The Case Against Mularkey Revisited

[JDG]

As we start 2006, Tom Donahoe is known to be a goner..... so living that issue aside, here is the case for why the new GM should fire Mularkey.

 

1) Good NFL Coaches Get Better, Not Worse

Even account for the vast differences in schedule, everything about this team, except the Special Teams, has gotten worse from last season. Moreover, we went from 9-7 to 5-11. That is a huge regression. Are offense is worse, even with Holcomb in there, and our defense is much, much, worse. Blech. The schedule is part of the story here, but I don't think it can explain the entire disparity. You can also include in this category the Bills' astonishing record this year of scoring on the opening drive, and then getting completely outscored in the 2nd Half of football games.

 

2) Good NFL Coaches Take Care of Business Against the JV Squad

Its interesting to note that every single NFL team in a must-win scenario took care of business today. Last year, however, Buffalo was playing *at home*, with the playoffs on the line, and lost to Tommy Maddox and the Pittsburgh third-stringers. It ranks as one of the most embarassing losses in the 40+ years of Buffalo Bills history, and is simply not acceptable in the National Football League. How can we expect Mularkey to lead us to playoff wins, let alone a Super Bowl win, if he couldn't even take care of business *at home* against the Steelers' JV squad in such a critical game?

 

3) Good Buffalo Coaches, Beat Miami - And Don't Embarass Us

Its kind of tacky, but also kind of true. In Buffalo, you get partially judged by your ability to beat the hated Dolphins. Blowing a 21-point lead to a Miami team led by Sage Rosenfels and Wes Welker, with Chris Chambers to catch a whopping 15 passes (maybe we aught to cover him?) also ranks as one of the most embarassing losses in Buffalo Bills History. That's quite a record of embarassment in just two years as a Buffalo Head Coach.

 

4) Good NFL Coaches Manage Personalities

One of the primary duties of an NFL Head Coach is to provide leadership to the team, and build the team around his image. Yet, Mularkey just strikes me as being very bland - I don't see the fire of leadership burning there. Moreover, Mularkey has allowed personality conflicts with two of our better players, Eric Moulds and Sam Adams, to positively explode into full-blown distractions with this team - to the point of both players missing football games for us. Then there's also the various Willis McGahee incidents throughout the year, that also stuck me as being mismanaged. In short, Mularkey doesn't seem to be inspiring confidence in this department.

 

5) An "Offensive-Minded" Head Coach Should Demonstrate Basic Competence

Many of the Bills' offensive numbers for this season ranked among the worst in team history in the modern 16-game schedule era. Think about that for a moment, that means this offense - featuring McGahee, Moulds, Evans, and Parrish - is ranking worse than the Todd Collins year, worse than the RJ 3-13 year, and worse than the 2-14 years of the mid-80's. The Bills smashed their previous modern-record for total offensive futility by 207 yards. Moreover, the Bills finished just 10 yards above the worst team rushing total of this era, despite being a "power rushing team." This sort of thing has to come back on the coaches, for whom offense is supposedly a specialty, and who aren't completely deprived of talented offensive weapons.

 

6) An "Offensive-Minded" Head Coach Should Be Better in the "Red Zone"

Suffice to say, the Bills have been putrid in the red zone this year, even if I don't have the full stats to prove it. Against the Jets, the Bills scored 1 TD in 4 tries in a game we lost by 4 points. Against the Bengals the week before, the Bills had 2 TD in 5 tries. In the Miami debacle we were 1 for 3. In the game at New England, which we lost by 5 points, we were 0 for 3. This is a record of sheer futility - and all of these examples came with Kelly Holcomb at QB, whom Mularkey clearly believes gives us his best shot.

 

7) Good NFL Coaches Beat the Teams They Are Supposed to Beat

We all know that Mularkey started Kelly Holcomb this week, instead of giving JP Losman more game experience, in order to secure a win and so build his resume for saving his job. Mularkey didn't get the win, and so he should not save his job. Indeed, let's just think about the team we were playing this week. The Jets were playing their 3rd-string QB, their backup Center, and their 3rd-string RB. The Jets were also missing their starting TE, their slot WR, and their two best defensive linemen (Bryan Robertson, and Shaun Ellis.) In other words, for the second year in a row, Mularkey has ended the season by losing to an opponents' JV squad. Admittedly this one was on the road - but you need to beat bad teams on the road to get to the playoffs. (Playoffs?) Of course, of the 7 teams drafting ahead of us, Mularkey managed to lose to a whopping 4 of them in the same year! Talk about just not getting it done.

 

I think the indictment of Mularkey after two seasons is a mile long. Yes, it will be a burden to this small-market franchise to pay Mularkey for three years to not coach us, but paying Mularkey not to coach us gives this team its best chance to win. I hope that our new GM takes notice.

 

JDG

[crackur]

our team sucks...........the end

[Rubes]

Nice post, can't really argue with any of it. It reminds me of when the Bears hired Lovie Smith. The Bears were not a very good team and everybody knew it. But he laid down their initial goal, and that was to beat Green Bay at all costs. That would be their Super Bowl, and their #1 goal.

 

I'd like to see someone come in here and say the same thing. Our #1 goal should be to beat New England at all costs. Our #2 goal should be to beat Miami and the Jets. Everybody on the team should be focused on that.

[eSJayDee]

4) Good NFL Coaches Manage Personalities

 

I'd like to add Mike Williams regression to this list as well. How can it be possible that someone of his natural ability (& productivity the latter part of last year) not be able to contribute to what is clearly a sub-standard OL?

 

I think/hope that this is an issue that can be remedied.

[KOKBILLS]

As we start 2006, Tom Donahoe is known to be a goner..... so living that issue aside, here is the case for why the new GM should fire Mularkey.

 

1) Good NFL Coaches Get Better, Not Worse

Even account for the vast differences in schedule, everything about this team, except the Special Teams, has gotten worse from last season.    Moreover, we went from 9-7 to 5-11.  That is a huge regression.  Are offense is worse, even with Holcomb in there,  and our defense is much, much, worse.  Blech.  The schedule is part of the story here, but I don't think it can explain the entire disparity.  You can also include in this category the Bills' astonishing record this year of scoring on the opening drive, and then getting completely outscored in the 2nd Half of football games.

 

2) Good NFL Coaches Take Care of Business Against the JV Squad

  Its interesting to note that every single NFL team in a must-win scenario took care of business today.  Last year, however, Buffalo was playing *at home*, with the playoffs on the line, and lost to Tommy Maddox and the Pittsburgh third-stringers.  It ranks as one of the most embarassing losses in the 40+ years of Buffalo Bills history, and is simply not acceptable in the National Football League.    How can we expect Mularkey to lead us to playoff wins, let alone a Super Bowl win, if he couldn't even take care of business *at home* against the Steelers' JV squad in such a critical game?

 

3) Good Buffalo Coaches, Beat Miami - And Don't Embarass Us

  Its kind of tacky, but also kind of true.  In Buffalo, you get partially judged by your ability to beat the hated Dolphins.    Blowing a 21-point lead to a Miami team led by Sage Rosenfels and Wes Welker, with Chris Chambers to catch a whopping 15 passes (maybe we aught to cover him?) also ranks as one of the most embarassing losses in Buffalo Bills History.  That's quite a record of embarassment in just two years as a Buffalo Head Coach.

 

4) Good NFL Coaches Manage Personalities

  One of the primary duties of an NFL Head Coach is to provide leadership to the team, and build the team around his image.  Yet, Mularkey just strikes me as being very bland - I don't see the fire of leadership burning there.    Moreover, Mularkey has allowed personality conflicts with two of our better players, Eric Moulds and Sam Adams, to positively explode into full-blown distractions with this team - to the point of both players missing football games for us.    Then there's also the various Willis McGahee incidents throughout the year, that also stuck me as being mismanaged.  In short, Mularkey doesn't seem to be inspiring confidence in this department.

 

5) An "Offensive-Minded" Head Coach Should Demonstrate Basic Competence

  Many of the Bills' offensive numbers for this season ranked among the worst in team history in the modern 16-game schedule era.  Think about that for a moment, that means this offense - featuring McGahee, Moulds, Evans, and Parrish - is ranking worse than the Todd Collins year, worse than the RJ 3-13 year, and worse than the 2-14 years of the mid-80's.    The Bills smashed their previous modern-record for total offensive futility by 207 yards.  Moreover, the Bills finished just 10 yards above the worst team rushing total of this era, despite being a "power rushing team."      This sort of thing has to come back on the coaches, for whom offense is supposedly a specialty, and who aren't completely deprived of talented offensive weapons.

 

6) An "Offensive-Minded" Head Coach Should Be Better in the "Red Zone"

  Suffice to say, the Bills have been putrid in the red zone this year, even if I don't have the full stats to prove it.    Against the Jets, the Bills scored 1 TD in 4 tries in a game we lost by 4 points.    Against the Bengals the week before, the Bills had 2 TD in 5 tries.    In the Miami debacle we were 1 for 3.  In the game at New England, which we lost by 5 points, we were 0 for 3.    This is a record of sheer futility - and all of these examples came with Kelly Holcomb at QB, whom Mularkey clearly believes gives us his best shot. 

 

7)  Good NFL Coaches Beat the Teams They Are Supposed to Beat

  We all know that Mularkey started Kelly Holcomb this week, instead of giving JP Losman more game experience, in order to secure a win and so build his resume for saving his job.    Mularkey didn't get the win, and so he should not save his job.    Indeed, let's just think about the team we were playing this week.  The Jets were playing their 3rd-string QB, their backup Center, and their 3rd-string RB.  The Jets were also missing their starting TE, their slot WR, and their two best defensive linemen (Bryan Robertson, and Shaun Ellis.)    In other words, for the second year in a row, Mularkey has ended the season by losing to an opponents' JV squad.    Admittedly this one was on the road - but you need to beat bad teams on the road to get to the playoffs. (Playoffs?)      Of course, of the 7 teams drafting ahead of us, Mularkey managed to lose to a whopping 4 of them in the same year!    Talk about just not getting it done.

 

I think the indictment of Mularkey after two seasons is a mile long.  Yes, it will be a burden to this small-market franchise to pay Mularkey for three years to not coach us, but paying Mularkey not to coach us gives this team its best chance to win.    I hope that our new GM takes notice.

 

JDG

548417[/snapback]

 

 

Excellent Post...

 

Let me add that a HC in Buffalo who gets his you-know-what handed to him by the Patsies at Home every Year has NO CHANCE to Win this Division...

 

MM is Belichick's B word...I hate it but it's true, and I seriously doubt he's going to get that much better just because he gets another year...

[Mark VI]

You'll get no argument from me. He's in waaaay over his head. Has no concept of adjusting as the game progresses.

 

Bringing up the length of the contract doesn't justify anything. We let GW hang around for a 3rd lame duck season. Didn't we learn anything ? So what if Ralph has to eat 3 Mil ? Detroit is eating 16-18 Mil on Mooch. That didn't stop them from firing a guy who actually won in San Fran.

 

What has Mularkey done ? Did he actually think his ST's and D were going to score 10 TD's and bail out his bad offense again, as they did in 2004 ? This applies to TD also.

 

TD and Mularkey should be leaving this week.

[puppet]

I hope Ralph Wilson reads this post and takes the appropriate action.

 

After reading your list - I must agree that Mularkey is NOT even an average head coach. This is not all about the players, or the offensive or defensive line. In the end, great coaches put players in a position to win. Our coaches have not done that this year and it makes us look like a team with tons of holes.

 

The question is who do we get?

[Rubes]

I would also add to the list:

 

8) Good NFL Coaches Put The Ball In The Hands Of Their Playmakers When It Counts

How many times this season did we see critical plays come down to the likes of Daimon Shelton, Shaud Williams, Roscoe Parrish? Guys that are either unproven or not even starters? How many times do we have to see the coaches ignore MacGahee when he's in the game, or take him out on all-important 3rd downs? Does LaDanian Tomlinson come out on 3rd downs? Does Edgerrin James?

[obie_wan]

dodn't forget

 

9. Good coaches don't set up their young QBs to fail

[TheMadCap]

After reading your post, I feel like I've been kicked in the balls. My stomach hurts...

[JDG]

After reading your post, I feel like I've been kicked in the balls. My stomach hurts...  

548668[/snapback]

 

I feel your pain man. It looks like a lot of NFL teams are moving quickly, with Minnesota already scheduling interviews, and KC contacting the Jets about possibly securing the services of Herman Edwards. It makes me a bit disappointed that the Donahoe announcement didn't come today, especially if the plan is to keep Mularkey long enough for the new GM to make the determination on his future.

 

And as others have noted, Kirk Ferentz may be available this year - so this could be a great year to be looking for a HC if we can secure Ferentz.

 

JDG

[AJ1]

I feel your pain man.    It looks like a lot of NFL teams are moving quickly, with Minnesota already scheduling interviews, and KC contacting the Jets about possibly securing the services of Herman Edwards.    It makes me a bit disappointed that the Donahoe announcement didn't come today, especially if the plan is to keep Mularkey long enough for the new GM to make the determination on his future. 

 

And as others have noted, Kirk Ferentz may be available this year - so this could be a great year to be looking for a HC if we can secure Ferentz.

 

JDG

549359[/snapback]

 

No, Donahoe will go, that's pretty much a given. I fear for another wasted year granted to a HC who has been documented to have no clue as to how to run a NFL team. Special teams, a weak schedule and a veteran QB (as much as I hate to admit it) bailed him out his rookie season. Ralph needs to swallow hard and gulp down the 3 million.

[SDS]

I would also add to the list:

 

8) Good NFL Coaches Put The Ball In The Hands Of Their Playmakers When It Counts

How many times this season did we see critical plays come down to the likes of Daimon Shelton, Shaud Williams, Roscoe Parrish? Guys that are either unproven or not even starters?

548638[/snapback]

 

I disagree 100% with this part. If you are a member of this team - then you contribute. If you are a FB who can't run the football - get out. If you are a WR who can't catch a pass - get out. If you are aTE who can't catch a pass - get out.

 

Reducing the number of players involved in the game does not make the team better. Washington, Denver, Indy all have scores of players - down to OL and Defensive players who contribute to the offensive point production. That is a nightmare for DC's knowing that even the LT can catch a TD pass in the red zone.

 

If they can't get it done - move 'em out.

[dave mcbride]

I feel your pain man.    It looks like a lot of NFL teams are moving quickly, with Minnesota already scheduling interviews, and KC contacting the Jets about possibly securing the services of Herman Edwards.    It makes me a bit disappointed that the Donahoe announcement didn't come today, especially if the plan is to keep Mularkey long enough for the new GM to make the determination on his future. 

 

And as others have noted, Kirk Ferentz may be available this year - so this could be a great year to be looking for a HC if we can secure Ferentz.

 

JDG

549359[/snapback]

the bills are doing a major restructuring and it shouldn't be accelerated to hire a new coach tomorrow. they have to do this right, and if it means losing a week, well, i think it's ok to lose a week.

[Adam]

Why not have one of those unwatchable reality shows that is absolutely nothing but empty programming to pick our new coach- we can do it every year- it doesnt matter if we get someone good- we can just be entertained at making coaching changes all the time for no apparent reason.

[JDG]

I disagree 100% with this part.  If you are a member of this team - then you contribute.  If you are a FB who can't run the football - get out.  If you are a WR who can't catch a pass - get out.  If you are aTE who can't catch a pass - get out.

 

Reducing the number of players involved in the game does not make the team better.  Washington, Denver, Indy all have scores of players - down to OL and Defensive players who contribute to the offensive point production.  That is a nightmare for DC's knowing that even the LT can catch a TD pass in the red zone.

 

If they can't get it done - move 'em out.

549433[/snapback]

 

You make a great point. As anyone who plays Fantasy Football knows, the Colts and Broncos are famous for going to guys like the 3rd TE in the red zone, or throwing the occasional scoring pass to a rarely-used WR. The Patriots, of course, have even been known to give defensive players carries and receptions on the Goal Line.

 

When things are going good, this is called "spreading the ball around" and is praiseworthy. When things are going bad, you naturally get criticized for it.

 

JDG

[SDS]

You make a great point.    As anyone who plays Fantasy Football knows, the Colts and Broncos are famous for going to guys like the 3rd TE in the red zone, or throwing the occasional scoring pass to a rarely-used WR.  The Patriots, of course, have even been known to give defensive players carries and receptions on the Goal Line.

 

When things are going good, this is called "spreading the ball around" and is praiseworthy.    When things are going bad, you naturally get criticized for it.

 

JDG

549482[/snapback]

 

The hand-wringing that goes on when Shelton or Parrish get action is simply misplaced. The simple fact that ONLY WM can run the ball on 4th and 1, Eric Moulds is the ONLY WR that can catch a ball on 4th and 8 just speaks to how bad the Buffalo Bills are.

[dave mcbride]

The hand-wringing that goes on when Shelton or Parrish get action is simply misplaced.  The simple fact that ONLY WM can run the ball on 4th and 1, Eric Moulds is the ONLY WR that can catch a ball on 4th and 8 just speaks to how bad the Buffalo Bills are.

549496[/snapback]

you're absolutely right. butch rolle would have been jerry sullivan's favorite whipping boy if those teams weren't so good.

[obie_wan]

You make a great point.    As anyone who plays Fantasy Football knows, the Colts and Broncos are famous for going to guys like the 3rd TE in the red zone, or throwing the occasional scoring pass to a rarely-used WR.  The Patriots, of course, have even been known to give defensive players carries and receptions on the Goal Line.

 

When things are going good, this is called "spreading the ball around" and is praiseworthy.    When things are going bad, you naturally get criticized for it.

 

JDG

549482[/snapback]

 

 

The difference is that on other teams the play design does not require your best WR be a decoy (Moulds 5 yards short of a 1st down) or your best RB on the bench.

 

Playmakers should be put into a position to make plays with the option of going to secondary players. It is just stupid to design plays where marginal players are the focal point in key situations and your playmakers are not involved at all.

[tennesseeboy]

As we start 2006, Tom Donahoe is known to be a goner..... so living that issue aside, here is the case for why the new GM should fire Mularkey.

 

1) Good NFL Coaches Get Better, Not Worse

Even account for the vast differences in schedule, everything about this team, except the Special Teams, has gotten worse from last season.    Moreover, we went from 9-7 to 5-11.  That is a huge regression.  Are offense is worse, even with Holcomb in there,  and our defense is much, much, worse.  Blech.  The schedule is part of the story here, but I don't think it can explain the entire disparity.  You can also include in this category the Bills' astonishing record this year of scoring on the opening drive, and then getting completely outscored in the 2nd Half of football games.

 

2) Good NFL Coaches Take Care of Business Against the JV Squad

  Its interesting to note that every single NFL team in a must-win scenario took care of business today.  Last year, however, Buffalo was playing *at home*, with the playoffs on the line, and lost to Tommy Maddox and the Pittsburgh third-stringers.  It ranks as one of the most embarassing losses in the 40+ years of Buffalo Bills history, and is simply not acceptable in the National Football League.    How can we expect Mularkey to lead us to playoff wins, let alone a Super Bowl win, if he couldn't even take care of business *at home* against the Steelers' JV squad in such a critical game?

 

3) Good Buffalo Coaches, Beat Miami - And Don't Embarass Us

  Its kind of tacky, but also kind of true.  In Buffalo, you get partially judged by your ability to beat the hated Dolphins.    Blowing a 21-point lead to a Miami team led by Sage Rosenfels and Wes Welker, with Chris Chambers to catch a whopping 15 passes (maybe we aught to cover him?) also ranks as one of the most embarassing losses in Buffalo Bills History.  That's quite a record of embarassment in just two years as a Buffalo Head Coach.

 

4) Good NFL Coaches Manage Personalities

  One of the primary duties of an NFL Head Coach is to provide leadership to the team, and build the team around his image.  Yet, Mularkey just strikes me as being very bland - I don't see the fire of leadership burning there.    Moreover, Mularkey has allowed personality conflicts with two of our better players, Eric Moulds and Sam Adams, to positively explode into full-blown distractions with this team - to the point of both players missing football games for us.    Then there's also the various Willis McGahee incidents throughout the year, that also stuck me as being mismanaged.  In short, Mularkey doesn't seem to be inspiring confidence in this department.

 

5) An "Offensive-Minded" Head Coach Should Demonstrate Basic Competence

  Many of the Bills' offensive numbers for this season ranked among the worst in team history in the modern 16-game schedule era.  Think about that for a moment, that means this offense - featuring McGahee, Moulds, Evans, and Parrish - is ranking worse than the Todd Collins year, worse than the RJ 3-13 year, and worse than the 2-14 years of the mid-80's.    The Bills smashed their previous modern-record for total offensive futility by 207 yards.  Moreover, the Bills finished just 10 yards above the worst team rushing total of this era, despite being a "power rushing team."      This sort of thing has to come back on the coaches, for whom offense is supposedly a specialty, and who aren't completely deprived of talented offensive weapons.

 

6) An "Offensive-Minded" Head Coach Should Be Better in the "Red Zone"

  Suffice to say, the Bills have been putrid in the red zone this year, even if I don't have the full stats to prove it.    Against the Jets, the Bills scored 1 TD in 4 tries in a game we lost by 4 points.    Against the Bengals the week before, the Bills had 2 TD in 5 tries.    In the Miami debacle we were 1 for 3.  In the game at New England, which we lost by 5 points, we were 0 for 3.    This is a record of sheer futility - and all of these examples came with Kelly Holcomb at QB, whom Mularkey clearly believes gives us his best shot. 

 

7)  Good NFL Coaches Beat the Teams They Are Supposed to Beat

  We all know that Mularkey started Kelly Holcomb this week, instead of giving JP Losman more game experience, in order to secure a win and so build his resume for saving his job.    Mularkey didn't get the win, and so he should not save his job.    Indeed, let's just think about the team we were playing this week.  The Jets were playing their 3rd-string QB, their backup Center, and their 3rd-string RB.  The Jets were also missing their starting TE, their slot WR, and their two best defensive linemen (Bryan Robertson, and Shaun Ellis.)    In other words, for the second year in a row, Mularkey has ended the season by losing to an opponents' JV squad.    Admittedly this one was on the road - but you need to beat bad teams on the road to get to the playoffs. (Playoffs?)      Of course, of the 7 teams drafting ahead of us, Mularkey managed to lose to a whopping 4 of them in the same year!    Talk about just not getting it done.

 

I think the indictment of Mularkey after two seasons is a mile long.  Yes, it will be a burden to this small-market franchise to pay Mularkey for three years to not coach us, but paying Mularkey not to coach us gives this team its best chance to win.    I hope that our new GM takes notice.

 

JDG

548417[/snapback]

Great Post!!!