While everyone's full of sunshine and rainbows...

[eball]

...I thought I'd add something to the mix. After watching two weeks of the "new regime" there is one primary reason why I have renewed optimism for this franchise. That reason is coaching. Over the last couple of seasons the Bills have not been at a significant talent disadvantage, despite the QB situation. They have been at a significant coaching disadvantage, particularly as it relates to game management and on defense. I'm also skeptical of the gameplanning aspect of the prior regime.

 

Now, however, I feel that the Bills will enter each contest on at least an even playing field from the coaching perspective. These coaches -- particularly Marrone, Hackett, and Pettine -- are young, innovative, and strategic thinkers. No longer will I fear an upcoming game against the Jets because I know the offense will not be prepared for their multiple looks, or fear playing the Pats* because I know Belichick will have planned a wrinkle to which we can't or won't adapt.

 

The players still need to execute, and there are holes on the roster that need to be filled, but for the first time in a very long time I'm confident the plan will be solid. That, my friends, is huge.

[quinnearlysghost88]

I was positive that based on the subject title that microscope wrote this.

 

Something like "while everyone's full of sunshine and rainbows....we have a franchise safety faking an injury, our backup QB is still an undrafted rookie, Goodwin is probably out for the season and Gilmore had a setback in therapy.

[The Big Cat]

I was positive that based on the subject title that microscope wrote this.

 

Something like "while everyone's full of sunshine and rainbows....we have a franchise safety faking an injury, our backup QB is still an undrafted rookie, Goodwin is probably out for the season and Gilmore had a setback in therapy.

 

"setback in therapy" means he's "off his timeline" because our next three opponents present virtually no threat at wide out.

 

Then the team gets an extra four days to prepare for Cincy and he'll have a chance to square off against--arguably--the best wide out in the game.

[Just in Atlanta]

It's fandom nature to say the other guy stunk. We said the same thing about Gailey when he replaced the other guy. (Well, Skeletor DID stink).

 

Gailey was actually a masterful game planner on offense. What he did with minimal talent was nothing short of outstanding. Under him, our offense had rhythm and drove the ball despite having a bottom tiered QB who couldn't throw deep and a bevy of practice squad caliber receivers playing No. 2, 3 and 4 positions. This board said that over and over and over -- and over -- his first two years here (3rd not so much). I'm expecting many here to forget that.

 

Where Gailey failed, consistently, was his inability to adapt during games (hence why NE beat us three times in the second half after we were up) and his wretched pick of Wannstache, and his inattentiveness to the D. He also, as many here have noted, underused Spiller, but I am guessing not by too much given his size and penchant for injuries.

 

And while he generally was able to crush bad teams, he was not able to beat top caliber teams. There is a reason why he was fired from Ga Tech--getting shut out by Georgia every single year. Marrone, so far, hasn't showed enough to differentiate himself. He has like a .500 record at his previous gig, and so far is .500 here.

 

I'm reserving judgment on Marrone, but am thrilled with Pettine. The transformation on D has been magic. I am, however, worried about Hackett's inexperience. So far our offense, despite having an exciting franchise player at QB, has completely lacked rhythm and an ability to drive consistently. Where we seem so far to excel at is the clutch drives, which were nonexistent under Gailey.

 

All in all, it appears our coaching at HC is better and there is no doubt whatsoever that our new DC is miles ahead of the other guy. But to imply that Gailey wasn't strategic or a good game planner is off base IMO.

Edited September 19, 2013 by Just in Atlanta

[eball]

@Just in Atlanta -- you noted, I'm sure, that my main faults were with overall gameplanning and defensive coaching, and an inability to adapt, but I still wouldn't call a gameplan to use CJ as a decoy "masterful." Chan's teams didn't beat more than one or two opponents in three years he wasn't already supposed to beat.

 

It is common nature for fans to look for the best in whoever is there at the moment, and many of us touted Chan's ability as an OC while he was here. It's also clear he was unable to adapt when defenses realized Fitz couldn't throw a pass accurately beyond 15 yards.

[Just in Atlanta]

We were competitive on offense, and drove the ball, and confused defenses. CJ had damn good stats the past two years. I wouldn't call him a decoy in any way shape or form. Underused, yes.

 

Our offensive stats, after Ds realized we had a noodle armed QB, and a horizontal offensive scheme, were still good.

Edited September 19, 2013 by Just in Atlanta

[YoloinOhio]

I was positive that based on the subject title that microscope wrote this.

 

Something like "while everyone's full of sunshine and rainbows....we have a franchise safety faking an injury, our backup QB is still an undrafted rookie, Goodwin is probably out for the season and Gilmore had a setback in therapy.

Is this true?

[Dibs]

It's fandom nature to say the other guy stunk. We said the same thing about Gailey when he replaced the other guy. (Well, Skeletor DID stink).

 

Gailey was actually a masterful game planner on offense. What he did with minimal talent was nothing short of outstanding. Under him, our offense had rhythm and drove the ball despite having a bottom tiered QB who couldn't throw deep and a bevy of practice squad caliber receivers playing No. 2, 3 and 4 positions. This board said that over and over and over -- and over -- his first two years here (3rd not so much). I'm expecting many here to forget that.

 

Where Gailey failed, consistently, was his inability to adapt during games (hence why NE beat us three times in the second half after we were up) and his wretched pick of Wannstache, and his inattentiveness to the D. He also, as many here have noted, underused Spiller, but I am guessing not by too much given his size and penchant for injuries.

 

And while he generally was able to crush bad teams, he was not able to beat top caliber teams. There is a reason why he was fired from Ga Tech--getting shut out by Georgia every single year. Marrone, so far, hasn't showed enough to differentiate himself. He has like a .500 record at his previous gig, and so far is .500 here.

 

I'm reserving judgment on Marrone, but am thrilled with Pettine. The transformation on D has been magic. I am, however, worried about Hackett's inexperience. So far our offense, despite having an exciting franchise player at QB, has completely lacked rhythm and an ability to drive consistently. Where we seem so far to excel at is the clutch drives, which were nonexistent under Gailey.

 

All in all, it appears our coaching at HC is better and there is no doubt whatsoever that our new DC is miles ahead of the other guy. But to imply that Gailey wasn't strategic or a good game planner is off base IMO.

 

IMO Gailey was indeed strategic and a good game planner......but.....when other teams started to figure out his system (ala last season) he was either incapable or unwilling to change his play calling and strategies. He also seemed unable to figure out the actual talents of his players (RB & QB being the most obvious).

 

In regards to Spiller being injury prone.....he's only missed 2 games in his rookie year(2010) and has played every game since.

Edited September 19, 2013 by Dibs

[Dragonborn10]

Chan put up plenty of points last year with Fitz and company. He is right about Spiller. He is not a 25 carry per game back. If Chan hires even a competent DC he is still coaching this year. Pettine and the new faces on defense give this team a chance to be competitive while letting EJ learn.

 

IMO Gailey was indeed strategic and a good game planner......but.....when other teams started to figure out his system (ala last season) he was either incapable or unwilling to change his play calling and strategies. He also seemed unable to figure out the actual talents of his players (RB & QB being the most obvious).

 

In regards to Spiller being injury prone.....he's only missed 2 games in his rookie year(2010) and has played every game since.

Chan was killed by Fitz's inability to throw deep accurately. Defenses squatted at 7 yards and dared us to throw deep. EJ needs to hit Graham over the top this week. Graham takes a beating on this board but he has been open. He only needs two catches and a PI to open things up underneath.

[Dibs]

Chan put up plenty of points last year with Fitz and company. He is right about Spiller. He is not a 25 carry per game back. If Chan hires even a competent DC he is still coaching this year. Pettine and the new faces on defense give this team a chance to be competitive while letting EJ learn.

 

 

No back was a 25 carry per game back last season. Only 5 averaged over 18 carries a game with the most being Foster at 21.9/game.

[BobChalmers]

It's fandom nature to say the other guy stunk. We said the same thing about Gailey when he replaced the other guy. (Well, Skeletor DID stink).

 

Gailey was actually a masterful game planner on offense. What he did with minimal talent was nothing short of outstanding. Under him, our offense had rhythm and drove the ball despite having a bottom tiered QB who couldn't throw deep and a bevy of practice squad caliber receivers playing No. 2, 3 and 4 positions. This board said that over and over and over -- and over -- his first two years here (3rd not so much). I'm expecting many here to forget that.

 

Where Gailey failed, consistently, was his inability to adapt during games (hence why NE beat us three times in the second half after we were up) and his wretched pick of Wannstache, and his inattentiveness to the D. He also, as many here have noted, underused Spiller, but I am guessing not by too much given his size and penchant for injuries.

 

And while he generally was able to crush bad teams, he was not able to beat top caliber teams. There is a reason why he was fired from Ga Tech--getting shut out by Georgia every single year. Marrone, so far, hasn't showed enough to differentiate himself. He has like a .500 record at his previous gig, and so far is .500 here.

 

I'm reserving judgment on Marrone, but am thrilled with Pettine. The transformation on D has been magic. I am, however, worried about Hackett's inexperience. So far our offense, despite having an exciting franchise player at QB, has completely lacked rhythm and an ability to drive consistently. Where we seem so far to excel at is the clutch drives, which were nonexistent under Gailey.

 

All in all, it appears our coaching at HC is better and there is no doubt whatsoever that our new DC is miles ahead of the other guy. But to imply that Gailey wasn't strategic or a good game planner is off base IMO.

 

Hackett has me a bit worried too - too many of his play calls look like they are "too clever". He's so determined to be unpredictable he's not doing the standard sensible thing and it's costing them 1st downs and killing drives.

 

Marrone still seems a bit rough on the sidelines, but I am comfortable he'll settle in.

 

There's almost no way to overstate how huge an add Pettine was.

[Dragonborn10]

No back was a 25 carry per game back last season. Only 5 averaged over 18 carries a game with the most being Foster at 21.9/game.

Exactly. People want Spiller to get a high number of carries but that is not the right way to use him. Probably not the right way to use any RB except Peterson.

[Just in Atlanta]

IMO Gailey was indeed strategic and a good game planner......but.....when other teams started to figure out his system (ala last season) he was either incapable or unwilling to change his play calling and strategies. He also seemed unable to figure out the actual talents of his players (RB & QB being the most obvious).

 

In regards to Spiller being injury prone.....he's only missed 2 games in his rookie year(2010) and has played every game since.

I guess what I should have said is that he appears to be injury prone due to his size and running style, and not an every down back. That is no knock on him. He will get 1,000 yards even with 50 percent carries. He's that good.

[dubs]

I was positive that based on the subject title that microscope wrote this.

 

Something like "while everyone's full of sunshine and rainbows....we have a franchise safety faking an injury, our backup QB is still an undrafted rookie, Goodwin is probably out for the season and Gilmore had a setback in therapy.

 

+1 haha..couldn't have said it better

[Just in Atlanta]

@Just in Atlanta -- you noted, I'm sure, that my main faults were with overall gameplanning and defensive coaching, and an inability to adapt, but I still wouldn't call a gameplan to use CJ as a decoy "masterful." Chan's teams didn't beat more than one or two opponents in three years he wasn't already supposed to beat.

 

It is common nature for fans to look for the best in whoever is there at the moment, and many of us touted Chan's ability as an OC while he was here. It's also clear he was unable to adapt when defenses realized Fitz couldn't throw a pass accurately beyond 15 yards.

There's not much to adapt to. When you can't throw more than 15 yards, the only solution is a new QB. The fact we won six games with that nonsense, and the worst DC in the history of DCs, is a testament to Gailey. Not that I'm not happy he's gone. But he'll make a good OC somewhere.

Edited September 19, 2013 by Just in Atlanta

[The Big Cat]

I still maintain Dicky J got a bad rep around here because his offenses were so unbearable to watch.

 

I think a lot of people prefer Chan, only because it's fun to watch your team move the ball every so often.

 

If we had Dick in charge of the D and Chan in charge of the O, I think we would have squeaked into the playoffs between 2006 and now.

 

HOWEVER--Marrone is the kind of HEAD coach you want out there. Actively engaging his players, holding his coordinators accountable, energetic, disciplined, yadda yadda.

 

It's a shame we had to wait so long, but I think got a good one (thought so ever since he first took the podium at OBD).

 

On a related note, and relative to the "we need to extend Petine" thread, I don't think Petine is head coach material, and I think he knows that. And if he doesn't, it won't take long for him to slide back into a DC role after he doesn't pan out somewhere.

 

He just doens't have the charisma to be the man on top, IMO.

[quinnearlysghost88]

no, Gilmore didn't have a setback.

[Just in Atlanta]

I still maintain Dicky J got a bad rep around here because his offenses were so unbearable to watch.

 

I think a lot of people prefer Chan, only because it's fun to watch your team move the ball every so often.

 

If we had Dick in charge of the D and Chan in charge of the O, I think we would have squeaked into the playoffs between 2006 and now.

 

HOWEVER--Marrone is the kind of HEAD coach you want out there. Actively engaging his players, holding his coordinators accountable, energetic, disciplined, yadda yadda.

 

It's a shame we had to wait so long, but I think got a good one (thought so ever since he first took the podium at OBD).

 

On a related note, and relative to the "we need to extend Petine" thread, I don't think Petine is head coach material, and I think he knows that. And if he doesn't, it won't take long for him to slide back into a DC role after he doesn't pan out somewhere.

 

He just doens't have the charisma to be the man on top, IMO.

He certainly has more charisma than Dicky J. Yikes.

[YoloinOhio]

no, Gilmore didn't have a setback.

[Max997]

I have doubts about Hackett and the up temp offense which contradict itself by being conservative

 

this has also impacted the defense as they have worn down at the end of games