Wade Phillips fired!

By Rick Anderson

Now the Bills have to start from the ground up. Late Sunday evening it was learned that Buffalo Bills owner let go his team's head coach Wade Phillips when he refused to fire special teams coach Ronnie Jones.

Wade Phillips is no longer the Bills head coach

[Bills Photo]

Phillips did not want to give the pink slip to Jones after giving him the vote of confidence after the season. Phillips gave all his coaches high marks after the Bills finished 8-8 this season. Most experts disagreed with Phillips assessment of his coaching staff and apparently Wilson was one of them. Jones 1-year term as special teams coach was a travesty. He would have his punter and kicker kick short bloopers to avoid long runbacks. Also his special teams were rated around the bottom of the league. Pendry also did a poor job with the offense the past two years. Although he did not make the decision about the starting quarterback, he was in the middle of the raging quarterback controversy between Doug Flutie and Rob Johnson.

"Buffalo special teams' record was among the worst in the National Football League last season," said Wilson when he announced the firing. "I felt we needed a change and that my request was reasonable ... I did not want to release Wade but his refusal left me with no option."

According to ESPN sources, here is "a near-verbatim exchange" between Wilson and Phillips when Wilson called the Bills coach last week:

"What about Ronnie Jones?" Wilson asked.

"I don't know yet," Phillips said.

"I want him gone," Wilson said.

"I'm going to reassign him," Phillips said.

"I want him gone."

"If I have to replace any of my coaches, I'm not going to coach," Phillips said.

"Then you're not going to coach."

That abrupt statement by Wilson ended Phillips job with the Bills. The son of Bum Phillips had a 29-19 record with the Bills and led them to two straight playoff seasons until failing to make them this year.

Wilson fired John Butler less than three weeks ago when Butler failed to make a commitment to Wilson and accept his contract offer. Butler joined the San Diego Chargers and their GM last week.

Now Wilson must replace both his GM and head coach. Tom Donahoe has been the front runner in the GM derby. However, Donahoe has upped his demands for a bigger contract. It is expected that once Wilson finally signs a new GM, that the first order of business will be to find a replacement for Phillips.

After the way Phillips mismanaged the Bills this year, it is difficult to believe that he was about to return for one more year to guide the Bills.

Phillips firing of specialty teams coach Bruce DeHaven and replacing him with Ronnie Jones was the straw that broke Phillips' back. Jones had never before coached special teams and everyone could tell right from the get-go. Jones' special teams did not get much better as the season wore on. To instruct his kickers to kick short to prevent a long kickoff or punt return was completely asinine.

Then there was that comment right before the Monday Night Football game with the Colts. Wade actually waived the white flag on ESPN before that game:

"I think both teams are out of it basically," Phillips said on national TV. "But, it's a Monday night game, everybody is watching."

The Colts made the playoffs after beating the Bills and the yoke was all over Phillips face after that comment. That alone was enough to get him fired.

Then there was that classic Wade's witticism: "Chris Watson... he's not a punt returner he's a punt catcher and that's basically what we have to live with."

Wade's father, Bum, was a successful head coach with the Houston Oilers. When contacted, he said that he knew nothing about his son's firing.

"We got a weekly newspaper down here so I don't hear it all," said Phillips while at home in Goliad, Texas. "I haven't talked to Wade. I figure that's his business and he'll take care of it."

"There ain't but two kinds of coaches in the NFL," Phillips continued. "Them that's been fired and them that's going to be fired."

ESPN broke the story of Phillips firing early this morning. For full details, read the full ESPN article.

READ THE FULL ESPN ARTICLE ABOUT PHILLIPS FIRING......

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