Joe Danna named Bills safety coach

[Bangarang]

6 hours ago, Gugny said:

Pretty incredible track record:  https://pro-football-history.com/coach/2238/joe-danna-bio

 

 

Today I learned that the Safeties Coach is responsible for the team's record. Did you really think you made some kind of point here?

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

The guy they fired Salgado was only named safety coach of Bills last year.  Sometimes I think these firings are the result of someone else becoming available.  They wanted this guy last season, but couldn't get him, now he was available so simple solution is fire the one we have??

[Beck Water]

10 hours ago, Draconator said:

 

The big-name hire everyone has been waiting for

 

Here's an article about his resume

 

https://www.si.com/nfl/bills/news/buffalo-bills-joe-danna-hire-safeties-coach-offseason-sean-mcdermott-houston-texans

[Gugny]

1 hour ago, Bangarang said:

 

Today I learned that the Safeties Coach is responsible for the team's record. Did you really think you made some kind of point here?

 

I think the point is that he's been part of very few defensive coaching staffs on winning teas and that he's been a coach in the league for a dozen years with no upward movement.  

 

So, yeah ... I think I made a point.

[GerstAusGosheim]

10 hours ago, jkeerie said:

Salgado wasn't the safeties coach until this year.  Prior to this year he coached nickel-back.

 

This is the point I think a lot are missing. Salgado was widely credited by Sean and others with the development of Taron Johnson. So clearly he's a good coach. In his first year as safeties coach, he dealt with with injuries to Hyde and Poyer, the near death of Hamlin, working with 3rd/4th/5th string safeties (from rounds 6th, 7th, undrafted) accompanied by no Von/pass rush and rookie corners. 

[Richard Noggin]

2 hours ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

The guy they fired Salgado was only named safety coach of Bills last year.  Sometimes I think these firings are the result of someone else becoming available.  They wanted this guy last season, but couldn't get him, now he was available so simple solution is fire the one we have??

 

McDermott HAS shown some willingness to fire friends and experienced coaches who fell short of his standards (and were probably fallbacks in the first place). Dennison and Castillo. Crossman then Farwell. A couple others. 

[Bangarang]

8 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

I think the point is that he's been part of very few defensive coaching staffs on winning teas and that he's been a coach in the league for a dozen years with no upward movement.  

 

So, yeah ... I think I made a point.

Then you made a very bad point. 
 

The record doesn’t indicate the talent he was given or the quality of coaching his players received. 
 

And maybe he likes being a position coach and doesn’t want the added stress and responsibilities of being a coordinator. What if he just prefers being in charge of a small group where he can provide more hands on coaching?

 

I’ve never even heard of the guy or know what kind of coach he’ll be for us but reading some of the horrible takes in here is just laughable. 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Bangarang

[Governor]

Rumor has it that MCD is going to employ a new system designed to prevent injuries that will feature our secondary playing 5 yards deeper. 
 

I think this could work.

[Beck Water]

11 hours ago, GerstAusGosheim said:

This is the point I think a lot are missing. Salgado was widely credited by Sean and others with the development of Taron Johnson. So clearly he's a good coach. In his first year as safeties coach, he dealt with with injuries to Hyde and Poyer, the near death of Hamlin, working with 3rd/4th/5th string safeties (from rounds 6th, 7th, undrafted) accompanied by no Von/pass rush and rookie corners. 

 

I'm not sure who exactly besides Taron Johnson gots coached by the "Nickel coach".  Siran Neal?  Cam Lewis?  Someone on the practice squad?

The Bills had no "Nickel coach" in 2022.  Salgado became "Nickel" coach in 2020 after being a "Defensive Assistant" for several years.
 

Taron came into the league in 2018, and took about 60% of the snaps in 2018 and 2019, rising to 77% in 2020.  Did Salgado "develop him" or, was it a "cream rises to the top" situation?

 

Salgado became safeties coach in 2022 after Bob Babich retired and Bobby Babich switched from Safeties to LB coach.  Veterans Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer probably need coaching about like dogs need fleas.  But when injuries strike and we have to play backups - that's when the coaching really matters.  Was Salgado a scapegoat, or did he fail to teach and drill the young guys in the scheme?  Because if a player is in the right place, and gets beaten by a better player, that's probably not on the coach.  But if the player is not in the right place and a scheme which depends a lot upon deception and after-the-snap adjustments has to be simplified to the point where it's pretty vanilla, then maybe the coaching has a role.  And that latter appears to be what we were dealing with.

 

The normal McDermott MO with a long term staff member would be to quietly let him seek another position and leave, then hire someone else.  The fact that Salgado was quickly and publicly fired, says to me that when the issue of the young safeties scheme mistakes was brought up, maybe Salgado didn't show the "growth mindset" but instead pretty much said what you've said above - "look at everything I've dealt with at that position, no one could have succeeded". 

Well, Safety is going to be a critical position for us next year because who knows if we'll have 1, 2, 3, or 0 experienced safeties on the field by the 2nd week of the season.  So "look at everything I've dealt with" isn't going to cut it.

 

[pigpen65]

last coach:

 

this guy: "KNOCK THE ***** BALL DOWN!!!"

[Logic]

Whole lot of anger and vitriol and hand wringing in this thread.

I haven't read all five pages, but has anyone mentioned the possibility that the team is going to go young at safety and so they went out and identified someone that they think has been successful at coaching up young defensive backs?

I'm not sure if that's the case or not, but it seems a reasonable possibility to me.

For all of the things we could and should be upset about with regard to coaching failures the past couple seasons...if there's ONE area that McDermott and Frazier have earned a lot of trust and, one would hope, some grace from Bills fans...it's at safety. If they think this guy's an upgrade of some kind over the previous guy, who are we to argue, particularly since none of us have ANY idea what Salgado or Danna are like as coaches?

Edited February 3, 2023 by Logic

[Fleezoid]

On 2/2/2023 at 11:51 AM, Gary Marangi said:

Name sounds like a Private Eye from the 1940s

 

Or Las Vegas...

 

 

[Beck Water]

1 hour ago, Logic said:

Whole lot of anger and vitriol and hand wringing in this thread.

I haven't read all five pages, but has anyone mentioned the possibility that the team is going to go young at safety and so they went out and identified someone that they think has been successful at coaching up young defensive backs?

I'm not sure if that's the case or not, but it seems a reasonable possibility to me.

For all of the things we could and should be upset about with regard to coaching failures the past couple seasons...if there's ONE area that McDermott and Frazier have earned a lot of trust and, one would hope, some grace from Bills fans...it's at safety. If they think this guy's an upgrade of some kind over the previous guy, who are we to argue, particularly since none of us have ANY idea what Salgado or Danna are like as coaches?

 

So Cover 1 has a bunch of interesting stuff about this hire, starting out with the point that we need someone coaching up young safeties.
But goes into some interesting ways that offenses started reading the Bills defensive coverages pre snap and why someone who can integrate safeties and the nickel role to disguise

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Beck Water

[Logic]

6 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

So Cover 1 has a bunch of interesting stuff about this hire, starting out with the point that we need someone coaching up young safeties.
But goes into some interesting ways that offenses started reading the Bills defensive coverages pre snap and why someone who can integrate safeties and the nickel role to disguise

 

 

 

 

 

See, this is an absolutely phenomenal addition to this thread.

It's so logical, and makes so much sense, and gives such context -- at least potentially -- to this hire.

Hopefully it's not too late in the thread for it to get the attention it deserves. 

Thanks!

[folz]

21 hours ago, Gugny said:

Pretty incredible track record:  https://pro-football-history.com/coach/2238/joe-danna-bio

 

 

As opposed to looking at team records (which a single assistant coach doesn't have much to do with), why not look at some stats that are more specific to the coach himself. I don't have the time to dig too deep, but here are a some notes on what he helped them do in Houston last year:

 

In 2021, the year before they hired Danna, opposing quarterbacks compiled a 94.1 passer rating against the Texans' defense, the 12th-highest in the NFL. The Texans defense's 8.0 yards per pass attempt was tied with the Detroit Lions, Baltimore Ravens, and New York Jets for the highest allowed in the NFL. Overall, the Texans secondary was ranked worst in the NFL.

 

In 2022, despite the team posting just a 3-13-1 record, Houston allowed the 10th-fewest passing yards per game (209.3), the sixth-lowest average QB rating (82.7), and ranked 14th in FO’s Pass DVOA (2.6%). Yards per pass attempt dropped from 8 yards in 2021 to 6.8 yards in 2022, and they were tied for 4th in INTs. And they did that with "2 rookies and 3 journeyman players" (per PFF at the start of the 2022 season). Their secondary went from worst in the league to somewhere in the 10-15 range without adding any big name FAs. They did add Derek Stingley (a number 3 overall draft pick at CB), but he was a rookie, only played 9 games (due to injury), and was considered a risky pick because he had only played 10 games over his last two years in college. Overall an up and down year for Stingley. Houston did also add Jalen Pitre (a 2nd round pick in 2022 at safety). Pitre had an amazing rookie year under the tutelage of Danna, with 147 tackles, 5 INTs, and 1 sack. And as the new safeties coach, I'm sure he at least weighed in on drafting Pitre. And we will probably be looking to draft some safeties over the next couple of years ourselves.

 

Plus:

Salgado had 6 years NFL experience, all with the Bills. 3 years as a defensive assistant, 2 years as Nickels coach, and 1 year (2022) as safeties coach.

Danna has 15 years NFL experience with 5 teams. 2 years as a defensive assistant, 9 years as DB/secondary coach, 1 year as a Nickel coach, and 3 years coaching safeties. That's a lot more experience.

 

And the idea of Salgado being a scapegoat is just silly. Did any fan or media pundit say, oh good we got rid of Salgado, yeah he was the problem. Most didn't even know who he was before he got fired. So, why would McDermot and Beane think this move would appease the blood of the masses (which is what a scapegoat is for), especially when he had the excuse of all of the injuries. No, this wasn't a PR move, it was a football move.

 

 

[Beck Water]

25 minutes ago, folz said:

And the idea of Salgado being a scapegoat is just silly. Did any fan or media pundit say, oh good we got rid of Salgado, yeah he was the problem. Most didn't even know who he was before he got fired. So, why would McDermot and Beane think this move would appease the blood of the masses (which is what a scapegoat is for), especially when he had the excuse of all of the injuries. No, this wasn't a PR move, it was a football move.

 

Solid post. 

 

Yeah, whether one thinks Salgado deserved firing and hiring Danna is a good thing, this is NOT about scapegoating, for exactly the reasons you mention.

[Negan]

Can he take over for Frazier?  More press coverage please.