After 31 disappointing games as the team's head coach, Rex Ryan has been relieved of his duties by the the Buffalo Bills. Immediately following that announcement on Tuesday, the Bills announced that Assistant Head Coach for Defense Rob Ryan, Rex Ryan's twin brother, was also relived of his duties.
Ryan's removal follows the Bills' 34-31 loss at home to the Miami Dolphins on Saturday afternoon, taking the team completely out of running for the National Football League playoffs.
Speculation about Ryan's future escalated following the team's 27-20 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 11. The team defeated the winless Cleveland Browns the following weekend, 33-11, but followed that with their Christmas Eve loss to the Dolphins.
"I'm a little surprised that they did it with one game left to go, but overall I'm not entirely surprised," said WBFO Buffalo Bills analyst Matt Sabuda. "It's been two years under Ryan, which is a relatively short period of time. But I think the most critical aspect of his coaching tenure was the fact that he was brought in here to be a defensive guru.
"He came in with a defense that, at the time, was already ranked fourth in the league. It has done just the complete opposite. He's taken a defense that once was great and turned it into something that's very middle-of-the-road or worse."
Offensive Coordinator Anthony Lynn – a 17-year NFL veteran, now in his second season with the Bills – will serve as interim head coach.
Early Tuesday afternoon, the Bills released owner Terry Pegula's comments on their official website: "I spoke with Rex earlier today and we mutually agreed that the time to part ways is now. These decisions are never easy. I want to take this opportunity to thank Rex for all his efforts and wish him all the best moving forward.”
“Kim and I and our entire Bills organization share in the same disappointment and frustration as our fans, but we remain committed to our goal of bringing a championship to Western New York.
“Anthony Lynn will serve as our interim head coach to lead us through the Jets game.”
The Buffalo Bills have one matchup remaining in the 2016-2017 season. They take on the New York Jets in an away game at 1 p.m. on Sunday, January 1.
Rumors surfaced just last week that the team may be interested in hiring former New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin, who won three Super Bowls with that organization. Coughlin is currently linked by reports to a possible coaching job with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
"If you believe reports out there that Tom Coughlin is engaged in discussions with his old team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, I suppose this opens the doors for the Bills to get involved in those discussions before something happens."
Sabuda suggested the Bills need to go in an entirely different direction when finding its new head coach. WBFO asked him, could more changes be coming to One Bills Drive?
"A lot of the internal power struggle that may or may not have been going on pitted (Bills general manager Doug) Whaley against Rex Ryan," Sabuda answered. "Rumors from inside One Bills Drive are that Whaley wanted to see Anthony Lynn elevated, because he felt that Anthony Lynn was going to be a coveted head coaching candidate leaving Buffalo.
"One very distinct possibility is that this could be essentially giving the Ryan era one additional year without the Ryan brothers. If they retain Lynn, and he retains almost all of the coaching staff, they can have some measure of continuity without Rex Ryan and in charge and going in an almost completely different direction on the defense."
