Nihilarian

My point was I watched Mario and I couldn't tell he took plays off or made less than 100% effort while on the field simply because of the scheme was playing in didn't allow him to do what he does best. I highly doubt there is a Bills fan or even a coach out there who could say anything about his performance because they don't know what his specific responsibilities were on a given play. In Ryan's complex 3-4 scheme he could have as many as 5-7 different reads depending on what the offense is doing on a given play. To me, this in itself is a big hindrance to have a superstar pass rusher attempting to read a play and make adjustments on the fly instead of simply allowing him to do what he does best to rush the passer. Less thinking and more rushing because that is exactly why he was paid 100 million dollars... to rush the freaking passer. Also, the bigger point is the coaches were very happy with him in their scheme and were content with him dropping into coverage so an average player at LBer could make a play. I'm siding with the player on this simply because I've watched the man wreck havoc on the field as a pass-rushing defensive end in both Pettine's & Schwartz's schemes only to be castrated by this year's scheme. I feel his frustration that he was basically forced to go to the media to defend himself to the fans about how he was being used in Ryan's scheme. It wasn't just him either as that #3 overall pick who is a raging man of hell on wheels who is mostly double teamed every defensive play has been outspoken about his role in Ryan's scheme since training camp. Sure, take Buffalo Bills HoF DE Bruce Smith and ask him to drop into pass coverage or be a space eating, gap controlling DE so Ray Bentley could make the plays and then see if he remains silent all season about that situation.

Perhaps you missed the fact that this past years defense was historically bad in sacks and that the only year the Bills have had less sacks in a season was in a strike shortened season. The 2014 Buffalo Bills led the NFL in sacks with 54. The 2015 Buffalo Bills were 32nd in the NFL or second to last in sacks with 21. How important are sacks? Ask the #1 defense and #1 sacking team in the NFL this year with 52 sacks. The AFC Championship Denver Broncos. The 2015 Buffalo Bills could have been right there with them defensively. There is little doubt in my mind that the 2015 Buffalo Bills defense would have been even better with 2nd round pick CB Ronald Darby who should earn defensive rookie of the year. In my view, a whole lot more Buffalo Bills defensive players would have made the pro bowl this past season with Schwartz running the show....OH, NOT ONE Buffalo Bills defensive player made the pro bowl roster in 2016...I wonder why.

I'm very aware that some "anonymous" player on the 2015 Buffalo Bills was upset because he thought Mario didn't give 100% and had "totally checked out". That story was in the Buffalo News. http://bills.buffalonews.com/2015/12/31/marios-swan-song-with-bills-is-near/ I'm also aware that some of his own "defensive" teammates like linebacker Preston Brown and Leodis McKelvin are saying the exact opposite, Not everyone agrees with this critique. Williams’ numbers may be down across the board, but inside linebacker Preston Brown asserts that Williams “definitely bought in” to Ryan’s defense and that effort hasn’t been an issue. “He was trying to do what the coaches asked him to,” Brown said. “When you’re 30 years old, it’s kind of hard to start doing stuff you’ve never done. … He’s out there doing his job. I know he’s out there doing his job day in and day out.” Added cornerback Leodis McKelvin, “With him, it could be frustration in getting to the quarterback a lot more. But he wants to play – there’s no doubt about it. He wants to play. But you’re used to getting to the quarterback and now you’re making sacrifices for someone else to get to the quarterback. ... You can’t say one man did something wrong and it caused the whole defense to shut down. It was a complete, total everything.” That so-called anonymous player is probably an offensive player that doesn't sit in with the defensive players in the player meetings and really has no idea what Mario Williams was being asked to do this past season. So, some of his own players on the team might not be aware of his responsibilities during games on certain play calls. Then, so far all his coaches have said that they are satisfied with Mario Williams play, Ryan. Defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman. Defensive line coach Karl Dunbar. Coaches have supported Williams all season long – possibly to a fault. Their message has never wavered. Dunbar, all smiles, praised the veteran on Thursday. Asked how one of this generation’s best pass rushers can last 54 snaps without one tackle, one hit, one sack, Dunbar reiterated they’re pleased with Williams’ play. “He’s doing a good job of coming off the edge and the quarterback’s getting rid of the ball,” Dunbar said. “It’s kind of hard because the defense we play is predicated on what they give us and who’s going to be the hot guy. Yeah, you wish you had more tackles, you wish you had more sacks. But I think he’s helping our defense based upon the things he’s doing.” Dunbar cited linebacker Manny Lawson’s hit on Dallas’ Kellen Moore – the team’s only registered QB hit in the game – as one such play. Williams covered tight end James Hanna out of the backfield, eliminating the hot read and Moore was walloped. The coach asserts Williams “has been around the quarterback” and didn’t hesitate on if Williams has been giving his all. “Yeah, I think so,” Dunbar said. “He’s out there doing the things we’ve asked him to do. … It’s a little bit different than what he’s done in the past, but I think it’s working for us.” And Dunbar does view Williams as a fit in Buffalo’s defense, even when the player himself puts the scheme on trial." Do you not see that Rex Ryan's 2015 Buffalo Bills defensive scheme was asking superstar pass rusher, Mario Williams, to drop into pass coverage so that the linebacker can make the play. The team registered one freaking, stinking lousy hit on the QB all game and the coaches are happy about it Anyway, I must have missed the plays Mario Williams didn't go full steam in this past year. So, perhaps, you would please be so kind to point out the specific plays in certain games that Williams didn't make any effort in.

It's OK to have an opinion that doesn't agree with mine. But allow me to explain the situation as I see it a little further. The defensive ends in a 3-4 alignment have jobs similar to that of the nose tackle: they want to take up space, fill gaps, and occupy blockers. In the 3-4, linemen aren't expected to make many sacks or tackles. Most of the playmaking responsibilities fall upon the linebackers. In a 4-3 system, linemen are supposed to occupy blockers, but they are also expected to free themselves to make tackles and sacks. In 2015 Rex Ryan ran a mumble - jumble hybrid defense of sorts that clearly didn't work very well most of the time because he simply refused to blitz very often. He ran variations of a 3-4 / 4-3 during games in which he asked his defensive line players to do many different things in his scheme that Jim Schwartz didn't ask in his scheme. Schwartz asked his D-linemen to mostly rush the passer simply because that is what they were being paid so much money to do...like 28% of the payroll is tied up in that front four...to rush the passer!! Jim Schwartz still had his D-line players dropping into pass coverage like a zone blitz, it's just he didn't ask them to do that as much as Ryan did this year. Plus, I can't recall Schwartz ever dropping Dareus or Kyle Williams into pass coverage much at all, if ever! Schwartz made his defense work without asking his defense to blitz very often and that is a tribute to how good those front four players really are!! They all are worth every penny the Bills were paying them and yes even this past year. I say this because it's not their fault if they are being asked to do stupid things like occupy the O-linemen and stand in space while the crappy linebackers behind them try and make plays. It looked to me like the Bills ran the 3-4 zone blitz scheme a lot last year and if I'm not mistaken that is or was the Steelers claim to fame under former Steeler DC Dick LeBeau. In that defense, it was OK to have a bunch of average D- linemen dropping into pass coverage because they had such great linebackers behind them to make the plays. Kinda the exact opposite of the Bills situation. So, when I watched Mario Williams this year in games and I noticed he would fly off the snap like he was going to rush and then just stop, like standing in place. That is because that is exactly what he was supposed to do in a 3-4 set, and he did exactly what he was asked to do by Ryan, in taking up space, controlling the gap, occupy blockers. Many fans want to label him as a player with a bad attitude because he voiced his opinion to the media or someone who wasn't doing his job and they have it all wrong as I see it. This is why my opinion differs from yours.

The Bills coaches have stated over and over that Mario Williams was doing what he was asked to do and that they were happy with his performance from every game. Mario was mostly playing gap control rather then being put into position to rush the passer. Then, even when Ryan had Mario set out past the OT on his side as Schwartz did in his wide nine he wasn't as effective because the OT would push him outside to make him run the arc usually taking 2-3 seconds. When the defense is only blitzing less than 10% of the time most games it makes it far easier for 5-6 offensive players staying in to block the four Bills players that are rushing. Sometimes the Bills would only rush with 3 instead of four because that fourth was dropping into pass coverage. Rex Ryan has had a past history of blitzing so often he would be bringing the kitchen sink every play. Meaning that (in his own words), "I'm going to bring everyone known to man after the QB every play". Back in 2009 with the NY Jets that was exactly the case as his Jets teams blitzed 50-54% of the defensive plays those years and his defense was so good and they went to the AFC championship games. I like to call Ryan's blitzing schemes an "overload blitz" simply because he would usually send more rushers / blitzers at the opposing QB than they had in defending the QB. This year Ryan didn't run that scheme very often and when he did it was usually very successful. I have no idea why he didn't blitz more often this year. This past year the 2015 Buffalo Bills almost never blitzed in the majority of the games and the lack of sacks by the Bills this year reflected that by being 31st in the league in sacks with only 21. This was from ESPN after week two's game against the Patriots. "Rex Ryan, Dennis Thurman and defensive coaching staff: Ryan told his team that this loss was on his shoulders, and so he's a natural place to start in the "down" column. Ryan's defensive game plan couldn't put pressure on Tom Brady-- the Bills disrupted (a sack, batted ball, passed defense or interception) only 9.8 percent of Brady's dropbacks, a lower rate than in any of the Bills' 2014 games -- and he never seemed to have an effective plan for stopping either Rob Gronkowski or Julian Edelman." http://espn.go.com/b...defensive-staff

In regards to the above, this article was written after the Cincy game in week six by an ex NFL player who often contributes to SB Nation http://www.sbnation.com/2015/10/21/9581575/mario-williams-marcell-dareus-rex-ryan-buffalo-bills-defense I would suggest reading the entire article to obtain some further understanding of what was happening on the field defensively for the Buffalo Bills in 2015. Some excerpts, "Two of Buffalo's best defensive players have publicly complained about the scheme. They've got a point, says retired NFL defensive end Stephen White." "Both Dareus and Williams griped about how much the Bills pass rushing (and highly paid) defensive line was being asked to drop into coverage instead of rushing the passer. It was way too much in their estimation. I had the exact same complaint after watching them lose to the Bengals. But, there was more to it than that." "It's much worse than just Ryan having his best pass rushers dropping into coverage too much rather than actually, yanno, pass rushing. One edge guy, either Williams or Hughes, generally gets to stand up and either set the edge/pass rush on the edge or drop into coverage when they line up in a base 3-4. The other edge rusher often has to line up on the offensive tackle rather than being on an edge. That's pretty much the opposite of an ideal situation for most highly skilled pass rushers." "Even having Mario Williams, a human cheat code with his ridiculous combination of size, strength and athletic ability, two-gapping an offensive tackle is a pretty dumb thing to do on a regular basis because it's obvious he doesn't like doing it! I greatly admire Williams' game, but he's just not that guy who wants to be lined up head-up and wrestle with a 300-pounder all game. " "That goes double for Hughes, who plays with plenty of heart, but doesn't have nearly the kind of size and strength you generally want in a 3-4 five technique defensive end." "After watching this film, I have no idea who this version of Rex Ryan is. And that is unfortunate. As tacky and inadvisable as it is for players to call out their coaches to the media, I do think Ryan should do himself a favor and actually start listening to what they are saying. The reason is simple, they are not wrong." **Just a footnote here that in that Cincy game Marcell Dareus was dropped into pass coverage on two of the Bengals TD passes.

Let me clarify some misconceptions here. The 2014 Jets weren't that bad on defense in Ryan's last year. Bills fans really need to stop reinforcing Ryan's own excuse that he didn't get the players needed in the secondary and that the new GM was trying to get him fired for not getting him the players he needed. Believe it or not that 2014 NY Jets team was right behind the Buffalo Bills in team defensive hurries with 78 and the Bills had 80 hurries. That 2014 NY Jets defense was also #7th in the NFL with 45 sacks. They were #6th in total defense, #5 against the run and 14th against the pass. Simply not the horrorfest some would have you believe and for certain not even close to the reason why that team went 4-12. It was the Jets offense that stunk it up and more importantly, the QB's in second-year starter Geno Smith and backup QB Mike Vick were the main reasons for losing so many games. We all saw how pathetic they were against Buffalo's defense under Schwartz. I recall laughing so often at how bad they were in those two games. Week 8 Geno Smith started and went 2 of 8 for 5 yards and 3 INT's Michael Vick came in and went 18 of 36 for 153 1 INT but sacked 4x. Final score Buffalo 43-NY Jets 23. Ryan benched Geno after that Bills game but the team had already lost 7 games with Geno Smith as the starter who went 3-10 in 2014. Veteran QB Mike Vick started the next three games in losing to the Chiefs, beating the Steelers and then Buffalo again, Vick was sacked 5x in that game before being injured late in the 3rd quarter and Geno made an appearance. Week 12 Mike Vick went 7 of 19 for 76 yards one INT, 5x sacks- Geno Smith went 10 of 12 for 89 yards and was sacked 2x. That's 7x sacks for the Bills against that Jets team in one game and 11 sacks in two games. Before this game Rex Ryan promised the Jets fans his team would play 1000% better in the second game against Buffalo and the final score was NY Jets 3- Buffalo Bills 38. Rex Ryan's teams regressed with Mark Sanchez at QB and regressed with Geno Smith at QB. Veteran QB Michael Vick couldn't save him either and had a QB rating of 21.4 with the Jets that year. Ryan looked so lost on the sidelines of that 4-12 team last season and it looked like he also lost his players along the way. The Buffalo Bills got exactly what they hired...a 4-12 head coach. Stop with the excuses for this bum.

Somewhere In the back of my mind, I'm holding out hope that the Pegula's talk to some NFL knowledgeable people that know a little something about NFL defenses and come to the realization of the horrible mistake they made in hiring Ryan. Then after the Superbowl, they fire him and offer the job to Wade Phillips. The Bills might not have the complete set of players on the roster to run either Phillip's or Ryan's 3-4 scheme. But, by hiring Wade, at least, the team wouldn't be beset by all the other issues with the team including the lack of discipline over the entire team. The late play calls, the late player substitutions, motivating the opponent with his big mouth or team captains. Misuse of the players on the roster in forcing them into a scheme that doesn't work all season. Next year should the Bills retain Ryan they might just get into the playoffs...if they played the Jets 16x.

Gee, ya think the 7 first downs given to the Giants offense by the Buffalo Bills defense had anything to do with it?? Part of Rex Ryan's stupidity to beat his own team with the lack of discipline. This argument isn't just about the lack of sacks by last year's defense or the lack of discipline by the entire team in many games. The 2015 Buffalo Bills were the #2 team in the NFL in penalties and the only reason for that is that more were declined. (BTW, the Tampa Bay Buc's just fired the HC with the worst team in the league in penalties) It wasn't just a bad scheme or variations of bad schemes that mostly didn't work on defense last year as it was the late defensive play calls, the players out of position when the ball was snapped. The defensive player substitutions coming in so late that even the slowest of teams would hurry to the line. The miss use of pro bowl players into doing things that they themselves complained about doing all season long. I'd have to say that Ryan's choices for OC, QB and OG Richie Incognito are the only good things that came out of his being hired by the team. It still makes me think that this hire has got to be the worst head coach since Hank Bullough and the difference between those two men is that Ryan could sell snow to Eskimos. Here is a discussion in this forum after the week two Patriots game. http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/181760-carucci-disconnect-exists-between-dl-and-scheme/ For the life of me, I have a difficult time understanding how any true Buffalo Bills fan could still be defending the ineptitude we all saw from Rex Ryan's misuse of the pro bowl defensive line players. Only 21 sacks in 2015 for a team playing 250 million to those four D-line players to rush the passer. More importantly, I don't get how these new billionaire owners would retain this HC after such misuse of player talent.

Loved that game even though it was a defensive struggle! I do believe Bill Belichick walked up to Wade after the game and said "you called great game". Great stuff and it would have been some unreal grief from Pats fans to other NFL fans had Brady won that 5th ring. This game made my year.

The one-word that sums it up appropriately is disaster! From 1st to 31st in sacks can't be called anything but a disaster! Little or no pressure on the opposing QB usually gives even the bad QB's time to make plays. I keep coming back to this conversation because so many Bills fans are so darned nonchalant about what happened to the defense this past year and it's really inexcusable! Injuries? The entire defense was healthy and on the field for that Patriots game in week two and the Bills vaunted defense was smoked because of the scheme Ryan ran that game. Tom Brady set a Buffalo Bills franchise worst 466 passing yards allowed by a single player in that game. The Bills defense after this game ranked 29th. "Rex Ryan, Dennis Thurman and defensive coaching staff: Ryan told his team that this loss was on his shoulders, and so he's a natural place to start in the "down" column. Ryan's defensive game plan couldn't put pressure on Tom Brady-- the Bills disrupted (a sack, batted ball, passed defense or interception) only 9.8 percent of Brady's dropbacks, a lower rate than in any of the Bills' 2014 games -- and he never seemed to have an effective plan for stopping either Rob Gronkowski or Julian Edelman." http://espn.go.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/21042/bills-breakdowns-vs-patriots-start-with-rex-ryan-defensive-staff Then surprisingly the defense with several players out with injuries played the Patriots so much better in their second game in week 11. No Aaron Williams, No Kyle Williams, No Mario Williams and yet the defense in this game had Brady screaming at his O-linemen like a little girl. The Bills defense managed to put pressure on Brady on 20 of his 40 dropbacks (50%) and the front four actually rushed the QB in this game. Then, inexplicably, that great defense we saw in week 11 went back to the Rex Ryan way of gap control and continued to stink for most of the rest of the season. The injury excuse is a fail!

Trent Richardson of the defense?

That was because Marv Levy was also a special team coach under the late Redskin HC George Allen and Marv put a lot of effort in helping with ST's. Marv was never a DC or OC and in my view, he was the biggest reason why the Buffalo Bills special teams were so dominate back then.

It makes me sad because I wanted to see Freddy get a SB ring.

It must be stupefying to watch a team garner the rank of #4 defense overall and be the #1 team in the league in sacks for a season and then blame the losses that year on the defense. Then have others agree with this analysis #1) Chargers game went for Buffalo like this- PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-FG-end of HALF-TD-PUNT-DOWNS-PUNT-SAFETY-DOWNS the Final score was Chargers 22- Bills 10 and it's the defenses fault they didn't score? Oh WAIT! the Chargers dominated that game huh? Chargers-TD-FG-PUNT-FG-TD-PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-PUNT The Bills held the Chargers in the second half to five straight punts to end the game and the Bills offense was so haplessly pathetic it was unable to do anything with the ball. That was the game that Bills OC Nate Hackett morphed into Chan Gailey because the team fell behind in points so he had EJ throw 40 passes a game while running it 22 times. I'd say that loss was more on the offensive failure then the defenses. Shall I go on? #2) New England dominated the game in Buffalo and this is supposedly the defenses fault? Let's look at the downs again. - Bills- PUNT-PUNT-INT-PUNT-TD-Fumble-PUNT-Fumble-TD-PUNT-TD-Downs. The Patriots sacked Orton 5 times and Intercepted him once. When a team fails to run the ball and keeps repeatedly giving the ball back to the Patriots they will find a way to score and by the second half, the defense had to be worn out by always being on the field. If anything it's on the offense again for not holding on to the ball and giving the Patriots repeatedly great field position from turnovers. #3) The Raiders final score was 24-26 and Oakland was incredibly lucky to complete a 3rd and 22 for 51 yards to Andre Holms to allow the Raiders to drive 80 yards to score a TD late in the game. I agree that the defense is not without fault in this loss and should have played better against a 2-14 team. Still, the Raiders had 4 FG's and 2 TD's but even when a bad team keeps getting the ball back constantly they eventually will score. However, let's look at the play by play again. TD-INT-PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-FG-PUNT-PUNT-TD-PUNT-INT-TD. I'd have to say that the offense let the team down far more then the defense did with the two interceptions and the complete failure to run the ball. The Bills had 13 rushes for 13 yards in this game CJ Spiller was 4 rushes for -4 yards. From my view last year's offense was so inept it kept giving the ball back to the opposing offense and because the Bills defense was on the field so much they eventually had many breakdowns along the way. But that 2014 defense wasn't anything as bad as this seasons with the lack of discipline and players being put in the wrong scheme to not allow them to make plays. It's ridiculous to compare the 2014 defense to the 2015 defense. What is comparable is the 2014 offense as inept as the 2015 defense.

You know I think you have a point and it might actually be the reason why Ryan still has a job. It's not only TT though because that offense would not have worked with Nathaniel Hackett calling 40 passes a game and the offensive line wouldn't have been nearly as good without Richie Incognito who was a top five rated OG this year. Rex Ryan wanted both TT and Incognito along with Percy Harvin and I have to think if Harvin remained healthy that offense could have been so much more potent. Just because Ryan asked for Greg Roman, Tyrod Taylor, and Percy Harvin shouldn't absolve the man for what he did to that defense this year. The Bills fans who bleed red, white and blue defending Ryan here really have no legs to stand on when you think of a team with 250 million dollars tied up in pass rushers literally getting no pressure on opposing QB's almost all season long. How do I know this? Because the team went from #1 in the NFL in sacks in 2014 with 54 to #31 in the league with only 21 sacks. So this begs the question in where on earth did 33 sacks go to when you still have two of three pro bowlers along with that elite pass rusher in Jerry Hughes on the other side of Mario Williams? 2014 Mario Williams 14.5 sacks 2014 Marcell Dareus 10 sacks 2014 Jerry Hughes 9.5 sacks 2014 Kyle Williams 5.5 sacks Those four players accounted for 39.5 sacks 2015 Mario Williams 5.0 2015 Jerry Hughes 5.0 2015 Marcell Dareus 2.0 2015 Kyle Williams 1.0 Those four players accounted for 13 sacks Its a downright disgrace to watch a 331 LB hell on wheels pro bowl pass rusher to be asked to play gap contain or drop him into pass coverage... its almost criminal. Two sacks all season when he had 10 the previous year and fans wonder why he has been complaining about how he is being used. It's a whole lot more sad than most fans can comprehend right now. Basically paying Marcell Dareus what he is currently making is a total waste of money for what he is being asked to do in Wrex Ryan's scheme and the team might as well trade him away for draft picks that fit Ryan's scheme. "Marcell Dareus signed a 6 year, $96,574,118 contract with the Buffalo Bills, including a $25,000,000 signing bonus, $60,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $16,095,686. In 2016, Dareus will earn a base salary of $7,900,000, a signing bonus of $7,000,000 and a workout bonus of $250,000. Dareus has a cap hit of $14,550,000 while his dead money value is $34,900,000." http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/marcell-dareus/ That is a heck of a lot of money to pay a player to be a space eater for two sacks a year! I think it might make more sense to fire Ryan now than retool the front seven to fit Ryan's scheme! The team will just end up firing him next season anyway.

Exactly! For the first part and I've been attempting to relay that to Bills fans since week two against the Patriots. Marcell Dareus has been publicly stating the same thing since training camp. It's beyond moronic to take three pro bowl D-linemen who are being paid 250 million dollars to rush the passer and then to basically ask them to NOT rush the passer and instead control the gaps so the teams crappy linebackers can make the plays If this year's scheme was run intending to get the fan base mad at their 100 million dollar DE in Mario Williams.., it worked! But it was also what he was asked to do in Wrex Ryans scheme and he wasn't happy about it either. So now the team and fan base will happily see Mario on a different team for the 2016 season. The fans thinking he had a bad attitude and the FO happy they have cap room! Meanwhile, the Bills lose their best pass rushing defensive end since Bruce Smith all because a moron of a supposed defensive genius only knows how to run his scheme. Frankly, calling Rex Ryan a moron is an insult to morons everywhere because this man is being paid 4.25 million per to screw up a playoff caliber defense and he is even below a sub-morons mentality for doing that. Now, I don't know what to think of this new ownership who's command over their team looks to be so minimal that they allow themselves to be led around by the teams GM & CEO like a calf with a nose ring. Rex Ryan should have been fired and every single person in the entire league that understands how an NFL defense works knows this now. If it were just the defense it wouldn't be so bad as the team would have been comparable to George Edwards defense only he didn't have Jerry Hughes or Mario Williams and yet he still managed more sacks. Ryan 21 sacks vs Edwards 29 & 27 sacks. Did I mention that the Bills defense didn't have Jerry Hughes or Mario Williams in 2010-2011? It was the penalties It was the undisciplined play it was the defensive play call coming in so late that even the slowest offenses would hurry to the line because they knew the Bills wouldn't be ready it was the marginal game / red flag management during different games it was watching the substitute defensive linemen jumping all over so when the ball was snapped they would be out of position it was the loud mouthed blowhard giving the opponents bulletin board material as if teams needed more reasons to play harder against Buffalo and the list could go on and on... As for the second part, the Bills really didn't have those linemen dropping into pass coverage on every defensive play. But it was enough so that the players themselves complained publically! Just to give some insight into just how stupid it was to have a 331 DT dropping into pass coverage and nevermind that this player isn't supposed to run sideline to sideline even though he can. He does his best work pass rushing in a phone booth type space but now he is asked to play in a 20+ yard area chasing down a TE or RB In that Kansas City game Marcell Dareus was dropped into pass coverage instead of rushing the passer on two of KC's TD passes!! How Rex Ryan managed to retain his job this season is something I'll never understand and now Wrex has hired his brother Rob who was fired in NO for having the leagues near worst defense. Only in Buffalo...

Nihilarian, on 06 Jan 2016 - 07:42 AM, said: UPDATED The only good thing that can come from Mike Mularkey getting that HCing job in Tenn is that Marrone is forced to stay in Jacksonville as O-line coach. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that a lot of coaches will be on a short leash this year and should some teams finish the first half of the season with a bad losing record I can see some getting canned. Detroit-Caldwell Cincy- Marvin Lewis San Diego- Mike McCoy Jacksonville-Gus Bradley Dallas-Jason Garrett St Louis LA Rams-Jeff Fisher New Orleans-Sean Payton Buffalo-Rex Ryan

Nihilarian, on 06 Jan 2016 - 07:42 AM, said: PFT reporting it will be a massive upset if Mike Mularkey is not hired as their HC this year. The main reason the Titans chose their new GM was because he was on board in keeping Mularkey as HC. Why I can't even imagine. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/01/16/massive-upset-if-titans-dont-keep-mularkey/

RIP Mr Marchibroda The man was the main reason that 90's Bills offense was so potent. He taught Jim Kelly to call his own plays and was basically responsible for that hurry up / no huddle offense. Jim Kelly was so good at running the 2 min drill so Ole Ted had him start running it all game long. Then the he brought back the old Redskin "counter trey" run scheme which allowed Thurman Thomas his great cut back lanes. Ted Marchibroda was the Colts ex-head coach who tutored QB Burt Jones into a playoff QB. Those Colts never could get by the Steelers in the playoffs. Anyway, it stunk when the Colts re-hired Marchibroda away from Buffalo after the 91 season. Interesting note that Jim Harbaugh was the Colts QB at that time.

I look at Doug Marrone getting interviewed by so many teams as the same thing that happened to Dick Harper in the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane". In which another firm asks him to interview for an executive job after he was on TV talking about how great his company is and then gets fired while taking the blame for his old firms disaster of going out of business. The exec's interviewing him all want their picture taken with him while they all laugh about what he said on TV. Teams probably really want to know why he walked away from a very lucrative NFL HCing job after taking that team to a winning record for the first time in a decade. I can only imagine the interviewing team probably starts to chuckle when Marrone says he will hire Hackett as his OC again.

Should Mike Mularkey get hired it's going to be primarily for one reason and that is the work he did with Marcus Mariota as offensive coordinator.... NOT! Mularkey was the tight ends coach and when the team fired HC Ken Whisenhunt they named Mularkey the interim HC. He went 2-7 this year after Whisenhunt went 1-6. Even giving Mularkey a long look also has me puzzled because 18-39 says he pretty much sucks as an NFL HC. Like someone else said that Titans job is going to be a great opportunity for the next HC. With Ray Horton as the DC and Dick LeBeau as assistant HC. They already have their future franchise QB in Mariota. Watch Maroon get hired and bring Hackett with him to ruin that young QB.

I was responding the way I did because of that bolded sentence. Why does TT need to fit into your timetable of this next year or he doesn't have the capacity to be a long term starter? Where does it say two years or bust? The guy doesn't even have a full playing season under his belt. I like what I've seen from Taylor in his first year as the starter and he showed he still has a lot of holes in his game. Should he continue to develop under Greg Roman than perhaps the Bills have found that elusive "franchise QB" they have been long awaiting. We fans have no control over anything other than to just voice our opinions and all I'm saying here is be patient and let the man develop as his own pace. I don't see how the comparisons are off the mark. Those two QB's weren't "befuddled" in leading their teams into the playoffs and in Kaepernick's case to the super bowl, NFL championship game with many wins along the way. Frankly, Tyrod Taylor wished he looked that good this year. Anyway, both looked to so good at the start of their careers because they started out being developed properly and then that fell by the wayside as their respective teams wanted more from them and then started asking the QB to the win games for them. Let's not forget that Greg Roman was also Kaepernick's OC in San Fran and by his third season as a starter, he was stinking it up. Right now Taylor looked good as a game manager and not so good in attempting to throw more than 30 passes in a game, he also looks good when the team runs more than they throw. Let's just hope he keeps developing like he was this past year and patience grasshopper.

That is just crazy talk. It's better to destroy a future NFL starting QB rather then allow him to develop at his own pace is quite frankly, insane. Mark Sanchez took his team to the AFC Championship twice and now is in the trash heap as a backup. Colin Kaepernick who took his team to a super bowl and an NFL championship game is also thought to be in the trash. RG3 is another currently broken QB that may or may not ever be resurrected into a starting caliber player and he took his team to the playoffs his first year in the league. What all these QB's have in common is a team that started to develop them properly by running the ball more then throwing it, thus allowing them to be game managers. Then what happened in each case was that their teams decided to rush their development and ask them to carry the team by passing more than running it and all three started to fail. Things got worse as time went on. You could also fit EJ into this category when in 2014 when the Bills ran more than they threw it the first two games EJ looked fine and the Bills won. Then the next two games he was asked to carry the team by throwing 40 & 44 times and fell on his face. Rex Ryan, Greg Roman have it right in developing Tyrod properly in wanting to build a power, run-first offense that limits the amount of responsibility for the QB. Then gradually giving him more and more responsibility each game. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Tyrod could take this team to the playoffs in 2016. It's expecting him to carry the offense all on his own each game like he is magically now Tom Brady. He isn't! He is a 6th round pick that needs all the support the team can give him the next 2-3 years.

Thanks You guys need to remember that in general it takes the average QB 3-4 years to fully develop into their craft as an NFL starting QB. Not every QB is going to come out gangbusters like Cam Newton or Andrew Luck. And even those men with such gifted physical abilities have had difficulties at times. Simply look at the failures of RG3 and Colin Kaepernick who were pushed overly hard to fast and the result is a broken QB. It honestly makes no sense to force a young inexperienced QB to start throwing 30-40 passes a game and put the entire fortune of the outcome of the game on his shoulders. The Bills need to stick with the plan and allow him to hand off to Shady & Karlos in simply being a game manager while refining his craft. If you guys want to see another broken QB like Mark Sanchez, Kaepernick or RG3 in Buffalo then by all means rush the kid.