Chan Gailey Fighting Uphill Battle to Change Bills' Fortunes

PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- Watching the Buffalo Bills toil here, after their 42-17 preseason whiff last Friday night at the Washington Redskins and before their Indianapolis Colts clash on Thursday night in Toronto, reveals reasons why the Bills have two straight AFC East last-place finishes and counting.

Too many players injured and out of practice.

Too many balls hitting the ground.

Too much thinking and acclimating still in progress.

The Bills are in transition once again and transitions often take time. Clusters of talent were evident all over the field in their Tuesday training camp practice at St. John Fisher College. But the cohesion, the confidence, the maturity, well, those are not microwave NFL traits.

We think of the Bills offense from those four consecutive Super Bowl teams in the early 1990s and we think fast break and piles of points. But the Bills have not been to the playoffs since the 1999 season (yes, that Music City Miracle loss to the Titans) and they have not produced a winning season since 2004. Last year's team finished 6-10 with these scary offensive numbers:

• 28th in NFL scoring average (16.1 points per game)

• 29th in NFL possession time (28:12 per game)

• 32nd in NFL third-down conversion percentage (51 of 198 converted, 26 percent).

The Bills need someone to correct this offense. They need someone to develop the quarterbacks. They need someone to get them playing to their strengths, rather than to their weaknesses. To get this offense in gear and make the defense and special teams complements.

This falls squarely on new coach Chan Gailey, as it did to his recent predecessors -- Greg Williams (17-31), Mike Mularkey (14-18) and Dick Jauron (24-33) -- who presided over the Bills' current string of 10 straight seasons without a playoff appearance.

Gailey, 58, has coached football at the pro or college level for the last 36 years. He has been a head coach with the Dallas Cowboys (1998-1999) and at Georgia Tech (2002-2007).

He has tinkered with a myriad of offenses.

In a division with the bodacious Jets, the prideful Patriots and the pesky Dolphins, this is heavy lifting here.

"I think our owner (Ralph Wilson) relied on Buddy (Nix, the Bills general manager) a great deal,'' Gailey said of his hiring. "They wanted someone in here who had done it before. The right person who was going to do things the right way on and off the field. Someone who's seen a lot. I fit that. I haven't gone back and looked at past stats over and over. If you're not careful you can get yourself caught up as a coach.

"If you're more worried about what's wrong than what's right, if you think more about what you don't have than what you do, you don't give the players or the team a chance. I am not holding our players past sins against them. As a coach, I am looking for what they can do right now and that is what we are going to do. It's not about systems. It's about winning.''

Gailey is the right coach at the right time for the Bills.

He understands that this team is mentally scarred, and that this fan base still adores its team but expects the worst. This is a build-it-from-the-ground-up operation.

Shake loose old habits.

" I get the feeling some people around here would be pleased with just being 9-7 and having a winning record again. Well, where do you want me to pick the seven losses? And why even bother to play those games? That's not what we are going to be about.''
--Chan Gailey Several Bills players here said that Gailey is effectively reshaping the team's mindset.

Gailey said this is his approach:

"I talk to them about the '72 Dolphins, the perfect season,'' Gailey said. "But the Dolphins did not play a perfect game. They understood the object was to win by one point. Have one more point than the other team. Some you can win by more, but if you can win by one, great. And whatever it takes to do that, that's what we'll do. It's not about all the other things. Every snap, every weight, all the film, we do this with the intention of winning. You don't' even have to look good doing it. The object is to win.''

Gailey is preaching this, demanding this attitude of his quarterbacks. Trent Edwards is the favorite to win the starting job but Gailey has kept the competition alive and spirited.

This team is looking for improvement in execution from the Redskins game to the Colts' challenge. It's an important step, Gailey said.

When you think Jets and Patriots and Dolphins in 2010, you think another AFC East bottom finish for the Bills, right?

"Nobody thought the Jets would finish where they did in the AFC championship game last season, right?'' Gailey said. "Nobody thought the Dolphins would go from 1-15 to winning the division like they recently did. Don't tell me it can't be done.

"I get the feeling some people around here would be pleased with just being 9-7 and having a winning record again. Well, where do you want me to pick the seven losses? And why even bother to play those games? That's not what we are going to be about.''