BuffaloRush Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 With the speculation swirling about Rick Dennision, this situation made me remember back to 2010. It was Chan Gailey's first year as coach of the Bills. Now there are many difference between Gailey's first year and the inaugural season of Sean McDermott. McDermott has way more power at OBD that Chan ever did. Also overall his first year was successful, whereas Chan's way not. However there is one similarity in regards to coordinators. In Chan's first year, the Bills sucked big time and finished 4-12. However, Chan was able to get surprising production on offense from a talent level that was average to below average. While their record was dreadful, the Bills fought hard and lost 6 games by 1 score of less. As you know Chan's background was offense and he was regarded as having a good mind on that side of the ball. He basically ran the show and called plays - he was coach and OC. The obvious problem with the Bills throughout the 2010 season was the defense. There were some talented players on defense (Byrd, Whitner, Poz, Kyle) but by the end of the year it was clear the defense was costing the team games. They were ranked toward the bottom of the league in defense (#24) and were blown out the last two games of the year. It was painfully obvious that Chan knew offense but needed more help with the defense. It was also clear change needed to made. Chan should have fired George Edwards( the current "defensive coordinator" with in Minnesota - notice the air quotes), but instead, being the loyal person he is, Chan stood by his coordinator and brought him back in 2011. The result? An even worse defense ranked 26th in the league. By that time, his hand was forced and he fired George. Sadly, rather than reaching outside the organization to someone with fresh ideas and a difference perspective, he gave the reigns to Dave Wannstedt who was an assistant defensive coach. It was an uninspiring choice and the results were barely better (22nd overall). And so, because Chan never could get competent people to run his defense he was fired and squandered away his last head coaching position in the NFL. Back to 2017 The current situation with Rick Dennison reeks of the Chan/Edwards dilemma. Like Chan, McDermott knows defense but it definitely appears he's going to need a stronger coordinator to run the other side of the ball. I think most fans/media that know this team well, realize Dennison's overall uninspiring offense this season. Like with George Edwards, you can point to a few factors that worked about Dennison (Tyrod, WR's) but overall the results this year were especially bad. I just hope that McDermott makes a better choice that Chan Gailey did with Edwards. Because if the move isn't made this, there's a good chance they'll be making the move on season later. 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltonWaddams Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Good analogy and solid post. Clap! Clap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Great post, but this should have just been put in the Will Dennison be Fired thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 I have no idea what is gonna happen with Dennison but I gotta say the presser today did nothing to make me believe he is a firm coming back coach next year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaMilBill Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Very good point. McVay learned those lessons in LA by hiring arguably the best DC in football right now, Wade. The results were great and the Rams look like they should only get better next year where I think the Bills may actually regress to 7-9 if Dennison is retained Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmuggs Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Every coach we’ve had since levy was either offensive or defensive retarded, except Rex. Same ****. Different day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFan130 Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Awesome post buddy. I am in total agreement with you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Vader Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Very good analogy. This is a very important off season for McDermott. I feel confident that he will make the right decisions for the Bills. We shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubes Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Dilly dilly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddogblitz Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 35 minutes ago, VaMilBill said: Very good point. McVay learned those lessons in LA by hiring arguably the best DC in football right now, Wade. The results were great and the Rams look like they should only get better next year where I think the Bills may actually regress to 7-9 if Dennison is retained How so? We were 9-7 this year, made the playoffs and were a TD away from advancing. We still have all that cap space and a bunch of draft picks. I'm thinking we win 10 next year MeV n if Rico stays. REX Did pretty much the same. His first year his D stunk up the joint. He kept his coordinator and hired his ineffective brother go "help". I'm kind of torn on this. Our O underperformed no doubt. Perhaps a year of continuity may Improve things. Not sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman1876 Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Trust the process. I think we were running a system that did not suit our players and production suffered as a result. I also think it was intentional, so that the players that do stay know the system and the players we bring in will be better fits for it. We had a bad roster and lacked the players to build around so they chose to build around the system instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 1 minute ago, reddogblitz said: How so? We were 9-7 this year, made the playoffs and were a TD away from advancing. We still have all that cap space and a bunch of draft picks. I'm thinking we win 10 next year MeV n if Rico stays. REX Did pretty much the same. His first year his D stunk up the joint. He kept his coordinator and hired his ineffective brother go "help". I'm kind of torn on this. Our O underperformed no doubt. Perhaps a year of continuity may Improve things. Not sure. I agree with VaMilBill. Mostly due to the upcoming change at QB. If Rico stays, he'll be coaching either another middling bridge vet and/or developing our rookie QB and getting him in the games. Either way, he'll be dealing with shaky QB play. Additionally, and imo the biggest point, is that I don't trust Dennison and Culley to properly develop our rookie QB. While I think Tyrod stinks, I also think Tyrod's continuity with the rest of the players helped mask some of Dennison's shortcomings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manther Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Love the OP. Very similar situation. Get the best play calling, QB whisperering OC available! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddogblitz Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 24 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said: I agree with VaMilBill. Mostly due to the upcoming change at QB. If Rico stays, he'll be coaching either another middling bridge vet and/or developing our rookie QB and getting him in the games. Either way, he'll be dealing with shaky QB play. Additionally, and imo the biggest point, is that I don't trust Dennison and Culley to properly develop our rookie QB. While I think Tyrod stinks, I also think Tyrod's continuity with the rest of the players helped mask some of Dennison's shortcomings. Hopefully we don't replace Hotrod with "another middling bridge vet". What possibly could be the point of that? We won 9 with him in his first year with a suck egg QB (or so I hear). Why couldn't he do at least that well with a QB of comparable talent level with a better supporting cast? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurman#1 Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 7 hours ago, BuffaloRush said: With the speculation swirling about Rick Dennision, this situation made me remember back to 2010. It was Chan Gailey's first year as coach of the Bills. Now there are many difference between Gailey's first year and the inaugural season of Sean McDermott. McDermott has way more power at OBD that Chan ever did. Also overall his first year was successful, whereas Chan's way not. However there is one similarity in regards to coordinators. In Chan's first year, the Bills sucked big time and finished 4-12. However, Chan was able to get surprising production on offense from a talent level that was average to below average. While their record was dreadful, the Bills fought hard and lost 6 games by 1 score of less. As you know Chan's background was offense and he was regarded as having a good mind on that side of the ball. He basically ran the show and called plays - he was coach and OC. The obvious problem with the Bills throughout the 2010 season was the defense. There were some talented players on defense (Byrd, Whitner, Poz, Kyle) but by the end of the year it was clear the defense was costing the team games. They were ranked toward the bottom of the league in defense (#24) and were blown out the last two games of the year. It was painfully obvious that Chan knew offense but needed more help with the defense. It was also clear change needed to made. Chan should have fired George Edwards( the current "defensive coordinator" with in Minnesota - notice the air quotes), but instead, being the loyal person he is, Chan stood by his coordinator and brought him back in 2011. The result? An even worse defense ranked 26th in the league. By that time, his hand was forced and he fired George. Sadly, rather than reaching outside the organization to someone with fresh ideas and a difference perspective, he gave the reigns to Dave Wannstedt who was an assistant defensive coach. It was an uninspiring choice and the results were barely better (22nd overall). And so, because Chan never could get competent people to run his defense he was fired and squandered away his last head coaching position in the NFL. Back to 2017 The current situation with Rick Dennison reeks of the Chan/Edwards dilemma. Like Chan, McDermott knows defense but it definitely appears he's going to need a stronger coordinator to run the other side of the ball. I think most fans/media that know this team well, realize Dennison's overall uninspiring offense this season. Like with George Edwards, you can point to a few factors that worked about Dennison (Tyrod, WR's) but overall the results this year were especially bad. I just hope that McDermott makes a better choice that Chan Gailey did with Edwards. Because if the move isn't made this, there's a good chance they'll be making the move on season later. Good post. But I'd argue that personnel was at least as much of a factor as the coordinator was. The draft picks in 2010 were Spiller, Troup (might have been a terrific choice, but his back injury derailed his career), Carrington, Easley, Wang, Moats, Batten, Levi Brown and Kyle Calloway. Then in 2011, with the #3 pick, Dareus, Aaron Williams, and then nothing, really, Kelvin Sheppard, Da'Norris Searcy, Hairston, Johnny White, Chris White, Justin Rogers and Michael Jasper. I just want them to coldly analyze their problems and not make decisions out of loyalty. I'm not convinced that the problem is Dennison, but if they decide that he's a problem, let him go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganesh Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Nice article. McDermott has a critical off season where he has to make tough calls on : - Coaching Staff - QB - Retaining Mathews, Benjamin, Clay on Offense (and now may be Incognito) - Retaining Brown, Williams on Defense And he has to get all of them right as the margin of error is pretty slim. Go Bills! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maine-iac Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 14 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said: Good post. But I'd argue that personnel was at least as much of a factor as the coordinator was. The draft picks in 2010 were Spiller, Troup (might have been a terrific choice, but his back injury derailed his career), Carrington, Easley, Wang, Moats, Batten, Levi Brown and Kyle Calloway. Then in 2011, with the #3 pick, Dareus, Aaron Williams, and then nothing, really, Kelvin Sheppard, Da'Norris Searcy, Hairston, Johnny White, Chris White, Justin Rogers and Michael Jasper. I just want them to coldly analyze their problems and not make decisions out of loyalty. I'm not convinced that the problem is Dennison, but if they decide that he's a problem, let him go. This is where the Wannstedt move was key. We signed Mario. Moats, Carrington, Searcy, Dareus, and Williams all started and played for a number of years. Not all for us but enough that you can see other coordinators were able to get production out of them. Wannstedt really did an awful job. I think losing Searcy had a large effect of Rex later on. I feel like having two CB's at safety and Mario in give up mode is a large part of why Rex was so bad against the run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganesh Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 6 minutes ago, Maine-iac said: This is where the Wannstedt move was key. We signed Mario. Moats, Carrington, Searcy, Dareus, and Williams all started and played for a number of years. Not all for us but enough that you can see other coordinators were able to get production out of them. Wannstedt really did an awful job. I think losing Searcy had a large effect of Rex later on. I feel like having two CB's at safety and Mario in give up mode is a large part of why Rex was so bad against the run. Or Rex surrounded himself with really poor position coaches and a poor coordinator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maine-iac Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 2 minutes ago, ganesh said: Or Rex surrounded himself with really poor position coaches and a poor coordinator. I'm honestly not sure. That could be the case except the same team had done reasonably well with the Jets just a season earlier. TBH I think Pettine did most of the heavy lifting for Rex in the Jets best seasons and Rex as actually a little better than mediocre without him. The biggest problem we had was stopping the run and Mario was all but laying down, Williams was hurt and Graham was a good man corner who they moved to safety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maine-iac Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 If Gailey had brought in Pettine instead of Wannstedt he might still be a head coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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