Former Eagles coach Buddy Ryan dies at 82

Buddy Ryan, who never needed a scoreboard to de-clarevictoryor tomake football fans feel fulfilled, died Tuesday at age 82, according to his agent, JimSolano.

An assistant coach with the 1968 NewYork Jets and 1985 Chicago Bears, a pair of Super Bowl championship teams, Ryan was best recognized as the spirit behind the 1986-1990 Eagles and the rumblings they caused throughout the NFL. He had been known to be fighting cancer.

Though he would never win a playoff game in Philadelphia, Ryan relentlessly declared superiority, routinely predicting championships, even when his teams were clearly under-manned. For that, he gained a popularity among Eagles fans that never diminished and helped assure an enduring air of franchise superiority.

When Ryan was hired by the Eagles at the age of 56, then-owner Norman Braman likened him to Vince Lombardi, whowas 46when he received his first NFL head-coaching opportunity. Though Ryan would be unable towin a Lombardi Trophy, he was able to grow the Birds from 5-10-1 in his first season to NFC East champions in his third.

Ryan was 43-38-1 as the Birds’ head coach and was fired in 1990 after his third consecutive postseason. He coached seven Eagles to a total of 15 Pro Bowls, including Eric Allen, Jerome Brown, Randall Cunningham, Byron Evans, Keith Jackson, Mike Quick and Reggie White.

His son, Rex Ryan, coaches the Buffalo Bills and is assisted by his twin brother Rob.

“Buddy Ryan was one of the most creative and innovative defensive minds in the game of football,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said, in a statement. “It was easy to sense his passion for the game and how much his players loved playing for him. His defensive philosophy remains a big part of the game today. He is a legend in our sport. My thoughts and prayers go out to Rex, Rob, Jim and the entire Ryan family.”

Known for his outspokenness, Ryan took over an operation that hadn’t won a championship since 1960 and immediately promised NFL dominance. For that, he was embraced by Eagles fans thirsty for a winner. Typically using the Dal-lasCowboysashis foil, Ryan could be funny and bitter with his abundant confidence. He was unwavering in his policies. One was to refuse to shake hands with opposing coaches after a game, regardless of the outcome. Another was to disregard a 1987 band of strikebreakers as unworthy of his full attention. So with the NFL players on strike and in games that would count in the standings, Ryan would coach the Eagles’ replacement team to an 0-3 record … enough to deny them a spot in the postseason. After that season, at a press conference, he walked into the crowd and presented the two Eagles executives he’d blamed for assembling such an inept replacement team with what he would call “scab rings.”

Such behavior, while delightful to the fans and helpful in his attempt to gain respect from the union players, kept his relationship with the front office rickety. For that, among other reasons, he was fired after his third consecutive winning season, saying, “I’ve never been fired for winning before.”

After a stop in Buffalo as an assistant coach, Ryan would coach two more seasons in Arizona and retire to his Kentucky horse farm. Occasionally, and only with half-a-wink, hewould resurface to stress that had the Birds kept him around longer, they would have won multiple Super Bowls. That he didn’t win any didn’t seem to bother fans, who celebrated his outspokenness and determination to project the Eagles as superior.

Once, during a road trip to Chicago for a playoff game, Ryan ordered the team bus to circle Soldier Field and blare its horn. “We don’t sneak into Chicago,” he said. Ironically, the Eagles basically did sneak around Chicago during that game, much of which was played in such a dense fog that it was barely able to be televised. History recalls it as the Fog Bowl.

Ryan was renowned for his “46” defense, an attacking approach, if one with high risk. Eagles fans savored its potential and celebrated its violence.

“You loved playing for him because he coached the way you wanted to play the game: Attack mode,” said former Birds defensive lineman Mike Golic Tuesday on ESPN. “Attack, attack, attack. And if you don’t think we’re attacking much now, just wait and we’re going to attack even more. Oh wait: You don’t think we’re blitzing enough? We’re going to blitz more. We’re going to hit you in the mouth. We’re going to knock you down. They’re going to have to carry you off the field. That was his mentality, and that’s what you kind of absorbed as a player.”

Ryan’s rub-it-in determination bubbled over later in that 1987 season when, with the strike over, he punished the Cowboys for thumping the Eagles in an earlier replacement game. That, he did by ordering Cunningham to fake a kneel-down with seconds left and the Birds ahead by, 30-20, and instead throw a bomb to- ward Quick in the end zone. After a pass-interference call, Keith Byars scored on a short run with seconds left, Paul McFadden added the PAT and the Eagles had won, 37-20. Message sent.

Ryan, who served as a sergeant in Korea, accepted multiple enemies or created certain divisions, sometimes within his own team. It’s why he was alleged to have placed a bounty on Eagles kicker-turned-Cowboy Luis Zendejas, offering to pay any Eagle to cause him pain. It’s why he called Braman out for summering in France instead of signing players who were holding out of training camp. It’s why he once punched fellow Bills assistant Kevin Gilbride during an in-game sideline dispute. It’s why when the Bears won the Super Bowl in 1985, they carried him, not head coach Mike Ditka, off the field.

“His players loved him,” Ditka told ESPN Tuesday. “There’s not much more you can ask than that. I don’t profess to be a hell of a coach and I know what my players think about me. So he had one over on me, that’s for sure.”

As he became the Cardinals’ head coach, Ryan told Arizona fans they had “a winner in town.” Including his two seasons in Arizona, Ryan’s head coaching record was 55-55-1.

“Buddy Ryan was arguably one of the greatest defensive masterminds in NFL history and forever left his mark on the Eagles organization and the city of Philadelphia,” said Jeffrey Lurie in a statement. “Over the last 20-plus years, I had the pleasure of discussing football with Buddy and I always came away from those conversations intrigued by his knowledge and passion for the game. On behalf of myself and the entire Eagles family, I’d like to offer our deepest condolences to the Ryan family.”