Extra Points: Loyalty lands Rex in Buffalo
(SportsNetwork.com) – On the surface, Rex Ryan going to Buffalo doesn’t make all that much sense.
After all, the Bills already had a pretty good defense with Jim Schwartz orchestrating things and it’s the offense which needs the tune-up, especially with veteran quarterback Kyle Orton walking off into the sunset and E.J. Manuel warming up for what could be his last opportunity to prove he is the answer in Western New York.
So why did new Bills owner Terry Pegula land on the defensive-minded Ryan after a two-week coaching search, which included names like Indianapolis offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton and his counterpart with New England, Josh McDaniels?
The answer is Doug Marrone, Pegula’s former coach who exited in such a fashion that loyalty became a much bigger deal to the organization than any particular scheme, be it offensive or defensive.
Marrone’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, negotiated an escape clause in Marrone’s contract that gave the coach a three-day window at the end of the season in which he could terminate his deal with the team but still receive his full salary for the 2015 season, even in a double-dip situation in which Marrone coaches for a new team next September.
“When he takes a job, he already has a plan in place for his next job,” Bob Casullo, a former Marrone assistant at the University of Syracuse, told ESPN Radio earlier this month. “Whoever gave him that three-day opt-out clause, his agent is a genius and the person who signed it for the Buffalo Bills is a complete idiot.”
Pegula, of course, didn’t hire Marrone and didn’t negotiate the one-sided deal with him, but he was ready to move forward with the coach after a solid, albeit unspectacular, 9-7 season despite the fact that the Bills were unable to end a playoff drought that spans back to the 20th century.
“Uh, shocked,” Pegula said at Ryan’s introductory press conference on Wednesday when asked about Marrone’s abrupt departure. “More than shocked, but hey, I liked Doug Marrone when he was here. He was probably the guy I talked to more than anybody. So he made that decision. He moved on.”
Not before issuing a mass text to his players to inform them of the news after employing his golden parachute out of Buffalo.
“Any time you get a text message saying that it’s happening, you feel like you got punched in the stomach,” Bills running back Fred Jackson said on his radio show. “I mean, stuff could have been handled different.”
It will be handled differently under Ryan, the very definition of a players’ coach and a man with the reputation of being loyal to a fault as well as painfully honest at times.
“This football team deserves a loyal coach and deserves loyal players,” Ryan said while taking a not-so subtle dig at his predecessor, who Casullo described as “self-centered, selfish and greedy.”
“That’s what we’re bringing,” Ryan added. “Nobody’s more loyal than me as a football coach.”
And nobody can get players more fired up than Ryan.
“We are going to build a bully and we’re gonna see if you want to play us for 60 minutes,” Ryan said, reverting back to his pre-John Idzik persona with the New York Jets.
Technically the Buffalo defense is already a bit of a bully, finishing fourth in total defense, while recording a league-leading 54 sacks and producing three Pro Bowl defensive linemen this past season.
“Fourth in the league was probably a little disappointing,” the braggadocios Ryan said. “I know we’ll lead the league in defense.”
“I’m not going to let our fans down,” he continued. “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. We are going.”
Going where?
“The guarantee? Hey, am I going to guarantee a Super Bowl?” Ryan asked rhetorically. “I tell you what I will do, I will guarantee the pursuit of it.”
Categorized in: NFL
Tags: Bills, Buffalo, Buffalo Bills