When the news broke last week that Mike Pettine was talking to the Browns, I really didn't give much thought to it. I just assumed it was your typical token interview that seems to happen every off-season with decent coordinators. I was chalking up all the panic on my Bills Twitter feed to fans just not being used to having coaches that other teams want to talk to. After all, it has been 22 years since a Bills coordinator took an NFL head coaching job.
That's one thing the Bills have lacked since 2000. There's been continuity with coordinators all right, as in they have all pretty much failed! In the last fourteen seasons, the Bills have had six defensive coordinators and nine offensive coordinators for a grand total of fifteen. That's an average of one new coordinator every year! Obviously, we know that large number is because of failure and not because the Bills have become a pipeline for coordinators to get a head coaching job.
To me, this is exactly what the panic about Pettine leaving is about.
The Bills have been so terrible for so long that they resemble a guy who, when he finally gets someone who looks decent, has no choice but to put a damn ring on it. All the bad choices and matches of the past have haunted him so much. And that's the narrative here and probably forever when we overrate everything with both our local teams.
Bills fans are more in love with the idea of being in love rather than just going with the flow and trying to figure out what makes them happy.
You gotta start opening your eyes and realizing there are other fish in the sea. Hear what you want, but I'm going down the road of not looking back in anger at our past failures in this one. I'm not going to go stir-crazy 9 months before the start of next season.
Look, I like Pettine. I think he did a really nice job picking up the pieces of a defense that was dreadful last year. I think he deserves to be a head coach. However, the Panda watch from some Bills fans who were going apeshit about this was a little over the top for my taste. I'll include myself in the Twitterverse, but it was mostly out of curiosity and boredom.
It is a reason why I avoided blogging about this until he actually left. I just couldn't get to the panic state of mind if it was all for naught.
I know I shouldn't judge the public opinion by Twitter because any reaction is enhanced to the 10th degree and it is like .1% of actual Bills fans, but holy crap, what other fanbase would go this nuts over a coordinator leaving after one season? I know Pettine did a lot with the defense, improving sacks and turnovers, but there are still a number of stats that show we shouldn't be going off the deep end on this.
This is the same defense that went 0-5 against teams in the top 15 because it gave up 30 points per game. It let obscure running backs run all over it. The defense gave up the 5th most rushing yards in the league despite playing against just one RB in the top 15 in rushing.
For fuck sake, Geno Smith had over 300 yards passing against us. I hate that I have to shit a little on Pettine, but pump your brakes before you drive off the Peace Bridge over the thought of him leaving. The Bills defense was terrible in 2012 because Dave Wannstedt may have been the worst coordinator they have hired since 2000. I think a LBs coach on the fricken UB Bulls could have done a better job than him.
Take a second and look at the whole picture and not just the Bills past failures. There is today and there is our own sad history. Today's NFL is what we should thrive for or at least look at when trying to measure where we are. Coordinators leaving for HC gigs happens all the time with teams and this may shock you, but their replacement doesn't have to be Dave Wannstedt or George Edwards!
The Baltimore Ravens have possibly the biggest defensive coordinator/head coaching tree. It rivals the Tree of Knowledge. Despite that, their defense, for the most part, didn't fall on its face when changes happened. The Hawks defensive coordinator left last year to become the head coach of the Jags and the Hawks seem to be doing all right without him. The Cards lost their DC last year to Cleveland and their defense didn't miss a beat
What about when New England used to lose their DC during the early 2000s on what seemed like a yearly basis? Did the defense die? Or was it maybe the talent that helped carry the team and not just the scheme.
Now, are there times where a change blows up in a team's face right away? Sure. The Cowboys brought in Monte Kiffin and the defense was brutal. In 2009, Steve Spagnuolo had the 5th best scoring defense with the Giants and got a HC job with the Rams. His replacement, Bill Sheridan, guided the Giants to the 30th ranked scoring defense and was fired soon after. However, the successes outweigh the blow-ups.
Do I think there will be a transition period that might involve the defense taking a step back? Sure. But I don't think they are going to fall flat on their faces and memories of Spencer Johnson rushing off the edge will fester.
Also, keep in mind all the stats I listed above and remember that the Bills got away with playing some low level QBs this season. Next year they'll go up against the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Matthew Stafford, Jay Cutler, Phillip Rivers, and Tom Brady. Whether it is Wade Phillips or Donnie Henderson, it was probably going to be a lot harder next year for this squad.
Maybe I'm trying too hard to talk myself into a good place, but I have faith that Doug Marrone and this new regime will hire a competent defensive coordinator and NOT someone like Dave Wannstedt. God, why did Dave Wannstedt have to ruin everything?!
Just chiliax. I get your trepidation because I tend to get that way in regards to the Bills not ever getting nice things, but there's always a bright side. The Bills finished the season with 9 defensive starters that were either a 1st or 2nd round pick. There's talent here with their 4 pro bowlers and young guys like Hughes/Alonso on the rise.
This isn't a situation where Bill Belichick is making Troy Brown into a CB or us needing Shawne Merriman and his one leg to be our best pass rusher. We got horses here.
Pettine was good and he'll be missed. But I think Dave Wannstedt/George Edwards/Dick Jauron were more lousy at their jobs than Pettine was great at his and that's what we're responding to.
We are always afraid to lose the pretty good guy because for too long, we had the really bad guy. Maybe, just maybe, there's eventually a great guy in our future.
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