Archives for January 18, 2017

'To be sure, last season, he’d have been more effective had he not been on a team with a defense that was giving up 31 points a game in its losses. He’d have been less criticized had he enjoyed a reasonably healthy receiving corps instead of one that employed nine different wideouts over his 15 starts.'

'“I know how important it is here to get to the playoffs with the drought and everything like that,” Graham said earlier this month, as the Bills cleaned out their lockers following a 7-9 season. “When I signed here, that was my main focus, to get that over with and try to get us into the playoffs. We still haven’t accomplished that, so obviously I’ve still got some work to do. I’ve got one more year to try to do that.”'

'Boras has coached in the NFL since 2004, working with the Chicago Bears (2004-09) and Jacksonville Jaguars (2010-11) in addition to the Rams. He coached tight ends with the Bears, Jaguars and Rams before serving as offensive coordinator the past two years.'

'The News also learned that Brad Childress, the Kansas City Chiefs' co-offensive coordinator, no longer appears to be a candidate for the Bills' OC job.'

'Alexander was the only Bills player to be recognized by the PFWA for his performance during the 2016 season.'

'It's that time of year when a single, vaguely sourced post on social media can start speculation. Such was the case Monday, when a tweet was sent out about Philip Rivers not wanting to move with the Chargers to Los Angeles.'

'Lynn, who finished the 2016 season as the Buffalo Bills' interim coach, was officially introduced Tuesday as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. In his first official meeting with the media in each city, he misspoke in a rather embarrassing way.'

'Buffalo has quite a few talented players who could fit the market. ESPN Insider's John Clayton recently ranked the top 50 potential 2017 NFL free agents and three Bills made the list.'

'"Because he's our GM," Pegula said. "The GM, whether it be hockey, football, baseball, whatever, their job is not to win a press conference. It's to build a team and win championships. If I have a GM and people think his press conferences are a disaster every year, but we start winning, who cares? Let the media say what they want to say. I know there's a guy in New England who gets criticized a lot, but he wins. It's not all about winning the news conference."'

'But Ryan’s defense isn’t the only one that took a dip. McDermott, who spent 2011-2016 running his 4-3 scheme in Carolina, also had a noticeable dip in his defense in 2016 and it coincidences with the departure of cornerback Josh Norman.'

'He becomes the second former Rams assistant to join the Bills after Mike Waufle was hired to serve as defensive line coach last weekend.'

'Boras spent his first 11 years of his coaching career in the college ranks, working with DePauw, Texas, Benedictine and Nevada-Las Vegas.'

'In addition to removing the Bills' colors from his truck, Ryan also put his house on the market Tuesday. The nine-bathroom Orchard Park, New York home is listed at $1.1 million and spans 6,511 square feet. Ryan bought the property for $975,000 in 2015.'

'Olson’s offenses have ranked in the lower third of the league in almost every major statistical category on a yearly basis. In ten seasons as an OC, he’s only had one top ten finish in total yards, points scored, rushing yards, or rushing TDs. He’s had only two top ten finishes in total passing yards and passing TDs. His best season was over a decade ago in St. Louis when the Rams finished the season sixth in yards and tenth in points scored. They were eighth in passing yards that year. Otherwise, there are a lot of mid-20 area rankings for Olson’s groups. Here are Olson’s offensive rankings as a coordinator…'.

'Olson, 53, has been an offensive coordinator for five different teams, including the Lions (2004-05), Rams (2006-07), Buccaneers (2008-11), Raiders (2013-14), and Jaguars (2015-16). He was fired by the Jags in October of last season.'