Nothing gets me more excited on Twitter than talking about fantasy coaching hires or signings. I enjoy throwing out names, listening to the reactions, and getting to know the pros and cons for each. When the Mike Pettine hiring went down, I quickly went on the fantasy attack. Phillips, Mangini, Greg Schiano..and…Jim Schwartz.
Before he was hired, I mentioned him on Twitter and the consensus was pretty much this: NOT THAT ASSHOLE! Yes, that about sums up Jim Schwartz. He comes off as a majorly smug asshole and because of that, he's going to need to produce right away.
Obviously, a lot of Bills fans were smitten by Pettine and when you bring in a guy who talks a lot of junk, shows bravado, and has a reputation of being an ass, it will only heighten expectations. This is the first time in like, forever that the Bills have lost a coach that most fans appreciated. You thought some couldn't get over the loss of someone like Andy Levitre and Marshawn Lynch? Now Schwartz will follow in the footsteps of CJ Spiller and Collin Brown.
Overall, I was pretty shocked the Bills pulled this off.
I was ready for them to dish out the continuity card and bring out Donnie Henderson. Alas, they went big. You can't say they could have done any better when you look at the field and name recognition. The last time the Bills hired a coordinator who was a HC the previous season, it was Wade Phillips in 1995. It wasn't too long ago that coordinators didn't want the HC job here, but now we seem to be on a more level playing field with other NFL teams. Hooray!
As far as liking the hire, I didn't watch too many Lions games over the past few years, so, I really can't give that big of an opinion. That's why I'm going to go stat crazy about Schwartz's years in Detroit. When I'm done, I'll come up with my answer…hopefully.
2013: Lions finish 7-9
| 16th in total defense | 15th in points allowed |
| 23rd in passing yards allowed | 28th in sacks |
| 5th in giving up passing plays of 40+ yards | 17th in INTs |
| Team high in sacks was by Ezekiel Ansah (8) | 6th against the run |
| Gave up an average of 24 PPG in 9 games against top 15 offenses. | Gave up 24 points or more 8 times |
| Went 6 games without causing a turnover | Allowed three 300-yard passers |
| Allowed fewer than 100 rushing yards in 9 games |
2012- Lions finish 4-12
|
20th in total defense |
27th in points allowed. |
|
14th in passing yards allowed |
20th in sacks |
| 2nd in giving up passing plays of 40+ yards | 23rd in INTs |
| Team high in sacks was by Cliff Avril (8) | 16th against the run |
| Gave up an average of 29 PPG against 7 top 15 offenses | Gave up 24 points or more 11 times. |
| Went 6 games without causing a turnover | Allowed two 300-yard passers |
| Allowed fewer than 100 yards rushing in 8 games. | Best game – Beat the Bears, 13-7. Sacked Jay Cutler 5 times. |
| Worst game – Lost to the Titans, 44-41. Jake Locker had almost 400-yards passing. |
2011- Lions finished 10-6
| 23rd in total defense | 23rd in points allowed |
| 22nd in passing yards allowed | 10th in sacks |
| 17th in giving up passing plays of 40+ yards | 5th in INTs |
| Team high in sacks was by Clifford Avril (11) | 23rd against the run |
| Gave up an average of 28 PPG in 8 games against top 15 offenses | Gave up 24 points or more 8 times. |
| Went 4 games without causing a turnover, but forced 6 turnovers in two other games. | Allowed four 300-yard passers |
| Allowed fewer than 100 yards rushing in 4 games. | Best game- Beat the Chargers, 38-10. Sacked Rivers 3 times and forced 2 INTs |
| Worst game – Lost to the Saints in the playoffs, 45-28. Also, allowed 45 points to Matt Flynn in the season finale. |
2010- Lions finished 6-10
| 21st in total defense | 19th in points allowed |
| 16th in passing yards allowed | 6th in sacks |
| 13th in giving up passing plays of 40+ yards | 19th in INTs |
| Team high in sacks was by Ndamukong Suh (10) | 22nd against the run |
| Gave up an average of 28 PPG in 7 games against top 15 offenses | Gave up 24 points or more 9 times |
| Went 3 games without causing a turnover, but caused two turnovers or more in 8 games. | Allowed three 300-yard passers |
| Allowed fewer than 100 yards rushing in 4 games. | Best game – Beat the Rams, 44-6. Forced 3 turnovers |
| Worst game – Lost to the Patriots, 45-24. Brady had 340 yards and 4 TDs |
2009- Lions finished 2-14
| 32nd in total defense | 32nd in points allowed |
| 32nd in passing yards allowed | 29th in sacks |
| 1st in most passing plays of 40+ yards | 30th in INTs |
| Team high in sacks was by Cliff Avril (5.5) | 25th against the run |
| Gave up an average of 33 PPG in 8 games against top 15 offenses | Gave up 24 points or more 12 times. |
| Went 3 games without causing a turnover but forced 2 turnovers or more in 6 games. | Allowed seven 300-yard passers |
| Allowed 100 rushing yards or fewer in 5 games. |
Final averages for Detroit's defense
| 22nd in total defense | 23rd in points allowed |
| 21st in passing yards allowed | 18th in sacks |
| 7th in most passing plays of 40+ yards | 19th in INTs |
| Team leader in sack averaged 8.5 takedowns | 18th against the run |
| Gave up an average of 28 PPG against teams in the top 15 in offense | Gave up 24 points or more 48 times in 5 years |
| Went an average of four games without causing a turnover | Allowed 4 passers of 300-yards or more |
| Allowed fewer than 100 yards rushing in 30 games or 6 per season |
Um,well… I'm not exactly blown away, are you?
Look, there are a few things to mention. First off, the Lions had a decent offense for the last three seasons and when you have an offense that can put up points like they do, opposing teams are going to sling it because they are trying to keep up. I don't think the Bills will have the same type of offense the Lions will have next year. Is that the main reason Detroit's defense was mediocre for the most part? No. But it can be a factor.
Second, I wouldn't read too much importance into Schwartz's first year in Detroit. That team was coming off a 0-16 season and they were rebuilding. Third, outside of Suh, there wasn't much talent on that defense. Suh was the only defensive player to make the Pro Bowl during Schwartz's tenure there.
Now, going back to the stats, there's only a very, very, very small amount to hang your hat on, but if you want to talk yourself into it, maybe it wasn't Schwartz's fault but Gunther Cunningham's. Gunther was the DC for all five years of Schwartz's tenure. Why on earth he wasn't fired is beyond me when you look at the numbers.
How much say did Schwartz have in the defensive game-planning? You'd think that with it being his forte and background that he'd have a hell of a lot of input, right? Maybe he gave full autonomy to Gunther? Meh. That sounds like a bit of a cop-out and when you listen to Schwartz, he kind of screams out micromanager. Of course, we can't ignore his success in Tennessee – we'll take a look at it later this week – but maybe Jeff Fisher had a say in those defenses? Damn. I'm all sorts of confused now.
As far as Schwartz's bravado goes, I'm all for it. I like my coaches to be giant assholes. That's actually what impressed me most about the hiring. Also, he was the coach that guided a pretty pathetic franchise to the playoffs and respectability. God knows if Marrone got us to 10 wins and the playoffs, we'd probably name a street after him.
However, if you just look at the stats from Detroit, I'm not blown away. Still, this was probably the best thing the Bills could do since it took the Browns 500 years to find a coach. Wade Phillips wasn't coming here unless Ralph Wilson was playing Bernie from "Weekend at Bernie's" and Russ forged his signature to the papers.
Mangini would have been nice, but being out of the defensive game – he hasn't coached since 2010 – would have hurt a bit. Schiano would have been a disaster. I love dick coaches, but when you start hearing about how a mutiny went down in Tampa Bay, that's when you you abandon the "good girls always like a bad boys" rhetoric.
Promoting from within may have been the safer bet. However, the Bills decided to roll the dice on a young, experienced mind like Schwartz. There's a higher return on Schwartz because of his experience and name, but also a larger bottoming out because his defenses were pretty bad at times.
If you read our Q&A yesterday, you'll know Detroit didn't blitz a lot and relied on their front 4. It is funny, but 2 years ago at this time, that's what everyone, myself included, was stoked about when Wannstedt was promoted. Folks were thrilled because the Bills were going from 3-4 to 4-3 and we'd just play zone and our front four would kill the opposition. It didn't happen because Wannstedt didn't blitz and the Bills coverage scheme was awful.
Now, I'm not saying Schwartz is bringing a read and react defense here by any stretch. It's just funny how some may flip out at the thought of having just a 4-man front rushing QBs because of what happened with Wannstedt. Again, that damn Wannstedt ruined everything!
However, there are other ways to skin a cat, ways that don't involve blitzing. Based on the hiring, I do think the Bills defense will be different next year, but if you are a good coach and you have good players, it shouldn't matter whether it is 4-3, 3-4, 6-2, 46, 69, 716, Wide 9 alignment or whatever the hell. You should still be able to get decent results.
Hopefully, we'll see how Schwartz's defense is as Big as Pettine's. See..It took me almost 2,000 words to make a "Spaceballs" joke. How did I go that long?
Anyways, hopefully, the Schwartz will be with us!
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