Archives for January 2013

‘My top five…’.

‘Gailey is a nice guy who knows offensive football forward and backward. And he worked his ass off to turn the club around, as defensive tackle Kyle Williams pointed out in praising Gailey moments after news of the firing broke. “There’s not been anybody else up here spending 100 hours a week trying to help me win, or make me a better football player,” Williams said. Yet, as Gailey himself told reporters in a brief, classy statement Monday, it’s a production business. And he didn’t produce much other than more burst hope, more failed expectations.’

‘Regardless, here are 10 possible fits, based on nothing other than reports and my own $0.02, in alphabetical order…’.

‘”This was a good year for me, a good stepping stone, I guess you can say. Now the big question is going to be, from you guys and everybody else, is can he do it again? That’ll be my motivation going into this off-season.”‘

‘There will be plenty of questions about why Nix, who signed off on the Fitzpatrick deal and committed $100 million to end Mario Williams as the anchor of a defense that was the league’s worst against the run, didn’t suffer the same fate as Gailey. At least not yet. One possible explanation is that the Bills are still undecided about how they will restructure responsibilities when the new coach arrives.’

‘General manager Buddy Nix, who hired Gailey to replace Dick Jauron in January 2010, could be the next member of the team fired. Bills CEO Russ Brandon returned to Buffalo on Monday night after spending the day meeting with team owner Ralph Wilson at his home outside Detroit. Nix did not make the trip, and instead stayed at the team’s facility.’

‘There was no immediate word on the status of general manager Buddy Nix.’

‘”I understand this is a business. We didn’t get the job done,” Gailey said in a statement.’

‘If I was making the decision here would be the first five men that I would want to interview for the vacant position…’.

‘Gailey’s entire coaching staff have also been realeased.’

‘The unknown man in all of this is assistant GM Doug Whaley. On the short list of many under the “up-and-coming” distinction, Whaley could be the key to any moves made. He’s been groomed over the past couple of years to potentially take over the main gig, but putting him in a position of power sooner rather than later could change the face of the coaching search altogether.’

‘The next coach needs to be in total control on Sundays. None of the last four coaches had any idea once the game started. There was panic, no leadership and very few adjustments. I don’t have names for you because who knows who’s available.’

‘Tight End Scott Chandler said, “He’s a guy who’s pretty special to me, who I have a lot of respect for, and I really think that we built here, and I hope we get to continue to build it.”‘

‘No matter who comes in, they’ll inherit a team with more talent than Gailey inherited, but with the same two major problems.

Quarterback, and defense. Fix that, and everything is great once again now that we know the Bills franchise will be in the Buffalo area for the next several years at least.’

‘At a press event Monday, Gailey read a prepared statement. He praised fans, calling Buffalo a “great football town.” Gailey said he understands the decision, because he didn’t get the job done. Gailey said this will be the first team that fired him that he’ll still root for.’