Fewell Deserves a Chance -- Somewhere Else

By Ch2 Sports Director Ed Kilgore

The more I watch Perry Fewell handle his interim head coaching duties with the Bills, the more I'm convinced Fewell deserves a shot at a head coaching job in the NFL -- just not in Buffalo.

  I love his enthusiasm and the fact he isn't afraid to make changes on the fly, and I also appreciate his outspoken manner.  I get the feeling the players may not always like what he says or how he says it, but they respect his honesty and don't have to guess what he means by reading between the lines.  Fewell is now 2-3 as the "head coach", and could easily be 4-1 or even 5-0 with ANY kind of offensive line and a halfway decent quarterback.

It's almost unfair to judge just what kind of quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick or Trent Edwards might be under different circumstances, but you have to go by what you see, and it's obvious to me the Bills are not going anywhere at all with either of them at qb.  Fitzpatrick is the kind of player you'd like to have around though, because he's smart and he's gritty, and the young quarterback the Bills are all but certain to draft can learn from him.

There was a rumor floating around that owner Ralph C. Wilson thinks so highly of Fewell that he might be tempted to stay with Fewell if the Bills beat the Patriots, and that would be a mistake.  Not that Fewell couldn't handle the job with better personnel, and not that Ralph needs to make a move based on what fans and media think, but in this case, the Bills clearly need to move forward from ten years of missing the playoffs by dismantling and restructuring the organization.

Those who fear that COO Russ Brandon is somehow fixated on hiring a high-profile head coach while somehow keeping a hand on the football side of the operation as a gm can rest assured Brandon is fully on board with Wilson on the importance of hiring not only a quality head coach, but football-savvy gm as well.  Does it matter which one is hired first?  Mike Shanahan was named coach in Denver and then hired his OWN gm, and while I don't think the Bills will get Shanahan, its not inconceivable they could do something similar to that.

There has also been speculation about how the Bills should go with third-string qb Brian Brohm in one of two remaining games at Atlanta or against the Colts just to see what he's got.  Terrible idea.  With virtually no training camp or even practice snaps, it would be totally unfair to Brohm or the Bills to throw him in there now barring injuries to both Fitzpatrick and Edwards.

The Bills are no doubt hoping Brohm can at least battle Fitzpatrick in camp as the Bills bring along their highly-drafted rookie, with Edwards all but certainly gone.

Whoever is at qb though, MUST have a couple tackles who can play.  Are the Bills still high on Demetrius Bell, who can't stay healthy?  Same with Brad Butler?  You can throw the rest of 'em into the same group of functional-at-best tackles who are literally a dime a dozen in the NFL.

The Bills have other needs too, of course, at linebacker and tight end, but they do have a core of players now who will battle and want to win -- they just don't have enough of them.

Call me crazy, but despite all their problems, the Bills are moving closer to the Pats, Dolphins and Jets, and while they have a way to go, they can get there more quickly than you might think with a coach, gm and personnel people who are totally on the same page about the players they want and where they will fit.

In a perfect world, the coach could be Perry Fewell, just not now, not here.