Breaking News: Rex Ryan and Rob Ryan Fired

[Andrew Son]

 

Whatever you think of Rex, (certain) players basically admitting that they are not smart enough is not a good look for them or the team.

No as bad as the coach not realizing it

[Peter]

No as bad as the coach not realizing it

 

You guys got what you wanted. Rex is gone.

 

Sadly, we still have players that are so dumb they are even admitting it to the media. We are still stuck with these guys . . . as is whoever is our next HC.

[Peter]

I got news for you.

 

A lot of football players are dumb.

 

In this case, so dumb that they cannot run a defense that other dumb football players were able to run and so dumb that they did not even realize that they admitted just how stupid they are to Ty Dunne.

[MAJBobby]

 

Whatever you think of Rex, (certain) players basically admitting that they are not smart enough is not a good look for them or the team.

Yeah that's exactly what it says lol

 

Or it says Rex so married to an antiquated scheme that he stole from papa he doesnt know how to adjust it to player skill sets.

 

Instead needs a his perfect player in each position

Edited December 30, 2016 by MAJBobby

[NoSaint]

 

In this case, so dumb that they cannot run a defense that other dumb football players were able to run and so dumb that they did not even realize that they admitted just how stupid they are to Ty Dunne.

If you measure guys on size, speed, health, character and smarts.... well your only getting guys scoring high on all 5 in the top ten. That means you are compromising always and with our current limitations on practice time I'll put reliable athletes in simple schemes with highly disciplined coaching.

[Peter]

Yeah that's exactly what it says lol

 

Or it says Rex so married to an antiquated scheme that he stole from papa he doesnt know how to adjust it to player skill sets.

 

Instead needs a his perfect player in each position

 

 

If you measure guys on size, speed, health, character and smarts.... well your only getting guys scoring high on all 5 in the top ten. That means you are compromising always and with our current limitations on practice time I'll put reliable athletes in simple schemes with highly disciplined coaching.

Ok guys. Whatever.

 

I guess it is just me. For some reason, I think that it would be nice to have players that have some football smarts and are not so eager to admit just how stupid they are to the media or are so stupid they did not realize they admitted this to Ty Dunne.

Edited December 30, 2016 by Peter

[NoSaint]

 

 

Ok guys. Whatever.

 

I guess it is just me. For some reason, I think that it would be nice to have players that have some football smarts and are not so eager to admit just how stupid they are to the media or are so stupid they did not realize they admitted this to Ty Dunne.

I'd imagine they have a bit of smarts still. But if just looking for very good players instead of all time greats to stock a defense which would you bend on?

[Peter]

I'd imagine they have a bit of smarts still. But if just looking for very good players instead of all time greats to stock a defense which would you bend on?

 

The other thing that I have learned in the past few days (from someone else) is that it also is too much to expect an NFL defensive player to know how to tackle.

 

I guess I may be too demanding as a coach.

[Augie]

The bouncing into vs tackling thing drove me crazy, for the record. I mean......they need to attend peewee games where it's done better.

[Big C]

There is nothing inherently wrong with Rex'so scheme, it just under utilizes dominant talented in the front 4-7. It's a more passive scheme and it's not necessary when you have the physical talent. Our roster was built more on physicality than savvy and that's why it was a bad fit.

 

The tackling should have been drilled in practice and obviously wasn't.

[Kelly the Dog]

There is nothing inherently wrong with Rex'so scheme, it just under utilizes dominant talented in the front 4-7. It's a more passive scheme and it's not necessary when you have the physical talent. Our roster was built more on physicality than savvy and that's why it was a bad fit.

The tackling should have been drilled in practice and obviously wasn't.

When Rex was "good" he put 5-6-7-8 guys on the LOS, you never knew where the blitzes were coming from, the offense was confused, the front seven put tremendous pressure on the QBs and forced him into endless mistakes.

 

We never got that here. I remember about three games over two years when the defense was exotic, blitzed a lot, confused the offense, and we took control of the game. And I would immediately say to the guys I watch the games with that finally he is playing his defense. But it was so rare.

 

This year he hardly ever pressured the quarterback. He didn't blitz much. He rushed three as much or more than he rushed five or six. We had no exotic blitzes. When Pettine was here, running most of Rex's defense and Nickel Robey was a rookie, he blitzed often and was a terror. When Schwartz came it he rarely blitzed CBs and Robey wasn't as effective as he was as a rookie. When Rex came in I remember saying to the guys I watch the games with that Robey is going to be a terror in this defense. And in two years I don't remember Robey blitzing off the edge more than two times. I just don't understand it. Rex was never Rex. So why was he here?

[Big C]

When Rex was "good" he put 5-6-7-8 guys on the LOS, you never knew where the blitzes were coming from, the offense was confused, the front seven put tremendous pressure on the QBs and forced him into endless mistakes.

 

We never got that here. I remember about three games over two years when the defense was exotic, blitzed a lot, confused the offense, and we took control of the game. And I would immediately say to the guys I watch the games with that finally he is playing his defense. But it was so rare.

 

This year he hardly ever pressured the quarterback. He didn't blitz much. He rushed three as much or more than he rushed five or six. We had no exotic blitzes. When Pettine was here, running most of Rex's defense and Nickel Robey was a rookie, he blitzed often and was a terror. When Schwartz came it he rarely blitzed CBs and Robey wasn't as effective as he was as a rookie. When Rex came in I remember saying to the guys I watch the games with that Robey is going to be a terror in this defense. And in two years I don't remember Robey blitzing off the edge more than two times. I just don't understand it. Rex was never Rex. So why was he here?

 

Good points all around. Though if we are using the term "blitz" to mean send more than the usual ~4 guys, I don't know how often that was true. I think in total the usual 3-4 guys actually rushed but from different positions. Rex's defenses never really generated sacks, but they forced mistakes vis a vis incompletions, interceptions, etc. Either way, that's not what we saw here. I remember watching those defenses in NY and being kind of enthralled with the looks and then being kind of puzzled with how uninteresting and, more importantly, weak our defenses looked here. I remember seeing the classic Rex D in that MNF game against New England though. And the boys executed it very well. If they could do it against the Pats, why wouldn't we be doing that every week? I really have no idea what to make of it.

 

That being said, I

[Nihilarian]

When Rex was "good" he put 5-6-7-8 guys on the LOS, you never knew where the blitzes were coming from, the offense was confused, the front seven put tremendous pressure on the QBs and forced him into endless mistakes.

 

We never got that here. I remember about three games over two years when the defense was exotic, blitzed a lot, confused the offense, and we took control of the game. And I would immediately say to the guys I watch the games with that finally he is playing his defense. But it was so rare.

 

This year he hardly ever pressured the quarterback. He didn't blitz much. He rushed three as much or more than he rushed five or six. We had no exotic blitzes. When Pettine was here, running most of Rex's defense and Nickel Robey was a rookie, he blitzed often and was a terror. When Schwartz came it he rarely blitzed CBs and Robey wasn't as effective as he was as a rookie. When Rex came in I remember saying to the guys I watch the games with that Robey is going to be a terror in this defense. And in two years I don't remember Robey blitzing off the edge more than two times. I just don't understand it. Rex was never Rex. So why was he here?

What made Rex Ryan's defense so good in 2009 was he ran an "overload defense" that meant he usually always had an extra defensive player on the line that could come free after the QB. In 2009 he blitzed around 55% of the time and he fielded the #1 defense in points, yards allowed because teams just weren't prepared to face all that heavy blitzing. As teams learned to adjust to all that blitzing Ryan found he couldn't get away with it so much so it started to decline to 50% in 2010 and around 35% thereafter 2011 to 30% in 2014.

 

 

That first season in Buffalo with Rex I almost got the impression that the guy was a true blue Jets fan and he loved Jets owner Woody Johnson who gave him more chances than he gave Eric Mangini who he replaced with Ryan after a 9-7 season. Let's not forget that Rex got a tattoo of his wife wearing a NY Jets Mark Sanchez jersey!

 

His time in Buffalo could have been nothing more than a facade to dupe Western NY fans and the new team owners. That first year with being 31st in sacks I just couldn't get it out of my head that Rex saw Doug Marrone walk away and still get paid 4 million and perhaps he was hoping to be fired and be able to keep the remainder of his contract and get another job. Now he finally gets fired after two seasons in Buffalo and still gets paid for another three years at 5.5 mill per and as long as he doesn't take another head coaching job it's all good.

 

NAAA, he isn't that devious or that devoted to the team that canned him in NYC. We saw that in the revenge game in 2015 where the Bills beat the Jets 2x and the second time knocking them out of the playoffs. Rex Ryan delighted in beating his old team and sweeping the Dolphins too.

 

 

The reality is that when Rex Ryan put 100% effort into winning a game we all saw a great effort by the entire team. We saw it against the Colts in the opener in which Andrew Luck was under heavy pass rush pressure on 50% of his dropbacks and then we didn't see that effort into a game plan again until the Miami game with a 41-14 win. We saw another good team effort against the Dolphins again in week 9 and against the Jets in week 10, both wins. We all saw an amazing job against the Patriots in that second game and Old Tom was so upset he was screaming at his O-linemen.

 

Still, the Bills were lacking in sacks simply because the defensive play caller was not calling blitzes and were far more concerned with stopping the run over rushing the QB. This could be the result of Ryan seeing what effect Mike Pettine's defense had done in 2013 by copying his own Jets defensive game plan in which the Bills were #2 in sacks and #28 against the run that year. (2013)

 

This year after turning over the defensive play calling to Dennis Thurman the team went back to the old Jets ways of rushing the passer and for the first half of the season, the Bills had the leading pass rusher and also led the NFL in sacks. What happened then was teams started to run on them and when the Bills moved the safeties up to help with the run that left the corners in man coverage. The Bills CB's not used to playing so much man coverage and teams have learned how to beat man coverage so unless you have a Revis they will get beaten eventually.

 

This year resembles the 2013 season as that year the Bills were 4th in yards against the pass and 28th against the run. This year the defense is 7th against the pass and 28th against the run, 31st in allowing rushing TD's.

 

 

My take on this whole Rex Ryan thing is that in NY Rex inherited an Eric Mangini defense that was already loaded with some quality defensive players and was already running a 3-4 scheme. (Let's not forget Mangini went 9-7 the year he was fired.) Rex brought in a few of his players that knew his scheme and could call the plays, set the defensive while blitzing like crazy. In Buffalo, he didn't have the players to fit his scheme and kept attempting to replicate what Jim Schwartz had done in 2014 by just rushing four and not blitzing.

 

Bottom line here is Rex Ryan is simply not a very good HC or DC anymore as his defensive scheme is outdated as teams have learned how to defeat it and he only knows that one scheme. How many years now have the Steelers run that 3-4 zone blitz? How many years have the Ravens run their 3-4? Both these teams have a bunch of #1 picks at linebacker whereas the Bills had most of their all pro talent on the D-line and Ryan failed to figure out how to get the most out of them.

 

Hiring a 4-12 coach was a blatantly stupid move and the people involved in that hiring should be fired for it just as the head coach was fired. Giving Marrone a 4 million dollar walk away clause was a stupid move. Giving Rex Ryan a 5 year 27.5 million dollar contract was a stupid move. How long will the stupidity keep going?

[GunnerBill]

 

The other thing that I have learned in the past few days (from someone else) is that it also is too much to expect an NFL defensive player to know how to tackle.

 

I guess I may be too demanding as a coach.

Take it from someone who has coached. Coaching in any sport is about putting your players in the best position to succeed. Accentuating their positives and hiding their limitations. In some cases that will mean continuing the practice "fundamentals" consistently. It might also mean, for example, designing a scheme that suits your players brain limitations.

 

I'll give you an example from my soccer experience. I generally prefer my central defenders to play zonal - one plays left and one plays right and they generally hold poistion and pick up player who come into that area, if one player pulls off one centre half into the others zone he comes across and picks him up.

 

The first job I got when I took over I thought wow I have two top centre backs for the level, tall, good in air, powerful and quick. After 3 games we ha conceded 9 goals and I realised they couldn't play zonally. They didn't read the game well enough and passing men on really confused them. You can't just say "well get rid of them I'll go get other guys who fit my system" you have to adapt. I let them just go man for man after that and they became the dominant players I expected.

[Nanker]

When Rex was "good" he put 5-6-7-8 guys on the LOS, you never knew where the blitzes were coming from, the offense was confused, the front seven put tremendous pressure on the QBs and forced him into endless mistakes.

 

We never got that here. I remember about three games over two years when the defense was exotic, blitzed a lot, confused the offense, and we took control of the game. And I would immediately say to the guys I watch the games with that finally he is playing his defense. But it was so rare.

 

This year he hardly ever pressured the quarterback. He didn't blitz much. He rushed three as much or more than he rushed five or six. We had no exotic blitzes. When Pettine was here, running most of Rex's defense and Nickel Robey was a rookie, he blitzed often and was a terror. When Schwartz came it he rarely blitzed CBs and Robey wasn't as effective as he was as a rookie. When Rex came in I remember saying to the guys I watch the games with that Robey is going to be a terror in this defense. And in two years I don't remember Robey blitzing off the edge more than two times. I just don't understand it. Rex was never Rex. So why was he here?

The dummies he inherited didn't buy in to his D. Being a "Player's Coach" he backed off spoon feeding them classroom learning and dumbed down his schemes. He should have gotten into some faces - like Mario's and Marcel's and read them the riot act and sat their azzes until they did their job. He had the inmates running the asylum, players playing the game the way THEY wanted to play it - if at all - but not to the level of where they could be weapons in his schemes. Not having a Jim Leonard hurt. Closest to that type of a backfield master sergeant was Aaron Williams.

[Billschinatown]

The dummies he inherited didn't buy in to his D. Being a "Player's Coach" he backed off spoon feeding them classroom learning and dumbed down his schemes. He should have gotten into some faces - like Mario's and Marcel's and read them the riot act and sat their azzes until they did their job. He had the inmates running the asylum, players playing the game the way THEY wanted to play it - if at all - but not to the level of where they could be weapons in his schemes. Not having a Jim Leonard hurt. Closest to that type of a backfield master sergeant was Aaron Williams.

Rex dog biscuit ryan is a genius and they are idiots? Lol..

[GunnerBill]

I don't think the Bills did enough homework when they hired Rex.

 

I live in NY. I've seen Rexs defense over the years. I was concerned the scheme wouldn't be a good fit for the players here. I thought well hopefully Rex will scheme to the players he has here. He never did.

 

It was stupid to let a defensive coordinator and scheme go that fit so well with the players here.

I had concerns about both his scheme and his coaching style. Sadly they proved accurate.

[NoSaint]

I don't think the Bills did enough homework when they hired Rex.

 

I live in NY. I've seen Rexs defense over the years. I was concerned the scheme wouldn't be a good fit for the players here. I thought well hopefully Rex will scheme to the players he has here. He never did.

 

It was stupid to let a defensive coordinator and scheme go that fit so well with the players here.

I'll admit that despite having the same concerns I was able to talk myself into "Rex is such a smart defensive guy that he can't mess this group up"

 

Oops.

[Nihilarian]

I might also add that when the chips were down in 2015 and he had enough desire to win the man could put together some pretty good game plans and execute them. Jets 2x, Dolphins 2x, Patriots second game.

 

This season it often looked like he could shive two gits about winning games as he put forth little effort on defense at times. It's like this season he is at a time in his life where he would rather just sit back and enjoy that 5.5 mill per and not work hard to win. Besides beating up the losing teams and QB's I think the best defensive effort of the season came against the Ravens in that first game.

 

The biggest problem was that the Bills Ryan inherited were more suited to run a 4-3 scheme player wise and he simply couldn't adapt to that scheme. Kinda sad really considering his father was the master at building a dominate 4-3.

I'll admit that despite having the same concerns I was able to talk myself into "Rex is such a smart defensive guy that he can't mess this group up"

Oops.

Hey man, I think the entire Buffalo Bills fan base, including myself, bought into his hype of the playoffs, #1 defense in 2015. After all the team had just gone 9-7 and the defense was #4 overall.

[Dorkington]

I'll admit that despite having the same concerns I was able to talk myself into "Rex is such a smart defensive guy that he can't mess this group up"

 

Oops.

Same.

 

I'm going to do my best to be more objective going forward, I can't take this let down anymore.