The Rex Effect - The MMQB
ORCHARD PARK, N. Y. — A few minutes after 7 a. m. on a recent Tuesday, the most conspicuous truck in western New York pulls into a Tim Hortons parking lot less than a mile from Ralph Wilson Stadium. Small iced cappuccino, with whip, coming right up. Rex Ryan stops in every morning on his way to work, and he doesn’t have to place his order anymore. Loni Rivera, the regular behind the counter on the early shift, starts making his drink as soon as she spies his Bills pickup—a custom-wrapped Ford F-250, royal blue, with a giant charging buffalo on either side, as subtle as its driver. “Coach,” she says, “a gentleman who works here has a piece of the stadium, goal posts, from the 1990s. He wants you to have it. ”. Ryan has been the coach of the Bills for three months, but already he’s the new face of the franchise. Throughout greater Buffalo, his arrival has done much to erase the agony of the 15 years that have passed since the team’s last playoff appearance—the longest drought in the NFL. If anyone knows how to feed hope, it’s Ryan, who in his introductory press conference issued orders that the Bills and their fans should start getting ready for January football. Well-known for having made a Super Bowl guarantee during his Jets tenure, Ryan may have made his boldest declaration yet when he arrived on the shores of Lake Erie: Despite inheriting a roster that lacked an established quarterback, despite... Source: mmqb.si.com
