Rex Ryan confident Bills will deliver amid defensive changes
PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The most unsettling aspect of Rex Ryan’s first season coaching the Buffalo Bills wasn’t his ill-fated playoff guarantee. Big talk is to be expected from one of the NFL’s most boisterous coaches.
It was the public griping from the locker room about a renowned players’ coach and a scheme that produced No. 1-ranked defenses in Ryan’s two previous stops – a system Ryan now regrets trying to bend for the Bills’ personnel and comfort.
This time, Ryan says, he won’t compromise the way he wants to play. He believes the locker room is united with a focus on winning. And Ryan dismisses the impact of added pressure, even in what is widely regarded as a win-or-else season for him.
“I’ve never even once in my life felt pressure about a job,” Ryan told Paste BN Sports before a recent training camp practice. “It’s never been about me, and that’s how I approach it. I’m just going to do the best job I can, but not for one iota, not one second of 30 years of coaching have I ever worried about my job.”
A primary reason Ryan said he’s not concerned: Confidence in himself and a staff that now includes his twin brother, Rob, and former all-pro safety Ed Reed, whose success under Ryan with the Baltimore Ravens is proof the system can provide opportunities to make plays.
Linebacker Preston Brown – who was among those expressing frustration last season about the complicated nature of Ryan’s blitz-heavy scheme and the slow relay of play calls – said belief in Ryan is “a hundred percent,” echoing part of Ryan’s message from the spring.
“He said, I need guys to be all-in. This isn’t going to work if we’re not all-in,” veteran guard Richie Incognito said. “Last year, we had some division, no matter where it was. It was pretty clear, and we finish 8-8. We don’t need anybody bitching and moaning.”
One of the most vocal critics of the shift away from former coordinator Jim Schwartz’s simple Wide-9 defense was veteran end Mario Williams, who was cut in March. But others who spoke out – including Brown, linebacker Manny Lawson and star nose tackle Marcell Dareus – remain part of an undeniably talented unit that nonetheless plummeted from fourth in yards allowed and scoring in 2014 to 19th and 15th, respectively.
“You’ve got to look at yourself first. ‘This has never happened. Why is it happening?’” Ryan said of the complaints. “I’m sure the players in some way were justified in saying things. It might not have been as smooth as it normally is, because we were going through it.
“We were trying to balance maybe two schemes and finally we just said, ‘You know what? Forget it. Let’s just do it the way we’ve always done it and do things the right way – our way.’”
So, the fix isn’t paring things down. “We’re giving them more options actually, and I think it goes to accountability,” Ryan said. “They understand it.” That requires increased and improved communication, as well as thorough knowledge of the scheme to make sure it’s simple for you and complicated for the offense, not the other way around.
“We know that this is our job,” Brown said, “so we’re going to need to do the extra time to make sure we know every check, every single play, so when (Ryan) calls the play that we haven’t heard in weeks, we go out there and run it to perfection. We know that we’ve got to buy in to make sure that we know what we’re doing, we go out there, perform and keep him here.”
Even players knows there’s pressure, whether Ryan feels it or not entering the second year of a five-year, $27.5 million contract signed soon after his dismissal from the New York Jets in December 2014. “We have the talent,” Incognito said. “There’s no excuses for us not to win.”
Arriving at camp brought memories of Ryan’s father, longtime NFL coach and architect of the vaunted 1985 Chicago Bears defense Buddy Ryan, who died in June at age 85. (“Nobody was more excited about the new football season than my dad,” Rex said.) Buddy Ryan was revered by players, too, and his sons have spoken of wanting their reunion to live up to his legacy.
For all the grumbling, the Bills were 8-6 last season when the offense had starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor, whom Ryan regards as a “special talent.” And the defense was more competent down the stretch, holding the Jets to 17 points in a Week 17 win that kept Buffalo’s division rival out of the playoffs.
“It’s funny, I think the best we played, our last few weeks, we had 10 guys out (with injuries),” Ryan said. “The big thing is we are in this sucker together, and there’s no coach, player, whatever – no, no, it’s just the Buffalo Bills. I feel really comfortable about that right now.”
Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.
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