Jim Kelly Says Rex Ryan May Be Fired If Bills Miss Playoffs This Season
The Buffalo Bills finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs in 2015, head coach Rex Ryan’s first season with the team. As a result, former Bills quarterback and Hall of Famer Jim Kelly believes the coach is on a short leash entering the 2016 campaign.
Kelly appeared on The Jim Rome Show on Thursday and spoke about the future of the franchise.
“I think Rex will probably be looking for another job. I think everybody knows that, including Rex,” he said when asked what would happen if the Bills miss the postseason again in 2016.
Buffalo hasn’t made the playoffs since the 1999 season, and the 16-year hiatus is the longest active streak in the NFL.
By comparison, Kelly led the Bills to the postseason eight times in 11 seasons and reached four straight Super Bowls during the 1990-93 campaigns.
“There were rumblings last season that the Bills’ brass wasn’t pleased with Ryan’s performance in his first year in Buffalo, leading to the assumption the coach is in a must-win season,” Kevin Patra of NFL.com reported.
However, Ryan dismissed the speculation, per the Monday Morning Quarterback’s Jenny Vrentas: “Oh, I am going to be fired? I don’t think so. I’m not going to worry about it, because we are going to win anyway. But it’s like that is an ultimatum. No.”
Kelly specifically mentioned how important it is for the Bills to remain healthy as they attempt to end the playoff drought, but Patra pointed out wide receiver Sammy Watkins (offseason foot surgery) and first-round draft pick Shaq Lawson (offseason shoulder surgery) are both already dealing with physical setbacks.
When healthy, the Bills have the pieces to challenge for the postseason in the AFC East.
Quarterback Tyrod Taylor played 14 games last season and threw for 3,035 yards and 20 touchdowns with only six interceptions. He also added 568 yards and four touchdowns on the ground as a dual-threat signal-caller and has wide receivers Watkins (1,047 receiving yards in 2015) and Robert Woods (552 receiving yards) to work with in the aerial attack.
Elsewhere, running back LeSean McCoy has four different seasons in his career with more than 1,000 rushing yards and tallied 895 yards on the ground in 12 games last year in his first campaign with Buffalo.
However, the defense was 19th in the league in total yards allowed last season. Considering Ryan was a defensive coordinator, defensive ends coach and defensive line coach from 1987 to 2008 before he became the head coach of the New York Jets, he should be able to improve the defensive production of his team.
If that happens and the Bills make the playoffs, Ryan likely won’t have to worry about his job security.
