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Factoid

Buffalo Bills

Will twice as many Ryans help turn around struggling defense?

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
YearTeamPointsYards
2004Oakland31st30th
2005Oakland25th27th
2006Oakland18th3rd
2007Oakland26th21st
2008Oakland24th27th
2009Cleveland21st31st
2010Cleveland13th22nd
2011Dallas16th14th
2012Dallas25th20th
2013New Orleans4th4th
2014New Orleans28th31st
2015New Orleans32nd31st

—Ian Allan

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