Less than 24 hours after giving up almost 500 yards and 37 points to the New York Jets, the Buffalo Bills are shaking up their coaching staff.
But Friday’s change isn’t the one you’d expect from a team just embarrassed on defense.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Bills have fired offensive coordinator Greg Roman.
Buffalo Bills firing OC Greg Roman, per league sources. Roman was NFL’s top paid OC.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 16, 2016
The Bills weren’t good on offense in either Week 1 or Week 2, but the firing is still a surprise, especially given the timing. While Buffalo scored 31 points, the Bills had no answers on defense against Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets in a 37-31 thrashing.
Fitzpatrick threw for 374 yards and a touchdown, Matt Forte ran for 100 yards and three scores, and Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker both caught six passes for over 100 yards. New York held the ball for almost 40 minutes, and made seven trips to the red zone on just 11 possessions.
Yet it was Roman who received the pink slip on Friday.
The Bills have averaged 19.0 points per game through the first two weeks. The offense wasn’t great on Thursday night, with two long touchdown passes on third down and a fumble return for a score representing 21 of Buffalo’s 31 points. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor hasn’t been efficient or consistent throwing the football to start 2016, while LeSean McCoy and Sammy Watkins—the offense’s two most important playmakers—have combined for just over 200 total yards.
Still, the Bills defense appears to be a much bigger issue than the offense.
Cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore and Ronald Darby were abused by Fitzpatrick, and Buffalo’s pressure-reliant front produced only one sack, which came in the first quarter. The Bills gave up 493 yards and 28 first downs.
Of course, head coach Rex Ryan helps run the defense, and he wasn’t going to fire himself. Disaster and Ryan are old friends, but few expected the two to get acquainted so early in the 2016 season.
