Grading Chan the Man

[BEAST MODE BABY!]

Obviously I was kidding. I do think George Edwards has made some nice adjustments this year though.

 

They seem to have conveniently come after Wade Phillips was available for nice, long phone chats

Edited December 21, 2010 by BEAST MODE BABY!

[Ever Since '86]

to me he has proven he can coach any player that has the ability to compete in the nfl no matter what round they were selected in or went undrafted... he has certainly cleaned up the roster getting rid of the fat.... so far pretty much everything they said they were going to do is being worked on... so right now im content and excited for the future... you can just see the attitude swing amongst the new and old players to this franchise... if they squeeze more draft picks out of trades I'll have high hopes for this team

[Kelly the Dog]

I'd give Chan a D-minus for the OTA/training camp/preseason/first-half of the season - mainly because of the Trent Edwards decision, Gailey's vile canard of an open competition for the QB spot, and his cockiness in pronouncing Edwards winner of said faux-competition and our starting QB. (I'd have given him an F had he not acted decisively in dumping the cowardly Fanning-Boy after 2 losses that could have been wins.)

 

Clearly Gailey has improved as a coach as the season progressed, just as the team has improved - he gets a B+ for the second half of the season, finishing his freshman season as Bills HC with a C grade.

 

He's found his way - took longer than it should have, but we're now on the right track. We could have done better this year if not for Gailey's early mistakes - especially the almost incomprehensible selection and endorsement of Trent Edwards as an NFL QB.

I don't know. Not arguing with you, but how does Chan, or anyone, come in clean, watch every OTA, every training camp practice, and especially the pre-season games, watch Trent Edwards outplay Fitzpatrick, and not only outplay him but play very well, and then decide that Edwards is not his man, but the lesser performing Fitzpatrick is. Especially since Gailey obviously has confidence that he can mold quarterbacks. Until real bullets fly, it's impossible to know about a lot of these guys. Some regress, some step up.

 

Even last year, Fitzpatrick may have played a little bit better than Edwards, but neither of them were good, and Fitz was nowhere near the player he is now (which can be attributed to Gailey and his offense).

[thewildrabbit]

I would give Chan an F for the first half and A+ for the second half. So the average would be a C for the year. Next year should be great and I cant wait for next year already.

 

You guys just don't get it.... and are in for a rude shock when it takes this HC 6-8 games to understand what he has in next years free agents and draft picks.

 

Not to mention, if it takes him that long to see a players ability....how long will it take to find out if Brian Brohm and Levi Brown are serviceable backups or genuine starters?

 

Should Fitz get injured, what then?

[RkFast]

You guys just don't get it.... and are in for a rude shock when it takes this HC 6-8 games to understand what he has in next years free agents and draft picks.

 

Not to mention, if it takes him that long to see a players ability....how long will it take to find out if Brian Brohm and Levi Brown are serviceable backups or genuine starters?

 

Should Fitz get injured, what then?

 

Is Chan Gailey, Nix and the coaches going to suddenly have amnesia and forget everything they learned about the roster they inherited last Winter?

[ColdBlueNorth]

Obviously I was kidding. I do think George Edwards has made some nice adjustments this year though.

Man, I hate it when I geek out like that and miss the obvious joke - my bad.

 

And you are right, Edwards has done just about everything he could do to turn a bunch of non-impact 4-3

players into some semblance of a quasi-3 4 unit that is starting to stop the run and get some pressure without

giving up too much down field.

 

Not sure how much is adjustments he has made over the year and how much of his success is due to players

moved to new positions playing better and rookies starting to contribute. That being said, this team

makes some second half adjustments that appear to really bottle up whomever they are playing. It is the total

opposite of what we used to see with second half collapses under Jauron and Fewell.

 

With a lot of folks dissing the Nix draft, I think the impact of Troup, Moats, Carrington, and Nelson

contributing in their rookie year - not to mention the FA pickups along the way are a testiment to a

front office that is starting to turn the corner on evaluating this team's needs.

[Kelly the Dog]

One problem going into the off season and draft is, what defense are we going to play? It started off as a 3-4 and we played horribly as it was new, and we didn't have players used to it, and we didn't have a lot of talent, and we had a rash of injuries. On the fly, Edwards and Gailey went back to a 4-3 for long stretches within games, sometimes it seemed the entire game. We started to improve, and now we seem to fluctuate back and forth, although lately seeing a lot more 3-4 than in the middle of the season.

 

But that begs the problem of what to do with Kyle Williams. He's clearly been our best defensive player this year, and he's clearly not a prototype NT. He can take on double teams and sometimes even beat them, and wreak havoc in the backfield, but he doesn't clog the middle like you normally want your NT to do, so your ILB can stuff the run and blitz up the middle. Poz is not wise to charge into the hole and stuff runners at the LOS because the holes are still too big for the most part, and it's too easy for RBs to slip to the outside where our OLB can't contain for crap.

 

If we ran a 4-3 the obvious choice would be to pair Kyle with a stud DT next to him, but we're somewhere in no man's land. If we get a stud DE that can rush the passer it doesn't do much to help our woeful run defense. Perhaps we've really turned the corner on defense as far as stopping the run, seen in the last couple games. But I doubt it. Miami didnt run well but they chose not to continue running, seemingly for no reason. Teams have often have actually been choosing not to run on us all year where we couldnt stop them. We need LB help, and DL help for sure. Maybe a lot of it, like three and maybe four starters. But I'm not even sure the coaches know what kind of defense we will be playing.

 

Perhaps a guy like Fairley, who seems to be able to play inside or out, would be the choice. If we could get him.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Kelly the Fair and Balanced Dog

[The Senator]

I don't know. Not arguing with you, but how does Chan, or anyone, come in clean, watch every OTA, every training camp practice, and especially the pre-season games, watch Trent Edwards outplay Fitzpatrick, and not only outplay him but play very well, and then decide that Edwards is not his man, but the lesser performing Fitzpatrick is. Especially since Gailey obviously has confidence that he can mold quarterbacks. Until real bullets fly, it's impossible to know about a lot of these guys. Some regress, some step up.

 

Even last year, Fitzpatrick may have played a little bit better than Edwards, but neither of them were good, and Fitz was nowhere near the player he is now (which can be attributed to Gailey and his offense).

Dunno, K-Dog, just don't know the answer to that.

 

But that's what Gailey get paid to know - I can't imagine every fan in Buffalo knowing how bad Edwards sucked and - with mountains of game tape to review and being around him and seeing how he plays and interacts with teammates on a daily basis - Gailey not being able to figure it out.

 

And I still think Gailey ' dressing down ' the Edwards-mockers at SJF was a stupid move on Chan's part, and certainly factored into the D-minus I give him for the Spring/Summer/First-Half-Season.

[ColdBlueNorth]

One problem going into the off season and draft is, what defense are we going to play? It started off as a 3-4 and we played horribly as it was new, and we didn't have players used to it, and we didn't have a lot of talent, and we had a rash of injuries. On the fly, Edwards and Gailey went back to a 4-3 for long stretches within games, sometimes it seemed the entire game. We started to improve, and now we seem to fluctuate back and forth, although lately seeing a lot more 3-4 than in the middle of the season.

 

But that begs the problem of what to do with Kyle Williams. He's clearly been our best defensive player this year, and he's clearly not a prototype NT. He can take on double teams and sometimes even beat them, and wreak havoc in the backfield, but he doesn't clog the middle like you normally want your NT to do, so your ILB can stuff the run and blitz up the middle. Poz is not wise to charge into the hole and stuff runners at the LOS because the holes are still too big for the most part, and it's too easy for RBs to slip to the outside where our OLB can't contain for crap.

 

If we ran a 4-3 the obvious choice would be to pair Kyle with a stud DT next to him, but we're somewhere in no man's land. If we get a stud DE that can rush the passer it doesn't do much to help our woeful run defense. Perhaps we've really turned the corner on defense as far as stopping the run, seen in the last couple games. But I doubt it. Miami didnt run well but they chose not to continue running, seemingly for no reason. Teams have often have actually been choosing not to run on us all year where we couldnt stop them. We need LB help, and DL help for sure. Maybe a lot of it, like three and maybe four starters. But I'm not even sure the coaches know what kind of defense we will be playing.

 

Perhaps a guy like Fairley, who seems to be able to play inside or out, would be the choice. If we could get him.

Trying to figure out where to play Kyle on the d-line is a headache that most defensive coordinators would probably be willing to take on

 

He could slide to DE on the right side, or you could leave him at nose for "obvious" passing downs as part of the rotation. He doesn't get suckered into biting on draw plays or screens - at least not this year.

 

All that being said, Edwards has had to cobble together a hybrid system with a lot of Kelsay on the D-Line, he has also had to shuffle around rookies such as Moats, Carrington, and Troup as they have developed and been healthy. I think they are a few impact players on Defense away from having a lot more flexibility running the 3-4, but I would think that the experience that George Edwards gained having to be so creative this year can only help him add more wrinkles into our scheme next year.

 

I think he has a good foundation to build on for next year and probably has already outlined his draft Christmas list to Nix. I am really excited to see where they go in the draft, but there are going to be plenty of folks disappointed if they do not grab the next Tom Brady - as if there is ever a sure-fire QB in the draft.

 

I would not mind a later round QB if the Bills brass felt it upgraded Brown or Brohm... you do have to have an eye on the future. I firmly believe though that if they were to select a QB with their first pick, all they will manage to accomplish is a slap in the face to Fitz and the potential to turn the current positive team chemistry on its head.

 

Just my opinion.

[thewildrabbit]

Dunno, K-Dog, just don't know the answer to that.

 

But that's what Gailey get paid to know - I can't imagine every fan in Buffalo knowing how bad Edwards sucked and - with mountains of game tape to review and being around him and seeing how he plays and interacts with teammates on a daily basis - Gailey not being able to figure it out.

 

And I still think Gailey ' dressing down ' the Edwards-mockers at SJF was a stupid move on Chan's part, and certainly factored into the D-minus I give him for the Spring/Summer/First-Half-Season.

The only thing I can surmise from last off season is that Gailey didn't watch last years game tapes and didn't reveiw each player like he should have. I would think that any new head coach that wants to know what to expect from the current players would get the staff together and watch last years game tapes, then evaluate and grade each player at each position.

 

The fans knew Edwards was gun shy... that Fred Jackson was the best RB on the team by far....that Spiller was going to go thru a learning process in protections, blocking and running schemes. The O line looks more servicable with Fitz getting rid of the ball quickly, but the Bears showed just how vunerable that line really is

. I imagine the Patriots and Jets will do the same.

 

This entire season could have been so much different had the Bills started the year with Fitz under center, gotten a decent RT in the off season and built that O line like they stated they would, remember Nix stating that the O line was a priority.