Archives for September 19, 2016

'It's hardly a reach to think that, given the chance to explain to the big bosses why their production has mostly been ordinary, Taylor and others cited Roman's strategic shortcomings. Better to say that than, "No, you two are really wasting your money on us."'

'Ryan referred to Greg Roman as "tremendous" and "outstanding" on Friday after he talked about dismissing the coach. Although firing someone can never be easy, it sounds as though Ryan and Roman ended on as good of terms as possible.'

'It’ll be 10 days between games. The season isn’t over, but the playoffs are a long shot now. Teams starting 0-2 have approximately a 12 percent chance of making the playoffs. In fact two teams did it just last season, the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans. There’s 14 more chances for the 2016 Bills to get it right, and they better for their head coach.'

'It was “my move, without question” a desperate Ryan said, putting all the responsibility — and blame, and credit — for this season onto himself.'

'The meetings — involving key players such as quarterback Tyrod Taylor and others — were to get a sense of what was wrong with the offense, including play-calling, according to the report.'

'After Roman, and all the Bills coaches and players posed for the picture, head coach Rex Ryan informed Roman that he was relieving him of his duties.'

'When his bosses are going behind his back and meeting with his employees it's a very bad sign.'

'"I have nothing but respect for coach Ryan and I thought we had a great working relationship," Roman said Sunday afternoon in a telephone interview. "We met and he informed me of his decision. I thought it was handled very professionally. We then discussed how we could best make this work for everybody moving forward."'

'But Rex has problems you can’t charm away with a dose of personality and feature stories. He’s got to win and that hasn’t been happening for him. For the first time in eight years as a head coach Ryan has started the season 0-2. Bills ownership is dissatisfied. The hammer dropped on offensive coordinator Greg Roman. He was fired the day after the Bills’ Thursday night loss to the Jets. That move might shake things up. Will it turn the Bills into winners?'

'Additionally, I’m told Ryan and other high-ranking members of the organization, including owners Terry and Kim Pegula, had met several times over the course of the offseason to address these concerns.'

'The Bills fired the highest paid offensive coordinator in the NFL on Friday, and did it after taking the team picture, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.'

'Rex Ryan — the coach who said the decision to fire Roman two games into the season was "my move, without question" — was not present for these meetings. He wasn't in the room. Ryan also wasn't pleased when he learned of the nature of them, according to one source briefed on his thinking.'

'“We just have to pick back up,” said Jerry Hughes. “We aren’t calling some things right. So we have to fight. We have to scratch to figure how we are going to get some wins. We have to figure out something. We have a long weekend so we will be able to put something together.”'