{"id":8049,"date":"2016-12-27T13:40:06","date_gmt":"2016-12-27T18:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=8049"},"modified":"2016-12-27T14:00:25","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T19:00:25","slug":"buffalo-bills-fire-head-coach-rex-ryan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2016\/12\/27\/buffalo-bills-fire-head-coach-rex-ryan\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffalo Bills Fire Head Coach Rex Ryan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Rex Ryan<\/strong> is out as <a href=\"http:\/\/buffalobills.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Buffalo Bills<\/a> head coach.<\/p>\n<p>The organization fired Ryan on Tuesday, days after a disappointing 34-31 overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins.\u00a0The defeat dropped the Bills to 7-8 and eliminated them from playoff contention, ensuring\u00a0the franchise&#8217;s postseason drought extends to 17 seasons. It&#8217;s the longest such stretch among current NFL teams.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Rex Ryan has been relieved of his duties as head coach. Anthony Lynn will serve as interim head coach. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8Vf0fxqwcl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/8Vf0fxqwcl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BuffaloBills\/status\/813785851679408128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 27, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Rumors of an impending coaching change began to ruminate ahead of Buffalo&#8217;s week 14 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. A report from CBS Sports&#8217;<strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/jasonlacanfora\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jason La Canfora<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0indicated that the Bills brass <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFLonCBS\/status\/807995021416890368\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">were prepared to make a move away from Ryan<\/a>\u00a0as soon as last Monday.<\/p>\n<p>A week later, ESPN&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/adamschefter\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Adam Schefter<\/strong><\/a> reported <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/18301314\/rex-ryan-likely-coaching-final-game-buffalo-bills-head-coach\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">that the Bills were preparing to part ways with Ryan<\/a> even though the timing of the move was uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>Offensive coordinator <strong>Anthony Lynn<\/strong> will take over on an interim basis for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Buffalo Bills Fire Head Coach Rex Ryan<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>2016 was a rollercoaster ride of sorts for Ryan and the Bills. After starting 0-2, Ryan made his own change to the coaching staff, firing offensive coordinator <strong>Greg Roman<\/strong> and promoting Lynn, the team&#8217;s running backs coach at the time,\u00a0to the same position.<\/p>\n<p>The move appeared to work. Buffalo won their next four games by an average margin of victory of 17.75 points. It included a 16-0 shutout of the New England Patriots, the first time the Pats had failed to score in the history of Gillette Stadium which opened in 2002.<\/p>\n<p>But things began taking a turn for the worst in week five. Against the Miami Dolphins, the Bills coughed up an 11-point third quarter lead and ultimately lost 28-25. The main storyline coming out of that game was Ryan&#8217;s questionable decision to start a less than 100 percent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/M\/McCoLe01.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>LeSean McCoy<\/strong><\/a> over a healthy <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/G\/GillMi00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Gillislee<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>It marked the beginning of a three-game losing streak that culminated with a controversial 31-25 defeat to the Seattle Seahawks. A comedy of errors from the officials that included a missed roughing the kicker call and incorrect delay of game penalty led to <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/C\/CarpDa44.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dan Carpenter<\/a><\/strong> missing a 54-yard field goal. The Bills could have forced overtime if the kick went in since they were driving inside the red zone late.<\/p>\n<p>Despite that setback, the Bills rebounded after their bye week. They narrowly beat the Cincinnati Bengals 16-12 on the road and followed that up with a 28-21 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars at New Era Field. At 6-5, Ryan and the Bills were clearly in the hunt.<\/p>\n<p>Then they proceeded to lose their next two. The frustrating theme of blowing second half leads plagued Buffalo against the Oakland Raiders. Despite leading 24-9 midway through the third quarter, they allowed Oakland to put up 29 unanswered points down the stretch, falling 38-24.<\/p>\n<p>A week later, the Bills came out sluggish in a must-win game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. They trailed 14-0 in the second quarter and 24-7 with 9:57 left in the fourth quarter. Though they outscored Pittsburgh 13-3 the rest of the way, it wasn&#8217;t enough as the Steelers prevailed, 27-20.<\/p>\n<p>Though the team would beat the hapless Cleveland Browns 33-13 in Week 15 to salvage slim playoff hopes, it would all come crashing down a week later. Against Miami, the Bills trailed 28-14 in the third quarter but mustered a comeback to take a 31-28 lead late in the game. But Dolphins kicker <strong>Andrew Franks<\/strong>\u00a0nailed a 55-yard field goal at the end of the fourth quarter to force overtime.<\/p>\n<p>In the extra period, Buffalo gave up a 57-yard run from <strong>Jay Ajayi<\/strong> in which the defense had just ten men on the field. The miscue eventually set up Miami with a chip shot 27-yard field goal that sealed the Bills and Ryan&#8217;s fate.<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday&#8217;s news casts uncertainty over Ryan&#8217;s viability as an NFL head coach. For the second time in three seasons, the 53-year-old finds himself out of a job after a less than stellar campaign on the part of his team. His current career record is 61-66 (15-16 with the Bills) and he&#8217;s made the playoffs just twice in his seven-year head coaching career to this point.<\/p>\n<p>Buffalo&#8217;s season closes on Sunday, January 1st on the road against the New York Jets. The game kicks off at 1 PM ET and will be televised on CBS.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/629159408\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.666667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/629159408?et=R6gFVlccSWpRbWJUUGNzVw&amp;viewMoreLink=on&amp;sig=mOZG9pqEyy1DLHKCfEyDqdEqs80HFvSISn4Kbcd8KLc=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Buffalo Bills have fired head coach Rex Ryan after a loss to the Miami Dolphins eliminated them from the playoffs for the 17th straight year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":742,"featured_media":8052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,36],"tags":[1315,177,61,40,569],"class_list":["post-8049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bills","category-nfl-news","tag-anthony-lynn","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-rex-ryan"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/742"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}