Sammy Watkins hasn't had a chance to play for Rex Ryan yet, but the Bills' now second-year wide receiver is excited to get to work with his new head coach — whom he has long admired as the old coach of the rival Jets.
"You see a team that follows their coach in everything they do, as far as being fired up and being engaged," Watkins told Sporting News. "He's changed a bad program to a good program to making the playoffs. His teams fight for him, Even though you've seen the Jets' record this season (4-12), it was a lot of close games they lost."
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Watkins, as a rising offensive star in the AFC East, also is happy he won't face a Ryan-coached defense anymore.
"His defenses are hard to understand and read. It's a lot of guys blitzing. You couldn't just go into a game plan with the Jets and expect to do everything you planned," he said.
While the Bills changed coaches to Ryan from Doug Marrone, they're still figuring out who will be throwing to Watkins in 2015. As a rookie, he was preparing to play with EJ Manuel, but late addition Kyle Orton ended up being the starter for 12 games as the team finished 9-7. Now Orton has retired, and Manuel's chances to start again are in limbo.
Whoever's next up at quarterback, Watkins will be ready for him.
"I came in and couldn't really focus on that. What I could do is work hard every day and learning the playbook. When something's out of your control, you just try to make yourself better," Watkins said. "It's a situation where you hope for the best, and just try to get on the same page with the quarterback and coaches."
Last Sunday, Watkins and Ryan teamed up with Pepsi and Nico & Vinz to get the Bills-mad city of Rochester, N.Y., "Hyped for Halftime" in advance of Katy Perry's performance at Super Bowl XLIX.
"It's just a great cause. It's basically about some great fans who come to the stadium week in and week out and rally for their team, whether we win or not. They're so passionate. We've now given them something to hope for by having a winning season. We now have a coaching change that keeps us in the best direction," Watkins said.
