ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Fred Jackson hasn't been shy expressing his feelings about Doug Marrone.

It was no different on Wednesday, as Jackson met with reporters before Rex Ryan's news conference and called the new coach an upgrade over the old one.

"We feel like we got better at the coaching staff, at the head coaching position," Jackson said. "Obviously you hate to see things unfold the way that they did, but you got to look at the best side of it. We got a coach who's coming in who wants to win, who's proven himself as a coach that can win. You got to feel like you've gotten better."

Jackson views Ryan as a "players coach" and chose his words carefully about Marrone's relationship with players.

"Just from the guys that I've talked to, he's done nothing but been behind them. Wherever he's been, he's been a players coach," Jackson said. "Doug was the type of guy [who] said that, he said the family thing, he built that. But it's just going to be different with Rex.

"I think when you hear some of the guys talk about Rex, you hear about how he looked out for him and how he was a players' coach and things like that. That's not necessarily what was said about Doug -- [and] I'm not saying it was a bad thing with Doug -- but I think you just have to [be] around Rex and get a chance to know him and I think that's what how we'll find out it's different."