J-Speaks: The Passing of A Trash Talking NFL Defensive Wiz

In the history of the National Football League, there have many types of head coaches. Ones that can get the best out of their players being tough and demanding. Ones that can led through words and actions without yelling and screaming. Ones that had a unique ability to be game changers in how they created game plans that used their player’s unique skills to stand out on the great stage. That is the description of one of the finest defensive minds in NFL history, who also had the unbelievable ability to relate to his players while be demanding of them. He also had no trouble seeing a conflict or starting one with the opposition or amongst the team he was a part of. His greatest accomplishment was how his two sons followed in his footsteps and made their own legacy in the NFL. Last month those two proud sons said goodbye to their papa.

James David “Buddy” Ryan, the defensive orchestrator behind the famed 46 defense of the 1985 World Champion Chicago Bears of 1984 and the defensive line coach of the World Champion New York Jets of 1969 passed away back on June 28 at his ranch in Shelbyville, KY after a lengthy illness. He was 85 years old. He is survived by his three sons from his first marriage to Jim and fraternal twins Rex, head coach of the Buffalo Bills and Rob, who now serves as assistant head coach/defense.

While the cause of death was not disclosed, Ryan had survived two cases of melanoma, a severe form of skin cancer and suffered a major stroke in recent years. 

Ryan, who had no trouble speaking his mind during his coaching career in NFL was buried at Lawrenceburg Cemetery in Lawrenceburg, KY, where he also had a farm.

“He was many things to many people – outstanding coach, mentor, fierce competitor, father figure, faithful friend. But to me and my brothers, Rob and Jim, he was…everything you want I a dad-tough when he needed to be, compassionate when you didn’t necessarily expect it and a loving teacher and confidant who cherished his family,” Rex said in a statement released by the Bills organization last month. “He truly was our hero.”

Born on Feb. 17, 1931 just outside of Frederick, OK, Ryan played college football for then Oklahoma A&M University, which is now Oklahoma State University. He earned four letters as a guard between the years 1952 and 1955.

He served the US as a sergeant in the Army during the Korean War of June 1950-July 1953.

Ryan’s football journey as a head coach began in Texas at Gainesville High School in 1957, where he served as an assistant coach under Dub Wooten.

Ryan was promoted to head coach at Gainesville two years later when Wooten moved on to be head coach at Marshall High School in Marshall, TX.

Upon completion of his military service, which included playing on Army’s fourth championship football team in Japan in 1961, Ryan was chomping at the bid to continue coaching football, but not in the high school ranks.

Unfortunately, with so many great coaches in the state of Texas, those chances were hard to come by.

Ryan thanks to a former coach Carl Speegle putting a good word in form him became the defensive line coach for head coach Dick Offenhamer for the University of Buffalo Bulls in upstate New York, who were going into their first year at the NCAA Division I.

In a three-year span from 1962-1965, the Bulls’ defense was among the very best in the nation and posted 12 shutouts during that span.

In the middle of all this, two-time American Football League head coach Lou Saban of the Bills had reportedly offered Ryan his first chance at a coaching job in the pros in a similar role that he had with UB, but turned it down because he received a $2,000 raise to stay with the Bulls.

Ryan would finish his collegiate coaching career at Vanderbilt University, which came off of a stop at Pacific University.

Ryan’s first shot coaching in the pros came with the New York Jets of the then AFL in 1968 as the team’s defensive line coach and he made the most of it. He, defensive coordinator Walt Michaels and head coach Weeb Ewbank crafted a game plan of multiple blitz packages attacking signal caller Earl Morrall.

Those dynamic blitzes, consisting of the “59 blitz,” the “Taco Bell blitz” and the “Cheeseburger blitz” put the squeeze on the high-flying offense of the Baltimore Colts and Morrall who threw three interceptions and the Jets won Super Bowl III over the 18.5 point favorites 16-7.

After seven seasons with the Jets Ryan moved on to serve as the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings.

Under Ryan’s direction, the front four of the Vikings, who were nicknamed the, “Purple People Eaters” of defensive tackles in Hall of Famer Alan Page and Gary Larsen and defensive ends Carl Eller, earned between them 19 Pro Bowl selections and were turned into one of the best defenses in the NFL history.

In 1976, the Vikings made it to Super Bowl XI, but were taken to the cleaners by Oakland Raiders 32-14.

One year later, the Vikings won the then Central Division at 9-5 and made it to the NFC Championship Game for the fourth time in the last five seasons, but fell to the eventual Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys 23-6 at Texas Stadium. It was in this season that Ryan put together a defensive scheme that become a major trend today.

It was called a nickel defense, which is designed to disrupt the timing of the opposing team’s passing attack on offense. That would be a part of the early stages of one of the most well-known defenses in NFL history at Ryan’s next and famed stop.

In 1978, the late great owner of the Chicago Bears George Stanley Halas, brought Ryan in to be the defensive coordinator.

It was here where Ryan created the famed 46 defense, which was named after the jersey number of then Bears’ safety Doug Plank, a favorite of Ryan’s.

The 46 defense was a formation that consisted of four defensive lineman and two linebackers at the line of scrimmage; two players in the middle of the field playing linebacker depth and three defensive backs.

It was not until 1981 when the defense really took form, thanks in large part to Hall of Fame linebacker Mike Singletary’s ability to simply be dominate the middle of the football field.

“To stop a passing game, you can’t stop it unless you put pressure on it. Now some people are good enough to put it on with a three-man rush; well, we’re not. In fact, I don’t know whether we’re good enough to put it on with a four-man rush. If we have to send eight, we’ll send eight, but we’re not going to let you sit back there and pick us apart,” Ryan said in an interview with NFL Films in 1986.

When the Bears fired then head coach Neill Armstrong in 1982, the defensive players lobbied Halas to hire Ryan. Instead he hired Mike Ditka. To say the two did not get along is putting it mildly.

At first, Ditka resented Ryan and then hated him and the feeling was mutual from Ryan, causing the most severe offensive and defensive split in NFL history.  

The Bears went 15-1 during the 1985 season, but in their only setback 38-24 at the Miami Dolphins in a nationally televised Monday Night Football broadcast, Ditka challenged Ryan to a fight during intermission. It had gotten to a point where the players had to separate the two with the offense getting Ditka and the defensive players holding back Ryan.

The Bears would go on to win Super Bowl XX 46-10 over the New England Patriots in New Orleans, LA. At the conclusion of the game, the defensive players of the Bears carried Ryan off the field on their shoulders, while the rest of the team carried Ditka off, which marked the first time two coaches got carried off the football field after a Super Bowl victory.

The Bears defense led by the likes of the aforementioned Singletary and Plank, linebackers Wilbur Marshall (#58) and Otis Wilson ($55); safeties Gary Fencik, the late Dave Duerson and Hall of Fame defensive lineman Richard Dent (#95) and Dan “Danimal” Hampton (#99) along with superstar rookie William “The Refrigerator” Perry (#72) ranked No. 1 in points allowed at 198, a scoring average of 12.4 points allowed. They were also first in forced turnovers; surrendered the fewest yards and first downs.

What made the players show out in Super Bowl XX, Ryan told his defensive players that he planned to take the head coaching opening of the Philadelphia Eagles.

“You guys are going to be my champions,” Ryan, who had tears in his eyes when he said that to his players. “Let’s kick some tail.”

Hampton and defensive tackle Steve McMichael (#76) threw a chair respectably across the room with one sticking to a chalkboards expressing their emotions.

The team used that fire inside them to produce seven sacks and held the Patriots to minus-19 total yards in the opening half to run away with the game and sent off Ryan in the right way.

Following that Super Bowl victory, Ryan got his first shot as a head coach in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1986.

Ryan had a decent record in those five seasons going 43-38-1 making the playoffs three straight seasons and leading the Eagles to a NFC East Division title.

The team unfortunately lost all three times in the postseason and there were some moments that put Ryan in the crosshairs.

Upon his entrance into the city of “Brotherly Love,” he released running back Earnest Jackson who rushed for over 1,000 yards the past two seasons and limited the playing time of Eagles’ veteran QB and now NFL analyst for ESPN Ron Jaworski.

He did however coach the likes of signal caller Randall Cunningham; Hall of Fame defensive lineman Reggie White and safety Andre Waters. He drafted eventual Pro Bowlers in linebacker Seth Joyner; defensive end Clyde Simmons; the late defensive tackle Jerome Brown; cornerback Eric Allen; wide receivers in Hall of Famer Chris Carter and Fred Barnett and tight end Keith Jackson.  

In the Oct. 25, 1987 matchup against the division rival Dallas Cowboys, Ryan came under fire when the Eagles scored a touchdown in the closing moments with the game already in the victory column. Ryan had said this was revenge against Cowboys head coach Tom Landry who he felt ran up the score against the Eagles, who had replacement players in uniform during the 1987 strike season.

Ryan was in the headlines again on Thanksgiving Day of Nov. 22, 1989 when then Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson, now a studio host for FOX NFL Sunday had alleged that the Eagles’ head coach put a $200 “bounty” on placekicker Luis Zendejas and a $500 one on then rookie and eventual Hall of Fame QB Troy Aikman in what would become known as the “Bounty Bowl.”

“I have absolutely no respect for the way they played the game,” Johnson said afterwards. “I would have said something to Buddy, but he wouldn’t stand on the field long enough. He put his big, fat rear end into the dressing room.”

Ryan answered back in a humorous way by saying, “I resent that. I’ve been on a diet. I lost a couple of pounds and I thought I was looking good. And he goes and calls me fat and I kind of resent that a little bit.

Ryan was fired by the Eagles in 1991 and spent the next two years as a NFL commentator for CNN.

He became the defensive coordinator for the then Houston Oilers in 1993. Under Ryan, the Oilers’ defense help propel them to an 11-game winning streak at the end of the season.

That season will always be remembered though for the sideline brawl that broke out between Oilers’ offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride and Ryan in the regular season finale against the Jets in front of a national audience.

It reached this point between the two coordinators due to Ryan’s constant criticism of Gilbride’s “run and shoot” offense, which he referred to as the “chuck and duck.” In fact, Ryan once said of Gilbride that he, “will be selling insurance in two years.”

Ryan also thought that some last-gasp defensive stands cost the team two players who were injured and that could have been prevented when the offense could have closed the game by running the clock out.

In the closing moments of the opening half against the Jets, Gilbride called a pass play and when quarterback Cody Carlson fumbled the snap, Ryan began screaming at Gilbride, who then began walking towards Ryan, who was yelling back at him. When they were both in close range of each other, Ryan attempt to punch Gilbride in the jaw and linebacker Keith McCants and many other of the Oiler players separated them.

Gilbride would have the last laugh as he was hired as head coach of the San Diego Chargers in 1997 and was the OC on the New York Giants Super Bowl XLII and XLVI teams led by quarterback Eli Manning defeating future Hall of Famer Tom Brady and the New England Patriots both times.

The success of the team resulted in Ryan getting another head coaching chance with the Arizona Cardinals in 1994. When he arrived in Phoenix, AZ, the new head coach, who was also the general manager announced, “You’ve got a winner in town.”

The Cardinals went 8-8 in year one under Ryan, but were just 4-12 the next year

To this generation of NFL enthusiasts, Buddy Ryan is more known as the father of Rex and Rob Ryan and while he did not set the coaching world on fire, he was one of the best defensive coaches in NFL history, without question one of the top three.

He had no problem speaking his mind and had no problem standing up for what he believed in or showing love to the players he coached, who showed him that same love back.

At the end of the day he was a dad and two of his sons and Rob and Rex have carried on their father’s colorful, outspoken, relentless, brash and passionate love for the game as defensive coaches and in Rex’s case a head coach.

When he was introduced as the new head coach of the Jets seven years ago, the organization presented Rex with his father’s authentic warmup jacket when he was Ewbank’s assistant.

When Rex hired Rob to be on his staff this upcoming season, they had acknowledged that they hoped to win big for their dad in 2016 because they had no idea how much he was going to be around.

“I learned so much from my dad,” Rex, who led the Jets to two AFC Championship Game appearances, but lost both times said. “The way he would build his team on passionate, physical, aggressive people. I’m taking all those things from my father.”

Rex hopes to have the same kind of moment that his father had back in 1986 and that is to be carried off by his players after winning a Super Bowl. More than that though, Rex and his brother Rob hope to carry the legacy that their dad established back in Texas and throughout his pro career.

“The name ‘Ryan’ means something… That’s a family pride thing, and it’s certainly a big deal for me,” Rex said.  

Information, statistics and quotations are courtesy of http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Chicago_Bears; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Vikings; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Ryan; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_III; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Michaels; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_High_School_(Marshall,_Texas); http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/46_defense; 6/29/16 New York Daily News article “Father of Trash Talk,” by Gary Myers; 6/29/16 Newsday article “Feisty Defensive Guru,” by Greg Logan.