Bills' Schonert must turn around offensive offense

by Brian Galliford on Jul 31, 2008 10:28 AM EDT in Opinion

Schonert confident in his new offense; should we be too? (Photo Source)

The Buffalo Bills have not only faced the music, they've embraced the fact that the music sucks. The Bills knew that the offense the team put on the field in 2007 was, frankly, terrible, and something needed to change. Said changes implemented were subtle, but they are expected to have a big impact for the club in the 2008 season.

Yet were the changes enough? The team replaced offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild (who defected to Colorado State and almost assuredly won't be missed by many) with former quarterbacks coach Turk Schonert. Replacing Schonert at quarterbacks coach is former Bills quarterback (and offensive quality control coach) Alex Van Pelt; Nathaniel Hackett, the son of long time NFL and college coach Paul Hackett, was hired as the team's offensive quality control coach. No three coaches on Buffalo's staff face more pressure this season than Schonert, Van Pelt and Hackett.

The Obviously Subtle Changes
We all know about the changes that we can see for ourselves. Trent Edwards is now the full-time starting quarterback. The team is re-implementing the traditional blocking fullback role, signing veteran Darian Barnes for the role. Rookie wideout James Hardy becomes the first Bills receiver in quite some time to be a red zone threat just because he's tall. These developments have been discussed ad nauseam this off-season.

We've heard all of the promises, too. The tight ends and running backs (specifically starter Marshawn Lynch) will be more involved in the passing game. The system is designed to play to the strengths of its most important players, namely Lynch, Edwards and Lee Evans. Speedy gadget receiver Roscoe Parrish will be used more often as well, and in more unique ways.

What's only being talked about as of recently are the systematic changes (beyond the fullback role) that Schonert is making.

Tempo Emphasis with a West Coast Flavor
Not only has Schonert promised to use his personnel differently, he's taking a different approach to the scheme itself, particularly in the passing game. Edwards will be operating on quicker drops, more rapidly timed routes, and incorporating more of a West Coast feel with his backs and tight ends. The passing game changes are large enough in the eyes of SI.com's Don Banks that he believes Marshawn Lynch, working in this West Coast-like system, is primed for a monster season:

I'm thinking Lynch could hang up some monster numbers this season. Maybe 1,300 yards on the ground, and another 700 through the air.

Schonert also plans on keeping opposing defenses off-balance by mixing up tempos, ranging from the slow, grind-it-out style preferred by Dick Jauron to no-huddle packages. Schonert believes that Bills players are excited to use more up-tempo, no-huddle packages this season:

"We're going to do some of the things we did in Cincinnati, but it's more just about keeping the defense off balance,'' Schonert told (Banks). "We didn't do a lot of up tempo last year. I think they're excited about doing a little no-huddle, and those type of things. Formation-wise, I like putting people in different spots and making the defense adjust. Not just lining up the same all the time. We're going to move people around and be disruptive.''

The trick to mixing and matching tempos throughout the game is keeping it unpredictable. That's where the pressure on coach Hackett comes in. His job as offensive quality control coach is to make sure that the Bills, in four-game sets, don't display any tendencies as to when they prefer to go up-tempo. Keeping their unpredictability unpredictable (wrap your head around that one) will be key in having this wrinkle be successful.

Of course, any time a new offensive system is put in - even if the terminology is similar - it's going to take time. That issue is compounded by the fact that the team has a lot of youth at key positions (particularly Edwards) and questions along the offensive line (thank you, Jason Peters). Patience will be required in order to see if any of these philosophical changes bring about more points in Buffalo. But on the surface, this unit has a lot more promise than it did last season.

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No three coaches on Buffalo’s staff face more pressure this season than Schonert, Van Pelt and Hackett.

No way! Maybe the Turk, but not the other two. Jauron easily faces the most pressure on the staff this year, in a landslide. Fewell is right up there with Turk, as well.

Glad you posted the Banks article. It was uplifting and pretty informational. He had some good points, thoughts and nuggets.

I would be absolutely thrilled if Marshawn approached 2000 total yards. That’s reserved for elite RB’s, so if he takes that step, our O will be pretty solid at the very least. 700 receiving yards seems to be pushing it a bit though. I can see 50 catches, but that many yards would be crazy to envision. Banks never mentioned Freddie Jackson, so I assume he didn’t consider his impact on the passing game. I think Jackson will approach 50 catches and 400 or so yards. I think his main contribution will be in the passing game, and he’s an excellent receiver that Trent seems to like. I wouldn’t be surprised if we got 100 catches out of these 2. But for Lynch to get 700 yards would mean Jackson was either injured or completely useless. I don’t see that happening.

Please, for the love of Jeebus, use the screen pass this year Turk. SFM used it maybe twice I remember, late in the season vs NYG and Philly, and we were successful. Lynch/Jackson have the abilities needed, and we have OL that can move pretty well for their size (Peters, Dockery, Butler, and even Walker).

I wonder if Turk’s and the players’ desire for a more up-tempo O with the no-huddle sprinkled in will jive with Jauron’s overconservatism. I really hope it doesn’t and hope he doesn’t instruct Turk to tone that down at all. I also don’t think Jauron would do that so hopefully that’ll work out for the O onthe scoreboard.

by Kurupt on Jul 31, 2008 10:52 AM EDT 0 recs

No way! Maybe the Turk, but not the other two. Jauron easily faces the most pressure on the staff this year, in a landslide.

In the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Only in your mind, my very young apprentice.” (Yeah, I know that you’re older than me.)

I don’t think Jauron is going anywhere any time soon, even if the team misses the playoffs again. I could be wrong, but the pressure you speak of isn’t coming from Buffalo’s front office. They love the guy. You may not like it, but I think Jauron is in Buffalo for the foreseeable future, regardless of this season’s outcome.

by Brian Galliford on Jul 31, 2008 11:16 AM EDT up 0 recs

Pressure will be coming from the fans in the stadium...

if we stink it up this year.

He’s had time to right the ship, bring in a QB of his choice, replenish the lines, secondary and skill position talent. He’s brought in his coaches. It’s time to win now. If we go, say 5-11, 6-10 or even 7-9 again, showing the same issues as the past 2 years (bad O, poor time management/decision making, struggling D, etc), I don’t see how he could survive the offseason. Seems to me like most Bills fans are expecting big things this year, he needs to guide the team to somewhere near those expectations, IMO. If we don’t make the playoffs, but have a winning record, I think he’ll definitely be back without a doubt. He just needs to get this team winning, playoffs or not….

by Kurupt on Jul 31, 2008 1:56 PM EDT up 0 recs

Nice read. And I also think Jauron's on the hot seat.

Another well written report on a coach I would like to know a lot more about. Like, what was his playing career like, what kind of performer was he on the infrequent occasions he was on the field? Is he a gunslinger, a tactician, or conservative like DJ? Seems like what Brian’s given us has just whetted my appetite to know more about our new offensive guru.
I do agree with Kurupt, though. If I’m reading the tea leaves out of One Bills Drive accurately, this is the do-or-die year for Jauron and most of his coaching staff. If they don’t reach the playoffs, I’d be getting the resume polished up. And I actually love the guy, too. Very even tempered, erudite, always complimentary of his staff, his players, he even throws a bone to the opposing team just to make sure his comments don’t make the bulletin board as a motivator.
But as much as I like him, I’d say the over-under is 10 wins. In this business, winning pretty much counts for everything. But I do like the way he goes about his business. A good, smart, tough coach.

by Defensewinsgames on Jul 31, 2008 11:21 AM EDT up 0 recs

I think we'd all like to know a little more about Turk

the man, the myth and hopefully soon, the legend.

I think he was a backup only with very little playing time. He was behind Boomer Esiason and Ken Anderson(??) in Cincy. I would like to know more about his mentality too. He seems more gunslinger than conservative, though it’s probably more in the middle….

I think Jauron needs a winning season, with improvement shown. Another subpar, under .500, playoff-less season will not cut it. If we don’t make the playoffs it better be because there were other 10 or 11 win teams that had the tiebreaker….That would actually suck almost as much as a really bad season….

by Kurupt on Jul 31, 2008 2:01 PM EDT up 0 recs

100 catches?

Kurupt, that is crazy

There were only 6 RBs in the entire league that caught 50 passes last year and only the Eagles and Saints had 100 completions coming out of the backfield.

The Bills only completed 263 passes last year, if they bump it up to a league average 325 then the Bills would need their RBs to catch almost 31% of the teams completions.

An optimistic prediction might be 30 catches for both Jackson and Lynch. I think Banks is crazy on this one. 700 yards would have put Lynch 2nd on the team in receiving and only 150 yards less than Evans. Brian Westbrook was the only RB in the league last year to get 700 yards receiving and he only had 771.

by kaisertown on Jul 31, 2008 7:32 PM EDT up 0 recs

Maybe so

probably so

I do really think Turk will be utilizing the RB’s out of the backfield much, much more often than we’ve seen before. And with Trent’s desire to check off a lot, I really think both guys could catch a ton of passes this year. Maybe not 50 each, but maybe at least 80 in total.

Jackson caught 22 balls last year in only 8 games of part time duty (he only had 5 catches total in his 2 starts), so extrapolate that and we have 40+ catches on the season. Throw in the new philosophy and a full season (hopefully) of Trent looking to check down, and I really think Jackson surprises. Same goes for Lynch. We need to get him the ball in space more, and through the air is the best way to do so. He’ll be on the field much more than Freddie, so 40+ catches for him is also not out of the question.

100 catches isn’t super crazy, and it’s probably unlikely, but I could still see it happening this year.

by Kurupt on Jul 31, 2008 8:03 PM EDT up 0 recs

that is some solid reasoning that I can get behind.

But ….. 100 catches is super crazy. With Brian Westbrook, Philly has only had 103 combined RB catches last year and 106 in 2006.

The Saints are the only team that has been able to complete well over 100 passes to RBs and they have Reggie Bush, lead the league in pass attempts every year and have one of the weakest armed QBs in the entire league.

by kaisertown on Aug 1, 2008 1:30 AM EDT up 0 recs

Schonert's emphasis

on keeping defenses off balance is what this offense has needed for a long time. So far the players are enthusiastic, so that should help them out, but still, I’m a little bit concerned. Is too much being thrown at them? Will they be as confused as the defenses they face week-to-week? I like what Turk is doing, but I just wonder how much of it the younger players will remember come game time in the regular season.

Peter’s holdout isn’t helping any, either. They can work around this, of course, but the offense won’t be quite as good.

Jauron’s willingness to go along with Turk’s offensive scheme is a testament to his trust in Schonert and Edwards’ progress. Plus, maybe desparation for a winning season at last…

Get the Bills back to the big game!

by Blitz on Jul 31, 2008 11:13 AM EDT 0 recs

It's the same playbook though

I think. Just a different philosophy and mindset out of Turk. I don’t think he changed the plays or even the calls, at least from what I’ve read. I can’t imagine it’ll be that much harder to remember/learn.

by Kurupt on Jul 31, 2008 2:03 PM EDT up 0 recs

Fairchild

I think you underestimate the many thousands of Colorado State fans who will be lamenting Fairchild’s departure from Buffalo.

The root of Buffalo’s conservative offensive approach is Jauron. He’s all for taking occasional calculated risks, like fake punts or long passes. The key words are ‘occasional’ and ‘calculated’. Once Hardy gets into the groove throwing him a deep route jump ball whenever he’s facing single coverage against a smurf seems like a no-brainer. Jauron won’t see it that way. While that may be calculated it wouldn’t be occasional. It also wouldn’t lead to ball control. While I’m hoping the offense can do better than it did during Fairchild’s years in Buffalo I can’t see it really taking advantage of the weapons at hand with Jauron in charge.

by Ron From NM on Jul 31, 2008 11:28 AM EDT 0 recs

Jauron

I’m with Brian on this one, I think Jauron is safe. I also feel that he has done a fairly decent job, the results have been slow to come for several reasons.
The only real beef I have with him is that I think he should have replaced Fairchild sooner. It was obvious that SFM’s play-calling was poor at best and Jauron should have stepped in (a-la Brian Billick) and handed the play-calling duties to someone else, (Turk, Van Pelt, Marv, Me, anybody with a pulse…)

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Jul 31, 2008 11:56 AM EDT 0 recs

Agree to disagree

I don’t agree at all that Buffalo “embraced the fact that the music (offense) suck(ed)” in 2007.

If they truly understood this, it wouldn’t have taken Fairchild’s getting a new job to end his tenure of offensive coordinator in Buffalo.

If they truly understood this, they would not have merely promoted Schonert from within without interviewing a single outside candidate to replace Fairchild.

If they truly understood this, they would not have simply handed the starting QB job to the tremendously ineffective (at least as a rookie) Trent Edwards, without bringing in some veteran competition as a safety net in case he doesn’t improve.

If they truly understood this, they would not have spent their allocated free agency/trade money on Stroud, Johnson, Mitchell, and James while addressing the offense with two TEs who didn’t catch a pass in 2007 and a FB who was out of the league by midseason.

If they truly understood this, they wouldn’t have gone defense with 3 of their first 4 draft picks, including the 19th 1st round DB this franchise has taken in the last 18 years.

If they truly understood this they wouldn’t have simply brought back the entire offensive line including Melvin Fowler.

If they truly understood this, they wouldn’t have brought back Josh Reed and Robert Royal tom play prominent roles with the offense. they have both been in the league long enough that we’ve seen their objective ceiling and frankly, it’s not good enough.

...I’m not saying that Buffalo has no chance to take a step up from the perpetual 14-18 world they’ve lived in this decade. But contrary to Brian Galliford’s article, their actions indicate that the organization (Jauron) didn’t at all comprehend just how historically inept the offense was last season. Frankly, the entire season rests on the gamble that Trent Edwards goes from being the 29th or 30th best starting QB in the league to a top 12 type. Is that possible? Sure; who knows what we have in Edwards after only 9 starts? Is it likely? It sure worries me… Buffalo did not actively try to improve their offense this last offseason and it screams that they felt that they weren’t all that far off from having an offense that was good enough to compete in 2007. I respecfully disagree (sorry, I’d love to “bill-lieve” or whatever that means, but we all watched the same 16 games last season). If they turn out to be wrong on their evaluation of the team’s 2007 offense, the team’s braintrust (Jauron) deserves no sympathy…They made their bed and you know the rest of that cliche.

Never forget 56-10. Revenge.

by SuperFan82 on Jul 31, 2008 11:56 AM EDT 0 recs

If they truly understood this,

they would have cut Josh Reed by now. LOL!!!

Great plays don't make great players; great players make great plays.

by Fort Worth on Jul 31, 2008 12:14 PM EDT up 0 recs

I see you already included this.

Should I expect anything less?

Great plays don't make great players; great players make great plays.

by Fort Worth on Jul 31, 2008 12:16 PM EDT up 0 recs

Surprisingly, it took 8 sentences before popping up

by Kurupt on Jul 31, 2008 2:06 PM EDT up 0 recs

I feel your pain.

You make some good points, SF82. I was initially disappointed in the picks going so heavy to the defense, too. But there is a method here. Jauron is a defense-oriented coach; it’s where he played and coached until he got a head coaching job. It’s understandable.
It also goes back to fixing what you think is broke. There is talent on the offensive side. Obviously Jauron thinks it’s a matter of getting them to play better together as a team, and not so much upgrading the talent. And yes, a gamble that your rook at Quarterback is the real deal. We don’t know that yet, and won’t for awhile.
There was too much to fix last year, and in any case you’re not going to have ProBowl guys at every position every year. I think you can make it work with some average guys sprinkled in with your stars. We have a few. They just have to play together better.
I think this team is better than what we saw last season on the field, and we’ll see it this year.

by Defensewinsgames on Jul 31, 2008 12:21 PM EDT up 0 recs

I tend to agree

but it’s not to say the FO is wrong here. Trent may indeed make the leap this year and our O may click under Turk and move into the top half of the league. Marshawn may become one of the NFL’s best, Evans may finally step up as a #1, Hardy may fill the big WR/#2 role we’ve been lacking, Josh Reed may score a TD or two, Schouman may be the receiving TE we’ve been looking for, Langston Walker may eat Brad Butler, Losman’s beard may actually be called a ‘playoff beard’ by December, etc, etc, etc. Thing is, we have no idea, and we can probably make good enough guesses as to how it’ll play out, but the FO may indeed be right on these things.

Who’s to say Fairchild wasn’t getting the pink slip the day after the Philly game? Even though it should have been done in oh, December of 2005, Jauron likes consistency so it was doubtful he’d ever get rid of a coordinator mid season.

Agree on not bringing in a vet QB, but it’s not like there was a ton of quality out there. Josh McCown? It’s possible that Losman is better than anybody we could have signed in FA.

The D needed upgrading too and it would have been dumb to toss a ton of money at a guy like Berrian or whoever else was available, Panda excluded. We got, I would guess, at worst our 2nd rated WR in the draft, so they added someone they obviously loved.

Do you find something wrong with the other 4 OL starters by any chance?

by Kurupt on Jul 31, 2008 2:16 PM EDT up 0 recs

other 4 OL

No. I like the other 4 (when Chambers isn’t 1 of them). I just don’t think you can bring back the same cast that produced what we saw in 2007 and say the front office embraced the challenge of correcting the worst offense they’ve had since ‘84-’85. I’m not saying they need a superstar at every position, but the team basically ignored the offense this offseason and are banking on a lot of improvement from Edwards as the other offenders (Royal, Reed, and Fowler) are too old to improve at this point.. Little things like improving the slot receiver, adding a legitimate center, and signing a TE with an NFL reception in 2007 could’ve gone a long way towards hedging the bets Jauron is making on offense this season.

Never forget 56-10. Revenge.

by SuperFan82 on Jul 31, 2008 4:20 PM EDT up 0 recs

Jauron

I belive Jauron has this season and next unless we see a 4-12 disaster. If we are mediocre 6-10-8-8 next season Jauron is on the hot seat. I might not agree, you might not agree, but I dont think the front office wants to flop coaches every single 3 years. Jauron will get 4.

by Berg79 on Jul 31, 2008 11:58 AM EDT 0 recs

Just a question for pondering

What was worse last season, the offense or the defense? I’m not saying the offense didn’t need to be fixed, it most certainly did! But that defense was on the field far too much last season. The offense was partly to blame for that, but the defense also had trouble getting off the field when it needed to.

While I would like to have seen more done with offensive personnel in the off-season, let’s see what kind of chicken salad Turk can cook up for the team before we pronounce doom and gloom…

Get the Bills back to the big game!

by Blitz on Jul 31, 2008 1:15 PM EDT 0 recs

Fair enough

I thought getting a massive run-stopping DT was priority #1 this offseason and Buffalo used some excess draft picks to plug this hole with Stroud. I was, and still am extremely on board with that move…I wouldn’t rip any of the defensive additions move for move as the defense needed a massive upgrade just as well. But in the context of what was accomplished this offseason, I don’t think you can say that Buffalo stood up an faced down their decade long offensive woes since last season ended. If anything, their game plan was to fix the defense and pray that Edwards takes a giant leap which would trickle down to improving everyone else on that side of the ball. Let’s hope that was prudent because we witnessed last year was as bad as it gets for an offense in the NFL.

Never forget 56-10. Revenge.

by SuperFan82 on Jul 31, 2008 1:29 PM EDT up 0 recs

It's uncommon to make chicken salad out of chicken sh!t.

Really, it’s not that bad. The chef does have some ingredients to work with. Stay tuned.

Great plays don't make great players; great players make great plays.

by Fort Worth on Jul 31, 2008 1:33 PM EDT up 0 recs

Chicken salad

My personal opinion is that Turk will be better chef than SF-M ever thought of being, but that’s no stretch. I liked Turk the 1st time he was here as QB coach with Wade Phillips, and his approach this offseason has been nothing short of bold, considering what he has in the cupboard to work with. I wish him the best – I’m glad he’s working for our team, he deserves this shot at OC. Unlike many of our previous offensive coordinators for the past 10 years or so, Turk has his head on straight and has a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t work.

Get the Bills back to the big game!

by Blitz on Jul 31, 2008 1:41 PM EDT up 0 recs

Offense More Than A Year Away ...

FO knew the offense could not be “great” this year with a second year quarterback. I think they’re hoping the music will suck less and it should with a little progression by Trent and a LOT of progression by Marshawn. IMO that’s why they focused on the ‘D’. It’s hard to watch bad offense, but it’s flat out embarassing to watch teams hammer it down your throat on the ground (see Browns, Giants, Chargers, etc). You can’t win that way and you look like a pathetic loser. I think we’ve addressed that and I’m glad.

by MrFurious1 on Jul 31, 2008 2:53 PM EDT 0 recs

Good point.

You know your defense sucks when the opponent can routinely run it up the gut and rip off 5,6, 7 yards, seemingly at will. That happened last year and it was disquieting. They had to address it and they did.
CB on BB.com has made the point more than once that Schonert is willing to adjust the scheme to the strengths of his players, not vice versa. He may or may not be an offensive genius, despite the fact he played under Walsh at Stanford. But this change in philosophy alone has got to be worth something. Also the fact he actually played the game. The guy brings something to the table. I am looking forward to Trent throwing passes to Lynch in the flat, the short out, the sprint out, the crossing pattern. I think Trent’s skill set matches that west coasty style. Schonert is not without tools. This season might be pretty cool to be a Bills fan.

by Defensewinsgames on Jul 31, 2008 5:17 PM EDT up 0 recs