NFL: Rex Ryan fired as Bills Coach

It was pretty quiet for the day after the regular season. As of this morning, there are head coach openings in:

Denver
San Diego
Buffalo
Jacksonville
San Francisco
Los Angeles

In terms of winning right away I guess the Denver job is the most attractive, but it would also come with the most pressure. It's a win-now situation. Jacksonville has a lot of young talent on the defensive side of the ball but they also have a big question mark at QB. The San Fran job or the Rams job would probably offer the most security; those are both major rebuild jobs.

Chuck Pagano's future in Indianapolis is unclear. He conducted a press conference yesterday but admitted that he had yet to meet with Irsay. I read a report on PFT yesterday that Bill O'Brien could be on the outs in Houston if the Texans lose this weekend. I find that very hard to believe since he got them to the playoffs despite not having a decent QB to work with plus the the loss of JJ Watt, but I guess you never know. There are some rumors of Sean Payton being traded to the Rams, but I'm not buying that. I think he's back in New Orleans for at least one more year.
 
Maybe. He walked away when there were about a half dozen other vacancies, so he might have just had his eyes on the BBD with an ownership group he was familiar with (the Pegulas had just purchased the team) and overplayed his hand. There was also a clause in his contract with Buffalo that allowed him to collect his full 2015 salary of four million dollars that would not offset even if he landed another job. That's pretty good incentive to leave, especially if you're confident you can get another job.

Even if that's an indictment of the organization, it's a different leadership group now. Ralph Wilson got caught up with cycling through coaches because he was old and impatient. We don't know yet if the Pegulas will be more Jimmy Haslem or Shad Khan.

It is interesting to note that they've announced Doug Whaley will lead the search for the next head coach, which means either they're trying for a measure of continuity or there was a power struggle within the organization and Ryan lost.

Bumping this thread. The last week has shed some light on the Pegulas and their ownership style, the super awkward press conference with their GM, the revelation on how Rex was fired without knowledge of or input from the GM, Pegula's insistence that there' s no dysfunction in the organization (if he has to make a statement about that, you know it isn't true), and now the brewing contract fight with Tyrod Taylor. I'm going to stand by my earlier assessment that the Bills are run pretty poorly.
 
Bumping this thread. The last week has shed some light on the Pegulas and their ownership style, the super awkward press conference with their GM, the revelation on how Rex was fired without knowledge of or input from the GM, Pegula's insistence that there' s no dysfunction in the organization (if he has to make a statement about that, you know it isn't true), and now the brewing contract fight with Tyrod Taylor. I'm going to stand by my earlier assessment that the Bills are run pretty poorly.

The Chicago Bulls of the NFL?
 
The Chicago Bulls of the NFL?
No, the Bulls are a heck of a lot better run. They at least make the post season regularly.


To clarify, I'm not saying that Rex Ryan is a good coach or didn't deserve to be fired, but Buffalo is an organization that wouldn't know what to do with a good coach if they somehow lucked into one. And yes the Pegulas, are relatively new owners, but most of their actions indicate that they're not going to be much different than the previous owners.
 
No, the Bulls are a heck of a lot better run. They at least make the post season regularly.


To clarify, I'm not saying that Rex Ryan is a good coach or didn't deserve to be fired, but Buffalo is an organization that wouldn't know what to do with a good coach if they somehow lucked into one. And yes the Pegulas, are relatively new owners, but most of their actions indicate that they're not going to be much different than the previous owners.

I am not sure it is fair to totally write them off after two years. They have proven willing to spend on players coach and new facilities which is much different than Ralph Wilson had in the past. I do think they were totally unprepared to hire a coach as their first act as owners.

They went with Rex due to his name and were sold on his bravada as opposed to a good fit for the roster (Top 5 defensed as a 4-3 then switching on the fly to Rex's 3-4 and poor offensive history. That was the issue under Marrone.)

Only time will tell if they learned from their mistakes and perform the coaching search differently. There early list is all first time coordinators which indicate a new vetting process. I like Whaley's GM talent evaluation and roster management but his contract management and public speaking is an issue. Honestly it may have been best to let him go and get an established GM too with the new coach for a total FO reset at this point.
 
I am not sure it is fair to totally write them off after two years. They have proven willing to spend on players coach and new facilities which is much different than Ralph Wilson had in the past. I do think they were totally unprepared to hire a coach as their first act as owners.

They went with Rex due to his name and were sold on his bravada as opposed to a good fit for the roster (Top 5 defensed as a 4-3 then switching on the fly to Rex's 3-4 and poor offensive history. That was the issue under Marrone.)

Only time will tell if they learned from their mistakes and perform the coaching search differently. There early list is all first time coordinators which indicate a new vetting process. I like Whaley's GM talent evaluation and roster management but his contract management and public speaking is an issue. Honestly it may have been best to let him go and get an established GM too with the new coach for a total FO reset at this point.

You're right, you can't write the Pegulas off yet, but you also can't ignore how poorly they've handled the last few weeks. Those are indicators, basically the only indicators we have for them. And they aren't positive.
 
Bumping this thread. The last week has shed some light on the Pegulas and their ownership style, the super awkward press conference with their GM, the revelation on how Rex was fired without knowledge of or input from the GM, Pegula's insistence that there' s no dysfunction in the organization (if he has to make a statement about that, you know it isn't true), and now the brewing contract fight with Tyrod Taylor. I'm going to stand by my earlier assessment that the Bills are run pretty poorly.

You're right, a lot of stuff came out in the last week that makes it look like a clown show up there. Rex Ryan didn't help them any by asking point blank about his job security beyond next season. Once he did that, what could they have done but fire him? It's a win-now league; you can't promise a guy anything beyond the next season. They made a bad hire with Rex Ryan, and they were right to dump him. I will admit it that it looks like they won't get it right with the next hire, either.
It's still too early to dismiss the Pegulas as bad owners, but they clearly have a lot to learn about building and maintaining a stable NFL franchise.
 
Only time will tell if they learned from their mistakes and perform the coaching search differently. There early list is all first time coordinators which indicate a new vetting process. I like Whaley's GM talent evaluation and roster management but his contract management and public speaking is an issue. Honestly it may have been best to let him go and get an established GM too with the new coach for a total FO reset at this point.

I think they effectively neutered Whaley when he admitted publicly that he was not part of the decision to fire Ryan and he didn't know why that decision was made. It sounds like ANthony Lynn will get the permanent job, and that's not exactly an inspiring choice. So we'll see if we're back here in two years, talking about the Bills cleaning house and starting over with a new GM and coach.

I do feel kind of bad for Buffalo fans. That's one of the best fanbases in the NFL, and they deserve better.
 
I think they effectively neutered Whaley when he admitted publicly that he was not part of the decision to fire Ryan and he didn't know why that decision was made. It sounds like ANthony Lynn will get the permanent job, and that's not exactly an inspiring choice. So we'll see if we're back here in two years, talking about the Bills cleaning house and starting over with a new GM and coach.

I do feel kind of bad for Buffalo fans. That's one of the best fanbases in the NFL, and they deserve better.
Who is ANt Lynn? You mean aunt Lynn? Yeah, two years tops.
 
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...s-coach-chuck-pagano-return-sixth-season-2017

Damn it. I want to hear it from Irsay or a team issued statement before I totally buy it, but it looks like Grigson and Pagano will be back for another season of 8-8. Ridiculous. Those two have done nothing in recent memory to merit another season. I like Chuck Pagano, but for a defensive minded coach his defenses have been trash throughout his entire time in Indy, and there are way too many examples of the team coming out and looking totally unprepared. It isn't all on him. Grigson has filled the roster with mediocre talent. There's three, maybe four keepers on the defensive side right now. And the OL...god. How can you have a franchise QB and allow him to take that many shots season after season? Some of it's on Luck for holding the ball for too long and forcing the issue, but if the team wasn't constantly in a hole after a slow start he wouldn't be in that spot. Disappointing news if it turns out to be true.
 
Buffalo Bills have reached an agreement to hire Sean McDermott to be their next head coach

http://pro32.ap.org/article/ap-source-buffalo-bills-agree-hire-mcdermott-coach

Solid Hire in my opinion, as the Bill's have a good roster to run a 4-3 defense. That is what they ran 2 years ago when they lead the league in sacks. Looks like the OC targets are Mike McCoy and Norv Turner, both would be good offensive minds for the run game with McCoy.