Archives for January 14, 2006

‘Payton has interviewed with New Orleans and Green Bay for head coaching positions in the past two weeks. No interview has been scheduled with the Bills yet.’

‘Upon further review, Marv Levy will not coach the Buffalo Bills.’

‘”I am excited about my new responsibilities as General Manager and, as planned, will devote my full energies to that role.”‘

“The Buffalo Bills received permission late Friday to interview Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Sean Payton, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported Saturday.”

‘If the Buffalo Bills can hire Sherman or one of the twelve assistants that I alluded to, they’ll be in great shape for the future. The Bills have some talent on their team and with the right coach, can turn things around and could be the surprise team of the 2006 season. After all, who would have expected the Chicago Bears or Washington Redskins to be vying for Super Bowl status in 2005?’

‘I’m pulling for Marv in whatever he ends up doing with this franchise. I believe he could right now do a better job than the last 2 guys the Bills have had. But the franchise’s goals have to be higher than that. And maybe, just maybe, there is a man out there who can actually do a better job than Marv himself.’

‘”Marv and I entered into an agreement initially that made him the General Manager of the Bills. He was hired to be GM and would never coach the team. We are excited to have Marv as our General Manager as we move forward in hiring a new head coach.”‘

‘”I want to say unequivocally that I am here to serve as the general manager/football operations.”‘

‘He said not being the coach is part of the premise under which he took the general manager post.’

‘”When I came, Mr. Wilson made the point very strongly to me that if you come, the only reticence would be that three games into the season, maybe we lose three games and there might be a clamor to do it. And so we will announce at the outset – this is a whole different scenario – than “No, I’m not going to be the coach.’ That was going to be the premise on which I came.”‘

‘"You have to adjust to the blitz, that’s all. I was looking forward to working with (Mularkey). I liked him as a person. But this is the decision he made and we have to move forward," Levy added.’

‘However, Levy insinuated that when he and Wilson were discussing his return to the team a couple weeks ago, the owner was concerned that Levy’s looming presence in the front office could have become an issue down the road. Wilson’s thought was that with Levy here, there might be additional pressure on Mularkey to succeed. If he didn’t, fans and media would call for Levy to shed his business suit and cell phone for a coaching jacket and headset.’

‘”Obviously, I have great interest in the job,” Haslett said Friday. “First of all, I have great personal feelings for the organizations because I played there and still know people who work there, and I have admiration for Mr. Wilson.’

‘Sure, Jim Haslett, Dick Jauron, Mike Sherman and Jim Fassel fit the bill for the Bills. But all roads lead back to the distinguished senior citizen with 154 career victories and four Super Bowl appearances.

‘”There’s going to be supporters and there’s going to be detractors,” Wilson said. “I’m sure the new coach is going to realize that. It’s prevalent in every city in the country.”‘