\GoBillsInDallas/ Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Gailey talks the talk: a familiar refrain By Jerry Sullivan BUFFALO NEWS SENIOR SPORTS COLUMNIST Updated: January 20, 2010, 1:41 PM Three weeks in, Buddy Nix is melding nicely into the culture at One Bills Drive. Nix is already saying goofy things and demonstrating the organizational gift for insulting the intelligence of the average fan. Nix couldn't resist. Before introducing Chan Gailey as the 16th head coach in team history — after letting it slip that he "didn't ask" for the job of finding him — Nix accused the national sports media of making up most of the news about the search. "I'd say, giving the benefit of the doubt, 20 percent of the things that were reported had some truth to it," Nix said. "About 80 percent was complete fabrication. It was amusing, really, and made some good stories." OK, it was a long, confounding process, and people threw some wild stuff out there. But 20 percent truth? That's an outlandish claim, even if Nix includes every Joe Sixpack who sat at the bar and claimed he saw Bill Cowher buying gas at Noco. It was a kick in the teeth of the NFL media, most of whom are hard-working, credible people. This was a transparent strategy to counter the previous embarrassments, and to convince us that Gailey had been their man all along. Yes, they had him pegged from the start, and all that talk about being turned down by big-name coaches, top coordinators and Jim Harbaugh was pure fiction. Well, as long as Nix was going to trash people in my business, I asked if he might enlighten us about that 80 percent. Tell us which names were fabrications. Was it not true that Brian Schottenheimer, Russ Grimm and Ron Rivera declined interviews? Or are we supposed to simply accept his 80 percent line? "I thought that's the way we play this game," Nix said. Funny, but we haven't heard a single report from any of those coaches suggesting that the media fabricated the Bills' interest in them. But whatever the case, Nix said the Bills formally interviewed only three men for head coach: Perry Fewell, Leslie Frazier and Gailey. Assuming Fewell was a courtesy interview to satisfy the Rooney rule, that means the Bills had two serious interviews for coach. They did two in-house interviews for GM — Nix and John Guy, the obligatory African-American. No offense to Fewell and Guy, but they had zero chance of getting those jobs. Fewell took the defensive coordinator's job with the Giants before the Bills even made their decision. So, at one of the most critical times in franchise history, with a decade of failure at their backs, the Bills filled their two most important jobs after granting a total of three real interviews. Three to make two, like in the old NBA. But that's in the past. The task now is to see Gailey in the best possible light and contemplate whether he can lead this team out of the wilderness. Nix, taking his cue from owner Ralph Wilson, said he's always been lucky and expects Gailey to justify his wisdom and good fortune. Gailey has a lot to recommend him. He knows offense. He has developed quarterbacks. He was on a lot of winning teams as an assistant, and he went 18-16 (including two playoff losses) with fading Hall of Famers in two years as the Cowboys' head man. He won enough to reach minor bowl games at Georgia Tech, but was dismissed as a mediocrity soon enough. He does appear to be flexible. Gailey is a run-first guy, but ran some spread last year in Kansas City. He used the 4-3 defense in his previous head jobs, but suggested he might switch in Buffalo. Let's hope he goes to a 3-4 and helps the Bills distance themselves from Dick Jauron's obsession with undersized defenders, which brought us John McCargo and Aaron Maybin, among others. "I know one thing," Gailey said. "I'm much more up on the 3-4 because I know what a pain it is to go against it every week." Gailey said he believes in discipline and fundamentals (tell me the last time a coach was hired and didn't say that). He talked about the importance of character, on and off the field. Again, we've heard this stuff before. Remember character and intelligence? If Gailey is for real, let's see him prove it by shaping up Marshawn Lynch or shipping him out of town. That's the problem with new coaches. Even the Bills' hires know how to say the right things. Gailey said a couple of times that he'd be bringing in assistants who were good teachers. That's what Gregg Williams said nine years ago. You know how that one turned out. What Williams really meant, I suppose, was that they'd be paid like teachers. Teaching is great. You need players, and the Bills don't have nearly enough good ones. But they also need a dynamic head coach with sideline command. Gailey is a good coach. What he is, I'm afraid, is a good offensive coordinator. Gailey said he'll be head coach and offensive coordinator with the Bills. He said they'll hire someone with the title, but he'll be designing the offense and calling the plays. It's a formidable task for the best of coaches, and a tall order for a guy who hasn't been an NFL head coach in 10 years. In time, I suspect Gailey will prove to be out of his depth as a head coach in today's NFL. I give him, oh, a 20 percent chance of succeeding. But if nothing else, it'll be amusing, and make some good stories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Another gem from Jerry Sunshine. Ask him about this now and he'll argue that he was just "writing the prevailing mood." PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowery4 Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 HAHAHGAGA BLABLA run down Hertel Ave in your underware..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Another gem from Jerry Sunshine. Ask him about this now and he'll argue that he was just "writing the prevailing mood." PTR Actually, that might be a reasonable defense. Remember the reaction from the lynchmob here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 (edited) Actually, that might be a reasonable defense. Remember the reaction from the lynchmob here? The fans can make snap judgments because we don't know better. The sports media is supposed to know more, especially when they declare stuff to be fact. This column is dripping with Jerry's special blend of contempt and derrision. I'm sure he was quite impressed with himself when done. PTR Edited September 28, 2011 by PromoTheRobot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1B4IDie Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 When can we run this peckerwood out of town and back to New England? You are not welcome here Jerry, go home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 The fans can make snap judgments because we don't know better. The sports media is supposed to know more, especially when they declare stuff to be fact. This column is dripping with Jerry's special blend of contempt and derrision. I'm sure he was quite pressed with himself when done. PTR Oh I'm not defending Sullivan -- he's an idiot. Your comment just made me laugh remembering all the nonsense posted about the Bills hiring the last available guy/Jauron-clone/recycled white guy/Ralph sucks/Nix sucks, etc., etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bladiebla Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 " If Gailey is for real, let's see him prove it by shaping up Marshawn Lynch or shipping him out of town." Well he was spot on with that one and given Gailey his track record I can't blame him for giving him a 20% chance to succeed. Gailey was a run first guy and 4-3 defense guy, but he has showed resilence by implementing a spread variance and switching to 3-4/4-3 mix. Gailey took risk and designed a hungry no-ego team taking advantage of them feeling undervalued/overlooked, and implemented a bold spread offense variant that supports both run and pass, that is paying off now. Could it have backfired? Sure could have. Can it still backfire? One injury in the wrong department (say Fitz for example) and it could all crumble, then again that goes for most teams. Given Gailey his statistical track record and the whole we're going to get the best coach ever campaign I find Sully his column spot on given the what the situation was at the time he wrote it. Did he overreact somewhat to the 20/80 thing Nix said, sure, even seemed like he took that comment personal. The fans can make snap judgments because we don't know better. The sports media is supposed to know more, especially when they declare stuff to be fact. This column is dripping with Jerry's special blend of contempt and derrision. I'm sure he was quite pressed with himself when done. PTR Definition of a column: Short piece of prose in which the author ventilates his or her opinion in a challenging and provoking way. Stop thinking columns are factual journalistic pieces where no rebutal is possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albany,n.y. Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I have a friend who, upon hearing the Southern accents of Nix & Gailey, wrote off any chance of their succeeding and immediately e-mailed me this story to back up his point. I admit, after seeing nothing like what I'm seeing now in preseason, along with last year's 4-12, I was a skeptic, but Buddy & Chan are winning me over based on results where it counts-On The Field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubes Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Jerry reserves the right to change his mind and opinion at any time and for any reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Jerry reserves the right to change his mind and opinion at any time and for any reason. That's called a weathervane. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cotton Fitzsimmons Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Actually, that might be a reasonable defense. Remember the reaction from the lynchmob here? With all the talk that got started with Gruden, then Shanny, and then Cowher, and how Ralph was willing to pay 10 mil/season for a caoch, expectations got out of hand quickly. As disappointed as most of us were, we all owe Chan an apology at this point. He's proving to be a damn good coach, and I don't think we'd be sitting here at 3-0 with this kind of offense had we ended up with any of the high priced names out there. Chan was the right coach for this team and a perfect fit with THE AMISH RIFLE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddogblitz Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 "Gailey is a run-first guy" LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazed and Amuzed Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I have a friend who, upon hearing the Southern accents of Nix & Gailey, wrote off any chance of their succeeding and immediately e-mailed me this story to back up his point. I admit, after seeing nothing like what I'm seeing now in preseason, along with last year's 4-12, I was a skeptic, but Buddy & Chan are winning me over based on results where it counts-On The Field. I love when I see or read about others bashing Chan or Nix for being from the south, it makes me laugh. The south knows football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJPearl2 Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 "Gailey is a run-first guy" LOL He is run first. He runs first, then throws the rest of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddogblitz Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 He is run first. He runs first, then throws the rest of the time. Looks to me like this year he is spreading it out and using the pass to set up the run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thr_wedge Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I love when I see or read about others bashing Chan or Nix for being from the south, it makes me laugh. The south knows football. Exactly. What was the last northern college to win a BCS championship dating back to the 1998 season? Ohio State 2002. How many other northern schools? 0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berndogg Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 "But whatever the case, Nix said the Bills formally interviewed only three men for head coach: Perry Fewell, Leslie Frazier and Gailey. Assuming Fewell was a courtesy interview to satisfy the Rooney rule, that means the Bills had two serious interviews for coach." I couldn't get past the above quote. I've read it 3 times and I don't understand it. If two of the three candidates the Bills interviewed were black, then how was one of them only interviewed to satisfy the Rooney rule? I feel like Jerry Sullivan had a list of grievances he was going to air out and he was gonna get them all off his chest even if two of them completely contradicted each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Blizzard Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Thanks for posting the old article. Looks like Chan has done alright so far. Buddy's drafts have some ?? attached to them however.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hondo in seattle Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Thanks for the links! Very interesting to revisit how Chan's hiring was met with such pessimism. Jerry and a lot of us fans have some crow to eat I think. Chan is looking like a legit head coach. Best since Marv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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