Wade Phillips: New book

[3rdand12]

I was almost going to start a new thread for this, but I remembered about using the search function first... Didn't want to get in trouble! lol j/k

 

Vic Carucci just finished his 3rd (of 3) excerpts on Wade Phillips book "Son of Bum". It is well worth a read. Here are the links to all 3 parts, and just a few excerpts I found interesting (especially the one about Wade reporting directly to Ralph Wilson and working hand in hand with John Butler to pick players) -

 

http://buffalonews.com/2017/05/05/defensive-plan-91-afc-title-game-plenty-convince-bills-hire-phillips/

 

http://buffalonews.com/2017/05/12/phillips-negotiating-ralph-wilson-went-beyond-contracts/

 

http://buffalonews.com/2017/05/19/phillips-dealing-quarterback-change-wrong-kind-miracle/

 

'Bruce was so quick and so athletic. What he did really well was just bend, getting low enough that even as tall as he was at six foot four, he could beat a guy around the corner before the guy could get his feet in front of him. He could just go under their hands. They’d try punching at him and he’d duck and go around them.

 

It was like watching an Olympic runner going around the curve perfectly and then running down the straightaway right to the quarterback.'

 

 

 

'Ralph gave me the additional title of vice president of football operations. He wanted me to answer directly to him rather than the GM.

 

 

That wasn’t a problem with John. We worked great together on everything – picking the roster, drafting players, signing free agents.'

 

 

 

'They said we had a divided locker room, with some the older guys wanting Doug to start and the younger guys being behind Rob. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but the media obviously did.

 

Ralph picked a side as well after we played Washington in our last preseason game that summer. Flutie played and drove us the length of the field at the end of the game for the winning points. Afterward, Ralph came up to me in the training room, with lots of people around us, and said, “This Flutie, we’ve got to get rid of him. He can’t play!”

 

“Mr. Wilson, he took us on a ninety-nine-yard drive for a touchdown to win the game,” I said.

 

“I don’t care, I don’t care. He ran the ball, he was running with it sometimes".

 

"But that’s what it takes. That’s the great thing about him. He can make plays whether he’s throwing it or running with it or pitching it out to somebody or anything.”

 

“Oh, I don’t like him.”

 

 

 

".... Then, Bruce DeHaven, our special-teams coach who had been with the Bills a long time, came up to me and said, “You want to kick it deep?”

 

“Yeah,” I said.

 

He came up with another suggestion. “Why don’t we bloop kick it?”

 

“Oh, okay

 

'But what we did was completely the opposite, because we blooped it down the middle. Lorenzo Neal caught Steve’s kick and handed off to Frank Wycheck, who threw the ball across the field to Kevin Dyson who ran down the sidelines 75 yards for a touchdown. The officials said it was a legal lateral, but I was standing right across from where Wycheck threw the ball and I know it was an illegal forward pass.

 

I said, “Well, they’re going to call it back, because we’ve got instant replay.” In fact, I was so sure they would overturn it, I was thinking ahead to the clock needing to be reset to when the penalty occurred. I figured that would still only leave them enough time for one play, so we needed to get our prevent defense ready.

 

When the official came back and said, “The ruling on the field stands,” I just lost it. I took off my headset and threw it on the ground. All the air just went out of me.

 

“Oh, God,” was the only thing I could say.'

Thank you very much for some highlight film $4 just awesome quotes

http://www.wgr550.com/media/audio-channel/05-12-former-bills-head-coach-wade-phillips-john-murphy-showmp3

 

John Murphy interviewed him on WGR and its easy to root for that good ol' boy who is honoring his Dad.

 

I saved the ticket from his inaugural game as Bills Coach - like it was said above - not flashy but Wade gets the NFL schemes and wow - we were so close that last year...

Wade is one of my few heroes. When i read a couple a weeks ago he was working with Carucci on it I had to rethink Vic.

Thanks OP !

[SoTier]

And thanks to him, we entered the dark ages, from which we have yet to emerge.

 

You keep on circling the wagons and scapegoating anybody and everybody. Wade's been gone from the Bills for 16 years ... and he wasn't the guy who inked expensive contracts with aging stars to keep butts in the seats that put the Bills in cap hell or who traded a first round pick for Drew Bledsoe or traded up to draft JP Losman or filled the team with special teamers rather than first stringers ... Whatever his failures as a HC, his post-Bills career as a HC and a DC have demonstrated that he's both a good coach and a class act.

Edited May 21, 2017 by SoTier

[BearNorth]

Thank you very much for some highlight film $4 just awesome quotes

Wade is one of my few heroes. When i read a couple a weeks ago he was working with Carucci on it I had to rethink Vic.

Thanks OP !

I wuz there, def a forward lateral, refs were in the pocket, Bud Adams wanted a super bowl.

[3rdand12]

I wuz there, def a forward lateral, refs were in the pocket, Bud Adams wanted a super bowl.

and thats how the NFL rolls. Like it or lump it.

 

Wade is a alright by me.

I was hoping to see him back here honestly,

[PromoTheRobot]

So Ralph hated Flutie because he made plays with his legs? I guess he wouldn't care for Tyrod then.

[EasternOHBillsFan]

I was almost going to start a new thread for this, but I remembered about using the search function first... Didn't want to get in trouble! lol j/k

 

Vic Carucci just finished his 3rd (of 3) excerpts on Wade Phillips book "Son of Bum". It is well worth a read. Here are the links to all 3 parts, and just a few excerpts I found interesting (especially the one about Wade reporting directly to Ralph Wilson and working hand in hand with John Butler to pick players) -

 

'They said we had a divided locker room, with some the older guys wanting Doug to start and the younger guys being behind Rob. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but the media obviously did.

 

Ralph picked a side as well after we played Washington in our last preseason game that summer. Flutie played and drove us the length of the field at the end of the game for the winning points. Afterward, Ralph came up to me in the training room, with lots of people around us, and said, “This Flutie, we’ve got to get rid of him. He can’t play!”

 

“Mr. Wilson, he took us on a ninety-nine-yard drive for a touchdown to win the game,” I said.

 

“I don’t care, I don’t care. He ran the ball, he was running with it sometimes".

 

"But that’s what it takes. That’s the great thing about him. He can make plays whether he’s throwing it or running with it or pitching it out to somebody or anything.”

 

“Oh, I don’t like him.”

 

Ralph was right... we should have gotten a quarterback we STILL don't have to this day that could have been at least a Trent Dilfer for our amazing defense. Leading the team down the field in a preseason game is kinda ridiculous for talent assessment. We saw enough of him turning the ball over and failing against the better teams in the playoffs. We need to look ahead and not back to this inane Flutie crap. That was a period in our history that probably was as bad as the post-Saban Bills... a wasted defense handicapped by average and worse QB play.

[WhoTom]

I wonder if there's a chapter on standing on the sidelines with a look of total befuddlement after something bad happens.

 

Sounds like Rex Ryan's forte.

[John from Riverside]

So Ralph hated Flutie because he made plays with his legs? I guess he wouldn't care for Tyrod then.I

It does make you wonder......DF didnt have TT's long ball though

[billsredneck1]

Thank you very much for some highlight film $4 just awesome quotes

Wade is one of my few heroes. When i read a couple a weeks ago he was working with Carucci on it I had to rethink Vic.

Thanks OP !

It;s not Vic's first...By a nose...Fred Smerlas with Vic Carucci is a great read.

[Buffalo86]

The next day, our owner, Ralph Wilson, called our GM, John Butler, to tell him he wanted Rob to start our wild card playoff game at Tennessee. It wasn’t a bad idea, considering the Titans were unbeaten at home and won all their games there by big scores. We had just played one of our best games of the whole season, and Rob played tremendously. Plus, if we weren’t playing well, Flutie could come in and give us a spark.

 

Doesn't sound like it took as much arm-twisting for Wade to start Johnson as we may have believed. As for the last sentence, given Johnson's performance in the first half, what would it have taken for Wade to look to Flutie for a spark?

[vorpma]

 

You keep on circling the wagons and scapegoating anybody and everybody. Wade's been gone from the Bills for 16 years ... and he wasn't the guy who inked expensive contracts with aging stars to keep butts in the seats that put the Bills in cap hell or who traded a first round pick for Drew Bledsoe or traded up to draft JP Losman or filled the team with special teamers rather than first stringers ... Whatever his failures as a HC, his post-Bills career as a HC and a DC have demonstrated that he's both a good coach and a class act.

The post you responded to is the most ridiculous post that I have ever seen on this board, great response!

[BobbyC81]

I wuz there, def a forward lateral, refs were in the pocket, Bud Adams wanted a super bowl.

Despite being a long-time Bills' fan, I had previously seen numerous replays and I thought it had been proven to me that the call was correct.

 

I just looked at a few replays again, and based on the stated interpretation of the rule it is again shown to be correct. However, I don't think I agree with the interpretation of the rule. They say it's based on the flight of the ball. Wychek is standing just behind the 25 yard line and turns perpendicular to the end zone before throwing so they say when he released the ball, it was over the line. Where Dyson catches it, it is over the line. From certain angles it appears that the ball does travel slightly backwards but I'm not sure.

 

Of course, the optics are affected by Dyson reaching back for the ball so when you see Wychek's feet behind the line and Dyson's feet are over the line, it seems like a no-brainer forward lateral. Had Wychek thrown the ball where Dyson was standing, it would've been an easy call.

 

As far as the rule being based on position of the ball, I guess it's similar to the goal line. A player can be stopped with his feet outside the end zone but if he reaches over the line with the ball, it's a TD. If a player's feet are in the end zone but the ball doesn't cross the goaline, it's not a TD. On this play, where the ball is when it's caught is the decider. I'm just not convinced that where the ball was when Wychek released it is further over the line than where Dyson caught it.

 

The play lives on infinany. Hope this doesn't bring back nightmares for anybody.

Edited May 22, 2017 by LittleJoeCartwright

[John from Riverside]

The next day, our owner, Ralph Wilson, called our GM, John Butler, to tell him he wanted Rob to start our wild card playoff game at Tennessee. It wasn’t a bad idea, considering the Titans were unbeaten at home and won all their games there by big scores. We had just played one of our best games of the whole season, and Rob played tremendously. Plus, if we weren’t playing well, Flutie could come in and give us a spark.

 

Doesn't sound like it took as much arm-twisting for Wade to start Johnson as we may have believed. As for the last sentence, given Johnson's performance in the first half, what would it have taken for Wade to look to Flutie for a spark?

So.....I remember this it was definately during my time

 

When Rob Johnson left the field we WERE winning......correct?

[hondo in seattle]

Rob Johnson versus Doug Flutie?

 

Here's how I remember it: Flutie would play like crap for 3 quarters and then play great for 1. California Rob would get sacked 1 out of 7 dropbacks.

 

Wade's failing wasn't his inability to manage the QB controversy. His problem is that he didn't have a franchise QB.

[leonbus23]

Just ordered it. Thanks for making me aware of the book!

[Buffalo86]

So.....I remember this it was definately during my time

 

When Rob Johnson left the field we WERE winning......correct?

 

Apparently not by enough, but that's not my point. Wade's statement that "it wasn't a bad idea" contradicts popular history that he was forced by Ralph to make the move.

[BADOLBILZ]

The next day, our owner, Ralph Wilson, called our GM, John Butler, to tell him he wanted Rob to start our wild card playoff game at Tennessee. It wasn’t a bad idea, considering the Titans were unbeaten at home and won all their games there by big scores. We had just played one of our best games of the whole season, and Rob played tremendously. Plus, if we weren’t playing well, Flutie could come in and give us a spark.

 

Doesn't sound like it took as much arm-twisting for Wade to start Johnson as we may have believed. As for the last sentence, given Johnson's performance in the first half, what would it have taken for Wade to look to Flutie for a spark?

 

 

It was a fairly easy choice.

 

Flutie had struggled all year.

 

Two mortifying HOME losses to non-playoff teams(Raiders/Giants) where Flutie was atrocious cost them homefield in the first two rounds and probably the easiest chance at a SB victory they had since SB XXV.

 

That Titans game in TN would have been the toughest challenge they faced.

 

And all the people who thought Doug Flutie might come up bigger in the playoffs had very short memories because he killed the Bills with his 5 turnovers in the wildcard game versus Miami the previous year facing a lesser team and a less hostile environment.

 

That MCM loss was a killer.......that was easily the best D the Bills have ever had since joining the NFL.......and a lot better than the Tampa defense that held the Rams to just 9 points in St. Louis in the NFC championship game.

 

They had a prime chance to steal a Lombardi that year......the same way that Baltimore and later Tampa did at that turn-of-century point where there were no great teams.

[The Dean]

 

 

It was a fairly easy choice.

 

Flutie had struggled all year.

 

Two mortifying HOME losses to non-playoff teams(Raiders/Giants) where Flutie was atrocious cost them homefield in the first two rounds and probably the easiest chance at a SB victory they had since SB XXV.

 

That Titans game in TN would have been the toughest challenge they faced.

 

And all the people who thought Doug Flutie might come up bigger in the playoffs had very short memories because he killed the Bills with his 5 turnovers in the wildcard game versus Miami the previous year facing a lesser team and a less hostile environment.

 

That MCM loss was a killer.......that was easily the best D the Bills have ever had since joining the NFL.......and a lot better than the Tampa defense that held the Rams to just 9 points in St. Louis in the NFC championship game.

 

They had a prime chance to steal a Lombardi that year......the same way that Baltimore and later Tampa did at that turn-of-century point where there were no great teams.

 

 

Ding, ding, ding, We have a winner.

 

In his career, Flutie QB'd an NFL team to exactly ZERO wins. What skill he has was deteriorating. The choice was easy. And RJ (as bad as he turned out) was not the cause of that loss.

[Dr.Sack]

Wade was a great coach. Probably our best since Levy. He did wonders with a veteran crew & got the most out of Flutie. His decision to bench Flutie will forever linger as a great what-if. I think we win that Tennessee game & would have found our way to the Super Bowl. No telling what our defense could have done to stop the greatest show on turf.

[KDIGGZ]

Wade's defense literally won the Superbowl 2 years ago and he was fired. Makes sense

Edited May 22, 2017 by kdiggz