Nihilarian

dezertbill does make a compelling case for Kyle Shanahan and he did interview for the Bills HCing job while he was with Cleveland. However, I highly doubt Doug Whaley hires him because he wants someone that won't question the roster and will play who he wants and that's Lynn.

I liked what Rex had to say in his first offseason with Buffalo in that being #4 in defense wasn't good enough and as for the playoffs "we're goin"! I really didn't care for the build a bully stuff, though. If you know me I've been bitching about Ryan's defense and scheme since that week two Patriots game when we all saw the soft pass coverage and no pass rush that allowed Brady to set a Buffalo Bills franchise worst 466 yards passing by a single player. This after 46 years of being in the NFL! What's scary now is that the very same people that hired Rex Ryan will be hiring the new head coach and we now know that those people didn't do a very thorough evaluation on Ryan because he was the very same undisciplined player's coach in NY and he had lost the team in his final year there. We saw that lost look on Ryan's face in the two beat downs by the Bills in 2014. After that first game win by Buffalo 42-23 in which the Bills defense forced 6 turnovers by intercepting Geno 3 times after he went 2 of 8 for 5 yards Yeah, that's right two of eight yards passing with three Interceptions! Mike Vick replaced Geno and was sacked 4 times with 1 INT and he fumbled 4 times. And in that first game, Kyle Orton threw 4 passing TD's going 10 of 17 for 238. The Bills run game? Basically, craptastic as they went for only 67 yards on 32 carries. Gee, Rex's defense shut down the run game and was owned by the passing offense...sound familiar? The second Jets game in 2014 Rex Ryan boasted his team would play 1000% better and yet they were dominated even worse going 38 to 3. Vick sacked 5 times and intercepted once and Geno sacked 2x. If anyone in the Buffalo Bills front office, Russ Brandon, Doug Whaley or Terry, Kim Pegula had bothered to rewatch those games I highly doubt that they hire Rex Ryan after his final 4-12 season in NY. It's profoundly sad to think that we Bills fans can expect another few years of losing and no playoffs because the very same people involved in hiring the last few head coaches are still making the decisions. Doug Whaley is "leading" the search for a new HC.

Both those two men made the playoffs within a few years and McDaniels destroyed a good offense while trading away the team's star offensive players. Kyle Orton at helped make McDaniels look somewhat legit just like he did for Hackett. Think about drafting him Tim Tebow a minute...

Plus, Atlanta with 502 points scored so far this year and the next team nearest that is NO with 437! Yowsa! Matt Ryan having an MVP season and the Falcon playcalling feeding the ball to the playmakers. It just doesn't get any better!

While some might agree that McDaniels is the best. I tend to disagree with that by looking back to his time with the Broncos and his inability to get along with Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall while drafting Tim Tebow. To me, it's rather easy being the OC for the Patriots with Tom Brady at QB simply because Brady probably goes over the plays he wants to run in a game with the HC and OC. While we might not see it like we did with Peyton Manning. I think Brady is probably more in control of that offense than any fans are aware of. I say this watching him on the sidelines screaming at his linemen, receivers when they don't execute a play perfectly. JMO. I think the best new head coaching candidate out there is Kyle Shanahan and here is my reasoning. The 2016 Atlanta Falcons have the #1 offense in points and the #2 offense in yards. In passing, Atlanta is 27th in passing attempts, yet #3 in passing yards, #3 in passing TD's and #6 in INTs. This year Matt Ryan has 4613 yards passing in 15 games with 36 TD's and 7 INTs. Ryan is having an MVP season! The run game, Atlanta is 12th in rushing attempts, yet #7 in rushing yards, #3 in rushing TD's. Freeman has 983 rushing yards, 10 rushing TD's and Coleman has 476 rushing yards, 8 rushing TD's The Falcons are currently 10-5 and oddly enough that is because their defense is worse than the Bills with Dan Quinn as HC. Then there is also this, http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/191043-kyle-shanahan-for-head-coach-here-is-why/

Same as he would probably take the Buffalo Bills money and still do his masters bidding. I got a kick out of Belichick stating that teams are firing head coaches too soon. Less effort on his part to keep beating up a Rex Ryan team.

I might also add that when the chips were down in 2015 and he had enough desire to win the man could put together some pretty good game plans and execute them. Jets 2x, Dolphins 2x, Patriots second game. This season it often looked like he could shive two gits about winning games as he put forth little effort on defense at times. It's like this season he is at a time in his life where he would rather just sit back and enjoy that 5.5 mill per and not work hard to win. Besides beating up the losing teams and QB's I think the best defensive effort of the season came against the Ravens in that first game. The biggest problem was that the Bills Ryan inherited were more suited to run a 4-3 scheme player wise and he simply couldn't adapt to that scheme. Kinda sad really considering his father was the master at building a dominate 4-3. Hey man, I think the entire Buffalo Bills fan base, including myself, bought into his hype of the playoffs, #1 defense in 2015. After all the team had just gone 9-7 and the defense was #4 overall.

Mario went to the right team as the Dolphins are 10-5 and in the playoffs and the guy could end up getting a ring for sitting on the bench. The Buffalo Bills are a dumpster fire for hiring a 4-12 head coach and now allowing the same guy who had a hand in hiring the last two Bills head coaches go on to hire another one. The interim HC said he wasn't even in the room when the decision was made to sit Tyrod Taylor. Really shows the world this FO has no clue to have the HC go to a PC uninformed. Oddly enough the defensive guy that was just fired got the offense to look pretty good by bringing in players he wanted in the QB and OG. Now the team might not be keeping that QB. For some reason, my skepticism about this team making the playoffs anytime soon is still running on high.

Is that you Russ?

I'd have to say Marcell Dareus could be the one as he hated the scheme he was in last year and went to the media from training camp. Not so much this year, though. It could be either Gilmore or Darby who didn't like being left out to dry in man coverage so often this year. I'm thinking it has to be Jerry Hughes though as he was fighting on the sidelines with the bloated one and has basically disappeared over the last few weeks. I find it quite odd that Rex did more for the offense with Incognito, Tyrod Taylor, and Percy Harvin then he did for the defense. A darn shame Harvin didn't pan out as he could have really been such a great help the last two years.

What made Rex Ryan's defense so good in 2009 was he ran an "overload defense" that meant he usually always had an extra defensive player on the line that could come free after the QB. In 2009 he blitzed around 55% of the time and he fielded the #1 defense in points, yards allowed because teams just weren't prepared to face all that heavy blitzing. As teams learned to adjust to all that blitzing Ryan found he couldn't get away with it so much so it started to decline to 50% in 2010 and around 35% thereafter 2011 to 30% in 2014. That first season in Buffalo with Rex I almost got the impression that the guy was a true blue Jets fan and he loved Jets owner Woody Johnson who gave him more chances than he gave Eric Mangini who he replaced with Ryan after a 9-7 season. Let's not forget that Rex got a tattoo of his wife wearing a NY Jets Mark Sanchez jersey! His time in Buffalo could have been nothing more than a facade to dupe Western NY fans and the new team owners. That first year with being 31st in sacks I just couldn't get it out of my head that Rex saw Doug Marrone walk away and still get paid 4 million and perhaps he was hoping to be fired and be able to keep the remainder of his contract and get another job. Now he finally gets fired after two seasons in Buffalo and still gets paid for another three years at 5.5 mill per and as long as he doesn't take another head coaching job it's all good. NAAA, he isn't that devious or that devoted to the team that canned him in NYC. We saw that in the revenge game in 2015 where the Bills beat the Jets 2x and the second time knocking them out of the playoffs. Rex Ryan delighted in beating his old team and sweeping the Dolphins too. The reality is that when Rex Ryan put 100% effort into winning a game we all saw a great effort by the entire team. We saw it against the Colts in the opener in which Andrew Luck was under heavy pass rush pressure on 50% of his dropbacks and then we didn't see that effort into a game plan again until the Miami game with a 41-14 win. We saw another good team effort against the Dolphins again in week 9 and against the Jets in week 10, both wins. We all saw an amazing job against the Patriots in that second game and Old Tom was so upset he was screaming at his O-linemen. Still, the Bills were lacking in sacks simply because the defensive play caller was not calling blitzes and were far more concerned with stopping the run over rushing the QB. This could be the result of Ryan seeing what effect Mike Pettine's defense had done in 2013 by copying his own Jets defensive game plan in which the Bills were #2 in sacks and #28 against the run that year. (2013) This year after turning over the defensive play calling to Dennis Thurman the team went back to the old Jets ways of rushing the passer and for the first half of the season, the Bills had the leading pass rusher and also led the NFL in sacks. What happened then was teams started to run on them and when the Bills moved the safeties up to help with the run that left the corners in man coverage. The Bills CB's not used to playing so much man coverage and teams have learned how to beat man coverage so unless you have a Revis they will get beaten eventually. This year resembles the 2013 season as that year the Bills were 4th in yards against the pass and 28th against the run. This year the defense is 7th against the pass and 28th against the run, 31st in allowing rushing TD's. My take on this whole Rex Ryan thing is that in NY Rex inherited an Eric Mangini defense that was already loaded with some quality defensive players and was already running a 3-4 scheme. (Let's not forget Mangini went 9-7 the year he was fired.) Rex brought in a few of his players that knew his scheme and could call the plays, set the defensive while blitzing like crazy. In Buffalo, he didn't have the players to fit his scheme and kept attempting to replicate what Jim Schwartz had done in 2014 by just rushing four and not blitzing. Bottom line here is Rex Ryan is simply not a very good HC or DC anymore as his defensive scheme is outdated as teams have learned how to defeat it and he only knows that one scheme. How many years now have the Steelers run that 3-4 zone blitz? How many years have the Ravens run their 3-4? Both these teams have a bunch of #1 picks at linebacker whereas the Bills had most of their all pro talent on the D-line and Ryan failed to figure out how to get the most out of them. Hiring a 4-12 coach was a blatantly stupid move and the people involved in that hiring should be fired for it just as the head coach was fired. Giving Marrone a 4 million dollar walk away clause was a stupid move. Giving Rex Ryan a 5 year 27.5 million dollar contract was a stupid move. How long will the stupidity keep going?

Did you see what happened with the players during that Steeler game? It's like the gave up once they heard the news that Ryan was going to be fired. Someone in the FO didn't want to see Ryan succeed and basically submarined Ryan by letting that info slip to the media. It kinda tells me it was Doug Whaley as it was stated that he wanted to see what Cardale Jones could do as the starter. Probably thinking that he had another Dak Prescott. "According to NFL sources, coach Rex Ryan and General Manager Doug Whaley are at odds over the future of quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Ryan wants Taylor to remain the Bills' starter for the balance of this season and beyond, the sources said, while Whaley would like to see rookie Cardale Jones start the final three games after Sunday's clash with the Pittsburgh Steelers." CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora reported Sunday that the Bills could fire Ryan as early as Monday, depending on the outcome of the Pittsburgh game." http://buffalonews.com/2016/12/11/power-struggle-behind-bills-potential-coaching-change/ There must be some smooth talking going on in the FO to the owners for Doug Whaley to keep his job. JMO

Mostly because he needs a HC that he can control and someone who doesn't want power over the roster. A few weeks ago it was let slip that Ryan would be fired with three games to go and Lynn would be promoted to HC. Also, the team (Whaley) wanted to see what Cardale Jones could do as starting QB the last three games. I can only think Whaley has visions of Jones being another Dak Prescott. Besides, this is Russ Brandon's way of avoiding accountability and in two years after Lynn, Whaley are fired, he can start all over with Bills director of player personnel Jim Monos. Now that the owner didn't want to fire Ryan while the team still had a chance to make the playoffs the brighter minds decided that at this point Jones isn't ready and the team might want to either showcase EJ or take a long hard look at him as a decent backup. Something tells me that Whaley isn't happy with Tyrod Taylor as he isn't "his" QB and would rather not pay him and keep EJ and let Jones have a shot at starting next year. The entire NFL world knows the situation in Buffalo is toxic with Brandon still involved in the football side by sitting in the player's cut meetings on the phone to free agents among other things. (Something Rex Ryan probably let slip to the media.) With Doug Whaley at odds with both Doug Marrone, Rex Ryan over the roster and who should be starting. Marrone had that shouting match with Whaley, Brandon about the roster remember? Just know that the current offense wouldn't be nearly as good as it is if Rex Ryan hadn't vouched for and asked that Richie Incognito be brought in to play OG. Ryan also chased Cowboys OG La'el Collins as he wined and dined him to be a Buffalo Bill and instead he chose Dallas. That player would have been such a great addition to the line and it makes me wonder what the team offered him vs what the Cowboys offered him. Just know that Tyrod Taylor was all Rex Ryan's idea and it looks like Whaley doesn't fully support him for the Bills starting QB position. Percy Harvin was also Rex's idea that just didn't pan out. Ryan wasn't that bad in helping build a team although his defensive scheme never really realized it's potential of being in the top ten. If the FO had any real insight they probably should have asked Ryan to fire his brother along with the current defensive staff and when he refused the team then had grounds to dismiss him for insubordination. An old RW-AD trick which allows the owner to fire the HC and then not pay him his remaining salary. Anyway, I don't see a big name assistant coach or ex NFL HC wanting to come to Buffalo under the current regime. Plus, I don't see Anthony Lynn hiring some really good assistants either considering the current situation in which the head coach can't even name his own starting QB.

If you look at that 2014 draft there are about 12 pro bowlers the Bills didn't take over Watkins. The fact is the Bills could have stayed at #9 and gotten any one of pro bowlers WR Odell Beckham Jr, DT Aaron Donald, OG Zack Martain, S HaHa Clinton-Dix, CB Jason Verrett and traded up for QB Derek Carr who was drafted 36th by the Raiders. As for 2015, it seems to me the Bills were rather desperate for some safety help this year and all pro safety Landon Collins taken by the NY Giants at #36 could have helped in a big way. That is if anyone in the Buffalo Bill's scouting dept or the GM knew what they were looking at in player talent.

I don't know that he is the #1 public enemy or ever will be. My take after some recent polls it looks like Russ Brandon is the #1 guy the fans don't like and Whaley just happens to be his yes man. Perhaps the way things are now working out Russ wants to keep separating himself from any accountability. At this point, it sure looks like Lynn will be the Bills next HC and if that happens I kinda doubt he has much success unless he can hire some great assistants. Which usually doesn't happen with first-time head coaches in the NFL. So, if the pitchforks do come out at the end of next year does Brandon get to start this whole thing over again with Jim Monos as the new GM?

A person with a normal brain might tend to think that after watching TT against the Dolphins that Whaley might be inclined to keep him. I know it was reported that Whaley wanted to see Rex fired and what Cardale Jones could do the last three games. I think this situation has changed somewhat and would be very surprised to see Tyrod Taylor let go. But then, this is Doug Whaley we are talking about as the guy who used two first rounders on a WR for his QB who would get benched after three games. Meanwhile, Whaley missed on all those other receivers in the draft while also not seeing the talent in Derek Carr. At this point, I gotta wonder if the Rams or some other NFL teams makes Lynn a better offer if he would even stay in Buffalo? What will Whaley do if nobody wants the job...which happened to Buddy Nix.

Some Bills fans are laughing at this but it precisely true. It's why Marrone walked away, it's why Rex Ryan wanted more say over personnel. It's going to be incredibly difficult for this FO to bring in a high profile name for the Bills head coaching job and I suspect they will end up hiring Lynn. And Lynn will have great difficulty in finding top experienced assistants to work for him because he is a first-time head coach.

I agree and as long as Whaley, Brandon are in charge nothing will really change. Lynn will be the next Buffalo Bills head coach because Whaley wants complete control and have the HC report to him. When this fails I wonder what the excuse will be then? I don't know that anything will ever change with the Buffalo Bills because Russ Brandon is the team president and managing partner and Whaley is his yes man.

What the Buffalo Bills have is a toxic mess and it starts at the top in who is still influencing this owner. Kryk is correct in that a toxic situation still exists because Russ Brandon and Doug Whaley are still in charge of this team. Very few NFL head coaches actually walk away from one of the most coveted jobs in the world and the Bills have had two head coaches do just that in the past 17 years. Mike Mularkey left because he didn't want to be micro-managed by owner Ralph Wilson, a man who didn't hire him and as Mike stated it was Donahoe that hired him and he didn't feel the Bills FO was headed in the same direction. Tom Donahoe left Mularkey alone to run the team his way and after Wilson fired him he hired Marv Levy and then wanted Mularkey to make changes on his staff. "Mularkey didn't think the way the Bills were being set up would create an environment in which he could be successful." "It is believed that Wilson also suggested, but did not mandate, changes in the coaching staff. Mularkey subsequently dismissed five assistants." http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=2289987 Now fast forward to the end of 2014 and another coach walks away from Buffalo and this time he gets paid to do so because of a lame clause in his contract. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/football/nfl/bills/2015/01/01/buffalo-bills-doug-marrone-bill-polian/21165875/ Bill Polian was in talks with the Pegula's to become that football czar ..."As Tim Graham reported, Marrone ripped the Bills to Polian as he walked out the door, telling the former Bills GM that people inside the building were trashing Polian because they felt threatened by his possible return." http://buffalonews.com/2015/01/04/pegulas-are-learning-the-hard-way/ I have to wonder if Doug Whaley wanted Rex Ryan gone after last year and that is the reason as to why there wasn't more depth and better talent at the S, WR and RT positions. I get the impression that Whaley didn't like it that Ryan was able to report directly to the owner and I'm thinking some infighting started to take place between Whaley and Ryan. Only this time it wasn't shown to the media as a screaming match like it was between Marrone and Whaley. The Buffalo News was reporting a power struggle between Rex Ryan and Doug Whaley as the two were at odds over the starting QB Tyrod Taylor, http://buffalonews.com/2016/12/11/power-struggle-behind-bills-potential-coaching-change/ "According to NFL sources, coach Rex Ryan and General Manager Doug Whaley are at odds over the future of quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Ryan wants Taylor to remain the Bills' starter for the balance of this season and beyond, the sources said, while Whaley would like to see rookie Cardale Jones start the final three games after Sunday's clash with the Pittsburgh Steelers." It almost looks like Whaley didn't like Rex Ryan getting credit for Richie Incognito and Tyrod Taylor so I gotta wonder if Whaley will move on from Taylor because he wasn't "his choice" for QB. It looks like Doug Whaley will hire Anthony Lynn because then he will have the power over the roster and the coach will report directly to him. This may work out, but I kinda doubt it because there is such a steep learning curve in learning to be an NFL HC! So much will depend on who Lynn hires as his assistants and not many experienced veteran coaches want to work for a first time HC. It looks like Bills fans will need to wait one or two more years until these new owners wake up and fire the real problems with the team. Let's hope they do at some point.

Yea, not gonna happen as these owners are still listening to both Brandon and Whaley. Plus, they probably feel bad about the Ryan hire and want to give Whaley an honest chance to hire his guy. Sadly, I think it will be just another missed year as Whaley can't even build a solid team with decent depth. Something tells me the next HC is going to be Anthony Lynn and things won't go very well unless he hits a home run with OC & DC special teams coach. Something tells me that Whaley now wants to move away from Tyrod Taylor too.

I know some are down on him for the playcalling against Miami with that Reggie Bush play for -8 yards. He lost me with that call against the Raiders with the Bills on their own 4-yard line and the QB in shotgun in his own endzone Lynn calls for a pass play on first down. The always careful TT was hit in the endzone by Khalil Mack attempting to pass and the ball was intercepted. This was all on the offensive play calling blunder by Lynn. No Thanks to Lynn...although Whaley will hire him. It should help shorten Doug Whaley's career in Buffalo.

Preaching to the choir on this one. Perhaps sign Kirk Cousins too.

The dysfunction stays for another year and nothing really changes. This was the same guy who didn't see the talent in Derek Carr or Odell Beckham Jr! Traded two first round picks for a guy who is injured more often than not. Gave OG Chris Williams 5 mill guaranteed to play four games. Traded a fourth for RB Bryce Brown, traded away WR Stevie Johnson and traded for WR Mike Williams. It was Rex Ryan who vouched for the only pro bowl player on the O-line to be brought in and wanted Tyrod Taylor as QB. It goes on and on. Get ready for 18 years of not making the playoffs.

Sorry, not going to blow it up so the dysfunction stays for another year. Whaley has already had his hand in finding three head coaches and they all failed to make the playoffs for different reasons. Now Tyrod Taylor as the Bills starting QB is in question as any new HC may want a different guy in there. Whaley probably wants EJ or Jones as the starter, The new HC hasn't even been hired and yet it's already starting to look like it will 18 years of frustration.

Stick a fork in him as he is done. Anyone with a heart wouldn't fire the guy on Christmas. From What I'm thinking is Doug Whaley wants him gone and would like to see what Lynn can do as HC. Could be as soon as this week and as late as after next week. I think it's 100% certain that he and his league-leading assistants are gone. I'm hoping Terry has the cojones to fire the whole FO and hire that team president of football operations and then step back and allow him to build the team.