Mike Pettine submits request for Jim O’Neil

Dec 29, 2013; Foxborough, MA, USA; Buffalo Bills head coach Doug Marrone looks on during the second half of their 34-20 loss to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

The decision had not even settled in yet and begun to get cold and the new Browns Head Coach, former Bills and Jets defensive coordinator has submitted a request to the Bills to interview Jim O’Neil, the linebackers coach for the Bills.

This was not a very hard thing to see as O’Neil came over to the Bills with Pettine from the Jets.  They have both worked together for a number of years and even to the point that O’Neil played for Pettine’s dad in high school.

Mike Pettine is looking for Jim O’Neil to move from linebackers coach to his new defensive coordinator.

Do the Bills honor the request or do they tell the Browns to stick it.  Honoring it will keep the peace and also will allow the Bills, in the future, to possibly do the same if it should come up.

It does come late in the process as the Browns did wait and was the last team without a head coach.  If O’Neil comes over and the Bills honor it who else could Pettine be looking at?

The question now is what do the Bills do? Promote within or bring in someone from the outside.  Hiring within, could be a better decision as the system is already known but it was Pettine’s system, so someone coulf bring in a different system even from within, but there is the familiarity factor in which the players would know the coach and have a good relationship with him.

Bringing someone in from the outside could change the defense up completely, rather than keeping some of the same types of schemes intact, and it would take time to teach and learn the new scheme as well as build a relationship with the new coach and or coaches.

All in all, if Buffalo allows O’Neil to meet with Pettine and the Browns, it is most likely that he will be gone and the Bills either way should look to promote within.  This will allow the new coach to bring in someone that he feels confident in with to work with and it will lessen the learning of a new scheme as most will probably be kept, with a few minor changes.