Post Season Report

By Rick

It's been several weeks since the end of our 2009 season of discontent , and as we all know , big changes were in store for our beloved Buffalo Bills . As the season was winding down , Ralph Wilson promised that no stone would remain unturned in their search for the best possible football minds in order to fulfill our quest for a championship . Great coaching names passed the lips of every fan with a great deal of anticipation . Mike Shanahan , Bill Cowher , John Gruden and Mike Holmgren to name a few . Ralph was even quoted as ready to offer megabucks , as much as $10 million a year , for the the services of one of these Super Bowl Champion coaches . Aah....the things that dreams are made of . First in the order of business was to appoint a new General Manager to oversee the entire football operation . It would then be his responsibility to conduct the coaching search . Ralph went all out in his quest . He actually interviewed and considered two people . Must have really tired him out . Afterward he said that on the list of potential interviewees , he knew only those two . What better reason to not go further ? Buddy Nix is our guru for the foreseeable future . This isn't meant as any knock on Buddy Nix . His credentials are , indeed impressive . A half century of involvement in the NFL is impressive in and of itself , but he's been intimately involved with the building of a pretty formidable team out in San Diego . He was also a integral part of the scouting apparatus that assembled the Bills Super Bowl teams of the early '90s . After his introduction as GM he embarked on an exhaustive search for just the right man to head up the new coaching staff . Given all of the available names . Impressive up and coming coordinators and recycled head coaching retreads , he finally found the best man for the task . Chan Gailey . Yep . Chan Gailey . I , for one , couldn't have been any more stunned if he had brought back Hank Bullough . Coach Gailey , in addressing questions about potential staff members , said that nobody would recognize most of the names he had in mind . He was so right . The FBI and Interpol wouldn't have recognized the names of most of these new assistants . To his credit he retained a few key members of the previous staff . George Catavolos for the DB's , DeMonte Cross handling the inside linebackers and the defensive line coach of last year , Bob Sanders , handling the outside linebackers . I feel that these coaches are particularly important in that they handled some of the most stout and cohesive units on the 2009 team . Bob Sanders in particular could prove to be invaluable in the conversion of Aaron Maybin to outside linebacker in the newly installed 3-4 alignment . Chris Ellis , the DE who has has languished on the fringes of our roster for two seasons is also being mentioned as a potential 3-4 outside linebacker . These players have a history and familiarity with Coach Sanders which might help in their transition . The new Offensive Coordinator is Curtis Modkins . Who ?? Not exactly a household name , just as Gailey indicated . Most of his credentials are college related , but he spent the past couple of seasons with the Arizona Cardinals . Not too shabby of an offense there , is it ? Oh , by the way , he'll also handle our running backs . As Quarterback Coach , Gailey tapped the Canadian Football League for arguably their best QB guru . Anyone who has ever seen Canadian football knows that they have to play a passing game , since they have only three downs , not four . George Cortez has been the man who has developed a good number of the best QB's north of the border for a good many years . The newly installed Defensive Coordinator is George Edwards , late of the hated Miami Dolphins . His promise is to install an aggressive , ball hawking , 3-4 defense . In the past I've not been a fan of the 3-4 , but things change , and it's about time to get on board with the trend . Being the only AFC East team not employing a 3-4 has hurt us immeasurably for several seasons . Coach Edwards comes to us with excellent credentials . I'm sure that every Bills fan feels that the Piece De Resistance of the coaching hires is the return of Bruce De Haven as the Special Teams Coach . Who better to follow Bobby April . That's a real tough act to follow and there's no one that I'd rather have than De Haven . Back to Front Office hires for a moment . When Ralph interviewed Buddy Nix , he also interviewed John Guy for the post of General Manager . Obviously he felt that these two men were the most eminently qualified to lead the Bills out of the wilderness . Two weeks later he fired John Guy . This step begs the question , why did he interview him in the first place ? Was it solely to satisfy the Rooney Rule ? If so , shame on you Ralph . That's bush league and should have been beneath you . Another hire that might seem to be under the radar , but could prove to be a real coup , is Doug Whaley as Assistant GM and Director of Pro Personnel . He comes to us from the Pittsburgh Steelers , where he was considered by league insiders to be a serious up and coming star in the field of talent evaluation . Boy , do we need some of that . Like you , I'm sure , I had hoped to have one of the " big name " coaches and GM's in place to guide the Bills into the new decade . I had envisioned a Bill Parcells type of strongman at the helm to turn things around immediately . Was I disappointed with the selection of our new GM and Head Coach ? You bet ! BUT......now that we have our guys in place , I'm ready to settle back and let them see what they can do . As let down as we fans may feel at not having the " name" to rely on , I believe in giving people a chance to succeed on their merits . Gailey isn't the superstar we hoped for but he hasn't been a slug in his career either . He's generally regarded as an extremely bright offensive mind who gets a great deal of production out of the talent that he has at his disposal . Buddy Nix does know a football player when he sees one . Hey , he's no Russ Brandon , but a half century in the NFL scouting players counts for something . Upcoming shortly we have the annual " meat market " of the Indianapolis Combine , Free Agency beginning on March 5th and the Draft in late April . Already , we've released nine on 2009's players with certainly more to come . The BIlls we saw are not the Bills we'll see , believe me . As much of a curmudgeon as I can be , I love the Buffalo Bills and I can't wait for the future to show itself for us . Stay tuned , you don't want to miss a single thing .