DeMeco Ryans local interview - answering questions about Josh Allen

[PoundingDog]

I don't follow other teams' coaches that much. Guess we had extended "wait time for week 1" this year and I listened to DeMeco's entire interview. I came away really impressed with this guy. Very well spoken and relatable to players/other people, seems level headed, and without saying so, showed confidence. From the outside, I thought he lucked into great defensive players to build such a strong defense, but I see now there is a reason. He might be there for a long time.

 

A few interesting points:

• He didn't give any insight of defending Josh Allen, as you'd expect. emphasized Josh's trait of buying additional time, which everyone knows. I thought his comment of Josh being able to get the Bills to the playoff every year is a bit telling: we have Josh and only Josh. 
• His praise of Azeez Al-Shaair is surprising to us outside. I thought Al-Shaair is known as a dirty player, but Ryans described him as a very caring, religous man. 
• He admitted "chasing ghost" himself, i.e., for an unknown opponent week 1, scouring for all information he could get hands on, looking for films of Pete Carmichael's former teams, Jim Leonhard's former teams etc. Do we really expect to catch them with a lot of surprises? There will be some but I don't expect a lot, to the point of being the deciding factor that we hope for.
• On his HC evolution, he said he learned to delegate, and saves time for more direct players interaction, getting their input on plays and other stuff.

 

My final thought is Kyle Shanahan must be the best coachs' coach in NFL. There are so many HCs' coming from Shanahan's stuff over the years, including some great ones.  

 

 

 

[sven233]

20 minutes ago, PoundingDog said:

I don't follow other teams' coaches that much. Guess we had extended "wait time for week 1" this year and I listened to DeMeco's entire interview. I came away really impressed with this guy. Very well spoken and relatable to players/other people, seems level headed, and without saying so, showed confidence. From the outside, I thought he lucked into great defensive players to build such a strong defense, but I see now there is a reason. He might be there for a long time.

 

A few interesting points:

• He didn't give any insight of defending Josh Allen, as you'd expect. emphasized Josh's trait of buying additional time, which everyone knows. I thought his comment of Josh being able to get the Bills to the playoff every year is a bit telling: we have Josh and only Josh. 
• His praise of Azeez Al-Shaair is surprising to us outside. I thought Al-Shaair is known as a dirty player, but Ryans described him as a very caring, religous man. 
• He admitted "chasing ghost" himself, i.e., for an unknown opponent week 1, scouring for all information he could get hands on, looking for films of Pete Carmichael's former teams, Jim Leonhard's former teams etc. Do we really expect to catch them with a lot of surprises? There will be some but I don't expect a lot, to the point of being the deciding factor that we hope for.
• On his HC evolution, he said he learned to delegate, and saves time for more direct players interaction, getting their input on plays and other stuff.

 

My final thought is Kyle Shanahan must be the best coachs' coach in NFL. There are so many HCs' coming from Shanahan's stuff over the years, including some great ones.  

 

 

 

 

He's a good guy and a good coach.  But make no mistake about it.....  We have done more to hurt ourselves in these games against them as compared to what they do against us.  This was especially true last season.  I mean, we had 1 starting tackle that played hurt most of the game and another one that was obviously concussed for most of it.  And not once did we adjust our offense to give those guys any help and we just left them out there on an island against a team that might have the best pair of edge rushers in the game.  The game plan made no sense.

 

And yet, we found a way to crawl back into that game and almost had a chance to steal it in a game we had no business being in.  A busted unnecessary trick play here and there.  Throw in the fact we didn't have our best offensive players in that game and it has been a recipe for disaster down there.  Don't get me wrong....they are excellent on defense and we are going to have to earn everything we get down there on Sunday.  But, I think with the film we have, the lessons learned against their edge rushers, and a healthy offense with even more weapons, I think things are going to look a lot different out there.  It got to the point last season where I think Josh felt he needed to be Superman on every play for this team to have a chance.  I think him knowing he has Moore, Shakir, Kincaid, Cook, etc., and knowing his tackles are at least healthy, will calm him down a bit and he will let the game come more to him instead of trying to force the issue every play.  And you know Josh....he is going to have a huge chip on his shoulder for this game.  He will be as prepared for this game as any other one he's played.  If our defense can hold them to around 20 and doesn't look completely lost out there in the new system, I like our chances of getting to 24+ and that should be enough.....HOPEFULLY.  

[Beck Water]

45 minutes ago, PoundingDog said:

I don't follow other teams' coaches that much. Guess we had extended "wait time for week 1" this year and I listened to DeMeco's entire interview. I came away really impressed with this guy. Very well spoken and relatable to players/other people, seems level headed, and without saying so, showed confidence. From the outside, I thought he lucked into great defensive players to build such a strong defense, but I see now there is a reason. He might be there for a long time.

 

A few interesting points:

• He didn't give any insight of defending Josh Allen, as you'd expect. emphasized Josh's trait of buying additional time, which everyone knows. I thought his comment of Josh being able to get the Bills to the playoff every year is a bit telling: we have Josh and only Josh. 
• His praise of Azeez Al-Shaair is surprising to us outside. I thought Al-Shaair is known as a dirty player, but Ryans described him as a very caring, religous man. 
• He admitted "chasing ghost" himself, i.e., for an unknown opponent week 1, scouring for all information he could get hands on, looking for films of Pete Carmichael's former teams, Jim Leonhard's former teams etc. Do we really expect to catch them with a lot of surprises? There will be some but I don't expect a lot, to the point of being the deciding factor that we hope for.
• On his HC evolution, he said he learned to delegate, and saves time for more direct players interaction, getting their input on plays and other stuff.

 

My final thought is Kyle Shanahan must be the best coachs' coach in NFL. There are so many HCs' coming from Shanahan's stuff over the years, including some great ones.  

 

 

 

 

I'd just like to point out that who a man is on the football field and who a man is off it, not the same thing.

 

You can have a guy who's a dirty player in between the snap and the whistle AND is a caring, religious man off the field and after the game.

[PoundingDog]

Bills scored 19 points last year, 7 of which is Davis' 97 yard kickoff return for TD. So the offense scored a grand total of 12 points. I would not say the offense did enough to keep the game close ... and Houston was playing Mills at QB. 

[QB Bills]

37 minutes ago, sven233 said:

 

He's a good guy and a good coach.  But make no mistake about it.....  We have done more to hurt ourselves in these games against them as compared to what they do against us.  This was especially true last season.  I mean, we had 1 starting tackle that played hurt most of the game and another one that was obviously concussed for most of it.  And not once did we adjust our offense to give those guys any help and we just left them out there on an island against a team that might have the best pair of edge rushers in the game.  The game plan made no sense.

 

And yet, we found a way to crawl back into that game and almost had a chance to steal it in a game we had no business being in.  A busted unnecessary trick play here and there.  Throw in the fact we didn't have our best offensive players in that game and it has been a recipe for disaster down there.  Don't get me wrong....they are excellent on defense and we are going to have to earn everything we get down there on Sunday.  But, I think with the film we have, the lessons learned against their edge rushers, and a healthy offense with even more weapons, I think things are going to look a lot different out there.  It got to the point last season where I think Josh felt he needed to be Superman on every play for this team to have a chance.  I think him knowing he has Moore, Shakir, Kincaid, Cook, etc., and knowing his tackles are at least healthy, will calm him down a bit and he will let the game come more to him instead of trying to force the issue every play.  And you know Josh....he is going to have a huge chip on his shoulder for this game.  He will be as prepared for this game as any other one he's played.  If our defense can hold them to around 20 and doesn't look completely lost out there in the new system, I like our chances of getting to 24+ and that should be enough.....HOPEFULLY.  

Not sure I agree with this. 

 

They had a backup qb playing. The Bills got 7 of their 19 pts from a kick return td. And the only reason they had a chance was because of that 4th and 27 hook and ladder miracle in the 4th. 

 

This is just a bad matchup for the Bills because they haven't had any receivers that can separate quick enough for Allen to find them as the Texans pass rush does not let Josh scramble around to buy time like he can against pretty much any other team. Maybe DJ Moore tips the scales a bit but I still can't think of a team I'd rather the Bills not have to play in the playoffs more so than the Texans.

[Wizard]

He sounds like a solid guy by all accounts.

 

I wonder if he would be willing to play ILB for us!

 

Of course, I hope his team craps the bed against the Bills, but he comes across as smart, a leader, and his experience as a player likely is a huge plus when he speaks to players and his coaches about the game.

[sven233]

22 minutes ago, QB Bills said:

Not sure I agree with this. 

 

They had a backup qb playing. The Bills got 7 of their 19 pts from a kick return td. And the only reason they had a chance was because of that 4th and 27 hook and ladder miracle in the 4th. 

 

This is just a bad matchup for the Bills because they haven't had any receivers that can separate quick enough for Allen to find them as the Texans pass rush does not let Josh scramble around to buy time like he can against pretty much any other team. Maybe DJ Moore tips the scales a bit but I still can't think of a team I'd rather the Bills not have to play in the playoffs more so than the Texans.

 

That's the point though.....  We didn't have Moore, Kincaid, and Shakir.  Our tackles were compromised.  Yes, Mills was playing, but let's face it.....Stroud was not any better last season.  And on top of it all, we played probably our worst game of the season.  And that's the thing.  As bad as all of it was, we still had a chance to win after it was all said and done.  

 

I'm just saying that I feel a lot better going into this game than I did going into the same game last season.

[SydneyBillsFan]

1 hour ago, PoundingDog said:

Bills scored 19 points last year, 7 of which is Davis' 97 yard kickoff return for TD. So the offense scored a grand total of 12 points. I would not say the offense did enough to keep the game close ... and Houston was playing Mills at QB. 

 

Come on ...we were as banged up in that game as any over the past three seasons.

 

This game will be a coin toss. It's a much different (improved) Bills offense.

[BillytheKid]

The Bills averaged 6 yards per carry running the ball against them and both offensive tackles were hurt, had no Dalton Kincaid, which is a huge deal as far as last years passing attack was concerned, Palmer was hurt and of course no DJ Moore at that time. The Bills with their full roster will be just fine. 
 

Houstons offense isn’t good and the Bills will move the ball on them with all of their players healthy. Not worried in the least. 

[Herc11]

4 hours ago, PoundingDog said:

Bills scored 19 points last year, 7 of which is Davis' 97 yard kickoff return for TD. So the offense scored a grand total of 12 points. I would not say the offense did enough to keep the game close ... and Houston was playing Mills at QB. 

 

I actually think that they would of lost if Stroud played. With Mills, they played a very safe game and didn't ask him to do much. He limited the mistakes and protected the ball. 

[Kirby Jackson]

Thanks for sharing this @PoundingDog. I like Ryans a lot. He feels like the kind of guy you want running your program. 
 

I think that I like the idea of the Bills opening at Houston. To me, it’s one of the tougher games on the schedule and a place that’s been a house of horror for the Bills. Starting there is house money a little for me. You’re going to lose 4 or 5 games (or whatever). When you look at the upcoming opponents in the offseason “at Houston” would be one of the games that a lot of us identified as one of the 4 or 5. Going there to start the season, with no film on the new defensive scheme, and some offensive changes, you might be able to make a few plays that they didn’t see coming. If you catch them by surprise and take this game, that 4 or 5 could become 3 or 4. You’d also have the hypothetical tiebreaker against them and wouldn’t have to go back there in the playoffs if you finished with the same record. 
 

If you do end up losing, it was on the road, at a tough team, in September. It’s a place that you’ve been bad, so it wouldn’t be a shocking devastating loss. It would be kind of like, “glad that is out of the way.” You never want to lose a game but some are worse than others. This wouldn’t be a bad loss when all is said and done. It’s one that you can certainly bounce back from. 

[eball]

I like DeMeco…he seems like a good dude.

 

I will say, though, that I always roll my eyes when a person’s religious faith is brought up as evidence of him being a good person.

 

The Bills are going to roll the Texans Sunday…I just feel it my bones.

 

[BuffaloBillyG]

Ryans is good. And his enthusiasm radiates to the team. And he coaches good sound aggressive defense. Too bad for him...he's gotta play US week 1. 

[billsbackto81]

7 hours ago, BillytheKid said:

The Bills averaged 6 yards per carry running the ball against them and both offensive tackles were hurt, had no Dalton Kincaid, which is a huge deal as far as last years passing attack was concerned, Palmer was hurt and of course no DJ Moore at that time. The Bills with their full roster will be just fine. 
 

Houstons offense isn’t good and the Bills will move the ball on them with all of their players healthy. Not worried in the least. 

I am of this opinion as well. Plus throw in a new D which will be more aggressive and pressure focused on already suspect QB play should bode well in our favor. 

[Jauronimo]

10 hours ago, sven233 said:

 

That's the point though.....  We didn't have Moore, Kincaid, and Shakir.  Our tackles were compromised.  Yes, Mills was playing, but let's face it.....Stroud was not any better last season.  And on top of it all, we played probably our worst game of the season.  And that's the thing.  As bad as all of it was, we still had a chance to win after it was all said and done.  

 

I'm just saying that I feel a lot better going into this game than I did going into the same game last season.

Playing our worst game had everything to do with their defense.  The final score makes that game look much closer than it was played.  We got dominated.

[sven233]

29 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

Playing our worst game had everything to do with their defense.  The final score makes that game look much closer than it was played.  We got dominated.

 

Yup....we did.  And still had a chance to win.  Let's see what happens when we don't play our worst game.  Let's see what happens when the game plan is better and doesn't let their edge rushers just have 1 on 1s every play against injured tackles.  As long as we don't play directly into their hands as we have the past couple times we have played them, the results should look different.  We'll find out Sunday.

[quincy]

You feel like their starting Defense will stifle their opposition enough to get to 10 wins a year at minimum, this is the year for Stroud to show if he is elite or not.  

 

Away at Houston followed up by Detroit at home is a stern test to start the season, I can't wait to see what happens, Ryans is a very competent coach and I feel that Boutte and Kayden McDonald are wild cards in the same way as the impact of Carmichael and Leonhard, a strength on strength match-up awaits us on Sunday. 

 

 

[Jauronimo]

24 minutes ago, sven233 said:

 

Yup....we did.  And still had a chance to win.  Let's see what happens when we don't play our worst game.  Let's see what happens when the game plan is better and doesn't let their edge rushers just have 1 on 1s every play against injured tackles.  As long as we don't play directly into their hands as we have the past couple times we have played them, the results should look different.  We'll find out Sunday.

We played our worst game because we were dominated by the Texans defense. Allen was sacked 8 times and hit 12 times last year.  In 2024, Allen was sacked only once but hit 9 times.  Saying we played our worst game does not begin to acknowledge how badly the Texans defense has owned us.  New season, new offense, and we are going in healthy but that defense is still going to be an issue.  Josh has been fortunate to finish the game his last two visits to Houston.   Lots of time spent on the turf and in the blue tent.

[Pete]

12 hours ago, PoundingDog said:

Bills scored 19 points last year, 7 of which is Davis' 97 yard kickoff return for TD. So the offense scored a grand total of 12 points. I would not say the offense did enough to keep the game close ... and Houston was playing Mills at QB. 

We said it all during the game, in the first quarter.   And now you hear Texans players saying they were shocked that the Bills never helped our Tackles.  Josh was taking big hits.  Brady never adjusted.  It was obvious what we had to do.  Brady had zero answers.  He didn’t protect Josh

Edited September 8 by Pete

[Beck Water]

8 hours ago, Herc11 said:

 

I actually think that they would of lost if Stroud played. With Mills, they played a very safe game and didn't ask him to do much. He limited the mistakes and protected the ball. 

 

That's a double-edged sword.  Worth noting that in his first game back the following week, Stroud threw 0 TD and 1 INT.  McD was usually pretty good at baiting QB into mistakes.