Buffalo Bills Fire Greg Roman: Rumors Swirl

Who made the decision Ryan, the Pegula’s, or the Players?

It’s still not very clear who made this decision. Rex Ryan claims this move was 100 percent his decision in his news conference on Friday.

"“This morning I informed ownership of my decision and they were supportive of it,” Ryan said. “This was my move 100 percent.”"

That doesn’t seem very believable. I doubt Rex has 100 percent control over anything in Buffalo. I don’t believe he has earned enough of their respect to be able to fire one of his coordinators without having a conversation with the Pegula’s and getting their approval first.

Speaking of conversations with the Pegula’s they had one with the offensive players without Rex Ryan before Greg Roman was fired on Friday according to the below tweet from Ian Rapoport.

It’s possible that they wanted to take the players temperature and see if firing Roman would upset the locker room. It’s curious that they had the meeting without Ryan though. It could also mean that Ryan’s job was in jeopardy too. However, there are many other reports which indicate that Rex Ryan and Doug Whaley are both safe until the end of the season unless they have an epic collapse.

Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News reports that the frustration with Roman goes further back than this season and that it was the Pegula’s who had a meeting with Ryan on Friday morning leading to Roman’s departure.

"“Terry and Kim Pegula were upset with the offense’s performance last season, despite the team leading the NFL in rushing, and through the Bills’ 0-2 start this year. The owners expressed their concerns to coach Rex Ryan during a meeting Friday morning, a team source said, and Ryan took action.”"

It’s interesting that the Pegula’s were upset with Roman’s performance last year. While there was definitely room for improvement on offense, they were not the issue with the team. Had the defense held up their end of the bargain last season, the Bills could have made the playoffs. I can only imagine what their evaluation of the defense was last year if they thought Roman was a problem.

The firing of Roman could involve a scenario in which all three of these reports are true. The Pegula’s could have been upset with Greg Roman dating back to last season. They may have been fed up after the 0-2 start and decided something had to change. The then met with the players to get their approval, before pitching the idea to Rex Ryan, who ultimately agreed to it whether begrudgingly or not.

Of course, Ryan has to say this was 100 percent his decision. He can’t have the media guessing further whether he still has control over this team. The organization must portray the image that Ryan is still in control or the players could give up on him.

So now that we talked about all the different people who could have been involved in the firing, let’s look at whether Greg Roman deserved to be fired on the next slide.