Bills Hire Curtis Modkins as Offensive Coordinator

[TC in St. Louis]

Either we trust the guy or not. Actually, it doesn't matter what we think.

 

I'm feeling good about the direction of this team. Really good.

[Búfalo Blanco]

Why not just get Tyke Tolbert back in there.

 

Wow, mickey Mouse club we have.

 

Does this guy have a proper drawl as well? Is that his qualification to be an NFL OC?

 

Or I guess he muct love Jesus like Hick?

 

Otherwise I have no idea what make a GT position coach an NFL calibre OC withing 18 months.

 

I bet he's cheap though...... Thanks RW/Littman

 

[Formerly BF_in_Indiana]

OK, I had to Google Chan Gaily to remember what he looked like. My fear now is that if I Google "Curtis Modkins" it might be the first search in history with no hits. WHO THE !@#$ IS CURTIS MODKINS?

He is the Lou Brown of OCs. He was selling whitewalls prior to this. Took him a while to get back to us.

[DarthICE]

You all realize that this "offensive coordinator" position is nothing but a glamorous errand boy position?

 

We weren't going to attract any big name coordinators when Gailey came out and basically said he's in control of the offense.

 

Exactly. Gailey said it would be YEARS before he handed play calling over to someone if he ever did. This is just a title for a guy to assist him in game planning

[Haven Moses]

Wow. The next house cleaning three years from now is sure gonna feel good.

 

Hope he talks like a mealy mouthed hillbilly so be fits in

[Beerball]

HA!!! I've heard of him!

 

Wait, that was Bill Curtis or Curtis Martin or ****, I don't know who he is.

[folz]

Since Chan will be running the offense and calling his own game, as others have stated, Modkins will be his right-hand man in teaching the offense and game planning. He knows how Chan runs his offense, having worked for him for most of his coaching career, so he will be a trusted partner who can hit the ground running (as far as teaching the system to the players). If Chan tried to bring in a bigger name OC, then first he would have to teach his system to the new coordinator, hope he can teach it well to the players, and then hope the OC's ego doesn't get in the way to where he wants to start implementing some of his own stuff and possibly undermining Chan's offense.

 

And I like that these guys aren't just specialists, but are overall football coaches. Chan is not only a good offensive guy, but he's also coached defense and special teams at points in his career and Modkins has not only coached RBs, but also TEs and DBs in his career. And reading the bios of Modkins that others have posted, it really look like he knows how to coach up RBs. Just think if Fred and Marshawn can both get even better, how scary will our running game be (provided the team can develop/fix the OL).

 

The really important coaching hire will be the DC. Chan's going to have to rely on him to be a lot more independent when taking care of that side of the ball.

[DonInBuffalo]

As others have stated in this read, you can't expect to hire a "real" OC when the HC has said he will be calling the plays. This position is more like an "Assistant OC". It involves more responsibility than a position coach, but not as much as a typical coordinator. Since Modkins has more than 5 years experience working with Gailey, it's an obvious choice. In some ways, it reminds me of when Gregg Williams hired Jerry Grey to be his DC.

[papazoid]

#1- no confirmation yet on Modkins.

 

#2- if it is Modkins, he is a glorified running backs coach.....Gailey is the O.C.

 

#3- the D.C. is the big opening.

[zazie]

Wow, I know they said Gailey is prone to hiring unknowns, but is he the only one who has heard of this guy? Hope Jackie Chan Gailey knows more than anyone else does. But hey, I forgot Chan Gailey was alive too until a few days ago.

[Orton's Arm]

This is a difficult hire to get excited about. This guy has two years of NFL coaching experience, both as a RB coach.

 

A quarterbacks coach has to teach the quarterbacks how to read the field/see multiple options on every play. That's complicated. A WRs coach also has to keep track of all the WR routes on any given play--also complicated. An offensive line coach has to deal with five guys all moving around on a play, plus blocking schemes, blitz recognition, etc. Complicated!

 

A running backs coach? If being a running back was all that mentally challenging, what's Marshawn Lynch still doing in a Bills' uniform? Or take past Bills players like Willis McGahee, Travis Henry, and O.J. Simpson. We're not exactly talking about rocket scientists here.

 

I'll grant that Modkins has also been a TE coach at the college level. But is being a TE coach really that much more challenging than being a RBs coach? Look at Mike Mularkey.

 

And finally, to top it all off, this guy has actually been a defensive backs coach!!!! The logical side of me realizes this is probably a point in his favor. But still . . . Jauron was once a defensive backs coach. So was Perry Fewell. And Jerry Gray. Now we're bringing that mentality to the offense! Is there some way we could disqualify former and current defensive backs coaches from being head coaches or coordinators for this football team?

 

Okay, maybe that last paragraph was more emotional reaction than cold hard logic. But still: the other stuff stands. This is an underwhelming hire, as far as I'm concerned. But as has been pointed out, he (presumably) won't be calling the plays, so I'm not overly worried just yet.

[BLZFAN4LIFE]

Any word on what Hitler thinks of the Curtis Modkins hiring?

[Thurman#1]

AZ had the 28th ranked run offense in the league last year.

 

The Bills had the 30th ranked offense this year. Not sure if this is to inspire hope, or if it is a hire that Gailey has been familiar with in the past.

 

 

 

The Cards may have been the only team in the league with an o-line as bad as the Bills this year. And yet they managed to put together a pretty decent run game.

 

Anyone who evaluates the Cardinals by total number of yards gained reveals a lack of understanding. The Cards ranked 32nd this year in runs attempted.

 

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?off...mp;d-447263-p=1

 

So of course they had a low total yards figure. And hell, if you had Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, wouldn't you pass a lot more than you ran? The Cardinals were 19th at Yards per Attempt, the key figure for evaluating a run game, 4.1 YPA. And with that offensive line, that is a very good figure indeed.

[ax4782]

Gailey said they were going to have to run the football. Perhaps that is why they hired an OC who can focus on the running aspect of the offense? That wouldn't then leave Chan to develop the passing game and work with the QB would it? No that would make too much sense. Then again, so would the coach hiring an assistant who knows how he operates and how he wants the offense to run. But hey, its only January 24th and we're 0-0. Time to start panicking!!!

[John from Riverside]

AZ had the 28th ranked run offense in the league last year.

 

The Bills had the 30th ranked offense this year. Not sure if this is to inspire hope, or if it is a hire that Gailey has been familiar with in the past.

 

 

I dont get it.....do people not listen to what they are saying in the interviews (or perhaps just dont beleive them)

 

Chan Gailey said in a interview that IF he hires a offensive coordinator it would be a administrative position to take some of the load off in that area

 

For all intensive purposes Chan Gailey IS THE OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR

 

It was for this reason that I had a little bit of hope for this team.....because this guy knows how to run a offense.

[Adam]

Exactly. Gailey said it would be YEARS before he handed play calling over to someone if he ever did. This is just a title for a guy to assist him in game planning

You can bet he will play a big role in practice- which is where most of the actual coaching is done.

[Endzone Animal]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Malazan]

Gailey said they were going to have to run the football. Perhaps that is why they hired an OC who can focus on the running aspect of the offense? That wouldn't then leave Chan to develop the passing game and work with the QB would it? No that would make too much sense. Then again, so would the coach hiring an assistant who knows how he operates and how he wants the offense to run. But hey, its only January 24th and we're 0-0. Time to start panicking!!!

 

Or the fact that a good, solid running game would alleviate the pressure on a QB

[Orton's Arm]

The Cards may have been the only team in the league with an o-line as bad as the Bills this year. And yet they managed to put together a pretty decent run game.

 

Anyone who evaluates the Cardinals by total number of yards gained reveals a lack of understanding. The Cards ranked 32nd this year in runs attempted.

 

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?off...mp;d-447263-p=1

 

So of course they had a low total yards figure. And hell, if you had Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, wouldn't you pass a lot more than you ran? The Cardinals were 19th at Yards per Attempt, the key figure for evaluating a run game, 4.1 YPA. And with that offensive line, that is a very good figure indeed.

I'll grant that the Cardinals' offensive line doesn't exactly consist of world beaters. But . . .

 

If you were going up against Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, etc., and if you knew that the Cardinals ranked last in the number of runs attempted, how often would you put eight men in the box?

 

Yeah, same here. The Cardinals' passing game took a ton of pressure off the running game.

[Magox]

Since Chan will be running the offense and calling his own game, as others have stated, Modkins will be his right-hand man in teaching the offense and game planning. He knows how Chan runs his offense, having worked for him for most of his coaching career, so he will be a trusted partner who can hit the ground running (as far as teaching the system to the players). If Chan tried to bring in a bigger name OC, then first he would have to teach his system to the new coordinator, hope he can teach it well to the players, and then hope the OC's ego doesn't get in the way to where he wants to start implementing some of his own stuff and possibly undermining Chan's offense.

 

And I like that these guys aren't just specialists, but are overall football coaches. Chan is not only a good offensive guy, but he's also coached defense and special teams at points in his career and Modkins has not only coached RBs, but also TEs and DBs in his career. And reading the bios of Modkins that others have posted, it really look like he knows how to coach up RBs. Just think if Fred and Marshawn can both get even better, how scary will our running game be (provided the team can develop/fix the OL).

 

The really important coaching hire will be the DC. Chan's going to have to rely on him to be a lot more independent when taking care of that side of the ball.

Good post