NRC Talks Rex Ryan and What Went Wrong in Buffalo with Tyler Dunne

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

1 hour ago, joesixpack said:

 

Except when it comes to the one thing a qb needs to do: passing the ball.

 

...huh?...thought it was all the WRs' fault......

[ganesh]

On 12/16/2017 at 10:00 PM, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

You can thank him now, because McDermott made the call to bring him back in '17. 

Because there was none better out there.

[26CornerBlitz]

2 minutes ago, ganesh said:

Because there was none better out there.

 

The UFA QB market was the dregs. 

[87168]

I love how every thread comes back to tyrod, when its origin was Rex's incompetence. a well documented characteristic

[FearLess Price]

On 12/16/2017 at 5:13 PM, 3rdand12 said:

Can we name the rushers who embarrassed the Bills ?

 Ajayi

 Bell

 who was the third..

 

Stats be damned

 The reason Bills defense sucked was blown assignments due to poor communication. and then execution. and then they gave up
so honestly. They kinda sucked.

 

Yep. We did enough to win today tho. Tennessee lost. We gota shot at playoffs

[Ol Dirty B]

9 hours ago, JohnC said:

He didn't set the franchise back---the Peulas did. That was an odd hire. What makes his hire even more perplexing is that he was a known quantity. His career was ignominiously ended in New York. At the time of his firing the team was in a state of disarray. Why didn't the Pegulas do their due diligence outside of the interview room where a huckster is able to shine? Do you think Polian would have endorsed him? Do you think that the substantive and dignified Levy would have endorsed such a shallow and obnoxious character? 

 

This  stubborn stain on the organization that it is now desperately trying to clean up was brought on by the Pegulas. This hire went beyond being stupid. It was a zany hire that to this day is weighing on the organization. The billionaire Terry Pegula has a nose for finding gas fields. However,  in this case he couldn't smell the over-powering and knee bending stench of a fraud that everyone else was aware of. 

 

I agree with a lot of this. The issue with the franchise has been ownership. Was happy they bought the team, but they have been awful in my opinion. 

[Wayne Arnold]

It's amazing how many people (national media) were shocked that Pegula fired Rex last year.

[3rdand12]

On 12/17/2017 at 7:53 PM, FearLess Price said:

 

Yep. We did enough to win today tho. Tennessee lost. We gota shot at playoffs

YESSIREE !!

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

We need Mario Williams back.

[Prickly Pete]

On ‎12‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 8:01 AM, Mr. WEO said:

I like how he describes Rex as a reigning over confusion and no adjustments......and then concludes Rex outsmarted himself.

 

Yeah, that's what I was.  Rex was too smart for his own good!

 

I think you outsmarted yourself with this description.

[Mr. WEO]

12 hours ago, OJABBA said:

 

I think you outsmarted yourself with this description.

 

A moron, by definition, cannot "outsmart" himself.

 

That term can only used in the context of an intelligent person making something overly complicated.

 

In other words, a person would have to be smart in order to outsmart himself.

[TheFunPolice]

Rex went .500 here and only got 2 seasons.

 

I don't think he did that badly. He wasn't good, either. I was a bit surprised that his defenses were so bad, though.

[BuffaloHokie13]

On 12/16/2017 at 2:23 PM, GoBills808 said:

I mean, off the top my my head I can give you five teams that had worse defenses than the Bills last year and I don't think it's arguable. Browns, Colts, Niners, Saints, Falcons. I'd throw in the Dolphins, Packers, and Raiders for debate. There's just no way you can stand by DVOA's 28th.

FWIW, we were 27th last year per FO's site.

The 5 teams behind us were 28 Niners, 29 Colts, 30 Browns, 31 Saints, and 32 Lions.

The 5 teams ahead of us were 26 Falcons, 25 Redskins, 24 Titans, 23 Bears, and 22 Raiders.

Packers were 20th, Dolphins were 19.

 

I'd say that adds validity to DVOA, honestly. 4 of the 5 you said were worse were ranked below us, and the 5th was 1 rank above us.

[dave mcbride]

On 12/16/2017 at 1:41 PM, C.Biscuit97 said:

I hated Rex and glad he is gone.  But last year's defense wasn't as rock bottom awful as some posters wanted to suggest.  It was slightly below average.

The defense was terrible last season.  Look at these numbers. We beat a NE team starting a third string QB playing with a broken finger on his throwing hand, a terrible Rams offense (32nd in offensive DVOA), a bad SF offense (23rd in offensive DVOA),  a bad Jags offense (27th in offensive DVOA) the freaking Browns minus their starting QB (29th in DVOA), and a Cincy team that lost their best player by far (AJ Green) on the first play from scrimmage.  They played a fair number of bad offenses last year, but when they played competent offenses, they were destroyed.  And they gave up 37 and 30 points to a Jets team that was 31st in offensive DVOA.  Make no bones about it: they were HORRIBLE on defense last season.

 

[Magox]

37 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

A moron, by definition, cannot "outsmart" himself.

 

That term can only used in the context of an intelligent person making something overly complicated.

 

In other words, a person would have to be smart in order to outsmart himself.

I don't think so.

 

To "outsmart" yourself is a matter of context that pertains to that own person's level of intelligence not in the setting of how smart they are relative to others.  In short it means to defeat yourself by being too clever by half.   How you like that?  One idiom to describe another.

 

 

[Mr. WEO]

36 minutes ago, Magox said:

I don't think so.

 

To "outsmart" yourself is a matter of context that pertains to that own person's level of intelligence not in the setting of how smart they are relative to others.  In short it means to defeat yourself by being too clever by half.   How you like that?  One idiom to describe another.

 

 

 

Nah.  For that idiom to work, you have to be clever to start.  Rex wasn't, as it turned out.  He was a fraud/doofus.  He was just as confused a HC as he was for the Jets. 

[GoBills808]

2 hours ago, BuffaloHokie13 said:

FWIW, we were 27th last year per FO's site.

The 5 teams behind us were 28 Niners, 29 Colts, 30 Browns, 31 Saints, and 32 Lions.

The 5 teams ahead of us were 26 Falcons, 25 Redskins, 24 Titans, 23 Bears, and 22 Raiders.

Packers were 20th, Dolphins were 19.

 

I'd say that adds validity to DVOA, honestly. 4 of the 5 you said were worse were ranked below us, and the 5th was 1 rank above us.

Must have misread it. Thanks for the correction. Still don't care for the Falcons ahead of us in 2016, or DVOA in general, but maybe I'm being too critical. 

[Livinginthepast]

I was uneasy on the Rex hire after watching how bad those Jets teams were in the last 2 years of his tenure. The Bills game vs the Jets in Detroit was especially embarrassing. But like some people on here, I thought that Rex brought us some national credibility and possibly would attract players here that wouldn't have come normally. I also allowed myself to be swayed by the early Jets Rex who defeated the Pats in the playoffs. In the end, the disorganization that the Robey talks about happening was obvious for all to see. Constant penalties and boneheaded plays.  The fact that Rex was swayed by the preacher on the sidelines to throw or not throw a challenge flag vs the Chiefs. Rex destroyed our superb D under Schwartz. I think you could argue that he destroyed Mario Williams career singlehandedly.  Hiring his brother when he had failed so many places was just the last desperate move on Rex's part and exposed him as the fraud he was. All in all Rex was yet another completely forgettable coach in the drought era.

[YoloinOhio]

Such a phony. I don’t care if he’s a leafs fan but he and rob went to all those Sabres games and walking around like super fans just to kiss up to Pegs

 

 

Edited January 29, 2018 by YoloinOhio

[Another Fan]

6 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Such a phony. I don’t care if he’s a leafs fan but he and rob went to all those Sabres games and walking around like super fans just to kiss up to Pegs

 

 

So much for being all in!  My favorite quote as I've mentioned here before he said was along the lines of "You'd have to kick me out of here and take me screaming but that's never gonna happen".  It was right after the Jaguars game last year.

 

A month later he went out quietly.  It's all you need to know about the man

[Beast]

IMO, he was the worst Head Coach of the drought.

 

He goes right up there with the likes of Hank Bullough and Jim Ringo.

[Another Fan]

10 minutes ago, Binghamton Beast said:

IMO, he was the worst Head Coach of the drought.

 

He goes right up there with the likes of Hank Bullough and Jim Ringo.

I can't believe I'm actually saying this but Marrone and Rex made me miss Jauron at times

[CLTbills]

17 hours ago, Another Fan said:

So much for being all in!  My favorite quote as I've mentioned here before he said was along the lines of "You'd have to kick me out of here and take me screaming but that's never gonna happen".  It was right after the Jaguars game last year.

 

A month later he went out quietly.  It's all you need to know about the man

It was the first time I was legitimately embarrassed to be a Bills fan. Never in my life had I not wanted to be associated with the Bills or let people know I was a Bills fan.... until this clown rolled into town.

[Another Fan]

20 minutes ago, CLTbills said:

It was the first time I was legitimately embarrassed to be a Bills fan. Never in my life had I not wanted to be associated with the Bills or let people know I was a Bills fan.... until this clown rolled into town.

I'll admit I did like the hire at first but soon kinda saw he was a bag of wind

[FearLess Price]

I also follow the Giants and Jets. I hated the Rex hire. We didnt have the personell to run it properly, and we dismantled a top 10 defense fpr no reason. I admit I am a Rex Ryan fan. The guy is entertaining and if he coulda just got out of the way n kept Schwartz on at DC, and focused on time management, personell on field, and situational football calls, he couldve been great.

 

He jus couldnt let go of the DC in his DNA.

[CLTbills]

57 minutes ago, Another Fan said:

I'll admit I did like the hire at first but soon kinda saw he was a bag of wind

I didn't like the hire, but I had no choice but to kind of be on board. But it got embarrassing real quick.

[transient]

Just now, CLTbills said:

I didn't like the hire, but I had no choice but to kind of be on board. But it got embarrassing real quick.

 

I texted a good friend of mine who's actually a Browns fan (similarly geographically afflicted youth) right after the hire.  Told him I wasn't sold on the hire because I wasn't sure if he was a good football coach or a buffoon.  He texted me back asking if the two things were mutually exclusive...  turns out they just might be.

[BringBackOrton]

18 hours ago, Another Fan said:

I can't believe I'm actually saying this but Marrone and Rex made me miss Jauron at times

Marrone was good!

1 hour ago, Another Fan said:

I'll admit I did like the hire at first but soon kinda saw he was a bag of wind

LOL this makes sense.

[SDS]

1 hour ago, FearLess Price said:

I also follow the Giants and Jets. I hated the Rex hire. We didnt have the personell to run it properly, and we dismantled a top 10 defense fpr no reason. I admit I am a Rex Ryan fan. The guy is entertaining and if he coulda just got out of the way n kept Schwartz on at DC, and focused on time management, personell on field, and situational football calls, he couldve been great.

 

He jus couldnt let go of the DC in his DNA.

 

So, IOW, if he was something he never was and nothing he ever was - he could have been great?

 

lol

[transient]

12 minutes ago, SDS said:

 

So, IOW, if he was something he never was and nothing he ever was - he could have been great?

 

lol

 

Exactly.  If he ignored what he once did well and focused on concepts that he's shown no indication he's aware exist... he coulda been great.  Instead, he tried to run a complicated, antiquated defense when he had too many "L's" and not enough "N's" for his system.  

[corta765]

20 hours ago, Binghamton Beast said:

IMO, he was the worst Head Coach of the drought.

 

He goes right up there with the likes of Hank Bullough and Jim Ringo.

I would not have hired Rex if I was running the team, but when he was hired I was OK with thinking that he had good defenses in the past and between the D we had and a better offense we could end the drought and be a fun good roster like KC.

 

For me as soon as we lost to the Pats in week 2 and got shredded at home with his "vaunted D" I felt something was a miss. Marrone & Mularkey had put up a more disciplined closer fight then Rex did and of all the Bills games in my life I have never seen the team that uncomposed, it was just a disaster in week 2. And that to me pretty much summed up his term throughout. Any time a challenge came where it separated the big boys he failed as a coach.

 

I was embarrassed because of the fact he couldn't keep his mouth shut and for a fanbase that has been starving for something the undelivered promises and ridicule was worse then just having a coach like Jauron who at least stayed quiet while sucking.

[TheFunPolice]

I was a huge fan of the Rex hire but I've come to realize that he's just a loudmouth phony who doesn't want to work.

 

He at least used to be a loudmouth who got results.

[FearLess Price]

1 hour ago, ScottLaw said:

They were easily a 10, probably 11 to 12 win team with the talent they had in 2015 and 16. 

 

Rex was just so god damn awful.

 

3 hours ago, SDS said:

 

So, IOW, if he was something he never was and nothing he ever was - he could have been great?

 

Greatness is something that can be achieved by even the meekest of creatures, you dont have to be born great. Rex was a great DC in the beginning.

 

We had a top 10 scoring offense* during the rex years (with TT as QB*), if we had kept the 2014 defense and added to the talent pool instead of dismantaling it, we were easily a 10 win playoff team, thats why i think if he managed his time, efforts, and role more wisely, he couldve been a great hire, he just couldnt get out of his own way.

 

[GunnerBill]

23 hours ago, Binghamton Beast said:

IMO, he was the worst Head Coach of the drought.

 

He goes right up there with the likes of Hank Bullough and Jim Ringo.

 

100% agree. Dreadful, dreadful Head Coach. Had the best roster of the drought on 2015 too. That team was stacked. 

When the Bills made the playoffs on New Year I got a text from my ex girlfriend who I was with the New Year's eve Marrone quit and a week or two later when Rex was hired. She said "I remember how pissed you were that New Year I hope this one is making up for it and it turned out you were right at the time... Rex Ryan really is a dick."

 

She knows nothing about the NFL and she knew.

[blacklabel]

If you ever want to learn more about Rex behind the scenes, read "Collision Low Crossers." It was written during the 2011 season after he had just come off back to back AFC Championship games. The book is super well written and very interesting. It portrays Rex as a worker but mainly for the defense. He had Brian Schottenheimer as his OC and he really just let him do his thing without Rex interfering. 

 

I can understand what NRC is saying about the lack of halftime adjustments. In the book there are several instances where it was explained that they had certain plays in the game plan and it always seemed like Rex was waiting for the perfect time to call them but a lot of times just never did. Don't know if he coached scared or wasn't confident in the game plan or plays but he was always working with Mike Pettine and the defensive staff. Evidently, he would come barrelling into Pettine's office with what he felt was a perfect defensive play. He'd draw it up on the board and then Pettine was his counterbalance. Pettine would point out the flaws and Rex would keep changing it until they felt they had something they could actually implement.

 

The book also said at times, when Rex and his coordinators would be pulling all-nighters during the week, Rex would often play as if he was leaving the facility. Around 10 or 11 PM he'd leave, drive his truck around the block a few times and then come back. He did this so other assistants would see it say, "OK, the head coach left, time for us to leave too." 

 

But then he ends up in Buffalo and we've heard from plenty Buffalo media members that Rex seemed to be mailing it in. He was out the door early everyday, and now we know he was lacking a connection to his players. 

 

With all that, it seems to me like Rex has to have a certain set of circumstances and be surrounded by his type of people in order to succeed. Once Pettine and him had a falling out, things went south for the Jets. 

 

But yeah, if anything these comments show how much Rex outsmarted himself. Three or four checks off of one offensive motion? That's whacky. Extremely difficult to have cohesion across the board when you're trying to make a ton of changes at the line. There's a reason a guy like Wade Phillips keeps getting coordinator jobs and excelling at them. He keeps it simple, he finds out what his players do best and builds his scheme around that. I think McDermott has the same philosophy. Coaches always say, "Once Player A has the playbook down, he'll be fine because he'll be able to play fast and not think so much." Well, it's clear now that when you have your players thinking way too much that limits their ability to play fast because they become unsure of what their role is on any given play. The old KISS method, keep it simple, stupid. Rex couldn't do that. 

Edited January 30, 2018 by blacklabel
Typo

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

I can't believe we still have threads about this clown.

 

I'll just say he was a brutal coach, he didn't work hard, he's not smart, he's boasts about nothing, he doesn't produce, he 's a big, fat phoney.....other than that great dude!