The Bills as a franchise under McDermott historically, relatively speaking - everything is OK

[BuffaloBillyG]

5 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Lewis never won a playoff game and never had a true franchise QB. The Bills have and do.

Yes, I stated he was 0-7. And Buffalo having that franchise QB is what makes the standards so much higher than what Lewis had. Winning a playoff game or 2 is not the goal when you have "that guy" at the QB position. 

 

They know the standard is now "Championship Caliber" and if they fail to meet that it's fair to hold them accountable.

[dave mcbride]

Just now, No Place To Hyde said:

Yes, I stated he was 0-7. And Buffalo having that franchise QB is what makes the standards so much higher than what Lewis had. Winning a playoff game or 2 is not the goal when you have "that guy" at the QB position. 

 

They know the standard is now "Championship Caliber" and if they fail to meet that it's fair to hold them accountable.

I'm not saying they shouldn't be held accountable. But anyone who thinks they're going to make the championship game every year has Patriots syndrome and/or doesn't pay attention to the track records of other good franchises.

[BuffaloBillyG]

6 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

I'm not saying they shouldn't be held accountable. But anyone who thinks they're going to make the championship game every year has Patriots syndrome and/or doesn't pay attention to the track records of other good franchises.

And anyone that expects or is good with less than a Championship run after a 4 year rebuild and finding the Franchise QB has Drought Mentality. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Nextmanup]

This looks and smells like another rationalization thread.

Bills fans are absolute professionals at rationalizing losses.

 

I mean, we are world class.

 

 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

This team, this season, continues to come up short in their losses due to poor execution at the end of the game.

 

Not being able to score more than 16 against Pittsburgh with a pass first approach.

 

Falling short in Tennessee, not electing to go to overtime. 

 

Getting dismantled in Jacksonville.

 

The Colts game is the outlier, they ambushed the Bills from the start.

 

Another nail biting loss against New England.

 

And this gets to the core of the problems. When the opponent gets a bead on what we are doing offensively, we can’t trade touchdowns, we grind to an absolute halt, and can’t execute down the stretch. 
 

I think the Bills hurt themselves by benching McKenzie and not consistently using presnap motion. Against the Jets we looked like the 2020 Bills. One week later, we’re back to static offense.

 

They also are too rigid on their thinking that Cole Beasley and Emmanuel Sanders have to be on the field at all times.

 

Also, it’s clear, if Spencer Brown is playing, the pressure on Allen comes down and the Bills can get back to 4 and 5 wide.

 

My hunch is that McDermott is pushing this toughness crap and emphasis on running the ball, we’re going away from 4-wide.

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

2 hours ago, Chicken Boo said:

The team is competitive and will likely be in the playoffs year after year under this regime, but that will only satisfy the masses for so long.

 

For now, it's not a problem. 

 

  

Exactly. Don’t want to become the bengals 

[dave mcbride]

24 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

This looks and smells like another rationalization thread.

Bills fans are absolute professionals at rationalizing losses.

 

I mean, we are world class.

 

 

No, it's a plea to stop acting like Yankees fans and to actually look at the broader recent history of the league and how successful franchises fare within it. Informed realism, basically. No one is rationalizing anything.  

[Aussie Joe]

32 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

No, it's a plea to stop acting like Yankees fans and to actually look at the broader recent history of the league and how successful franchises fare within it. Informed realism, basically. No one is rationalizing anything.  

 

Comparing Bills fans to Yankees fans?

 

Because (some) Bills fans had Championship aspirations for one year?

 

[dave mcbride]

2 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

 

Comparing Bills fans to Yankees fans?

 

Because (some) Bills fans had Championship aspirations for one year?

 

It's as if people don't think I have aspirations for a championship! Of course I friggin' do. I'm just saying that while it may not come this year, they're set up to be in the thick of it going forward for a while to come. There's a decent chance given the QB and the organization that the stars will align once or twice, just like they have for the Ravens and the Giants. But they probably don't have a chance to win more than two at most.

Edited December 8, 2021 by dave mcbride

[Aussie Joe]

2 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

It's as if people don't think I have aspirations for a championship! Of course I friggin' do. I'm just saying that while it may not come this year, they're set up to be in the thick of it going forward for a while to come. There's a decent chance given the QB and the organization that the stars will align once or twice, just like they have for the Ravens and the Giants. But they probably don't have a chance to win more than two at most.

 

Mate.. I will take one..  Im not sure who is saying that they expect a Patriots style dynasty

 

People are disappointed now for the 2021 season which 7 weeks ago looked very promising when they dog walked the Chiefs . 

 

When you consider that there was an alignment of high expectations, soft schedule, and no other dominant team it seems a particular bitter pill to swallow. at the moment..

 

Lets hope that Josh can lead this team to the promised land one year... it wont get any easier as he starts to get paid big boy money from 2022..

 

 

 

 

 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

OP dig a little deeper than the win-loss record.  The losses this year have been awful.  The wins have come against doormats.  A SB season is turning into a struggle just to make the playoffs. They have had some injuries but no more or less than others.  McDermott and Beane are just average.  Maybe that's ok. Maybe that is the best we can ask for.  They got the QB.  My gut tells me McDermott will never win a SB.  I hope I am wrong.  

[dave mcbride]

22 minutes ago, Ethan in Portland said:

OP dig a little deeper than the win-loss record.  The losses this year have been awful.  The wins have come against doormats.  A SB season is turning into a struggle just to make the playoffs. They have had some injuries but no more or less than others.  McDermott and Beane are just average.  Maybe that's ok. Maybe that is the best we can ask for.  They got the QB.  My gut tells me McDermott will never win a SB.  I hope I am wrong.  

All losses for passionate fans are awful regardless of team. And they did beat the Chiefs, who I think have a real shot at going to the SB again.

[78thealltimegreat]

2 hours ago, Governor said:

You can’t fix these problems in 1 draft. Not even close.

 

We need an entire new OL and scheme. We need at least 1 high drafted LB, CB, DT, and RB.

 

We have 2 aging safeties that need to be replaced. Beasley needs to be replaced.

 

The window slammed shut my dude. This rebuild will take at least 3 drafts and then time to settle in and this regime will be gone by then.

You aren’t even a bills fan 

[JohnNord]

6 hours ago, dave mcbride said:

(A statement up front: the Patriots should not be the benchmark by which to measure the Bills relative to other successful NFL teams. They are an outlier like John Wooden's teams were outliers.)

 

Let's assume for a second that the Bills go 11-6 this season (a big assumption, but plausible). Under McDermott, they will have gone

 

9-7

6-10

10-6 (would have been 11-5 if the finale actually mattered; they would have utterly destroyed the Jets)

13-3

11-6 / 10-7

 

Then compare the Bills to other good teams with longtime coaches in recent years: the Ravens under Harbaugh, the Steelers under Tomlin, the Chiefs under Reid, the Saints under Payton, the Packers under McCarthy, the Seahawks under Carroll, and the Giants under Coughlin. Note the trend: most seasons are good ones, but there are a lot of 10-6 and 9-7 seasons. They're never truly terrible teams either; the worst you'll generally see is the occasional 7-9/8-8 seasons. See the links below.

My point is that there is a ton of parity in the NFL which makes it very hard to pump out 13-3 seasons year after year. Accounting for the fact that no normal team will ever be the Patriots under Belichick, the Bills are performing like your typical long-term good team. They'll have some great seasons mixed with some decent ones, and every once in a while they'll have injury issues that make them a .500 team. The other constant to go with long-term winning coaches is good quarterbacking, and the Bills are set at that position, thankfully. I don't see them winning the SB this season, but I also think the fixes they need to make to go 13-4 as opposed to 11-6/10-7 are relatively easy to make. They have a good core of talent with holes, just like every other team. But the fixes they need -- better interior offensive linemen, a better RB, one more #2 corner, and a new run-stuffer - are about the easiest positions to find in both FA and the draft assuming you're always drafting in the 20s.

 

I'm just as unhappy as anyone that this isn't shaping up to be a great year, but they're still a good team and are built to be good for a while. The stars really do need to align for a SB run, and this just isn't the year. That's OK. Maybe next year will be. As long as Allen is slinging it and there's continuity with the coach/GM (both of whom are good, perceptive, and self-aware), they'll be competitive. 

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/pit/

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/gnb/

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/rav/

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/kan/

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nor/

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/sea/

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nyg/

 

Good post Dave.  I’ve been a McDermott supporter for a long time and I do think he’s a good coach.  Bills fans are such a bi-polar bunch.  Bills fans were crowing about McDermott as a top coach in the NFL and now some want him fired.  I do feel that some in the media like Tim Graham, Jerry Sullivan, and Matthew Fairburn (all friends by the way) like to pile on McDermott when things go bad.  Fairburn who had issues with McDermott a few years back seemed to get a lot of enjoyment saying how Belichick “embarrassed” McDermott.  He’s not on the Buffalo beat any more so he has a little more freedom to lob some grenades from Boston 

[Billsatlastin2018]

6 hours ago, dave mcbride said:

The Bills were down by 2 scores vs Pitt with less than 2 minutes to go. That game was out of reach.

Out of reach after some buffoon Punter played in slow motion!

 

Like another clown who took a kick out of the End Zone and fumbled WITHOUT BEING TOUCHED!

[Ethan in Cleveland]

5 hours ago, Governor said:

You can’t fix these problems in 1 draft. Not even close.

 

We need an entire new OL and scheme. We need at least 1 high drafted LB, CB, DT, and RB.

 

We have 2 aging safeties that need to be replaced. Beasley needs to be replaced.

 

The window slammed shut my dude. This rebuild will take at least 3 drafts and then time to settle in and this regime will be gone by then.

Cmon this is not even close to accurate. The Bills have issues but they are a handful of players away not a complete rebuild.

If Brown is a capable RT, then you only need to look at upgrading at worst the two guard spots.  Again I would move Dawkins to G and get an OT, but if they don;t then Dawkins is still capable of playing LT.  Morse is good enough at center for another year.  Both safeties are playing at a very high level and they have actually decent depth behind them.  

The window is wide open.  The cap is going up next year.  Groot looks liek he is a capable DE.  

 

They need 2 OL, 1 DT, a # 3WR for sure. 

I would trade Edmunds and replace him but I don't think that will happen.  

[GunnerBill]

5 hours ago, No Place To Hyde said:

And anyone that expects or is good with less than a Championship run after a 4 year rebuild and finding the Franchise QB has Drought Mentality. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

No but you can think this season is likely to be a disappointing one per expectations without thinking that somehow that must require firings. It is the modern world where the only way to be accountable is for someone to lose their job. What @dave mcbride is saying is yes this season has fallen below expectations to this point. But you can't lose sight of the bigger picture and overreact to that.

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

12 hours ago, ngbills said:

Any team that has a top 3 QB should win or the coach should be fired. So no 11-6 or 10-7 should not be viewed as a success. 

 

We don't just have a top 3 QB. We have a top 3 QB on a rookie contract. 12 wins  should have been the floor for this team. 

 

Having a QB that's around even league average on a rookie contract is a gigantic advantage in today's NFL. The Eagles won a SB with Wentz on a rookie contract. The Rams made the SB with Goff on a rookie contract. Josh is so much better than either of those guys and we're only a bubble playoff team at week 13 of the season. 

 

What is this team going to look like when Josh's 10mm cap hit turns into 40+mm? 

 

 

[LABILLBACKER]

14 hours ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

Expectations were astronomical for the year and hence the fall this year is psychologically devastating, and lo and behold we fall as the Pats ascend.

 

I agree with mot of what you say but now I am uncertain about the coaching on this team.  That loss was absurd, as absurd as was our loss to Jax.  I don't think we have been as badly outcoached in those two games as we were in our first Super bowl.

I really don't have alot of faith in McDermott,  Daboll or Frazier as tacticians. Their game day decisions are incredibly inconsistent. I'll never expect a Bills coach to hold a candle to Belichick,  but I would hope they make better strategic adjustments. They've failed in that aspect this season. 

[corta765]

Relatively speaking the rest of JFK was perfectly fine besides his head having gunshot wounds.