GunnerBill

I personally would have Shanny just ahead of him actually. They to me are the two best non-titled coaches. I have McDermott ahead of Vrabel (although if someone wants to argue the other way I think they have a legit argument at least). He is in the group of guys I have clustered together. LaFleur I have lower. I don't think he is that good of a coach.

One of them is Mike McCarthy. But yea, fair enough.... 9th is the highest. I don't have McCarthy top 20.

No I have no college rooting interest at all. I'm normally accused of being a Clemson fan, I'm not that either. By the way there is a piece on "The Draft Scout" which I subscribe to for another few months (it was set up by Matt Miller when he first left BR but since ESPN tied him in to an exclusive deal he no longer contributes to it) today that ranks the HCs and has Sean McDermott SECOND to Andy Reid. For the sake of clarity, that is as ridiculous as having him 22nd. I think he is somewhere between 8th and 12th. There are a gaggle of guys there I have grouped pretty closely.

I'm on about the playoff game. Where Josh was below par. Not a disaster, but off his best and bad turnovers.

As I said above - he likes big, he likes high RAS, he likes freakish physical attributes. And he particularly likes Florida Gators

Don't disagree the D played badly. But it was one of your points that Josh hides the flaws when we win and I think people who make that argument have to recognise the other side too. The 2021 KC game where Josh played brilliantly and we lost and the 2022 Miami game where Josh played relatively poorly and we won aside our playoff record in the McDermott-Allen era is almost directly tied to how Josh plays. So if Josh gets the credit when it goes well he also has to shoulder the blame when he plays like a zombie and even Diggs (who he has said publicly is the guy who can normally reach him) couldn't get through to him on the sideline and he was just sitting there staring into middle distance. The off coverage thing has been done to death. I know fans hate soft coverage, but it isn't always the wrong call and wasn't even always wrong in that game. On gameplans generally.... I mean it shouldn't be a surprise most fans don't find them obvious. Most fans don't know what they are watching (and that's fine you can enjoy the game of football without it). I don't think there was a consistent gameplan issue in 2022. Though happy to have my memory jogged if people want to discuss specific incidents. EDIT: and to be clear when I say Josh has to "shoulder the blame" I mean the blame for his performance. He clearly isn't responsible for the entire team. Though he is the most important part of it. No other piece of the jigsaw in the NFL affect wins and losses at anything close to the level that QB performance does.

Yea, true. But generally there has been a trend to Beane's drafting.

The 2017 draft was McDermott. No argument on that. But the drafts since then are Brandon Beane's. And there has actually been a noticeable trend in Beane's drafting - athletic freak RAS guys that wasn't there in the 2017 class where Tre, Dion and Zay were older and weren't speed / size guys.

But you don't give Josh the same blame for the losses. Take the 2021 game in Kansas City out. Everyone accepts that we blew that one and it was overwhelmingly on coaching. But in the other three playoff losses of the Allen era he has 2touchdown passes and two interceptions and has been a c.56% passer. So if you want to say that in the 4 wins McDermott has been propped up by Josh then you at least have to accept that in 3 of the 4 defeats Josh's performance has hurt them. I get it, 13 seconds is the thing that jumps out in minds, but when you look beyond that our other playoff losses have come when Josh is outplayed by the other QB. He isn't. He has the power to veto if he wished. He delegates to Brandon Beane. Beane runs the personnel side even if in the overall relationship he is subordinate to Sean.

I mean to read some here you would believe this to be true.

Generally speaking..... coaching is not the main reason for individual wins and losses in the NFL. It is a players' game and a players' league. So I am not claiming that Sean McDermott is the main reason for individual playoff wins. They have had good gameplans in playoff games - whether the plan to shut down Jonathan Taylor, their plan vs Lamar, or their willingness to attack deep early and often vs the Patriots. But I am not here saying the main reason for those wins is coaching. The main reason for those wins is talent. The main reason for the losses is also talent. With the KC game in 2021 the exception. I don't think Andy Reid is "the reason" for many Kansas City playoff wins either. Indeed as has been discussed earlier his playoff history pre-Mahomes would suggest he isn't exactly a playoff coach par excellence. And even though I do think Bill Belichick has been an exceptional coach the main reason for those Superbowls was Tom Brady. The no time out and "play goalline" decision vs Seattle was pretty significant in winning one but otherwise the rest I pretty much have as players' wins. What the best coaches do is develop players (the Bills do that well), create a winning culture (McDermott has done that) and then on gameday they generally have sensible gameplans that allow the players to execute. The Bills have had that, for the most part. Of course, and I have agreed with you on this from the start, the Bills largely go as Josh Allen goes. Welcome to the NFL. The Quarterback is the most important position. Generally our playoff record is we win when Josh plays well, we lose when he doesn't. The exception is Kansas City 2021. I don't think that is "covering up for coaching" or indeed "covering up" for talent acquisition failures. I just think it is the reality of NFL football. If we start losing playoff games to teams we are clearly better than where Josh outplays his counterpart and we still lose then I'd be looking at changing the Head Coach. But Watson, Mahomes and Burrow have outplayed Josh in 3 playoff losses. When Burrow outplayed Mahomes in 2021 in the AFCCG the Chiefs lost. The AFC is a Quarterback gauntlet. The one exception for us again is @Kansas City in 2021... and I think everyone is clear that a repeat of that would and indeed should result in coaching changes.

You are not the only one but you are equally as wrong as Ross Tucker. And your claim earlier was "most people." I never said you were the only person. I disputed most people.

The difference is you are quite happy to ascribe everything to coaching. I have no by the way ever said that McDermott is bound to win a Superbowl. Most coaches, even very good ones like McDermott, don't. Sometimes bad coaches like Mike McCarthy do. The NFL has mastered parity. It does a great job. The best QB doesn't always win. The best team doesn't always win. The best coach doesn't always win. There is any number of reasons why teams don't or do win footballs games. Luck. QB play. Talent level. Player performance. Coaching. I think coaching has genuinely cost the Bills in one big moment. If it costs us that badly in a second I call that a pattern and I would be wholly in favour of a change. But so far I see ZERO pattern to our playoff losses.

This translates to "I have decided it is McDermott's fault, so it is."

I agree they played like zombies. But I have coached. I have a hard time putting that on coaches.

I don't know that he gave them a mulligan. But they are humans and they just sucked that day. It happens. It isn't always controllable.

Yea City have only romped away with 2 of their 5. Liverpool have twice taken them to the end and Arsenal this year to the penultimate weekend. But still it is a concern. I mean maybe if they ever actually play by the rules the gap will close, but there we are. Their defence to the Premier League charges shows me they are guilty as sin and they are going to try and find a procedural error to get off on a technicality like they did with UEFA. And in David Pannick they have the best barrister in Britain on their side.... if anyone can find a loophole he can.

It is why the NFL is so popular. When I speak to fellow Brits about their NFL fandom "parity" is the word that comes up the most. The fact that almost any team is one good draft away from being a playoff team and that no matter how bad you are you can believe it gives you a shot at a franchise saviour the next spring. Contrast that with European soccer. Manchester City have just made it 5 championships in 6 seasons. Bayern Munich have won 10 in a row. 17 of the last 19 titles in Spain have been won by Real Madrid or Barcelona. PSG have won 9 of 11 in France. Since 1964 only 3 seasons in Holland haven't ended with one of their big 3 winning the title. And while Italy has had 3 different Champions in the past 3 years that comes after Juventus won 9 in a row. In contrast in the last 20 years 20 of the 32 NFL franchises have been to the Superbowl. They haven't all won it, sure. But that is a way to sell hope.

Duke playing, I'll give you, I didn't like that. But at the same time it didn't matter which of our bad receivers we chucked out there that day. The top end talent Houston had outranked ours and those players made the plays that turned the football game. 2022 - sure. But the team played their worst game of the year. What do you suppose coaching had said to them or not said to them to result in that? I have coached, albeit in a different sport, and got paid for it. There are times when your guys just come out flat for whatever reason. The Bills players said it was mental exhaustion who knows but they sucked in that game. Our best player sucked. I don't know what you do about that as a coach. Sometimes it happens. You hate that it happens in a big spot but that's life. Athletes are humans not robots.

So on Austin - not a guy I watched a lot of. I preferred the other Oregan State corner - Rezjohn Wright, but I see why Austin fits their mold as a zone corner with length, who plays off, will keep it infront of him, rally and tackle. It is the classic McBeane late round corner profile. On the rule change it definitely bears watching, and maybe in years to come I will feel differently but for a team in a championship window right now an elite gunner is way more impactful than a 6th corner.

#9 is waaaay too high for Romo

I am not cutting an elite gunner for a 6th corner. I struggle to see any situation where I'd do that.

Austin being an elite gunner, which is what Neal is, as a rookie is very unlikely. Neal is a lock for the roster IMO, especially given that the other two gunners - Taiwan and Kumerow - have gone. I think it will be interesting to see what the new fair catch rule does to kick off returns. If you are down to only punt returns it does change the dynamic a little on gunner value, but I don't think the Bills will cut one of the best gunners in the league until there is evidence that returns are all but out of the game.

To do that properly you need to do A LOT more than go through rankings. That is my point. You need to sit with the game film and go through it and break it down properly. I have done that and that is how I have come to my conclusion. Do I have time to re-do it now for the sake of trying to win a message board argument? No. I have given you my general sense. In 2019 - the Bills got beaten by a Houston team that really laid an egg in the first half but in the second half JJ Watt had a critical 3rd down sack to force a FG deep in HOU territory; Whitney Merciless had the strip sack of Allen in the 4th Quarter; DeAndre Hopkins had 6 catches for 90 yards and Deshaun Watson had an exceptional sack eluding play to set up their winning field goal. Houston's best 4 players showed up in the big moments. At that point we had Josh who had not yet developed into the elite QB he is, and Tre White who ultimately lost the 1v1 battle with Hopkins. It was before we had Stef Diggs. The better team won the game and their high end players were the difference makers. In 2020 - the Bills, Colts game was a closer game than some expected, sure, and I don't think it was a great coaching job by Daboll (and this isn't me saying see Daboll sucks because he has left, I was and remain a Daboll fan... just wasn't his best day) the offensive gameplan was a bit meh, but it certainly wasn't a disaster. Conversely they had a really good plan on defense which was take Jonathan Taylor away (he was held to fewer that 4 yards per carry) and force the geriatric QB to beat you in January weather in Buffalo. He couldn't. Then they had an excellent coaching plan against the Ravens and held them in check and then KC were just better than us. In every facet they dominated that football game. They thrashed us in both trenches. As I say constantly when you get whipped in the trenches there are not many plays on your play sheet that are going to work. In 2021 - We played KC extremely well, coaching blew it (and I agree by the way it wasn't "just" 13 seconds. I thought the Bills had a great plan and called a great game until the last 2 minutes. I know KC had yards and first downs but the Bills plan against KC was bend and not break and it had worked in the regular season and was working in the playoff game. Kansas City had 26 points with 1:54 to go. How the Bills handled the game from there on in was really poor on the part of coaching). In 2022 - The players sucked. They made countless mistakes against a Miami team that couldn't move the ball at all on offense and kept what was a complete mismatch close. Then they were flat as a pancake against Cincinnati, their most reliable DB blew two coverages that led to touchdowns, Josh looked and played like a zombie, they couldn't move the ball on offense. It was just a disaster. Could they have mixed up coverages more sooner in the game? Sure they could. Is there any reason to think that would have changed the result based on what happened when they did? Not really.

He's wrong.