treetown

September 16th, 2016 at 9:32 PM ^

Lately the Bills are indeed bad - Ralph WIlson the former owner really cared a lot about winning, the head coach Marv Levy was a really first class person, and that core team should have won one of those Superbowls but that's life. None of Wilson's kids wanted or could take on the team, and so he cashed out. 

I can't think of a coach more of an antithesis to Marv than Rex Ryan - he was capable, humble and considerate. Remember that Bill Polian was the GM and helped to build those teams and later built the early Indy Colts - just a few of the many more ways the Bills of the past truly were superior to the Lions. 

I know I should know better and not care so much. I should know that deep down the Lions are just another money making business. The only reason the leadership now seems to be doing a bit more than the past when it was clearly just a rich person's hobby, is because of the declining fortunes of the owners. Once a NFL team was just a fun hobby to have a side line (like what some minor leagues teams are still - nothing serious but just some fun for people who can blow hundreds of thousands of dollars each year) but now the team represents a major money making asset worth at least $1.8-2 BILLION dollars. The days of letting uncle so-and-so run the team with drinking-buddy as his GM are over. 

Calvin Johnson did the smart thing, just like Barry Sanders - run away before they blew their knees and had too many concussions. To paraphrase a former AD, it is too late to dredge up the painful past and I just have to let it go. 

 

Joined: 11/10/2010

MGoPoints: 6339

Go Blue in NC

September 16th, 2016 at 2:46 PM ^

Gotta wonder if he comes here as a special advisor to the offense in the way Saban hired Sarkisian to babysit Kiffin. I wouldn't mind having another Harbaugh-LITE offensive mind in the staff.

Joined: 07/16/2014

MGoPoints: 158

LSAClassOf2000

September 16th, 2016 at 2:47 PM ^

NBC Sports went into an interesting area here - LINK - when asking whether or not Rob Ryan would ever suffer the same fate as Roman here. 

It’s the biggest practical complication arising from nepotism at the higher levels of an NFL coaching staff. Sometimes, a coordinator (in title or de facto) needs to go. But if he’s the brother, son (e.g., the Shanahans in D.C.), the son-in-law (e.g., Rod Marinelli and Joe Barry in Detroit), or some other relative of the head coach, he’s highly unlikely to leave.

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130743

UMProud

September 16th, 2016 at 2:56 PM ^

Did not click on that story cause fuck ESPN but Greg musta kicked the pooch is some serious areas.  Hiring & firing a guy after just 2 games is goofy as hell.

Joined: 12/18/2014

MGoPoints: 2705

93Grad

September 16th, 2016 at 2:56 PM ^

for screwing up my fantasy team this week.  They should have sat Watkins or at least throw him the ball.  Instead they did neither and then they scored a bunch when I played the Jets defense.  Grrr.  

Joined: 07/26/2011

MGoPoints: 13805

lhglrkwg

September 16th, 2016 at 4:31 PM ^

This is a very inept franchise being coached by Rex Ryan. A guy who has done nothing except babysit a few good seasons in NY that were almost certainly the result of Eric Mangini's work and not his own as all of his teams have been middling at best since those first two years.

Couple that with Rex's brother being DC and having a 5'5" Tyrod Taylor as your QB and it's no wonder Roman struggled and took the fall. Rex Ryan is almost certainly going to be fired at year end but this is his desperate shot at blaming someone else for his awfulness. Wouldn't surprise me if Rex gets fired before midseason

Joined: 07/03/2008

MGoPoints: 88036

turtleboy

September 16th, 2016 at 5:21 PM ^

The problem wasn't a lack of scoring, but they're not about to fire the head coaches twin brother, are they? They also shouldve kept Fitzmagic. Their qbs were garbage before him, and after.

Joined: 04/22/2011

MGoPoints: 35130