Brian Schottenheimer and the Buffalo Bills' Head Coaching Vacancy

I'm going to start by saying that I'd be truly happy with any of the candidates that have been mentioned for the Bills' head coaching vacancy recently.

If Leslie Frazier is indeed the frontrunner for the position, I would be fine with that and I think he would succeed here.  If it's Bill Cowher, that would obviously be fantastic as well.

I must say, however, it is of my opinion right now that Brian Schottenheimer should be involved with the coaching staff of the Buffalo Bills, whether in a head coaching role or as an offensive coordinator on his father Marty's staff (which is the only way he would be an OC here). 

Watching the Jets today was like watching what I wish the Buffalo Bills offense could and should be. 

Before I start my argument for Schottenheimer, it's clear that the Jets have a much, much better offensive line than the Bills currently do.  I get that.  

But I have to think that if Schottenheimer were indeed to be the next head coach in Buffalo, he would address the issues on the offensive front and the line would be serviceable enough in 2010 to execute his offense.

First, let me start by saying that the Jets run the ball really well. That's obvious, and the most impressive part about the running game isn't just that they are productive with it, the brilliance of Schottenheimer lies in exactly how they are so productive.

Even though most grinding, rushing offenses are boring, the Jets are fun to watch because they are imaginative when they run the ball.

They put receivers (or Brad Smith) in motion to make the defense stay honest for the end around, they run draws really well, and they run to both sides on sweeps and on the inside.  I absolutely loved the playcalling from Schottenheimer in today's playoff win over Cincinnati. 

You saw both Shonn Greene and Thomas Jones break fairly big runs in this game, with Jones' touchdown run coming on the inside and Greene's big TD on a sweep to the left.

Even though defenses may be able to stack the box to prepare to stop the New York Jets, they still can't stop the running game because it is creative and never predictable.

I love that, and I definitely think Buffalo has horses equal to or better than the Jets' in Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson.

The creativity of the running game leads directly into my second point about Schottenheimer, and that has to do with the way he has treated a rookie QB with Mark Sanchez this season.

Now, I know, Sanchez hasn't had the greatest year with the 20 INT and all that, but damn, he looked great in the game today. 

Schottenheimer didn't let Sanchez get out of control in this game, which is why the rookie ended 12/15 on the game with 0 INT.  The passes called were safe throws, and Schottenheimer picked the spots where Sanchez was allowed to make a play.

When Sanchez did have the opportunity to go downfield, he hit the long TD to Dustin Keller and the should-have-been-TD drop with Braylon Edwards. 

You saw numerous times where Sanchez made a wide-open throw off a play-action rollout or simple slant throw for a first down or to pick up significant yardage.  

The OC never put the youngster in a situation where he could fail, and, thus, Sanchez didn't and ended up victorious on the road against a solid Bengals defense. 

Coming into Saturday afternoon, it's clear that the Bengals knew the Jets were going to try and pound the ball all game long, and they were still able to do it successfully.

The offensive gameplan coming into the game was ingenious on the part of Schottenheimer.  They didn't necessarily have balance in terms of pass plays vs. run plays, but the variety of run plays themselves kept the defense off-balance enough to keep Sanchez comfortable and confident.

This is all to say that if the Bills indeed choose to go with a rookie QB early in the draft, whether that is Clausen, Bradford, Tebow, or LeFevour, Pike, McCoy, etc in later rounds, I think Brian Schottenheimer is a great candidate to come in and groom him really well for success.

The way he's reeled Sanchez in after it looked like a disastrous start has really shown that he knows how to handle a young QB. 

If a rookie QB is Buffalo's choice to start 2010, Brian Schottenheimer's run-dominated and safe-passing offense should be the one that is being run.