Sal Maiorana

@salmaiorana

Rob Ryan has 12 years on his résumé as an NFL defensive coordinator.

Rex Ryan said his brother will do a variety of things, and coaching LBs is one of his main areas.





BOCA RATON, Fla. — Rex Ryan has heard the cries of nepotism, and he’s also heard that his twin brother, Rob, may be a little overrated as a coach, especially if you focus solely on his last couple stops in Dallas and New Orleans.

Think what you want, Rex was saying the other day during the AFC coaches breakfast at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, but Rex isn’t buying any of it and he’s adamant when he says Rob is in Buffalo for one reason: He can help the Bills win.

“Adding my brother, he's a hell of a football coach, so I think that's a great addition for us,” Rex said. “I think the moves we've made there (including the hiring of line coach John Blake, and safeties coach Ed Reed) are going to help our football team. Rob's an expert and I think putting him in there with Dennis Thurman is huge for us. It takes us to another level, I think, and anytime you can do that, obviously that's what you try to do.”

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The Ryan brothers have not worked together on the same staff since 1995, when they were both assistants under their father, Buddy, when he was head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. Since then, the siblings have carved their own paths through the coaching ranks, and while they are often criticized, mainly because both men have bombastic personalities that draw the ire of some, their coaching achievements are impressive.

Rex enjoyed tremendous success during nearly a decade with the Baltimore Ravens and won a Super Bowl ring as the defensive line coach in 2000. He later served as defensive coordinator and the Ravens — led by Ray Lewis and Ed Reed — were consistently one of the best units in the NFL. When he moved on to become head coach of the Jets in 2009, he took New York to back-to-back AFC championship games his first two years before things began to unravel.



Rob also has a Super Bowl ring, won with the Patriots in 2002 when he was Bill Belichick’s linebackers coach, and he has gone on to work as a defensive coordinator for the Raiders (2004-08), the Browns (2009-10), the Cowboys (2011-12) and the Saints (2013-15).

In his second year in Oakland, the Raiders had the worst defense in the NFL in 2005, but improved to No. 3 in 2006. At Dallas, the Cowboys defense was perceived as underachieving both of Ryan’s years there. And then in New Orleans, Ryan inherited the worst statistical defense in NFL history (2012) and guided it to a No. 4 ranking in 2013. However, his star fell quickly and by midway through 2015, the Saints were dead last in points and yards allowed and head coach Sean Payton fired Ryan.

“It wasn't all bad when he went to New Orleans,” said Rex. “I think we all forget that. There might have been some reasons why that defense failed or wasn't as good (in 2015). But let's just throw that out the window.”

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Now the Ryans are back together, and Rex will be counting on Rob to help get the Bills defense on track after a disappointing 2015 season in which it finished 19th in yards yielded, 15th in points and 31st in sacks in Rex’s maiden voyage in Buffalo.

“There’s nobody that puts the time in that he puts in,” Rex said of Rob, though most head coaches say that about all their assistant coaches. “He's not going to be surprised by anything the opponent does. I'm just telling you, if he has to go back two years on tape, that's what he does.”

Rex has a well-defined rivalry with Belichick; there’s no coach in the NFL he’d rather beat and he makes no secret of that. However, he also respects the four-time Super Bowl-winning head coach, and he loves that Rob carries with him things he learned in New England.

“He's really through the Belichick style of defense,” Rex said. “So that is a little different (from what Rex has always done). And, obviously, he would take some things through my dad. But I think his expertise, a lot of it, is through the Belichick family of defense. Having Belichick on your résumé is pretty good, I think. He'll just add to what we have and be a different set of eyes. He's been a coordinator for 12 years, so I think that's a big thing for us as well.”

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The delineation of duty is uncertain — there’s an awful lot of cooks in the kitchen on the defensive coaching staff — but Rex did say coaching the linebackers would be a big part of Rob’s role.

“We’re kind of fluid in what we're going to do,” said Rex. “He'll be really helping, primarily outside linebackers, but he'll also have other projects and we’ll be taking advantage of just his type of talent. And he's been great for a lot of our young coaches to see in a mentorship as well, even though my brother doesn't see himself that way. He thinks he's like 18, and he looks like it with that hair. But I think it's great for us, it really is. I think it's going to be a huge addition.”

MAIORANA@Gannett.com