Ennjay Posted October 3, 2009 Posted October 3, 2009 I see the recent coaching inadequacies being magnified by the setback that was the Donahoe years, and some well intentioned missteps under Levy. The Greg Williams years were bound to be bad because of the salary cap purge. In order to have any success at that time you have to get every last ounce of talent out of your players. Williams does that on defense, but proved not to be able to assemble a staff that could do that under him with the collection of players we had at the time. In the end, I think he was put in a position to fail, and managed to do so with bullhorn in hand. Mike Mularkey was hamstrung by the Donahoe mess and the players he inherited (short term band-aids like Bledsoe are not the way to build, though he did sell seats initially.) Mularkey probably had the insight to know things would not turn around in time for him to save his job, so why stay on and ruin your chances as a head coach later on when the right situation does arise. Looking around the league to other up-and-comers who were previously coordinators (some might say "cheap" hires), Sean Payton, John Fox, Marvin Lewis, Mike Tomlin, Ken Wisenhunt, etc have all had some measure of success in the right situation. If I recall, Gregg Williams and Mike Mularkey were fairly highly touted among the respective up and comers of their time. Our track record would seem to me that maybe there is something more at play in their lack of success than just their lack of ability (similar to the way we can't seem to groom a QB despite the low round picks being spent on them.) Under Levy, I think there was a trend toward bringing in a better character of player, however the well intentioned mistake was signing overrated, overweight, undertalented players to shore up an O-line that had been ignored for years. In addition, over this time period there has been a total lack of identity to this franchise. Over the last 10 years there has been no one with a unifying vision putting their stamp on this team!! No feeling like there has been a plan in place that we were working toward, more like a collection of players that didn't fit what the coaches were trying to do. All of this longwinded BS leads me to the point I wanted to make. It seems that you need a year or two to implement a philosophy. In this salary cap era, cutting players and absorbing their signing bonuses all at once is hard to do when you need to gut a team (though may in part be why the Bills are implementing this "cash to cap" philosophy presently, as evidenced by their recent purge.) Unfortunately for those who want to see a coaching change, I get the feeling that we may be in for a bit of an evaluation process, despite this being DJ's fourth year, as this looks like the first time in the last few years that he finally has "his guys" in place to implement his philosophy. In addition, the changes that have been made to bring in players that fit this philosophy has only occurred under Jauron and Brandon after Levy left. Jauron making the changes that he did prior to the season either indicates that he had some assurances, or he knew he was going to be fired, and he might as well go down his way. I get the feeling that Jauron is being afforded a luxury that others have not had in the last 10 years, and that is the chance to succeed or fail with his players in his system. If we fire him now, unless we bring in a coach who employs a similar philosophy, we are in for another 2 years of turnover. Not defending him, mind you, just stating that unless he manages to have some success this year, we are likely in for a long next couple of years, and based on this franchise's history, it is not all DJ's fault. Thoughtful and reasoned. I agree on most points, but what I really want to say is that I enjoyed reading a thoughtful and reasoned discussion for a change. Thanks.
transient Posted October 3, 2009 Posted October 3, 2009 Thoughtful and reasoned. I agree on most points, but what I really want to say is that I enjoyed reading a thoughtful and reasoned discussion for a change. Thanks. My pleasure. Thanks for the props.
Sisyphean Bills Posted October 4, 2009 Posted October 4, 2009 What, no love for John Heisman? He'd be my choice.
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