Fake-Fat Sunny Posted January 12, 2006 Share Posted January 12, 2006 The Gilbride hire had all the markings of GM interference. With recent insinuation of more TD meddling, GW may have been forcefed Gilbride and forced to retain him when logic dictated he should be cut loose. TD should have fired GW at the bye week in year 3. However, since he commited to GW at that point and the team responded and won some games it shouldn;t have, TD compounded his error by throwing GW under the bus at the end of the year. Just like MM is getting another year, GW had already worked his way through the learning curve and should not have fired for another rookie coach. 562803[/snapback] Not so fast. TD actually has tended to be not as forthcoming as many fans wanted about the internal debates. However, when GW was not rehired and MM hired TD actually commented in resonse to a press question about Clements that the Bills had just gotten the OC he had always advocated the Bills hire. This was not disputed publicly by GW or Killdrive (though as both were canned they were not asked and would have needed to go out of their way to call TD on this contention) but also I have not even seen this disputed off the record or behind he scenes in comments to a writer. I had also assumed when Sheppard was canned and Killdrive hired that this was a TD inspired move because Killdrive had once worked for him. However, it now appears in light of the various comments that the actual heavy-lifting done by TD here was to get Sheppard canned while he had a year left on his contract. Given having forced (or at least overseen as GM) GW canning his guy as OC, Killdrive was actually GW's choice over TD's choice Clements. These events which have occured since are consistent with this explanation. 1. Both GW and Killdrive were canned after the 2003 season while oher GW holdovers like Jerry Gray were retained. Clearly GW and Killdrive (and GW buddy Vinky and Ruel) ended up all sharing some blame for the debacle. 2, Killdrive clearly lost control of the O in 2003 and really GW as the HC needed to do what Fassel did that same season when Sean Payton lost control of the Giants D and take playcalling away from him. GW did not do this and theoretically it could be claimed that it was because TD was protecting Killdrive. However, given that TD had already brought in a former OC who worked for him as RB coach (I forget the name but press reports when he was hired described him as being like Asst. Coach LeBeau as being a guy TD had hired dues to GW's failure to produce) the signs again point to Killdrive being a GW idea. 3. Finally, there are press reports that Clements is being scapegoated (perhaps unfairly) as a cause of our offensive woes. TD gone and Clements gone but MM staying seems to indicate that the first two are linked together which makes sense of the thought that rather than Killdrive being a TD idea that Clements was TD's idea who only became OC after GW was gone. It was the case that there was clearly some disconnect between MM and Clements as MM took the playcalling away from Clements in mid-season. I think the objective facts tend to indicate that a read on this that Killdrive was enforced upon GW is likely an incorrect read. it is all tea leaves so who knows for sure. but the objective evidence links GW/Killdrive and TD/Clements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orton's Arm Posted January 12, 2006 Share Posted January 12, 2006 Let's see what GW's mistakes were: - Offensive coordinator selection. First the Mike Shepherd fiasco, then Kevin Gilbride. - Defensive coordinator selection: This one is harder to forgive. The Bills' blitz-happy defense piled up pretty stats whenever it faced an offense that couldn't pick up the blitz. But the defense proved hapless against the Patriots and other teams that knew what they were doing. Sending Jerry Gray to compete in a battle of wits against Charlie Weis was like handing a five year old a pellet gun and telling him to take out yonder gorilla. - Special teams coach selection - Communication failures with the players So the comparison between Belichick and Gregg doesn't hold up. At least Belichick's Cleveland teams got the X's and O's right. His problem was he completely lost the team once the move to Baltimore was announced. Learning from this failure, he realized his next team should consist of high character players who don't quit just because of something unexpected. Having said all this, I agree with the original point of this thread, which is that the decision to hire Gregg was a reasonable one that worked out quite poorly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_Formerly_of_Roch Posted January 12, 2006 Share Posted January 12, 2006 Records obtained with totally different rosters. I'm totally convinced if we had hired either instead of Williams, right now they'd be ex head coaches of the Bills as they too would have been fired a year or two a go. I don't think anyone could win with the roster here in Buffalo. Yes there are some good players here, but the o-line mess has killed this team. The argument could be made that they were stornger personailities and wouldn't have allowed TD to give the mthe talent he did, but that's debatable. I think we'd still have the same team with a few exceptions. Both would have been far better choices than GW based on the recprds these three men achieved as HCs. 562802[/snapback] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyDingo Posted January 12, 2006 Share Posted January 12, 2006 The best coach we ran out of town was Wade Phillips. If we mourn anyone let it be him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkady Renko Posted January 12, 2006 Share Posted January 12, 2006 The best coach we ran out of town was Wade Phillips. If we mourn anyone let it be him. 563000[/snapback] Dingo speaks the truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted January 12, 2006 Share Posted January 12, 2006 Sorry, but if the shoe fits!!!! He was a bad pick, he dazeled TD w/bullsh** a.k.a. "interviewed well" and had nothing to back it up. When you consider who the BILLS passed on to get this guy it's absolutely terrible! Hindsight is 20/20 and woulda/shoulda/coulda etc. etc. but I think the Redskins, Dan Snyder, and Greggie are all deserving of one another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanInSouthBuffalo Posted January 12, 2006 Share Posted January 12, 2006 Seriously, he did a good job with the defense at Tennessee. He appeared to be organized, and had a great interview. Hiring him was the right thing for TD to do, even though he was a bad coach. How for example was TD to know just how bad the Gilbride Offense would be? How was TD to know that GW would become flustered and not have a clue inside the 30 yard line? Also, who knows what was going on in GW's personal life at the time? GW seemed like he would be a great coach coming into Buffalo, therefore let's absolve TD of all blame, OK? 562789[/snapback] Bill I agree with you 100% about GW. I think that the same thing can be applied to Coach Mularkey as well. However, I will blame TD and the rest of the ownership/management for setting up BOTH of these coaches to fail by making questionable personnel moves, and then basically dropping that in the coaches' lap and saying in a nutshell "here, coach this." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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