After a resurgence in October and November, the Bills again are dealing with turmoil. A report earlier today placed Rex Ryan‘s job in jeopardy, with CBSSports.com’s Jason La Canfora saying the second-year Buffalo coach could be fired as soon as Monday if the Steelers easily handled the Bills.
Today’s 27-20 home defeat probably doesn’t quite qualify as such — Le’Veon Bell‘s 238 rushing yards that doubled as the most ever ceded by a Bills team notwithstanding — but Ryan fielded plenty of questions about his job status postgame. Predictably, the embattled coach said he hasn’t had any conversations with ownership about his job status and that he remains unaware of potential tenuous nature of his position, Mike Rodak of ESPN.com notes. Ryan also said the narrow defeat to the Steelers should allow him to remain in his current position, Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL.com reports (on Twitter).
Also addressing the issue of a potential schism between he and GM Doug Whaley, Ryan insists the two are indeed on the same page and committed to winning in western New York, per Rodak. The Bills dropped to 6-7 and are likely set to miss the playoffs for the 17th straight season, which remains the NFL’s longest postseason drought.
Here’s more from Buffalo and other locales in the AFC East.
- Tyrod Taylor‘s stock is also plummeting after Whaley did not commit to him as the team’s surefire quarterback next season. Ryan told media “we’ll see” if Taylor will remain the starter in the Bills’ final three games, per Rodak. The organization is also not pressuring Ryan to play rookie Cardale Jones, via Rodak. Taylor sees the organization as still being behind him. By sticking with Taylor — who entered the day commanding the worst pass offense in the league — next season, the Bills would kickstart an $80MM+ contract that still stands as a wait-and-see-type deal as of this season.
- The Dolphins managed to move to 8-5 and stand in reasonable position to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2008, although Ryan Tannehill‘s possible ACL tear obviously throws cold water on this, and the team wants to retain multiple members of its core. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes the team would like to extend Kiko Alonso, tight end Dion Sims, and potentially Kenny Stills after the season. Stills is the only member of the Dolphins’ receiving corps who is not under contract after the season. He caught six passes for 97 yards and a touchdown against the Cardinals today to bring his season total to over 600. Proving to be a solid fit for Adam Gase‘s offense, Stills unlikely to match the 931 yards he amassed in 2014 with the Saints but could approach it and command a nice payday. Miami also wants to extend Jarvis Landry, whose contract is up after the ’17 season.
- Jackson estimates the Fins will possess more than $50MM in cap space if they cut Mario Williams and Koa Misi, as he expects them to. Cutting Williams would save the team $8.5MM, with a Misi release adding $4.2MM to that figure. These moves would cost less than $3MM in terms of dead money.
- Now on the heels of leading the Jets to their fourth victory this season, Todd Bowles’ job is likely safe.