By now you've seen the men Buffalo Bills head coach Chan Gailey hired to be on his staff.

And if you have never heard of any of them, don't feel bad. You're not alone.

We won't know how good Curtis Modkins, Bob Bicknell, Joe D'Alessandris, Kevin Patullo and

Giff Smith are as assistant coaches until we see them in action. But there are two assistants

we know who bring a lot to the table.

Retaining the services of secondary coach George Catavolos and defensive line coach Bob

Sanders was a smart move. Until we know who the defensive coordinator will be, Catavolos and

Sanders stand as Gailey's best hires so far.

Some might ask why bring back any assistant from the failed Dick Jauron regime. But

Catavolos and Sanders are quality coaches with 34 years of NFL experience combined. None of

Gailey's other assistants have that going for them.

All you need to do is look at the Bills' secondary this season as an example of Catavolos'

work. Defensive backs accounted for 21 of the team's 28 interceptions, a total that was second

in the NFL behind the 30 picks the Green Bay Packers registered. The Bills also finished

second in the league in pass defense.

Catavolos molded rookie Jairus Byrd into a Pro Bowl player who tied for the league lead

with nine interceptions, a Bills rookie record. Catavolos also got the most out of a secondary

that saw all four starters miss games because of injuries.

Catavolos' players love playing for him. Safety Donte Whitner made a plea to Gailey to keep

Catavolos on his Twitter page, saying Catavolos was the best coach on the team.

"I'm happy to see coach Catavolos coming back," said George Wilson, a former wide receiver

who made the successful conversion to safety under Catavolos' guidance. "I think it speaks to

the work that he does with the DBs and just being a selfless coach doing whatever he's asked

to do.

"The strides he made with the secondary, especially being as banged up as we were, just

shows how good of a coach he is. He plugged guys in there and made sure they knew the proper

technique and proper leverage and gave them the confidence that they could go out and make

plays on Sundays. He does a great job of managing all the guys in that room and makes sure

we're all on the same page in practice and the games."

Gailey hasn't made it clear if Sanders will continue coaching the defensive line, but

that's the way it should be. Sanders didn't help improve a porous run defense and he got very

little out of first-round draft pick Aaron Maybin. But the D-line had more positives than

negatives under Sanders.

One area he made a big difference in was the pass rush. The Bills had 32 sacks this season,

up from 24 the previous year. Defensive end Aaron Schobel, who was coming off a season-ending

foot injury, had 10 sacks, the first time he reached double digits since 2006.

End Chris Kelsay enjoyed what might have been the best year of his career, recording a

personal-high 62 tackles and five sacks, the most since getting 5.5 in 2006. Defensive tackle

Kyle Williams played well enough to be a Pro Bowl alternate this season.

Schobel and Kelsay raved about Sanders, saying they learned more from him than their

previous D-line coaches.

"I feel I put a decent season together individually and I think that's a credit to Bob and

how much I learned from him," Kelsay told buffalobills.com.

Gailey still has more coaches to hire. Maybe he'll bring in more guys who aren't household

names. But it's not about who they are, it's about what they can do.

If they can do it as well as Catavolos and Sanders, Gailey has the makings of a very solid

staff.