Nearly seven months have passed since the Buffalo Bills decided to part ways with Rex Ryan.

The breakup between the Bills and Ryan was a rocky one at the start. Rex is a coach who takes great pride in what he does and felt as if he didn’t get a fair chance.

After a tumultuous stretch consisting of publicly ridiculing the decision to fire him as well as lingering in the headlines after a bar fight went viral, Ryan is ready to put the past behind him and create a more amicable relationship with his former employer.

Rex sat down for a 30-minute phone interview prior to a Los Angeles news conference today and seemed like a different and changed man since last speaking with the media.

Ryan was asked a wide-range of questions by Alan Pergament of The Buffalo News, but predominantly was asked about his thoughts on his former team and where they are headed.

“I was still bleeding at the time. It was still very raw to me. As a competitor, I wanted to succeed. I don’t have any regrets. The Pegulas are awesome. But Terry made a decision to go a different way and he has that right, he is the owner of the team.”

Raw. Something Buffalo fans can identify with. 17 seasons and not a day goes by where Bills fans aren’t reminded of their unfortunate past and prior regimes who promised to get back to playoffs but crumbled too fast.

Rex Ryan sold Buffalo on getting back to the playoffs. In his introductory press conference, he made promises to the fans and to the community that he would get the Bills back to being a successful franchise and keep them there. Those promises crumbled too as another coach and hope fell apart, this one after only two seasons.

Although Ryan can’t influence whether or not Buffalo can return, he can, however, be a supporter. Rex still hasn’t lost love for the Bills and talked about what it’ll be like for Sean McDermott, especially after the USA Today predicted the team would go 4-12 in his first year at the helm, finishing with the likes of the Cleveland Browns and the Los Angeles Rams.

“That’s a coach’s dream, to have that kind of prediction because there is no pressure on you but I think that is total bull. If that is the case, why was I fired when I was fired if that’s how bad this team was? So I don’t get that. To saddle them with four wins, I totally disagree with that.”

Understandably, Rex Ryan set the bar very high for himself in Buffalo and created the type of pressure Sean McDermott has not. McDermott has come in swift and has instilled a new norm. Players are now chosen for character and fit rather than noise or name. Rex added on to the fact that McDermott has no pressure, going as far as saying the Bills could be a playoff team.

“They are kind of trying to float this under the radar stuff, which I get. That’s probably the way to go, that’s the way everybody goes. Undersell and overproduce. I get it. I believe they will have a lot better year than the experts. Could they be a playoff team? They might very well be.”

Ryan went on to explain why he believes they have a shot. He points to injury and bad breaks to explain the record Buffalo finished with in 2016 and why Bills fans should expect success now, rather than in a few seasons with McDermott.

“Our record may have showed that we were mediocre but I thought the team was better than that. We had some substantial injuries. The only games that (receiver) Sammy Watkins played he had a broken foot in. Reggie Ragland might have been the best player we had on our entire football team and he gets hurt in training camp.”

When asked what he misses about Buffalo, Rex reminsiced about the city he called home for a short time. The beauty of it and the resilience that is prevelant throughout it.

“There are tons of things I miss. I miss the people there. They were great. The fans there. When I took the job, I said I wanted a team that was built on that image, loyal. Loyal is a big thing. And committed to their team. I wasn’t successful in that but the fans always were. The fans were always there for me, that team, that city. And that’s the beauty of Buffalo and the resolve of their people. It ain’t easy all those years not going (to the playoffs). But you know what, we are going to roll up our sleeves and go at it again. And that’s the way that community is. And I think that’s what they appreciated about me because they know I tried. They know damn well, I tried.”

If anything can be taken from the time Rex Ryan was coach of the Bills, it can be that he gave it his all.

Buffalo was second chance for Ryan, a chance that many including Ryan thought could be his last.

Rex Ryan taught himself something that Bills fans who have endured the playoff drought may already know. Change and success doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes finding the right people at the right time to put it all together and make a successful product.