Kultarr

I think the correlation between these variables is very high though. In fact, there is also the front office/owner variable. Which is all just to say that it takes a team from top to bottom, everyone pulling on the oars in the same direction, to be successful.

Yeah, but it's all about the QB.

I like the fact that TD passed over him. That puts him with some really outstanding company as far as head coaches!

But that's apparently 39 in Korean.

Harrison was not done. Milloy was done. The fact is that it is often easier to pick up another team's scraps than to keep your own. Guys don't want to go from being the top dog on the team down to being a "bargain basement" veteran on the same club. Further, the backloaded contract concept just makes these sorts of separations no-brainers for the team.

The salary cap isn't the entire story though. It certainly did have a lot to do with gutting the team in 2001. But, the Bills are well under the cap these days.

Caldwell holds the title assistant head coach with the Colts, right? Are the Colts willing to let him go for a lateral move or demotion?

But isn't that just TD's standard MO? How many "old" veterans has he brought back? A couple points: - Sometimes it may be a good idea to keep some veterans around. IMO, having a good mix of veterans and young turks is the best option. - Does anyone think that "The Bus" would still be in Pittsburgh if TD was still pulling the strings there? Yes, he is just a role player now, but he's still an asset to that team (Parker has said without Bettis helping him, he wouldn't have made it). Well, when he's not coughing it up against the Colts in one of the most bizarre plays ever.

Mount Washington coming back for the right price sounds like a great idea. Maybe he can get a fire lit under the buttocks of that underachiever, Sam Adams.

1. What reason does a writer have for wanting the team he writes about to fail, struggle, and wallow in bickering? Reporters job is to report the news and, perhaps, offer their opinions as do we fans. If the Buffalo Bills were to do well and win the Super Bowl, Sully would still have things to write about and the Buffalo News would still sell papers. 2. Marv's job was to find the best head coach he could out of the available candidates. Since Marv was a head coach, and many would say a successful head coach, it stands to reason that he would look for many of the same attributes and beliefs that he holds himself as a measure for what it takes to be a successful head coach. Dick Jauron's hiring eerily seems like Marv Levy hiring a copy of himself to be head coach of the Bills. 3. What's going to work is to get the right team put together. People that will do their jobs and trust others to do theirs. The head coach needs good coordinators to get the team ready. The GM needs to trust the head coach to make the decisions on the field -- and not tell him which players to play. The GM needs a good scouting department to find players and he needs to communicate the needs from the coaching staff to those scouts -- don't just go for the biggest, headline grabbing name out there, go for the sorts of players that fit the system and will help the team.

There is another way to look at some of this data. Some of these coaches might be considered solid "caretaker" head coaches. If the team is already stocked with some talent, then those sort of coaches can maintain the legacy and keep the old Buick running. Seifert is certainly the standard bearer of this type of coach. I think Wannstedt probably goes there as well as Barry Switzer. Mariucci seems to go in that group. Wade Phillips might belong in that group -- he followed two hall of fame coaches with not bad results. The point is that this may be the right class to put Sherman in. There are other coaches that are good "bootstrap" coaches. Guys that come into organizations that are a disaster zone and breath life into the team. Tony Dungy did that in Tampa. Jim Mora did it in New Orleans and Indianapolis. Bill Parcells has done it with 4 different teams. Jimmy Johnson did it in Dallas and, because of cap issues, rebuilt the Dolphins. Marv Levy did it in Buffalo. Quite frankly, the Bills are in a bad way right now. What they desperately need is leadership and teamwork -- everyone pulling on the oars in the same direction. The fact that some people see Dick Jauron as a "Levy, Mora, Dungy" sort of high-character, no-nonsense, team-first coach is a good thing. Let's hope that it is all true. The Bills positively need a coach that can bootstrap things and turn the ship around. One thing that will be different in Buffalo than his stint in Chicago, I hope, is that Jauron will get the full support of the rest of the Bills brain trust rather than having a GM actively working against him.

I don't see that there is a contradiction. He's saying that a strong head coach that is unafraid to express his opinion and challenge the rest of the brain trust is very much needed. I agree with this completely, as I think part of the problem the last 5 years has been that the show has been directed by a single person's viewpoint and agenda far, far too often. Creative tension and seeing other approaches would be grand. He's also saying that the head coach should have enough chutzpah to carry out the plan on the field. That is, in his relationship with his subordinates (players and assistant coaches), he shouldn't have to take crap (players leaving the standium at kick-off), have enough authority to get rid of slackers who won't get with the program, etc. Basically, be able to say, "do it my way or you won't play," and have the ability to back it up. In a word, Sully is describing the attributes of real, functional leadership. And, less subtly exposing that the regime, and particularly the head coach, last year had frighteningly little of it.

Pendry was that bad. He's absolutely horrible. Did you see what he did to the Texans line?!? Please, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They should've asked him "What's up in Detroit?!" That might have been entertaining.

From what I'm getting from Bears fans, the Jauron hiring seems almost irrelevant in many ways. He's a younger clone of Marv Levy with Marv's "attack dog snarling at the side judge" gene removed. What I mean is, Jauron is a delegator and he leaves the game almost entirely in the hands of his coordinators. Pray that the Bills find good coordinators! (OK, it's not "irrelevant" -- but the quality of the coordinators is paramount for this style of head coaching to work. And, for what it's worth, his offensive coordinators in Chicago are regarded by Bears fans as poor to clueless.)

Did you read about Marinelli and all the tough talk? Sounded a lot like Gregg Williams and his tough guy air horn bit.

This Olson thing sounds exactly like the "Haslett is front runner" breaking news.

Good. He's a fighter afterall.

Why are they even talking about Vermeil???

It's largely irrelevant, I suppose; but, ex-Bears head coaches have not exactly been stellar in their new appointments. - Ditka tanked in New Orleans. - Wannstedt bombed in Miami. - Jauron ???? in Buffalo. It does appear that the Lions at least gave Jauron an interview. Interestingly, some of the players on the Lions implied that Jauron and Mooch were just not right for a young football team that didn't need a coddling approach but to be forced to do their jobs the right way.

Well, JPL may be better than Plummer.

My question to the Packer Backers is: Do you all think Sherman has the ability to build a team from the ground up? The word on the street is that Sherman just walked into a good situation in Green Bay, that the cupboard was already well stocked by Holmgren. The Buffalo situation is very much the opposite. The Bills may have a few salvage projects on the roster, but most of the roster needs to be overhauled. Both the offensive and defensive lines need huge talent upgrades for the Bills to become serious contenders. Sherman was the Packer GM for a stint. Was his eye for talent any good? What players did he bring to Green Bay?

Donahoe really stuck it to the Steelers.

Game is rapidly getting out of hand. Steelers back in the Super Bowl.

Can I ask Santa for both? Please?!?!?