Bills Mafia — #BillsMafia

Earlier tonight we had a guest blog post by a Cardinals fan about the three coaches from Arizona who have been tied to the Bills.

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Now, we’re going to look at Lovie Smith, the recently fired head coach of the Bears who has reportedly expressed interest in the Buffalo vacancy. Tonight, I reached out to two prominent Bears fans on Twitter, Erik Grogan of ChicagoFootballTalk.com and Chris Shanafelt, host of SportsManRadio on Blogtalkradio.com. Both were gracious enough to answer my questions in swift fashion.

1. There’s a large contingent of Bills fans that are lobbying for Lovie Smith to come to Buffalo. Are they justified in their opinion, or crazy? Why?

Erik Grogan: They are justified. It’s not crazy. Four other teams have contacted him so far and I believe more will. Before the Bears hired Lovie, the team was very mediocre and very unstable. Lovie was hired in 2004 and in only two years, the Bears were starting to become contenders and the defense had that Monster of the Midway feel that had been missing for so long. In the last nine years, Lovie Smith has only had three years below .500 and that goes unnoticed a lot of times. Especially with the lack of offenses. Lovie Smith only had one offense in the top 15 one time. That was his Super Bowl year in 2006. Other than that, the offenses have been below mediocre. However, the players will want to run through walls for this guy. Lovie will never show emotions on the field but in the locker room, he is a fiery coach. Almost every player was saddened and disappointed that Lovie Smith was fired. That doesn’t happen often when a head coach is fired.

Chris Shanafelt: I’m not surprised that Bills fans want Lovie in Buffalo. Lovie has had come success here in Chicago making it to the playoffs a few times and appearing in a Super Bowl back in 2006. Lovie is a really good defensive coach. I think it’s safe to say that the Bears defense wasn’t expected to perform the way they did this season but it was crazy especially because of how “old” they are. We both know Buffalo has a very talented defense (DE M. Anderson, DE M. Williams, DT M. Dareus, etc.) and with the LB core you guys have with Barnett, Merriman, and Morrison, I believe Lovie can make that core even stronger. I think Lovie’s best fit will be with Buffalo.

2. Lovie Smith brought the Bears to a Super Bowl with Rex Grossman, but struggled with Jay Cutler. What’s your opinion on why his tenure in Chicago worked out that way?

EG: Lovie Smith is a defensive minded coach. Period. Thus, Lovie would let his offensive coaches do what they are suppose to do and that’s coach. Rarely would Lovie get involved with the offense and his choices at offensive coordinator never worked out. Through his nine years at Chicago, he went through four different offensive coordinators. Four. Look at any of the great quarterbacks/offenses in the league. They have all had the same offensive scheme for years.

CS: Lovie Smith brought the Bears to a Super Bowl with Rex Grossman because that ’06 Bears defense was more consistent in my opinion. Lovie doesn’t have a great past when it comes to offense. His best offense was ranked 16th and that was the 2006 Super Bowl Bears. The offensive coordinators that have been in Chicago during Lovie’s time haven’t been too great.

3. On the whole are Bears fans glad to see Smith go? And if so, why?

EG: The main reason that most Bears fans are okay with Lovie Smith going is because of a lot of things. Lovie never really developed any real offensive weapons besides Matt Forte. In fact, a lot of draft picks seemed to go to waste and never amounted to much. When you look at Lovie Smith’s draft record with the Bears, it doesn’t impress you. Especially all the first round picks that have been busts. The main reason most fans wanted Lovie gone was his playoff record. Smith’s playoff record was not very appealing. In nine years, he only made the postseason three times and never won a Super Bowl.

CS: Myself being a Bears fan I’m not really happy to see Lovie go after finishing the season 10-6 because he has done a lot with the Chicago Bears organization in the 9 years he has been here and when the news broke it really impacted the players. Once the news broke, Devin Hester said he was thinking about retiring after just finishing his 7th season in the NFL. Lovie wasn’t only a coach for these players, he was a friend & mentor. Taught these players how to be men. Many Bears fans were happy when the news broke. I was at a local radio show called Waddle & Silvy and every week they have a Jay Cutler show and the news broke with Jay there live on the show and he was almost lost for words — it seemed like while the Bears fans were cheering. Cutler said he wishes he could have done more to help Lovie keep his job but maybe change is a good thing. Lovie is a players’ coach.

4. What is Lovie’s greatest strength?

EG: Lovie’s greatest strength is his defenses. There was probably only a few years that the defense wasn’t in the top 15 but was in the top 5 quite a few times. A lot of the games Lovie won was because the defense would win the game or set the offense up to not fail. Lovie Smith has been able to draft some good defensive players over the years. Tommie Harris, Lance Briggs, Nathan Vasher, Charles Tillman, Major Wright, Henry Melton, Corey Wootton, and Daniel Manning. There are more but those are just a few that I can name off the top of my head and Harris was the only drafted in the first round.

CS: Lovie’s greatest strength is the way he coaches defense and connects with his players. No doubt.

5. His greatest weakness?

EG: Lovie Smith’s greatest weakness is not just one thing. Smith’s inability to get a decent offensive coordinator really hurt his tenure here at Chicago. The list of first round busts that he has drafted hurt too. Plus, during games, Lovie Smith never showed the ability to adapt or adjust. In fact, most of Lovie Smith’s blowout losses are because he would never adjust his defensive game plan. To be honest, his stubbornness to start players that he loved or thought could still play also hurt his tenure. Prime example is Tommie Harris and Rex Grossman. Both players overstayed their welcome in Chicago but Lovie kept trying/hoping they would return to their prime.

CS: Lovie’s greatest weakness has been the offensive staff he chooses (mainly offensive coordinator.) Like I mentioned earlier, ever since Lovie has been in Chicago his team’s offense has always been in the worst half of the rankings. With the NFL being an offensive league now its hard to be successful like that and maybe that’s why Lovie missed the playoffs 5 out of the last 6 seasons. I would also like to see Lovie show more emotion on the sidelines. Almost no matter what he has a stale face. I don’t know what he does in the locker room, I can only judge what he does outside of it but what I see is little to no emotion.

Thanks again to Erik and Chris for taking the time to answer my questions tonight. With Lovie appearing to be the “fans’ choice” in Buffalo (at least, according to my Tuesday night Twitter timeline) hopefully this information helps paint a fuller picture.

Lots of rumors, reports, and opinions are floating all over Twitter right now. Most, at this moment, are centered around Ken Whisenhunt and others from the Arizona coaching staff. I reached out to one of the tweeps I met during the week leading up to the Bills/Cardinals game earlier this season and he was more than happy to whip this up for us in short order.

Thank you, @azcardfan90, for putting this together!

If a Redbird Flies East, Which Cardinal Coach Would You Want in Buffalo?

As Black Monday passed, rumors were already swirling about a possible new landing spot in Buffalo for one of the Cardinal coaching staff but which one? With seven head coaching vacancies already, time is of the essence for teams looking to head in a new direction. Here is a basic breakdown from one Birdgang member’s perspective of the possible candidates coming out the desert.

(Photo by Greg Trott/Getty Images)

Russ Grimm

Like the other two candidates, Russ Grimm came to the Valley of the Sun highly regarded from the Pittsburgh organization. He was widely considered a favorite for many head coaching vacancies prior to accepting the OL coach position in Arizona. As a hall of famer himself, he brings instant credibility with players and built his resume on tough old school smash mouth type football in Pittsburgh.

In AZ, it was believed that he would parlay the early success they had under Whisenhunt into a head coaching position elsewhere. However, that never materialized as the things that made him so successful in Pittsburgh were non-existent in AZ at times. Even the Super Bowl year, the Cardinals never were considered much of a threat running the ball and really only had a running game at times because the passing was so effective under Kurt Warner.

After Warner’s departure, the running game and offensive line play worsened… partially because of bad QB play and lack of quality lineman. This year, the Cardinals sustained numerous injuries and were starting players off the street by year’s end. Although, the disappointing part is under Grimm there have been players drafted and obtained via free agency who were considered to either be veteran upgrades or rookies with potential. The players did not develop… at all. In fact, many players regressed. By mid-season of the 2012 campaign most Cardinal fans were calling for the head of Grimm as the team could not run block, pass block or keep any QB upright long enough to look downfield.

This should be the least of the three Cardinal candidates the Bills should consider. There have been many vacancies that have come and gone in recent years and I believe it to be a red flag that a once hot commodity is now unemployed off a 5-11 team.

Ken Whisenhunt

As a diehard Cardinal fan, I have mixed feelings about Ken. I LOVE and appreciate where he took us… within minutes of winning the Super Bowl, something that most Cardinal fans never thought we would see. Unfortunately, his act eventually wore thin with fans and, I believe players alike. With Ken, you get a likeable guy who is well-respected in the league and considered an up and comer still. He is a tireless professional who is a class act until the end. He STRONGLY believes in his system and his coaches, which from an assistant or players perspective is a good quality (who doesn’t want a supportive boss?).

(Photo by Otto Greule, Jr.)

Unfortunately, I believe what limits him is his ego… and that was probably inflated even further with early success in Arizona. Once Todd Haley left as OC in AZ, he took on a greater involvement in the offense, at times calling plays. He is loyal to a fault to those who have allegiance to him, but do not get on his bad side. He is always outwardly professional but does appear to hold grudges.

He cut Matt Leinart (at the time, the expected starting QB) days before the season opener after Matt made comments to the media regarding his demotion, he fined Darnell Dockett $200,000 and held him out of the starting lineup for an old-field incident with a teammate, routinely sat players for extended periods after a bad play or fumble — and this past week even had Beanie Wells suit up but did not give him a single carry after Beanie made comments to the media regarding his future. He refused to commit to a starting QB for the majority of his time in the desert instead choosing to deal with it on a week by week basis. I believe this caused instability in the locker room and eventually maybe even caused him to lose the locker room late this season. In my opinion, after he refused to pull Ryan Lindley who was completely lost in the Jets game (a one point loss), many players stopped believing in him as evidenced by a 58-0 loss to Seattle.

Some people believe Whiz would still be the head coach in Arizona if he was just willing to adapt, adjust and, in some cases, cut ties with coaches who were not up to speed. In fact, some theorize that when he was dismissed by the Cardinals he may have been given an ultimatum to fire certain offensive coaches or be terminated himself. Obviously, if that is the case, we know what he chose. Bottom line, the offense in Arizona was broken… and Whiz did not believe his system was to blame in spite of jaw-dropping failures from that side of the ball.

In spite of all this, Whiz can be successful again in the NFL in the right situation. It would need to be in a spot where he has HC duties and the team has a well-established GM with a clear delineation of duties and strong coordinators. He tends to take on too much and thus get in over his head if allowed. He was most productive with capable assistants and focusing on just being the head coach.

(Photo by Christian Petersen)

Ray Horton

Ray Horton is the wildcard in this situation. This is THE top choice of most Cardinal fans to replace Whisenhunt. He has the shortest resume of the group but came to Arizona with a system and a vision. He was able to adapt the players he inherited from a 4-3 system and convert them into a 3-4 effectively. He loves to attack.

From a person who loves defense, his team is fun to watch. They like to bring pressure from everywhere and attack the quarterback. In two short seasons, the defense became a top-5 unit capable of shutting down premier offenses. He appears to be young, innovative and well-liked by his players and peers. The question mark is whether he is ready and capable of being an NFL head coach. Cardinal fans definitely believe that he is but that is a big question mark. Good coordinators are often NOT good head coaches. It would depend, again, on the pieces around him. He appears to be candidate with the most possible upside however is also the biggest unknown.

“It is on like a MOFO”

Those were the words tweeted by former Bills player Thurman Thomas this week. This has gotten the rumor mill running in overdrive. Despite numerous fans prodding Thurman as to what this means, he has refrained from further comments. While there are many people who think there will be no changes made to the team in regards to coaching and players, there seems to be a couple people who many deem as credible saying that big things are coming.

(Photo by Chris O’Meara, AP)

The biggest speculation that’s been floating out there has been by website owner Billsman (@Billsman) at www.buffalorange.com and is pretty bold. He’s saying via his own sources inside One Bills Drive that the team has been sold to former Bills QB Jim Kelly and his group of investors and that an announcement of the sale will be made after the final game of the year. Also rumored, is that Jim and Thurman Thomas will be running the team. And there will be a new coaching staff brought in for next year and QB Ryan Fitzpatrick might very well be seeing the door too.

Many people may discount this theory. But it does have some merit. With the upcoming changes to estate tax rates going into next year, the estate tax is due to jump from 35% to 55%. That’s a massive increase! The folks advising Mr. Wilson may have advised him that this may be a good time to sell the team. I’m no accountant, but at the current rate of 35% the federal estate tax would be $280 million based on the franchise’s $800 million estimated worth. Now with the upcoming rate change to 55%, the tax would be $440million!!! Talk about a huge increase! So it does seem possible that Mr. Wilson decided to keep the $160 million and move on. And who’d be a better man to be the face of the franchise and caretaker of Mr. Wilson’s legacy than Jim Kelly? I think Jim’s passion could breathe a whole new life into the franchise, much like John Elway has for the Denver Broncos.

I myself am taking a wait and see approach to this theory. But it does make sense to me. Seems strange to me that the public heard nothing about stadium lease negotiations this fall. Actually, that they were in danger of falling apart. And then all of a sudden there’s a lease finalized and talks from NY State and Erie County about building a new facility. This is contrary to the attitude we heard at the start of the season. It just seems to me like the things are falling into place for this to really happen. Other teams have sold in this kind of fashion. The Jacksonville Jaguars comes to mind.

What does the rest of Bills Mafia think? Big changes? Coaching changes? No changes at all?