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Late in Rex Ryan’s first season as the Bills head coach, linebacker Preston Brown said that the team was having an issue getting defensive play calls in early enough to have everyone properly lined up before the snap.

It was one of several complaints about the Bills defense over the course of the season and Ryan was talking about “drastic changes” by the time the year came to an end. One change that Brown and company have picked up on in the first days of offseason workouts has been a simpler approach on defense than the one the Bills employed last year.

“With Rex, we’ve already installed, like, 50 plays – a whole bunch of simpler plays, though,” Brown said on “The John Murphy Show” on WGR. “Our checks are limited. There’s not as many as there were. They’re kind of the same kind of checks, so it’s not as wide as it was last year coming in. Guys are happy hearing that we don’t have as many situations and checks on plays, so guys are excited that we’re starting to compromise going into the season, just trying to make it simple and as fast as possible.”

Ryan’s defense flopped last season, which was a surprise given the talent that Buffalo had and still has on the unit. If simple and fast lets that talent take over, it should lead to better results for the Bills.