I'm usually just as critical of the moves the Bills make as anyone. And I'm not saying this move gets me excited about the future of Buffalo Bills football again. But let's at least give the guy a chance before throwing him to the wolves.
Let's be real...
I think we ALL would have loved a veteran coach with a strong winning background. Cowher, Schottenheimer, Gruden, etc.
But NONE of these guys have been reported as interviewing for an NFL job for several years now, and NONE of these guys have expressed any interest (outside of Internet speculation) in returning to the NFL as a coach. If Gruden was really a candidate, every team with an opening would have gone after him. But a week after the end of the regular season, he hasn't sat down with even one team. That tells me that he isn't interested in leaving the announcing booth.
So what does that leave us?
Andy Reid interviewed with one team and never left. Chip Kelly flirted with two teams and decided to go back to Oregon.
Lovie Smith probably would have been my first choice out of the names left. But to be honest, it's not like we passed up someone with a spectacular background.
Sure, Smith is over .500 and has gotten his team in the playoffs roughly half of the seasons he's coached. He showed up in one Super Bowl with Rex Grossman as quarterback.
But wouldn't that be typical of the Bills? Settling for a coach that is good, but not great? Someone good at coaching defense, but not offense? Someone who has a reputation for failing to beat teams with a winning record? Someone who got fired for falling short too many times with a pretty talented team?
I don't pretend to know a lot about Marrone. I don't watch much Syracuse football.
But I do know that it's tough to judge a college coach based strictly on record. Unlike the 32 NFL teams who have the same salary cap and same pool of players to choose from, all NCAA college teams are not on the same playing field. They don't have the same resources or the same ability to recruit top high school talent.
A 25-25 record may suck for a big school like USC, LSU or Alabama. But for a little school like Syracuse, that record might not be so bad.
I'm not saying to make your Super Bowl reservations.
But let's wait to see if he sucks, before yelling and screaming that he sucks.
Let's be real...
I think we ALL would have loved a veteran coach with a strong winning background. Cowher, Schottenheimer, Gruden, etc.
But NONE of these guys have been reported as interviewing for an NFL job for several years now, and NONE of these guys have expressed any interest (outside of Internet speculation) in returning to the NFL as a coach. If Gruden was really a candidate, every team with an opening would have gone after him. But a week after the end of the regular season, he hasn't sat down with even one team. That tells me that he isn't interested in leaving the announcing booth.
So what does that leave us?
Andy Reid interviewed with one team and never left. Chip Kelly flirted with two teams and decided to go back to Oregon.
Lovie Smith probably would have been my first choice out of the names left. But to be honest, it's not like we passed up someone with a spectacular background.
Sure, Smith is over .500 and has gotten his team in the playoffs roughly half of the seasons he's coached. He showed up in one Super Bowl with Rex Grossman as quarterback.
But wouldn't that be typical of the Bills? Settling for a coach that is good, but not great? Someone good at coaching defense, but not offense? Someone who has a reputation for failing to beat teams with a winning record? Someone who got fired for falling short too many times with a pretty talented team?
I don't pretend to know a lot about Marrone. I don't watch much Syracuse football.
But I do know that it's tough to judge a college coach based strictly on record. Unlike the 32 NFL teams who have the same salary cap and same pool of players to choose from, all NCAA college teams are not on the same playing field. They don't have the same resources or the same ability to recruit top high school talent.
A 25-25 record may suck for a big school like USC, LSU or Alabama. But for a little school like Syracuse, that record might not be so bad.
I'm not saying to make your Super Bowl reservations.
But let's wait to see if he sucks, before yelling and screaming that he sucks.
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