Ryan expects McCoy to miss Bills game against Cowboys

This season, the Bills rank 21st in defense, and rank 30th in sacks, all while returning 10 of 11 starters from previous year. The Bills get the Kellen Moore led Dallas Cowboys and the New York Jets, Ryan’s old team, who has seen major improvement since his departure, and is fighting for their playoff lives.

There’s one difference between last season’s defense and this year’s, and that’s Rex Ryan and his stubbornness relating to his scheme.

The Buffalo Bills are rumored to be nearing a major turning point for the defense.

For the 16th consecutive season, Buffalo will be home for the playoffs. He didn’t seem to warrant a spot, but may have gotten it on reputation, not that that’s out of the ordinary.

“Winning cures a lot of things, I can promise you that”, Ryan said. The Cowboys play the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. And that’s on Rex. But, he said, the difference in scheme shouldn’t have mattered to him or anyone else given the personnel the Bills have. Think square pegs into round holes. “We want to go out there and lay it all on the line for each other”. So it was not a surprise that they bristled at their coach’s suggestion.

Nearing the end of a topsy-turvy season packed with highs and lows – and overt criticism of Ryan’s beloved defensive scheme by his star pass rushers – players acknowledge that a sense of unity was missing when it mattered most.

The Cowboys have virtually no weapons because they don’t have a competent quarterback, but Bryant is certainly the best of the bunch. In fact, Dallas has beaten the Bills their last three meetings and the last time the Bills beat them was back in 1996, a 10-7 Bills win. But so do the coaches. “We know it’s too late, but we still have to go out there and play the best we can play”. His “I-want-to-be-loved” instead of “I-want-to-be-respected” approach doesn’t foster a culture of accountability. The players though? We’ll see.

Which brings us to Whaley.

Q: I hate getting asked this myself, but it is kinda required.

Taylor says, “The way they were rushing up the passing lanes, allowed me to get outside the pocket and make some plays with my feet”.

“I know from my end there is a great deal of respect that I have for Doug Whaley”, Ryan said.

“We’re practicing like we won’t have him, but if he’s ready to roll and the docs think he’s good, then obviously we’ll reconsider it”, Ryan said. Splitting out Taylor so that Manuel could run the Wildcat twice vs. Washington was foolish. You know, it’s easy to get those things mixed up….

Buffalo has finally chose to re-focus their efforts on using Sammy Watkins as a number one target. Williams also blamed Rex’s scheme and hinted that he might not be playing in Buffalo next season.

“To be honest, we’ve just all got to get on the same page”.

Injuries are to be expected this time of year.

LeSean McCoy is out with a sprained MCL injury. McCoy’s streak of games with at least 100 yards from scrimmage was snapped at seven. Cousins shredded the Bills for 319 yards and four touchdowns, and also added another touchdown on a 13-yard run, in which five defenders appeared to have a shot at him…. Hughes has played all 14 games and has only five sacks. Tyrod Taylor threw for 235 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.