Reports: Bills target Ron Rivera as coaching candidate

Uh yeah. I would love that hire, as I tend to like the defensive HCs more. I remember Chicago’s Defense was pretty good when he was there.

Urghhh…. This is what I was afraid of!

Nix spoke at length at his introductory press conference of his belief that previous head coaching experience is important to the search process; Rivera has none.

Rivera joined the Chargers prior to the 2007 season, when Nix was still the Assistant GM and Director of Player Personnel with San Diego. Clearly, the two men are somewhat familiar with each other.

Weclome to the old new Buffalo regime

let’s hope they know what they’re doing

My hunch is that Fewell remains with the team in some capacity, either as HC or Asst HC, or DC. In his interview with Chris Brown, Nix emphasized that change was not good for the team. He specifically mentioned how changing systems and coordinators was not a good thing. So I very much doubt that he wants Fewell gone especially since the defense is there or close. There is absolutely no reason to blow up this defense.

What I find intriguing is what could happen on the offensive side. The Bills have been a victim of the constant change on offense and that is never a good thing. I would not be surprised at all if he keeps AVP as OC, makes Fewell get a QB coach, and give Edwards another shot behind a more mature and possibly talented line.

Of course, if Rivera is hired, he would have lattitude to hire who he wants to, but I think continuity would be a major factor in Nix’s decision from what I can tell.

The other interesting thing is this. Both Rivera and Nix probably watched Edwards last year come back from that concussion and surgically take apart San Diego to go 6-2? So they must have a decent opinion of Edwards knowing what he is capable of in the best of times. I see them keeping Edwards in place, which I think is as good an option as any. There simply is no available QB that is better than Edwards, defintely not Jason Campbell whose name keeps creeping up, and there’s too much pressure to win to put the ball in the hands of a rookie. I can see Rivera, Nix, or Fewell, or anyone else for that matter doing a Pennington with Edwards.

BTW, the Rooney Rule is a great thing. I see a lot of bashing of it here and just want to make it clear that some of us like it.

I do not see where interviewing Ron Rivera is a contradiction, of back-peddling, from what Nix said in his statements about the head coach. First, he did not categorically state that he would not look at candidates lacking NFL head coaching experience, but rather that he thought it would be difficult to find a suitable candidate who lacked such. He also commented that they would consider 2-3 candidates who matched with their ideals and then take those names to Ralph Wilson for final deliberations. So, even if he is interviewed and considered an appropriate candidate, it does not mean that he will be the final choice. Let’s wait and see what other names arise before questioning Nix and his approach to building this team.

- You mean the one that lead us to 4 straight Super Bowls. Maybe you were too young to remember that Nix worked for John Butler, A.J. Smith, and Bill Polian – Wow, Rivera would be a good choice! It’s not like we are hiring someone who was with the Lions, or dare I say, the Bills.

No defensive coordinators as head coach. Please focus on offensive coaching, Bills! For crying out loud. If we do not have a focused plan of attack we may be doomed to watch 6-3 losses to Cleveland for the rest of eternity!

Nix is looking at Rivera because it’s someone he can look at immediately without doing any research. He knows Rivera and he knows he would be a good interview. There hasn’t been enough time to actually research anyone yet, so this is a good idea. It’s a look at someone, someone realistic, and someone that Nix already has a fair idea of.

good point Buffalo Whinner. Remember that Nix was asst GM while living in Tenn. Using your thought Uncle Ralph warned that no position on his team is safe.—- With good old Nix in , maybe he will bring in another ex bill Jim Hasslet to coach, as Ralphy wants to live in the 90’s next he will ask Kelly to suit up. We need a team to win next years they already won in the 90’s

Some responses

I can’t give you a specific list of who he was integral in drafting, but I can tell you that every year after the draft, Buddy would hold a post-draft press conference and explain what he saw in the individual players that were drafted. So we certainly got the sense that he was VERY integral in scouting and drafting ALL the players.

Andy

I personally think Buddy Nix becoming your GM is pretty good move for the bills front office. Many People believe that Buddy Nix was the integral part in the excellent Chargers drafting.. and not AJ Smith.. its believed that once he left the drafting has gone downhill. In general, hes known as one of the top talent evaluators in all of the NFL. At the very least, im sure you guys will draft well for the next while

http://www.boltsfromtheblue.com/2010/1/1/1230052/buffalo-bills-fan-seeking-chargers#28055217

He did yesterday. I didn’t hear him talk about the chargers so I can’t speak to that.

If he wasn’t involved heavily in the Bills draft, then what was his salary for?

It couldn’t have been much. The scouting process is an all year round process. Scouts are looking at players a year in advance. I bet whn Nix was brought in, it was more for this year’s draft. By coming in January, he could not catch up on the 2009 draft in time. He probably was just an advisor last year.

He’s not my favorite, but no one is denying he’s a top coordinator and he’s consistently on the short list of contenders for every open HC job. I suspect he will be rewarded this offseason by someone. If Shanahan and Cowher are the premiere talent in this year’s field, then Rivera is with Jason Garret and every other popular coordinator in the second tier, which’d be the first tier any year but this one.

Bottom line: Nix wants to interview a guy who everyone in the league thinks will be a good head coach. Why is that a bad thing?

A few ppl (MRW and RON I think) mentioned him as a possibility before. And while I understand Jason’s apprehension about going to ppl that Nix knows first, I don’t think that we should be worried.

First Rivera is a very legitimate option for the next HC as other teams have also expressed interest in him in the past. Soncond, Nix has expirience working with Rivera, so if he does get hiered, we’d know that our GM and HC are on the same page, which is VERY important in the NFL. Third, this is only an interview. A lot of us (me included) are hoping for a coach like Coher, but he’s not going to take interviews until the season is entirely over, so why not start the interviewing process with Rivera and interview other coaches afterwords?

Rivera is a good coach. We shouldn’t be worried about his ties to Nix.

you guys can take care of the rest of the gripes/complaints lol.

Also, I’m interested at what some people want if they don’t want Nix hiring people he knows and likes.

Would you rather he hire someone he’s never met who rubs him the wrong way but will make the fanbase happier for about 4 days?!

One thing to consider with this Rivera interview is that it’s pretty rare for coordinators to interview during that first week of the playoffs as most teams wouldn’t allow their guys to do it and instead would rather force them to focus on the upcoming game. Obviously, with AJ Smith’s relationship with Nix, that wasn’t an issue. This is a smart move by Buffalo because they might not have gotten the chance to interview Rivera for a month or more. Interview everybody that you can as quick as you can. You also have to wait a week and a half after the season to interview coordinators of teams that have been eliminated or didn’t make the playoffs without permission. So it’s not like Buffalo could interview many other guys early next week.

When talking about a potential defensive scheme, it should also be noted that Rivera played in the 46 defense of the Bears in the late 80s.

Buddy should finish replacing Guy and Modrak amoung others before hiring a head coach. Or is the head coach going to replace these guys. Granted this is just an interview and the timing is valid with the charges schedule, but wouldn’t Rivera want to know who he is working with. I am sure the HC will have input on his coordinators, but the space between HC and GM doesn’t seem settled for a canidate of Rivera or any canidate to consider the position seriously.

Buddy Nix has complete control and shows us by firing Modrak and Guy then this can work. But if Nix does not have 100% control of every football decision this has no chance to work.

RIvera is a good start. Cowher has to be 1A, with Rivera and whoever else is on their list to follow

According to Pro Football talk Brain Billick is going to interview for the Head coaching position. So now we all can a deep breath all the people who were scared silly about hiring Ron Rivera. It’s a long process as Brian said lets all take a deep breath.

If, as Ralph said, Nix is in charge of finding a football coach, what’ve they been doing since they fired Jauron? Who had conversations with Shanahan?

That part of the process seems a little convoluted. We’ve talked about the timing of this- as far as I’m concerned, if we were going to go with Nix I would rather they did it back when they fired Jauron, because either they’ve wasted a few weeks or Nix is been placed into someone else’s process, neither situation is ideal, IMO.

Shanahan interviewed w/ Russ Brandon in Denver.

Russ/Modrak/Guy making moves on personel since Jauron left.