Commentary
Sullivan: Catavolos is more than a coach to Bills' DBs
Published: October 29, 2009, 2:28 am
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A few weeks ago, before the Jets game, George Catavolos walked over to his strong safety, George Wilson, and pointed to the flags atop Giants Stadium. Then he pointed to some other flags fluttering in the opposite direction at field level.
"George, if you want to be a coach some day, you have to keep track of the little things," said Catavolos, the Bills' defensive backs coach. "The wind doesn't always blow in the same direction on top of the stadium as it does on the field."
Wilson is accustomed to such nuggets of wisdom from his position coach. After all, the man has been coaching defensive backs for more than 40 years, 25 in the NFL. Catavolos, who wanted to teach history as a young man, has been teaching the nuances of secondary play for most of his adult life.
The Bills have their failings, but they defend the pass. They've allowed 5.44 yards a pass, third in the NFL. A year ago, they were fifth. Opposing QBs are completing 54.4 percent, fourth best in the league. OK, so the run defense has been bad. They've faced some woeful quarterbacks lately. But they held Drew Brees to his fewest yards all season. They must be doing something right.
Catavolos' crew has 13 interceptions, second in the NFL. They have nine in the last two games, four by rookie Jairus Byrd. That's the most interceptions by the Bills in a two-week span since 1967 — the year Catavolos saved the Rose Bowl for Purdue by intercepting a two-point conversion pass against USC.
"I wasn't much of an athlete," Catavolos said. "I was drafted in the last round by the Eagles. That's when they had, like, 17 rounds. I was cut twice, by the Eagles and the Bengals. I didn't make the team, but I cherished the experience."
He spent a year as a graduate assistant at Purdue while getting a master's in education and administration. Catavolos went home to Cleveland to teach. But in 1969, he took a job as secondary coach at Middle Tennessee State. Thus began a 40-year coaching odyssey that took him through five college and five NFL jobs before he accompanied Dick Jauron to Buffalo in 2006.
Catavolos has groomed a lot of NFL rookies during his time here. Donte Whitner, Reggie Corner, Leodis McKelvin, Ashton Youboty. Now Byrd. Oh, and he helped Wilson make the switch from wide receiver to safety in 2007.
"Donte, George, Bryan Scott, Drayton Florence, those guys are gym rats," Catavolos said. "They study the game and make it fun to come to work. In our meeting room, we challenge each other. I relish that, because you don't want a complacent group that does exactly what you tell them, a bunch of robots."
For the last three years, the defensive backs have been getting together at each other's houses during the week to watch extra film and bond as teammates. Catavolos says they invite him out to dinner, but he declines. He's 64. It's a young man's thing. Besides, he's usually busy.
A while back, before a position meeting, the defensive backs went around the room and determined that only three of them grew up with a father in the household. They realized that Catavolos had become a surrogate father figure.
"George teaches us about football, and he teaches us about life in general," Wilson said. "How to be family men, productive men in society, just being the best professionals we can be. And he teaches us the small details that make a difference on game day. He prepares us during the week to be in the right spots."
This Sunday, the caliber of the opposition passing game gets a lot better. The Bills host the Texans and Matt Schaub, who leads the NFL in passing yards and TD passes. "In this league," Catavolos said, "you get humbled very quickly."
Any "D" back knows you're as good as your last play. No doubt, Catavolos will remind them all this week. There's a lot to be said for a guy who knows which way the wind is blowing, right?
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