New Bills Coach Rex Ryan Drops the Ball with the Hiring of Greg Roman

In his first decision as the Buffalo Bills head coach, Rex Ryan appears to have reverted back to his New York Jets days. It is being reported that Ryan has picked former San Francisco offensive coordinator Greg Roman to run that unit in 2015.

Once considered a top head coaching candidate, Roman’s standing around the National Football League has taken somewhat of a hit in recent seasons. Starting in the 2012 playoffs and continuing through the 2014 season, San Francisco’s play-calling has been suspect (at best) and horrendous (at worst).

Known as an innovative mind when it comes to the running game, Roman coordinated that aspect of Stanford’s offensive arsenal in Palo Alto in 2009 and 2010 before joining the new Michigan coach in San Francisco. After some initial success with the 49ers, it appears that the coaching staff went away from the team’s strength at the most crucial of times over the past couple seasons.

Super Bowl XLVII against the Baltimore Ravens was a prime example of this. With his team down by five points and the ball resting inside the Ravens 10 with just over two minutes remaining, Roman, as the 49ers primary play caller, called three consecutive pass plays. He did this despite possessing a mobile quarterback in Colin Kaepernick and a future Hall of Fame running back in Frank Gore.

In reality, that was the start of continued struggles with play-calling in San Francisco. Back in the NFC Championship game last January, San Francisco possessed the ball just outside the Seattle Seahawks 20 yard-line with a chance to punch its ticket to a second consecutive Super Bowl. On the first play following an amazing Frank Gore run, the 49ers called a fade to Michael Crabtree (working against Richard Sherman). The All-Pro defensive back broke the pass up, which landed in the hands of Malcolm Smith to give Seattle the win.

Specifics are one thing. Monday morning quarterbacking will always be alive and well around the sports world. However, it’s hard to argue against San Francisco’s lack of success on offense over the past couple years.

With the most-talented unit that team had possessed since the Jeff Garcia and Terrell Owens days early last decade, San Francisco’s offense was an utter disaster this past regular season. It finished 25th in the NFL in points scored and 29th in passing yards. And while, this unit finished in the top 10 in rushing yards in all four seasons with Roman as its coordinator, the larger issue at hand was his use of Kaepernick under center.

Going away from the strengths of his quarterback, Roman refused to free Kaepernick on the ground in the read-option. And in attempting to make him a pocket passer, the offensive coordinator severely limited Kaepernick’s ability to make a difference on the football field. Think about it this way. If the Minnesota Vikings had told Adrian Peterson not to run between the tackles because they feared an injury, would he have been one of the top running backs of our generation? You can’t take away one of the biggest strengths a player possesses and expect him to be successful. That’s not how it works in the NFL today.

The last thing Buffalo needs is an offensive scheme that goes away from the strength of its quarterback. And as a run-first offensive mind, the last thing Roman needs to do is to go away from the team’s strength at the most crucial of times like he did in San Francisco.

Rex Ryan is an innovative defensive mind, but he led a Jets team with some of the worst offenses in the National Football League over the years. The Jets’ inability to mold young quarterbacks into franchise signal callers also has to be of some concern to fans in Western New York. Now take into account the fact that Ryan selected a coordinator in Roman who played nearly no role in the development of both Andrew Luck and Colin Kaepernick. That also has to be of some concern.

The larger issue at hand here is Buffalo’s quarterback situation. If Roman thinks that he can come in and run the same offense he did in San Francisco with E.J. Manuel at the helm in Buffalo, he’s going to be sorely mistaken. That would go away from Manuel’s strengths, and act as a repeat of what happened in San Francisco over the previous couple seasons.

Maybe Roman can adapt to the talent he now has on Buffalo’s offense. However, “adapting” wouldn’t necessarily be a good description of Roman’s tenure in San Francisco. And in reality, that should be of some concern for the Bills moving forward.

Simply put, this hire leaves a lot to be desired.

Photo: CBS Sports

More About: