Rex Norris on Jim Rome

[DMBcrew36]

Rex worked under Jauron in Chicago and can't say enough good things about Jauron. He's talking about the great attention to detail that Jauron has and what a great coach and individual Jauron is on and off the field.

So Rome asked him how T.O. will work out with Jauron, since Rex knows Jauron, and Rex said that Jauron is the right type of guy that can make it work.


While it made me feel good to hear all the great things Rex was saying about Jauron, my question is whether Jauron is really as good a coach as Rex and our current players claim, or if he's just a 'nice' guy who people like to be around? Maybe these players and personnel are blinded by Jauron's kindness from seeing what a mediochre coach the guy is.

[bigbub2352]

All these people love jauron and all he does is lose, cant be that good of a coach no? great attention to detail then he should be great at clock management
just saying all these people love him but it doesnt translate to gameday
TO and skeletor will co-exsist

[Nighthawk]

Everybody likes him as a person...the truth is, he's not that good of a coach. The record speaks for itself.

[ddaryl]

for me it has been game time decisions and the lack of any gameplan adjustments in games we desperately need them that have me thinking poorly about jauron...

his personality was never questioned, his ability to think within the moment has obvious flaws

[DMBcrew36]

Everybody likes him as a person...the truth is, he's not that good of a coach. The record speaks for itself.

I just wish the locker room and those at One Bills Drive would stop equating kindness to greatness. It's about winning. The players need to realize this. Jauron does not give them the best chance to win, and that reflects poorly on them - no matter how nice the guy is.



Oh and at the very least, Jauron being such a nice guy should be able to get us some top free agents who want to play for such a nice guy, with the reputation of being a players coach. Not even at the least has this happened this offseason.

[Nighthawk]

I just wish the locker room and those at One Bills Drive would stop equating kindness to greatness. It's about winning. The players need to realize this. Jauron does not give them the best chance to win, and that reflects poorly on them - no matter how nice the guy is.



Oh and at the very least, Jauron being such a nice guy should be able to get us some top free agents who want to play for such a nice guy, with the reputation of being a players coach. Not even at the least has this happened this offseason.

Which shows that, although players might respect and like him, they know that if they want to win a championship, then he probably is not the coach who is going to lead them to one.

[madness]

Whatever the case, you can't overlook the piss poor talent levels he's had to deal with. That is all out the window as the T.O. acquisition alone makes this the most talented team he's ever coached.

His faults are obviously almost everything centered around game management, trusting his coordinators too much to do their job and bland interviews. (ha!)

There was a poll which he ranks up there with one of the best game planners in the league which supports Norris' comments. Which is also why his opponents often switch up their normal game plan against him which we saw a lot of last year. He is highly respected by everyone in and around the league and there's no arguing that. He's known as a great coach (doesn't mean winning coach, mind you) and teacher of the game as well. He's not the nice guy everyone paints him to be because he holds you accountable and expects every player to do his job or the next guy will get a shot. He sticks to the plan and doesn't go back on his word which is why I think the players are so high on him.

This season will define his career and give him a chance to prove the doubters wrong. For the Bills sake, I hope he does... but I don't expect much at this point.

[justasportsfan]

I heard that. He says Dick is his favorite coach. I don't know why it doesn't translate to wins and losses.

I really think Dick would be fine if he knew how to pick his assistants. I think he flips a coin when choosing them.

[madness]

Stroud's thought's on T.O. and Dick...


Miller: “Dick’s not one to fall for a sales job. He brought him on for a reason. Your thoughts on Dick Jauron and this calculated move?”

Stroud: “Definitely. Coach Jauron is one of the smartest individuals, not just in football but one of the smartest individuals, period, that I’ve ever had the chance to have a conversation with. So he definitely weighed the pros and cons of this and Coach Jauron knows we’ve got to get in there and we’ve got to find a way to win and he’s trying to put the pieces there so we can have the opportunity to win. So this wasn’t just a blind thing with him going in and just saying, ‘Hey, this is T.O. We’ve got to sign this guy.’ He definitely sat back and did his homework and I think the whole Buffalo staff did a pretty good job of doing that and I really think this is going to work out in our favor.”

Bogusch: “T.O. or not, were you looking at 2009 as your last shot to win in Buffalo with Dick Jauron as your head coach?”

Stroud: “To be truthful, with all of the stuff we went through last year, definitely. We’ve got to go out there and we’ve got to put on a good showing and we’ve got to have a winning season this year to keep a coach like Coach Jauron around. And I think a lot of the guys realize that and they definitely know getting a coach like Coach Jauron, it’s not very often you’re going to find a guy like that in this league. And anytime you have a guy that is going to sit down and treat you like a man and never throw you under the bus, that’s a great thing to play for. And we want to try to keep him up there as long as possible.”
http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php?t=171541

[DynaPaul]

Bills Parcells is not a nice guy but he wins.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Dick's problem is that he gets caught up in the game and, as a result, isn't a good in-game coach and is terrible at time management.

All of the players that play for him say the same things: they like him because he treats them like men, not boys; doesn't yell and scream, but talks to them calmly, etc.; but, also, he holds his players accountable and can be withering with just a look or a word if you mess up. If you read what Stroud said, it sounds like Jauron also is willing to take the heat publicly when his players screw up and that is also something that they like about him.

Jauron, like many coaches, has said that he sees himself as a teacher. And, I've always thought that he would be a good coach for a young, developing team to have because of his approach, his personality and his emphasis on being a teacher.

However, I have also expressed serious reservations about whether he is a good enough in-game coach to take a team to the next level once it has developed to the point of having enough talent in place to be a contender. And, I still have those reservations.

As I see it, if Jauron wants to keep his job with the Bills after this season, he is going to have to take this team to that next level this year. And, to do that, he is going to have to do some serious self-examination and make his staff do some serious self-examination and make some definitive and noticeable improvements in what they do on game day and how they go about making in-game decisions.

I'm not talking about the times when Jauron and his staff decide to take a gamble and it fails. Every coach does that and every one has had his share of failures. When a HC takes a gamble and it works, he is a genius; when he takes one and it fails, he's a bum. And, even the great ones have ended up being a "bum for a day" at times. That's really not the issue with Jauron.

The biggest problem that I see with Jauron and his staff is that, in trying to project a sense of calm for the team, there is no outward sense of urgency and that ends up being carried over to the style of play and the time management. I understand that with young, inexperienced players you want to play things close to the vest, risk little and try to keep the game close so that you can steal a win at the end. Fine. That is a sensible way to overcome a deficit of talent and experience. But, if you are going to play games close to the vest and know that the outcome will be narrowly decided either way, then you have to be very precise and cannot waste opportunities to score or time when you have an opportunity do so. Jauron and his staff have not demonstrated that they understand that or, at the very least, have mastered how that works.

The other major problem that I see with Jauron is one of expectations. As a former player, Jauron is painfully aware, perhaps too aware, of the fact that no player ever does everything perfectly--no team ever plays or executes perfectly, even when there is no opponent. Because, as a player, you cannot dwell on not being perfect during a game, you have to "settle" for playing and doing the very best that you can, knowing that sometimes you will fail and get beat. That's all well and good during a game, but it isn't what prepares a player or a team for greatness. What prepares a player or team to win and be great is not being satisfied, knowing that he/they can play better and wanting to improve and get better.

I recall an interview with T.Brady right after the Monday Night game where he absolutely killed the Bills and had a great game: the reporter tried to ask Brady how he felt about having such a terrific game and Brady replied that he knew that he could do better and still had to work on getting better. That is what I have seen, over the years, makes players and teams great. That's the attitude that I have seen winning teams have. That's what you often hear Parcells saying when he talks to the media.

Unfortunately, I don't see Jauron and his staff conveying that attitude or viewpoint at all: not in what they say to the media about the team, not in what they say about the performance of individuals, not in what I hear the players saying about the team or themselves. And, that's what makes me doubt whether, having taken a group of young players and instilled the confidence in them that they can play in the NFL, Jauron and the people that he surrounds himself with on his staff have the ability to take that team to the next level where "good enough and as good as I can" isn't good enough, where "I still can get better", "I must improve" and "I need to be great and must do more" are what separates the best from the rest.

Jauron made some comments at The Combine that indicate that he has been taken to task (probably by Ralph Wilson) and understands that he and his staff have to improve and get better in certain (unspecified) areas. Well, I want to see what happens. I want to see whether he truly has recognized where he and his staff need to improve and has taken steps to at least start to make those improvements. I don't expect perfection, but I expect him and his staff to do a much better job of in-game management, at the very least, this season than they have in the past. If that doesn't happen, I'm afraid that Jauron and his staff will again cost the Bills some wins that they could have and that the result will be the end of his head coaching career in the NFL and any chance that the Bills will become contenders in the next couple of years.