Bills officially hire Pettine, Hackett

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WIVB) - Doug Marrone's coaching staff is beginning to take shape, with Mike Pettine and Nathaniel Hackett officially announced as the Bills' new coordinators Thursday.

Both carry similar messages, talking about adapting their schemes to fit the players' strengths, instead of forcing players into a certain scheme.

Pettine spent the last four years with the Jets, and was a Ravens assistant before that, giving him extensive experience with the 3-4 defense. However, he insists his defense will be constantly changing during the course of a game.

"We’ll be a multiple front, multiple coverage defense," said Pettine. "The trademark of our defense is we’re going to be smart, tough and relentless. How we configure it is more player-driven."

Likewise, Hackett says he will evaluate the talent on the roster before determining what kind of offense will best suit the Bills. He led an up-tempo attack at Syracuse that took some ideas from the old "K-Gun" offense the Bills ran in the 1990's with Jim Kelly.

"I think the critical part is to create the foundation," said Hackett. "Start from the ground and create a nomenclature to have a system and a language that the players believe in. Once you find that out and you create that then you find out what players do well within that foundation. From that point you get to change your tempo, you get to change what you do and really work to what they do best."

Marrone said earlier this week, he wanted to fill his coaching staff before turning his attention toward evaluating the Bills roster.