Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Say it ain't so - Ralph

Reports out of Buffalo are that the Bills are getting ready to hire Chan Gailey as their new coach. This can't be. After being teased with Shanahan and Cowher, we get Chain Gailey, he of the lifetime 18-14 NFL record coaching a Cowboys team that had both Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman. Not to mention six mediocre years with a Georgia Tech team that never lost less than five games in a season during his tenure, but two years after he left finished 11-3 and played in the Orange Bowl. The same Chan Gailey who started out this year as the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs but was demoted after three games. Yes, Mr. Gailey is not good enough to be an assistant for the 4-12 Chiefs, but he's good enough to be our head coach. This must be some kind of joke! Remember, this comes in the wake of the Bills hiring a 70-year-old GM who has never been a GM before and who was retired just two years earlier. Sadly, it appears our Hall-of-Fame owner Ralph Wilson has entered Al Davis territory. We will likely never see another winning team in Buffalo, as it seems all-but guaranteed the team will move after Wilson dies and while he remains alive and in control of the team, it seems we are f@#$%d.

Ralph

11 comments:

Danny Lucas said...

On the plus side, with the Cowboys out, we no longer have to watch the networks repeatedly sucking up to Jerry Jones in his seat, approvingly watching his winning team.

As the Cowboys went down in the playoffs, we saw Jones but once. It looked like he was crapping his pants. Still,...one shot of Jerry too many. We want cheerleaders not preening owners.

Has there been a ban on cheerleader appearance on TV?
The only time they appear is when a "Challenge" is flagged by a coach, and multiple views shown for a play. There are the gals....in the distant background.

I recommend a Halftime for the Superbowl, made entirely of every team that has cheerleaders doing their thing on the field.....for all who missed them during the year. Raider-ettes and Dolphin girls could be awarded the Mrs. Lombardi trophy if this catches on.

Ralph said...

Danny:

I'm all for anything that will distract me from the actual games the Bills are playing these days...

Anonymous said...

Buddy Nix said that the Bills got dozens of phone calls a day from people interested in the coaching job in Buffalo. I have some questions about this statement. Were the questions from Nix' wife: "Honey, did you hire someone yet? And can you get milk on the way home?"

If they were genuine calls, were they really calls from dozens of individual coaches who were expressing interest? Really? Dozens?

I didn't know that there were dozens of qualified coaches out there. Was he getting calls from local high school coaches?

And, after those "dozens" of "daily" calls, they hired Chan Gailey? Really? Wow. The final candidate selection does not seem to fit with dozens of qualified candidates.

Now, before today, I never heard of Buddy Nix, but now that I have some background, I think I know where the Bills ills come from.

I think they would have been better off recruuiting someone from the college ranks than trying to retro-fit Chan Gailey.

Besides, what was the hurry? The Bills' season just ended. Why not slow the process down a little bit and see what surfaces? They could ahve given themselves to Valentines Day, if not beyond.

Ralph?

Ralph said...

I don't know what the hurry was. But, rather than scouring the colleges ranks, I was hoping they would have hired and up-and-coming NFL assistant like Russ Grimm or Leslie Frazier from the Vikings. Perhaps they could have even got Tony Dungy to help out if they hired Frazier. I am at a loss. Although, it's probably not fair to blame Nix for all the Bills ills as he was just hired as head scout this year - then again, before we drafted Maybin (a speed rusher who came up with one sack, I think). Interestingly enough we indirectly fired Nix like 10 years ago when we let John Butler go as GM - and sent ourselves into this downward spiral. Now we hire him when he's 70 to run the team. I think Gailey, who is 57, is a comfort hire for him. But the whole thing stinks and we stink and will continue to stink. One final note: I don't think he said dozen's of "qualified" candidates were calling him. As you alluded to in your commentary about his wife, it could have been anybody. I really don't think there were more than a handful of qualified candidates willing to take this job. I guess, based on Nix's criteria Gailey was one of them.

Anonymous said...

No, he didn't say dozens of "qualified" candidates, but he certainly created that impression during his news conference.

He strongly implied that his phone was ringing off the hook and that this was a tough decision.

I didn't believe him. Furthermore, the style of his rhetoric certainly set off my journalist's alarm bell. He was trying to create an impression that there wer lots of qualified candidates so that he could cover his ass with the Gailey hire.

Least that's how I see it.

Sorry Buffalo is so screwed. I've always had a soft spot for them and I wish they could do better inthe AFC. Quick, where's Jim Kelly?

Ralph said...

I kind of got the impression Nix was lying a couple times as well, but then I read the transcript of the press conference, and it didn't seem so bad. Maybe some of the journalists covering the event were overspinning things...

Anonymous said...

Just for the record...

I didn't hear anything from the journalists. I actually wasn't paying any attention until I heard Nix' voice (which is unique, to say the least). That's what got my attention (I was cooking eggs). I listened to his spiel and then actually shut the TV off because I had to go to work.

Ralph said...

Just to change to a more positive conversation: How good was John Gilliam? I wonder why I don't really remember him.

Anonymous said...

I remember him well. He was pretty good, as I remember.

Made the Pro Bowl a couple of time, I think. Very athletic.

Gene Washington was on the other side for the Vikes at that time. Washington was spactacular, but I think Gilliam actually had better numbers.

Anonymous said...

Recent Headline: Prince pens tune about Minnesota Vikings.

Think it will help?

Ralph said...

Gene Washington was a great all-time warrior. Obviously, the Prince song did nothing to help change the Vikings misfortunes.