(Neil Miller/Sportsday Wire)
If the Jets expected Rex Ryan to get the Chip Kelly treatment this week, they are going to be disappointed.
Bills owner Terry Pegula issued this statement today: As our first full season as owners of the Buffalo Bills draws to a close, management, coaches, players, and fans all feel that our expectations were not met.”
“Kim, Russ and I look forward to working and collaborating with Doug Whaley and Rex Ryan in forming a winning future for the organization. Our management team and coaching staff are very capable and work well together. This stable foundation is necessary to achieve long term success in the NFL.”
So for the Jets to make the playoffs, they will still have to go through their old boss on Sunday.
However, Ryan wasn’t making any predictions today. Can’t blame him, since his track record on this end isn’t that good. There will be no playoffs for the Bills this year and his bold statement about making the Buffalo defense better also blew up in his face.
In fact he seemed a little subdued today.
“I’m just ready to go,” Ryan said. “I think I’m excited more than you know. I’m excited to see some of these guys step in and see how we prepare. You know start of a week. But I’m excited. I know our guys are gonna prepare well and I’m excited to see that. It’s a big challenge in front of us so as a competitor it gets me excited.”
Ryan is going to see a bit of a different team today than the one he played back in November. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has upped his game and the Jets hasn’t lost since dropping the one to the Bills.
“Well I think the numbers speak for themselves,” Ryan said. “I think they’ve improved in that area. I think Bilal Powell has really stepped up for them. He’s a really good all-around back. He’s excellent in protection, excellent as a receiver, and running with the football. I think he’s really stepped up. Quincy (Enunwa) never played. So they do a lot of four wides that it’s probably a little different then what we faced the first time we played them. And you know he’s an explosive guy. He can run well, like sometimes you use him even as a tight end to block and things. So that’s probably the big difference that you see offensively and then on defense they’re healthy, they’re getting after it.”
No matter how gracious he seemed today, you know Ryan will get extra satisfaction if he can knock the Jets out of the playoffs. But it’s still bittersweet because back in November, he was expecting his team to be playing this week for the playoffs.
“T here’s no question, we’re a different team right now than we were obviously,” Ryan said. “The main thing if you look we’ve got 10 starters out. That’s probably something that jumps out at you. But yeah I truly thought that this game was gonna set up that hey, this one’s win and in. And it is, it’s just only one team playing for it unfortunately.”