Buffalo’s defense was a huge disappointment last year. It was supposed to be the strength of the team, but it declined significantly, allowing 70 more points while finishing with 33 fewer sacks.
In 2014, the Bills ranked 4th in yards and points allowed. In Year One under Rex Ryan, they dropped to 19th and 15th.
The Bills had the league’s best pass rush in the two seasons pre-Ryan, with 111 sacks. They ranked next-to-last last year, with just 21. Players complained about the changes to the system (particularly Mario Williams, who was productive in 2014 but is now gone).
Plan now is to have the shaggier twin help to patch things up. They’re keeping defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman, but Rob Ryan has been added as an assistant head coach.
But while Ryan has a lot of experience, he hasn’t had much success recently. He’s been a defensive coordinator in each of the last 12 years, but only one of those defenses ranked higher than 13th in points allowed. Only two ranked higher than 14th in yards allowed.
ROB RYAN AS A DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Team | Points | Yards |
2004 | Oakland | 31st | 30th |
2005 | Oakland | 25th | 27th |
2006 | Oakland | 18th | 3rd |
2007 | Oakland | 26th | 21st |
2008 | Oakland | 24th | 27th |
2009 | Cleveland | 21st | 31st |
2010 | Cleveland | 13th | 22nd |
2011 | Dallas | 16th | 14th |
2012 | Dallas | 25th | 20th |
2013 | New Orleans | 4th | 4th |
2014 | New Orleans | 28th | 31st |
2015 | New Orleans | 32nd | 31st |
—Ian Allan