The more I read about Gailey the more I like him....
http://nypost.com/2015/01/14/gaileys-gift-getting-most-out-of-offensive-talent/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Chan Gailey won’t be bringing his own system to the Jets if, as expected, Todd Bowles picks him to be their next offensive coordinator.
Gailey doesn’t have a system.
He was a washout as a head coach with the Cowboys, Georgia Tech and the Bills, but Gailey’s creativity and chameleon-like adaptability as a play-caller have earned him plenty of admirers around the NFL.
Look no further than Bowles himself — the Jets’ new head coach reportedly insisted on Gailey despite no previous coaching connection and even though Gailey had been out of football since Buffalo fired him following the 2012 season.
“The one thing about Chan is that you can’t peg him,” former Giants coach Dan Reeves told The Post on Wednesday. “He’s been in a lot of different systems with a lot of different schemes, and he’s been successful in all of them.”
Reeves should know, considering he and Gailey are from the same town — Americus, Ga. — and Reeves even coached Gailey in Little League baseball before Gailey spent six seasons on Reeves’ staff in Denver in the 1980s.
Gailey liked to spread the field and throw the ball for most of his three seasons with the Bills (particularly in 2011, when Buffalo threw the ball almost 60 percent of the time), but that doesn’t guarantee he would use the same approach with Gang Green.
After all, Gailey was the offensive coordinator with the Steelers in 1997 when Pittsburgh reached the AFC Championship Game running the ball 56 percent of the time. And even as recently as Gailey’s final year in Buffalo, the Bills’ pass-run ratio was nearly 50-50.
While Gailey emphasized giving speedy players space and was fond of running out of the shotgun, with screen passes and short throws to receivers in Buffalo, don’t count on the Jets being a replica.
“Good luck predicting what he’s going to do with the Jets,” said NFL Network analyst Gil Brandt, the former Cowboys personnel executive. “You might think he’s going to be run-first because of the Steelers or pass-happy because of the Bills, but I bet you he’s looked at a hundred tapes while he’s been out these past two years, knows the trends and will put his own spin on them.”
Whatever style the 63-year-old Gailey decides is right for the offense-challenged Jets, his track record as strictly a play-caller says it is likely to be successful — even with Geno Smith as Gang Green’s incumbent starting quarterback.
Not only did four of Gailey’s offenses finish in the NFL’s top 10 in scoring, but he also got journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick a $60 million contract in Buffalo and — in his most amazing feat — managed to squeeze more than 3,000 all-purpose yards and 22 touchdowns out of Tyler Thigpen as the Chiefs’ play-caller in 2008.
“Chan has always done a great job of coaching the personnel that he’s got instead of forcing a system on his personnel,” Reeves said. “That’s why you can’t peg him. He’s so versatile and very adaptable.”
Gailey’s creativity as a play-caller also is proven. As Pittsburgh’s wide receivers coach in 1995, he came up with the “Slash” package for Kordell Stewart — part-time quarterback, part-time running back, part-time wide receiver — and then got within four points of the Super Bowl two years later with Stewart as his starter.
Gailey’s track record isn’t impeccable, though. The fact his teams finished 15th or worse in total offense (including 24th and 26th) in five of the seven seasons he has been an NFL offensive coordinator has to be considered a red flag.
Gailey’s biggest task with the Jets will be trying to develop Smith, which is the one thing Brandt is comfortable predicting about Gailey.
“Chan has great patience and his work ethic is immense, and that’s going to make Geno work harder,” Brandt said. “If Geno lets Chan do what he does best, the Jets’ quarterback is going to be a lot better than he was last year and their offense is, too.”
