By Tim Graham
INDIANAPOLIS -- If Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone hadn't hired him away from the New York Jets to be his defensive coordinator, then Marrone probably would've despised Mike Pettine.
Marrone on Friday explained his rationale in targeting Pettine.
"What attracts you to people, especially on the opposite side of the ball," Marrone said Friday at the NFL scouting combine, "are people that you would not like to face or you would not like to play against or people that give you problems. Schematically, that defense has always done that."
Marrone got to know Pettine a little while attending Jets training camp the past few years. The Jets hold their camp at SUNY Cortland, about 35 miles from Syracuse, where Marrone was head coach.
Marrone had further knowledge of the Pettine family tree from way back. When Marrone played for Syracuse, the quarterback was Todd Norley, who played for Central Bucks West High in the Philadelphia area. Central Bucks West's legendary coach was another Mike Pettine, the Bills defensive coordinator's father.
Mike Pettine (the current Bills coach) worked with Jets head coach Rex Ryan for 11 years -- seven seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and the past four with the Jets.
That Pettine knows the AFC East so intimately is "a bonus," Marrone said.
tagged
2013 NFL scouting combine | Doug Marrone | Mike Pettine
