Jauron is NOT the coach for this team, and here is why (stats)

[BADOLBILZ]

Jauron did NOT start coaching yesterday, folks. In fact, he has been a head coach in 117 games. Surprisingly, he is one of only 83 coaches all-time to accomplish that feat (100+ games).

 

Given that fact, it is surely fair to examine his record and see how he matches up. After all, that's a LARGE body of work, as NFL head coaches go.

 

So how does he compare to the others in the 100+ game club?

 

The numbers tell a grim tale.

 

Of the 83 coaches in this group ALL TIME (100+ games coached) Jauron has a better winning percentage than only 9! Put another way, 73 of the 83 coaches to coach 100+ games have a BETTER w/l record than Jauron (he ranks 74/83).

 

Here is the list of coaches that coached 100+ games, and had a WORSE winning percentage than Dick Jauron currently has:

 

(For the record: Jauron's numbers are listed at the top of the table)

 

Coach................................games coached....win %.....# of playoff games

 

Dick Jauron (see above)........117....................43%..........1

Dan Henning........................112....................34%......... 0

Marion Campbell...................115....................30%......... 0

Ray Perkins.........................117....................36%..........2

Leeman Bennett...................119....................42%..........4

Bruce Coslett.......................124....................38%.........1

Joe Kuharich........................142....................42%.........0

Dom Capers.........................128....................38%.........2

John McKay.........................133....................33%.........4

Bart Starr............................131....................41%.........2

 

*******************************************************

 

Not exactly a "who's who" of great coaches.

 

THIS (along with my observations of POOR game day decisions and lackluster training camps) is why I say that Dick Jauron is simply never going to be a successful NFL head coach.

 

There are those who say "Jauron is a good coach." Based on WHAT?

 

How else can you measure success in the NFL other than wins and losses? (Sorry but "he's a nice guy and he really loves football" doesn't count).

 

Almost doesn't count, looking cool on the sidelines doesn't count, being a great guy doesn't count, and "being smart" doesn't count either.

 

When it comes to wins and losses, the list above is the list of coaches to go 100+ games who Jauron has been more successful than.

 

A few of them even have MORE playoff games than he does.

 

Just facts.

 

Great post. And for the person who felt that this was a list of good coaches....uh, no. Those last nine are the epitome of retreads and "old boy network" hires. Jauron understands that he can stay in MOST games by not turning the ball over and playing generally conservative football. That's why he can have the worst offense/defense in the league and still win 6-7 games by not getting turnovers or committing penalties. Unfortunately, that has been his only trick so far, and from what I've seen that is probably all he can do.

 

The argument about not having talent is somewhat valid, but he has had a significant hand in building his rosters and on the surface it would appear that the Bills in particular have purposely traded talent and experience for youth in their attempt to build a roster that is not critical of Jauron.

 

I like the guy and understand why he coaches the way he does, and I can even see the beauty in it at times. But the reality is you have to keep growing and stretching the limits of your team to get better and the Bills just aren't doing that. They are in a state of arrested development under Jauron, and it shows every time they meet a very good team and get BLASTED off the field or when they play focused teams late in the season who refuse to beat themselves with turnovers and mistakes. It's no mistake the Bills have made their hay the past 2 seasons vs. lesser teams and prior to the stretch drive of late November/December. The bottom line is that they do not play good football under Jauron. Conservative? Yes. Productive and efficient? No. The guy did a solid job getting things organized and creating an identity for the team in his first season, but I really question what more he has to offer.

[8-8 Forever?]

How could you even say that? Were you frozen during the previous two regimes?

 

You are naming those guys looking back with three years of hindsight. You're telling me, after hiring D-coordinator Greggo, and then O-coordinator Mularkey, that you would've been excited in 2006 about giving a first time shot to the next young coordinator? You're lying through the keyboard if you say you would've been fine with that.

 

And Jauron's two 7-9 seasons, while short of the playoffs, is better than the 4-12 put up by Mangina ('07) and Kubiak's 6-10 ('06). Payton fell from 10-6 and NFC Championship to 7-9 and out of the NFC playoffs. McCarthy's Packers caught lightning in a bottle last season, but had to win their last 4 to finish 8-8 in '06.

 

 

jauron is all the Bills can afford.. someone said get Marty Schott.. no way, he will want $5m/yr.. no way the bills can afford that.. Dicky J. is all we can afford.. players win games, not coaches..go bills, 10-6 this yr...

[San-O]

Great post. And for the person who felt that this was a list of good coaches....uh, no. Those last nine are the epitome of retreads and "old boy network" hires. Jauron understands that he can stay in MOST games by not turning the ball over and playing generally conservative football. That's why he can have the worst offense/defense in the league and still win 6-7 games by not getting turnovers or committing penalties. Unfortunately, that has been his only trick so far, and from what I've seen that is probably all he can do.

 

The argument about not having talent is somewhat valid, but he has had a significant hand in building his rosters and on the surface it would appear that the Bills in particular have purposely traded talent and experience for youth in their attempt to build a roster that is not critical of Jauron.

 

I like the guy and understand why he coaches the way he does, and I can even see the beauty in it at times. But the reality is you have to keep growing and stretching the limits of your team to get better and the Bills just aren't doing that. They are in a state of arrested development under Jauron, and it shows every time they meet a very good team and get BLASTED off the field or when they play focused teams late in the season who refuse to beat themselves with turnovers and mistakes. It's no mistake the Bills have made their hay the past 2 seasons vs. lesser teams and prior to the stretch drive of late November/December. The bottom line is that they do not play good football under Jauron. Conservative? Yes. Productive and efficient? No. The guy did a solid job getting things organized and creating an identity for the team in his first season, but I really question what more he has to offer.

 

I think this is a very good perspective: realistic and unbiased as far as I see. The one thing I keep wondering is, was Jauron doing this to try and play the

percentages with sub-par talent his first year, and then injuries his next. This year should be very telling, and hopefully DJ has at least a couple new wrinkles

in the game planning or approach.

 

There's that word HOPE again.

[lets_go_bills]

Some good arguements and facts. But the reality is that Jauron is OUR coach. He is for this year, at least. So we must get behind him. He did coach the Bears toa good season and earned himself coach of the year honors. However, he may not be "the guy", but we're stuck with him, so I support him.

 

I think he is a good motivator and really got his guys to play well last year considering the endless injuries and Everett tragedy. We had some very close games and could have very easily been 10 and 6 or even 11 and 5. So I'm not ready to write him off yet.

 

But when he is outed, I say let the Bill Cowher era begin!

[bowery4]

Some good arguements and facts.

But when he is outed, I say let the Bill Cowher era begin!

I agree, but think Ralph is too cheap and we would want to keep a lot of what has been built here for 3 years, so I don't see it happening, well maybe if we go 3/13.

[RJ (not THAT RJ)]

But when he is outed, I say let the Bill Cowher era begin!

 

Outed? You know something we don't know about Dick?

[keepthefaith]

How could you even say that? Were you frozen during the previous two regimes?

 

You are naming those guys looking back with three years of hindsight. You're telling me, after hiring D-coordinator Greggo, and then O-coordinator Mularkey, that you would've been excited in 2006 about giving a first time shot to the next young coordinator? You're lying through the keyboard if you say you would've been fine with that.

 

And Jauron's two 7-9 seasons, while short of the playoffs, is better than the 4-12 put up by Mangina ('07) and Kubiak's 6-10 ('06). Payton fell from 10-6 and NFC Championship to 7-9 and out of the NFC playoffs. McCarthy's Packers caught lightning in a bottle last season, but had to win their last 4 to finish 8-8 in '06.

 

7-9 will always look good compared to the bottom of the league so if that's your yardstick, Jauron is OK. He's coached some teams with below average talent and generated below average results. What remains to be seen is if he can win with better talent. The front office appears to have upgraded the talent in Buffalo significantly over 2 years ago. If you believe that (as I do) then you have to hold the coach responsible for generating results with that. This is his year to do that, to be measurably better than 7-9. For me that means 9 wins or more or you consider a change.

[keepthefaith]

jauron is all the Bills can afford.. someone said get Marty Schott.. no way, he will want $5m/yr.. no way the bills can afford that.. Dicky J. is all we can afford.. players win games, not coaches..go bills, 10-6 this yr...

 

1 playoff game would pay for the better coach. Like many things in life, the cheaper solution is often not cheaper.

[folz]

New math? 31+42=73.

 

By the time Levy reached 100+ games in Buffalo, he was the head coach of a team that went 12-4 and won a playoff game. His teams would go on to make the playoffs every year save 2 for the rest of his career.

 

Jauron, by comparison, has had 1 winning season, did not coach a playoff team in his 100+ surpassing season, has never won a playoff game, and the one season he did coach a playoff team followed it up with 2 losing seasons and getting fired.

 

So, yeah. There is no difference at all.

 

 

Just out of curiousity I checked out what Marv's record was after 117 NFL games...it happened 5 games into

the 1989 regular season...the Bills were 3 and 2 at the time...yes, they were coming off a 12-4 season

in '88 but in that previous season the Bills closed it out by losing 3 of their last 4 games and the Harmon

drop in Cleaveland playoff loss. That '88 squad was not the no-huddle K-gun offense team yet, remember

Norwood was the NFL point leader that year. A lot of close low-scoring games won by 3 or 6 points. Then

they start out '89 at 3-2. Sure there was a lot of hope for the team, but at that time, '88 could have been

an aberration (like Jauron's 13-3 year with the Bears seems), not the start of the Super Bowl years.

 

Marv's record after 117 NFL games was 55 wins 62 losses for a 47% winning pct

 

 

As I've said in other posts, my fear with Jauron is always his poor choices of offensive coordinators...and if Turk

doesn't come through this year, then I'll definitely question Jauron's ability to take a team farther...feeling

he hasn't learned from his mistakes on the offensive side of the ball.

 

But I definitely think he has earned this upcoming year to prove himself with how the team performed and

persevered last year.

[PNW_Bills_Fan]

I believe this year will be a good tell on how good of a coach he is.

[San Jose Bills Fan]

Jauron did NOT start coaching yesterday, folks. In fact, he has been a head coach in 117 games. Surprisingly, he is one of only 83 coaches all-time to accomplish that feat (100+ games).

 

Given that fact, it is surely fair to examine his record and see how he matches up. After all, that's a LARGE body of work, as NFL head coaches go.

 

So how does he compare to the others in the 100+ game club?

 

The numbers tell a grim tale.

 

Of the 83 coaches in this group ALL TIME (100+ games coached) Jauron has a better winning percentage than only 9! Put another way, 73 of the 83 coaches to coach 100+ games have a BETTER w/l record than Jauron (he ranks 74/83).

 

Here is the list of coaches that coached 100+ games, and had a WORSE winning percentage than Dick Jauron currently has:

 

(For the record: Jauron's numbers are listed at the top of the table)

 

Coach................................games coached....win %.....# of playoff games

 

Dick Jauron (see above)........117....................43%..........1

Dan Henning........................112....................34%......... 0

Marion Campbell...................115....................30%......... 0

Ray Perkins.........................117....................36%..........2

Leeman Bennett...................119....................42%..........4

Bruce Coslett.......................124....................38%.........1

Joe Kuharich........................142....................42%.........0

Dom Capers.........................128....................38%.........2

John McKay.........................133....................33%.........4

Bart Starr............................131....................41%.........2

 

*******************************************************

 

Not exactly a "who's who" of great coaches.

 

THIS (along with my observations of POOR game day decisions and lackluster training camps) is why I say that Dick Jauron is simply never going to be a successful NFL head coach.

 

There are those who say "Jauron is a good coach." Based on WHAT?

 

How else can you measure success in the NFL other than wins and losses? (Sorry but "he's a nice guy and he really loves football" doesn't count).

 

Almost doesn't count, looking cool on the sidelines doesn't count, being a great guy doesn't count, and "being smart" doesn't count either.

 

When it comes to wins and losses, the list above is the list of coaches to go 100+ games who Jauron has been more successful than.

 

A few of them even have MORE playoff games than he does.

 

Just facts.

 

Some nice numbers Troll. However sometimes the numbers are a bit misrepresentative. I know I'm not going to change your mind but here goes anyways. You've given us some numbers but I'll give you some real facts.

 

No discussion of Dick Jauron's tenure at Chicago is complete without the following: In Jauron's first year as coach, he took over a team that had gone 4-12 in 1998 and improved them to 6-10. Just before the 2001 season, Jerry Angelo was hired as Bears GM. That year the Bears went 13-3 and Jauron won Coach of the Year honors with a marginally talented squad. The following 2002 season, Soldier Field was being renovated and the Bears played all their home games at the University of Illinois/Champaign. In addition they were devastated by injuries (last year must have been like deja vu for Jauron). The Bears finished 4-12.

 

According to those close to the organization, Angelo had no real regard for Jauron. He inherited him as coach and the two basically had a non-relationship. As would any GM coming in, Angelo wanted to hire his won coach.

 

In 2003, the Bears finished 7-9. According to the testimony of several Bears players, the team, with Kordell Stewart at quarterback, was low on talent but still played hard including a 4-2 closing stretch that was an attempt to save Jauron's job. It was not enough. Angelo fired Jauron after the season and hired Lovie Smith. Smith's record after succeeding Jauron in 2004? The Bears finished with two less wins at 5-11. And look at them now. Despite some top shelf talent, they look to me like a team on the downswing (Lovie's record is 36-28 in four seasons).

Troll, you've witnessed the Bills' last three years. We are only now getting to where we have a decent amount of talent. Jauron inherited a pretty bad roster from the Donahoe era. The general manager has at least as much to do with a team's record as the head coach (see Polian, Bill).

 

Look at Marv Levy's record as Chief's coach from 1978-1982. His record? 31-42. His winning percentage? 42% Even if you factor in his next three seasons in Buffalo to get to your 100 games coached threshold, his record was still only 52-59 for a winning percentage of 47%.

 

The numbers only say so much. Talent on the roster is a huge factor. Jauron has never had that in Buffalo or in Chicago and as a result his legacy might be that he made chicken salad out of chicken scratch. It's actually pretty easy to argue that he's done more with less and that's surely why he's coached 100+ games. I think he's a good coach, maybe not great. But I am happy he's the Bills' coach. I want people like him representing my team. For what this organization is willing to pay and how it's structured, it's either the Jaurons of the world or the Greg Williamses/Mike Mularkeys. I'll take Jauron.

[1billsfan]

Great post. And for the person who felt that this was a list of good coaches....uh, no. Those last nine are the epitome of retreads and "old boy network" hires. Jauron understands that he can stay in MOST games by not turning the ball over and playing generally conservative football. That's why he can have the worst offense/defense in the league and still win 6-7 games by not getting turnovers or committing penalties. Unfortunately, that has been his only trick so far, and from what I've seen that is probably all he can do.

 

The argument about not having talent is somewhat valid, but he has had a significant hand in building his rosters and on the surface it would appear that the Bills in particular have purposely traded talent and experience for youth in their attempt to build a roster that is not critical of Jauron.

 

I like the guy and understand why he coaches the way he does, and I can even see the beauty in it at times. But the reality is you have to keep growing and stretching the limits of your team to get better and the Bills just aren't doing that. They are in a state of arrested development under Jauron, and it shows every time they meet a very good team and get BLASTED off the field or when they play focused teams late in the season who refuse to beat themselves with turnovers and mistakes. It's no mistake the Bills have made their hay the past 2 seasons vs. lesser teams and prior to the stretch drive of late November/December. The bottom line is that they do not play good football under Jauron. Conservative? Yes. Productive and efficient? No. The guy did a solid job getting things organized and creating an identity for the team in his first season, but I really question what more he has to offer.

 

 

Wow, did you just hit the nail on the head. Get's down to the nitty-gritty of the reason why I can not stand Jauron's coaching style. It goes against everything I LOVE about football. Excitement, players pushed to their limits, no fear, letting it all hang out is what I want to see from our team on Sundays. This bland "cover 2" playing on your heels defense and conservative 1940's offense is not only painful to watch, but always gets ripped apart by the good teams of the league. It's like we have absolutely no shot of winning when we are facing the contenders. Marv Levy trusted his players to make "game-winning" plays, he let both the offense and defense get after it and attack the opposition. What I see now is the opposite approach, of which the sole purpose is to maximize the Bills chances for a minimal number of losses. To me, Dick Jauron 's head coaching style is the anti-Marv Levy style.

[LongLiveRalph]

7-9 will always look good compared to the bottom of the league so if that's your yardstick, Jauron is OK. He's coached some teams with below average talent and generated below average results. What remains to be seen is if he can win with better talent. The front office appears to have upgraded the talent in Buffalo significantly over 2 years ago. If you believe that (as I do) then you have to hold the coach responsible for generating results with that. This is his year to do that, to be measurably better than 7-9. For me that means 9 wins or more or you consider a change.

 

Yes agreed...I was just citing the fact that those three coordinators who were hired as first-time HC's the same year the Bills hired Jauron have each had one good season and one very poor season. The original poster was mentioning them as "Hey, why didn't we get these guys?" The Bills were FAR from championship caliber, but were sniffing the outskirts of playoff contention in both of Jauron's seasons. That said, at this point I think we'd all take an 11-5 playoff season, even if it was followed by a 5-11.

 

If Peters is wearing a helmet this season and everyone is healthy (to the extent that football teams stay "healthy" over 16 games), I agree, 9 wins is the watermark. I have plenty of worries about QB and redzone offense (the usuals this time of year in WNY) but I still see them as as team that could win 10 or 11. But they haven't proven it yet...Alll they've proven is that they're a team who can lose 9.

[Big Turk]

I believe this year will be a good tell on how good of a coach he is.

 

I agree...there is no question this team has enough talent to be a 10 win team if the right coach is handling them...we will see if he is the right coach I guess by the record at the end of the year....

[krazykat]

It's not his fault that his talent has sucked. He's a victim of venomous fate.

Ahh yes, I completely forgot about the venomous fate.

 

Thanks for reminding me.

 

[Cynical]

No discussion of Dick Jauron's tenure at Chicago is complete without the following: In Jauron's first year as coach, he took over a team that had gone 4-12 in 1998 and improved them to 6-10. Just before the 2001 season, Jerry Angelo was hired as Bears GM.

 

You forgot to include the 2000 season where Jauron took a 6-10 team of 1999 to 5-11.

 

That year the Bears went 13-3 and Jauron won Coach of the Year honors with a marginally talented squad.

 

IIRC, Jauron was also given an extension after that season. Angelo must have really hated Jauron.

 

The following 2002 season, Soldier Field was being renovated and the Bears played all their home games at the University of Illinois/Champaign. In addition they were devastated by injuries (last year must have been like deja vu for Jauron). The Bears finished 4-12.

 

Will Peters hold out and the fact the Bills will have to play 'home' games in Toronto become the new 'reasons' (a/k/a excuses) Jauron fails?

 

According to those close to the organization, Angelo had no real regard for Jauron. He inherited him as coach and the two basically had a non-relationship. As would any GM coming in, Angelo wanted to hire his won coach.

 

How dare Angelo have no real regard for a HC that already had two losing seasons prior to his arrival.

 

In 2003, the Bears finished 7-9. According to the testimony of several Bears players, the team, with Kordell Stewart at quarterback, was low on talent but still played hard including a 4-2 closing stretch that was an attempt to save Jauron's job.

 

Players loved Wayne Fontes too. Players played hard for him. Wayne is previous Coach of the Year winner.

When Jauron is showed the door, I say we hire Wayne Fontes.

 

It was not enough. Angelo fired Jauron after the season and hired Lovie Smith. Smith's record after succeeding Jauron in 2004? The Bears finished with two less wins at 5-11. And look at them now. Despite some top shelf talent, they look to me like a team on the downswing (Lovie's record is 36-28 in four seasons).

 

You are so right. Smith only has a .563 winning average with a SB appearance.

Jauron was sssssssooooooooooooooo much better.

 

It's actually pretty easy to argue that he's done more with less and that's surely why he's coached 100+ games. I think he's a good coach, maybe not great.

 

32 of those 117 games came as HC of the Bills. Buffalo was the only team interested in Jauron at the time of his hire. It was a real possibility if the Bills did not hire DJ, DJ never sees 100 games as a HC.

[ricojes]

jauron is all the Bills can afford.. someone said get Marty Schott.. no way, he will want $5m/yr.. no way the bills can afford that.. Dicky J. is all we can afford.. players win games, not coaches..go bills, 10-6 this yr...

 

Don't kid yourself the Bills can afford to pay a top notch coach, but they/Ralph won't...

[trolls_r_us]

SanJose,

 

Nice response. I agree that talent plays a role, but you could look at it this way: the teams that hired him were teams that were not considered "premier jobs." Thus, it kind of goes with the territory. In other words, none of the true contender teams thought enough of him to hire him, and they have not so far.

 

It's not a simple thing to determine how "good" a coach is, for sure. One thing I look at is "who almost beat (or did beat) New England last season?"

 

Here are the coaches who beat (or almost beat) the Patriots, who seemed invincible:

 

Brian Billick (w/ KYLE BOLLER, on MNF, and a Ravens team that WE beat).

Tony Dungy

Andy Reid (w/ AJ FEELEY, on MNF, in New England).

Tom Coughlin

 

3/4 of those coaches have won a Super Bowl. IT could be argued that until the playoffs started, only Indy had a legitimate championship calibur QB.

 

That is what GOOD COACHING can do. No, it didn't overcome superior talent (except in the Super Bowl) but it came darn close.

 

Feeley VS Brady in NE on MNF with a perfect season in the balance shouldn't even be a contest. Yet it was.

 

NO GAME with Boller at QB should be a contest, yet it was.

[C.Biscuit97]

SanJose,

 

Nice response. I agree that talent plays a role, but you could look at it this way: the teams that hired him were teams that were not considered "premier jobs." Thus, it kind of goes with the territory. In other words, none of the true contender teams thought enough of him to hire him, and they have not so far.

 

It's not a simple thing to determine how "good" a coach is, for sure. One thing I look at is "who almost beat (or did beat) New England last season?"

 

Here are the coaches who beat (or almost beat) the Patriots, who seemed invincible:

 

Brian Billick (w/ KYLE BOLLER, on MNF, and a Ravens team that WE beat).

Tony Dungy

Andy Reid (w/ AJ FEELEY, on MNF, in New England).

Tom Coughlin

 

3/4 of those coaches have won a Super Bowl. IT could be argued that until the playoffs started, only Indy had a legitimate championship calibur QB.

 

That is what GOOD COACHING can do. No, it didn't overcome superior talent (except in the Super Bowl) but it came darn close.

 

Feeley VS Brady in NE on MNF with a perfect season in the balance shouldn't even be a contest. Yet it was.

 

NO GAME with Boller at QB should be a contest, yet it was.

 

 

Well, Billick just got fired and Coughlin was on the verge of getting fired until the Giants' amazing run last year. Dungy was also seen as a guy who couldn't win the big game until the Colts finally won a Super Bowl. And correct if I'm wrong, but weren't the Bills in a game they shouldn't have been last year on MNF (rookie QB, 5 starters out on defense)?

 

Look, Jauron's record isn't very good obviously. But everything is how you look at it. If you want to whine about a head coach that you are powerless to change, I guess good for you. However, a lot of Bills' fans are excited for this season and see Jauron as a guy players play for. They point to stats like being a top 10 in turnover differential and penalties, stats that good coaches have.

 

However, I do expect major improvement from this group. I hate putting a number on wins because a lot of things can happen but I expect to see a much improved football team. If that doesn't happen, it is time for a change. But for now, being the silly optimist I am, I'm gonna convince myself that Jauron is Bellichick befor Brady and he has finally found him.

[Pyrite Gal]

Many thanks for your well researched and recited post which began this thread!

 

I think you do provide compelling stats which show that the simple fact is Jauron has produced a mediocre record as an HC and that in the small world of HCs who last long enough to HC 100 games his record is among the worse.

 

However, I agree with those such as BADO and C. Bisc who note that a fuller examination of the context surrounding the simple stats reveals a more complex truth than a simple (or complex) recitation of the stats.

 

Overall, I think you provide statistical proof of the old saw that HCs get too much credit for the success of their teams and too much blame. It is flat out correct IMHO that Bill Belicheck is one of the best game coaches in NFL history (a night game a few years back where the Pats were being fairly well outplayed by their opponent and BB simply worked with the Pats to just hang around and the opponent simply failed through dumb luck a lot of times to stick a fork in the Pats, BB had the Pats take a safety late in the game in order to get better field position and then as the opposing coaches were not aggressive his D stuffed 'em and they pulled off a low-chance late game drive for the TD which led them to victory- I was impressed) and he also is excellent at choosing lieutenants like Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel who lead his units to perform well.

 

Belicheck also produces an great sense of being a TEAM amongst his team which I think is a key to their winning a bunch of SBs. Ironically, he has done this through positive efforts such as introducing the Pats as a team in the 01 season SB rather than as individuals. Picking Brady (a piece of skilled luck if I ever saw one as they easily could have ended up without him if any of 31 other teams had been smart enough to spend a lowly 5th round choice on the man who is arguably the best player in the NFL in his era) proved to be the ultimate making lemonades out of lemons since my sense is that if the Jet had not sidetracked Bledsoe with a collapsed lung that likely the main thing which might have kept Belicheck from being on your list is that he may have gotten canned in NE before he HC'ed his 100th game.

 

Yet, despite the fact that a review of the W/L record clearly shows BB to be one of the best HC's, he will always be Bill BELLICHEAT to me because of some clear flaws in his personality which led him to antics like oversight of NE whie they were breaking the rules filming other teams sending in signals, to his about face with the NYJ offered him the HC job and he accepted it and then rejected it, to the irony that part of his building a sense of TEAM with the Pats not only included good moves like the SB intro, but also him uniting his team when he stupidly miscalculated and mishandled Lawyer Milloy's contract.

 

He united his team in that they all hated him and publicly called him out for mismanaging the Milloy negotiations. Fortunately for them this unity came in handy with SB winning results when they suffered some key injuries and really came together as a team.

 

I say all this as a heartfelt testimonial to the stats which would underly a claim of BB being the best, but as far as this fan is concerned, it is an open question for me whether winning as the Pats have would be worth it to me as a fan if they only way to revel in this results means I would have to also buy into and back Bilicheat's actions and act.

 

This is of course biased by my history as a rooter for the Bills but there is no question for me that given a choice between having the four SB losses to the lovable but full of warts Bills teams or the current success of the Bilicheat/Kraft led Pats, i would take the Bills and both their success and failures over being a Pats fan with the cost/benefit of victory but rooting for Belicheat.

 

It is important what the record of success for an HC is and Jauron's total record falls short as you clearly show. However, there is more than just winning games for me as a fan I want from my HC and like it or not Jauron seems to show a lot of that as an HC.

 

Does this forgive all failings? UNEQUIVOCALLY NO IMHO.

 

However, of the real world reasons which provide the context of Jauron's records are linked to the team getting better or at least holding its own, I am happy to give him a pass for a short period of time.

 

In the modern game from my perspective, the time I am willing to give a pass is certainly shorter now.

 

As long as the team shows positive progress and good explanations (which in my mind are not used as mere excuses) this fan is willing to hang with an HC or a player for three seasons of fan worship.

 

I might even give a (meaningless in the real world) fan extension of a year before I refuse to suspend judgment.

 

By HCing a 5-11 team to 7-9 and then producing the same record despite like it or not a league leading number of players on the IR, I think I can easily and it is quite fair to give virtual total rooting support to Jauron for the 08 season.

 

Even with the highlights of his accomplishments in the past (a 13-3 year and being an HC for 100 games) have clear cavets and warts to them, I think he reasonably gets another year because the simple fact is that between the ball being oddly shaped and refs sometimes blowing the coin flip, his record of achievements could easily be altered by his Bill's team building on the last two years to make the playoffs or to have another mediocre season.

 

To me, the primary failings that might likely block the Bills from making the playoffs is that as a first time OC, Schonert has not demonstrated to me that he can overcome:

 

1. Our O not having the personnel at TE to make this a useful tool in our receiving game.

2. A virtual complete lack of success producing with the RBs in the receiving game.

3. Uncertainty with our O based on them failing to have a QB who will be the man in leading our team.

 

I also think that concern that our D will be able to get after the QB (sacks are great but consistent pressure is sufficient) and hold the line on the run are legit concerns and the need we have to reload on ST is real. However, given our off-season acquisitions and the record of success with the D side of the game shown in the past by our D braintrust and the ST success of the past, I am not as worried about these unknowns.

 

The open question is whether our braintrust can make our O work, but Jauron's first two years proven results with this team get him pretty full support next year.

 

Its not unequivocal but it has this fan's support.

 

 

 

SanJose,

 

Nice response. I agree that talent plays a role, but you could look at it this way: the teams that hired him were teams that were not considered "premier jobs." Thus, it kind of goes with the territory. In other words, none of the true contender teams thought enough of him to hire him, and they have not so far.

 

It's not a simple thing to determine how "good" a coach is, for sure. One thing I look at is "who almost beat (or did beat) New England last season?"

 

Here are the coaches who beat (or almost beat) the Patriots, who seemed invincible:

 

Brian Billick (w/ KYLE BOLLER, on MNF, and a Ravens team that WE beat).

Tony Dungy

Andy Reid (w/ AJ FEELEY, on MNF, in New England).

Tom Coughlin

 

3/4 of those coaches have won a Super Bowl. IT could be argued that until the playoffs started, only Indy had a legitimate championship calibur QB.

 

That is what GOOD COACHING can do. No, it didn't overcome superior talent (except in the Super Bowl) but it came darn close.

 

Feeley VS Brady in NE on MNF with a perfect season in the balance shouldn't even be a contest. Yet it was.

 

NO GAME with Boller at QB should be a contest, yet it was.