Gailey's Job Security

[Don't Panic]

Let me say first that I like Gailey as a coach more than I dislike him. What he did in the first seven weeks was now obviously one of the best smoke and mirror tricks in Bills history. He got a decent amount out of marginal talent... at least on offense.

That said, he has not shored up the D at all in two years time (better talent but same results), and he seems to have lost his sway with some on the team during this miserable skid.

I know he's Nix' boy and all, and I wouldn't be pissed if he came back, but can OBD justify giving a coach a third year when he has had an 8 and 9 game losing streak in consecutive seasons? Don't results speak for themselves at that point? Would Ralph step in and spend more of his money to try and upgrade the HC position?

I have to think he won't and that Gailey will be right back at the helm to start the 2012 season. But you know the writers and fans are going to start clamoring for his dismissal loud and clear come 1.2.12 if we finish 5-11. And it would be pretty hard to blame them.

[HAMMER]

It wasn't smoke and mirrors, it was a massive positive turnover ratio and having healthy players. Simple as that.

[Cleve]

It was just law of averages stuff. We just happened to bunch our 5 wins together at one time - but this is still just a bottom-shelf 6-10 or 5-11 team. Gailey and Nix have done nothing to improve it overall - sure there have been some positive personnel additions, but we haven't gained any real ground in two full years of their reign.

[mrbojanglezs]

nix and gailey are 100% safe

This season will be blamed internally and justified in the Bills organization on lots of injuries to key play

[OpIv37]

And now we're right back in the old catch-22 that we seem to find ourselves in every 2-3 years.

Firing Nix and Gailey means starting over with the rebuilding process. It means at least another 2 years without winning.

On the other hand, I'm quickly losing confidence that these ass clowns can get the job done. What's the point of keeping them around if it's just going to be more losing?

But, I think there is another, larger issue. Since the Bills last made the playoffs in the 1999 season, there have been 4 GM's (Tom Donahoe, Marv Levy, Russ Brandon, Buddy Nix) and 4 Head Coaches (Greg Williams, Mike Mularkey, Dick Jauron and Chan Gailey- 5 if you count Perry Fewell as interim in 2009). The results have all been the same. The way this team does business off the field has been largely the same.

The only common factor is Ralph. Either he's absolutely terrible at finding the right personnel, or he interferes with their decisions to the point where even the quality coaches and GM's are rendered impotent. Or both.

This team will never win as long as Ralph is the owner.

[RedEyE]

**** it. What's another year at this point?

[BertSquirtgum]

Fire them all. San Fran turned it around in one year. Get the right coaches and this team would at least be .500 next year without any added players.

[madness]

Fire them all. San Fran turned it around in one year. Get the right coaches and this team would at least be .500 next year without any added players.

SF already had the talent...

[BertSquirtgum]

SF already had the talent...

which is exactly why i said they would be at .500 and not 10-6 or 11-3 and so on.

[DesertFox24]

My lord JP Losman said it best the bills need to have some consistency, always changing coaches and GMs is not going to work because we are always going to be turning over our roster to fit new ideals.

I hate losing and do not want to accept it, but we need to let them try and build this team and see what happens.

Also Doug Whaley was on LaConfora list of rising GM candidates and I imagine he will be our GM in 2014 or 2015 with Nix moving to a consultant role or president, but with Whaley having full say on personal decisions.

[Don't Panic]

Whaley is a great long-term hope. I hope that Ralph does what is necessary to keep him around.

On the immediate though, the big question has to be can Chan win in year 3. You have to think Nix feels he can. Knowing that Ralph stuck with Jauron for as long as he did, he'll most likely get the chance to prove himself. But can he win? If we have a typical light FA period and then even a great draft, will it be enough? I don't know... you have to figure the defense will be better... but will Fitz? He was the reason we were successful early on (sure the TOs helped, but it doesn't hurt to score 30+ every week). He was also the reason we tanked the last 7.

So can Gailey get creative enough with Fitz's limited package to get good results again? I don't know... the guy knows offense, but you can only do so much with a QB who is obviously mediocre at best. We will see.

[Mr. Pink]

It was the fact that teams didn't have time to work together and gel as an unit.

It leveled off the playing field to the point where basically every team was even.

Not that the good teams have gotten work together, we see exactly how far behind them we really are.

[YardRat]

Gailey isn't going anywhere, especially if he makes some necessary moves with the staff.

[BertSquirtgum]

Gailey sucks.

[BillsFever21]

Having an unsustainable positive turnover ratio, a record breaking type of Red Zone efficiency and some good breaks lead us to a good start the first few weeks and not because we have a good team. Once the games were played at a normal level we started to fall back and then starting with the Jets game it totally collapsed altogether.

Anyone who thinks we are a good team because of the good start is just being homeristic. The good teams stay in the hunt throughout the season and the average/bad teams have their streak at some point.

We are no different then the Dolphins except their 1st seven games and 2nd seven games just went in reverse of ours. The lost their first 7 and won 5 out of their next 7. Same as us but in reverse. I don't hear anybody here saying that they are close to being a playoff team. If anything we're worse since they smoked us twice this year.

[djjimkelly]

Fire them all. San Fran turned it around in one year. Get the right coaches and this team would at least be .500 next year without any added players.


san frans roster was and is littered with 1st round talent all over the bills cannot say the same when gailey and nix took over

they have started the roster from scratch pretty much

patience is needed next year will be painful again but in 2 years i expect a real team to be present

our problem is the qb position the only young qb that showed any promise was shown the door by a new coach

we need some coach maybe this one to get a promising 1st round qb and 2 years to work with him

[BertSquirtgum]

It's been two years.

[NOT THE DUDE...]

it has taken the lions 3 years to be a playoff team, and thats after 0-16 team. if we are not winning by next year, then something is wrong...

[Night Train]

They'll change DC's, sign a couple no-name FA's and draft a few guys, fooling the eternal optimists once again.

" But if you shine the turd really hard, it sparkles ! "

The real reality check will be the season ticket count. With Club seats up for renewel in addition to the regular seats, I'm predicting bad news unless they do something shocking to change the direction of this franchise.

Yet they are too old, tired and stubborn to put in the needed work.

[ZEUS]

It's been two years.


And who would replace them? Gailey is the best coach out there that agreed to take the job. Do you really think anyone would take the the HC position if Gailey was fired after two years? They wouldn't be able to get a high school coach if they fired Gailey this soon. He needs two more years to be a real contender. If they don't make the playoffs next year and get past the first round, I will start to have my doubts. I think the difference with other teams, Washinton for example, is even though the owner is a douche he spends tons of money and wants to win. The Bills owner doesn't seem to care.

[better days]

it has taken the lions 3 years to be a playoff team, and thats after 0-16 team. if we are not winning by next year, then something is wrong...

Well, the Lions were lucky enough to get Stafford. Without him, the Lions would be the Bills.

[OpIv37]

Well, the Lions were lucky enough to get Stafford. Without him, the Lions would be the Bills.

remember 3 or 4 years ago when we could say "well, at least we're not the Lions/Cardinals/Browns." I never thought I'd be saying this but, ahhh.... the good ole' days.

It's time we faced the reality that we are a bottom-feeding franchise in the league.

[stuckincincy]

And who would replace them? Gailey is the best coach out there that agreed to take the job. Do you really think anyone would take the the HC position if Gailey was fired after two years? They wouldn't be able to get a high school coach if they fired Gailey this soon. He needs two more years to be a real contender. If they don't make the playoffs next year and get past the first round, I will start to have my doubts. I think the difference with other teams, Washinton for example, is even though the owner is a douche he spends tons of money and wants to win. The Bills owner doesn't seem to care.

If Gailey got axed, you would have to beat off the hordes of applicants with a stick.

There are only 32 HC gigs available.

[better days]

If Gailey got axed, you would have to beat off the hordes of applicants with a stick.

There are only 32 HC gigs available.

Well, there is no question SOMEONE would want the job. There would be a horde of mediocre coaches apply for the job. The fact is nobody with a NAME & CLOUT would want to come to Buffalo at this point.

The Bills would be forced to get the next Gregg Williams or Mike Mularkey if they fire Chan. In other words, someone more mediocre than Chan.

[Historian]

I'm for giving them another year or two.

What do we have to lose?

[Don't Panic]

I'm for giving them another year or two.

What do we have to lose?

I'm cool with giving him another year. And I think if he wins this weekend he eliminates any doubt that he won't be back.

[stuckincincy]

Well, there is no question SOMEONE would want the job. There would be a horde of mediocre coaches apply for the job. The fact is nobody with a NAME & CLOUT would want to come to Buffalo at this point.

The Bills would be forced to get the next Gregg Williams or Mike Mularkey if they fire Chan. In other words, someone more mediocre than Chan.

As a class, sports coaches live in a narrow world. They spend their lives in a one-trick pony business, and are seldom hired by anybody outside of their comfortable, self-serving clique.


When aged, most hit the lecture circuit, reminisce a lot, do a college or high school gig (see Lou Saban), but their leadership skills displayed in their world doesn't translate to the world of business.

You do not need NAME & CLOUT. You need someone who knows how to manage 53 infants, and someone who has the sense to slap the o-so-precious OCs and DCs in the chops when they utter their Tuesday morning cover-a** weasel words.


Gailey...get in front of the camera and say how WR Johnson embarrassed the team for all the world to see. Well, he did that.

Then make him inactive, every game day, for the rest of the season. Didn't do that.

[JoeMama]

Nix may call it quits. He's 72 years old and didn't really want to be GM in the first place.

Gailey, on the other hand, we're stuck with. He won't be on the hot seat until late 2012.

[BillsFever21]

Well, there is no question SOMEONE would want the job. There would be a horde of mediocre coaches apply for the job. The fact is nobody with a NAME & CLOUT would want to come to Buffalo at this point.

The Bills would be forced to get the next Gregg Williams or Mike Mularkey if they fire Chan. In other words, someone more mediocre than Chan.
It drives me nuts when I hear people talk like this and use the argument about who else is there to coach the team. They would rather stick with something that is a dud instead of trying to find something better.

I would even question the fact that Gailey is even better then Williams or Mularkey was. Neither of them coaches had an 8 game losing streak in their first year and a 7 game losing streak and counting in their 2nd season. Also as far as wins go Mularkey did way better then Gailey has and Williams wasn't any worse with his overall record.

There is a reason why Gailey only lasted two years as a HC over a decade ago and then had to run off to college where he ran a program for years that wasn't even successful. It's because nobody in the NFL wanted to touch him as a HC and the Bills were the only joke of enough team to give him the position. Even when he was tossed from Georgia Tech and came back to the NFL as an OC that only lasted one season and he was fired from that position. He couldn't cut it as an NFL head coach and couldn't even cut it as a college head coach. The guy is just a dud.

It falls on a good GM/organization to be able to pick out a good coach. You can get lucky but the good organizations usually find good coaches at a more accurate level. Especially a coordinator who doesn't have any HC experience. There are not many opportunities to get good established coaches because the good teams lock them up and the older ones available hardly ever come back and eventually get burned out. Yeah and they all started off as a new HC at one point.

Look at the Steelers for example. When they hired Mike Tomlin he wasn't even really on the radar for any team as their HC. Maybe for an interview but he was at the bottom of the list and everyone was shocked when he was hired for a HC job period let alone over Russ Grimm and Ken Whisenhunt. Two Superbowls later and they proved they made another good decision as a HC.

The Packers are even a better example because they fired their coach instead of having their coach retire on them.. They were actually a decent team under Mike Sherman several years ago and was either in or around a playoff spot. They realized that he wasn't good enough to get them further and got rid of him for Mike McCarthy. A Super Bowl victory later and now a 13+ win season following that along with another run towards a Super Bowl they proved it was the right decision. What if they would've just said it's not worth getting rid of Sherman. He has gotten us to the playoffs and decent records every year for the most part while he was here. We might as well keep him because we probably won't find anybody better.

We heard the same analogies with Dick Jauron a year or so before he was fired and our other crappy coaches before him and also certain players or GM's. Why stick with somebody that you know is a dud that won't take you anywhere without at least trying to improve the team? That logic just doesn't make sense to me.

That's like if you have a car that is a lemon and it keeps breaking down. Instead of trading it in for a more reliable car of the same value and year you sit around and say we might as well keep this car because we can't really get anything better anyway without even looking.

If you owned or ran a company and needed to fill a position and all there was was mediocre, unqualified or under-qualified applicants at the time and you ended up with someone who after two years working for you proved that he was a useless employee would you just keep him around and say there is no sense of firing him because we probably won't get anybody better anyway? I doubt it. You would put the job position back up as available and try to find a better employee this time. It's no different with Gailey and Nix for that matter.

[LarryBoy]

I want them to hire someone good...that's all...the last 10 years have been:

1. hire cheap dope
2. watch cheap-dope led team suck
3. fire dope
4. go to step 1

This team need direction...and that starts all the way at the top, an entire rehash is needed, and I'm ok with starting over, but for the love of God please break the cycle and give us some(any) hope for a change...

[Meathead]

this team has playoff caliber starters and basement caliber backups

and possibly the worst dc in the league

season three of the chuddy era is when both those things get fixed

ten wins

[better days]

It drives me nuts when I hear people talk like this and use the argument about who else is there to coach the team. They would rather stick with something that is a dud instead of trying to find something better.

I would even question the fact that Gailey is even better then Williams or Mularkey was. Neither of them coaches had an 8 game losing streak in their first year and a 7 game losing streak and counting in their 2nd season. Also as far as wins go Mularkey did way better then Gailey has and Williams wasn't any worse with his overall record.

There is a reason why Gailey only lasted two years as a HC over a decade ago and then had to run off to college where he ran a program for years that wasn't even successful. It's because nobody in the NFL wanted to touch him as a HC and the Bills were the only joke of enough team to give him the position. Even when he was tossed from Georgia Tech and came back to the NFL as an OC that only lasted one season and he was fired from that position. He couldn't cut it as an NFL head coach and couldn't even cut it as a college head coach. The guy is just a dud.

It falls on a good GM/organization to be able to pick out a good coach. You can get lucky but the good organizations usually find good coaches at a more accurate level. Especially a coordinator who doesn't have any HC experience. There are not many opportunities to get good established coaches because the good teams lock them up and the older ones available hardly ever come back and eventually get burned out. Yeah and they all started off as a new HC at one point.

Look at the Steelers for example. When they hired Mike Tomlin he wasn't even really on the radar for any team as their HC. Maybe for an interview but he was at the bottom of the list and everyone was shocked when he was hired for a HC job period let alone over Russ Grimm and Ken Whisenhunt. Two Superbowls later and they proved they made another good decision as a HC.

The Packers are even a better example because they fired their coach instead of having their coach retire on them.. They were actually a decent team under Mike Sherman several years ago and was either in or around a playoff spot. They realized that he wasn't good enough to get them further and got rid of him for Mike McCarthy. A Super Bowl victory later and now a 13+ win season following that along with another run towards a Super Bowl they proved it was the right decision. What if they would've just said it's not worth getting rid of Sherman. He has gotten us to the playoffs and decent records every year for the most part while he was here. We might as well keep him because we probably won't find anybody better.

We heard the same analogies with Dick Jauron a year or so before he was fired and our other crappy coaches before him and also certain players or GM's. Why stick with somebody that you know is a dud that won't take you anywhere without at least trying to improve the team? That logic just doesn't make sense to me.

That's like if you have a car that is a lemon and it keeps breaking down. Instead of trading it in for a more reliable car of the same value and year you sit around and say we might as well keep this car because we can't really get anything better anyway without even looking.

If you owned or ran a company and needed to fill a position and all there was was mediocre, unqualified or under-qualified applicants at the time and you ended up with someone who after two years working for you proved that he was a useless employee would you just keep him around and say there is no sense of firing him because we probably won't get anybody better anyway? I doubt it. You would put the job position back up as available and try to find a better employee this time. It's no different with Gailey and Nix for that matter.

It drives me nuts to read a post as long as yours so I stopped after the 2nd sentence.

[ThunderGun]

I still like Gailey.

We definitely need a new DC though.

[better days]

As a class, sports coaches live in a narrow world. They spend their lives in a one-trick pony business, and are seldom hired by anybody outside of their comfortable, self-serving clique.


When aged, most hit the lecture circuit, reminisce a lot, do a college or high school gig (see Lou Saban), but their leadership skills displayed in their world doesn't translate to the world of business.

You do not need NAME & CLOUT. You need someone who knows how to manage 53 infants, and someone who has the sense to slap the o-so-precious OCs and DCs in the chops when they utter their Tuesday morning cover-a** weasel words.


Gailey...get in front of the camera and say how WR Johnson embarrassed the team for all the world to see. Well, he did that.

Then make him inactive, every game day, for the rest of the season. Didn't do that.

Well, Lou Saban after being a HC in the NFL, was PRESIDENT of The NEW YORK YANKEES baseball team. I think Sabans leadership translated very well.

I for one do not want another Gregg Williams coming to Buffalo with his bullhorn driving players crazy.

[stuckincincy]

Well, Lou Saban after being a HC in the NFL, was PRESIDENT of The NEW YORK YANKEES baseball team. I think Sabans leadership translated very well.

I for one do not want another Gregg Williams coming to Buffalo with his bullhorn driving players crazy.

"After coaching at Army, Saban worked for his former assistant coach, George Steinbrenner as President of the New York Yankees in 1981–1982."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Saban

A puff, short term old boy's network pat-on-the-back payback job handed to him by his old buddy. Lou's baseball acumen? Really...

[better days]

"After coaching at Army, Saban worked for his former assistant coach, George Steinbrenner as President of the New York Yankees in 1981–1982."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Saban

A puff, short term old boy's network pat-on-the-back payback job handed to him by his old buddy. Lou's baseball acumen? Really...

Well, I think Lou had as much input as any NY Yankee President while Steinbrenner was owner. The reason Saban left so soon is that he wanted to move on as was his nature. Steinbrenner did not want him to go. Saban wanted to coach again.

[stuckincincy]

Well, I think Lou had as much input as any NY Yankee President while Steinbrenner was owner. The reason Saban left so soon is that he wanted to move on as was his nature. Steinbrenner did not want him to go. Saban wanted to coach again.

I once heard somebody call Lou "peripatetic."


I had to look it up. :bravo:


http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peripatetic


P.S. I enjoy our sparring. Merry Christmas, my friend!

[better days]

I once heard somebody call Lou "peripatetic."


I had to look it up. :bravo:


http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peripatetic


P.S. I enjoy our sparring. Merry Christmas, my friend!

I'm sure Lou drove many people crazy with his peripatetic ways,(had to look it up also) Especially Ralph & George. I think that is the reason Saban is not on the wall, He made Wilson so mad when he quit the 2nd time. It is funny Lou's cousin Nick has a similar disposition.

P.S. I enjoy our debates as well. This board would be boring if we all agreed all the time. Merry Christmas to you & yours!

[bluerosekiller]

It drives me nuts to read a post as long as yours so I stopped after the 2nd sentence.

Well, some of us have the patience to read longer posts. I mean, it is after all a forum. With plenty of room for well thought out, well written posts.
If you want nothing but one or two sentences, why not stick with twitter?

[BertSquirtgum]

Nothing is worse than a post that is longer than 2 paragraphs.

[better days]

Well, some of us have the patience to read longer posts. I mean, it is after all a forum. With plenty of room for well thought out, well written posts.
If you want nothing but one or two sentences, why not stick with twitter?

I never said that I only want to read one or two sentence posts. His post just rambled on. He could/should have been more concise, but hey feel free to read his rambling posts all you want. I did not think it was well thought out or well written myself.

His LONG, RAMBLING post was a reply to one of my posts, that was the only reason I replied to it.

[Don't Panic]

Nothing is worse than a post that is longer than 2 paragraphs.

Your sig comes close...

[BillsFever21]

I never said that I only want to read one or two sentence posts. His post just rambled on. He could/should have been more concise, but hey feel free to read his rambling posts all you want. I did not think it was well thought out or well written myself.

His LONG, RAMBLING post was a reply to one of my posts, that was the only reason I replied to it.

I guess the truth hurts. They were all facts. Some choose to believe them and some choose to wear the rose colored glasses.

I'm willing to bet that you were one of the same people after 2008 who said we need to keep Jauron or every year predicts us to win 10 games and then when we don't they come up with excuses as to why we didn't and then say next year will be the year. Wash, rinse and repeat.

If you want to keep a bunch of proven losers around instead of trying to find something good that's your opinion. Unfortunately that is usually the opinion of Ralph Wilson and that's why we suck every year.

That wasn't the opinion of teams like the Packers or Ravens when they fired coaches who actually had success and in return found better coaches instead of settling for mediocrity.

You either couldn't dispute any of the facts or didn't want to believe them so there wasn't anymore need to elaborate. It's alright to be wrong and perfectly fine to admit to it.

[ZEUS]

Funny, because everyone thought Gailey was the man after the Patriots game. Now people want to hang him from a tree. I still like Gailey, my only complaint is he abandons the run and still screws around with the wild cat. We do need a top level DC, though.

[HAMMER]

Funny, because everyone thought Gailey was the man after the Patriots game. Now people want to hang him from a tree. I still like Gailey, my only complaint is he abandons the run and still screws around with the wild cat. We do need a top level DC, though.

Everyone thought Fitz, Nix, and Gailey were the shiznit until the turnovers stopped going in our favor and 1/2 our starters went to IR. This team was not as good as their 3-0 start but they aren't as bad as their seven game swoon either.

[better days]

I guess the truth hurts. They were all facts. Some choose to believe them and some choose to wear the rose colored glasses.

I'm willing to bet that you were one of the same people after 2008 who said we need to keep Jauron or every year predicts us to win 10 games and then when we don't they come up with excuses as to why we didn't and then say next year will be the year. Wash, rinse and repeat.

If you want to keep a bunch of proven losers around instead of trying to find something good that's your opinion. Unfortunately that is usually the opinion of Ralph Wilson and that's why we suck every year.

That wasn't the opinion of teams like the Packers or Ravens when they fired coaches who actually had success and in return found better coaches instead of settling for mediocrity.

You either couldn't dispute any of the facts or didn't want to believe them so there wasn't anymore need to elaborate. It's alright to be wrong and perfectly fine to admit to it.

Well, you may have had a few facts in your post, I did read a little more than the 1st two sentences, but not much more. If you want to make a point, try to be more concise in the future.

In any event, I was not wrong. If the Bills fire Chan, they will not get a top tier HC to replace him, that is a fact.

It is possible the Billscould get LUCKY & find someone better, but MUCH more likely they would get someone just as mediocre or even more so.

To change HCs every two years is just spinning wheels & no team will ever improve by doing that. Neither the Ravens or Packers replaced their HC after only two years, & both already had the makings of a GOOD team when they did so.

And NO I was NEVER a fan of Jauron & in fact was one of his biggest critics, you can look up my posts about him.

Also, if you go through my posts, you will see I am not afraid to admit I was wrong when it was shown that I was. Cam Newton for example, I admitted I was wrong about after only seeing him play the 1st half of his first game.