Buffalo Bill's Players and Coaches need to "Put Up...or Shut Up!"
Chuck Knox telling me to strap up and get my ass in the game!
Not too long ago, I wrote an article about my head coach – Chuck Knox. In my opinion, he was the best coach - that never made it to the Superbowl. He was the first coach in the history of the NFL to take three different teams to the playoffs. He is ranked 9th on the list of coaches with the highest winning percentages.
Buffalo Bills Mafia fans will understand it when I say that Chuck Knox has “made his bones”.
The current Bills coaches and players could learn a few things from Chucks philosophy of how to conduct oneself - both on and off the field.
One of the most important things he would tell us about our conduct off the field is that "You can talk all you want about yourself, but don't talk negatively about other players. Don't give the press, or another team, Billboard material" and he would follow that up by saying "What you do speaks so well, there's no need for anyone to hear what you say!"
Chuck knew how to motivate us. He would find newspaper articles from other cities and post them on our Billboard in the locker room – usually a quote from a player from a team we were getting ready to play or an editorial about why they would win and we would lose.
Rex Ryan and his players have been giving teams and other players a lot of billboard material recently and I don’t think they understand just how much this has motivated – and will continue to motivate - other teams into showing the Bills that they are not going to be pushed around and bullied.
It’s time for Rex Ryan and his team to put up….. or shut up!
Winning is the cure for what ails them right now, but even if they get the train back on the tracks, they need to heed Chuck’s words of wisdom, or they will get derailed again and again.
Maybe they should all read Chuck’s book – Hard Knox: The Life of an NFL Coach.
Chuck said “A man must make himself from whatever he is given. Play the hand you’re dealt – it was my first and foremost Knoxism. It means look adversity in the eye, then kick the hell out of it.”
The Bills are going through some adversity right now and even though Sammy Watkins is questionable for today's game and LeSean McCoy is still out, they have to work with hand they've been dealt - and kick the hell out of it!
Here’s a good article about Chuck that will give you some additional insight into how he dealt with adversity: Chuck Knox -The Last Hard Man
Chuck celebrated his 83 birthday on September 25th - just a few weeks ago.
He was a good boss – a stand up guy – a made man.
If Rex Ryan and the Bills players want to "make their bones", it will start by keeping their mouths shut and killing a lot of teams to get to the top.
