Jim Kelly: Rex Ryan will probably get fired if Bills miss the playoffs again
Could Rex Ryan be out after just two seasons in Buffalo?
By
Ryan Wilson
•
2 min read
Back in January 2015, shortly after he was hired as head coach, Rex Ryan proclaimed that, "The last team I'll ever coach will be the Buffalo Bills."
And he may very well be right, though whether Ryan leaves on his own terms or is run out of town has yet to be determined. While there were bright spots in his first season, the overall results were disappointing; the Bills finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs for the 16th consecutive season. It was also Ryan's fifth consecutive season of finishing .500 or worse, dating back to his days with the Jets.
It's fair to say expectations are high in Buffalo, partly due to having a good team capable of competing for a spot in the postseason, but also thanks to that patented Ryan bluster. But is this the year he backs it up? First things first; according to Hall of Famer and former Bills great Jim Kelly, the team needs to stay healthy.
"On paper, yeah, we look great, and we should be a very good team, but you cannot go to the playoffs, you cannot win championships when you're spending most of your time in the training room," Kelly told Jim Rome on Thursday.
"Tyrod Taylor, he's got to stay healthy," he continued. "We cannot afford for your top quarterback to go down and miss a quarter of the games or half the season. Your top players, your starters that make a difference on defense, those guys got to stay on the football field. They can't be on the injured reserve list."
So what happens if the Bills miss the playoffs for a 17th straight time?
"I think Rex [Ryan] will probably be looking for another job," Kelly said. "I think everybody knows that including Rex."
Which reminds us of something Ryan said days before the Bills' season finale.
"I think we got a great thing going here. We just didn't produce the wins I thought we would," the coach said in late December. "The thing that kind of gives this team a black eye when we're looking at it is that I let my mouth get ahead of everything. And I think if I would have come in there and just said, 'Hey, we're gonna compete,' and do all that stuff, maybe we wouldn't have such a bad feeling about this team."
But maybe this is the year it all comes together; after all, Ryan did hire twin brother Rob this offseason to help facilitate that.
