Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The Buffalo Bills Don't Care For Your "Trends"

One way the Bills bucked trends was to ignore Dick Jauron's NFL record when they hired him in the first place. Keep in mind, Jauron had two NFL Head Coaching Jobs prior to being hired by Buffalo, and they break down thusly:

Chicago: Over five years, a record of 35-45, which is pretty unimpressive. Considering it was the middle year of his five-year tenure that contained his outlier year, of 13-3 (their only trip to the playoffs), I think it is fair to consider that one year aside, Jauron's record was 22-42, or an average record of 6-10 or 7-9.

Interim Coach at Detroit: 1-4. Understandable, right? He was a interim coach brought in to simply maintain the rudder on a losing franchise, that had just Mariucci, who had led the Lions to a 4-7 record. Of course, Mariucci was winning roughly 1 out of every 3 games. Jauron? 1 out of every 5.

With the Bills, Jauron hit the average he had in Chicago, with 3 straight years of 7-9 seasons. He was on his way to his fourth, when he was unduly dumped.

I don't really need to tread on my fellow IDYFT'er Andrew Wice's ground, as he eulogized Jauron pretty effectively last week. Let's talk about the candidates the Bills have looked at since they shit-canned that Dick.

Sure, lots o' NFL Teams have gone with a trend popularized by the Steelers when they interviewed and hired Mike Tomlin--the new "fad" all of a sudden is hiring young talented coordinators, and giving them their first taste of NFL Head Coaching.

You've got Harbaugh in Baltimore. McDaniels in Denver. Whisenhunt in Arizona. The counter-example that proves the rule, Jim Zorn in Washington.

Buffalo says, "Fuck all that shit! Give us retreads! Where is Sam Wyche? Where is Rich Kotite"

Here is who they've been interviewing.

Mike Holmgren--who rejected them outright. Which is a shame, because he was a perfect choice as a continuer of the Jauron trend. Even in the super-weak NFC West, over Holmgren's last 5 years, Seattle averaged 9 wins per year. Let's be clear--if Holmgren has a Hall of Fame QB or RB, he can win 13 games, no problem. Buffalo doesn't have either of those at the moment.

Mike Shanahan--Apparently engaged in talks for seven hours over 2 days! My goodness! That's a long time! His last three years in Denver, he averaged an 8-8 record (that's with getting to play the Raiders twice, by the by), and there is no weird math happening there--over his last three years, Shanahan never won less than 7 games, never won more than 9. But give the guy Terrell Davis, or John Elway, or preferably, both--he'll win you a Super Bowl! (without them, he might take you to the playoffs, where he was 1-4)

Mike Martz--Intriguing! Give him a QB that is not lauded, but has God and a weird Devil Lady on his side, and a multi-talented running back, and a bunch of WR's, and maybe you've got something. Buffalo has a bunch of WR's, and a couple of potential running backs (Fred Jackson would fit a Mike Martz system better than Marshawn Lynch). All you need is Trent Edwards to marry some freaky goblin lady, and build a dome in Buffalo, and you've got yourself a winning team!

1 comment:

Andrew Wice said...

I am compelled to point out that the Coach Zorn was not a talented coordinator like the others you mentioned ... he was the QB coach.

He'd never been an O-coordinator or head coach.

And it showed.