Doug Marrone looks the part. It shouldn't matter, but it so often does in job interviews. And he certainly sounded like a fit for the Buffalo Bills' organization in his introductory news conference as head coach.
"I feel this town," he said. "The core values here, again, are something I look for. We're going to be proud of this organization."
So what did we learn from Marrone's first news conference? A few takeaways:
- The Billsannounced the start of an analytics department last week. Despite Bill Polian's insistence that "Moneyball" won't work in the NFL, Marrone made it clear it will be an integral part of the team.
"We've used quite a bit of it in when we were in New Orleans when we were there. We want to be innovative," Marrone said. "We want to use that to be in the cutting edge and push us forward. So again, it's part of what we do. It's part of our planning; it's part of our process."
- Marrone said he would look for coordinators with "thorough" NFL experience. He would not pick coordinators who strictly come from the college game, and he will not call plays offensively.
- Marrone alluded to the fact that he potentially could have taken the Cleveland Browns job. "I chose to be here," he said.
- There were very few details about the Bills' potential scheme. Marrone also wouldn't talk about the team's personnel.
- It's hard to imagine a coach saying he was "excited" more than Marrone did in a single news conference. He talked about loving Western New York a lot. He should be a popular hire with the locals. Later in a radio interview, Marrone called the New York Jets "that other team downstate."
Yep, Marrone should enjoy a nice honeymoon stage in Buffalo.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
