not true that Gailey just doesn't have enough fire in the belly. I wonder about Wanny too, especially being in the booth. One thing I learned in the army is that the leader needs to be in the critical place at the critical time. Game time is critical and to lead the critical place is with the players you lead. You can't lead people when you distance yourself from them. The booth is a good place for dissecting the tactical aspects of the game but Wanny doesn't seem to be good at that anyway. He might as well be on sidelines, talking to the players, hearing their POV, learning from their observations and firing them up. Thanks Most people (including players) are poor leaders. Player-leaders have to lead by example (play & practice with intensity), know how to connect, say the right word at the right time (not just rah rah speeches), eliminate dissension and create unity, etc. It's not easy and only a few are really good at it.

I'm going to date myself with this one... didn't Chuck Knox sign LB Phil Vilapiano and someone else who was past their prime mostly for their warrior attitudes and locker room presence? Obviously, coaches should cast a strong leadership shadow that promotes "mental toughness." But a team needs player leaders, too. I wouldn't mind if Merriman had a roster spot for this purpose.

What a miserable attitude! - though generally true in recent memory.

If you take out the INTs, then I'd say I'm happy with Fitz. He's missed a couple easy throws but he's made some hard ones too. His stats - other than the INTS - look good. As mentioned, he's thrown a bunch of TDs. But we don't get to take out those INTs. Including them tells a different story. The D sucks and the O will have trouble bailing out the D with Fitz throwing to the wrong colored jersey.