If you haven’t noticed by now, Joe and I love talking in analogues to the television shows we’ve seen. If you read his awesome Game of Thrones inspired take, you’ll see that I’ve stayed in the HBO family with mine. Instead of the whole organization as Joe wrote, I’m focusing on the coaching – and in particular the weird merry go round of suck they’ve decided to embark upon the last 6 hires. The pic above was a funny compliment to the chilling statement made by Matthew McConaughey and ties in neatly to our spin, True Detective style through the flat circle of coaching hires:
Coach Type 1: The Defensive Genius That “Knows Better”
Gregg Williams came into the 2001 season as a coach on a mission. Tasked by then-General Manager Tom Donahoe to give the Bills a kick in the pants, as a move away from the “player friendly” Wade Phillips, Williams set about dismantling the then-third ranked defense in favor of his (“Mine was first” was the rejoinder I remember…fondly) scheme while also navigating a roster purge and rebuild. By the time he was fired, the defense would be back, funny enough to 3rd overall. Their record in this time? 17-31. I remember Gregg’s time as Bills coach mainly for the weird arguments that would emerge between Williams’ family and the media regarding drunkenness and things like that. Otherwise it’s a haze of Titans memorabilia and Travis Henry jokes.
Rex Ryan (14-15) is the second coach in this mold. A departure from the martinet Doug Marrone, Rex was someone that fans and media clamored to. His build a bully mantra and declaration that fans should get themselves ready to print playoff tickets was the stuff of legend. However, much like a politician who promises to do big league things for his constituency, Rex has fallen flat. If he had the temperament of say Dick Jauron, there wouldn’t be this clamor to get rid of the 2nd year coach in Buffalo. However, the big promises coupled with (say it again) the dismantling of a successful defense to create a hodge podge of mediocrity on that side of the ball is fire-able offense in and of itself.
I am a big fan of taking people at their word. When Rex said he wanted a stifling defense to pair with a mistake free run based offense (10th in scoring as I publish this) I figured great stuff. However, to have, despite all of the criticism of Tyrod Taylor’s passing stats a defense that neither matches his predecessor nor stops players from having NFL historic games against them (see Miami and Pittsburgh) there’s a huge issue that needs to be addressed. As several local Buffalo writers mentioned, on the day of his worst defensive performance, his offensive coordinator got the ax.
And we’re not even talking about the fact he hired his brother to do “special projects” which were now revealed to be red zone defense. Where are the Bills in red zone defense by the way? 19th (56.82%) with the last three games being a staggering 66.67%. Not exactly something to be proud of.
But more than that – it’s the emptiness Ryan’s hollow promises have left with the fan base. When you have that shot with the Pegula chaser of “we’re just 2 years into a drought on my watch” it’s icky. Really icky.
Coach Type 2: The Young Up and Comer that Quits
Mike Mularkey (14-18) and Doug Marrone (15-17) are really the “wonder twins” in my head. When hired, they were ballyhooed as the next big things that were destined for greatness. The biggest flaw in both of their cases was the shadow that loomed over them, authentic or no. In Mularkey’s case, he tried to be a really bad Bill Cowher imitation, which didn’t help him figure out his own voice as a head coach. Then, when push came to shove off he popped and he decided to resign. He would later do this again with the Jaguars, which boggles my mind how he’s gotten a third bite at the apple with the Titans…
In the case of Doug Marrone, his attempts to be Parcells-lite (despite not having direct evidence he was even a protege of the coaching legend outside of a shared agent) was a big miss in Buffalo. The jokes that still persist of the “Douggernaut” and “Saint Doug” belie a reaction to someone that wasn’t too dissimilar to Rex in being a self promoter; Marrone’s mistake was messing with the Death Eaters that haunt One Bills Drive, while also driving the team like the only man with the answers. That grated and a delightful escape hatch (props to Jimmy Sexton) allowed him to depart after the death of Ralph Wilson with only a cashed check and a bruised ego to show for it.
Both of these coaches at times had the “too smart for their own good” label thrown at them for in game decisions. In Mularkey’s case it’d be ill-timed trick plays; for Marrone it was “we’re gonna run a no huddle” to “we’re gonna huddle kinda” to “Our offense is here”. As each lost the veneer of “new hot coach”, each misstep became an alarm that what they sold wasn’t what Buffalo got.
Coach Type 3: The “He Got Another Job?!” Coaching Hire
Dick Jauron (24-33) and Chan Gailey (16-32) were studies in sadness. Looking back at both press conferences, they genuinely believed they would never get a chance again at head coaching. With Jauron, an NFL coach of the year award wasn’t enough on the resume; for Chan the support of Bill Cowher (again with Cowher!?) wasn’t enough until Buffalo came poking around. Jauron was the anti-Mularkey as both a defensive mind and someone that was more “established” with a prior history of being a head coach. Jauron was boring, but that wasn’t a bad thing – at first. Bragging that a player like Haloti Ngata couldn’t play in his system was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard a coach that ran the Bills say on draft day – and I had to live through the JP Losman 2005 second draft pick celebration.
Seriously, look that up. That was really, really dumb.
Chan was a continuation of that idea, plus a person that was said to make chicken salad out of any offensive personnel situation. Gailey was also pricklier and was focused on building a team with standards – benching Stevie Johnson for a penalty and running off “malcontent” Marshawn Lynch. Lynch would go on to be a key cog in a Super Bowl team, but that’s an argument for another day. Chan’s “you dog one of us you dog us all” training camp stance was as he was, principled. He just came along at a bad time. Chan the OC with Jerry Gray or Schwartz defense and Lord knows who coaching was always my dream staff in terms of production on both sides of the ball. But that’s aiming low, given what other options could have been explored.
So what’s my thoughts on a potential coaching change?
First, look at the order that these guys were hired – a pure mirror image: Williams, Mularkey, Jauron, Gailey, Marrone, Ryan. In that time you had a GM in Donahoe, a cabal that claimed they weren’t a GM with Modrak and Brandon, Marv Levy, Buddy Nix and Doug Whaley. As Joe mentioned Brandon is the tie that binds.
However, let’s break down who hired whom.
Donahoe – Williams and Mularkey. Triumvirate of suck – Jauron. Uncle Buddy – Chan Gailey.
And now we get into the weird part of Russ being the Owner/CEO for Doug Marrone and then the Pegula whisperer for Ryan. I’m a fan of Whaley’s and having never picked a head coach as GM is something that has to stink. If they need to nuke the place, I’m sadly okay with it because we’d know this was a 100% Pegula production.
But if Russfinger’s staying and Whaley’s finally learned how to play the game – who knows.
If I had a chance to talk to the Pegulas, I’d say this:
Don’t go with the usual move – which would be actively seeking out a “drill sergeant” to offset Rex being a player’s coach.
Find the best man/woman for the gig and hire that person, not whoever gets a text from ole Russfinger to bring the red wine.
Don’t focus on ticket sales, focus on getting an ethos for a team that needs one sorely.
If you’re going to look at coaches that have been out of football – find the guys who have had sustained success, not the one year everyone said, “good job!”
And for the love of all that is holy, don’t confuse effort with results.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
