Now that Buffalo is officially out of the playoff picture, we can move on to this year’s edition of the blame game. This is where players, coaches, owners and fans all chime in on went wrong, who’s to blame and what they’re going to differently next season. I covered a lot of the “what went wrong” topics in my column last week, so let’s start with the immediate backlash from last Sunday’s loss.
It started with Rex Ryan’s postgame comments where he said there would be “drastic changes” and that his team has “two games to prove we belong here.”
He did little to acknowledge his role in turning one of the best defenses in the national football league to a defense that made Kirk Cousins look like the MVP of the league.
When asked if he felt he personally had something to prove to Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula over the final two games of the season, he immediately said no, then thought about it and said “Well, I guess, yes. Everyone has to.”
Rex is smart. He knows that the Pegula’s aren’t going to let him go after one season, so it’s easy to pass the blame on the team and their execution when his defensive scheme is questioned.
Mario Williams and Preston Brown were the first to fire back, calling the defensive scheme confusing and the in-game adjustments challenging.
“It’s been an issue with the personnel coming in and out. I mean, you can see it on games: People are running in and out; we’re changing plays here and there. So it’s definitely been an issue. It’s something that shouldn’t happen, [Opposing offenses] run people in and off because they know we’re having issues with that upstairs in the box. So people are going to keep doing it, running in and off. I mean, teams that usually are the slowest teams on the ball, they’re hurrying up on us and trying to get plays because they know it’s something that we’ve had issues with.” Brown said.
If you’ve watched a Bills game this year, the communication issues are obvious and the defense has been out of position, looked confused or has been called for silly penalties way too often.
The play-by-play adjustments not only cause confusion, but they throw off the defense’s timing, making it hard to correctly read the offense and react to the play. It’s even more obvious when an opposing offense runs plays quickly. The Eagles torched the Bills defense a few weeks back, using their fast-paced offense to keep the Bills on their heels the entire game.
It’s not surprising that the Bills defensive players are airing their grievances publically. Ryan has a policy of letting his players talk freely to media without filter, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone now.
Sammy Watkins took a slightly more classy approach in taking personal responsibility for the need to “step up” to “make sure things get changed”, but acknowledged that the players lack accountability from their teammates and coaches.
If the Bills want to get better next year, that’s exactly what they need accountability and consistent direction. Things are easy when a team is winning, it gets much harder to manage when things aren’t going well.
Week after week, Ryan promised to get better and often admitted that he needed to be better, but now that all hope is gone and fans are once again questioning the team’s direction, he’s seemed to distance himself from the level of blame. If Rex is going to stick to his defensive scheme, he’s got to get the right guys who can not only understand the system, but will support it.
Unfortunately, Buffalo is going to let a lot of good defensive players go in the name of a flawed defensive scheme. Coaches will be fired and lockers will be cleared out, but the problem will remain. They’ve got eight months to figure it out.
In the words of Rex Ryan when he joined the team 11 months ago….”I’m not going to let our fans down. I’m not going to do that, I know it’s been 15 years since the Bills made the playoffs. Well, get ready man. We’re going.”
He just failed to clarify “when”.
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