Bills Ex Coach Leslie Frazier Ripped By Pro Bowl LB Chad Greenway
Retired Minnesota Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway apparently is not a fan of former Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier.
Greenway spent 10 seasons with the Vikings, making two Pro Bowls along the way and being named second-team All-Pro for his work in the 2012 season. But he obviously never was in love with the way the defense was run throughout his first seven seasons by Frazier, who ascended from defensive coordinator to head coach during that span.
Frazier moved on in 2014 and eventually landed with the Bills as defensive coordinator in 2017. He walked away from his job after a devastating playoff loss to Cincinnati in January and intends to take just one season off before returning to coaching, perhaps with another team.
Former Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier
Greenway's feelings became evident during a recent interview with radio station KFAN, when he endorsed the hiring of Brian Flores as the Vikings' defensive coordinator. Greenway told KFAN: "We're not sitting back playing Leslie Frazier's Tampa 2, just getting dinked and dunked on drives. We're gonna go attack people."
(Before we proceed, it should be noted that it IS NOT Chad Greenway in the photo used with the above posting on X.)
Though Frazier played for perhaps the most aggressive defense in football's modern era, Buddy Ryan's famed "46," his coaching philosophy was shaped more by Tony Dungy, who is widely recognized for refining the Cover 2 concept, a relatively soft, two-deep zone coverage scheme with help from a fast retreating middle linebacker on pass plays. It allows for underneath openings but makes it extremely difficult to be beaten over the top.
Hard to rationalize Greenway's hard feelings on this one.
Frazier and head coach Sean McDermott crafted one of the NFL's finest defenses over the past six years. Last season, the Bills allowed the fewest yards and the second fewest points in the league. In 2021, they were first in both categories.
On the other hand, the defense was paralyzed by complete dysfunction during the final 13 seconds of regulation against the Kansas City Chiefs in their 2021-22 divisional round playoff matchup. The Chiefs gained 44 yards in two plays before kicking a game-tying field goal as time expired, then won in overtime by driving for a touchdown with equal ease on the first possession.
Whatever the case, McDermott will call the plays on defense this season. He didn't even hire a coordinator to replace Frazier.
Perhaps those 13 seconds will ultimately define both coaches, especially McDermott, if the Bills can't at least make it to the Super Bowl under his reign.
But nothing can take away Frazier's tremendous success as a coordinator in the NFL.
