FanPost

Is Rex Ryan the 2nd Coming of Marv Levy?

Many debate that because of Rex Ryan's lackluster record with the NY Jets, he may not have been a good choice as the next head coach of the Buffalo Bills.

I dispute that fact alone because his record including playoffs is 50-52 including 2 AFC Championship games. There are only 12 active coaches with 50 or more wins and he's one of them.

But, the main point of this post is looking at a pattern that has emerged with several NFL head coaches finding success the 2nd time around.

In the last 17 years, that has happened 11 times. Belichick, Carroll, Shanahan, Coughlin, Dungy and Gruden all won Super Bowls after being fired from their first head coaching jobs.

Belichik was 36-44 in Cleveland before going to New England.

But as I'm reading Bill Polian's book "The Game Plan: The Art of Building a Winning Football Team", I was struck by the parallels between Marv Levy and Rex Ryan.

When Marv Levy was being considered in the middle of the 1986 season, the Bills had only 5 winning seasons and 3 playoff births in 20 years.

What's even more interesting is the biggest concern was his 31-42 record with the Kansas City Chiefs which was his first head coaching gig.

Of course, what Marv Levy did with his 2nd chance is history going 112-70 (.615), 11 playoff wins, 4 consecutive Super Bowls and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001.

Some would argue about the talent of those teams but it didn't start off that way...

The team Levy inherited had some young talent in place (Bruce Smith, Talley, Kelly, Reed) but Polian described them as a team needing "direction and inspiration". The first year Polian was a scout in KC, he witnessed a locker room speech by Levy where he said to himself "Holy mackerel! I never heard anything like that in my life. I'd walk through fire for this man". Sounds a lot like how I've heard players talk about Rex, doesn't it? I think there are similarities in the leadership styles of Levy and Ryan.

And I also believe the team Ryan is inheriting in 2015 is better than the squad Marv took over in 1986. We already have an identity as being a nightmare defense to play against and I believe we are a few pieces away from being a contender.

Could Rex be the next Marv?

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.