hondo in seattle

By the way, Dunne's article on Tyrod is excellent. http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/184534-vote-for-tyrod-for-tvp/

The Chiefs put up 31 on us but only 10 on the Pack. While we lost to the Chiefs 31-7, they lost to Green Bay 35-10. We were better in '64 and '65 than we were that year. Our D was good in '66 but KC's offense had a lot more weapons. And they still struggled to score on the Pack.

Yep. I really disliked the guy when he came out of college. But then I read a couple articles where he sounded like a good guy who occasionally does really dumb/bad things. He's more of a mental case than a criminal.

Your conclusions are based on a non-random sample of two? Well, I guess that nails it. No room for debate here.

And Dr. Z? I know he quit writing because of a stroke. But haven't heard any updates.

Small sample but nice research. Continuity really matters when you have the right front office and right coaching staff. And that's the challenge. When the wins aren't coming yet, how do you know? The Lions, to give one egregious example, left Matt Millen in charge for 7 years in the name of continuity. They could have given him 20, it would have never gotten better. But I'm all in favor of giving DW and Rex a chance to build something, despite how inauspicious Rex's first season was. One season doesn't define a coach.

Who says Marrone is whining? I doubt if Sexton is working very hard on Marrone's behalf. He's set up a few interviews, answered a few inquiries, probably plugged Marrone a bit when he's been on calls. Marrone was a mediocre HC here in Buffalo but he's still employable in the NFL. As long as he is, it makes sense for Sexton to keep him on as a client. Agents make money on any coach who can land a job, not just head coaches.

With Ed Reed coming in and Dennis Thurman supposedly being pushed down, did Donnie Hendersen become expendable? Tim McDonald is also a DB coach with the Bills. He seems to be the forgotten man though his resume as a player isn't shabby either: 6 Pro Bowls and a Super Bowl ring. If the stories of Dennis working primarily with the secondary this year are true, that gives us three guys working with the defensive backfield. All three are ex-players and all three have made the Pro Bowl. “Being that I was a player and I studied the game the way I studied it, I don't feel like it might take as long as it does for certain coaches." ~ Ed Reed.

I was alive then but too young to form an opinion. My first Bills memory - a couple years later - is of Mini Max Andersen taking a hit and swallowing his tongue. It's too bad the Bills won the AFL Championship the two years before the first SB but not that year. We were very close to playing in the first SB.

None of us know how effective the defensive coaching staff will be in 2016. We're not insiders. We have some vague knowledge of the capability of DCs, OCs and HCs. But very, very few of us can say anything intelligent about position coaches. We know what we read and that's about it. As if what we read on sports websites is actually reliable. What we see on the field is dependent on so many variables (scheme, athletic ability, personal distractions, the HC's and DC's plan for offseason preparation and game week preparation, the kids' 'coachability' and so on), it's hard to evaluate how well coached these kids are by their position coaches. Donnie seemed like a good position coach. Ever now and then you'd hear a player praising him. Then again, virtually all position coaches are praised by some player or another. It will be interesting to hear what the players say about the departing coaches. It will be more interesting to see how they'll perform under new coaches. I won't pretend to know what to expect.

I'm still waiting to see what Rob Ryan's role will be but I'm expecting he will be kind of the de facto DC, running Rex's D, and pushing Thurman to more of a position coach (DBs). Rob's track record as a DC isn't good. But here's what Phil Simms had to say about Rob getting fired from NO... “You know once they fired Rob Ryan, the defense didn’t get any better. When you’ve got a horse that is slow, it ain’t going to win the Kentucky Derby. I don’t know what anybody expected from the New Orleans Saints. I did a game of theirs. I remember looking at their roster and going, ‘ok, it is right where it should be on the defensive side.'” He also said, "Rob makes Rex look like he is introverted so it is going to be interesting. Knowledge, communication with the players and energy, all that is going to help. I think it is a really good hire.” http://talkintv.buffalonews.com/2016/01/12/cbs-simms-rexs-hiring-of-rob-is-a-positive-development-for-bills/

It's true that Rex runs the D but Rex is also the Head Coach. Rex sometimes needs time away from the defense. Sometimes he's going to be in meetings with DW or other OBD folks. Sometimes he's going to spend time with the offense. Sometimes he's going to be busy with admin or PR tasks. So he needs a day-to-day DC to run practices, manage the defensive coaching staff, and so on. That person (Rob or Thurman) will not have as much input as an independent DC working for an offensive HC. But the role is still important.

If nothing else, it's an interesting off-season already. Rex promised big changes. Some thought he'd shake up the roster. But he's shaking up the coaching staff.

Has Rob's hiring have anything to do with Donnie's leaving? Donnie wants authority. But with Rob on the staff, there are now three guys (Ryan, Ryan, Thurman) with more voice in the defense than Donnie. Donnie may want to go somewhere where he has a bigger say in things.

Rex is an eternal optimist. I bet he explained that he builds a D around the players, not vice-versa. I'm guessing he saw himself as the architect of some hybrid system that would get the most out of the players on the roster. It didn't work in the end. But Rex probably had a lot of enthusiasm in the beginning.

Donnie Henderson is leaving. There's a big change. Not a good one.

The good news is that I'm going into 2016 with much lower expectations. It will be much harder for Rex to disappoint me this season. Good luck to Donnie!

So who gets cut? And who gets signed?

Rex says... "We’re going to do things much differently next year, and we’re going to be better because of it. In a way, I tried to merge a couple of things, you know, two systems and things like that. And quite honestly, it didn’t work, so we’re going to be all in, we’re going to play Buffalo Bill defense, and we’re not going to be fun to play." What does Rex exactly mean and what are the ramifications?

Favorite Rob Ryan quote - when he was fired by the Saints: "Something had to be done. Right now the defense is ranked 33rd in the league and there's only 32 teams."

You're right. Fixed now.

Kelly, I usually agree with you but I'm not certain that - in this case - Assistant Coach means zero. It may be that Rex wants Rob to have authority over Thurman. In other words, maybe Rex wants Rob to run the D. Rather than demoting Thurman, maybe Rex purposefully gave Rob a more exalted title. Let's remember that Rex did not give Thurman a ringing endorsement at the end of the season. Even if it's not Rex's intent to place Rob over Thurman, it may become the reality. Rob has better access to Rex and a longer, closer relationship. This could become a power struggle. And while Thurman was not impressive in his first year as the Bills DC, I trust Rob to run a good defense even less.

Rob Ryan has been a DC for 12 years in the NFL. On average, his defenses have ranked 22nd in yards allowed. He finished in the bottom half of the NFL 9 of 12 seasons. Oakland 2004 #30 2005 #27 2006 #3 2007 #22 2008 #27 Cleveland 2009 #31 2010 #22 Dallas 2011 #14 2012 #19 New Orleans 2012 #32 2013 #4 2014 #31 2015 #32 (when fired) The defenses he inherited weren't good either. The Raiders were ranked #30 the year before Rob arrived. The Browns #26. The Cowboys #23. The Saints #32. This might suggest he didn't have much talent to work with. But - with the exceptions of 2006 and 2013 - he never did much with the hand he was dealt either. Like most coaches, Rob has strengths and weaknesses. On balance, he made a poor DC. But if Rex finds a way to leverage Rob's strengths and avoid his weaknesses, maybe this can work. Just maybe.

That's why we all want to understand Rob's role. His track record as a DC isn't good. But will he simply be an adviser or role-player with the Bills? Will he have the job, for example, of breaking down opponents' offenses? Will he just be an extra pair of eyes - and extra voice - on the practice field? Will he work mostly the LBs (his job before becoming a DC)? Or - as the "Assistant Head Coach" - will he have real authority to make significant decisions and/or run the D? He's got enough NFL experience, he could probably be an asset in the right role. But his record says de facto DC is probably not the right role for him.

Rob Ryan has been hired four times as a DC. Obviously, he enjoys a decent reputation in the NFL. The NFL is very competitive - to stay employed as a DC for 11 straight years says something about how he's viewed by the league's HCs. His results, however, have been mixed and often just plain bad. Hired four times, fired four times. I think it's safe to say he knows a lot about NFL defenses. But is he a good teacher? A good tactician? I have no idea. I'm curious what role he'll play. I'd be happier if he was hired as a position coach instead of given a vague title. Vague chains of command can be problematic. And the nepotism thing bugs me. How is this perceived by the players? The coaching staff? Will Rex be able to hold his brother accountable? I'll grant there's a possibility that this could all work out. But I voted no, no, no.