It’s becoming more and more clear that there were some serious issues in the Buffalo Bills’ locker room under Rex Ryan.
Two of the team’s star offensive players, running back LeSean McCoy and wide receiver Sammy Watkins, agreed that the team lacked discipline under Ryan, with Watkins implying that Ryan’s coaching staff was “scared” of the players.
“It’s discipline,” Watkins said Thursday, via Mike Rodak of ESPN. “Whatever around the locker room that needs to be addressed — on the field, off the field, flags, whether it’s a running drill, whether it’s something … we’re not good at. I just think being professional as players [needs to be] fixed first. Then the coaches have to be hard on us, not scared of us. Get at us, yell at us, curse at us. Whatever to get the play to do that job the best he can, that’s what they need to do.”
McCoy agreed, though he put more responsibility on the players.
“I think the discipline has been an issue,” McCoy said Friday. “I just think that if players just [need to take] accountability for their own actions. It’s one thing to talk about discipline and guys not [being] bought in. But if they’re not doing [their job], you can’t really take [them credibly]. I just think as players, as professionals, we need to step up and play accountable. That’s the biggest issue.”
McCoy said players often showed up late and didn’t know their assignments. They were fined, but he felt that given the high salaries of many players, it wasn’t an effective deterrent.
Between these comments and others made previously, it sounds like Ryan and the players really failed to connect with each other. In that sense, it’s no surprise that things came to such a brutal end in Buffalo.
