ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Anthony Lynn always wanted this opportunity. But did he think it would come at this moment? Not a chance.

The Buffalo Bills' newest offensive coordinator admitted this week that his head was spinning after Rex Ryan's decision to fire Greg Roman saddled Lynn with the daunting task of preparing the reeling Bills offense for Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals' defense ranked fifth in the NFL last season. The last time Lynn called plays in the NFL was in a preseason game during his stint as the Jaguars' running backs coach from 2003-04. Plus the Bills' starting left tackle, Cordy Glenn, and their top receiving threat, Sammy Watkins, both have been out of practice this week because of injuries.

"Hell of a challenge," Lynn said Thursday. "I accept the challenge. I think I'm the right guy for the challenge and I'm not going to make any excuses. You know, it's my responsibility to get us going, and we'll figure it out."

Lynn, 47, is a former NFL running back who is no stranger to big moments. He played in two playoff games with the San Francisco 49ers in 1996 and earned Super Bowl rings with the Denver Broncos in 1997 and 1998.

After spending six seasons as running backs coach for the Jaguars (2003-04), Dallas Cowboys (2005-06) and Cleveland Browns (2007-08), Lynn joined Ryan's New York Jets staff in the same capacity in 2009. Eventually, he decided he wanted to become an offensive coordinator -- but he was passed over when the Jets fired Brian Schottenheimer following the 2011 season, and again when New York fired Tony Sparano following the 2012 season.

"I had an opportunity to do it, and my organization denied me," Lynn said Thursday. "And ever since then I've been preparing and hoping to get another opportunity and it just so happened last week."

Lynn might have been training for the opportunity, but it still came as a shock to him when Roman was fired Friday following the Bills' 37-31 loss to the Jets. Ideally, Lynn wanted to implement his own playbook, but doing so would have been unrealistic without an offseason's worth of practices and classroom time to install his scheme.

Instead, Lynn has five days once players returned to practice Monday in which to find ways to make Roman's system work better than its creator could manage.

"We've had a lot of great concepts in, but I think if you want better execution, you reduce the verbals," Lynn said. "And so we cut back a little bit so the guys can go out and play fast and not think so much and make plays."

Part of Lynn's plan to play faster will include Taylor wearing a wristband to expedite play calls. Under Roman, that's something that only happened occasionally. Under Lynn, Taylor will wear the wristband every game.

Lynn also drew upon his experience with the Cowboys to make another change: moving to the coaches' booth during games. Lynn was in Dallas' booth as a position coach and made a note to himself that he would return upstairs if he ever became a play-caller. In the booth, Lynn believes, there are fewer distractions and less emotion involved in making decisions.

If all goes well Sunday and beyond, Lynn believes it will not be his play calls or Roman's plays that will carry the offense, but the talent of the Bills' skill-position players.

"I believe in personnel," he said Thursday. "Get the ball in the hands of players and let them make the plays. Because if you do that, they'll make way more plays than we'll ever design."