The Big Cat

Because the defense isn't "ruined." That's an over exaggeration just like him being an 'awful' game day coach, two assertions you've made which make me highly skeptical of your objectivity on the matter. There's no use explaining anything to you. You won't listen to it.

Correct. Bills fans are furious with the change...in hindsight. These concerns were fairly nonexistent in February.

I see. So you've returned from 2019 to tell us what to expect. Had I known!

When the coach is extremely good at what he does (coach defense), yes. I'm sorry, but you're quite conveniently ignoring the fact that even as mediocre as the defense has been, it's still WAY worse than any he's ever coached before. There is all the evidence in the world to support the notion that Rex Ryan the coach will more reliably turn around the defense than the players will. Let's talk about 13 to 14 to 15. More or less the same players, yet only one of those seasons stands out as a stellar performance. So why would we assume that 14 wsa what we should expect from the players? Meanwhile, Rex has more than a decade of success under his belt coaching defenses and this year it just didn't happen.

I understand your point, but I think you're stretching quite a bit to equate a pick six (it wasn't tipped, Orton straight through the ball to CB who jumped the route in the flat), with FG misses, indoors of 44, 47 and 50 yards. Not to mention, on top of all that, the play that kept the game alive was this ridiculousness: I understand crazy plays some times affect the outcome of games and "that's football." But jeebus, we had a highly uncharacteristic number of weird, fluky plays go our way in that day.

Coaching turnover is not better than roster turnover. That's empirically wrong. Bolded is only true in the technical sense. Otherwise, it's a gross mischaracterization of that defense which straight lost the Bills games in 2013.

I'll happily agree that there isn't any tangible evidence to be optimistic the D will turn it around. We don't have a space eating NT, we don't have good safeties and our LB's are a liability. But those are all talent issues. The only cause for optimism that I see is that this year's defense is a Rex Ryan aberration. And it's not even close. Statistically, this is his worst defensive unit BY A MILE. So, if you have faith that the rest of his career was more indicative of what we should actually expect, then there's no reason to burn the barn down to kill a spider. On the flipside, this year's offense has been equally uncharacteristic of Rex Ryan. Good GOD I hope they don't get the defense square only to have the offense then normalize too!! I am legitimately concerned about this, but only because I'm a Bills fan. With all the same pieces in place next year, there's no reason to expect that to happen, other than the fact that Bills fans have been conditioned to expect the unexpected...like a sub-par Rex Ryan defense. Come on. NOBODY expected that. It seems that some fans have eyes that see what they tell them to.

There is no "how it is." If there were, this board and discussion, in general, wouldn't exist. Your perspective is not correct and neither is mine.

And yet we're on pace to finish the year with only six fewer turnovers. And considering six of last year's (or 20%) came in one game against the Jets, I really don't see how we can point to a sustained dip in turnovers as a marked difference between last year and this year.

Other than the fact that kick coverage is number one in the NFL. But whatevs.

Oh how fondly we remember that suffocating defense from 2014 that helped us go: 4-0 against the NFC North: Overtime win against a crappy Bears team Fluky missed-FG squeaker against a good Lions team Last minute TD win over crappy Minnesota team Legit solid performance against GB (in which Nelson dropped a sure TD, but whatevs) 3.5-2.5 against our own division Two wins over a spiraling Jets squad A win over an unheralded Dolphins squad A week 17 meaningless win over the Pats* backups 0-4 against the AFC West Which details would you prefer? We lost them all. 1-1 against our flex opponents Win was against the Hapless Browns. Can we please stop talking about the 2014 team as if it was really all that and a bag of chips? And please stop referring to a defense that hemorrhaged stats as something it was not? I'm not saying we should ingore the team's success or throw it all out, but come on. The success of that team is greatly over exaggerated to bolster the critiques of this year's.

I don't understand fans like you. This team brings you so much displeasure that you're compelled to take to the Internet and type about it to strangers. Why not find a new hobby?

You insinuated that the way the Jets crumbled during Rex's time was an argument against continuity. I said that was way over simplified. I noted the GM change (when the wheels totally came off) and the cycle of OC's and QB's he had. You then said he was to blame for those offenses. I countered by saying he found a way to get it right in Buffalo and provided the evidence that in year one they out performed--by far--anything he did in NYJ. And now you're asking how that's relevant, so here I am explaining why.

You're so much stronger than me. I want to find that funny. I just can't. I just can't. No you're not. You're dying to skew this discussion in another half dozen bizarre and tangential directions then blame me when you can't keep pace. We've done this a hundred times. It's exhausting.

Give them all the reasons you like. No matter how reasonable they may be, they're either invalid or reduced to "excuses" so long as you're not simply asserting what they want to hear: that Rex Ryan is a blubbering, rubberized sausage casing filled with hot air and pictures of his wife's feet. That's the only "reason" they'll entertain for this being a disappointing season.

That would make six DC's in as many years. You don't honestly think that is more likely to be positive than continuity, do you? Oh, sure. Use the team with the GOAT QB to make your point.

A missed tackle does not an overall poor defensive performance make. Had he made the tackle, Eli would have been held under 200 yards on the day. Okay, fine, that does virtually nothing to take away from any of my points. Quantifiably false: @ChrisTrapasso Perspective: In 2014: #Bills D starters missed total of 13 games due to injury. In 2015 thru Week 14: #Bills D starters have missed 29 games http://twitter.com/C...445403626115073

Then they shouldn't have hired Rex. Do you have a link to where you voiced this concern last January?

No it didn't. Aaron Williams played for all of seven quarters which included the suffocating win over the Colts. Kyle Williams went out during the Cincy game, meaning Patriots game aside, the defense had stout performances in all the games he played in: Indy, Miami, NYG, Ten. And Nigel Bradham's injury literally opened up the middle of the field for KC to march up and down the field willy nilly in that game.

Well, one thing has been constant during the playoff drought and it's the one thing fans want more of. So bring on the changes. Let's blow the !@#$ing thing up. Take a page straight from the Cleveland playbook. If you're aruging against continuity, this is what you're arguing for. And to answer your question, I think it could actually be argued that few teams in the history of the NFL have complicated their schemes more so in 12 months than the Bills just have. From Hackett to Roman--you really want to argue this one?--and from Schwartz to Ryan--players past and present have called Rex's scheme intricate and complicated and Schwartz, by his own admission, runs a very simple one. So, yeah, it's quite plausible that no other team has been asked to learn more between seasons. It's not an excuse. There is empirical evidence to support the merits of continuity. It's not an excuse. And no, the defense that's been out it's pro bowl DT, the unit's unquestioned leader, it's starting SS, a starting linebacker and now it's CB1 has not improved as the season has gone on. You can ignore other factors to make your point all you want, that doesn't mean they've gone away. Likewise, to argue that the Bills are on pace to set a record in penalties due entirely to their own stupidity, that each and every call against them has been right and just is just plain obstinant.

I actually have addressed your other points in other threads, but it's very much worth revisiting here since you, like the vast majority of Internet Bills fans fail to understand the correlation between lack of continuity which leads to scheme upheaval which leads to learning curves which leads to players playing with a lack of certainty which leads to compromised focus and concentration which leads to being a half step behind which leads to overcompensation which leads to errors and/or penalties. When we just call them "mental errors" or we decide that penalties and miscues are simply symptomatic of being "undisciplined" we're not taking the time necessary to really explore the causes of our problems.

Really? He had better offenses in NYJ at any point? Funny, the numbers don't suggest so:

How does Rex's offense compare this year to any of the ones he had in New York?

Whoa whoa whoa. Complicated, ambiguous feelings? I'm sorry, sir. This is the internet. There's no place for you here.

Our coaches change once every 2.5 years, and they're never the same. But if you ask Bills fans to answer the question of what they like in a coach, the response never changes: whatever's different from our guy.