GunnerBill

Yep. And the majority of those cap dollars are not coming back this year. I know some people don't like excuses. But those people also don't like reality.

Agree. I say this as someone who has done that job: that was always the difference between he and Sully. Tim Graham is a GREAT writer. Sully can barely use English.

The same could be said. But McDermott doesn't have a record of losing big games to less talented teams on the biggest stage. Nobody beats Jim Harbaugh on that count.

Hence the word also. Put Harbaugh and McDermott in the same bucket. I'd hire them to execute a turnaround tomorrow. Swapping one out for another once you are at the "ready to win" stage would be senseless.

McDermott runs a bend don't break scheme. Almost everyone in the NFL is running a bend don't break scheme. It is how you play defense in the league at this stage. You make teams play perfect football against you and put together long drives. It is why everyone is playing a lot of cover 2 shell and quarters. Defense at the moment is all about eliminating the big pass play. I am realistic it is not going to be Leslie. But to my mind McDermott should give the DC role up immediately. He hasn't done it very well. His over-reliance on the blitz has cost us one game already and had hurt us in other big spots too. And I think it is affecting his ability to be the Head Coach this team needs to pull them together right now. I'd promote Al Holcomb on an interim basis until the end of the season. Give him a shot at it then take a fresh look after the season is done. Levi.

So Leslie failed because of a couple of playoff games, but McDermott succeeded because of four regular season games? You realise that is an inconsistent argument, right? And I think when 17 of 42 points come in the final 2 mins plus OT that is very much a collapse that was the problem. Leslie isn't blameless in that but he wasn't in the top 3 people I'd blame having actually looked at what happened. And I wasn't arguing that the Bills D lacked the talent to get it done. But at the end of that Chiefs game in particular there were two major execution errors by a former UDFA who the Bills allowed to walk on the back of it. Leslie Frazier was not the problem.

I simply don't agree. I think they collapsed in the final 2 minutes against KC in 2021. They had played a decent game until that point. Some of that was on coaching. A bunch of it was execution and talent. In 2022 yes they stunk against the Bengals. But the whole team did. They played like zombies. If the loss last weel reassured me of anything it is that you can throw that playoff game out. The Bengals might well have beaten the Bills in the playoffs last year even if the Bills turned up. But it would have looked much more like last week looked where the Bills clung on in the game and competed their asses off. Leslie is a darn good football coach and I'd re-hire him as DC tomorrow in an ideal world. I know it isn't ever gonna happen but therr we are. Leslie was never, ever, the issue.

He should fire himself as DC right now IMO. But I think the replacement would be in house in any event. My ideal combo: DC - Leslie Frazier (won't happen he isn't comkng back here but we are talking about our ideal choices); OC - Kellen Moore (in a world where everyone gets canned with the Chargers)

I haven't watched a ton of the Giants this year and Wink is a bit blitz heavy for my tastes but that has always been his way and works for him. And he had a really good plan vs the Bills IMO. Not to give the Bills O a pass. But Wink had the better of Dorsey IMO.

I agree. And I have never liked the idea of him calling the defense. He admitted 3 weeks ago he doesn't watch all the offensive plays because he is talking with his defense. I don't think his is operating as a Head Coach at the moment and I think he should relinquish defensive playcalling immediately. You will recall because we discussed in the summer that I was always a defender of Leslie Frazier and not someone who sought to pin lots of blame on him (in my view unfairly). I'd rather he were calling the plays.

I remain in the other camp. I still have more faith in the coaching than the drafting. Although my confidence in both is reduced.

If you keep the coach and GM you don't dump 4 or 5 guys in one go. If you ditch them you do your roster surgery as quickly as possible so that year 1 kills as much dead money as poss and they have a cleanish slate by year 2.

I think a paycut in overall value for a slight increase in guaranteed money for the two years he has left anyway SHOULD be relatively easy to do with White, if they want to keep him.

To an extent. But as I said to @PBF81 it is about the pace. Do you take a load of decisions at once or do you spread some of it out? You make the regime decision first. Then you consider the roster in that context. In any event the NFL calendar forces you to do it that way.

Yea I don't agree. I think this roster is close to a re-set point in any event. I don't actually think "tear down" which might have been the term used earlier - there are enough solid players that a new regime could still be competitive day 1, but I think Poyer, Hyde, Morse, Von Miller and probably White are all major question marks after this year. Daquan Jones is a FA going into his age 33 year so you can probably add him too. That is 6 vet leaders and 4 of them have been stalwarts of this regime. Then I'd say Diggs, Dawkins and possibly Milano depending how he returns all probably have 2 years left (Milano maybe 3 or 4 if he comes back to his best). That is basically the entire core of what has been around Josh his whole career. Now you can manage that transition slower or faster. My take is if you retain the HC and GM you do it more slowly over 3 to 4 years. If you change regime you do a bulk of it next spring and finish the job the following one. But regardless who is in charge next season there will be a transition to the second Josh Allen era in terms of his teammates over the next few years.

I actually look at it the other way, if we change coaches it is time to burn down the roster. Take as much of the cap pain in 2024 as possible, try and load up on capital and then go again in 2025. I'd make the regime decision 1st and the roster decisions 2nd.

Jim Harbaugh is also a turn around merchant not a winner.

No

If they were his only 3 seasons, no. If Sean Payton has another 2 seasons like this one in Denver his Superbowl in New Orleans won't save him. I mean maybe. But not sure what you are basing that on.

That doesn't matter a jot if they were duds.

I'm not scared to fire McDermott. But I don't trust Terry to make the right hire. McDermott is literally the only coaching hire he has nailed in multiple goes with two teams. If they are, as they might be, at the end of the McDermott era I don't at all put it past Terry to screw this one up too. That isn't an argument to keep McDermott either. If we miss the playoffs I'd fire him.

This. I still have criticisms of the defense on Sunday, particularly some of the playcalling. But I watched the same Bengals offense on the road score 31 against the 49ers defense with multiple all pros a week earlier. If you'd said to me before that game "Cincy will score 24" I'd have said the Bills have a very legit chance to win that game. The fact is the offense sucked for much of the game again. Too many mistakes and can't get out of its own way.

Very few.

Martin was good for ua last yeae but when a punter's leg dies it dies... and his looks dead.

Pretty sure. McDermott is too busy finding a 6 man blitz to call.