Nihilarian

It looks like they already have with their hiring the head coach instead of allowing the GM to do it. What message does it send to future head coaching candidates that the owners are going to have in season player meetings to discuss what's happening on the field! Not even Ralph Wilson did this type of thing as he was more subtle than that. As team president, Wilson would hold his head coach accountable for the entire team.

If the owners hire the head coach then, of course, they are meddling! What most Bills fans don't get is the mere fact that the owners made the decision to hire Rex Ryan and not allow their GM to hire who he wanted tells me that they already made one of the very most important decisions in an NFL team. What, or more importantly, who? Gave these new owners the idea that they had the NFL acumen to know which head coach to hire. Oh yeah, the man who told them that they would know who to hire after listening to all the candidates! You guessed it, Russ Brandon! Clearly, the man wanted to stay involved in the football side of things so the team hierarchy is the Pegula's and Brandon, Whaley and the HC all report to them. To say they are not meddling is just being in denial. The owners, meeting with the players is really no big deal is what others would have you believe. What other NFL team owners meet with their players during the season to discuss what's happening on the field? I can tell you, NONE! However, I do believe it was all Rex Ryan who wanted to replace Greg Roman as his OC was letting him down by not producing a run game that works in the first two games and it was getting his defense killed. Rex Ryan did hire Roman to make the Bills offense a "run first offense". So it begs the question, how does the #1 rushing team from last year suddenly become 24th in the league this year?

Baltimore-L NY Jets-L Arizona- this game will be pivotal to see if the new Bills OC will get the run game going. If so, it still might not be enough! @ New England- Garoppolo should be back for this game and most rankings have the Pats winning it all this year @ LA Rams- Just beat Seattle so no longer a pushover San Fran @ Miami New England @ Seattle BYE @Cincy Jacksonville @ Oakland Pittsburgh Cleveland Miami @ NY Jets Should things keep going like the first two games I see the 2016 Buffalo Bills as fighting for the first overall pick in the draft this year.

You can claim that Ryan didn't use his two-gap run-stopping scheme all that much last season but the stats say something different. You don't go from #2 in the league in sacks in 2013 utilizing a 3-4 scheme and then go to #1 in the league in sacks utilizing a 4-3 scheme. To Rex Ryan's defense that went to 31st in the league in sacks and then last in the league in QB pressures by mostly using anything other than that two-gap. It was also clear to see the games in which Ryan ran a mostly one-gap scheme. Like in that second game against the Patriots without Mario, Kyle and Aaron Williams. Then against the 10-6 Jets in the final game of the season while knocking them out of the playoffs with an injury-depleted Bills roster while getting tremendous pressure on Fitz. So the injury excuse for Buffalo made by some doesn't fly either. There is also the fact that the best Bills D-line player on Ryan's defense in Marcell Dareus went public about his misuse in Rex's scheme since training camp last 2015. Although Mario, the best pass rusher was more concerned about how often he was being asked to drop into pass coverage, he also stated he didn't like what he was being asked to do in Ryan's scheme. Both those all pro's complaining about how they were wrongly being utilized in Ryan's scheme corroborates him using that two-gap far too often. How does a supposed defensive guru who is a players coach manage to upset and alienate two all pro's who are the very best in the league at what they both do... and somehow it's the players fault. I liken Ryan's two-gap scheme to Jauron's Tampa Two in that both need sets of very talented players in specific positions to make those defenses work to maximum efficiency and even then the better teams have learned how to defeat those schemes. What's sad is the Bills FO thought they were getting one of the most talented defensive minds in the league only to find that in reality, the man only knows how to run one kinda outdated scheme that requires a completely different set of defenders in the front seven that were already on the roster. JMHO.

Rex's defensive scheme is old fashioned in his running a two-gap the majority of the time and most teams simply don't run it that much anymore. The biggest problem with that two-gap is it asks the pass rushers to stay put and to control the gaps so that when the ball is snapped instead of instantly teeing off on the QB they are forced to wait and read which direction the play is going in and then react. This kills the pass rush and puts the DB's on an island in coverage for far too long. We saw this last year in going from second in 2013, first in the NFL in sacks in 2014 to next to last under Ryan in 2015. Then Ryan over complicates the defense with far more plays and reads involved that are needed and unless the players are familiar with the system there are far too many delays in reading and reacting. OTOH, Wade Phillps uses a 3-4 one-gap scheme as do most teams that run a 3-4. Mike Pettine used a one-gap scheme in Buffalo in 2013 which is why his defense was #2 in the NFL in sacks and not so good against the run. If you look at how Rob Ryan fared in NO you would see that teams eventually caught up with his scheme. Not only that you need specific types of players to make that scheme work in that the D-line players should be big, strong maulers that can take on a 320Lb plus O-linemen. JMHO

Yep. But it wasn't just the defense not stopping them. Once Hughes went out the pass rush went with him so it was difficult to get pressure on Fitz after that. More importantly, those defensive players get tired when the offense keeps giving the ball back after three downs and out. Then when the ToP is nearly 40 min to 20 min the players are probably exhausted by the second half and in particular those DB's who need to run all over. We also know that both Gilmore and Darby are better than they looked on Thursday night. I'm not sticking up for Ryan because I still can't stand the guy. But when a run first offense can't run the ball in 2016 after being the leading rushing team in 2015 with the very same players there is something wrong. Rex is the HC so obviously, he wanted to make the change to a guy he thinks can improve things. It's not like Jauron going from Turk Schonert to Alex Van Pelt and the blind leading the blind. Lynn was on a bunch of different teams short list as a possiable HCing candidate so let's see what he can do for the offense.

Not only that there was a story that before the draft Browns fired some of their scouts because they liked Wentz over Goff. That's about as stupid as it gets! http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/many-of-the-browns-scouts-fired-before-the-draft-favored-carson-wentz/ The Bills should hire those men!

I kinda doubt these new owners will keep Whaley after not allowing him to pick the head coach in the first place. Looks like they didn't have much faith in him from the start to let him do his job. My take is they look at what the Jets did and hire some senior consultants like Casserly and Wolf to give them input into who to hire as GM, HC or to perhaps even hire a team president of football operations and allow him to make the choices. I also kinda doubt McDanials or Patricia would want the job in Buffalo to have to compete against ole Bill 2x a year. Plus, with no established franchise QB it might be more work involved then they want to take on.

I read that as a clear indictment that Roman wasn't getting the job done in either the run game nor passing and without the run game working his defense was left out to dry all game long. That Jets game basically saw the ToP in the Jets favor 40 min to 20 min. I can see why Ryan made the change he did to the RB coach that was on several teams list of possible head coaching candidates. We will see if it works out as Ryan's defense looked like it improved this year but with the run game not working it was killing the defense over the long haul.

Kinda tough to answer either question at this point for me. Should Sammy continue to be injured more often than not, I'd be looking to trade him. If the Bills end up being as bad as they look right now in being 22nd on defense and 29th on offense. I gotta think the whole thing gets trash canned with the Bills having the 6th overall pick and with that 6th pick they tab a QB.

Well, we shall soon see what Tyrod is made over the next few weeks as Lynn attempts to get him to throw more to Sammy and either Taylor will sink or swim. Then should Tyrod fail then EJ might just get a chance to show if he can be a pocket passer after all.

Walterfootball has them picking a CB 6th... https://walterfootball.com/draft2017.php

I also remember a game against the titans in which Fitz was clueless about managing the clock and the play calls were abysmal. Chan was a decent OC and a crappy HC, as the guy couldn't get past 6-10 with Fitz. even Jauron did better with JP and Trent. BTW, Look at the receiver corps the Jets have all over 6'2'' and are big bodies, it's no wonder the Bills had a tough time defending them all game.

What I believe we are seeing is the very same QB the team had last year only this preseason didn't have much playing time to work off the rust and get his timing down with his receiving corps. The Ravens shut down the run game and made the QB win the game and the Jets followed with the same thing. The difference is that with more playing time Tyrod made some things happen against the Jets despite no strong run game again. Should the Bills OC get the run game working then I suspect we will see a better offense and conversely, if it stalls again it will be placed on the QB's shoulders to win the game. Forcing the QB to throw to Watkins and downfield more often just might have him emerge as a star and OTOH it just might ruin his career by killing his confidence. Some fans are already towing the company line that Greg Roman deserved to be fired because of the failure to develop Tyrod to be better at reading defenses and better downfield throwing over the middle. Also, he had a tendency to wait until he saw the receiver open rather than trusting his receiver to be at a preconceived spot on the field. These fans need to remember that this is a 6th round draft pick that needs time to develop and that process usually takes years.

Very true! Plus, Roman was attempting to develop both QB's in different situations and sometimes different people learn at different speeds. Kaepernick was failing at becoming a pocket QB and when opposing teams stopped the run game and forced him to pass to beat them he failed, a lot! Things looked to be going the very same way with Taylor this year in asking him to be more of a pocket passer rather than run so often. This new Bills OC may accelerate Tyrod's learning curve and help him or ruin him if he isn't ready to make that pocket passer jump to all out down field throwing. Like you said, Time will tell.

I don't feel sorry for these billionaires who thought themselves smart enough to know which HC to hire on their own! And now either asked for or they allowed the firing of about the best OC the team has had in over a decade! Unless of course, that Anthony Lynn is on their short list to replace the Ryan.

The last QB with a winning record that was actually halfway decent since the Drew Bledsoe (9-7) days was Kyle Orton (7-5) and he ran for the bus like he had a grizzly on his arse. Of course, he was playing behind the very worst O-line in the league for most of that 2014 season with no run game help either. 2000 Rob Johnson 4-7, Doug Flutie 4-1 2001 Alex Van pelt 2-6, Rob Johnson 1-7 2002 Drew Bledsoe 8-8 2003 Drew Bledsoe 6-10 2004 Drew Bledsoe 9-7--now because the OC couldn't get Bledsoe to hurry his getting the ball out he was no longer wanted in Buffalo 2005 Kelly Holcomb 4-4, JP Losman 1-7 2006 JP Losman 7-9 2007 Trent Edwards 5-4, JP Losman 2-5 2008 Trent Edwards 7-7, JP Losman 0-2 this was the year that Trent's career was demolished by a concussion in week 5 after a 4-0 start to the season. This same year Brady was on IR after week one. 2009 Ryan Fitzpatrick 4-4, Trent Edwards 2-5, Brian Brohm 0-1 2010 Ryan Fitzpatrick 4-9, Trent Edwards 0-2, Brian Brohm 0-1 2011 Ryan Fitzpatrick 6-10 started this year 5-2 until Fitz was hammered in Washington and went on to play with broken ribs because Gailey was too lame to bench him to let him heal. center Eric Wood went on IR and the line was a joke 2012 Ryan Fitzpatrick 6-10 The Bills defense with George Edwards 2010-2011 was the worst and was just as bad with Wannstedt. The Bills were easy to beat with Gailey as HC and since the team felt they overpaid Fitz... 2013 EJ Manual 4-6, Thaddeus Lewis 2-3, Jeff Tuel 0-1 all basically rookies with no QB coach and some scrubs on the O-line. 2014 Kyle Orton 7-5, EJ Manuel 2-2. The Bills went pass happy this year 579 passing vs 402 rushing with the worst offensive line in the league. Two first round picks for a WR this OC would use as a decoy for a lot of the year. 2015 Tyrod Taylor 7-6, EJ Manuel 0-2. The Bills field the best run game in the league while allowing a young QB to develop Fast forward to now to find the OC that had the Bills the best run game in the league and saw them field a top 10 O-line in the league in 2015 suddenly fired. Last year's offense was also #12 in points and #13 in yards. From what I can gather the teams GM went to the owners with the complaint that Sammy wasn't getting the ball enough and the QB wasn't throwing downfield enough. The run game had also stopped working and the 2 min drill was non-existent. The QB wasn't reading the defense and making adjustments. I can only surmise that the 2nd year starting QB's development time is over and the new OC will call for more downfield passing to Sammy and Clay. This will either make Tyrod a star or ruin him and we will see in a few days.

The Peg's might have made billions in the oil and gas industry and ironically fracking is no longer allowed in NYS. It's well known that just because people are successful in one area of business that doesn't always equate to being successful in running the football side of a team in the NFL, especially later on in life. I really don't know of any NFL owners that were successful meddling except perhaps Al Davis who had a long history from being involved from football right out of college as the man did everything there is to do in pro and college football from being a scout, an assistant coach to head coach, to GM and owner. The late Bills owner Ralph Wilson was exceedingly lucky to hire a winning HC in Chuck Knox and because of that hire the team went on to hire Bill Polian, John Butler who were all by-products of the Knox hire. After John Butler, the team went back into mediocrity and losing with the owner as team president. Just know that Bill Belichick makes every football player personnel decision and football hiring the decision for the entire team. I'd rather see the Bills hire someone that has actual accountability in making the football decisions. Also, they need to hire someone that won't be influenced by the owners or anyone else in the FO. Also, I don't know that I'd trust anyone I hired away from the Patriots. But, that's me.

While it's true on any given Sunday that oblong spheroid can bounce any which way and any team can win. Only the really bad teams will find different ways to lose games that they can win. The Buffalo Bills defense is currently ranked at 25th and currently, have one interception and two sacks. Arizona has the 11th ranked defense with 4 INT's, 4 sacks against The Patriots 2-0 and Bucs 1-1 beat the Falcons at Atlanta. Currently Buffalo is last in the NFL in offense with 276 yards of offense. The Jets alone put almost 500 on Buffalo! Now the OC is fired so the RB coach can call plays and have Tyrod throw more to Sammy. If the Bills don't get that run game working this game and force Tyrod to push the ball downfield...well things could get really ugly, really fast.

Seriously. If Fitz can throw for 374 yards I don't even want to imagine what Carson Palmer can do to that Buffalo offense or what that Arizona defense will do to Tyrod as he attempts to throw more to Watkins. Jamis Winson had 4 INT's.

You guys need to forget about hiring a new head coach from the college ranks unless he has had a past winning record as a head coach previously in the NFL. Jim Harbaugh is the only one that comes to mind that I would want as HC in Buffalo. The learning curve in the NFL for head coaches is far too large to expect even the every best college coach to succeed. Pete Carroll cut his teeth in coaching for the Buffalo Bills as a DB's coach and had two failed stinks as an NFL HC before finding success in college and the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks defense is special because of Pete Carroll as he looks for guys that fit into his system and then develops them into stars. Right now the Pegula's might be grooming Anthony Lynn for the job to see if he can get the offense working better in the passing game to include Sammy Watkins more. By all accounts, this might have been a push to the owners from Doug Whaley who needs to see his two first rounders pay off in Watkins. If so he just screwed Tyrod Taylor's development by accelerating it perhaps too quickly and got the guy fired who had built a solid run first offense to further develop Tyrod and EJ. Josh McDanials might be someone to look at if the Bills weren't in the same division as the Patriots as I doubt either he or Matt Patricia would take a job in that he needed to compete directly against Bill Belichick. I'd be looking at Tom Coughlin as a stop gap and Bill Cowher as the man to hire as he knows talent when he sees it and would help build a better scouting dept. Plus, Cowher wouldn't let the owners or anyone else make decisions for him. Just my 2 cents.

This! Luck won't find much success in Indy until the owner fires the current GM and HC. That same GM is the same idiot who traded Jerry Hughes to Buffalo because he was a failed Polian draft pick and he is too stupid to build a proper line, run game and hire a top DC. Luck looked like the next Manning until Arians left for Arizona.

It's not a stupid idea when you have a team president who has so much power and influence over the team that is not a football man. The problem is that as long as Brandon is part of the org chart on the football side, that no GM the Bills hire will ever have the control he needs to build the team his way. Doug Whaley didn't even get the chance to pick his own head coach because someone put the idea into these new owners heads that they were NFL football smart enough to do it themselves. I gotta tell you that the Pegula's are already starting down a slippery slope that kept a lot of quality coaches from coming to Buffalo because of the late owners meddling with the team. Meeting with the players and deciding to make changes based on what they and the GM say is already starting to make people rethink! They really need to step away from the football side if they ever want to win in the NFL. Bill Belichick is the man who makes all the calls on who the Patriots draft and who the team hires on the football side so If your really going to hire a man to run the entire football side of the Org I'd start with a very experienced GM that knows talent. Ted Thompson current GM of the Packers comes to mind. That is if he would take the job as team president of football operations for the Buffalo Bills.

When they hired Ryan they all thought they were getting a better version of Mike Pettine. No way do they hire Ryan if they knew they would need to retool the defensive line they gave three players 100 million dollar contracts to rush the passer!!. The owners, the GM, the team president were all fooled by a can man who only knows how to one specific scheme. First, you need to learn the difference between the 3-4 one-gap and two-gap schemes to understand that neither Marcell Dareus nor Mario Williams would work well in a two-gap scheme. It's why Dareus was complaining about it from the start of training camp last year and then after a few games, Mario started complaining too. Mario hated that two-gap scheme. To give a basic explanation between the two schemes. A one-gap scheme utilizes a 3-4 and the front 3 D-linemen pick a gap to rush the passer and the linebacker behind them then takes the other gap between the offensive linemen. This scheme doesn't require a big overhaul to the lineman or linebackers because you want speed players like Mario, Kyle Williams and, Hughes. In a two-gap 3-4, the D-linemen need to stay in position to take on the opposing offensive blocker to control two gaps on either side of their linemen. Meanwhile, instead of rushing the passer the linemen need to wait to see what direction the offense is going in so there is very little pass rush unless a blitzer is being sent. The two-gap is an older scheme that is better at stopping the run and usually requires bigger, stronger D-linemen to be able to handle the 325+lb O-linemen they are required to wrestle. Mario is 6'6'' 290 lbs and the very last thing he wants to do is wrestle a 300lb O-linemen and in Schwartz's wide nine he lined up outside the OT so he could simply run by him. Not only was it stupid to ask Mario to play in a two-gap it was even more moronic to ask Jerry Hughes to do it at 6'2'' 252lbs. Then, Mario was also complaining about being dropped into pass coverage so often. READ THIS! http://www.sbnation.com/2015/10/21/9581575/mario-williams-marcell-dareus-rex-ryan-buffalo-bills-defense "Well, it seems like Rex Ryan is suddenly determined to put square pegs into round holes by putting his scheme over talent, at least he was Sunday. We know that the Bills have four dominant defensive linemen who fit best in an attacking 4-3 scheme. However, Ryan has mostly been a 3-4 guy as a head coach. Instead of putting his best players in the best positions to not only be successful and productive, Ryan seems to be clinging to his 3-4 roots a bit too fiercely and holding them back. While the Bills lined up 19 times in either an over or under alignment (4-3) against the Bengals, they lined up in a base version of a 3-4 defense 22 times (those numbers do not include third-down plays). I'm not a math major, but I'm pretty sure 22 is more than 19. It's much worse than just Ryan having his best pass rushers dropping into coverage too much rather than actually, yanno, pass rushing. One edge guy, either Williams or Hughes, generally gets to stand up and either set the edge/pass rush on the edge or drop into coverage when they line up in a base 3-4. The other edge rusher often has to line up on the offensive tackle rather than being on an edge. That's pretty much the opposite of an ideal situation for most highly skilled pass rushers. "Even having Mario Williams, a human cheat code with his ridiculous combination of size, strength and athletic ability, two-gapping an offensive tackle is a pretty dumb thing to do on a regular basis because it's obvious he doesn't like doing it! I greatly admire Williams' game, but he's just not that guy who wants to be lined up head-up and wrestle with a 300-pounder all game." That lame two-gap scheme is the biggest reason the team went from #2 in the NFL in sacks in 2013 under Mike Pettine. #1 in the NFL in sacks under Jim Schwartz in 2014 to 31st in sacks in 2015 under Ryan. Plus the 2015 Bills were dead last in QB pressures. Sure, Mario, Hughes, and Dareus can play in it because they are pro's. But they all hated it because it killed their ability to rush the passer and the reason they were getting those big $$$$!

Expect pwnage!!