If you’ve read any of my articles to date on Buffalo Wins, you know how I feel about the martyrdom of Ryan and how if only Mario Williams had just “done his job” things would’ve been different last year. This article is gonna be a little bit more of that – but I also really want to know why this is being discussed 5 months later?
In the case of the recent Jenny Vrentas article on the MMQB, Ryan Inc – Rex and Rob go in on former players, former teams and how this time it’s going to be different for them together in Buffalo.
So this line…this got me.
Player-wise, sometimes the salary cap kind of influences you. Look, I like Leodis McKelvin, Nigel Bradham. Mario Williams, yeah, but he is making $17 million dollars [in Miami]. Guess what, it wasn’t going to happen. Now look, with some of the comments [he made], do I wish him well? Not really. But, he’s on Miami. If he would have gone somewhere else, maybe. He’s a good kid, but I am used to some mean motherf—ers that play out there. The Terrell Suggs, Jarrett Johnsons of the world. I screwed them, too; I had them drop [into coverage], too. Not one of them bitched. Von Miller [dropped into coverage] in the Super Bowl. Why? Because that’s what’s asked of him; that’s what his job is. Your job is to play. Coaches spend a hell of a lot more time studying tape and everything else. They are trying to put the team in the best position to be successful, not an individual. Terrell Suggs, he has been the defensive Player of the Year in this league. Ed Reed has been. Ray Lewis has been. You can go right down the line. Trevor Pryce had 14 sacks as a defensive tackle. One of the most unselfish guys you’ve ever seen. That’s what it is about. I’ll never forget, I used to have Ray sell out for maybe the 11th guy on defense. Ray Lewis is going to be one of the greatest defensive players in the history of the game, if not the greatest. That’s when you’ve got something special, and that’s what we are trying to build here.
Ray selling out for the 11th guy on defense is a great story. Particularly when Ray stumped so hard for linemen in front of him he said “if you’re not gonna use me right, then just let me go”. Yup. Gotcha Rex. They also neglect to highlight that Von Miller can do that because…he’s really really fast and good at carrying backs on a wheel route. Mario Williams is a 6’7 defensive end. Full stop. If you didn’t want to use him like that – fine, but don’t disparage him on the way out. In fact, it’s not “on the way out” – it’s while he’s moving into his new home you are sitting outside the house with a “you suck” sign. Let it go man, let it go.
And with regard to T Sizzle, yup, he did drop and still does. But it also took him complaining about the team having their cake and eating it too to get paid – the Ravens franchised him in 08 as a LB, the cheaper option to getting him as a DE. This isn’t going to sell you if you only want to see Mario as the person in the wrong, and frankly at this point I don’t care to – lines are set and folks #onhere rarely change them. Those are the rules – I get it. I would challenge you to see the forest though, not the tree(s).
Rob’s fire for New Orleans also took a quick shot at Wade Phillips, because of course it did:
Went to Dallas, and I did the best I could with the multiple thing. Sh–, we were in the top 3 ‘til we lost the entire team with six weeks to go. That defense was fixed, and I had taken over for the great Wade Phillips, which shows that people have bad years, whatever.
If folks want the Seahawk’s defense, hire a Seahawks coach is a fair thing to say. It’s also fair to say if your scheme requires so many pieces you can’t get it together in a year, you might not want to sign up for a team that had perennially bad defenses. Just a thought.
And this…this was interesting.
That’s what I did with the Jets. We added three players and went to No. 1 in the league in one year. So how does it work? Well, I took a guy named Jim Leonhard, we got him off the scrap heap in Baltimore, pretty good player. Marques Douglas, defensive lineman, played 12 years in the league and played for me two or three times. And Bart Scott. It’s funny, all three of those guys were college free agents.
Thanks to Stephen Culley for this phrase:
https://twitter.com/StephenCulley/status/736200023113904128
There are still a few “Rexperienced” Free Agents out there, so that can still change. In the interim, what has changed there? Is Reggie Ragland a “Rexperienced” player because of Saban?
[Rex also fails to mention that while those players were college free agents, they most certainly – Scott in particular – were not paid that way to join the Jets]For all of the bluster, all of the blame-game and all of the crap you read through, this is the most real statement the twins said:
VRENTAS: What does your dad think about the two of you coaching together?
ROB: He’s struggling (health-wise). That’s another reason…
REX: …we’re going for broke, man.
ROB: Because, who knows? He’s not going to be able to watch us coach for much longer, I don’t think. But hopefully he can see this one, because we have got big plans. Bring Belichick on. We got him.
Ignore the Belichick obsession. They’re trying to win the whole thing to show their dad they did it before he passes. Forget being a Bills fan or even my misgivings on how everything else has gone down. I truly believe all of this, right or wrong is with that goal in mind.
No snappy rejoinders, no digs. I wish them luck. That’s a heavy load and I think that load is pushing a lot of what they do as coaches. But if you don’t succeed, be ready to hear the reasons why it didn’t work in Buffalo. I wonder how that will be received?
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