dick jauron was THE PROBLEM

[Malazan]

DJ wasn't the whole problem, but he was A problem and arguably, the biggest of them all. He didn't have a whole lot to work with, but he did have them playing pretty decent ball for about 5 or 6 games.

 

However, when the wheels did start to come off, he wasn't able to do much of anything about it and he ultimately lost the confidence of the players and FO.

 

Well, since Jauron had a big hand in picking those players...

[CodeMonkey]

who did you want to hire? shanahan? lets look at washingto in 3 yrs, i put my money on gailey over shanny.

As I have said before, I believe Gailey was the best the Bills could do at the time. They weren't about to get a "name" with their current reputation. I never said he sucked, but I also never looked at him as being a god that somehow slipped past everyone else either. Hence my "mediocre" label.

 

 

if you know me you know i never thought jauron was a savior, i have many friends from chicago who immediately lauged at the bills for hiring him, leading me to doubt his creds immediately

I have an interesting parallel ... I have friends heavily into Gerogia (the state) college football. I called them when I first heard the Bills were looking at Gailey and to a man, they laughed and said it must be a false rumor. No one in their right mind would hire Gailey as a head coach in college, must less the NFL.

 

Trust me, home slice, if the Bills work a little Gailey-Magic against Belicheck this autumn and lift the curse, you're the first person carrying him off the field. I'll be right there with you.

Anytime Satan loses I am happy. And if Gailey somehow manages to lift himself and this team to respectability I will be very happy and will certainly give him his due props.

[Doc]

I have an interesting parallel ... I have friends heavily into Gerogia (the state) college football. I called them when I first heard the Bills were looking at Gailey and to a man, they laughed and said it must be a false rumor. No one in their right mind would hire Gailey as a head coach in college, must less the NFL.

Except that success in college and success in the pros rarely go hand-in-hand. Not to mention the odds of a "name" coach who won a SB with his previous team, winning another one with the Bills (or another team), are almost nil.

[Adam]

Well, since Jauron had a big hand in picking those players...

Yes and Polian was a great GM......can't have it both ways- either the coach is supposed to pick the players or the GM is supposed to pick the players.

[Red Squirrel]

In 2008, when the Bills were 5-1, if Edwards hadn't started showing the effects from the concussion and the injuries hadn't continued to mount game after game after game, could the Bills have made a playoff run? Most of the sports writers had the Bills as the team to beat in the AFC East. Edwards was rated in the top 5 or 6 QB's in the league. Jauron just was not able to get the team back in the groove once the injuries started piling up. I'm really not sure any HC could have, given those circumstances.

 

For as much as I've criticized Jauron, in all fairness he did have the team playing well for a six game period. The reason I say "he had the team playing well" is because it's not reasonable or logical to dump all the of the blame for the lack of success on him and at the same time, refuse to give him any credit whatsoever for the successes the team did have. My personal opinion is that the FO kept hanging onto the retrospective false hope that somehow, Jauron could recreate the formula that produced the brief period of success. Finally, the FO decided that was not going to happen, cut Jauron and here we are.

I guess the "Edwards Concussion Theory" is like Rasputin...you just can't kill it. This isn't the first time I've tried, as have others.

 

Is it possible that Edwards' concussion had lingering effects? Only he can know for sure. But the rest of us have to go with the evidence:

Cumulative record of the teams the Bills faced in first 4 games: 16-48

Edwards best game of the season almost definitely was his first one AFTER the concussion vs SD.

Common sense tells me the concussion didn't mean squat. By the time they started losing, he'd had 3 weeks to recover, and in the meantime had one pretty good game against a far tougher opponent than the first 4.

 

As far as the Jauron stuff goes, I think you put way too much stock on those 6 games, and have projected it onto the FO. I think a more realistic way of looking at it was that they always seemed close to turning a corner. We all know about the 7-9, three straight years...you only have to reverse a couple games a year (and Lord knows, there were a number of gut wrenching close ones in the Jauron years) and you have at the very least a team that is vying for a playoff spot.

[FLFan]

I guess the "Edwards Concussion Theory" is like Rasputin...you just can't kill it. This isn't the first time I've tried, as have others.

 

Is it possible that Edwards' concussion had lingering effects? Only he can know for sure. But the rest of us have to go with the evidence:

Cumulative record of the teams the Bills faced in first 4 games: 16-48

Edwards best game of the season almost definitely was his first one AFTER the concussion vs SD.

Common sense tells me the concussion didn't mean squat. By the time they started losing, he'd had 3 weeks to recover, and in the meantime had one pretty good game against a far tougher opponent than the first 4.

 

As far as the Jauron stuff goes, I think you put way too much stock on those 6 games, and have projected it onto the FO. I think a more realistic way of looking at it was that they always seemed close to turning a corner. We all know about the 7-9, three straight years...you only have to reverse a couple games a year (and Lord knows, there were a number of gut wrenching close ones in the Jauron years) and you have at the very least a team that is vying for a playoff spot.

I think this is spot on. What is more telling about the 2008 season is the total and historic collapse after the first six games. Jauron's teams in Buffalo simply never finished well - whether it is finisihing a season, or finishing a game. He was easy to beat by competent coaches on the opposing sidelines and his players may have tried hard but were poorly conditioned and poorly prepared to deal with adversity. (the term "weak willed" comes to mind) Those traits were regular as clockwork. A competent head coach was probably worth at least 2 or 3 wins in each of the past 4 years - perhaps more - even with some of the obvious holes in talent.

 

I like what I see from Nix and Gailey so far with respect to both filling the talent holes and properly preparing the team. We will soon see. (can't come fast enough)

[Adam]

I think this is spot on. What is more telling about the 2008 season is the total and historic collapse after the first six games. Jauron's teams in Buffalo simply never finished well - whether it is finisihing a season, or finishing a game. He was easy to beat by competent coaches on the opposing sidelines and his players may have tried hard but were poorly conditioned and poorly prepared to deal with adversity. (the term "weak willed" comes to mind) Those traits were regular as clockwork. A competent head coach was probably worth at least 2 or 3 wins in each of the past 4 years - perhaps more - even with some of the obvious holes in talent.

 

I like what I see from Nix and Gailey so far with respect to both filling the talent holes and properly preparing the team. We will soon see. (can't come fast enough)

Poorly conditioned? Please.........they lacked talent, but were not poorly conditioned. This concept that they became fat and poorly conditioned after Rusty Jones left is laughable.

[tonyjustbcuz]

Looking back over the last four seasons of buffalo bills foootball, its easy for the deft fan to realize that the team on the field didnt match the potential of its parts. Players were underutilized and schemes were easily deciphered by opposing defensive coordinators.

Qbs were taken from cocky rookies to gun-shy patsies, rbs went from thug to 1000 yard rushers back to thug, wrs were ignored largely with the exception of a gigantic pr splash last season (which incicentally didnt work out so great) and an undersized, speedy defense looked small and weak against the run. Combine those factors with the fact that the head coach seemed to have aboslutely no input into playcalling, situational or otherwise, or how or when to throw the replay flag and you end up with a team that is winning about forty percent of the games.

 

Many players were unable to finish the season due to serious injury, and games were lost largely in the fourth qtr when other teams seemed to have more energy late in the game. Thinking players could go through training camp mostly in shorts and helmets without contact was one of Jaurons biggest mistakes because players werent thouroughly ready for live action football when the time came. Looking at the videos of players this season its apparent to me that they have been hitting the weights more, both donte whitner and trent edwards looked markedly bigger through the shoulders than in the past, and i dont recall a player from the Jauron era actually sweating during and interview post practice (mini camp mind you, not even t-camp) and pretty profusely at that.

 

I dont have access to the lockerroom so i dont know how players really felt about the last head coach, but from the answers they are giving in response to questions about Gailey, it seems like they are comparing (mentally at least) the inept coaching style of Jauron with the enthusiastic teaching methods of Gailey.

 

to me Jauron was in a shell, unapproachable and sour, someone who would hear your idea and nod but throw it to the wayside as soon as you left his office, someone set in his ways and inflexible. on the contrary Chan Gailey reminds me of the guy you would call at 3;45 in the morning with a car problem and he would be there in his pajamas ten minutes later, he reminds me of the uncle you can confide in, or the thoughtful boss. He actually really makes me think he is a blend of true feelings and lots of knowledge and quick thinking. i didnt trust Jaurons gut instincts, and i dont think he did either

 

maybe its wishful thinking but i believe in Chan Gailey and think he will lead the Buffalo Bills to many victories for the next decade or so.

 

 

I am only basing what I am saying on the title that Jauron was the problem...I didn't have enough time to read the entire blog although it seemed well put together. I only know that Jauron wasn't part of the solution, I think he was a problem, but I think the Bills have/had many problems both organizationally and as a team.

 

I have been saying for a while now that Tom Modrak needs to go away. He has ample time to positively add to a team that

has many holes to fill. He has missed more than he has hit by a big margin regarding drafts, and the only reason he is still here is that he has a good working relationship with D. Whaley who came over from the Steelers. Whaley is held in high regard and should help the Bills management internally in the future. But, because Modrak is part of that good 'ole boy network that remains he will stay put.

 

It is worrisome that the Bills choose not to properly address QB and Left tackle. Supposedly, the Bills like Wang and possibly feel that he could fill the void...but I am not convinced as his college scouting reports clearly state that he was a consistent underperformer, that sometimes lacked in initiative and failed to give max effort in practices. (Mike Williams II?)

 

I think we made a token effort by choosing Levi Brown QB in the 7th round of the draft. Maybe enough to leave some room for optimism in some people's minds that he may one day become a starting QB in the NFL. I don't know the answer to this, but I'd be curious to find out just how many 7th round QB's became successful franchise QB's in the last 20 years ?

Maybe a few? Maybe none? I wouldn't bet the house on it working out! By the way that's not pessism like a few on here

would lead you to believe. That's just facing the facts, based on history, and based on the likelihood that he'll be the next

Jim Kelly, Dan Marino, or Joe Montana.

 

So so far, Jauron, Modrak, the draft, including drafting a RB with your 1st rounder when your stocked at that position and have dire needs, plus the team continually creates additional hole by not competing with other teams when it comes to keeping players like....Nate Clements, Jabari Greer, Pat Williams, Antwoine Winfield, etc....(many more)...

 

Also, deciding that we want Toronto to take some of our games eliminates our home field advantage pretty much for those games. It's not home turf...Toronto is a remarkable place, but it's not home for us or the team!!!

 

Part of the problem is Ralph remaining as the owner! He's frugal in the wrong places at times...especially when hiring a coach that was out of football entirely on his couch playing Madden! It may prove to be a great hire, but it was a cheap hire compared to most options and I have my doubts until the Bills prove otherwise!!!

 

 

So was Jauron the problem, was G. Williams, Malarkey ?_ Not entirely, it starts from the top!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tonyjustbcuz]

Looking back over the last four seasons of buffalo bills foootball, its easy for the deft fan to realize that the team on the field didnt match the potential of its parts. Players were underutilized and schemes were easily deciphered by opposing defensive coordinators.

Qbs were taken from cocky rookies to gun-shy patsies, rbs went from thug to 1000 yard rushers back to thug, wrs were ignored largely with the exception of a gigantic pr splash last season (which incicentally didnt work out so great) and an undersized, speedy defense looked small and weak against the run. Combine those factors with the fact that the head coach seemed to have aboslutely no input into playcalling, situational or otherwise, or how or when to throw the replay flag and you end up with a team that is winning about forty percent of the games.

 

Many players were unable to finish the season due to serious injury, and games were lost largely in the fourth qtr when other teams seemed to have more energy late in the game. Thinking players could go through training camp mostly in shorts and helmets without contact was one of Jaurons biggest mistakes because players werent thouroughly ready for live action football when the time came. Looking at the videos of players this season its apparent to me that they have been hitting the weights more, both donte whitner and trent edwards looked markedly bigger through the shoulders than in the past, and i dont recall a player from the Jauron era actually sweating during and interview post practice (mini camp mind you, not even t-camp) and pretty profusely at that.

 

I dont have access to the lockerroom so i dont know how players really felt about the last head coach, but from the answers they are giving in response to questions about Gailey, it seems like they are comparing (mentally at least) the inept coaching style of Jauron with the enthusiastic teaching methods of Gailey.

 

to me Jauron was in a shell, unapproachable and sour, someone who would hear your idea and nod but throw it to the wayside as soon as you left his office, someone set in his ways and inflexible. on the contrary Chan Gailey reminds me of the guy you would call at 3;45 in the morning with a car problem and he would be there in his pajamas ten minutes later, he reminds me of the uncle you can confide in, or the thoughtful boss. He actually really makes me think he is a blend of true feelings and lots of knowledge and quick thinking. i didnt trust Jaurons gut instincts, and i dont think he did either

 

maybe its wishful thinking but i believe in Chan Gailey and think he will lead the Buffalo Bills to many victories for the next decade or so.

 

 

I am only basing what I am saying on the title that Jauron was the problem...I didn't have enough time to read the entire blog although it seemed well put together. I only know that Jauron wasn't part of the solution, I think he was a problem, but I think the Bills have/had many problems both organizationally and as a team.

 

I have been saying for a while now that Tom Modrak needs to go away. He has ample time to positively add to a team that

has many holes to fill. He has missed more than he has hit by a big margin regarding drafts, and the only reason he is still here is that he has a good working relationship with D. Whaley who came over from the Steelers. Whaley is held in high regard and should help the Bills management internally in the future. But, because Modrak is part of that good 'ole boy network that remains he will stay put.

 

It is worrisome that the Bills choose not to properly address QB and Left tackle. Supposedly, the Bills like Wang and possibly feel that he could fill the void...but I am not convinced as his college scouting reports clearly state that he was a consistent underperformer, that sometimes lacked in initiative and failed to give max effort in practices. (Mike Williams II?)

 

I think we made a token effort by choosing Levi Brown QB in the 7th round of the draft. Maybe enough to leave some room for optimism in some people's minds that he may one day become a starting QB in the NFL. I don't know the answer to this, but I'd be curious to find out just how many 7th round QB's became successful franchise QB's in the last 20 years ?

Maybe a few? Maybe none? I wouldn't bet the house on it working out! By the way that's not pessism like a few on here

would lead you to believe. That's just facing the facts, based on history, and based on the likelihood that he'll be the next

Jim Kelly, Dan Marino, or Joe Montana.

 

So so far, Jauron, Modrak, the draft, including drafting a RB with your 1st rounder when your stocked at that position and have dire needs, plus the team continually creates additional hole by not competing with other teams when it comes to keeping players like....Nate Clements, Jabari Greer, Pat Williams, Antwoine Winfield, etc....(many more)...

 

Also, deciding that we want Toronto to take some of our games eliminates our home field advantage pretty much for those games. It's not home turf...Toronto is a remarkable place, but it's not home for us or the team!!!

 

Part of the problem is Ralph remaining as the owner! He's frugal in the wrong places at times...especially when hiring a coach that was out of football entirely on his couch playing Madden! It may prove to be a great hire, but it was a cheap hire compared to most options and I have my doubts until the Bills prove otherwise!!!

 

 

So was Jauron the problem, was G. Williams, Malarkey ?_ Not entirely, it starts from the top!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[San-O]

I agree . Add to that his crazy small and fast player theory and it was a 4 year disaster

 

+ 1.

 

Also, can't have too many DBs!

 

[DrFishfinder]

I guess the "Edwards Concussion Theory" is like Rasputin...you just can't kill it. This isn't the first time I've tried, as have others.

 

Is it possible that Edwards' concussion had lingering effects? Only he can know for sure. But the rest of us have to go with the evidence:

Cumulative record of the teams the Bills faced in first 4 games: 16-48

Edwards best game of the season almost definitely was his first one AFTER the concussion vs SD.

Common sense tells me the concussion didn't mean squat. By the time they started losing, he'd had 3 weeks to recover, and in the meantime had one pretty good game against a far tougher opponent than the first 4.

 

As far as the Jauron stuff goes, I think you put way too much stock on those 6 games, and have projected it onto the FO. I think a more realistic way of looking at it was that they always seemed close to turning a corner. We all know about the 7-9, three straight years...you only have to reverse a couple games a year (and Lord knows, there were a number of gut wrenching close ones in the Jauron years) and you have at the very least a team that is vying for a playoff spot.

It's not uncommon for concussion side effects to take a while to kick in. Edwards was never the same afterwards, except for the SD game.

 

As I said before, you can't blame Jauron for all the bad things and refuse to give him any credit whatsoever for the good things. That's just not logical. And I'm no Jauron apologist.

 

The Bills also lost to Cleveland.

[ChasBB]

You could have stopped after writing the Subject line -- 'nuff said. Why Ralph kept him after 2008 season is beyond me.

[DrFishfinder]

Well, since Jauron had a big hand in picking those players...

Jauron lost the confidence of the players he didn't pick as well as the people who hired him, too.

 

IMO

[Malazan]

Yes and Polian was a great GM......can't have it both ways- either the coach is supposed to pick the players or the GM is supposed to pick the players.

 

This doesn't make sense. The coach had great influence in what players were on this team. So his talent was another one of his bad decisions. He *could have pushed for different players.

 

How did Polian come into this? Did you know he was gone long before Jauron was on the Bills?

[FLFan]

Poorly conditioned? Please.........they lacked talent, but were not poorly conditioned. This concept that they became fat and poorly conditioned after Rusty Jones left is laughable.

 

Who said anything about Rusty Jones? I was referring to the facts that the Bills over Jauron's tenure were routinely outplayed in 4th quarters, often looking gassed and overmatched, combined with the highly unusual, consistently high injury ratyes. This speaks to poor conditioning, as evidenced by the "Camp jauron" atmoshere of the Bill's training during his reign.

[RuntheDamnBall]

If you look at the facts, Chan is a career mediocre coach.

I don't think that his NFL track record bears out your "facts," but in any case "mediocre" > what we had.

[milehiLou]

+ 1.

 

Also, can't have too many DBs!

 

jauron did build a nice D backfield

[milehiLou]

Poorly conditioned? Please.........they lacked talent, but were not poorly conditioned. This concept that they became fat and poorly conditioned after Rusty Jones left is laughable.

they walked through training camp

 

You could have stopped after writing the Subject line -- 'nuff said. Why Ralph kept him after 2008 season is beyond me.

thank you, i agree but it is the dead of july.

 

Jauron lost the confidence of the players he didn't pick as well as the people who hired him, too.

 

IMO

everyone but trent edwards evidently

 

Who said anything about Rusty Jones? I was referring to the facts that the Bills over Jauron's tenure were routinely outplayed in 4th quarters, often looking gassed and overmatched, combined with the highly unusual, consistently high injury ratyes. This speaks to poor conditioning, as evidenced by the "Camp jauron" atmoshere of the Bill's training during his reign.

small and weak doesnt add up well with out of shape and out coached.

[Red Squirrel]

It's not uncommon for concussion side effects to take a while to kick in. Edwards was never the same afterwards, except for the SD game.

 

A brief statistical analysis of Trent's 2008, pre- and post-concussion: he had a 93.9 QB rating before it (admittedly pretty good), 81.3 after (not exactly cratering). Almost none of that difference comes from completion percentage (66.4 pre, 65.1 post), which is where I would expect to see a difference if he was having post concussion symptoms. Roughly half of the drop in QB rating came from getting picked off more often. Exactly where I would expect to find a difference due to playing better teams. Amazingly, he was sacked only one more time post-concussion, in 130 more attempts...another area where I would expect a brain-damaged player to get worse...but he didn't; he got MUCH better at avoiding sacks.

The concussion theory needs to die. He didn't have a drop off; the schedule got harder. The entire team found life much more difficult when they started playing teams that didn't suck. Which brings me back to the topic of the thread, Jauron: Trent's getting crunched in the noggin had nothing to do with DJ's downfall.

 

As I said before, you can't blame Jauron for all the bad things and refuse to give him any credit whatsoever for the good things. That's just not logical. And I'm no Jauron apologist.

 

I hope I didn't sound like that. I liked him as a hire, I thought the team played pretty hard for him, and I think some of the criticism of him (and the team in general) tries pretty hard to have it both ways: he's an idiot, but boy, do those players stink...well, either one of those things is completely wrong, or both of them are overblown to varying degrees. Or else we'd be the Detroit Lions.

 

The Bills also lost to Cleveland.

Yes, they did. If this is supposed to show Trent's diminished capacity, then what about Denver? Are we now going to pick each game and if he sucked, THOSE are the games when he had side effects?

[Red Squirrel]

I think this is spot on. What is more telling about the 2008 season is the total and historic collapse after the first six games. Jauron's teams in Buffalo simply never finished well - whether it is finisihing a season, or finishing a game. He was easy to beat by competent coaches on the opposing sidelines and his players may have tried hard but were poorly conditioned and poorly prepared to deal with adversity. (the term "weak willed" comes to mind) Those traits were regular as clockwork. A competent head coach was probably worth at least 2 or 3 wins in each of the past 4 years - perhaps more - even with some of the obvious holes in talent.

 

I like what I see from Nix and Gailey so far with respect to both filling the talent holes and properly preparing the team. We will soon see. (can't come fast enough)

I like it when people agree with me , but I don't entirely agree with you . Like I said to DrFishfinder, that "historic collapse" was mostly because the schedule was front-loaded with garbage. I'm not a Jauron fan, but you are laying it on real thick here. I think they dealt with adversity pretty well the one year when they had about 25 guys on IR, and I don't think all those injuries were because of poor conditioning....most of the time, injuries are a result of bad luck, and it slays me that nobody wants to admit this. Folks just have to blame somebody. I'm also a Mets fan, and NOBODY is going to tell me that several guys who played 155+ games, some for YEARS, all of the sudden were betrayed by their conditioning/trainers/medical staff. That stuff was just plain bad luck. When it isn't bad luck is when you go out and sign or draft guys who already have a track record of unreliability. Conditioning... (where's the smiley that's giving the raspberry?). My single biggest beef with Jauron is the rare occasion I agree with the masses...he coached not to lose. If "Prevent Defense" were personified, it would look exactly like Dick Jauron.