Lothar

'cept that heimerdinger's best buds with denver's coach - who just happens to need an OC.

Al Saunders - former head coach of the Chargers and current skins OC, was born in London, England - just 1 of 4 foreign-born NFL coaches apparently.

I scanned the Jets' boards today for information - and found it interesting that they backed off the aggressive dfensive scheme pretty significantly this year compared to last - due to injuries/personnel/not really sure. Media reports say that Henderson had a meeting with his players during the season and they expressed their dislike for the more passive scheme but they never became the force they did the previous year. Also, the fact that noone (till the Bills have come calling) has really been requesting permission to talk to Henderson leaves a lot of their fan base thinking he's a 1-hit wonder. I really don't know - based on his response to adversity this year, is he any different than Grey? The fact that Bates could lead a great D in MIami, then improve that bad Packer D makes me think he's just flat 1 of the better coordinators around.

KBD - now this is funny, isn't it?

McCarthy wanted Bates to stay on as DC but apparently Bates wasn't happy after 2 interviews with the guy. I knew he wasn't staying with Green Bay, didn't know it was his choice. I'm sorry - don't have a link, I saw it on one of the Packer news boards. Here's the way I see our coach selection conundrum: I really think you can be a good coach but not have the skills or knowledge to choose a good staff. I actually think Donahoe's biggest mistake with GW was letting Williams pick his own staff of teachers based on how confident Greggo seemed at his interview. Malarkey, I believe, deferred that role to Donahoe and we got some pretty good coaches in here (including Mcnally and April). If we can trust Levy to keep our good coaches - something I think they will mandate to the new head guy - my take on the different candidates play out as follows: Do we play to the strength of our team and hire a defensive minded coach like Jauron or Rivera? We're a big DT and healthy Spikes away from being a very good defense again. My worry is that a whole new system will set the D back a couple years. If we hire an offensive minded coach, we'd better get a good DC - it seems as though there are more of these available currently. Also, does the fact that Marv has little pro personnel management experience mean he needs a stronger coach - i.e, Sherman over a Saunders Sherman - 2:1 Positives - experience as NFL head coach, Holmgren tutelage, comes from a winning program that made playoffs 4 times, offensive minded, will probably bring one of the better D-coords in the game in Bates (who uses a 4-3 so one would think our personnel could work under him), appears to work well with a veteran team, has had a very good OL until this year when salary cap forced letting loose 2 good linemen, good community guy Negatives - questionable personnel calls when he had GM role, is not considered a "developer of young talent" by much of the media and fans in Green Bay, much of his success can be traced to Favre's success - not convinced of his impact, seems rooted in WCO - will that hinder Losman's development?, not very successful in playoffs Jauron - 5:1 Positives - experience as NFL head coach, had 1 miracle season for Bears and became coach of the year, is one of the most intelligent and well-respected defensive minds in the game (defenses usually among the top 3rd of the league), well-liked among the players, Negatives - had 3 sucky seasons following his COY award, will need to hire a good OC (not as many available), not very charismatic AL Saunders - 10:1 my personal favorite though not sure he is on Bills' radar Positives - experience as NFL head coach (of Chargers from '86-'88), great offensive pedigree under both Martz and Vermeil (arguably the coach of NFL's best offense the past 5 years), 23 years as an NFL coach, could groom OC or bring over assistants with his successful philosophy, good DCs are plentiful this year, would probably be a good judge of JP's future potential, believes in a strong running game yet presided over the 'greatest show on turf' in '99 and '00. Negatives - no RECENT HC experience, will need plenty of help from a good DC, there MUST be some reason he hasn't been a top candidate these last several years, looks like Rams have put him at the top of their list Jim Haslett - 12:1 Positives - experience as NFL head coach, made playoffs and won a postseason game for hapless Saints, has ties to Bills, wants to coach in Buffalo, has solid defensive background with successful Steeler teams Negatives - Saints haven't been a disciplined team during his tenure (regularly classified as underachievers), doesn't help that he ticked off Bills brass with his "Hull on steroids" comment Ted Cottrell - 20:1 Positives - well-liked, well-respected DC of the Bills and then the Vikes, has connections to Levy, had a top 5 defense as Bills DC Negatives - plays a safe defense that does not generate lots of turnovers, was used to running 3-4 under Wade Phillips, took flak from Vikings at mid-season for having predictable defense, did not do well as Jets coord - needed 'his' players in Minnesota to succeed The Field - 20:1 Mike Singletary - asst. head coach of Niners Ron Rivera - Bears DC George Siefert - was seen at Buffalo airport Marv Levy - like Cheney did with Bush, might survey field and say I'm the best candidate

Thanks Brad - that WAS interesting.

So Grey learned at the foot of Greg Williams - who absolutely is a great defensive coordinator. I think Jerry has potential. He basically took the scheme that Greggo and Lebeau (the current Steeler DC who spent 1 year here) had and generated what was one of the top defenses in the league. This year he really had a hard time - primarily due to 2 factors: the loss of Pat Williams - who you know from his performance with the Vikes - is a true monster in the middle, and the season ending injury to Takeo Spikes who was the heart and soul of this defense. That being said, he didn't make many successful adjustments this year. He seemed to think that the solution to problems like not stopping the run was to blitz more frequently. Then when that didn't work, he'd blitz even more. The one game I was impressed with him was when he changed to a cover-2 against the Panthers - and the combination of Clements and Vincent shut Steve Smith down. I think Carolina was so shocked at the lack of blitzing that they resorted to pass 3-4 yard screens all the way down the field and won a close game against our over-matched offense. My biggest disappointment with him was his inability to come up with a scheme to stop the run. At the worst let Clements and McGee play the wideouts 1-on-1 and figure out a way to stop the opposition from getting 5+ yard chunks. A DC who can't come up with a solution for that till the season's nearly over, has some issues. I think Grey's a smart guy, I know he expected to be a head coach after 2-3 seasons at DC. But he still needs some teaching in fundamentals frankly. Williams blitzes work because he also knows the basics - it seems like Jerry never quite picked them up. Maybe having someone rooted in defensive fundamentals as a head coach, like a Jauron or Rivera - would help. Not sure if McCarthy's the right "fit" for a guy like Grey.

I think the Mike Martz fans here are way off base. Martz coached a dome team, inherited practically all his good players (just take a look at HIS drafts for comparison), chased a great special teams coach out of town (his STs are still the worst in football), has perennially had horrible defenses, but somehow managed to be competitive in the worst division in football plus he has serious health issues - and besides that, is a true smug ass. Now what characteristic from those above would make him qualified to coach a Northeastern blue-collar team? Just askin' ...

I don't know how Coleman saw that knee being down at contact - especially to overrule.

actually - i think rule of thumb is the other way. Crowd noise, etc - you want to extend the game at home, everything else been equal.

First, haven't seen your name in these parts in a long time - welcome back unless I've missed your posts. Second, I disagree with the premise that Williams didn't get support from Donahoe. TD let Williams pick his own coaches - if anything, he should have realized that Greggo didn't know squat about coaching personnel outside of defense.

That whole article is completely disrespectful of the Patriots. I mean not 1 single tiny iota of a mention of his holiness, Teddy B. Even Brady doesn't mention Bruschi by name. Is this like a Greek gods melodrama? Tom and Teddy throwing thunderbolts of respect at each other while still keeping peace on this earth as they struggle mightily toward a Superbowl. The great writers of our age must be writing odes to this momentous event even as the playoffs intensify. In all seriousness, Bellicheck makes this defense go. Ever since AB1 (after Bledsoe), Brady has markedly improved each year. While completely overrated his 1st year, he's definitely among the elite in the league now. However, if Bruschi ever learned to throw a football ...

what a game - not sure if Young's coming out, but he's the best college QB I've ever seen - the bigger the game, the better he is.

I've watched a bit of Pac-10 football this year - I don't think USC is as good as they have been the previous 2 years. I do think that SC has a better offense than even Carson Palmer's final go-around - that OL may be as good as some pro teams. Their defense is somewhat dubious this year though and I really think that Texas will pull off the upset. Also, Vince Young is Michael Vick on steroids. He runs past DBs like they were standing still - and he's as big as some LBs. He sold me when he brought his team back against some tough defenses last year, both running and throwing. Note that he has a higher passer rating than Leinart despite the latter having more weapons.

OUCH! Looks like Thomas suffered a serious injury in the game - playing defense of all things. This would surely drop him from surefire 1st rounder to ... depending on the extent of the damage.

sorry - i didn't see the thread below ...

Wow if he's even a mouth breather at this point, I'd have signed him for the vet minimum. It appears that several teams wanted him to come to camp next year but the Pats took a flyer on him now. I'd still take a healthy Tucker over Anderson ... too bad he couldn't stay healthy.

It was $10 mil over 5 years I believe - and at least according to Buschbaum (RIP), he was descibed as an over-achiever. Looking at those names below - Panos, Nails - yikes! ... and I don't think Panos ever was healthy that year. Our OL over the last 10 years seem snakebit with regard to injuries. The Pro Football Weekly Internet Edition asked contributing editor Joel Buchsbaum for his thoughts on the subject. Q: What’s the scouting report on Dusty Zeigler? Buchsbaum: He played guard with the Bills last year; he’ll play center with the Giants. He’s a scrappy, tough, tenacious, pumped-up overachiever type of guy who’s good enough, not great. You always want better, but he gets the job done. Also, if the Giants start (Luke) Petitgout and (Mike) Rosenthal, they’ll have three Notre Dame starting offensive linemen. Q: What does losing Zeigler mean to the Bills? Buchsbaum: From Buffalo’s standpoint, it doesn’t hurt badly if they can re-sign Ruben Brown and Joe Panos is healthy. But if they lose one of those guys, that means they’d have to go to Jamie Nails, and Nails is too fat and runs out of gas too quickly.

I really thought Gray might have learned some solid fundamentals from his time with both GW and Lebeau - but his lack of adjustments and mis-read of DL capability - point out he's in over his head. A good coach can adapt to stay competitive, make adjustments on the fly. Wade-O even, used to routinely make halftime adjustments during his tenure as DC - I remember remarking on this board how even if we looked lost on D early on, we'd almost always clamp down after halftime on whatever was working for the opposition. Unfortunately, I'm not sure Jerry's good at thinking on his feet. We have A gameplan - sometimes pretty good - like the one against Carolina. But he has a hard time making changes on the fly or throwing wrinkles into the formations. It was either all blitz all the time - or back off and play cover 2 - I see no nuances in his style. Whoever the new coach is, I'd like to see if Dom Capers might be his pick for DC. McNally's probably an even bigger disappointment. I heard, perhaps wrongly, that he doesn't like superstar players - he works better with hard workers who have tools. At least last year I thought that the line when healthy (with Tucker instead of Pucillo) was decent at run blocking, mediocre at pass blocking. Gandy for Jennings is probably a slight downgrade but he's shown himself to be a passable LT. But what did McNally possibly see in Bennie Anderson? I was worried during training camp when we signed a Dolphin reject to be our primary backup, then when we lost depth due to the Tucker injury, we basically put all our marbles on 2 things: Anderson better be the road grader they promised, and the line better stay healthy. I think preseason showed that Bennie was a bust. So it was just a matter of time before the existing line with a below average center (Teague), a good but aging RG (Villy), a tenuous RT (Williams) and a passable LT (Gandy) were overmatched when injuries started occuring. Maybe TD dictated terms to McNally but I think Mouse over-estimated the hand he was dealt. I'm willing to give him a little slack since he has shown an ability to build a good OL from the scrap heap (Pudgy Parker and Zeigler on the Giants come to mind), but we gotta have more solid depth. Even last year, Tucker and our swing tackle were pretty decent. With both gone, only the supreme athleticism of Peters is making this line move up from catastrophic to simply awful.

I'm not sure why someone who built an offense predicated on a great QB and versatile RB will be a good choice. I too have heard good things about Childress but you gotta get someone who's adaptable - and shown that he can adjust to different personnel - not sure I see that from him yet.

Interesting stuff Mike. One thing that may add more credence to your analysis is to use a weighted average or a trend function. For example, the Bills after the 1st 4 games last year sucked in every offensive category. But as Willis got going, the points per game, quarterback completion rates, 3rd down conversions - all started improving. That was one reason why I felt JP would be ok this year. Bledsoe ranked ~26th in the league last year - if JP picked up the offense quickly (re: not looking overwhelmed) - we shouldn't have missed a beat. Now with Takeo's loss and our somehat wimpy Run D, I still think we can be successful, albeit it may take a mediocre 15-20th ranked QB to keep us in the playoff hunt. I think Holcomb fits the bill.

Alright Satellite Boy - my Directivo. Time Warner Cable - is that some kinda East Coast internet connectivity thingy?

I think he's just quoting relative rank with respect to the NFL - 29th out of 31 etc.

if that was your sign CL, I saw it during either the opening credits - or right after coming back from a commercial - during the game. I'll have to check out the tivo and let you know.

I remember an interview with a scout on NFL Network earlier this year where just this question was posed to him. His argument was that Sumo wrestlers are trained to fight for about 3 minutes - absolutely zero endurance - else you know they would be paid a gonzo amount of money to man the NFL trenches.