Should Bills have offense/defense preference in next coach?

As long as it’s the right guy, it shouldn’t matter what his past was like.

But, if they are looking for offensive minds, and I just read this over at ESPN.com, I think you’ll hear Jason Garrett’s name pick up some steam in the next week or so, especially if the Cowboys are knocked out this weekend.

if you hire good coordinators, have a plan in place for how you will draft and develop an identity for your football team, that is all you need. I say at this point, with all that’s going on at OBD, is that they are scared. Scared to fail. And when you are running around with your head cut off interviewing candidates or not sure who to interview, that tells me there is no deliberate plan in place. Which is on par with what we’ve seen the last 10 years. Just bc they are “taking their time” doesn’t mean the time they are taking is because of smart, logical, inquisitive decision making.

If the PFT report turns out to be true…

1. Perry Fewell better hurry up and take either the Chicago or New Jersey job before those franchises realize that Fewell’s defenses routinely ranked last in the league against the rush.
2. Leslie Fraizer can pretty much resign himself to remaining a defensive coordinator for the indefinite future.
3. Ron Rivera really doesn’t have to worry about making time to interview for the job before Saturday or hoping that the Chargers exit the playoffs quickly so he can interview.
4. Brian Billick probably ought to repeatedly bang his head against a solid object. If the Bills are in search of an offensive specialist and won’t deign to call Billick then it’s pretty clear (even to Billick) that the NFL has figured out that he’s not head coaching material.
5. Ditto for Mike Martz. Unlike Billick, Martz ran some of the highest scoring offenses the league has ever seen. However, defenses figured him out….even if no one else has given that he’s such a weirdo.
6. Russ Grimm may well interview but it’s not terribly likely to go anywhere. He’s an offensive coach, specifically an offensive line coach. An offensive specialist? I kind of doubt it.
7. We don’t have the first clue who the Bills are going to hire as none of the names mentioned so far fit the offensive specialist mold. Garrett is a possiblity but there are 20+ other offensive coordinators who might be interested as well.

1995- Tight End coach, Tampa
1996-2000- Tight End coach, Pittsburgh
2001-2003- Offensive Co-ordinator, Pittsburgh

So 5 years as a positional coach (very specific role too, Tight End coach), and 3 years as offensive co-ordinator…I’m not sure I’d exactly call that “extensive” offensive experience, although I guess it is subjective and could be argued.

Either way, I don’t think Buffalo has ever really hired someone who was really well known and respected as an offensive guru as Head Coach. With the state of the offense, I def wouldn’t mind seeing that happen.

I can see where people think it’s irrelevant, and to a point it is. I just think offense is the more intricate of the two sides of the ball, and would love to have as many good offensive minds on staff as possible.

In the ideal world, we would have find an offensive guru to lead this football team, but given the circumstances, I would have no problem if we went out and hired Leslie Frazier, who I think after much consideration (and switching in opinions) will be a terrific HC, if he can find the right coordinators.
That being said, my personal favorite remains Russ Grimm of the realistic options, and he might even nix our potential offer, which would basically guarentee Frazier the job.

It doesn’t matter if the coach is offensive minded or defensive. Take the best coach available. I don’t want to take an offensive minded coach if the best available is Defensive, and vice versa.

To quote Mike Singletary, “I want winners!” …

If you are a good coach that lets your coordinators do their job it doesn’t matter what your background is.

Tony Dungy was a defensive specialist that had great offenses in Indy.
Brian Billick was an “offensive genius” that had great defenses.
Bill Bellichek was a defensive specialist that has had some great offenses.
etc, etc, etc….

The most important thing is having a coach that can recognize a good coordinator and let them do their job.

Tony Dungy – defensive background. Defense was a strength in Tampa, offense was a strength in Indianapolis.
Brian Billick – offensive background. Defense was a strength in Baltimore.
Marvin Lewis – defensive background. Offense was a strength in Cincinnatti.
Bill Belichick – defensive background. Offense and defense have both been a strength at different times in his tenure.
Mike Smith – defensive background. Offense is a strength in Atlanta.

Just because a head coach has a background on one side doesn’t prevent him from having success on the other side. Great coaches adjust to their players and do whatever it takes to win. Players, not plays.

Effectiveness trumps all. I agree with Fort Worth- the strength of the team is often times different than the strength of the head coach.

The head coach needs to be more of a personal leader to the coordinators, the position coaches, and potentially the quarterback. It would be advantageous to hire an experienced coordinator opposite of your specialty, but that’s it. If the HC can’t lead the above personnel (coaching, teaching, and mentoring) then he’s ineffective.

There are a ton of different schemes that the team can pursue. Offensively, we can choose from the Walsh system (West Coach), Coryall (vertical), Erhardt-Perkins, spread, and run’n’shoot. Defensivley we can choose from 4-3, 46, Tampa 2, Bullough-Fairbanks 3-4, 3-4 over (hybrid or elephant), and 3-4 zone blitz.

But if we don’t have the proper head coach that can run this team, guide his coordinators, teach his coaches and players, manage the game properly, and lead during the game, then we are sunk.

That’s my criteria for the head coach, regardless of what side of the ball he coaches or scheme he favors.

Yes, of course effectiveness trumps all.

Yes, of course I’d rather have a good leader, delegator, person who hires a good offensive and defensive co-ordinators, etc.

In these instances, it is irrelevant what the background of the head coach is.

BUT ALL THIS BEING EQUAL….I would rather the head coach hired have more impact in fixing our offense than in fixing our defense.

You could hire Megan Fox for all I care, as long as she has a good plan to fix our offense, I’m all in.

i am glad you mentioned jason garret. i had forgotten about him. any chance the bills will try to interview him? why or why not?

At this point I would be impressed if they hired ANY COACH. Offense/Defense/Special Teams.

Just end this charade.

I voted that it shouldn’t matter. But if I were answering this question:

Should Bills have offense/defense preference in next coach?

I’d say that they should have a preference and it should be offense. If the Bills had a similiar amount of confidence in Jason Garrett as they do Leslie Frazier, then go with the offensive guy. I just think that Buffalo can’t rule out defensive guys. Find the best coaching candidate out there, not the best candidate with an offensive background.

And I think Eric’s point about the defense is a good one. Buffalo has three starters on the DL who are on the wrong side of 30, a very average group of LBs that include a 30 year old Mitchell and poor starter in Ellison and a defensive backfield with a pair of 29 year old CBs (McGee and Florence) and could also be one offseason’s worth of neglect and a bad decision or two away from having zero depth. This isn’t time to build the offense, it’s time to rebuild the majority of the entire roster.

which is why a guy with prior head coaching experience is ideal. We want a guy who can do everything. We need a well rounded guy. I don’t want another Jauron who couldn’t get an OC for four years. His inability to recognize good OC’s was rooted in his obvious lack of understanding of that side of the ball.

And to everyone who says it doesn’t matter well, thats pretty simplistic. It does matter. This team has a ton of talent on the defense. Poz, Kawicka, Stroud, K Williams, Schobel, Byrd, Whitner, McGee, McKelvin, Florence, a coach can do a lot with that.

The offense demands a great mind to do numerous things the defense doesn’t need:

a.) we need an offensive guru who can REBUILD are tattered offense. Our offense is in shambles. We don’t have a line, we don’t have a QB, we don’t have a fullback. These are tough problems to fix. We need an offensive mind to help us design the blueprint with which to get to work on this offense.

b.) we need an offensive guru to design the plan with which to attack once that offense is built. He needs to formulate the plans to fit around the new personnel. A plan of attack to maximize the new talent we bring in is key, an offensive guy can do this.

A defensive minded guy will struggle with both of these and if he brings in a great OC he still won’t have final say on personnel, drafts, free agents, and starters,.

Our defense has talent, we need someone to devise a scheme to fit that talent. Thats what coordinators are bred to do. HC need to build a team and then utilize it properly. Our offense needs rebuilding our defense doesn’t. Bring in an offensive guy, please.

All I want is a GOOD coach, I don’t care which side of the ball he’s from.

While it’s no guarantee that an offensive mind would finally fix this offense and it’s no slam dunk that a defensive guy won’t be able to hire the assistants who can, it’s ridiculous to say that naming a head coach with an offensive background wouldn’t be the more prudent move for a team that’s finished in the bottom 25 in offense for 7 or 8 consecutive years. I’m not slamming Frazier (although I will slam the team if the serious interviews don’t extend any further); I’ll give any coach a fresh start and a chance to right this ship. But offense has to be the priority now hands down and it’s wishful thinking to say that a head coach with an offensive background wouldn’t contribute to rebuilding that side of the ball. Frazier is not an ideal hire for this team based on where it is right now and if his contacts around the league net him a coordinator/ QB coach of the Fairchild-Schonert ilk, this team will be hopeless by mid-2011 and we’ll be on another death watch because we settled in 2010.

Your team has to play competively on BOTH sides of the ball, so why is the coaches forte so important? Just hire a leader who oversees his co-ordinators and let the asst. do there job. Besides whomever is hired is starting from scratch, so whats so relevant about the teams past stats either off. or def. None of the players or coaches responsible for those ranks will or aren’t around now?

Ironically…that is my vote for just about every Bills related question you could ask.

I’ve somewhat changed my position.

I voted Offensive-minded but I’d change it to irrelevant. I read all 79 posts and all three arguments have merit. I believe our biggest problems are with both lines, we have been absolutely lousy in run-blocking for the entire Jauron era and our pass-rush and run-stuffing abilities have been abysmal as well. I saw named get thrown around like Martz which scare the crap out of me because guys like Martz think they know it all and are better then their counterparts. They think they can win on their “guruness” and I hate that. The same for teams that are run by defensive guys that think they can win with their defense alone and don’t require a strong offense (Chicago and Baltimore both come to mind – even though they’ve been getting better). I much prefer a guy that understands the importance of both sides and how to control the game, through the trenches. The trenches are where games are won or loss. That’s what has always made Bill Parcells so good, he gets it. His teams were always balanced and he always pays particular attention to both Lines, it’s in his DNA and it’s the secret of his success.

That being said, I want to remain hopeful that Grimm will interview well and ultimately accept. Another guy that I’d consider interviewing if he gets canned is Tom Cable, who has done a decent job in Raiderland. He was imposed many players and not given the authority to do his job properly and still got his team to beat teams with winning records.

Another name that I’d like to see on the interview list is Mike Heimerdinger. He work with Tennesse has always been great as well as the work he did for a few years with Denver when they drafted Cutler. This guy definitely understands offense quite well and he’s worked for Fisher for so many years that he probably understands the importance of great defense.