The Bills have a better shot with AVP than Turk.

[BillsWin]

I will stand by this statement, and may possibly get flamed for it, but it is in my honest opinion that this move is better for the Bills than sticking with Schonert.

Schonert had the right idea with the no-huddle, but he failed to use it the way it was meant to be used. He had a conservative state of mind, and his play calling mirrored that. There is nothing wrong with Schonert, the man. It was Schonert the play-caller that wasn't working out. Turk claimed to trust Edwards with his offense, yet he refused to open things up and hand the keys over to the signal caller whom this franchise claims is the leader of this team.

He claimed to have more up his sleeves and that there was more to his offense, yet as the season progressed last year the plays got less and less exciting and effective, and more and more easy to defend. Schonert was not the answer.

Now with Van Pelt, its difficult to say whether or not he will be a good coordinator in this league. He has the background and the mind to acheive that goal, but this will be his first shot at it.

Van Pelt was a reserve QB behind Kelly in the "K-Gun" offense. He knows how to utilize a no-huddle scheme and use it the right way. Up-tempo, quick and varied with deep passes to keep the DBs honest, and clever run schemes to make the LBs honor the run game.

I wish I had the link, but I specifically remember reading an article on buffalobills.com where Van Pelt was asked about the offense and he said that Trent is ready and that we needed to open things up. Well, he gets a chance to do it now.

I'm not saying that Van Pelt will maximize this offense's production and lead us to a Super Bowl.

I am saying that I feel more confident with Van Pelt calling the plays because it is my opinion that AVP puts us in a better position to use the weapons at our disposal.

Evans, Owens, Lynch, Parrish, Johnson, Rhodes, Jackson...

Turk couldn't find a way to use these guys, but I bet AVP can. Maybe we won't be all world, but we will be competitive and that's alot better than what Turk could have done for us.

I think he'll pull out all the tricks against NE knowing what's on the line. Although it sucks that he only has ten days to prepare. But, I think he is up to the challenge.

However, AVP is still just a bandaid. Unless he comes out this season and leads this offense to new heights, the Bills will not make the playoffs and a new coach brings new coordinators.

so, with that, Go Bills! Good luck Alex! and lets kick some Patriot's ass...

[Scumbag College]

I agree, mostly for the pure fact that it couldn't get much worse as far as offensive production than the last month of preseason games.

[BillsWin]

I agree, mostly for the pure fact that it couldn't get much worse as far as offensive production than the last month of preseason games.

we have weapons, and a young QB (who when confident and healthy) does a good job of getting his weapons the football. A HOF wide receiver and a pro bowl running back.

This SHOULD be a good offense and Turk wasnt doing a good job of making it that way. AVP is a guy that can come in and fix SOME of our mistakes. He should take more risks and put his players in a position to compete. Did Turk do that?

[Mr. Pink]

So the QB coach who can't get Trent to throw more than 5 yard passes is suddenly going to do better now that he's OC?



How?

[BillsWin]

So the QB coach who can't get Trent to throw more than 5 yard passes is suddenly going to do better now that he's OC?



How?

Hes had little to no say in what plays Trent was allowed to run and what looks we'd be in.

Im not saying hes going to be amazing. I just said I think its for the best. Turk was a mistake. A fairchild clone with more flare. All talk and no show. I think Van Pelt can break it down better and prepare the team better than Turk did.

[BillsWin]

btw, love your avatar. Reservoir Dogs is a great movie.

[Miami_Vice]

Please define "better shot".

Like instead of putting up 7 points, you'll put up 10? Ummm okay

[Mr. Pink]

Hes had little to no say in what plays Trent was allowed to run and what looks we'd be in.

Im not saying hes going to be amazing. I just said I think its for the best. Turk was a mistake. A fairchild clone with more flare. All talk and no show. I think Van Pelt can break it down better and prepare the team better than Turk did.

It can't be any worse than we've seen.

However I don't think it can be any better either.

Thanks for the avatar compliment

[madness]

Hes had little to no say in what plays Trent was allowed to run and what looks we'd be in.

Im not saying hes going to be amazing. I just said I think its for the best. Turk was a mistake. A fairchild clone with more flare. All talk and no show. I think Van Pelt can break it down better and prepare the team better than Turk did.

The thing that ticked me off was that Turk was supposed to be different and ended up reverting back to everything we didn't like about Fairchild.

Besides the results, Schonert rubbed some members of the organization the wrong way by not being as open to their suggestions as they thought he should be, sources within the team said. His connection with quarterback Trent Edwards also was a concern within the team, which also might have been related to Schonert's autocratic style.

I specifically remember Turk talking about simplifying the offense and making it easier for the QB. It looks like Turk was all talk.

Play calling
As previously mentioned, Van Pelt will call plays - meaning he will radio plays in to Edwards from the sidelines.* The plan all along with the no-huddle, however, has been to allow Edwards to call his own plays with guidance, roughly meaning that Van Pelt will give him a play package based off of formation and Edwards will make the play call based on the defense.* With a slimmer playbook geared toward better utilizing the strengths of each skill player, this is something Edwards should grow quickly with.* This was, after all, the theory behind the no-huddle in the first place.

Simply put, the Bills want to be less complicated, and they want to attack more.* They also want Edwards to develop a feel for attacking defenses, which is why they're going to approach play calling in this specific fashion.

[Oldbillsfan]

Turk should have never been hired in the first place. They should have found someone with experience, but they made the same mistake again.

[OpIv37]

I will stand by this statement, and may possibly get flamed for it, but it is in my honest opinion that this move is better for the Bills than sticking with Schonert.

Schonert had the right idea with the no-huddle, but he failed to use it the way it was meant to be used. He had a conservative state of mind, and his play calling mirrored that. There is nothing wrong with Schonert, the man. It was Schonert the play-caller that wasn't working out. Turk claimed to trust Edwards with his offense, yet he refused to open things up and hand the keys over to the signal caller whom this franchise claims is the leader of this team.

He claimed to have more up his sleeves and that there was more to his offense, yet as the season progressed last year the plays got less and less exciting and effective, and more and more easy to defend. Schonert was not the answer.

Now with Van Pelt, its difficult to say whether or not he will be a good coordinator in this league. He has the background and the mind to acheive that goal, but this will be his first shot at it.

Van Pelt was a reserve QB behind Kelly in the "K-Gun" offense. He knows how to utilize a no-huddle scheme and use it the right way. Up-tempo, quick and varied with deep passes to keep the DBs honest, and clever run schemes to make the LBs honor the run game.

I wish I had the link, but I specifically remember reading an article on buffalobills.com where Van Pelt was asked about the offense and he said that Trent is ready and that we needed to open things up. Well, he gets a chance to do it now.

I'm not saying that Van Pelt will maximize this offense's production and lead us to a Super Bowl.

I am saying that I feel more confident with Van Pelt calling the plays because it is my opinion that AVP puts us in a better position to use the weapons at our disposal.

Evans, Owens, Lynch, Parrish, Johnson, Rhodes, Jackson...

Turk couldn't find a way to use these guys, but I bet AVP can. Maybe we won't be all world, but we will be competitive and that's alot better than what Turk could have done for us.

I think he'll pull out all the tricks against NE knowing what's on the line. Although it sucks that he only has ten days to prepare. But, I think he is up to the challenge.

However, AVP is still just a bandaid. Unless he comes out this season and leads this offense to new heights, the Bills will not make the playoffs and a new coach brings new coordinators.

so, with that, Go Bills! Good luck Alex! and lets kick some Patriot's ass...

Or to simplify, we were doomed with Turk Schonertchild no matter what. AVP may be better, or he may not. I wish they would have done this sooner. But I'l take "small possibility of improvement" over "guaranteed failure" any day.

[Philagape]

It seems like any argument in favor of AVP could have been used in favor of Turk when he was named OC

[thenry20]

Turk should have never been hired in the first place. They should have found someone with experience, but they made the same mistake again.

Once Shanahan was available, Dick should've been fired.

[OpIv37]

It seems like any argument in favor of AVP could have been used in favor of Turk when he was named OC

Well, let me clarify:

The firing of Turk was a good thing.

The timing, and the way he was replaced (ie, so late in the season with no choice but to promote internally) shows the utter incompetence and dysfunction of the Bills organization.

Long story short: even when they do the right thing, they do it in the wrong way and/or at the wrong time.

[Syderick]

The irony of it all, is that many of ya were wanting Turk fired as soon as possible. It didn't matter when, just as long as he was gone. With AVP atleast it can't be any worse. There wasn't many other options as it was during this time of the season for the position.

[Hemlepp53]

Anything is better than Turk and his play calling. Let cross our fingers and hope things work out.

I hope AVP experience behing Kelly helps... How sweet would that be if we came out the gate airing it out to TO and Evans.. and hitting the Defense in the Mouth with a 3 headed run game???

[ddaryl]

The probably have a better shot with me as the OC while on acid. I guarentee I'll get creative

[jmb1099]

The timing is killer. How we prepare now for the opener is beyond me. But I agree with OpI's sentiments that this is one unknown I'll take over a guarantee any day

[Buddo]

The timing is killer. How we prepare now for the opener is beyond me. But I agree with OpI's sentiments that this is one unknown I'll take over a guarantee any day

Preparation shouldn't be that difficult tbh. They aren't about to actually change the offensive scheme. What they are doing, is getting someone else to call the plays.
I'm not so sure that Turk, or Fairchild before him, are actually bad 'designers' of plays. What I am fairly certain of, is that unless there has been significant HC interference in the calling of plays, they weren't much good at doing that aspect of the game.
The last couple of years have been painful to watch in some games, as whenever we found something that did work, we went back to something that didn't. Football isn't that desperately difficult a game, in general tactical terms. You find something that works, keep doing it until your opponent works out how to counter it, then do something different. This will work both on offense and defense.