New Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan held his inaugural press conference Wednesday at One Bills Drive, and it was vintage Sexy Rexy.
From opening the whole shebang with a "Is this thing on? Because it's getting ready to be on," to guarantees of playoff appearances and general brash, boastful talk, Rex was in full form.
As the Bills, one of the strongest defensive teams in the NFL this year - 3rd in passing yards, 11th in rushing yards - look to embark on the coming seasons with Ryan, a coach who became known for his defensive acumen and lack of offensive ability with the New York Jets, it's fair to wonder whether the outlook in Buffalo is somewhat lopsided.
The quarterback position, manned for the early portion of this past year by EJ Manuel before the young signal-caller ceded control to now-retired, steady veteran, Kyle Orton, remains the most important position for Rex and his new staff, specifically offensive coordinator Greg Roman, to find an answer for.
As such, would Rex look to bring onboard a quarterback like Mark Sanchez, a guy he had a hand in selecting fifth overall in the 2009 NFL draft and with whom he took the Jets to two AFC Championship games?
"Certainly, he'll be a guy under consideration," Ryan said Wednesday. "We'll explore every avenue. If we think there's a free agent like Mark or somebody else out there that we think can help us, then we'll absolutely explore it. We've briefly talked about some possibilities out there. We'll definitely look into anybody that we think can help us."
Sanchez, a pending unrestricted free agent, signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles before this season. After regular Philly starter Nick Foles went down with a broken collarbone, Sanchez took over and helmed the team to a handful of victories before faltering down the stretch.
He finished this season with 198 completions for 2,418 yards, 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
As for Manuel, Ryan would say only that he "has a lot of traits you look for in a quarterback," but also said he was still in evaluation mode when it comes to the roster.
"Right now, we're obviously in an evaluating process right now in particular about the quarterback position and other positions as well so we're just getting on the job. I can't tell you who that quarterback's going to be right now but when you surround people with a...surround a quarterback with outstanding players, it's not just about one man. It's about every man. Not just one man and I think that's where our focus is going to be."
With his choice of Roman, a staunch proponent of a power-running game during his time in San Francisco, as his offensive coordinator, it seems that Ryan is signaling his intent to build a bruising, run-oriented, defensively dependent team - what he deemed, "a bully."
Still, he said the objective is always to develop a franchise signal-caller.
"Do we want to develop a quarterback, not just a franchise quarterback? Of course but we'll take steps."
