Archives for January 2006

‘Holland spent the last three years with the Lions. He played in the NFL from 1987 to 1993. Catavolos has spent 22 years in the National Football League. Catavolos has been with Washington, Indianapolis and Carolina.’

‘Before arriving in the NFl in 1998, Fewell spent 13 years coaching on the collegiate level. This will be his first position as a coordinator.’

‘Holland, 40, spent the past three seasons with the Detroit Lions. In 2005, Holland coached the Lions linebackers after spending the previous two seasons as a defensive assistant with the club.’

‘Catavolos, 60, spent the past two seasons as the defensive backs coach with the Detroit Lions. Catavolos will enter his 22nd season as an NFL coach.’

‘Lodish was one lucky cat, to say the least. Selected by the Bills with the 265th overall pick in the 1990 draft, it was a miracle he even made the team, let alone go on to play in a record number of Super Bowls. “And that right there was the biggest payday for me,” Lodish said of what would eventually turn out to be a 20-19 loss to the Giants when Bills kicker Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field-goal attempt with seconds remaining in the game. “Of course, the bonus money — whether you won the game or not — was nice”.

‘The Bills did not confirm Fewell’s hiring.’

‘Fewell, 43, is highly regarded by Bears coach Lovie Smith, who brought him to Chicago from St. Louis, where the two worked together in 2003. Fewell worked with Jauron in Jacksonville in 1998. Both Fewell and new Bills defensive line coach Bill Kollar also worked together in St. Louis.’

‘”I couldn’t agree more,” another selector chimes in. “When you think best of the best, you think Jim Brown. You think Walter Payton. Thurman Thomas isn’t in that category. It’s up to us to separate the first-tier Hall of Famers from the second-tier.”‘

‘Buffalo had first offered the position to Jim Bates, who left Green Bay after the Packers passed him over for their head-coaching position. Johnnie Lynn, who coached the secondary in Baltimore last season, also was interviewed for the position. Lovie Smith hired Fewell, 44, because of their experience together with the St. Louis Rams. The Bears had two members of their secondary voted to the Pro Bowl — strong safety Mike Brown and cornerback Nathan Vasher. Fewell replaced Vance Bedford, who left to be the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State when his contract was not renewed.’

‘The Bills have agreed to bring Perry Fewell on as the new Defensive Coordinator, as he takes over for Jerry Gray. It’s his first NFL job as a coordinator.’

‘The popular Wyche ended an eight-year retirement from the NFL to join Mularkey in Buffalo in 2004. The former Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach worked long hours getting Losman ready to replace Drew Bledsoe last season as the team’s starting quarterback. But Losman struggled, was benched, and wound up starting only half the games overall.’

‘After that game, a misunderstanding that was later worked out, as Bill Polian was ready to take my head off in the hotel lobby; strange, because no one knew at that time he knew already he would not be back as the Bills’ gm, which certainly had him on edge to begin with. My old friend Rick Azar was actually the “peace maker” initially before either one of us knew what the misunderstanding was about, and the late John Butler and I sat out on the front steps of the hotel and talked for a good half hour about a lot of things other than football. Even Butler had no idea at that moment that just a few days later HE would be named the Bills general manager.’

Redskins Add Gray to Defensive Staff (Washington Post)

Redskins add Gray as secondary coach (Washington Times)

Gray Joins Defensive Coaching Staff (Redskins.com)

‘Cottrell was with the Bills for two different stints and a total of 10 seasons. His final 3 years with the Bills, 1998-200 is when he served on Wade Phillips staff as the defensive coordinator. Prior to that, Cottrell worked on Marv Levy’s staffs as an assistant, both in Buffalo and in Kansas City.’

‘WGR has learned that Ted Cottrell was in Buffalo today to interview for the Bills’ vacant defensive coordinator position.’