Nihilarian

Gee, ya think the 7 first downs given to the Giants offense by the Buffalo Bills defense had anything to do with it?? Part of Rex Ryan's stupidity to beat his own team with the lack of discipline. This argument isn't just about the lack of sacks by last year's defense or the lack of discipline by the entire team in many games. The 2015 Buffalo Bills were the #2 team in the NFL in penalties and the only reason for that is that more were declined. (BTW, the Tampa Bay Buc's just fired the HC with the worst team in the league in penalties) It wasn't just a bad scheme or variations of bad schemes that mostly didn't work on defense last year as it was the late defensive play calls, the players out of position when the ball was snapped. The defensive player substitutions coming in so late that even the slowest of teams would hurry to the line. The miss use of pro bowl players into doing things that they themselves complained about doing all season long. I'd have to say that Ryan's choices for OC, QB and OG Richie Incognito are the only good things that came out of his being hired by the team. It still makes me think that this hire has got to be the worst head coach since Hank Bullough and the difference between those two men is that Ryan could sell snow to Eskimos. Here is a discussion in this forum after the week two Patriots game. http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/181760-carucci-disconnect-exists-between-dl-and-scheme/ For the life of me, I have a difficult time understanding how any true Buffalo Bills fan could still be defending the ineptitude we all saw from Rex Ryan's misuse of the pro bowl defensive line players. Only 21 sacks in 2015 for a team playing 250 million to those four D-line players to rush the passer. More importantly, I don't get how these new billionaire owners would retain this HC after such misuse of player talent.

Loved that game even though it was a defensive struggle! I do believe Bill Belichick walked up to Wade after the game and said "you called great game". Great stuff and it would have been some unreal grief from Pats fans to other NFL fans had Brady won that 5th ring. This game made my year.

The one-word that sums it up appropriately is disaster! From 1st to 31st in sacks can't be called anything but a disaster! Little or no pressure on the opposing QB usually gives even the bad QB's time to make plays. I keep coming back to this conversation because so many Bills fans are so darned nonchalant about what happened to the defense this past year and it's really inexcusable! Injuries? The entire defense was healthy and on the field for that Patriots game in week two and the Bills vaunted defense was smoked because of the scheme Ryan ran that game. Tom Brady set a Buffalo Bills franchise worst 466 passing yards allowed by a single player in that game. The Bills defense after this game ranked 29th. "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/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/21042/bills-breakdowns-vs-patriots-start-with-rex-ryan-defensive-staff Then surprisingly the defense with several players out with injuries played the Patriots so much better in their second game in week 11. No Aaron Williams, No Kyle Williams, No Mario Williams and yet the defense in this game had Brady screaming at his O-linemen like a little girl. The Bills defense managed to put pressure on Brady on 20 of his 40 dropbacks (50%) and the front four actually rushed the QB in this game. Then, inexplicably, that great defense we saw in week 11 went back to the Rex Ryan way of gap control and continued to stink for most of the rest of the season. The injury excuse is a fail!

Trent Richardson of the defense?

That was because Marv Levy was also a special team coach under the late Redskin HC George Allen and Marv put a lot of effort in helping with ST's. Marv was never a DC or OC and in my view, he was the biggest reason why the Buffalo Bills special teams were so dominate back then.

It makes me sad because I wanted to see Freddy get a SB ring.

It must be stupefying to watch a team garner the rank of #4 defense overall and be the #1 team in the league in sacks for a season and then blame the losses that year on the defense. Then have others agree with this analysis #1) Chargers game went for Buffalo like this- PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-FG-end of HALF-TD-PUNT-DOWNS-PUNT-SAFETY-DOWNS the Final score was Chargers 22- Bills 10 and it's the defenses fault they didn't score? Oh WAIT! the Chargers dominated that game huh? Chargers-TD-FG-PUNT-FG-TD-PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-PUNT The Bills held the Chargers in the second half to five straight punts to end the game and the Bills offense was so haplessly pathetic it was unable to do anything with the ball. That was the game that Bills OC Nate Hackett morphed into Chan Gailey because the team fell behind in points so he had EJ throw 40 passes a game while running it 22 times. I'd say that loss was more on the offensive failure then the defenses. Shall I go on? #2) New England dominated the game in Buffalo and this is supposedly the defenses fault? Let's look at the downs again. - Bills- PUNT-PUNT-INT-PUNT-TD-Fumble-PUNT-Fumble-TD-PUNT-TD-Downs. The Patriots sacked Orton 5 times and Intercepted him once. When a team fails to run the ball and keeps repeatedly giving the ball back to the Patriots they will find a way to score and by the second half, the defense had to be worn out by always being on the field. If anything it's on the offense again for not holding on to the ball and giving the Patriots repeatedly great field position from turnovers. #3) The Raiders final score was 24-26 and Oakland was incredibly lucky to complete a 3rd and 22 for 51 yards to Andre Holms to allow the Raiders to drive 80 yards to score a TD late in the game. I agree that the defense is not without fault in this loss and should have played better against a 2-14 team. Still, the Raiders had 4 FG's and 2 TD's but even when a bad team keeps getting the ball back constantly they eventually will score. However, let's look at the play by play again. TD-INT-PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-FG-PUNT-PUNT-TD-PUNT-INT-TD. I'd have to say that the offense let the team down far more then the defense did with the two interceptions and the complete failure to run the ball. The Bills had 13 rushes for 13 yards in this game CJ Spiller was 4 rushes for -4 yards. From my view last year's offense was so inept it kept giving the ball back to the opposing offense and because the Bills defense was on the field so much they eventually had many breakdowns along the way. But that 2014 defense wasn't anything as bad as this seasons with the lack of discipline and players being put in the wrong scheme to not allow them to make plays. It's ridiculous to compare the 2014 defense to the 2015 defense. What is comparable is the 2014 offense as inept as the 2015 defense.

You know I think you have a point and it might actually be the reason why Ryan still has a job. It's not only TT though because that offense would not have worked with Nathaniel Hackett calling 40 passes a game and the offensive line wouldn't have been nearly as good without Richie Incognito who was a top five rated OG this year. Rex Ryan wanted both TT and Incognito along with Percy Harvin and I have to think if Harvin remained healthy that offense could have been so much more potent. Just because Ryan asked for Greg Roman, Tyrod Taylor, and Percy Harvin shouldn't absolve the man for what he did to that defense this year. The Bills fans who bleed red, white and blue defending Ryan here really have no legs to stand on when you think of a team with 250 million dollars tied up in pass rushers literally getting no pressure on opposing QB's almost all season long. How do I know this? Because the team went from #1 in the NFL in sacks in 2014 with 54 to #31 in the league with only 21 sacks. So this begs the question in where on earth did 33 sacks go to when you still have two of three pro bowlers along with that elite pass rusher in Jerry Hughes on the other side of Mario Williams? 2014 Mario Williams 14.5 sacks 2014 Marcell Dareus 10 sacks 2014 Jerry Hughes 9.5 sacks 2014 Kyle Williams 5.5 sacks Those four players accounted for 39.5 sacks 2015 Mario Williams 5.0 2015 Jerry Hughes 5.0 2015 Marcell Dareus 2.0 2015 Kyle Williams 1.0 Those four players accounted for 13 sacks Its a downright disgrace to watch a 331 LB hell on wheels pro bowl pass rusher to be asked to play gap contain or drop him into pass coverage... its almost criminal. Two sacks all season when he had 10 the previous year and fans wonder why he has been complaining about how he is being used. It's a whole lot more sad than most fans can comprehend right now. Basically paying Marcell Dareus what he is currently making is a total waste of money for what he is being asked to do in Wrex Ryan's scheme and the team might as well trade him away for draft picks that fit Ryan's scheme. "Marcell Dareus signed a 6 year, $96,574,118 contract with the Buffalo Bills, including a $25,000,000 signing bonus, $60,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $16,095,686. In 2016, Dareus will earn a base salary of $7,900,000, a signing bonus of $7,000,000 and a workout bonus of $250,000. Dareus has a cap hit of $14,550,000 while his dead money value is $34,900,000." http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/marcell-dareus/ That is a heck of a lot of money to pay a player to be a space eater for two sacks a year! I think it might make more sense to fire Ryan now than retool the front seven to fit Ryan's scheme! The team will just end up firing him next season anyway.

Exactly! For the first part and I've been attempting to relay that to Bills fans since week two against the Patriots. Marcell Dareus has been publicly stating the same thing since training camp. It's beyond moronic to take three pro bowl D-linemen who are being paid 250 million dollars to rush the passer and then to basically ask them to NOT rush the passer and instead control the gaps so the teams crappy linebackers can make the plays If this year's scheme was run intending to get the fan base mad at their 100 million dollar DE in Mario Williams.., it worked! But it was also what he was asked to do in Wrex Ryans scheme and he wasn't happy about it either. So now the team and fan base will happily see Mario on a different team for the 2016 season. The fans thinking he had a bad attitude and the FO happy they have cap room! Meanwhile, the Bills lose their best pass rushing defensive end since Bruce Smith all because a moron of a supposed defensive genius only knows how to run his scheme. Frankly, calling Rex Ryan a moron is an insult to morons everywhere because this man is being paid 4.25 million per to screw up a playoff caliber defense and he is even below a sub-morons mentality for doing that. Now, I don't know what to think of this new ownership who's command over their team looks to be so minimal that they allow themselves to be led around by the teams GM & CEO like a calf with a nose ring. Rex Ryan should have been fired and every single person in the entire league that understands how an NFL defense works knows this now. If it were just the defense it wouldn't be so bad as the team would have been comparable to George Edwards defense only he didn't have Jerry Hughes or Mario Williams and yet he still managed more sacks. Ryan 21 sacks vs Edwards 29 & 27 sacks. Did I mention that the Bills defense didn't have Jerry Hughes or Mario Williams in 2010-2011? It was the penalties It was the undisciplined play it was the defensive play call coming in so late that even the slowest offenses would hurry to the line because they knew the Bills wouldn't be ready it was the marginal game / red flag management during different games it was watching the substitute defensive linemen jumping all over so when the ball was snapped they would be out of position it was the loud mouthed blowhard giving the opponents bulletin board material as if teams needed more reasons to play harder against Buffalo and the list could go on and on... As for the second part, the Bills really didn't have those linemen dropping into pass coverage on every defensive play. But it was enough so that the players themselves complained publically! Just to give some insight into just how stupid it was to have a 331 DT dropping into pass coverage and nevermind that this player isn't supposed to run sideline to sideline even though he can. He does his best work pass rushing in a phone booth type space but now he is asked to play in a 20+ yard area chasing down a TE or RB In that Kansas City game Marcell Dareus was dropped into pass coverage instead of rushing the passer on two of KC's TD passes!! How Rex Ryan managed to retain his job this season is something I'll never understand and now Wrex has hired his brother Rob who was fired in NO for having the leagues near worst defense. Only in Buffalo...

Nihilarian, on 06 Jan 2016 - 07:42 AM, said: UPDATED The only good thing that can come from Mike Mularkey getting that HCing job in Tenn is that Marrone is forced to stay in Jacksonville as O-line coach. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that a lot of coaches will be on a short leash this year and should some teams finish the first half of the season with a bad losing record I can see some getting canned. Detroit-Caldwell Cincy- Marvin Lewis San Diego- Mike McCoy Jacksonville-Gus Bradley Dallas-Jason Garrett St Louis LA Rams-Jeff Fisher New Orleans-Sean Payton Buffalo-Rex Ryan

Nihilarian, on 06 Jan 2016 - 07:42 AM, said: PFT reporting it will be a massive upset if Mike Mularkey is not hired as their HC this year. The main reason the Titans chose their new GM was because he was on board in keeping Mularkey as HC. Why I can't even imagine. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/01/16/massive-upset-if-titans-dont-keep-mularkey/

RIP Mr Marchibroda The man was the main reason that 90's Bills offense was so potent. He taught Jim Kelly to call his own plays and was basically responsible for that hurry up / no huddle offense. Jim Kelly was so good at running the 2 min drill so Ole Ted had him start running it all game long. Then the he brought back the old Redskin "counter trey" run scheme which allowed Thurman Thomas his great cut back lanes. Ted Marchibroda was the Colts ex-head coach who tutored QB Burt Jones into a playoff QB. Those Colts never could get by the Steelers in the playoffs. Anyway, it stunk when the Colts re-hired Marchibroda away from Buffalo after the 91 season. Interesting note that Jim Harbaugh was the Colts QB at that time.

I look at Doug Marrone getting interviewed by so many teams as the same thing that happened to Dick Harper in the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane". In which another firm asks him to interview for an executive job after he was on TV talking about how great his company is and then gets fired while taking the blame for his old firms disaster of going out of business. The exec's interviewing him all want their picture taken with him while they all laugh about what he said on TV. Teams probably really want to know why he walked away from a very lucrative NFL HCing job after taking that team to a winning record for the first time in a decade. I can only imagine the interviewing team probably starts to chuckle when Marrone says he will hire Hackett as his OC again.

Should Mike Mularkey get hired it's going to be primarily for one reason and that is the work he did with Marcus Mariota as offensive coordinator.... NOT! Mularkey was the tight ends coach and when the team fired HC Ken Whisenhunt they named Mularkey the interim HC. He went 2-7 this year after Whisenhunt went 1-6. Even giving Mularkey a long look also has me puzzled because 18-39 says he pretty much sucks as an NFL HC. Like someone else said that Titans job is going to be a great opportunity for the next HC. With Ray Horton as the DC and Dick LeBeau as assistant HC. They already have their future franchise QB in Mariota. Watch Maroon get hired and bring Hackett with him to ruin that young QB.

I was responding the way I did because of that bolded sentence. Why does TT need to fit into your timetable of this next year or he doesn't have the capacity to be a long term starter? Where does it say two years or bust? The guy doesn't even have a full playing season under his belt. I like what I've seen from Taylor in his first year as the starter and he showed he still has a lot of holes in his game. Should he continue to develop under Greg Roman than perhaps the Bills have found that elusive "franchise QB" they have been long awaiting. We fans have no control over anything other than to just voice our opinions and all I'm saying here is be patient and let the man develop as his own pace. I don't see how the comparisons are off the mark. Those two QB's weren't "befuddled" in leading their teams into the playoffs and in Kaepernick's case to the super bowl, NFL championship game with many wins along the way. Frankly, Tyrod Taylor wished he looked that good this year. Anyway, both looked to so good at the start of their careers because they started out being developed properly and then that fell by the wayside as their respective teams wanted more from them and then started asking the QB to the win games for them. Let's not forget that Greg Roman was also Kaepernick's OC in San Fran and by his third season as a starter, he was stinking it up. Right now Taylor looked good as a game manager and not so good in attempting to throw more than 30 passes in a game, he also looks good when the team runs more than they throw. Let's just hope he keeps developing like he was this past year and patience grasshopper.

That is just crazy talk. It's better to destroy a future NFL starting QB rather then allow him to develop at his own pace is quite frankly, insane. Mark Sanchez took his team to the AFC Championship twice and now is in the trash heap as a backup. Colin Kaepernick who took his team to a super bowl and an NFL championship game is also thought to be in the trash. RG3 is another currently broken QB that may or may not ever be resurrected into a starting caliber player and he took his team to the playoffs his first year in the league. What all these QB's have in common is a team that started to develop them properly by running the ball more then throwing it, thus allowing them to be game managers. Then what happened in each case was that their teams decided to rush their development and ask them to carry the team by passing more than running it and all three started to fail. Things got worse as time went on. You could also fit EJ into this category when in 2014 when the Bills ran more than they threw it the first two games EJ looked fine and the Bills won. Then the next two games he was asked to carry the team by throwing 40 & 44 times and fell on his face. Rex Ryan, Greg Roman have it right in developing Tyrod properly in wanting to build a power, run-first offense that limits the amount of responsibility for the QB. Then gradually giving him more and more responsibility each game. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Tyrod could take this team to the playoffs in 2016. It's expecting him to carry the offense all on his own each game like he is magically now Tom Brady. He isn't! He is a 6th round pick that needs all the support the team can give him the next 2-3 years.

Thanks You guys need to remember that in general it takes the average QB 3-4 years to fully develop into their craft as an NFL starting QB. Not every QB is going to come out gangbusters like Cam Newton or Andrew Luck. And even those men with such gifted physical abilities have had difficulties at times. Simply look at the failures of RG3 and Colin Kaepernick who were pushed overly hard to fast and the result is a broken QB. It honestly makes no sense to force a young inexperienced QB to start throwing 30-40 passes a game and put the entire fortune of the outcome of the game on his shoulders. The Bills need to stick with the plan and allow him to hand off to Shady & Karlos in simply being a game manager while refining his craft. If you guys want to see another broken QB like Mark Sanchez, Kaepernick or RG3 in Buffalo then by all means rush the kid.

Philly is the toughest media, fan market in the league IMO. Unless he makes the playoffs quickly I don't see him lasting long.

Another update! One job opening left and Maroon looks to be left out!

Rushing or pushing an inexperienced QB is a sure way to destroy his development and possibly his career. Think of Mark Sanchez. The fact that he has been in the NFL for 5 seasons is really irrelevant and the games he has started is what's important. Tyrod Taylor has only started 14 regular season games and is a far cry from a seasoned pro at this point in his career. Taylor still has yet to throw for 300 yards in a game and every time the Bills asked Taylor to throw more than 30 times or throw more than they ran it the Bills lost. In week two against the NE Patriots Taylor had only 38 yards passing and Brady had 194 at the half. Week 4, NYGiants game 28 of 42 for 274 1TD, 1 INT. Sammy didn't play, and Clay was the leading receiver with 9 rec for 111 yards. At the half of that Giants game, Tyrod Taylor had only 36 passing yards and Manning had 107! Tyrod looked very much like a rookie QB. Week 5 against the Titans Taylor had 28 yards passing at the half and his counterpart Marcus Mariota had 120 yards passing! Week 15 against the Washington Redskins Taylor had only 9 passing yards at the half compared to 182 for Kirk Cousins. My point being is this is a young QB still very much in the developmental process and in my opinion it would extremely hurtful to rush his development. Greg Roman is doing it right with Taylor and we watched him grow over the course of the 2015 season. From throwing to only the single covered receivers and not over the middle to hitting Watkins a lot in a game no matter where or what the coverage. Bills fans need to remember this is a 6th round draft pick and basically an after-thought at QB for a team. This wasn't a first or second round pick and he isn't a Marcus Mariota or Jamis Winston just yet. But give him some time and he may develop into a top NFL starting QB.

UPDATE! Nihilarian, on 06 Jan 2016 - 07:42 AM, said: San Fran, it came down to Shanahan or Kelly and with Kelly it was probably to try and resurrect Colin Kaepernick. About Doug Marrone, I get all the hate for the guy because he quit on the buffalo Bills. However this is was a such a good thing until the fools in the FO pushed their Rex Ryan agenda and now I hate him for quitting and leaving us with this loud mouth jerk. But then, If not for that loud mouth jerk who ruined a top 4 defense we wouldn't have Richie Incognito, Tyrod Taylor or Percy Harvin. Marrone does get a lot of interviews and also gets a lot of respect in NFL circles for what he was able to do in Buffalo in his two years. I'll really be surprised if he doesn't get a HCing job in Philly, TB, Tenn or Detroit. I think he is a better prospect then Mike Mularkey who also quit on Buffalo. Let's face it Jim Schwartz and Greg Roman aren't even getting interviews afaik.

NO! to Johnny Football = NO! to Colin Kaepernick= NO! to RG3=

Good stuff and I have to say I love what Tyrod was able to do this year in the offense. Still, there are many factors to be concerned about in the upcoming year. Bills OC Greg Roman did his due diligence in developing Taylor the proper way by limiting the passes and hopefully this continues for the 2016 season and the team doesn't try and rush that development. Taylor still has a lot of holes in his game that need to be filled in but he developed nicely so no reason to think he won't keep developing his craft. That said, now let's look back to the 2011 NFL draft and the following season in which read option QB Cam Newton and Colin Kaepernick broke so many records as rookies. Kaepernick took his team to the SB in 2012, and the NFC championship the following year. Then fast forward to the next years draft with RG3 going #2 overall and Russell Wilson going in the 3rd round. Now we have two superstar QB's out of those four in Wilson, Newton and two bums in RG3 and Kaepernick. Which will Tyrod Taylor end up as is the millions of dollars question and only time will tell.

UPDATE! 4 jobs left, maybe 5 Why in "thee" hell Hue Jackson took that Cleveland job I'll never know! Worse NFL head coaching job in the NFL by far. Perhaps because the Browns have the #2 pick overall in the 2016 NFL draft, and he will get his choice of QB to groom / develop. Now he wants Johnny football gone too.

The man probably wanted to disassociate himself from this clusterfluck of clowns who screwed up a top defense. The entire NFL along with very defensive coordinator in the league was watching how Wrex Ryan ruined a top 4-3 defense this past year. When Ryan is ultimately fired Donnie doesn't want to be noted as being among that band of fools who may never work in the NFL again. FEEL THE RUSH...of D line players dropping into pass coverage.