Nihilarian

The coaches on special teams? More like Danny Crossman is the only ST coach that I'm aware of in 2015. In my view, the ST's regressed because Ryan wasn't helping coach the special teams like Marrone did with his buddy Danny. The extra players on game day weren't there to help the ST's this past year. For whatever reason Ryan simply didn't call many blitzes in all of 2015 and that stat was usually around less the 10% per game. Simply calling more blitzes would have helped the defense immensely last year and when he did call a blitz it was usually very successful. Blitzing more will help in 2016 should Ryan go back to what made his early NY Jets defenses so good by blitzing 35 to 55 %. In comparison last year, the Broncos blitzed around 40% of the defensive snaps. Still, that won't help with the lack of solid communication between coaches and players during a game or late defensive play calls coming in. In one game EJ was forced to run to the sidelines to get every play and it happened to Tyrod too. It also won't help with the late player substitutions and the overall lack of discipline. This past year with Tyrod Taylor the offense was a hand off, run first, pound it out run offense which is exactly why Mark Sanchez and Geno Smith were somewhat successful in their beginning seasons. Then the coaches demanded them to carry the game with their arms rather then handing off like they used to do and the result was near catastrophe for both. This same thing could happen this year in Buffalo. Lots of teams have fired their head coaches after one season and lots more should have. I can only think that if the Bills knew then what they know now would Jauron, Gailey, Marrone or any HC since Wade Phillips have been retained more than one year, if at all. This isn't a rookie or first timer at being an NFL HC the Buffalo Bills hired! In someone, that needs to learn as he goes. After six years as the Jets HC if he doesn't have it down by now, he never will! Think about the games won this past year and the only games the Bills really played a solid game that they were really prepared to play was against his old team for revenge in the NY Jets 2x. Then division games against the Dolphins 2x. The Bills had all offseason to prepare for the Colts and that defense we all saw in the first game is what we all expected for the rest of the year. Bottom Line the 2015 Bills had an easy schedule and still lost to bad teams.The reality is that they only beat the teams with bad QB's. Yes, Andrew Luck went 2-5 in 2015. I don't ever see Rex Ryan beating the Patriots as long as Belichick and Brady are in NE. Like I said, just delaying the inevitable!

It's not way premature in my view. It wasn't just the overall defense regressing as the 2015 Buffalo Bills were the 2nd worst team in the NFL in penalties. The team that was worst fired their HC. What stays in my mind was the 7 first downs the Bills defense gave the NY Giants offense among others. The defensive play calls coming in late! Player substitutions coming in late! and so much so that the slower teams would hurry to the line to catch the Bills not ready. Defensive players jumping around on the line so that when the ball was snapped they would be out of position. Special teams went into the toilet this past year in every aspect.So many penalties on the offense too. In general, the team overall was undisciplined for a lot of the season. The 2015 Bills played their best against this HC's former team for revenge. Now will that revenge factor keep going? The only bright spots were from the new OC hire and the offensive players. Most notably Tyrod Taylor at QB who was the polar opposite of Geno Smith in not turning the ball over like Geno did to kill his Jets team. A very complex run scheme that didn't require the players to scratch their heads and say WTF or they didn't understand the complex offense, complain about how they were being used. Save Sammy, who spoke up and started seeing more targets. Somehow Rex Ryan managed to ruin the Jets team he inherited that he went to the AFC championship 2x his first two years. Then he ruined that rookie QB in Mark Sanchez who took those teams to the playoffs. And another rookie QB in Geno Smith went 8-8 his first year and then became a turnover machine his next going 3-10 his next year. I kind of shudder to think of what will happen to Tyrod this year under Ryan. This current HC proclaimed playoffs! He proclaimed the #4 defense with this much talent was nothing and that he would do better, he didn't! Ask the Jets fans about all the broken promises. Good head coaches generally come into a team and make them better...not worse! All I see is delaying the inevitable.

Good thing the Bills have that franchise QB under contract for 15 mill per...

That will NEVER happen. Carroll can draft a guy in the fifth round because he fits his prototype of size and speed and then coaches them up to fit his defense. Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor say hello. If the talent isn't already there in the player Rex Ryan can't coach up anything or anyone. First round picks Quinten Couples, Dee Milner say hello. Oh wait, his proclivity for feet will say it was all the GM's fault

Great article and a great read. Thanks for posting. I think the Rex Ryan hire was pushed on the new owners by the status quo and then they preached continuity again for this year. Yea, continuity for a classless loudmouth full of broken promises whose teams lacked discipline and didn't allow for the best use of the talent on the roster. I only hope that one day these new owners wake up and realize the only way to beat a great team, great QB in New England is to hire a great football man at the top for Buffalo. Then he will hire a great head coach who will be someone with enough football acumen to know NFL talent when he sees it. If the talent isn't already on the roster than Rex Ryan isn't going to coach up anything ie Quinton Coples. (Aaron Maybin again) In essence the Bills hired another Jauron who only knows how to run his lame, outdated scheme. Chuck Knox came into Buffalo with a winning record from the Rams and brought with him a great talent evaluator in Norm Pollom who would up as Buffalos vice president of player personnel, and he hired Bill Polian!! Another great read in this story. http://bills.buffalonews.com/2014/11/18/polians-start-with-bills-was-discreet/ This paying outrageous sums of money to free agents because you can't find the talent in the draft is clearly the wrong way to do things. 100 million to Mario didn't get the Bills in the playoffs and neither did playing similar sums to Dareus and Hughes. Three draft picks and two of them first round picks when the team doesn't have an established franchise QB on the roster to throw to him was another lame call. Then because the team lacks football acumen at the top of the flow chart they hired a bad head coach with a 4-12 record and then got exactly what they hired in a man who made the team / defense worse. This team is in dire need of another Chuck Knox who won despite having a not so good people above him.

I agree with this. The 49ers saw their mistake and corrected it right away. Granted 8-8 is better than 5-11 but then look at who the Bills beat over the season and it should make the decision for change so much easier. This team keeps making these grabs for high priced free agents because they fail to find them in the draft. The Bills needed a pass rusher since Aaron Schobel retired after the 2009 season. Aaron Maybin ring any bells? So, 100 Million for as DE was a stab to find another Bruce Smith, and they found him! Only to see him ruined this year in the wrong scheme. Imagine how vocal Bruce would have been being used as a gap control player. Someone mentioned finding someone in the draft to replace Mario Williams or Cordy Glenn and I'll be shocked if they actually find the talent at either position to do that. Looking back, I think the Bills were exceedingly lucky to find Glenn with a #2 pick considering the O-line players drafted since. There are real reasons this team spent 100 million on Mario or excessive money for an RB (Shady), TE (Clay)and 3 draft picks for a WR including two first rounders when they could have stayed pat and gotten an equal or better player. This without an already established franchise QB on the roster. OTOH, if they couldn't trade up for Sammy I now recall the Bills were going to draft TE Eric Ebron Right? Bottom line: this team needs more than just a new HC. These new owners started off on the right foot thinking of hiring a senior NFL adviser / football czar and or a president of football operations and then they didn't.

Sadly, I see this particular train is headed the wrong way. Generally, when a new head coach and staff come in they tend make the team better unless it's a horribly bad roster. This was a playoff caliber defense that had three all pros from the previous season and those all pros were made to look very average to below average. This isn't me being upset or crying, It just stating some facts that seem to elude so many other fans. Ryan blitzed less than 10% this past season while on the other end of the spectrum the Broncos blitzed 40% or more most of the time. So, now that the superstar at DE is going to be playing for a different team next year and Ryan suddenly decides he wants to blitz or actually rush the passer in 2016. Exactly who is going to be playing at DE to take over Mario's position? With Jerry Hughes being the lone outside rusher at DE opposing teams should have no problem containing him with no threat from the other side. I don't see the 2016 defense being better without Mario Williams. The majority of Bills fans look at the 2015 defense and say it's all because Mario didn't buy in and stopped putting out effort. Kinda strange that the Buffalo Bills coaches are saying something completely different and were content with his play. To answer the question of how it gets fixed going forward? Unfortunately, I don't ever see it ever getting fixed under the current regime.

I agree and its good to know that somebody out there other than myself gets it. I kinda feel like its wasting time writing this stuff because most fans here either don't buy into it or would rather ignore it. It's almost like a QB scrutiny in rather then defining what's wrong and than just simply saying "he sucks". I've been talking about this issue since week two in 2015 after the NE game and most fans just seem to disregard what's happening on the field or just don't care.

It most certainly is about recognizing that the coaches miss utilized him because it destroys the entire reason he and the other D-linemen were being paid so much money to rush the passer. Two hundred and fifty million or 28% of the payroll was miss-used this past year. To ignore that is just sticking the head in the sand.... Marcell Dareus is a 1or 3 technique pass rush tackle and isn't a zero technique nose tackle or a 5 tech fit at DE in a 3-4 and he has been complaining about how he was being utilized all year so should the Bills cut ties with him too? More importantly do you think he would have signed a new contract with the Buffalo Bills had he known he would be playing in a thankless position at nose so that the scrubs at LBer can make the plays? The man is still brilliant at what he did this year but the fact remains he didn't like it and was very vocal about it. So now that the Bills spent a few seasons and hundreds of millions of dollars building a dominate 4-3 defensive line. Then they go on to hire a 3-4 head coach who will tear that all apart to build a scheme he wants to run rather than what best suits the players on the roster. There was a real reason the team went from #1 in the NFL in QB sacks, hits, hurries to 31st and it has more to do with the scheme than the players. I get that the Bills are keeping Ryan as HC and this doesn't mean I'm supposed to be happy about it and go along with it because the losers in charge want to maintain that losing continuity,

I totally agree with this and to me, it is startling just how few Bills fans can really see or understand how the man was misused in Ryan's scheme or completely ignore that the Bills coaches themselves were happy, content with Mario's play all year. They even stated that they were happy that Mario was in pass coverage so the linebacker could get a hit on the QB to disrupt the play, and to my dismay, that lone hit was the only time the Bills defense touched the QB all game long. Plus the fact that the #3 overall pick, hell on wheels DT was complaining about how he was being utilized since training camp and after a few games Mario joined him in being publically vocal about how he was being utilized too. Bills fans just rack this up with players being selfish and not buying into the scheme. Anyway, I've posted this link in the past and its a good read for those that actually want to understand what was happening on the field. http://www.sbnation.com/2015/10/21/9581575/mario-williams-marcell-dareus-rex-ryan-buffalo-bills-defense

So, you don't think that going from #1 in sacks QB pressures, QB hits, QB hurries and the one area where the 2014 Bills excelled at to 31st in 2015 isn't falling off a cliff? The real issue here is why on earth do you keep coming back defending this bad hire?

I was just showing that more than just Bills fans think the team took a big step backward with Wrex Ryan as you just don't seem to get that fact. Attempting to deflect away from the fact that Ryan made the defense worse by stating that PFT isn't an elite source. Well, how about some other sources? SB Nation- "In that 8-8 season, the Bills' defense fell massively short of expectations" ESPN- Why they're here: A talent-laded mystery, the Bills are a top-12 team if Rex Ryan rediscovers his magic touch on the defensive side of the ball -- the Bills were one of the NFL's top defenses in 2014 and fell off a cliff in 2015 http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14697433/panthers-patriots-lead-2016-way-too-early-nfl-power-rankings I can find more outside sources that think the 2015 Bills defense took a drastic step backward if you like. Jim Schwartz also beat the NY Jets twice with Ryan as head coach of the Jets. In that second game against the Bills, Ryan stated that his team would play 1000% better with Mike Vick starting and they lost 38 to 3. Complete humiliation and he clearly lost his Jets team along the way that season. Ryan already lost some of the Bills defensive line players in 2015 and I can only wonder how long is it before he loses the entire team again. The more important point here is that the Buffalo Bills are in the same division as the New England Patriots who have been about the best team in the NFL for as long as the Bills have been bad! The last time the Patriots had a losing season was way back in 2000 and in all that time since they have been to six super bowls while winning four. The Buffalo Bills need a head coach that will make the team better and not try and force his players to fit his schemes. In order to beat the best you have to be the best and Ryan isn't even close to that level of competence. The Bills got exactly what they hired in a 4-12 coach who made his area of expertise worse.

I purposely left off that season opener against the Colts because I knew you couldn't resist... That defense we saw against the Colts is exactly what the world expected from Wrex in 2015 and instead, most of the rest of the games last season were more like that first Patriots game with almost no pressure on the QB whatsoever!! Wrex Ryan stunk it up most of the 2015 season and only had his defense play well when he actually cared about winning the game. That last game of the season and against his old team that fired him with so many Bills players out injured is a perfect example of that. It's not just Bills fans that think this way as most of the rest of NFL fans see it this way too. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/12/16/bills-defense-has-taken-a-big-step-back-under-rex-ryan/ "This year, Ryan’s first season as head coach of the Bills, his defense has taken an enormous step backward." "We could go on all day with stats like this: Across the board, the Bills’ defense is worse with Ryan than it was before Ryan arrived. Add in the fact that the Jets’ defense has gotten better this season under Todd Bowles than it was last season with Ryan, and the conclusion is clear: Ryan isn’t quite the defensive genius he’s made out to be." What I don't get is why some Buffalo Bills fans are so adamant about defending a turd just because he is still employed by the team. Why? Just because he is "our'' turd? After Ryan is fired and I'm 100% positive that will happen sometime during next season or shortly after I'm fairly certain the tunes defending him will change then.

Yes, the 2014 Buffalo Bills were beaten ONCE by the team that went to and won the super bowl in 2014. Brady had all of his weapons in that game and foolishly the Buffalo offense under OC Mr Can't Hackett tried to outshoot Brady with Kyle Orton. Because the Bills weren't able to establish any kind of a running attack in that 2014 game their drives in that game went like this...PUNT, PUNT, INTERCEPTION, PUNT, TD, FUMBLE, PUNT, FUMBLE, TD, PUNT, TD, DOWNS. Still, the 2014 defense in that game was way better than the 2015 defense against NE which allowed a franchise-worst 466 most yards passing by a single player in the 50+ year history of the franchise under Wrex! However, In the second game against the Patriots in 2014 Brady only went 8 of 16 for 80 yards with no TD's in the first half and sacked once before he was pulled to save his rear end for the playoffs. Go ahead, try and diminish the fact that the Buffalo Bills beat the Patriots in New England for the first time since 2000, yea, that's right,14 years! I really love how Bills fans try and diminish how good that 2014 defense was by throwing out the bad games they lost that year. There are three dimensions to a team, offense, defense, and ST's. The 2014 offense was another year of hurry up and punt under Hackett which left the defense out on the field much to much to be really effective in some games. Wrex Ryan sucks and he took a playoff caliber defense and ruined it by forcing the players into a scheme that didn't fit what they do best! Wrex, the square peg into a round hole type of guy. Jim Schwartz was able to take those same players and elevate their play so much that three of the four D-linemen made the pro bowl and Jerry Hughes with his 10 sacks should have been right there with them. All Wrex managed to do was make those same pro bowl D-linemen look below average most of the season in his scheme that wasn't working. The reality is the only games Wrex Ryan won this past year were against bad or rookie QB's, new coachings staffs or in games he actually put in the effort to win because of revenge. That's what you get when a team hires a 4-12 head coach.

I think every Bills fan out there thought this years Bills defense would be just as special as Denver's defense. Hence, the most season tickets sold in the history of the franchise in 2015. Gonna be interesting to see what Russ Brandon will cook up to serve this steaming pile of dog crap again to Bills fans in 2016. I can only think that many, many fans are unhappy with what happened to that #4 overall defense in 2014 that led the league in sacks. Now this year Super Mario will likely be gone so the pass rush will really have a reason to be bad. Good job WREX!

It sure does bewilder me how Gary Kubiak, Peyton Manning are getting so much hype when the offense did basically squat in that SB. Manning 13 of 23 for 141 passing one INT. Anderson did have 90 yards and a TD but was almost ineffective when they needed a first down. The real difference in that game was Vonn Miller and how Wade used him and Ware. Plus the Denver defense scored a TD. The ORANGE CRUSH has returned. It may take some time to sink in what really happened in that game but I think he will get his due eventually. I'm still holding out hope that Terry Pegula fires Ryan and hires Wade while keeping Greg Roman.

It's not about dropping the D-linemen into pass coverage because Schwartz also did it successfully during games just like Denver did. It's more about where... and when... and above all who! Just as an example the 2015 mental midget at HC in Buffalo had DT Marcell Dareus dropping into pass coverage on two of KC's TD throws. Any way you slice it Ryan did a piss poor job this year and it was surprising to see so much defensive talent on a team that has spent so much money, time investing in certain players on the defense only to see them misused in a bad scheme. The SB MVP was a pass rushing linebacker! And contrary to Rex Ryan, sacks do matter and will always matter! After the world watched how a defense properly schemed, game planned and called completely destroyed the league's MVP along with shutting down one of the highest-scoring *offenses in the league. Defensive players like Mario will be very much sought after by every team. Arizona for one has already stated they need to bolster their pass rush. I'll bet Carolina would love to have Mario replace an older Jared Allen at DE. Teams will be lining up to give Mario all the money he wants to entice him to come to their cities. To the Bills fans that think it was all Mario's fault that the team didn't get more sacks or be a better defense in 2015 or that "HE" took the year off...really have no idea what goes on behind the scenes on a team. Anyway, only in Buffalo would you see an above average defensive coordinator be hired and build a top 5 defense that was #1 in sacks one year... only be taken apart by hiring a 4-12 head coach the very next year. then have so many fans defend the bum.

I don't know where you read that, but I can tell you what happened that set that entire thing off. Incognito and the rest of the O-line players were sitting at the same table for lunch during camp and when Martin came over to sit down with them. When he sat down the rest of the O-line players got up and left. Martin was a bad RT and the doofus of a GM had the bright idea to switch him to LT after he let the former starter at LT all-pro Jake long leave for St Louis. The entire team couldn't stand Martin because he was a highly paid scrub and he was getting their QB killed every game. From there everything escalated between Incognito and Martin, and Incognito was certainly doing the wrong thing in that situation but he had real reasons for doing it. READ THE TRUTH from an ex-Dolphin O-linemen.... http://mmqb.si.com/2013/11/07/richie-incognito-jonathan-martin-dolphins-lydon-murtha Oh, BTW great news indeed if the team resigns Cogs!

Thanks for posting that.

The play I'll never forget and the one that won the game for the NY Giants is when Bruce Smith was sacking Jeff Hostetler AND HAD HIM BY THE WRIST (you know the wrist with the ball in his hand) in the end zone and somehow that backup QB managed to keep from fumbling the ball to only allow a safety. Just think, the NY Giants were beaten by the Buffalo Bills with Phill Simms at QB during the regular season and for this game, backup QB Jeff Hostetler was starting. My memories of that game were wondering why Kelly was throwing so much in the first half vs not really running unstoppable Thurman. The Bills didn't really watch the Giants defense shut down Joe Montana and the 49ers in the NFC championship game and held Joe to only 18 of 26 for 190 and one TD in that game. If they had the Bills might have run the ball more and been more effective on offense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkCC-crdXXE I don't blame Scott Norwood for the loss because he stunk kicking on grass and wasn't very good for long FG's and 47 yards was a long FG for him. I blame the Bills offense for going against what they did best all year and that was running Thurman to establish the run game and then attack through the air. Thurman Thomas only 15 attempts rushing all game? Against the Raiders in the AFC Championship game, TT 25 rushes for 138 and one TD Against the Dolphins in the playoffs TT 32 rushes for 117, 2 TD's

Interesting take about Ryan's approach to his players and you also nailed the rest of it on a lot of points. My take is the 2016 Buffalo Bills defense could easily improve just by blitzing more than the less than 10% Ryan Blitzed some games in 2015. Then add in some new players at linebacker and the defense could be a whole lot better this year. What I get a kick out of are the Bills fans who come out saying that sacks don't matter or aren't that important. They do matter and will always matter! What a turnaround in view because this new HC stunk it up in getting any kind of pressure on the QB most of the season, so now sacks are no big deal... There was a huge reason as to why the Bills paid Mario Williams 100 million dollars and it wasn't to see him play in a two gap system!! Same with Hughes and Dareus. Sacks go hand in hand with QB pressures, hits, hurries and those are some of the most important stats a defense can try to attain to be the best in. 250 million or 28% of the payroll tied up in pass rushers only to see them do everything but rush the passer. Watching the 2015 Bills defensive line play was basically agonizing for me most of the year after seeing what Schwartz was able to do with the very same players the previous season. Previous to the start of the 2015 season Rex Ryan stated he had never had this much talent on a defense and expectations were sky high for the Bills defense to be perhaps one of the best ever. The Bills FO, ownership, and the fans all thought that 2015 would be to finally unseat the Patriots and a run for the AFC East division championship. However, those expectations were not met and not even close. Bills fans have every right to voice their opinion about last year's results and have every right to be skeptical about the upcoming season considering how things transpired last year. Trust me when I say that every single Bills fan out there wants to like Rex Ryan and wants the team to win games with him as head coach. For whatever reason these new owners gave Ryan another year to get his shi..."things" together and I hope that's all they give him if we see another season like 2015. The fans deserve better than 8-8 and beating teams with scrub QB's, new coaching staffs or the just the other teams in the division for revenge.

Good stuff and in Roman's offense it showed that Taylor developed well over the course of the season. My biggest concern for the offense in 2016 is that the left side of the line stays intact and the Bills will add a better player at RT.

I did, thanks

Just an ex-player sticking up for his old coach. More excuses! Yet there is absolutely no excuse on the planet that can forgive taking a D-line that was #1 in the NFL in QB pressures / sacks the year before and castrating them with a new scheme that doesn't fit what they do best and turning them into the 31st in sacks, 31st in sack percentage. The very, very simple reality is that pressure on the QB is about the absolute best thing you can do to help a secondary, any secondary! With little or no pressure on the opposing QB you could have the best four in the league in coverage and they will eventually get burned. In 2015 the Buffalo Bills were 30th in QB pressures. The Buffalo Bills had two excellent CB's in 2015 (Gilmore & Roby) and when you combine that with the team 30th in QB pressures it makes for the team 19th against the pass. Now don't tell me it was injuries or the lack of different players because against the Jets in that last game Ryan was able to put tremendous pressure on the QB with an injured, beaten up depleted defense. You saw a completely different team take the field defensively in certain games that mattered most to Rex Ryan. That second game against NE with no Kyle Williams, with no Aaron Williams, with no Mario Williams and yet the Bills were able to put pressure on Brady on 50% of his dropbacks and so much so he was screaming at his O-linemen like a little girl. The two games against the Jets and in particular that last game with all the injuries and no Stephon Gilmore in the secondary. With the Bills blitzing less than 10% in a lot of the games in 2015 its like Ryan didn't even try to get pressure on the QB. Everyone points the finger at Mario Williams and says it was all his fault because he didn't buy in! Not in my view! If anyone took almost all of the year off it was the man who calls the defensive plays, and sets the defensive game plans. So many issues with the defense and most of those were with the coaches, late play calls, late substitutions, lack of team discipline with so many penalties. Was Ryan too lazy to watch the film and study the opponent, then draw up a proper game plan? Or did he just not care because he was sitting like a fat cat by getting paid 25 mill in a 5-year deal?

What the Bills did against the Patriots in that second game showed the rest of the league their flaws and how to exploit them. It was the offense that let the team down in that game. Why didn't we see that same team that played so well in that second game against NE is my question? Now granted the Patriots had many injuries at WR & O line but still the Bills actually blitzed and had the front four rushing the passer in that game. Just look at some of the Bills defensive plays in this game to see the Bills actually overloading at the line and then sending more them four. That game was hugely successful for the Bills in getting pressure on Brady and had gotten more pressure on Brady than any other team the last seven years...up until that AFC champ game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJDp4pT408Y Then we never saw that same defense again when it counted.