Nihilarian

Man, if this guy is right... Yolo will be crying this year. Michigan might be the safest Playoff pick in the country; I don't think the Wolverines are the best team, but look at that schedule. 7-0 heading into East Lansing should be expected. 8-4 would be a disaster. The Wolverines should have a monstrous defense, and the only real Q is at quarterback, where there are decent options on paper. http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/6/28/12046584/bowl-projections-ncaa-football-playoff-predictions-lsu-clemson-michigan-tcu?yptr=yahoo And https://www.profootballfocus.com/college-why-michigan-could-have-college-footballs-best-defense-in-2016/

Like the man said, you are what your record says you are and the 2014 Buffalo Bills ended their season at 9-7 and the 2015 Buffalo Bills ended their season at 8-8. As much as I disliked Doug Marrone for his choice of offensive coordinators at least he didn't destroy an all pro area of the team by forcing his scheme down the players throats. Until this new owner eventually decides he shouldn't be the one making the choice of a new head coach hire and until Russ Brandon actually maintains his influence solely on the business side of the team I doubt this franchise ever sees the playoffs. In regards to the Buffalo Sabres, I can only hope your prognostication of the future of the team holds true because it seems like every year for the last few years I hear from Sabre fans that this should be their year. Those Sabres fans deserve better than near or at the bottom of the division. Let's hope Dan Bylsma can do for the Sabres what he did for Penguins.

Ask Bill from NYC about the lines those two years. In 2007 the line consisted of LT Jason Peters-LG Derrick Dockery-C Melvin Fowler-RG Brad Butler-RT Langston Walker. Peters was the only pro bowler on the line and quite frankly the rest absolutely stunk besides Butler who was around average at his best. Walker and Dockery were overpaid slugs and Fowler was almost completely useless. Marshawn Lynch did manage to get 1115 rushing yards in his rookie year with 7 TD's with a 4.0 YPC Avg. The problem was he was usually carrying two or three defenders on his back every yard after the line of scrimmage. 12th in rushing attempts and 15th in rushing yards. Rotoworld ranked this line 22nd for 2007 and that wasn't above average. http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nfl/30679/59/?pg=2 2008 the line consisted of LT Jason Peters- LG Derrick Dockery- C Duke Preston-RG Brad Butler- RT Langston Walker. Fowler was thankfully replaced after five game starts and his replacement in Preston also stunk. I can recall the Bills playing the NY Jets this year and it was on TV being announced by Phill Simms. Jets NT Kris Jenkins was triple teamed on one play by Preston, Butler, and Dockery and Jenkins was still able to get to the Bills QB. Hence the reason Dick Jauron drafted Center Eric Wood with a #1 pick and OG Andy Levitre with a #2 pick. 13th in rushing attempts and 14th in rushing yards that year. ESPN ranked this line 21st for 2008 and that wasn't above average. http://espn.go.com/fantasy/football/ffl/story?id=3447747 Having one or two above average players, or in the 2015 & 2012 Buffalo Bills case, it was three players, still doesn't make an elite line. Although ranked above average, It takes five players working in unison to make a top competent line. Only one pro bowl line player from those two seasons and Richie Incognito graded as the very best OG in the league.

First, let me say that I love Fred Jackson and think the world of the man. Freddy only really had three solid years of playing and only one, one thousand yard season. Fred never did play a full sixteen game season either as the starting RB. Fred played nine seasons in the NFL and he never was really healthy long enough to be that rock solid starter needed with only three years with over 200 carries. By comparison, Thurman had 9 seasons with over 200 carries with 5 of those close to 300 carries and 2 seasons of over 300 carries. In his 12 years in Buffalo, he had eight 1000 yard seasons. His sixteen thousand yards from scrimmage in 12 years is more than double Freddy's 8,643 in 8 years. What a lot of people don't know about Thurman Thomas is that he played injured every game of every year in his career. He had played on bad ankles in college and that stayed with him all throughout his NFL career. He would tape them up and take a shot, then go out and play. Let's not forget the kid who kept Barry Sanders on the bench at Oklahoma St, and his head coach with the State Cowboys was Jimmy Johnson. Thurman Thomas was in a class by himself and had other teams QB's like the Miami Dolphins Dan Marino and Denver's John Elway both stating that they wished that had a RB with Thurman's talent on their teams. Jeez Kirby, Harbaugh took over a freaking 1-11 team in 2006 that was a complete trainwreck and got them to a 12-1 record with an Orange Bowl win over VT in four years! I'd say that's a pretty big win. Let's also not forget that he recruited Andrew Luck and developed him into the QB he is today. Now because he didn't win a super bowl with the 49ers he is not as good as some of those other coaches? Not a lot of college coaches have come into the NFL and had the success he had so quickly. I can only dream the Buffalo Bills find a head coach as good as Harbaugh to take the Bills to a 13-3 record his first year and go to a super bowl in only his second season.

When was the last time you saw Tom Brady throw for 8 of 16 for 80 yards and no TD's in the first half of any game? Pulling the Patriots players wasn't a forgone conclusion before the game as I'm fairly certain Belichick wanted to win the game and at the half thought it would be more prudent to avoid needless injuries. The Bills actually had a ferocious pass rush that year and teams just didn't want to face that Buffalo front four! It wasn't a meaningless win to the Buffalo Bills players or their fans and like I said the Patriots starters played the first half and were getting nowhere against that #4 Bills defense. About the only time, I ever see Bills fans bemoan the fact that the 2014 Buffalo Bills finally had a winning season in the last 10 years and had beaten the Patriots in New England are the fans who want to belittle those accomplishments to further their arguments. Oh, so because the Sabres played better in the second half of the season despite finishing 7th out of 8. That they have now turned the corner and will start having playoff seasons again? Good to know. I was sceptical at first due to the way the Bills beat the Jets 2x so profoundly in 2014 and Ryan's Jets finished 4-12. However, I bought into the hype of the head coach and players stating that they could have the number one defense in the league and could be special, as in 85 bears special. That this team was going to the playoffs in 2015! About halfway through the 2015 season, I came away thinking that about the only thing Rex Ryan is good at working... is his mouth. After that week two debacle against the Patriots in which Tom Brady set a Buffalo Bills single-game passing record of yards allowed (466) I realized this team isn't going to be special this year. Maybe short bus special. But not anywhere near 85 Bears special. All the complaining about Ryan's defensive I had read about from the teams best defensive player since training camp became a real issue. Then the teams best pass rusher joined him in complaining about how he also was being utilized in Ryan's scheme. These weren't scrubs doing the complaining either as both these men were coming off pro bowl seasons and are considered some of the best players in the entire NFL. Now I've come to the conclusion that this new hire is nothing more than a con man whose better days at being an NFL head coach ended 5 seasons ago. It wasn't just the defensive disaster in which Ryan did exactly what he said he wouldn't do in the square peg, round hole thing with the defense. Took a championship caliber defense and castrated it because the players didn't fit his scheme. That he was going to run his scheme his way no matter what. If the problem with Rex Ryan was just the defense, then replacing the current players with players that fit his scheme should eventually create a somewhat decent defense in yardage. However, his defenses the last five years haven't been that good in points allowed and have been around 20th in the league in points allowed every year. This tells me that 4merper4mer has it right, that Ryan's defensive scheme no longer works in today's NFL. Also, there is a multitude of other problems that I and others have previously listed and by some strange irony, Rex's brother Rob was fired in New Orleans for some of those same issues.

Yea well, the Patriots didn't rest the starters until after the second half. Tom Brady started that game and played a full half while going 8 of 16 for only 80 yards and this game was played in New England!! Then this backup in Jimmy Garoppolo only went 10 of 17 for 90 yards in the second half. The Bills defense held that super bowl winning Patriots team to only 144 passing yards all game and to only three field goals in scoring all game. That year the Patriots were the #4 scoring offense in the league. I get a kick out of Bills fans who cite this only win in New England against the Patriots since 2000 as a nothing game. Please don't equate anything this new Bills owner does with his other sports team to the Buffalo Bills football team as I'm already depressed with the situation as it is. I keep hearing from Bills fans that the Buffalo Sabres have the best young roster in the league and how eventually they will start winning. When exactly? Pegula took over that team in 2011 after he bought in from Tom Golisano who owned the team from 2003. Golisano actually inherited a real trainwreck of a team both on the ice and off and in four years were withing in one game of the Stanley cup. Under Golisano, the Sabres were in the playoffs more often than not.

I agree with this. To me, It was great in it's time of the 80's, 90's when it was actually new. It was kinda cool to resurrect a 50's song every time the Bills scored and now 30 years laters it is just annoying...even in the stadium. I'm thinking something like the Spencer Davis group's song "gimmie some loving" from the late 60's could be rewritten to "Gimmie some scoring" .

That might be the case when a new head coach takes over a trainwreck of a team that just went 4-12 or something worse with very little talent on the roster. That didn't happen in Buffalo last year. The 2014 Buffalo Bills were 9-7 and had the #4 overall defense loaded with, not just top talent, but elite talent! The GM insisted that the team was ready to "win now" and went all out to bring in offensive players like Shady McCoy and Clay to make that happen. Last year's team had the talent on the roster to make the players and almost all Bills fans agree with this. Not only did Rex Ryan make the team worse by a game in going 8-8... he made that area of his expertise worse by a huge margin! Going from the number one team in the NFL in sacks, QB pressures to dead last in the NFL in QB pressures and 31st in sacks was beyond ridiculous! It was so bad last year that the only team worse in sacks in the 50+ year history of the franchise that had fewer sacks was during a strike season! This happened on a team with the best defensive line talent in the entire league! Not to mention that having the two best cornerbacks in the league saved his bloviating arse. Like someone else stated that great coaches like Mike Tomlin get hired and they see that the defensive scheme is already good enough... so they leave it alone to focus on other areas. It wasn't just screwing with and destroying a great defense. It was the lack of preparation for some games out of the division. It looked like very lazy efforts in defensive preparation and the offense looked prepared each week. The lack of team discipline on both sides of the ball and not just in being the second worst team in the NFL in penalties Bad game management and in one game asked why he didn't throw a flag his response was he didn't see it on the big screen! Then there was the coaching stunk with defensive plays being called late and late player substitutions. Rex Ryan didn't look like a head coach in his second stint. He looked like a bad rookie head coach that needed more time to learn his job. I can only think that the sole reason Mr. "we will Build a bully" who promised the playoffs and a #1 defense is still the Bills head coach is because Russ Brandon begged Terry Pegula for another season. I can only hope Rex is on a very short leash and should the Bills lose their first 4 or 5 games that he gets replaced by someone who will instill some discipline and good coaching into the players.

I have a different view of what those 90's teams went through and I have a different take on Marv Levy. I can recall that bickering Bills era and reasons that prompted that monicker. It was in 1989 for several reasons, Bills coaches fighting with each other, players fighting and bad mouthing each other. Kelly ripping his O-line for allowing his separated shoulder and it even looked to progress to the next season. In week two against the Dolphins in 1990, the Bills were getting blown out. Marv pulled a bunch of starters late in the game when the outcome was already known as he didn't want anyone getting hurt over a losing effort. Players like Bruce, Nate Odems, Bennett were benched and they went to the sidelines and started throwing chairs and knocking over the gatorade table. Marv was furious at this and let his players know it by fining them after the game for their bad behavior. Then, later that week the owner announced he was fully behind Marv and told the players that if anyone doesn't want to behave that the Bills would suspend them or even release them! Needless to say that warning from the owner ended the Bills bickering ways and seemed to give everyone a resolve to stand behind their head coach. The Bills got hot and won the next 14 of 16 games on the way to the 1990 SB! In my view, Levy was a very good head coach and in particular an excellent motivator / game manager. Marv was a special teams coach prior to becoming a head coach and he is a big reason as to why Buffalo's special teams became so dominate. If I were to fault him for one weakness was that he kept the same defensive coordinator for far to long which was the weakest area of the team. While I agree to some extent that Ted Marchibroda had a great impact on the Bills by teaching his QB in Kelly to call his own plays. He was also at fault for not taking more control over the offense in that 1990 super bowl. Allowing Kelly to call his own plays is what hurt that the Bills offense in that game. The Bills only ran Thurman Thomas 15 times in that game and he was a big reason that K-gun offense worked so well. Those late 80's and early 90's Bills teams were mostly a dominate running team that almost always ran more than they threw it. Then, Thurman Thomas was also heavily involved in the passing game as he was about 75% of the offense most of the time. In that AFC division game against Miami Thurman ran it 32 times and against the Raiders in the next game, he ran it 25 times. Kelly came out passing in that 90 super bowl and it should have been Thurman's number being called. IMO. That Buffalo Bills offense was pretty darn good before Ted Marchibroda got to Buffalo as the Bills were in the AFC Championship game in 1988 with Jim Ringo as the offensive coordinator. Granted, Teddy did improve the Bills offense and helped turn Thurman Thomas into a superstar all around RB. His style of play also helped pave the way for other great all around backs like Marshall Faulk. What I also recall from those SB's is in that Washington game Jim Kelly should have been pulled and benched after suffering a concussion. What also killed the game for the Bills was that Indy was going to re-hire Marchibroda for their head coach and this was well known before the game. It's like the guy had his foot already out the door and the offensive game plan wasn't so good. Again, only 18 rushes for Thurman in that game while throwing it 59 freaking times with 4 int's. After that 90 season, it seemed like at the end of every year the Bills were so injured and beat to hell that just winning the AFC was a spectacular feat. That 1991 AFC Championship game against the Broncos the Bills won 10-7 the Bills only put up 213 yards of offense and were so banged up on the offensive line that the TE Pete Metzelaars was used at tackle. I think losing both GM Bill Polian and OC Ted Marchibroda eventually helped cost the Bills a championship.

No offense to Kirby but he also said he thinks Andrew Luck is overrated. A 1st overall pick that went back to back to back 11-5 seasons on teams with a limited amount of supporting talent around him and sorta crappy coaching. In 2014 the guy threw for 4761 yards and 40TD's to 16 INT's and did this with no dominant RB, one good WR and behind a pretty crappy O-line. The Colts need to fire the HC & GM and replace them with people who know their stuff. Just for a reference, another former 1st round overall pick in QB Alex Smith on a team loaded with talent was looking like a total bust and a completely wasted pick before Harbaugh got to SF in 2011. Alex Smith went 3-7 in 2010 and that year the Niners won only 6 games with all that talent. Harbaugh gets there and they go 13-3 in his first season with that same broken QB. The thing is that Harbaugh didn't just fix the offense and QB he also got the defense into a top five defense for three years in a row. What gets me about that is the two previous head coaches were defensive minded and couldn't get even close to those numbers. What should have happened in San Francisco is that the owner should have fired the GM and put his total support behind his winning head coach by telling the players to "shut up and listen to your coach"! When you have a GM and other front office people bad mouthing, backstabbing the head coach, then not much is going to work after that.

The man did take a 5-7 team and go 10-3 in his first year while only losing to OSU and MSU in the division. You need to go back to 2004-2003 to Michigan's previous level of 10-3, and it was all the way back to 1997 that they went 12-0. NFN but Harbaugh took over a 2006 Stanford team that was 1-11 and in four years took them to a 12-1 season before being hired by the 49ers. Worn out his welcome in SF because he didn't get along with a not very bright GM who should be fired soon. I think the 49ers parted ways with the wrong guy. But, that's me.

In the reality of the situation a College HC has to make do with someone else's recruits in his first year. I look at Harbaugh and think he will build a great program. What he did in SF was amazing and his GM is a moron. That GM while building a great offensive line at first then went on to tear it apart. Pears starting at RT last year... really? Needless to say, I think the world of the guy as a head coach and to me, he is the Anti-Rex.

Not when he had Bruce Arians as his coach and now a world of difference in Indy for Andrew. He will be the richest tackling dummy in the NFL. Chuck Pagano the most overrated HC in the NFL today and his GM Ryan Grigson is right there with him. How they both still have jobs is a wonder in itself.

I agree with most of this and Rex wanted and vouched for Incognito too! Plus he wanted other players in free agency that either Whaley declined to obtain or signed elsewhere. So, yes Rex does deserve credit for helping build a good offense and hiring a decent coordinator to run it. His biggest fault lies entirely with what he did with an elite defense and not fixing the penalty problems, lack of communication problems, failure to discipline players and so on. The reality was that Ryan caused his own problems or failed to fix them once they showed. The injury bug did bite the Bills at times but didn't hit as hard as it could have to guys like Glenn, Incognito, Wood, TT, Shady or Sammy and lose them for the season. It's not about the number of wins as many factors go into that number. To me, it's more about are the problems with the lack of proper communication fixed? Will the late play calls, player substitutions fixed? Will the stupid drive / game killing penalties be reduced? Will the defense play as a cohesive unit and not have players jumping around as the ball is snapped or be out of position? Will the game plans be effective against every opponent and not just the teams in the division! Will the Bills finally notch a win against the Patriots with Brady playing a full 60 min? The Bills had just about the very best cornerback duo in the league last year in Darby-Gilmore and yet so few fans noticed because they were constantly hung out to dry with the worst pass rush in the league. Fixing the pass rush should also be a primary concern and not just by blitzing more but by calling blitzes that are actually effective in getting to the QB. Rex Ryan has a lot to prove this season.

That Jets defense also blitzed around 55% of the QB dropbacks in 2009 so they were getting heavy pressure on the QB ...and it just so happens that the Jets were #3 in defensive hurries that year. Funny thing though is that the 2015 Buffalo Bills were dead last in defensive hurries last year and that was the result of not blitzing very often and running that crappy gap control two-gap scheme most of the time. Odd that you mention getting the D back to top 10 in PPG because that only happened under Ryan for two seasons in 2009 & 2010! Then in 2011 saw 20 PPG, 2012 saw 20 PPG, 2013 saw 19 PPG and saw his Jets at #24 in PPG. That last sentence shows that the quality of the talent on the field still matters even if Ryan starts calling a whole lot more blitzes and runs a one-gap pass rushing scheme most of the time. There was a real reason why the team gave Mario a 100 million dollars to play for the Buffalo Bills. It's also why Vonn Miller is probably going to be the highest paid defensive player ever when the Broncos eventually sign him. It is interesting to think that "IF" last years defense was contrived to make Mario look bad it could really come back to haunt the three in power. With a top five defense, the Bills would have probably made the playoffs last season and secured their future for more than the upcoming season.

Bruce needed some motivating at the beginning of his career and Bullough paid the price for prodding him. What was great about that 90's defense is Bruce had a tremendous tackler in Darryl Talley right behind him so if he overran the run play trying to get to the QB Talley was right there making the stop. Bruce got better against the run and reading plays as time went on. What saddens me about last year is that the Bills had the very best pass rushing DE since Bruce Smith and because he was forced to play in a scheme he hated... he then wanted out and did exactly what it took to get himself out. Now most Bills fans can't stand him because of it and the Bills lost that pass rusher to a team in the division. The Bills might be better rushing the passer this year than last year if Ryan changes his scheme up to...you know, actually rush the passer. But, it won't be nearly as potent without Mario and I just don't see another 13-14 sack player on the team. I have to think Hughes won't be as good without Mario on the other side as teams will now be able to send extra protection to double him. This whole situation sucks.

You bet Bruce Smith would have kicked his ass for loafing and also found some alone time with Rex to let him know exactly how he felt about that gap control scheme of his. If he couldn't get through to Ryan I'll bet Bruce also would have probably gone to the owner and told him to change things or trade him. I wouldn't be surprised if the latter happens with Dareus this year if Ryan plays him mostly at NT in a gap control scheme.

Who do you think built that team before Ryan even got to NY? Mike Tannenbaum built that team from the get-go as he was hired to the team in 1997 and promoted to GM in 2006. His first two picks in his first draft were LT Brick Fergurson and C Nick Mangold who are both two all pro studs since being drafted. His next draft was Darrelle Revis and David Harris. Revis was arguably the best CB in the league for years. Great picks before Ryan got to NY. That 2008 Jets team went 9-7 under Mangini before Ryan even got to NY and then went 9-7 under Ryan in 2009. The talent was already there on defense when Rex took over, Shaun Ellis, Kris Jenkins, Calvin Pace, Revis, Harris. Already there! Then after Rex Ryan was hired the team brought in Bart Scott and Jim Leonhard. I can only think that Rex Ryan had a lot of input into who he wanted the team to draft for the next six years so I don't know that anyone can lay the entire blame on the GM. The 2010 first round pick DB Kyle Wilson, in 2012 first round pick DE Quinton Coples and how much input did Ryan have in finding these men? Then Tannenbaum was fired after the 2012 season so for Ryan's next two years with the Jets he had John Idzik as his GM. First-round picks DB Dee Milliner (9th overall) and S Calvin Prior (18th overall)? More bums, so was it just the GM? Literally record setting? 2011 NY Jets defense was 20th in points allowed. 2012 NY Jets defense was 20th in points allowed. 2013 NY Jets defense was 19th in points allowed. 2014 NY Jets defense was 24th in points allowed. That Washington Redskin game was after the Bills bye week and the team looked incredibly incompetent on defense that week. In actuality, about the only QB the Bills beat all season that was worth a damn was in week one against Andrew Luck and he finished the season 2-5. If the Bills faced even an average QB they lost. Losses to Sam Bradford, Blake Bortles, Alex Smith, Kirk Cousins, Eli Manning, Andy Dalton and the goat 2x. Wins against Fitz 2x, Tallywhacker 2x, Andy Luck, Kellen Moore, Marcus Mariota, Brian Hoyer. As far as conspiracy theories go, it could just be that Rex Ryan is nowhere near as good a defensive minded coach as the one who took control over the 2009 NY Jets. Then after the first two years, teams learned how to defeat his scheme. Ryan's offenses in his six-year reign as the NY Jets head coach never cracked the top ten and were mostly in the bottom third in that time. As a head coach, he is responsible for all three phases of the team and the overall win record. An interesting note, the Buffalo Bills haven't been first in the division since 1995! And since then have been in the bottom more often than not. 2014 saw them 2 of 4 and 2015 saw them move back to 3 of 4.

I do believe that he also finished no worse than 11th in sacks too. Yet the Bills with the best and most talented defensive line in the league finished dead last in QB pressures and 31st in sacks under Ryan in 2015. It is a passing league and not getting pressure on opposing QB's is what caused the Bills to give Mario 100 million in the first place. I can recall Buddy Nix crying that even the worst QB's are playing like all pros because the Bills couldn't muster a pass rush worth a damn. So the Bills sign Mario and get super lucky that the Dumb F GM in Indy wanted Bill Polian's last first rounder at linebacker out of Indy and traded Jerry Hughes for Kelvin Sheppard. Combined with KW and the Manster the Bills have the best pass rush in the league for two seasons. The Bills lost their best pass rusher to a division opponent and most Bills fans seem blissfully happy with this idea because they think Mario is now a useless malcontent. All I can say to allow fans to understand what transpired last season. Imagine how pissed off Bills HoF DE Bruce Smith would have been with him attempting to reach the sack total title as a goal before he retires and a new DC tells him he can't rush the passer anymore! Now he must stay in position to control gaps and the OT so the linebackers behind him can make the plays / sacks. The last thing on earth a 260 lb DE wants to do all game is wrestle a 300+ lb OT. I can only think that the man would be livid and ask to be traded. At one point in Bruce Smith's career in the huddle against Tampa bay, he told his fellow defenders that "if anyone makes a tackle they will answer to me" and by the next game the HC was fired and replaced. I wouldn't be surprised if Bills fans will see the same vocal dislike about the scheme this year if Ryan has Marcell Dareus playing NT in a two gap scheme which he will hate doing. Besides the Bills didn't give the man a 100 million to be a gap controlling NT. I have a few conspiracy theories as to why Ryan chose to run mostly a two gap run-stopping scheme when a one gap scheme would have allowed those D-linemen to rush the passer instead of sitting back and controlling gaps. One involves Russ Brandon asking Ryan to make Mario look bad so the fans will hate him because the team really can't afford him...kinda based on a 100+ page thread that fans went nuts about signing the guy. Another is that Ryan simply didn't care to put the effort into a lot of the game plans. Lastly is that Ryan didn't care to compete with Schwartz for the sack title and didn't mind looking bad this year so he can be a hero next year when the team starts leading the league in sacks again.

I'd be all in on this move to finally shore up that RT position and also give the RG some help at the same time.

Here are some more facts. Against the NY Giants In having your team penalized 17 times for 135 yards and thus giving the opponent 7 first downs on offense in one game is beyond ridiculous. "Two of those penalties negated touchdowns and the Bills had four 15 yard penalties! Giants HC Tom Coughlin told his team before the game ..."Tom Coughlin told his players before Sunday's game that the Bills would beat themselves with penalties. http://www.syracuse.com/buffalo-bills/index.ssf/2015/10/tom_coughlin_reportedly_told_giants_players_buffalo_bills_would_beat_themselves.html They sure did beat themselves. It wasn't just the players that were undisciplined as it was the coaches as well. Rex was anti-Marv Levy last season as Marv would preach "don't be dumb, don't be dirty". The fact that Doug Marrone also didn't get a handle on the penalties doesn't excuse Rex Ryan from having that problem. The Buffalo Bills are not an elite team by any standard and any mistake they make is more difficult to overcome than it is for the elite teams.

This! Plus other reasons. That scheme didn't work for Rob Ryan in New Orleans and it certainly didn't work in Buffalo last year. Aside from the things already mentioned the difference that I can see is that Rex actually called a lot of Blitzes when he was the Jets HC and to the tune of almost 55% of the QB dropbacks in 2009 to substantially less the last few years. In 2013-2014 it was more around 30-35% and last year in Buffalo he blitzed less than 10% some games. Aside from the lack of blitzing it was sorta clear to me that Rex Ryan only seemed to have his team well prepared and a proper game plan set up for certain games. Division games mostly as the Bills swept the Jets and Dolphins. More importantly, The 2015 Buffalo Bills played their best against the Jets with Rex having revenge to beat the team that fired him in mind. Then the Bills managed to beat the bad QB's and lose to anyone average or better. Rex might have been 6th in yards allowed in 2014 with the NY Jets but his team went 4-12 and his defense was 24th in points allowed! Guess what team was #4 in total defense in 2015? Yea, the NY Jets!

We all saw it, heard about it, read about it. Even the Bills players themselves were saying that even the slowest opponents were hurrying to the line because they saw the Bills constantly getting the play calls late and player substitutions in late. THAT's BAD COACHING!! "When Reed went and watched film of the 2015 Bills, the lack of communication astounded him.:" Excuse me, but what does Mario Williams have to do with the lack of communication? He was just one gear in the machinery of an 11 plus man defense that wasn't working anywhere near as effectively as it did the previous two years. Bills fans really need to stop with the Mario hate because he wasn't as effective in Ryan's two gap scheme...because nobody else's was either! All the players in the front seven saw their play stats take a huge hit from the previous two seasons. It wasn't just the lack of communication between players! It wasn't just some of the players not giving 100% It wasn't just the astounding amout of penalties the majority of the games... The Bills defense gave the NY Giants 7 first downs on offense by penalties. holy effing crap, 17 penalties for 135 yards in that one game alone! 17! It wasn't just the late player substitutions or the late play calls coming in. It wasn't just the lack of QB pressures, sacks from running a scheme that didn't suit the best front four in the NFL. last in the NFL in QB pressures and 31st in sacks! It wasn't just asking the linebackers (who weren't very good) to make the plays over the pro bowl D-linemen. It was the confluence of all this crap that took a #4 (#4 points allowed, #4 yards allowed, #1 in sacks and QB pressures) overall defense in the NFL to middling in points allowed (15th), in the top 11 worst teams in yards against (19th) and dead Last in QB pressures, 31st in sacks. Those numbers are also astounding when you consider that it was mostly the exact same players and the coaches changed. The one thing that escapes most Bills fans is that the 3-4 two gap scheme that Rex Ryan ran last year in Buffalo and his brother Rob ran in New Orleans is a dinosaur! Teams have caught up on how to defeat that defense and it showed last year. Besides, the Bills still don't have the right personnel to run that scheme. Ed Reed is a great NFL player but isn't he a DB's coach on a team that already had excellent play from the secondary? I'm not as convinced as a lot of Bills fans that this year's defense will be anywhere near as good as #4 in the NFL like it was under Schwartz. The players the Bills drafted with those first two picks shows that the team still wants to run that two gaps scheme. What's sad about this whole thing is that all Ryan needed to do was run the 3-4 one-gap scheme like Wade Phillips did in Denver and while Buffalo doesn't have a Vonn Miller that defense would have raised hell last year. Plus, Ryan could easily change up what he was doing and start running mostly that one-gap this year. Time will tell on this one and once the season starts we will see. As it stands, to me, it looks like the Bills hired a boisterous 4-12 head coach determined to do things his way.

My dream coach for the short term would be the Anti-Rex Ryan in Tom Coughlin who is a strict disciplinarian rather than a players coach. He is also a known super bowl winning HC that desperately wants another chance to show the world he can still get it done. Plus, he is familiar with building top defensive 4-3 units that have been able to stymie Tom Brady! Keep Greg Roman as OC who would fit perfectly in what Coughlin wants to do with an offense and let Tom hire the DC of his choice. Hiring a top 4-3 coach would be my thought before this team devotes itself entirely to a zone blitz defense scheme that it still doesn't have the players on the roster to run it. That, and the two gap 3-4 that Rex and his brother Rob run is a dinosaur. If Jim Harbaugh wants out of Michigan and back into the NFL, he did have a .695% winning percentage in the NFL. Bruce Arians has a .708 winning percentage. Tom Coughlin .531%. Rex Ryan .482%

In 1986 I watched QB Phil Simms get sacked 7 times and he threw 4 interceptions as the NY Giants lost that game to Seattle 12-17. Guess what? That game was in week seven and the Giants would go on to a 14-2 season as they also won the super bowl that year and Simms was the MVP. Sometimes QB's just have bad games and shi, err stuff happens with that oblong spheroid. I'm still rooting for EJ because he is still a Buffalo Bill. He is a good guy who works hard and does his best. He is also Bruce Smiths godson. http://www.profootballhof.com/videos/bruce-smith-god-son/ In that game against the Jags after screwing up so bad in the first half, he could have kept screwing up and kept throwing INT's and at 27 to 3 he could have easily just given up. That game ended up being an exciting close game at the end I came away from that game somewhat proud that EJ was able to lead a comeback that could've won the game. He never gave up and kept fighting. I'm still hoping that Roman will coach him up to be a decent player.