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Rex Ryan Deservedly on Hot Seat Already, and It Shouldn’t Get Cool Anytime Soon
- Updated: September 15, 2016
If there’s one thing fans and pundits alike love to do early in an NFL season, it’s overreact. Win in Week 1, and it’s time to start making playoff plans. Lose, and the sky is falling.
However, where head coach Rex Ryan of the Buffalo Bills is concerned, talk of his tenuous job security isn’t a matter of jumping the gun. Ryan was on the proverbial hot seat long before the Bills lost in listless fashion to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1.
And he’s going to remain on it regardless of what happens in Thursday night’s AFC East showdown against his old team.
All the way back in January, Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News reported that team owner Terry Pegula gave both Ryan and general manager Doug Whaley an ultimatum—end the Bills’ long playoff drought in 2016 or find work elsewhere.
That “postseason or bust” campaign didn’t get off to the best of starts. The Bills never led in a 13-7 loss to the Ravens, and while the Buffalo defense looked much improved over last year’s disappointing unit, the offense managed only 160 total yards and 11 first downs.
As Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post reported, Ryan allowed he was at a loss for why his offense performed so poorly against the Ravens.
“We thought, obviously, that we were going to play better,” Ryan said. “We had some [good] practices leading up to [Sunday], so there was no indication that we were going to go out and play like we did. We’ve got to come out with a great plan that our guys feel confident in.”
Ryan went on to admit that he doesn’t expect the sledding to get a bit easier on a short week against the Jets:
This [Jets] defense that we’re getting ready to play is as talented as there is … maybe in the league. You’ve got Sheldon Richardson coming back, you got Big Mo [Muhammad Wilkerson] coming back. And then obviously you’ve got [Darrelle] Revis and company in the back end. So yeah, it’s a very talented team. There’s no doubt about that.
Ryan isn’t just blowing smoke, either. The Bills swept the Jets last season, but New York finished 2015 fourth in total defense and second against the run, allowing just over 83 yards a game.
Not the sort of statistic a Bills team built around running the football wants to hear, especially with star wide receiver Sammy Watkins hobbled by pain in his surgically repaired foot and quarterback Tyrod Taylor coming off arguably the worst start of his career.
This is a Jets team with plenty of added motivation against their division rivals, as well. That season sweep by the Bills included a Week 17 game that knocked the Jets out of playoff contention. As Brian …
