Nihilarian

I totally agree with this and to me, it is startling just how few Bills fans can really see or understand how the man was misused in Ryan's scheme or completely ignore that the Bills coaches themselves were happy, content with Mario's play all year. They even stated that they were happy that Mario was in pass coverage so the linebacker could get a hit on the QB to disrupt the play, and to my dismay, that lone hit was the only time the Bills defense touched the QB all game long. Plus the fact that the #3 overall pick, hell on wheels DT was complaining about how he was being utilized since training camp and after a few games Mario joined him in being publically vocal about how he was being utilized too. Bills fans just rack this up with players being selfish and not buying into the scheme. Anyway, I've posted this link in the past and its a good read for those that actually want to understand what was happening on the field. http://www.sbnation.com/2015/10/21/9581575/mario-williams-marcell-dareus-rex-ryan-buffalo-bills-defense

So, you don't think that going from #1 in sacks QB pressures, QB hits, QB hurries and the one area where the 2014 Bills excelled at to 31st in 2015 isn't falling off a cliff? The real issue here is why on earth do you keep coming back defending this bad hire?

I was just showing that more than just Bills fans think the team took a big step backward with Wrex Ryan as you just don't seem to get that fact. Attempting to deflect away from the fact that Ryan made the defense worse by stating that PFT isn't an elite source. Well, how about some other sources? SB Nation- "In that 8-8 season, the Bills' defense fell massively short of expectations" ESPN- Why they're here: A talent-laded mystery, the Bills are a top-12 team if Rex Ryan rediscovers his magic touch on the defensive side of the ball -- the Bills were one of the NFL's top defenses in 2014 and fell off a cliff in 2015 http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14697433/panthers-patriots-lead-2016-way-too-early-nfl-power-rankings I can find more outside sources that think the 2015 Bills defense took a drastic step backward if you like. Jim Schwartz also beat the NY Jets twice with Ryan as head coach of the Jets. In that second game against the Bills, Ryan stated that his team would play 1000% better with Mike Vick starting and they lost 38 to 3. Complete humiliation and he clearly lost his Jets team along the way that season. Ryan already lost some of the Bills defensive line players in 2015 and I can only wonder how long is it before he loses the entire team again. The more important point here is that the Buffalo Bills are in the same division as the New England Patriots who have been about the best team in the NFL for as long as the Bills have been bad! The last time the Patriots had a losing season was way back in 2000 and in all that time since they have been to six super bowls while winning four. The Buffalo Bills need a head coach that will make the team better and not try and force his players to fit his schemes. In order to beat the best you have to be the best and Ryan isn't even close to that level of competence. The Bills got exactly what they hired in a 4-12 coach who made his area of expertise worse.

I purposely left off that season opener against the Colts because I knew you couldn't resist... That defense we saw against the Colts is exactly what the world expected from Wrex in 2015 and instead, most of the rest of the games last season were more like that first Patriots game with almost no pressure on the QB whatsoever!! Wrex Ryan stunk it up most of the 2015 season and only had his defense play well when he actually cared about winning the game. That last game of the season and against his old team that fired him with so many Bills players out injured is a perfect example of that. It's not just Bills fans that think this way as most of the rest of NFL fans see it this way too. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/12/16/bills-defense-has-taken-a-big-step-back-under-rex-ryan/ "This year, Ryan’s first season as head coach of the Bills, his defense has taken an enormous step backward." "We could go on all day with stats like this: Across the board, the Bills’ defense is worse with Ryan than it was before Ryan arrived. Add in the fact that the Jets’ defense has gotten better this season under Todd Bowles than it was last season with Ryan, and the conclusion is clear: Ryan isn’t quite the defensive genius he’s made out to be." What I don't get is why some Buffalo Bills fans are so adamant about defending a turd just because he is still employed by the team. Why? Just because he is "our'' turd? After Ryan is fired and I'm 100% positive that will happen sometime during next season or shortly after I'm fairly certain the tunes defending him will change then.

Yes, the 2014 Buffalo Bills were beaten ONCE by the team that went to and won the super bowl in 2014. Brady had all of his weapons in that game and foolishly the Buffalo offense under OC Mr Can't Hackett tried to outshoot Brady with Kyle Orton. Because the Bills weren't able to establish any kind of a running attack in that 2014 game their drives in that game went like this...PUNT, PUNT, INTERCEPTION, PUNT, TD, FUMBLE, PUNT, FUMBLE, TD, PUNT, TD, DOWNS. Still, the 2014 defense in that game was way better than the 2015 defense against NE which allowed a franchise-worst 466 most yards passing by a single player in the 50+ year history of the franchise under Wrex! However, In the second game against the Patriots in 2014 Brady only went 8 of 16 for 80 yards with no TD's in the first half and sacked once before he was pulled to save his rear end for the playoffs. Go ahead, try and diminish the fact that the Buffalo Bills beat the Patriots in New England for the first time since 2000, yea, that's right,14 years! I really love how Bills fans try and diminish how good that 2014 defense was by throwing out the bad games they lost that year. There are three dimensions to a team, offense, defense, and ST's. The 2014 offense was another year of hurry up and punt under Hackett which left the defense out on the field much to much to be really effective in some games. Wrex Ryan sucks and he took a playoff caliber defense and ruined it by forcing the players into a scheme that didn't fit what they do best! Wrex, the square peg into a round hole type of guy. Jim Schwartz was able to take those same players and elevate their play so much that three of the four D-linemen made the pro bowl and Jerry Hughes with his 10 sacks should have been right there with them. All Wrex managed to do was make those same pro bowl D-linemen look below average most of the season in his scheme that wasn't working. The reality is the only games Wrex Ryan won this past year were against bad or rookie QB's, new coachings staffs or in games he actually put in the effort to win because of revenge. That's what you get when a team hires a 4-12 head coach.

I think every Bills fan out there thought this years Bills defense would be just as special as Denver's defense. Hence, the most season tickets sold in the history of the franchise in 2015. Gonna be interesting to see what Russ Brandon will cook up to serve this steaming pile of dog crap again to Bills fans in 2016. I can only think that many, many fans are unhappy with what happened to that #4 overall defense in 2014 that led the league in sacks. Now this year Super Mario will likely be gone so the pass rush will really have a reason to be bad. Good job WREX!

It sure does bewilder me how Gary Kubiak, Peyton Manning are getting so much hype when the offense did basically squat in that SB. Manning 13 of 23 for 141 passing one INT. Anderson did have 90 yards and a TD but was almost ineffective when they needed a first down. The real difference in that game was Vonn Miller and how Wade used him and Ware. Plus the Denver defense scored a TD. The ORANGE CRUSH has returned. It may take some time to sink in what really happened in that game but I think he will get his due eventually. I'm still holding out hope that Terry Pegula fires Ryan and hires Wade while keeping Greg Roman.

It's not about dropping the D-linemen into pass coverage because Schwartz also did it successfully during games just like Denver did. It's more about where... and when... and above all who! Just as an example the 2015 mental midget at HC in Buffalo had DT Marcell Dareus dropping into pass coverage on two of KC's TD throws. Any way you slice it Ryan did a piss poor job this year and it was surprising to see so much defensive talent on a team that has spent so much money, time investing in certain players on the defense only to see them misused in a bad scheme. The SB MVP was a pass rushing linebacker! And contrary to Rex Ryan, sacks do matter and will always matter! After the world watched how a defense properly schemed, game planned and called completely destroyed the league's MVP along with shutting down one of the highest-scoring *offenses in the league. Defensive players like Mario will be very much sought after by every team. Arizona for one has already stated they need to bolster their pass rush. I'll bet Carolina would love to have Mario replace an older Jared Allen at DE. Teams will be lining up to give Mario all the money he wants to entice him to come to their cities. To the Bills fans that think it was all Mario's fault that the team didn't get more sacks or be a better defense in 2015 or that "HE" took the year off...really have no idea what goes on behind the scenes on a team. Anyway, only in Buffalo would you see an above average defensive coordinator be hired and build a top 5 defense that was #1 in sacks one year... only be taken apart by hiring a 4-12 head coach the very next year. then have so many fans defend the bum.

I don't know where you read that, but I can tell you what happened that set that entire thing off. Incognito and the rest of the O-line players were sitting at the same table for lunch during camp and when Martin came over to sit down with them. When he sat down the rest of the O-line players got up and left. Martin was a bad RT and the doofus of a GM had the bright idea to switch him to LT after he let the former starter at LT all-pro Jake long leave for St Louis. The entire team couldn't stand Martin because he was a highly paid scrub and he was getting their QB killed every game. From there everything escalated between Incognito and Martin, and Incognito was certainly doing the wrong thing in that situation but he had real reasons for doing it. READ THE TRUTH from an ex-Dolphin O-linemen.... http://mmqb.si.com/2013/11/07/richie-incognito-jonathan-martin-dolphins-lydon-murtha Oh, BTW great news indeed if the team resigns Cogs!

Thanks for posting that.

The play I'll never forget and the one that won the game for the NY Giants is when Bruce Smith was sacking Jeff Hostetler AND HAD HIM BY THE WRIST (you know the wrist with the ball in his hand) in the end zone and somehow that backup QB managed to keep from fumbling the ball to only allow a safety. Just think, the NY Giants were beaten by the Buffalo Bills with Phill Simms at QB during the regular season and for this game, backup QB Jeff Hostetler was starting. My memories of that game were wondering why Kelly was throwing so much in the first half vs not really running unstoppable Thurman. The Bills didn't really watch the Giants defense shut down Joe Montana and the 49ers in the NFC championship game and held Joe to only 18 of 26 for 190 and one TD in that game. If they had the Bills might have run the ball more and been more effective on offense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkCC-crdXXE I don't blame Scott Norwood for the loss because he stunk kicking on grass and wasn't very good for long FG's and 47 yards was a long FG for him. I blame the Bills offense for going against what they did best all year and that was running Thurman to establish the run game and then attack through the air. Thurman Thomas only 15 attempts rushing all game? Against the Raiders in the AFC Championship game, TT 25 rushes for 138 and one TD Against the Dolphins in the playoffs TT 32 rushes for 117, 2 TD's

Interesting take about Ryan's approach to his players and you also nailed the rest of it on a lot of points. My take is the 2016 Buffalo Bills defense could easily improve just by blitzing more than the less than 10% Ryan Blitzed some games in 2015. Then add in some new players at linebacker and the defense could be a whole lot better this year. What I get a kick out of are the Bills fans who come out saying that sacks don't matter or aren't that important. They do matter and will always matter! What a turnaround in view because this new HC stunk it up in getting any kind of pressure on the QB most of the season, so now sacks are no big deal... There was a huge reason as to why the Bills paid Mario Williams 100 million dollars and it wasn't to see him play in a two gap system!! Same with Hughes and Dareus. Sacks go hand in hand with QB pressures, hits, hurries and those are some of the most important stats a defense can try to attain to be the best in. 250 million or 28% of the payroll tied up in pass rushers only to see them do everything but rush the passer. Watching the 2015 Bills defensive line play was basically agonizing for me most of the year after seeing what Schwartz was able to do with the very same players the previous season. Previous to the start of the 2015 season Rex Ryan stated he had never had this much talent on a defense and expectations were sky high for the Bills defense to be perhaps one of the best ever. The Bills FO, ownership, and the fans all thought that 2015 would be to finally unseat the Patriots and a run for the AFC East division championship. However, those expectations were not met and not even close. Bills fans have every right to voice their opinion about last year's results and have every right to be skeptical about the upcoming season considering how things transpired last year. Trust me when I say that every single Bills fan out there wants to like Rex Ryan and wants the team to win games with him as head coach. For whatever reason these new owners gave Ryan another year to get his shi..."things" together and I hope that's all they give him if we see another season like 2015. The fans deserve better than 8-8 and beating teams with scrub QB's, new coaching staffs or the just the other teams in the division for revenge.

Good stuff and in Roman's offense it showed that Taylor developed well over the course of the season. My biggest concern for the offense in 2016 is that the left side of the line stays intact and the Bills will add a better player at RT.

I did, thanks

Just an ex-player sticking up for his old coach. More excuses! Yet there is absolutely no excuse on the planet that can forgive taking a D-line that was #1 in the NFL in QB pressures / sacks the year before and castrating them with a new scheme that doesn't fit what they do best and turning them into the 31st in sacks, 31st in sack percentage. The very, very simple reality is that pressure on the QB is about the absolute best thing you can do to help a secondary, any secondary! With little or no pressure on the opposing QB you could have the best four in the league in coverage and they will eventually get burned. In 2015 the Buffalo Bills were 30th in QB pressures. The Buffalo Bills had two excellent CB's in 2015 (Gilmore & Roby) and when you combine that with the team 30th in QB pressures it makes for the team 19th against the pass. Now don't tell me it was injuries or the lack of different players because against the Jets in that last game Ryan was able to put tremendous pressure on the QB with an injured, beaten up depleted defense. You saw a completely different team take the field defensively in certain games that mattered most to Rex Ryan. That second game against NE with no Kyle Williams, with no Aaron Williams, with no Mario Williams and yet the Bills were able to put pressure on Brady on 50% of his dropbacks and so much so he was screaming at his O-linemen like a little girl. The two games against the Jets and in particular that last game with all the injuries and no Stephon Gilmore in the secondary. With the Bills blitzing less than 10% in a lot of the games in 2015 its like Ryan didn't even try to get pressure on the QB. Everyone points the finger at Mario Williams and says it was all his fault because he didn't buy in! Not in my view! If anyone took almost all of the year off it was the man who calls the defensive plays, and sets the defensive game plans. So many issues with the defense and most of those were with the coaches, late play calls, late substitutions, lack of team discipline with so many penalties. Was Ryan too lazy to watch the film and study the opponent, then draw up a proper game plan? Or did he just not care because he was sitting like a fat cat by getting paid 25 mill in a 5-year deal?

What the Bills did against the Patriots in that second game showed the rest of the league their flaws and how to exploit them. It was the offense that let the team down in that game. Why didn't we see that same team that played so well in that second game against NE is my question? Now granted the Patriots had many injuries at WR & O line but still the Bills actually blitzed and had the front four rushing the passer in that game. Just look at some of the Bills defensive plays in this game to see the Bills actually overloading at the line and then sending more them four. That game was hugely successful for the Bills in getting pressure on Brady and had gotten more pressure on Brady than any other team the last seven years...up until that AFC champ game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJDp4pT408Y Then we never saw that same defense again when it counted.

Thank you for that because it looks like so few here seem to understand or even comprehend the circumstances of this past year's defensive situation. It's also inarguable to me and yet here we are again because some Bills fans are so blindingly devoted to whatever scrub holds the current head coaching position that they refuse to acknowledge that he made superstar D-linemen look below average or even bad in his scheme. To go from 54 sacks down to 21 sacks is a travesty given the talent of that 2015 Buffalo Bills defensive line. On another note, some Bills fans are saying that other Bills fans either ignored all the information from the media or he knows jack about football. Talk about ignoring information!! Has anyone seen the missing 33 sacks from 2015 and whatever could have happened to them? This same person keeps bringing up the loss of LBer Brandon Spikes is a big reason as to why the defense wasn't as good in 2015... Does he mean ILB Brandon Spikes, the guy who ran a 5.05 time at his pro day and was slower than a lot of offensive linemen... A guy who is best suited to play in a phone booth space as a middle linebacker in a 4-3 defense at stopping the run but was pulled on 3rd down at times because he was so slow in pass coverage. Yea, this is the guy Rex Ryan wants at linebacker in his defensive scheme...

My point was I watched Mario and I couldn't tell he took plays off or made less than 100% effort while on the field simply because of the scheme was playing in didn't allow him to do what he does best. I highly doubt there is a Bills fan or even a coach out there who could say anything about his performance because they don't know what his specific responsibilities were on a given play. In Ryan's complex 3-4 scheme he could have as many as 5-7 different reads depending on what the offense is doing on a given play. To me, this in itself is a big hindrance to have a superstar pass rusher attempting to read a play and make adjustments on the fly instead of simply allowing him to do what he does best to rush the passer. Less thinking and more rushing because that is exactly why he was paid 100 million dollars... to rush the freaking passer. Also, the bigger point is the coaches were very happy with him in their scheme and were content with him dropping into coverage so an average player at LBer could make a play. I'm siding with the player on this simply because I've watched the man wreck havoc on the field as a pass-rushing defensive end in both Pettine's & Schwartz's schemes only to be castrated by this year's scheme. I feel his frustration that he was basically forced to go to the media to defend himself to the fans about how he was being used in Ryan's scheme. It wasn't just him either as that #3 overall pick who is a raging man of hell on wheels who is mostly double teamed every defensive play has been outspoken about his role in Ryan's scheme since training camp. Sure, take Buffalo Bills HoF DE Bruce Smith and ask him to drop into pass coverage or be a space eating, gap controlling DE so Ray Bentley could make the plays and then see if he remains silent all season about that situation.

Perhaps you missed the fact that this past years defense was historically bad in sacks and that the only year the Bills have had less sacks in a season was in a strike shortened season. The 2014 Buffalo Bills led the NFL in sacks with 54. The 2015 Buffalo Bills were 32nd in the NFL or second to last in sacks with 21. How important are sacks? Ask the #1 defense and #1 sacking team in the NFL this year with 52 sacks. The AFC Championship Denver Broncos. The 2015 Buffalo Bills could have been right there with them defensively. There is little doubt in my mind that the 2015 Buffalo Bills defense would have been even better with 2nd round pick CB Ronald Darby who should earn defensive rookie of the year. In my view, a whole lot more Buffalo Bills defensive players would have made the pro bowl this past season with Schwartz running the show....OH, NOT ONE Buffalo Bills defensive player made the pro bowl roster in 2016...I wonder why.

I'm very aware that some "anonymous" player on the 2015 Buffalo Bills was upset because he thought Mario didn't give 100% and had "totally checked out". That story was in the Buffalo News. http://bills.buffalonews.com/2015/12/31/marios-swan-song-with-bills-is-near/ I'm also aware that some of his own "defensive" teammates like linebacker Preston Brown and Leodis McKelvin are saying the exact opposite, Not everyone agrees with this critique. Williams’ numbers may be down across the board, but inside linebacker Preston Brown asserts that Williams “definitely bought in” to Ryan’s defense and that effort hasn’t been an issue. “He was trying to do what the coaches asked him to,” Brown said. “When you’re 30 years old, it’s kind of hard to start doing stuff you’ve never done. … He’s out there doing his job. I know he’s out there doing his job day in and day out.” Added cornerback Leodis McKelvin, “With him, it could be frustration in getting to the quarterback a lot more. But he wants to play – there’s no doubt about it. He wants to play. But you’re used to getting to the quarterback and now you’re making sacrifices for someone else to get to the quarterback. ... You can’t say one man did something wrong and it caused the whole defense to shut down. It was a complete, total everything.” That so-called anonymous player is probably an offensive player that doesn't sit in with the defensive players in the player meetings and really has no idea what Mario Williams was being asked to do this past season. So, some of his own players on the team might not be aware of his responsibilities during games on certain play calls. Then, so far all his coaches have said that they are satisfied with Mario Williams play, Ryan. Defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman. Defensive line coach Karl Dunbar. Coaches have supported Williams all season long – possibly to a fault. Their message has never wavered. Dunbar, all smiles, praised the veteran on Thursday. Asked how one of this generation’s best pass rushers can last 54 snaps without one tackle, one hit, one sack, Dunbar reiterated they’re pleased with Williams’ play. “He’s doing a good job of coming off the edge and the quarterback’s getting rid of the ball,” Dunbar said. “It’s kind of hard because the defense we play is predicated on what they give us and who’s going to be the hot guy. Yeah, you wish you had more tackles, you wish you had more sacks. But I think he’s helping our defense based upon the things he’s doing.” Dunbar cited linebacker Manny Lawson’s hit on Dallas’ Kellen Moore – the team’s only registered QB hit in the game – as one such play. Williams covered tight end James Hanna out of the backfield, eliminating the hot read and Moore was walloped. The coach asserts Williams “has been around the quarterback” and didn’t hesitate on if Williams has been giving his all. “Yeah, I think so,” Dunbar said. “He’s out there doing the things we’ve asked him to do. … It’s a little bit different than what he’s done in the past, but I think it’s working for us.” And Dunbar does view Williams as a fit in Buffalo’s defense, even when the player himself puts the scheme on trial." Do you not see that Rex Ryan's 2015 Buffalo Bills defensive scheme was asking superstar pass rusher, Mario Williams, to drop into pass coverage so that the linebacker can make the play. The team registered one freaking, stinking lousy hit on the QB all game and the coaches are happy about it Anyway, I must have missed the plays Mario Williams didn't go full steam in this past year. So, perhaps, you would please be so kind to point out the specific plays in certain games that Williams didn't make any effort in.

It's OK to have an opinion that doesn't agree with mine. But allow me to explain the situation as I see it a little further. The defensive ends in a 3-4 alignment have jobs similar to that of the nose tackle: they want to take up space, fill gaps, and occupy blockers. In the 3-4, linemen aren't expected to make many sacks or tackles. Most of the playmaking responsibilities fall upon the linebackers. In a 4-3 system, linemen are supposed to occupy blockers, but they are also expected to free themselves to make tackles and sacks. In 2015 Rex Ryan ran a mumble - jumble hybrid defense of sorts that clearly didn't work very well most of the time because he simply refused to blitz very often. He ran variations of a 3-4 / 4-3 during games in which he asked his defensive line players to do many different things in his scheme that Jim Schwartz didn't ask in his scheme. Schwartz asked his D-linemen to mostly rush the passer simply because that is what they were being paid so much money to do...like 28% of the payroll is tied up in that front four...to rush the passer!! Jim Schwartz still had his D-line players dropping into pass coverage like a zone blitz, it's just he didn't ask them to do that as much as Ryan did this year. Plus, I can't recall Schwartz ever dropping Dareus or Kyle Williams into pass coverage much at all, if ever! Schwartz made his defense work without asking his defense to blitz very often and that is a tribute to how good those front four players really are!! They all are worth every penny the Bills were paying them and yes even this past year. I say this because it's not their fault if they are being asked to do stupid things like occupy the O-linemen and stand in space while the crappy linebackers behind them try and make plays. It looked to me like the Bills ran the 3-4 zone blitz scheme a lot last year and if I'm not mistaken that is or was the Steelers claim to fame under former Steeler DC Dick LeBeau. In that defense, it was OK to have a bunch of average D- linemen dropping into pass coverage because they had such great linebackers behind them to make the plays. Kinda the exact opposite of the Bills situation. So, when I watched Mario Williams this year in games and I noticed he would fly off the snap like he was going to rush and then just stop, like standing in place. That is because that is exactly what he was supposed to do in a 3-4 set, and he did exactly what he was asked to do by Ryan, in taking up space, controlling the gap, occupy blockers. Many fans want to label him as a player with a bad attitude because he voiced his opinion to the media or someone who wasn't doing his job and they have it all wrong as I see it. This is why my opinion differs from yours.

The Bills coaches have stated over and over that Mario Williams was doing what he was asked to do and that they were happy with his performance from every game. Mario was mostly playing gap control rather then being put into position to rush the passer. Then, even when Ryan had Mario set out past the OT on his side as Schwartz did in his wide nine he wasn't as effective because the OT would push him outside to make him run the arc usually taking 2-3 seconds. When the defense is only blitzing less than 10% of the time most games it makes it far easier for 5-6 offensive players staying in to block the four Bills players that are rushing. Sometimes the Bills would only rush with 3 instead of four because that fourth was dropping into pass coverage. Rex Ryan has had a past history of blitzing so often he would be bringing the kitchen sink every play. Meaning that (in his own words), "I'm going to bring everyone known to man after the QB every play". Back in 2009 with the NY Jets that was exactly the case as his Jets teams blitzed 50-54% of the defensive plays those years and his defense was so good and they went to the AFC championship games. I like to call Ryan's blitzing schemes an "overload blitz" simply because he would usually send more rushers / blitzers at the opposing QB than they had in defending the QB. This year Ryan didn't run that scheme very often and when he did it was usually very successful. I have no idea why he didn't blitz more often this year. This past year the 2015 Buffalo Bills almost never blitzed in the majority of the games and the lack of sacks by the Bills this year reflected that by being 31st in the league in sacks with only 21. This was from ESPN after week two's game against the Patriots. "Rex Ryan, Dennis Thurman and defensive coaching staff: Ryan told his team that this loss was on his shoulders, and so he's a natural place to start in the "down" column. Ryan's defensive game plan couldn't put pressure on Tom Brady-- the Bills disrupted (a sack, batted ball, passed defense or interception) only 9.8 percent of Brady's dropbacks, a lower rate than in any of the Bills' 2014 games -- and he never seemed to have an effective plan for stopping either Rob Gronkowski or Julian Edelman." http://espn.go.com/b...defensive-staff

In regards to the above, this article was written after the Cincy game in week six by an ex NFL player who often contributes to SB Nation http://www.sbnation.com/2015/10/21/9581575/mario-williams-marcell-dareus-rex-ryan-buffalo-bills-defense I would suggest reading the entire article to obtain some further understanding of what was happening on the field defensively for the Buffalo Bills in 2015. Some excerpts, "Two of Buffalo's best defensive players have publicly complained about the scheme. They've got a point, says retired NFL defensive end Stephen White." "Both Dareus and Williams griped about how much the Bills pass rushing (and highly paid) defensive line was being asked to drop into coverage instead of rushing the passer. It was way too much in their estimation. I had the exact same complaint after watching them lose to the Bengals. But, there was more to it than that." "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 goes double for Hughes, who plays with plenty of heart, but doesn't have nearly the kind of size and strength you generally want in a 3-4 five technique defensive end." "After watching this film, I have no idea who this version of Rex Ryan is. And that is unfortunate. As tacky and inadvisable as it is for players to call out their coaches to the media, I do think Ryan should do himself a favor and actually start listening to what they are saying. The reason is simple, they are not wrong." **Just a footnote here that in that Cincy game Marcell Dareus was dropped into pass coverage on two of the Bengals TD passes.

Let me clarify some misconceptions here. The 2014 Jets weren't that bad on defense in Ryan's last year. Bills fans really need to stop reinforcing Ryan's own excuse that he didn't get the players needed in the secondary and that the new GM was trying to get him fired for not getting him the players he needed. Believe it or not that 2014 NY Jets team was right behind the Buffalo Bills in team defensive hurries with 78 and the Bills had 80 hurries. That 2014 NY Jets defense was also #7th in the NFL with 45 sacks. They were #6th in total defense, #5 against the run and 14th against the pass. Simply not the horrorfest some would have you believe and for certain not even close to the reason why that team went 4-12. It was the Jets offense that stunk it up and more importantly, the QB's in second-year starter Geno Smith and backup QB Mike Vick were the main reasons for losing so many games. We all saw how pathetic they were against Buffalo's defense under Schwartz. I recall laughing so often at how bad they were in those two games. Week 8 Geno Smith started and went 2 of 8 for 5 yards and 3 INT's Michael Vick came in and went 18 of 36 for 153 1 INT but sacked 4x. Final score Buffalo 43-NY Jets 23. Ryan benched Geno after that Bills game but the team had already lost 7 games with Geno Smith as the starter who went 3-10 in 2014. Veteran QB Mike Vick started the next three games in losing to the Chiefs, beating the Steelers and then Buffalo again, Vick was sacked 5x in that game before being injured late in the 3rd quarter and Geno made an appearance. Week 12 Mike Vick went 7 of 19 for 76 yards one INT, 5x sacks- Geno Smith went 10 of 12 for 89 yards and was sacked 2x. That's 7x sacks for the Bills against that Jets team in one game and 11 sacks in two games. Before this game Rex Ryan promised the Jets fans his team would play 1000% better in the second game against Buffalo and the final score was NY Jets 3- Buffalo Bills 38. Rex Ryan's teams regressed with Mark Sanchez at QB and regressed with Geno Smith at QB. Veteran QB Michael Vick couldn't save him either and had a QB rating of 21.4 with the Jets that year. Ryan looked so lost on the sidelines of that 4-12 team last season and it looked like he also lost his players along the way. The Buffalo Bills got exactly what they hired...a 4-12 head coach. Stop with the excuses for this bum.

Somewhere In the back of my mind, I'm holding out hope that the Pegula's talk to some NFL knowledgeable people that know a little something about NFL defenses and come to the realization of the horrible mistake they made in hiring Ryan. Then after the Superbowl, they fire him and offer the job to Wade Phillips. The Bills might not have the complete set of players on the roster to run either Phillip's or Ryan's 3-4 scheme. But, by hiring Wade, at least, the team wouldn't be beset by all the other issues with the team including the lack of discipline over the entire team. The late play calls, the late player substitutions, motivating the opponent with his big mouth or team captains. Misuse of the players on the roster in forcing them into a scheme that doesn't work all season. Next year should the Bills retain Ryan they might just get into the playoffs...if they played the Jets 16x.