Report: Greg Olson to Rams as QB coach

[YoloinOhio]

He was probably reading this forum and said, "I don't need to take that!"

exactly! Much easier to coach for a team with no fan base or message board. Much less pressure tbh

[Kelly the Dog]

exactly! Much easier to coach for a team with no fan base or message board. Much less pressure tbh

We put WAY MORE pressure on a coach than those big city message boards!!

[1billsfan]

Another rebuild with the guy that got us into another rebuild?

 

Brilliant. Only the Bills.

 

That's just the problem.

 

Pegs isn't doing it right. Extreme growing pains for the Pegulas. The fans will continue to suffer.

 

I don't know if anyone has seen the Bills schedule next year, but it's a very tough one. Even if the Bills did bring back an average game managing QB like Taylor, a 4-12 season is not a stretch with him being the starter for the entire year. I wonder if there might be two crazy strategies at play...

 

Strategy 1: Try to make a blockbuster deal for a QB like Andrew Luck. Yes crazy, but why not try.

 

Strategy 2: Build the defense and OL in this draft (no QBs), let Cardale Jones start throughout the season, trade away McCoy this year for a 2018 pick (they might need it for a trade up)...then draft Sam Darnold (or Josh Rosen if he's taken before them) in 2018. That is if Jones doesn't win the job with a very impressive season and getting them into the playoffs.

 

I actually don't mind strategy 2, because Tom Brady is still going to play next year and maybe even the year after that. It might be time to just bite the bullet and embrace the opportunity that a rough schedule gives you by way of putting your team in play for drafting the next great QB. Which would happen just as the the sun is setting on the Patriots Brady/Belichick dynasty. The Bills have been just treading water just to get into the playoffs and we have now all seen how joyless it can be when you don't have a QB worthy of it (see this years wildcard losers). You get embarrassed...but hey, you made the playoffs!

 

Letting Cardale play is basically scratching off the lottery ticket IMO. So there are actually two possibilities of finding your franchise QB at play here. Fans won't like this, but is treading water really the best strategy?

Edited January 19, 2017 by 1billsfan

[DrDawkinstein]

 

I don't know if anyone has seen the Bills schedule next year, but it's a very tough one. Even if the Bills did bring back an average game managing QB like Taylor, a 4-12 season is not a stretch with him being the starter for the entire year. I wonder if there might be two crazy strategies at play...

 

Strategy 1: Try to make a blockbuster deal for a QB like Andrew Luck. Yes crazy, but why not try.

 

Strategy 2: Build the defense and OL in this draft (no QBs), let Cardale Jones start throughout the season, trade away McCoy this year for a 2018 pick (they might need it for a trade up)...then draft Sam Darnold (or Josh Rosen if he's taken before them) in 2018. That is if Jones doesn't win the job with a very impressive season and getting them into the playoffs.

 

I actually don't mind strategy 2, because Tom Brady is still going to play next year and maybe even the year after that. It might be time to just bite the bullet and embrace the opportunity that a rough schedule gives you by way of putting your team in play for drafting the next great QB. Which would happen just as the the sun is setting on the Patriots Brady/Belichick dynasty. The Bills have been just treading water just to get into the playoffs and we have now all seen how joyless it can be when you don't have a QB worthy of it (see this years wildcard losers). You get embarrassed...but hey, you made the playoffs!

 

Letting Cardale play is basically scratching off the lottery ticket IMO. So there are actually two possibilities of finding your franchise QB at play here. Fans won't like this, but is treading water really the best strategy?

 

Im with you 100%

[1billsfan]

 

Im with you 100%

 

Cool, I was expecting to get flamed...LOL

[Buffalo Barbarian]

 

If i come off as mad, it's mostly just don't want it to be true lol.

 

[Baba Booey]

Jason LaConfora tweeted out Bills "may be inclined" to pursue GB QB coach Alex Van Pelt.

[The Jokeman]

just have Kromer do it

Kromer at OC and Palmer at QB isn't horrible.

 

Cool, I was expecting to get flamed...LOL

Darnold not guaranteed to come out in 2018 and Rosen? Ick. Best QB in next year's class might be Mason Rudolph.

[TroutDog]

Thank God. I was scared beyond belief they were going to hire this guy.

 

Putting my faith in the hope that AVP will be at OBD next Monday. With a D that plays up to snuff and a decent O, we stand a chance of being, at least, an entertaining team next year even with the challenging schedule noted above.

[dave mcbride]

I'm no fan of Olsen, but I think people are ignoring something very important if they assume that the Bills as a franchise are not highly unattractive to most candidates right now. Sad but probably true. I mean, we're doing some hardcore dumpster diving for coaches now--searching Jax, the Lovie Smith Bucs, and the old Raiders for candidates. If this was considered a decent situation and Olsen got an offer, I bet he would have taken it over a qb coach job. I'm not saying we didn't achieve a bad outcome here - just alerting people to the fact that the franchise is problematic, and my guess is that from the outside among agents, coaches, players, etc., any job with Buffalo is seen as problematic because of the gm situation.

Edited January 19, 2017 by dave mcbride

[26CornerBlitz]

I'm no fan of Olsen, but I think people are ignoring something very important if they assume that the Bills as a franchise are not highly unattractive to most candidates right now. We're doing some hardcore dumpster diving for coaches now--searching Jax and the old Raiders for candidates. Sad but probably true. If this was considered a decent situation and Olsen got an offer, I bet he would have taken it over a qb coach job. I'm not saying we didn't achieve a bad outcome here - just alerting people to the fact that the franchise is problematic, and my guess is that from the outside among agents, coaches, players, etc., any job with Buffalo is problematic because of the gm situation.

 

McDermott taking the job as HC refutes your guess/assertion.

[Kelly the Dog]

I'm no fan of Olsen, but I think people are ignoring something very important if they assume that the Bills as a franchise are not highly unattractive to most candidates right now. Sad but probably true. I mean, we're doing some hardcore dumpster diving for coaches now--searching Jax, the Lovie Smith Bucs, and the old Raiders for candidates. If this was considered a decent situation and Olsen got an offer, I bet he would have taken it over a qb coach job. I'm not saying we didn't achieve a bad outcome here - just alerting people to the fact that the franchise is problematic, and my guess is that from the outside among agents, coaches, players, etc., any job with Buffalo is seen as problematic because of the gm situation.

I would argue that around the league, frazier, Castillo, waufle, babich, and boras were very strong hires. Skipper perhaps not. But the rest of them are successful veteran hires.

[eball]

I'm no fan of Olsen, but I think people are ignoring something very important if they assume that the Bills as a franchise are not highly unattractive to most candidates right now. Sad but probably true. I mean, we're doing some hardcore dumpster diving for coaches now--searching Jax, the Lovie Smith Bucs, and the old Raiders for candidates. If this was considered a decent situation and Olsen got an offer, I bet he would have taken it over a qb coach job. I'm not saying we didn't achieve a bad outcome here - just alerting people to the fact that the franchise is problematic, and my guess is that from the outside among agents, coaches, players, etc., any job with Buffalo is seen as problematic because of the gm situation.

 

I respect your opinions and posts on this site, but I completely disagree -- and that's not coming from a rose-colored glasses perspective.

 

Every coach who has come in during the past two seasons has RAVED about Bills' ownership. It's not considered an "unattractive" place to work at all. This Olson thing took on a life of its own, and there is still NO indication the Bills were ever considering him a frontrunner for the OC position. And for all of the Whaley-bashing on this site and in the LOCAL media, I've not heard a single report that anyone believes Whaley is "difficult" to work with.

 

It's easy to draw broad conclusions when you're the fan of a team in the midst of this kind of drought, but I believe coaches make decisions based upon who they think they'll be working for and so far, coaches love the Pegulas and certainly McDermott has received nothing but high marks as well from those he has known and coached with.

 

Who do we KNOW has "turned down" the Bills for an assistant job to go elsewhere? McCoy? He was a favorite to land in Denver from the get-go. Anyone else? Olson doesn't even fit this profile because the Bills didn't offer him anything -- even the national reporters breaking the story said he "took himself out of the running," not that he turned down a job.

 

McDermott hired Frazier immediately -- was this a last resort, dumpster-diving hire?

 

It's also dangerous to draw conclusions just because an assistant coach comes from an unsuccessful team (W-L record); that doesn't mean he isn't an excellent coach. Many factors play into why teams aren't winning enough games (as we all know).

 

As for the Bills' search for an OC -- the only factor I see being a negative is the uncertainty at QB, but any OC candidate worth his salt would want to come in and talk to the powers that be about it and see how much influence he would have in that decision. They wouldn't simply dismiss the idea of coming to Buffalo altogether.

 

/off soapbox

[Doc]

I'm no fan of Olsen, but I think people are ignoring something very important if they assume that the Bills as a franchise are not highly unattractive to most candidates right now. Sad but probably true. I mean, we're doing some hardcore dumpster diving for coaches now--searching Jax, the Lovie Smith Bucs, and the old Raiders for candidates. If this was considered a decent situation and Olsen got an offer, I bet he would have taken it over a qb coach job. I'm not saying we didn't achieve a bad outcome here - just alerting people to the fact that the franchise is problematic, and my guess is that from the outside among agents, coaches, players, etc., any job with Buffalo is seen as problematic because of the gm situation.

 

Buffalo is at a major disadvantage to most cities in the NFL and it has nothing to do with ownership/front office.

[QuoteTheRaven83]

Who would want to take this OC position knowing that he won't have a competent QB to work with next year? Shocker....

[YoloinOhio]

 

Buffalo is at a major disadvantage to most cities in the NFL and it has nothing to do with ownership/front office.

Yep. No Uber! Edited January 19, 2017 by YoloinOhio

[HT02]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/01/18/report-greg-olson-will-be-rams-quarterbacks-coach/

Good

[BigPappy]

 

I don't know if anyone has seen the Bills schedule next year, but it's a very tough one. Even if the Bills did bring back an average game managing QB like Taylor, a 4-12 season is not a stretch with him being the starter for the entire year. I wonder if there might be two crazy strategies at play...

 

Strategy 1: Try to make a blockbuster deal for a QB like Andrew Luck. Yes crazy, but why not try.

 

Strategy 2: Build the defense and OL in this draft (no QBs), let Cardale Jones start throughout the season, trade away McCoy this year for a 2018 pick (they might need it for a trade up)...then draft Sam Darnold (or Josh Rosen if he's taken before them) in 2018. That is if Jones doesn't win the job with a very impressive season and getting them into the playoffs.

 

I actually don't mind strategy 2, because Tom Brady is still going to play next year and maybe even the year after that. It might be time to just bite the bullet and embrace the opportunity that a rough schedule gives you by way of putting your team in play for drafting the next great QB. Which would happen just as the the sun is setting on the Patriots Brady/Belichick dynasty. The Bills have been just treading water just to get into the playoffs and we have now all seen how joyless it can be when you don't have a QB worthy of it (see this years wildcard losers). You get embarrassed...but hey, you made the playoffs!

 

Letting Cardale play is basically scratching off the lottery ticket IMO. So there are actually two possibilities of finding your franchise QB at play here. Fans won't like this, but is treading water really the best strategy?

Strategy 1 like you said is crazy. I would love to see it happen but we really don't have the draft leverage to pull off a trade of that caliber for a "high caliber" QB. I can definitely see strategy 2 happening and I think I would be okay with it as long as they get rid of Whaley. I just can't get behind the guy. His drafts picks have not worked out more often than they have worked out, and there has been mention to a leak within the organization and I think its him.

 

 

 

I respect your opinions and posts on this site, but I completely disagree -- and that's not coming from a rose-colored glasses perspective.

 

Every coach who has come in during the past two seasons has RAVED about Bills' ownership. It's not considered an "unattractive" place to work at all. This Olson thing took on a life of its own, and there is still NO indication the Bills were ever considering him a frontrunner for the OC position. And for all of the Whaley-bashing on this site and in the LOCAL media, I've not heard a single report that anyone believes Whaley is "difficult" to work with.

 

It's easy to draw broad conclusions when you're the fan of a team in the midst of this kind of drought, but I believe coaches make decisions based upon who they think they'll be working for and so far, coaches love the Pegulas and certainly McDermott has received nothing but high marks as well from those he has known and coached with.

 

Who do we KNOW has "turned down" the Bills for an assistant job to go elsewhere? McCoy? He was a favorite to land in Denver from the get-go. Anyone else? Olson doesn't even fit this profile because the Bills didn't offer him anything -- even the national reporters breaking the story said he "took himself out of the running," not that he turned down a job.

 

McDermott hired Frazier immediately -- was this a last resort, dumpster-diving hire?

 

It's also dangerous to draw conclusions just because an assistant coach comes from an unsuccessful team (W-L record); that doesn't mean he isn't an excellent coach. Many factors play into why teams aren't winning enough games (as we all know).

 

As for the Bills' search for an OC -- the only factor I see being a negative is the uncertainty at QB, but any OC candidate worth his salt would want to come in and talk to the powers that be about it and see how much influence he would have in that decision. They wouldn't simply dismiss the idea of coming to Buffalo altogether.

 

/off soapbox

eball,

Excellent analysis and great response. I don't know where anyone gets off saying that the Bills or any other NFL team would be unattractive to come to. This is the NFL. there are only 32 teams to coach for. I don't think the coaches get enough credit for understanding how blessed and lucky they are to be able to coach in the NFL and no team is ever "unattractive"

[Doc]

Who would want to take this OC position knowing that he won't have a competent QB to work with next year? Shocker....

 

You realize that applies to every team looking for an OC except for San Diego, right?

[dave mcbride]

McDermott taking the job as HC refutes your guess/assertion.

 

I don't think it does, simply because I view HC jobs as being in a different category. More importantly, though, while McDermott may end up being a great coach, why didn't we interview candidates who were equally (and in my view more, in a case or two) appealing, like Shanahan, McDaniel, and Patricia? We had a slim list of interviewees, and I suspect that's partly the result of the job's lack of appeal to hotter candidates, fairly or not. That doesn't mean that the Bills didn't get the best hire. Time will tell on that one and no one here knows if McDermott will be good or fail.

 

I'm not saying that the Bills hold zero appeal. It's not that extreme. But I think you guys are nuts if you think Buffalo is considered a desirable location right now, especially for offensive coaches.