Thursday, October 13, 2011

Bills to see Fewell in different red, white, blue

Sunday, the Buffalo Bills will be up against a guy they know pretty well – and a guy who knows the Bills pretty well, too.

Perry Fewell, who served as the Bills’ interim head coach for the last seven games of the 2009 season, now leads the New York Giants’ defense as coordinator. Fewell was Buffalo’s defensive coordinator from 2006 to the middle of 2009 before the temporary promotion, though Fewell, who went 3-4 as interim head coach after Dick Jauron was fired, was let go at the end of the season along with the rest of the team’s coaching staff.

Despite interviewing Fewell for the full-time gig, the Bills opted to hire Chan Gailey as head coach after Buddy Nix became general manager at the end of the 2009.

Gailey told the New York media Wednesday that Fewell’s knowledge of Buffalo’s is advantageous to the Giants.

“Well he certainly knows a lot of the people that are on this team,” Gailey said. “He knows what some of the strengths and weaknesses are of some of our players. I think that’s probably a little bit of an advantage for him to be able to talk about personnel.”

Fewell’s defense in New York has done a pretty good job this season considering the plague of injuries it’s dealt with. The Giants have been particularly good at getting opposing offenses to put the ball on the ground, as they’ve forced 13 fumbles, which ranks second-most in the league.

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