He doesn't have wide receivers coach anywhere on his resume, but knowing the depth of coaching experience that Buffalo's new receivers coach Bob Bicknell has on the offensive side of the ball the Bills wideouts are in very good hands.
"He understands exactly what we're trying to get done in the passing game," said Gailey. "We think he'll give us a great deal of help at the receiver position. He had to be involved in the ins and outs of the passing game having to know all the positions so we think that'll help us."
Bicknell served as Buffalo's tight ends coach the past two seasons and played a large role in the emergence of Scott Chandler this past season, who tied a record for most touchdowns in a season by a Bills tight end. But Bicknell's coaching background goes far deeper than just a position assistant.
He was an offensive coordinator in the now defunct NFL Europe from 2001-2003 as his offense led the league in passing yards and was second in yards from scrimmage. They also won World Bowl X. His offense again led the league in passing yards the following season as well as yards from scrimmage.
When he moved on to serve as offensive coordinator for Cologne in NFL Europe (2004-2005) his quarterback led the league in passing yards.
"I feel like receiver coach is on my resume because I've been a coordinator and in NFL Europe I've installed pass offenses and really with what we did with Scott Chandler and what we do with the tight ends there's not a big change in what I will be teaching now from a wide receiver standpoint. So, I don't see it as a huge difference."
Bicknell has worked under Gailey at the NFL level for four years so he has intimate knowledge of the Buffalo aerial attack.
"I personally think the number one guy you could get for this job was me because I've been involved in this offense," Bicknell said. "It's not coming in learning what the terminology is, what are the plays? I've been in those meetings and I'm involved in everything that has to do with the pass game. I'm excited, it's a great opportunity, and I'm really looking forward to it.
As far as the approach he'll take with Buffalo's wideouts there will be structure, but he won't put a stranglehold on how guys execute on the field.
"It's a young group and I think in this offense coaching receivers there's a very specific way we do things and yet we allow them to be who they are so we have a lot of players that are going to learn," he said. "There's basics, I mean with a rookie guy that comes in you say 'Ok this is the way we're going to run our route, this is our stance we're going to get in, etc.'
"But then there are guys that we have that they do some of that but they get open in different ways. So it's being able to coach that specifically but also realize that you got guys that do some special things that aren't always exactly the way we wanted to coach it but we have the ability to let them do what they do best."
