Nihilarian

1) I understand that Rex's playbook isn't supposed to be about one set scheme or set and employs a multitude of fronts, looks to disguise the coverage and confuse the opposing QB. He even incorporated Jim Schwartz's 4-3 wide nine into his playbook last season. That doesn't alter the results of what transpired last season on the field for Buffalo in being 31st in sacks and dead last in the NFL in QB pressures and middling in stats at the end of the season. There is a distinct reason for those numbers. I mean, it has to be more than obvious that the overall defensive playcalling and schemes, fronts, sets, looks that Ryan employed last season weren't working very well except for in a select few games. This, with one of the premier defensive front four's in the league in which three of the four were named to the pro bowl just the previous season and that fourth could have easily also been named to the pro bowl with his 10 sacks and 36 tackles. The Bills also employed possibly the two very best cornerbacks in the league last season in Gilmore and Darby. Rex Ryan himself stated before the season that he had never had this much player talent on a defense. First off, understand that Marcell Dareus was complaining about how he was being asked to play in Ryan's scheme from training camp and after reading about what exactly he was saying. It was that he wanted to go back to Schwartz's style of 4-3, in just going after the QB on passing downs the majority of the time. After all, isn't that what the team had just given him a 100 million dollar contract to do? Now Mario didn't start going public with his complaints about how he was being used until much later and his complaint wasn't exactly for the same reason. Mario was complaining about how often he was being asked to drop into pass coverage more than anything else. If you read an article written by an ex-NFL defensive player who reviewed the game film of the week four NY Giants game in which he stated that Ryan used a two-gap run-stopping scheme the majority of the game, and he also noted that this isn't what the highly paid Buffalo Bills defensive linemen were given all that money to do. It was also noted by an ex-NFL player that after 7 games that Dareus was only asked to drop into coverage around 4 times, that Mario was asked to drop into coverage 14 times in that same period of time. Even the Bills HoF great QB Jim Kelly was questioning all those drop backs into pass coverage by the defensive linemen. The media gave Rex Ryan's 2015 defense a nickname called "Wreck's D"! Talk about hyperbole... "Ryan's quote: "You mentioned how well we played on defense last year. Fourth in the league is probably a little disappointing, to be honest with you, because that's not where my expectations are. I know we'll lead the league in defense. The reality: The Bills rank 20th in total defense, closer to being the worst defense in the NFL than the best." "Ryan's quote: "We play defense based on our personnel, not just the scheme. I don't try to put a square peg in a round hole. I think I've been around enough to adjust based on the players that I have, the talents of the players that I have, and it'll be no different this year." "The reality: Ryan has tried to fit a square peg in a round hole. After Jim Schwartz ran his "wide nine" scheme last season and allowed the Bills' defensive line to focus on pass-rushing, leading to an NFL-high 54 sacks, the story has been dramatically different this season. The Bills have 19 sacks, which ranks 30th in the NFL. Mario Williams and others have griped about their varied roles in the scheme, which is a close parallel to what Ryan ran with the Jets and requires defensive linemen to drop into coverage at times. Ryan has declared -- stubbornly, one might say -- multiple times that he and Thurman will "run our defense," essentially placing blame on the players for not picking up the system. The result has been a unit that has been leaky in most games. " http://espn.go.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/22828/playoff-promise-among-rex-ryan-statements-that-will-likely-prove-false 2) In regards to the five years, the Bills will probably still be drafting for Ryan's defense in the next five years because that is what the NY Jets did with their first round picks in his six years there. It was also implying that Rex had six years in NY and his defense after all that time wasn't as good as his first two years there. Ryan's defense while being in the top 5 for yards a lot of those years was also 20th or so in points allowed. 2011 5th in yards, 20th in points allowed. 2012, 8th in yards, 20th in points allowed. 2013, 11th in yards, 19th in points allowed. 2014, 6th in yards, 24th in points allowed. Ryan's complaint that the GM's were out to get him fired by not allowing him the proper personnel is rather lame as I would tend to think he had a lot to say in who was drafted and signed in free agency, just like he did in his first two years. Like I said, this wasn't a first-year head coach experimenting with different schemes to figure out what works. With Ryan's extensive defensive coaching background, he should have fielded a better defense then what we saw last year in Buffalo and yet week after week it was excuse after excuse from him. The time for excuses is over, wouldn't you agree?

Interesting read that really doesn't take into consideration other differences between the two games such as the Patriots receiving corps and the offensive line being so different because of so many injuries to the Patriots starters. So, it was far easier for the Bills defense to pressure Brady in that second game! But yes, it was more than obvious Ryan changed "things" up in that second game. "Things" meaning he called more a one-gap 3-4 scheme and blitzed more often. Let's also not forget what the newest addition to the Buffalo Bills coaching staff stated after watching film of last years defense. "When Ed Reed went and watched film of the 2015 Bills, the lack of communication astounded him." Not to mention the confusion he saw between the players and the lack of effort. http://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/index.ssf/2016/06/ed_reed_saw_confusion_and_guys_not_giving_effort_when_watching_2015_bills.html I like to refer to the Bills 2015 defense as merged bullsh!t, or merged excuses. This wasn't a first-year head coach or someone that hasn't seen a Patriots offense very often like Jim Schwartz. This was a head coach that has seen Tom Brady and that New England offense twice each year for the previous six seasons! In his time with the NY Jets, he had only 4 wins out of 13 games and the bulk of those wins came in 2009 (1x)-2010 (2x). Here is the bottom line in my view. In five years from now when Rex Ryan has all the players on the roster, he needs to run his specific 3-4 two-gap scheme. I think we can expect to see the very same results we saw from what he did after five seasons with the NY Jets. A defense that can limit yards to a degree but suffers in points allowed per game and by suffering I mean by about 20th in the league in points allowed which is nowhere near good enough. I also think we Bills fans will need to wait for Tom Brady to retire before Rex Ryan will beat the Patriots again. There really shouldn't be any more excuses about anything from this head coach. Win or be gone!

You gotta know that i really disliked that the Patriots stole a WR from Buffalo with the nickname 7/11 (because he is always open). This reminds me of the Patriots stealing away a relatively unknown non-starting WR at the time from the Dolphins named Wes Welker back in 2007. Hogan about the only Bills WR not injured at some point last year? Then, not to mention that the Patriots also signed Martellus Bennett away from Chicago...like Brady needs another top pass catching TE. I will literally hate the NFL and football if Brady should win another championship and be the greatest QB of all time by winning another SB. You know, I really wanted to see Rex Ryan do well in Buffalo despite all his brash talk and broken promises. I bought into his last year's offseason hype of the building one of the greatest defenses ever last year. I have been hoping for years and years for the Buffalo Bills to build a super power run game with a super strong defense to mimic the Baltimore Ravens style of play. My problem is I just have a tough time getting over what Ryan did to the defense last year and now the team needs to keep drafting for the defense to allow Ryan to keep building his outdated 3-4 two-gap scheme. I'm with you in hoping that Ryan gets his stuff together this year and does more of what we saw against the Colts week one and against the Patriots week in eleven. If Ryan actually works hard to bring it every week then the Bills have an honest shot to be a good team. Should Ryan not put forth the effort to that happen then I hope that Pegula makes a change and ends this stupidity of switching defensive schemes again.

Oh, excuse me! Did I say that Hogan was a first down machine for Buffalo? I had meant to say that he will probably eventually fill that role for the Patriots like Wes Welker did and like Edelman, Amendola have done recently. Considering how often both Edelman and Amendola are injured it wouldn't hurt for them to develop another player who can move the chains for the Patriots. To me, that's what the Patriots offense is all about in finding a way to move the chains and make that first down again and again and then score. The Patriots just have so many weapons and ways to attack a defense when everyone is healthy it's almost impossible for any team to stop them. I don't know if Brady was "frustrated" simply because he still managed to throw for almost 300 yards (277) and win the game, didn't he? While the Bills did take Gronk away from the Patriots week 11 in that particular game by rolling coverages towards him and limited his receptions to only 2 for 37 yards. Brady also found Amendola that day for 9 receptions for 117 yards and I'm pretty sure that if Julian Edelman hadn't had a season-ending injury two games earlier, that he would have been another solid weapon for ole Tom that day. As for stopping all the big plays? Amendola did have a 41-yard reception that game. Looking at the Patriots offensive line for 2015, not one player on that line started a full 16 games for them and they were shuffling players in and out of the lineup weekly. Let's also not forget that the Patriots were missing their starting RB in Dion Lewis at that point too. He only played in six games in 2015 but already rushed 49 times for 234 yards a 4.8 YPC Avg and had 36 receptions for 388 yards receiving. Talking about stats. Edelman in 8 games had 61 receptions for 692 yards and 7 TD's too. In that week 11 game last year I will give Rex Ryan credit for actually getting pressure on Brady on about 50% of his dropbacks and Bills fans hadn't seen that much pressure on an opposing QB since week one against the Colts.Yet the Bills defense only managed one sack all game and that singular sack was from a linebacker. More then confusion, I attribute all that pressure from actually calling some blitz plays that were effective against a weakened offensive line, and Brady missing some of his favorite targets. It also looked like Ryan took the time to properly put some effort into the weekly defensive game plan for this game. Which was a complete reversal from that week two debacle! Rex Ryan did manage to beat the Patriots with his Jets team once in 2009, 2x in 2010 and one of those was a playoff game in NE. No wins in 2011, no wins in 2013, once in 2013, no wins in 2014. So, in 6 years with the Jets Ryan won 4x out of 13 games. (Just a note. In his last win in 2013 in OT, the Jets ran 52 times for 177 yards and the Jets Time of Possession was 46:13.) So now Ryan is 15 and 4 against NE as a head coach. Tom Brady is 25 and 3 against Buffalo and has thrown for over 7000 yards, 62 TD's in those 28 games. The only team in the league Brady has a losing record against is Denver at 5-6.

What also helps Brady is that he has some receivers that always find ways to get open underneath the coverages and a TE that can beat most any coverage. Funny thing that Edelman only played in nine games last year and when he was out for the rest of the season after a good beat down of the Redskins in week nine. Then suddenly that Patriot offense wasn't nearly as good. This is probably a big reason as to why the Patriots signed a player away from Buffalo nicknamed 7-11 because he was always open. I think what helped Buffalo was Brady's O-line was beaten down pretty bad with injuries and although the Bills defense finally managed to get quite a bit of pressure on Brady this game, they only sacked him once. That sole sack was by the LBer Manny Lawson. The very next game for the unbeaten Patriots was against the Broncos in which they lost and this game started their downward spiral for the next 8 games of three wins and five losses. Let's also not forget what Fitz was able to do in Buffalo with his very quick release and ability to find the open WR in SJ. That was with only one good WR who was also adept at finding ways of getting open. Fitz to Stevie Johnson and even Revis couldn't stop it. Kinda crazy that Buffalo managed to find a way to get rid of Stevie Johnson and wondered why Fitz wasn't as good. I wonder if fans will say the same about TT now that he lost his first down machine.

If you honestly want some real insight into what happened to the 2015 Ravens then read this, http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-anatomy-of-baltimores-lost-season/ "It’s hard to take too much issue with what the Ravens do in football operations, given how consistently successful Harbaugh and Ozzie Newsome have been over the past decade. After an unlucky 1-5 start, though, a disappointing defense and some poorly timed injuries appear to have sunk the Ravens in 2015." Fans thinking that the team has suddenly become a bad team or are thinking that the 2016 season opener is going to be a cakewalk have it all wrong IMO. Last season only two of eleven starters played a full 16 games on offense and five of sixteen starters on defense. That was a crapstorm of injuries last year. Even at 5-11, only three teams beat that 2015 Ravens team by more than 7 points all season and those games were all at the end of the year. Seattle, KC and Cincy and they still managed to beat a 10-6 Pittsburgh team in week 16 and that was with Ryan Mallett starting at QB.

effin A

This is exactly right! The Ravens won the SB in 2012 and because they have a bad year three years later so all of a sudden they are garbage? One year removed from a playoff game. They were also 10-6 vying for the division title in 2014 too. Get a grip folks!! Besides all the injuries in 2015 the team also changed offensive coordinators from the HC of the Broncos in Gary Kubiak who built a solid power run game while he was there to last season Marc Trestman. You know, the guy who was recently the HC of the Bears and was fired. The Ravens current OC Trestman is a jackass of major magnitude and he will be fired from Baltimore soon enough. Last year the Ravens were so very un-Raven like in passing for 676 attempts which is about 120 more attempts than Kubiak had Flacco throw in 2014. Which also means that the Ravens ran the ball about 60+ attempts less than they have in past years. In the past, the Ravens have usually been a dominate run first team with a strong defense and that changed last year on both sides of the ball. 25th in scoring and 14th in yards on offense and 24th in points and 8th in yards on defense. Who knows, Trestman might get his crap together and build a better offense at some point. But I'm thinking he gets fired in Baltimore before that happens.

I was there as well for all three and it wasn't something that is planned ahead as far as I could tell. But rather the fans just getting caught up in the emotion and spontaneity of the moment. Football is a game of great passion in both the players and the fans. To be honest, it would not shock me at all to see the fans tear down the goal posts this year if say the Bills go 12-2 by the week 14 Steelers game. Then to go on and win that game while taking the division title and get a playoff berth at the same time. A pic I took at the game Wanted to add,

Wide right is the heartbreaking clincher! To add that it was very embarrassing as a Bills fan to get to the stadium in Pasadena Calif for SB 27 to watch the helicopters landing nearby the stadium bringing movie stars. The countless limo's, exotic cars everywhere only to get to my seats and hear the roar of a bunch of drunken Bills fans shouting obscenities at everyone around them a few rows behind me. This was actually more embarrassing than the game and final score.

Bills fans tore down the goal posts three times that I can recall. First, after the 1980 home opening win against the Miami Dolphins. Let's not forget that the Buffalo Bills didn't win a game against Don Shula's Dolphins the entire decade of the 70's!! That game snapped a 20 game losing streak! I'd say that was a pretty big reason for doing that. The second time came against the NY Jets in 1988 and we won that game in week 12, in a torrential downpour 9-6, in Overtime with Fred Smerlas blocking a Jets FG! The Bills only had 120 yards of total offense and the other hero of the day was RB Rob Riddick who rushed 18 times for 103 yards. That week 12 win set an NFL record for earliest winning the division win at 11-1 and clinched a playoff spot to boot. I still have the posters for that win, with both in a frame. One with a picture of the Buffalo news front page of the fans tearing down the goal posts and the next was a poster called FAN-DEMONIUM with a picture of the fans also tearing down the goal posts. Let's also not forget that the Buffalo Bills were coming off back to back 2-14 seasons in 84-85 and had 4-12 in 86, then 7-8 in 87. So there was a reason for the fans madness. That year the Bills went all the way to the AFC championship game against the Bengals in Cincy. The last time was in 1990 for the week 16 win over the Miami Dolphins 24-14 to win the division over the Dolphins. The Bills were 13-2 and the Dolphins were 11-4 at that time. Some great times back then.

Man, it is so refreshing and heart enlightening to read some of the recent responses like this one. Great point there to just think about the difference in talent on the offensive last season vs the 2014 season. The O-line in 2015 with the addition of Richie Incognito who had a pro bowl season and elevated the play of the players around him. That 2014 offensive line graded last in the league almost all year and finished up 31st. Last year with the upgrade of an all pro-OG the Bills ended the season graded at #9 overall. Kind of astonishing how much impact one player can have! Then add in an offensive coordinator who actually knows how to build an explosive offensive scheme. Because of the new people like Greg Roman, Tyrod Taylor, Shady McCoy, Charles Clay and Richie Incognito the 2015 Buffalo Bills led the league in "big plays". Those Big Plays are categorized by runs over 10 yards and pass plays over 25 yards. That, along with the #2 team in the league in rushing attempts and the #1 team in the league in rushing. Now think about how screwed up the defense was last year to the point the Bills had two guys in the secondary* who played great almost all season In Darby and Gilmore and yet were hung out to dry game after game with the league's worst defense in pressuring the opposing QB because the head coach didn't know a better scheme. A big reason I agree with Adam that "One year was too much. The longer the Bills keep retaining bad coaches the longer it will take to find the man who will get this team to sweep the Patriots and get the Bills to the super bowl.

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.