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I looked around for this article/interview, but didn't see it posted. There's interesting stuff from someone who played and excelled in Rex's system.
The proof is in the pudding. Does everyone on defense buy in and we see the Bills defense turn into a top 10 unit and lead them to the playoffs? Or has Rex's system been figured out and the defense is doomed regardless of whether or not the players buy in?
On Reggie Ragland being the soul of Buffalo’s defense he once was: “And that’s what he’s looking for. He’s got great players on that side but he’s looking for a heartbeat. That’s what he’s looking for. I think Reggie has the potential to do that. He has the mentality and the heart to do that.
On individual sacrifice in Ryan’s defense: “I tell people all the time that the easiest thing to get in football is stats. The easiest thing. But who are you going to screw to get them? Instead of setting the edge, are you going to rush the passer every time for the one sack you get in a game? If you get one sack a game, that’s 16 sacks. That’s a tremendous season, right? But how many times are you going to give up a big run because you’re getting up the field and they’re running right past you, right in-between? That’s why I tell people that Terrell Suggs was one of the best outside linebacker combination guys to ever do it. Because I watched guys on the Colts sprint up the field for years. Yeah, they go to the Pro Bowl and have a lot of gaudy numbers but they’re the 20th ranked defense in the league. Suggs was able to do that on the No. 1-ranked, the No. 2-ranked because he did it when he was supposed to. He got his sacks after he did his job. It wasn’t ‘get in a wide 9 and just get up the field.’ You’ve got to play the run on the way to the sack.”
On players not buying in here: “So when the conversation started and some of the leaders like Mario speak out and they say ‘This isn’t working’ or ‘this works and this doesn’t work,’ who’s there to tell them ‘No, no. You’re wrong. Sit down?’ So when we were in Baltimore, we started 3-3 and then lost like three straight but you had me there, you had Marques Douglas there, you had guys saying ‘No, no, no. We do it this way. We’re all in this together. We’re not deviating from the plan because it works.’ He didn’t have that. But now he’s got some guys like Sammy Watkins who spoke up on his behalf. He had other players on the defense who spoke up on his behalf.
“ Now if that happens this year, you’ll have that ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa.’ He has his own guys now. These are my guys now. And also he has the greatest safety to ever play the game sitting there coaching going ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, nah, nah, nah. Not only did this system get me to the Hall of Fame’ but this system, I think the worst I ever finished — and this is with Ray Lewis hurt, Ed Reed hurt, Chris McAlister hurt — was seventh in my career. I think I finished first four times, second a bunch of times and third a bunch of times. This was in Baltimore and New York. So you can’t just say ‘Of course. You had Ray Lewis.’ No, no, no. A lot of this stuff happened with our Hall of Fame players getting pulled hamstrings out for the season.
On individual sacrifice in Ryan’s defense: “I tell people all the time that the easiest thing to get in football is stats. The easiest thing. But who are you going to screw to get them? Instead of setting the edge, are you going to rush the passer every time for the one sack you get in a game? If you get one sack a game, that’s 16 sacks. That’s a tremendous season, right? But how many times are you going to give up a big run because you’re getting up the field and they’re running right past you, right in-between? That’s why I tell people that Terrell Suggs was one of the best outside linebacker combination guys to ever do it. Because I watched guys on the Colts sprint up the field for years. Yeah, they go to the Pro Bowl and have a lot of gaudy numbers but they’re the 20th ranked defense in the league. Suggs was able to do that on the No. 1-ranked, the No. 2-ranked because he did it when he was supposed to. He got his sacks after he did his job. It wasn’t ‘get in a wide 9 and just get up the field.’ You’ve got to play the run on the way to the sack.”
On players not buying in here: “So when the conversation started and some of the leaders like Mario speak out and they say ‘This isn’t working’ or ‘this works and this doesn’t work,’ who’s there to tell them ‘No, no. You’re wrong. Sit down?’ So when we were in Baltimore, we started 3-3 and then lost like three straight but you had me there, you had Marques Douglas there, you had guys saying ‘No, no, no. We do it this way. We’re all in this together. We’re not deviating from the plan because it works.’ He didn’t have that. But now he’s got some guys like Sammy Watkins who spoke up on his behalf. He had other players on the defense who spoke up on his behalf.
“ Now if that happens this year, you’ll have that ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa.’ He has his own guys now. These are my guys now. And also he has the greatest safety to ever play the game sitting there coaching going ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, nah, nah, nah. Not only did this system get me to the Hall of Fame’ but this system, I think the worst I ever finished — and this is with Ray Lewis hurt, Ed Reed hurt, Chris McAlister hurt — was seventh in my career. I think I finished first four times, second a bunch of times and third a bunch of times. This was in Baltimore and New York. So you can’t just say ‘Of course. You had Ray Lewis.’ No, no, no. A lot of this stuff happened with our Hall of Fame players getting pulled hamstrings out for the season.
The proof is in the pudding. Does everyone on defense buy in and we see the Bills defense turn into a top 10 unit and lead them to the playoffs? Or has Rex's system been figured out and the defense is doomed regardless of whether or not the players buy in?
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