Archives for September 2016

'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.”'

'Since the NFL went to a 12-team playoff format in 1990, only 12 percent of teams that started 0-2 went on to qualify for the postseason.'

'It shouldn’t be long before another word, tank, works its way back into the local vernacular and ignites another tumultuous season. I’m sure there are enough people out there who have identified the next generational football player. Here’s hoping they realize it takes more than a Heisman Trophy winner to build a playoff team.'

'You could argue the Ryans should be spending every waking moment trying to fix the Bills after their 0-2 start, but I'm fine with this. Family moments are important and this is a rare break in the Bills' schedule that Rex had to get down to Clemson.'

'As I’ve stated many times, in every form of media known to mankind, I think it would be stupid to pull the plug on the Ryan Era during this season, or even after the season, because firing coaches every two or three years and hitting the reboot button is a proven GPS setting that will lead to a 16-year playoff drought that, as the joke goes, is now old enough to drive.'