Report: Chan Gailey to become Bills next coach
Posted by Anthony Stalter (01/19/2010 @ 9:59 am)
ESPN.com is reporting that the Bills could introduce Chan Gailey as their next head coach as soon as today.
The Bills are said to be impressed with how Gailey has brought teams to the playoffs with quarterbacks such as Mike Tomczak, Kordell Stewart and Jay Fiedler. In fact, Bill Cowher — whom the Bills had been courting to replace the fired Dick Jauron — highly recommended Gailey to the Bills.
Cowher planned to make Gailey his assistant head coach/offensive coordinator if he came back. Gailey has coached in four Super Bowls and has had his teams go to the playoffs in 11 of his 15 NFL seasons.
If I were a Bills fan, this would be my concern. Gailey has a sharp, creative offensive mind and likes to mix things up to keep defenses guessing. But the reason he was fired in Dallas was because he failed to play to the strengths of his personnel (i.e. Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith). His play calling would either be too radical or too conservative, which doesn’t bode well for a Bills team that is short on talent and needs a disciplined approach on both sides of the ball.
Of course throughout his career, none of his teams finished below .500 and most of his teams won 10-plus games. He’s a good football coach and knows what it takes to win, so maybe Buffalo did make the right choice. Time will tell obviously.
Shanahan to meet with Bills next week
Posted by Anthony Stalter (11/19/2009 @ 9:10 am)
According to a report by NFL.com, former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan will meet with the Bills next week to discuss possibly coaching in Buffalo in 2010.
Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher also is high on the Bills’ list of candidates, but at the moment, they are focused on Shanahan, who guided the Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl championships in the late 1990s but was fired after last season.
There’s also strong speculation that the Redskins are pursuing Shanahan to replace Jim Zorn as their coach after the season. However, according to the source close to the Bills, Shanahan is intrigued by the “low-maintenance” situation he would have in Buffalo as opposed to Washington.
The Bills, the source said, are willing to offer whatever salary is necessary to land a high-end candidate such as Shanahan and would give him total control of the football operation, something Wilson has generally been opposed to doing in the past. Adding to the job’s attractiveness, according to the source, is the fact the team is in solid financial shape and not burdened by any dead salary-cap money.
“This is his (Wilson’s) last coach and (he) is going to do everything it takes to get it right,” the source said of the 91-year-old owner.
Shanahan would absolutely be the right choice for the Bills. They need someone to start over from scratch and blow up the roster and Shanahan has experience putting teams and coaching staffs together.
If the Bills hire another hotshot coordinator, they’ll likely need a new head coach again in 2-3 years. They need someone that can demolish the roster and start fresh. It may take a year or two before the Bills are competitive again, but Shanahan would eventually get them on the right track.
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Bills interested in Mike Shanahan
Posted by Anthony Stalter (11/18/2009 @ 5:30 pm)
According to a report by ESPN.com, the Bills are interested in hiring former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan to replace the recently fired Dick Jauron.
Buffalo has contacted and is in the process of arranging a meeting with former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, according to two NFL sources.
Shanahan, a two-time Super Bowl winner with the Broncos, is said to be willing to listen to the Bills. He has said in the past that he is determined to return to the NFL next season.
While Shanahan, a two-time Super Bowl winner with the Broncos, is viewed within the Bills organization as a desired candidate, there are other names at or near the top of the team’s wish list.
For now, the Bills have appointed defensive coordinator Perry Fewell as interim head coach. Fewell is well-respected within the organization and will be given every opportunity to earn the full-time job.
The Bills also will investigate options expected to include Florida Tuskers coach Jim Haslett and New York Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, both of whom has ties to the Bills.
Hiring Haslett would be a lateral move for the Bills. They need someone that will scout the players and coach them on the field; they don’t need another person like Haslett or Jauron that would be better suited for a coordinator role.
But someone like Shanahan is exactly the type of person the Bills should be thinking about because the team needs to be blown up from the coaching staff down to the players. They need to bring a bulldozer to that place and start over from scratch and Shanahan is the type of guy who could build a team from the ground up. If Shanahan wanted complete control, then the Bills should have no problem giving it to him.
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Bills fire head coach Dick Jauron
Posted by Anthony Stalter (11/17/2009 @ 3:14 pm)
According to NFL.com, the Buffalo Bills have fired head coach Dick Jauron after starting the season 3-6.
Defensive coordinator Fewell Perry is expected to become the Bills’ interim head coach, a Bills source told NFL.com’s Vic Carucci.
In just short of four seasons with the Bills, Jauron compiled a record of 24-33 (.421 winning percentage). The Bills failed to make the playoffs in each season under Jauron. Buffalo has not made the playoffs since 1999, the longest active streak for a non-expansion team.
On Monday, defensive end Aaron Schobel questioned the Bills’ lack of direction with seven games remaining in their season.
“It’s embarrassing,” said Schobel, the longest-tenured player on the Bills roster, a day after a 41-17 loss at Tennessee dropped Buffalo’s record to 3-6. “I mean, we’re technically, mathematically still in it, I guess, but it’s like what … are we doing here?”
Speaking within earshot of several Bills officials near the entrance of the locker room, Schobel expressed his frustration, but stopped short in explaining what he thinks the franchise’s problems are by saying: “That’s about all I can say without saying what I want to say.”
Terrell Owens posted this on his Twitter page roughly about the same time the news broke:
Wassup everytweeter? It’s a beautiful day n the neighborhood here n good ‘ol Buffalo!
Now, that could be a genuine statement by T.O. but then again I don’t know how many beautiful days there are in Buffalo in the middle of November. So my guess is that Owens is a fan of this news.
Jauron did nothing to help the Bills succeed over the past couple years and it was painfully obviously that he wasn’t moving the team in the right direction. They got off to a hot start last year but fell apart shortly thereafter because opponents started to figure out ways to stop Trent Edwards (which isn’t hard) and Jauron and his coaching staff never made adjustments.
I’m sure he’ll catch on as a coordinator or assistant somewhere next year, but he’s likely done as a head coach at the NFL level.
The Bills are similar to the Browns in that they need a complete makeover, starting with the front office down to the players. I highly doubt Perry Fewell is the answer, which means Ralph Wilson needs to get to work on finding a permanent replacement in the offseason.
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Putting into perspective how bad the Bills are
Posted by Anthony Stalter (10/12/2009 @ 4:06 pm)
The Bills’ 6-3 loss to the Browns on Sunday was ugly. How ugly?
Let’s look at some facts:
– The Browns were winless coming into Week 5 and the Bills were playing at home. In fact, Cleveland hadn’t won its previous 10 outings before yesterday’s game.
– The Browns had given up an average of 29.5 points per game in their previous four outings, yet the Bills could only muster a field goal.
– Speaking of points, Buffalo has lost three straight games and have only scored 20 points combined in those three losses.
– Browns quarterback Derek Anderson was 2 of 17 for 23 yards and an interception. How the hell does a starting quarterback win in the NFL by only completing 2 of 17 pass attempts? Only 11.8 percent of Anderson’s pass attempts were completed, yet he still was the winning quarterback.
– The Bills were charged with nine false start penalties. NINE.
Granted, the Bills are incredibly banged up defensively, but they can’t use that excuse considering that the Browns only scored six points. Dick Jauron is making a case to be the first coach fired in midseason and his decision to let offensive coordinator Turk Schonert go just days before Buffalo’s opener looks horrible in light of Alex Van Pelt’s brutal start.
I realize that the Bills have a highly inexperienced offensive line that is causing many issues for Trent Edwards and the rest of the offense. But there’s simply no excuse to lose to the Browns 6-3 at home, especially when Derek Anderson completes only two passes for 23 yards.
