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In a surprising move, the Buffalo Bills fired Greg Roman, their offensive coordinator, on Friday.
The Buffalo Bills fired Greg Roman, the NFL’s highest paid Offensive Coordinator, on Friday. They replaced him with Assistant Head Coach and Running Backs Coach, Anthony Lynn. It was a move that surprised many fans considering the Bills put up 31 points on Thursday Night Football in a loss to the Jets.
It’s not that the offense had a great game though, as they had two very long touchdown passes which skewed their numbers. They failed to move the ball consistently during the game which has been a problem for years.
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They didn’t play as bad as the defense though. The defense was the worst performing unit against the Jets. The Bills gave up 493 yards of total offense to the Jets with 370 coming in the air.
If Quincy Enuwa got eight more yards receiving, the Jets would have had three, 100-yard receivers. This from a team quarterbacked from former Bills cast off, Ryan Fitzpatrick. I like Fitz, but we’re not talking about Aaron Rodgers here.
The cornerbacks seemed to have tight coverage but the Jets receivers were winning all the one on one battles and coming up with catch after catch. It was a game in which Jets players made play after play and kept their offense on the field for over 39 minutes which wore down the Bills defense.
Greg Roman ultimately was blamed for their performance when he was let go on Friday. There have been several media reports which indicate it could have been the Pegula’s decision, Rex says it was his, and another report notes the players could have been involved. Let’s look into some of these rumors on the next slide.
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Who made the decision Ryan, the Pegula’s, or the Players?
It’s still not very clear who made this decision. Rex Ryan claims this move was 100 percent his decision in his news conference on Friday.
“This morning I informed ownership of my decision and they were supportive of it,” Ryan said. “This was my move 100 percent.”
That doesn’t seem very believable. I doubt Rex has 100 percent control over anything in Buffalo. I don’t believe he has earned enough of their respect to be able to fire one of his coordinators without having a conversation with the Pegula’s and getting their approval first.
Speaking of conversations with the Pegula’s they had one with the offensive players without Rex Ryan before Greg Roman was fired on Friday according to the below tweet from Ian Rapoport.
It’s possible that they wanted to take the players temperature and see if firing Roman would upset the locker room. It’s curious that they had the meeting without Ryan though. It could also mean that Ryan’s job was in jeopardy too. However, there are many other reports which indicate the Rex Ryan and Doug Whaley are both safe until the end of the season unless they have an epic collapse.
Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News reports that the frustration with Roman goes further back farther than this season and that it was the Pegula’s who had a meeting with Ryan on Friday morning leading to Roman’s departure.
“Terry and Kim Pegula were upset with the offense’s performance last season, despite the team leading the NFL in rushing, and through the Bills’ 0-2 start this year. The owners expressed their concerns to coach Rex Ryan during a meeting Friday morning, a team source said, and Ryan took action.”
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It’s interesting that the Pegula’s were upset with Roman’s performance last year. While there was definitely room for improvement on offense, they were not the issue with the team. Had the defense held up their end of the bargain last season, the Bills could have made the playoffs. I can only imagine what their evaluation of the defense was last year if they thought Roman was a problem.
The firing of Roman could involve a scenario in which all three of these reports are true. The Pegula’s could have been upset with Greg Roman dating back to last season. They may have been fed up after the 0-2 start and decided something had to change. The then met with the players to get their approval, before pitching the idea to Rex Ryan, who ultimately agreed to it whether begrudgingly or not.
Of course, Ryan has to say this was 100 percent his decision. He can’t have the media guessing further whether he still has control over this team. The organization must portray the image that Ryan is still in control or the players could give up on him.
So now that we talked about all the different people who could have been involved in the firing, let’s look at whether Greg Roman deserved to be fired on the next slide.
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Did Greg Roman Deserve To Be Fired?
One fair knock on Greg Roman is that he was unable to get the ball into his best playmakers hands enough. Sammy Watkins and LeSean McCoy are two of the most talented players in the NFL and they have not been as productive as they should have been under Roman.
Sure Watkins and McCoy were both injured last year, and Watkins was injured again this year, but the fact is that Watkins is healthy enough to be on the field and you need to get him the ball. Roman has also struggled to get production out of Charles Clay with his play calling which is another shortcoming of his tenture in Buffalo.
If Rex Ryan isn’t lying and this was 100 percent his decision this could be the reason. According to the Buffalo News he said:
“I think we need the change. I think we have a lot of talent on offense. I believe we’re going to do what we can to put the ball in our play-makers’ hands.”
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If the report of the Pegula’s telling Rex he needed to make a high-profile move and remove someone from his staff is true Roman was the only option for Rex. Ryan wasn’t going to remove someone from his defensive staff and Roman was the only person on the offensive side that made sense.
Rex only had two other coaches who were high profile enough that it would send a message to the rest of the team. If he fired defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman, the media would pounce and claim that he had planned this all along to put his brother Rob in that role. The chorus of people screaming about nepotism would grow considerably.
On the other hand, if Rex fired his brother Rob he may never talk to his brother again. On top of that, it would make all their talk this offseason about doubling down on the Ryan defense seem hollow. It would be damaging to their profile around the league and that’s the last thing they want to do to the Ryan name.
So in comes Greg Roman the scapegoat and the only person remaining that Rex could fire that would be acceptable to the owners. If this was the scenario, there really wasn’t a decision to be made at all. The answer was obvious.
That’s not the end of the plot twists here. There are reports that Roman didn’t like Rex Ryan. Check it out on the next slide.
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Does Greg Roman Dislike Rex Ryan?
Greg Roman had interviewed for the Buffalo Bills head coaching job the same season as Rex Ryan. After Ryan was offered the job, he was able to convince Roman to come to Buffalo as his offensive coordinator.
It seems like he had his reservations about working with Ryan. According to the Buffalo News, Roman had doubts about whether being affiliated with Rex would damage his own career.
“Roman was known not to have been the biggest Ryan fan, privately telling at least one person after last season that he thought Ryan was a “buffoon” and that being affiliated with him wasn’t going to be good for his career. Also, after only a year in Buffalo, Roman was known to have been looking to coach elsewhere after the season, when the Bills led the NFL in rushing, even if that opportunity wasn’t a head-coaching job.”
If Roman truly felt that way it seems odd he would stay in Buffalo for another season. Maybe he signed in Buffalo because of the money. Maybe he signed with Buffalo because he couldn’t get a better offer from another team and never wanted to work with Rex.
He may have had to stay around for a second season because he had no choice but to stay. Mike Rodak writes that in an interview with WGR 550 that he did n’t get much interest in the offseason despite the success the Bills had running the ball last year.
“Yeah, it’s been pretty quiet actually. I’ve had a lot of interest the last five years, but this year it’s been pretty quiet on that front. Really haven’t been paying too much attention to it. There hasn’t been a lot this year, which is somewhat strange, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
So maybe Roman wanted to leave but just couldn’t find a team that was interested in his services. There’s are several mixed reports and it’s hard to know exactly where the facts lie.
There is one thing that was made very clear about this coaching change and Jerome Felton said it best, “Jobs are on the line. You either produce or you go somewhere else.”
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In a surprising move, the Buffalo Bills fired Greg Roman, their offensive coordinator, on Friday.
The Buffalo Bills fired Greg Roman, the NFL’s highest paid Offensive Coordinator, on Friday. They replaced him with Assistant Head Coach and Running Backs Coach, Anthony Lynn. It was a move that surprised many fans considering the Bills put up 31 points on Thursday Night Football in a loss to the Jets.
It’s not that the offense had a great game though, as they had two very long touchdown passes which skewed their numbers. They failed to move the ball consistently during the game which has been a problem for years.
More from BuffaLowDown
They didn’t play as bad as the defense though. The defense was the worst performing unit against the Jets. The Bills gave up 493 yards of total offense to the Jets with 370 coming in the air.
If Quincy Enuwa got eight more yards receiving, the Jets would have had three, 100-yard receivers. This from a team quarterbacked from former Bills cast off, Ryan Fitzpatrick. I like Fitz, but we’re not talking about Aaron Rodgers here.
The cornerbacks seemed to have tight coverage but the Jets receivers were winning all the one on one battles and coming up with catch after catch. It was a game in which Jets players made play after play and kept their offense on the field for over 39 minutes which wore down the Bills defense.
Greg Roman ultimately was blamed for their performance when he was let go on Friday. There have been several media reports which indicate it could have been the Pegula’s decision, Rex says it was his, and another report notes the players could have been involved. Let’s look into some of these rumors on the next slide.
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Video DetailsID: Source: SI
Who made the decision Ryan, the Pegula’s, or the Players?
It’s still not very clear who made this decision. Rex Ryan claims this move was 100 percent his decision in his news conference on Friday.
“This morning I informed ownership of my decision and they were supportive of it,” Ryan said. “This was my move 100 percent.”
That doesn’t seem very believable. I doubt Rex has 100 percent control over anything in Buffalo. I don’t believe he has earned enough of their respect to be able to fire one of his coordinators without having a conversation with the Pegula’s and getting their approval first.
Speaking of conversations with the Pegula’s they had one with the offensive players without Rex Ryan before Greg Roman was fired on Friday according to the below tweet from Ian Rapoport.
It’s possible that they wanted to take the players temperature and see if firing Roman would upset the locker room. It’s curious that they had the meeting without Ryan though. It could also mean that Ryan’s job was in jeopardy too. However, there are many other reports which indicate the Rex Ryan and Doug Whaley are both safe until the end of the season unless they have an epic collapse.
Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News reports that the frustration with Roman goes further back farther than this season and that it was the Pegula’s who had a meeting with Ryan on Friday morning leading to Roman’s departure.
“Terry and Kim Pegula were upset with the offense’s performance last season, despite the team leading the NFL in rushing, and through the Bills’ 0-2 start this year. The owners expressed their concerns to coach Rex Ryan during a meeting Friday morning, a team source said, and Ryan took action.”
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It’s interesting that the Pegula’s were upset with Roman’s performance last year. While there was definitely room for improvement on offense, they were not the issue with the team. Had the defense held up their end of the bargain last season, the Bills could have made the playoffs. I can only imagine what their evaluation of the defense was last year if they thought Roman was a problem.
The firing of Roman could involve a scenario in which all three of these reports are true. The Pegula’s could have been upset with Greg Roman dating back to last season. They may have been fed up after the 0-2 start and decided something had to change. The then met with the players to get their approval, before pitching the idea to Rex Ryan, who ultimately agreed to it whether begrudgingly or not.
Of course, Ryan has to say this was 100 percent his decision. He can’t have the media guessing further whether he still has control over this team. The organization must portray the image that Ryan is still in control or the players could give up on him.
So now that we talked about all the different people who could have been involved in the firing, let’s look at whether Greg Roman deserved to be fired on the next slide.
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Did Greg Roman Deserve To Be Fired?
One fair knock on Greg Roman is that he was unable to get the ball into his best playmakers hands enough. Sammy Watkins and LeSean McCoy are two of the most talented players in the NFL and they have not been as productive as they should have been under Roman.
Sure Watkins and McCoy were both injured last year, and Watkins was injured again this year, but the fact is that Watkins is healthy enough to be on the field and you need to get him the ball. Roman has also struggled to get production out of Charles Clay with his play calling which is another shortcoming of his tenture in Buffalo.
If Rex Ryan isn’t lying and this was 100 percent his decision this could be the reason. According to the Buffalo News he said:
“I think we need the change. I think we have a lot of talent on offense. I believe we’re going to do what we can to put the ball in our play-makers’ hands.”
More from BuffaLowDown
If the report of the Pegula’s telling Rex he needed to make a high-profile move and remove someone from his staff is true Roman was the only option for Rex. Ryan wasn’t going to remove someone from his defensive staff and Roman was the only person on the offensive side that made sense.
Rex only had two other coaches who were high profile enough that it would send a message to the rest of the team. If he fired defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman, the media would pounce and claim that he had planned this all along to put his brother Rob in that role. The chorus of people screaming about nepotism would grow considerably.
On the other hand, if Rex fired his brother Rob he may never talk to his brother again. On top of that, it would make all their talk this offseason about doubling down on the Ryan defense seem hollow. It would be damaging to their profile around the league and that’s the last thing they want to do to the Ryan name.
So in comes Greg Roman the scapegoat and the only person remaining that Rex could fire that would be acceptable to the owners. If this was the scenario, there really wasn’t a decision to be made at all. The answer was obvious.
That’s not the end of the plot twists here. There are reports that Roman didn’t like Rex Ryan. Check it out on the next slide.
No In-Editor Preview for 120 Sports Videos
Video DetailsID: Source: 120 Sports
Does Greg Roman Dislike Rex Ryan?
Greg Roman had interviewed for the Buffalo Bills head coaching job the same season as Rex Ryan. After Ryan was offered the job, he was able to convince Roman to come to Buffalo as his offensive coordinator.
It seems like he had his reservations about working with Ryan. According to the Buffalo News, Roman had doubts about whether being affiliated with Rex would damage his own career.
“Roman was known not to have been the biggest Ryan fan, privately telling at least one person after last season that he thought Ryan was a “buffoon” and that being affiliated with him wasn’t going to be good for his career. Also, after only a year in Buffalo, Roman was known to have been looking to coach elsewhere after the season, when the Bills led the NFL in rushing, even if that opportunity wasn’t a head-coaching job.”
If Roman truly felt that way it seems odd he would stay in Buffalo for another season. Maybe he signed in Buffalo because of the money. Maybe he signed with Buffalo because he couldn’t get a better offer from another team and never wanted to work with Rex.
He may have had to stay around for a second season because he had no choice but to stay. Mike Rodak writes that in an interview with WGR 550 that he did n’t get much interest in the offseason despite the success the Bills had running the ball last year.
“Yeah, it’s been pretty quiet actually. I’ve had a lot of interest the last five years, but this year it’s been pretty quiet on that front. Really haven’t been paying too much attention to it. There hasn’t been a lot this year, which is somewhat strange, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
So maybe Roman wanted to leave but just couldn’t find a team that was interested in his services. There’s are several mixed reports and it’s hard to know exactly where the facts lie.
There is one thing that was made very clear about this coaching change and Jerome Felton said it best, “Jobs are on the line. You either produce or you go somewhere else.”
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