Canadian'eh!
09-07-2009, 02:00 PM
I think Dick is definitely feeling the heat.
But that said, I won't pretend to know what the hell Ralph will do. Mainly because I could not BELIEVE he kept the current coaching staff around after they were so inept LAST YEAR. So I chalked it up to the "cheapness" of Ralph as it pertains to coaches.
So whichever way it works out, I have a hard time making an educated guess. He might Keep Dick here for the next 3 losing seasons just to avoid having to pay him for nothing.
I also highly doubt will walk away from his last chance at being a HC and whatever pay he makes as well. He wouldn't go as far as Lane Kiffin to "entice" his own firing so he doesn't have to quit, but he certainly would give us the stoic, we need to do better line for the next 3 seasons.
So part of me would like to think Ralph would come to his sense once Belicheck destroys and embarrasses Dick for the 7th consecutive game, but somehow i doubt it... would a 2-4 (or less) record at the bye be enough? again... I'd hope so, but god knows. Again, this should have happened after going 0-6 in our division or blowing a 5-1 record to be one of only 2-3 teams to ever miss the playoffs after starting that way.
The other sad part is, I somehow doubt that Brandon will be let go whenever Dick is either.
If we were to fire the staff mid-season, it would really give us the leg up on trying to hire a new HC before the larger group of teams do next year.
Putting myself in Ralph's shoes, I want to think that Ralph has finally learned you have to pay for good coaching in this era of the NFL (With free agency and parity making the talent more equal, giving coaching/management the absolute #1 divider of good an bad teams). You can't load up on talent like they did in the early 90's and just out-talent other teams. So now we'd be in a place where we have first crack at Cowher, Shanahan, Schottenheimer or Holmgren (or whever else is out there for proven quality coaches... hence i left of Billick, Fassel and Gruden). Give them complete control over the Roster. Plus they get an early start on evaluating who they want for the team next year.
That would be a major asset in turning things around.
However, the pessimist in me thinks that what is far more likely to happen is the promotion of one of the current assistants coaches and an interim coach, who is either retained after some descent late season showings, or a lengthy interviewing process, where the entire management team is maintained, and most of the top candidates balk at the money we are offering, and then finally settling on plan F.
Anyway... Not sure how this plays out. I can't even predict that Ralph didn't hold the meeting at his house in Detroit to console Dick over having to fire Turk. Maybe they just had tea and a Ralph held Dick by the shoulders and Kept telling him "It's not your fault, Dick. It's not your fault." An dick just stoically nodded his head until finally collapsing into Ralphs old man moobs bawling his brains out.
Anyway. In an Ideal world Dick would soon be gone, and we'd be looking to hire a proven 1st rate coach to turn things around, while getting a leg up for next season finally. Finally doing in a direction that we don't have to "convince" ourselves that maybe it's not that bad a move, and we need to give it a chance....
But of course, as Bills fans, we know things are never ideal.
But that said, I won't pretend to know what the hell Ralph will do. Mainly because I could not BELIEVE he kept the current coaching staff around after they were so inept LAST YEAR. So I chalked it up to the "cheapness" of Ralph as it pertains to coaches.
So whichever way it works out, I have a hard time making an educated guess. He might Keep Dick here for the next 3 losing seasons just to avoid having to pay him for nothing.
I also highly doubt will walk away from his last chance at being a HC and whatever pay he makes as well. He wouldn't go as far as Lane Kiffin to "entice" his own firing so he doesn't have to quit, but he certainly would give us the stoic, we need to do better line for the next 3 seasons.
So part of me would like to think Ralph would come to his sense once Belicheck destroys and embarrasses Dick for the 7th consecutive game, but somehow i doubt it... would a 2-4 (or less) record at the bye be enough? again... I'd hope so, but god knows. Again, this should have happened after going 0-6 in our division or blowing a 5-1 record to be one of only 2-3 teams to ever miss the playoffs after starting that way.
The other sad part is, I somehow doubt that Brandon will be let go whenever Dick is either.
If we were to fire the staff mid-season, it would really give us the leg up on trying to hire a new HC before the larger group of teams do next year.
Putting myself in Ralph's shoes, I want to think that Ralph has finally learned you have to pay for good coaching in this era of the NFL (With free agency and parity making the talent more equal, giving coaching/management the absolute #1 divider of good an bad teams). You can't load up on talent like they did in the early 90's and just out-talent other teams. So now we'd be in a place where we have first crack at Cowher, Shanahan, Schottenheimer or Holmgren (or whever else is out there for proven quality coaches... hence i left of Billick, Fassel and Gruden). Give them complete control over the Roster. Plus they get an early start on evaluating who they want for the team next year.
That would be a major asset in turning things around.
However, the pessimist in me thinks that what is far more likely to happen is the promotion of one of the current assistants coaches and an interim coach, who is either retained after some descent late season showings, or a lengthy interviewing process, where the entire management team is maintained, and most of the top candidates balk at the money we are offering, and then finally settling on plan F.
Anyway... Not sure how this plays out. I can't even predict that Ralph didn't hold the meeting at his house in Detroit to console Dick over having to fire Turk. Maybe they just had tea and a Ralph held Dick by the shoulders and Kept telling him "It's not your fault, Dick. It's not your fault." An dick just stoically nodded his head until finally collapsing into Ralphs old man moobs bawling his brains out.
Anyway. In an Ideal world Dick would soon be gone, and we'd be looking to hire a proven 1st rate coach to turn things around, while getting a leg up for next season finally. Finally doing in a direction that we don't have to "convince" ourselves that maybe it's not that bad a move, and we need to give it a chance....
But of course, as Bills fans, we know things are never ideal.