How Good Are The Sabres?
1/23/2010 | Posted by
Devin
A) Really good. Potentially scary good.
B) I'm not sure. They have potential, but I'm nervous of a letdown.
C) Not very good at all. They are a huge tease.
Sometimes when I answer this question, I answer with choice B.
Like the other night in Anaheim when I blinked my eyes and Patrick Lalime had helped dig an early 4-0 hole that forced Ryan Miller into action. The obvious key to the Sabres success for the remaining 33 games and playoffs is Ryan Miller. It doesn't exactly give me warm and fuzzy thoughts when Miller is forced to play 48 minutes and 27 seconds on his night off. But hey, I'll give Lalime a pass on that one game, just as long as it doesn't become a habit. Unfortunately for him, the Sabres might have had enough of him. He has had his moments this season, like coming off the bench for Miller down 3-0 to Pittsburgh, and helping Buffalo get the 4-3 win. To be honest, I don't answer with choice B very often.
Most times I answer with choice A. This is partly because I'm a huge Sabres homer, and partly because this is the best Sabres team we've seen since the lockout. Or at least on par with those teams.
Buffalo is on pace to finish the season with approximately 112 points this season. They finished with 113 points in 2006-07, which was good enough to win the President's Trophy. I don't think I'm saying anything outlandish when I say that the 2005-06 team was much better as a whole. That particular team finished 110 points, but that year it only netted them fourth in the Eastern Conference. The 2006-07 team looked great on paper. Best team in the league. Most goals scored. Four players with 30 or more goals. They had everything in their favor. Except they crumbled in the playoffs. That Sabres team only averaged 2.75 goals per game in the postseason after averaging 3.63 during the regular season.
In 2005-06, the Sabres averaged 3.33 goals per game in the playoffs, and many would argue that injuries to the defense were what really caused their demise. Seriously, what are the odds that your top four defensemen all suffer major injuries during a playoff run? Slim to none would be my guess.
Anyways, back to the main point. Yes, I really think the 2009-10 Sabres team is better than those two teams, or at least equal to them, and it goes without saying that they are better than the last two non-playoff teams. I know I'm going to catch some flak for that because they have had some obvious issues so far, but I am pretty confident in stating that they will easily overcome them down the stretch and into the playoffs. Let's break it down a little more.
Reasons Why They Are Better: Younger players assuming more leadership; Ryan Miller/overall team defense; balanced scoring; regaining the ability to come back/ability to hold on to a lead/finishing a team off instead of letting them back into the game.
When the Sabres allowed Chris Drury and Daniel Briere to walk in free agency, it caused an uproar from the fan base, and rightfully so. To let two of your top scorers AND co-captains walk for nothing was a hard pill to swallow. However, there were several Sabres fans that felt like this was part of the plan. Let's be honest, the Sabres probably weren't going to win the Cup with the team they had after the 2006-07 season. Anybody that saw that playoff run could see they were severely lacking in several departments. So instead of investing even more money in those two players, who weren't exactly very young, they let them walk and invested their money into the younger players to develop a core.
Judging by both players output for the Rangers and Flyers, I'd say I'm perfectly okay with that decision.
I'm not going to lie and say it was an easy transition. The last two years have been extremely painful to watch at times. But it appears as if things are coming together this year and they are poised for a real run. There is even better news, but I'll defer to the Sporting News for the quote:
"Eleven of the Sabres' top 15 scorers are age 28 or under, six are 24 or under and no key forwards, besides Tim Connolly in 2011, are scheduled for unrestricted free agency, meaning this is a collection that will be competitive for years to come."
Personally, I like the way that sounds. Included in the discussion of younger players assuming more leadership is a fellow on defense by the name of Tyler Myers. Myers is only 19 and has appeared in all 49 games this year. He is fifth on the team with 28 points, which is obviously first for all defensemen, and he leads the team in average ice time by a fairly large margin. If you were a casual person just watching the game, it would be very difficult to tell that he is a rookie by the way he plays and by the way the coaching staff and team trusts him. Needless to say, far fewer people are crying about losing Brian Campbell this season. That brings us to Ryan Miller. Miller has easily been one of the top two goaltenders this season and has been mentioned several times as a serious candidate for the Vezina and Hart trophy this season. While it might sound ridiculous, it really isn't. Think about the true definition of an MVP. To me, most valuable is defined as what the player means to the team. Without Miller, the Sabres are nowhere near the top of the conference and are most likely on the outside of the playoff picture. For evidence of that, take a look at last season once Miller got injured. The Sabres took a seemingly good position in the Conference and it all slipped away as they went 4-7-2 through a crucial part of the season and never really recovered.
Last season Miller had a 2.53 GAA, .918 save percentage, and five shutouts. So far this year he has put up a 2.02 GAA, .935 save percentage, and five shutouts. Mind you, that is in 17 less games than last season. To say Miller has dramatically improved is an understatement. He went from being Tim Thomas' backup in the Olympics to the definite starter for Team USA. As Miller goes, so go the Sabres. The evidence is in the standings.
As an overall team, the Sabres have a 2.29 GAA this season. The last time it was lower than that was the 2000-01 season when the Sabres had some guy named Dominik Hasek in net for 67 games. Oh by the way, he won the Vezina Trophy that season. I'm not comparing the two players by any means, just pointing out how good the Sabres defense/goaltending really has been this season.
The Sabres have always had a decent balance of scoring, but this year it appears to be much more evident. In 05-06, they had one 30 goal scorer and five with 20 or more. In 06-07, they had one 43 goal scorer, three 30+ goal scorers, and two 20+ goal scorers. This year the leading goal scorers have 14, 13, 13, 12, 12, 12, 11, 9, 8, and 8. Yes the numbers are down as a whole right now, but look at how well balanced that is. (I should also point out that Buffalo has 33 more games to play this season) The Sabres currently have 13 forwards who have appeared in at least 36 of the 49 games this season. The numbers above represent 10 of those 13 forwards. Just curious, but how does the opposition effectively game plan for the Sabres? It's not like there is one major line to focus on and shut down. The Sabres are rolling four lines and quite frankly, anybody on the ice at any given time can potentially score. Call me crazy, but that sounds like it is much more difficult to stop.
The final three reasons why I feel they are better can be rolled into one giant reason for the purposes of explaining it. Any Sabres fan can tell you, they were never out of it during the playoff years. There was always that potential to make a comeback and many times they actually did. The previous two years definitely lacked that luster. In addition to that, they seemed to fall apart in the third period when holding the lead or being tied and would eventually lose it. It was extremely frustrating.
Not this year. This was evident in game number two when the Sabres were trailing Phoenix 1-0 to start the third and walked away with a regulation win, 2-1. Two nights later in Nashville, the game was tied 0-0 late in the third when Mike Grier scored the game winner and Buffalo walked away with a 1-0 win. More recently, Buffalo was trailing Colorado 3-1 and scored two in the third to force overtime before eventually losing the shootout. (Had they continued to just play hockey, Buffalo would've definitely won. A skills competition is a stupid way to settle the tie) Prior to that, in two consecutive games against Pittsburgh and Atlanta, the Sabres overcame 3-0 deficits and won 4-3. I could go on and on all day about this, but these examples should be sufficient enough.
This team is definitely different. They don't fall apart late in the game. They do find a way to come back against seemingly impossible odds. They have balanced scoring from all four lines. They have an even better defense. Ryan Miller has been dominant so far.
To put it simply, this reminds me exactly of the playoff years, only better. I almost never turn a game off or walk away during a game, but I especially wouldn't think of it this year. As long as time remains in the game, the Sabres have a chance.
And as long as Ryan Miller is in net, the possibilities are endless.
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NFC Championship Preview
1/22/2010 | Posted by
Scott Lunn
The two highest powered offenses in the league will meet up on Sunday as the Minnesota Vikings head to New Orleans to take on the Saints for the right to advance to the Super Bowl. The Vikings were efficient on offense in dispatching of the Dallas Cowboys last weekend, but it was the defense that proved most impressive. They held Dallas to just 3 points and 248 total yards en route to a 34-3 victory. Brett Favre continued his terrific season by throwing 4 TD passes, including 3 to his new favorite target, Sidney Rice. Adrian Peterson continued to struggle however, managing just 63 yards on 26 carries, numbers that have to be at least a little concerning to Vikings fans.
As impressive as the Vikings were offensively this year, the Saints were even better. They quickly eliminated any doubt that existed after dropping their last 3 regular season games, in which they only managed 17 points in each, by absolutely making the Arizona Cardinals look silly. The final score read 45-14 in the Saints favor, but I'm not even sure it was actually that close. Tim Hightower broke off a 70 yard touchdown run to put the Cardinals up 7-0 on their first play, but the Saints responded, with a vengeance. By the time the first quarter ended, it was 21-7 New Orleans, and the Saints didn't look back. New Orleans got contributions from everybody on offense while piling up 418 yards, but Reggie Bush was the star of the day. Bush had 5 carries for 84 yards, including a 46 yard touchdown run, and also added an 83 yard punt return touchdown to put the finishing touches on the game. Drew Brees tossed 3 touchdowns in another solid effort, while 4 different receivers had at least 4 catches. The defense also played fairly well, holding the high powered Cardinal offense to just the two scores.
Based on what we've seen all season long and thus far in the playoffs, there is no reason to doubt that this game will be anything short of an offensive slugfest. So the question becomes which defense can do just enough to propel their team to victory? Well, at first glance, the Vikings defense seems to be the stronger of the two and Tony Romo would likely verify that for you if you asked him. Romo was sacked 6 times and hit another 4 as he was under pressure all day long against Minnesota. The Vikings forced 3 turnovers and had 11 tackles for a loss as well on the day and really prevented Dallas from moving the ball successfully at all. Granted, New Orleans has a better offense and more options to attack with, but they aren't going to be facing the Cardinals again. Arizona's defense was torched 2 weeks in a row and didn't put up much resistance against the Saints. New Orleans did manage to hold the Cardinals in check for the most part, forcing Arizona to pass a great deal once a big lead was established. The Cardinals put up decent numbers in the passing game, but again, it's tough to tell if that was because New Orleans was relaxed with a big lead or not. It is clear though that the Saints could not get to the quarterback anywhere near as successfully as Minnesota did.
From the Vikings point of view, that amount of pressure is going be needed again this week. If they can get to Drew Brees and disrupt his timing, it will go a long ways towards slowing down the Saints offense. This is of course easier said than done though. Brees is much like Peyton Manning in that he is very intelligent at reading defenses and knowing what's available to him before the snap. This results in a relatively low number of sacks as Brees gets rid of the ball quickly for the most part. It doesn't hurt that he usually has a ton of options to throw to either. Between Marques Colston, Robert Meachem, Devery Henderson, Jeremy Shockey, and Reggie Bush out of the backfield, somebody is usually relatively open. One thing is for sure, if the Vikings fail to get pressure on him, it won't be for a lack of trying. They're going to bring the heat all day and live or die by it. On the offensive side of the ball, it would greatly benefit Minnesota if they could finally get their star running back to return to previous form. Adrian Peterson dominated for about the first 3 quarters of the season, but his production has slowed greatly since. Whether this is due to Brett Favre becoming pass happy and audibling out of run plays or not is still a bit of a mystery, but the results have been obvious. Peterson hasn't topped 100 yards since Week 10 against Detroit and has had games of 19, 35, 54 and last week's 63 yards during the stretch since. Being able to control the ball and therefore keep it out of the hands of Drew Brees would be extremely beneficial in helping the Vikings reach the Super Bowl.
It would stand to reason that the opposites would be true for New Orleans. If they can keep Brees upright and give him time to make throws, he'll prove why he is one of the best quarterbacks in the game. This depends directly on the success of the Saints rushing attack. Last week was probably the best ground attack the Saints have managed in awhile, but it was also against an Arizona defense that has looked like Swiss Cheese as of late. Still, the reemergence of Reggie Bush had to be a welcome sight for Saints fans, as he has had more downs than ups as of late. If he can combine with Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell to carve out even a decent day on the ground, it should help to buy the Saints some time with their pass block. If they fail to do so, letting the Vikings tee off all day is going to be tough to deal with. Defensively, the Saints should fair a little better against Favre and the Vikings passing game. The Cowboys are rather weak in the secondary and really showed no effort in trying to stop Sidney Rice last week. I expect the Saints DBs to put up a much better fight. They did a solid job keeping Larry Fitzgerald, Early Doucet, and Steve Breaston in check just a week after all three tore up Green Bay. Brett Favre threw very few interceptions this year, but it's something he's been prone to in the past due to forcing plays more than he should. If the Saints could get him to turn the ball over a couple of times and get Brees and company some extra possessions, they would be pretty tough to defeat.
Almost everybody I've seen is picking Minnesota with a fair bit of confidence this week. I understand that if their defense plays like it did last week, New Orleans is in for a very long day, but for some reason, I don't see them having the same success. Instead, I'm imaging a game more like the Vikings contest against Arizona in Week 13, where Favre attempts a ton of passes and ends up throwing some costly interceptions. The Cardinals completely shut down Peterson in that game, so it is certainly attainable for the Saints. I think turnovers determine the winner and Drew Brees makes the most of his chances.
My Pick: New Orleans (-4) over Minnesota
AFC Championship: Indianapolis (-7.5) over NY Jets
I think the matchup of New Orleans and Indianapolis with perhaps the 2 most talented quarterbacks in the game would be amazingly entertaining, not to mention the thought of a Minnesota/NY Jets Super Bowl complete with 2 weeks of Favre Hype and Rex Ryan quotes gives me severe indigestion. It's the Super Bowl, and since my team is never involved anymore, it needs to appeal me on some level, so I'm totally picking with my heart this weekend.
AFC Championship Preview
1/21/2010 | Posted by
Devin
Last week, the Colts eliminated the Ravens with the same kind of boring precision that allowed them to go 14-0 before throwing away their perfect season in the last two weeks. I credit this to myself for changing my pick to favor Baltimore at the last second. I obviously have the magic touch. With only three games remaining in the postseason, I think I'm officially going for the 0-11 record. I was in Detroit this past weekend and even made the point of riding the Detroit People Mover across town so I could see Ford Field. When attempting a winless record, I have to pull out all the stops. I wish I was kidding but I'm really not.
Anyways, back to the Colts. Even as they were up 17-3 at halftime, I had the sneaking suspicion that the Ravens could make this into a game. I suppose this was wishful thinking because I should've known Joe Flacco wasn't going to all of a sudden put together a good half of football. When your starting quarterback goes a combined 24 for 45, 223 yards, zero touchdowns, and three interceptions in the first two rounds of the playoffs, you're probably not thinking about the Super Bowl anymore. To be honest, I like Flacco and have nothing against him, but he was horrendous this postseason.
If this game was ever in doubt; that officially ended when the Colts took a 20-3 lead on a drive where Peyton Manning threw not one, but two interceptions to Ed Reed and still maintained possession. The first interception was nullified by a great play from Pierre Garcon. Its plays like that from lesser known players that separate the good teams and the bad teams. The second interception was cancelled out by the stupidity of the Ravens, which seemed to haunt them multiple times this season. I seem to remember a game against Pittsburgh that Baltimore eventually lost, mostly because of multiple penalties that continuously took points off the board.
The Jets game was a different story. I ignored all looming thoughts of the Jets stealing another playoff game from the Chargers because I figured this San Diego team was different. For one, they were 13-3 and riding an 11 game winning streak. Two, I didn't think Nate Kaeding would miss as many field goals in one game as he did for the entire 2009 season. However, that is exactly what happened. The Chargers played into the hands of New York for the entire afternoon until it finally bit them and ended their season. The Chargers game plan should've been extremely simple. Get an early double digit lead and force Mark Sanchez to win the game with his arm. Instead, the Chargers took a 7-0 lead and seemed content with that. To be fair, had Kaeding made his first two field goal attempts, the lead would've been 13-0 and we may not be discussing this at all. The Jets game plan was executed almost perfectly. Rely on their defense to hold them in the game and wait for San Diego to make one costly mistake. With a 7-3 lead, Phillip Rivers did exactly that when he threw one of the worst interceptions that I have ever seen not thrown by a guy with the last name of Sanchez. The Jets promptly took a 10-7 off the turnover and never looked back. While trying to grind out some more time on the clock, Shonn Greene did more than that when he broke off a 53 yard touchdown run and simultaneously ended the Chargers season and the Thomas Jones era in New York.
What followed this sequence was a perfect display of why coaching matters the most in the playoffs. At this point in the game, the Chargers were down 17-7 and would remain down by 10 after Kaeding's third miss of the afternoon. So for what it's worth, the Chargers were finished. But still, Rivers was able to rally the offense and cut the lead to 17-14 with just over two minutes remaining and one timeout left. Common sense would dictate that the Chargers kick it deep and simply stop the run. Even with only one timeout, they have the two minute warning on their side and could have easily forced a Jets punt with over one minute remaining in the game. Seeing that the Jets punter wasn't exactly on his game, the Chargers could've easily put themselves in position to kick a game tying field goal. Of course, that would have required Nate Kaeding to actually make a field goal, but you still have to take that chance.
Instead, Norv Turner calls for the onside kick and the Jets predictably recover the ball. They are stopped all three times before facing a fourth down. Seeing that the Jets were already deep enough into Charger territory to risk losing the ball, Rex Ryan calls for them to go for it and they easily get the first. Game over. Take that entire sequence, but place it down inside the Charger 30 yard line and the Jets are definitely punting the ball and giving Rivers one more shot to go down the field. This was an awful decision the second Turner made it and it remains an awful decision after the fact. And for those who think I might be piling on Turner, check my Twitter, I tweeted at that exact moment that it was a horrendous call.
And so here we stand. We have the Colts and the Jets with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. If you would've told me that the Jets would be playing in the AFC Championship game before the season had started, I would've bet my life savings against it. Maybe there is something to Rex Ryan and has inflated sense of confidence in his team. The team that ended the perfect season for Indianapolis now has a chance to ruin their Super Bowl dreams as well. Here is some food for thought. The Colts yanked their starters against the Jets because the Colts were concerned with keeping everyone healthy for a potential Super Bowl run and didn't seem to care about the perfect season. When they pulled the starters, it allowed the Jets to win and pretty much allowed them to cakewalk into the playoffs. Now the Jets have a chance to beat them again and completely finish their season. Had the Colts actually tried for the perfect season, they would've beaten the Jets, the Jets wouldn't have made the playoffs, and this scenario would've never played out. Football works in mysterious ways sometimes.
Continuing with the Jets trend this postseason, I expect a low scoring game that will start to favor New York as time goes by. The biggest factor in this will be the play of Mark Sanchez, or more like how the Jets will keep him under control. If they are smart, they keep the game plan close to the same as the past two weeks and limit his opportunities to throw at a minimum. I highlighted this in my Brian Schottenheimer article, but when the Jets start to pass the ball more and get away from a clock controlling ground game, they almost always lose. This is kind of stating the obvious, but in every single playoff game so far this year, the team with the least amount of turnovers has won the game.
Then again, the Colts could do what the Chargers failed to do and get a decent sized lead early and then just pick Sanchez apart. If there is one thing Peyton Manning is good at, it's marching right down the field for the early lead. As it stands now, it really could go either way. My pick would definitely be better served if it was made after the first quarter and I could accurately judge how this game will go.
I'd like to say the Colts will need a good running game to win, but I just don't think that is true. In the wild card round, the Jets allowed the Bengals to rush for 171 yards and still won with relative ease. Last week against Baltimore, the Colts ran for a whopping 42 yards on 25 carries, and the game was never really in doubt. Normally I would say that a solid running game is the most important part of winning, but I'm starting to think that having a QB like Peyton Manning simply renders that point obsolete.
Contrary to popular belief, the Jets can be beat through the air. If Reggie Wayne is nullified by Darrelle Revis, that simply leaves Dallas Clark, Austin Collie, and Pierre Garcon open to make plenty of plays. Last Sunday against New York, Rivers did throw the ball for 298 yards. Vincent Jackson caught seven passes for 111 yards, Antonio Gates caught eight passes for 93 yards, and six other players contributed with at least one reception. On the flip side, Mark Sanchez cannot win this game on his own. If the Colts can hold the Jets to under 100 rushing yards, they will win the game. I know it isn't totally fair to refer back to the meeting in Week 16 because of the circumstances surrounding the game, but I will anyways. The Jets ran the ball for 202 yards that day while Sanchez only attempted 19 passes. I can't reiterate this enough. It is not a coincidence. Sanchez will not win the game for the Jets, but he absolutely will lose the game for them.
With all that being said, the Jets just beat one of the hottest teams in the NFL, and even if they lose this Sunday, it will be a very close game. Unfortunately for me and the rest of America, I see the Jets actually winning this game and finally returning to the Super Bowl. Cue the Joe Namath footage. Err…I mean cue the Joe Namath Super Bowl footage, not the Joe Namath sloppy drunk "I want to kiss you" footage.
My Pick: New York Jets (+7.5) over Indianapolis Colts
NFC Championship:
Minnesota Vikings (+4) over New Orleans Saints
Sanchez! Favre! It's Super Bowl XILV!!
Is Chan Gailey the Answer?
1/19/2010 | Posted by
Scott Lunn
Perhaps the biggest feather in the cap of Chan Gailey is the simple fact that he has some head coaching experience. Granted, most of it is at the college level where he spent 6 years at the helm of Georgia Tech. During his tenure with the Yellow Jackets, Gailey amassed a record of 44-32 and never had a losing season. Despite those numbers, he was let go and had his contract bought out in 2007, due in part to 6 straight losses against main rival Georgia, and perhaps for a subpar record in bowl games. Before that time, Chan spent 2 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, going 18-14 and making the playoffs in both years. Both seasons ended with first round losses however, and owner Jerry Jones had seen enough. Jones now claims it was a mistake to let Gailey go for what it's worth. Gailey has had stints as offensive coordinator in Denver, Pittsburgh, Miami, and most recently Kansas City, but has never spent more than 2 seasons in that position with any team. Reports also claim that Bill Cowher had tapped Gailey as his offensive coordinator, if he were to return to the sidelines. When meeting with the Bills, Cowher seems to have given Gailey his recommendation.
Apparently, since the Bills couldn't convince Cowher to come back and take the job, they figured they might as well get the guy he spoke highly of. Honestly, I see little other reason the Bills would make this hire. In Gailey's most recent job with the Chiefs, he failed to make any impact with the offense, which to be fair, was about the worst in the league when he took them over. He was one of the 3 OC's relieved of their duty in the preseason this past year. It concerns me a great deal that the guy wasn't good enough to be the OC for Kansas City, yet the Bills think he has the ability to turn around a franchise mired in a decade of futility. According to Adam Schefter's story on the hiring, the Bills are supposedly impressed with Gailey's ability to take franchises to the playoffs, despite having a subpar quarterback, citing seasons with Mike Tomczak, Kordell Stewart, and Jay Fiedler. I'm not sure whether to cry or laugh hysterically at that last sentence. Instead of fixing the problem of not having had any stability or outstanding skill at the quarterback position since Jim Kelly left, the Bills choose to hire a guy who has had some luck getting teams to the playoffs with bad QBs!
If the Bills were hiring Gailey as on offensive coordinator, I'd probably be alright with it. He does have a decent enough track record in that position (although the 2 year stints everywhere he's gone concern me) to warrant giving him a chance. Especially when you consider how truly awful the offense has been in Buffalo the past few seasons. It's very clear that somebody with a mind for that side of the ball is a necessity. However, this guy has never impressed as a head coach. When this entire process started for the Bills, I was in the group that desired a proven head coach over any other candidates, with the key word being proven. Gailey has a little experience, but I find him far from proven at the NFL level. Now, I understand that the Bills were being backed into a corner after numerous potential candidates declined the offer to even interview for the job, but that doesn't change the fact that it was still the only current vacancy in the league. Buffalo seemingly had all the leverage in this situation, yet still seem to have found a way to mess things up. Once Shanahan, Cowher, and any other proven NFL winning head coaches were clearly out of the realm of possibility, the next logical step would be to go after a coordinator who had proven themselves at that level, but hadn't yet had the chance to take over the big job. Once again, Gailey doesn't fit that bill.
Leslie Frazier seemed the front runner of those candidates, having interviewed with the Bills and by all accounts being impressive. On top of that, his Viking defense has been outstanding all year and just finished dominating a red hot Dallas Cowboys squad in the playoffs last weekend. No, Frazier isn't one of these 30 something hot shots who could revolutionize the game like Sean Payton or Josh McDaniels, but that would never fit the Bills mold anyways. Sure, Frazier wasn't the ideal candidate to most Bills fans, myself included, but out of those still left standing, he seemed like the best choice. A proven commodity at his current job, looking to get a chance to do more. Instead, we're getting Chan Gailey, a man with moderate success as a coordinator, and a proven "middle of the road" head coach, who has struggled with everything he has done lately. Yup, that sounds like a Buffalo Bills move.
Before I continue to just run this hiring into the ground, let me say that Chan Gailey might not be awful. I don't want to completely write him off before he has even had a chance in Buffalo, because that's not exactly fair. The problem is that his hiring is a complete symbol of what is so wrong with the organization as a whole at this point. 10 years with no playoffs and just one winning season in that time. 5 different head coaches in that time frame and no quarterback that has been able to stick for more than 3 years since Jim Kelly. The problems run very deep and everybody knows it. Hell, even owner Ralph Wilson appears to know it since he recently stated that some serious efforts had to be made in order to turn things around. Folks, Chan Gailey is not a serious effort. He's another guy in the Dick Jauron mold who comes in with mild previous success, and more recent failure. A guy that is just looking for his last chance to make it as a head coach in the NFL. A guy that more than likely isn't going to rock the boat in Buffalo and is just another warm (hell, next to Jauron he probably seems quite lively even) body to fill the job for a few more years. The best I see out of Gailey is some flirtations with .500 for a year or two, but no ability to take us any further because he doesn't have the talent on the team to make it happen. In other words, even more of the same.
Is Chan Gailey the answer? I highly doubt it, but then again, I'm not sure there is an answer right now. So many things have to change for the Buffalo Bills to even be taken seriously by the rest of the league at this point that the list is growing about a mile long. Splashes need to be made, and I don't mean signing one big name free agent with a risk factor in order to sell more tickets like this past season. This team needs a real head coach that knows how to win, a quarterback who isn't frightened by his own shadow and knows how to lead, and perhaps... an owner that actually gives a damn.
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